CASE-ing the Catty - Party Animal

Hi there

Happy New Year!  It is great to be back for a new year with the CTC Crew, bringing you creative inspiration from the brand new Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogues.  You can now purchase products from the Occasions catalogue and for every $90 you spend (before shipping) you get to choose a FREE product from the Sale-a-bration Catalogue. It's the very best time of the Stampin' Up! year when YOU get the presents!

You may have come from Julia'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 week we are looking at the 'Party Animal' section of the Occasions Catalogue on pages 4 - 7.  As the title suggests, this section is all about birthdays.  I've taken my inspiration from the group of tags at the bottom of page 4 and in particular the striped tag (3rd from the left) and turned it into a card.

I went looking for this lovely striped paper in the 'Party Animal' DSP pack and couldn't find it. I looked again and then it suddenly twigged that the striped paper in the pack had been 'enhanced' by placing the narrow Tangerine Tango washi tape between alternate coloured stripes. Doesn't it look great? The colours in this designer paper are vibrant and punchy, making it perfect for male birthdays in particular.  However, I wanted to make a girly card, so this is what I came up with.

I started with a thick Whisper White base and then added the Pacific Point designer paper from the 'Party Animal' pack and layered on a strip of the 'enhanced' striped paper down the centre. I've used the same greeting as the tag, inking up the top and bottom words with the Pacific Point ink pad and using the Tangerine Tango Stampin' Write marker for the centre. This was die cut with my favourite Stitched Shapes Framelits and popped onto a scalloped square from the Layering Squares Framelits. The little bow at the top is from the new 'Balloon Pop-Up Thinlits' dies.  This is a fabulous set and I'm looking forward to have more of a play with them.

I've added some bling to finish and one of the cute party hat trinkets from the 'Party Animal Embellishments' pack, which you can see better in this close-up.

 

For the inside, I have added strips from 3 of the Party Animal washi tapes at the bottom, which forms the base for the popped up number. I embossed the number with (retired) Irridescent Ice embossing powder for a bit more bling. The balloon has 2 layers; the bottom being the spotted washi tape cut out with the Balloon Bouquet punch (it is a perfect match) and topped with a die cut from the Balloon Pop-Up Thinlits. I love how all of these elements coordinate so easily! 

Project Details
Stamps	Balloon Adventures
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Party Animal DSP
Ink	Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry
Accessories	White Baker's twine, Party Animal Embellishments, Party Animal Washi set, Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tools	Balloon Pop-Up Thinlits Dies, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Squares Framelits, Large Numbers Framelits, Big Shot, Balloon Bouquet Punch, Glue Dots, Tombow Glue

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see the fabulous project that Bronwyn has to inspire you today. 

 

                             

We would love you to join in with your CASE of the Party Animal section of the Occasions Catalogue. To make it super easy for you, we now have a FB page where you can post your creation, so you don't need to have a blog to join in the fun. Click on this link or the image below.

You can see the full list of the CTC Crew participating this week over at the CASE-ing the Catty blog.

Thanks for visiting today!

2017 Mini Calendar Gift

Hi there

For the last few years I have been making a new 3D project with mini calendars to display on your desk. Today I'm going to share my latest design that we made in class recently. They make fabulous holiday and new year gifts for teachers, colleagues, neighbours and pretty much anyone! You can find tutorials for this and my other mini calendar projects here. 

This year, I have included a little box on the front that holds a packet of standard 7.6cm  (3") post-it notes. So, not only do you have a calendar at the ready, you also have a little note pad block. I got the idea of the notes box from  a project by Melanie Igelbrink in Germany that you can see here. I have sized my box to fit a full pack of post-it notes as well as to mat the Couture Creations mini calendars that we get here in Australia. The rest of the project is of my own design and I have made it very sturdy to take the weight of the post-it note box sitting on the front.  This is the finished desk calendar.

The base of the calendar is made from Marina Mist card stock with a little concertina at the base so that it folds flat. I have used the 'Best Birds' stamp set and coordinating thinlits dies to make the decorative panel at the top, but you could decorate this in any style you want. The bird and branch were stamped onto Shimmery White card stock and then coloured with an aqua painter and ink pads before die cutting.  They were popped up on a Whisper White panel that was stamped with the crosshatch background and the greeting. The decorative panel and calendar have a matt of Daffodil Delight card stock.

Here is the view from the side. As you can see, the finish at the bottom is very neat because the concertina panel is sandwiched between 2 panels of card stock and this is also what makes the project so sturdy.

For the back of the calendar, you can leave it plain, decorate it with designer paper or use it to display your local public or school holiday dates as I have done. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Best Birds
Card stock & Papers	Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Shimmery White
Ink	Basic Gray Archival, Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Cucumber Crush, Sahara Sand
Accessories	Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Couture Creations Calendar Tabs
Tools	Birds & Blooms Thinlits dies, Big Shot, Simply Scored Board, Dimensionals, Aqua Painter, computer and printer

Thanks for looking!

Cute 2016 Mini Calendar Project

Hi there

I'm back again to share another of the projects from last week's class.  It is another 3D project and it is perfect as a gift for teachers, neighbours and colleagues as we approach the end of the school year and the festive season.

I call it my Sandwich Board Calendar and I have gone for a blackboard look at the top with the inspiring quote from the 'Perfect Pennants' stamp set, heat embossed in white. I think it is a perfect reminder to have on a calendar that you look at regularly.

The base of the calendar is in Crumb Cake card stock, cut at 10.5cm on the short edge for the length of the A4 sheeet, so you get 2 calendars from one piece of card stock. The mat is in Lost Lagoon and the flower embellishment in Calypso Coral with Wild Wasabi leaves and the Crushed Curry butterfly. It is bright and cheerful and more vibrant in real life. You can change up the colours and embellishment for endless variety. This is a really cost effective gift that fits in a standard C6 envelope and you could include one with your Christmas card.

This photo shows the side view and the hinges that will ensure your calendar stays beautifully upright all year, but folds flat for easy posting. If you look very closely under the hinge you might see that I have reinforced the bottom section and feet to make it even more robust.

 

For the reverse side, I have printed and cut a Whisper White panel showing the Victorian Public Holidays. However, you could leave this side blank or add some coordinating designer paper to finish.  

I now have a tutorial available for this project - click here to go to my Tutorials page.

Project Details
Stamps	Flower Shop, Perfect Pennants, Butterfly Basics
Card stock & Papers	Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon, Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Ink	Versamark, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry
Accessories	Iced Rhinestones, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Couture Creations 2016 Calendar Tabs
Tools	Stampin' Trimmer, Pansy Punch, Owl Builder Punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, White embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Tombow glue

Thanks for looking!

Mini Calendar Projects

Hi there

With the end of the year bearing down on us, it is time to start thinking about gifts for your children's teachers, work colleagues and neighbours.  

In our class last week we made these cute projects with mini calenders that would be perfect for teacher or colleague gifts. The first one is a calendar to put on the refrigerator. The 'All Abloom' and 'Moonlight' paper stacks are perfect for this project as there are heaps of coordinating designs and you can get multiple calendars from one set of pages.

The next one is a cute triangular desk calendar that folds flat for posting. It would be lovely to include with your Christmas/New year card.

I have used the spotted print from 'Gold Soiree' Designer Series Paper and matted the calendar with Gold Foil paper to match. You could put matching DSP on the reverse side, but I decided to make use of the space by listing the Victorian Public Holidays. You could also use the space for school term dates.

The last project was this easel combining the calendar and a sticky note pad. This would be very useful for colleagues or in the home office. This could be easily adapted for a more male oriented version.

If you would like to make these projects, you can get all the details and dimensions from my tutorial here.

I purchased my mini calendars from hobbycraftandscrap.com.au. The item is called Couture Creations - Calendar Tabs 2015.

Project Details
Stamps	Papillion Potpourri, Flower Shop
Card stock & Papers	Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, All Abloom DSP Stack, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Gold Soiree, Gold Foil, Early Espresso, Coastal Cabana, In Colour Backgrounds Stack
Ink	Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana
Accessories	Basic Pearls, Calypso Coral Seam Binding ribbon, Daffodil Delight cotton ribbon, Large basic rhinesone (retired), Mini calendars, Sticky note pad, Googly eyes
Tools	Scallop Border punch, 1 1/4" Scallop Cirlce punch, Fancy Fan embossing folder, Big Shot, Owl Builder punch, Fancy Flower punch, Pansy punch, Butterfly punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, Timeless Type alphabet (retired), Tombow glue, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking!