Hello friends, welcome to the brand new month of July 2019!

With the new month we have two exciting offers from Stampin’ Up!®, both designed to save you stacks of your crafting dollars.

1. July Starter Kit Offer – ‘Extra! Extra!

Have you been part of the Stampin’ Up! family in the past? Maybe you wished you joined up years ago? Do you have a big wish list and want to save money? Maybe you are new to the world of Stampin’ Up! and know already that you’re going to be hooked!

If you have ever been thinking about becoming a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, now IS the perfect time to join my team here in Australia.

Let me explain why…

From 1 July until 31 August, you can choose an EXTRA $45 worth of bonus products in your Starter Kit. That means you’ll now get $280 worth of Stampin’ Up! products of your choice, and it will only cost you $169. And there’s free postage on it too!

THEN, you’ll receive a $16 gift voucher code the following month to spend on any products that you’ve been eying off.

It’s a fantastic deal!

Seriously, it just. makes. sense. to join if:

• you are a fan of Stampin’ Up! products, and/or
• you are a regular shopper, and/or
• you occasionally place big orders, and/or
• you want to kick start your own business that combines your love of paper crafting with a way to earn some extra money

Got questions? I’ve got the answers here.

---

2. Bonus Days are Back!

A past favourite from previous years, the return of Bonus Days means it’s the perfect time to go shopping for new crafting supplies.

For every $90 you spend during July (excl. p/h) you’ll get a digital code emailed to you which will give you $9 credit towards a shopping spree in August. Collect as many codes as you want! You’ll still get any hostess rewards as usual (if applicable) so this is purely a bonus just for you!

---

Only a few more days to go before I head off to this year’s Stampin’ Up! incentive trip: an all-expenses paid trip to Rome and a Greek Isles cruise for 2! #soblessed

I’m leaving hubby at home this time to keep the house and family ticking along, and instead turning this into a mother-and-daughter trip with my nearly-16 year old. It will be an adventure!

I’ll have internet access while away so don’t hesitate to catch me on Messenger or email. As usual, my . If you’d like to place an order during July, please use Host Code WQ3H69UC if the order is under $250. If it’s over $250 then you’ll earn a $25 host rewards to spend all on your own.

Happy stamping, 

Hi friends! I’m SO excited about our theme for Case-ing The Catty this week. It’s all about the gorgeous new Pressed Petals suite, which is one of my faves (it’s running a very close second behind Bird Ballad).

In particular, we’re using the Pressed Petals colour scheme as inspiration, and the layouts on pages 72-74.

The rich and noble colours include Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Rococo Rose, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla.

Don’t worry, we don’t have to use them all! Just as many as we want. Phew!

The card layout I chose as inspiration was this one from page 73…

I changed it around to a portrait layout instead of landscape, swapped out the stamped paper at the top for Designer Series Paper, swapped the sentiment and changed around the flower a little.

Here is my version…

How amazing is the Pressed Petal Washi Tape flower?! Individual petals on a roll of washi tape, so you can peel off as many petals as you like to create a flower. Or use them individually for scattered petals. So fun!

You actually get two rolls of washi tape in this pack. The second is a gorgeous vintage-y script style, which you can see just a little bit of it poking out under the vellum sentiment.

The centre is from a punched daisy (trimmed) in Crushed Curry cardstock, with a metallic Designer Element embellishment to finish it off.

The sentiment was stamped in Merry Merlot ink, then clear embossed to help set the ink onto the vellum. I nice way to add a sentiment without it overpowering the design.

For more inspiration, continue along our fun blog hop. Next up is the fabulous Lauren Meiklejohn – you can see her project here.

Would you like to have a go at this week’s challenge? To join in, you can either directly CASE (Copy and Share Everything) or use a sketch/layout, colour combination or something similar, as inspiration for your own creation. Then simply take a photo of your project and upload it to the latest challenge album in the CASEing The Catty Challenge group on Facebook. Each challenge will end at 7pm (AEST) on Saturday before the next challenge is posted. We pick some winners each week, but most importantly it’s a fun way to get out of your creative comfort zone and try something new. 

---

Happy stamping, 

For our first CASEing the Catty challenge of the new annual catalogue, we turn to the back of the book for inspiration to pages 106-159. These pages cover the Artistic Expressions section and much more, and are jam-packed full of fabulous projects.

---

What’s CASE-ing The Catty? CASE stands for “Copy And Share Everything”. It means we use the ideas and inspiration from one project and apply them to another to create something altogether new. Each Sunday evening at 7pm AEST/8pm AEDT the CTC Crew kick off a new Challenge using the Stampin’ Up! catalogues as inspiration.

---

The one that caught my eye is on page 112 (see below). In particular, it was the colour combination that inspired my project. I just adore the Mint Macaron, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake combo, which absolutely suits this vintage style perfectly.

This is what I came up with:

It is actually an oversized card measuring 18cm x 11cm, and was made for a special friend who faced some tough medical challenges lately.

Somehow she always manages to stay upbeat, positive and hilariously funny. She never fails to teach me a thing or two about how to handle challenging situations with grace… and a generous dose of humour.

My fave stamp set, Free As a Bird, was perfect for this one.

Leaves were stamped on the Soft Suede layer in Crumb Cake ink and then coloured in with white pencils. I love the way it makes the leaves pop.

I used Foam Adhesives Strips to adhere the Soft Suede layer, and sponged the edges of the white foam with Crumb Cake ink so they would blend in with the rest of the card.

Does the doily look familiar?

It has actually been cut from the middle of a Bird Ballad Laser-cut Card! (Don’t worry, I used the rest of the card for another project which I’ll share soon).

Thanks so much for joining me this week! It’s great to be playing along with the rest of the CASEing the Catty design team this week.

Happy stamping,