Catherine Pooler | Celebrating Chinese New Year

I'm back with more inspiration for the Lunar New Year Challenge and, as I mentioned in my last post for the Challenge, I wanted to give a shoutout to all of our sponsors so today's focus is on Catherine Pooler Designs, who was our quarterly sponsor in both 2024 and 2025!

I made two very different cards using the same colour palette which was inspired by the artist Marina Zlochin. One card uses only Catherine Pooler inks and the other uses coloured cardstock I selected from my stash that perfectly matches those ink colours from the first card. All stamps and dies featured in these two cards are available from Catherine Pooler Designs.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

My first card features products from five different stamp and die sets, including a sentiment and lanterns from Lantern Festival (still my favourite Chinese New Year set of all-time), dumplings and chopsticks from Hey There Dumpling (running a close second because it's so adorable), flowers from Happy Horseshoes, orange slices from Greenery of the Season and a frame using the two largest dies from Dots & Scallops Dies.

I started by stamping all of the elements using Do-Si-Do, Samba, Rouge, Tutti Frutti, Clay Mask and Cashmere, which is now my new favourite Catherine Pooler ink colour! It's literally the most beautiful pale, neutral colour and plays nicely with everything else.

I cut a second frame from white cardstock and glued the matte gold foil layer on top. After positioning all the pieces, I set everything aside and gold heat embossed the sentiment directly on to the card base. Then I used a combination of liquid glue, glue dots and thin foam squares to secure the scene.

My second card is a clean and simple design using the Circle Landscape Die, one of my favourite stand-alone dies. You can see more inspiration using this die HERE. Other products featured on my card include the sentiment from the Round of New Year Dies and stars from Happy Horsehoses.

Since there's no stamping at all on this card, I went through my stash to find cardstock that perfectly matched the ink colours from the first card and these are Concord & 9th Sweet Pea, Hero Arts Coral, Spellbinders Pomegranate, Taylored Expressions Pumpkin, Spellbinders Coral, Spellbinders Chiffon and Concord & 9th Black.

The base panel was cut from Pomegranate cardstock and I cut the five pieces of the Circle Landscape Die from Chiffon, Sweet Pea, Hero Arts Coral, Pumpkin and Spellbinders Coral (top to bottom, respectively). The sentiment and stars were cut from Gold Glitter and I added a black shadow layer behind all the pieces which were then popped on the base panel with thin black foam squares.

Visit the January Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! You can find the Challenge Rules HERE. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

If you’re inspired, some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you again soon!

Supplies:

Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | May 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and since we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long, that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to My Favorite Things, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Catherine Pooler. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in May!

I haven't had a lot of time to craft these last few weeks but, luckily, I still had the leftovers from the February Challenge sitting in a pile on my desk. I had assembled several of Catherine Pooler's Circle Landscape dies using all the pieces I had die cut back then so this was relatively easy to throw together at the last minute.

The colours featured here are Cupcake, Cherry Pop, Mulled Wine, Matte Metallic Gold and Glitter Gold cardstock. The card base was cut from Mulled Wine to coordinate with the top and bottom pieces in the circle.

The Cupcake panel was cut with Taylored Expressions' Rays Pierce & Cut Plate. Before attaching the circle to the front panel, I die cut the Lucky Word Die from Black Glitter Foam and cut off the y. After gauging the position of the die cut word, I stamped two words from Lantern Festival to complete the sentiment.

I glued the Rays Pierce & Cut panel to the card base, then I attached the assembled Circle Landscape close to the top of the panel. After glueing the die cut Lucky Word to the circle, I die cut small hearts from the Hearts-n-Tags Dies in Cupcake, Cherry Pop, Mulled Wine. I stacked the hearts three high and glued them to the circle.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For the month of May, we are opening up the possibilities and invite you to make cards for Mother's Day, mother figures and other inspirational women in your life. If you're a Game of Thrones fan, think Mother of Dragons! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our May Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on May 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on May 31, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the June Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the May Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies:

Catherine Pooler | Summer Nights Collection | Clean & Simple Card Inspiration

If you haven't seen the new Catherine Pooler Summer Nights Collection, I hope you'll check it out! All new products are available for purchase and today's card combines products from the S'mores Please Bundle and Cosmic Extras Bundle with the previously released Circle Landscape Die.

In contrast to my first two cards for this release, I went with a clean and simple design here to show off the smaller Copic-coloured images from the Happy Camper Stamp Set, as well as the gorgeous Circle Landscape Die, which is a must-have! The sentiment is from the Round About Messages Stamp Set, which works so well with all circular designs such as Scenic View.

I ink blended the five background pieces with both original and large blending brushes from top to bottom using Apricot, Polished, Terracotta, Cove Blue, Spruce and Black Jack inks. The silver glitter circle was cut using the largest of the new Round About Dies which provides the perfect border for the Circle Landscape Die!

If you missed my last two posts for this new release, you can find them here:

So Glad To Call You Friend

Let's Spend S'more Time Together

I'll see you again tomorrow with more inspiration featuring the Summer Nights Collection. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

*NEW* Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | February 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back for its second month and I'm super excited to announce that we've partnered up with so many of your favourite craft companies all year long, which means there are now giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to My Favorite Things, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Catherine Pooler. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in February! 

Many of our design team received product from Catherine Pooler to create their inspiration projects for February. I've created many Chinese New Year cards with the Lantern Festival stamp set in the past so I was excited to take this fabulous set for another spin and come up with something new.

I love the Circle Landscape Die as a small scenic backdrop for so many things and decided to create multiple versions using three shades of red cardstock and gold glitter cardstock. Of the five variations, I chose this version with gold mountains.

I was finally able to get my hands on the Cotton Candy ink pad and I was instantly obsessed. I stamped the lanterns with it and used Rockin' Red to stamp the small flowers on top. I used Merlot ink to stamp the strings they are hanging from and this colour coordinates perfectly with the Mulled Wine cardstock from one of our future sponsors. ;)

Next, I cut a piece of patterned paper from the Parasols & Pagodas 6x6 Paper Pack and secured it to the card base. I gauged the position for the Circle Landscape before stamping the sentiment on a curve. The sentiment was created from two stamp sets, Give Thanks Sentiments and Round About Messages.

I secured the die cut pieces to the patterned paper panel using foam strips and liquid glue. To finish, I embellished the centres of the flowers using Gold Stickles on the tiniest flower and Gold Metallic Pearls  in two sizes on the remaining flowers. I hope you're inspired to play along this month!

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post below. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited. Our February Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on February 1, 2024 through 11:59pm EST on February 29, 2024. Yes, it's a leap year! Don't forget that the Year of the Dragon begins on February 10th! We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the March Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the February Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Catherine Pooler | Quint-Essentials Collection | Clean and Simple Cardmaking Inspiration

Today, I have more inspiration using Catherine Pooler's Quint-Essentials Collection which is now available for purchase. On this card, I'm featuring the Because Flowers Patterned Paper and Hey Word Dies.

To create the background, I used the Circle Landscape Die on three sheets of Because Flowers Patterned Paper and glued the pieces to a smaller circle but from the Round About Dies. I attached the finished piece to a vellum circle cut with the largest of the Round About Dies.

To create the sentiment, I cut the Hey Word Dies from premium white cardstock, vellum and gold glitter cardstock. I cut one vellum layer and one premium cardstock layer using the backer die. Then I cut one gold glitter layer and three premium cardstock layers using the thin scripted die. I used liquid glue to secure all six layers in the following order: gold glitter script, premium white script, vellum backer, premium white script, premium white script and premium white backer. This creates the perfect amount of dimension and support between the layers without having to use foam tape.

To add a bit more detail to the card base, I scored two lines on the folding edge of the card. It's rare that I make a card without any stamping but this sentiment and the pretty papers make a great hello/friendship card. I hope you enjoyed all of my inspiration for the Quint-Essentials Collection and NEW Apothecary Inks.

If you missed my other four posts for this new release, you can find them here:

You Make My World Nicer

Hey, What's New?

Today's Going To Be Great

A Little Note

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sources: 

Catherine Pooler | Quint-Essentials Collection | Shop NOW

Today, I have more inspiration using Catherine Pooler's Quint-Essentials Collection and NEW Apothecary Inks which are now available for purchase. On this card, I combined products from the Because Trees stamp set with three of the new inks - Lilac, Crushed Violet and Matcha.

To create the background, I used the Circle Landscape Die on premium cardstock, then used blending brushes and a stencil mat to colour each of the sections. The colours, from top-down, are Lilac, Over Coffee with Icing on the Cake, Crushed Violet, Sage and Matcha.

I splattered gold paint on the mountain section and taped all the pieces together, then attached it to a gold glitter circle cut using the largest of the Round About Dies. I stamped the tree from Because Trees using Spruce ink, then ombre-stamped the squirrel using Twilight and Black Jack and the bird in Clay Mask ink. Both the animals are from the Warm My Heart stamp set.

After assembling the three small images on the background with foam tape, I positioned the circle on the 4" x 5.25" panel to gauge the stamp position before stamping the sentiment from Round About Messages using Icing on the Cake ink.

If you missed my other three posts for this new release, you can find them here:

Hey, What's New?

Today's Going To Be Great

A Little Note

I'll see you again tomorrow with more inspiration featuring the Quint-Essentials Collection and NEW Apothecary Inks. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sources: