CTC #139 - From Regal to Subtle

Welcome to another CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, a challenge hop that takes inspiration each week from a different section of one of the Stampin' Up! catalogues. The catalogues are jam packed with projects that are a great source of inspiration, whether it is a layout, colour scheme or technique.

This week the Crew are taking inspiration from the Everyday Occasions section of the Annual Catalogue, pages 18 - 67.

I took my inspiration from the very first page of this section of the catalogue, using the card in the image above from page 18 to base my project on this week. 

 I love the simplicity of this layout, but wanted to shake it up a bit and make a more feminine card, switching out the heavy regal colours for a more pastel look.  I used Bundle of Love Specialty DSP instead of the Eastern Palace papers. The sentiment is stamped with two stamps from the Label Me Pretty stamp set, the border embossed in gold and the sentiment stamped in Berry Burst. In keeping with the softer look I used the pretty flowers from the Colorful Seasons stamp set. 

I used a strip of matching DSP to decorate the inside and some of the mini sequins to make the bigger flowers on the front of the card pop.  

  

I hope we are inspiring you to join in the challenge this week, just take inspiration from the Everyday Occasions section of the catalogue, and post a picture of it to the CTC Facebook Page.

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

CI #14 - Four Colours, Two Cards

Colour INKspiration Design Team is made up of a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from the South Pacific Region. The challenge runs on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month, using an inspiration photograph to choose the colour palette.  We would also like to welcome guest designer, and stamping buddy of mine Cathy for this challenge. 

Isn't this challenge's inspiration photo simple and stunning in its colour combination? The colours for this challenge are:

• Smokey Slate
• Rich Razzleberry
• Soft Sky,  and
•  Night of Navy  

I was so inspired by this colour combo I made two cards!

My first one I made during my "paste phase" playing around with different techniques for adding colour. I also realised that I hadn't inked up Beautiful You stamp set in a while and thought the image worked well with the clouds. I coloured the dress using Watercolour Pencils, and the umbrella I wanted to have a stronger colour and be slightly raised so stamped in black onto Rich Razzleberry cardstock the fussy cut and adhered using dimensionals. 

Now for a close up of the clouds, while the paste was still wet I dabbed them with my finger to create a rough surface which I hope gives them a more fluffy look.  I removed the mask and let the paste dry before reapplying the mask and using my sponges to add both Soft Sky and Smokey Slate to the clouds.

I hadn't planned on making a second card, but lying in bed I thought that Eastern Palace would be a lovely set to use to make a background.  I used the Happy Birthday Thinlits to cut sentiments from Silver Glimmer paper and Night of Navy cardstock.  I thought this would be a good masculine colour palette but when I showed my hubby he thought it was a bit sparkley! Let me know what you think.

  

 I hope you have been inspired to join in with the challenge, just use the colour combo to create a project and add a photograph to the CI Facebook Page. 

  

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

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #137 - Holiday

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop, this week we are taking a second look at the Holiday section of the catalogue, pates 112 - 125.

Christmas is such a great time of year and I can't believe that we are just 5 months away from the next one!  I think I want to be in denial just a little longer, so I decided to CASE a card but make it not at all Christmassy! 

One of the main reasons that I chose this card as my inspiration is because of the CASEs that other members of the CTC Crew did the last time we were inspired by the Holiday section of the catty.  I think until then I hadn't really noticed this card. 

 As I said before, I am not ready quite yet for Christmas, but I have been playing with my Daffodil Delight suite of products and thought the DSP would work really well for the CASE.  I also used some of the Wood Textures DSP stack. It took me a while to decide on the border pieces from the Flourish Thinlits and the 5/8" Burlap Ribbon, but I think both work so well. I  used the Flourish Thinlit to cut a piece from one of the honey coloured Wood Textures papers. 

  

I hope the team are inspiring you to join in with us this week, it's easy, just take inspiration from any of the projects in the Holiday section and add a photograph of your creation to the CTC Facebook page.

  

Time to keep on hopping to see what the rest of the Crew have created this week, with the next stop being the very talented Simone.

Happy Stamping
Monique

CTC #137 - Artistic Expression

Welcome to another week at CASEing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop.  A bit of a cold and busy week for me, but I don't think that is going to change on either front for a while!

This week the team are being inspired by the Artistic Expression section of the Annual Catalogue, you can find this section on pages 132 - 181. This is another big section of the catalogue so there are lots and lots of projects to inspire you.

For me the choice was easy this week because I have been looking forward to this challenge ever since I first saw the catalogue.  Do you have projects that just leap off the page at you? For me the image above from page 143 did just that, I was enchanted by it and knew I wanted to re-create it.

Instead of a gift bag I decided to make a card instead.  I love the different browns achieved and by using Early Espresso, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake with a combination of stamping off and building up colour with sponging. While I loved the card I didn't realise how much detail there was in it or how many different layers and textures.

I wanted to show you some of the detail up close in this picture, I did a bit of fussy cutting, scrunching and roughing up of the cardstock on some layers, building them up with Dimensionals and adding pearls for a special touch.  Sometimes doing an almost direct CASE can be a quick and easy way to achieve the outcome. This is not one of those cards, although I really enjoyed the challenge of recreating it on a card. 

  

I hope we are inspiring you to join in the challenge this week, just take inspiration from one (or more) of the projects in the Artistic Expression section of the catalogue and add a picture of you project to the CTC Facebook Page.

  

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


Happy Stamping
Monique