Heart Of Christmas Week 9

 Hi!

Wow, we are already up to Week 9 of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops - can you believe how quickly Christmas is approaching? It's definitely time to get cracking on creating Christmas cards, and hopefully the team can help with inspiration for you.

This week I have used the March 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template, with Peaceful Prints DSP and Christmas To Remember. I'm really liking the Sheetload Of Cards concept: not only does it make me use my DSP, it's a reminder that I don't need to have 'all the things' in order to make a nice card. Of course, I still like to have all the things, though!

September is the last month for the second Sale-A-Bration this year, so you have less than a month to earn any rewards that you may have your eye on. The DSP that I've used is one such reward.

As usual, I made four cards using the template. Another nice little pile to add to my growing stash of Christmas cards!

That's all from for tonight, but please do continue on with the Blog Hop. The next blog in the hop belongs to Rachel Woollard, who is bound to have some Christmas gorgeousness for your eyes to feast upon.

If you find a broken link, or would just like to see the list of all who are participating in tonight's blog hop, please jump on over to Sharon Davern's blog - she's our lovely Host tonight.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 333: CASE The SAB Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for once again joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's a great way to end the week - I always enjoy hopping with the Crew and seeing their gorgeous creations.

This week we are asking you to CASE any project from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue. It may be a little catalogue, but there's plenty of gorgeous inspiration to choose from. I couldn't go past the cuteness of this card, featuring the Penguin Playmates DSP.

I love that there are so many cute critters in the DSP to choose from, however I chose to use a different, but similar DSP, Sweet Stockings. Instead of polar animals, the DSP features domestic pets in fun Christmassy shenanigans.

I can never go past the goofy look on the Golden Retriever's face! Isn't it hilarious? Combined with the grumpy cat with reindeer ears, it makes such a fun card.

It's really, really hard to see, but I stamped some stars from the retired Label Me Bold in the background, similar to the snowflakes on the original card. The sentiment was cropped using one of my Stitched So Sweetly dies.

I chose another sentiment from Christmas To Remember for the inside. With all the animals on the card, I liked the reference to friends in the saying. They all look like they are wonderful friends, having a very holly, jolly Christmas together!

We'd love for you to play along with our challenge this week. All you need to do is make a card and upload a photo of it to our Facebook Group. Easy!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue on with the Blog Hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Rachel, who I'm sure has toothpicks holding open her eyes after a big weekend attending an online SU Leader's conference!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 569: Just Add N

 Hi!

Hooray for the end of another busy week. And double Hooray for it being Just Add Ink time! This week it's one of my Alphabet Challenges, and the letter we have for you this time is N.

If you're new to these challenges, it just means that you use one or more things on your card that start wth N. It could be a stamp set, embellishment, colour, theme - your imagination is the limit!

If you know me and my family, you'd know that we are all mad Harry Potter fans. Given that today is the 20th Anniversary of the first movie release, I couldn't help but make a HP card. My N element is the character that I've featured. Do you know his ghostly name? You're a real fan if you know his living name!!

To get a ghost-like image, I stamped him in Smokey Slate ink on a piece of In Good Taste DSP. I then coloured him with some grey Copic markers. The effect is as I hoped it would be - you can see the bricks through the image, just like you would in the movie! The sentiment is a reference to the character being not quite headless, as his beheading was botched, much to his ghostly frustration.

I've stamped the image again on the inside, stamped off once for a softer, ghostly look. The stamps I've used are all from the Kindred Stamps set, called World Of Magic. I think it's now retired, but definitely a set for my permanent collection!

That's all from me tonight, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you will find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. We all have lots of fun with the Alphabet Challenges, and we hope you do, too!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Crumb Cake

 Hi!

Welcome to Crumb Cake week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop! Hands up, who loves Crumb Cake? MMMMMEEEEE!!! It's such great neutral colour. Having said that, I was very stuck for inspiration this week. It can be tough making a colour that is usually a background or complimentary colour, a feature colour on a card. I was very happy with my end result, though.

I pulled out my Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set and the coordinating Sunflower Dies, just because I haven't used them in a while. I started by cropping a few layers of an old sewing pattern with the large solid sunflower die. I then layered a Basic Black outline diecut over the top, with a Crumb Cake centre.

The background of my card was created by stamping the large sunflower stamp in Crumb Cake ink onto Crumb Cake card. I then used a Blending Brush to apply Crumb Cake ink to the edges of the piece, and finished by flicking some Crumb Cake ink over the top. I was so thrilled with how it turned out.

I finished the inside with another diecut from the Sunflowers Dies. The sentiment is from Peaceful Moments.

Thanks for spending a little time on my blog with me tonight. Next up on the Hop is Michele Taylor - I always love the cards she makes!

If you find a broken link, or want to see the full list of those participating, please pop on over to Catherine's blog. She's the wonderful woman who keeps us all organised for the Colour Creations Blog Hops.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 8

 Hi!

Hello, and thanks for once again joining us for the Week 8 Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. I hope that we have inspired you to get a head start on your Christmas cards. My stash is coming along nicely!

I received the super-cute Sweet Stockings DSP in my latest order. All the animals in the Christmassy paper are adorable!! I love it when the DSP does most of the work for you! I paired the DSP with the February 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template and sentiments from Word Of Cheer for another easy set of cards. I think that all up, the four cards took me an hour to make.

Do you have this DSP yet? Did you notice that the 'plain' DSP patterns are also used on the animal side of the paper? The pattern I've used as the background on the front and the strip on the inside matches the corgi's jumper on another of the sheets. So cute, and a lot of attention to detail from Stampin' Up!.

Here's my group of cards. I especially love the expression on the big dog's face - is it a golden retriever? Or a Labrador? I'm not up on dog breeds! I'm looking forward to using the paper where he's wrapped in fairy lights!

That's all from me for tonight, but the Blog Hop is just beginning. Please jump on over to my lovely friend, Kate's blog. You won't want to miss what I'm sure will be a spectacular card!

It's my turn to host the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop this week, so if you find a broken link, pop back here where you can pick up the trail. Just remember who is next and click on their name in the list below:

Tina Gillespie

Kate Morgan

Sharon Davern

Andrea Sargent

Theresa Gerrard

Rosa Leyden

Michele Taylor

Caroline Manwaring

Christine Blain

Judy May

Ros Davidson

Catherine Proctor

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 332: CASE Your Favourite AC Suite

 Hi!

Thanks for once again joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. As the name suggests, we are all about CASEing the Catty, and challenge you to join us!

This week we are asking you to CASE a project that uses your favourite Suite of products from the Annual Catalogue. You'll find a list of all of the Suites, and their catalogue page number, on page 3 of the catalogue. I decided to use products from the Hand-Penned Suite, but I chose to CASE the card from the Suite that is in the Bundles Section of the catalogue, on page 159.

I really loved the colours in this card, and the mix of stamped images and die cuts.

As you can see, I changed very little about the card. I coloured my main image with Stampin' Blends, rather than watercolouring, as in the sample. I had another time-poor week, and even waiting for the watercolouring to dry would have taken too long!

I also really liked the way the original artist drew over the lines in the Pattern Party DSP with her Dark So Saffron Stampin' Blend. I did the same.

I had a few extra die cuts, and a scrap of the DSP left, so they came in handy for decorating the inside of my card. I didn't want to make a congrats card, so I used sentiments from Blossoms In Bloom to make it a birthday card instead.

We'd love for you to join us in our challenge to CASE our favourite AC Suite. What's your's? You don't need to own everything from the suite to join in - just adapt your card to suit what you have! When you've made your card, just add it to our Facebook group.

Next on our Blog Hop tonight is my birthday twin (and fellow South Aussie), Michelle! It's our special day today, and we were lucky enough to have a warm, sunny, 'summer is on the way' day to celebrate.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 568: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday - right? It's been a long week, and I am more than ready for the weekend. I hope to spend a lot of time crafting, and I hope you do too, especially if it means that you enter our new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week it's a sketch, designed by Lou.

Isn't it great? I decided to use the sketch to make a birthday card for my husband, who celebrated his special day early in August. 

I started the card with the Alcohol Ink background. I used my Night Of Navy and Rich Razzleberry Blends on Vellum. To move the ink around, I blew through a short straw. It was fun seeing how short, hard breaths versus long, gentle breaths gave different results with the ink. I flicked some Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint over the top when it was dry.

My hubby really loves the fandom this character comes from, and according to my daughter, this is one of his favourite characters. Do you know the show? The blue phone box might have given it away! I coloured them both with my Copic markers. The stamps are all from a Kindred Stamps set, called I Need Some Space.

I couldn't resist adding the little canine robot on the inside. I don't know if he's a part of the new fandom, or if he's strictly retro. Either way, he's fun and deserved a spot on my card. The sentiment is from a coordinating Kindred Stamps set, called It's About Time.

That's all from me for tonight, but your part in the challenge is just beginning! Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find lots more Design Team inspiration. Then make your card and add it to our gallery. It's that easy!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Coastal Cabana

 Hi!

Hello - welcome to Coastal Cabana week! Can you tell that I'm excited? I like Coastal Cabana, it's such a gorgeous blue-green.

A relatively simple card for me tonight, as I was a little time poor this week. It's been a while since I've played with the Blossoms In Bloom bundle, so it was my first choice for the card. When I opened my dies, I found the Basic Black outline piece already cut, so that guided my card.

I always struggle a bit with sentiments when using the bundle. Making it look deliberate, and not plonked on the side can be tricky! I didn't want a label too big, as that would cover too much of the flowers. I think the Sweet As A Peach sentiment and Tailored Tag punch combo is a winner.

Just a little bit of the image was stamped on the inside of my card. I didn't want to take up too much writing space!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop. The next blog on your journey belongs to the very talented Michele Taylor.

As always, if you find a broken link you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 7

 Hi!

Wow, Week 7 of The Heart Of Christmas already! That means that my Christmas card stash has at least 28 cards in it already. I've never been this organised this early before!!

I'm back to a more traditional colour scheme with my cards tonight. I've used the Heartwarming Hugs DSP in conjunction with the January 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template for my cards. Once again, I've used the Pine Tree punch and dry-embossed the trees with the Tasteful Textile 3DEF. Repeating elements like this over different designs of cards really has made my process much quicker, easier and low stress.

Christmas To Remember was once again used for my sentiments, with an extra strip of the DSP on the inside to finish off the cards.

Here's my group. The template is designed so that half the cards have one DSP on the top, and the other half have the other DSP. As I was only making four cards, not 12, I decided to make them all the same. I think the balance of colour works better with the red on top. I do think that I need to re-ink my Mossy Meadow ink pad though!!

Thanks for joining me tonight, but please do continue your way around the Blog Hop. The next stop is with the lovely Claire Daly.

If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s host of The Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all those participating.