AWH Colour Creations: Basic Gray

Hi!

Welcome back to the second week of the Colour Creations Showcase. We are working through the colours in alphabetical order, which makes this week Basic Gray. Not a colour I use a lot, but I'm always up for a challenge! I had my new Blossoms In Bloom bundle out on my craft desk, so I decided to have a go at making a feminine card using a less traditional feminine colour.

I started by stamping the blooms onto my Whisper White card base, stamping off once first. I also stamped off for the flower centres and a few leaves.

The sentiment label is from Painted Labels, decorated with some flower die cuts from the Many Layered Blooms Dies. After I adhered them to my card, I thought they needed something a little extra. I cut some of the leaves from the big flower die and popped them underneath the flowers. It still needed more, so I added a Basic Rhinestone to the centre of each flower.

I stamped the flowers and leaves again on the inside, also stamped off. As nice as the flowers are in their entirety, sometimes it's nice to just use a portion of the image. I'm not sure that I love this card, but I do like it. Basic Gray was certainly a challenging colour to make a feminine card from, without any other colours to balance it.

Time now to head on over to Catherine's Blog, where you can find the rest of this week's Basic Gray cards. Next week is a favourite of mine, Bermuda Bay.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #271 Week 2: CASE The Annual Catalogue

Hi!

Happy long weekend! I hope you're getting lots of crafting time in. I've been doing a bit of a tidy up and sell off of my retired products now that the new catalogue has begun. I think tomorrow will be a play day for sure!

This week at CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge, it's the second week of our challenge to CASE the brand new Annual Catalogue. Last week we stuck to the front cover, but this week we can CASE anything! As always, I head to the back of the catalogue and flip forwards looking for inspiration. This card, using the new Stitched Triangles Dies, caught my eye. I love the colour and the geometry of the card.

I don't (yet) have the Stitched Triangle Dies, so I had to look for a different shape to use, one that would tessellate nicely. The Tailored Tag punch was perfect!

I cropped two each of three different papers in the  In Good Taste DSP pack, and then cut each one in half. They were then layered over Basic Black cardstock. I then cropped around the edges using my largest Stitched Rectangle Die and adhered it to a piece of Very Vanilla cropped using the same die.

The sentiment was stamped using the Itty Bitty Birthdays set, and cropped using the Stitched Rectangle die that doesn't layer with any others. I'm pretty sure the same die was used to crop the sentiment on the original card.

I cropped a second Stitched Rectangle shape from Very Vanilla for the inside. I don't usually cut my card bases to US size, but I did this time to suit the Stitched Rectangles. It's much more pleasing to have an even border right around the edges!

That's all from me for this challenge, but you still have a week to get your entry in. You just need to be a part of our Facebook group, where you can upload your photo with a description of which project you've CASEd. Easy!

Before you go, please do finish the hop, there's lots of fabulous inspiration for you! Next up is my very good friend, Judy, with what I'm sure will be another stunning card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #508: Just Add F

Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's one of my alphabet challenges. I love doing these, just because there's so much scope for what you could create!

I had so many ideas, it was hard to settle on just one. I tried a feline as a part of a fandom card, but I wasn't happy with the results, so it got binned. Then as I was doing my newsletter and writing about the upcoming global Paper Pumpkin kit, I remembered that I had a few past kits, and that one of them would work nicely!

The Friends Of A Feather Paper Pumpkin kit was perfect! I really love the laser cut feather card front. It's meant to be the front of a tri-fold card, with the Fresh Fig (ooh, there's another F!) as the next layer, but I cropped the two pieces and just layered them together.

I wasn't happy with the Coastal Cabana feather on top - it was just blending in too much. Backing it with vellum helped to make it stand out more. A few foliage layers (more F's!) and I was done with the front.

For the inside a simple Stitched Rectangle die cut, cropped from the Whiper White layer on the front, and one final Fresh Fig feather (say that 5 times, fast!) and the card was done!

What F element will you use on your card? Make sure you let us know in your post, especially if it's not obvious. You can link your card up over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also find the rest of this week's Design team cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH Colour Creations: Balmy Blue

Hi!

You may remember that in 2018-19 I participated in the Art With Heart Colour Creations Blog Shares. Well, it's back again! This time it's the Colour Creations Showcase, but otherwise, it's the same. Each week on a Wednesday evening, we will all post cards using one of the Stampin' Up! colours. I used the last round as an opportunity to try out new techniques and styles, and I will try to do that again.

Week one is Balmy Blue!

Very recently I purchased the Snow Front stamp set, as it was carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue. I've had a lot of fun with Waterfront, and hopefully I will with Snow Front too. Let's talk about the card base, though. On the top section I stamped the new Blossoms In Bloom stamp set. I just wanted it to look like random stamping, rather than the gorgeous flowers it is, which is why I stamped the spotty stamp around the edge. It's meant to be the flower centre.

The bottom half of the card base is simply narrow strips of Balmy Blue cardstock glued to a larger piece of Balmy Blue cardstock. I like the subtle texture this gives to the card - a bit like a wall with wood panelling on the bottom half. I don't know what it's called, but I do like the look, especially on cards!

EDIT: Kathryn tells me it's a dado rail, and she'd be right!

To help the main panel stand out from the background, I matted it twice, once with Balmy Blue and then again with the new Misty Moonlight. It looks quite dark here, but it's more of a mid blue. I created the scene with Snow Front and then used a blending brush to add a little ink to the sky. It's a very wintery card!

I repeated the scene on the inside, including the ink blending. The sentiments on the card are from Blossoms In Bloom.

I hope I didn't make you feel too cold looking at my Balmy Blue card!

Time now to pop on over to Catherine's blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Colour Creations Showcase links. I think there are over 16, so plenty of inspiration to be had for Balmy Blue.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #271 Week 1: CASE The Annual Catalogue

Hi!

Welcome back once again to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. With the launch of the new Annual Catalogue only days away, we are kicking off with CASEing the front cover of the catalogue.

You can choose any element of the cover to CASE - the cards themselves, the colours, the techniques, the stamp sets - you imagination is your limit! I chose to CASE the cover photo itself.

The wattle was one of the first things that caught my eye on the cover. To replicate that, I used one of the Gold Foil wreaths from the Forever Gold Laser Cut Specialty Paper. I'm not a Gold person, so I'd originally skipped over these, but after a Zoom chat with my lovely friend, Judy May, I decided I had to have them! If you're not much of a gold person, you can use the flip side, which is white. There are pops of Bermuda Bay on the cover, so I did the same on my card. It's a nice balance to the blonde wood paper from the In Good Taste DSP pack.

I used a second piece of wood paper from the pack as my circle. I deliberately chose this section, with the strong lines created by the wood planks, as I thought it reflected the strong lines between the cards on the cover. I split the sentiment, from Celebrate Sunflowers, into three pieces to represent the three cards, and a scattering of sequins to finish it off.

I used a smaller gold leaf piece from the Forever Gold pack to decorate the inside, layered over a couple of sprigs cropped using the new Sunflowers Dies, with some more In Good Taste DSP over the top. I've left off a sentiment for the inside, as 'Let's Celebrate You' could work for a few occasions. I can easily stamp an inside sentiment when I know how I'll use this card.

The Annual Catalogue challenge runs for two weeks. To enter all you need to do is make a card that is a CASE of some element of the front cover and post the picture in our Facebook group. Make sure you add a little description of when you are CASEing, especially if it's not obvious.

Before you go, however, don't forget to finish the Blog Hop! Next up is the lovely Michelle, with her gorgeous green card.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #507: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

It's been a bit of a cold and wet week in Adelaide this week, so perfect weather for crafting! I had a play day on Wednesday, where I watched both Mamma Mia movies and crafted the day away. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that, so it was heavenly! One of the cards I made was for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Jackie has designed a fun, funky sketch for us to use.

I love the quirk of the angled line at the bottom. While it would be easy to just go straight across the card, the diagonal adds a touch of fun to a card.

Speaking of fun, I took the opportunity to play with a Stamp set that I recently purchased from Kindred Stamps, called Legendary. The gamers out there may think that this character looks familiar. I'm not very 'up' with him, but my kids and hubby know exactly who he looks like! I created a forrest background for him, as it suits his outfit and pointy ears. I used a mix of Waterfront and Snow Front to create the scene. Did you notice the cloud? I stamped it with some First White Shimmer Paint to give the wispy look of a cloud.

The character himself was coloured sing my Stampin' Blends. I used both my Ivory and Bronze Blends to colour his skin - Ivory for the bulk of the area, and then the Bronze to add shadows around his hairline or the edge of his clothing. It's a great trick when the Ivory on its own is too flat. The legendary die is from Sweet Stamp Shop and it just called Legendary Word. It's a match made in heaven with this stamp set!

I recreated much of the same scene, including the wispy cloud, on the inside of my card. The female character has made her home here. I had assumed that she was the main character, and should be on the front of the card, but Rob tells me that the male character is the main character, even though the game is named for her. Go figure!

That's all from me this week. Did you like my card with Jackie's fun sketch? You can see what the rest of the Design Team made with it over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card to enter our challenge. Can't wait to see what you make of the sketch!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #270 Week 2: CASE Your Favourite Retiring Punch Or Die

Hi!

Wow, what a contrast in weekends! Last weekend was sunny and we just had to get out and enjoy it, but this weekend was wet and cold, so perfect for staying home and crafting! I got into a cleaning/sorting mood yesterday, so I may have even done some online shopping to get myself some pretty containers from IKEA. I amongst that, I did get my card made for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. We are mid way through our current challenge, which is to CASE our favourite retiring punch or die.

As I did a die last week, I looked to my collection of punches for this week's card. I settled on the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch. After searching the Annual Catalogue, this Bird Ballad card, from page 15, was the only sample I could find that used the punch, so that's what I CASEd.

I have used the punch in the same way as on this card a lot - as a subtle little edge underneath a piece of DSP or card. I tend to use the small scallops, as I like that side best. For my card today, I decided to again use the little scallops, but to make them a bit more of a feature.

To do this, I punched the ribbon four times - three in Blackberry Bliss, and one in Gold Foil. You can see that on the bottom edge of the Best Dressed DSP I layered the punched ribbon, offsetting the scallops each time. The final punched ribbon went along the top of the DSP.

At this angle you can see the impact of the Gold Foil a bit more. The dreary weather made photography difficult today! To bring the Gold into the card a little more, I used a second retiring punch, Pretty Label, as a base for the fussy cut Best Dressed flower and Label Me Bold sentiment.

I used the Decorative Ribbon punch again on the inside. I like a little strip of cardstock under the DSP, but the scallops just add a little sweet touch to the card. The sentiment is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set.

That's all from me this week. To join in the fun with our challenge, you simply need to become a member of our Facebook group, and then start adding your pictures. Easy!

Before you go do that, don't forget to finish the blog hop! Next up you can float on over to Siobhan's blog, where you might go above the clouds!

Bye for now,

Tina