HOC Week 22

 Hi!

Welcome back for the final Heart Of Christmas blog hop for 2022. I can't believe we are so close to Christmas! I've made 88 cards for the blog hops this year, just by using the Sheetload Of Cards templates to make four cards each week. It's a stress free way to quickly build a decent stash!

Tonight's cards are made using the October 2019 Sheetload Of Cards template. The front of the card is folded back on itself to make a nice and easy fancy fold. The red Spruced Up Outlines bauble is a left over from another set of cards. I had planned to heat emboss the sentiment in white on the front, but I got lazy. I was just about to stamp directly on the first bauble, when I noticed that the baubles on the DSP had a circle feature. Bingo!

Speaking of the DSP, it's from the gorgeous Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack. I've used it so much this year - I especially love the black design that I've used on the inside of my cards. The colourful Christmassy images really pop against the black.

The sentiments are from Brightest Glow. I chose scripty fonts so that I didn't have to worry too much about stamping straight - they look perfectly fine on a slight angle!

Thanks again for joining us for the blog hops this year. I hope that you've found lots of Christmas inspiration and have made a good head start on your stash of cards. The next stop in our final blog hop is my lovely friend, Michele Taylor. I wonder if she'll have another of her gorgeous wreath cards for us?

If you run into any problems with links as you hop your way around the blogs tonight, please pop on over to the wonderful Sharon Davern's blog. She deserves a huge thanks for all she's done to organise the hops and keep them running smoothly. Thanks, Sharon!

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 19

 Hi!

Welcome back to a new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. we are definitely on the home stretch now! The latest Sheetload Of Cards template was released a week ago, so that's what I decided to use for my cards this week.

I haven't used the gorgeous Lights Aglow SDSP for a while, so it was well past time to pull it back our for my cards this week. The Sheetload template was for a split front card, and with some clever cutting I was able to use just three sheets of DSP to create my four cards.

Here's a little tip for making sure that the decorated parts of the inside are hidden behind the joining piece of the front - I laid the outline of the bauble from the Spruced Up Outlines dies face down on the joining section, after first removing the lining sheet from the Adhesive sheet. If you forget to use the Adhesive sheet, be sure to add some glue. Then close the card so that the outline adheres to the inside of the card. Done!

I stamped my sentiment, from the coordinating Brightest Glow stamp set, inside the bauble to ensure that it can't be seen when the card is closed.

Don't the Gold Glimmer baubles on the fronts of the cards look fantastic? I used some retired Mint Macaron Glimmer paper for the tops of the baubles. If you squint a bit, it looks like Soft Succulent!

Thanks for joining me, but please keep hopping around to the rest of the team, starting with my lovely friend, Christine Blain.

As ever, the wonderful Sharon Davern keeps us all organised for the blog hops, so please head on over to her blog is you run into any issues with tonight's links. She'll have a list of all participants on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 18

 Hi!

Welcome back for another week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. We are up to Week 18, can you believe? Tomorrow it will be November!

I used the March 2021 Sheetload Of Cards template this week. I liked the simple design and thought that it would work well with the tree paper from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack.

I liked the rounded corners on the front of the card, and couldn't resist carrying it over to the inside of my card. The outline portion of the tree was also used - I can't bear to waste the extra bits, especially when they can be put to good use on the inside.

The circle dies from the Stylish Shapes pack were the perfect choice to frame the Christmas To Remember sentiment. There's another four cards added to the stash!

That's me finished for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. There's plenty more Christmas inspiration to be seen, starting with the fabulous Cathy Proctor.

As she does every week, Sharon Davern has done a marvellous job keeping us all organised this week. If you run into any problems with links, just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of this week's participants to help you get back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 17

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Can you believe that it's week 17 already? I have another set of four cards to show you tonight, created using the July 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template.

I also used the Celebrate Everything Host DSP. I really, really love the bold, bright colours and fun patterns in the papers. I felt that the finished design needed a little more, so I opted to add the large outline tree die cut from Spruced Up Outlines Dies. The Sheetload template had a few loops of twine, but I liked the tree.

I also used Jingle Jingle Jingle again for the sentiments. Last week I embellished with Santa hats, this week it's the sweet little bells.

Here's my group of four. I love that the front is narrower than the back, allowing the strip of sparkly Polished Pink DSP to do double duty, decoration both the front and inside of the card. The strip I cut off the front of the card is used for the sentiment. Such a great design!

Thanks again for joining me, but please continue your way around the hop to see the rest of the Christmassy gorgeousness that the team has made this week. The next stop is my lovely friend, Theresa Gerrard.

Big thanks to the wonderful Sharon Davern, who keeps us all organised every week. If you find a broken link somewhere along the way, just pop on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 390: Santa's Express Colours

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. We like to get inspiration from CASEing projects from the Stampin' Up! catalogues, and we hope that you do too!

This week we are asking you to CASE the colours of the Santa Express DSP. I didn't CASE a particular card in the Mini Catalogue, I literally just used some of the colours in the papers.

I started by cutting three pieces of Whisper White that were 4 x 2 3/4". I used Blending Brushes to apply the colours in pairs on the cardstock, creating an ombre effect. I used Mint Macaron with Evening Evergreen, Petal Pink with Poppy Parade, and Granny Apple Green with Shaded Spruce. Some water was splattered over the top before I used my Spruced Up Outline Dies to crop the smaller Christmas Tree shape twice from each piece. Thankfully, I remembered to put some Adhesive Sheet on the back first!

I used the leftover pieces to layer under my Whimsical Woodland 3DEF embossed card, and the cropped trees over the top. I added some Daffodil Delight stars too, and a sentiment from Christmas To Remember.

The inside of my slimline card was decorated using the outline parts of the cropped trees, more stars and another sentiment from Christmas To Remember.

We'd love for you to play along with us this week and every week! Do you have some favourite colours amongst those in the Santa Express DSP? Maybe you'd like to stretch yourself to use a less favoured colour. Either way, we'd love to see your card in our Facebook Group.

Please continue your way around our blog hop tonight before you dash off to get inky! We'd love for you to play along, but first check out Rachel Palmieri's blog for her gorgeous card using the fabulous colours of the Santa Express DSP.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 10

 Hi!

Monday night is Heart Of Christmas night in this neck of the woods! I hope you've been hopping with us for the previous 9 weeks to see a lot of fabulous Christmas inspiration. So many wonderful Christmas cards and tags have been made by the HOC hoppers.

I've made a group of mini slimline cards this week, using the September 2022 Sheetload Of Cards template. It's a sweet little sized card, sound 6" x 3", which fits nicely into a regular envelope. I've decorated mine with the Celebrate Everything Host DSP. I love the bright, cheerful papers.

The writing space is very small, as the card base is approximately 4" x 3". I chose a smaller sentiment from Brightest Glow so that I didn't take up too much writing space.

Here's my usual group of four cards. I used the Spruced Outlines Dies to crop some Poppy Parade cardstock. They frame the Brightest Glow sentiment perfectly!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue hopping your way around all of our blogs. There's lots more Christmassy gorgeousness to be seen, starting with my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

As she does every week, the fabulous Sharon Davern is keeping the HOC hoppers super organised. If you run into an issue with any links, pop on over to her blog, where she'll have a list of all of tonight's blogs.

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 4

 Hi!

Monday evening means that it's time once again for the new  Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Hooray! I've used many of the same products as I did last week to create another four cards for my stash.

The Celebrate Everything Host DSP has some unusual colour combos for Christmas papers, but I'm really liking them. The black DSP really makes the bright colours pop.

I also used my Spruced Up Outlines Dies again. The solid tree was perfect for the front, and the bonus outline tree was put to use on the inside. These outlines make me think of those shaped rubber bands that were all the rage about 10 years ago. Did your kids get into them? I remember Ada having Disney Princess bands!

Here are my group of four cards, made using the August 2021 Sheetload Of Cards template. Aren't they cheerful and bright? The sentiments on my cards are from Christmas To Remember.

That's all from me on tonight's blog hop, but there's plenty more inspiration to be found! Jump on over to the lovely Catherine Proctor's blog, where you're bound to see something gorgeous.

If you run into a problem, Sharon Davern is our fix-it lady! Pop on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all participants to help you get back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina