CTC #384 - Sale-A-Bration

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 Sale-A-Bration catalogue, as a reminder this SAB period will end on 31 August so you only have a couple of days to earn any of the free products. 

I was inspired by this image from page 10, you may recognise it as being the sketch challenge for challenge 382. I missed joining that challenge so thought I would use it for this challenge instead. 

I am really loving the Texture Chic bundle and it seems to be my go-to bundle at the moment. I decided for this card to use the DSP and chose some of the softer colours in the pack.  I have left the large shell in the middle without the backing layer as it reminds me of shells you find that are worn away by the sand and waves. The smaller shells I backed in Distressed Gold. 

Here is a close up of the shells, I used some Tombow glue to add some gold leafing to the solid shell images. When I was younger I was given one of these shells on a necklace and the edge had been dipped in gold and I was inspired by this when stepping up the solid shells.  As you can see in this close up, I added some gold leafing to the edges and some of the lines in the shell. I think this gives a level of opulence and some texture to the card.  The backing layer of DSP I darkened slightly with my Blending Brushes. 

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use any of the samples in the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue 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

Inspire. Create. Challenge. #123

Time for another challenge entry, this time for Inspire Create Challenges using this cool sketch.

I was playing around with the sketch and realised that if I made it a landscape oriented card I could use the Merriest Frames Hybrid Embossing Folder on the background of my card, and centre the sentiment panel in the embossed rectangle.  I am so pleased with how this card turned out.  I used my Blending Brush to add some gold ink to the embossed background and flicked on a little Wink of Stella for a bit more sparkle.  I hope you like it!

Happy Stamping

Monique

CTC #383 - CASE Artistic Expressions

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 Artistic Expressions section of the Annual Catalogue, pages 90 to 119. 

I was inspired by this image from page 98, I bought the Textured Chic DSP with an early order, maybe my first, but wasn't convinced that I needed the Season of Chic stamps and dies bundle so put off purchasing those.  I have recently however decided that I do need them and so wanted to use them for this challenge.  I often find that the first few times I use a new stamp set my final card has veered away from my initial design, and that happened in this case (pun intended). 

Even though I have the lovely papers I wanted to see what I could create using a different colour palette and chose a combination of our pinks, purples and a touch of Soft Seafoam. In my creative process I used some "splatter" stamps from a few sets that I have to create the background, then decided to reduce the amount of embellishments used and let the shells stand out. I did want to add some ribbon so twisted some Metallic Woven Ribbon with some Braided Linen Trim and love how this turned out, adding a subtle element to the card. 

I created the shells by using my Blending Brushes to add colour to white cardstock before cutting out the top layer using the dies, I then mounted these on coordinating plain cardstock. I think this gives the shells the appearance of being under the sea with the light coming through the waves and water, highlighting some parts and leaving the others in shadow but always moving. 

In case you have no idea what I am talking about I thought I'd go hunting for an image to illustrate  online and found this one.

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use any of the samples in Artistic Expressions section of the new Annual Catalogue pages 90 to 119 to inspire your creativity, then post a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page.

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

TSOT #568 - Joyful Christmas

I had a little bit of time on my hands this week, and decided to see if my mojo had started to return so looked up some challenges that I used to join in with.  It has been a while but the Try Stamping on Tuesday sketch caught my eye and I thought it would be interesting to use it as the basis for my card. 

I chose a Christmas theme for the card as it gave me a good excuse to use the lovely Boughs of Holly DSP and Distressed Gold Specialty DSP which I absolutely LOVE.  The poinsettia is cut from one of the sheets of DSP, to do this I used one of my circle dies to draw a pencil line around the image, then fussy cut the circle and around the pieces that overhung the edges. I am so happy with how this turned out.  I wasn't planning on doing the stamping on the background but the card looked a little plain so I used some of the leaves and berries from the retired Tidings & Trimmings stamp set to add some background interest. 

Happy Stamping

Monique