JAI 733: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Welcome to the final Just Add Ink challenge for 2024. Wow, I can't believe that the year is almost over!

Our Choose Two challenge was suggested to us by Kerry, and is a great one for those last minute Christmas cards, tags and gifts that we all seem to need!

I had a bit of a dig through my retired Christmas stash, and found the remnants of the Santa's Workshop Memories & More Card Pack. I loved this card with the cute stack of elves, and couldn't resist using it. The silver glitter highlights on their crowns, the tree and the star are adorable!

To add Santa into the mix, I cropped some Whisper White cardstock using a Tasteful Labels Die. If you look closely, you can see the embossed edge around the shape. The Santa sticker was popped up on the top half of the label, and the bottom half features stamped sentiments from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin Kit.

The inside sentiment, from the same stamp set, is one of my all time favourite Christmas stamps. I love both the wording and the font. I finished it off with a glittery Santa hat from the M&M kit. All in all, a quick and easy card!

We'd love to see which two that you choose for the challenge. You can see what the rest of the Design Team chose over on the Just Add Ink blog. You'll also find our linky for entering your card. The challenge will run for two weeks, and is just for fun - the DT won't be choosing winners this time.

Have a wonderful Christmas, and we will see you in the New Year!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 344: CASE An Embossing Project

 Hi!

Wowee, that week whizzed by very quickly! I can hardly believe that it's Sunday night again! My plan this weekend had been to put up our Christmas Tree, but it didn't happen. Before you say "it's too early!", it was Pageant Day yesterday in Adelaide, and that's the traditional day to put up your tree, so I will be late this year. Oh well!

This week's CASEing The Catty challenge is to CASE an Embossing Project. You could choose heat embossing, dry embossing, or embossing paste, so there's plenty to choose from! Much to my embarrassment, I purchased the Merry Melody 3DEF during the demo pre-order period, but I had yet to use it! I am a musician, which is why it appealed to me, and why it's embarrassing that I haven't used it yet! I decided that my card tonight HAD to use it, so I jumped to the catalogue page and found this card.

I don't have the angels, so I had to improvise. I chose to use the Poinsettia image from Words Of Cheer instead.

I coloured the image with my Blends, and then popped it up over the embossed panel I used a retired  Paper Pumpkin stamp set, Joy To The World, as that's the song on the Embossing Folder!

I often see this folder used on cards, but stuck on upside down. Oops! Here's a way to get the orientation correct: can you see the tiny dots that are after some notes? They should always be on the right of the note, never on the left. 

I used the poinsettia image again on the inside, with my favourite stamp from the Joy To The World set. It's such a lovely sentiment!

That's all from me for tonight, but your part in this challenge is just beginning! Just choose an embossing project to CASE, make your card, snap a photo and upload it to our Facebook group. Which type of embossing appeals to you? Hehe, I like the no-mess dry embossing!

Before you dash of to get creating, please do finish our hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Monique. I absolutely love her non-traditional coloured card - and I'm sure that you will, too!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 335: CASE A 3D Project

 Hi!

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend, and thanks for choosing to end it with the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Is there a better way to end the weekend? 

This week we are asking you to choose a 3D project from the Annual Catalogue to CASE. There are lots of them, all scattered through the catalogue. 

My eye was caught by this ombre gift bag on page 87. I loved the bright colour of the bag and the white-embossed cookies scattered across the front. I decided to convert these ideas into card format, rather than a gift bag.

I started with a piece of Blackberry Bliss Oh So Ombre DSP. I could have done the ink blending myself, but I decided to give myself a break and cheat with the DSP. I cropped the centre rectangle out using my Stitched Rectangle Dies. I left the rectangle in situ and stamped the flower from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin kit in Golden Glitz Delicata Ink repeatedly across the front, matching the gift bag.

The gold ink does not show up well in photos, but it's gorgeous on real life! I used the two stamped pieces to create the shaker card, filled with gold sequins.

I stamped the flower in gold ink again on the inside - it's so pretty!

Do you pay much attention to the 3D Projects in the catalogues? Now's your chance! You could choose to make a 3D project yourself, or convert some ideas from the project into a card, as I have done. Your imagination is your only limit! Once you've made your project, just upload a photo to our Facebook Group.

Next up on our Blog Hop tonight is the very clever Julia Quinn, who has turned her 3D project into something different - you won't want to miss it!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 567: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have an Inspiration Challenge for you, suggested to the team by Nikki.

Aren't the colours fabulous? Such a rich palette. I took my inspiration from both the colours and the rug on the floor for my card. I used Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Cinnamon Cider, Calypso Coral, Mint Macaron and Basic Black.

I started with my Stitched Greenery Die on the Island Indigo cardstock. It's a great base on which to nestle the Calypso Coral Pierced Blooms flowers, don't you think?

The sentiment is a mix of Biggest Wish and Pretty Perennials. I finished off the front with a scattering of black sequins, and a swish of Wink Of Stella on the flower centres.

When I used my Stitched Greenery die on the front of the card, I cut the cardstock a little wider so that I could trim off the extra width to use on the inside. The sweet little flower was a good way to finish decorating the inside of the card.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of the Design Team's cards. You can also link up your card for the challenge. I can't wait to see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina

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

Heart Of Christmas Week 2

 Hi!

Thanks once again for joining the AWH team for the second week of our Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Did you find plenty of inspiration last week? You'll find even more this week!

One again, I am using a Sheetload of Cards template from Crafty Al for my cards this week. This template is from July 2019. I am still waiting for my new Christmas goodies to arrive, so I have used the same paper and stamps from last week - Pattern Party DSP and Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin stamp set. Definitely not traditional colours and patterns in the DSP, but I like the modern look! You could definitely make these cards using more traditional supplies.

The templates make creating multiple cards very quick and easy. The hardest part is translating the measurements from US card size to Australian, which isn't too tricky at all. 

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Theresa, who always makes such beautiful cards.

If at any time you find a broken link in this week's Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, please pop back to my blog, where you will find the list links of all of the participants. All of the ladies will have a link to my blog at the end of their post. Just remember who is next on the hop, and then click on their name in the list below:

Tina Gillespie < You are here

Theresa Gerrard

Michele Taylor

Rosa Leyden

Catherine Proctor

Sharon Davern

Caroline Manwaring

Kate Morgan

Andrea Sargent

Christine Blain

Rachel Woollard

Diane Furniss

Ros Davidson

Vicki Boucher

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 562: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for popping in for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Kim has found a fun Christmas Inspiration photo for our challenge. Do you celebrate Christmas in July in your part of the world? I think it's a bit of a Southern Hemisphere thing, so we can have the traditional hot meal when it's cold enough weather to enjoy it! 

The things that struck me in looking at this photo were the expanses of white and the pops of green and red, so that's where I went with my card.

The Red and Green Foil sheets are a part of a pack from last year's Holiday Mini that is making a comeback in this year's Holiday Mini. I purchased them last year, but didn't even crack open the pack! The Stitched Stars dies were used to crop the star, and the 'merry' is from a long-retired set of dies, called Christmas Greetings.

I also cropped the swirly star swoosh from Stitched Stars in white cardstock. I snipped it into two pieces to extend how far it stretched over the background of my card, hiding the join under the star. The whole card front was popped up onto a white card base.

I cropped some extra stars from the left over Red Foil and popped them around the sentiment on the inside, which is from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin kit.

To see what the rest of the Design team have created using our Inspiration photo, please head on over to the Just Add Ink Blog. You can also link up your card in our challenge. The hardest part will be working out what inspires you from the photo!

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 1

 Hi!

Welcome to our first Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. We've been doing this a few years now, and it's a great way to start getting your Christmas card stash organised early, avoiding that early December panic of not having enough cards to send out.

I'm trying something a little different this year - all of my Christmas cards for the HOC Blog Hop will be based off of Crafty Al's Sheetload Of Cards templates. It's a great way of getting multiple cards done quickly, as all the planning is already done for you - all you need to do is chop, stamp and assemble. This week's cards are from the June 2019 Sketch.

The stamp set that I used is from last year's Christmas Paper Pumpkin kit, called Joy To The World. At the time that I made these cards, it was still available on the Clearance Rack, but it is sadly now unavailable. I really love the stamp set, so it's a keeper for me! I used the Pine Tree punch to decorate the front. I ran the Pool Party cardstock through the Big Shot with my Tasteful Textile 3DEF first. The other colours in the cards are Misty Moonlight and Pale Papaya.

I don't yet have a lot of Christmas stuff - most of what I had retired over the last year. Instead I used the new Host DSP, called Pattern Party. So my cards are non-traditional colours and patterns, but I don't think it matters too much. The sketch template that I used was based around making 12 cards. I kept mine to four this time, but as Christmas gets closer, I may step up the numbers!

That's all from me for now, but please do continue on with our Blog Hop, as there's plenty more inspiration to come! The next blog in our hop is Caroline Manwaring, who makes the most stunning cards - you won't want to miss her creation!

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up please head to the blog of this week’s host of the  Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 324: CASE A Retiring Mini Project

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This is the last week that products from the January-June Mini Catalogue will be available, so of course we are doing one last hurrah from the Mini.

In deciding which card to CASE, I thought about which stamp set was at the top of my 'must-have' list when the catalogue was released. The stamp set was Pretty Perennials, and as it didn't make the cut into the new Annual Catalogue, I thought it was fitting to give the set one last outing.

I thought that this card in the catalogue was sooo pretty, so it was my choice of card to CASE. I don't usually CASE a card exactly, but in this instance I couldn't resist - why change perfection?

To create my stamped background, I started with half of a sheet of Whisper White A4 cardstock. I stamped the images across about 2/3rds of it, so that when I trimmed it down for the front and inside of my card I had stamping on both pieces. I hope that makes sense! 

It's very difficult to photograph, especially as the day I took the photo was very gloomy, but I had a happy accident when flicking ink over the card. I used an Aqua Painter that I must not have cleaned well last time I used it, as the Pool Party ink came out shimmery! I must have used Shimmer Paint last time. It was a very happy accident!

Here you can see the other half of the half-A4 sheet that I stamped in one go. It really does make things easier!

How will you choose a project from the Mini Catalogue to CASE? A favourite stamp set, like me, or maybe just a project that catches your eye? Either way, we'd love to see it, so please join our Facebook group and post your photo there. Can't wait to see it!

Before you go and get inky, please do finish our Blog Hop. Next in the line up is the lovely Peta, with an absolutely stunning card! You won't want to miss it!

Bye for now,

Tina