Sunday, May 31, 2020

CTC #271 - Week 1 - New Catalogue Cover

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where utilise the projects within the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire our own projects each week. We also invite you to join with us in the challenge each week by using this inspiration in your own creations and uploading a photo to our Facebook page.

This week we are taking our inspiration from the front cover of the new annual catalogue. Because we can't show images of the inside of the catalogue until it goes live in just a few days on 3 June, we are going to feature the cover of this amazing catalogue.

I love how simple these cards are, a couple of ink colours and coordinating (or contrasting) cardstock and you can make some really pretty projects.  All of these cards on the cover use just one stamp set, Lovely You, which has 11 sentiments and 7 leaf and floral images!  I knew it was going to be my first purchase from this catalogue!

I have actually CASE'd two of the cards from the cover, the ones in this image. I did decide to change up the colours a little as I wanted to show off the new In-Colours and use a little of my new DSP!

This actually the second card I made for this challenge.  I have fallen in love with the colour combination of Petal Pink and Misty Moonlight and I have to give the credit for this to the designers of the Flowers For Every Season DSP.  For the main image I stamped the simple flower from Lovely You in Petal Pink and then used one of my Watercolour Pencils and Blender Pen to add a little blue to the petals of the flower, finishing it off with an In-Colour Enamel Dot. I finsihed off the card with a few mini pearls and Misty Moonlight Ribbon.

My next card also uses the Flowers for Every Season DSP pack!  Where are the flowers you might ask? Well the reverse side of a number of the sheets has simple small patterns in most of the in-colours.  I say most because the Magenta Madness wasn't included for some reason.  Not to be put off by this I decided to feature it in the base of my card, my main sentiment panel and more of the cute Enamel Dots. 

The sentiment is punched using the new Lovely Labels Punch which lets you punch six different sized labels. You simply start with a strip either 1", 3/4" or 1/2" in width and pop it in the punch to create a decorative end. The great thing about this punch is that the different widths layer perfectly with each other. I have some tips on using it below. 

I also made a layer using this colour to coordinate with the other DSP strips.  Here's how:
I used this tiny little stamp from So Sentimental to stamp with white craft ink onto the Magenta Madness strip.  I think it worked pretty well don't you?

Now for my punching tip: If you are anything like me you like to get the length of a banner even on each side of the sentiment, and I have found label punches can make this a little tricky. I finally worked out a way to make myself a template to make this process fool-proof.  I have added the immage above as a quick guide. Here are some more detailed instructions:
  1. Label punches allow you to slide a piece of cardstock into the opening that is much bigger than the punch.  This cuts both images out of one piece of cardstock. Do this and then keep the off-cut for step 2.
  2. Take the little off-cut and adhere to the main piece of cardstock. I used some thin Washi tape to do this. Just make sure the two pieces of cardstock are just butted up against each other, and not overlapping.  As you can see you can attach the pieces on each end and in the middle.
  3. Once secured you can then stamp your sentiment and slide the strip in between the two pieces of cardstock of your template.   This helps in two ways, firstly it lets you choose which shape loods better with your sentiment, and secondly it lets you decide exactly where you want the punch to cut.  Once in position just mark with a pencil where your strip of cardstock needs to be trimmed (along the flat edge of your template). Trim it off and punch your image.
  4. Do the same with the other end of the sentiment and you will have a perfectly spaced sentiment with very minimal effort.  
I hope this helps you get more out of any of your label punches as this will work with any of the "end" punches.  I have stored my template in with my Lovely You stamp set as I know it coordinates with this punch.

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the samples from the cover of the 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.  Don't have a catalogue yet? Contact me to get your copy, or check back here after 3 June for a link to the pdf version.

Time to hop on over and see what Shannon has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, May 24, 2020

CTC #270 - Favourite Retiring Punch or Die - Wk 2

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where utilise the projects within the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire our own projects each week. We also invite you to join with us in the challenge each week by using this inspiration in your own creations and uploading a photo to our Facebook page.

This week we are taking our inspiration from the projects using retiring punches and die from either the Annual or Occasions Catalogues.

I was inspired by the card on the right in this image from page 116 of the Annual Catalogue. I loved the shape of this butterfly when it was released and will be so sad to see it retire, although I have to admit that this one will stay in my collection for some time.

I decided to make my card in keeping with the original colour scheme, just changing out the DSP to use Perennial Essence another absolute faviourite of mine from this catalogue, I can't believe its been almost a year since it was released! The sentiment is stamped in Pretty Peacock

Once I had made my card I was really curious as to how it would look using a different colour scheme, so I chose another sheet from the same DSP pack and paired it with Balmy Blue. I love how the deep purples look behind the front panel and actually think I like this one better than the first. What do you think? Let me know in the comments. 

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the samples featuring retiring punches or dies to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.

Time to hop on over and see what Julia has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, May 17, 2020

CTC #270 - Favourite Retiring Punch or Die - Wk 1

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where utilise the projects within the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire our own projects each week. We also invite you to join with us in the challenge each week by using this inspiration in your own creations and uploading a photo to our Facebook page.

This week we are taking our inspiration from any of the projects featuring retiring punches or dies.

I was inspired by this image from page 43, I just love the labels in the Stitched Labels Dies and will really miss them, but there are some great new label dies coming in the new catalogue so I don't think I will miss them for long.

I mixed up the DSP on this one, again using the Peaceful Poppies DSP for the background and for the floral images which I fussy cut from one of the sheets. I love how the Old Olive and Blackberry Bliss look together, such a stunning combo. Keeping up with the fussy cutting I stamped the sentiment twice cutting the "darling" from the Blackberry Bliss before raising it up on Mini Dimensionals. 

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the samples featuring your faviourite retiring punch or die to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.

Time to hop on over and see what Julia has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, May 10, 2020

CTC #269 - Favourite Retiring Bundle - Week 2

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where utilise the projects within the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire our own projects each week. We also invite you to join with us in the challenge each week by using this inspiration in your own creations and uploading a photo to our Facebook page.

This week we are taking our inspiration from the retiring bundles in both catalogues. I was inspired for this week's project by the Peaceful Moments Bundle from the Occasions Catalogue.  

In particular it was this little gift back that caught my eye, I love the simplicity of the design and used it as the starting point for my project this week. You can find it on page 27 of the Occasions Catalogue.

I decided to make a card instead of a gift bag and used a layer of the coordinating DSP which is sadly one of the lovely products which is retiring. I love the water colour feel to this DSP and will very much miss its rich colours. I did want to mute them a little so the large poppy stood out, so like my inspiration project I added a layer of vellum keeping it slightly smaller than the DSP layer to create a border.  The inside of the poppy was coloured by sponging Blackberry Bliss onto Whisper White and then cutting it out with the dies and layering the Blackberry Bliss layer over the top. I love the centre of this flower and the texture that the two layers of die cuts and Perennial Essence Floral Centre creates. 

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the retiring bundles to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.

Time to hop on over and see what Judy has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sunday, May 3, 2020

CTC #269 - CASE A Favourite Retiring Bundle - Week 1

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where utilise the projects within the current Stampin' Up! catalogue to inspire our own projects each week. We also invite you to join with us in the challenge each week by using this inspiration in your own creations and uploading a photo to our Facebook page.

This week we are taking our inspiration from one of the retiring bundles, you can find them easily on the On-Line store, but really any bundle from either the Annual or Occasions Catalogues is officially retiring as even if the individual items remain current they are only sold as a bundle for one catalogue.

My favourite bundle has been Bird Ballad ever since I first laid eyes on it, so the choice of bundle was easy.  The project to CASE using the bundle was a bit trickier as there are so many that I really like. I decided to go with this one from page 91 of the Annual Catalogue. I love how pretty it looks, and really how simple the layout is.

I used the Stitched Lace Die to cut a Petal Pink panel for the front of the card, then stamped the pretty flowers from Free As A Bird Stamp Set in Crused Cury, Petal Pink and Granny Apple Green.  I think I like my colour combo more than the original, what do you think?

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the samples that feature your favourite retiring bundle to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.

Time to hop on over and see what Lauren has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique