Just Us Girls 616

 Hi!

I thought I'd have another go at the Just Us Girls challenge. This week it's a snowman photo. Hmm. A bit hard to get into that groove when it's been 30°C and humid for most of the week here in South Australia. But a snowman is just a shaped lump of ice, right? The only shaped lump of ice I want in summer is an icy pole! Or a popsicle, for the Americans reading my blog.

I used the same colour combo - Pool Party, Real Red and Smokey Slate - on my card. The icy poles are from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set, as are the sentiments.

The paper is from the SAB DSP, Sunshine & Rainbows. I've used a side that's more neutral for this card.

Another icy pole finishes off the inside, and now I'm off to raid the freezer to see if I can dig one up to cool me down!

Bye for now,

Tina

Freshly Made Sketches 517

 Hi!

EDIT: how exciting! My card was chosen by Linda to be a Princess! Thank you!

I've once again found myself with time to play along with Freshly Made Sketches. I've been watching the Ashes Test Cricket and crafting along at the same time. What fun!

I took a few days to ponder in how to interpret this sketch and decided that a slimline card with butterflies was the go.

I don't often make slimline cards, but I think this occasion called for it. It's a great way to fit a heap of big images without them getting too crowded. The butterflies are from the retired Butterfly Bijou DSP and the sentiment is from Timeless Tulips.

I stamped a row of splatters using a stamp from Sweet Ice Cream. You can't really see much of them after the butterflies were added over the top, but I still like the little peeps here and there.

You can see them a little more on the inside, though. The inside sentiment is from Peaceful Moments. The card is going to someone near and dear to me who just tested positive to Covid, so I used a 'gushier' sentiment on the inside than I would usually use.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 347: CASE A Mini Catalogue Bundle

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome back to my blog for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Do you enjoy CASEing projects from the catalogues? Then we are the Challenge for you!

This week we are asking you to CASE your favourite Mini Catalogue Bundle. Hmm, that's tricky to narrow down!! I ended up choosing this card, made with the Sweet Stockings bundle.

Somehow, my card ended up looking nothing like the original!!

I had big plans to stamp three of the cocktails from Nothing's Better Than on the largest of the tags, but they didn't quite fit. I decided to go with one cocktail on each of the second largest tags - which are from the Tailor Made Tags Dies.

I used Polished Pink as my feature colour. The word 'Cocktails' was cropped from a piece of PP card with some Foam Adhesive Sheet attached to the back for a lovely bit of dimension for the card. The DSP is from the Expressions In Ink pack.

I couldn't resist adding another pink cocktail to the inside, with a sentiment from Sweet Ice Cream.

That's all from me for tonight. We'd love to know which bundle from the Mini Catalogue is your favourite. Just CASE a card made using it and post a photo in our Facebook group before next Sunday evening. It's that easy!

Before you go, though, please do finish our Blog Hop. The next stop along with way is my good friend, Judy May. You won't want to miss her gorgeous card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 546: Just Add Steampunk

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Chantelle is daring us to make a card or project in the Steampunk style. It had quite a lot of the Design Team wondering what is Steampunk?

To me Steampunk is the blend of mechanical/industrial and arty/fantasy elements. Sort of the Industrial Revolution meets Alice In Wonderland, I guess! Either way, it was out of my comfort zone but I was bound to have a bit of fun with it. 

Cogs are a bit of a no-brainer for Steampunk, so I added a good handful to my background. I layered them over and under some DSP and a Memories and More card from the World Of Good Suite. The words are also from a M&M card. Texture is often used in Steampunk cards, especially corrugated card, which I used to layer under my main sentiment.

Let's talk about my butterfly. I googled some images/pages and found this one, which became the inspiration for my butterfly. I really love how the butterfly looks like it's made from metal plates, riveted together.

My only butterfly stamp was the one from A Touch Of Ink, so I stamped it in stamped-off Gray Granite ink. I then used my Copic Multiliner to draw in the plates and rivets, following the basic outlines from the stamp. Then I just coloured it with my Smokey Slate and Soft Suede Stampin' Blends.

