Beautiful Day for CTC176 - Favourite Occasions Project

Hello again! Hope you didn't miss me?! It's a busy night tonight with two blog hops. I'm popping in again to share with you this weeks CASEing the Catty design. The theme for this week is......

Woo hoo! Free reign! Any Occasions Catalogue project to CASE (Copy & Selectively Edit). I thought back to when I first had the Occasions Catalogue in my hands and remembered how excited I was to see the Brusho Crystal Colours, I quite like Mixed Media supplies and this was something new and exciting to play with and on that very same page, a gorgeous stamp set, Beautiful Day that looks fantastic embossed and then coloured with the Brusho's. This is the sample from in the catalogue (card on the left)....

Here is my CASE......

My example is stepped up a little with the Sheet Music background stamp. I have also tweaked it a little as I am not a fan of the ribbon/twine going around the whole card front (don't ask me why, it looks perfectly fine on anyone else's project, I just can't seem to do it to my cards!) and I've also moved the sentiment to the bottom. That's the whole idea of CASEing, using another artwork as a jumping off point and making it your own. Now on that note, CASEing does also stand for Copy & Share Everything, it is perfectly fine to copy something pretty much exactly the same, as long as you give credit where credit is due!

As always we would love for you to join in on the challenge fun, this week would be perfect to join us for the first time as you can CASE anything from the whole Occasions Catalogue! Just click the graphic below for more info......

Have a wonderful week everyone! Time for you to pop on over to Mel Pagano's blog to see the sweet card that she has created for your viewing pleasure this week! Just click the graphic below....

Cheers Megan xx

ESAD 2018 Retirement List Blog Hop - Bye Bye Pieces & Patterns

Hello there! Hope you have had a fabulous week, I can't believe we are almost into May, where has the year gone?! I'm popping in to share with you a card I have made for the ESAD Retirement List Blog Hop, if you are starting with me, WELCOME! or you might be well into your journey and have just hopped on over from Cheryl Algie's blog. 

Yes, a new Annual Catalogue (catty) is about to start on the 1st June, which means that we have to say goodbye to some much loved products (sigh) but that's ok I got over it pretty quick when I saw the new catalogue and my wishlist began to grow and grow and grow!! Make sure you don't miss out on any items you may have on your wishlist and haven't purchased yet. Click on the graphic below to see the list.......

What is ESAD I hear you say? The graphic below explains it so much better than I would 😃.

This time last year, when the current annual catty came out, there was a suite of products that caught my eye with its bright pop of colours and quirky, eclectic images, Pick a Pattern. It makes really fun projects! Today I have a bit of a mixed media (aka messy fun!) card for you.

I firstly started by spritzing some Flirty Flamingo onto the Shimmery White piece and then spread some Silver Embossing Paste in a thin layer on top of that. I then opened up the Sparkle Embossing Folder and pressed the embossed side (bumpy side, pattern sticking up, not the debossed (smooth)  side ) into the paste. I love doing mixed media type techniques like this as you never know what the result is going to be. We did this card in class last night and everyone's was slightly different, with some really cool results.

One of the Pick a Pattern Designer Series Paper pieces was scalloped using the scallop die out of the Seasonal Layers Thinlits, this die alone is worth purchasing this set! The "Hello There "sentiment from the Pieces & Patterns stamp set is so much easier to stamp now with the Stamparatus.

 The Stamparatus makes it so much easier to go back and stamp another layer of ink in exactly the same place to build the colour up. In case you haven't heard, Stampin' Up! have developed their own stamp positioning tool and it is the bomb! I had another brand before it's release and let me just say, I'm not sure where that old one has got to as it is not nearly half as good as the Stamparatus! Customers who didn't manage to secure one in the pre-order release can purchase one when the new catalogue comes out June 1st. Click the image below to see a YouTube video explaining how it works and let me know if you would like me to get you your own on June 1st.

The inside of the card also relieved some love.....

Another example of how awesome the Stamparatus is, is demonstated on the inside of my card. See that row of little flowers? The actual stamp is only four flowers long. The Stamparatus' unique hinge feature allows you to move your stamp along in perfect alignment, no more wonky lining up, it does it for you. It's a bit hard to explain in words how this is achieved, the easiest thing would be for you to watch that YouTube video I linked above 😉. The finishing touches are a piece of Pick a Pattern Washi Tape and some Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Enough from me! You need to keep going and see what everyone else has to show you. Your next stop is Beryl Crisp, click the arrow below and you will magically hop on over to her blog! Also, if you get lost along the way, there is a list of all the participants for you at the end of my post, you can also click on a person's name there and be magicked over to that blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx

Blog Hop Participant List

1. Lou Kitzelman

2. Kelly Kent

3. Bronwyn Eastley

4. Jackie Aitken

5. Jo Stubbings

6. Peta Stephen

7. Sharon Dalton

8. Lauren Meiklejohn

9. Courtenay Heuston

10. Nicole Wilson

11. Jo Weeden

12. Libby Dyson

13. Cheryl Algie

14. Megan Lenske **YOU ARE HERE**

15. Beryl Crisp

16. Fi Cobbin

17. Rose Packer

18. Cathy Pinchbeck

19. Carolina Evans

20. Renee Lynch  

21. Sandra Mastello

22. Katrina Duffell

23. Rachael Lewsley

24. Leonie Schroder

25. Emily Campbell

26. Monique Fielder

27. Michelle Strazds

28. Jessie Holton

A Rustic Card for Just Add Ink #405

Good morning! I'm just popping in before I head off to work to share with you my latest creation that I made for the Just Add Ink Challenge. This week we were given a photo to use as inspiration....

Don't you just want to be in that room?! All the rustic wood played a bit part in my design and thinking about the landscapes that this particular room might be located at brought to mind woodland creatures & in particular a fox!

How happy are we all, that the gorgeous Wood Textures Designer Series Paper is continuing on to the new catalogue!? I've used the Tailored Tag Punch to punch various pieces out for my background. The metallic leaves are dies from the new Nature's Poem Suite that will soon be available in the new catalogue starting June 1st, it is a must have suite! I was also so happy to get out my Foxy Friends Stamp Set & it's coordinating punch, for my foxy little friend, so cute!

Some inside love!

Thank you for stopping by today, for more info on the Just Add Ink Challenge, just click on the inspiration photo above.

Cheers Megan xx

CTC175 - Favourite Occasions Big Shot Project - Apron of Love

Hello lovelies! How are you today? I have had a great weekend I got so much done yesterday designing cards for our upcoming class and also getting some challenges in too! I love challenges as they get me creating a whole lot more. Are you feeling guilty about all those supplies that you aren't using enough? Why not try a challenge? I started by trying to commit to one per week and gradually built it up to sometimes entering two or three a week. No more guilt on my part, my supplies get well used! Also, there used to be a time that it would be someone's birthday that we would be going to that day and you would find me rushing around like a chook with my head cut off, (yeew! that was rather graphic wasn't it? Particularly coming from a vego!) trying to get a card made (as I refuse to buy a card when I have the ability to make one and like a meme that one of my lovely team members Bronwen posted -"A handmade card is like a hug with a fold in the middle!"). Now, I always have plenty of cards on hand for whatever occasion that pops up.

This week we are CASEing (Copy & Selectively Editing) from the ..........

So that means any Big Shot project from within those glorious pages of the Occasions Catty. I have just purchased the Apron of Love Bundle, oh so cute and my fave at the moment, that is until  the next delivery from Stampin' Up arrives! It's perfect for male & female cards and also has some adorable options for the Baker, Crafter or BBQ King/Queens that we know.

I've CASEd the yellow card in the centre pictured below.....

I've done two versions of the card, one suitable for Mother's Day and one suitable for giving to a friend. The mum version is done CAS (Clean & Simple) and the friend version has been distressed (this came about after an inky finger accidentally smudged my perfect white label, there are no mistakes in crafting, just creative opportunities!).

Clean & simple look (excuse the retired doily, I ran out!).

Distressed version - now where was that inky smudge?

Most of the time I also give the insides of my cards a little love and this is a great way to use up scraps of your Designer Series Paper......

Now, back to the challenge idea I was talking about, why not give The CASEing the Catty Challenge a go? Once per week we look at a section of the catalogues (catties) and use one of the awesome projects within them as a "jumping off point " for our own creation. Just click the graphic below for more details.....

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, it is now time for you to hop on over to the very creative Angela Meiritz-Reid by clicking the graphic below...

Cheers Megan xx

What's Up? for Colour INKspiration #31

Hi there everybody! I do hope you are having a fantastic week. Today I am sharing a card I created for the Colour INKspiration Challenge. It is a fortnightly colour challenge, this fortnights colour palette is below, you can also click on the image and be taken to the challenge Facebook page for more info.

Very regal colours aren't they? First thing I do when I do a colour challenge is get a piece of card stock out of each of the colours and see what inspiration hits me. This week all I could come up with was Autumn type cards with the Colourful Season stamp set but I'm sure I have done one before like that and didn't want to do a repeat performance! 

My craft studio is a larger bedroom in our house that used to belong my daughter. At the end of last year Miss P finished year 12 and decided that she wanted to move into the front room of our house (most people would use it as the study, this is where my craft studio was located) and give me the much larger room for my studio. How lucky am I to have such a gem of a daughter?! We did a big clean out as we transitioned rooms and I think she really enjoys her new "adult" room, having stored or donated a lot of her childhood toys & paraphernalia, her new room reflects more of the person she is now (she turns 18 in a couple of  weeks!!!, does that mean I will then have to call her Ms P?!).

Anyway, getting back to the point of this little story, we share the craft studio with each of us having our own desk and of course most of the room taken over by Stampin' Up! supplies. We will often both be working in there, me designing projects and her working on her assignments for uni. It works so well as we can bounce ideas off of each other, me reading/listening to parts of assignments and in turn Miss P giving me advice on projects I'm working on. In this case, Miss P came up with the whole concept of the card. When I showed her the colours she immediately said they remind her of a jungle and why don't I use the giraffes in the new stamp set that I received at OnStage, Animal Outing (you can get your hands on this super cute stamp set when the new catalogue comes out June 1st) and have their heads popping up above the trees. So off I went and here is the result.....

I'm really happy with how it turned out, Miss P also thought to use the Sprinkles of Life stamp set and coordinating Build a Tree Punch for the tree tops (this stamp set & punch is retiring so don't miss out on a super versatile stamp set). The Animal Outing stamp set only has the giraffe image facing to the left so I mounted the giraffe stamp in my Stamparatus stamped the image onto the silicon craft mat and then quickly placed some whisper white over top of the image and brayered across the back of the cardstock to transfer the now mirror image of the giraffe. I found the Tempting Turquoise to be a bit to bright so I toned it down with a piece of velum that I white heat embossed some clouds onto. The sentiment was done with the Labeller Alphabet stamp set, a must to have in your cache for those times that you want to create your own sentiment.

Some inside love!

I hope you enjoyed my card, thanks for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx

Broken the Scrapbook Drought! - CTC#174

Hello everyone! Welcome to the CASEing the Catty Crew's weekly blog hop where we take inspiration from the beautiful Stampin' Up! catalogues (catty) and CASE (Copy & Selectively Edit) the amazing projects within them. This week we are CASEing from the........

I decided to CASE the scrapbook layout on page 24 of the Occasions Catty (you can CASE from either the Hostess section or the Memories & More section of either catty), it's the one in the the centre of the picture above. I can't tell you how long it has been since I have completed a scrapbook layout but what I can tell you is, there will be plenty more to come! I got such a buzz having completed it and gotten a memory off the silly computer. As you will see I have stuck to the layout of the original and just changed up the colours to suit the photo and use supplies I had on hand. Here is my version.....

I've used the Petal Palette stamp set and Petal Passion Designer Series Paper brayered with Calypso Coral. Crumb Cake is my other colour used, the "hugs" is from the Lovely Words Thinlets and the sentiment is from Bella & Friends stamp set. I'm so pleased with this I think I might get myself a 12x12 scrapbook frame and mount it on the wall!

Thank you so much for stopping by, we'd love it if you joined in on our challenge, it's really easy to do and there is no need for a blog site, just a Facebook account. For more details click the graphic below.......

Make sure you hop around to everyone in the line up this week, there is some gorgeous projects to be inspired by, next stop the lovely Judy May, click the graphic below to hop on over....

Cheers Megan xx

Just Add Ink - Guest Designer!!

Hello lovelies! I am very honoured today to be a guest designer for the Just Add Ink Designer Team. I was thrilled to be a place getter for their 400th challenge, they sent me an awesome gift as a prize but the big win I feel is being to blog with this talented crew! The theme this week is......

Woo hoo, an interactive card challenge! I love seeing peoples faces when they open a handmade card but it certainly goes to another level when they realise the card moves, pops or shakes in this instance. One of my favourite stamp sets is the Jar of Love and I have been meaning to make a shaker card version of it for FOREVER, but you know, not enough hours in the day for everything I want to make, so I was stoked that this opportunity came up. In keeping with the stamp sets name, "Jar of Love" I decided to fill my jar with the tiniest wooden hearts from the Hearts & Stars Embellishments and some Iridescent Sequins for a bit of sparkle. Not just any of those sequins from the pack, no! I had to only have the Pool Party ones to completely match my card, tweezers are great when you are being a bit OCD and matchy-matchy.

To make the shaker element I attached a piece of window sheet to the back side of the jar die cut and then completely framed the whole piece with Foam Adhesive Strips to give it the depth. A tip before you peel off the back of your adhesive strips is to get a bit of talc on a cotton tip and "unsticky" the sides of your adhesive strips, that way they are no longer going to attract your sequins or whatever else you are going to use as your shaker element. Place a little pile of your shaker elements in the middle of your base and then rip off the backs off those strips and adhere it down.

I made a square card for this one so I got to use my very handy Envelope Punch Board. Notice what I have used for my envelope? I can't stand, that paper that comes in our deliveries to be wasted, so I flatten it out and use for envelopes. Not sure I would use this paper if it had to go in the mail as it is a bit thin but for a card that you are hand delivering, I think it's perfect!

The inside got a bit of love too!

Did I say I was excited to be blogging with the JAI Crew?? Well, I was so excited that I made another shaker card, I couldn't help myself!

I really like how this one turned out, using A Good Day Stamp Set. It came about as I had a whole bunch of these images coloured and punched out with the Scallop Circle Punch just laying on my desk and as I was creating the first shaker card I saw them and thought how cute a bunch of them would look on a card front as individual shakers. I'm not going to lie, there is a bit more work involved in this one, making six individual shakers but so worth the effort I think!

Some inside love was created for this one too, using the dashy (because that is a word now, actually as I look back on this post there is quite a few red underlined words, you know, the ones that your program is trying to tell you are misspelt, oh well, not my problem it doesn't know Megan speak! ) circle stamp from the A Good Day Stamp Set. It looks like Designer Series Paper to me, I do love making my own backgrounds with the stamps at hand.

Well once again, I am very humbled to be blogging with the JAI Team, do check out what everyone else has created for you viewing pleasure and why not join in with the challenge and have a go at making a shaker card too! To check it all out just click on either the JAI header at the top of my post or the Just Add a Shaker graphic a bit further down from that or just CLICK HERE!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx

Twilight Waterfront for CTC173

Hello lovelies! I am in a Stampin' Up! bliss right now. I've just gotten back from OnStage in Sydney and to say I had a fabulous and fun time is an understatement. We had SO much FUN! I really look forward to spending quality time with my crafty friends and meeting new ones. If you would like to see some of the antics we got up to I've posted a few photos on my business Facebook page just CLICK HERE and if you want to join in on the fun, pop me a line and I'll let you how easy it is!

I came home with a hard copy of the new Annual Catalogue (coming out 1st June) and a swag of freebies (including 4 stamp sets!). I'm really sorry but I can't share too much in the way of pictures or information at the moment as we have a spoiler policy in place as conferences are happening all over the globe and we don't want to ruin the surprise for them and then some things are just for demonstrators eyes for the moment (just one of the many, many perks).

The new catalogue is Ah-mazing!!! I can't wait to share it with you but in the mean time, there is still so much to show you from the present catalogues. For CASEing the Catty this week we are CASEing from the ........

I couldn't go past CASEing the little treat bag below as it uses my new favourite (for now,) until something else catches my eye!) stamp set, Waterfront.

I really wanted to try my hand at creating this twilight scene and here is what I've come up with!

Instead of a treat bag, I've turned it into a card front and use Elegant Eggplant for my matt and coloured ink (with Craft Ink for the white parts) and mounted it onto a Night of Navy card base. I'm in love with that Night of Navy Corduroy Ribbon, it's to die for!

We'd love for you to join in with our challenge, just click below for more details, it's super easy to do!

Make sure you continue on with our blog hop and hop on over to Rose Packer's blog she has absolute stunner to show you today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx