Colour Creations: Pacific Point

 Hi!

Welcome back to another year of blogging, kicking off with the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are resuming for 2023 by featuring Pacific Point - a bright, mid blue that is lovely.

This combo from Brian King has a little bit of a nautical vibe. I didn't quite go nautical, but I did use Oceanfront to create my card.

I love that these stamps are photopolymer, making lining them up so easy! I used five different stamps from the set to create the scene. The stamps I've used for the land and sky nest together perfectly.

I snuck an extra colour onto the front of my card - I had to use a little Crumb Cake for the land. I cropped the whole scene using a Stitched Rectangle Die, matted it with Poppy Parade, and popped it up over some Celebrate Everything Host DSP.

A little more of the scene for the inside of my card. I think it's a lovely little surprise for the recipient.

That's all from me for this week's Colour Creations Blog Hop, but there's lots more inspiration to be seen. Just keep making your way around our blog hop, starting with the lovely Kate Morgan.

If you run into any issues with links, Catherine Proctor is the lady to know! Just jump on over to her blog, where she'll have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 22

 Hi!

Welcome back for the final Heart Of Christmas blog hop for 2022. I can't believe we are so close to Christmas! I've made 88 cards for the blog hops this year, just by using the Sheetload Of Cards templates to make four cards each week. It's a stress free way to quickly build a decent stash!

Tonight's cards are made using the October 2019 Sheetload Of Cards template. The front of the card is folded back on itself to make a nice and easy fancy fold. The red Spruced Up Outlines bauble is a left over from another set of cards. I had planned to heat emboss the sentiment in white on the front, but I got lazy. I was just about to stamp directly on the first bauble, when I noticed that the baubles on the DSP had a circle feature. Bingo!

Speaking of the DSP, it's from the gorgeous Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack. I've used it so much this year - I especially love the black design that I've used on the inside of my cards. The colourful Christmassy images really pop against the black.

The sentiments are from Brightest Glow. I chose scripty fonts so that I didn't have to worry too much about stamping straight - they look perfectly fine on a slight angle!

Thanks again for joining us for the blog hops this year. I hope that you've found lots of Christmas inspiration and have made a good head start on your stash of cards. The next stop in our final blog hop is my lovely friend, Michele Taylor. I wonder if she'll have another of her gorgeous wreath cards for us?

If you run into any problems with links as you hop your way around the blogs tonight, please pop on over to the wonderful Sharon Davern's blog. She deserves a huge thanks for all she's done to organise the hops and keep them running smoothly. Thanks, Sharon!

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 21

 Hi!

Welcome back to the 21st, and second last, week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I'm still a little in disbelief that Christmas is so close, but at least I have more than enough cards ready to write on and send out. If only I was so organised with my Christmas shopping!

This week's Sheetload Of Cards template is from January 2020. I was looking for a super quick and easy sketch for tonight's cards. I had two half hour windows today in which to get them made, and I was successful in my aims. 

I was really pleased with this inside of my cards. I liked just the antlers as a hint of what was stamped on the front of the card. Usually I'd stamp the whole penguin, but just a tease is nice, too.

I was going for a snowy look to the card. Hopefully the paper on the bottom, from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP, looks like snowy hills for the penguins to frolic amongst. Either way, it's a super-cute set of cards.

Thanks again for joining me, and I hop to see you again next week for the final blog hop. In the meantime though, there's plenty more inspiration to be seen on tonight's blog hop, so please jump on over to Christine Blain's blog, where she's no doubt made a gorgeous card for us to see.

As always, the lovely Sharon Davern has done a wonderful job of keeping all of the HOC hoppers organised. If you run into any issues with links, please jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants with the correct links.

Bye for now,

Tina

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

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

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

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

HOC Week 14

 Hi!

Welcome to Week 14 of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. We are motoring ever closer to Christmas, aren't we?!

This week's group of cards was made using the first Sheetload Of Cards template, from June 2019. I deliberately chose bright, colourful papers from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack to go with it. I wanted a happy riot of colour, and I definitely achieved it!

For the sentiments, I used my long neglected Jingle Jingle Jingle stamp set. I split the handwritten-looking greeting across the front and inside of the card. It didn't make much sense to have the whole sentiment on it's own on the front!

Here's the group of four cards together. They will definitely bring Christmas cheer to the recipient!

That's all from me, but we'd love for you to continue your way around the hop. Just keep on going until you get back to where you started. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Andrea Sargent, with what I'm sure will be a wonderful card.

If you run into any problems with links, our lovely hostess Sharon Davern will set you right. Just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 388: CASE An Embossing Project

 Hi!

Welcome back to a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's been a few weeks since I have played along - life just got a bit busy. It's good to be back!

This week we are asking you to CASE an Embossing Project. It can be from either catalogue, and can be heat, dry or paste embossing.

I chose this card from page 38 of the Mini Catalogue to CASE. I'm usually a bit lazy about getting my heat embossing stuff out, but it already happened to be out because I'd used it on another card. I also loved the distressed look to the dry embossed background on the card.

I changed the card to be a regular sized card, rather than the mini slimline in the catalogue. I also made the dry embossed panel smaller, so that more of the Celebrate Everything Host DSP underneath can be seen. To get the distressed look on the Melon Mambo card, I simply swiped my Craft White ink pad over the top, after it had been embossed with the Whimsical Woodland 3DEF.

I stamped the tree, as in the sample, with the Trees For Sale stamp set. I stamped the baubles over the top, and then realised I hadn't opened my Pearlised Enamel Effects yet. Perfect opportunity! It's so easy to use - just a little dot of the thick liquid over the stamped bauble and let it dry! I cut the panel with my Beautiful Shapes Dies before stamping and adding the Enamel.

I'd made a full card front sized panel when I did the embossing and distressing for the front of the card, so I was able to use the offcuts for the inside. I couldn't resist adding more Enamel to the tree, too. Isn't the dimension wonderful?

That's all from me, but we'd love to see which embossing project you will CASE this week. When you've decided, just add a photo of your card to our Facebook Group before next Sunday's blog hop.

My fellow South Aussie, Michelle Strazds, is the next stop in our blog hop this week. She's created a super-sweet card that you won't want to miss! It's so pretty.

Bye for now,

Tina