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SOURCES OF INSPIRATION …1

Intended to get this post done yesterday … better late than never!

One of the first places to get great ideas and inspiration form is any one of the Stampin’ Up catalogues.

With all the design talent working at SU … I love seeing the different ways the products have been used.

I confess that I love CASEing lots of the catalogue ideas.

Sometimes I even get creative myself and take an idea and tweek it to make it ‘my own’.

Please share any of the catalogue ideas you have used as inspiration – I would love to see them!

Here are some cards CASEd from the latest Occasions catalogue and Sale-a-bration brochure … can you find the pages they came from?

IMG_0274 IMG_0266 IMG_0267 IMG_0270  IMG_0273

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SEEKING INSPIRATION … CASEing

As a Home Economics teacher, I could explain what a casing is from my experience with sewing …. but when I first heard of CASEING, I didn’t know what was going on.

This is from someone who first thought LOL meant lots of love (as any mother would) – much to the amusement of my digital native daughters.

Being someone who loves to learn, I sought to understand … so to CASE is to copy and share everything.

I don’t know about you, but I find it hard at times to come up with ideas for a card, scrapbook page or some other project. Sometimes we just need a little inspiration to get us started.

I have been lucky to be able to use the wonderful projects Tanya Bell has shared with me in my 2014 make and takes, occasionally with my own little twist.

I have trawled the internet, Google images, blogs, Facebook and …. seeking inspiration from so many very creative crafters to make cards and other projects to make and give.

When my confidence builds, I know that I can go that bit further and start creating my own ideas and designs. So thank you to everyone who shares what they have created … I appreciate the time you have spent and am grateful for your generosity.

CASING provides an opportunity to learn from others and, like most things in life, requires a few basic manners … give credit and be courteous.

In my last post I shared a few images from my Occasions launch and acknowledged Michele Long, Sarah Wills and the amazing team at SU for their creations in the Occasions catalogue because I had CASED their work. Michele’s card inspired the butterfly card I created and I copied Sarah’s as she had created. I added one or two elements and varied the bows from the SU card.

Over the next few days, I want to share the places I go to seek inspiration.

Hoping you check this out tomorrow …

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PLAYTIME

I have enjoyed the last few weeks playing with all the new goodies that Santa let me have for Christmas. I must have been very good to be allowed to be so naughty!

There are so many wonderful products in the Occasions catalogue and it is a bonus to be able to select free items from the Sale-a-bration catalogue. For every $90 I spent, I could choose something from Sale-a-bration … it was very nice to be able to choose a few.

As much as all this playtime has been a lot fun, I need to start thinking about what I’m doing with my Stampin’ Up journey into 2015.

Last year, I hosted a couple of make and takes with friends from work, after school … a nice and easy introduction to organising workshops as a demonstrator.

This year I want to build on this and so I had my first event for 2015 yesterday – an Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogue launch at my home.

Eight wonderful women, including my mentor Tanya Bell, willingly agreed to let me practice with/on them.

We made four projects and had lots of fun. I was very pleased with how the afternoon went and am very excited about planning more!

I am pleased to report that everyone survived and there were no tears!!

All set up and ready to go ...
All set up and ready to go …
Project and catalogue bags
Project and catalogue bags using the Sophisticated Serfis and Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp sets
Card and butterfly berry basket
Card and butterfly basket using the stunningly beautiful Butterfly Basics stamp set and the new Berry Basket Bigz L Die. Thanks to Michele Long for the inspiration for this card.
Cards using the Birthday Bash DSP, bow builder punch and Hello You thinlit dies
Cards made using the Birthday Bash DSP, Hello You thinlit dies, Bow Builder punch and Painted Petals stamp set – totally cased both cards – thanks to Sarah Wills for her lovely birthday card and special mention to p12 of the Occasions catalogue!