CASE-ing the Catty - Using Blending Brushes

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week! 

If you've come from visiting  Peta & Marvi, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are being inspired by projects that use Blending Brushes. These are such a great tool to quickly add some soft colour to your project and are much less prone to the blobs and dark spots that are a hazard of Sponge Daubers.

I chose the project in the photo above for my inspiration. The Potted Geraniums Bundle was one of my must-haves from the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. There are both stamped and die cut elements to create the Geraniums and lots of lovely greetings in a nice mix of fonts.

I started with the panel of Basic White and used my Blending Brush to add a soft background of Balmy Blue ink to give the impression of a lovely blue sky. The lattice cut from Gold Foil using the new Split Card Textures Dies was adhered to the right as a background for my pot of Geraniums and I added the panel to a mat of Polished Pink card stock, leaving a tiny border to help it pop. 

I've used the stamps from Potted Geraniums to create my pot of flowers. The leaves are stamped in Garden Green and the flowers use both Polished Pink and Melon Mambo to give the gorgeous colour tones. I have hot pink Geraniums in pots in my garden and they add such a fabulous burst of colour. There are coordinating dies to crop all of the elements, making it a lot faster to create this lovely detailed image. Isn't the pick with the greeting so sweet? I cut slits in the soil with my craft knife to slip the pick and Geranium stems through. The greeting is one from the Potted Geraniums stamp set, stamped in Early Espresso and cropped with one of the banner dies from my favourite Stylish Shapes Dies.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Potted Geraniums
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Polished Pink, Gold Foil
Ink	Cinnamon Cider (retired), Balmy Blue, Garden Green, Polished Pink, Melon Mambo, Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Accessories	Brushed Brass Butterflies
	Stitched Rectangles Dies, Geranium Dies, Split Card Textures Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Tombow Glue, Blending Brush

 

We would love to see your CASE of a project using Blending Brushes this week. 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. 

You can head over to Sandra to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Please get in touch, if you would love to get a copy of the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

IDEAS Blog Hop - Fast & Fabulous !

Hi there

I'm back with the IDEAS (International Demos Exciting Artistic Stampin') team this month to share more fabulous projects. We are a group of international demonstrators who create a Tutorial Bundle each month to give you, our customers and readers a heap of inspiration for your crafting.

If you've come from looking at Jacqui's fabulous project, then welcome!  If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the IDEAS Team by clicking on the NEXT button at the bottom of the post. 

Our theme this month is Fast & Fabulous Cards and wow, the team has created amazing projects to inspire you - so many ideas to create fabulous cards quickly.  

This bundle contains an amazing 15 tutorials and 76 pages of crafty inspiration and 10 of the 15 tutorials use brand new products from the 2022-23 Annual Catalogue that goes live TODAY (3 May 2022).

Using the gorgeous Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper together with the Blossoming Happiness Dies, you can create this lovely set of cards in no time. The Stampin' Up! Kraft Gift Box has been embellished with a coordinating belly band to create an easy and pretty container to gift your set of cards. The gift box fits the 4 cards and Medium Envelopes.

We all prefer to create cards in our local standard size (Imperial or Metric), so I've included specific cutting instructions for both Imperial and Metric card sizes to make it super easy and quick for you to create these cards.  I've also included lots of tips to get the most of out of this beautiful patterned paper.

Would you like a copy of the instructions for this and the 14 other projects for your personal use, or even to use in your classes? 

There are 3 ways you can get the May 2022 Tutorial Bundle.

1.  Place an order with me for $50 or more using the current month's Host Code (shown in the side bar on the right) and you will receive the tutorial bundle for FREE. I will email you the PDF file within 24 hours of your order being confirmed.  

2. You can purchase the tutorial with Instant Download through my Etsy store by clicking here. You can pay with a credit card or PayPal and you DO NOT need to sign up to Etsy to make a purchase. Check out as a guest if you are not a member.

3.  Join my team and you will get this bundle of tutorials FREE every month to use for your personal crafting or for classes. You can see all the details over on the Join My Team page. It might be the right time for you consider the opportunity to run your own home-based craft business or to get a great discount on your craft supplies.

Once you have received the tutorials, please remember not to share or distribute the printed or electronic copies of these bundles. We have worked hard to provide these exclusive projects for your use. If you know someone that would like to purchase the bundle, please direct them to me to obtain their copy. Thanks for your support.

Now it's time to hop over to Sara in the Uk to see her fabulous project. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Front Cover of 2022-23 Annual Catty

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week! I've been MIA for the last few weeks, as we continue to work on our renovations.  We are doing all the finishing so there is always lots of filling, sanding and painting that needs doing. I've spend the last 4 days staining and sealing the french doors for my new craft studio.  That makes it all worthwhile!

If you've come from visiting  Michelle, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

It's only a few more sleeps until the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue goes live! Woohoo, so much new product to enjoy. This week we are CASE-ing the front cover to get you in the mood. Here is the card layout as a sketch, so you can see the element more easily. It is Mother's Day in Australia this coming Sunday, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to make my card for Mum. I forgot it was another long weekend here in Queensland, so I hope it will arrive in time in Western Australia. 

I love flowers of all kinds, whether they be in the garden or on cards, so the Hues of Happiness Suite is one of my stand out favourites from the new catalogue and I was so happy to see it on the Demonstrator preorder. I love all the elements of this suite and better still, the dies crop many of the floral elements from the Hues of Happiness designer paper, making it perfect for creating lovely cards, quickly.

You can see that I have stayed close to the sketch, although my focus panel is centred, rather than to the left. As my card is slightly smaller than normal, it worked best for me.  I used a piece of Fresh Freesia/Gorgeous Grape painterly design for the background and the Pool Party and Gorgeous Grape roses for the focus. The greeting is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set, stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink and cropped with the Stitched Rectangles Dies.  I finished with a trio of the gorgeous Glossy Dots Assortment, which are also part of the suite.

You might be wondering what the smaller panel to the left is. Well, this panel is one of 4 in my Pinwheel Tower card, so the smaller panel is the reverse side of another blade on the pinwheel!

Here is a view from the top, so you can see how it looks. This is very simple to make and you can easily adjust the dimensions to suit. My card is 10.2cm x 14cm (4" x 5 1/2"), to suit the elements I'm using. It does fold flat for posting, but mine won't fit in a standard envelope, so I will be making a custom envelope for it. 

 This is the second 'blade' of the pinwheel. I've created a frame with the Stitched Rectangle Dies and heat embossed the sentiment from the Blessings of Home stamp set in white. Small roses add colour to the frame and I finished with a trio of Brushed Brass Butterflies.

This is the 3rd 'blade' of the pinwheel and I've added a piece of one of my favourite designs from the Hues of Happiness paper pack. It includes all of the colours that I've used in the card.  The sentiment is from the Lovely You stamp set, stamped in Gorgeous Grape and cropped with the Stitched Rectangles Dies. I finished with a Pool Party flower and leaf set in the corner and a trio of Brushed Brass Butterflies.

The final 'blade' in the pinwheel is the stitched writing panel, cropped with the Stitched Rectangle Dies. The greeting from the Daffodil Daydream stamp set, is stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink. I have kept all the previous left sides blank, so it wouldn't be quite so busy, but I've added a little cluster of flowers this time. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Happiness Abounds, Peaceful Moments, Lovely You, Blessings of Home, Daffodil Daydream
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Gorgeous Grape, Hues of Happiness DSP
Ink	Versamark, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green
Accessories	Brushed Brass Butterflies, Glossy Dots Assortment
	Stitched Rectangles Dies, Blossoming Happiness Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, White EP, Heat Tool, Tombow Glue

 

We would love to see your CASE this week of  the cover of the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. 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. 

You can head over to Lauren to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Please get in touch, if you would love to get a copy of the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store