#CTC287 CASE a Leaf/Tree Project from the Mini Catalogue

Here's a fun challenge! CASE a Leaf/Tree project from the Mini Catalogue - loads of choices and up to you as to what you do - love to see it, join in by next Sunday evening using the link over on the right. 

I didn't realise until now that I've actually used the CASE picture - far right as my choice.

I've been a long time fan of the repeat words in the background so it wasn't a hard technique to go back to. I went with the words from Inspiring Iris and chose Soft Sea Foam for my cardstock and Just Jade for the ink. I've used my Stamparatus to help me keep things relatively the same as the initial card but because my words had two lines of text they look quite different. 

Don't have the hoops yet? Neither do I (although I love what I'm seeing with the people who have used them). I went with Silver Foil Sheets and Layering Circles to cut a frame which I've popped on top of Misty Moonlight ribbon. My top layer is Magenta Madness diecut with one of the Ornate Borders dies and trimmed to fit.

Thanks for stopping by. Next up please visit out lovely Western Australia friend, Siobhan:

#CTC230 Favourite Retiring Big Shot Project

Plenty of choice this week as the crew go to their Favourite Retiring Big Shot Project



I've given some love to my Swirly Snowflakes thinlits as they haven't been used in a while, choosing the card in the picture on page 100 - top left

I've used the swirly flourish die from this set and randomly die cut a card from Delightfully Detailed Memories & More Card pack. What I forgot about when I chose this die was that the whole middle piece drops out, but thankfully the Press and Seal came to the rescue and made it easy to line everything up. I've popped the card and all the loose pieces onto Stampin' Dimensionals and placed on a thick Whisper White card. 

The greeting is from Perennial Birthday, stamped in Blackberry Bliss ink on Lemon Lime Twist cardstock and cut out with the Rectangle Stitched framelits. I've adhered some Silver Mini Sequin Trim and a couple of Silver Foil swirls behind the greeting and also popped it up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Using the Memories and More card made the top layer just a bit sturdier 

What's your favourite retiring Big Shot item? Why not use it to make a project and paste to our Facebook page before next Sunday evening? Just use the link over on the right.

Time now to head over to our lovely Kelly's page and see what she's been up to:

#CTC185 - Best Route

We're CASEing from pages 52-65 this week!

For me it was page 52 itself - did you notice these folders on the right hand side of the large picture?

That was my inspiration!. Even though I don't (yet!) own this set of DSP (Designer Series Paper), I liked the combination of the Blueberry Bushel and Mango Melody and created my own.  I've also chosen to CASE the layout of two of the folders as well. Both cards have Crumb Cake cardstock for the base.  

The left sample has a Blueberry Bushel banner embossed with Layered Leaves 3D TIEF and the top strip was the DSP I created using strips of Mango Melody cardstock attached to Whisper White and then lines were drawn by hand with a black marker pen. A silver foil plate made using the Layering Squares framelits was popped over the bird image and greeting from Hedgehugs.  

The right hand card has a banner of  DSP created using Handwritten stamped in Blueberry Bushel with the mushroom image from Hedgehugs randomly stamped in Mango Melody. The Blueberry Bushel strip was added after having a Hedgehugs flower image self stamped with Blueberry Bushel ink, then Hedgehugs again provided a greeting and image which was placed under another silver foil plate. Relatively quick and easy, but more so if you actually have the DSP! Check with your Demonstrator about the special "Buy 3 Get 1 free" offer for July!

Feel free to join us and make a card then post using the link over on the right.  Meantime, please pop in and see what our lovely friend Angela has lined up for us this week...

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

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.