CTC #524 - CASE An Annual Catalogue Technique

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 techniques in the Annual Catalogue, you can either do a word search in the electronic version of the catalogue, or there is a Product Techniques section of the catalogue from pages 104 - 133.

I opted to do a word search and found a technique in the "Fun With Blocks" pages 110 - 111. While I have used my block for stamping, I have never thought to use the side of the blocks to create lines!  Stampin' Up! label this "repeat it". By using multiple colours and directions you can get some really interesting effects. Though I do have some tips for this technique which I will include below.

I have been wanting to do something with my Kintsugi Inspirations Suite, having just bought it as part of the Buy One Get One 50% off promotion. I started with the vase images, knowing I wanted to create the lines to sit behind them.  Having chosen my colours (Lost Lagoon and Petal Pink) I added my block lines to a piece of the Kintsugi Inspirations DSP. The sentiment is from Inspiring Imperfections stamped onto a trimmed label from the Foiled Frames Ephemera Pack.  I added some Flower Accents from the same Suite Collection to add some sparkle. 

I would highly recommend giving this technique a go yourself. Here are some things I learned along the way that might make it easier for you.

• You can block off parts of your lines to create interesting effects. I I added a piece of post-it note to have the lines finish on an angle and love how this turned out.  
• Make sure you are stamping on a soft surface like the Stampin' Pierce Mat, it makes it much easier to get a good image.  
• I found it easier to get even spacing by looking at the edge of the block in comparison to the previously stamped line, rather than trying to look down through the block to line up the existing line. 
• Use different sized blocks for different sized lines, this sounds simple when you read it, but it took me a while to figure out how to get longer and shorter lines! 
• Finally be patient, use scrap paper to try out the technique until you feel proficient.  Where I used Post-It notes to mask off the corners, you could also use other shapes to create frames and other shapes. 

  

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use one of the many techniques in 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 Julia has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Let's Craft Together Blog Hop - January 2024

Happy New Year and 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.

Each month one of us sets a challenge that we use for the blog hop. This month’s is picture challenge, you can use the image, pattern or colours to create your project. The colours are Bubble Bath, Berry Burst, Blackberry Bliss, Blueberry Bushel, Pecan Pie and Smokey Slate.

I decided to challenge myself to use all of the colours, so as is my process I lay out the ink pads on my desk and started to move them around.  I had an idea that they might work together as a background, so I chose stamps from Notes of Nature, from the new Jan to Apr Mini Catalogue, to go with each of the colours, then started stamping. I did a lot of stamping off as I didn't want the background too bright.  Then to age the piece further I used Blending Brushes to add Bubble Bath and Pecan Pie to the whole piece, darker in some places and lighter in others. 

The dies that are part of the Notes of Nature include the cute one I used to create the punched holes down the side of the piece.  Once I had done that I scrunched up the cardstock in my hands a number of times and scraped my finger down the edge.  I added some additional Blending Brush Pecan Pie around the edges. 

Looking for a sentiment I thought it would be fun to use part of the "Field Notes" Stamp with the sentiment from Gorgeously Made and layer this over the flora stamps that have been die cut.  I am beyond happy with how this turned out!  Let me know in the comments if you have used your stamps to make a background paper. 

I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hop, just follow the link below:

Happy Stamping

Monique

CTC #169 - Sale-A-Bration

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, where we take one of the lovely projects in a current Stampin' Up! catalogue and use it as inspiration in a project of our own.  The inspiration might come from the colour combination, layout or sketch, or some other feature.

This week we are looking at the current Sale-A-Bration catalogues, including the second release flyer.  This is the final month to earn Sale-A-Bration item for free before most of them are gone for good.

I took inspiration from the image on the 3rd page of the second release brochure. I have been quite drawn to these with my last Sale-A-Bration CASE coming from this set of cards too (the pink one), but this time I was drawn by the Rich Razzleberry and Pool Party combo of the bottom left card.

Much like my last challenge card I flipped the colours around so that I have Rich Razzleberry as the card base and accent, and Pool Party on the stitched circle Framelit piece. Instead of fussy cutting the leaves from DSP I cut them using the Petal Passion Bundle from the current Occasions Catalogue, choosing to use gold to bring out the small leaves on the DSP.  

