Colour Creations: Garden Green

Hi! 

Thanks for joining me again for the new Colour Creations Creative Showcase. This week it's the turn of Garden Green. It's a Goldilocks green - not too dark, not too light, but just right! I don't use green a lot, but when I do Garden Green is one of the greens I tend to consider first.

This week I revisited a technique that I'd tried a while ago. It's one by Jennifer MacGuire, where she used die cuts to create a layer card front. Last time I used daisies, this time it is butterflies. I just punched a heaps from Thick Whisper White and layered them until they were large enough to be a card front. I adhered them together at the points of overlap.

They didn't quite have enough definition, so I used a fine tip marker to hand-draw around the edges of each butterfly. I then added a few of the little butterflies and a large black butterfly, each given a coat of Clear Wink Of Stella. I heat embossed the sentiment from Free As A Bird onto Garden Green cardstock and double punched it with my Classic Label Punch.

The card is a tri-fold, so that I could add a plain background behind the butterflies. It then opens up again for the writing panel. I added another hand-outlined butterfly, a piece of left over DSP and the sentiment from Seaside Notions.

That's all from me tonight. As always, please head on over to Catherine's Blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Garden Green cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #268: CASE The Colours of the Ornate Garden DSP

Hi!

Thanks for joining me once again for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. We've been running our challenges for a fortnight lately, but to start the new Catalogue challenges at the right time, we are running challenge #268 for one week. So what is the challenge?

The colours of the Ornate Garden Suite! Such. fun, fresh palette of colour. You can use a few, or the whole lot, what ever suits you! I actually managed to use the lot, except the new In Colour, Bumblebee. We don't have that yet, so I switched out for Mango Melody.

I started by sponging a piece of Whisper White with Old Olive, Mint Macaron and Terracotta Tile ink. I wasn't really happy with it, but here's a hint for you - whack it behind a piece of laser cut paper and it looks so much better! In this case I used one of the Bird Ballad Laser Cut cards, which are sadly retiring. I chopped the card in half and just used the front of the card. I mounted it on a base of Early Espresso.

I cut a Gold Foil Stitched Circle, and layered it under a label from the Stitched So Sweetly dies. The bird, from Free As A Bird, was stamped in Early Espresso and coloured with my Mint Macaron, Mango Melody and Soft Suede Blends.

I stamped and coloured him the same way for the inside. I used the other half of the Bird Ballad Laser  Cut Card for the inside, as it was the perfect size for the card base.

Don't forget that you only have one week for this colour challenge. Once you've made your card, simply add it to the Facebook group. It's that easy!

First though, please do finish our Blog Hop! There's lots of inspiration, and ways to use the colours. You've love Rebecca's fab cards!

CTC #243: CASE A Card And Make A 3D Item

Hi!

Welcome to this week's CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop! As always, our blogs are linked in a circle - you may have come from Peta's blog, or starting here. It doesn't matter at all. Just keep hopping until you're back to where you started.

This week the challenge is to CASE any card from the Annual Catalogue, but you must turn it into some sort of 3D item. Hmmmm.... what to do????

I have been playing around with the Laser Cut cards for my classes this month, so I started there for my inspiration. This soft, gorgeous card caught my eye. I decided to recreate it as a mini album. I've also been wanting to play with my new Pigment Sprinkles, so I decided to combine the two.

I started with a piece of Shimmery White card, cropped to fit under the card front. I used my Bermuda Bay and Daffodil Delight sprinkles to create the backing. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the effect, and the shimmer is so beautiful.

I used the same shapes for my decoration, just in different sizes and combination. The flowers were fussy cut from some of the Bird Ballad DSP and layered under the Stitched Nested Label die cut. They didn't quite stand out enough from the background for me, so I added a Vellum circle under the whole piece. Much better!

I used two of the envelopes for the inside pages. There are heaps of tutorials out there on making Envelope Mini Albums, so I won't explain how here. The striped paper from the Bird Ballad pack was perfect for adding little bits of colour to the ages. I have more fussy cut flowers that I will add once I've chosen some photos to go in the album.

The centre pages feature the envelope flaps. I covered them with more floral Bird Ballad DSP and created an insert for each using more of the stripes.

The final pages are the same as the front, just in reverse. Now I just have to think about what photos to use in the album!

That's it for me this week. Have we got you thinking about what 3D item you could make? A box or a decor item? Remember, you must CASE a card from the Annual Catalogue. Then just upload your picture to our Facebook group. Easy!

For now though, continue on to Julia's blog to see her clever take on this week's challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #232: Artistic Impressions

Hi!

