End Of Year Gifts

Thankfully, I've had some time while off work caring for post-op husband, to pop into my craft room and make some end of year projects which I will now share with you. Of course there is lots more still to do, but at least I've made a start!

I've made a bag and card as a teacher gift, birthday cards for grandson and his little sister, a gift and card for a crafty friend and a scrapbook page for my sweet youngest grandchild.

Mainly these stamp sets, Crafting Forever and Pieces & Patterns along with about a quarter pack of Pick a Pattern DSP and some matching card were all I needed to make these, proving you can do a lot with minimal supplies. I did pull a few other stamps off the shelf to help out, but was pleased to feature mainly two.

 I really enjoyed making this gift for a friend, because I know she'll appreciate it. I'm waiting on my pre-order to deliver, when I will decorate some long notecards and envelopes to place in this box. It's a sneak peek from the Occasions catalogue, beginning 3 January 2018. It seemed appropriate to add the pen to the box, and the acetate window with the word framelit was my addition to this project.

I also added a few extra pens to the pot and enjoyed colouring with Stampin' Blends.

This bag and card is for one of my grandsons to give to his teacher. This is a project which I may have to repeat for the others, but it will be my pleasure. Pieces & Patterns really came to the fore here, with the sentiment and of course the fabulous co-ordinating paper. My Gift Bag Punch Board has paid for itself many times over, as I am always putting together a gift bag in minutes for smaller gifts.

I thought the lines  were going to be helpful for my 7 year old grandson to write his own message to the teacher, but I'll check with my D-I-L about the mr. 6.

Isn't the paper perfect for a kid or teacher?

  This is another of the papers from Pick A Pattern DSP but perfect for a little girl turning 5. The bold Happy Birthday greeting is from Birthday Delivery, a very cute stamp set with co-ordinating paper from the Annual catalogue.The primitive flowers are from Pieces & Patterns.

This card is a standard size and can be posted for the usual rate, but with the four panels, it has a bit of a bang! I decided to leave the images black & white as no doubt a 5-year-old girl might like to colour her own.

 But I couldn't resist and had to add some colour and sparkles here on the front!

Now, big brother is very cool. Nothing too baby-ish for him. I've made mistakes in the past and been growled at because he's not a baby! OMG, I think cash might be the only thing to make him happy.

I'm hoping the jeans pocket with green check is okay for Mr Cool.Again, this check patterned paper is fromthe Pick A Pattern DSP, but the other strip is not. Those numbers are from my most-used dies, Large Numbers.

My littlest grandie always makes sure that Gran gets a lovely calendar each Christmas, so I have made a layout for his scrapbook, to remember the Fridays he spends with me. We usually do some sort of craft each week, and cutting paper is currently his favourite. We do stamp from time to time, and he wants a stamp with his name on it like Gran has. I made his name up with the Labeler Alphabet (first time I've used that stamp). Stamped some lines for jounaling with Playful Backgrounds, and then some primary sploshes, from the same stamp set. This time I really let loose with Stampin' Blends to colour the pot of brushes.

While I had the DSP out, I've put together very simple cards using the co-ordinating stamp, Pieces & Patterns, which I'm sure one of the daughter-in-laws will take off my hands for the many birthday parties their little social butterflies attend.

Let me know if you'd like some advice on making these projects, and I'll try my best to assist. If you'd like to shop with me for your craft needs, I will send you a gift when you use the Hostess code at checkout (if your order is less than $250).

ZTQVTQPR

CTC #157 CASE A Colour Combination

Welcome back to another week of CASE-ing The Catty. The crew is made up of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from all parts of Australia and New Zealand.You are at the blog of Rachel Palmieri, Stampin' Up!® demonstrator. I run classes at my home studio in South Morang, Victoria, demonstrate Stampin' Up!® products and tools at parties for my customers, coach my lovely team and create cards and the occasional 3D project.

In my very humble opinion, CASE-ing The Catty for a colour combination is the easiest challenge of the lot! Any catalogue, any colour combination. You might like to take a photo of your card or 3-D item sitting on top of the page you cased, just like I have here, and enter our challenge via Facebook. W'ed love you to join us.

For my card, I've CASE-d the main colour, Island Indigo, chosen a different woodgrain and added hints of yellow & green (from the sunflowers & fruit). I could also say that I also echoed a container holding something, like the barrel of sunflowers.

