Summer Christmas Cards

Hi!


I really love Christmas - it's such a fabulous time of year! There's a lot to do to get ready for the big day, but once it's all done the best part is sitting back and relaxing with family, laughing and enjoying being together. One of my favourite things about Christmas, though, is that it's summer! Lots of that relaxing happens around the pool with a cool drink in hand and kids playing and splashing in the water.


I was recently introduced to Paperless Post, who were looking for bloggers to design their ideal Christmas card for a summertime Christmas celebration. Summery Christmas cards aren't something I do often, so I was excited to give this a go! I ended up having so much fun that I created three different cards.


The first stamp set I reached for had to be Day At The Beach - is there any other more perfect stamp set for this task? I was a little stuck for summery Christmas sentiments, so I  asked a group of f ellow demonstrators and they helped me out for the first two cards.

LOL, I really loved this first one - Let It Snow.... Elsewhere. So apt for Australia! I sponged this card, using sticky notes to mask off the horizon and the shoreline. Can you see the 'foamy' sea on the shoreline? I stamped over the top of the sponging with Whisper White craft ink and the little splatter stamp from Swirly Bird. I quite like the effect!

I used the Labeler Alphabet stamp set to create my custom sentiments for this card.

One of my other demonstrator friends helped me with the sentiment for this one - I love the play on words! I'm really loving the cards you see around that are a wreath of flowers and foliage around a sentiment. I decided to use that concept, but to replace the flowers with summery images.

I once again used an alphabet stamp set to create the custom sentiments. They come in so handy! This card was quite large (5 1/8 inch square) so I was able to use the slightly larger Brushwork Alphabet stamp set.

I think this last card might be my favourite of the three. It's a smaller, notecard sized card, and I love how the red sunglasses take centre stage.

I've never used a hashtag in my life, but I just had to include one on this card.

Here are the three cards together.  All so different, but all use the Day At The Beach stamp set to create summery Christmas cards.


Thanks so much to  Paperless Post for having such a great idea - I had a blast doing it!


Bye for now,


Tina

JAI #315: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!


Oh, what a miserable, wet week it's been. The upside of that is that it's perfect card making weather. Well, any weather is perfect card making weather, if I'm really honest!

We all love card making at Just Add Ink, and this week we are doing a sketch challenge.

Lots of layers in this one! I decided to cheat a little and turn some of the layers into non-layers using some faux stitching. Does that make sense?

See what I mean? I actually did the same thing for the smaller layer under the flower, but I made it far too small to be seen behind the flower. A handy piece of DSP to the rescue!

My Flower Patch stamp set has been a little neglected lately. OK, a lot neglected. My stamp shelves are looking VERY empty at the moment as I'm waiting for my new catalogue things to arrive. It's a great excuse to drag out some old favourites to play with.

I had a spare leaf left from the front of the card, so I used it to finish the inside, along with a little more faux stitching.


The Just Add Ink Design Team have done a great job making cards based on this sketch. You can see their cards over on the Just Add Ink blog. See you there!


Bye for now,


Tina

AWH Blog Hop: Colour Combo

Hi!

Welcome to the Art With Heart Team Blog Hop for October. This month we have a colour challenge for you. Have you heard about the GREAT opportunity to earn more as a hostess (or get a greater discount on your Starter Kit by putting your hostess benefits towards the starter kit) between October 8th to November 9th, There's no greater time to host a party or even a virtual party on Facebook. Contact me to find out more. You will love being a part of out awesome Australia wide team. We are all about fun, friendship, inspiration and support.

I really love this combo - it's a great mix of bold and soft colours.  I decided to pull out my very neglected Mini Treat Bag Thinlits and have a play with the set.

Wait a minute, I hear you say, that's not a bag, it's a box! It sure is! To make the box using the Thinlits I cut two of the front/side pieces, trimmed off the top to make it level and then scored about 1/4 inch in along the side piece to create a flap.  I then cut a piece for the base, making it a little longer than the box is wide so I could score to create flaps to adhere it to the sides of the box. Hopefully that makes sense!

While the box pieces were still flat I used the heart thinlit to create a window in the front of the box. This box will hold a wedding gift, but if you wanted a more generic theme you could use the banner or star shapes, or even a circle.  I used my Flower Patch stamps and the coordinating Flower Fair Framelits to decorate the front.

I needed a little card to fit into the box, so I decided to go with the same basic design.  I used the cut out heart on the card so I switched to a Whisper White base.

Here are the two together. I don't know about you, but I love finding uses for dies other than their intended use - it makes them so much more appealing!

The next stop in the Blog Hop is Ros Davidson, who is bound to amaze you with her creativity!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

 

1. Tina Gillespie
2. Ros Davidson
3. Genna Gifford
4. Kathryn Ruddick
5. Judy May
6. Jenny van Dijk
7. Kate Morgan

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #242: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Apologies for the blog absence, both Hudson and I have been sick, so blogging had to take a back seat.  We are on the mend now though, just in time for the new Just Add Ink challenge.

This week Trish has challenged us to use this inspiration picture to shape our creations.

Isn't it pretty? I love the watercolour look on the left side, but I ended up taking my inspiration from the flowers on the right side.

This card was made for a very special lady who turned 60 recently.  I know she loves having flowers in the house, so I decided to make her a card full of daisies.

It was a big hit! The flowers were super easy to create using my Flower Patch stamp set and the matching Flower Fair framelits.

I even added some daisies to the back of the card. I think that there can't be many people who don't smile when they see daisies, they are such a cheerful flower.

So, what direction will this inspiration picture send you in?  I can't wait to see over at the Just Add Ink blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Another One Sheet Wonder Card

Hi!

I've been showing you some One Sheet Wonder cards lately, and today I have another for you.  This one used only a smallish square of the OSW, so it's a great design for using up those smaller left over pieces.

The large flower in the OSW piece that I wanted to feature was stamped in Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango, so these were the colours I chose to use on my card.

I punched a hole in the front strip and layered it on top of the OSW piece with Dimensionals.  A little strip of white down the side helped to separate the Crushed Curry from the Tangerine Tango.  I punched it with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch and just left the cute little scallops peeking out.

So that's the last of my OSW cards. I hope I have inspired you to give it a go!

Bye for now,

Tina

Another One Sheet Wonder Card

Hi!

I'm still on the One Sheet Wonder cards I talked about in my last post. This one was made as a class sample.  It's the same concept, but a different OSW using different colours.  I took the colours from the new Flowerpot DSP.

I also used the new photopolymer Project Life stamp set called Remember This.  It's a fabulous set for Project Life scrapping, but I love this celebrate sentiment for birthday cards.  The little sparkles are very pretty.

I love the look of tying a button around some ribbon using twine.  It's a lovely way to add a button to a card.

As you can see, I used a small scrap of the OSW on the inside of the card.  It's a great way to tie in the inside and outside.

Bye for now,

Tina

Happy Blooming Birthday

Hi!

A long time ago, before I started stamping, One Sheet Wonders were all the rage.  They died out around the time I discovered stamping, but now they are back, baby! lol

Stampin' Up!'s new photopolymer stamp set Flower Patch makes creating a One Sheet Wonder (OSW) a breeze! So what is a OSW I hear you ask? It's basically a whole sheet of cardstock that you stamp in one go and then cut up to make lots of cards.  You are essentially creating your own Designer Series Paper.  You can find cutting templates online, just google "One Sheet Wonder templates" and I'm sure you'll find heaps.

Once you've selected your stamp set the hardest part is choosing your colours.  I cheat a little and take colours from my favourite DSP packs.  In the case of this card I took the colours from the last Sale-A-Bration DSP called Sweet Sorbet.  Because the stamp set has lots of layered flowers I then chose a second colour to coordinate.  For example, Crisp Cantaloupe is one of the Sweet Sorbet DSP colours that I chose to use on the biggest flower.  I then selected Strawberry Slush as a darker shade to use as the second layer on the flower.  Easy!

In this middle of the card I have paired Pool Party with Lost Lagoon.  Oooh, a pool party in a lost lagoon sounds like fun! lol

This card was a class sample, and I knew that some of my ladies weren't keen on the Happy Blooming Birthday sentiment, so I also made a card using the Happy Birthday stamp from Sassy Salutations.  I like them both, but I've just noticed that I didn't put any rhinestones on the second card. Oops!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #223: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

It's nearly the end of the school holidays here.  One weekend to go!  We are having a group of giggly girls for a sleep over tonight for Ada's birthday.  She turned 9 a week ago, but we delayed her party until the end of the holidays.  I mention her birthday because the card I made for the new Just Add Ink challenge was her birthday card.

This week it's s sketch designed by yours truly.  I love designing sketches, but I love seeing what people do with them even more!

Here's the card I made for her.  I turned the sketch into an easel card and stamped it using the new Flower Patch Photopolymer stamp set.

I really love this set and the endless possibilities for combining the images and colours.  Ada's favourite colour is blue, so I stuck with blues for her card.

All little girls love some bling, so the 9 was the perfect way to add it to her card.

A bit more bling on the base to keep the card propped open!

I'm pleased to say that she loved the card!

I hope you find time to play along with my sketch at Just Add Ink this week.

Bye for now,

Tina