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CASE-ing the Catty - Artistic Expression

Hi there

Today the CTC Crew are looking at the Artistic Expression section of the Annual Catalogue on pages 132-181 for our inspiration. This is such a large section and so many great samples to choose from. Next week we will start looking at the new Holiday Catalogue which goes live on 1 September - only 5 more sleeps to go! 

You may have come from visiting Jackie's blog, but if you are visiting me, you can start your journey here and continue by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

CTC143_SU_Sample
       

This week I have chosen to CASE the 'HELLO' card in the photo above. I really like the look of white colouring against the Crumb Cake background. There are 3 options to achieve this effect (that I know of, anyway). The first is to use the White Craft ink pad and an Aqua Painter; the second is the white water colour pencil and blender pen and the third is the Chalk Marker. Each one gives a slightly different look in terms of the saturation of white you achieve. I've used the Chalk Marker for this first card, which gives a strong white colour against the  Crumb Cake background.

Stampin' Up! Floral Statements for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs
   

I've cut a rectangular panel of Crumb Cake card stock by extending the largest of the Stitched Shapes square framelits and then stamped the 'Hello' image in Basic Black Archival ink. I did it this way, as I didn't want to fluff it, when cutting the rectangle as it can be a little tricky. The leaves were coloured with a Lemon Lime Twist Stampin' Write marker.

Stampin' Up! Floral Statements for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

I dry embossed a panel of Soft Sky card stock with the new Pinewood Planks Dynamic embossing folder and added it to the Soft Sky card base before popping up the finished art panel. 

Stampin' Up! Floral Statements for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

For the inside I have a Dapper Denim mat on the writing panel with coordinating washi at the base. I have stamped the flower cluster from the 'Birthday Blooms' stamp set in the corner and roughly coloured it with Copic markers in coordinating colours.

Now I have another version of the same card, but this time I have stamped the 'Hello' image onto Whisper White card stock and coloured it with Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist colour coordinated Copic markers. 

Stampin' Up! Floral Statements for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

This time I have dry embossed the background with the Petal Burst embossing folder and added the Baker's Twine to the top before adhering it to the Berry Burst card base. I added some rhinestones in the flower centres this time.

Stampin' Up! Floral Statements for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

For the inside, I have stamped the flower cluster in each corner and roughly coloured the flowers. I added some dots in the centres with a white gel pen.

Project Details
Stamps  Floral Statements, Birthday Blossoms
Card stock & Papers      Soft Sky, Crumb Cake, Dapper Denim, Berry Burst, Basic Black, Whisper White
 Ink  Basic Black Archival, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories  White Baker's Twine, Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tools      Stitched Shapes Framelits, Petal Burst EF, Pinewood Planks Dynamic EF, Big Shot, Dimensionals, White Gel pen, Stampin' Write marker, Chalk Marker, Copic markers (RV63, RV66, YG23, YG25)

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see the great project Mel has for you this week. 

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We would love you to join in with your CASE from the 'Artistic Expression' section of the new Annual Catalogue using our Facebook group. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog.

CTC_Challenge_Badge

 Thanks for visiting today!

Shop Online Now! Get a FREE Catalogue! My Tutorials Store

AWH Blog Hop - Holiday Catalogue

Hi there

AWH_Logo_2017

Today some of the girls from the Art with Heart team are sharing fun and fabulous ideas to inspire you, with products from our brand new Holiday Catalogue available from 1 September until 2 January 2018. If you don't have a copy yet, click on the Contact Me button in the left side bar and I will pop one in the post for you. 

I have to confess to sometimes buying kits and then not putting them together, so I am going to break that mold and share with you the new 'Be Merry' kit from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue. Although it appears to be a set of 12 hanging decorations (which it is), I want to show you some other options for these lovely rosettes. This is what the kit looks like.

Be_Merry_Cover

 The kit contains everything you need to make the 12 hanging decorations as shown above. 
 
  Be_Merry_Contents
  
I wanted to show you the decorations as per the directions in the kit, but I couldn't help switching the colours. The kit has the green trees and green tulle together and the red candy canes and red tulle together, but I prefer the colours contrasting. You can mix and match as you choose as there are 4 combinations. Here is the completed tree rosette. The tulle has sparkly pieces scattered throughout, so it looks very pretty in the light.
 
