CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop - 'Home for Christmas'

Hi there

Welcome to our CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop this week, in our new time slot of Sunday evening 7pm, Australian Eastern Time. This week are looking at the 'Home for Christmas' section on pages 8 -21 of the Holiday Catalogue - probably my most favourite section.

You may have come from Rebecca's blog, but if not, you can start the journey here and follow the trail using the button at the bottom of this post.

There are so many great products and ideas in 'Home for Christmas' section and the cute little elf on the bottom of page 19 caught my eye. I have combined the water coloured image with the lovely contemporary colour combo of Real Red and Pool Party from the 'Home for Christmas' DSP.

 

The 'Woodland' embossing folder provides a great background for this cute elf as he trips through the forest. I used an Early Espresso marker to highlight the Birch trees and a sponge dauber and Whisper White Craft ink to whiten up the trunks, masking them off to minimise the ink getting onto the rest of the background. This also takes the edge off the darkness of the marker (although it looks darker in the photo). I added some Dazzling Diamonds sparkle for the ground and some Silver Glimmer stars hanging from the trees.  

Project Details
Stamps	Christmas Cuties
Card stock & Papers	Real Red, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Home for Christmas DSP, Dazzling Diamonds and Silver Glimmer paper, Watercolour paper
Ink	Basic Black Archival, Craft White. Elf Colours - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Real Red, Old Olive, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride
Accessories	Silver Cording trim, Rhinestones Basic Jewels
Tools	Woodland TIEF, Big Shot, Confetti Stars Border punch, Gel pen, Sponge dauber, Aquapainter, Early Espresso marker, Dimensionals

Now it's time to check out the inspiration over at Monique's blog, so click on the button below.

You can check out the full list of participants over at the CASE-ing the Catty Blog.

 Thanks for visiting today and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Christmas Cutie & MM#172

Hi there

I haven't participated in a challenge for ages, so I am going to remedy that by linking up this card at the  Merry Monday #172 Challenge. Here is the challenge this week.

"Remember...have fun creating a Christmas card using some form of watercolor on your card." Have fun!

I am using the 'Christmas Cuties' stamp set for the first time. This is a set I wasn't going to get, but I caved and I'm not disappointed! The images are really sweet and so are the sentiments and they are really quick and fun to colour. I have used a regal Christmas colour combo of purple and silver and I watercoloured the angel with an Aquapainter and ink pads.

Dazzling Diamonds glitter was added to the wings with a glue pen, for extra sparkle. For the inside, I finished it off with the bells from the 'Cozy Christmas' set and some striped DSP from the Subtles Backgrounds. 

This was my first use of the new Basic Black Archival Ink and it worked beautifully for water colouring. You have to clean it off really quickly (Stampin' Mist) otherwise it stains and even Stazon Cleaner will not take it off.

Project Details
Stamps	Christmas Cuties, Cozy Christmas
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Silver Glimmer paper, Watercolour paper
Ink	Basic Black Archival, Wisteria Wonder, Angel colours - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry (Hair); Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride (Face, hands, feet); Elegant Eggplant (Sash, shoes); Smoky Slate (Robe)
Accessories	Silver Metallic Doily, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Tools	Ovals Framelits, Softly Falling Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Washi Label punch, Glue pen, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking!

CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop - Designer Series Paper

Hi there

It's Friday evening and the CASE-ing the Catty Crew are taking inspiration from the new Designer Series Paper in the Holiday Catalogue.

You may have come from Jackie's blog, but if you are visiting me, you can continue with the blog hop by using the arrow button at the bottom of the post. 

My favourite DSP from the Holiday Catalogue has to be 'Home for Christmas'. I love the combination of traditional Christmas colours mixed with more contempory colours along with the super cute images of a jolly Santa and deer. There are lots of opportunities to fussy cut images from this DSP as well.

The card I'm sharing uses a traditional Christmas colour combo with the beautiful rich green design (I think it is mistletoe?) from 'Home with Christmas' providing the backdrop for my poinsettia flower. It does all the heavy lifting on this card

 

I've used the new Festive Flower Builder punch to create the poinsettia flower. I didn't want to overwhelm the card, so I  used the smaller of the single petals for the first 2 layers and 4 sets of the double petals for the centre. The Gold Glimmer stamens add a little sparkle. I always start with a 1" circle to provide a base for the petals and use glue dots for a quick and mess-free build of the flower. I haven't popped up the layers, but it still has lots of dimension.

The greeting is from the lovely Hostess set 'Antique Tags', coloured with Stampin' Write markers direct to the rubber.

Project Details
Stamps	Antique Tags
Card stock & Papers	Real Red, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Home for Christmas DSP, Gold Glimmer paper
Ink	Stampin Write markers (Mossy Meadow, Real Red)
Accessories	Very Vanilla Subtle Stripes 1 1/4" Satin Ribbon, Gold flat back cabochons (not SU)
Tools	Banner Triple punch, Washi Label punch, Festive Flower Builder punch, 1" Circle punch, Glue dots

That's it from me, so click on the button below to head to the CASE-ing the Catty Blog which has the full list of participants and you can start at the top of the list.

Thanks for looking!

Holiday Catalogue Blog Hop

Hi there

Today I'm getting together with some of the lovely Demonstrators from the 'Art with Heart'  Stampin' Up! team to share projects made with the fabulous products from the new Holiday Catalogue. You can purchase these products now, until 4th January 2016.

You may have come from the blog of the lovely Kate Morgan, but if not, you can start the journey here and continue to the next blog using the button at the bottom of this post.

I decided to focus on the 'Embellished Ornaments' and matching 'Delicate Ornaments' Thinlits dies for my projects today. First up is a shaker card in striking gold, black and white to mirror the 'Wonderland' suite of products.  This is not a colour combo I have ever used for Christmas, but I think it is very elegant.

 To create the gold frame for the shaker bauble, I used the 1 3/4" circle punch to cut a circle in a piece of gold foil paper and then used the next size up framelit from the Circles Collection to create the gold frame. I cut just the 'hanger' part of the round Delicate Ornaments bauble using the framelit and carefully glued it behind the frame. It is a tiny bit larger than the bauble framelit, but I don't think it is noticeable. Here is a close-up of the baubles.

The front panel was first embossed with the lovely 'Softly Falling' embossing folder before cutting the circle for the shaker with the 1 3/4" circle punch.  Then comes a 2" square of Window Sheet over the hole and the 3D foam strip that is gently molded around the circle. Now that Stampin' Up! doesn't carry the shaker frames, I use the Couture Creations 1/8" wide 3D Foam Strips; they make shaker cards fast and easy. I popped in the confetti from the Metallics Sequin Assortment and added a Dazzling Diamonds lid. Once the shaker is finished you can add the gold frame to the front and complete the rest of the details. I hand cut the Dazzling Diamonds backing for the other detailed bauble, by tracing around the thinlit die. 

 

When attaching your shaker component to the card mat or base card, I recommend that you add the foam strips all the way around your piece as shown in the pic above. It makes for a great professional finish and prevents buckling and sagging. 

Finally, for the inside I have stamped the holly spray in Encore Gold ink in the top right corner and added a strip of the 'Wonderland' gold striped washi to finish.

Project Details
Stamps	Embellished Ornaments, To You and Yours Too
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Gold Foil, Dazzling Diamonds and Gold Glimmer paper
Ink	Versarmark, Encore Gold (retired)
Accessories	Metallics Sequins Assortment, Flat Back Gold pearls (not SU), Gold Cording Trim, Wonderland Washi set
Tools	Falling Softly TIEF, Delicate Ornaments Thinlits, Big Shot, Precision Base Plate. Gold embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, 1/8" 3D Foam Strips (Couture Creations), Tombow, Stampamajig

 

The next card I have uses the long bauble from the 'Embellished Ornaments' stamp set in traditional Christmas colours of Real Red and Mossy Meadow. It is clean and simple and a great layout to mass produce. 

