JAI 682: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink Challenge! This week we have a Sketch challenge for you, designed by.... me!

When I design sketches, I try to make tham as open to interpretation as I can. I just love what the Design Team has done with the sketch. So many gorgeous cards.

I decided to play with my Beary Christmas DSP again. I thought that the mini scenes with the animals would be a great choice for the oval panel. To suit the paper, I rotated the oval, but otherwise kept the card the same as the sketch.

The glittery strip behind the polar bears was very difficult to photograph. It's gorgeous in real life - you'll just have to take my word for it! I finally cracked open my Navy Glitter ribbon too. Yum!

Did you notice that I didn't use a sentiment on the front of the card? I didn't think needed one, so I left it off. It's pretty easy to tell what occasion the card is for! Just in case the recipient can't work it out, there's a lovely big sentiment on the inside, stamped using my Joy To You stamp set.

That's all from me for tonight. Please pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created with the sketch. You can also link up your card to enter the challenge. I'd love to see what you do with the sketch.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 17

 Hi!

Welcome to the final Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2023. I haven't been able to participate as often as I have in previous years, but I was determined that I wouldn't miss the final week. I've missed not hopping each week, but life had other things in store for me.

This week I've used the April 2022 Sheetload of Cards template for my cards. I was determined to fussy cut some of the animals from the Beary Christmas DSP, and the layout of the card was chosen to suit. I think that this polar bear and bunny are adorable!

The cards have a shortened front, so that the snowflake DSP does double duty. An economical way to decorate both the front and the inside of your card. As a bonus economy, the trimmed section from the card base was used to matt the sentiment panel on the front of the card.

Here's my two cards together. I used my Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments. It's certainly been a favourite sentiment set for Christmas for me.

I hope that you've enjoyed this series of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops as much as I have. Sharon Davern has done a wonderful job of keeping us all organised along the way. Thanks, Sharon!

It's not quite over yet, though! Please keep on hopping around the blogs until you get back to your starting point. The next stop on the way is my lovely friend, Kathryn Mangelsdorf.

For one last time, if you run into issues with links tonight, jump on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She'll have a list of all tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 12

 Hi!

Welcome to another week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I've taken a break from making cards using the Sheetload Of Cards templates this week, as I was extremely time poor. Although they save a lot of time by having all the dimensions set out, I still need to convert to Australian A4 size and then cut out all the pieces.

Beary Christmas DSP to the rescue! All I needed was a sheet of the paper, a card base, and a sentiment. The hardest part was working out where to put the sentiment panel so that I didn't obscure too much of the gorgeous DSP.

My sentiment is from Brightest Glow, cropped with the Modern Oval Punch. It just arrived in my latest order, and I can see that I will use it lots! I added a little piece of ribbon under the sentiment, just to help it pop a little from the DSP.

I love that the little strip of DSP that I used on the inside of my card has a polar bear peeking in from the side. I didn't plan that cut, it just happened. Serendipitous!

Please keep on hopping around the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop tonight. The next stop is my lovely friend, Andrea Sargent.

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

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 11

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the eleventh week of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. We are inching ever closer to Christmas! I'm enjoying the inspiration I get from doing the hops each week, and I hope that you are too.

Today I have a pair of cards for you, made using the August 2022 Sheetload Of Cards template. I wanted to use my Joy To You stamp set, and this was a template that I thought suited the large format of the sentiments.

I used a strip of the presents DSP from the Beary Christmas DSP pack on the inside of my card, and as I type my blog post, I notice that I've glued this one down upside down. Oops! Hopefully the recipient won't notice!

Here's my pair of cards together. I matted the sentiment on the more purple-ish of the Silver Foils, which looks quite blue against the blues in the papers. I like the subtle touch of shimmer.

My lovely friend, Kate Morgan, is bound to have something wonderful for you to see, so don't miss out. Just click the next button to jump over to her blog.

If you run into any issues, pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She's our wonderful hostess, and will have a list of all of tonight's hoppers to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 10

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for another Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. We are up to Week 10, can you believe? We are creeping ever closer to Christmas. Hopefully you've been inspired to start your Christmas crafting along with us, so it's not such a rush at the end.

My card this week uses the June 2019 Sheetload Of Cards, which I think was the first one ever. I thought that it was a great way to show off the different papers from the Beary Christmas DSP pack.

I used my Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments, and the coordinating Labels Aglow Dies on the front of the card.

I made two cards, and constructed both of them slightly differently. The sentiment placement was to suit the DSP on each card, as I didn't want to cover up the polar bears. The longer Real Red label on the right side card was because I was worried that the one on the left was too short. Which do you prefer?

Please continue your way around our Blog Hop tonight - there's lots more Christmassy inspiration to be found. My lovely friend, Judy May, makes gorgeous Christmas cards!

Hopefully all tonight's links are working as they should for you, but if you do run into a problem please pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog. 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 9

 Hi!

Welcome to Week 9 of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I was a bit lacking in inspiration when I made my cards, so I once again looked to the Sheetload Of Cards templates to give me a boost. I chose to use the February 2022 sketch, as I thought that it was the one that suited my new stamp set the best.

More Wishes was near the top of my must-have list when I first saw the new Mini Catalogue. I love the two different fonts, although I've only used one on my card this time. I also love that the words in the stamp set can be mixed and matched.

I also love that it coordinates perfectly with Biggest Wish - but do you expect any different from Stampin' Up!? In this case, the word 'happy' was borrowed from Biggest Wish to make my sentiment for the inside of the card.

I made two cards again this week, to help boost my stash. The DSP is Beary Christmas, my favourite of this year's offerings. I also pulled out my Silver Metallic Enamel Effects. I just dotted it a few times on the front of each card.

That's all from me for tonight, but please keep making your way around all of the blogs. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Christine Blain.

As ever, the wonderful Sharon Davern keeps us all organised, so if you run into any issues with links, just pop on over to her blog. She'll have a list of all participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

CASEing The Catty 439: Joy Of Christmas

 Hi!

Phew! It feels like ages since I've managed to play along with the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenges. Life has got in the way, but I was determined to play this week.

We are CASEing from the Joy Of Christmas Suite, which is in the current Mini Catalogue.

This card, on page 30, caught my eye. I loved the layering around the sentiment, and the shaped feature panel. When I looked at my Christmas stamp sets, I realised that I have no sets with images - they are all words!

Thankfully, I do have the Beary Christmas DSP, which was a great alternative. All the hard work is done for me! I carefully cropped a scene using my elongated hexagon die from the Nested Essentials Dies. The polar bears and the tree fit perfectly!

I used another strip of Real Red DSP from the same pack to layer under the Brightest Glow sentiment. The pop of colour ties in nicely with the gifts on the bear's back.

Some left over strips of DSP were used to decorate the inside of my card. The row of trees is really cute!

We'd love for you to play along with us by CASEing a project from the Joy Of Christmas Suite. All you need to do is add a photo to our Facebook Group before the challenge ends in a week.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. The next stop is my lovely friend, Rachel Palmieri with a gorgeous card. You won't want to miss it.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 7

 Hi!

Welcome to the seventh week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I finally have some new stuff, so I was excited to play along this week.

How gorgeous is the Beary Christmas DSP? It really doesn't need much else, so I used the May 2023 Sheetload Of Cards to show off as much of the paper as possible. I paired it with the new Joy To You stamp set for the sentiment.

As I used the More Dazzling paper on the front, I also used a small strip on the inside. I changed my stamp set to Brightest Glow, as I didn't want to put a big sentiment on the inside of the card.

I've decided to make only two cards each time using the Sheetload templates. I was in the enviable position of having too many cards last year, so I don't need to make as many this year. You can see hat I varied the position of the sentiment panel, mostly to try not to cover too many of the polar bears.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do keep going around the blog hop until you get back to where you started. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

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

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 670: Just Add Wildlife

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a theme challenge for you, suggested to us by Fiona. She's like us to Just Add Wildlife to our cards this week.

I was a bit stumped for a while, but then my new pack of Beary Christmas DSP arrived, and I was back on track! I instantly loved the sheet of paper that has the full page scene of the polar bears on icebergs - the challenge was how to make it work on a card without chopping the bears in half or wasting too much. I think I succeeded!

I loved this polar bear straight away, sitting on the ice and gazing at the sky. He was a great choice for the front of the card.

To give him something a little more exciting than just the sky to gaze at, I used my Tim Holtz Moon Masks to create a moon for him. The sentiment is a partial image from another new purchase, the Joy To You stamp set from the new Mini Catalogue. I think it works brilliantly with the scene that I created.

Below the polar bear on the front was this little grouping. It's so sweet! I fussy cut around the family and then lightly inked the cardstock underneath, before gluing it over the top. I don't like wasting anything, so this was a great choice for the inside of my card.

What do you think of when you see 'wildlife'? You can see what the Design Team have made over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card for the challenge. I'm keen o see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina