CASE-ing the Catty - Sketch Challenge

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week. 

If you've just come from looking at Lauren's lovely 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 CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week, we are CASE-ing the layout of the Koala card in the photo above. 

Here is the card converted into a sketch so you can easily see the key elements, which are 3 panels and a sentiment. There is lots of scope to get creative. This is also a great layout to use your designer paper in the background, with your decorated panels over the top.

Well, I couldn't help myself, lol, I just had to CASE the Koala card because it is so darn cute!  I wanted to make my card distinctly girly though, so I have used a different colour combo. My card base is Pool Party and I've added a layer of the icecream designer paper. My stitched panels are die cut from Grapefruit Grove card stock for the background of the Smoky Slate Koalas. 

These Koalas are set to party, with the first one holding a triple scoop icecream, fussy cut from the designer paper; the second with the party hat holds the birthday greeting from the Label Me Bold stamp set, stamped in Bermuda Bay and the third is holding a bunch of balloons I stamped and fussy cut.  Did you notice the cute banner? No, you didn't miss this design in the paper pack; I have stamped the small square image multiple times in a row and then die cut the banner from it. The So Saffron metallic twine (that is more like Daffodil Delight) from the Sale-a-bration Metallic Baker's Twine & Sequins Combo Pack  was used for the cute bows.

I have kept the inside simple, with a panel of Whisper White and I have hand cut the row of birthday candles at the base. The greeting is from the Bonanza Buddies stamp set and I've added another banner  across the top using the same square stamp, this time in Mango Melody. 

I'm really happy with how this card turned out. It looks the similiar but so different from the sample, which is the great thing about CASE-ing!

 

Project Details
Stamps	Bonanza Buddies, Label Me Bold
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pool Party, Grapefruit Grove, Birthday Bonanza DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Mango Melody, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana
Accessories	Rhinestones, Metallic Baker's Twine & Sequins Combo Pack (Sale-a-bration), Assorted Pompoms
Tools	Stitched Rectangle Dies, Bonanza Dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals

 

I had in mind another card and this time I turned the sketch on its head, literally!  Yes, you can do that! Let your creativity be inspired by, but not limited to what you see in the sketch. 

This time I have a soft and pretty card, perfect for an engagement, wedding or anniversary. I started with a Thick Whisper White card base in a portrait orientation and added the panel of Petal Pink and Champage Foil accented designer paper from the Parisian Blossoms Specialty Designer Series Paper that I had layered onto Champagne Foil.  The 3 panels were die cut from Champagne Foil with the Stitched Rectangles Dies and positioned horizontally to form the background for the cherry blossom spray from the Forever Blossoms stamp set. 

I've coloured the large cherry blossom image with Petal Pink and Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Alcohol Markers for a soft look and cropped it with the coordinating die from the Cherry Blossoms Dies. I have cut the cherry blossom branch in two and inserted the greeting from the Here's A Card stamp set and added some extra leaves and a bud to soften the edge of the greeting banner.  The Petal Pink Metallic-Edge Ribbon is tied around the bottom panel to finish in a bow at the bottom of the floral spray. I have coloured, fussy  cut and popped up the 2 flowers with the Champagne Rhinestone centres for added interest and texture.

For the inside, I have a Petal Pink mat for my writing panel and the greeting from the Forever Blossoms stamp set in the centre. At the base is more of the Petal Pink Metallic-Edge ribbon and the top section of the cherry blossom image.

This card is so soft and pretty in real life and I hope the recipients love it too.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Forever Blossoms
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Petal Pink, Parisian Blossoms Specialty DSP, Champagne Foil
Ink	Memento Espresso Truffle,
Accessories	Champage Rhinestones, Petal Pink Metallic-Edge Ribbon
Tools	Stitched Rectangle Dies, Cherry Blossom Dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends (Petal Pink, Mint Macaron)

 

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see the lovely project Siobhan has to inspire you this week. 

We would love you to join us with your CASE of the Koala sketch over the next 2 weeks, 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. 

Thanks for visiting me 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 - Mini Catalogue Week 1

Hi there

Welcome to the first week of CASE-ing the Catty for 2019! So many amazing products and samples to CASE in the next 6 months. 

If you've come from visiting my lovely friend Tina and looking at her gorgeous 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 CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

We have changed things up a bit this year, so there will be 2 weeks for each challenge, to give you more opportunity to create your own projects and pop them on our Facebook group. So this is week 1 of CASE-ing anything from the new January - June Mini Catalogue. 

Where to start, lol! I decided to go with a product bundle that jumped out at me when I first looked at the Mini Catalogue. The Bonanza Buddies Bundle from the Birthday Bonanza Suite on pages 32-34  is just so darned cute! I love that Stampin' Up! has included our iconic Koala as one of the cute animal images.  It does make me very sad to think that 20,000 of them have perished in the bushfires.

There are lots of samples that I want to CASE from this suite, but I chose this one, first up. 

Aren't those tags so cute! I decide to take the idea of the frame and translate it to a card.

I started with a Thick Whisper White card base and added a layer of the small Coastal Cabana print from the Birthday Bonanza Designer Series Paper. The stitched frame in Bermuda Bay was created with the Stitched Rectangles Dies and I popped it up on Dimensionals. I used the frame from around the edge of the sheet of Dimensionals, so don't throw those out when you have used them all. I toyed with creating a shaker card, but decided that there was going to be plenty going on without that.  I stamped the greeting from the Bonanza Buddies stamp set in Calypso Coral and then cropped it with the new Stitched So Sweetly Dies and positioned it towards the top of the frame. The banner was die cut from another design from the designer paper and positioned so it would go across the greeting. 

I have fussy cut the lion with the balloons from the Birthday Bonanza Designer Series Paper. I roughly cut it out and then adhered it to Whisper White to give it some more body. I then stamped the head (Daffodil Delight) and mane (Mango Melody) and used the Bonanza Dies to crop them. This allowed me to pop up the mane over the body and then pop up the head to give him lots of dimension. I stamped the Koalas in Gray Granite and cropped them with the corresponding die. I die cut a party hat from some leftover striped designer paper and added a cute pompom to the top for the Koala. The packages were stamped in matching colours and you can add the bows as a second step if desired. You will  need to fussy cut them, but they are simple shapes. You can crop the basic animal images from the designer paper with the corresponding dies. If they have party hats or balloons, you will want to fussy cut them.

For the inside I have a Bermuda Bay mat for my writing panel and the leftover strip of the Coastal Cabana designer paper at the  bottom. The Koala is in party mode with his party hat and icecream in hand.  At the top I have the striped banner going across the corner. 

Project Details
Stamps	Bonanza Buddies
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Birthday Bonanza DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Gray Granite, Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Grapefruit Grove
Accessories	Assorted Pompoms
Tools	Stitched Rectangles Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Bonanza Dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Tombow Glue

 

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see the gorgeous project Julia has to inspire you this week. 

We would love you to join us with your CASE of the new January - JUne 2020 Mini Catalogue over the next 2 weeks, 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. 

Don't forget, if you would like to receive your own copy of the new January - June 2020 Mini Catalogue, then leave your details over on my Free Catalogues page. 

Thanks for visiting me today!

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

Partying Pandas!

Hi there

Today I have another of the cards we made in recent classes, this time using the super cute 'Party Pandas' stamp set. This is one of the most popular of the FREE products that you can earn with a purchase of $90 or more (before shipping). I have two colour ways for this card, one very girly and one that is pretty gender neutral. The inspiration for this card came from Michelle Last who took her inspiration from Anni Karten. I love how we can each take the idea and make it our own. 

I have used the Basic Black Archival ink to stamp the Pandas. It is a crisp, saturated black that is perfect for this image. If you have a stamping platform, it will definitely assist you to get a really solid image. However, it does take a while to dry, so I recommend you give it a good blast with your heat gun to make sure it is fully dry before you start fussy cutting. The first colour combo is Pacific Point with Lemon Lime Twist and the other is Berry Burst with Lemon Lime Twist. I used alcohol markers to colour the balloons, as I wanted to get some shading,  but you need to be very careful as the black ink will bleed. I used Stampin' Write markers for the small details on the party hat and the heart on the envelope.

For the gender neutral version, I've used the round silver enamel shapes, silver star and the silver and white Baker's Twine for embellishments and the greeting comes from the 'Birthday Delivery' stamp set. The party hat Panda was also stamped onto the envelope and his hat coloured with Stampin' Write markers for a coordinated look.

For the inside, I have a Lemon Lime Twist mat for the writing panel and have used strips of designer paper at the base and a birthday greeting in the centre.

I added some cute little banners for a final touch.  The larger one is cut from the Lemon Lime Twist check design from the Tutti-Fruiti designer paper.

In this closeup you can see that I've just adhered the Pandas at the bottom of the circles, leaving the top free to give a more 3D effect. On this girly version I've used rhinestones for the embellishment.

For the inside of this version I've used some washi at the base with a strip of the Lemon Lime Twist designer paper and I stamped the dottie balloon and greeting from Happy Birthday Gorgeous.

Project Details
Stamps	Party Pandas, Better Together, Birthday Delivery, Happy Birthday Gorgeous
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pacific Point, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Tutti-Fruit DSP, Eastern Palace Specialty DSP
Ink	Basic Black Archival Ink, Pacific Point, Berry Burst.
Accessories	Silver & White Baker's Twine, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Metallic Enamel Shapes, Basics Pack 1 Washi
Tools	1 3/4" Circle punch,  Dimensionals, Tombow Glue, Glue Dots, Stampin' Write Markers, Copic Markers, White Gel pen

Thanks for looking!

Fairy Celebration

Hi there

I have something other than a Christmas card for you today (hooray you say!). I have a lovely friend who wanted to make a spinner card with the 'Fairy Celebration' stamp set, so I was happy to take up the challenge. This lovely stamp set is in the Annual Catalogue and is fabulous for those who (like me) love colouring and of course, fairies. It comes in either wood mount or clear mount and is a set of 9 stamps.

 

I love spinner cards too; it is fabulous seeing the whirling and twirling and very hard to put down! This is the card I came up with.

 

I have used the largest image as the focus of my spinner card, colouring it with Copic markers. I cropped the image with a circle framelit and then added it to a Melon Mambo circle. I then chose another circle framelit that would be approximately 1cm  (3/8") larger and used that to work out the size of Melon Mambo square. I have stamped fairy dust across the top and half way down the sides and then heat embossed it in silver for lots of sparkle and added the greeting to the bottom edge

I added the Melon Mambo square to the thick Whisper White base card using the 1/8" foam strips. The strips need to be edge to edge all the way around the square for a firm finish and also around the centre circle, ensuring it is about 6mm (1/4") in from the edge so it doesn't interfere with the spinner mechanism. Once the Melon Mambo square is attached to the card base, centre the coloured fairy in the space. To attach, place a strip of the foam tape all the way around the underneath edge of the stamped and matted circle, ensuring it is 6mm (1/4") in from the edge.

I have coloured and fussy cut the small fairy image and added it to my washer mechanism. (I have previously explained how to make the washer mechanism in this blog post.) It doesn't show up very well in the photo, but I have added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the wings of both fairies and it is very sparkly in real life.

For the inside, I have stamped the third fairy image in the top corner of the writing panel and coloured it with Copics. I added the checked Melon Mambo washi at the bottom and topped it with the narrow silver washi from the Year of Cheer Specialty set. A mat of Melon Mambo was added to the writing panel and attached to the inside of the card. The final size of the card is 13.7cm square  (5 3/8") so it fits nicely into a 14cm square envelope.

Here is a view from the top. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. If you've never made a spinner card, then please give it a try.

Project Details
Stamps	Fairy Celebration
Card stock & Papers	Whisper white, Melon Mambo
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Accessories	Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Basics Pack 1 Washi, Year of Cheer Specialty Washi
Tools	Layering Circles Framelits, Big Shot, 1/8" Foam Strips, Dimensionals, 1/2" Circle punch, 1/4" Circle punch, Copic markers, Silver EP, Heat gun

Finally, I'm delighted that Stampin' Up! will be releasing their own alcohol markers very soon (actual date still to be announced). The markers are called Stampin' Blends and come in 12 colours, featuring a light and dark marker in each colour. There is also an ivory and bronze marker for skin tones and a colour lifter. The light and dark markers can be purchased as a combo pack and all of the markers will also be available individually. The lid design on these markers has been modified to ensure that there is no evaporation of the ink. One of benefits of being a Demonstrator is that I get to order these markers first and in fact they just arrived yesterday, so I'm looking forward to giving them a work out. Here are few of the benefits of these markers, as I see it:

• There is a lovely range of colours that match the Stampin' Up card stock and embellishments perfectly.
• These markers are very easy to use, giving a smooth layer of colour on Whisper White card stock.
• The light and dark markers allow you to add depth and shading to your coloured images, without it being tricky or complicated.
• The colour lifter allows you to remove colour if you go outside the lines (love this!).
• The marker has a brush tip and fine tip, which is great for colouring large areas and fine details.

I'll be back soon with some projects using my Stampin' Blends!

Thanks for looking!

CASE-ing the Catty - Babies & Kids

Hi there

Welcome to another week of CASE-ing from the Annual Catalaogue. This week the CTC Crew are taking inspiration from the Babies & Kids section on pages 102-111. 

You may have come from visiting Megan'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. 

      

It's confession time! I've had the 'No Bones about It' stamp set for quite a while, but it has never seen any ink. I decided to remedy that this week by CASE-ing the sample card above from page 109 of the catalogue. I love that they used pinks for this card, as dinosaurs are for girls too! However, I gone with a different set of colours which are probably a bit more on the boy-ish side, but I wanted something bright and fun. 

     

I've stayed with the all-over design too, using two of the dinosaur designs in different colours on a Whisper White background.  This is a photopolymer stamp set, so it is pretty easy to line up the skeletons in the solid dinosaur. The photo doesn't do justice to the brightness of the Tempting Turquoise border and Lemon Lime Twist base card.

My greeting was getting lost on the busy background, so I used the base and border colours to create a set of flagged strips for the oval greeting to sit on. The enamel dots in Tangerine Tango add some extra pop.

 

I had some fun decorating the inside of the card with a Lemon Lime Twist canopy of greenery at the top and a spotty Tangerine Tango dinosaur following in some footsteps at the bottom. 

Finally, a view from the top. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	No Bones about It
Card stock & Papers	Lemon Lime Twist, Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink	Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Basic Gray, Lemon Lime Twist, Versamark
Accessories	Brights Enamel Shapes
Tools	Ovals Layering Framelits, Big Shot, White EP, Heat gun, Dimensionals

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see the lovely project Sandra has for you today.  

 

We would love you to join in with your CASE from the 'Babies & Kids' 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.

 Thanks for visiting today!