Colour Creations: Early Espresso

 Hi!

Hooray, it's time for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. It's Early Espresso week, which is such a tricky week! Early Espresso is a lovely, rich brown in the colour range, but it's sooooo hard to make a card using it as the hero colour.

Brian King once again provided a fabulous colour combination to springboard my creativity. I'm a sucker for anything Mint Macaron, and it works so well with Early Espresso. It made me think of Mint Chocolate. I toyed a while with trying to make an ice-cream card, but in the end went for cookies.

My background is just a piece of watercolour paper, with the stripes created with Mint Macaron and Sahara Sand ink. I did one colour at a time, and let the paper dry completely between colours. Once it was dry for the second time, I stamped the crosses from Biggest Wish over the top in Early Espresso ink.

The cookies, from Nothing's Better Than, were stamped in Early Espresso and Sahara Sand ink. I was worried that the Sahara would be the wrong colour, but I was pleasantly surprised to be incorrect.

I used more of the same elements on the inside of my card. The side panels were offcuts from the front panel on my card.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop. I'm sure that you'll find some new and exciting ways to incorporate Early Espresso into your crafting. The next stop is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

If you run into any problems, please jump on over to Catherine Proctor's blog. She does an excellent job of keeping us all organised each week. You'll find a list of all participants there to help you get back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 9

 Hi!

Welcome back for the ninth week of the 2022 Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop series. Can you believe it's been nine weeks already? I hope you're making progress on your Christmas card stash.

This week has been a crazy-busy week for me, so I stuck with a fairly easy Sheetload Of Cards template. This one is from May 2022, and I paired it with the Celebrate Everything Host DSP from the current Mini Catalogue. I'm really loving the Christmas themed papers in the pack.

I hadn't used my Jingle Jingle Jingle stamp set in a while, so it was dusted off to provide the sentiments for my cards. I used my Stamparatus to line up the two-layer sentiment on the front of the cards, but just eyeballed the inside ones. The bell looks very cute with the ribbon on top!

Here's my group of four cards. It is wet and miserable here today, so I had to photograph them under the pergola where it was dry. It's a good day to be home and crafting. Poor Hudson is home with me too - he has a cold and is sneezing a lot. He thinks it's great fun, as I always come running with a tissue after every sneeze!

Speaking of running, it's time to run on over to the next blog in our hop, Rosa Leyden. Actually, maybe I'd better walk on over, as knowing me, I'd break an ankle trying to run! 😂

Please pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog if you run into any issues. She keeps us all organised every week, and will have a list of all tonight's participants at the end of her post.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 384: Sale-A-Bration Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I hope that you've had a great week. Mine's been busy, culminating with the concert band I play in competing in the State Band Championships today. We've been practising hard, so hopefully we do well.

This week we are CASEing from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue for one final time before the catalogue retires. I hope that you've earned all the goodies that you wanted from it!

I decided to CASE this Tree Lot Dies card from page 13. I love a good sponged background, and the caravan dies have been so much fun to play with. They will definitely find a home in my stash after SAB ends!

I decided to switch things up by using another SAB item on my card - the Silver & Gold DSP. I chose the Gold dotty paper to sponge over, hoping that it looked like a starry sky by the time I was finished. I started with Balmy Blue ink, then added some Starry Sky ink, followed by Night Of Navy around the edges. I was so pleased with how it turned out. The trees in the catalogue sample were stamped, but I used die cuts so that I didn't end up with spotty trees!

My snowy ground was made using White Glimmer paper - which is very hard to photograph! I used the Red Glimmer paper from the same pack for the bows on the wreath and the top of the light poles. Speaking of the lights, each one has a dot of Shimmery Crystal Effects over the top to make them look more like light globes.

I had some off-cuts from the lights and poles, so they were put to good use on the inside of my card. Waste not, want not!

we'd love you to join in for one final hurrah for the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue. Which reward was your favourite? You could CASE a card using it and add it to our Facebook group. We'd love to see what you make.

In the meantime, though, please do continue your way around our blog hop. There's lots more Sale-A-Bration inspiration for you to see, starting with my lovely friend, Kathryn Mangelsdorf. She's got a super-adorable card that you won't want to miss!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 618: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Jo has provided us with a fabulous colour combo to inspire our creativity.

For me, these colours made me think of a picnic in the country - I think it's the combination of green and blue. To make my idea come to life, I pulled out some retired stamp sets and paper to make my card.

I started my card by stamping the blueberries and leaves from Berry Blessings. Pacific Point and Old Olive are a great choice for the berries, don't you think? I used the plaid Pacific Point DSP from the Berry Delightful pack to add to my country picnic feel.

Crumb Cake was used in small quantities, for matting the layers and stamping the sentiment, which is from Sweet Strawberry.

I made the card quite large - it's five inches square - which leaves a lot of room for additional stamping on the inside. I used the same DSP to frame the writing panel.

That's all from me, but your job is just starting! Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards for your inspiration. You'll also find our linky for when you've made your card and are ready to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Daffodil Delight

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. For the second week in a row we are featuring a yellow - Daffodil Delight. I must say that I prefer Daffodil Delight over Crushed Curry - it's a brighter, happier yellow, and I find it much easier to use.

My choice of colour combination this week was guided by the realisation that I haven't used the new In Colours much at all. This lovely Brian King combo has two, so it fit the bill nicely!

I started by using my Blending Brushes to ink up a strip of Whisper White cardstock. Daffodil Delight blends so well into Parakeet Party, but the blend to Starry Sky was not so smooth! Hehe, Tree Lot Dies to the rescue, and now you never would have known if I hadn't told you.