Stampin' Up! Be Merry Kit - Judy May, Just Judy Designs
 
Here is a closeup of the rosette.
 
Be_Merry_Closeup
 
This is the completed Candy Cane rosette. This one took a lot less time as I fluffed around with the tulle on the first one. My recommendation is to fold the tulle circles in half, then half again and half again. You end up with a small cone that is much easier to glue between the folds.
 
Stampin' Up! Be Merry Kit - Judy May, Just Judy Designs
 
In addition to using the rosette as tree decorations, they would also make fabulous (and fancy) gift tags. The small white small that is adhered on the reverse can be used to write your greeting.  For something more in keeping with a tag, I have stamped the greeting from the 'Add a Little Glitz' stamp set in Lemon Lime Twist and cropped it with the largest of the stitched circles and layered it on a larger Real Red circle. I would recommend you write your greeting on the circle and then adhere to back of the rosette.
  
Be_Merry_Tree_Reverse
  
Another option is to use the rosette to embellish a purchased gift bag. On this one, I added a hook inside the top of the bag (a 1/2" circle attached with a small Dimensional) to attach the rosette. This way, it decorates the bag  and the recipient can take it off and add it to their tree as an ornament.
 
Be_Merry_Gift_Bag
 
Here is another version, where I have used the rosette just as an embellishment on the gift bag. To make it pop against the white bag, I have added a Real Red scallop circle. 
 
Be_Merry_Gift_Bag2
 
Finally, I have added the rosette as an embellishment to a card. I have used the tree design paper from the Quilted Christmas paper stack and layered it on an Old Olive mat and then onto my Real Red base card. 
 
Stampin' Up! Card with rosette from Be Merry Kit - Judy May, Just Judy Designs
 
For the inside, I have added a strip of the DSP at the base of the writing panel and the large greeting from the 'Add a Little Glitz' stamp set has been heat embossed in gold.
 
Be_Merry_Card_Inside
  
 
Project Details
Stamps Add a Little Glitz
Card stock & Papers     Whisper White, Real Red, Old Olive, Quilted Christmas DSP
 Ink Lemon Lime Twist, Versamark
Accessories Be Merry Kit, Year of Cheer Speciality Washi
Tools     Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Circles Framelits, Big Shot, Glue gun, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Gold EP, Heat gun
 
Now it's time to hop over to see what Monika has to inspire you. Click on the button below.

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Here is the full list of participants in today's blog hop, so be sure to hop around and check out all the inspiring projects. We love to hear what you think of our creations, so your comments are always welcome!

1. Alisha Watson
2. Claire Daly
3. Ros Davidson
4. Judy May           <----------------- You're here!
5. Monika O'Neill
6. Rebecca Jacovou
7. Rachel Palmieri
8. Kate Morgan 
9. Caroline Manwaring
10. Catherine Proctor
11. Tina Gillespie
12. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
13. Rachel Woollard
14. Sharon Davern
15. Kimberly Hern

 Thanks for visiting! 

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The Heart of Christmas - Week 13

  HoC_Header

Hi there

Welcome to week 13 of Christmas inspiration from the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team. This week I had my first play with products from the Quilted Christmas Suite, available in the upcoming Holiday Catalogue.  I enjoyed patchwork and quilting in a past life (the one before I got hooked on papercraft with Stampin' Up!, lol), so I have used one of my favourite quilts as a prop. It has the same star at the centre and colours similiar to the Real Red and Pool Party in my card. I'm sure I will go back to it at some point as I still have many boxes of fabric stashed away.

Stampin' Up! Quilted Christmas Bundle - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

My base card is thick Whisper White and I added the stitched holly design from the Quilted Christmas 6" x 6" designer paper stack. My embellishment begins with 4 stitched squares in Real Red and Pool Party on a Whisper White base. The next layer is a silver Foil Snowflake which is the perfect size for the stitched squares. I created the quilted star with the Quilt Builder Framelits. It includes a die for the solid shape and for the outline, plus another that creates the stitching around the parallelograms in the star, allowing you to create a range of different effects. To finish my star I added a small Whisper White stitched circle in the centre, topped with a smaller Real Red circle and a popped up heart in Silver Glimmer. 

         Stampin' Up! Quilted Christmas Bundle - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

The Stitched Shapes Framelits complement the Quilted Christmas bundle really well. I have stamped the greeting from the 'Hearts Come Home' stamp set and cropped it with a stitched oval to continue the theme. It is popped up on a flagged banner and trimmed with a silver bow. You can see the details in this closeup.

HoC13_Quilt_Star_Inside

My card is slightly larger than normal, so I have used both Real Red and Pool Party to border my writing panel. I have stamped the stitched star from the 'Christmas Quilt' stamp set in Pool Party and then the greeting from 'Season Like Christmas' over the top. The font in this greeting is very similiar to the 'home' in the greeting on the front of the card.  To finish, I have added a strip of (retired) washi at the base of the greeting panel.

Finally, here is a view from the top. 

Stampin' Up! Quilted Christmas Bundle - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

   

All of the new products in the Holiday Catalogue will be available to purchase in my Online Store from 1 September 2017.

Project Details
Stamps  Christmas Quilt, Hearts Come Home, Season Like Christmas
Card stock & Papers      Whisper White, Real Red, Pool Party, Silver Glimmer, Quilted Christmas DSP
 Ink  Pool Party, Real Red
Accessories  Foil Snowflake, 1/8" Silver Ribbon, Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tools      Quilt Builder Framelits, Stitched Shape Framelits, Sweet & Sassy Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Tombow glue, Stampin' Write markers

You're going to love the range of new products in the Holiday Catalogue. If you don't yet have your copy, please use the button in the left sidebar to contact me and I will happily pop one in the post for you.

If you would like to see more Christmas inspiration, hop over to Claire's blog to see who else is participating this week

Thanks for visiting today!


CASE-ing the Catty - Love & Sympathy

Hi there

This week we're CASE-ing projects from the Love & Sympathy section on pages 86 - 101 of the Annual Catalogue. I hope you will see something that will inspire you to join us with your own CASE. CASE-ing is such a great way to jump start the creative process. It could the layout, colours, style or products that catch your eye and get you excited to create.

You may have come from visiting Krissy's blog, but if you are visiting me, you can start your journey here and continue by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

CTC142_SU_Sample
       

The lovely project in this photo inspired me to break open the 'Beautiful Bouquet' stamp set for the first time. This is a fabulous bundle of stamps and framelits with heaps of possibilities. You can use the stamps alone, as I have done or in combination as shown in the sample. Although my card looks very different, you can identify various elements from the sample that I have chosen to use. These include the embossed background, art panel with the floral bouquet and touch of lacy doily peaking out the bottom.

   Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

I have cut a card size panel of Berry Burst card stock and dry embossed it with the new 'Trellis' embossing folder. I prefer to cut my card stock to the size I need and then dry emboss it, as I find it gives a better finish on the edges. I was a bit surprised the first time I used this embossing folder, to see how much it shrank my card stock. You should cut it a couple of millimetres larger in length and width to compensate.

I have stamped a bouquet of flowers on my art panel, with the stems in Lemon Lime Twist; the flowers in Sweet Sugarplum and the centres in Berry Burst. The corners of the art panel have been rounded and then layered onto a black mat and I have a touch of (retired) Lace Doily peaking out at the bottom.

Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

You can see in this close-up that two of the flowers have been stamped again, fussy cut and popped-up to add extra dimension. The greeting, also from the 'Beautiful Bouquet' stamp set has been heat embossed in gold at the bottom. You may be wondering where in the catalogue is the narrow Berry Burst ribbon that I have used for the bow. I used sharp fabric scissors to cut the Berry Burst 1/2" Finely Woven Ribbon in half. It doesn't fray that much, but I went along the edge with Fray Stoppa for a really neat finish. 

CTC142_Berry_Bouquet_Sparkl

It is very difficult to photograph, but my bouquet has some lovely shimmer from the clear Wink of Stella that I added to the flowers. It looks really pretty IRL when the light shines on it.

  Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

For the inside, I have used washi tape in the coordinating colours (love that!) at the bottom edge and I have stamped a single flower stem in the same colours as the bouquet on the front, to keep the theme going. 

