CASE-ing the Catty - Babies & Kids

Hi there

The crew are CASE-ing the Babies & Kids section of the new Annual Catalogue this week. I've been hanging out to break open the 'Baby Bear' stamp set ever since I first saw it at On Stage. I'm a 'bear person' from way back, having collected bears and made my own bears which I have on display in my craft room.

You may have come from Rachel'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.

This is the Stampin' Up! sample from page 61 that I am CASE-ing today. Doesn't it look so huggable?

 

I have stayed fairly true to the layout, using Blushing Bride and Sahara Sand to create a feminine baby card. Baby Bear is a 3-step stamp set and the colours used are Sahara Sand, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. The 3 pieces are numbered in the order (1,2,3) in which they should be stamped, but I have personally found it easier to line up the stamps in the reverse order (3,2,1) as the darkest image is stamped laid down first. Experiment and work out which way is best for you.

   

I enjoyed decorating the inside, using the banner from 'Celebrate Today' in the corner and the greeting and cute bird from the 'Made with Love' stamp set to add some cute details.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Baby Bear, Celebrate Today, Made with Love
Card stock & Papers	Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Subtles DSP Stack,
Ink	Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Blushing Bride
Accessories	Pearls Basic Jewels, Blushing Bride Baker's Twine
Tools	Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (retired), Stampin' Write markers, White Gel pen, Dimensionals

 

Now it's time to click on the Next button to hop over to Julia's blog to see what she has to inspire you this week.

 

                             

 

We would love you to link up your CASE of this section of the catty by clicking on the button below to add your project.

You can see the full list of DT members participating this week over at the CASE-ing the Catty blog and next week we will have some fabulous new Design Team members joining us.

Thanks for visiting today!

CASE-ing the Catty - Sale-a-bration Favourite

Hi there

It is Sunday again and the CTC Crew are taking inspiration from their favourite projects and stamps in the fabulous Sale-a-bration Catalogue.  There is sooooo much to love in this little catty, that it is hard to choose. 

You may have come from Simone's blog, but if you are visiting me, you can join the trail here by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post.

Tonight I'm featuring the 'Honeycomb Happiness' stamp set on Page 15.  This little bird/chick is such a cutie and can be used for lots of occasions.

The actual project  I'm case-ing is this card on page 10 of the Sale-a-bration catty. I love the bright colours and the clean and simple layout on this card.  I decided to make a baby card and I have stayed fairly close to the basic layout.   Baby cards are often pastel, so I thought something bright and contemporary would work well with the cute chick. This is also a cute sweet stamp set to colour - very quick and easy. I have coloured the chick with Copic markers and then fussy cut and popped him/her up. I stamped the balloon onto the Melon Mambo floral DSP and then fussy cut and popped it up as well.  The 'peek-a-boo' greeting is from the new 'Suite Sayings' stamp set from the Occasions catalogue and the 'congrats' is from the 'Perfect Pairings' Sale-a-bration stamp set. This is another really useful and versatile set with sentiments that you can mix and match.

 

 

  

Don't forget that you can choose your own FREE Sale-a-bration stamp set with a purchase of $90 or more (excluding postage) of Stampin' Up! products from either the Annual or Occasions catalogues. This is THE BEST time of year, if you love FREE craft products!

 

Project Details
Stamps	Honeycomb Happiness, Suite Sayings
Card stock & Papers	Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Blending card, Brights Patterns Stack
Ink	Memento Espresso Truffle, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo
Accessories
Tools	Hearts border punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals, Copic Markers (Y00, Y11, Y13, YR15, E33, BG05))

Now it is time to head over to Helen's blog to see what fabulous project she has for you. Click on the Next button below to continue the journey.

 

                             

 

You can see the full list of this week's participants over at the CASE-ing the Catty blog. Don't forget that you can join us and link up your creation at the CTC Blog.

Thanks for visiting today!

CASE-ing the Catty Blog Hop - For Baby

Hi there

We are CASE-ing the Catty again on this Friday evening and are taking our inspiration from the Baby section on pages 31 - 38 of the Annual Catalogue.

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

There are lots of cute things in this section of the catalogue, but I kept going back to page 37 and looking at the yellow card with the onesie coming out of the circle.  This is where I started, but I then went on a journey and came up with the shaker card below. Isn't funny how the creative process evolves.

 

I have used a soft colour combo of Sahara Sand and Blushing Bride and lots of white. The solid onesie image comes from the 'Something for Baby' stamp set. To add some texture to the image, I used the 'stamp kissing' technique with the 'Dots for Days' background stamp to create the soft polka dot effect. This is a simple but effective technique to add a pattern to a solid image by kissing the inked solid stamp with the dry patterned stamp. Not all of the ink is removed by the dry patterned stamp, so you will get a soft and subtle result.

The 'confetti' in the shaker is a mixture of Silver and Blushing Bride Sequin Trim, stars from the Metallics Sequins Assortments and hearts cut from Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand and Dazzling Diamonds with the retired Hearts Border punch. TIP: If you are using shapes cut from glimmer paper, turn them all over to have the bling facing up before putting the lid on your shaker. It is worth the effort as they won't be able to flip over to the wrong side once the lid is on.

I have decorated the inside with the baby carriage stamp from the same set. I did not have a 'congratulations' stamp that was the right size and style so I printed this one in Early Espresso from my computer. See my Tips and Hints if you are not familiar with how to print the Stampin' Up! colours on your computer.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Something for Baby, A Dozen Thoughts, Work of Art, Perpetual Birthday Calendar, Dots for Days Background
Card stock & Papers	Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper
Ink	Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories	Blushing Bride and Silver Sequin Trim, Pearls Basic Jewels, White Baker's twine, Blushing Bride 1/4" Cotton Ribbon, Metallic Sequins Assortment
Tools	Circles Collection Framelits, Happy Heart Embossing folder, Baby's First Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Hearts Border punch (retired), Couture Creations 1/8" 3D Foam Strips, Stampin' Write Marker (Early Espresso)

I also liked the layout of the card at the bottom right of page 35, so on the spur of the moment this afternoon I decided to make a more gender neutral baby card using this card for inspiration. The colour combo is Mint Macaron and white with a tiny bit of Tip Top Taupe.  I have added a few little details (I can't help myself!), but hopefully it would still be OK for either gender. Apologies for the lighting on this photo, as I ran out of daylight.

 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Something for Baby, Petite Pairs, Dots for Days Background
Card stock & Papers	Mint Macaron, Whisper White, Tip Top Taupe, In Colour DSP Background Stacks, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper
Ink	Mint Macaron
Accessories	Tip Top Taupe Dotted Lace Trim, Pearls Basic Jewels
Tools	Large Polka Dot Embossing folder, Baby's First Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch pack (retired)

Now it's time to hop over to the blog of the lovely Kathryn Mangelsdorf. Click on the button below.

As always, you can see the full list of participants in today's blog hop and join in by linking up your creation over at the CASE-ing the Catty Blog.

Thanks for looking!

Sweet Baby Bumblebee

Hello

In the last few days, Stampin' Up! has been holding its Leadership conference in the US.  I have been inspired by all the crafting sessions that were included in the conference. It is great to see products demonstrated by the people who helped to design them - so many more ideas than what you immediately think of.

The card I am going to share is a CASE of one presented by Shelli, that really appealed to me. It is just so cute and such a great idea for using the 'Baby Bumblebee' stamp set, which I had already purchased.  I don't get to make a lot of baby cards, but I love the soft but unisex colour combo from the new 'Sweet Dreams' designer paper. I also broke out the 'Celebrate Baby' stamp set for the greetings.

The base card is Lost Lagoon and I love the cute cloud design paper. I stamped the 'Baby Bumblebee' in Smoky Slate ink and then coloured the stripes with the lightest of the Coastal Cabana Blendabilities and face in Blush. This gives a much softer look than black ink. The 'bee' pieces (wings and antennae) were trimmed off and then popped into a cute papoose made from one the coordinating papers from 'Sweet Dreams'.

Did you know that there are quite a few Stampin' Up! ink pads that you can use with the Blendabilities alcohol markers? This gives you so much flexibility in the look that you can get. All of these Stampin' Pads can be used with Blendabilities:

Always Artichoke Baked Brown Sugar Blushing Bride Calypso Coral Coastal Cabana Crisp Cantaloupe Crumb Cake Crushed Curry Daffodil Delight Garden Green

Hello Honey Marina Mist Melon Mambo Lost Lagoon Old Olive Pear Pizzazz Pink Pirouette Pistachio Pudding Pool Party Pumpkin Pie

Sahara Sand Smoky Slate So Saffron Soft Sky Tangelo Twist Tangerine Tango Tempting Turquoise Wild Wasabi Wisteria Wonder

I always decorate my cards inside, even if very simply. I have left the inside blank so I can choose to add another greeting once the gender is known.  

Of course, this layout would also look cute in traditional baby colours as well, but it is always good to have a unisex card on hand.  This one will be going to my lovely Podiatrist who is having a baby in a few months. 

Project Details
Stamps	Baby Bumblebee, Celebrate Baby
Card stock & Papers	Lost Lagoon, Soft Sky, Whisper White, Sweet Dreams DSP, Vellum card stock, Moonlight DSP Stack, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper
Ink	Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories	Sweet Dreams Buttons, Linen Thread
Tools	Starburst Framelits, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Big Shot, Glue dots. Coastal Cabana & Blush Blendabilities

Thanks for looking!

Freshly Made #89 & Sneak Peaks

Hi there

Today I have a card for this week's Freshly Made #89 sketch by Rita. It is a great sketch and one I'm sure I will use again. Here it is:

I have taken the opportunity to do some colouring with this fabulous Noah's Ark stamp - 'Two by Two'.  I have used the MDS Stamp Brush to print it onto Blending Card and coloured it with Copics. This is such a great option for line images.

I also have a couple of sneak peaks of items from the new Annual Catalogue that is launched in Australia on 2 July.  Before we get to that, here is the card:

The first sneak peak is the gingham flag, which is a fabulous new Gingham wheel stamp, which I have stamped  in Strawberry Slush, one of the new In Colours.    The second sneak peak is the matching paler Strawberry Slush button.  This is made with the new 'Simply Pressed Clay', which you can colour and then press into a mold and pop out the button. There are 3 sizes and this is the middle size. It is a firm rubber texture when dry, but you can still put a needle through the holes to thread the twine through, as I have done.  Now you can create matching buttons for every project!   This is the inside of card, where I have used the Gingham wheel again.

Project Details
Stamps	Two by Two (MDS Stamp Brush), Itty Bitty Banners, Gingham Wheel, Easy Events
Card stock & Papers	Pink Pirouette (textured, retired), Pool Party, Strawberry Slush, Subtles Patterns Stack, Whisper White, Blending Card
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Strawberry Slush
Accessories	White Bakers Twine
Tools	Fancy Fan & Needlepoint Border Embossing folders, Bitty Banner Framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Simply Pressed Clay, Buttons & Blossoms Mold, Copics

Thanks for visiting!