Product of the Month Collaboration - Shining Stars Dies

Welcome to the October 2026 Product of the Month (POM) Blog Hop! The POM is an exclusive product released each month can be earned for a greatly reduced cost, $9 in Australia, with the purchase of $125 in product.   So a group of demonstrators decided to help showcase these products we would run a blog hop each month to give ideas.

The Product of the Month (POM) for October is the Shining Stars Dies, an amazing set of 23 dies including 7 nesting stars, 4 with stitched edging and 12 small stars perfect for cutting out multiples to decorate Christmas and other projects.  Unfortunately these gorgeous dies have now sold out in Australia, so are no longer available but we hope our projects give you lots of inspiration.

 

I knew I wanted to make a Christmas themed card for this hop, one that's design let me use multiple of the sizes of stars. I have also recently learned the technique for sanding the colour from foil that has been through an embossing folder to reveal the silver layer underneath, thanks to the Creative Carnival Retreat. I love the way my card includes both textured and smooth stars to further show the contrast.  The addition of a strip of embossed gold foil down the left of the card was a bit last minute, and I am so glad the idea cam to me as it really adds to the overall effect.  I had to keep with the gold theme and used one of the sentiments created with the Hot Foil System, and with all the stars teh "magic" of Christmas fit beautifully.

Time to keep on hopping and see what the rest of the team have created with this versatile stamp set, follow the links at the end of each blog post to make your way around the hop.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #592 - CASE A Layout

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where utilise the projects within the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire our own projects each week. We also invite you to join with us in the challenge each week by using this inspiration in your own creations and uploading a photo to our Facebook page.

This week we are taking inspiration from the layouts on page 13, including the extra layout ideas you can find by following the QR code on that page. You can also find them here TEMPATES.

I was inspired by this layout from the templates page. I have just been playing around with the Creative Celebrations Mix & Match DSP and it made me think of the little tags included in the cut apart sheets. I flipped the template from portrait to landscape orientation to better fit the tags.

I used three of the tags for my card, adding some cut out flowers to the tag on the right to help it tie in better with the other two. Doing this added the same floral images as well as some Hydrangea Hue for more cohesion. The foil sentiment and gold embellishments gave the card a lift and the little knots of Hydrangea Hue Bordered Ribbon adhered over the tag holes helped finish off the card.  It is hard to tell but I also added Wink of Stella to the centres of the poinsettias for a little extra sparkle. In hindsight I should have popped the tags up onto Dimensionals for extra definition, although that would have added extra bulk and might have made posting more expensive. 

  

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the teplates to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.

  

Time to hop on over and see what the lovely and talented Julia has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Card Swap Chain - Series 6 - Tracy's Card

In April 2026 we started the sixth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea behind this is that everyone in the group made a card, then sent it to one other person in the group. Each of us CASEd the card we received and posted it to the next person in the chain, there were 10 of us in total. Each time the card was CASEd it was changed slightly until the last round when the final copy of our first card was returned to us.  This is such a fun process, and it is now time to reveal each of the cards in the chain. With 10 of us in the chain there is definitely opportunity for a few variations to sneak in between the first and the last card, so join us on this blog hop journey through the CASEing process.

This chain started with this bright and cheerful card from Tracy, if you haven't started the hop at her blog I would encourage you to do go there first, so you can see the progression of the chain. You can find her blog listed at the top of the participant list below.

I was 7th in the chain for this round, and again there is quite a change from Tracy's card. This was one of the first cards I made with my hot foil system and I loved creating it so much. The butterflies are so easy to colour with the masks included and I love how they look.  I wanted the shimmery effect on the background but didn't have any DSP that coordinated, so I took a piece of the 2026-2028 In-Colour Pearlised DSP, and added Highland Heather with a blending brush to help it coordinate with my project. I love how this turned out and as always with foiled or shimmery projects, they never photograph as nicely as they look in person.

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain. What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping

Monique