JAI #432: Just Choose Two

Hi!

Hooray for Friday and the new Just Add Ink challenge.

This week Patrice has challenged us to Choose Two to add to our cards this week.

Which two will you choose of Buttons, Bows or Bling? I chose Bows and Bling.

I'm not sure if this card is a bit too footy jumper looking or not. What do you think? I think it's the stripe down the middle. I stamped over it with the starry swirl in Balmy Blue in to match the cardstock. The same stamp was also stamped in Night Of Navy on the larger layer.

My bling is these cute little stars that I found in my stash - I think they were a free gift with a purchase. I glued them over where the larger stars are in the swirl. A bit fiddly, but my Take Your Pick tool made the job much easier.

I repeated the swirls and stars on the inside. If you're going to bling something up, you may as well go big!

You can see the rest of the Design Team cards over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card. Which two will you choose?

Bye for now,

Tina

Dashing Along In Gold

Hi!

Welcome to a new week's Heart Of Christmas.

In September you can earn the Dashing Along DSP pack FREE with a qualifying order. Us lucky demonstrators got to get our hands on it a month early, and I have had a little (OK, a lot) of fun with it. I think the paper I have used on today's card is my favourite in the pack.

Isn't that design in tonal Cherry Cobbler just luscious? I layered it on a Cherry Cobbler cardstock base, as any other colour looked a bit jarring with the design I was going for. I love the look, and will certainly be doing it again!

To stretch the crafting dollar a bit further, I die cut the star from the Gold Foil layer that's under the main panel. No-one would ever know, and it's a very handy trick! I washed under the star with Cherry Cobbler ink, deliberately making the section that sits under the centre of the star a little darker.

There's more of that lovely DSP and Gold Foil on the inside. It's always worth doing your insides, it doesn't take much more effort, but it really lifts your cards to the next level.

How are you going with your Christmas cards? You can find lots of inspiration with the rest of this week's cards over at Claire's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

A Coastal Christmas

Hi!

Welcome back to another Colour Creations Blog Share. We are featuring a returning colour this week - the lovely Coastal Cabana.

I was glad to see the return of Coastal Cabana to the Brights Collection. It's such a pretty greenish blue. I love how crisp it looks when paired with white, so that's what I went with this week.

I also love a Christmas card in non-traditional colours. I stared by heat embossing the starry flourish stamp with white embossing powder and then stamping some more stars around it. The sentiment and large star use a technique I've been wanting to try for ages - partial die cutting.

Can you see in this picture that the star and sentiment are on one piece of cardstock? I've used the die to cut the star out above and below the sentiment strip, but not cut the bits in between. I was so pleased with how it turned out, and I will certainly be trying it again. I continued to layer on top of the large star, using Silver thread, a Silver foil die cut star and a tiny Coastal Cabana star that I enhanced with Wink Of Stella. I also used some of the bits popped out from the foil star to decorate the ends of the large star. Fiddly, but a fun finishing touch for the star.

LOL, it's been a long time since I've used a single stamp set to make a card, but Star of Light had everything I needed in one convenient set.

Now you're off to Catherine's blog where you can find the rest of this week's Coastal Cabana cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

Splattered Stars

Hi!

Once again Claire Daly is running a weekly Blog Share with a Christmas theme. She did this for the first time last year, and it was so much fun and inspiration that she's decided to do it again this year. It's called Heart Of Christmas, and will be on Thursday mornings between now and Christmas.

Today's card was one I made for a class. I'd had a request to do the splatter technique that you can see on the main panel. It's such a fun and easy technique that I was happy to comply.

I started by using my sponge brayer to ink the Shimmery White panel with Blueberry Bushel ink. I then spritzed some water into my cupped palm, dipped my fingers into the water and then flicked the water over the panel. Where the water lands it pushes away some of the ink, leaving lovely splatter marks behind. If you blot the water before it dries the effect is even more pronounced. The gorgeous gold foil star and matt finished off the front.

