CTC #267 Week 2: Flowers Of The Ornate Garden Suite

Hi!

Welcome back for this week's CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. We are up to Week 2 of our current challenge, which is to make a card that is inspired by the flowers of the Ornate Garden Suite.

Last week I did a heap fo fussy cutting with the Peaceful Poppies DSP. This week I decided to go more literal and use one of the stamp sets from the suite, Ornate Style.

I started by stamping the frame from Swirly Frames on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I also stamped it on a piece of copy paper and trimmed away the piece on the inside of the frame. I then used the copy paper as a mask and stamped the flowers through it.

I then coloured the image with my Stampin' Blends. I used Rococo Rose, Daffodil Delight, Purple Posy and Granny Apple Green. I coloured the outer areas with Light Pool Party. A sentiment from Label Me Bold finished off the front of the card.

For the inside, I stamped the same flowers as the front, I just turned the stamp on it's side. They are coloured the same was as the front of the card. The sentiment is from Peaceful Moments.

That's all from me this week. We are at the halfway point for our challenge, so you still have a week to make a card and post it to the Facebook Group. What inspires you from the flowers of the suite?

Before you dash off to get creating, don't forget to finish the Blog Hop! Next up is the lovely Bec!

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 12

Hi!

Welcome to another week of the Art With Heart team's Heart Of Christmas Blog Shares, as we inch ever closer to Christmas. My kids started writing their Christmas Wish Lists yesterday - I don't know if they are starting early or late! Probably late by most kid's standards. LOL!

For tonight's card I decided to use a non-Christmas set to create my background. Have you noticed Swirly Frames in the Annual Catalogue? It's got a heap of fun circles, squares, rectangles and lines in a hand drawn style. Great for framing other images, or just stamping randomly for a background, as I have done. I used Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler inks, both full strength and stamped off.

Once again I reached for my trusty Pine Tree punch for a focal point for my card. I think I lined up the stars in the Night Before Christmas DSP quite well in the punched shape! The star on the top of the tree is simply one of the Copper Star Elements from the Holiday Catalogue, coloured with my Dark Cherry Cobbler Blend.

I punched a second tree for the inside, with some Real Red Glimmer Paper for the star - the copper stars are a little too bulky for the inside of a card.

Time for you to head on over to Claire's Blog, where you can find the rest of this week's heart Of Christmas links. I think we only have four more weeks to go after this one!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #239: CASE A Layout

Hi!

Welcome back to a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's been another busy week in my household, so I just squeaked into the end of the list for the blog hop, after Monique.

This week we are choosing a card from page 103 of the Annual Catalogue to CASE, but with an extra twist - we need to change the theme. So if the card you choose is a thank you card, you need to make anything but a thank you card. Easy!

I was in a bit of a rush to get my card done, so I went for the Crumb Cake card at the top of this photo. In my rush I assumed it was a new baby card, as it's in the Kid's and Babies section. What's the opposite of a new baby card? A sympathy card. I always seem to need them for my stash.

It's funny how 'I need to get a card made in a hurry' morphed into 'I'll just do some colouring with my Blends', which I can never do in a hurry! I stamped the flower from Best Birds three times, masking each one as I went. Once all three were masked I stamped the leaves over the top. They were coloured with my Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green and Daffodil Delight Blends.

The bird was then stamped and coloured using Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue and Light Night Of Navy Blends, with Light Crumb Cake for the ground. The sentiment is from a Paper Pumpkin set I got while I was in the USA. I think it's Birds Of A Feather.

When I cut the card for the inside I was kidding myself that I'd only stamp one flower and leaf combo. As soon as I stamped the first flower I knew I had to do the whole trio - it wouldn't look right with just one. Sigh. Luckily I'm quicker at the photo editing and blog post writing than I am at making a quick card! LOL!

That's it for me for this week. Don't forget to join our Facebook group so that you can play along with our challenges each week.

In the meantime though, you're hopping off to see what Julia has made this week.

Bye for now,

Tina

CASEing The Catty #205

Hi!

EDIT: Oh, wow, I was a winner at CASEing The Catty with this card!

It's been a long while since I've managed to play along with the CASEing The Catty challenge, but after a busy weekend with Rob and the kids, I decided I'd make sure I made the time to give the challenge a go. For challenge #205, the CTC have asked us to choose a birthday card from the catalogue and give it a Christmas twist. What fun! I made a cuppa and settled in with my Annual Catalogue and eventually decided I'd CASE the Mint Macaron/Gorgeous Grape card at the top right of page 136.

I kept the layout pretty much the same, and I also used Swirly Frames on my focal panel, but to give it the Christmas twist, I went with the Hometown Greetings Edgelits.

I started by stamping and cutting two of the large Swirly Frames circles in Night Of Navy and using my Layering Circles dies. I then took my Aquapainter and Night of Navy and Gorgeous Grape ink to create the evening sky on one of the circles. I was so thrilled with how that turned out! I also flicked over some Frost White Shimmer Paint to represent the stars. I cut the second circle with the edgelit, trimming off the second house as it didn't look quite right to me. I then used Dimensionals to pop it up on top of the first circle.

The inside was kept fairly simple so that I'll have plenty of room to write a Christmas message when I send the card. Thanks to the CTC team for a fun challenge!

Bye for now,

Tina

It's Good To Be Green

Hi!

Is that a Kermit quote? I can't remember, it just popped into my head when I was thinking about a title for this post. Anyway... on to toady's card! This week I have a card that I CASEd from the Annual Catalogue. I recently purchased Swirly Frames and this was my first time using it. I liked the green card on page 137, so away I went!

I made a slightly simpler version of the card. While I own both the Tropical Escape DSP and Tropical Thinlits, I do not own the Tropical Chic stamps. I am still in two minds about them - do I really need the stamps? The Concept Artist used the stamps on the squares in the catalogue card, but I just chopped some of the DSP. Easy substitution!

I also used a pair of sentiments from Dragonfly Dreams on my card. That's what CASEing is all about  - taking the bits of a card that work for you, and finding something in your stash for the bits that don't.

I used some more of the Tropical Escape DSP for the inside. This card is a great way to use up all those tiny scraps that seem to accumulate. The squares on the front were about 1 1/4 inches, and the strip on the inside could be as narrow or as wide as you wish. If your scraps are too narrow, just add a second or third. Too easy!

Bye for now,

Tina

Crazy for Cajun

Hi!

Welcome to this week's Colour Creations Blog Share, where we are looking at Cajun Craze.

When SU announced the new colour revamp, there were a few moans about why Cajun Craze was carried over and not retired. I'm thrilled it stayed a part of the range, as it's a colour like no other in the line up. It's a gorgeous orangey-brown that is so rich. Have I talked it up enough? Let's move onto my card!

I've been having a lot of fun lately playing with water and ink, and this card is no exception. Other techniques I've used have been quite messy, but this time I decided to watercolour an image. I purchased Crafting Forever a little while ago, but hadn't yet played with it. Cajun Craze makes the best terracotta pots, so that's where I started. I stamped my image on Watercolour paper as opposed to Shimmery White, as I wanted to do some serious colouring, rather than my usual 'slap it on' method of watercolouring.

I started with the pot and Cajun Craze. I learned quickly that I needed to let one layer of colour dry before adding the next. I also learned to use a darker colour to create more depth. In this case, I used my Early Espresso marker to draw lines under the rim of the pot and down the right side. I blended a little with my Aquapainter, just enough to create a subtle shadow effect. I used the same technique on the handles of the paintbrushes. They were coloured in Blueberry Bushel and Call Me Clover before having some Night Of Navy and Garden Green added for effect. Again - it's so important to let one colour dry before adding the next. If something happens like one colour bleeding over to the next, you can quickly sop up the water and it will usually stop the colour bleeding into the wrong area. This small panel took me quite a number of hours to colour, but the results were well worth it. While I love my slap it on style, there's a lot to be gained from taking time to colour correctly!

The Cajun Craze piece along the bottom of the inside was a test piece before I started colouring the main image. I really liked it, so I kept it for the inside. Waste not, want not!

I'e rambled on enough for now, so why not pop on over to Catherine's blog where you can find the rest of the links for this week's Blog Share?