CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop - New Catalogue Sneak Peak

Hi there

It's that time of the week again when the CASE-ing the Catty Crew bring you inspiration from the Stampin' Up! catalogues.  This week we are giving you a sneak peak of products from the 2015-16 Annual Catalogue that will become available on 2 June 2015. One of the perks of being a Demonstrator is to get early access to new products!

I find there are some stamp sets that jump off the page at you and 'You've Got This' did it for me.  It has a fabulous sketchy background stamp that will be great combined with other sets and the flower image is wonderful to colour in whatever is your favourite style. 

I've taken inspiration directly from the catalogue by stamping the sketchy background all over a piece of Whisper White card stock in my favourite Soft Sky ink. The flower stamp was heat embossed in Early Espresso onto Shimmery White card stock and then water coloured with an Aquapainter and ink pads in Calypso Coral. This works so well and I prefer the look to watercolour paper when fussy cutting the image . I also love the subtle shimmer that still shows through. At the bottom is a strip of the new Tip Top Taupe Dotted Lace Trim topped with Calypso Coral seam binding ribbon and white Baker's Twine. I attached this panel to a base card of Soft Sky.

This is the inside of the card, with the flower image partially stamped in the corner with Tip Top Taupe ink. This colour is my new favourite neutral and it coordinates beautifully with all of the Subtles Colour Collection.

There are lots of other ways to use this beautiful stamp set and I will be back to show you more soon. 

Project Details
Stamps	You've Got This
Card stock & Papers	Soft Sky, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White, Shimmery White
Ink	Soft Sky, Calypso Coral, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Tip Top Taupe, Versamark
Accessories	Taupe Dotted Lace Trim, Calypso Coral Seam Binding ribbon, White Baker's Twine, Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tools	Early Espresso embossing powder, Heat Gun, Aquapainter, White Gel pen, Stampamajig, Dimensionals

Now it's time to hop over to the blog of the lovely Kathryn Mangelsdorf, by clicking on the image below.

 

You can see the full list of participants in today's blog hop over at the CASE-ing the Catty Blog.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by today!

'Crazy About You' Boxed Card Set

Hi there

Today I'm sharing the project we made in class on Sunday. It is a box set of cards, using the wood mount stamp case for the box. This set makes a great gift for a friend, family, teacher, someone going traveling or just about anyone.

The outside of the box is embellished with a layer of card stock and DSP that goes under the plastic sleeve. We used the Gold Soiree DSP and matching card stock. You need to keep this layer as flat as possible, so that you don't don't get high spots that will wear.

In the class we made 6 cards in 3 designs with the 'Crazy About You' stamp set and the matching 'Hello You' Thinlits. We changed up the sentiments a little on each  card to provide more variety. You could fit 8 cards in the box with the embellishments we used and probably more if they were single layer cards. 

 

This photo shows the inside of the box (back left), where a pocket has been created on the left hand side for the envelopes to sit, plus the three card designs. The layouts are quite simple, but still have lots of visual interest and dimension.

For the 'hello' card at the rear, we cut out the 'hello' from the Whisper White and then embedded a Crisp Cantaloupe 'hello' into the cut out once it was adhered to the base card. For a funky look, I left the Calypso Coral base to show through the 'loops', but you could add the white pieces back into the word for a totally white background. There are multiple ways to attach the 'Hello You' thinlits, but I don't think you can beat the Xyron Sticker Maker for being quick and easy and no mess.

 

This is the finished box and the set of 6 cards. The inside of the cards were finished off with a panel of Whisper White trimmed with a coordinating strip of washi tape for a simple but effective look.

Despite a bit of angst with the fussy cutting of the leaves, I think everyone was very happy with their completed project. 

Project Details
Stamps	Crazy About You, Polka Dot Pieces
Card stock & Papers	Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Gold Soiree DSP, Gold Foil
Ink	Mememto Tuxedo Black, Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi, Pistachio Pudding, Versamark
Accessories	Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Sweet Sadie, Sweet Dreams, Epic Day & Watercolor Wonder Washi tape sets
Tools	Hello You Thinlits, Butterflies Thinlits, Circles Collection Framelits, Big Shot, 2 1/2" & 1 3/4" Circle punches, Flower Medallion punch, 1 3/4" and 1 1/4" Scallop Circle punches, Glue Dots, Tombow glue, Dimensionals, Xyron Sticker maker (not SU)

Thanks for looking!

CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop - Father's Day/Masculine

Hi there

I've joined the 'CASE-ing the Catty' crew and today is my first participation in the blog hop which occurs weekly every Friday at 7pm (AEST). I hope you will check out all of the inspiration the crew is providing this week from the Father's Day/Masculine section of the Occasions Catalogue on pages 40-41.

My inspiration is the  Adventure Bound paper stack on page 40 (which I have not used nearly enough) to make a masculine card.  I've used the main images from the lovely 'An Open Heart' stamp set which I heat embossed in Early Espresso and then watercoloured with ink pads and Aqua Painter. The bird has been fussy cut and adhered over the olive branch. I have added a Father's Day sentiment, but I think this card would also work well as a thank you or get well card.

For the inside, I added a strip of the plaid design and stamped the olive branch in Early Espresso in the top right corner.

 

Project Details
Stamps	An Open Heart, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Adventure Bound DSP Stack, Shimmery White
Ink	Versamark, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories	Basic Metal Buttons, Mini Silver Brads, 5/8" Natural Chevron Ribbon, Linen Thread
Tools	Finishing Touches Edgelits, Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits, Big Shot, Word Window punch, Early Espresso embossing powder, Heat gun, Aqua Painter

Click on the image to hop over to Rebecca Benson's blog.

You can join the fun by adding a link to your project over at the CASE-ing the Catty blog.

Thanks for looking!

Farewelling our Favourite Products - Blog Hop

Hello

Today I bring you another Blog Hop with some of the lovely ladies in the Art With Heart Stampin’ Up! Team. Today our focus is on farewelling our favourite retiring products.

My card includes 5 products that I have enjoyed using. Some are long time favourites (Perfect Polka Dots) and others were short, but sweet acquaintances (Something Lacy). All of these are retiring on 2 June. 

• Stippled Blossoms stamp set
• Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder
• Apothecary Accents framelits
• Large Scallop edgelit die
• Something Lacy background stamp (from Occasions Catalogue)

When I use the 'Stippled Blossoms' stamp set I normally choose a pink colour combo, so today I wanted to do something quite different. I have chosen a neutrals combo of Crumb Cake and Soft Suede for the flowers and paired it with Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake and a touch of gold.

  

For the inside, I have added a strip of the 'Something Lacy' design to the bottom, topped with a narrow strip of gold foil and some little flowers.

   

 

Project Details
Stamps	Stippled Blossoms, Something Lacy, Butterfly Basics
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil
Ink	Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Versamark
Accessories	Basic Jewels Pearls Large (retired), Basic Jewels Pearls
Tools	Large Scallop Edgelit die, Apothecary Accents die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Gold embossing powder, Heat gun, Stamp-a-majig

Next up is the lovely and talented Tina Gillespie. Click on the image below to hop over to her blog. 

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below: 

1. Judy May - that's me!
2. Tina Gillespie
3. Genna Gifford
4. Ros Davidson
5. Claire Daly
6. Nikki Sadler
7. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
8. Kayleen McLean
9. Kathryn Ruddick
10. Jenny Van Dijk
11. Kate Morgan
12. Rachel Woollard
13. Barbara Lindsey

 Thanks for looking!

A Little Sneak Peak

Hello

If you receive my Newsletter, you would have seen my summary of the South Pacific convention. It was fabulous being present for the worldwide release of the new 2015-16 Catalogue.  Unfortunately, I picked up a lurgy at Convention and have been struggling to find a voice for the last 4 days. I thought I was going to have to resort to hand signals for my class on Sunday, but managed to croak my way through.

My box of pre-order goodies from the 2015-16 Annual Catalogue finally arrived today.  I have spent time reorganising my card stock, markers and stamp sets; moving out the retired and moving in the new.

I have also been 'conditioning' my new photopolymer stamp sets.  Here is my tip - if you want to prevent a substantial amount of staining on your photopolymer stamps, you need to ink them up in the lightest ink (I use Pink Pirouette), stamp them off and then clean them.  This effectively stains them, but it is so  pale you can't really notice.  You will find that this minimizes further staining, but always clean off your photopolymer stamps with the Stampin' Scrub as soon as possible after using them.

I have also been updating my colour code chart with the new In Colours. You can use the RGB codes to print SU colours with your computer.  Normally these codes are accessible through MDS, but it is not being updated any further.  Therefore the colours are approximate; determined by me sampling the online catalogue with Photoshop, but I am pretty happy with them. For the Copic lovers, I have also provided what I think are the best colour matches, based on what is currently available, but this may change over time.  You can download the updated chart by clicking on the link below.

Download 2015-17_SU_RGB_Hex_Copic_Colours.pdf (254.5K)

Here is a little card containing a few sneak peaks, that I will be sending to a lovely customer. It uses one of the new Hostess stamp sets called 'Floral Wings'.  The roses are stamped in the new In Colours of Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush. I love the bright spotty designer paper from the new 6 x 6 'Cherry on Top' paper stack.  At top of the banners is one of the coordinating Blossom Accents embellishments.  Quite a few sneak peaks all up!

 Do you want the new 2015-16 Annual Catalogue?

There is nothing better than having the Annual Catalogue in your hands so you can get up close and browse at your leisure, add sticky notes and make your wish list. This is 188 pages of wonderful craft products, ideas and samples. You can purchase your copy by clicking on the PayPal button below and I will pop it in the post for you. The cost is $8.50 per copy and includes postage to anywhere in Australia.

I will include an information pack that will help you get the most out of the catalogue, so you don't miss any of the new products, plus a swatch of the new In Colours.

Purchase 2015-16 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue (Australia)

Cheers for now.