CTC 320: All Occasions Section

 Hi!

Wow, how has Sunday evening rolled around again so quickly? It's been a super busy week for me, so no wonder it flew by! My favourite way to end the week is with the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop, so let's get started!

This week we are asking you to CASE the All Occasions section of the new Annual Catalogue. There's 49 pages, so plenty of inspiring projects to choose from. This cutie caught my eye.

I don't have any baby stamps, as most people in my life are beyond that for now. I did, however, love the Stitched Rectangles that sit behind each of the three images, so this formed the basis of my card.

I received the Bloom Where You're Planted DSP last week, and thought that the plant images would be the perfect substitute for the babies. To suit the design, this meant having three vertical rectangles to frame the plants.

I wanted the background DSP to be very neutral, so I chose this Grey Granite piece. My uncle owns a cane furniture business, and he used to give the fabric scraps from the seating cushions to my Nana. She'd make all kinds of things with them, and this paper reminds me of the fabric, and her. She was always busy making something!

On the inside I used one of the plant images that was on the side of the DSP sheet, so partially cut off. This is perfectly OK to use, just adhere it over the side of your card so the cropped bit looks intentional!

That's all from me for tonight, but please come and join in with our challenge. Just make a suitable card and upload it to our Facebook group. It really is that easy!

For now, though, please do continue on with our Blog Hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Rachel. She's had a lot of fun playing with a stamp set that may very soon make the jump from my 'maybe' list to my 'must-have' list. I've loved seeing her recent creations using it, and I'm sure you will too.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 556: Just Add A Slimline Card

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Lou has challenged us to make Slimline cards. Fun!

Are you a fan of Slimline cards? I haven't made many - mostly because I never think to! When I do remember to make one, I have fun. The extra space to play with is great, especially when creating a scene, which is where I went with this week's card.

I started by cutting my base card, which is sized to fit in a business sized envelope, so it's 8 1/4"square, scored at 4 1/8". The next two layers are just 1/2" and 5/8" smaller and popped up on Dimensionals. The background die is from Mama Elephant, and is called Cityscape. I wish I'd popped out more windows before I popped it up on my card, but I was feeling very lazy at the time!

The characters on my card are all very much at home in the big city, so the die was the perfect choice for the background, I think. As I mentioned, I was in a lazy mood when I made the card, so I've not done any fancy colouring on the characters, they are all coloured with just one Blend shade per colour.

Were you wondering where the other two characters were? Here they are! Even with the extra space of a Slimline card, they would have crowded the front too much, so I held them back for the inside. The characters and sentiments are all from a Kindred Stamps set, called The One With The Friend.

That's all from me tonight, but please do pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design team cards. You can also link your card to our challenge. Hmm, what will you put on your Slimline card?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Soft Suede

 Hi!

Welcome back to the latest Colour Creations Creative Showcase. We are doing the last of the Core Colours this week - Soft Suede. Many years ago, Soft Suede was an In Colour, but after a brief retirement, it made it's way back as a member of the Neutrals Family. 

I started my card by using a pencil to trace around the inside of my circle die onto the Very Vanilla cardstock. This was to give me a guideline for stamping the leaves from Forever Fern. The pencil line can be erased, but it will end up under the circle, so it doesn't really matter.

The sentiment is from a fabulous new stamp set, called Biggest Wish. It's a great mix of block and cursive words that can be mixed and matched to your heart's content. Definitely a keeper for me!

I kept the inside very simple, just more leaves along the bottom. I tried to make it look like the top of the circle of leaves, like on the front, but I'm not sure that I was very successful! I still like it, though.

That's all from me tonight, but please do pop on over to Cathy's blog, where you will find the rest of this week's Soft Suede cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 319: CASE A Technique - Embossing

 Hi!

Phew! It's the end of another busy weekend, so that means it's time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Hooray!

This week Bec has set us the task of CASEing a project that uses an embossing technique. When I think of embossing, I think of heat embossing, dry embossing or embossing paste. That's a lot of choice!

I found this card on page 111 of the Annual Catalogue that uses the Emboss Resist technique. It's been ages since I've done that, so I was keen to give it another go.

I've only recently purchased the Forever Fern bundle, and I'm not sure why to took me so long!! It's such an awesome set. I started with Very Vanilla cardstock and used clear embossing powder on the leaves. These leaves make me think of eucalyptus trees, but I have no idea if that is correct or not!

I then used a Blending Brush and Soft Succulent ink to colour over the embossed leaves. Finally, I used a tissue to buff away the ink from the leaves. The catalogue sample watercoloured over the feathers, but I didn't have the patience to wait for it to dry. The sentiment is from Blossoms In Bloom, and is cropped using a die from the Suit & Tie set.

I did more of the same on the inside. It's much easier to do the two lots of embossing in one go, so often when I am making the front of my card, I am also thinking about what I am going to do on the inside.

That's all from me for tonight, but you are just getting started! Just find a project in the catalogue that uses an embossing technique, CASE the card, and upload your photo into the Facebook group.

Before you get creating, please do finish our blog hop! Next up is my lovely friend, Rachel, which has used my favourite bundle from the Mini Catalogue to create her card.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 555: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday! It's been a busy week, so I'm glad for the slower weekend. Hopefully lots of craft time - I am two months behind on a quilting Block Of The Month and I would like to get caught up. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, though, it's time for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Rachael has given us a very pretty colour combo to play with.  I certainly had lots of fun with it!

The die I used is from Ink Road Stamps and is called Basics: Floral Coffee Mug. It's actually a duo - a stamp and two dies, but I have only used the dies this time. One die is detailed, the other is the outline. You can see that I've cropped the outline in Whisper White to layer under the coloured detailed image.

I cropped the detailed image from Basic Black and each of the challenge colours, after I'd applied Adhesive Sheet to the back of the cardstock. I peeled away the black outline and adhered it to the white layer, before peeling away each of the coloured sections and adding them to the appropriate outlined section. It was slow and fiddly, but I was so pleased with how it turned out. The black outline really makes the colours pop!

I used the leftover outline pieces to decorate the inside - you know how much I dislike wastage! I carefully snipped them so they were just the flowers and leaves, and then laid the Magenta piece over the Jade piece. It still needed a little more, so I coloured in each section with the coordinating Light Blend. Done!

That's all from me for this week, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You'll also find the Linky so that you can join in with the challenge. What do you see in these colours?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Soft Sea Foam

 Hi!

Welcome back for another week of the Colour Creations Creative Showcase. This week we are looking at Soft Sea Foam. As them name suggests, it's a very soft green from the Subtles colour family.

I kept my colour palette quite pale, with just Soft Sea Foam and Whisper White. I used the Sweet Strawberry bundle for the focal panel of my card, but just the flower and leaves image. I stamped them in SSF and then used my Blending Brush to add some ink over the top. I then coloured the leaves with my Dark SSF Blend. The flowers were stamped and punched separately on Whisper White. The centre is a retired Metallic sequin.

My card actually started with the zig zags! I cut a heap of edges using the Basic Borders Dies and then adhered the layers together to form the zig zags. Just a tip - make your pieces a little wider than you want your final piece to be. This gives you a little allowance to line up the zig zags precisely. Just trim the piece when you're finished.

Both themes were carried over to the inside of the card. You can't tell in the photo, but the flowers here have Wink Of Stella on their centres rather than the sequins. 

That's all from me for tonight, but please do head on over to Cathy's blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Soft Sea Foam cards. We have one more week of our Core colours before we start on the new In Colours - that's going to be fun!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 318: CASE A Mini Die Bundle

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I hope you've had a wonderful weekend. The blog hop is the perfect way to wind down a weekend, don't you think?

This week the Crew are challenging you to CASE a card from the Die Bundle Section of the Mini Catalogue. I chose this card, which showcases the Art Gallery bundle.

I don't actually own the bundle, but that's OK when you're CASEing - use what you have to put your spin on the card. In my case, I used the Pierced Blooms dies.

Just before making this card, I was sorting my new In Colour stuff into my storage, and it was a great change to have a good look at the colours. I've decided I quite like Pale Papaya, so that was my starting point for this card. I chose to use my Shimmery Embossing Paste as the background, rather than sponged ink.

The sample card has strong lines in the DSP under the flowers, so I chose to tear the edges of my DSP to give a similar look. I added some Shimmery Crystal Effects to the centres of each flower to add some subtle bling. I should say that the flowers are Whisper White, Fresh Freesia, Blushing Bride, So Saffron and Soft Succulent.

I had a few left over bits and pieces, which were perfect to use to decorate the inside of my card. The sentiments used are from Blossoms In Bloom, stamped with Pale Papaya ink.

That's all from me for tonight, but it's just starting for you! We'd love for you to join in our challenge, which is as easy as posting a photo of your card in our Facebook group.

In the meantime, though, please do keep hopping! Next up is Peta - I'm yet to see a sneak peek of her card, so I can't offer a tantalising clue to what she's made, but it's bound to be wonderful!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 554: Just Add G

 Hi!

Yay, here's to Friday and a new Just Add Ink challenge! This week it's one of my Alphabet challenges, and we have been given G to play with.

What does that mean? Just that you make a card with something G related - a colour, stamp set, theme, technique, whatever you can think of! Just make sure that you tell us what it is if it isn't very obvious.

I recently purchased a stamp set called Little Town Life from Kindred Stamps, and one of the featured characters suited this challenge perfectly! I have had his very catchy theme song stuck in my head all week - I just may have to watch the movie on the weekend to get rid of that ear worm. He may think that he's everyone's favourite guy, but he is a little full of himself!

The scene behind this grandiose gentleman was created using dies from Hello Sweetums, called Mountains Of Fun and Grass Is Greener. The clouds were from the retired Wiggly Bugs Dies. I chose the greens and grey to go with the G theme of the challenge.

The inside of the card contains another big clue to the name of the guy on the front! Hmmm, can you think of many movies with talking and singing clocks? LOL!

That's all from me for now. Hopefully your mind is whirling with ideas for our Just Add G challenge. I can't wait to see what you make. You can find the rest of this week's Design team cards over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card.

Bye for now,

Tina

May Creative Showcase: New Annual Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for this month's Creative Showcase. Naturally, as the new Annual Catalogue began this month, we are focussing on products from that catalogue. I've been a bit slow off the mark with ordering from the catalogue, but I couldn't resist the gorgeous What A Year Memories & More card pack.

My sister recently purchased her first home, and so I thought that I would use one of the cards to make her a card of congratulations. This cute little card with the house was the perfect choice! The new Polished Pink cardstock was cropped using the largest Stitched So Sweetly die, and then I trimmed the card to fit inside the stitched line.

The only current embossing folder that I have is the Bricks & Mortar folder, which I thought was an apt choice for the background. The word home was cropped from Whisper White cardstock with some Foam Adhesive Sheet attached to the back using the Playful Alphabet Dies. I used the retired Well Written Dies for the cute little heart in the centre of the 'O'.

Nice and simple on the inside, with just the Congratulations sentiment from Peaceful Moments in Polished Pink ink. I didn't think we needed another bright pink in our range, but I am coming to like this pink!

You'll find the rest of the links for this month's Showcase over on Rachel's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina