Everyday Occasions CTC131

This week at CASEing The Catty we are having our first look at the NEW Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue. I've had mine since early April when I attended Onstage in Perth. It is looking quite dog-eared from numerous browsing sessions!!! Getting access to the catalogue and new products early is definitely one of the advantages of going to these events that Stampin' Up!® holds for us, but another important benefit is the demonstrator training which takes place. We bring this information home, and share it with our teams, but there is nothing better than attending Onstage. If you think you'd like to be a part of this, talk to me or your own demonstrator because you may be surprised how easy it is.

I do my best to make every member of the team feel appreciated, and one of those ways is to welcome them to the team with a special card. This is one I made for Jacqui recently, after she took the plunge to join my team. I CASEd the card on the lower left of page 18, which used a medalion from Eastern Palace. For me, the inspiration was seeing glimpses of new In-color peeping through, and so I looked around my craft room and settled on the Window Box framelit as being the closest.

We had actually just finished a Window Box class, and I decided that using circles of new cardstock, cut with Stitched Circles Framelits would be quite interesting.

They were layered inside each other using some of last year's In Colors along with the very latest ones. Even that is quite effective on it's own, but more subtle with the Window Box cut out over the top.

Some of my favourite catalogue items are the Stitched Shape Thinlets, and the Jar of Love stamp and framelit set. Sadly, one of my flower dies from that set has disappeared, but I live in hope it will turn up soon. Fortunately I still have this smallest one and stamped a lot of blossoms before die cutting them.

I thought you might like to see how I pop them onto the mini glue dots. It saves me losing them and having to start again! "Thanks for joining us' is from a stamp set called All Things Thanks, and it is probably meant for after-wedding thank you cards, but seemed perfect for joining a team.

 

As well as including new colours, I also wanted to use some of the new Color Theory designer series paper stack. This piece has a 'crackle-finish' and a long time ago, I was very keen on painting things with a crackle-finish. My husband made a plate rack from timber, which I painted up in crackle finish. It is a fascinating process to watch. You can see a strip at the top and bottom of the card front, and again, at the bottom in the inside.

It seemed a nice idea to use the Stitched Shape Circle framelits for the inside too, and then adding a few sprigs of leaves and flowers. This sentiment is from a stamp set called Workshop Words Too, which I think was a prize patrol gift at my first ever Stampin' Up!® event. Yes, you walk away with a couple of stamp sets after Onstage Live too. The next Onstage function is November 11th, and some of my team and I are attending the Melbourne Victoria event. Tickets go on sale on August 15th, so if you'd like to come along, you might want to think about joining before then. If you are already part of my team, keep it in mind, as you will have a lot of fun!

 Time to head to lovely Liz Gross in Queensland

Happy crafting!

 Rachel