CASE Me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

Hi there

My lovely crafty friend from across the pond, Michelle Lupton has invited me to join her once again in her CASE Me a Christmas Card Series.  I'm so happy to be part of Michelle's series again.

CASE can either stand for 'Copy and Share Everything' or 'Copy and Selectively Edit'.  This year, the series features ten creative hops in October - two on YouTube and eight on Instagram - where we’ll CASE cards from fellow crafters.

So, to join us, make your own unique Christmas card inspired by someone in the hop, upload it via Inlinkz on @michelle_lupton ’s blog (link in Michelle’s IG profile), and you could even snag a prize from one of our awesome sponsors. Just look at this line up...

Or leave a comment on the stops on the hop (either on IG or on YT)! It's all about sharing ideas, connecting with other cardmakers, and sparking your creativity for the holidays!

I was inspired by Beth Opel, here's her gorgeous card...

I was inspired by the monochrome design, the embossed background with the white accents and the bows.

And here is my festive take, using Beth's card as the inspiration...

Beth embossed her background using pink cardstock and used white ink to highlight the raised elements. I started with white cardstock and inked up the background part of this festive embossing folder with dark green ink, thereby leaving the raised parts white. I too added a white sentiment on a die cut coloured background, mine being on a tag which I ink blended to match the background. And I added a white die cut bow cut from white glitter cardstock.

Materials used:

• Embossing folder: Spellbinders - 3D Pine Cones & Berries
• Ink: Altenew - Evergreen; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster
• Dies: The Greetery - Fit to be Tied; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Traditional Tag Stax
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Eat Drink Be Merry

The full list of my fellow crafters on this particular Instagram hop is as follows:
@michelle_lupton
@pocono.pam
@little.finn.crafts
@tinstar05
@craftyneet - THIS IS ME
@bopels
@hannelie.bester
@joy_in_a_jar
@thealtcardmaker

Thank you so much for taking a look and thank you once again to Michelle for inviting me to take part.  
CASEing cards is a great way to craft if you need a creative nudge, just remember to give credit to the original designer.

Uniko June 2024 Release - Introducing...Flower Power #9

Hi there

It's Day 2 of June release introductions from Uniko and next up is a fantastic set to add to the Flower Power series...Flower Power #9.  This set also works well with a few other products already available from Uniko.

I went super simple with this card, a one layer card with stamping and minimal colouring...

I stamped the flower, stem and leaves in Copic-friendly ink and then coloured them in with co-ordinating Copics.  The remaining images and sentiment were simply stamped and all of these elements are from the new set.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #9
• Ink: Memento - Cantaloupe, New Sprout; Versafine Clair - Nocturne, Morning Mist
• Coloured with Copics

And for my second card I combined images from the set with a honeycomb embossing folder I had in my stash...

I started by embossing a panel using the embossing folder and then came the time-consuming part.  I stamped the florals and bees inside each of the hexagons and then coloured with Copics.  This was then trimmed down and adhered to the card base.  The sentiment, also from the new set, was stamped and heat embossed in white on a die cut strip of black cardstock.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #9
• Embossing Folder: Stampin' Up - Honeycomb
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Coloured with Copics
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: Altenew - Featured Sentiments

There is lots more inspiration over at the Uniko blog, here where the team are sharing their projects.

The entire release will be available to purchase from 9am BST on Saturday 29 June 2024. 

Another introduction will follow tomorrow so, if you have time to pop back, please do take a look.

CASE Me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

Hi there

The lovely Michelle Lupton has invited me to join her once again in her CASE me a Christmas Card Series.  CASE can either stand for 'Copy and Share Everything' or 'Copy and Selectively Edit'.  The aim is to take inspiration from any card made by the other and make a Christmas card.

I had a scroll through Michelle's lovely makes and a set of sympathy cards she had made back in May caught my eye.  I was itching to use a gorgeous Christmas embossing folder I'd purchased a month or so ago so this design was perfect...

I embossed a panel using the Perfect Poinsettias embossing folder by Altenew and trimmed it down slightly before inking up the edges with Distress Ink in Aged Mahogany and Festive Berries.  I matted and layered the panel on some deep red cardstock and cut a matching sentiment strip.  The sentiment from the Color Layering Christmas Tree set by Hero Arts was stamped and heat set using Wow! embossing powder in Metallic Gold Rich.

And here is Michelle's gorgeous set of cards below, the photos are shared with her permission... 

Other than making the design a lot bolder for Christmas I didn't really change anything up other than using gold for the sentiment.

So, as that last card was more of a blatant copy than a CASE, I had another scroll through Michelle's and couldn't resist making another! :D

Here it is...

You can see Michelle's inspiration card for this one below.  I used the same layout but instead of a rainbow of inks, I cut strips of cardstock in the traditional Christmas colours of red, green and gold and adhered these to a scrap of paper just to get them lined up.  I trimmed it down to make a panel with nice sharp edges before stamping the stockings image, from a stamp set given free with a previous year's Creative Stamping magazine.  I stamped it in black but the gold cardstock was a little slick and I wasn't sure it would actually dry any time within this century so I heat embossed it in Wow! Clear Gloss to seal the image.  I adhered the panel to the card base, added a slim strip of back glitter cardstock along the top edge and finished with the sentiment, stamped in black, from the same free set.

And here is Michelle's gorgeous rainbow birthday card....

Thank you so much for taking a look and thank you once again to Michelle for inviting me to take part in her fun series.  

CASEing cards is a great way to craft if you need a creative nudge, just remember to give credit to the original designer.

Perfectly CAS July 2021 Challenge

Hi there

The July challenge at Perfectly CAS is now live.  Here's the cue card for this month's challenge...

I have recently purchased a couple of new 3D embossing folders so wanted to use one of those for my DT card.  I just had to figure out how best to use it while keeping to the challenge guidelines of one third or less.

Here it is...

On a panel of white cardstock I embossed just the corner with the embossing folder.  I then blended three shades of Distress Oxide to cover the embossed parts.  I used blending brushes here but in hindsight I should have used foam so the ink wouldn't transfer onto the background parts of the design as much.  I trimmed the panel down slightly and adhered it to my card base, before then embossing the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Altenew - Scalloped Flowers
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Salvaged Patina, Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar; Versamark
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Mini Messages
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe

As always, the challenge link will remain open until a day or two before the next challenge starts next month, so plenty of time to play along.  And there's lots of inspiration from my teamies over at the main challenge blog too.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Less is More Challenge #418

Good morning