CTC #236: Love, Thanks and Support

Hi!

Welcome! Have you arrived here from Rebecca's blog, or are you just starting here? Either way, please keep hopping and enjoy all the stops on our blog hop this week.

It's the end of the weekend, but for me this means the start of school holidays. Hooray! Hopefully the kids will sleep in a bit so that I can too! Wish me luck 😉

This week we are CASEing any project from the Love, Thanks and Support section of the Annual Catalogue. It's a big section, so there should be plenty to choose from. I flicked through until I got close to the end of the section, and then decided I would CASE the card at the bottom left of page 89.

I think it was the stamped sentiment around the circle layer that caught my eye. I do like a card with an extra level of difficulty! I don't have the Above The Clouds Bundle, so I scanned my shelves and decided upon my Beautiful Bouquet bundle.

I used Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla and Early Espresso on my card. To stamp the 'Congratulations' in a circle, I adhered the Stitched Shapes circle die to my clear block using washiest tape. I then added a piece of double sided tape to the back of my stamp and adhered it to the block, using the die to shape the stamp. I used tape to hold the stamp in place, as the photopolymer had lost a bit of it's stickiness and I didn't want to wash it and wait for it to dry. I'm too impatient for that! I then temporarily adhered the Very Vanilla circle to my card and used it as a template to stamp in the correct position. I started stamping at the bottom, where I knew the stems were going to sit, so that if the words ended up overlapping (and they did!), it would be hidden by the stems.

I die cut the stems and then adhered them together. I wrapped them with an offcut of the Burlap ribbon and tied a bow using some retired Very Vanilla Baker's Twine. The flowers were then added to the bouquet, making sure some were under the stems.

I had several flowers left over, so naturally I used them on the inside of the card. Nothing goes to waste! I've sort of left the card a little vague - I intend it to be a wedding card, but if push comes to shove it could work for an engagement or anniversary too.

Time for you to be hopping on your way, but first I will remind you of our Facebook group, where you can join in the fun and enter your card in our challenge.

But first, you're off to see what the wonderful Siobhan has created!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #461: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

It's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week Rachael has found a stunning Inspiration Photo to kick start our creativity. Just look at those colours!

I have no idea what those trees are, but the yellow foliage is gorgeous. I'm not sure I'd want to park my car under one of them though!

When I see a photo like this, my first instinct is to try to recreate it. I struggled for along time with the perspective, and in the end I gave up on recreating it exactly. Plan B was a 3D card of some sort, either a Bridge fold or a Bendy card. Ultimately, the Bridge fold won.

I started by sponge brayering some Balmy Blue ink onto Whisper White cardstock for the background of the card, fading it out as I got towards the bottom. To make the trees I used the Bouquet Bunch dies. I cut the large bunch of stems from Basic Black and then to make it more trunk like, I adhered the bottom of the stems to a scrap of Basic Black and then hand trimmed around the edges. I then used the cluster of four pointed flowers for the foliage, cut from Daffodil Delight cardstock.

The buildings and roads are a Mama Elephant Die that I've had for ages but never used. I cut three of the buildings in Basic Black, Basic Grey and Smokey Slate and layered them on the background using Dimensionals between each layer. I didn't pop out any of the windows, but those that fell out were backed with Whisper White cardstock.

I used some left over flower clusters and another row of buildings to finish the back of the card. This time I popped out all the windows, and I must say that I think it looks fantastic!

The Design Team have used the Inspiration Photo in so many ways for their cards. You can see their cards over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card for the challenge. What inspires you in the photo?

Bye for now,

Tina

Beautifully Gorgeous Grape Bouquet

Hi!

Welcome to the new Colour Creations Blog Share - and hooray for this new, fabulous purple, Gorgeous Grape. Stampin' Up! has been missing a purple like this from it's range for a while now, so Gorgeous Grape is a very welcome addition to the family.

For my card tonight, I decided to make a more classic card. I started with the striped section at the bottom. Can you guess which stamp set I used to create the stripes?

Did you guess Waterfront? Well done! I had intended to use the stamps on the rest of the card, but as I got to making the main panel I went in a completely different direction. Before I go that way, let's take a moment to admire the Black Glittered Organdy Ribbon. isn't it stunning?

It's hard to see in the photos, but the Whisper White panel on the base is embossed with the Tin Tile DTIEF. To make the main panel, I stamped the stems from Beautiful Bouquet in Granny Apple Green (next week's colour!), and then a few of the clusters of four petal flowers in Gorgeous Grape. I then adhered some die cuts of the coordinating flowers from the Bouquet Bunch Framelits using Mini Dimensionals. It adds just that little touch of dimension to the bouquet.

I used a similar process for the inside, except that I adhered the die cut flowers flat to the card. Hopefully you can see that I've also embossed the Gorgeous Grape card stock to match the front of the card.

You can find the rest of this week's Gorgeous Grape cards over at Catherine's Blog. I can't wait to see what everyone's done with this lovely colour.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #418: Just Add Colour

Hi!

Yes, it's Just Add Ink challenge day! This week Jo has given us a very pretty colour combination to work with.

What a coincidence for me to have two projects requiring Blushing Bride in one week! Tuesday I showed you some brayering I'd done with Blushing Bride ink and the Delightfully Detailed SDSP. You can see that post here. Today I'm using the other piece of cardstock that I produced.

There's something about white lace that says wedding to me, so that's where I went with the card. It was pretty quick and easy to cut and assemble the bouquet. Unfortunately my photo doesn't show the Daffodil Delight blooms very well - they are much softer than the photo makes them look.

This was my first time playing with the new Soft Sea Foam colour. It's such a lovely green, and a perfect accompaniment to Blushing Bride. I can see myself using it lots!

On the inside I stamped one of the flower stamps from Beautiful Bouquet multiple times across the bottom using Blushing Bride ink and then brayered some Blushing Bride ink over the top to soften the look. I love how it turned out!

Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the other gorgeous creations the Design Team have made this week. They always stun me with how beautiful they are!

Bye for now,

Tina

Beautiful Bouquet CASE

Hi!

Today's card is a CASE of this card by BJ Peters. I made it sometime last year as a class sample, and just haven't gotten around to blogging it until now. It's too pretty to stay hidden on my hard drive though!

I loved BJ's card so much that I CASEd it nearly exactly. The only thing different is the embossing folder I used. I don't have the Ruffled 3D Dynamic TIEF, so I switched it for the Layered Leaves 3D Dynamic TIEF.

Once you've completed all of the Big Shotting, this is actually a fairly quick and easy card to put together. The fiddliest bit is attaching all of the pearls. I've just noticed that one of mine must have fallen off somewhere along the way. Oops!

BJ didn't show the inside of her card, so I had to improvise for mine. I simply stamped the stems and then added a couple more flower die cuts. I didn't stamp an inside sentiment so that the card could be used for a variety of 'Congratulations' purposes.

Thanks for the inspiration, BJ!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #392: Just Add Something New Blog Hop

Hi!

Welcome back to another fun year of Just Add Ink challenges! As usual, we are kicking off the year with a Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from Jan's blog, where I'm sure you found something very inspiring, or you may be starting out here. Doesn't matter, just keep hopping until you get back to where you started!

What a perfect theme for a new year: something new. It can be either new product, or a card for something new, like a new house, new baby - anything that fits the something new theme! I've done a bit of both by using new products on a congratulations card that could be used to celebrate anything new in someone's life.

In making this card, I've done something I don't usually do. I've used some of our new Memories and More cards as the feature on this card. Both the spotty background and the main flower panel are from the Sweet Soiree Memories and More card pack, which is a new Sale-A-Bration choice. All I had to do was trim the larger card to fit the card front and add a bit of Wink Of Stella to the flower image. I also added some WOS to the Rich Razzleberry card underneath the main panel. Hopefully you can see it sparkling nicely in the photo.

How sweet is this ribbon that I've added to the card? It's actually two different ribbons that I've layered. It took a few goes to get the bow looking perfect, but I'm glad I persevered, as I think it looks great. Both ribbons are new - the Calypso Coral shimmer ribbon is a part of a three pack that is a Sale-A-Bration choice, and the Whisper White Organza can be found on page 23 of the Occasions Catalogue.

Here's some more new product on the inside of the card. The flower sticker is from the new Sweet Soiree Embellishment Kit, which is on page 13 of the Occasions Catalogue. It matches perfectly with the image on the front, except that it is outlined in Silver Foil instead of black. So pretty! The dotty piece is the section I chopped off the M&M card to make it fit the card base. Nothing gets wasted!

Thanks for checking out my 'something new' card. Next you're off to see the gorgeous card that Di has made for our Just Add Ink blog hop.

Bye for now,

Tina