Colour Creations: Bumblebee

 Hi!

Welcome back to this week's Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week it's Bumblebee's turn. Are you a fan of this mustardy-yellow? I am not! I much prefer a 'cleaner' yellow, so I really struggled with this week's card. In looking through the products I own that featured Bumblebee, I came across my What A Year Memories and More card pack, and an idea was born!

I loved the tile pattern on this card, and so it became the basis for my card. I started by cropping the curve in the bottom of the card using one of my Basic Borders Dies. I then matted the piece on some Bumblebee cardstock and cropped it again, so that I had a thin Bumblebee border all around the piece.

I couldn't resist using the retired Dainty Diamonds 3DEF on the Whisper White card - it is the perfect match with the M&M card! A few pops of black with the Matte Black Dots finished off the front nicely.

You can see that on the inside of my card I used the offcuts from the M&M card and the Bumblebee matt on the front. Not much gets wasted in my house!

Please continue your way around our Blog Hop, as there's plenty more inspiration to be seen. Next up is the AWH Team leader, Claire Daly.

If you find a broken link at any point in the Blog Hop, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog. 

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Seaside Spray

 Hi!

Phew, we are getting close to the end now! The Colour Creations Creative Showcase is up to Seaside Spray this week. I had to laugh a bit when I realised that I made my Seaside Spray card while watching Prince Philip's funeral - he was in the Navy, so it's kind of fitting. 

I chose Basic Black as the main basis for my card, as I thought that the Seaside Spray flowers would really pop against it. I think that the extra Seaside Spray layer frames the card nicely, too. The flowers and leaves were cropped using the Perennial Petals dies.

I embossed the topmost Basic Black layer with my soon-to-be-retired Dainty Diamonds embossing folder. I struggled for a long time over adding a sentiment - nothing I tried seemed to work. Finally, I just went small and simple and I think it works nicely. The sentiment is from the coordinating Pretty Perennials stamp set.

I had one left over flower, so it was perfect for the inside. I also had a partial leaf die cut, so I put it to use with the flower. The white on white is not quite as impactful as white on black, but I like the look.

That's all from me, but please do pop on over to Cathy's blog, where you'll find the links for the rest of this week's Seaside Spray cards. I like this dusky blue, and will be a little sad when it retires.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Terracotta Tile

 Hi!

Thanks for coming back for the new Colour Creations Creative Showcase. We are jumping out of order, just this once, as we had to fit Terracotta Tile into the series before it retires in around a month. As an In Colour, it is only in our range for two years before making way for a new set of In Colours. 

I recently repaired a broken Jar punch for a friend, and took the opportunity to punch a few shapes - I had to test that it was working, right? 😆 After punching the Jar from Terracotta Tile cardstock I used a small amount of White Craft ink and a dry water brush to apply the ink to the punched shape. I was deliberately going for a very streaky look, and I was please about how it turned out.

I then used my new Forever Flourishing Dies to crop some foliage to go into the vase. I used Basic Black card and Silver Foil. Neither shows up the embossing lines in the dies very well - I probably need to use a shim in my machine to get the full effect.

I repeated the scene on the inside, except that I cut down the black foliage a little so that it didn't take up too much space on the inside. I need room for writing a message! I also used some Terracotta Tile cardstock for the other foliage instead of foil.

Please pop on over to Cathy's blog for the rest of this week's Terracotta Tile cards. Next week we are back to our alphabetical order, featuring Sahara Sand.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #303: CASE The Sale-A-Bration Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I nearly missed the deadline for this, as the Australia Day public holiday has thrown my week right out! Does that happen to you, especially when the holiday is in the middle of the week?

This week we are challenging you to CASE any project from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue. It's a lot smaller than the Mini or the Annual, but it is still chock a block full of gorgeous projects to CASE.

I'm still in a tricky mood, so once again I started flicking from the front of the catalogue. This little gift box on the third page caught my eye because it uses flowers that are die cut from DSP rather than cardstock or stamped images. I think it's really clever, and a great way to get slight variations in colour without the mess of watecolouring or smooshing, or other techniques.

The sample used flowers cropped from the Sale-A-Bration freebie DSP, Paper Blooms. I don't have that DSP, but the Ice Cream Corner DSP has pages with similar patterns. I'm guessing so that you can punch some ice cream shapes from it, but flowers and leaves work just as well! I used my Perennial Petals Dies to crop the flowers and leaves from the DSP. The white loopy bits layered over the flowers were cropped from Whisper White cardstock. A Rhinestone finished off each flower.

I used my Dainty Diamonds Embossing Folder for the background, and my Well Written and Stitched Nested Labels Dies for the sentiment panel.

Another flower and strip of embossed card finished off the inside. I didn't stamp anything on the inside - in fact, there's no stamping at all on this card!

What inspires you from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue? I can't wait to see what you make. Just add your photo to our Facebook group.

Before you dash off the get stamping, please do finish our Blog Hop! Next up is the lovely Sandra with her super adorable card! Hop on over *wink*!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #532: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome back to the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week we have a cool sketch, designed by Patrice.

My oldest son graduated High School recently. Due to a new COVID 'circuit breaker' lockdown in Adelaide, his formal was cancelled. We did a little celebration for him at home, which included strawberry cake and red and gold star shaped balloons. Can you tell what his favourite colour is? LOL! I decided that I would make him a card to mark this huge occasion in his life.

I stuck with the red and gold stars theme, using my Stitched Stars Dies and Red and Gold Foil to cut the starry flourish and large star for the front. The word 'congratulations' is from Well Said, and is cropped using my Stitched Rectangles Dies.

