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

CTC 377: CASE The SAB Catalogue

 Hi!

Welcome once again to another CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. As I mentioned last week, we have two new catalogues this month to CASE. Last week we looked at the Mini Catalogue, and this week it's the Sale-A-Bration catalogue's turn.

I spotted this beauty near the back of the catalogue, on page 15.

I loved the ombre masking with the floral image stamped over the top. I don't have the stamps or the DSP in the sample, so I had a quick look through my stash to see what would give a similar effect.

I started with the Pale Papaya DSP from the Lovely Linen pack, layering it over some Whisper White card before attaching it to the Pale Papaya card base.

I cut three half-inch strips of Masking Paper and used them around the three edges of the Stitched Rectangle Die cut. A Blending Brush was used to apply the Pale Papaya ink, fading it out towards the top to get that gorgeous ombre effect. That fabulous, huge sunflower was a great choice for stamping over the top, I think!

I reused the Masking Paper on the inside of my card to create a similar effect as on the front. This time I just faded the colour away from the corner.

Our challenge is run through our Facebook group, so you don't need a blog to enter! Just take a photo of your card and add a photo to our group. It's that easy! We'd love to have a tricky time choosing a winner as there are so many entries.

Please continue your way around our Blog Hop for more Sale-A-Bration inspiration. The next hopper is the lovely Sandra Collett, with a super cute card for all the dog lovers.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mint Macaron

Hi! 

Thanks for once again joining me for a new Colour Creations Blog Hop. It's the second last hop for 2021, but definitely not the last in the series, as there are lots more colours to come. We are just taking a little, well-deserved, break over Christmas and will be back in the new year.

This week we are looking at Mint Macaron, one of my all time favourite Stampin' Up! colours. Originally an In Colour, I may have squealed a little bit when I found out it was returning to the colour line up in a Colour Refresh.

Coincidentally, I also used the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set for last year's Mint Macaron card. It wasn't a conscious choice again this year, more that it was the best stamp set I had for the look I wanted to achieve. The large sunflower was stamped in Stazon ink on Shimmery White cardstock and then I used a Water Painter to colour the negative space with Mint Macaron ink. I added two layers on ink to ensure that the darker tones were close to the petals, and the colour faded away as it stretched further out from the bloom. I was quite pleased with the effect.

To finish the card I added a strip each of Basic Black and Mint Macaron cardstock underneath the sentiment layer. I definitely wanted the focus on the gorgeous flower.

The sunflower was stamped again, this time in stamped-off Mint Macaron ink, on the inside. I probably included too much of the flower, especially as it's a smaller, 4" square card, but I couldn't resist!

Next up in tonight's Hop is my gifted friend, Andrea Sargent. You definitely won't want to miss her card!

Tonight's Hop is hosted by Christine Blain. Please pop on over to her blog if you tun into any problems with links on the Hop. He'll have a list of all tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Crumb Cake

 Hi!

Welcome to Crumb Cake week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop! Hands up, who loves Crumb Cake? MMMMMEEEEE!!! It's such great neutral colour. Having said that, I was very stuck for inspiration this week. It can be tough making a colour that is usually a background or complimentary colour, a feature colour on a card. I was very happy with my end result, though.

I pulled out my Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set and the coordinating Sunflower Dies, just because I haven't used them in a while. I started by cropping a few layers of an old sewing pattern with the large solid sunflower die. I then layered a Basic Black outline diecut over the top, with a Crumb Cake centre.

The background of my card was created by stamping the large sunflower stamp in Crumb Cake ink onto Crumb Cake card. I then used a Blending Brush to apply Crumb Cake ink to the edges of the piece, and finished by flicking some Crumb Cake ink over the top. I was so thrilled with how it turned out.

I finished the inside with another diecut from the Sunflowers Dies. The sentiment is from Peaceful Moments.

Thanks for spending a little time on my blog with me tonight. Next up on the Hop is Michele Taylor - I always love the cards she makes!

If you find a broken link, or want to see the full list of those participating, please pop on over to Catherine's blog. She's the wonderful woman who keeps us all organised for the Colour Creations Blog Hops.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 331: CASE The Mini Catalogue

 Hi!

Welcome to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This week we are challenging you to CASE any project from the July-December Mini Catalogue.

Flipping through from the back of the catalogue, I came across this beauty in the Bundles Section of the catalogue.

I'm very much a blue girl, so this card and it's gorgeous colour combo appealed to me straight away. I modified it a little for my card, though.

I started with a dry embossed background, rather than embossing paste. I used my Score Board with the diagonal plate to score randomly spaced diagonal lines over my Balmy Blue cardstock. I then stamped the crosses image from Biggest Wish on the card in Balmy Blue ink. It's very subtle!

I used my Hand Penned Petals bundle for the flowers, with Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue, Soft Succulent, Polished Pink and Fresh Freesia inks. I few In Colour gems in Polished Pink finished off the front.

I decorated the inside with the same stamps and colours, with just a sentiment from Celebrate Sunflowers to complete the card.

We'd love for you to join in our challenge, which is as easy as joining our Facebook group and posting a photo of your card. We can't wait to see what you CASE.

Please do continue on with this week's Blog Hop though. The next blog on the hop belongs to my lovely friend, Rachel. Her card took my breath away when I saw it - you really don't want to miss it!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mint Macaron

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new Colour Creations Creative Showcase - isn't that a mouthful to say?! This week we are working with one of my all-time favourite Stampin' Up! colours, Mint Macaron. It was originally an In Colour, and I was very excited to see it back in the line up after a colour refresh. It's a lovely, dusky mid green.

I pulled out the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set to play with tonight for no other reason than it's been a while since I've played with it. In fact, I'd never used the small sunflower stamp before! I stamped is all over my Mint Macaron cardstock with the matching ink. I'd pre-cut cut the cardstock using the largest Stitched Rectangles Die, and after I'd finished stamping I ran it through my Big Shot twice using the Subtle folder, once in each direction. I love that it gives the cardstock a fabric-like look.

The large sunflower was cut from Silver Foil card. I'd originally intended to just use the outline, but when I pulled it from the die, all the pieces stayed in place. I quickly cut the coordinating solid shape from Mint cardstock and glued it to the back, making sure I got a dot of glue on all of the tiny pieces. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, even if it wasn't what I'd intended! I tucked a few die cut leaves underneath, just to finish it off.

I stamped that cute little sunflower image again on the inside, along with a sentiment from Under My Umbrella. My card base was one of the retired Silver Foil cards, as it has that lovely Silver Foil border to match the foil sunflower.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do head on over to Catherine's blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Mint Macaron cards. We have two more weeks of 'M' colours before we take a little break over Christmas and the New Year.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Cajun Craze

Hi!

Wowee, it's Wednesday evening already! The school holidays are flying by! Thankfully I've had lots of time for crafting and even sewing while the kids are home. Speaking of crafting, this week the Colour Creations Showcase is featuring a colour that we all find difficult to use - Cajun Craze. For a long time it kind of sat out there, all on it's own in the colour range, a little unloved. Now we have Terracotta Tile and Cinnamon Cider as fabulous companions. I decided to play with just Cajun Craze tonight, though. 

I stared with a piece of Very Vanilla card, and masked off the stripe along the bottom. I then used my sponge brayer to lay dow the Cajun Craze ink. While it was still masked, I stamped the larger leaf from Celebrate Sunflowers along the strip, leaving space for the two leaves that extend beyond the stripe. I had to lay the sentiment stamp on the card so that I knew exactly where the top leaf would go!

I used my Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment with Memento ink. It needed to be as straight as I could make it, and the Stamparatus is the perfect tool to achieve it. Finally, I ran the whole piece through my Big Shot using the Subtle 3DEF, and then popped it up over a VV card base.

I repeated the process for the inside, except that the stripe ran along the very bottom of the card. This was actually my second go, as I got a bit too enthusiastic with the sponge brayer on the first try, and ended up with ink going over the other edge of the masking tape. Oops! Thankfully, I could just flip the cardstock over and use the reverse side.

Thanks for joining me again tonight. Please head on over to Catherine's blog to see the rest of this week's Cajun Craze cards. I can't wait to see what everyone has made with this colour.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH June Creative Showcase: New Catalogue Products

Hi!

Welcome to the Art With Heart Team Creative Showcase. This month the team are featuring projects using their favourite products from the new Stampin’ Up! 2020-21 Annual Catalogue. The new catalogue is full of amazing new stamp sets, some bundled with dies or punches. The range of kits, papers and accessories complete the range of products you will see featured in this Showcase.

Once again, I have been short on time, so I chose to CASE the die cut Sunflower card from page 13 of the Annual Catalogue.

One of the many benefits of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is access to the many resources that SU provide to help us. One of which is a document which lists the supplies used to create cards featured in the Annual Catalogue. It certainly makes CASEing a whole lot easier!

Unusually for me, I kept my card very close to the original card. This was my first play with the Celebrate Sunflower bundle, and I've been a little intimidated by it. CASEing is a great way to break the ice and get to know the bundle. 

I've used Daffodil Delight, Bumblebee, Basic Black and Early Espresso for the bloom, and Old Olive with Shaded Spruce for the leaves. The sentiment was stamped on Sahara Sand card using Early Espresso ink. I had to use retired Balmy Blue DSP, as I don't have any of the new Subtles DSP. I also used some Champagne Rhinestones, as I don't have the embellishments used on the original card.

I kept the inside very simple, just a little strip of the gingham DSP along the bottom to finish it off. I couldn't decide what else to add - maybe a partial die cut sunflower?

That's all from me, next up is the lovely Vicki Boucher.

If you get lost, or a link is broken, here is the complete list of blogs for tonight's Showcase.

Rachel Woollard

Rebecca Jacovou

Sharon Davern

Tina Gillespie

Vicki Boucher

Caroline Manwaring

Catherine Proctor

Andrea Sargent

Amie McIlroy

Kathryn Mangelsdorf

Kate Morgan

Michele Taylor

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #271 Week 1: CASE The Annual Catalogue

Hi!

Welcome back once again to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. With the launch of the new Annual Catalogue only days away, we are kicking off with CASEing the front cover of the catalogue.

You can choose any element of the cover to CASE - the cards themselves, the colours, the techniques, the stamp sets - you imagination is your limit! I chose to CASE the cover photo itself.

The wattle was one of the first things that caught my eye on the cover. To replicate that, I used one of the Gold Foil wreaths from the Forever Gold Laser Cut Specialty Paper. I'm not a Gold person, so I'd originally skipped over these, but after a Zoom chat with my lovely friend, Judy May, I decided I had to have them! If you're not much of a gold person, you can use the flip side, which is white. There are pops of Bermuda Bay on the cover, so I did the same on my card. It's a nice balance to the blonde wood paper from the In Good Taste DSP pack.

I used a second piece of wood paper from the pack as my circle. I deliberately chose this section, with the strong lines created by the wood planks, as I thought it reflected the strong lines between the cards on the cover. I split the sentiment, from Celebrate Sunflowers, into three pieces to represent the three cards, and a scattering of sequins to finish it off.

I used a smaller gold leaf piece from the Forever Gold pack to decorate the inside, layered over a couple of sprigs cropped using the new Sunflowers Dies, with some more In Good Taste DSP over the top. I've left off a sentiment for the inside, as 'Let's Celebrate You' could work for a few occasions. I can easily stamp an inside sentiment when I know how I'll use this card.

The Annual Catalogue challenge runs for two weeks. To enter all you need to do is make a card that is a CASE of some element of the front cover and post the picture in our Facebook group. Make sure you add a little description of when you are CASEing, especially if it's not obvious.

Before you go, however, don't forget to finish the Blog Hop! Next up is the lovely Michelle, with her gorgeous green card.

Bye for now,

Tina