JAI 787: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Tristan has suggested a Choose Two Or More challenge.

Hmm, which ones of patterned paper, animals, people, twine or shadows will you choose? I've been reading a lot of library books lately, and one of them had the paper that I've used in it. A previous reader must have been using it as a bookmark and left it in the book. It's very pretty, so I decided to put it to use on my card.

The daisy-like flowers are very delicate and pretty, don't you think? So, one element down, now for another.

Hehe, I decided to stretch the meaning of 'shadow' to include a shadowed sentiment. The blue layer under the birthday die cut is a shadow! I wanted it anchor it on the card with a Stitched Shaped Oval die cut, but cardstock ones were just too much for the card. Vellum to the rescue!

I used an offcut strip of the paper from the front to finish off the inside. I'd usually add a strip to the bottom, but as the paper was long and thin, I thought I'd add the strip to the side for something different. The sentiment is from Uniquely Creative's Sweet Sentiments stamp set, which coordinates with the Sweet Sentiments dies that I used on the front.

We'd love to see which two - or more - you choose for your card. You can see the rest of the Design Team cards over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also add your card to our challenge gallery.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 781: Just Add Wings

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a challenge suggested to us by Kerry, and it's to Just Add Wings.

My first thought was to use a fairy, and then I thought about a plane. However, while browsing for any plane stamp sets I may have, I found this cutie-patootie little dragon, who most definitely has wings. Sold!

He's from the Inspiration Squad stamp set, and was coloured using my Stampin' Blends. I fussy cut him and popped him up over a Stitched Shapes circle die cut that had been stamped with a sentiment from Simply Said.

This was all popped up over some DSP from the Lily Pond Lane pack. The predominant colour is Pretty Peacock, one of my all-time favourite SU colours.

The inside of my card was finished off with a left over strip of DSP and a sentiment from the Inspiration Squad stamp set. I love the handwritten font in this set. 

Of course, as soon as I finished my card, I thought of all the pop culture stamps I have that have space ships *with wings* that I could have used! Oh well, another time!

I'd love to see what you think of when you're asked to Just Add Wings. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what the rest of the Design team have thought of. You can also add your card to our Linky to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 779: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Welcome back to the newest Just Add Ink challenge. This time around it's a sketch challenge, designed by Jan.

My first thought was of a polaroid photograph! What fun would that be to incorporate into a card? Ultimately, though, I went in a very different direction.

I decided to use my Stitched Shapes Dies to create some dimension in my card. I started by stamping the flowers from Pretty Perennials and the leaves from Beautiful Friendship in Strawberry Sluch, Powder Pink, Garden Green and Mint Macaron. I do love the watercolour look of the images!

I then cropped the image with the largest square die. I glued the die cut piece to my card base and then popped up the rest using Dimensionals. I love the idea of the main part of the image being inset rather than popped up. A sentiment and a scattering of sequins finished off the front of the card.

I used similar stamping on the inside of the card. I really loved revisiting these older stamp sets!

What do you see in the sketch? You can see what the rest of the Design Team created over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also add your card to our challenge gallery when you are ready. I can't wait to see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 775: Just Add A Celebration

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge! Are you loving the new fortnightly schedule? I sure am!

This fortnight, Lou has challenged us to add a Celebration to our cards. That was an easy choice for me, as I recently attended a very special event to celebrate a book launch. You may know that my youngest son, Hudson, has severe disabilities. One of his classmates, Tahlyiah, wrote a book called The Monster And The Vet. That deserved an extra special card, don't you think?

I purchased this stamp set, Friends Forever from My Favourite Things, several years ago. I know lots of young people who are wheelchair users, so it was a great addition to my stash. The imaged was cropped with a Stitched Shapes oval die, and the DSP is from the Full Of Life pack. The book is illustrated with bright, watercoloured images, so this paper was the perfect choice! The sentiments are from Amazing Phrasing, a SAB set from a few years ago.

I thought that this sentiment, from Here Comes The Sun, was fabulous for the inside of the card. Miss T has severe disabilities too, but has persevered to have her creative voice heard and published! She's so amazing.

We'd love to see which Celebration you add to your card. There are so many choices! You can see what the rest of the Design Team have made over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also enter your card in our challenge. We'd love to see what you make. Oh, and if you'd like to see and order Tahlyiah's book, you can find it here.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 719: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Welcome to Friday and the new Just Add Ink challenge. Are you up for it? It's a fun colour combo suggested to us by Kim.

I love that she's selected the gorgeous trio of pinks that all work so well together. The rich green is a lovely compliment to the pinks. Of course, it screams flowers, so that's what I did!

I used all retired products on my card today. The die cut flowers are from Pierced Blooms Dies, and they are popped up over a Stitched Shapes circle die.

The swishes in the background are from the Patchwork Pieces dies. I just used a few of the segments for a fun look. Finally, the sentiment is from Simply Fabulous. They are all products that I love so much, and it was fun to play with them again.

All the same things were used on the inside of the card. I chose to cut the leaves from The Shaded Spruce paper from the Regals DSP pack. The polka dots add some whimsy to the card, I think!

What do you see in this colour combo? We'd love to see what you make. You can add your card to our linky over on the Just Add Ink blog when you're ready. You can also see the other fabulous cards made by the Design Team.

Bye for now,

Tina

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 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

Colour Creations: Coastal Cabana

 Hi!

Welcome back to another week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop! This week it's Coastal Cabana week, a colour that I really like. It's a gorgeous, soft blue-green from the Brights family.

I went for a super bright colour combo this week, and a new-to-me stamp set that I'd been umming and ahhing over since the start of the new catalogue. I finally took the plunge, and I'm glad that I did.

Have you noticed Simply Fabulous in the Annual Catalogue? It's stylised floral style really suits me! I created my own DSP by using the floral images and the combo colours.

I really love the fonts in this stamp set, too!

I actually couldn't decide which colour combo to use this week, and I was loving the stamp set so much, that I made two cards!

This one is a little different, in that the background stamping is much closer together than on the first card.

Here's the two cards together. Which one do you prefer? 

I think that my favourite is the left card.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around the blog hop tonight. There's plenty more Coastal Cabana goodness to see! The net stop on the way is my lovely friend, Kathryn Ruddick.

As always, Sharon Davern is the wonderful lady keeping us all organised. If you run into any issues, pop on over to her blog to find a list of all of tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 5

 Hi!

Welcome back to another week of the Heart Of Christmas. I recently purchased some of the Lights Aglow suite, and I thought that I'd have a play with it for tonight's cards.

The Lights Aglow SDSP was appealing because of the sheets that have the Gold Foil designs in a circle and square, all you need to do is trim the DSP to get four panels. Pop a sentiment in the middle to match the shape of the foil design, and you have an instant WOW feature on your cards.

I've also used the Glimmer Paper in the suite, in this instance it's the Gold Glimmer Paper. The sentiments are from the Brightest Glow stamp set. I can't wait to play with this suite some more!

Here are my group of four cards, based on the July 2019 Sheetload Of Cards template. Can you see my ooops? I received the stamp set after the DSP, and had already made the cards except for the sentiment panel. Luckily I realised that I'd made one upside down before I adhered the sentiment to the card!

Thanks again for joining me tonight, now it's time to jump on over to the next blog. You're off to see what I'm sure will be another gorgeous card from Theresa Gerrard.

Sharon Davern is once again doing a stellar job of keeping us all organised, so if you run into a problem, just head on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants.

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