CTC #228: Favourite Retiring Stamp Set

Hi!

Welcome to the new CASEing the Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I hope you've had a great weekend! I have, and got very spoiled today for Mother's Day. I'm very grateful for my beautiful family. Anyway, on to the hop! You may have arrived here from Monique's blog, or you could be starting here. It doesn't matter, just keep hopping until you get back to where you started!

This week the CTC Crew are stamping with our favourite retiring stamp set. Talk about hard to pick! As with last week, I ended up choosing a stamp set that I wish had seen more ink during the year - Treehouse Adventures.

My card was CASEd from the card at the bottom right of the picture above, which is taken from  page 87 of the Annual Catalogue. I started off by intending to CASE it completes, but once I had the stamping done I went a bit off track!

I used the same colours as the sample - Granny Apple Green, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Coastal Cabana and Mango Melody - with the addition of Pool Party for the sky. Once I'd stamped everything I used my snips to fussy cut the scene, including the little bits between the tree and the tree house.

I then added the Pool Party cardstock (embossed with the Subtle folder) to the card base and popped up a piece of Whisper White at the top and bottom of the card. The scene was then popped up over the top, with the grass and top of the tree flat to the WW sections. I hope that makes sense! I finished it off with the sentiment and a few clouds tucked behind the tree.

The treehouse was very cute, so I stamped it again on the inside to finish it off. I think this stamp set will find it's way to my 'keep' pile. I have 5 young great nephews who would love a tree house like this!

Don't forget to join us in our Facebook group to see what everyone's favourite retiring stamp set is.

Before you do though, don't forget to finish the hop! Next up is the lovely Shannon with a fun bunch of cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #456:Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Yay for Friday! It's been a long, wet miserable week here in Adelaide, and I'm ready for the weekend. Perhaps I can convince the family to snuggle on the lounge and watch a movie. Sounds like a good plan to me! Anyway, this week Nikki has given us our Just Add Ink challenge. It's this gorgeous Inspiration challenge.

Aren't those white on white daisies beautiful? Wouldn't that be a nice bouquet to receive on Mother's Day? Funnily enough, I didn't even think of doing a Mother's Day card for this challenge until just now. Too late for that now!

I made a thank you note card instead that is a little farewell to Lemon Lime Twist. Sob! It's a colour I've really come to love and will miss a lot, especially in gingham. I may have to put aside a little secret stash so that I can continue to enjoy it.

The daisy was made using two layers of the punched shape. I usually use three, but this time two worked nicely. I would have loved to have the new Medium Daisy punch to add another couple of layers, but alas, it's not available until June.

On the inside (and on the envelope too, even though it's not shown) I stamped the daisy twice to get the same look as the daisy on the front. Thankfully the stamp is photopolymer, so it's not too difficult to line up and stamp a second time.

Thanks for stopping by this week. Don't forget to also stop by the Just Add Ink blog, where you can see the rest of the Design Team cards, and also link up your card for the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

So Country With Saffron

Hi!

 
Welcome to tonight's Colour Creations Blog Share. This week we are using So Saffron as a feature colour on our cards. I was happy about this, as I struggled with some of the neutrals we've done in the past few weeks. however, every time I sat down to create I was blanking for ideas! I'm still not totally thrilled with this card, but at least I got something done.

I started by inking up the flat side of my Country Floral DTIEF with Night Of Navy Ink and then running it through my Big Shot with a piece of So Saffron cardstock. It's not a technique I use often, but I like the way it turned out on this card. I was too efficient and washed my folder before I realised I should have done a second piece for the inside too. I decided to chop a piece off the front panel tout aside for the inside, which then necessitated chopping up the rest of the panel to stretch it for the front of the card. See, it doesn't alway pay to be too tidy!

I matted the sections with Whisper White to help them stand out more. The label for the sentiment was from the Share What You Love Embellishment Kit. I always get to this point of the catalogue and start madly trying to use up all the pretty stuff that I've hoarded all year!

The inked/embossed piece didn't look right with just a So Saffron border, so I added a Whisper White one first. I guess it echoes the front, so it's ok!

It's time to pop on over to Catherine's blog now, where you can find the rest of this week's So Saffron links.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #227: Favourite Retiring Bundle

Hi!

Welcome to by blog for the CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop! The blog before mine was Julia's. You know the drill by now - grab a cuppa and keep hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week the crew are making projects using our favourite retiring bundle. It was really hard to pick a favourite of all those going, so I picked the one that I wished I'd used more while it was current. I think it will find it's way to my 'keep' shelf though, as I think it's great for teen girls.

It's the Follow Your Dreams bundle from page 54. The dream catchers, feathers and flowers are the perfect mix for teen girls, don't you think? As my daughter is about to turn 14, and I have 3 nieces around the same age, I have a bit of a need for teen girl things in the next few years or more!

I started by die cutting the 'dream' and the dream catcher 4 times each - one in the Gold Foil paper and three times in Bermuda Bay cardstock. I then glued all of the layers together with the foil on top. It's a great way to get dimension, especially when die cuts like the dream catcher are very fiddly to pop up with Dimensionals. I cut the gold pieces out of the panel I used to matt my main panel, as you never see it and would never know unless you (shock horror!) pulled the card apart.

If you look closely, you can see that I stamped the little star/flower image all over the main panel in VersaMark. I then sponged over the top with Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana ink. Finally, I splattered some water over the top to lift the colour under the splatters. It's such a cool effect. It's hard to see in the photo, but I embossed the Whisper White layer with the Pinewood Planks DTIEF - yes, there are other embossing folders besides Subtle!! Finally, I added some (retired) tiny pearls to the dreamcatcher.

I'd also cut some feathers out of the Gold Foil matt to use on the front, but didn't end up using them there. Instead, I made a home for them on the inside by sponging Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay inks on the bottom corner and flicking it with water before adhering the feathers over the top.

I showed this card to Miss Nearly 14 and asked her if I should add or change anything. She told me it was perfect the way it was, so I'm happy with that!

Don't forget to check out our Facebook group, where you can add your card to this week's challenge. What's your favourite retiring bundle? It can be one that's completely retiring, or one that will carry over, but no longer be sold as a bundle. Too easy!

Don't forget to complete the Blog Hop though! Next up is Rose, I wonder what bundle she'll choose?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #455: Just Add Sympathy

Hi!

Welcome to this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This time Kim has challenged us to make a sympathy card. I was a bit pleased when I first saw this challenge, as the sympathy section of my card box is empty, and I saw this as a chance to restock it a bit. Nobody likes making sympathy cards when they actually need them.

However, fate sometimes laughs at our plans, and as it happens, I needed to make a sympathy card this week. We very sadly learned that one of Hudson's little school mates passed unexpectedly last week and her memorial service is tomorrow.

The little girl's family are religious, and so I wanted to make a card to reflect this. I chose a piece of the Graceful Glass vellum that reminded me of a church stained glass window, and paired it with a piece of Wood Textures DSP that had the look of a church pew. Can you see it?

I coloured the vellum with some of my Blends and then wrapped it around a piece of Whisper White cardstock cut slightly smaller than the panel. This was to avoid having visible adhesive on the front.

On the inside I stamped a butterfly from my Painted Glass stamps set to bring a piece of the front to the inside. I think a sympathy card for a child is especially hard to make, but I hope this card will bring some comfort to her family.

The Design Team have made some beautiful cards this week. Quite a few of us were in the same boat of needing to make the cards to give straight away. You can find the cards at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your sympathy card.

Bye for now,

Tina

A Clean Slate

Hi!

Time for a new Colour Creations Blog Share. This week it's Smokey Slate, which I surprisingly found to be a hard colour toward with! I asked Rob for inspiration and he straight away said to make a Game Of Thrones card. Umm, no! In the end, I decided to go with a classic pink and grey combo.

My new Rococo Rose ink pad was on my desk, so I did a bit of smooshing with it. I then added some Smokey Slate smooshing around the edges. Once it dried I used my retiring Eclectic Layers dies to cut a few diamonds into the cardstock.

The stamp set is a new one from the upcoming Annual Catalogue, called Genuine Gems. The pieces on my card are actually chopped from a larger sentiment that says 'I told the universe to send some awesome your way'. I half coloured the open letters and then matted them in halves on Smokey Slate and Rococo Rose cardstock. I was going for a card for an older teen girl, so I was trying a few funky things out.

I did a little more smooshing on the inside. It's hard to see, but there is some Smokey Slate in there amongst the Rococo Rose!

Tina to pop on over to Catherine's blog, where you can find the rest of this week's Smokey Slate cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #226: CASE A Layout

Hi!

Sob! it's Sunday, which means the school holidays are over, but ti also means it's time for this week's CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Yay! You may have arrived here from Siobhan's blog, or just starting here. It really doesn't matter, just keep hopping 'til you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing layouts from the Occasions Catalogue. What does this mean? Simply take a card you like and make a new one based on the placement of all of the elements on the card. Easy!

I decided to CASE the front of the catalogue, treating it like a big card.

I started by using my Stamparatus to create the wreath of flowers on the base. It was a little tricky, as I stamped the Bike Ride image six times (because there are 6 cards on the cover!), but I got it first go! I only used the Stamparatus to stamp the outline, and then the flowers and leaves were stamped by hand.

The punched flowers were created using the Bitty Blooms Punch pack, but I also threw in a few leaves stamped with a leaf from Happy Birthday Gorgeous. After I'd assembled the card I added a scattering of copper sequins to represent the butterflies on the cover.

It wasn't until I was editing these photos that I realised how vintage the colour scheme is. I used Grapefruit Grove, Pear Pizzazz and Soft Suede. I think nearly every kitchen had crockery or bakeware in these colours in the 70's!

I couldn't resist adding another little flower on the inside!

Hopefully I'll see you over in our Facebook group, where you can add your CASEd Layout card to the challenge.

Before you go, though, don't forget to complete the hop! Next up is the lovely Julia.