I have added some Cherry Cobbler ink around the edges of the bauble to give it more depth and some sparkle with the holly berries in Red Glimmer paper. This has been followed through on the lovely sentiment from this stamp set. The new Fine Tip Glue Pen was the perfect option to add the small red glimmer circles for the berries.

 To finish the inside there is another spray of holly with sparkly berries and some striped DSP on the bottom edge. 

Project Details
Stamps	Embellished Ornaments
Card stock & Papers	Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, Red Glimmer paper, Brights DSP Stack, Gold foil
Ink	Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow
Accessories	Gold Cording Trim
Tools	Delicate Ornaments Thinlits, Big Shot, 1/8" Circle punch (not SU), Owl Builder Punch, Dimensionals, Stampamajig, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Glue dots

 

My final card uses the large detailed thinlit from the 'Delicate Ornaments' set. The new Precision Base Plate does a great job of cutting these detailed dies and they come out cleanly and easily from the die.

 

This is another clean and simple layout in a regal colour combo of navy, white and silver, but would also look great in colours like Island Indigo, Real Red and Rich Razzleberry. I've added a band of the new white Glitter ribbon across the centre for contrast. The ribbon is surprisingly soft and easy to work with and you can never have too much bling for Christmas!

I backed the die cut with Silver Foil and the small flower thinlit  in Silver Glimmer adds sparkle to the centre of the bauble with one of the new Iced Rhinestones to finish it off. 

The inside has been finished with a  border of silver stars from the 'Holly Jolly Greetings' stamps set at the top and some silver sparkle at the bottom.

Project Details
Stamps	Lots of Joy, Holly Jolly Greetings
Card stock & Papers	Night of Navy, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer, Silver Foil
Ink	Versamark, Encore Silver (retired)
Accessories	White Glitter Ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Iced Rhinestones
Tools	Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder, Delicate Ornaments Thinlits, Big Shot, Banner punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Silver embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals

Now it is time to head over to see the inspiring project on Claire's blog. Click on the button below.

 

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. Rachel Woollard
2. Ros Davidson
3. Kate Morgan
4. Judy May - that's me!
5. Claire Daly
6. Jenny van Dijk
7. Kathryn Ruddick
8. Tina Gillespie
9. Kathryn Mangelsdorf

Thanks for visiting today!

Jingling All the Way

Hi there

I hope you are enjoying all the fabulous products in the new Holiday Catalogue.  One of my favourites is the 'Sleigh Ride' Edgelits Dies and the matching 'Jingle All the Way' stamp set.

I love that the edgelits can be used as is or flipped and if you use the new Precision Base Plate, they cut and come out of the die easily.  Another benefit of the Precision Base Plate is that I don't get the embossed markings on the reverse side of the card stock from my much used acrylic plate.

Although I love the traditional Christmas colours, I also love the contemporary versions too. Bermuda Bay and Pool Party is definitely one of my favourites and it looks fabulous matched with white and silver for Christmas sparkle.  There are a number of ways to create the layered bauble, but I recommend that you keep the overlap on the layers to a minimum, so that you don't have more than 2 layers at any one point, otherwise cutting the bauble shape with the 'Delicate Ornaments' Thinlits becomes a challenge. 

 I've used the trees edgelit to create a border trim on the bottom edge for the inside and one of my favourite sentiments from the 'Lots of Joy' stamp set. There is a little bit involved in this card, but I love the end result. 

Project Details
Stamps	Jingle All the Way, Lots of Joy
Card stock & Papers	Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Whisper White, Silver & Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper
Ink	Bermuda Bay
Accessories	Rhinestones Basic Jewels. Silver Cording Trim
Tools	'Sleigh Ride' Edgelits, 'Delicate Ornaments' Edgelits, Lucky Stars TIEF, Big Shot, Precision Base Plate, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking!