JAI #507: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

It's been a bit of a cold and wet week in Adelaide this week, so perfect weather for crafting! I had a play day on Wednesday, where I watched both Mamma Mia movies and crafted the day away. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that, so it was heavenly! One of the cards I made was for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Jackie has designed a fun, funky sketch for us to use.

I love the quirk of the angled line at the bottom. While it would be easy to just go straight across the card, the diagonal adds a touch of fun to a card.

Speaking of fun, I took the opportunity to play with a Stamp set that I recently purchased from Kindred Stamps, called Legendary. The gamers out there may think that this character looks familiar. I'm not very 'up' with him, but my kids and hubby know exactly who he looks like! I created a forrest background for him, as it suits his outfit and pointy ears. I used a mix of Waterfront and Snow Front to create the scene. Did you notice the cloud? I stamped it with some First White Shimmer Paint to give the wispy look of a cloud.

The character himself was coloured sing my Stampin' Blends. I used both my Ivory and Bronze Blends to colour his skin - Ivory for the bulk of the area, and then the Bronze to add shadows around his hairline or the edge of his clothing. It's a great trick when the Ivory on its own is too flat. The legendary die is from Sweet Stamp Shop and it just called Legendary Word. It's a match made in heaven with this stamp set!

I recreated much of the same scene, including the wispy cloud, on the inside of my card. The female character has made her home here. I had assumed that she was the main character, and should be on the front of the card, but Rob tells me that the male character is the main character, even though the game is named for her. Go figure!

That's all from me this week. Did you like my card with Jackie's fun sketch? You can see what the rest of the Design Team made with it over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card to enter our challenge. Can't wait to see what you make of the sketch!

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH May Creative Showcase: Sketch

Hi!

Welcome to the Monthly Art With Heart Creative Showcase. This month the Art With Heart Team have amazing projects to share with you that have been inspired by the card sketch below. The sketch is to be used as a starting point and has been interpreted in many creative ways by the Art With Heart Team.

During May, SU Demonstrators are able to preorder select products from the upcoming Annual catalogue. It's a sweet month, as we have products retiring, some carrying over, and some brand new things to play with. I have used some products from each of those categories on my card.

Let's talk DSP! The two papers I have used are from the new In Good Taste DSP pack. This is a must have! Remember the Wood Textures DSP we had a couple of years ago? This pack has a lot of similar papers, but in 12x12! Fabulous! There are also patterns of marble tiles and various textiles. The papers really are amazing. I have chosen a light wood pattern, as this makes me think of the beach, which fits my focal image. The banner was punched from one of the fabric texture sheets. You will just want to run your fingers over it when you see it in the flesh!

Carrying over from the Jan-June Mini is the gorgeous Beautiful Moments stamp set. I'm probably a little biased, as I fell in love with the set when I presented it in Sydney last November. I stamped it on Watercolour Paper in Saddle Brown Stazon, which is also carrying over.  I coloured the image with my Aqua Painters, which are retiring, but being replaced by an even better set of brushes. I love a bit of watercolouring, so I'm excited to get my hands on those! The colours I used on the image are Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel, Real Red, Flirty Flamingo, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green and So Saffron.

I couldn't resist adding a little more of the fabric DSP to the inside. I also used another length of the Night Of Navy/Sahara Sand Baker's Twine on the inside. Sadly, it's another product that is retiring. It's a lovely, thick twine, great for bows.

I haven't stamped a sentiment on the inside, as I'm not sure what I'll use the card for yet. The 'Thinking Of You' on the front leaves it pretty wide open for a range of occasions.

Next up is the fabulous Catherine Proctor.

If you have a broken link or have come to this blog hop midway, you can view all the participants below:

Caroline Manwaring

Rebecca Jacovou

Tina Gillespie

Catherine Proctor

Sharon Davern

Vicki Boucher

Christina Barnes

Claire Daly

Kate Morgan

Andrea Sargent

Kathryn Mangelsdorf

Amie McIlroy

Rachel Woollard

Judy May

Michele Taylor

Thanks for visiting! Please come back next month, as our Showcase is featuring our favourite products from the new Annual Catalogue.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #505: Just Add Thinking Of You

Hi!

Thanks for once again joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Chantell has set the challenge, and it's very appropriate for right now!

Aww, who doesn't like to get a Thinking Of You card in the mail? I hope once you've made your card for our challenge, you send it to someone who might need to hear that someone is thinking of them.

I used the Beautiful Friendship stamp set and my Stamparatus for the front of my card. I started with the big double flower stamp, positioning it on my Stamparatus so that it was in the top half of my card. I just stamped it, spun the card, and stamped again. I did the same with the rest of the flowers and leaves - the whole card is symmetrical, even though it doesn't really look that way.

I then took my blending brush and used it to add a light layer of Balmy Blue ink around the outside of the flowers. It's very subtle - you can only really see the difference up against the white base. The sentiment comes from Seaside Notions, and is stamped in Rococo Rose, to match the large bloom. I'm so happy that both the stamp sets I used on today's card are carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue.

I didn't use my Stamparatus to stamp the inside of the card. The flowers and leaves were stamped along the bottom, and then I used the blending brush again to add a little Balmy Blue ink above them.

Have you thought of someone to send a Thinking Of You card to? You can enter your card into our challenge on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also see the rest of this week's Design Team cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #268: CASE The Colours of the Ornate Garden DSP

Hi!

Thanks for joining me once again for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. We've been running our challenges for a fortnight lately, but to start the new Catalogue challenges at the right time, we are running challenge #268 for one week. So what is the challenge?

The colours of the Ornate Garden Suite! Such. fun, fresh palette of colour. You can use a few, or the whole lot, what ever suits you! I actually managed to use the lot, except the new In Colour, Bumblebee. We don't have that yet, so I switched out for Mango Melody.

I started by sponging a piece of Whisper White with Old Olive, Mint Macaron and Terracotta Tile ink. I wasn't really happy with it, but here's a hint for you - whack it behind a piece of laser cut paper and it looks so much better! In this case I used one of the Bird Ballad Laser Cut cards, which are sadly retiring. I chopped the card in half and just used the front of the card. I mounted it on a base of Early Espresso.

I cut a Gold Foil Stitched Circle, and layered it under a label from the Stitched So Sweetly dies. The bird, from Free As A Bird, was stamped in Early Espresso and coloured with my Mint Macaron, Mango Melody and Soft Suede Blends.

I stamped and coloured him the same way for the inside. I used the other half of the Bird Ballad Laser  Cut Card for the inside, as it was the perfect size for the card base.

Don't forget that you only have one week for this colour challenge. Once you've made your card, simply add it to the Facebook group. It's that easy!

First though, please do finish our Blog Hop! There's lots of inspiration, and ways to use the colours. You've love Rebecca's fab cards!

AWH March Creative Showcase: Monochromatic Cards

Hi!

Welcome to the new Art With Heart Monthly Creative Showcase!

This month the Art With Heart Team are featuring Monochromatic cards, that is cards that only use different shades of the same colour. This is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the wonderful range of Stampin’ Up! colours across our inks, papers and embellishments that can be combined to produce the amazing monochromatic samples we have to share with you.

I actually found it quite difficult to narrow down which colour I was going to use! There are so many fabulous colours to choose from in Stampin' Up!'s colour families. In the end I went with Bermuda Bay and Pool Party, mostly because of this sheet of DSP in the Lily Impressions pack - why have I not played with this paper sooner??? I love how it looks like paint smeared on a canvas, and best of all, it is free with a qualifying order during Sale-A-Bration!

I stamped the lady and lanterns from Power Of Hope in Memento ink and coloured them with my Bermuda Bay and Pool Party Stampin' Blends. I didn't colour the lanterns or umbrella much - just a quick swipe of Light Pool Part in key places.

I used another Sale-A-Bration freebie to decorate the card - some Bermuda Bay sequins from the Metallic Baker's Twine and Sequins Combo Pack. The sentiment is from Label Me Bold, stamped in Bermuda Bay.

In order to get the white streaks in the DSP in the spot I wanted on my card, I had to crop a wide strip from the DSP first. Waste not, want not, I used it on the inside of my card! It's wider than I'd usually crop the paper, so I chose not to add a sentiment to leave enough room for writing.

That's all from me, now you're off to see what the wonderful Kate Morgan has made. What colour has she chosen? We don't see each other's cards until we do the hop, so it's a surprise for us too!

Bye for now,

Tina

If you have a broken link or have come to this blog hop midway, you can view all the participants below:

Rebecca Jacovou

Tina Gillespie

Kate Morgan

Sharon Davern

Vicki Boucher

Catherine Proctor

Rachel Woollard

Andrea Sargent

Caroline Manwaring

Claire Daly

Michele Taylor

CTC #263 Week 1: CASE The Kerchief Colours

Hi!

Hello, and welcome once again to the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I'm the first stop on this week's blog hop, so you may have come here from our Facebook group, or you may have come from Judy's blog. Either way, just keep hopping until you get back to where you started!

This fortnight we are CASEing the colours of the Kerchief Card Kit. There are a heap of colours (Balmy Blue, Coastal Cabana, Early Espresso, Gold, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, Petal Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade, White), so there are lots and lots of options. I recently received the card kit, and so I pulled it out to inspire some creativity. I naturally lean towards blues, so this week's cards focus on that side of the palette. I thought it would be pretty to punch some butterflies from the floral part of the card, and that naturally led to making a paid of Floating Frame cards.

Have you tried your hand at Floating Frame cards yet? They were all the rage about a year ago, and I haven't made one for a while. I punched as many butterflies as I could from the front of the pre-stamped card. I was so right about the butterflies looking pretty in the floral print!

This first card features most of the butterflies. The Press 'n' Seal pulled off a bit of the top layer as I peeled it away, but I decide to just go with the distressed look to some of the butterflies. I cut a Stitched Circle and layered it under a Subtle embossed layer for my sentiment. The gaps in the front were filled with gold sequins.

A couple of spare butterflies were used to finish off the inside.

The second card uses the butterflies cut from the centre of the first card. A larger gold Stitched Circle layers underneath, and the background is embossed sing the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. A Sentiment from Label Me Bold finished off the front of the card.

I had run out of Kerchief butterflies, so I used a gold one to complete the inside, LOL!

You have two weeks to get your card made and entered into our challenge. It's super easy - just photograph your card and post it to our Facebook group. Done!

Now it's time for you to hop on over to Michelle's blog. Au revoir 😉

Bye for now,

Tina

Music From The Heart

Hi!

When I was lucky enough to be asked to present Beautiful Moments at OnStage in Sydney last November, I also received a few extra stamp sets in my presenter pack. One of them was the fabulous Music From The Heart stamp set. I was soooo excited to see it, as I am a musician. It's a set that will definitely find a place in my 'keep forever' shelf!

Today's card was made for a mate of Alex's who was turning 18. He's a quiet lad, but is passionate about music, and so it was a perfect set to use for his card.

I used lots of bright colours to stamp the images on the card - Blueberry Bushel, Call Me Clover, Pineapple Punch and Real Red. The keyboard image was stamped on a Whisper White scrap, fussy cut and then trimmed into two pieces to allow it to stretch across the width of the card.

Here's a trick for making sure you stamp the notes and guitars in the correct place: lay the Stitched Circle die on the card where the die cut circle will end up, and trace around the inside of the die lightly in pencil. This saves you having to guess where you need to stamp the images.

I used the same colours to stamp across the bottom of the inside. The sentiment also comes from the set. There's a few cute pun stamps, and a few more for different occasions. the hand-written font is lovely.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #484: Just Add Colour

Hi!

It's the end of another busy week, but that means it's time for both the weekend and the new Just Add Ink challenge. Yay! This week Rachael has given us a sweet, soft colour combo to work with.

I don't know about you, but those colours scream 'baby card' to me. Ok, well maybe whisper so that we don't wake the baby! LOL!

I took the opportunity to use a new stamp set, called Witty-cisms. I was lucky enough to receive this stamp set in the bundle of goodies I got to present at OnStage recently. It's a cute little set with lots of funny images and sentiments. The text and image are actually one stamp, so I used a lot of masking to stamp the pram three times in Smokey Slate, and then just the text for the fourth square.

I stamped the images on Shimmery White cardstock so that I could watercolour the prams. The Shimmery paper copes with water much better than regular Whisper White card. The little hearts were cropped using the little heart die from the Well Written dies.

The congratulations sentiment is also from a new stamp set, called Peaceful Moments. The hearts I used on the inside are also a stamp, from the new Music From The Heart stamp set, which was also in my goodie bundle from OnStage. I just over a month they will be available for purchase.

Time for me to finish up, but you can head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can see the rest of this week's Design team cards. You can also enter your card into our challenge by linking up your blog post.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH Blog Hop: Boxes and Gift Bags

Hi!

The Art With Heart Team are back with another inspirational Blog Hop. This month we are featuring Gift Bags and Boxes, just in time for the Christmas gift giving season. The bags and boxes featured are all made using current Stampin’ Up! products and any of our wonderful team members are happy to help you with the supplies you will need to reproduce these beautiful projects.

It took me a while to work out what I was going to do for this Hop - for the longest time I had 'Boxes and Gift Tags' in my head, not Gift Bags. Oops! Back to the drawing board!

I ended up making this cute little gift box from one of the Old Olive Scalloped Notecards. Have you noticed them in the Annual Catalogue? I hadn't, until recently. For the very low price of $14.00, you receive 20 cards and 20 envelopes, 5 each of Balmy Blue, Old Olive, Light Pink and Terracotta Tile. I like making something unexpected from our products, and this fit the bill nicely!

I love how the scalloped edge of the Note Card gives a cute little finish to the opening of the box. It really feels like cheating to use these to make a box!

I used some Night Before Christmas DSP on the top of the box. I couldn't resist adding some Wink Of Stella to the Pine Tree shape, although it's hard to photograph. I love that this paper makes the tree look decorated without any extra effort on my behalf!

Here's some instructions on how I made the box:

I cropped 1 1/2cm from the straight edge of the card. I then scored at 1cm all the way around the edges, as well as another score line 1cm from the pre-scored line in the card, on the side of the scalloped edge. Did that make sense? The extra line is basically under the l and e of Gillespie in my watermark. I then snipped the corners as shown, and folded and glued the straight edged side of the card to form a box. To close it, the side flaps fold into the box, and the scalloped edge stays outside of the box. You might be able to see that I trimmed a tiny bit off the side flaps to make them easier to fold into the box.

You can see that the box is very thin, but it would be perfect for a gift card or voucher, or maybe even cash. The box could be made to be deeper, but you would lose width and length.

That's all from me for this month's Blog Hop, now it's time to jump on over to Kate Morgan's blog to continue the hop.

If you have a broken link or have come to this blog hop midway, you can view all the participants below:

Rachel Palmieri

Sharon Davern

Rebecca Jacovou

Kathryn Ruddick

Catherine Proctor

Vicki Boucher

Andrea Sargent

Sujatha Harding

Rachel Woollard

Tina Gillespie

Kate Morgan

Kathryn Mangelsdorf

Bye for now,

Tina