CTC #79 - 3D or Kit

Welcome to another CTC Sunday Blog Hop, can you believe this is our second last hop before we start on the new Annual Catalogue!  For this hop we are taking inspiration from 3D items and Kits from the Annual and Occasions Catalogues.

This is the image I took inspiration from, the little bag/basket on the left from page 61 of the Annual Catalogue, I think this is so cute and such a great way to use the Fry Box die.

I changed mine up slightly, to make it a little more masculine. I used images from the Amazing Birthday stamp set stamped in Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy which are great masculine colours. To add to the masculine theme I added a Gold Doily rather than the Tea Lace Paper Doilies, as well as some of the edge of the 1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon.

This is a great size little bag, I added some treats in one of the Sketched Dots Tag a Bag Gift Bags. I did think the bag in the catalogue with popcorn would be a really cute way to package up a movie gift voucher for someone.

  

Now its your turn to get inspired by the projects in the Stampin' Up Catalogues and add your creation to the link above. Just a quick reminder that we have one link for the whole month with a top pick chosen from all the weeks.

  

Time to head on over to Rebecca's blog and check out her wonderful creation.

I am also adding my project to the Seize the Birthday challenge to add dimension to a birthday project, 

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #78 - Project Life/Hostess

Welcome to another CASE-ing The Catty Sunday Blog Hop, this week we are taking inspiration from pages 42, 43 and 51, combining Project Life and Hostess sets.  

I chose this cute little bag from the hostess page of the Occasions Catalogue, I thought it looked fun and I love the DSP inside the bag which softens the colours.  

I decided to make a card instead of the bag (somehow I have misplaced my Sketched Dots Gift Bags!) and chose the Have A Cuppa DSP.  I added the hearts using coordinating Chalk Lines, and stamped off the images in Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay to mute them slightly to match the DSP under the vellum.  The sentiment is from Tin of Cards stamp set, and the cute little cup is fussy cut from another sheet of the same DSP stack.

  

If you would like to join in, please upload a link to your photo to the main Blog page.

  

Now it's time to hop on over to  Rebecca and see what she was inspired to create.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #77 - Going Places

Welcome to another CTC Sunday Blog Hop, this week we are taking inspiration from the Going Places suite of products.  

Ever since I saw the image above in the Occasions Catalogue I knew I wanted to re-create the picture frame.  I am not sure exactly what about it drew me in but I just loved it.

So this week was the perfect opportunity to make my own using the Going Global stamp set and coordinating Going Places Designer Series Paper   I did make a couple of changes, handwriting the You and Me on the little flags, and red Glimmer Paper hearts punched with the Owl Builder Punch.

I also added an additional layer, stamping the "Love" in Real Red, and the banner Early Espresso on Very Vanilla card stock and fussy cutting the image.  My tip on this is when you fussy cut around a stamped image like this, when you have finished take your Stampin' Write Marker in the matching colour and just run it around the outer edge so there is no fine vanilla like around it.

  

If you would like to join in create a project taking inspiration from the Going Places Suite page 38 - 49 and add it to the May link page.  Each month the team will choose a top pick from the entries for the month.

  

Now it is time to hop on over to see what Julia has created.

Happy Stamping
Monique

ESAD Blog Hop - Time to Say Goodbye

Welcome to another ESAD Blog Hop.  Want to learn more about ESAD, check out the details at the end of my post. This is a mixed time of the year as we say goodbye with sadness to many of our much loved products from the Annual and Occasions Catalogues.  But the exiting thing is that we get a whole new catalogue shortly and all of the new wonderful products (and I can attest that there are sooooo many).  

This blog hop gives as the opportunity to showcase some of the retinging products one last time, and all I can advise, is that if you love them don't hesitate to order them as they will be gone by the end of the month.

On to my projects - I decided to make a set of four little 3" square cards using a range of retiring products.  I love little cards to add to a gift, or just to leave in a lunch box, or pop onto someone's desk at work. There are so many opportunities to make someone smile in their day. 

 The first card makes use of the Banner Punch and the Honeycomb Hello stamp set. I decorated the envelope with matching little banners.

My second card uses another of the sentiments from Honeycomb Hello and the balloons from Pretty Thankful. I added strips of Everyday Chic Designer Washi Tape, you could really change the feel of the card by using different Washi Tape.

 While I had my Pretty Thankful stamp set out I decided to use the images on my next two cards.  This first one has a combination of Blackberry Bliss and Lost Lagoon, two colours that I am really going to miss.

My final card, also using Pretty Thankful, uses the remaining retiring in-colours, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow and Hello Honey.  I thought I would give you a tip on how to line the sentiments up in these shapes, a tip that would work on other shapes and stamps also.

Firstly stamp the frame and then lie the photo polymer sentiments exactly where you want them in the frame.  

The next step is to lie a clear block over the stamps, the stamps are then perfectly lined up with each other and you only need to ink up once. It is pretty simple but has really been helpful to me when trying to line up multiple photo polymer stamps.

It is time to hop on over to Lou's blog and see what she has created.

  

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #76 - Have a Cuppa

Welcome to another CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop Challenge, if you are a new visitor each week we take inspiration from a section of one of the Stampin' Up! Catalogues and create a project. Sometimes inspiration comes from the stamp set, the colour combo, the layout ... anything really. Such a great way to really appreciate the work that the creative team at Stampin' Up! do.

This week we are taking inspiration from the Have a Cuppa section of the Occasions catalogue, pages 34 - 37.  I took inspiration from the pink card in the image above, you can find it on page 36.

I changed mine up a bit to use one of the retiring stamp sets Choose Happiness, and Cucumber Crush as the base colours.  I really like the monochromatic look of the card, but had to add some bling with both gold metalic thread and a few gold sequins. If you saw my post last week I used the same tip for adding the thread to the back of the punched out sentiment, I am loving how easy it makes things. I coloured part of the sentiment stamp using the coordinating Stampin' Write Marker to add some darker areas.

I used a technique we saw at the recent Stampin' Up! On Stage event to create the splatter effect. To do this squeeze an ink pad to get ink onto the inside of the lid then use an Aqua Painter to pick up the ink and "flick" it with your finger onto the page.  Sure it is a bit messy but is lots of fun and gives a great finish to the card.

    

I hope you are enjoying the hop, if we inspire you to join in please just add a link to the main blog page by clicking the image above.  

Time to hop on over to Helen's blog and see which project caught her eye.

                                            

Product List

Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock [138344] $12.25	Choose Happiness Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134198] $31.00	Aqua Painters [103954] $20.00	Gold Metallic Thread [138401] $5.25	Metallics Sequin Assortment [138390] $8.75
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [138326] $11.50

Happy Stamping
Monique