CTC #150 - Holiday Big Shot

Welcome to another fun week with the CASEing the Catty team, I am convinced that the weeks are going faster and faster as the year progresses!

This week we are taking inspiration from the wonderful Big Shot projects in the Holiday Catalogue. There are no specific pages for this challenge because the projects are scattered throughout the catalogue.

I took my inspiration from the image above which comes from page 51. I liked how the leaves cut with the Big Shot has been used as a mask for the Embossing Paste, it has given me all sorts of ideas to try.

Here is my card, unfortunately I didn't have any Embossing Paste on hand when making this so I used Craft White Ink to sponge around the cut out leaves. I wanted to add some more depth of texture so sprinkled White Embossing Powder randomly over the sponging and after heating it I repeated the process. The third time I used a very small amount of Copper Embossing Powder to add just a hint of metallic shine to the card.  I also used Cajun Craze on the base and banner instead of the Early Espresso on the original. The sentiment is from Eastern Beauty.

The leaves are stamped using various combinations of Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Calypso Coral, and Cajun Craze - using the "rock and roll" technique, stamping some full strength and some I stamped off first. I then distressed each of the leaves and added them to the card using dimensionals. More texture was added with ribbon and sequins.

  

I hope the team's projects inspire you to join in this week, just pick your faviourite Big Shot project from the Holiday Catalogue and use it as inspiration to create a project. Add a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook Page.

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

CI #19 - Spring Inspiration

Thanks for visiting for another Colour INKspiration blog hop, don't forget to visit all the blogs on the hop and see what the Design Team have created using the photograph below as inspiration.  

Such a fun picture for this challenge with the splash of colour across a fairly drab background.  The colours for this challenge are:

• Whisper White
• Daffodil Delight
• Basic Grey 
• Smokey Slate
• Garden Green

I toyed with a couple of ideas for this card, and once I had settled on the Falling Flowers stamp set, and May Flower Thinlits, I stamped, cut and coloured a number of the pieces then spent time playing around with them on the card front before finally settling on this layout.  It was by accident really that I layered the large intricate flower behind the frame, but as soon as I saw it I was reminded of the decorative screening panels you see in garden centres.

I did have to get a bit cunning with the use of Basic Grey, as I had planned to stamp the sentiment in that colour only to discover that my old style ink pad had dried out!  So a little trimming and addign an extra layer on the front got me over the line.

I wanted to show you how I built up the layers on the front, starting with the decorative panel and then building up leaves and flowers until I was happy with the look.  The flowers are coloured using Watercolour Pencils, with the little buds reminding me of the wattle that is coming out now spring has sprung.

  

I hope you join the challenge this week, just use the identified colours to create a project and upload a picture of it to the CI Facebook Page.

  

Time to head on over and see what the talented Jackie has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Colourful Christmas

Having a bit of time on my hands this weekend, and with it being Card Making Day, I went in search of a challenge to enter and found this great colour combo from TGIF Challenges.

Still having fun with my relatively new set Merry Patterns I decided to stamp the candles twice before cutting out with the Stitched Oval Framelit.  If you look closely you can see the Crumb Cake in the branches that sit under the candles and sentiment.  I stamped half of the candles full strength and half stamped off using Cheery Cobbler. 

I was looking for the "right" background and thought the wood grain DSP might work well - so happy with the result, but it was a smidge dark.  Adding the gold metallic edged ribbon helped lift the overall look and add a touch of bling.

Wanting to use a bit more Crumb Cake, I added a single set of candles to the inside panel of the card, once at full strength and once stamped off.  I love the way this stamp allows you to easily colour the candles in two different colours (or tones) so easily, and add a third colour for the flame!

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #149 - Special Delivery

Welcome to another week with CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop where we take a look at the lovely products in one of the sections of the current Stampin' Up! catalogues and use them to inspire our creations for the week.  

This week we are looking at the Year of Cheer section of the Holiday Catalogue, page 36 - 47, this section is so full of beautiful shiny products, with Champagne Foil Sheets, silver and gold Year of Cheer embellishments; as well as stunning gold and silver Foil Snowflakes. 

The image above from pate 45 took my eye, I love a treat bag and this was just so pretty.

I decided to make it Christmassy and glam it up by using one of the papers from Bundles of Love DSP pack. with the Soft Sky on the reverse showing through I turned my Foil Snowflake over and sponged the back of it to coordinate with the DSP. The backs of  them are white and take ink well, they just take a little while to dry so set them aside or use your heat tool to speed the process up.

The sentiment is from Merry Little Labels stamp set also from the Holiday Catalogue and cut out with the lovely Everyday Label Punch.  I trimmed a little off the top and bottom to better align the sentiment, then cut a second one from a Gold Foil Sheet, layering it behind the sentiment and trimming the bottom off that as well.

In case you were wondering where I got the gold pearls from, they aren't new, they are just regular pearls coloured in with some Sharpie markers I found when grocery shopping!  As you can see from the image above they are an almost perfect match to our Copper, Silver and Gold Foil Sheets!  So happy I found them.

  

I hope we are inspiring you to join in the challenge this week, just take inspiration from one of the projects in the Year of Cheer section of the Holiday Catalogue and upload a picture of your creation to the CTC Facebook Page.  Don't forget to pop by to check out the entries each week.

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #148 - Kits and Memories

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop where we take inspiration from different sections of the current Stampin' Up! catalogues and use it to create our projects. It doesn't matter what inspiration you take, it might be a sketch, colour palette, or technique, there are so many amazing samples in the catalogues to choose from.

This wee we are taking our inspiration from the Kits and Memories & More sections of both the Annual and Holiday Catalogues.  There aren't any set pages for this one, just look for the kits and M&M samples in the catalogues and get creating.

I took my inspiration from the lovely card above that you can find on page 10 of the Annual Catalogue.  it is part of the Soft Sayings Card Kit, and while I don't have the kit I was pretty sure I could re-create it with the products that I do have.

Here is my card.  I used DSP from the Delightful Daisy pack, with the main focal sentiment image made using the Label Me Pretty bundle.  I coloured the sentiment and flowers with Watercolour pencils using Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Basic Grey.  The foliage around the sentiment panel is cut using a range of framelits and cut from Tranquil Tide, Lemon-Lime Twist and Gold Glimmer paper.  I added a little gold bow and some mini sequins for some extra bling.

Not wanting to leave the inside of the card bare, I thought some sponging using one of the Pattern Party Decorative Masks might fill the space and tie in with the diamonds on the front of the card.

  

 I hope you are insp[ired to join in the challenge this week, just add a photograph of your project to the CTC Facebook Page.

  

Time to hop on over to see what the lovely Megan has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CI #18 - Dragonfly Dreams

Welcome to another Colour INKspiration Challenge where we are once again taking inspiration for our projects from a gorgeous image pulling some of the Stampin' Up! colours from it to use in our creations.

Isn't this image cute! I am a fairly visual person and often get feelings from images, this one to me represents lazy days in spring, with new blooms on plants and sunny weather that inspires a scenic ride on the Vesper! The colours from this image are:

• Powder Pink
• Basic Grey
• Sahara Sand
• Sweet Sugarplum

With that in mind I decided to replicate the blooms from the image and add some pretty dragonflies.  I have a little confession to make, I misread the colours when I made my card (I mixed up my plums) and used Perfect Plum instead of Sweet Sugarplum! I don't think it would change the feel of the card too much as I only used it sparingly on the wings and on the two background dragonflies. 

To emphasize the bricks, after stamping the images,  I ran the Sahara Sand cardstock through the Big Shot using the Brick Wall embossing folder, then sponged with Sahara Sand ink to add some highlights to the edges of the bricks, I then used my White Watercolour pencil to add some lightness to the mortar, being careful not to colour over any of the stamped images.

 

I hope you join in the challenge, just use the  colour palette in your project and upload a picture of it to the CI Facebook Page.

  

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique