CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop #26 - Wedding

Welcome to the second CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop.  This is the second Blog Hop for the design team and this week we are going to be CASE-ing projects from the Wedding section of the Occasions Catalogue. This is a timely theme for me as I have recently been to the wedding of my nephew, the first wedding for that generation of the family.

Even though it is a blog hop you can still join in by leaving a comment on the main blog with a link to your project and the team will add you to the list.  You can add the badge above to identify your project.

I decided to take inspiration from the decorated box at the top left of page 42.  Instead of making a gift box I decided to use a similar idea but using the adorable 2" boxes and make a wedding favour instead.  I used the beautiful Something Borrowed DSP and delicate Sahara Sand Lace Trim just peeking out the sides. The heart is punched from matching Sahara Sand card stock and the sentiment is from Itty Bitty Banners.  These would be so easy to make as wedding favours, and other colours could be added to match the colours of the wedding; you could even make them themed for Christmas or Birthdays as a special gift for guests.

Hop on over to Nikki's Blog to see her lovely creation.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Sketched Hearts

Just a quick post from me today to share my entry in the Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge.

I haven't used my Language of Love stamp set much and I thought this sketch was the perfect opportunity to have a play, I was initially going to use the heart stamp in the centre but it didn't look as good so went with the triangle instead.  The best thing about this stamp set is that every shape matches one of Stampin' Up's punches or Framelits!  Here I actually cut each one by hand (not to bad with all the straight lines) and then layered them onto the punched and die cut shapes so there is a little border of gold showing around the edge.  I punched some hearts to match in with the gold embossed vellum on the background, and added Gold Baker's Twine threaded through three little holes to finish off the card.  I just love how the gold all matches together.  A bit late for Valentines Day, but why wait for a special day to tell someone you love them?

Happy Stamping

Golden Hearts

I love combing challenges, and so to have a challenge blog like Fusion Card Challenge that gives you the option to do just that is a great find for me.  This challenge gave me the opportunity to use some new toys that I have not yet had chance to play with, so that was even better.

The photo opened up the opportunity for me to use my new Woodgrain background stamp.  For the sketch I cut this image in half and sponged the edges.  The other new products are the beautiful Gold Embossed Vellum and the Gold Baker's Twine, the photo doesn't show them at their best, but trust me they look so rich and beautiful in person.  The final new product is the cute little stamped heart from Language of Love, punched with the Heart Punch and backed by a Gold Glimmer Paper heart cut using the scalloped heart Framelit from the Hearts A Flutter collection.  

Happy Stamping

Lost Card

I have been going through my "To Blog" folder, a folder I keep with pictures that I want to pop up here, and I came across this card.  This one comes with a bit of a funny story ...

At the end of 2012 my brother and his wife had their first baby, young Henry. My daughter was due to be visiting around the time of the birth so I made a version of this card for her to take with her, made in neutral colours with two picture panels (one pink and one blue), so that she could attach the correct one when the baby was born.  Well chance would have it that somehow after writing on the card, it got lost and never made it to Henry!  So when she came back home I made another one, the one pictured here, only this time I knew it could be blue.  

The really funny part comes because somehow this card too became lost and I never got it sent off!  I am sure one day it will turn up, probably when I do a complete craft space re-shuffle! At least I managed to take a photo before I lost it.

Happy Stamping

In-Colour Thank You

ESAD, the online group that organised the recent Blog Hop I was part of has set a monthly card challenge.  Unfortunately it is a closed Facebook group for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators and I can't link up the other creations but wanted to share mine.

This card uses three of our beautiful new In-Colours, new Label Love stamp set and matching punch as well as the very cute Chalk Talk Framelits.  I trimmed down the framelit tag to make it more square by running it through the Big Shot twice.  Sentiment from Itty Bitty Banners, and the flower is made with the wonderful Simply Pressed Clay, coloured by pushing it into the Coastal Cabana stamp pad - you can also colour the clay before you put it in the mold, or use an aqua painter to paint the dried flower (I had misplaced mine on my somewhat messy desk lol).

Happy Stamping

Freshly Made Silhouettes - Two Ways

Looking for a sketch to base my next card on I turned to Freshly Made Sketches, I like these as they are nice and clean layouts, without the 'simple' aspect of a lot of Clean and Simple challenges.  

This time around I used my new Serene Silhouettes stamp set, I just love the little birds on the tree and did some fussy cutting after stamping them in Cajun Craze to make them stand out from the branches.  I wanted the card to have a fairly muted look to it so I used my brayer to colour the back ground for the birds and then decided to try and colour the DSP with the brayer also.  I am really happy with how it turned out, achieving the effect I was after.  

Here you can see a picture of the un-brayered DSP beside the piece I coloured with Pool Party.  I think this worked because I was using a fairly pale colour, too dark a colour would just cover the DSP.

Because I brayered a whole 12" strip I had a piece left over so decided to use the same basic sketch but make some changes.  Firstly I made this card landscape instead of portrait. I added some ribbon and a sentiment as well.  The butterflies are stamped with my new Papillon Potpourri stamp set and cut out using the new Elegant Butterfly Punch. If you look closely at the centre butterfly I have stamped on it with the new Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stampin' Pad - this is a bit like VersaMark but has a distinct glimmer to it, and is so pretty.  It is hard to capture it in the photo.

Happy Stamping

Beautiful Blue Butterflies

I am happy to say I have made my first card with my new toys, it took me a bit to get going as I kept finding new toys on my desk and wanting to play with them all - I felt a bit like a 3 year old!  I decided the thing to do was clear off the desk, put the new toys away and focus on the one at hand, which worked a treat.

This card is made completely with new products (apart from adhesives lol).  The DSP is from Comfort Cafe, which I think is going to become my new favourite DSP, it is so pretty, if you look closely behind the main pattern the paper is printed in such a way it looks like it is fabric, which gives such a lovely feel to the card. The butterfly images are from Papillon Potpourri and are punched out with a matching punch (my new favourite punch), no more fussy cutting of butterflies!  I stamped the butterflies once onto Very Vanilla card stock after cutting it out with the Apothecary Accents Framelits, then again onto Vellum, when adhering the vellum butterflies onto the card I used used a strip of TomBow glue along the body of the butterfly, that way the wings can sit up off the card.  

I used some of the new Dazzling Details on the bodies of the butterflies and on the Happy Birthday banner.  You will notice a very neat row of paper piercing around the main Framelit image, this isn't from a steady hand (I wish) but rather is with a new set of paper piercing tools called the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack. The pack has three sheets of templates for use with a variety of dies and punches as well as some straight rows.  The best part is that it measures 15.2cm x 15.2cm so there is now no longer a need to re-position the smaller guide that SU used to stock. 

I am loving the new products, and when I have hung out a load of washing I will be back at my desk creating something else to show you.

Happy Stamping