Hand Stamped Happiness

I had the urge to create tonight, although I will admit it was a bit of a challenge as nothing seemed to be going right with my planning lol.  I had chosen the above sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments and wanted to use my new Choose Happiness stamp set which I haven't had chance to ink up much - some stamps even still had the backing on them :)

I knew exactly what I wanted on the off-set panel, it was the strips along the top of the card that had me stumped. I tried DSP strips initially, but couldn't find ones that looked good.  Then I tried hand stamping, just using the flower stamp, but that was too plain. I also tried a number of different colours for the 10x14.8cm mat on the card.  Eventually I decided to add some of the leaves in Mossy Meadow and some of the small flowers from Petite Petals and was happy with the result.  Finally happy with the result!

Happy Stamping
Monique

Forever Young

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day, a bit of a tough one this year as just last month my little nephew Charlie was born sleeping.  As a paper crafter it didn't feel right not to make his parents a special card.  I figured if he had been born normally, or had sadly passed away sometime in the future I would have sent a card, so why would I not acknowledge his little life just because it was so very short?.

As you can imagine, it was the hardest card I have had to make, and I struggled for quite a while because I wanted something that was 'just right'.  I didn't have the right stamps or sentiment, but with MDS was able to take a sentiment I had seen on-line and a digital Stampin' Up! stamp and combine them before cutting out with framelits and adding to the card front.

It is such a fitting sentiment, little Charlie's feet have definitely left footprints on all our hearts. My own heart goes out to everyone who has lost a child in pregnancy or during infancy, particularly today.

Monique

Freshly Made Sketch

Just a quick post tonight as it is getting late and I don't want to miss the cut off for the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge this week.  Its been quite a while since I did a challenge outside of my Design Team entries, but this one just caught my eye.

I recently ordered the Choose Happiness stamp set and this was my first go at inking up the stamps,  I knew I wanted to do a Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey colour combination and the DSP was just perfect for this.   I was so happy to read that the lovely Bendabilities work with a number of our current inks, including Baked Brown Sugar which gave the flower a softer look than the Memento Black ink would have.  I inked up only part of the sentiment and free had cut it into a banner, I just love this sentiment "choose happiness" I think we sometimes forget that we have the power to do just that, put aside the things that irritate us and make choices that will make us happier.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CASE-ing The Catty Week 12: Gift Boxes and Bags

Oops, I am a bit late with my post this week for CASE-ing the Catty Challenges. This week we are taking inspiration for Gift Boxes and Bags from the Holiday Catalogue.

I have to say this week was particularly hard for me, as there are sooo many cute gift boxes to take inspiration from!  I found it so hard that I couldn't just choose one, I had to make two!!!

The first one, on the left, is one of the Tiny Treat Boxes.  These are so cute at 2", but still hold a nice amount of treats, both of these boxes hold 3 Lindt Balls.  I took inspiration for the Tiny Treat Box from the picture on page 10 of the catalogue. I stamped the box with the smallest stamp from Bright & Beautiful using Night of Navy ink, the bow made from a combination of Silver and White Organza ribbon.

The second 'box' is made using the Curvy Keepsake Framelits - I LOVE this box, so versatile.  For this one I used Vellum Cardstock and once cut out with the framelits, I ran it through the Northern Flurry Embossing folder.

 Here is a close up of the tag, stamped with the Good Greetings stamp set. I hand cut the banner and added it to a scallop circle cut from the wonderful sparkly Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper using 1-1/4" Punch.

I hope I have inspired you to join in this week with the challenge, just pick a project from the Holiday Catalogue and CASE away!

Challenge Guidelines

• Create a new project for this challenge
• Mention CASE-ing the Catty, and post a link back to the CASE-ing the Catty Blog
• Note in your post which project you took inspiration from
• Use only Stampin' Up! Products, new or retired in your project
• Have fun!

Happy Stamping
Monique