CASE-ing the Catty #7 - Home Decor

Time for another CASE-ing the Catty Challenge, this week is all about taking inspiration from the Home Decor section of the catalogue starting at page 94.  You don't have to make a Home Decor item, just use the images in that section as an inspiration for your project.

  Challenge Guidelines:

• Create a new project for this challenge
• Mention CASE-ing the Catty in your blog post and link back to the challenge page 
• Make note in your post of which project from the catalogue gave you inspiration for your project
• Use Stampin' Up! only products (current or retired) in your project
• Have fun and inspire others

I chose to make a card this week, taking inspiration from the canvas with the beautiful big Swallowtail butterflies on page 94. I like the colour duo of Hello Honey and Smokey Slate, and so kept this in my design.

The middle butterfly I stamped in Smokey Slate and then stamped onto Vellum, then before allowing it to dry added a mix of Dazzling Details and Clear Embossing Powder to emboss.  The vellum was punched out and added to the card panel.  I used the darkest of the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities to colour pearls and rhinestones for the bodies of the butterflies.

I hope this has helped inspire you to give the challenge a go, just pick something from the Home Decor section and link up to CASE-ing the Catty Blog.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CASE-ing The Catty Week 6 - Kids

Time for another CASE-ing the Catty Challenge, well actually I am a little late putting up my post for the challenge!  I thought I had done it mid-week only to find it had slipped my mind!  This week we are focusing on the "Kids" section f the catalogue starting at page 82.

 Challenge Guidelines:

• Create a new project for this challenge
• Mention CASE-ing the Catty in your blog post and link back to the challenge page 
• Make note in your post of which project from the catalogue gave you inspiration for your project
• Use Stampin' Up! only products (current or retired) in your project
• Have fun and inspire others

I don't make a lot of kids cards, so thought this might be a bit of a challenge (no pun intended) for me this week, then I realised that I didn't have to make a kids card, just be inspired by one that was in the catalogue.  I chose the sketch from page 86, also keeping to similar colours.  I added some Silver Glimmer Paper, secured with a cute little staple using the Handheld Stapler that is coming in the Holiday Catalogue.  I also added some silver stars to give some added bling!  The cake is from Sketched Birthday, and the sentiment from Age Awareness.

It would be really easy to change up the colours and give this layout a more masculine feel.

I hope I have helped inspire you to join in this week, if you need a bit more inspiration pop over to CASE-ing the Catty and see what the other design team members have created.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Cover Up

Don't you just hate it when you have a card all planned out, cut out, elements ready to go and the last bit of stamping you do has the shadow edge of the rubber stamp onto your card - I know I do.  Well that happened to me making a cute Christmas card. 

I had already adhered the DSP layer on the flip card, and so didn't want to just waste the whole card and start over.  I have to say usually I trim down the rubber around all my stamp images before mounting, but with Clear Mount, which Bright & Beautiful star is from, I don't worry unless I have a problem.

The easy solution - add a sentiment banner to the card to cover the mistake!  I love this little santa from Get Your Santa On from the new Holiday Catalogue that goes live on 28th August. I coloured him in Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities and used Dazzling Details on the trim of his suit. The DSP is also from the same catalogue.  The glimmer paper is the new Silver Glimmer Paper and has much more of a silver look to it that the one recently retired.  The exciting thing about the upcoming Holiday Catalogue is that for the first time ever it goes live in all the parts of the world where Stampin' Up! are active - no longer do the US get it a month before us!  Of course as demonstrators we get a sneak peek order from the catalogue a month early.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CASE-ing The Catty #4 - Wedding

Welcome to another week of CASE-ing the Catty Challenges, this week we are taking inspiration from the Wedding section of the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.  In the South Pacific region that is pages 60 to 71.  Joining in is easy, just have a look at those catalogue pages and take inspiration from one, or more, of the projects. You can pick a card or 3D item, a stamp set or just take a sketch or colour combo. Then upload a link to your creation at CASE-ing the Catty blog.

 I took inspiration from the cute little Gift Card Enclosure Packs on page 66.  These are great, and so quick and easy to decorate. As an added bonus they already have slits inside for you to actually put a gift card!  This would be perfect to pop in a couple's Wishing Well.  I have used my new favourite colour Blackberry Bliss paired with Gold on this project to give it a beautiful rich look.  The Gift Envelope has been stamped with the Work Of Art heart stamp to give it a lift.  The belly band is made from cardstock layered with the luscious new Gold Satin Ribbon, and stamps from both Chalk Talk and Label Love - you can see how easy this would be to adjust for other occasions.

Because I loved this colour combo so much I decided to CASE my CASE and make a card to match!

I hope my creations have inspired you to join in this week, remember it doesn't have to be a wedding project, just take inspiration from the Wedding section of the catalogue.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Gold and Blackberry = Bliss!

Isn't this a cute sketch?  I sometimes struggle to put a card together and like sketch challenges as they give me new ideas!  This week the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches caught my eye and inspired me to join in.

I just can't seem to stop using Blackberry Bliss!  Cardstock, DSP, it doesn't matter I LOVE IT!!!!  I had just finished my project for the next CASE-ing the Catty challenge and had Blackberry Bliss and Gold out on my desk so just had to use them again for this challenge.  I had wanted to use my Gold Baker's Twine, but just couldn't find it, so resorted to some other gold twine I had in my stash.  The button is one of the Very Vintage Designer Buttons pressed into VersaMark and then embossed with Gold Embossing powder. 

Happy Stamping
Monique

CASE-ing the Catty #3 - Birthday

Can you believe another week has gone by?  Well it has, and it's time for another CASE-ing the Catty challenge.  This week we are taking inspiration from the Birthday section of the Stampin' Up Annual Catalogue, in the South Pacific region that is pages 42 to 59.  So have a look over the catalogue and take inspiration from any of the projects on those pages and come join in at CASE-ing The Catty blog.

I was inspired by the cute little bag on page 52 of the catalogue, I loved its cute simplicity and the lovely little tag.  Of course a gift bag is nothing without a matching card and envelope and I was inspired by the birthday note cards on page 50, then decorated an envelope to match!

Now for each of the elements individually.  The gift bag was made from one of the cute little Polka Dot bags. Like last time I used these little bags I folded the top over, this time I wanted it to be more like a stand up bag so inserted some card stock in each side and added handles made from the very cute Sweet Sadie Washi Tape.  I added the Washi Tape to the tag base then used my Stampin' Write Markers to colour the Happy Birthday stamp from Amazing Birthday to match.

I used the Age Awareness happy birthday for the card, I just love this stamp and it is the reason I bought this set!  As I already had Amazing Birthday I added some extra embellishments to the card and envelope.

Finally here is a quick look at the back of the envelope, I had stamped the "surprise" when I was deciding how to decorate the front of the card, and it seemed perfect to add as a "seal" on the back of the envelope.  

I hope I have inspired you to check out the Birthday section of the catalogue and to join in with this week's Birthday theme.  It is easy - just browse the birthday section, find a project that inspires you and get creating. You can make a copy of a project, or just take a colour theme or stamp as your inspiration!

Happy Stamping
Monique