You can see that I've also used my Dainty Diamonds EF on the background. I thought that it worked well with the stars without being too girly.

I cut a few smaller Red Foil Stitched Stars for the inside, and complimented them with the Gold Foil stars that popped out of the flourish on the front.

You can join in the fun over on the Just Add Ink Blog. Once you've checked out the rest of the DesignTeam cards, you can add your card to our linky. I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Just Jade

 Hi!

Welcome back to this week's Colour Creations Showcase. This week we are highlighting one of the newest In Colours - Just Jade. It's what I'd call a dusky green, and is a shade that I really like. Despite that, I haven't used it much, yet. After this week's showcase, I may find myself reaching for it a little more!

I started by using my Stitched Triangles dies to cut a heap of isosceles triangles from Just Jade cardstock. I then threw them into my Subtle 3DEF and ran it though my Big Shot. I didn't want the embossing to go in the same direction on each triangle, although it seems that in trying to be random, two have ended up the same! Oh well.

I cut some tree trunks from Brushed Metallic foil, and also the word 'peace' from my Joy Dies. The stars are from the swirly die in the Stitched Stars set. All this was layered over the top of a Whisper White layer, embossed with the Dainty Diamonds 3DEF. I like how the pattern could be stars twinkling in the background.

I repeated the trees on the inside, just on a much smaller scale, and the finished off with a sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas.

As is usual for our Colour Creations Showcase, the list of all participants is over on the lovely Catherine's blog. Please do pop on over to see what everyone has made.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Flirty Flamingo

 Hi!

Welcome back to my blog for the new Colour Creations Showcase. This week we are up to Flirty Flamingo. It's a gorgeous, retro pink that I have come to love since it has joined the colour line up. I wasn't keen on it to start with, and I know a few of my fellow bloggers tonight aren't too keen on it, but it has certainly grown on me.

Despite it not being a very traditional Christmas colour, I decided to use it on a Christmas card, featuring my Peace & Joy bundle. I started by embossing my card front with the Dainty Diamonds 3DEF - also fast becoming a favourite! I like how it sort of reflects the 'sparkle' image I stamped on the centre square.

The other two squares were stamped with the holly image and one of the leaves. I heat embossed the 'merry' and 'and' stamps using white embossing powder. I think it's gone off though, as it's not very white! Clearly, I need to emboss more so that it doesn't have time to go off!

A second strip of the Dainty Diamonds embossing was used to decorate the inside panel. The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas. I only recently purchased that set, and I'm finding it to be a great set. Lots of different Christmas sentients in different shapes, so there's always one that suits.

As always, the lovely Catherine is hosting tonight's Showcase, so please pop on over to her blog. You'll find the links for all of tonight's Flirty Flamingo cards there.

Colour Creations: Daffodil Delight

 Hi!

Thank you for joining me once again for another week of the Colour Creations Showcase. This week we are looking at Daffodil Delight. As I said last week, I'm not a huge fan of yellow, but I do like the cheerful yellow that is Daffodil Delight.

I saw a card recently, where the top panel was cut on the angle like I have done.I quite liked the look and wanted to try it out. I chose to use the roses from Beautiful Friendship to use along the edge. I love how big and bold they are - they really make a statement!

Would you believe I've only just purchased the Dainty Diamonds 3DEF? I've been using it on nearly every card since! I embossed the Daffodil Delight card front and adhered it to the Thick Whisper White base. A smaller piece of Whisper White was embossed using the Subtle 3DEF and layered over the top using Dimensionals. The leaves peeking out from underneath have a coat of Wink Of Stella for a little bit of bling.

I repeated the look for the inside, minus the Subtle 3DEF and the leaves. 

The lovely Catherine is once again hosting the Showcase, so please do pop on over to her blog, where you'll find the rest of this links for our Daffodil Delight cards. They are always a fabulous collection of cards, well worth the look.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #283: CASE The Colours Of The Trimming The Town DSP

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me on a cold and wet Sunday evening, or at least it's cold and wet here in Adelaide, which is doubly rude of the weather gods after giving us a very Spring-like day yesterday! Hopefully we starting having more of those sorts of days as we come out of Winter.

This week the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Crew are asking you to CASE the colours in the Trimming The Town DSP. This simply means make something using Misty Moonlight, Old Olive, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Early Espresso and Whisper White. You can use all of the colours, or just a few. I managed to get all the colours on my card.

I started by creating my background, which used blending brushes to apply ink to Whisper White card. I started with Pool Party in the middle third, then added Old Olive to the bottom third and Misty Moonlight to the top third. I then splattered some water over the top, followed by some Frost White Shimmer Paint. I did some big blobs of water, which I regretted straight away, so I've tried to hide them under my Dainty Diamonds embossed Vellum layer!

I had originally planned to have the 'peace on earth' sentiments on my circle layer, but then I realised that the only colour I hadn't used was Early Espresso. The trees from Coming Home solved that problem! They were stamped on watercolour paper and watercoloured, as there aren't Early Espresso Blends.

When I was making my background for the front, I made it slightly larger so that I could use the offcut for the inside. I die cut a Whisper White Stitched Rectangle the same size as the background and then nestled it inside the offcut on the inside of the card. This time I used Blends on the trees on the inside. I cheated a little and used Bronze for the trunks!

That's all from me for tonight. As always, you can join in with the fun over in our Facebook Group. You just need to make a card based on the challenge, take a photo and upload it to the group. Easy!

Please do continue on with the Blog Hop. Next you're off to see the absolutely adorable card that Siobhan has made. It really is cute!

Bye for now,

Tina