JAI #482: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Woo hoo, once again it's Friday and time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This fortnight Jackie has designed a cute sketch for us to work with. Notice I said fortnight, and not week? Not a typo - this challenge will run for two weeks, as most of the Design Team will be off to attend Stampin' Up!'s OnStage event next weekend. I'll be heading off to Sydney, and I can't wait!

How fun is that sketch? I really love the little sentiment layers at the side of the tag. I felt like doing a spot of watercolouring, so I pulled out my Crafting Forever stamp set.

I stamped the pot of brushes onto some watercolour paper using Sahara Sand ink, which I stamped off first. I'm really getting into the no line watercolouring technique lately. It's kind of nice not to have the dark black Stazon outline sometimes.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm not patient enough to let each section dry fully. That, and the fact that I made this card at the last minute and had to rush - watercolouring is not something that you can rush! Still, I was mostly pleased with my efforts this time. It's hard to tell in the photograph, but I used my Silvery Shimmer Delicata ink to colour the metal parts of the brushes. It gives a really nice shimmer! I simply tapped the pad onto my Silicone Sheet, and then used my Aqua Painter to pick up the ink from there. Too easy!

LOL, as I said earlier, I was very short on time today, so the inside of my card just got one stamp. The 'For You' on the front makes this quite a generic card, so I can either leave it blank, or stamp an appropriate inside sentiment when I know what this card will be used for.

Thanks for stopping by. Now it's time to pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the rest of this week's Design Team cards. Don't forget that you have two weeks in which to get your card into our challenge gallery for this sketch challenge.

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 #253: Come To Gather Suite

Hi!

Hello, and welcome back to a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Did you come here from Rebecca's blog, or start here? It doesn't matter, just keep going until you get back to where you started!

This week we are CASEing a card from the Come To Gather Suite, from the Holiday Catalogue. You can choose any project from pages 46 to 51 to CASE. I couldn't go past this cute little birdie card from page 50. Aren't those birds so adorable?

I don't actually have the Birds Of A Feather stamp set, so I had to improvise, which is certainly the name of the game when CASEing!

I started by stamping the base of my Coastal Cabana card with the little star cluster from So Many Stars. The stars were cut from the coordinating Stitched Stars dies using Real Red and Whisper White card, with Silver Foil. The word 'merry' was cut four times - three Whisper White and one Silver Foil - and then stacked, with the Foil layer on top.

Hopefully you can see that the Coastal Cabana layer that they all sit on was embossed with the Subtle folder. It's a fabulous folder for adding just a little bit of extra oomph to a card.

The inside was finished with another layered star and a sentiment from Greatest Part Of Christmas.

As always, you can join in the fun over in the CASEing The Catty Facebook Group. It's always great seeing how other people interpret different cards.

Before you go, don't forget to finish the Hop! Next up is the lovely Julia.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #481: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Welcome to another Just Add Ink challenge. This week Nikki has found a fabulous Inspiration Photo to guide our creativity.

Oooh, I'd love to get a bunch of flowers like that! So pretty! The flattish brown flowers (I am soooo not a gardener, and have no idea what type they are!) reminded me of the seed pods in Country Home, so that's the stamp set I reached for to make this card.

I totally used the 'wrong' colours for the rest of the flowers, but that didn't worry me, after all, an Inspiration Photo is just a starting point!

I used DSP from the Woven Threads DSP pack, as this linen look paper reminded me of the backdrop on the Inspiration Photo. The paper is gorgeous - it looks so textural!

I stamped the flowers again on the inside, using Sahara Sand ink. The sentiment is from Seaside Notions, as is the one of th front of the card. I so love the mix of fonts in that set!

Time for me to dash, but you can hop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the rest of this week's Design team cards. Don't forget to add your card to the challenge gallery before the deadline.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 11

Hi!

Hello, and welcome to the Art With Heart team's heart Of Christmas Blog Share. I'm hosting again this week, while Claire has some family committments to keep her busy. It's Week 11 this week, and we are inching ever closer to the big day!

This week I have a simple card that I made as a class sample. It uses quite a few different products from the Holiday Catalogue, so maybe simple isn't the right word! I started by cropping a Sitiched Circle in Very Vanilla, and then used my Pine Tree punch to punch an opening in the circle. I backed it with some DSP from the Night Before Christmas DSP pack. I love how it looks like lights on the tree. I topped the tree with a copper Star Designer Element.

The DSP on the base is also from the Night Before Christmas pack. I adhered a strip of Copper Foil to each long edge, and then I wrapped a length of the Christmas Very Vanilla/Copper Classic Weave Ribbon around it before I adhered it all to the base. Oooh, I nearly forgot that I stamped the tiny stars from So Many Stars on the base card using Celestial Copper Delicata Ink before adding the rest.

The inside is nice and simple, with more stars across the bottom and a sentiment from So Many Stars. It leaves a lot of room for writing a Christmas message to the recipient.

Time now to pop on over to see the rest of this week's Heart Of Christmas cards. Click on each name to take you to their blog.

Sharon Davern

Caroline Manwaring

Rachel Woollard

Claire Daly

Diane Furniss

Kate Morgan

Andrea Sargent

Catherine Proctor

Christina Barnes

Vicki Boucher

Michelle Taylor


Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #252: CASE A Layout

Hi!

Gee, these weeks are flying past! Once again, it is Sunday night, which makes it time for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. The blog before mine was Sandra's,and mine is officially last on the list, but we are all linked in a circle, so just keep hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing a layout from page 52 of the Holiday Catalogue. It's tricky this week, as there aren't any cards to directly CASE - you have to think a little more!

My eye was caught this week by the box at the top of the image above. I liked how the leaves peeked out from under the layers above. I took basically the same design, I just made it bigger for a card front.

While I do own the Ornate Frames dies, they weren't quite the right size of shape for my card. I used a Stitched Label instead, and added a Pine Tree punched shape to the front. Instead of leaves peeking out, I cut strips of the Shaded Spruce and Gold ribbon instead.

The Gold Foil label is a great base for the Shaded Spruce tree, cropped from some retired Regals DSP. The wooden star I topped the tree with was from my stash. I pushed it onto my Cherry Cobbler ink pad to colour it before glueing it to the foil.

I used another strip of the Cherry Cobbler DSP from the front on the inside with another of the punched trees. I really love that punch for Christmas cards! The sentiment is from the Hostess set, Greatest Part Of Christmas. It's such a pretty font and sentiment.

That's all from me this week, don't forget our Facebook group, where you can join in the challenges each week, not blog or fancy editing necessary!

If you haven't finished the hop though, please do jump back to the offical start, which is the lovely Peta's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #480: Just Add A Technique

Hi!

It's Friday, which means it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. Yay! This week Jan has set the challenge, which is to add a technique.

Sometimes I'm very glad that Kim does our schedule months ahead, so that I have time to think about what I'd like to do. There are so many fun techniques out there, that it can be difficult to narrow it down to just one. In the end I decided to use my Stamparatus to do some mirror stamping.

Born To Shine was still fresh in my mind, as I made a card with it last week. I decided that the dancer was the prefect stamp to use for the technique. There are lots of tutorials on the internet, but here's a *very* basic outline: to get the mirror image, you position the stamp on your Stamparatus and then stamp the image onto a silicone sheet or window sheet. Place your cardstock face down over the silicone sheet and press down with the stamp on the Stamparatus. You will end up with an image on both sides of the card, that is normal. Your then remove the silicone sheet, flip the cardstock, and stamp again (after reinking the stamp, of course!)

You may be able to see that the right dancer isn't quite as crisp as the left - she's the mirror dancer. It's a very minor difference though. The dancers were both coloured with my Watercolour Pencils in Night Of Navy, Flirty Flamingo and Cajun Craze, using my Wink Of Stella brush to blend the colours.

I stamped the dancer again on the inside, using Night Of Navy that I'd stamped off once. I used this star DSP with copper highlights, from the Brightly Gleaming SDSP pack, as I think it's great for dance cards, despite being Christmas DSP. What do you think?

That's it from me for this week, but your turn is just starting! Check out the Just Add Ink blog for the rest of the techniques that the Design Team have used, and then get stamping! Upload your card into our gallery before Wednesday evening, when the challenge closes. See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina