Just Judy Designs

CASE-ing the Catty - Favourite Annual Catty Project

April 28, 2024

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week.

Wow, it's our last CASE from the 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue! Next week we will be starting on the brand new 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue that goes LIVE to customers on 1st May, 2024. I cannot believe how quickly this year is speeding past and it is only 7 weeks until we leave for our overseas trip to Scandanavia.

If you've come from visiting Lauren, 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 button at the bottom of the post.

This week we are taking inspiration from our favourite project from the 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue. There are so many great samples to choose from and I've CASE-d many of my favourites. However, I love this page (below) from the Annual Catalogue showing samples for the Masterfully Made Suite.

I think the Masterfully Made Designer Series Paper is amazing. I love all of the colours in the paper and as I'm a pink fan, the Berry Burst and Fresh Freesia designs are winners for me. The paper is now in the Last Chance Sale, so you can get it for $10.87AUD, which is close to a 50% discount. I've already CASE-d the layout of the card at the top in this post here, for cards for new team members, so I decided to focus on the Berry Burst project at the top right in the photo above.

I decided on Fresh Freesia for my card base, which is a colour in the paper and cut another piece slightly smaller. I like the interest this extra layer adds, but the other advantage is that if you make a mistake or don't like your stamping, you can turn it over and start again! I stamped off the text in from the Quiet Meadow stamp set at the bottom and top corners using Fresh Freesia ink, which looks quite faint in the photo, but I just wanted a subtle hint in the background. The foliage spray from the Gorgeously Made Dies was cropped twice from Fresh Freesia card stock and I adhered them with tape across the stems. You can also add Adhesive Sheet to the reverse of the card stock but I wanted a more free flowing look.

I added the piece of patterned paper from Masterfully Made to a piece of Fresh Freesia card stock to make it more robust for the 'lumpy' surface it was being adhered to. The white banner was cropped with a die from the Nested Essentials Dies, and I extended it to be a little longer. The second banner is the reverse side of the floral paper. Inspired by the paper, I created a shabby chic flower by tearing Berry Burst card stock and rolling it up and squishing it a little and adhered it at the top of the banners. I finished with a flowing bow from (retired) Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon under it and a trio of silver pearls from the new Basic Gray & Smoky Slate Pearls. The birthday greeting from the Go To Greetings stamp set was stamped in Berry Burst ink, fussy cut and popped up.

For the inside, I have a Basic White writing panel and I've used the spiral look die from the Gorgeously Made Dies at the top which gives it the look of being torn from a notebook. At the base I have stamped off the text and adhered part of the foliage spray under a strip of the designer paper.

This card isn't one for a standard envelope, but it's worth it for something a little different, don't you think?

Project Details
Stamps	Go To Greetings, Quiet Meadow
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Berry Burst, Fresh Freesia, Masterfully Made DSP
Ink	Fresh Freesia, Berry Burst
Accessories	Basic Gray & Smoky Slate Pearls, Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon (retired)
*Tools*	Gorgeously Made Dies, Nested Essentials Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

We would love to see your CASE of a favourite project from the 2023-24 Annual Catalogue 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 the Julia to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

Posted at 06:55 PM in CASE-ing The Catty, Feminine, Nature/Floral | Permalink | Comments (0)

CASE-ing the Catty - New 2024-25 Annual Catalogue

May 05, 2024

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week and the brand new 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue. We have a HUGE hop this week to inspire you as we have new Crew joining us. Make sure you follow the link at the end of the post and welcome them with some comment love!

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 button at the bottom of the post.

This week we are taking inspiration from the 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue, which means we get to choose any project.

I decided on the project above using the Layers of Beauty Bundle for my inspiration. This bundle consists of the stamp set with the large floral image and a selection of greetings, the coordinating dies and the Decorative Masks. The masks are a fabulous way to quickly colour a large image with Blending Brushes and perfect for those who are not super fond of colouring. Of course, you can also colour the image directly with Stampin' Blends alcohol markers, Watercolour Pencils, or watercolouring with inks and Water Painters. This makes it a super flexible bundle with lots of techniques. Today, I decided to use the masks and wanted to give you another option with the finished image by cutting it apart for a totally different look.

I used Pretty in Pink, one of the new 2024-2026 In Colors for the large roses. This colour was retired about 5 years ago, but has returned for the next 2 years. I wanted a soft look, so I used Pretty in Pink for all 3 masks that colour the roses and Petunia Pop on the smaller flowers and Old Olive for the leaves. Again, I've keep the leaves quite soft with just a little shading. You can of course make it darker if you choose by using more ink.

With the image coloured, I used the coordinating die to crop the image and then went one step further and cut the image into 3 pieces. By cutting the image into pieces, you can achieve different looks, making it even more flexible. There is a separate die that crops the largest rose with the 3 leaves, but I just separated the 2 larges roses from the third rose with the small flowers and foliage and the small flowers with foliage as a third piece. This allowed me to create a more compact cluster, which I layered on a Basic White background dry embossed with the Distressed Tile 3D Embossing Folder. The 2 large roses are popped up on Dimensionals and the smaller rose and flowers are popped up on 1mm foam pads to give it a little dimension as it sits under the main image, I added a narrow mat of Pretty in Pink card stock and then popped it up with Adhesive Foam Strips onto a Thick Basic White card base. The greeting from the Stippled Roses stamp set was masked to separate the words and stamped in Petunia Pop ink. I finished with a sprinkle of 2024-26 In Color Shimmer Gems. The finished card is 13cm (5 1/8") square.

For the inside, I have replicated the Pretty in Pink mat for the writing panel at the same size as the front and I've added the remaining piece of the floral image that I cut apart.

Project Details
Stamps	Layers of Beauty, Stippled Roses
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pretty in Pink
Ink	Pretty in Pink, Petunia Pop, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Accessories	2024-2026 In Color Shimmer Gems
*Tools*	Layers of Beauty Dies, Distressed Tile 3D EF, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Layers of Beauty Masks, Adhesive Foam Strips, 1mm Foam Pads (not SU)

We would love to see your CASE of a project from the 2024-25 Annual Catalogue 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 new Crew member Courtenay to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

Posted at 06:55 PM in CASE-ing The Catty, Feminine, Nature/Floral | Permalink | Comments (7)

CASE-ing the Catty - Perennial Lavender Birthday

April 14, 2024

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week.

If you've come from visiting Rebecca, 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 button at the bottom of the post.

This week we are taking inspiration from projects using Retiring Punches.

I've chosen the project above for my inspiration, as I thought the background was interesting, with punch outs from the retiring Ink & Tiled Punch Pack creating a textured background for the focus image. I'm not a fan of Crushed Curry, so I'm not at all partial to this particular sample project. However, if you can get past your initial view, often you will find an interesting idea or technique that you can take into your own card making.

Instead of punch outs, I've used die cuts to create a textured background for my bouquet of Lavender. I started with a Lost Lagoon card base and then cut a smaller piece to leave a border at the top and bottom and added the mottled Pretty Peacock/Lost Lagoon design from the Perennial Lavender DSP. I've die cut 4 of the Lavender branch from Lost Lagoon card stock to which I added Adhesive Sheet, first. This turns the die cuts into stickers and makes it super easy to adhere them to the background.

The tops of the lavender heads were stamped with Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape ink in a two-step process and cropped with the coordinating die. I stamped 3 stems in Lost Lagoon ink and then fussy cut them as a group and adhered it to a white stitched rectangle cropped with the (retired) Stitched Rectangles Dies. The Lavender heads were adhered over the stems with the bottom layer flat and the top one popped up. The panel was adhered flat to the background and I tied the pretty Silver & White 1/2" Sheer Ribbon around the panel and finished with a bow over the Lavender bouquet. The finished panel was adhered flat to the Lost Lagoon card base.

The greeting from the soon to be retired Go To Greetings stamp set was stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink, fussy cut and popped up. The teeny butterfly was stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink and fussy cut and popped up above the greeting. I finished with a trio of Purple Fine Shimmer Gems.

For the inside I have a white writing panel cut with the same style border as the front and I've added a lavender branch and flower head on the right and an even teenier Gorgeous Grape butterfly in the top corner. The butterflies are from the Painted Lavender stamp set.

I hope you give this idea a try in your card making, when you want to add texture and interest to your background.

Project Details
Stamps	Painted Lavender, Go To Greetings
Card stock & Papers	Lost Lagoon, Basic White, Perennial Lavender DSP
Ink	Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grap
Accessories	Silver & White 1/2" Sheer Ribbon, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems
*Tools*	Stitched Rectangle Dies (retired), Painted Lavender Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Adhesive Sheet

We would love to see your CASE of a project using a Retiring Punch 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 the Peta & Marvi to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

Posted at 06:55 PM in CASE-ing The Catty, Feminine, Nature/Floral | Permalink | Comments (0)

CASE-ing the Catty - Favourite Retiring Bundle

April 07, 2024

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week.

It's that time of the year when we have to say goodbye to some favourite products and welcome lots of new goodies in the 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue. This week we are being inspired by our Favourite Retiring Bundle.

The Gorgeously Made Bundle and the coordinating Masterfully Made DSP is one I'm sorry to see retire. I'll be keeping the Gorgeously Made Dies in my stash for the versatile background foliage, the notebook border and torn-look border.

You can see the dies in the photo above. They are not discounted in the Last Chance Sale here in Australia, but check prices in your local market just in case.

I chose the sample above for my inspiration this week and I've used a combination of the retiring products from the Masterfully Made Suite, plus a brand new bundle called Spotlight on Nature, which will be available to customers on 1st May.

I've chosen one of my favourite designs from the Masterfully Made DSP for the background and I added 2 of the open sprays cropped from Bubble Bath cardstock under the layer of (retired) Iridescent Ribbon. For the circle element in the design, I've used one of the fabulous set of new nesting circle dies that come with the Spotlight on Nature Bundle. There are 2 sets of 6 dies with different border treatments, that take the detail to the next level. The dies can also totally stand alone, as they do not crop any of the images from the stamp set.

On the circle I have added the large fussy cut flower from the Spotlight on Nature stamp set that I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Only the flowers have been coloured as I didn't want to add another colour to the mix. I added some Wink of Stella to the flowers for a lovely bit of sparkle, which makes the base of the large flower lighter in the photo than it actually is. For the background to the greeting, I have a piece of the Fresh Freesia design from the Masterfully Made DSP and a piece of Azure Afternoon cardstock and I've stamped the cross-hatch pattern using another stamp from Spotlight on Nature. The greeting from the (retired) Let's Create Together stamp set was stamped in Berry Burst ink, fussy cut and popped up. I finished with a trio of gold sequins.

For the inside I have a Basic White writing panel and partially stamped the flower from Spotlight on Nature on the right in black ink and added a narrow strip of the Fresh Freesia design at the base. The simplicity of the uncoloured flower is a nice contrast to the detail on the front of the card.

Project Details
Stamps	Let's Create Together (retired), Spotlight on Nature
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Azure Afternoon, Bubble Bath, Masterfully Made DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Berry Burst
Accessories	Iridescent Ribbon (retired), Neutrals Adhesive-Backed Sequins
*Tools*	Spotlight on Nature Dies, Gorgeously Made Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Stampin' Blends (Bubble Bath, Berry Burst)

We would love to see your CASE of your favourite retiring bundle from either the 2024 Jan-April Mini Catalogue or 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue, 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 the Peta & Marvi to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

Posted at 06:55 PM in CASE-ing The Catty | Permalink | Comments (0)

CASE-ing the Catty - Easter Lilies Bundle

March 31, 2024

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week! Happy Easter to all those celebrating this special time in the Christian calendar or taking the opportunity to gather with friends and family. I hope some chocolate treats found their way to your house!

CTC463_Easter_Chocs

I prefer to make my own chocolates so they are dairy free and I can make them as dark as we like by adding plenty of raw cacao and no refined sugar or other additives that we don't need in our lives! These are ginger flavour - so yum!

This week we are taking inspiration from the Bundles on pages 67-73 of the 2024 January-April Mini Catalogue. There are lots of great samples on these pages and it was difficult to choose.

I chose the sample above from page 68 using the Easter Lillies Bundle. I liked the layout of the card with the two tones and diagonal placement. The scored lines are also a simple but effective way to add extra interest, but I didn't see that until I looked at a larger image as I was writing this post. Something to remember for next time.

I don't own this bundle (you can't have it all, right?), but a lovely Demonstrator friend die cut a whole lot of pieces for me, so I could make an Easter card for my Mum. The wonderful friends you make are one of the best aspects of belonging to the fabulous Stampin' Up! papercraft community.

When I saw this layout, I knew I was going to use the Highland Heather check paper, which is a favourite from the Flowering Zinnias DSP (new in Online Exclusvies this month). I cut a card front-sized piece of Basic White and blended Highland Heather ink in the bottom right section, leaving it a little lighter in the centre. I decided to make this a sympathy card, although it would also be perfect for Easter as well. The sentiment from the Heartfelt Hexagon stamp set was stamped in the bottom right corner in black ink. I adhered the check paper to the top left corner and then thought it needed a bit of pop, so I butted a narrow strip of Gold Foil against the paper.

The Easter Lilies Dies include all the pieces to create your own 3D lilies, in additon to cropping the stamped images. The petals and stamens were cropped from (retired) Shimmery White card stock, which gives you some options if you want to do a little watecolouring. I used a blending brush and Granny Apple Green ink to add some colour to the base of each petal and then a watercolour pencil to add some finer details and a Blender Pen to soften the pencil. The lines in the petals are cut by the dies to add a more realistic look. I adhered the first 2 layers together with 1mm foam pads and then added the stamens flat at the bottom end, but with a foam pad in the centre to lift them off the petals. The final two smaller pieces were also adhered with 1mm foam pads.

There are 2 shapes of leaves which were cropped from Old Olive and Mossy Meadow card stock. I added Granny Apple Green ink to the Old Olive leaves and Old Olive ink to the Mossy Meadow leaves to give them some shading. The leaves were popped around the flower after it was adhered to the card. I finished with a trio of the lovely Flat Adhesive-Backed Pearls. This is a very dimensional card (which I love), but you can make it flatter if postage is an issue.

For the inside I normally add an extra writing panel, but as I wanted to add a little more ink blended Highland Heather, it worked better without it. I finished it at the bottom with one of the sweet borders from the Delicate Forest Dies cropped from Old Olive card stock and I added a little Granny Apple Green for shading. These dies come as a bundle with a stamp set, but easily standalone. I finished with a little bird from the Adhesive-Backed Dragonflies & Birds embellishments.

If this card has piqued your interest in the Easter Lilies Bundle, you can purchase it from the Last Chance Products on April 9th. You will get the dies 50% reduced and stamps 30% reduced for a total of $59.40AUD instead of $91.75AUD for the bundle. This is for Australia, so check the prices in your local market.

Project Details
Stamps	Heartfelt Hexagon
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shimmery White (retired), Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Gold Foil, Flowering Zinnias DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Highland Heather, Granny Apple Green, Old Olive
Accessories	Flat Adhesive-Backed Pearls, Adhesive-Backed Dragonflies & Birds
*Tools*	Easter Lilies Dies, Delicate Forest Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends (Daffodil Delight), Blender Pen, Blending Brushes, Watercolour Pencils, 1mm foam pads (not SU)

We would love to see your CASE from the Bundles on pages 67-73 of the 2024 Jan-Apr Mini Catalogue, 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 the Julia to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

Posted at 06:55 PM in CASE-ing The Catty, Nature/Floral, Sympathy | Permalink | Comments (0)

CASE-ing the Catty - Sketch Challenge

March 24, 2024

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week.

If you've come from visiting Kathryn, 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 button at the bottom of the post.

This week we are CASE-ing the layout of the icecream card above from page 70 of the 2024 January-April Mini Catalogue. You can see it translated to a sketch on the right.

My starting point was the Magnolia Mood Bundle from the Online Exclusives that recently arrived in my craft room. I stamped the largest image in Basic Gray ink, as I thought black would be a bit too bold. I coloured the image with Bubble Bath and Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends and cropped it with the corresponding die. Magnolias come in many shades of pink as well as the white/off-white shade.

I thought the Magnolia would look best framed with a circle, so I used the largest of the circles from the Stylish Shapes Dies to crop a circle from the white and gold check design from the Nature's Sweetness Specialty DSP. I adhered it to a Berry Burst card base and added some loops of gold thread from the Simply Elegant Trim across the circle. The trim was pinched into the centre and adhered with some tape. The Magnolia was popped up over the top. The extra foliage was cropped from Gold Foil using a die from the Magnolia Mood Dies. The greeting from the Biggest Wish stamp set (sadly soon to retire) was stamped in Berry Burst ink and fussy cut and popped up at the bottom.

For the inside I added the leftover piece of gold and white DSP at the bottom and added the smaller Magnolia image that I coloured and fussy cut.

Project Details
Stamps	Magnolia Mood, Biggest Wish
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Berry Burst, Nature's Sweetness Specialty DSP, Gold Foil
Ink	Basic Gray, Berry Burst
Accessories	Simply Elegant Trim, Neutrals Adhesive-Backed Sequins
*Tools*	Magnolia Mood Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends (Bubble Bath, Granny Apple Green)

We would love to see your CASE of the sketch on page 70 of the 2024 Jan-Apr Mini Catalogue, 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 the Rebecca to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

Posted at 06:55 PM in CASE-ing The Catty, Feminine, Nature/Floral | Permalink | Comments (0)

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A bit about me...

Hi, I'm Judy May and I live in Toowoomba, Queensland with my husband. I love Stampin' Up!® paper, stamps and ink and using them to make beautiful projects. Let me be your creative coach and inspire you to bring the joy of creativity to your life!