Card Swap Chain - Series 6 - Carolina's Card

In April 2026 we started the sixth series of the Card Swap Chain, arranged by the lovely Tracy Held. The idea behind this is that everyone in the group made a card, then sent it to one other person in the group. Each of us CASEd the card we received and posted it to the next person in the chain, there were 10 of us in total. Each time the card was CASEd it was changed slightly until the last round when the final copy of our first card was returned to us.  This is such a fun process, and it is now time to reveal each of the cards in the chain. With 10 of us in the chain there is definitely opportunity for a few variations to sneak in between the first and the last card, so join us on this blog hop journey through the CASEing process.

This chain started with this cool fun fold card from Carolina, if you haven't started the hop at her blog I would encourage you to do go there first, so you can see the progression of the chain. You can find her blog listed at the top of the participant list below.

I was 5th in the chain for this round, so about half way through the process. You can see that the fun fold has continued. Just in case it is hard to spot in the photographs, there is a window sheet panel so you can see through the card to the inside panel, on my card I stamped the reeds and sentiment on the writing panel so they show through and compliment the images on the front of the card. 

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 - Sketch Challenge

Welcome to the monthly Let's Craft Together Blog Hop, thanks for joining us. We are a group of multi-cultural Stampin' Up! Demonstrators in Australia who have developed a strong friendship through our love of stamping and our admiration of each other's style of crafting. 

The challenge this month is a sketch challenge, and what a fun sketch it is, lots of elements, lots of room for interpretation!

I thought this sketch would be the perfect opportunity to play around with my Notes of Collage stamp set and Textured Canvas DSP. Now this is an easy one to miss in the November Online Exclusives, it is part of the Painted Collage Suite and has a subtle canvas texture, much like that used on artworks. I started out with an ombre background wash running from Pretty Peacock to Lost Lagoon, which I let dry overnight and then stamped with some of the abstract images in the stamp set, above the line of the sentiment I used Pretty Peacock and below used Lost Lagoon to pair with the colours on the background. I also added some Pecan Pie circles using the same stamp set.

I used the circle stamp again to add texture to the Lost Lagoon strip, stretching the circle into more of an oval and stamping it across the DSP, to get the lines close together I stamped the first oval, then lined one side of the next oval inside the first and the other outside (I hope you know what I mean). I turned it so that the lines didn't look too evenly repetitive. 

Time to keep hopping to see what the rest of the team have created with this lovely sketch.

Happy Stamping

Monique

CTC #594 - CASE A 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 using punches. I sometimes think the humble punch can be overlooked with all the intricate dies we have, and it's worth remembering them as great easy to use tools.

I was inspired by this card from page 42 of the catalogue. I liked it's simple lines and focal image.

Now having said it is easy to skip over our punches with all our intricate dies, I have in fact reached for those dies from my stash!  This card took some turns during development, I extended the note paper die cut as I was intending to add a gift card behind it, but veered away from that during the creative process.  I love this Whispering Woods DSP pack, and the colours were perfect to team up with the hot foil and masked butterflies I had left over from another project. Initially this was going to be a Christmas card with Holly Jolly Branches trees instead of the butterflies, but I let the creativity flow and this is where we ended up.  The sentiment is from Sending Salutations and fit nicely with the calming tones of this card. Let me know in the comments below whether you tend to stick with a plan or go with the flow when creating, or perhaps it is a little of both!

  

I hope you are inspired to join in the challenge this week, just use the punch projects in the catalogue or online store 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 Judy has created this week.

Happy Stamping
Monique