CTC 349: CASE The Mini Catalogue

 Hi!

Woah, it's time for the final CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop for the year. I'm still in disbelief that Christmas and the New Year are right around the corner!

This week we are asking you to CASE any project from the current Mini Catalogue. One last hurrah, as it will be retired by the time we start up our challenges in 2022.

I chose this Penguin Place cutie card, as I am well and truly finished with Christmas cards - I wanted to make anything but a Christmas card!

One of my pre-order purchases from the upcoming Mini Catalogue is this new Supple Shimmer paper. There's one sheet of this blue and another of pink. It's a sort or iridescent blue, which I thought worked well as a sky behind the penguin. What do you think?

It's very shimmery at the right angle! I otherwise mostly kept the card the same. I popped the sentiment at the bottom of the card so that I have the option to add a number to the balloon at a later date.

I used the offcut Shimmer paper as a border on the inside of my card. Another cute little penguin with his balloon finishes off the inside. 

To join in with us for our Challenge, all you need to do is upload a photo of your card into our Facebook group. We can't wait to see you play along with us.

I'm the last stop on our BLog Hop tonight, if you started in the FB group. If you started somewhere in the middle, keep on hopping until you get back to where you started. Our first hopper tonight was Sandra, who has made a very sweet Christmas card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Misty Moonlight

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the last Colour Creations Blog Hop of 2021. Don't worry, though! We'll be back in 2022 for the rest of the colours, starting with Mossy Meadow. For tonight, we are all about Misty Moonlight. It's a gorgeous, dusky blue that is an In Colour, sadly due to retire at the end of the current Annual Catalogue. It's definitely one I will miss!

Today's card features a product from the upcoming Mini Catalogue - Butterflies & Flowers Layering Masks. It's a fabulous set of 6 masks that can be used individually, as I have done in this card, or as the name suggests, by layering to create an image. This was my first play, but I can't wait to have more time to play with the layering elements. I used my Blending brush with this floral mask, applying more ink on the two corners and fading it out as I moved towards the inner areas. I had intended to leave them blank, but at the last minute I quickly ran my brush lightly over the inner part. I like that effect much better!

I cropped my butterfly in three layers, using my Brilliant Wings Dies. There's a Silver Foil layer on top, with Whisper White underneath and Misty Moonlight on the bottom.

I used the same mask to add a bit of colour to the bottom of my card. A quick tip - I'd suggest cleaning it in-between uses. The top butterfly became a necessary addition, as I smudged some ink left on the mask onto my card. Rookie mistake!!

Please continue your way around our Misty Moonlight blog hop tonight by jumping over to my lovely South Aussie friend, Dianne Furniss. I can't wait to see what she's made.

Another lovely friend, Catherine Proctor, is our host for tonight. If you run into any problems with links, just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 348: CASE The Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks again for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This is our second last challenge for the yer before we take a short break over the Christmas/New Year period. It's a busy time of year, but I hope that you can find the time to join us.

This week we have chosen this card, from page 47 of the Mini Catalogue, to CASE. Here's a simplified version so that you can have a better look at the elements of the card.

I quite like the diagonal panel, and contemplated doing that clever technique where you make two cuts in a 6x6 piece of DSP and get enough of those panels for four cards. I can't think of the name - can you? In the end, though, I had a busy weekend and only had time to make one card.

Are you the same as me and hoard the pretty paper while it's current and then don't use it until it's retired? Sigh. The Be Dazzling paper was like this for me!! I cut a 3 1/2" x 6" piece and then glued it to the Pattern Party Host DSP on the core angle. When dry, I just trimmed away the excess from the back. I used my Dressed To Impress Bundle to decorate the front.

The dazzling paper is delightfully sparkly, don't you think? The perfect match for the Dressed To Impress stamps!

I couldn't resist adding another strip of the Be Dazzling paper to the inside of the card - there can never be too much bling!

To join in with our challenge, all you need to do is join our Facebook group and post a photo of your card in the group before the Sunday evening deadline. It's that easy! We'd love to see what you make each week.

Next up is my lovely friend, Sandra Collett. She's made a gorgeous card, with a very fancy tilted panel!!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 584: Just Add A Christmas Gift Tag

 Hi!

Thanks for again joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. As we inch ever closer to Christmas, we have decided to challenge you to make a Christmas gift card holder or tag - we all need plenty of those right now!

Every year I like to send a huge box of chocolates to my youngest son's school as a thanks for all their hard work. It's a very small special school, so they certainly work very hard with the kids all year. I decided to make an extra-large tag to attach to the chocolates.

I started with a piece of In Good Taste DSP, which I cropped to 2 1/2 by 6 inches. I then used snips to shape the top and bottom edges into a more tag-like shape. Some Glittered Organdy ribbon was stapled to the top.

The Star Wreath Die is from Uniquely Creative, and was used to cut some Green Foil. I layered it under some of the Be Dazzling SAB paper and the retired Joy Dies and Red Foil to finish it off. It's very sparkly!!

Please jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team gift tags and gift card holders. You can also link up your project in our challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mint Macaron

Hi! 

Thanks for once again joining me for a new Colour Creations Blog Hop. It's the second last hop for 2021, but definitely not the last in the series, as there are lots more colours to come. We are just taking a little, well-deserved, break over Christmas and will be back in the new year.

This week we are looking at Mint Macaron, one of my all time favourite Stampin' Up! colours. Originally an In Colour, I may have squealed a little bit when I found out it was returning to the colour line up in a Colour Refresh.

Coincidentally, I also used the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set for last year's Mint Macaron card. It wasn't a conscious choice again this year, more that it was the best stamp set I had for the look I wanted to achieve. The large sunflower was stamped in Stazon ink on Shimmery White cardstock and then I used a Water Painter to colour the negative space with Mint Macaron ink. I added two layers on ink to ensure that the darker tones were close to the petals, and the colour faded away as it stretched further out from the bloom. I was quite pleased with the effect.

To finish the card I added a strip each of Basic Black and Mint Macaron cardstock underneath the sentiment layer. I definitely wanted the focus on the gorgeous flower.

The sunflower was stamped again, this time in stamped-off Mint Macaron ink, on the inside. I probably included too much of the flower, especially as it's a smaller, 4" square card, but I couldn't resist!

Next up in tonight's Hop is my gifted friend, Andrea Sargent. You definitely won't want to miss her card!

Tonight's Hop is hosted by Christine Blain. Please pop on over to her blog if you tun into any problems with links on the Hop. He'll have a list of all tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 347: CASE A Mini Catalogue Bundle

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome back to my blog for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Do you enjoy CASEing projects from the catalogues? Then we are the Challenge for you!

This week we are asking you to CASE your favourite Mini Catalogue Bundle. Hmm, that's tricky to narrow down!! I ended up choosing this card, made with the Sweet Stockings bundle.

Somehow, my card ended up looking nothing like the original!!

I had big plans to stamp three of the cocktails from Nothing's Better Than on the largest of the tags, but they didn't quite fit. I decided to go with one cocktail on each of the second largest tags - which are from the Tailor Made Tags Dies.

I used Polished Pink as my feature colour. The word 'Cocktails' was cropped from a piece of PP card with some Foam Adhesive Sheet attached to the back for a lovely bit of dimension for the card. The DSP is from the Expressions In Ink pack.

I couldn't resist adding another pink cocktail to the inside, with a sentiment from Sweet Ice Cream.

That's all from me for tonight. We'd love to know which bundle from the Mini Catalogue is your favourite. Just CASE a card made using it and post a photo in our Facebook group before next Sunday evening. It's that easy!

Before you go, though, please do finish our Blog Hop. The next stop along with way is my good friend, Judy May. You won't want to miss her gorgeous card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 583: Just Add A Sketch

Hi! 

Hooray for Friday! It's been a long week in my household, as Hudson has been home sick with a cold. During the week Alex also got sick, so I'm pretty much expecting that all of us will come down with the bug. Not fun when the warmer, summery weather is just starting! The upside of staying home and cancelling appointments is more crafting time. Yay!

This week Kim has designed this fun Sketch for our Just Add Ink challenge. I do love a good sketch, and I knew the exact stamp set from my stash that would be perfect for the layout. It's called A Fox's Life, from the Colorado Craft Company.

Isn't it gorgeous???? If the artwork seems a little familiar, the artist, Anita Jeram, is also the illustrator of the Guess How Much I Love You books.

I stamped the image twice on watercolour paper, and then used the coordinating A Fox's Life Dies to crop one version. The other I watercoloured roughly as the background, starting with the moon. The rest of the sky uses Night Of Navy ink, I just faded out the colour as I got closer to the moon. A bit of Shimmer Paint flicked over to top to give the illusion of stars finished off the front.

You can see that I popped up the cropped section of the scene over the top of the background. I carefully coloured around the edge of the die cut, as I did not want a white halo surrounding the popped up section. This way it still gives dimension, but looks more natural.

I stamped the same image in Balmy Blue ink on the inside of my card. The inside sentiment is from Timeless Tulips, as the font is a pretty close match to the one used in the Fox's Life stamp set. A very happy coincidence!

That's all from me for tonight, but your job is just beginning! After you've checked out all the Design Team cards, you can get creating on your card. Once you've finished, just link it up over on the Just Add Ink blog. You must link it there to be in the running.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Merry Merlot

 Hi!

Hello, and thanks for joining the Colour Creations Blog Hop once again. This week is our third-last hop for the year, before we pick up again in January. We are featuring Merry Merlot this week, a rich burgundy colour. It's not one I use a lot, probably because my high school uniforms were burgundy. Do you have a bias against your school colours? I've heard that it's quite common!

I googled a little bit for inspiration, and found a Forever Fern card by Debra Burgin, of Heartfelt Inkspiration. I liked how she's stamped the one image all over her background, so that's where I started. I found the colour a bit too strong, so I decided to tone it down with a layer of vellum. Both layers were die cut with the largest Stitched Rectangles Die and adhered to my card front.

I played with the Stitched Rectangles again to create the frame for my card. To keep them in place, I glued both to a slightly smaller piece of Whisper White cardstock. This also helps to prevent the popped-up panel from sagging, so double win!

I've used the off-cut from the front of the card to frame my writing panel on the inside. It's good to repurpose a piece that would usually get thrown away.

In hind sight, this card probably would have worked better as a Sympathy card, but I think it's still fine as a birthday card. What do you think? 

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. The next cab off the rank is my lovely friend, Rachel Palmieri. She's certain to have a ripper of a card for your viewing delight!

If you run into trouble with missing or broken links, please jump on over to Catherine Proctor's blog. She's the super-organised and super-wonderful host of the Colour Creations Hops.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas: Week 22

 Hi!

Well, here we are at the twenty-second, and final, Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. I hope that you've managed to join us for most, or even all, of the hops. It's been a fabulous round with plenty of Christmas inspiration each week. I'm a little sad that this is the last one for 2021, but at the same time I'm glad to have one less commitment as we move into December.

As always, I have used a Sheetload Of Cards template for my cards this week. It's from November 2021, however I have simplified it a bit by removing one layer. The red strip was divided by another layer, but I felt that my card was busy enough that another layer would be a bit OTT. The template showed a loop of twine/thread under the sentiment banner, but I chose to use one of the Wonderful Snowflakes instead.

The DSP I have used is my favourite Heartwarming Hugs, and my two favourite sheets of paper. I will miss this paper when it goes. The sentiments are from Words Of Cheer.

Here's my group of cards, ready to add to my stash. Speaking of which, I was asked last week where I'm up to with that. Here's a look!

The cards on the left and the back half of the right are all my Sheetload cards - there's 84 in total, as for one week of the Hops I ran out of time and only made a single card. The front half of the right box has 19 cards, so a grand total of 103. I have four half-finished cards on my desk that may end up finished, or perhaps they will wait for next year's stash. Either way I'm set, except for the writing and addressing part!

For one last time in 2021, please do continue your way around our Hop by jumping on over to Caroline Manwaring's blog. 

Before you go, I want to take the opportunity to say thanks to all the ladies who have hopped along with Sharon, Rachel and I as we organised this year's series of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. It's been wonderful to see everyone's gorgeous cards, and read the supportive comments that everyone has left along the way. And thank you, also, to those of you that have hopped along with us every week. I hope you've found plenty of inspiration.

I am the lucky last Host for this year's Hops, so please pop back here if you run into any issues. The full list of Hoppers is as follows:

Caroline Manwaring

Kathryn Mangelsdorf

Kate Morgan

Theresa Gerrard

Catherine Proctor

Christine Blain

Claire Daly

Michele Taylor

Rosa Leyden

Rachel Woollard

Ros Davidson

Sharon Davern

Andrea Sargent

Bye for now,

Tina