HOC Week 18

 Hi!

Welcome back for another week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. We are up to Week 18, can you believe? Tomorrow it will be November!

I used the March 2021 Sheetload Of Cards template this week. I liked the simple design and thought that it would work well with the tree paper from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack.

I liked the rounded corners on the front of the card, and couldn't resist carrying it over to the inside of my card. The outline portion of the tree was also used - I can't bear to waste the extra bits, especially when they can be put to good use on the inside.

The circle dies from the Stylish Shapes pack were the perfect choice to frame the Christmas To Remember sentiment. There's another four cards added to the stash!

That's me finished for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. There's plenty more Christmas inspiration to be seen, starting with the fabulous Cathy Proctor.

As she does every week, Sharon Davern has done a marvellous job keeping us all organised this week. If you run into any problems with links, just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of this week's participants to help you get back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 627: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Yay! Friday means that it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a Choose Two challenge, and I was the one who suggested the three options.

You can choose two of day, night or silhouette to add to your card. Which two will you choose? I went for night and silhouette.

My card is a tri-fold opening card. I cropped the front window using my Stitched Rectangle Dies, added two thin strips of cardstock to create the window panes, and then added another cropped black panel to the back to hide the ends of the strips. The black cat silhouette was adhered, and then a window sill, cut using the Hearth & Home Framelits, was adhered over the top. I'd heat embossed the sentiment, from Bedtime Story by Clearly besotted, on the piece first.

On the next section, you can see the scene I created for the cat to gaze at. I started by stamping the Lovely As A Tree large tree at the bottom, making sure that it came up high enough to overlap the moon. The moon is from the Tim Holtz Moon Mask pack. I laid the solid mask over the stamped card, used a Blending Brush to apply some Balmy Blue ink, and then went around the edges with some Night Of Navy ink. I then splattered some Frost White Shimmer Paint over the top. Once it was dry I laid the detail mask over the moon and blended some Sahara Sand ink over the top. The moon really looks like it's glowing!

Another cat silhouette and sentiment from Bedtime Story finished off the inside of the card.

Which two will you choose to go on your card this week? I think that day and night would be tricky, but I'd love to see it done. Maybe it will be your card! You can see the rest of this week's Design Team cards over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also link up your card for the challenge there. I can't wait to see what you make.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Highland Heather

 Hi!

Hello, and thanks for stopping by for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are featuring Highland Heather, a favourite of mine because it's a lovely, soft purple, and Heather is my mum's name!

I chose to use this colour combo by Brian King on my card. I liked the purple, orange and green combo. It wasn't until I was browsing the Online Store for products that featured Highland Heather that I realised they were the colours (and Basic Black) in the Glitter Washi pack. 

I started by layering some of the washi on some Basic Black cardstock. I really wanted the colours to pop, and I thought that black was better for this than white. The glimmer looks amazing in real life. The next addition to my card was the Forever Flourishing diecut, cropped from Highland Heather card. I popped it up over the black cardstock using my Black Dimensionals. Aren't they perfect for a card like this?

I wasn't loving the card at this stage - I felt that the washi and the diecut just weren't connecting. Hopefully the Biggest Wish sentiment, cropped with a Painted Labels die, does the job of pulling the elements together. I think it does!

I used all of the same elements on the inside of my card. 

Thanks again for stopping by, but please do keep jumping around our blog hop tonight. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Christine Blain.

If you run into any issues with links tonight, just pop on over to Catherine Proctor's blog. She does such a wonderful job of keeping us all organised each week.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 17

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Can you believe that it's week 17 already? I have another set of four cards to show you tonight, created using the July 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template.

I also used the Celebrate Everything Host DSP. I really, really love the bold, bright colours and fun patterns in the papers. I felt that the finished design needed a little more, so I opted to add the large outline tree die cut from Spruced Up Outlines Dies. The Sheetload template had a few loops of twine, but I liked the tree.

I also used Jingle Jingle Jingle again for the sentiments. Last week I embellished with Santa hats, this week it's the sweet little bells.

Here's my group of four. I love that the front is narrower than the back, allowing the strip of sparkly Polished Pink DSP to do double duty, decoration both the front and inside of the card. The strip I cut off the front of the card is used for the sentiment. Such a great design!

Thanks again for joining me, but please continue your way around the hop to see the rest of the Christmassy gorgeousness that the team has made this week. The next stop is my lovely friend, Theresa Gerrard.

Big thanks to the wonderful Sharon Davern, who keeps us all organised every week. If you find a broken link somewhere along the way, just pop on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Gray Granite

Hi! 

Welcome back to my blog once again for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. It's Gray Granite week this week, and I will certainly admit that it's a tricky colour to make the hero colour of a card!

Brian King paired it with Crushed Curry and Basic Black, in a combo that I really liked. Neutrals with a pop of bold colour is always a winner.

I thought that it was quite a masculine colour combo, so I pulled out my Tech Support stamp set. I am still struggling with inspiration for this set, but the colours were a great starting point. Who doesn't think of old school computers and gaming units when they see a pale gray?

I really liked the use of the three Stitched Rectangles as a base for my other layers. The strip of Crushed Curry anchors them all together. I originally had the other part of this sentiment stamp on the front of the card, but I couldn't make it work with the rest of the elements. A Stylish Shapes banner to the rescue!

I couldn't not have the rest of the sentiment, so I put it to use on the inside, along with a few more Beautiful Shapes hexagons to match the front. 

Thanks for stopping by, but please do continue your way around our hop tonight. The next stop is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

Catherine Proctor is once again hosting the blog hop tonight, so if you run into any problems with links, just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 16

 Hi!

Welcome back to Week 16 of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. We are on the countdown now, with only 6 more weekly hops after tonight's hop. I'm feeling good about being ready for Christmas, as just from the HOC blog hops, I have added 64 cards to my stash. By December the biggest job will be sitting down to write in the cards and address them all!

Tonight's cards use the November 2021 Sheetload Of Cards template. I really wanted to use my Jingle Jingle Jingle stamp set, as I feel it's been a bit unloved lately. This template was a good choice, as the sentiment banner was the perfect shape and size for the 'believe' image.

The paper I have used is from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack. It's got so many fun patterns, and a few that I hadn't yet used. The Granny Apple Green background paper is one that got it's first outing tonight.

How sweet is that Santa hat on the inside of my card? I though it was the perfect match for the sentiment.

Here's my group of four cards, ready to add to my stash.

Thanks again for joining me, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. There's lots more gorgeous Christmas inspiration to be seen, starting with the lovely Caroline Manwaring.

If you find yourself in a spot of bother with broken links, please jump on over to the blog of our lovely host, Sharon Davern. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 391: Mini Catalogue Bundle

Hi! 

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This week we have jumped to the back of the current Mini Catalogue, and we are asking you to CASE a card from the Bundle Section.

Although I don't own this bundle, I chose the card from page 72 that uses the Bewitching Bundle.

I loved the three hats on whimsical angles on the card. I think it's lots of fun!

What's more fun than a trio of penguins whizzing down snowy hills on their bellies? LOL!

At the top of the card, I stamped some trees from the Penguin Place stamp set. It adds some lovely depth to the card.

I repeated the scene on the inside of the card on a smaller scale. Hopefully you can see the sentiment right at the bottom of the card - I like putting sentiments in unexpected places on the inside of my cards.

We'd love for you to join the challenge. All you need to do is make a card inspired by one of the cards in the Bundles section of the Mini, and upload a photo to our Facebook Group. We'd love to see what you make!

Please now jump on over to my wonderful friend, Judy May's blog. She's certainly got something gorgeous for you to see!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 625: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for a new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have an Inspiration Photo challenge for you, with this gorgeous floral image suggested to us by Kim. Can't you just imagine how beautiful that field of flowers would look and smell?

I had several ideas on what I was going to make, but in the end time defeated me. My mum was here for a visit and Hudson came down with parainfluenza, so a quick and easy card was necessary.

Quick and easy floral definitely calls for my Simply Fabulous stamp set - it really does live up to the name! I stamped the leaves in Garden Green, and then the flowers in Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Poppy Parade, Polished Pink and Rich Razzleberry. I think I got most of the colours from the Inspiration photo!

The sentiment panel was also kept nice and simple. I added the Garden Green circle, cut with my Simply Stylish Dies, underneath. It adds an extra little emphasis to the sentiment, but also hides a boo-boo. I needed to reink my Garden Green ink pad, which I only discovered after stamping the first leaf. Luckily it was easily hidden!

I created an extra little floral scene on the inside of my card to match the front. 

That's all from me for now, but please do join us in our challenge this week - we'd love to see what you make. You can jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find lots more Design Team cards, as well as the Linky to add your card to our challenge gallery. 

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Granny Apple Green

 Hi!

Welcome to a new week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are featuring Granny Apple Green, a lovely green from the Brights colour family. I think it's my favourite of all of the SU greens (not counting Mint Macaron!).

I once again went with a Brian King colour combo. I loved the mix of bright colours - such a happy combination.

I've been wanting to try this fancy fold for a while - only I can't find a name for it! I got the instructions off Beth McCullough's blog, however, she didn't give it a name. It's some kind of gatefold, as you pull on both sides of the card to open it up. I used the Hostess Celebrate Everything DSP to decorate the card.

Here's a top view of the card, so that you can see the folds. Maybe it's some kind of double z gatefold card? If you know the name, let me know please!

Here is the inside of the card. I've stamped the card using one of my current favourite stamp sets, Simply Fabulous. I've also used my Stylish Shapes dies on the front of the card.

The nexts top in tonight's blog hop is my lovely friend, Rachel Palmieri. Make sure you jump on over to her blog to see the Granny Apple Green gorgeousness she has waiting for you.

I've jumped in to host the Colour Creations Blog Hop this week, as Cathy has some family commitments. Please jump back here if you run into any issues with broken links. Here are all of tonight's participants:

Kate Morgan

Tina Gillespie >> you are here!

Rachel Palmieri

Kathryn Ruddick 

Andrea Sargent

Christine Blain

Di Furniss

Rosa Leyden

Catherine Proctor

Bye for now,

Tina