Stamping With MoniQ: September 2017

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

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

Sunday, September 24, 2017

CTC #147 - Christmas Around the World

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where we take a closer look at a section of one of the current Stampin' Up! catalogues.

This week we are looking at the Christmas Around the World section of the holiday catalogue, pages 28-35.

I chose one of the cards from page 28, I almost missed it with all the great projects on this page! I trimmed down the image so you can see better which one I chose.

I kept the layout fairly similar using Merry Little Labels for the focal image and the coordinating framelits to cut the deer from Copper Foil Sheets. The colour is a bit hard to see because of the way the light reflected off it. The strips of copper are from the Year of Cheer Washi Tape. I finished the tag off with a bow from the gorgeous Copper Trim, which is a bit darker than the washi and foil, but works really well with the overall look of the card.

I hope you are inspired to join the challenge this week, just use the projects from the Christmas Around the World section of the Holiday Catalogue as the basis for your creation and add a picture of it to the CTC Facebook Page.

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, September 17, 2017

CTC #146 - Season of Glitz

Welcome to another CASEing the Catty Sunday Challenge where we take a look at one of the sections in the current Stampin' Up! catalogues and use the projects within it to inspire our projects.

This week we are taking a look at the Season of Glitz section of the Holiday catalogue, pages 20 - 27. This is such a fun section, it introduces the Mini Tinsel Trim and Season of Glitz Mini Gift Bows in lovely Christmas colours, and reminds us of the red and Silver Glimmer Paper from the Annual Catalogue.

I took my inspiration from the card above on page 22 of the catalogue.

I thought it was a great opportunity to use the Merry Patterns stamp set, and added some of the Mini Tinsel Trim instead of twine. The candels on the background are part of a 4 step stamp! The outline of the candles, two separate stamps for the body of the candle and the flames. This allows some great combinations. For the background on this stamp I alternated which of the body stamps I used.

I used the candles again on the inside of the card, stamping in Cherry Cobbler and then stamping the other patterns with stamped off Cherry Cobbler. The flames I stamped in Crushed Curry.

I hope we have inspired you to join in the challenge this week, just use the projects in the Season of Glitz section of the Holiday catalogue and add a picture of your creation to the CTC Facebook page.

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, September 10, 2017

CTC #145 - Beachy Little Christmas

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Challenge, where we take a look at different sections of the current Stampin' Up! catalogues, and take inspiration from the great projects within that section.

This week we are looking at the Merry Little Christmas section of the Holiday Catalogue, pages 10 -19. While this is only 9 pages there are soooo many samples from tags, to packaging to cards.

When I first saw this section of the catty I fell in love, in particular with the Merry Little Christmas mega suite, and knowing that we would CASE this section at some point I was sure I would CASE one of the projects from that suite. However I was also really quite drawn to the above images from page 18 of the catalogue, particularly the one on the left and top right. I chose the layout of the card on the left, and the background stamping from the card on the top right.

While I don't own the Beachy Little Christmas stamp set, it is on my wish list, and I was lucky enough to have a play date with my friend Cathy who let me have a play with hers. To link my project with the Merry Little Christmas suite I used one of the sheets of DSP from the coordinating pack to create the two borders. I usually do a border all the way around but quite like the idea of just strips down each side, it is the perfect way to frame a longer central image like the tree and sentiment on this card. I used Watercolour Pencils to colour the tree, and love all the little sea creatures used as ornaments, perfect for the summer Christmas we have here in Australia.

There are a couple of cute single stamps in the set, one I used on the background, and another I used on the inside of the card. Isn't this little crab holding the mistletoe cute? Still, not sure I would be giving him a Christmas kiss! He reminds me of one of the little soldier crabs that I used to see running in swarms across the sands in summer.

I hope we have inspired you to join in by CASEing one of the beautiful projects in the Holiday catalogue, just upload a picture to the CTC Facebook page.

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, September 3, 2017

CTC #144 - Quilted Christmas

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, a challenge hop that takes inspiration from a different section of one of the Stampin' Up! catalogues each week. The creative team at Stampin' Up! are so talented and fill our catalogues full of great samples which are perfect to use as inspiration to create our own projects, whether it be the layout of a card, the colour scheme used or maybe even the technique.

I chose the card above, from page 9 of the Holiday catalogue. I liked the simplicity of this layout, and it also prompted me to use the beautiful Bundle of Love Specialty DSP for Christmas Cards.

I love this pattern from the DSP pack, and decided to go a bit non-traditional with the colours, matching it with Bermuda Bay. I added a mat behind the centre panel to make it stand out a bit more from the background. For my card I chose the lovely stamps from Carols of Christmas set, using one of the sentiments and the cute little ornaments which I "strung" on thin strips of Gold Washi Tape. I have instructions on how I achieved this below.

One of the other Washi Tapes in the set is a cute match for this DSP, and I used it on the inside of the card. You can also see on this image how I popped up the ornaments on Mini Dimensionals which are the perfect size for these adorable little ornaments.

Here is how I got the lovely thin strips of Washi Tape for my ornaments:

Apply the Washi Tape lightly to the edge of a piece of card stock
Use your paper trimmer to trim off a thin piece
Gently peel off the Washi Tape and apply to your project.
It isn't quite as sticky so I made sure to loop it over the back and made sure my mini dimensional sat over the other end before adding the mini ornament.

I hope we are inspiring you to join in with the challenge this week. Just take inspiration from one of the lovely samples in the Quilted Christmas section of the Holiday catalogue and upload a pictrue of your projecty to the CTC Facebook Page.

Time to hop on over to see what the talented Peta has been inspired to create this week.

Happy Stamping

Monique

ESAD Blog Hop - 2017 Holiday Catalogue

Welcome to the ESAD Holiday Catalogue Blog Hop for 2017. I have been so inspired by the new catalogue and I just know that the rest of the demonstrators participating in this hop will have created some wonderful projects. I have three projects to share with you today, all of which feature one of the bundles in the Merry Little Christmas Mega Suite, the Merry Little Labels bundle which features stamps perfect for creating tags and labels as well as the coordinating Everyday Label Punch.

Two of the coordinating products in this set are the Merry Little Christmas Cardstock and DSP packs, and I used both to make this cute little gift box. Using the "large box" markers on the Gift Bag Punch Board and a strip of DSP/Cardstock that is 12" x 4" you get a box that is aprox 3.5" x 2" and 2.5" high.

This Mega Suite is well named and has so many coordinating embellishments, including 7/8" Striped Ribbon and adorable Mini Ornaments which I used to decorate the top of the box. As you can see this stamp from the set also coordinates with the Layered Oval Framelits.

My second project utilises one of the tag stamps to create a layered tag. I altered one of the beautiful Sriped Treat Bags and added the tag to the front with a coordinating Gold Library Clip. I love how products from the new catalogues coordinate so well with existing products in the Annual Catalogue.

My final project is a simple, but pretty, gift tag. I cut 2" x 8.25" strips from a piece of A4 cardstock and folded it in half to create the base of the tag, trimming the end using the Banner Triple Punch (it will cut both layers at once. I then cut a piece of DSP 2" x 4" and again used the Banner Triple Punch on one end, doing this gives a small border at the base and top of the DSP. Adding a small Silver Doily under the stamped image gives it some pop. I stamped the image onto Watercolour Paper and once it was dry brushed over it with my Aqua Painter before trimming around the edge and layering onto a piece of Marina Mist cardstock.