I toyed with the idea of using the little bits out of the star on the front to decorate the inside, but they were just too fiddly. I probably should go back and stamp a pale star over the sentiment - what do you think?

You can see the rest of this week's Christmas cards over at Claire Daly's blog. It's always worth a look.

Bye for now,

Tina

Farewell Sweet Sugarplum

Hi!

I think that of all of the colours about to retire, Sweet Sugarplum would have to be one of my favourites. It's a gorgeous, dusky pink that works beautifully with a range of other colours.

This card is a CASE of this card made by Dawn Olchefske. I liked it a lot, so I didn't really change much. It's teamed with Soft Sky (also retiring), Very Vanilla and Silver.

I left off the sentiment, as I preferred it without. I also stamped the starry swirl on the base card for a little extra something.

The swirl was also stamped on the inside, but this time in Soft Sky. It's a great backdrop for the sentiment. I love the way it follows the slant of the swirl!

I have a second card for you today, also using Sweet Sugarplum. This time I've used it to colour some Embossing Paste.

It's such a fun trick, to be able to colour the paste.

The flower was watercolored using a mix of Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive.

Will you miss Sweet Sugarplum? Is it a colour you've used a lot over the past two years?

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas: Week 3

Hi!

Wow, can you believe it? I'm three for three with The Heart Of Christmas. I certainly didn't think I'd be this organised!

Having said that, this week I cheated a little and CASEd a card from the new Annual Catalogue. I was running a little short on time and creativity, so CASEing seemed like a good option. The original card is on page 122 of the catalogue.

I've made a few changes, including changing the card from a square base to a full sized base. I also used a larger star die cut, and stamped on the base in Crumb Cake rather than Bermuda Bay.

Here's a closer look at the star. Like the card in the catalogue, I also used one of the new Clear Faceted Gems in the centre of the star. It's a lovely, big chunk of bling to use as a feature on the card.

I received my new Decorative Ribbon Border punch on Friday, and I couldn't resist using it on my card. Can you see the cute little scalloped border at the bottom of the inside? That's it!

How's your Christmas card stash going? You can pop on over to Claire's blog to see the other cards in this week's blog share.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #340: Just Add Gift Tags

Hi!


Another week has flown by, and it's Friday again - where are the days going?

Of course, Friday means it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week we have been challenged to create a Gift Tag.

I went ultra simple with mine. I had a few tag kits left over from a class I ran a year or so ago, so I decided to use the 'bits' in the kit to come up with something new.

Sigh. I really miss the corrugated cardstock SU used to stock! I still have some in my stash, but only to be used for special occasions. In this case, the pieces were already cut, so I didn't feel bad using it.

I cut the small detailed star from the Starlight Thinlits, and popped it up on Dimensionals. The circle is the largest Stitched Shapes Circle die, and the merry is from Merry Greetings Thinlits. Very quick and very simple - something to keep in mind for the last minute tags you always end up needing at Christmas!

I hope you can play along with us at Just Add Ink. There's not many more weeks before we go on a short break over the Christmas/New Year period.


Bye for now,


Tina

An Eggplant Star Of Light

Hi!


Today I have a Christmas card for you that I have been making with my classes this month. It's been a really popular card, and such an easy one to make.

Nearly every Christmas I make at least one purple and silver card. I think it's a fabulous, elegant colour combination for Christmas cards. In this case I teamed Elegant Eggplant with Whisper White and Silver. This card was my first play with the Star Of Light bundle. I fell in love with the swirly star stamp that I have used for my background as soon as I saw it.

It is hard to see in the main photo, but the star is cut from some Silver Foil paper. It adds a lovely bit of luxury to the card. I popped the star up on Dimensionals. My class ladies were cursing me just a little bit, as you have to cut the pieces quite small to fit behind the star, but they all agreed that the end result was well worth it.

Some of my clever class ladies used the bits that popped out of the star on the front of the card to further decorate the stamped star on the inside. They were very clever to think of that!


Bye for now,


Tina