JAI 668: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

It's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week Lou has challenged us to Choose Two from either Twine, Tearing or Timber.

Hmm, which to choose? It's a tough decision! I originally went with Timber and Tearing, but ended up with Twine on my card too.

I decided that I wanted a bit of a country theme to my card, and what's more country than a mix of timber and gingham? I used retired DSP from the Wood Textures and Country Gingham packs for the basis of my card.

The sunflowers were the next addition. I love the outlines of the Early Espresso card on the Daffodil Delight and Shaded Spruce cardstock. It gives the flowers a real pop. I played around with the twine and the sentiment, but I could not make it work. The top corner was a little empty, so the twine/banner combo solved both problems!

I used some of the left over DSP on the inside of my card. Waste not, want not!

We'd love for you to play along with us this week. Which two elements will you choose? The Design Team had made some fabulous cards using the challenge elements. You can see them over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card before our challenge ends.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 351: CASE The SAB Catalogue

 Hi!

Welcome to another week of the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Have you had time to have a good look at your new Catalogues yet? I hope so! They are live now to customers, with plenty of gorgeous new products.

Our focus this week for our challenge, is the Sale-A-Bration catalogue. It may be small, at 20 pages, but there's still plenty of inspiration to be found.

I loved this card from page 17. I liked the layering and the DSP and the textures. Funnily enough though, in the end my card looks nothing like it!

I used the new In The Moment stamp set as my focal image, colouring it with a variety of Stampin' Blends. I took inspiration for my colours from the Expressions In Ink SDSP, that forms the background of my card.

In an attempt to replicate the layered leaves on the original card, I die cut some of the leaves from the Sunflower Dies in Gold Foil and layered them underneath the main banner.

I stamped the same image again on the inside. I deliberately left the inside sentiment-free, as it makes the card more flexible. The 'relax your way' sentiment (from A Good Man) on the front could apply in a few different scenarios, don't you think?

Our weekly challenge is run through our Facebook page, so all you need to enter is a Facebook account and a photo of your card. A blog is not essential. We'd love to see what inspires you from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue.

Now it's time to continue your way around our blog hop. The next cab off the rank is my friend, Julia. She made a gorgeous scrapbook page for last week's challenge - I wonder what she'll make this time?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Crumb Cake

 Hi!

Welcome to Crumb Cake week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop! Hands up, who loves Crumb Cake? MMMMMEEEEE!!! It's such great neutral colour. Having said that, I was very stuck for inspiration this week. It can be tough making a colour that is usually a background or complimentary colour, a feature colour on a card. I was very happy with my end result, though.

I pulled out my Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set and the coordinating Sunflower Dies, just because I haven't used them in a while. I started by cropping a few layers of an old sewing pattern with the large solid sunflower die. I then layered a Basic Black outline diecut over the top, with a Crumb Cake centre.

The background of my card was created by stamping the large sunflower stamp in Crumb Cake ink onto Crumb Cake card. I then used a Blending Brush to apply Crumb Cake ink to the edges of the piece, and finished by flicking some Crumb Cake ink over the top. I was so thrilled with how it turned out.

I finished the inside with another diecut from the Sunflowers Dies. The sentiment is from Peaceful Moments.

Thanks for spending a little time on my blog with me tonight. Next up on the Hop is Michele Taylor - I always love the cards she makes!

If you find a broken link, or want to see the full list of those participating, please pop on over to Catherine's blog. She's the wonderful woman who keeps us all organised for the Colour Creations Blog Hops.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #306: Bring The Bling

 Hi!

Phew! Where did that week go? I swear it was only a day or so ago that I was writing last week's CTC post! This week we are asking you to Bring The Bling - or in other words, to CASE a sparkly project!

There are lots of sparkly things in the Jan-June Mini, including the new Gilded Leafing,  Specialty Acetate, embellishments and Foil papers. I chose this card from the Bundles section of the Mini, as it has Gold Embossing.

I really loved how the images was stamped and chopped and put back together again. Whoever made this card is a very patient person! I am not, so I cheated and gained a similar effect by using a die cut over the chopped up background.

The Sunflowers Dies had the best outline image in my collection for this sort of card. I cropped the outline from Basic Black cardstock and layered it over the top of my chopped up background. The word 'friend' was cropped four times and stacked to give a more dimensional sentiment.

You might be saying 'but where's the bling?' The background paper is the new Pearlescent Specialty Paper. It has a gorgeous, subtle shimmer, but is very hard to photograph! The centre of the sunflower is also cut from the paper. 

I had a couple of sunflower leaves that I'd also cut from Basic Black cardstock that I'd planned to try to use on the front of the card. I didn't like the look, so I used them on the inside instead. I'm not sure what I'll use this card for - it's probably more of a 'thinking of you' card than a birthday card.

Our challenge is run through our Facebook group. All you need to do is make your bling card, take a photo and add it to the group. Done!

But please do continue on with this week's Blog Hop before you dash off to get creating! Next up is the wonderful Rebecca, who has made a gorgeous card using a sparkly product that I considered using too.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #271 Week 1: CASE The Annual Catalogue

Hi!

Welcome back once again to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. With the launch of the new Annual Catalogue only days away, we are kicking off with CASEing the front cover of the catalogue.

You can choose any element of the cover to CASE - the cards themselves, the colours, the techniques, the stamp sets - you imagination is your limit! I chose to CASE the cover photo itself.

The wattle was one of the first things that caught my eye on the cover. To replicate that, I used one of the Gold Foil wreaths from the Forever Gold Laser Cut Specialty Paper. I'm not a Gold person, so I'd originally skipped over these, but after a Zoom chat with my lovely friend, Judy May, I decided I had to have them! If you're not much of a gold person, you can use the flip side, which is white. There are pops of Bermuda Bay on the cover, so I did the same on my card. It's a nice balance to the blonde wood paper from the In Good Taste DSP pack.

I used a second piece of wood paper from the pack as my circle. I deliberately chose this section, with the strong lines created by the wood planks, as I thought it reflected the strong lines between the cards on the cover. I split the sentiment, from Celebrate Sunflowers, into three pieces to represent the three cards, and a scattering of sequins to finish it off.

I used a smaller gold leaf piece from the Forever Gold pack to decorate the inside, layered over a couple of sprigs cropped using the new Sunflowers Dies, with some more In Good Taste DSP over the top. I've left off a sentiment for the inside, as 'Let's Celebrate You' could work for a few occasions. I can easily stamp an inside sentiment when I know how I'll use this card.

The Annual Catalogue challenge runs for two weeks. To enter all you need to do is make a card that is a CASE of some element of the front cover and post the picture in our Facebook group. Make sure you add a little description of when you are CASEing, especially if it's not obvious.

Before you go, however, don't forget to finish the Blog Hop! Next up is the lovely Michelle, with her gorgeous green card.

Bye for now,

Tina