Come Fly With Me - CTC180

It's Sunday! Time for the CASEing the Catty Blog Hop! We are a group of demonstrators who love to take inspiration from the beautiful catalogues that Stampin' Up! produce. We CASE (Copy & Selectively Edit) the gorgeous projects within the pages of these catalogues to create our own works of art. It may be simply CASEing the colour palette, the layout or even just one element. It doesn't really matter what you choose as long a you are inspired and find a starting point for your own creation. Sometimes, the hardest thing is the starting, CASEing makes that so much easier!




This week we are CASEing our Favourite Retiring Project.

Choices, choices, choices....... there are so many gorgeous projects in the current catalogues, which to pick as my favourite, that I haven't already done?! Then I laid eyes on page 58 of the soon to be retiring Annual Catty and there it was, the project I have been meaning to getting around to.

I love the idea of making home decor pieces, I just often run out of time to do them! This week I CASEd that gorgeous framed piece in the photo above, with a little bit also CASEd from the card beside it. A blend of the two!

I've used a piece of DSP from the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper for the backing piece. It is Marina Mist in colour and will be sadly the last time I use this gorgeous colour as it is retiring. Don't worry though, my sadness is short lived as there is a whole swag of new colours coming in on the 1st June!! I just finished reorganising my card stock with the new colours included and the old ones out, it looks so pretty. I can't wait to start experimenting with new colour combinations!

The colours I have used in my balloon are also CASEd from the Sweet Soiree DSP, it's such an easy way to pick colour combos when you choose them from the colours in a DSP range. The balloon die cut is from the Up & Away Thinlits, it's been cut out three times, folded in half and then stuck together to create the 3D effect. I'm so happy the thinlits and coordinating Lift Me Up Stamp Set are going through to the new catty.

The typography uses the existing and continuing on to the new catty, Letters for You Stamp Set combined with the new Make a Difference Stamp Set. The Make a Difference Stamp Set is super easy to line up as it is photo-polymer but also is very forgiving even if you don't line it up 100% as it just looks natural like handwriting. I used my Stamparatus to perfectly line up the FLY, best product ever!!! If you don't already have a Stamparatus ( the best, hands down, stamp positioning tool on the market) it's only days away before you can order your very own. Pop on over to my online shop CLICK HERE or give me a hoy!

To join in on the challenge, you can get more details by clicking the graphic below.....

Don't forget to keep hopping around and see all the loveliness that the crew has created this week. Next stop on your journey is the talented Simone Bartrum......

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx

Bee Happy - Eclipse Technique for JAI#409

Hello everyone! I do hope you have had a great start to your week. I'm dropping by to share with you a card I made for the Just Add Ink Challenge. This weeks theme is.....

Eclipse Technique is a lot of fun and looks really cool. I think there is a couple of different versions around but for my card I stamped the bees from Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set onto the the whisper white mat piece and then cut out the letters with the Large Letter Framelits. Extra letters were cut out in black with the large letter framelits and glued on top of each other with the final top layer being the whisper white piece with the images stamped onto it. I think I did about six layers. I really love the effect of part of the stamped images being raised up and some flat.

The "Happy" sentiment is from the soon to be retiring Number of Year Stamp Set, don't miss out on this set and its coordinating Large Number Framelits they go perfect with the Large Letters and are essential for all those number birthday cards. I've white embossed it onto Basic Black and punched out with the Classic Label Punch. The die cut bee is from the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits that coordinates with the Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set.

Some inside love!

Thank you so much for stopping by. If you would like to check out the Just Add Ink Challenges just click their graphic at the top of my post.

Cheers Megan xx

Lovely Floral Embossing Folder

We really need to stop meeting this way! I know, I'm back again for the second time tonight but when you are on a run you just got to keep going with it. Seriously though, let's not stop meeting this way 😉.

I had an absolute blast the other day with my Lovely Floral Embossing Folder, I just kept grabbing all different types and colours of papers and ran them through the Big Shot using all sorts of different techniques. I ended up with seven different versions.

Please excuse the quality of the above photo, it is night time now and I realised it would be good to share with you the other versions but the lighting now stinks! As you can see some I coloured after with a dauber, some I inked the Embossing Folder up on the debossed side and embossed side and some I used Versamark Ink and then heat embossed with Embossing Powder. It was SO much fun, experimenting!

Anyway, I then ended up with all these great images and needed a sketch/card design that I could use them with and whip up a whole lot of cards! Thankfully for me I came across Freshly Made Sketches sketch of the week and it was perfect for all my embossed pieces.

Click the image above for more info on the challenge!

Now, I haven't had time to turn all the pieces into cards (I had to work this weekend 😏) but I did get time to turn my favourite experiment into a card.

For this one, I simply embossed Whisper White Card Stock with the Lovely Floral Embossing Folder and then ran my Versamark Ink pad very lightly over the embossed image and sprinkled with Silver Embossing Powder and heat set. The DSP is from the Share What You Love Speciality Designer Series Paper and the sentiment is from Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set.

The Detailed Trio Punch gives the inside some interest!

Once again, thank you so much for stopping by my blog. Until we meet again!

Cheers Megan xx

Favourite Kit Any Catalogue - CTC179

Why hello! We meet again! It's that time of the week for the CASEing the Catty Crew to share with you their projects inspired by the beautiful work found in our amazing catalogues (catties). We love to CASE (Copy & Selectively Edit) projects from the catties to create our own creations and share them with you via a blog hop. So make sure once you've finished reading my blog that you hop on over to the next and the next and the next by clicking the links at the bottom of each person's page.

This week we are CASEing from.......

My favourite kit from the annual catty is the Hello Friend Heat Embossing Project Kit (pg 17). I thought it was a great idea of Stampin' Up's! to offer a kit with a little bit more than just stamping and help new crafters to expand their repertoire to include heat embossing. The stamp set, Hello Friend that coordinates with the kit is stunning too.

I chose to CASE the whisper white card in the middle of the picture below as I love the technique of using heat embossing to resist a watercolour overlay.

To change it up, instead of using the Hello Friend Stamp Set, I've used the new Rooted in Nature Stamp Set, soon to be released in the new catty coming out June 1st!

I embossed the leaves with White Embossing Powder and then washed Pineapple Punch, Grapefruit Grove (both exciting new colours to the range) and Calypso Coral over top of it. The leaves are from  the coordinating Nature's Roots Framelits Dies and cut out in the new Call Me Clover Card Stock. The flower is from the Flourish Thinlits (carrying over to the new catty) and the sentiment is from the new Detailed with Love Stamp Set.

Some inside love!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Why not join in on the fun of the challenge? More details can be found by clicking the graphic below......

For more great inspiration hop around to the rest of the crew, next stop is the uber talented Elizabeth Gross! Just click the graphic below and a hopping you will go!....

Cheers Megan xx

Not too late for Coffee!- CTC178

Hello lovelies! I hope you have had a good week. This week the CASEing the Catty Crew are CASEing our favourite Annual Catalogue project. 

You would think this would be a hard task, picking your favourite project from the entire catalogue, but it was super easy for me. I have had the Coffee Cafe bundle on my wish list for the whole year (it is also on Miss P's wish list, so I better see some things made with it! My guess is this months RAK card recipients might get something created with this set!). As much as I wanted it, other things needed to be purchased, you know how it is with a wish list a mile long! 

Luckily for me (us),  the Coffee Cafe Stamp Set and coordinating Coffee Cups Framelit Dies are 

going through to the new catalogue, starting June 1st (you are going to love it!!).  However, when a bundle (stamp set & coordinating dies/punch sold together for a 10% discount) graduates through to a new catalogue, it is no longer bundled. Therefore, if there is a bundle that you have been umming & aahing about, you need to get it now! Otherwise you may totally miss out when it retires or if it goes through to the new catalogue, miss out on a 10% discount. In saying this, the Coffee Cafe bundle arrived this week and I had to have a play with it!

For this card I have water coloured the coffee cup image using the no line method. For this method, you stamp the image with a really light coloured ink (I stamped Sahara Sand, stamped off) and then water colour right up to that stamped edge so that it blends in with your colouring. I love how this technique makes you look like an artist. For those not in the know, it looks like you have painted the whole thing! I also love the softness of the image.

I have loosely CASEd (Copy & Selectively Edited) the card on the far left of the image above. I did say loosely! I got a bit carried away when the idea of no line colouring popped in my head. At first I was drawn to this card as I don't have any of the matching Designer Series Paper and liked how they had used the little coffee bean stamp to make DIY paper. I also incorporated a piece of Wood Textures Designer Series Paper, so happy this is continuing onto the new catalogue.

For some inside love, I masked off thin strips with washi tape and randomly stamped those cute little coffee beans.

Have you been thinking you would like to give this CASEing the Catty a go? Well, this week is the week to do it as you've got the whole annual catalogue to choose from! Just click the graphic below for more details.....

Time for you to hop to the next blog on this blog hop, next stop, the fabulous Julia Quinn! Just click the graphic below to hop!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx

Love What You Do OTT Card for JAI407

Oh boy! My eldest has just turned 18! I'm far too young to have an 18 year old 😉!! Every year the kids look forward to the greeting card I make them as it is always something a bit more special. For an 18th I needed to pull out all stops but was at a bit lost as to what to create...... that was until I saw the card made for Jacque Williams' Million Sales Milestone! Sara Douglass, our CEO for Stampin' Up! posted a few pictures of the most amazing card on her Facebook page and I knew immediately that it was "the one" to CASE (Copy & Seclectively Edit) for my daughter's 18th birthday card. To see the original made by somebody awesomely talented at home office CLICK HERE and scroll down to the entry on the 16/17th April.

This card fits the Just Add Ink challenge this week wonderfully as the theme is Just Add "O". My card fits the brief with its Opulence, Opals, Ovals & Orange (Grapefruit Grove).

Most of the supplies I have used are from the Share What You Love Suite, that is available to everybody as an early release before the new catalogue comes out in full force June 1st. You can get this whole suite now, believe me when I say, you want it! There are so many little details on my card that you will be reading forever if go through every single detail, if you get stuck and want to know something please don't hesitate to contact me and ask. One thing I will talk about for the closed front of my card is that amazing, lush, Rich Razzleberry Velvet Ribbon, I want twenty rolls of the stuff as I never want to run out of it! Oh and I also need to tell you how much I love the new Pearlised Doiles, one side is pearly and the other plain, so perfect for colouring whatever colour you wish or in this case have the special pearly side on show.

This is the first section of the card after you untie the ribbon closure and open the first flap. The Grapefruit Grove looks amazing alongside the Rich Razzleberry, don't you think? Grapefruit Grove is one of the new In Colours coming out on June 1st, it's very yummy! As you can see, I've whipped out the sewing machine and stitched around the right hand side, stitching makes a wonderful addition to cards. I also love the cute little tab from the Tabs for Everything Stamp Set and coordinating Circle Tab Punch.

That little tag I have attached to the flowers is from the Bouquet Bunch Framelits and coordinating  Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set. It is the cutest and handiest little tag, I've used it many times in my projects to add another little element. I'm so glad it is going through to the new catalogue.

This is the card fully open. We wrote our birthday message on the middle distressed piece of Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper and the gorgeous opalescent piece to the right is going to have a family photo we took to commemorate her 18th mounted on it. Such as shame to cover most of it up but I think the family photo we took is a keeper!

I asked my son (16) to write his own message in the card and he was reluctant to do it and struggled with the task a bit until he finally came up with what he wanted to say. I won't share with you what he wrote but lets just say it brought his sister to tears and I think showed him that a little bit of effort and thoughtfulness can go a long way! We are so lucky to have great kids who for 99% of the time get on great.

I had so much fun making this card, making special & OTT cards is very satisfying, especially when you see the recipients face upon opening. It makes the hours it took to make seem like nothing.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

Cheers Megan xx

P.S. Why not have a go at doing some challenges? If you click the Just Add Ink graphic at the start of my blog post it will take you to their blog site where you can get some more information.

For the Bride & For JAI406 & CI32

Good morning lovelies! Just a quick post before I duck off to work to share with you a card I made.  This card is for my amazing massage therapist who is about to get married, she is the "bees knees" if you ask me and deserves a beautiful card to wish her well (I seriously recommend her so if you live on the Sunshine Coast, message me & I'll give you her details 😉).

So proud of myself, I cut into that huge piece of Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty Paper to create this card (I think I was only able to do it as SU! were so generous with the paper and you actually get four pieces of each design. Check back with me when I've only got one piece left, bet you I won't be quite so brave!!).

For the Night of Navy diagonal strip I've embossed it with one of the Petal Pair Embossing Folders and edged it with gold foil. The gold embossed leaves on Pink Pirouette are from the soon to be released Rooted in Nature Stamp Set & die cut with the Nature's Roots Framelits Dies. The teeny flowers are from the Apron Builder Framelits.

Oh! I almost forgot the most important part, the sentiment! I love, love, love the new Make a Difference Stamp Set as it allows you to make up your own sentiments. It is really forgiving with the lining up of the letters too as it is photo polymer and has a cursive design .

Some inside love using the new Detailed Trio Punch

It is my daughter's 18th Birthday this week, so I am pretty hectic getting ready for it but didn't want to miss out on two of my favourite challenges. The solution? Combine the two! The sketch is from this weeks Just Add Ink challenge and the colour palette is from this fortnights Colour INKspiration challenge. I'll pop their challenges below and if you would like more details just click on the images.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Cheers Megan xx