I wanted to draw your attention to the sentiment for a moment, I have double cut it with another Framelit from the Petals & More Thinlit Dies, by this I mean that I cut it once then moved the Die along to make the window for the sentiment a bit shorter and a better fit.  The other thing I did with this was to cut three of the flourishy pieces, trimming one down to extend just beyond the sentiment, you can do this the same way by re-positioning the cut piece in the Framelit to cut a piece off.  I then added two more pieces to widen the piece so it created a border around the sentiment. I was totally surprised to find how well the layers lined up - zoom in on this picture and you can see where I have done the layering.  I was in a bit of a rush to make this card, so didn't take pictures of the steps, but will be doing this again soon as I  love the look and will do some step by step pictures then. 

  

I hope you are inspired to join in this week, just take your inspiration from one of the SAB catalogues and upload a picture of your project to the CTC Facebook page. 

   

Time to hop on over and see what Rebecca has been inspired to create this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Amazing Lavender

Having a bit of time to play with my stamps this weekend I found this sketch from CASE this Sketch and decided to play along.

As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to make it using Lots of Lavender Sale-A-Bration stamp set. I wanted to keep a soft feel to the card so I used White Embossing Powder on Sahara Sand cardstock, masking the bottom part of the card so the stems didn't stamp.  I then coloured the images with Stampin' Blends, Light Pink Pirouette for the flowers, and Light Old Olive for the leaves. 

I was initially going to add a sentiment on a banner, but then though the Celebrate You Thinlits Dies would be perfect, and add just a hint of sparkle to the card. I coloured the ribbon with the Dark Pink Pirouette Stampin' Blends and layered it over two pieces of Old Olive cut using the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch.  I stamped the "You" sentiment in White Craft Ink using Crazy About You stamp set.

Happy Stamping
Monique

Love is in the Air

I am not really into a lot of the Valentine's Day hype as some people are, but I do think it is a great opportunity to take pause and be grateful for the ones we love and to do something a little special for them. Thinking about making a card for a wonderful man who has been in my life for 32 years, 26 of them as my hubby, I came across two challenges Just Add Ink romance challenge, and Just Us Girls 

"Love" challenge ... perfect for what I had in mind.

I recently caved in and bought myself the Large Letters Framelits and was itching to try and eclipse card with them. I knew I wanted to incorporate the cute little hedgehogs from a previous hostess set as my hubby absolutely loves hedgehogs.  I have to say this card turned out, if anything, better than I had expected! I knew I wanted the little hedgehogs to be peeking out from behind the letters, initially thinking I would use the SAB Party Pandas, but swapping it over to the hedgehogs. I may still do one with pandas!

I coloured the hedgehogs with Stampin' Blends and added a little heart to each pair using the Owl Builder Punch.  So this card is a mix of shiny new toys and old favourites!

Now just have to keep it secret until Valentine's Day, but I think that is pretty safe as he never visits my blog :). 

Happy Stamping
Monique

Christmas Decorations

I have been off work for the last few days with a sinus infection and asthma, so not much energy for doing strenuous things.  While it was worse I didn't even feel like crafting, just lots of time in bed flicking through Facebook and Pinterest.  Well good news is I am improving and my creativity has come back in small windows, so I had the chance to make a couple of the projects I pinned.

The first is this lovely wreath which is quite large and a little fiddly, but only until you get the hang of the cones.  I followed the instructions from Amanda at Scrimping Mommy. Her video is very clear and easy to follow, and I just love her accent and giggle!  I totally love how this turned out and it really is quite sturdy despite it only being done with the thinner specialty DSP.  I probably would be a bit more careful about placement of the cones so that I had an even number on the inside ring but think I "hid" the double black together by making it a feature at the bottom!  

My next project was these cute little ornaments, they are simply stunning and look really complicated but in truth are quite simple.  I followed this video from Carrie Rhodes, and used the Merry Music Specialty DSP which was easy to work with and just stunning as a final project.  I finished mine off with some rhinestones, silvery doily on which I mounted a basic black circle and snowflake cut with silver glimmer paper. 

I wanted it to be all symmetrical so planned the layout of my strips with each "side" using 4 dark strips for the main cross pieces and 4 of the lighter pieces.  Be mindful of which you want to show up on the finished star. I found that my second side I folded in the opposite direction (once you watch the video it will make more sense) as you turn it over on the finished ornament, so it was necessary to do this to ensure all the cross bars the same looking from the front.  Just have a play around and see how you go.

I had a little bit of time after dinner and it occurred to me that a "wooden" ornament could be lovely too. So I grabbed a piece of my Wood Textures DSP Stack and got to work. I chose one of the mid-tone shades, and again was careful about how I layered out the pieces so that most of the dark shades were at the front.  When thinking about how to finish off this one I decided ot play around with the Foil Snowflakes, flipping one over and using the Ivory Blends pen all over and highlighting parts of the ornament with the Bronze Blends pen.  I was so pleased with this look, in real life it really does give it a laser wood cut look.  I added some Pearls coloured with the Bronze Blends pen to the tips of the ornament, and a larger one (now retired) in the centre.  The Jute Twine from the Holiday Catalogue finishes off this more rustic look.  

Happy Stamping
Monique

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

Freshly Made Daisy

I have been having fun today, this is my second challenge entry of the day, it is so great to be creative!  This time I am using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, I can't believe they are up to #301 already!  I can't remember the last time I played along.

I decided to base my card on the Delightful Daisy DSP and Bundle, initially I had the DSP the other way around, but the daisy stood out better on the green. Adding some gold edged trim, sequin trim and a gold faceted gem.  The Daisy I stamped on water colour paper using Calypso Coral, then used an aqua painter to run over the image, adding Crushed Curry in places. My aim was to replicate the images in the DSP on the bottom panel. I re-stamped the daisy over the blur of colour once it had dried. The sentiment is from Happy Birthday Gorgeous, I just love the font of these sentiments, block fonts but with a whimsical flourish.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #133 - Love and Sympathy

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, 

This week we are taking our inspiration from the Love and Sympathy section of the Annual Catalouge, pages 86 - 101.

I took my inspiration from the card on the bottom left of the above image from page 101 of the catalogue.  I think it was the fact that I have been thinking about getting the Birthday Blooms stamp set because I love the big blossom image and was surprised to see the image from You've got this gives a similar effect when cut off the stem!

I did want my card to be brighter than the original and and thought that the beautiful papers in the Wood Textures DSP Stack would be perfect.  I used two of the sheets and layered them onto a Very Vanilla Thick Cardstock base.

I wanted to show you a close up so you could seek a bit better how I used Copper Metallic Thread to coordinate with the Copper Embossing Powder on the flowers. I coloured them with Watercolour Pencils and a Blender Pen, although unlike the original I decided to add some Daffodil Delight to the Melon Mambo on the petals and Old Olive on the leaves. I also used Shimmery White cardstock for the flowers to give them a little bit of a lift. I also added some of new Glitter Enamel Dots, and even though they are from the Berry Burst dots the lovely ombre options in each colour allow them to be coordinated with other colours. 

  

I hope that we have inspired you to join us in the Love and Sympathy challenge this week, it is really simple, just take inspiration from any of the projects in this section of the catalogue and use it to create your own project, then add a picture of it to the CTC Facebook page.

  

Time to head on over and see what Rebecca has been inspired to create this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #121 - Sale-A-Bration Last Call

Welcome to another CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, this week we are taking a final look at the Sale-A-Bration samples.  Sale-A-Bration ends this coming Friday so its the last chance to pick up some great free items, so don't forget to contact your friendly demonstrator before they are gone for good.

This week I was inspired by the card on page 4 of the SAB catalogue, I was particularly taken by the diagonal banner for the sentiment.  

I wasn't so taken with the colours in this sample, preferring something a bit brighter, so decided to use the Just Add Ink colour challenge combo for the week.

You know I have been having all sorts of fun with my Oh So Succulent stamps lately and this challenge was no different, I think they look good in the bright colours.  To get the two tone effect I stamped directly onto the card stock, and for the solid stamps I stamped off to get the softer effect. I decided to add rhinestones instead of the pearls and left the bow off as I didn't think the card needed it with the extra bling.

  

I hope the design team are inspiring you to join in with the challenge this week, if so just add a picture of your creation to the CASEing The Catty Facebook page.

  

Time to hop on over and see what Rachel has been inspired to create this week.

Happy Stamping

Monique