CTC 312: CASE Your Favourite Retiring Dies

 Hi!

Happy Easter! Have you had a lovely day? I hope so! My teenagers slept in today, so we were able to do our egg hunt at a much more reasonable hour. Yes, even though they are 17, 15 and 13, they still want the chocolate! It's the only day of the year that I let them eat as much junk as they want. They used to go nuts, but they've finally worked out that they end up feeling sick, so they are a bit more cautious these days!

This week for our CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge, we are asking you to CASE a project made with your favourite retiring dies. There are so many of my favourites retiring this year, it was nearly like asking me to choose a favourite child! In the end I went for my World Map Dies. I got the because my husband is interested in maps, particularly antique maps, so this suite was a must have, and will stay in my permanent collection.

I found this little tag on page 26 to CASE, but I decided to turn it into a full size card.

Because this gave me more room to play with, I decided to add two globes to the front. I used the dies to crop the globes from some Brass Foil, and then used a left over piece of Foil to anchor the two globes to the card. 

The backing for the globes was made with watercolour paper. I used my Water Painter and some Misty Moonlight ink to colour the paper, making sure that the colour went on very unevenly.

I made a third globe in the same manner for the inside of my card. A pair of sentiments from A Good Man finished off the card nicely.

What is your favourite retiring die set? There are so many to choose from, so I can't wait to see what you choose. Don't forget to upload your photo into our Facebook group when you've made your card.

Before you dash off to get inky, please do finish the Blog Hop. Next up is the lovely Lauren. Hmmm, I wonder which set of dies she has chosen?

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

JAI #520: Just Add Guys

 Hi!

Phew! I just squeaked in for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. I've had a busy week, with several appointments for Hudson. I was a little sad to come away from the dentist, as he's now lost all his baby teeth. He's my youngest, so no more tooth fairy in my house.

Anyway, on with the challenge! This week Nikki has challenged us to Add Guys to our cards. Now, I know she meant masculine cards, just in time for Father's Day next month, but I had some new pop culture stamps land in my mailbox this week and one set had the perfect sentiment for this challenge!

The sentiment, logo and skulls are all from a set by Ink Road Stamps, called I Smell Ice Cream. The logo was stamped on some DSP from the World Of Good SDSP pack that was conveniently already distressed. All I had to do was sponge some extra ink around the edges! The character was from a Sassy Club stamp set, called Treasure Hunters.

The pirate ship and 'x marks the spot' image are from another Sassy Club set, called Pirate's Gold. As. fun fact, the x literally marks the spot on the map where this story was set! The map DSP is also from the World Of Good SDSP, also sponged and stamped with the pirate images.

Hehe, I had to finish off the inside with another classic quote and character. The character and his pile of gold are Sassy Club stamps, and the sentiment is from Ink Road Stamps. It's awesome when stamps from two different companies work together so seamlessly!

Now to decide if Rob gets this one for Father's Day or not... LOL! He would love it, so I reckon it will end up in his collection of cards!

That's all rom me today, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can see the rest of this week's 'Guy' cards from the Design Team. You can also add your card to our gallery. 

Bye for now,

Tina