How are you enjoying your Queen's Birthday Long Weekend? We've had a quiet weekend at home. We all needed the rest and recharge ready for the end of term. I plan to take advantage tomorrow and get a lot of crafting done! In the meantime though, it's time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. You may have arrived here from Anglea's blog, or you may be starting here. Either way, just keep hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing cards from the Artistic Expressions section of the catalogue. It's a whopping 53 pages worth of inspiration, so you're bound to find something to inspire you! It was a fun section to start this Catalogue's CASE challenges with.

After much flicking and umming and ahhing, I finally settled on the card at the top right of this photo. A lot of the appeal was the sponge brayering - I do love a bit of brayering, as my class ladies know! I don't have any of the Lovely Is The Day bundle, as featured on this card, but that's the point of CASEing - make the card your own! In the end I reached for my Free As A Bird bundle.

I started by brayering Balmy Blue on the top of my cardstock and Granny Apple Green on the bottom, leaving a white section in the middle. As in the catalogue sample, I then splattered some water over the ink to lift bits of the colour. Again, another technique I love to use to add interest to a card.

The branch of birdies was stamped in Memento ink and coloured. I briefly toyed with using my Watercolour Pencils, but the background was quite bold, and so I used Blends instead. The birds are actually quite a bit brighter in real life! I used Flirty Flamingo and Pineapple Punch on the birds, and Soft Suede, Granny Apple Green and Lovely Lipstick on the branch. I just realised I forgot to colour their beaks. Whoops! The birds were fussy cut and popped up over the sentiment panel. I used the offcut of the sentiment panel to create the banner at the top left of the card. You can just see the stitched lines at the bottom of the flag.

I sponged another piece of Whisper White to match the front, and popped it under my inside sentiment panel. I did think later that if I had thought to be clever, I could have sponged a larger piece for the front and then cut out the middle section for the front and used the frame for the inside. Oh well!

Don't forget to join in the fun this week, and every week, on our Facebook group. You can add your card to the page to enter the challenge - no blog necessary!

But before you go, don't forget to finish the hop! Next you're off to my friend Kathryn's blog. She's mosaic-ing this week! (Is that even a word? LOL).

Bye for now,

Tina

A Rosey Birthday Card

Hi!

Whoot, whoot! Here we are for another 5 week of Colour Creations! We couldn't finish without adding on the new In Colours - that wouldn't be fun! This week we are looking at Rococo Rose. It's a lovely deep disks pink, and I'm sad to say that my photos don't do it justice at all - it's not as orange as my photos would let you think.

I decided to make a full sized tri fold card. I made a smaller version a few weeks ago for Shaded Spruce, but this time I wanted to go big! I cut my piece of Rococo Rose cardstock at nearly 6 inches longways, and then scored at 4 and 8 inches to create the folds. I then used my Stitched Labels dies to create the window in the front panel. It gives a lovely shape, with the bonus of having a Rococo Rose label o use on another project! I stamped some flowers from Free As A Bird over the front in coordinating ink. The yellow flowers were fussy cut from Bird Ballad DSP.

For the next section of the card I stamped the birds in Memento ink and then coloured them using a combo of my Watercolour Pencils and my Wink Of Stella pen. The sentiment is from the Lots Of Happy Card Kit, which carried over to the new Annual Catalogue. Silly me stamped it a little too high, and so I had to add an extra fussy cut grouping of flowers on the front to cover it up!

Here's the final panel. The key DSP can be seen when the second panel is held closed, so it does double duty on the card. Those keys make me want to make something Harry Potter-ish, I just need to think what!

That's it for tonight but, as ever, hop on over to Catherine's blog for the links to the rest of this week's cards. I wonder what colour we'll do next week? Catherine has gone rogue and has abandoned her usual alphabetical order. LOL!

Going Softly With Suede

Hi!

Welcome to the new Colour Creations Blog Share. This week it's Soft Suede's turn to shine! Is it a colour you use often? It's a bit of a strange brown, but I think it works well with vintage themes, so that's sort of where I went with tonight's card.

I received my Hugs From Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit today, and so I ripped straight into it! The birds, splatter and the pink leafy paper are all from the kit. The paper is actually an envelope that I chopped up and then tore the edges of before adhering to my base.

I used products from the coordinating Bird Ballad Suite to complete the card. The sentiment (inside and outside) are from the Free As A Bird stamp set, the Stitched Nested Label Die is the bundled die set, and the fussy cut flower is from the Bird Ballad DSP. I used twine I had in my stash, but there is also twine in the Paper Pumkpin kit.

Isn't this the best sentiment? This card is going to a friend who gave up a lot of her week to help me strip wallpaper and then paint the horrid purple and yellow walls and ceilings in Hudson's room. She deserves way more, but a card is a start!

As always, pop on over to Catherine's blog where you can find the links to the rest of the cards this week. I can't wait to see wheat everyone's made!

Bye for now,

Tina