CASEing the Catty - #CTC171 Sale-a-bration

All good things must come to an end and next week that will be the 2018 Sale-a-Bration promotion. If you haven't made the most of the awesome freebies available, now's the last time week for you to do it.  This week the crew are paying their final visit to all Sale-a-bration catalogues.

For me it was the from the 1st release catalogue, image on page 8 - far right. 

After Monique used the Butterfly Basics set last week, it reminded me to give it some more attention, so that was my start point. Then I have wanted to have a go at the Black Ice technique shown by Melissa Kerman. This being a very amateur version compared to her amazing images and great tutorial which you will find easily on You Tube. A fun technique which I will do again.  I switched out the base card to Basic Black to tie in with the image, and my greeting to Easter, otherwise everything else very much the same - using the lush Painted With Love Specialty DSP and a white doily. I added a tiny scallop border under my greeting from Teeny Tiny Sentiments to finish.

And a close up to show the texture this technique creates:

I'll be taking a break from the hop next week as I have an appointment with Ed Sheeran. Yes, I know - not just me and if you've been - let me know what you thought. I've only heard great things so far. Be my first Easter break away from my hubby and daughter but lucky to be spending it with extended family and friends. I hope you'll manage to celebrate the reason for the season with family and loved ones wherever you arel.

On with the hop - please pop over and visit the lovely Jackie Noble

And as you know - welcome to join us - click the link over on the right to add your creation.

CASEing the Catty - #CTC153 Holiday Catalogue Tag

This week we had to find a tag to case in the holiday catalogue

There are a lot to choose from, but in the end I settled with the tag on page 54

However as you can see, I chose to turn it into a card and change things a little.  

I started with Very Vanilla thick cardstock for the base.  I then used the thin Very Vanilla for the front and die cut each end with the smaller die from Detailed Floral Thinlits. The vellum layer on top was stamped with the flowers from Wood Words in Old Olive.  The fussy cut flowers are from Remarkable You and coloured using the new Stampin' Blends, Pink Pirouette and Old Olive with a touch of So Saffron marker for the stamen.  

Greeting is from Butterfly Basics and cut with Stitched Shapes framelit. To give depth of colour to the butterfly from the same set, I used Blushing Bride as Pink Piroutte was just a little soft on the very vanilla. Sad if you didn't get to purchase the butterfly punch before it retired, but you could just fussy cut this little fella. The trim is Gold Natural Trim, Gold Mini Sequin Trim and a Very Vanilla Baker's Twine bow. 

Thanks for stopping by and now, go see what Mel has made to inspire you then feel free to join in yourself by clicking the button on the right to add your project.  

CASEing the Catty - #CTC149 Year of Cheer

Wowee, you guys are in for a treat this week. The Year of Cheer brings us lots of reason to celebrate and adds a touch of elegance - I think you'll agree...

My project's been inspired from the bottom picture on page 36.  

Not having that embossing folder, I've switched that for one of the Foil Snowflakes, they come in a pack of 24, 12 each of gold and silver. I've also steered away from the copper focus and gone just with silver against white, an old favourite for a special card. I've used a circle of Silver Foil, with a circle of Year of Cheer Specialty DSP, and taken the greeting from Butterfly Basics and embossed it with Silver Embossing Powder before cutting with the Stitched Shapes framelit. Layered behind that is the Silver Mini Sequin Trim, and I've popped the greeting up with dimensionals. I've also used the Year of Cheer Specialty Washi tape at the top and bottom of my card. This is an A4 sheet cut lengthways, so it opens up rather than out. Yet again, I fell into the - "remember how hard that is to photograph situation" when using Silver, so I hope you can see past the bad photography to the shine.

Here's the embossing from a different angle - yum!

I obviously had too much time on my hands this week, and remembered seeing the idea of sponging the reverse side of the snowflake. Thought I'd have a go with Lemon Lime Twist and give some suggestions for things you don't have. No washi? Try using DSP (Fresh Florals DSP stack in this case). No Specialty DSP? - how about embossing a piece of cardstock with the Layered Leaves 3D TIEF. And in place of the mini sequin trim, silver 1/8" ribbon.  I finished off with the Metallics Sequin assortment, love how they come in different sizes - greeting from Best Birds.

Up next is Judy, after you've been round the hop, hope you feel inclined to add your project by using the link over on the right hand side

Kelly's Stamping Friends - Blog Hop

I am delighted to be part of this blog hop created by the lovely Kelly Kent to celebrate her 5 years of being with Stampin' Up!. I first met Kelly when we shared a Demonstrator Booth at the Stampin' Up Convention, Gold Coast 2015 and she has been inspiring me ever since. It seemed appropriate that she offered up the theme of 'Happy' - firstly because that's just what Kelly always appears to be; and secondly, because of the excitement building with the new catalogue kicking off tomorrow!.

I've combined a few things that make me happy; Colour, Butterflies and Nature.  The Butterfly Basics set called out to fill the brief. 

I used the background stamp and Sweet Sugarplum on the Fluttering TIEF to create the background.  I then used the small butterfly and Daffodil Delight to pop some colour onto the bigger embossed areas. Next I tore down an edge of vellum and randomly stamped the fern and leaf images over it in Garden Green before adhering to the embossed Whisper White. Twine was wound round and finished with a double twine bow, matted with Daffodil Delight and mounted onto a Basic Black base. I stamped three flower images onto Whisper White and coloured with markers and an aqua brush - then lots of fussy cutting. I kept with the gardening rule of odd numbers for the flowers, and popped dimensionals under each before attaching to the vellum.  

The greeting was stamped in Basic Black then again with Daffodil Delight, slightly offset. It was then cut with the Stitched Shapes circle, and mounted onto a Sweet Sugarplum Layering Circle. Butterfly of Daffodil Delight layered with a strip of Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon, Linen thread, a smaller Garden Green butterfly and a vellum butterfly stamped with Daffodil Delight. To hold them together I did some hand stitching with linen thread. Wink of Stella provides the sparkle and Daffodil Delight enamel heart the finishing touch. .

Of course, I needed balance on the inside, so replicated the mat, then stamped and coloured the flower image. Being a finished size of 6" square, I have also created an envelope from a retired DSP, with the same stamped and coloured image. This card is going to another lovely lady - my amazing mother, who will soon mark the 2nd anniversary of Dad's passing - love you Mum xx

Thanks for stopping by, now hop over and check out what Cheryl O'Bree has come up with

Full List of Participants:

1. Kelly Kent
2. Billie Moan
3. Rochelle Blok
4. Kayla Renee MacAulay
5. Jacqui Crouch
6. Tina Gillespie
7. Kathryn Ruddick
8. Valerie Moody
9. Jo Weedon
10. Danielle Bennenk
11. Nikki Spencer
12. Sylvia Verhulst-Batenburg
13. Richelle Fletcher
14. Chloe Evans
15. Rachael Lewsley
16. Lou Kitzelman
17. Courtenay Heuston
18. Denita Wright-Smee
19. Christine Blain
20. Martha Groeger
21. Patrice Easton
22. Sandra Collett
23. Cheryl O'Bree