CTC #222: Sale-A-Bration

Hi!

Time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. You may have come to my blog from my friend  Judy May, or you may be starting here. Doesn't matter - just keep hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue for the last time. Sniff! SAB ends today, so I hope you got lots of lovely freebies from the promotion. I sure did!

This week my inspiration came from the front cover of the catalogue - to be more specific, the background photo on the first release catalogue. I love the unfocussed shot of balloons, and after looking at the card bases in the Incredible Like You kit, I realised that one of the bases had a similar look. It's the card that you'd usually put the citrus laser cut paper over.

Instead of popping the laser cut paper over the top, I cropped a piece of vellum with my Rectangle Stitched Framelits and adhered that over the top. It softened the colourful circles and made them look more like the cover.

The layering on the front was made using the bits from the kit that would normally go with this card. As I have done on other cards recently, I also used a wooden butterfly, but I went over the top of it with my Silver Sharpie. It was then glued over the top of the silver edged circle label that came with the kit. The bottom piece was cropped from some Grapefruit Grove Cardstock with my Everyday Label punch, to which I added a strip of Silver foil top and bottom.

While I had the Silver Foil handy, I cropped some small butterflies using my Butterfly Duet Punch. I love the way they look fluttering around the inside sentiment.

That's it fr me for this week. Don't forget to join our Facebook group so that you can participate in the challenges each week. We'd love to have you!

For now though, don't forget to finish the Blog Hop. Next is the lovely Sandra Collett.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #450: Just Add Babies

Hi!

Hello and welcome to the new week's challenge at Just Add Ink! This week Rochelle has challenged us to Just Add Babies to our cards. Sadly, my baby days are long gone, but I do enjoy making a sweet baby card every now and then.

I actually made this card a couple of months ago for a card class, but as we get the JAI schedule several months ahead, I was able to save it to use for this week. As my friend Rachel says - work smarter, not harder!

I didn't usually buy the baby DSP in the catalogue, but I'm a bit of a sucker for stars, and this paper has the cutest star papers. I love this soft pastel version, perfect for a baby card.

I've had the elephant punch since it was released, but hadn't used it yet. This challenge was the perfect time to add a cute elephant to my card. I've used Night Of Navy and  Soft Sea Foam, as they coordinate with the colours in the Twinkle Twinkle DSp. I thought the green made it a neutral card, but my class ladies thought it was more a boy card. What do you think?

I used the smaller elephant on the front, so the large elephant was left for the inside. The eyes were drawn on with a Night Of Navy marker. I think the punch comes with a circle section for the eyes, but I find it easier to draw them on than fiddle with something so tiny!

How will you add Babies to your card? I can't wait to see! You can link your card over at the Just Add Ink, where you'll also find the rest of the Design Team cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH BLog Hop: Easter

Hi!

Tonight the Art With Heart team are sharing creative projects with an Easter theme. Do you make Easter cards or gifts? I usually don't, but I decided to join in the Blog Hop anyway!

Don’t forget, Sale-A-Bration ends on March 31st! There is still time to earn free product with purchase or even join our Stampin’ Up! team. Ask any of the girls on the hop for more details.

I was a bit short for time this week, so I turned to a kit for inspiration. The Incredible Like You kit turned out to be fabulous for this hop. I chose the wreath card, but ended up chopping it up and making two cards. So much for time poor!

This card uses the front of the kit card with the Granny Apple Green Glimmer paper peeking out from behind the wreath laser cut piece. Under that is part of the kit card base, cropped with the largest Rectangle Stitched Die. I originally cropped the front of the card, not realising that the back go the card was also printed. The front has a subtle wash effect and I didn't want to cover it with the wreath, so I ended up cropping the back and using it instead.

The word Easter was stamped using the Brushwork Alphabet stamp set, as I don't have any current stamp sets with an easter sentiment. I layered the Story Label Punch over a flower and foliage from the Painted Seasons Stamp set. You may notice there are two flowers, but I said 'a flower'. That's because I snipped one in half, as I'd already cleaned and put away the stamp before I realised I wanted a second flower for the front. A quick snip and it was problem solved!

I don't have Easter suitable inside sentiments, so I left the inside of this card blank, apart from some more Painted Seasons leaves and a flower.

So now I had one finished card and a cropped Rectangle Stitched panel, so I decided t make a second Easter card, using the other pieces of the kit card that I didn't use on the first card.

I wanted to keep the front of this card a bit more simple so that you can see the wash effect on the Granny Apple Green piece. It's subtle, but very nice! This time I used my Labeler Alphabet stamp set to make the front sentiment. The label, Twine and Grapefruit Grove striped circle were all parts from the kit, I just added a few Wooden Elements Butterflies.

The label has a silver border, so I decided to make the butterflies silver too. I simply took a silver Sharpie and coloured the wood. Done! It's a matte silver, but it looks really nice in real life.

I'll probably send this card to my mum, so I added the 'with love' to the inside. Now I just have to remember to send it!

Well, that's it from me, now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented, Vicki Boucher.

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

Catherine Proctor 
Caroline Manwaring 
Sue Madex
Kate Morgan
Ros Davidson
Kathryn Mangelsdorf
Rachel Palmieri
Rebecca Jacovou
Judy May
Rachel Woollard 
Christina Barnes
Tina Gillespie 
Vicki Boucher 

Bye for now,

Tina

A Roaring Good Time With Pumpkin Pie

Hi!

Wowee, the Art With Heart team are ripping though the colours in the Stampin' Up! range. We are up to Pumpkin Pie this week. When deciding what to make I reached for my Brights cardstock tub, but I didn't find Pumpkin Pie. Oops! I forgot that in the last Colour Refresh, Pumpkin Pie was moved to the Regals.

I have a great nephew turning two in a couple of weeks, and so this was a great opportunity to make a fun card for him. I was originally thinking a lion, but they are yellow, not orange! Tiger it was, then! I did a google search for tigers made using the fox builder punch and found a few. The one I followed was just marked as 'Alana'. How cute is he?

He was a little fiddly to make, but soooo worth the effort. I made his stripes by stamping just the ear part of one of the heads in the Foxy Friends stamp set. I repeated this for the 2, which I think looks super cute!

I had the foresight to make a second tiger at the same time as the first. Usually I only make one and then wish for a second one for the inside but can't be bothered as they are so fiddly. I got smart this time! You may notice that his tail is on the other side - that was a bit of an oops moment that worked out nicely.

Why not pop on over to Catherine's blog, where you can find the links for the rest of this week's Pumpkin Pie cards? They're gonna be great!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #221: Needlepoint Nook

Hi!

Hooray for Sunday and the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Not so much hooray for the end of the weekend, but you can't have it all. At least it's going out in style LOL.

The blog before mine was the wonderful Julia Quinn, if you started here, there, or anywhere - it doesn't matter, just keep hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing projects from the Needlepoint Nook section of the Occasions Catalogue. Would you believe that, despite me enjoying a bit of sewing and needlecraft, I don't own anything from this suite of products? I wish I could have it all! For today's card it just meant that I had to be a little bit inventive.

The inspiration for my card ended up being the word 'friend' on the Berry Burst card to the right in the photo. I like how it was stamped and fussy cut closely around the word. It seems to be a bit of a trendy look in the paper crafting world at the moment. And look, I managed to scrounge up a small piece of DSP out of a Make & Take pack from Orlando.

I wanted to make a thank you card for a new friend who helped me a lot when I recently tried my hand at quilting. Sandra was one of my Orlando housemates and she is a very experienced quilter, only too happy to share her knowledge and experience as I made my first. The DSP was't anywhere big enough to cover the front of the card, so I had to get a little bit fancy. Then I realised it sort of looked like a patchworked piece, and that made me happy! The gingham is from the Gingham Gala DSP pack.

I don't have the stamp set from the Needlepoint Nook suite, so I used a Well Written framelit instead. I adhered a piece of a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet to the back of a scrap of Berry Burst and then sent it through the Big Shot. The adhesive sheets are awesome for these small die cuts! I then peeled off the backing, adhered the word to a scrap of Whisper White and got to work with my snips. I was so happy with how it turned out.

I had one tiny scrap of the Needlepoint Nook DSP left, but it wasn't wide enough for a standard inside. Gingham Gala to the rescue again!

What catches your eye in the Needlepoint Nook section of the Occasions Catalogue? I can't wait to see your card in the CASEing The Catty facebook group.

Before you head on over there, don't forget to finish the hop! Next up is the lovely Kelly Kent. She's bound to blow you away with her creativity.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #449: Just Add Colour

Hi!

Yay, it's Friday! Time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Jo has given us a bright colour combo to inspire our creativity.

As much as I love these colours, I was quite stumped for inspiration for a long time. It got to the point where I asked Rob for advice, and his words were 'it must be bad if you're asking me what to do'! In the end I went back to my basic rule for colour combos: If in doubt, use lots of white. Hooray - it worked!

I pulled out my Birthday Cheer bundle to make a cupcake card, although when I showed Rob the finished card he thought they were ice creams. It doesn't really matter I guess - either one works! I started by cutting the cupcake edgelit and then trimming each cake around the bottom to liberate it. I then used the single cupcake die to cut a section for the wrapper and then a whole cake to layer for the icing. I also cut extra pieces from the edgelit die so that I could pop in the heart and the cherry.

Each cake was popped up on Dimensionals and then I ran my Wink Of Stella brush over the wrappers, cherry and heart to give them some subtle glimmer. It's hard to see in the photo! You can see around the edges of the rectangle that I cropped the main panel from the piece behind it, and then matted it with some Lovely Lipstick cardstock before popping it up. I don't mind that the second stitched line is partly visible - it's just another feature.

I ran out of energy to die cut and piece another cupcake for the inside, so I pulled out my Blends instead. I did have to use Highland Heather instead of Gorgeous Grape, but I don't think it matters too much, the cake still looks yummy!

That's it for me, as always you can find the rest of the Design Team's cards over at the Just Add Ink blog. You can also link up your card for this week's colour challenge. It's a fun one!

Bye for now,

Tina

Powered Up Powder Pink

Hi!

Gee whizz, another week has flown around again! Where are they going? This week for Colour Creations we are making cards using Powder Pink. I'm really not a pale pink fan, so I found this week's card a little difficult to start. I needed to make a second giant Thank You card (you can see the first one here), and so I pulled out my Garden Impressions DSP, which has a multitude of pinks.

The lady I am making this card for is quite girly, so I thought this paper would be perfect for her. She has been running our support group for families of special needs kids while our regular coordinator has been on leave. One term ended up being one year and one term! We will miss her when she goes.

How cute are these little birdies?  They are from the Well Written Thinlits set, and the answer is 'super cute'! Once again, I ran my Wink Of Stella pen over the die cut Thank You and the birdies for a bit of extra bling.

As before, I added writing panels to both sides of the insides, as many people need to sign the card. It's a big one - nearly 6 inches square.

The Powder Pink ruffle ribbon adds that final, girly touch to the card, don't you think?

As always, Catherine's blog is where all the rest of the Colour Creations magic is happening this week. Why not pop on over?

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #220: Sale-A-Bration

Hi!

It's time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I do love these hops, there's so much inspiration and talent in the CTC Crew and I feel so fortunate to be part of the team. My friend Kelly was the blog before mine, but just keep hop, hop, hoping until you get back to where you started!

This week we are back to CASEing the Sale-A-Bration catalogues, and there are two to choose from. I'm a bit battered and bruised this week - I had a fall on Friday night and scraped a lot of skin off my hand, elbow and knees. I'm ok, just feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself. I had promised to make a card for a lady that was retiring, so I decided to go a bit easy on myself and do a fairly direct CASE.

I chose the Highland Heather card on the front of the first catalogue, but changed it to a square card, as a lot of people need to sign it. The finished card is nearly 6" square.

You can see straight away that I kept many of the same elements. I switched from flowers to butterflies, as I had a punch for the butterflies and I didn't need to colour them.

It's hard to see on the photo, but I went over the Thank You die cut with my Wink Of Stella pen for a bit of added glimmer. It's so pretty in real life. The lady this card is for ran the support group I attend that's for parents of special needs kids. She's had to step down for personal reasons and will be very much missed. I was quick to volunteer to make a card for her, as it's so much more personal than a shop bought one.

There's a dozen or so of us in the group that want to sign, so I had to supersize the card. To add to the space to write on, I adhered a writing panel to both sides of the inside of the card. The floral DSP is so pretty, so I used strips to decorate the panels.

Isn't this the perfect sentiment for someone who has supported the group through both good and bad times? She really is the best.

That's it for me, don't forget to add your CTC card to our Facebook group. In the meantime though, you're off to see the gorgeous card that Lauren has made.

Bye for now,

Tina