CTC #270 Week 1: CASE Your Favourite Retiring Die Or Punch

Hi!

Oh, wow, it's been such a lovely, sunny weekend here in Adelaide, that I actually found it hard to sit down and craft! We've been a bit cooped up with wet weather lately, so yesterday we took the kids to walk along the boardwalk at the beach, and today we walked and biked through our local reserve. Glorious!

This fortnight's CASEing The Catty Sunday Blog Hop Challenge is to CASE your favourite retiring die or punch. As I was so time poor, I reached for a die that does a lot of the work for you, the Thank You Die. I think this die will find a permanent home in my collection, as it's a great die.

I also reached for some DSP that doesn't need much else to look pretty - the Peaceful Poppies DSP. I will miss this paper, I haven't used it nearly enough. Sigh, do you ever save stuff for 'special' and then never actually use it? Every day is special, so I should just chop it!

This piece of DSP was already cropped in the bag, saving a little more time for me! LOL. It's a little smaller than I'd usually use on a card front, so I matted it with Basic Black. I then had a dilemma - do I use White Dimensionals, or Black, to pop it up on my Whisper White card base? My Facebook followers mostly said Black, but I ended up using White, just in case the Black would show through the WW card base.

The hero of the card is the gorgeous Glimmer Black die cut. I realised after that the Black Glimmer is retired, but you could also use the Black Foil (which is about to retire). To give the die cut dimension, I cropped three in plain Basic Black card and then glued all 4 layers together before adhering it to the card base. A few black sequins from the coordinating Peaceful Poppies Sequins finished off the front of the card.

I had another little scrap of the front DSP in the pack, so I used it for the inside. No inside sentiment so that I could have plenty of room to write a message of gratitude.

To enter our challenges you just need to make a suitable card and upload it to the wall in our Facebook group. No blog or fancy photography is necessary, but of course you can have all that if you like!

You're nearly at the end of the Hop if you began at the start. If not, just keep going until you get back to where you started. The next stop is the lovely Rose, who has used a gorgeous Stitched Die set that I will miss a lot!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #221: Needlepoint Nook

Hi!

Hooray for Sunday and the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Not so much hooray for the end of the weekend, but you can't have it all. At least it's going out in style LOL.

The blog before mine was the wonderful Julia Quinn, if you started here, there, or anywhere - it doesn't matter, just keep hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing projects from the Needlepoint Nook section of the Occasions Catalogue. Would you believe that, despite me enjoying a bit of sewing and needlecraft, I don't own anything from this suite of products? I wish I could have it all! For today's card it just meant that I had to be a little bit inventive.

The inspiration for my card ended up being the word 'friend' on the Berry Burst card to the right in the photo. I like how it was stamped and fussy cut closely around the word. It seems to be a bit of a trendy look in the paper crafting world at the moment. And look, I managed to scrounge up a small piece of DSP out of a Make & Take pack from Orlando.

I wanted to make a thank you card for a new friend who helped me a lot when I recently tried my hand at quilting. Sandra was one of my Orlando housemates and she is a very experienced quilter, only too happy to share her knowledge and experience as I made my first. The DSP was't anywhere big enough to cover the front of the card, so I had to get a little bit fancy. Then I realised it sort of looked like a patchworked piece, and that made me happy! The gingham is from the Gingham Gala DSP pack.

I don't have the stamp set from the Needlepoint Nook suite, so I used a Well Written framelit instead. I adhered a piece of a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet to the back of a scrap of Berry Burst and then sent it through the Big Shot. The adhesive sheets are awesome for these small die cuts! I then peeled off the backing, adhered the word to a scrap of Whisper White and got to work with my snips. I was so happy with how it turned out.

I had one tiny scrap of the Needlepoint Nook DSP left, but it wasn't wide enough for a standard inside. Gingham Gala to the rescue again!

What catches your eye in the Needlepoint Nook section of the Occasions Catalogue? I can't wait to see your card in the CASEing The Catty facebook group.

Before you head on over there, don't forget to finish the hop! Next up is the lovely Kelly Kent. She's bound to blow you away with her creativity.

Bye for now,

Tina

Powered Up Powder Pink

Hi!

Gee whizz, another week has flown around again! Where are they going? This week for Colour Creations we are making cards using Powder Pink. I'm really not a pale pink fan, so I found this week's card a little difficult to start. I needed to make a second giant Thank You card (you can see the first one here), and so I pulled out my Garden Impressions DSP, which has a multitude of pinks.

The lady I am making this card for is quite girly, so I thought this paper would be perfect for her. She has been running our support group for families of special needs kids while our regular coordinator has been on leave. One term ended up being one year and one term! We will miss her when she goes.

How cute are these little birdies?  They are from the Well Written Thinlits set, and the answer is 'super cute'! Once again, I ran my Wink Of Stella pen over the die cut Thank You and the birdies for a bit of extra bling.

As before, I added writing panels to both sides of the insides, as many people need to sign the card. It's a big one - nearly 6 inches square.

The Powder Pink ruffle ribbon adds that final, girly touch to the card, don't you think?

As always, Catherine's blog is where all the rest of the Colour Creations magic is happening this week. Why not pop on over?

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #220: Sale-A-Bration

Hi!

It's time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I do love these hops, there's so much inspiration and talent in the CTC Crew and I feel so fortunate to be part of the team. My friend Kelly was the blog before mine, but just keep hop, hop, hoping until you get back to where you started!

This week we are back to CASEing the Sale-A-Bration catalogues, and there are two to choose from. I'm a bit battered and bruised this week - I had a fall on Friday night and scraped a lot of skin off my hand, elbow and knees. I'm ok, just feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself. I had promised to make a card for a lady that was retiring, so I decided to go a bit easy on myself and do a fairly direct CASE.

I chose the Highland Heather card on the front of the first catalogue, but changed it to a square card, as a lot of people need to sign it. The finished card is nearly 6" square.

You can see straight away that I kept many of the same elements. I switched from flowers to butterflies, as I had a punch for the butterflies and I didn't need to colour them.

It's hard to see on the photo, but I went over the Thank You die cut with my Wink Of Stella pen for a bit of added glimmer. It's so pretty in real life. The lady this card is for ran the support group I attend that's for parents of special needs kids. She's had to step down for personal reasons and will be very much missed. I was quick to volunteer to make a card for her, as it's so much more personal than a shop bought one.

There's a dozen or so of us in the group that want to sign, so I had to supersize the card. To add to the space to write on, I adhered a writing panel to both sides of the inside of the card. The floral DSP is so pretty, so I used strips to decorate the panels.

Isn't this the perfect sentiment for someone who has supported the group through both good and bad times? She really is the best.

That's it for me, don't forget to add your CTC card to our Facebook group. In the meantime though, you're off to see the gorgeous card that Lauren has made.

Bye for now,

Tina