Heart Of Christmas Week 5

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me again for another Heart Of Christmas blog hop. Did you miss me last week? The concert band I play in competed in the State Band Championships last Sunday, and I was so absorbed in preparing for that, that I forgot to join in with the hop. Oops! This week I'm back and raring to go!

Today's card features the fourth (and final) tag in the Love, Santa Kit. I've been avoiding this one, as I wasn't sure what to do with it. I ended up making it as directed by the kit, and then popping it up over some Merry Melody 3DEF embossed Poppy Parade cardstock.

It looked a bit too plain when I laid the tag straight on the card, so I tilted it for a bit of added interest. I very carefully peeled off the sentiment panel, and was able to stick it down again to make it straight on the card. 

The green in the kit is Just Jade, which has retired, but Lost Lagoon was a reasonable substitute. This is especially the case on the inside of the card, where it can't be directly compared to the front.

Keep hopping your way around the blogs, as there's lots more Christmassy inspiration to be seen. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

As always, the wonderful Sharon Davern is hosting our blog hop. If you run into any issues, just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's hoppers to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 3

 Hi!

Welcome the third week of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. I hope you've found lots of Christmas inspiration as you've joined us each week. I know that I have!

I'm still using my Love, Santa Tag Kit as the basis for my cards. I'm loving that the extra large tags are the perfect size to add to a card with very little extra work or supplies.

Once again, I just snipped off the loop for the twine at the top of the tag and made the tag up as per the kit instructions. I used Sweet Sorbet DSP on my card base, as the pink in the kit (Polished Pink) has retired. It's a reasonable match! 

The leftover DSP and another stamp from the kit were the perfect choice for the inside of the card.

The next stop in tonight's hop is the lovely Michele Taylor. You won't want to miss her project!

If you run into any issues with links, jump on over to the wonderful Sharon Davern's blog. She'll have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 2

 Hi!

Welcome back to my blog for the second Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Do you enjoy starting your Christmas card making early in the year, or are you a last minute crafter? Either way, there's lots of inspiration for you when you are ready.

I've once again used the tags from the Love, Santa Tags Kit as the basis for my card. The tags are quite large - the perfect size to feature on a card, I think! I just chopped the tag loop off the top of Santa's head and he was good to go.

I made the tag as directed by the kit, except that I added the loops of twine under the sentiment label rather than use them in the (now chopped off) tag loop.

The inside of my card is a little nod to the fabulous Matildas - I used a little piece of left over Shaded Spruce DSP from the front of the card, and then I trimmed a little piece off the side of the laser cut elements piece from the kit for the yellow strip. 

That's all from me for tonight's blog hop, but please keep on hopping around all of the blogs. There's lots to see! Just keep on going until you get back to where you started. The next stop along the way is the lovely Amie McIlroy.

If, at any stage, you find a broken link, please pop on over to our lovely host, Sharon Davern's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you going again.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 1

 Hi!

Welcome to another year of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. It's great to get started early with making Christmas cards so that you're not scrambling to get enough done in December.

I was a bit slow off the mark with my preorder from the upcoming Mini Catalogue, so I've delved into my stash for this week's card. I've used elements from the Love, Santa Tag Kit and added bits and pieces to make a full card rather than a tag. It was easy enough to snip away the loop at the top of the Christmas tree to make it more suitable for a card.

I've layered the Christmas tree as it is supposed to be for the tag, but I've added it to a card base that's been embossed with the Merry Melody 3DEF. I was so pleased when this embossing folder carried over! If you look closely, you can see a little scattering of gems from the kit over some of the baubles on the tree.

I used some of the stamps from the kit to create the inside of my card. Don't forget your kits - they are a great source of stamps and are on sale this month. The Love, Santa Tag Kit is reduced from $39 to $27.30. Bargain!

Please keep on going around our blog hop tonight, as there's lots more Christmassy inspiration to be seen, starting with my lovely friend, Judy May. She's bound to have something gorgeous!

Sharon Davern is once again our wonderful hostess for the Heart Of Christmas blog hops this year. If you run into any issues with links, just jump on over to her blog where she will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 635: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the final Just Add Ink challenge for 2022. Hasn't it been a fabulous year of challenges? To wrap uo the year we have one final Inspiration Challenge, suggested to us by Nikki.

Don't the rich purple and gold decorations look amazing against that lush tree? My eye was caught by the two faceted purple baubles, so I attempted to recreate the look on a Christmas gift tag.

I started by inking some cardstock with Fresh Freesia, Rich Razzleberry and Blackberry Bliss ink, blengins from light to dark across the card. I then cropped the card using my Stitched Triangles Dies. Using the Inspiration Photo as a guide, I laid out the triangles and adhered them to the tag base I'd created.

I used my Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint to splatter the front, and then added some leaves and a sentiment stamped using the Lave, Santa Tag kit stamp set. I couldn't resist adding a few loops of some Gold Thread.

To create my tag base, I took a piece of Whisper White card, folded it in half and cropped it with a Circle Die, ensuring that the die hung over the fold so that the two circles remained joined. A bit more stamping, and I was done!

This challenge will run for a fortnight and is a just for fun challenge over the Christmas/New Year Break. As always, you can link up your project over on the Just Add Ink blog - we'd love to see what you create using the photo for inspiration.

We'll be back in early January with a fun blog hop to kick off another year of Just Add Ink fun.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 7

 Hi!

Welcome once again to a new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Can you believe that it's week 7 already? As of this week, I have added 28 Christmas cards to my stash by making four cards each week. Using the Sheetload Of Cards templates is a great way to build your stash quickly, without getting too bored by mass-production.

This week I have used the current template - August 2022. The papers I've chosen are from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack, found in the current Mini Catalogue. I also used the Spruced Up Outlines Dies for the focal panel. Originally, I just had the Pacific Point outline, but it felt too bare, so I filled it in using scraps of DSP. Much better!

The sentiments are once again from the Love, Santa Tag Kit. Don't forget about stamp sets from kits - they are a great addition to your collection, and can be used on far more than just the kit they came with.

Here is my group of four cards. They are certainly bright and cheerful!

Next up along the way in our Christmas blog hop is my lovely friend, Andrea Sargent. She's sure to have something spectacular to see!

Sharon Davern is once again doing a wonderful job of keeping us all organised, so if you run into any problems along the way in tonight's blog hop, please jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 380: Christmas Tree Project

 Hi!

Thanks for spending your Sunday evening with me, hopping around the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. We have a new challenge and a blog hop to kick it off every Sunday evening.

This week we are asking you to CASE a project that features a Christmas Tree. It can be from any current catalogue - you have three to choose from!

I found this mini slimline card in the July-December Mini Catalogue, on page 27. I was intrigued by the size of the card, and the stamping across the three panels on the front.

I don't have the products used in the sample, so I had to improvise with what I did have - which is exactly what we want you to do! I used the stamp set from the Love, Santa Tag Kit, which has the lovely branch stamp that I've used on the three panels. The set doesn't have a second stamp to 'colour' the branch, as in the original set used, so I just used my Dark Granny Apple Green Blend to roughly colour over the Garden Green branch.

My baubles were just punched circles of Gold Glimmer paper, with a topper cropped using the Spruced Up Outlines Dies. The DSP is from the Design A Daydream Host DSP pack, with a layer of Vellum over the top to tone down the colour.

I used similar stamping on the inside. Have you made a mini slimline card before? I cut my card to 6" square, scored at 3" to make the base of mine. It's a sweet little size!

We'd love for you to play along this week, by CASEing a Christmas Tree project. Not quite ready to start your Christmas cards yet? Just change the card to be a birthday card, or a thinking of you card. When you've made it, just pop a photo up in our Facebook Group.

Don't forget to finish our blog hop before you dash off to get inky! The next stop along the way is the wonderful Peta Stephen. I love her card - a fabulous take on the challenge!

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 3

 Hi!

Thank you for stopping by on your way around our Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. It's the third week in this series, and I finally have some Christmas DSP to play with! I've used the Host DSP from the Mini Catalogue, called Celebrate Everything, on my cards. It's very bright and fun!

I used the April 2022 Mini Slimline Sheetload Of Cards for my cards this week. I was intrigued by the idea of mini slimline cards - they measure 6 1/4 inches by 3 1/4 - and the shorter front, which allows the DSP on the inside to peek through to the front. The sentiment on the front is from the Love, Santa Tag Kit. 

On the inside I've use my old favourite set, Christmas To Remember. How can you not be holly and jolly with those bright baubles on your card?

Here's my group of four cards. The bauble on the front is from the Spruced Up Outlines Dies. I popped some Adhesive Sheet on the back of some Pacific Point, Polished Pink, Granny Apple Green and Crushed Curry cardstock and ran the bauble and snowflake dies through my machine. I then just mixed and matched the pieces to create the baubles. The snowflake was cut from the bauble inner, so that the recreated bauble all lies flat.

Well, that's all from me for tonight, but you'll see me again next week on the hop! Please do finish this week's blog hop, by continuing on to see what Amie McElroy has created.

Sharon Davern is the lady in the know, if you run into any issues. Jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's hoppers so that you can pick up your trail.

Bye for now,

Tina