CTC#151 Catalogue covers and Hostess sets

Welcome back to another round of blog hopping with the CASE-ing The Catty Crew. My name is Rachel, and I'm a Stampin' Up!® demonstrator in South Morang (outer Melbourne) in Australia. All of the crew members are from the South Pacific (Australia & New Zealand) so if you are looking for a demonstrator, one of us should be nearby. You can order from my online shop from anywhere in Australia and your order will be shipped straight to you, costing a minimum of $5.95.

This week is a bit different because the CTC crew are CASE-ing catalogue covers or Hostess sets. There is so much inspiration in both those areas, it will be a great blog hop. I've CASE-d the Mini Pizza Box in the picture below several weeks back with Musical Season, but this time I used the Hostess stamp set pictured, Seasons of Whimsy. I love using the quirky ornaments, the sparklers and the wreath. If your party or big order reaches $250 AU, you get 10 % in Hostess dollars to spend. This stamp set in clear mount (red rubber stamps that you mount onto acrylic blocks) is $21, and only available to hostesses - which is also you if your order reaches that amount. If you'd like to have a party, at your home, I have some dates available for the last weekend in October, and a few more in November.

I began by CASE-ing the square shape for my card. It does mean that I need to make envelopes, but that is easy enough with an Envelope Punch Board. For my first card Merry Patterns was the pick. Technically, it was a hostess set too, as it was sent free with any order reaching $450 in sales through September and October. You still have time to qualify but it might be a rush!

This card was layered with a piece of Pear Pizzazz and then another slightly smaller white square on top. I used the largest of the Stitched Shapes Circles to cut a piece in thick Whisper White, and the inside of the shape to pencil a circle as a guide to stamp the branches of a wreath. That piece is also from Merry Patterns, but I'm sure there is a suitable piece in most Christmas stamp sets.

Great news for all who like colouring their stamped images - Stampin' Up! will have alcohol markers Stampin' Blends available to you from 1st November. I bought a half dozen to try them out during the Demonstrator pre-order period, and after a little play, quickly ordered the rest. They are easy to use, and I'd love to give you a lesson if you think you need one.

  

My son helped out by taking video of me explaining a bit more about CASE-ing, and the card above was the one I was making in the video. However, as I put it together, I felt that the wreath wasn't showing enough, so when he finished filming I took it apart and stamped some protruding branches. When I reassembled the card, I placed the Cherry Cobbler banner at the bottom instead. You can see the video on my Facebook page. I'd love you to leave a comment, I know it isn't the greatest quality video, but I will keep on practising.

The stamps were still on the block so I stamped another pair to try some more fun colouring with Stampin' Blends. They are pretty luscious, aren't they?

Of course you may have noticed there are three ornaments so I can still change them about and create a nice set of cards.
You'll want to head to see what Megan has made

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When you shop in my online shop, remember to use the host code, as I love to send you something from the current catalogues as a thank you gift. At the end of October there will be a special draw from all September/October online orders (minimum $50 before shipping) to win a special Christmas stamp set.

Bella's Birthday

It's not really Bella's birthday, but the stamp set I've used is called Bella and Friends and it has a number of delightful images of this sweet puppy. I've included part of the wreath-like stamp which is stamped on red on this box above. I masked out the 'p.s. I love you' and popped the little cake from Bella & Friends in there instead. The stamp set above, is Seasons of Whimsy and it's a Hostess stamp set from the Holiday catalogue. I'm looking forward to having some free time next week to stamp and watercolour some of those wonky ornaments. You can add this stamp set to your $250 order using your Hostess dollars to pay for it. Need to know more? Contact me by phone 0417 500 681 or email rpalmieri5@bigpond.com

 A card like this doesn't really take too long to put together, especially as I have a lot of card pre-cut to size. I keep Whisper White handy cut to 10cm by 14.3cm - easy if you have the Stampin' Up! trimmer. It has clear measurements in metric and imperial, and both a cutting and scoring blade. I always have card bases cut and folded ready to use, but because this card front was also matted, I cut the white card back another .2 cm. Half a centimetre would also be a good option, so long as your measurements are the same on the 2 sides of the rectangle.

Happy Birthday Gorgeous was the stamp set I had been using this week, preparing samples for my Spring Has Sprung classes. If you are interested in those, there are details under 'classes' at the top of my blog page. Two Friday night classes are close to full, so I have advertised Thursday 19th October at 7pm. I could possibly do a Saturday afternoon if that suited you better. Again, just get in touch.

All the colouring on this card has been done with Stampin' Up!® Watercolor pencils and a blender pen. It gives a fairly subtle and fail safe finish. If you are thinking about shopping in my online store, and your order is less than $250, when asked for a host code you can add the letters below. I post a gift to you (something from the catalogue) in appreciation. If your order is $250 without shipping, then you will be asked to select items for yourself to 10% of the value of your order.

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