CASEing the Catty - #CTC138 Holidays

Hello again. Welcome if you've just come from Jackie Noble's blog. Today I'm CASEing the layout of a card I've had my eye on for a while and think I could case it over and over.  You will find it on page 114:

Much as Holiday is the theme, I've switched it for a Birthday card. My elements are a little different - washi tape was replaced with strips of paper from the Colour Theory DSP, as well as edging for the greeting, the diecut word and strip became a branch. My circles are slightly smaller than this card, and I think next time I would maybe make the main picture a touch bigger. For that I used Shimmery White cardstock and added Lemon Lime twist ink with my aqua brush and played around til I got the depth of colour I wanted. I used Chocolate Chip ink for the bird (although it was freshly re-inked so I admit it does look a bit more like Early Espresso). The background effect from Best Birds has been copper embossed onto vellum for the right hand circle. The left circle has speckles copper embossed onto Lemon Lime Twist cardstock from Touches of Texture. Wood Textures DSP stack for the remaining circle with the greeting and flowers also from Best Birds. Copper ribbon replaces the burlap threads above and Metallic Enamel Shapes to finish.

Thanks for stopping by and now you must go check out what the lovely Kelly Kent has been up to.

Busy Birthday Month

Although today's post is a little late, I liked how this card for a special young lady, turned out.  I saw a similar design online from Bluetenstempel and this is my take of it. I wanted a hint of colour so it may be misleading because the photo was taken on the Blushing Bride Glimmer paper, however the colours I chose were Pink Pirouette and Sahara Sand. All stamped images were from Touches of Texture. The Thinlits used were Rose Garden, Detailed Dragonfly, Stitched Shapes, along with some Layering Circles. The finishing touches were the rhinestone and the heart from the Subtles Enamel Shapes.

I decided against a greeting and opted to use her age for the inside:

Challenge Entry for #GDP048

My preorder arrived for the new holiday catalogue (beginning 1 September) and in the back of my mind was the "Case the Designer" challenge over on Global Design Project. Check out Tania Kolar's original idea. The weather we are dealing with at the moment suited the new Merry Mice set, you'll have to wait to see the other images, but equally as cute! This time my mouse is singing Happy Birthday and I was trying to avoid colours that made him look like christmas which is how I ended up with the combination of Daffodil Delight and Perfect Plum, along with a touch of Tempting Turquoise. I was still in watercolour mode and used my aqua brush with marker pens.  Surprising how far a little bit of colour will go. I have used very vanilla and stamped the image in Basic Black archival ink. As you know, you can't use too much water or repeat brushing or your card will pill. You just have to be a little patient and let it dry if you need to add more depth. The background might suit those of you who feel they 'can't sponge properly', as I used a Touches of Texture stamp with Pool Party - check out the close up below along with how I added "2 U" (to complete the Happy Birthday song).  Balloons and greeting from Balloon Celebration and Balloon Builders. To finish off I aded some new Fancy Frost sequins. 

Thoughtful Branches and Watercolour

As you may have noticed, I am making the most of the short time I can share this bundle (Thoughtful Branches) with you but hoping like crazy it will make a comeback in a future catalogue!  I know I've tried to encourage you before to play with your toys and keep trying until you master a technique, but when I try to do the same, I struggle with not using it. I had some non-SU watercolour paper (not a great quality by any means) and thought I could sacrifice that rather than my 'good' stuff. But I liked the look and these are the results.

The first card I wish to show you was an idea shared by Sara Douglass, Stampin' Up! CEO. The background is masked off at the edge, and then washed with 3 different colours and left to dry. I then veered off from using the leaves she had and added the tree you can see here. I unravelled the thick Cucumber Crush baker's twine and added it to the card, tying it with a single strand. The greeting is from Confetti Celebration.  I used my Wink of Stella brush and picked up Daffodil Delight to colour in the words, Then I wanted more bling so I added a few sequins and Wink of Stella to the leaves - see close up.  And it made it to the mailbox yesterday.

For the next card, it was the same watercolour paper, and this time I just lay a stamp pad on it (Tangelo Twist), the ink was very intense and I initially thought that was going to be a big fail.  However I spritzed it with water and left it to dry.  It was fun watching the colour come apart and spread.  I spritzed again and was happy with the how it toned down yet still enough variety to provide interest.  I cut it out with the Beautiful Branches die and was pleased with the result. I cut a stalk out of the same paper and used the Cucumber Crush ink pad then spritzed as before. Once I had my flower sorted, I knew I wanted to pop it into a vase - so out with the Jar of Love and my new copper embossing powder.  I love how the copper melted so smoothly on the vellum I used for the jar.  I used a marker to colour the back of the vellum for my water.  The head of the flower had dimensions in the centre of it and then I used multipurpose adhesive around the edge - gives a more real look to the hydrangea idea. I picked a Touches of Texture image and embossed that twice at the bottom of the Very Vanilla card and ran the top through the Petal Burst TIEF.  I added a copper embossed banner and a greeting which I brought the Cucumber Crush back into.  I also added some copper metallic thread - see the close up.  A lengthy post but lots of detail to try and explain.

I Love Bumblebees!

Yes, I have to admit - right up there with my butterfly addiction is my love of bumblebees.  (Always said if I got a tattoo it would be a bumblebee and it would be on my shoulder!) As soon as I saw this stamp - it went straight to the top of my wish list!  Can you believe it - 1 stamp from the set of 15 had me that easily. However, I must say - I think the rest of the set (Touches of Texture) is pretty good as well. This only arrived today and I had to have a play, check out what I did below.  I also used the new Layering Squares Framelits and the Peekaboo Peach ruched ribbon.  I used Early Espresso and Peekaboo Peach ink for the flowers and Memento Black for the bee coloured with a Hello Honey marker. Early Espresso cardstock for the main card and mats. When I decide what I will use it for, I'll attach a sentiment over the ribbon - until then, I'll just sit and admire it...