Jars of Love CI#06

Don't you love these colour INKspiration Challenges? Well, I surely do, because it forces me to look at little used colours. This week it is Calypso Coral which I'm not really fond of, and actually still have the old style ink pad. The colours for the challenge are Night of Navy, Pool Party, Calypso Coral and gold foil.

I've renewed my love affair with Jars Of Love, after one of my hostesses recently requested to use that for her party. It is a lovely set which has a matching framelit set, Everyday Jars Framelits, although it is a super stamp set all on its own anyway. My customer doesn't have a Big Shot yet, although she can use her mother's one when they get-together to craft. I love the way you can put all sorts of things into jars. No wonder they are so 'on trend' now.

For a colour that is not a favourite, doesn't Calypso Coral give a lovely accent on these little flowers from the Jars Of Love stamp set? Tip Top Taupe has also made an appearance as a neutral on the leafy stems.

Tin of Cards stamp set has a great variety of sentiments and I like the way they fit into a Stitched Shape (circle) Framelit. The flowers on the tag were the only item I used the Everyday Jars Framelits for this time, although I was actually cutting a stack of these flowers for another project coming up in a couple of weeks. There is some gold heat embossed trim on the jar on the left ( and plenty more on my big project too!) The little insects (fireflies???) have clear Wink of Stella on the wings and gold Wink Of Stella on the bodies. Just a shame that it is so hard to capture the glimmer in a photograph.

Washi tape makes an appearance, and even some gold metallic thread. It was a fun card to make for the challenge and we'd love for you to join us and share your creation too. Remember, Night of Navy, Pool Party, Calypso Coral and gold foil are the colours. Neutrals are also allowed. We have a Facebook page just for entries and you'll find it by clicking on Facebook here.

While Jar Of Love was still out, an idea came to me. I was planning swaps for Stampin' Up!® Onstage in a few weeks, but I've canned this idea. The thought of lining up a dozen fish on multiple cards would NOT be fun. It worked out fine here with some lines pencilled in and rubbed out afterwards, but not something you'd want to do over and over. 

After realising it required a larger than standard card front, I decided on a 5½ inch square card, which gave an opportunity to use the Seaside textured embossing folder. I really like that embossing folder which made its first appearance in the Annual Catalogue in June 2016. I can hardly wait to see what surprises Stampin' Up!® have in store for us with the next Annual Catalogue.

Thought I'd share a bonus card this week, not in challenge colours, but showing some more fun things to put in jars. Beetles and Bugs is a new stamp in the Stampin' Up! Occasions catalogue. I wonder if it will make the cut to the next Annual catalogue? I bought it especially for my young grandsons' cards. The goldfish comes from the Jars of Love stamp set, a cute addition to any jar. Happy is from Happy Celebrations and the streamers are from Balloon Adventures, all Occasions catalogue items.

Now you're heading over to visit with Rose Packer, you'll love her project

You can join our colour challenge here on Facebook

Cheers, Rachel

Sending Love CTC#114

Hello and welcome to CASE-ing The Catty. This week the assignment is to CASE from pages 14-19 of the Occasions Catalogue. CASE can mean copy and share everything or copy and selectively edit. Our design team at CASE-ing The Catty use the Stampin' Up!® catalogues to ignite our own creativity. You may have come from Rebecca's Blog, wasn't her project awesome? If you missed it, never fear, blogs go full circle and you'll get back there.

The card on page 16 with the rocking horse appealed to me and I decided to CASE it using Circle Of Spring. This is a stamp set found in your Annual Catalogue, page 94. I think this wreath is particularly pretty, and very easy to colour, which ever method you choose. I've used the new Watercolor Pencils; - Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive. It's actually coloured quickly and easily. The points I most liked and imitated from the design were doilies peeking out from behind the label, the strips of Old Olive and the de-bosssed Seaside TIEF. De-bossed is when the designs 'wrong' side is used, it's actually smoother.

Two labels the same size were cut with Lots Of Labels Framelits, and the white one trimmed a little to show Old Olive borders each side. Wonderful Wreath Framelit Dies are also really useful for cutting the wreath out, although you can use it without cutting it out also. My Big Shot Die Cut machine is my biggest and most expensive craft expense so far, but it pays for itself over and over. I love the fact that Stampin' Up! carries such a big range of dies and embossing folders to use with this machine, and everything co-ordinates with stamps. The Wonderful Wreath Framelit Dies also co-ordinate with another stamp set, Wondrous Wreath on page 32.

Although I've stamped a sentiment from a new stamp set, Suite Sentiments, in the Occasions Catalogue, Circle Of Spring actually includes six sweet sentiments already. From Happy Birthday all the way through to Easter and Mother's day, there is something for everyone. Those sentiments can all be fitted inside the centre section if you choose. I've stamped onto an Oval Stitched Framelit and lay it over part of the wreath.

You can join in with this challenge by posting on FB here. 

If the link is broken along the way you can get back on track at the CASE-ing The Catty Blog.

Now it's time to see the lovely card for Easter that the lovely Julia has to share this week.

Happy Crafting

Rachel

Avant Garden Sale-A-Bration CTC#113

It's Sunday, and welcome back to CASE-ing The Catty Blog Hop. Again this week the crew are sharing inspiration from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue, pages 4-7. Don't forget to go full circle to check out what each member of the crew has shared. Elizabeth is the crew member before me.

I've used this picture on page 5 of the SAB catty to CASE a couple of cards. It's a great sketch and variations of it can be used over and over. Even though I had the actual paper used on this card from the Annual catty, (Serene Scenery 141657) I decided to ink up the Hardwood stamp with Crumb Cake and stamp onto Soft Sky. A scrap of Tip Top Taupe went through the Big Shot using the Seaside textured impressions embossing folder. The flower from Avant Garden was stamped with Archival Black ink and coloured with ink and a Aqua painter. It has been secured with dimensionals, tombow and some washi tape. 'Happy Birthday Wishes' is one of the three sentiments included with Avant Garden, and in such a pretty font.

Next, the colour was changed quite drastically. A piece of paper with a bokeh effect from Serene Scenery Paper Stack was the background of the card, and also finished the inside nicely. Ink to Rubber technique was used to colour the flower this time and it was fussy cut and laid on a stitched circle. Same sketch, but quite a different result.

I wanted to try CASE-ing another flower from the Avant Garden SAB stamp set. This flower is separate from the stem and leaf, so you can arrange them any way you like. It is such good value when you have a couple of floral images, some other incidental images and 3 sentiments. What's more, it is FREE with your $90 order during Sale-A-Bration 94th January - 31st March).

You could definitely have a nice selection of birthday cards on hand if you used this stamp, these sketches and a few different colour combinations. 

Here you'll see a Youtube video sharing different ways to colour

Now it is time for you to hop over and visit Rebecca Scurr

You can join in by making a card or 3D item using pages 4-7 from the SAB catty as your inspiration and link to our FB challenge here. It can be a colour scheme, a layout or anything really which triggers your creative spark!

Happy crafting

Rachel

Colour INKspiration - A New Colour Challenge for Everyone!

I have some exciting news to share; I'm on the Colour INKspiration Crew! It consists of a team of talented Aussie and NZ Stampin' Up!® Demonstrators that create projects based on Pinterest inspired colour swatches.

There's also a Facebook group for Stampin' Up!® enthusiasts who would like to share their paper craft projects using the colour combinations. You don't even have to have a blog to join in.
Here's the deal - Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7pm (AEDT), a new colour swatch will be uploaded to the Facebook Colour INKspiration Group and the Colour INKspiration Crew will get the ball rolling by providing inspiration for each challenge with a blog hop. Our first one starts on Wednesday, 11th January.
Members of the group have the option to join the Colour INKspiration 'Challenge' by uploading photos of their projects and can link back to their personal blog if they wish to. Make sure you click on the link below and ask to join Colour INKspiration, add the group to your favourites and share it with your crafty friends so they can join in with the challenges too.
Hope to see you there!

To get this group off the ground we are having a 'pre-challenge challenge'. The colours for the challenge are Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight and Mint Macaroon, but I substituted Crushed Curry for Daffodil Delight. That's allowed, we're not unreasonable people! Sometimes you don't have the colour or perhaps, just like me, prefer the stronger shade. There is some Designer Series Paper in the SAB catalogue called Carried Away, and it just so happens to have Mint Macaroon clouds amongst the selections. The name of this DSP suggests that it complements the Lift Me Up bundle (it does - ha,ha!)and so there are 2 different birds-eye views of fields.some hot air balloons and other bright papers in very useable patterns. I'm sure I'll be using lots of this paper, it's so cute, and I can add it for free to my $90 order during SALE-A-Bration, and so can you! You will find Up & Away Thinlet Dies, the Lift Me Up stamp set or the Lift Me Up Bundle (purchase using the special code for a 10% discount) on page 10 of the Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue.

It seemed natural to pair those clouds with a hot air balloon, and I've kept it very simple really. The point of interest is the slant the DSP has been cut on, and a strip of white card which has gone through the Seaside textured embossing folder. My intention is to use textured embossing folders (and Washi tape!!!) a lot more in 2017. Last years resolution was to use Designer Series Paper and I definitely improved with that one, so hopefully I can this year too. Are you wondering how hard it was to make the multi-coloured hot air balloon? Not very hard at all, as the Up & Away Thinlet Dies include five shapes especially for that purpose. I use tiny dots of tombow on the back of the large balloon outline, allow it to turn clear, when it is less messy but still sticky and place the pieces in order, from top to bottom in my case. Even the basket has its own wee piece, which doubles as a base for the ferris wheel ride  (or a teeny tiny cupcake) in Carousel Birthday on the previous page. It's always handy when you can use the Thinlet Dies with more than one stamp set. 

Even though it mentions in the catalogue to use the Precision Plate with the detailed thinlet, I've not found that neccessary, all the pieces pop out easily. Thought I'd include this close-up so you can see the lovely detail on this hot air balloon. Have you had a look through the 2017 Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue yet? If you haven't, don't already have a demonstrator and you live in Australia, you can message me to send you a copy of that and the SALE-A-Bration catty.

Cheers for a safe and crafty New Year,

Rachel