The trees were created by lightly brushing some Parakeet Party ink over Whisper White cardstock and then cropping it with the top layer tree die. Thankfully, I remembered to add some Adhesive Sheet to the back first! The bottom layer is just plain Parakeet Party cardstock. My current favourite sentiments from Simply Fabulous, cropped with my Stylish Shapes dies, and the card front was complete.

The inside was completed using offcuts from the inked panel on the front. I always make the panels a little wider than I want so that I have the option to use the excess on the inside. I had a few trees left over from the front of the card, so they were put to work, too.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop tonight. There's lots more Daffodil Delight to be seen. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Rachel Palmieri, with what I'm sure will be a gorgeous card.

As always, if you run into any problems with links, jump on over to the wonderful Catherine Proctor's blog. She has a list of all participants and you can pick up your trail there.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 8

 Hi!

Welcome back to another week of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. Week 8 already! This week I have used the February 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template to make my cards. I wanted used some of my Wonderful Snowflakes, and I thought that they suited this layout. 

I started with a layer of Basic Black DSP from the Lights Aglow pack. I'm not a huge fan of the black sheets of the DSP, but in small measures it isn't so bad. I think it frames the brighter DSP nicely.

I cut the DSP for the top layer on the front at full card size, and then cropped it for the front using my Stitched Rectangle Dies. The offcut piece was put to good use on the inside of the card. It really only needed a sentiment, from Brightest Glow, to finish it off.

Here are my group of four cards - you can see that I've used both Cherry Cobbler and Evening Evergreen as the feature colours on my cards.

That's all from me, but please do keep hopping around all of the blogs tonight. There's lots more gorgeous Christmas inspiration to be found, starting with my lovely friend, Kathryn Ruddick.

As always, the wonderful Sharon Davern keeps us all organised, so if you run into any issues with links, pop on over to her blog. You'll find a list of all tonight's participants there and you can pick up the trail again.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 383: Artistic Expression Section

 Hi!

Welcome back to a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge. This week we are asking you to CASE a card or project from the Artistic Expression Section of the Annual Catalogue.

As is my habit, I skip to the back of the section and work my way forward until I find a card that I like. I found this beauty on page 118.

I really liked the bright and cheerful colours, the simple white panel as the focal point, and the sweet twine bow. I kept all of these elements, but changed them up quite a bit!

I started with a base of Parakeet Party DSP with a Sweet Sorbet DSP banner over the top. The banner was actually a small scrap, so I split it under the main panel. It looks like a full length banner, but the gap is hidden by the main panel. A very clever trick for using up scraps!

I used my Simply Fabulous stamp set for the flowers and the sentiment. I hadn't yet included any Daffodil Delight from the original colour combo, so those little circle things on top of the flowers were stamped in the yellow ink. I have no idea what the circles are meant to be, but I think they look great on the flowers! The final colour, Shaded Spruce was used for the sentiment and the layer underneath, with a white twine bow to finish off the front.

A little more stamping and my card was complete. I call it my People's Choice card - if you know of the credit union, you'd know that these are their colours! I didn't notice until I stamped and layered the sentiment onto the front of my card! I never really liked the colours at the credit union, but I love them on my card.

We'd love for you to make a card from the Artistic Expression section of the catalogue and enter it in our challenge. Which card will you choose to make? Just add a photo to our Facebook group when you've made it.

For now, though, please do continue your way around our Blog Hop. The next stop on the way is my wonderful friend, Rachel Palmieri. I can't wait to see what she's made, and you won't want to miss it, either.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 617: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a Choose Two challenge, suggested by Di.

So what are your choices? Gingham, Dots or Diecuts. Choose any two to go on your card. For me it was an easy choice, as I'd just purchased a new stamp set that featured dots.

I used the Concord & 9th Bitty Burst Turnabout stamp on my card, using four different shades of blue and green. I used Pacific Point, Night Of Navy, Granny Apple Green and Shaded Spruce. I can see myself using this stamp set a lot, and I can't wait to try out different colour combos.

To fulfil the second part of the Choose Two, I added a die cut from the Uniquely Creative Stitched Sun die. It filled the circle in the middle of the Bitty Burst beautifully.

I got a bit ambitious with the Bitty Burst stamp on the inside. I tried to do it with a rig, but it was very awkward on my Stamparatus. Next time I'll just wing it, I think!

That's all from me for tonight, but we'd love for you to play along with our challenge. Just head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find lots more gorgeous inspiration from our Design Team. You'll also find the linky to add your photo to our challenge gallery. I can't wait to see which two you choose.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Crushed Curry

 Hi!

Thanks for stopping by for our new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week it's Crushed Curry's turn to be the feature colour. Do you like Cushed Curry? I think it's one of those polarising colours. I'm not a huge fan, and I really struggled with my card.

As ever, Brian King was the source of a fantastic colour combination featuring Crushed Curry. I had in mind to do a masculine card, but nothing I tried really worked. In the end, I tried something completely different.

At a recent stamping day with friends, I took the opportunity to crop a few of these flowers from the Artistic Dies in white. I thought about colouring the die cut, but it seemed to be a fiddly job, so I kept thinking! The coordinating stamp set is designed to layer with the die cuts, so how could I get a similar look without the stamps? Different dies! I used the hexagons from Beautiful Shapes Dies to go underneath the flower.

I really like how it turned out! I used my retired Hexagon punch to crop the sentiment. It's slightly smaller than one of the hexagon dies, so it layers beautifully.

I completed the inside with a partial die cut using a similar technique as the front of the card.

Thanks again for joining me for the hop tonight, but please do continue your way around all the blogs to see how lovely Crushed Curry can be. The next stop is my wonderfully artistic friend, Kathryn Ruddick.

If you run into any problems with links, please jump on over to Cathy Proctor's blog. She does a fabulous job of keeping us all organised, and will have a list of all of tonight's participants on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina