CASEing the Catty - #CTC176 Favourite Occasions Catalogue Project

CASe your favourite 2018 Occasions Catalogue project this week

I went with Bird Banter and the card on the left in the photo at the top right of page 43

Going to be sorry to see Bird Banter retire - but I've had a lot of fun with this set. I do think it might stay in my stash just a bit longer. I've used similar colours to the card in the catalogue. A bit of white on white for the background, with the base card being Thick Whisper White. Instead of the retiring Brick Wall TIEF I've used embossing paste and the brick mask. To my dismay my embossing paste hasn't been used in a while and sulked on me by going hard. I'd read people having various success at adding water and how it turned out. I easily broke a piece off, added it to a tray with a bit of water and mashed it with my palette knife. Result? Yes - it worked!  So before you get all sad like I was about to, if you persevere a little, you will find you can still use your paste. I only made enough to use today - and I can't say how it would keep if I'd tried to fix the whole pot. Just my experience and it may help you.

I stamped the bird and branch images with Memento ink and used my Stampin' Blends to colour. You'll be pleased to know there are a few more colours coming in the new catalogue. I snipped around the tail of the parrot, and the leaves on the cockatoo image, then diecut circles of the images with the little pieces pulled over the top of the die so they didn't cut through.  These were adhered to my brick wall, a fussy cut balloon was added on dimensionals, and I liked how the card above used the parrot to hold the balloon, so I did the same, just poked a hole above and below the beak and threaded the baker's twine through. Greeting from Bird Banter stamped onto Pool Party and a few of the retiring Tutti Frutti sequins attached to finish.

Thanks for stopping by - please create your own card and add it to our Facebook page with the link on the right. Meantime please visit the lovely Fi and check out her creation:

Surprise Birthdays are Great

A special friend recently turned an age with a zero on the end, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a surprise luncheon for her. To see her face when she entered the room made the travel and juggling all worth while!

Before I received the invitation I was already busy making this card which was inspired by the super talented Bronwyn Eastley. Isn't it amazing??  The invitation meant it wasn't such a rush to get it in the post! My version is a little more toned down but uses a few of the same elements, based on the Z-fold card.

Background cardstock is Crumb Cake. Very Vanilla has been embossed with the Brick Wall TIEF and sponged around the edges. The Wood Crate framelits and a light shade of Wood Textures DSP for the flower container, with a Silver Metallic Foil doily edging. The flowers and leaves are coloured or inked Peekaboo Peach, Rich Razzleberry and Pear Pizzazz. Jar of Love for the crate flowers and the Sprinkles of Life basket and flowers on the front. Country Livin' boots and basket stamped in Early Espresso with Crumb Cake and Early Espresso water colouring. Greeting is the Happy Birthday Thinlit cut apart and the numbers are stacked, the first layer stamped from Number of Years and that along with Peekaboo Peach die cut using the Large Numbers framelits.  

My handwritten message is attached to a Very Vanilla panel and added on the back.  This does all fold down nicely to fit in an envelope. The not-so-helpful Rove keeping an eye on proceedings. Have a fabulous year Cindy - a privilege to be part of your celebrations!

Wedding Theme - International Blog Highlight

Kylie Bertucci has put together another International Blog Highlight where global entries are accepted and then voted on with the Top 10 featuring in a Blog Hop.  The theme this time round was Wedding and my take was to use just two colours - White and Silver.

I used Whisper White to make a 6" square base. The Silver Foil sheet was cut to 5 3/4" square and the top layer of Whisper White is 5 1/2" square.  There were a few things going on to get this card together. Firstly the heat embossing. I softened the birds by silver embossing on Vellum and die cutting. The leaves were heat embossed directly onto the top layer of the card, then gently dry embossed (lifting both tabs on Big Shot platform) with the Brick Wall TIEF. The greeting was embossed on a piece of scrap and cut to fit using the Layering Squares dies, matched with the silver foil for the scalloped mat. A strip of Silver Foil was punched with the soon to be retired Confetti Hearts Border punch and adhered to the bottom of the top layer. Silver 1/8" ribbon was added to the top and bottom of the punched strip as well as tails for the greeting.  Finished off with a couple of the little 'punch poo' hearts. Stamped images are all from Best Birds.

What I didn't account for, was how difficult it is to get a decent photo with silver foil!! I apologise for the quality but hope you get the idea.  Like what you see?...

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR ME #26

If you are interested - I have kept the inside simple and along the same elegant lines.  I replicated the mat to give the card some structure and balance, and then just popped on a couple of little Silver Foil flowers die cut from the Bloomin' Heart Thinlits.