AWH HOC Week 14

Hi!

 Hello, and welcome to the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Share by the Art With Heart Team. This week I was a little time poor for a few reasons, so I decided to CASE myself, using a class card kit that I had spare. As my good friend Rachel says, sometimes you need to work smarter, not harder!

I only made two small changes to the front of the card - on the original I stacked the 'merry' by cutting three in Whisper White and one in Solver foil, and then gluing them together in a stack before gluing them to my card. For today's card, I only used the Silver Foil 'merry'.

 

The second change was to use my Silvery Shimmer Delicata ink to stamp the tin stars on the card base - on my original I used Coastal Cabana to match the cardstock. 

My final change, on the inside, was also a small one. I stamped some of the small stars again in the Delicata ink underneath the red and white star.

This week the lovely Sharon Davern is hosting the Heart Of Christmas, so please pop on over to her blog, where you can find the rest of this week's links.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #255: Night Before Christmas DSP

Hi!

Welcome once again to the newest CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I'm just back from Sydney, where I joined my Stampin' Up! Demo friends for a day of fun, stamping and training and two new catalogues! I have so much news to share, but for now it's on with the Blog Hop! Have you come here from Siobhan's blog, or are you starting here? Either way, just keep going until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing the Night Before Christmas DSP, and a layout from page 24 of the Holiday Catalogue. My eye was immediately caught by this silhouette card:

Isn't it gorgeous? I loved the sponged background and the silhouette of Santa and his sleigh, dashing across the snowy sky.

I started my background by brayering a layer of Balmy Blue ink on Whisper White cardstock. I then used my Sponge Dauber to add a layer of Pretty Peacock ink. I've found that the darker ink blends better when it's applied over a lighter ink, verses directly to the cardstock. I finished the background by splattering both water and some Frost White Shimmer Paint over the sponged areas. Hopefully it looks like a snowy sky! The ground was just hand cut from a piece of Glimmer Paper

I heat embossed the sentiment from So Many Stars in Silver Embossing Powder on a piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock. I wanted the banner to be there, but not glaring, which is why I chose Pretty Peacock card rather than something that would stand out more. I finished it off with a Whisper White twine bow and a small piece of Glimmer Paper peeking out from underneath.

I used the offcut of Glimmer Paper from the front of the card to create another snowy hill on the inside. I brayered more Pretty Peacock ink onto a scrap of Whisper White card, and then splattered it with water before punching with the Pine Tree punch. A little brayered Balmy Blue ink along the bottom, and the inside was done!

After the hop, you can join in the fun in our Facebook group, where you can add your card to the group for this week's challenge. Can't wait to see you there!

It's time now to hop on over to the next stop in the hop, the very lovely Monique!

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 13

Hi!

I can't believe how quickly Wednesday has rolled around again! I'm very time poor this week, but I still wanted to play along with the Art With Heart team's Heart Of Christmas Blog Share. My card was quick to throw together, using all sorts of bit and pieces I found on my craft desk!

I started with the Stitched Rectangles, which were left over from this Elfie card I made recently. I cut some Night Before Christmas DSP to fit inside each rectangle, and then popped the shapes up on Dimensionals.

The 'Merry' was cropped from Red Foil, but in hindsight I probably should have forgone the foil and cut it from something darker. It doesn't stand out as much as I'd like, but it's glued down now!

I had a strip of the biscuit DSP left over from a different card, so I put it to use on the inside of the card. Done!

This week the blog share is hosted by my wonderful friend, Judy May. I'm very much looking forward to seeing her, and my other demo friends, in Sydney this weekend for Stampin' Up!'s OnStage event. Keep an eye out early next week for all the news!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #254: CASE A Layout

Hi!

The end of another weekend is sad, but also happy, as it means it's time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Have you arrived here from Peta's blog, or are you just starting here? Either way, you can see all of this week's Design Team cards by hopping around until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing a layout from page 22 of the Holiday Catalogue. I took one look at the page and decided I'd CASE the page layout itself!

I started by using my Stitched Rectangle Dies to cut my window openings. I couldn't get it to work with three different sized rectangles, so I ended up making the two smaller windows the same size. The images from Elfie fit the openings well, so it was an easy choice to use them.

After stamping them in the appropriate place, I coloured the images with my Blends. I used Call Me Clover, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake and Ivory. I also used some Glimmer Crystal effects on the trims of the elf hats and jackets. I decided to make the Santa's Workshop window a shaker element. I had a scrap of Window Sheet that fit perfectly, so it was a very serendipitous decision!

I finished off the inside with another of the elves - he's so cute peeping out from the stocking!

You can enter our challenges every week by uploading a photo of your card to our Facebook group. No blog or fancy editing required!

Time to be on your way to the next blog in our hop, which belongs to the lovely Siobhan.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #482: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Woo hoo, once again it's Friday and time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This fortnight Jackie has designed a cute sketch for us to work with. Notice I said fortnight, and not week? Not a typo - this challenge will run for two weeks, as most of the Design Team will be off to attend Stampin' Up!'s OnStage event next weekend. I'll be heading off to Sydney, and I can't wait!

How fun is that sketch? I really love the little sentiment layers at the side of the tag. I felt like doing a spot of watercolouring, so I pulled out my Crafting Forever stamp set.

I stamped the pot of brushes onto some watercolour paper using Sahara Sand ink, which I stamped off first. I'm really getting into the no line watercolouring technique lately. It's kind of nice not to have the dark black Stazon outline sometimes.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm not patient enough to let each section dry fully. That, and the fact that I made this card at the last minute and had to rush - watercolouring is not something that you can rush! Still, I was mostly pleased with my efforts this time. It's hard to tell in the photograph, but I used my Silvery Shimmer Delicata ink to colour the metal parts of the brushes. It gives a really nice shimmer! I simply tapped the pad onto my Silicone Sheet, and then used my Aqua Painter to pick up the ink from there. Too easy!

LOL, as I said earlier, I was very short on time today, so the inside of my card just got one stamp. The 'For You' on the front makes this quite a generic card, so I can either leave it blank, or stamp an appropriate inside sentiment when I know what this card will be used for.

Thanks for stopping by. Now it's time to pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the rest of this week's Design Team cards. Don't forget that you have two weeks in which to get your card into our challenge gallery for this sketch challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 12

Hi!

Welcome to another week of the Art With Heart team's Heart Of Christmas Blog Shares, as we inch ever closer to Christmas. My kids started writing their Christmas Wish Lists yesterday - I don't know if they are starting early or late! Probably late by most kid's standards. LOL!

For tonight's card I decided to use a non-Christmas set to create my background. Have you noticed Swirly Frames in the Annual Catalogue? It's got a heap of fun circles, squares, rectangles and lines in a hand drawn style. Great for framing other images, or just stamping randomly for a background, as I have done. I used Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler inks, both full strength and stamped off.

Once again I reached for my trusty Pine Tree punch for a focal point for my card. I think I lined up the stars in the Night Before Christmas DSP quite well in the punched shape! The star on the top of the tree is simply one of the Copper Star Elements from the Holiday Catalogue, coloured with my Dark Cherry Cobbler Blend.

I punched a second tree for the inside, with some Real Red Glimmer Paper for the star - the copper stars are a little too bulky for the inside of a card.

Time for you to head on over to Claire's Blog, where you can find the rest of this week's heart Of Christmas links. I think we only have four more weeks to go after this one!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #253: Come To Gather Suite

Hi!

Hello, and welcome back to a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Did you come here from Rebecca's blog, or start here? It doesn't matter, just keep going until you get back to where you started!

This week we are CASEing a card from the Come To Gather Suite, from the Holiday Catalogue. You can choose any project from pages 46 to 51 to CASE. I couldn't go past this cute little birdie card from page 50. Aren't those birds so adorable?

I don't actually have the Birds Of A Feather stamp set, so I had to improvise, which is certainly the name of the game when CASEing!

I started by stamping the base of my Coastal Cabana card with the little star cluster from So Many Stars. The stars were cut from the coordinating Stitched Stars dies using Real Red and Whisper White card, with Silver Foil. The word 'merry' was cut four times - three Whisper White and one Silver Foil - and then stacked, with the Foil layer on top.

Hopefully you can see that the Coastal Cabana layer that they all sit on was embossed with the Subtle folder. It's a fabulous folder for adding just a little bit of extra oomph to a card.

The inside was finished with another layered star and a sentiment from Greatest Part Of Christmas.

As always, you can join in the fun over in the CASEing The Catty Facebook Group. It's always great seeing how other people interpret different cards.

Before you go, don't forget to finish the Hop! Next up is the lovely Julia.

Bye for now,

Tina