Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge: A CASE Study!

It is the last Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge of 2012 and this is definitely my favorite of the whole year! Here is this month's challenge:

Inpsiration is all around us.  Many of us learned to stamp by CASEing other stampers we admired.  (CASE = Copy and Share Everything)  We want everyone to know that, not only is CASEing perfectly OK, it's actually pretty flattering and a lot of fun!  And it can be especially helpful in the midst of the busy holiday season when it's hard to think straight!  So take some inspiration from your fellow Baker's Dozen Teammates, and show us how you can turn any great inspiration into a fabulous holiday card!

I have had the pleasure and honor of designing alongside some incredibly talented women over the past few years. This is my last month with the Baker's Dozen and I was both thrilled and nervous about having to CASE one of my fellow designers...in this case, the incredible 

Melody Rupple!

Here is the card of hers that I used for inspiration:

As you can see, I made a very different card! I knew that I could not begin to do Melody's style justice. Her cards are so elegant and rich. However, that doesn't mean that I can't be absolutely inspired by her projects by "recreating" them in my own style, but taking many of her elements with me. I began with the basics of Melody's gorgeous card (details can be found HERE) and used the card's design as a jumping off point, CASE-ing the scallops, the layout, and the overall sketch.

One of the things that always makes a card a "Melody" special are the little details. You'll notice the amazing attention she gives to the dress forms in her card. I gave my little reindeer a red jeweled nose -- and turned him into an ice-sking Rudolph!

Instead of the the cool button on Melody's card, I used a Snowflake die to create this sparkly embellishment.

For the presents, just a bit of glitter and some baker's twine transformed them into textured, detailed, packages! Now, I did NOT take a photo of the stitching I added to my card. It's one of Melody's signature design elements and she is a pro. Mine is a little bit of a mess -- in fact, my son wandered into my craft space while I was wrestling with my rarely used sewing machine to say: "Mama, you said a BAD word!"

Don't feel shy when CASE-ing someone else's project to change elements to suit your needs. Without Melody's inspiring attention to details, my card would have been cute, but BLAH. With them, I hope I created something worthy of Melody's wonderful abilities!

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: Woodland Winter (Taylored Expressions); Patterned Paper: Dots & Stripes (Echo Park), Gnome Sweet Gnome (My Mind's Eye); Coloring Medium: Sketch Markers (Copic): Dies: Make a Snowflake (Taylored Expressions), Classic Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Accents: Diamond Stickles (Ranger), red jewel (generic); Red Liquid Pearls (Ranger); Fibers: twill ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

Be sure to check out the rest of the Baker's Dozen for more CASE studies!

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess