Colour Creations: Smoky Slate

 Hi!

Welcome back to my blog for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are nearing the end of this round, starting the final month with Smoky Slate. It's a lovely, pale grey from the Neutrals colour family. I decided to pair it with some retiring dies that will find a place in my permanent collection - Suit & Tie Dies.

There's nothing particularly fancy about my card tonight, but that's OK. I think masculine cards tend to be less fancy on the whole. What do you think?

To get a faux fabric look, I embossed the Smoky Slate cardstock with the Tasteful Textile 3DEF. Very sadly, this embossing folder is retiring. The stamp set that I used, A Good Man, is (you guessed it) also retiring. 

I used some Smoky Slate DSP to create the ties for my card. I cropped the full tie, and then a second piece for the knot. I like how it gives a more 3D effect with very little extra effort.

That's all from me for tonight - short and sweet, as I celebrate my 20th Wedding Anniversary with a special dinner with my family! 

The next stop along the way is my love friend, Rachel Palmieri. I'm sure she's got a cracker of a card to see!

If you get stuck, pop on over to Catherine Proctor's blog - she has a list of all participants to help get you back on track!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Poppy Parade

 Hi!

Are you enjoying this week's Colour Creations Blog Hop? Poppy Parade is such a happy red! I was finally able to place an order, which scored me the Driving By stamp set as a Sale-A-Bration reward. I have a friend who has a restored Combi van that is red, so I used it for inspiration for my card tonight.

I used my Poppy Parade and Basic Black Stampin' Blends to colour the combi, which was then fussy cut.

The road is simply cropped using one of the Suit & Tie Dies, and then I used a white gel pen to hand draw the lane markings. If you don't have the S&T dies, there's a similar die in the All Dressed Up Dies.

I repeated the scene again for the inside, but oriented it to the left. I quite like stamping the sentiment at the bottom of the card rather than in the middle. Just something a little bit different!

That's all from me for this week's Blog Hop, but please do continue your way around our hop. Just keep going until you get back to where you started. The next cab off the ranks is my lovely friend, Christine Blain.

If you get stuck along the way, please jump on over to Catherine Proctor's blog. She's got a list of all participants, and you'll be able to pick up your trail again there.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Pear Pizzazz

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to Pear Pizzazz week of the Colour Creations blog hops. Pear Pizzazz is in the Subtle Family collection and is a bit of a so-so green. I don't love it, but I don't hate it, either. 

I decided to pull out my Plentiful Plants bundle to play with, and to use some of the plant stamps that hadn't seen ink yet. I paired it with Sweet Strawberry for the sentiments and the Stitched Greenery Die for the background.

I don't know what this plant is called in real life, but in my head it's become the Brian May plant. It reminds me so much of his hair, and that's all I can see now!

I actually created the inside of the card before I'd finished the front. In hindsight, I wish I'd stamped the Brian May plant again on the Whisper White base, as I did on the front, to extend the height of the plant. Next time!

Speaking of next, the next stop in our Blog Hop belongs to Michele Taylor. Jump on over to her blog to see what is sure to be a fabulous card.

And don't forget that Cathy Proctor is here to save the day if you run into any problems. She's got a list of all participants in case of an emergency 😉

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 588: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. It's a Colour Challenge this week, suggested to us by Jan.

I really love the richer colours in this combo - don't you? When I think of Jade I think of lucky dragons, and so I decided to pull out my Uniquely Creative Lucky You stamp set and dies for my card.

There are lots of layers in this card! The bottom Misty Moonlight layer is DSP from the Pattern Party Host pack. The next DSP layer is Just Jade from the In Colour DSP pack. The sentiment strip is cut using a Suit & Tie Die. I added the Magenta Madness banner as I felt the top corner was a bit too empty.

My dragon was coloured using my Stampin' Blends in the three challenge colours, plus a little touch of Bronze. 

I stamped the dragon again on the inside in Just Jade, alongside a sentiment from Sweet As A Peach.

We'd love to see what you do with this week's colours - they really are a fabulous combo. When you've made your card, just pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog where you can add it to the challenge. Don't forget to check out the rest of the Design Team's cards, too.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 580: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Oh, yay! It's the new Just Add Ink challenge dropping, just in time for the weekend. I hope you have some crafty plans that include making a card for our challenge!

It's a Colour Challenge this week, with the combo selected by Rochelle. To me, it's a very Aussie bush combo, so I used a stamp set from Paper Rose called Flowering Gum on my card.

I had received this stamped image as a part of a kit for a colouring class I attended recently. I hadn't got around to colouring it yet, so I pulled it out of the kit to use for this challenge. The colours work beautifully, don't you think? I mounted it on a retired Gold Foil card base to pull in the Gold from the combo. I also splattered some Vegas Gold Shimmer paint over the top.

The gold splatter was an attempt to abstractly replicate the warty growths that are sometimes on gum leaves. I'm to sure that it translated well, but I like the effect! The sentiment I used is from a My Favourite Things set, called Sun-Lovin' Santa. 

That's all from me for this challenge, but I do hope that you're able to play along with us. You can see the rest of the Design Team's cards over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also link up your card when you're ready. I'm interested to see what you make with this combo.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Magenta Madness

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to another week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are featuring Magenta Madness, one of the soon-to-retire In Colours. It's one I won't be sad to see go - it's a tad bright for me!!

To tone it down a lot, I decided to play with my Dark Magenta Madness Blend and Vellum with Isocol. I didn't really have much of a plan, so I started by scribbling a few circles on the vellum with the Blend. I then dipped a small paintbrush into the Isocol and dropped one drip into the centre of each scribbled circle. As each one dried, I scribbled and dripped some more until I was happy. It was interesting to see that, despite the same technique on all the scribbled circles, as the Isocol spread the colour some stayed in perfect circles, and others were jagged or wobbly edged. 

I finished the front of the card with a few Wonderful Snowflakes topped with a  Magenta Madness Square Gem. I've just received the snowflakes in an order, and they are so shimmery and pretty! The sentiment is from Words Of Cheer, cropped with a Suit & Tie Die.

I coloured this last snowflake with my Dark Magenta Madness Blend. I coloured on the shimmery side, which has a slick coating. This gave the ink from the Blend a watery effect, which I liked very much! Now I just need to work out who will receive this very pink Christmas card from me.

Thanks again for joining me, but please do continue your way around our Magenta Madness Blog Hop. The next cab off the rank is my wonderful friend, Andrea Sargent. She's bound to have a stunner (or two) for you to see!

The also very wonderful Catherine Proctor is our Hostess for tonight's blog hop. If you find a broken link, or some other problem, just pop on over to her blog, where you'll find a complete list of tonight's hoppers to hep you get back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Basic Grey

 Hi!

Welcome to this week's Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are showcasing Basic Grey this time around. It's a dark grey from the Neutrals colour family that has been in the colour line-up a very long time.

I decided to stick with Clean And Simple for my card, which uses the Suit & Tie Dies alongside the Biggest Wish stamp set. I cropped the three ties from my Neutrals DSP, after first adhering it to a layer of Basic Grey cardstock. This just gives the DSP extra strength so it won't sag when popped up on Dimensionals. 

I made sure that when I cropped the knot part of the tie, I altered the angle of the DSP. This is most obvious in the striped tie. It gives a more realistic look to the knot.

One final tie was cropped for the inside of my card, along with a sentiment from A Good Man.

Thanks for joining me tonight, please do continue on with the Blog Hop though. Next up is Rachel Woollard, with her gorgeous Basic Grey card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Here's the rest of this week's blogs, in case you come across a broken link:

Michele Taylor 

Kate Morgan

Sharon Davern

Ros Davidson

Catherine Proctor

Rachel Palmieri

Theresa Gerrard

Kristine D'Auria

Tina Gillespie <== You are here

Rachel Woollard

Di Furniss

Claire Daly

Christine Blain

Fiona Ryan

Caroline Manwaring

Vicki Boucher

Andrea Sargent

Rosa Leyden 

Colour Creations: Balmy Blue

 Hi!

It's Colour Creations Blog Hop time again! This week it's Balmy Blue's turn. I'm very much a 'blue' girl, and this is probably the shade of blue that I reach for most often when I'm crafting. Today's card was made for my niece, who turns 15 this week. She and her mum (my sister) taught me and my other sister how to do macrame over Zoom last year, and so when I thought of a card for her, I wanted to include some macrame on it.

LOL, yes, that was handmade, using a bamboo skewer and some retired Thick Very Vanilla Baker's Twine. My fingers aren't nimble enough to use standard Baker's Twine! The Balmy Blue DSP is from the You're A Peach DSP pack. I popped it up over the Thick Very Vanilla base so that I could attach the macrame piece to the card. I first adhered the DSP to a piece of Balmy Blue cardstock to give it enough strength.

The sentiment is from the Sweet As A Peach stamp set, cropped with a Suit & Tie Die.

Like all good macrame crafters, nothing gets wasted, so the offcuts from the front piece were used to make a feather for the inside. It's going to be a thick card to send, but it's for someone special, so that's OK.

That's all from me for now, but please do continue on with the Blog Hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Di, who grows the most delicious apples and makes the most wonderful cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

In the event that a link is broken, here is the full list of tonight's participants:

Michele Taylor
Rachel Palmieri
Kate Morgan
Catherine Proctor
Caroline Manwaring
Sharon Davern
Christine Blain
Tina Gillespie <- you are here
Diane Furniss
Ros Davidson
Theresa Gerrard
Rachel Woollard
Rosa Leyden
Fiona Bell Ryan
Vicki Boucher

CTC 321: Mini Project, Masculine Twist

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's a fun challenge this week. Actually, all our challenges are fun (I think!) but this one was extra fun for me.

We are tasking you to find a project in the Mini Catalogue and give it a masculine twist. I like to really challenge myself, so I decided to look for a very feminine card to twist.

Smoochy, lipstick lips are super feminine, right?

My first thought was to replace the lips with a bow tie, and the rest of the card was built around that! The bow tie, from Handsomely Suited, was coloured with my Night Of Navy Blends and then cropped with the matching Suit & Tie Dies. My sentiment is from Sweet Strawberry, and I've just noticed that it has a mix of fonts, just like the catalogue card I am CASEing.

The DSP is from the In Good Taste pack, which carried over from the previous Annual Catalogue. I layered it on a discarded piece of Whisper White that had beens tamped with the Birch stamp and cropped with a Stitched Rectangles Die. I had made it for a different card and didn't end up using it, but it worked perfectly on this card. I tied a reef knot in my twine, instead of the bow on the original card.

My DSP offcut from the front of the card and a tie were the perfect additions to the inside of the card.

That's all from me for tonight, but your job is just beginning! We'd love to see how you turn a non-masculine card into a masculine card. All you need to do is make the card and post a photo in our Facebook group.

Don't race off too quickly, though! You will want to finish our blog hop first! Please pop on over to Peta's blog, where she has a stunner of a card made using a popular stamp set for masculine cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 319: CASE A Technique - Embossing

 Hi!

Phew! It's the end of another busy weekend, so that means it's time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Hooray!

This week Bec has set us the task of CASEing a project that uses an embossing technique. When I think of embossing, I think of heat embossing, dry embossing or embossing paste. That's a lot of choice!

I found this card on page 111 of the Annual Catalogue that uses the Emboss Resist technique. It's been ages since I've done that, so I was keen to give it another go.

I've only recently purchased the Forever Fern bundle, and I'm not sure why to took me so long!! It's such an awesome set. I started with Very Vanilla cardstock and used clear embossing powder on the leaves. These leaves make me think of eucalyptus trees, but I have no idea if that is correct or not!

I then used a Blending Brush and Soft Succulent ink to colour over the embossed leaves. Finally, I used a tissue to buff away the ink from the leaves. The catalogue sample watercoloured over the feathers, but I didn't have the patience to wait for it to dry. The sentiment is from Blossoms In Bloom, and is cropped using a die from the Suit & Tie set.

I did more of the same on the inside. It's much easier to do the two lots of embossing in one go, so often when I am making the front of my card, I am also thinking about what I am going to do on the inside.

That's all from me for tonight, but you are just getting started! Just find a project in the catalogue that uses an embossing technique, CASE the card, and upload your photo into the Facebook group.

Before you get creating, please do finish our blog hop! Next up is my lovely friend, Rachel, which has used my favourite bundle from the Mini Catalogue to create her card.

Bye for now,

Tina