It has been quite a while since I have inked up Crafting Forever, but I am making some teacher gifts and thought it appropriate. Not only does it have some fun images in it, there is a Stampin' Up!® logo stamp for any of you happy crafters out there who'd love to sell some of your creations. Angel Policy requires you to add the ©Stampin' Up! to any work sold, containing Stampin' Up!® stamped images.

Three pens is another of the images in this stamp set, and I couldn't resist adding a couple to the pot of brushes. I have another stamp set, Pieces & Patterns which matches with a current DSP (pattern paper) and the loose pencil lying on the table is from that set. Stampin' Up!® prides itself on being a company with co-ordinating products, and this is a prime example of stamp set themes matching, and one of those matching with a paper, Pick A Pattern DSP, which then lists all the colours it co-ordinates with. How easy does that make crafting?

I'm sneaking in a new box framelit which is in the Occasions Catalogue. Let me know if you want me to get one out to you, as I am ordering catalogues this week. Last night I went shopping for chocolate, to see what little treat I could sneak in there, but unfortunately the packet of the delicious Lindt chocolate I bought was too long, but the right width, and I had to eat it!!!!

On the same page as the Lots To Love Framelits Dies (page 19) are narrow notecards and envelopes. I will add them to my pre-order too and make some little cards for the box next week. Lovely Words Thinlets and Stitched Shapes Thinlets helped me add a window, and let me used some of the Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate to dress it up.

These are some bonus cards using Crafting Forever. This one with pens above is a super-easy repeat pattern which looks good left plain black & white, or easy to colour too.

Another Fun! Fun! Fun! card using repeat stampings of the scissors in primary shades, and one of the Crafting Forever sentiments, I can see this card being perfect for a younger child's birthday card too.

This weeks hop is a big one, but there is bound to be a heap of crafting inspiration, (and maybe glimpses of new products as we all begin to get our pre-order shipments) so now is the time to hop over to see marvelous Mel Pagano

ZTQVTQPR

Quilted Christmas CTC #144

This week at CASE-ing The Catty, we are sharing with you a glimpse of the Holiday Catalogue. Do you have your copy yet? I get very excited by a new catalogue, and no matter how hard I try, I usually buy more than I really need! We are CASE-ing pages 4-9 of the catalogue, and I settled for a card on page 4 which is a very standard sketch. You can't go wrong using this design for any type of card.

The design features patterned paper as a base, and a strip of plain card with an embellishment on the far left and the sentiment on this wide strip. My card is in the standard Australian measurements, not the square format shown in the catalogue, and children's birthdays is the section in my stash which needed replenishing.

Beginning with one for girls, I used this lovely floral print from the Pick a Pattern DSP and the poodle and sentiments are from Birthday Delivery. The poodle has been stamped on thick Whisper White, die cut and lightly coloured in pink. She is adorable!!!

Because the base is black, it was important to finish off the inside of the card and I do like the inside to be as nice as the front, if possible. The strip of patterned paper has been mounted on a slightly wider strip of black, which does give a really nice, 'finished' look. I do this with most of the cards I send to friends and family, but I don't usually teach it in classes as it would take too long. Do you think it is worth decorating the inside of the card if it is light-coloured? What about envelopes?

Here's the other version, still using the Pick a Pattern papers. No Bones About It is a fabulous stamp set for boys, because dinosaurs are a favourite with boys of any age. It didn't ever come with dies, so I was happy enough to stamp it straight on the white strip. The card has a crisp, clean look about it, despite the muddy footprints!

Again, the inside has been finished off the same way, with patterned paper mounted onto black. A few more of those footprints are trailing along the inside of the card too.

For my third card, I CASE-d the other sketch from the catalogue. Again, this is a good, basic design to use. I followed the square format this time, with a plain base, a smaller square of paterned paper and a thin strip for the sentiment, another slightly longer under and the focal point to the right.

Again, this stamped image is from Birthday Delivery, and I coloured her to match the paper. This pattern paper is Delightful Daisy DSP,  it's very pretty and easy to pick colours from it for the card. Flirty Flamingo and Soft Sky are for the card, the wee girl's dress is Wisteria Wonder.

I've really enjoyed making this set of birthday cards for kids. I do hope you have been enjoying crafting time too. Now it's time to continue around the hop, and it's a big one (plenty of new-catalogue inspiration). You are heading over to the fabulous Jackie Noble in New Zealand

We want you to CASE the Catty too. Anything that takes your fancy on Page 4-9 of the Holiday catalogue and post your picture on our Facebook challenge page.

If you prefer to make your own order, you can visit my online shop any time of the night or day, and don't forget to check out the Clearance Rack for any specials that might help your crafting.

 ERBPDTEM