JAI 668: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

It's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week Lou has challenged us to Choose Two from either Twine, Tearing or Timber.

Hmm, which to choose? It's a tough decision! I originally went with Timber and Tearing, but ended up with Twine on my card too.

I decided that I wanted a bit of a country theme to my card, and what's more country than a mix of timber and gingham? I used retired DSP from the Wood Textures and Country Gingham packs for the basis of my card.

The sunflowers were the next addition. I love the outlines of the Early Espresso card on the Daffodil Delight and Shaded Spruce cardstock. It gives the flowers a real pop. I played around with the twine and the sentiment, but I could not make it work. The top corner was a little empty, so the twine/banner combo solved both problems!

I used some of the left over DSP on the inside of my card. Waste not, want not!

We'd love for you to play along with us this week. Which two elements will you choose? The Design Team had made some fabulous cards using the challenge elements. You can see them over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card before our challenge ends.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Coastal Cabana

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week it's Coastal Cabana's time to shine! I really love this blue-green, as I think it's a fun, versatile colour.

I pulled out my Light The Candles Kit, as Coastal Cabana is one of the featured colours. I went rogue though, just using the pieces from the kit to make a card rather than make one of the set cards. I was very inspired by a card made by Helen Read of All Things Stampy.

I love how the coloured stripes (which are meant to sit behind the laser cut candle paper) are glittery. It made stamping on them a bit of a challenge, but I think that the effort is worth it. I used my Night Of Navy ink pad instead of the Stazon ink that Helen used, as I didn't want to introduce yet another colour to the card.

There was a small strip of the spotty background paper left to use to decorate the inside of the card. The paper is actually the card base in the kit, but by cutting it in half and adding it to another card base, you can get two cards instead of one. Thrifty!

That's all from me for tonight, but as always, there is plenty more Coastal Cabana gorgeousness to be seen. The next stop in the Blog Hop is my fabulous friend, Ros Davidson, who loves bright colours so is sure to have made something wonderful with Coastal Cabana.

Speaking of fabulous, our host tonight is the fabulous Cathy Proctor. If you run into issues with links, just pop on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's hoppers to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Cherry Cobbler

 Hi!

Hello, and thanks for joining me for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week it's Cherry Cobbler's chance to shine!

I struggled with ideas for this card, and ended up just seeing what happened when I played with my Sending Smiles bundle. I ended up really liking the card! I offset the main art panel, and I think it worked nicely. It allowed me to overhang one of the flowers on the left by quite a bit.

My inkpad clearly needs to be reinked, but I liked the effect of the slightly softer flowers, so I kept on going with the inkpad as it was. I think it goes in nicely with the tone-on-tone DSP in the background, which is from a retired Regals DSP pack. For a little extra oomph, I swished the Crushed Curry flower centres with a swipe of Wink Of Stella.

A few more blooms finished off the inside nicely!

Please keep making your way around tonight's blog hop. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend and fellow South Aussie, Andrea Sargent.

The wonderful Cathy Proctor is hosting this week's blog hop, so jump Inver to her blog if you run into any issues with links. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 3

 Hi!

Welcome the third week of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. I hope you've found lots of Christmas inspiration as you've joined us each week. I know that I have!

I'm still using my Love, Santa Tag Kit as the basis for my cards. I'm loving that the extra large tags are the perfect size to add to a card with very little extra work or supplies.

Once again, I just snipped off the loop for the twine at the top of the tag and made the tag up as per the kit instructions. I used Sweet Sorbet DSP on my card base, as the pink in the kit (Polished Pink) has retired. It's a reasonable match! 

The leftover DSP and another stamp from the kit were the perfect choice for the inside of the card.

The next stop in tonight's hop is the lovely Michele Taylor. You won't want to miss her project!

If you run into any issues with links, jump on over to the wonderful Sharon Davern's blog. She'll have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 666: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday - it's been a long week, as Hudson has been home sick with a cold again. It feels like only a few weeks since the last cold! Oh well, winter has to be over soon, doesn't it?

Speaking of winter, Just Add Ink are using this fun, snowy Inspiration Photo to challenge your card making this week. Jan found the image for us, and it's inspired a whole lot of creativity amongst the Design Team. Hopefully it will spark something in you, too.

I went with the sky and the snow as the key focus for my card. I pulled out my old sponge rollers to ink up some Whisper White cardstock with Balmy Blue and Blueberry Bushel inks. From that point on, I think what could go wrong, went wrong on my card! The first was that I accidentally debossed the inked panel rather than emboss. Whoops!

I then decided to make the card sparkly by misting some shimmer paint/isocol over the card. Unfortunately the first mister I used came out in a stream, not a mist! I ended up with splatters through the inked panel. I kinda like the look though, even if it wasn't what I was initially going for.

The final oops was my sentiments. It's from a big Concord & 9th stamp set, called Mix & Match Holiday Sentiments. No matter what I try, I just can't get it inked up evenly. It will just have to do!

We'd love for you to play along with us this week. Maybe you're in the heat of summer and dreaming of a cooler winter. Maybe you're dreaming of summer while shivering through a cold winter! Or perhaps, like me, you're keen to get started on our Christmas card making. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You can also link up your card to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Calypso Coral

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week it's Calypso Coral's turn to shine! I think that Calypso Coral is one of those love it or hate it colours. Having said that, I'm a bit on the fence. It has it's uses, but I don't reach for it much.

I recently purchased the Les Shoppes DSP and was keen to chop into it, hooray for Calypso Coral being one of the colours in the papers. I chose one of the shops from the papers and roughly cut around it before gluing it to some Thick Whisper White card. I then fussy cut it for the front of the card. This gives the paper some firmness when it's popped up on Dimensionals. We don't want a saggy building!

I also cropped an awning from one of the shops on the edge of the paper, and a plant pot. I gave them the same treatment as the shop, and then popped them up over the first layer. It's a lovely bit of extra dimension for the card.

I used Sending Smiles for the sentiment on the front of my card, but I've deliberately left the inside blank. I did fussy cut a paint tube to go with the art shop on the front of the card, though.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do make sure that you visit all of the blogs on tonight's hop. You'll certainly find lots of inspiration, starting with my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

Catherine is having some much needed family time tonight, so I have taken over hosting duties for this evening's blog hop. Here's a list of all of tonight's participants in the event that you find a broken link somewhere.

Kate Morgan

Andrea Sargent 

Diane Furniss 

Rachel Palmieri 

Amie McIlroy

Christine Blain 

Theresa Gerrard

Sharon Davern

Ros Davidson

Rosa Leyden 

Tina Gillespie <-- You are here now

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 2

 Hi!

Welcome back to my blog for the second Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Do you enjoy starting your Christmas card making early in the year, or are you a last minute crafter? Either way, there's lots of inspiration for you when you are ready.

I've once again used the tags from the Love, Santa Tags Kit as the basis for my card. The tags are quite large - the perfect size to feature on a card, I think! I just chopped the tag loop off the top of Santa's head and he was good to go.

I made the tag as directed by the kit, except that I added the loops of twine under the sentiment label rather than use them in the (now chopped off) tag loop.

The inside of my card is a little nod to the fabulous Matildas - I used a little piece of left over Shaded Spruce DSP from the front of the card, and then I trimmed a little piece off the side of the laser cut elements piece from the kit for the yellow strip. 

That's all from me for tonight's blog hop, but please keep on hopping around all of the blogs. There's lots to see! Just keep on going until you get back to where you started. The next stop along the way is the lovely Amie McIlroy.

If, at any stage, you find a broken link, please pop on over to our lovely host, Sharon Davern's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you going again.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Cajun Craze

 Hi!

Welcome to my blog for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are featuring Cajun Craze, a terracotta colour that had a lot of us surprised when it survived the colour refresh. It's one of those colours that most of us don't use much, but is actually a really useful colour.

I decided to use some Fresh As A Daisy DSP for my card. I really like this sheet of flowers, where Cajun Craze features as the centres of the blooms. I gave them a little brush of Wink Of Stella to add a subtle little bit of pizzazz to the card.

I used my Sending Smiles bundle to complete the card. The paper is so gorgeous that it doesn't really need much else to go with it.

I had to get a bit fancy for the inside of my card. I wanted the sentiment to flow from the front to the inside, so I had to mask the '&' from a different stamp to add to the front of 'sunshine to brighten your day'. I also used some DSP offcuts to finish off the inside.

That's all from melt please do continue your way around our blog hop tonight. You won't want to miss any of the Cajun Craze gorgeousness. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Di Furniss.

If at any time you find a broken link, please head to the blog of this week’s host of the AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop, Cathy Proctor, and she will have the list of all participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 1

 Hi!

Welcome to another year of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. It's great to get started early with making Christmas cards so that you're not scrambling to get enough done in December.

I was a bit slow off the mark with my preorder from the upcoming Mini Catalogue, so I've delved into my stash for this week's card. I've used elements from the Love, Santa Tag Kit and added bits and pieces to make a full card rather than a tag. It was easy enough to snip away the loop at the top of the Christmas tree to make it more suitable for a card.

I've layered the Christmas tree as it is supposed to be for the tag, but I've added it to a card base that's been embossed with the Merry Melody 3DEF. I was so pleased when this embossing folder carried over! If you look closely, you can see a little scattering of gems from the kit over some of the baubles on the tree.

I used some of the stamps from the kit to create the inside of my card. Don't forget your kits - they are a great source of stamps and are on sale this month. The Love, Santa Tag Kit is reduced from $39 to $27.30. Bargain!

Please keep on going around our blog hop tonight, as there's lots more Christmassy inspiration to be seen, starting with my lovely friend, Judy May. She's bound to have something gorgeous!

Sharon Davern is once again our wonderful hostess for the Heart Of Christmas blog hops this year. If you run into any issues with links, just jump on over to her blog where she will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 431: CASE The Annual Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's such a great way to finish the weekend! This week, we are asking you to CASE any project from the Annual Catalogue.

I chose a card that caught my eye when I was looking for a previous challenge, but it didn't quite fit that challenge's brief. I filed away the idea for another time, and this week's challenge was that time!

I really liked the astronaut from Reach For The Stars stamped in the bright colours. It's absurdly fun, don't you think? It made me think of the artwork of Andy Warhol, so my card deviated a little from the original to make it more like the pop art style of Warhol's.

I used my Stamparatus to stamp the astronaut image. I wanted it to be exactly the same in each square, so it was the perfect tool for the job. I stuck with the colours from the original card - Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst and Orchid Oasis - and added Calypso Coral for the fourth colour.

I used the coordinating Stargazing DSP on the base of my card, and to matt the sentiment. I cropped a square out of the middle of the DSP where it won't be seen under the art panel and used a piece of it for the matt. Just a little trick to stretch your supplies further.

I stamped the astronaut again on the inside in Lemon Lime Twist. It's such a fun colour, and I'm glad that it made a comeback.

We'd love for you to play along with us this week - well, every week! All you need to do is make a suitable card and then add a photo to our Facebook Group before the deadline on Sunday evening. Easy!

Please keep hopping your way around all of the blogs tonight - there's lots more Annual Catalogue creativity to be seen. The next stop is the wonderful Julia Quinn, with a stunning floral card.

Bye for now,

Tina