CASE for Elebration!

Hello friends, it's been a while I know!


     I have been crafting, crafting, crafting in preparation for my inspiration station at the next quarterly training in Bicester, which is now less than three weeks away! (Want to come? Ask me how!) Because I am working mainly on things for this, unfortunately I can't show them until after the event in case there are some other Pink Ladies or Lads visiting my blog! I would really hate to ruin the surprise! Be sure to check back after the 15th of July to see all my pretties.


     In addition to crafting, the past 11 days I have been concentrating on getting back in shape after baking lots of cinnamon rolls and food for the gods at Christmas time, and eating too many potatoes and ice cream lollies whilst on vacation in April! Once upon a time I lost 6 stone or so, but have been making excuses as to why I "can't" work out for over six months! Needless to say I won't bore you with my exercise regimes on this blog, but I will tell you I've spent a bunch of time concentrating on changing the way I do things and losing some inches, and so have neglected blogging. Sorry for that! Hopefully I'm back on track now, but trying to keep losing inches at the same time.


     In between the various items I have created for my inspiration station, I had to occasionally take a break from trying to spawn a brainchild and just do something easy. I had to CASE something. In the Stampin' Up! world, as some of you may already know, CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything, or just Copy And SharE if you prefer. For this particular item, I flipped through my trusty Idea Book & Catalogue and found something cute I wanted to copy.


     When copying things, sometimes you may not have exactly what is shown in the picture. I myself have not got around to purchasing things like certain packs of DSP, as I'm still working on the loads I already have and try not to go overboard on pretty paper. There is an easy solution to this, just work with what you do have! I didn't have the particular colour used in this card, so I found a colour I liked that I did have and went with that. And you know what? I actually like my version better than the original!

     This is the original that I found on the A La Carte page in the IB&C. There are a number of things I don't have for this: That particular "happy birthday" stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes (don't worry, it's on my not-so-teeny-tiny wish list), Subtles Patterns DSP, or Subtles Brads. Eh, well, we can't have everything! That's what the world tells us, anyway!

    And some things I just didn't want to use. That's the beauty of this. You get to do it your way. Don't like something? Don't do/use it! I didn't want to cut into a whole sheet of 12x12" textured Pumpkin Pie cardstock just for a little scallop accent, I wanted to use some scraps instead. That scrap basket is continuously filling out and sometimes I just need to do my best to cut it down and stop it from bulging so fast! So I did.

     Ok so their lighting is better, they've set the scene, and had a professional photographer take the photo. In no way do I claim to be a photographer, I just do my best to get the stuff I'm photographing in some light without a silhouette of me and my camera casting a shadow across the thing.

     Anyway, I hope you like it, because I really do! I think I've made it a little more girly, with the pinks and purples and the Tempting Turquoise background. Plus I'm a huge fan of my watercolouring skills here as I'm still rather new at watercolouring and not everything I've tried has looked good. On this card, I think my little elephant looks just perfect! The balloon looks perfect, the bow is great, I love it.

I used: Elebration and For My Family stamps, Scallop Trim Border punch, Brights Brads, Linen Thread, Textured Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Certainly Celery and Regal Rose cardstock, Getting Started Collection Patterns DSP, Basic Gray ink, Watercolour pencils, and and Aqua Painter.

     I tell you what, I love those watercolour pencils! They are just so much fun! My little boy did his own elephent while I was doing mine, I shall show you once he's glued it all together to finish his card! He did such a fantastic job, I showed him the basic concept and away he went! He loves doing these things as it's a great way to spend time with his mommy. Awwwww! He owes it to me, really, do you know how many alien and superhero games I've played over the years? (Rhetorical question, of course!)

     So there you have it, my version of this cute birthday card! And the fact that I have been able to get this blog post done is a cause for celebration! Notice the pun in the title? Did ya? Did ya? Huh? Yes, I do think I'm funny. Just ask my husband.

Until next time folks, and hopefully that time will be in the very near future, Happy Crafting!

If you're just itching to try some crafting out yourself, give me a shout! It's much easier than it looks! And what you don't know how to do, you can easily learn! Go on... try it! :)