JAI 666: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday - it's been a long week, as Hudson has been home sick with a cold again. It feels like only a few weeks since the last cold! Oh well, winter has to be over soon, doesn't it?

Speaking of winter, Just Add Ink are using this fun, snowy Inspiration Photo to challenge your card making this week. Jan found the image for us, and it's inspired a whole lot of creativity amongst the Design Team. Hopefully it will spark something in you, too.

I went with the sky and the snow as the key focus for my card. I pulled out my old sponge rollers to ink up some Whisper White cardstock with Balmy Blue and Blueberry Bushel inks. From that point on, I think what could go wrong, went wrong on my card! The first was that I accidentally debossed the inked panel rather than emboss. Whoops!

I then decided to make the card sparkly by misting some shimmer paint/isocol over the card. Unfortunately the first mister I used came out in a stream, not a mist! I ended up with splatters through the inked panel. I kinda like the look though, even if it wasn't what I was initially going for.

The final oops was my sentiments. It's from a big Concord & 9th stamp set, called Mix & Match Holiday Sentiments. No matter what I try, I just can't get it inked up evenly. It will just have to do!

We'd love for you to play along with us this week. Maybe you're in the heat of summer and dreaming of a cooler winter. Maybe you're dreaming of summer while shivering through a cold winter! Or perhaps, like me, you're keen to get started on our Christmas card making. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You can also link up your card to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 349: CASE The Mini Catalogue

 Hi!

Woah, it's time for the final CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop for the year. I'm still in disbelief that Christmas and the New Year are right around the corner!

This week we are asking you to CASE any project from the current Mini Catalogue. One last hurrah, as it will be retired by the time we start up our challenges in 2022.

I chose this Penguin Place cutie card, as I am well and truly finished with Christmas cards - I wanted to make anything but a Christmas card!

One of my pre-order purchases from the upcoming Mini Catalogue is this new Supple Shimmer paper. There's one sheet of this blue and another of pink. It's a sort or iridescent blue, which I thought worked well as a sky behind the penguin. What do you think?

It's very shimmery at the right angle! I otherwise mostly kept the card the same. I popped the sentiment at the bottom of the card so that I have the option to add a number to the balloon at a later date.

I used the offcut Shimmer paper as a border on the inside of my card. Another cute little penguin with his balloon finishes off the inside. 

To join in with us for our Challenge, all you need to do is upload a photo of your card into our Facebook group. We can't wait to see you play along with us.

I'm the last stop on our BLog Hop tonight, if you started in the FB group. If you started somewhere in the middle, keep on hopping until you get back to where you started. Our first hopper tonight was Sandra, who has made a very sweet Christmas card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Crushed Curry

 Hi!

Welcome to another Wednesday night on my blog, and the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are all creating with Crushed Curry, which appears to be a not-very-popular colour amongst the AWH Team. What do you think? Like it, dislike it, or a bit 'whatever' about it? I probably fall into the latter group. It's not a colour I automatically reach for when I need a yellow, but I don't completely dislike it either.

Having said that, I did use a minimal amount on my card! To be fair - I used a minimal amount of black, too! I used the circles dies in my Stitched Shapes Dies to crop the three circles, and then chopped each one in half. You could use the Layering Circles Dies just as easily to create the same look.

Because the card is so plain, I jazzed it up with some Black Shimmer Paper. It's so much fun to work with! The sentiment is from one of the new kits that Stampin' Up! have released, called Let's Party Treat Packaging Kit. I mostly got the kit for the cute critter stamps, but I absolutely love the fonts and the sentiments, too.

I'm not sure if I like the inside of my card. I wanted to try something a little different, but I think that the colours make it look like crime scene tape! LOL! Maybe I need to try it again with a different colour.

Thanks for joining me once again, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop. The next stop is my lovely friend, Di Furniss. I always love what she makes!

As always, our wonderful host is the lovely Catherine, so if you find a broken link, or just wish to see the full list of participants for tonight's Hop, just pop on over to her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Festive Friday Challenge #1

Hi!

I'm so excited to be a part of a brand new Design Team!  Nicole Derendorf has started a new Festive Friday Challenge on her blog and I was thrilled to be asked to be a part of the Design Team. The focus of the Challenges is going to be Festive cards, hence the title of the Challenges!  Most of the year we will concentrate on Christmas cards, but occasionally there will be a different theme.  We are starting off with Valentine's Day cards.

I'm not one for elaborate Valentine's Day celebrations, so I kept my card quite simple.  I love that I can make a simple card, but that the Shimmer Paper makes it something quite special.

To emphasise the heart and the sentiment I scored 2 lines above and below them at 1/8" apart.  It's a small touch, but it helps to keep the eye on the main elements of the card rather than wandering around in all that white space.

The inside is quite simple too.  Lots of space to write a heartfelt message of love!

Stamps: Clearly For You, Marry Me
Ink: Real Red
Cardstock: Silver Shimmer Paper, Red Shimmer Paper, Confetti White
Other: Heart to Heart Punch, Dimensionals, Scoring Tool

I can't wait to see what you come up with for the very first Festive Friday Challenge.  Are you a clean and simple cardmaker like me? Or do you go for the other end of the scale and go all out?  Either way, I'm sure it will be fabulous and I'm going to love checking out all the creations.  Head on over to Nicole's blog to see what the other Design Team members have made and to link up your card.

Bye for now,

Tina