Finally, a view from the top that shows the lovely detail of the Trellis embossing folder.

Stampin' Up! Beautiful Bouquet for CASE-ing the Catty - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

 

Project Details
Stamps Beautiful Bouquet
Card stock & Papers     Berry Burst, Basic Black, Whisper White
 Ink Versamark, Lemon Lime Twist, Sweet Sugarplum, Berry Burst
Accessories Berry Burst 1/2" Finely Woven Ribbon, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Basic Pack 2 & 3 Washi, Lace Doilies (retired)
Tools     Trellis EF, Big Shot, Corner Round punches, Gold EP, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Fray Stoppa (not SU), Wink of Stella Glitter Brush

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see our guest designer Nicole Goding. Thanks for joining us this week, Nicole.

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We would love you to join in with your CASE from the 'Love & Sympathy' section of the new Annual Catalogue using our Facebook group. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog.

CTC_Challenge_Badge

 Thanks for visiting today!

Shop Online Now! Get a FREE Catalogue! My Tutorials Store

The Heart of Christmas - Week 12

  HoC_Header

Hi there

Welcome to week 12 of Christmas inspiration from the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team. This week, I have a sweet and simple card that would be perfect to mass produce. You will also get a sneak peak of some of the lovely new products from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue. Apologies for the lighting in the photos, as it was very dark and grey in Melbourne today, so I had to use artificial lighting.

Stampin' Up! Quilt Top EF, Snowflake Sentiments, Quilted Christmas DSP - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

I have used the lovely 'Quilt Top' embossing folder for the top section of my card and then added the sweet Real Red gingham design from the 'Quilted Christmas' 6" x 6" designer paper pack at the base. Even if you aren't into quilt designs, you will love the selection of small prints in both neutral and Christmas themed designs on the reverse side. For a card like this, without a border, I always start with a separate piece of card stock the size of my card front. It makes it easy to emboss just the section you want and to build up your design before adhering the finished art panel to the base card. It also lends itself to the mass production process too. 

       Stampin' Up! Quilt Top EF, Snowflake Sentiments, Quilted Christmas DSP - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

The centre medallion starts with a silver Foil Snowflake, which also comes in gold. Next, I have added a flagged strip in Emerald Envy as I wanted some extra pop. My stamped greeting in Real Red and Emerald Envy is from the new 'Snowflake Sentiments' stamp set. It also has some other lovely greetings for both the front and inside of your card. I've die cut the greeting with a scalloped oval from the Layering Ovals framelits and then layered it on a plain Real Red oval. I added some rhinestone bling to finish it. The medallion sits on a band of Real Red card stock covered with the lovely silver metallic ribbon.

Stampin' Up! Quilt Top EF, Snowflake Sentiments, Quilted Christmas DSP - Judy May, Just Judy Designs

For the inside I have used another greeting from 'Snowflake Sentiments', stamped in Emerald Envy. In the corners I have stamped the sweet little holly image from the 'Best Gifts' stamp set and coloured it with markers. At the base I have used some retired washi as the holly design worked so well with my corners and I have topped it with the narrow silver washi from the fabulous new 'Year of Cheer' Specialty washi set. 

Finally, here is a view from the top. 

Stampin' Up! Quilt Top EF, Snowflake Sentiments, Quilted Christmas DSP - Judy May, Just Judy Designs
   

All of the products used in this card (except the new Holiday Catalogue items) are now available in my Online Store

Project Details
Stamps Snowflake Sentiments, Best Gifts
Card stock & Papers     Whisper White, Real Red, Emerald Envy, Quilted Christmas DSP
 Ink Real Red, Emerald Envy
Accessories Silver Metallic ribbon, Silver Foil Snowflakes, Year of Cheer Specialty Washi, Rhinestones Basic Jewels
Tools     Quilt Top EF, Layering Ovals Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Tombow Liquid glue, Stampin' Write markers 

I hope you have enjoyed the sneak peaks of new products from the Holiday Catalogue. If you don't yet have your copy, please use the button in the left sidebar to contact me and I will happily pop one in the post for you.

If you would like to see more Christmas inspiration, hop over to Claire's blog to see who else is participating this week

Thanks for visiting today!