Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing Tracy

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Tracy's Card

This chain started with this pretty floral card from Tracy, Tracy used a fun technique for the DSP which is to cut two 7.5cm squares diagonally to create triangles, then rearrange them on the card front over some coordinating cardstock. If you didn't begin this hop with the first blog, don't worry too much as I was second after Tracy so you won't have missed much, but I would recommend you visit her blog so you can learn from Tracy why she chose this design.  

Being second in the chain you can easily see the links between Tracy's card and mine, I kept the design the same, but changed up the colours and stamps. I did stick with floral images, I love this image from Gallery Blooms which I have stamped in Saddle Brown StazOn ink before water colouring. I love the texture of colour water colouring can give, I used a little ink from my stamp pads and my Aqua Painter to add the colour. For the DSP triangles I found it easiest to find the centre of the card layer and mark with a pencil (it gets covered up anyway, then make sure the tip of each triangle was in line with the centre of the card to get an even cross. I finished off with Petal Pink & Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping

Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing Me!

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

This chain started with this card of mine!  This was a card that just evolved as I played with the cardstock and images. I had fun embossing and then distressing the Pretty Peacock Two-Tone cardstock and the other rectangle layer. I just love the images from the Online Exclusive Bundle Textured Notes, they really lend themselves to this style of card. I am so sad that this bundle has now retired, well at least the DSPs and stamp set have, though they are still available in Australia on the last chance list. 

Time to keep hopping to see how my card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain. Do you think it will still have the rustic elements by the last card?

Happy Stamping

Monique

Product of the Month Collaboration - True Blue Florals

Welcome to our first Product of the Month (POM) Blog Hop!  If you've followed my blog for  while you will know that in previous years we have had a period of Sale-A-Bration (SAB) at the start of each year. Well Stampin' Up! have implemented a new initiative instead of SAB, and that is Product of the Month. For POM there is a new product released every month that can be earned for a greatly reduced cost, $9 in Australia, with the purchase of $125 in product.   So a group of demonstrators decided to help showcase these products we would run a blog hop each month to give ideas.

For December 2025 the product is a pack of 12x12 DSP called True Blue Florals, and it won't be a surprise that the patterns are all lovely florals in Balmy Blue and Night of Navy. I chose this design for my card to show off both sides of the lovely DSP. The front of the paper reminds me of wallpaper and I liked the idea of looking through a window with pretty blue curtains. I added some pieces from Beautifully Adorned Ephemera Pack to the front of the card, its from the upcoming mini catalogue. This is a beautiful ephemera pack with gold printed on quite thick vellum, and I love how the corner pieces look great on this card.

Time to keep on hopping and see what the rest of the team have created with this gorgeous paper, just follow the links at the end of each blog post to make your way around the hop.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing Genna

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Genna's Card

This chain started with this gorgeous colourful card from Genna, I love all the floral images and how Genna coloured them so beautifully. If you haven't started the hop with Genna's card I would really recommend following the link at the end of this post and you will be able to see the progression of her design as it makes its way through all our creative hands. 

I was eighth in the chain, and you can see how the layering technique from Genna's card has made its way around the hop.  I love this technique but don't use it as often as I should. As you can see it is great for a collection of small images or one larger image as I have done. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, I am guessing it won't have changed too much over the next couple of cards. 

Happy Stamping

Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing Ros

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Ros's Card

This chain started with this fun card from Ros, don't the turtles make for a cute birthday card? You should start this hop at Ros's blog so you can see the progression of the card, her link is first in the list below.  

I was sixth in this round and you can really see the key elements of the two-layered background and three focal images have carried through to my card. Interestingly, like Ros, I also used cut out images from DSP, which Mandy hadn't done on her card.  I love this Celebratory Sips DSP, and its fitting especially as we hit the warmer months in Australia to imagine the clinking of ice in a lovely cocktail. My go to summer cocktail is a mojito, let me know in the comments what yours is.

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain.  What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping
Monique

Let's Craft Together Blog Hop - Christmas Decoration

Welcome to the monthly Blog Hop by Let’s Craft Together and thank you for joining us. We are a group of multi-cultural Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators in Australia who have developed a strong friendship though our love of stamping and our admiration of each other’s style of crafting.

The challenge this month is to create a Christmas tree decoration using any materials or techniques you like. Let your imagination run wild and make a decoration that is truly yours. 

Here is my ornament made from the Ornamental Christmas dies to cut a total of six stars from Traditions of Christmas DSP and Gold Foil Sheets (three of each).  This is made by scoring the pieces down the middle and adhering them together alternating colours, attaching the start to a piece of twine and attaching to the Large Gold Hoops.  I have a few tips on making this that I worked out along the way, you can find these at the end of my post.  

I love how this looks but as usual photographs don't really do it justice, so I took a little video which you can watch below to see it spinning and showing off the lovely shiny golds. 

The first tip is to use your score board to help get a neat score line by aligning one of the star cut out pieces centrally on the longest of the "arms". Just add each of the stars in turn and and carefully score a line down the middle of each.  Don't stress too much about getting the thin pieces of the star to fold down the middle, but it is important for the top, middle and bottom pieces to score well. 

The next tip also uses the score board, with the Large Gold Hoop pressed into the corner it is easy to mark the centre point on the top and bottom with a small permanent marker, don't worry, this will be covered by the twine.  It was much easier to adhere the star to the twin once I had secured both ends on the gold hoop using a very small dot of Tombow Multipurpose Glue. 

The third and final tip is to adhere five of the pieces of the star together before attaching to the twine. I would also suggest leaving a DSP piece to be the last one you add as it is a little easier to manipulate into position.  Add a line of glue up the centre of both pieces you are attaching to ensure a good hold on the twine.  

I hope this helps should you decide to trade one of your own. Now time to keep hopping to see what the rest of the team have created to decorate their trees. 

Happy Stamping

Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing Cindy

we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Cindy's Card

This chain started with this pretty card from the talented Cindy, I love the striking contrast with the colours she chose for this card. You should start this hop at Cindy's blog so you can see the progression of the card, you can find the link at the top of the list below.

  

I was seventh in the chain for this round, and you can see how things have changed from Cindy's original card. Although I did choose colours that are very contrasting which I didn't know about the first card.  There are some elements the same but I don't think you would necessarily link the two cards if you saw them side by side.  

I created the floral image by cutting from water colour paper and colouring with inks and an aqua painter. I then flicked water droplet to create the mottled look. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, does it veer further from the original or continue to be recognisably linked to my card?

Happy Stamping

Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing Danielle

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Danielle's Card

This chain started with this patchwork look card created by the lovely Danielle, I love the stamping between the DSP squares, it gives it a real hand sewn look. You should have started this hop with Danii's card, if you haven't go to the list at the bottom of the post and follow the progression of the card around the chain.   

I was forth in the chain, so you can easily see the link between Danii's card and mine. One of the notable changes is mine is a portrait orientation and has stamping and matting on three of the squares. The ribbon around the middle of the card has stayed consistent so far, do you think it will last the whole journey?

I used Celebratory Sips DSP and coordinating stamps for my version of the card. I chose the colours for the stamped images from the colours in the DSP using Watercolour Pencils to add colour to my stamped images. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain.  What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #547 CASE The Annual Catalogue

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 inspiration from any of the projects in the Annual Catalogue, and boy are there some great ones.

I was inspired by this card from page 114 of the Annual Catalogue, I love a shaker card and this one caught my eye with the use of die cut letters over the shaker window.

Here is my version, using the Modern Christmas DSP and embellishments. I have to be honest this is a faux shaker using a cellophane bag rather than creating a layered area for the shaker pieces.  If you know me at all you will know that the original version of a shaker ends with me covered in shaker pieces!  By using a cello bag with an insert layered behind the window you get the same effect without the mess. 

  

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use any project from the Annual 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 the lovely Rochelle has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4D - CASE-ing Carolina

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Carolina's Card

This chain started by Carolina with this beautiful birthday card. I love her use of arches behind the focal cupcake image. If you didn't start the hop with this card you should make your way to Carolina's blog and start hopping from there to really appreciate the progress her card makes through the chain.

I was fifth in this chain and it is fun to see that the rounded shapes are still evident and I also chose colours that were similar to Carolina's even though Danielle before me used a much more pastel palette.

I love how easy the Charming Day products are to use, with the die cut flowers adding so much with so little effort, just a little sponging over the centres with my blends in colours that coordinate with the DSP. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain.  What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #546 - CASE A Die Or Punch Project

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 inspiration from projects featuring dies or punches. There aren't any set catalogue pages for this challenge as they are all through our catalogues!

I was inspired by this card from page 84 of the Annual Catalogue, I loved the simplicity of this card and the how the images are used on both the background and as the focal image. 

For my card I chose bolder colours, using Pretty Peacock for the card base and utilising the Extraordinary Flora Washi Tape adhered to Whisper White cardstock and die cut using the coordinating dies. I played around with the background, first trying a more subtle effect stamping with VersaMark, but I preferred the effect of using Pretty Peacock with it's stronger colouring.  The sentiment is from Greetings For All Mix & Match Ephemera Pack, which is one of my favourite products of all time.

  

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

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4 - CASE-ing F

BADGE

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

CARD 1

This chain started with this <adjective> card from <name>, <add some words about the card>.  You should start this hop at <name>'s blog so you can see the progression of the card.  

MY CARD

I was 7 in the chain, <__insert how this affected the card__>. 

How did I CASE the card before me, what elements did I copy and what did I edit?  What stamps etc. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain.  What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping
Monique

Card Swap Chain Series 4C - CASE-ing Sharni

BADGE

Back in May 2025 we started the fourth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea is the we each made a card and sent it to another person in the chain. That person would CASE (Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit) the card and send it to the next person who would in turn CASE it and send it on. There are 10 of us in this chain so quite a few variations between the first and last card, and these blog hops take you on the journey through the CASEing process. 

Sharni's Card

This chain started with this bright and cheerful card from Sharni, I love this little bee stamp and the coordinating papers and at times regret not adding it to my stash! If you didn't start the hop with this card then pop on over to Sharni's blog to see the progression of her design.

I was third in the chain for this card so my card holds fairly true to the original, even down do the embossed panel, use of DSP and contrasting strips of colour around the image and DSP. I used Celebratory Sips paired with Mossy Meadow Two-Toned cardstock, with a sliver of Secret Sea peeking out from under the DSP triangles.  Keeping with Cindy's card (the one I received) I cut my focal images out of one of the sheets of DSP, adding the sentiment from the coordinating Cheers & Sips stamp set. Even though the embossing folder is from a very different suite of products I think it adds a touch of elegance to my card.  

I thought I'd share the inside of my card too as it uses a little trick of mine (not exclusively mine but I do use it frequently). You know how some images are incomplete on a sheet of DSP as they run over the edge of the paper?  Well I use those to decorate the inside of my cards, or sometimes on a front panel, aligning the cut off edge to the edge of my panel so it looks intentional. You would never suspect this glass could have been thrown away as scrap! I love that it matches the one on the front cover. 

Time to keep hopping to see how this card was interpreted for the rest of the chain, and if it is still recognisable by the end of the chain.  What elements do you think made it all the way down the line?

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #545 - CASE The Online Exclusives

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 inspiration from the projects from the Online exclusives, you can find a badge with a link on the right side of my blog.

I was inspired by this card from the projects made with the Friendliest Foliage stamp set from the On-line Exclusives.

I used the sketch and general concept of the original card to make this Christmas version, using the lovely die cuts from Branching Out dies. I usually struggle a bit with lots of layers like this card has, but I just kept popping them behind the sentiment until I was happy.  That's right, I adhered the frame first with single layer of Dimensionals, and then the sentiment with a double layer of Dimensionals and then adhered the die cuts with glue dots. 

Here's a close up, you can see I added some cute berries to the branches using Red Enamel Effects, and then because I was on a roll a little bit of Gold Enamel Effects to the edges of the leaves, and Copper to the edges of the pine cones.  I am so disappointed that these products have retired but I just couldn't help using them. 

  

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

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique