CASEing the Catty #513 - CASE the Beautiful Bokeh Suite

CASE the Beautiful Bokeh Suite meets the Storybook Moments Suite

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #513 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Rochelle Laird-Smith, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Monique Fielder so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the projects from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues and On-line Exclusives as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the projects found on pages 38 - 41 of the 2025 Stampin' Up! January-April Mini Catalogue.

I adore the Storybook Moments suite but just realised that it had not seen ink as yet, so determined to use it this week. The Speciality Designer Series Paper is stunning with the beautiful water-coloured images. The DSP pack includes two sheets of die cuts and a couple of these were used on my project - so simple. I have CASEd two of the cards shown on page 38 of the Mini Catalogue, creating a simple shaker card with a white embossed background. Here is my card alongside the 2 CASEd cards:

I had so much fun creating this card. The Storybook Moments suite made it fairly simple. One of the gorgeous frames from the Storybook Friends set of dies cut a hole in the Basic White card front. The die cut frame was put aside for use later on. This panel was dry embossed using the Exposed Brickwork 3D Embossing Folder. A panel of Window Sheet, which had been cut to cover the die cut hole and to be adhered to the back of the card front panel.

One of the cottages, from the cottages design of the DSP, was trimmed out in an oval shape and it was adhered to the front of the Basic White Thick card base so that the cottage would show through the Window Sheet. Another 3 frames were die cut from Basic White card-stock. The frames were adhered together to give the frame a little depth and shape. The top layer of the frame had a little Basic Beige Classic Stampin’ ink blended over with a Mini Blending Brush and then touches of Gold heat embossing to give a sense of “antique”. The layered frame was adhered to the top of the Window Sheet. The cute Lady Lamby was added with Dimensionals as was the little leafy plant.

Some Champagne Iridescent Dots were added over the little DSP cottage. Adhesive strips were wrapped around the hole and then this card front was laid on top of the card base. 

A sentiment from the Storybook Friends stamp set was gold heat embossed onto a strip of Basic Beige card-stock, using Versamark ink, Wow Gold Embossed Powder, a Heat Tool and the Embossing Accessory Tool Kit.

A little bow was tied with some Gold Twisted Twine and tucked under the sentiment strip. A number of the Champagne Iridescent Dots were adhered around the sentiment and frame.

A Basic White card-stock panel was simply decorated with a fussy cut animal from the Storybook Moments Speciality Designer Series Paper. When I know how I will use the card another sentiment will be gold embossed onto this inner panel. The Basic White C6 envelope was also decorated with an image from the DSP, but this time an image from the edge of the DSP was used. It’s great to use the partial images from DSP edges when decorating card inners and envelopes.

Thank you for calling in on your way around the CASEing the Catty Challenge Blog Hop for Challenge #513. If you are interested in this Suite make sure you check the Stampin’ Up! website on or after 1st April to see if elements of this suite are retiring and going onto the Last Chance List. They may even be discounted.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the wonderful Monique Fielder. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be something special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created especially for this Challenge which has been inspired by the Beautiful Bokeh Suite. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.

 

#ctc513 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting  #valleyinspirations  #Storybookmoments  #storybookfriends #beautifulbokeh  #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam

CASEing the Catty # 510 - CASE March On-line Exclusives

CASE March On-line Exclusives meets Heirloom Arrangement Kit

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #510 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Facebook or from Kathryn Mangelsdorf, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps you arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Julia Quinn so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues or Website as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the projects showcasing the recently released March On-line Exclusives.

As I am time poor at the moment, but I didn’t want to miss this CASEing the Catty Challenge Blog Hop I choose a simple card to CASE.

To make it easier for me, I also chose to use a Kit that was launched last month - the Heirloom Arrangements Kit. It is goooorgeous. As it was relatively simple as I was using the ephemera from the kit, I couldn’t stop at one card, but created two. I hope you like them.

While one of the aspects that drew me to the card I am CASEing was the use of the Pattern of Friendship piercing die I chose to add texture to my first card background by using the Plaster Painting 3D Embossing Folder. I love the mix of plaster and woven textures.

I then cut a card base from the Heirloom Arrangements Kit to use as a layer beneath one of the labels also from the kit. A vellum leaf sprig and flower arrangement were pushed out from a couple of the sheets of the images, plus a butterfly.

A sentiment from the stamps in the kit was inked in Pecan Pie Classic ink (also provided in the kit) onto a sentiment strip. I couldn’t resist adding some extra embellishments that weren’t in the kit, ie a bow of White Ribbon and a few Antique Pearls. 

As usual, I added a little decoration to the card inner, ie a strip of the card that had been cut up, with a different sentiment and a cute little butterfly that were stamped in Pecan Pie ink.

CARD 2: 

For the second card I used Basic Beige card-stock for the card base and card front. The Pattern of Friendship piercing die was used for the background on this card, but was only pierced in one direction.

A number of different ephemera was selected from the Heirloom Arrangements kit, including a banner, hexagonal label, leaves and flowers and a butterfly. The arrangement was inspired by the CASEd card, though it looks quite different. A white bow was sitting with the box of ribbons, and it worked beautifully with the arrangement so I “used my stash”. Antique Pearls were also sprinkled around.

The set of stamps in the kit gives 4 thank you/appreciation sentiments plus a generic “For You”. There is also a crosshatch texture stamp and a cute little butterfly. The butterfly was stamped onto a Basic White C6 envelope in Pecan Pie ink, both first and 2nd generation stamping.

Thank you so much for spending time with me on your way around the CASEing the Catty Blog Hop for Challenge #510.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the wonderful Julia Quinn. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be something special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created for this Challenge which has been inspired by the March Online Exclusives releases. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.

 

#ctc510 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #patternoffriendship  #heirloomarrangementskit #plasterpainting3d  #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam

Funky Folds Blog Hop #11

ANYTHING GOES WITH A FUNKY FOLD

Welcome to the eleventh Funky Folds Blog Hop.

We are a group of like-minded paper crafters who love to make cards with funky folds. Funky actually means "modern and stylish in an unconventional or striking way"... so we are featuring cards that are not your usual rectangle/square, portrait or landscape style. Think 'easel', 'pop-up', 'gatefold', 'z-fold', 'shaped' or 3D cards etc. The list is endless. Most of the Blog Hops have an 'anything goes' theme using any type of 'funky' card fold. 

A male friend has a birthday coming up so I thought of him as I created this card. He is an active fella so I’m hoping he loves the beach. Here is my card …

I have created a 3D card with a hexagon base featuring the Beach Day stamps and dies. To fold the card so it can slide into an envelope, it’s pushed down in the centre, as shown below.

Keep squeezing the card till it is flat - well flattish. With all the card-stock layers it won’t be totally flat like a card with a fold in the middle. See the folded flattish card below. I must confess that I was so intent on creating this fold (for the first time), that I didn’t stop to think about placement of  all the pieces to enable the folded card to fit into an envelope. Oops!  It just means that I will need to make a specially tailored envelope for this card. The envelope will need an to be a bit bigger than a standard 15.5cm x 15.5cm square envelope.

The card base was cut and scored from Pool Party card-stock and the Beach Day pieces were either stamped on or die cut from Basic White card-stock.

Some of the pieces were stamped in Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin’ ink and then coloured with Stampin’ Blends Combos, including Blueberry Bushel, Azure Afternoon, Granny Apple Green / Lemon Lime Twist, Crumb Cake and the Colour Lifter. The reeds were stamped in Granny Apple Green, the sandcastles with Crumb Cake and the Sea Gull in Smokey Slate inks. The Life-saver ring was partially coloured with a Real Red Dark Blend. The Life Saver station was lightly coloured with some Basic Beige ink and a Blending Brush. Similarly, the palm tree trunk was coloured with a little Pecan Pie ink and the palm leaves with Granny Apple Green. I think the latter Blending Brush may have previously been used with some Old Olive ink as the green looks a bit muted.

The outside edge of the hexagon base was decorated with some retired Designer Series Paper, called Waves of the Ocean DSP. The “B” side of the Season of Elegance Speciality DSP was used to create a sandy beach.

The “Happy Birthday” sentiment from the Beach Day Stamp set was stamped in Misty Moonlight ink onto some Pool Party card-stock. The sentiment was fussy cut and separated. The final touch, the addition of some Riverside Flattened Pearls.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around this Funky Folds Blog Hop. I do so appreciate that you spent time with me. I hope you like this fun project.

Up next is the lovely Cathy Pinchbeck. I am looking forward to seeing Cathy’s funky fold and to hop around to check out everyone’s’ creations in this March Funky Folds Blog Hop. Just click on the graphic below to be taken to Cathy’s blog.

Here is a list of everyone participating in Funky Folds Blog Hop - March 2025

1. Cindy Mitchell-Clark ~ UK 2. Tammy Fite - USA 3. Bronwyn Eastley - Australia 4. Julia Quinn - Handmade by Julia Quinn (Australia) 5. Tracy Held - Australia 6. Andrea Sargent - Australia  < You are here 7. Cathy Pinchbeck #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #beachday   #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam

CASEing the Catty #508 - CASE Sale-abration Brochure

CASE Saleabration Brochure meets Thankful Garden

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #508 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Julia Quinn, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Peta Stephen so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues and the official Stampin’ Up! site, as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the Sale-a-bration Brochure. Sale-a-bration is a wonderful time when free products are available where specified conditions are met.

My eye has been captured when I browse the Sale-a-bration Brochure by page 3 which displays a fun scrapbook page. Cardstock / papers are arranged to fan out in rays stemming from behind an off-centred photo/label. I converted this concept to a card and used one of the designs from the Full of Life Designer Series Paper as the background.

As I was designing this card, I found some Crushed Curry roses on my workstation that had been created using the gorgeous Thankful Garden masks and dies. As one of the colours in the DSP was Crushed Curry I thought they would be lovely sitting on a Spotlight on Nature die cut, as the centre piece for my card. As mentioned, the flowers were created with 3 layers of Crushed Curry Classic Stampin’ ink and the Thankful Garden Masks. The leaves were coloured with the masks and 2 layers of Garden Green ink.

A trimmed panel of the radiating Full of Life DSP was stamped in Versamark ink and either the tiny leaf or flower centre dots on some of the radiating colours. The panel was then sprinkled with Wow Clear Emboss powder and heat set using my Heat Tool. I love the subtle texture this adds.

Other texture that was added to the background were tiny die cut leaves - cut using small dies from the Thankful Garden dies. The leaves were cut from offcuts of the DSP and a little extra colour was added with Blending Brushes.

The Crushed Curry flowers and light Garden Green leaves were arranged with a couple of leaf stems over one of the largest Spotlight on Nature Basic White card-stock disc. A couple of the flowers were popped up on Dimensionals. The sentiment was cut from a longer sentiment that had been white heat embossed on Basic Black card-stock. Don’t forget to look at the sentiments in your stamp sets and think about different ways you can use the words, eg I have just used “for you” from a sentiment that says “thankful for you friend”.

A triple White Bakers Twine bow was tucked under a corner of the sentiment. This twine comes from the Bakers Twine Essentials pack. A number of gems from the Tinsel Gems Four Pack were scattered around.

Both the Basic White card-stock inner and the Basic White C6 envelope were decorated with strips of DSP and some left over tiny leaves. Just some simple touches to coordinate the inside of the card and the envelope with the card front design.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around #508 CASEing the Catty Challenge Blog Hop. I so appreciate it.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the lovely Peta Stephen. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be something special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created for this Challenge which has been inspired by the 2025 Sale-a-bration Brochure. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.

 

#ctc508 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #thankfulgarden  #fulloflife #spotlightonnature  #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam

 

CASEing the Catty #505 - CASE Saleabration

CASE the Sale-a-bration Brochure meets Corner in Bloom

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #505 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Rebecca Scurr, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Julia Quinn so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues or On-Line as inspiration. Each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". 

This week we are CASE-ing any project found in the Sale-a-bration Brochure.

There are numerous projects displayed in the Brochure. It was a hard choice this week. All the projects can be wonderful starting points for creating your project.  I chose to CASE the project below for this week’s challenge - CTC505:

I saw Emma Goddard, a UK SU Demonstrator, use the Corner in Bloom Sale-a-bration stamp set during last week’s Card and a Cuppa session so the set was top of my list to use and I thought it would work beautifully with a CASE of this project.  Here is my card:

The background was tone on tone stamped using a couple of stamps from the Linked Together stamp set. I do love the subtlety of tone on tone stamping, in this case Petal Pink Classic Stampin’ ink on Petal Pink card-stock, and don’t use this technique enough.

Instead of the diamond die from the Linked Together bundle, I used the largest long/thin hexagon die from the Nested Essentials dies to cut a Basic White hexagon. This was popped up on Dimensionals.

The largest floral corner stamp in the Corner in Bloom stamp set was inked with Gray Granite ink and stamped a couple of times on Basic White card-stock. The coordinating single floral image was stamped a number of times as well. The images were coloured with Stampin’ Blends combos, ie Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Old Olive together with the Colour Lifter to add highlights. All the coloured images were fussy cut with my trusty Snips. The flowers were arranged and adhered in place with either Dimensionals or Glue Dots.

“A happy day” was white heat embossed onto Petal Pink card-stock and then fussy cut. This sentiment was positioned with Mini Dimensionals. A bow was tied with the gorgeous Petal Pink Scalloped Ribbon and added with Glue Dots. (This ribbon is gorgeous - so soft and ties beautifully.) The final touch, some of the white Saleabration Purple Adhesive-backed Sequins to provide a touch of shimmer. (They too are beautiful.)

There were some coloured flowers remaining after completing the card front, so some were added to the Basic White card inner. Another strip of coloured flowers was added to a Basic White C6 envelope. I love it when leftover pieces can be used to decorate the envelope and inside the card to keep coordination throughout the project.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the lovely Julia Quinn. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be something special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created for this Challenge which has been inspired by the 2025 Sale-a-bration Brochure. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.  

#ctc505 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #linkedtogether  #cornerinbloom  #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam