Heart Of Christmas: Week 22

 Hi!

Well, here we are at the twenty-second, and final, Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. I hope that you've managed to join us for most, or even all, of the hops. It's been a fabulous round with plenty of Christmas inspiration each week. I'm a little sad that this is the last one for 2021, but at the same time I'm glad to have one less commitment as we move into December.

As always, I have used a Sheetload Of Cards template for my cards this week. It's from November 2021, however I have simplified it a bit by removing one layer. The red strip was divided by another layer, but I felt that my card was busy enough that another layer would be a bit OTT. The template showed a loop of twine/thread under the sentiment banner, but I chose to use one of the Wonderful Snowflakes instead.

The DSP I have used is my favourite Heartwarming Hugs, and my two favourite sheets of paper. I will miss this paper when it goes. The sentiments are from Words Of Cheer.

Here's my group of cards, ready to add to my stash. Speaking of which, I was asked last week where I'm up to with that. Here's a look!

The cards on the left and the back half of the right are all my Sheetload cards - there's 84 in total, as for one week of the Hops I ran out of time and only made a single card. The front half of the right box has 19 cards, so a grand total of 103. I have four half-finished cards on my desk that may end up finished, or perhaps they will wait for next year's stash. Either way I'm set, except for the writing and addressing part!

For one last time in 2021, please do continue your way around our Hop by jumping on over to Caroline Manwaring's blog. 

Before you go, I want to take the opportunity to say thanks to all the ladies who have hopped along with Sharon, Rachel and I as we organised this year's series of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. It's been wonderful to see everyone's gorgeous cards, and read the supportive comments that everyone has left along the way. And thank you, also, to those of you that have hopped along with us every week. I hope you've found plenty of inspiration.

I am the lucky last Host for this year's Hops, so please pop back here if you run into any issues. The full list of Hoppers is as follows:

Caroline Manwaring

Kathryn Mangelsdorf

Kate Morgan

Theresa Gerrard

Catherine Proctor

Christine Blain

Claire Daly

Michele Taylor

Rosa Leyden

Rachel Woollard

Ros Davidson

Sharon Davern

Andrea Sargent

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 344: CASE An Embossing Project

 Hi!

Wowee, that week whizzed by very quickly! I can hardly believe that it's Sunday night again! My plan this weekend had been to put up our Christmas Tree, but it didn't happen. Before you say "it's too early!", it was Pageant Day yesterday in Adelaide, and that's the traditional day to put up your tree, so I will be late this year. Oh well!

This week's CASEing The Catty challenge is to CASE an Embossing Project. You could choose heat embossing, dry embossing, or embossing paste, so there's plenty to choose from! Much to my embarrassment, I purchased the Merry Melody 3DEF during the demo pre-order period, but I had yet to use it! I am a musician, which is why it appealed to me, and why it's embarrassing that I haven't used it yet! I decided that my card tonight HAD to use it, so I jumped to the catalogue page and found this card.

I don't have the angels, so I had to improvise. I chose to use the Poinsettia image from Words Of Cheer instead.

I coloured the image with my Blends, and then popped it up over the embossed panel I used a retired  Paper Pumpkin stamp set, Joy To The World, as that's the song on the Embossing Folder!

I often see this folder used on cards, but stuck on upside down. Oops! Here's a way to get the orientation correct: can you see the tiny dots that are after some notes? They should always be on the right of the note, never on the left. 

I used the poinsettia image again on the inside, with my favourite stamp from the Joy To The World set. It's such a lovely sentiment!

That's all from me for tonight, but your part in this challenge is just beginning! Just choose an embossing project to CASE, make your card, snap a photo and upload it to our Facebook group. Which type of embossing appeals to you? Hehe, I like the no-mess dry embossing!

Before you dash of to get creating, please do finish our hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Monique. I absolutely love her non-traditional coloured card - and I'm sure that you will, too!

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

Heart Of Christmas Week 16

 Hi!

Welcome to a new week's Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. We are up to Week 16 this week, and the inspiration flowing from the other ladies who participate in the Hops has not waned at all. It's been wonderful viewing everyone's cards each week.

But now onto my cards! This week I am using the October 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template. I actually skipped September 2020's, as it was for Slimline cards, and I wasn't in the mood for those. I liked the simplicity of this design, which allows the Red Foil bauble, from the Gingerbread Dies, to shine.

The sentiments I used on my cards are from the Words Of Cheer stamp set, and I have used some Heartwarming Hugs DSP to go with it. I was happy to see that the DSP had carried over from last year's Mini Catalogue, as it uses traditional Christmas colours, but not traditional images and patterns. It's a much more modern looking paper.

As always, here are my four cards. You can see that the baubles are a double layer of the Red Foil, and are finished off with a white Twine bow.

As always, thank you for your company on my blog tonight, but please do jump on over to the next blog. Michele Taylor is next, and she always has something totally gorgeous to see.

Just in case you run into a broken link along the way, pop back here for the list of all participants in tonight's Blog Hop:

Michele Taylor

Kate Morgan

Catherine Proctor

Andrea Sargent

Claire Daly

Rachel Woollard

Theresa Gerrard

Sharon Davern

Rosa Leyden

Caroline Manwaring

Ros Davidson

Christine Blain

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 15

 Hi!

Well, hello, and welcome back to this week's Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. I hope that you've been enjoying all of our Christmassy inspiration each week - it's been a lot of fun hopping with my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator friends.

This week's cards have jumped back to using the Hostess DSP, Pattern Party. Although the paper isn't Christmassy at all, the patterns and colours are suitable if you like a less-traditional colour scheme or theme for your cards. In this case, I've emphasised the Granny Apple Green and Poppy Parade to make the colour combo a bit more traditional.

The diagonal stripes are a little like a candy cane, don't you think? My kids often get ones that are a rainbow of colour rather than the traditional red and white.

As always, I have made four cards this week, using the August 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template. It really takes the stress out of making the cards - all the planning and measuring has been done for me (except adjusting to non-US sized cards), I just need to cut, stamp and assemble.

It's time to hop on over to the next blog, which belongs to the wonderful Catherine Proctor. I can't wait to see what she's created for tonight's hop.

Our blog hop is hosted this week by my lovely friend, Sharon Davern. If you find a broken link, just pop on over to her blog, where you will find a list of all of tonight's participants. You can pick up your trail there.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 14

 Hi!

Wowee, Week 14 of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops! We are well into this year's series of Blog Hops, with only 10 more to go in 2021. Have you enjoyed seeing our Christmas inspiration each week? I certainly have!

This week's group of cards comes courtesy of the July 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template. I really liked this one! It's tricky to see in the photo, but the Cherry Cobbler DSP on the right side of the card is actually on the inside of the card - the card front has been shortened by an inch. The cut off section was used for the front sentiment label. Waste not, want not!

Here you can see better how the DSP goes on the inside. It's from the Sweet Stockings DSP, just like the DSP I used on the front with the cute critters in the stockings. Super cute! The sentiments are from Words Of Cheer.

As always, here is my group of four cards. My stash certainly is building nicely!

Please do continue your way around our Hop tonight - it doesn't matter where you start, just keep on hopping until you get back to where you started. Next up is the very lovely Michele Taylor with what I'm sure will be a visual treat!

All the blogs tonight will have a link back to mine, as I am hosting the Hop this week. If you find a broken link, just pop on back here, where you can pick up your trail from the links below:

Michele Taylor

Catherine Proctor

Kate Morgan

Claire Daly

Rachel Woollard

Caroline Manwaring

Christine Blain

Theresa Gerrard

Andrea Sargent

Ros Davidson

Rosa Leyden

Sharon Davern

Judy May

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 338: CASE The Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks for popping by to see the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's a great way to spend an hour or so! This week we are asking you to CASE A Sketch of the red Thinking Of You card in the challenge image below.

To make it even easier for you, we've created a sketch to guide you in your card making. It's nice and simple when you look at it this way, but our Crew have certainly come up with some interesting and clever ways to interpret the sketch.

I had big plans to create a card with a window through to the inside where the circle is in the sketch, but my littlest boy finished the school term by getting a cold. He most kindly shared his germs with me, and I've been feeling a little low, so quick and simple became the best option for me this week.

I had decided that instead of a ribbon under the circle, I would use some kind of die cut element instead.  This (retired) Forever Gold Laser Cut paper did the trick without too much fuss.

The hardest part was cutting the hexagon from Whisper White card - the gold hexagon part is not symmetrical! In the end I sort of traced the gold onto the white card and then cropped about 3/16th of an inch inside the lines. It worked well!

The sentiments I have used on the card are both from Words Of Cheer. I just have the stamp set, and it was a great, inexpensive, Christmas set to purchase.

We would absolutely love for you to join in with our challenges. You just need to be a member of our Facebook group. Once you join you can just add a photo of your card to the group each week. Nothing fancy required!

Before you race of to get creating, please do finish our hop - the Crew have obviously enjoyed this Sketch challenge, and have a fabulous collection of cards to spark your creativity. The next stop along the way is my Kiwi friend, Sandra, with a very pretty card that I adore!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 337: Step Up A Mini Catalogue Project

Hi! 

Hello, and thanks for stopping by for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I wasn't sure if I was going to have a card made in time for the hop tonight, but I just squeaked in. The concert band that I play in staged a large Proms concert last night, which was a lot of fun, but a lot of energy. It went very well, and I woke up feeling great this morning, so I was able to get crafty.

This week we are asking you to step up a Mini Catalogue project. What does this mean? Basically, make your chosen project more fancy! You could add more layers or colours or embellishments, or do what I did and turn it into a fancy fold.

I chose this cute card from page 68 of the Mini Catalogue. I don't have the bundle, but I do have the coordinating Penguin Playmates Sale-A-Bration DSP, so I used that instead to make a rocking card.

I started by roughly cutting five of the penguins from the DSP and gluing them to some Thick Whisper White cardstock. This gives them strength, but also makes the back of the card look a little nicer. Once dry, they were fussy cut and had Wink Of Stella added to their beanies and scarves. The base of the card was some die cut circles, cropped from Fresh Freesia cardstock and some of the DSP. The penguins were glued (back row) and popped up over the top, ensuring that the card stayed balanced. It rocks nicely if you give it a little push, but stays straight when it's not rocking.

Another die cut circle, from Whisper White card, completes the inside, along with a sentiment from Words Of Cheer. I cut the white circle in half so that the card still folded nicely. Too much bulk in the crease would prevent it from sitting nicely.

Again, thank for joining me tonight. We'd love for your to join in with our challenges, It's as easy as joining our Facebook group and adding a photo of your card for each challenge. No blog or fancy equipment/software/apps necessary. Just snap a photo and upload it to the group. Easy!

I'm the last stop on tonight's hop, but if you started mid-way, just keep on going until you get back to where you started. The next stop is my lovely friend from Queensland, Rebecca, with a gorgeous Christmas card.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 571: Just Add Lines

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Kelly is challenging us to add lines to our cards.

Hmm, that got me thinking about all the ways to add lines to a project. There's a lot of choices - stamping, stencilling, DSP, scoring, just to name a few. Now, you know that I like to think out of the box for these challenges, and initially I was thinking about trying to incorporate a one-liner joke into a card, but I couldn't make it work. Then I was going through my Christmas supplies and found a subway art style stamp from Ink Road Stamps, called Subway Art: Christmas. It's perfect for the challenge - it consists of a whole lot of lines from Christmas songs.

I started by stamping the lines on Whisper White card in Garden Green ink, and then used a Blending Brush to apply some more ink around the edges. It was matted on a piece of Peaceful Prints DSP and then to a Garden Green card base.

One of the lines in the stamp was from Silver Bells, one of my favourite Christmas songs. It inspired the silver foil bells on the front of my card. The dies are from the Gingerbread Dies set, and both layers are cut from the Silver Foil - isn't it a cool effect?

I cut an extra bell to go on the inside. I backed the foil with adhesive sheet before cropping the bells. This helps to keep all of the little pieces in place. I removed them for the bells on the front, as they were double layered, but I kept them in place for the inside bell. The sentiment is from Words Of Cheer.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You can also link up your card for our challenge. The hardest part will be deciding how to add lines to your card!

Bye for now,

Tina