I was very pleased with how it turned out! I reckon the seahorse from Seaside Notions would look pretty cool drawn and coloured like this, too.

I finished the card with some more cogs on the inside. You might be able to see the Wink Of Stella that I added to all the cogs on my card. I couldn't resist adding a top hat to the inside, either - it seems to be a common image used in Steampunk cards, although usually with the cool goggles over the top.

Overall, the Steampunk theme wasn't as scary as I though it would be. Have you ever tried it? Why not give it a go? You can link your card up over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also find the rest of this week's Design team cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

March Creative Showcase

 Hi!

Welcome to March's Creative Showcase. This time around, we are all basing our creations on a sketch designed by Rachel.

I quite like this sketch - how about you? I pulled out some Dandy Garden DSP to see how it would work with the layout. I think it works very well!

I started by adhering two pieces of the DSP to a card front sized piece of Whisper White card. I then cropped it with the second largest Stitched Rectangles Die and layered it on another piece of Whisper White card.

The dragonflies were punched from another sheet of the DSP, and popped up on Dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment in Misty Moonlight ink and cropped it with a die from Ornate Layers.

I used the left over piece of DSP from the front of my card to frame the writing panel on the inside. Waste not, want not! One final dragonfly and I was done!

You can find the rest of the links for this month's Showcase over on Rachel's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #539: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

It's Friday, which means that it's once again time for the new Just Add Ink Challenge! This week Di has challenged us to Just Choose Two.

We get to choose from Banners, Borders or Bows. Which two will you choose? I went for the banner and bow combination.

I haven't played nearly enough with the Ice Cream Corner Suite, so it seemed natural to reach for it for tonight's card. That gorgeous Blackberry Bliss ribbon was just dying to be turned into a bow! It's so soft and easy to tie.

The triple scoop ice cream was fussy cut from the DSP. I cut it roughly first and then adhered it to some Whisper White cardstock. This gives it a bit more strength when you pop it up on Dimensionals. We wouldn't want a saggy ice cream! The banner was created using my Triple Banner Punch. I used liquid glue at the top of the banner, but Dimensionals at the bottom, just for something different!

Hehe, I really like this combination of sentiments from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set, which coordinates perfectly with the strip of sprinkles DSP at the bottom of the card.

So! Banners, Borders and Bows - which two will you choose? You can see what the rest of the Design team chose, and add your card to our challenge over on the Just Add Ink blog. See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH January Creative Showcase: New Catalogues

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the first monthly AWH Creative Showcase for 2021. This month we are focussed on the two new catalogues: The January-June Mini Catalogue, and the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue. There is a wealth of inspiration and gorgeous product in both. 

A couple of months ago, when I first saw the catalogue, my eye was immediately caught by the new Ice Cream Corner Suite. It's rare that I buy a whole suite, but I couldn't resist this one. I especially like the cute Ice Cream Corner Sprinkles. They aren't sequins, but more a tiny rubbery disc. They look cute glued on as sprinkles on an ice cream, but I wondered how they'd go in a shaker card.

Wonder no more - they are great! They don't have the static issues that a lot of other shaker 'fillers' have. To create the opening for my shaker element, I punched some of the ice cream shapes and used temporary adhesive to hold them to my Thick Basic White Cardstock. I used my electronic cutting machine to scan the shape and then cut it out. If you don't have a machine, you could trace around the shape with a pencil and use your Snips to cut it out.

The trickiest part was getting the ice cream and the cone I'd stamped and punched for the back of the shaker lined up with the opening. This is where liquid glue is very handy, as it gives you time to adjust the position of the piece. I finished the front with a die cut from Well Written Dies. You may see that I tried it first in Blackberry Bliss, but I didn't like it so I just adhered a Bermuda Bay die cut over the top. The Blackberry layer is a bit like a shadow.

Hehe, I couldn't help but use this combination of sentiment and sprinkles on the inside. It was just too cute to resist!

That's all from me for tonight, but please pop on over to Rachel's Blog, where you'll find the rest of the links for this months' Creative Showcase. There's lots of wonderful ways to see the new products used.

Bye for now,

Tina