CTC #304: Love You Always Suite

 Hi!

Welcome to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's always fun looking at which catalogue, or part of the catalogue, we are challenged to CASE each week. This week was an extra challenge for me, as I am really not into any of the lovey-dovey stuff!

The Lovely You Always suite is allllll about love! You can choose any project from pages 10-13 to CASE this week. I had to look past the hearts and flowers to find a card to CASE. I liked the layout of this card on page 13.

The angled banner behind the main sentiment was the feature that caught my eye. I love a good banner, but sometimes it's good to shake things up by doing a single diagonal cut, rather than a flagged end. Don't you agree?

I had some Darling Donkeys sitting on my craft desk, ready to be coloured, so that's what I decided to use on my card. To go with the country look of the donkeys I used some of my In Good Taste DSP for the background. I really love the wooden papers!

The grass is from the retired Wiggly Bugs Dies, and the sky was created using a template made from the Rainbow Builder Dies and my Blending Brush with Balmy Blue ink. You may noticed that this frolicking donkey is popped out from the card - he's actually on a wobble spring! The spring happened to be on my desk near the donkeys, so it was the perfect combination for my card. 

You can check out the wobble in the video. However, my phone camera did not pick up all of the wobble - very strange! Still, it's enough to give you the idea. He's having a grand old time leaping through the grass!

And now he's all puffed out! LOL! I thought the sitting donkey was the perfect addition to the inside of my card, along with matching grass and sky. I'm not sure yet who I will give this card to, but hopefully they find it just as fun as I do!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around the Blog Hop. We'd also love you to join in the fun by entering our challenge through our Facebook Group. All you need to do is join the group (if you're not already a member), and add a photo of your CASE to the group. Simple!

Next up in the hop is the lovely Rebecca. She must be into the lovey-dovey stuff, as she was doubly inspired by the suite!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #540: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Woo Hoo! It's Friday again, which means that it's not only the weekend, it's also time for the new Just Add Ink Challenge!

How good is this colour combo that Rochelle has put together for us to use? The blue/green tones with a pop of pink is stunning! I decided to use the colour combo to create a scene - the pink with the blues reminded me of an evening sky.

I started by stamping the mountains from Waterfront in stamped-off Misty Moonlight. There are some grey tones in the deep blue, and stamping off helps to bring them out. I then stamped the lake in Seaside Spray and the trees, which are from Snow Front, in Just Jade. I then used a Blending Brush to add some Blushing Bride ink to the sky, just above the mountains, with a little bit of Seaside Spray above that. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

I finished the front by running the panel though my Big Shot with the Subtle 3DEF. I love the way it makes the cardstock look like canvas, and a bit more like a watercolour painting.

I repeated elements of the scene again on the inside of the card. It's so easy to do when you already have the stamps out and inky!

That's all from me for this week, you can find the rest of the Design Team's cards over on the Just Add Ink Blog. You will also find the Linky, so that you can join in the fun. What will you create with this gorgeous colour combo?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Petal Pink

 Hi!

Here we are again, ready for the new Colour Creations Creative Showcase. We are up to Petal Pink this week. It's definitely not a favourite colour of mine - to me it's not a true pink, so I struggle with using it a lot of the time. I felt like I couldn't go too far wrong with a classic pink, white and black colour scheme though, so that's what I used on my card.

I started by embossing my Basic Black cardstock with the Subtle 3DEF. Oops, no I didn't, I cropped it with my Stitched Rectangles Dies first, then embossed, and then flicked over some Frost White Shimmer Paint. While that was drying I stamped a heap of Pretty Perennials flowers in Petal Pink ink. I cropped them with the coordinating Perennial Petals Dies, along with a few of the larger leaf die. I snipped the leaves apart though, so that I could tuck them under the flowers.

The main panel was popped up over the card base using Dimensionals. The banner was held in place with a staple, which also anchored the twine. I punched the banner with my Banners Pick A Punch - have you got one yet? I think it's a must-have for a paper crafter!

I had cut some of the leaves in Basic Black for the front, before I realised that they wouldn't stand out. A bit of a brain fade! I think I'd planned to use Black Glimmer paper before I remembered that it's retired and the black part of to stuck in my head. Nevermind - they were perfect for the inside!

As always, you can find the rest of the links for this week's Petal Pink cards over on Cathy's Blog. I'm interested to see what everyone will do with this dusky pink.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #303: CASE The Sale-A-Bration Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I nearly missed the deadline for this, as the Australia Day public holiday has thrown my week right out! Does that happen to you, especially when the holiday is in the middle of the week?

This week we are challenging you to CASE any project from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue. It's a lot smaller than the Mini or the Annual, but it is still chock a block full of gorgeous projects to CASE.

I'm still in a tricky mood, so once again I started flicking from the front of the catalogue. This little gift box on the third page caught my eye because it uses flowers that are die cut from DSP rather than cardstock or stamped images. I think it's really clever, and a great way to get slight variations in colour without the mess of watecolouring or smooshing, or other techniques.

The sample used flowers cropped from the Sale-A-Bration freebie DSP, Paper Blooms. I don't have that DSP, but the Ice Cream Corner DSP has pages with similar patterns. I'm guessing so that you can punch some ice cream shapes from it, but flowers and leaves work just as well! I used my Perennial Petals Dies to crop the flowers and leaves from the DSP. The white loopy bits layered over the flowers were cropped from Whisper White cardstock. A Rhinestone finished off each flower.

I used my Dainty Diamonds Embossing Folder for the background, and my Well Written and Stitched Nested Labels Dies for the sentiment panel.

Another flower and strip of embossed card finished off the inside. I didn't stamp anything on the inside - in fact, there's no stamping at all on this card!

What inspires you from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue? I can't wait to see what you make. Just add your photo to our Facebook group.

Before you dash off the get stamping, please do finish our Blog Hop! Next up is the lovely Sandra with her super adorable card! Hop on over *wink*!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #539: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

It's Friday, which means that it's once again time for the new Just Add Ink Challenge! This week Di has challenged us to Just Choose Two.

We get to choose from Banners, Borders or Bows. Which two will you choose? I went for the banner and bow combination.

I haven't played nearly enough with the Ice Cream Corner Suite, so it seemed natural to reach for it for tonight's card. That gorgeous Blackberry Bliss ribbon was just dying to be turned into a bow! It's so soft and easy to tie.

The triple scoop ice cream was fussy cut from the DSP. I cut it roughly first and then adhered it to some Whisper White cardstock. This gives it a bit more strength when you pop it up on Dimensionals. We wouldn't want a saggy ice cream! The banner was created using my Triple Banner Punch. I used liquid glue at the top of the banner, but Dimensionals at the bottom, just for something different!

Hehe, I really like this combination of sentiments from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set, which coordinates perfectly with the strip of sprinkles DSP at the bottom of the card.

So! Banners, Borders and Bows - which two will you choose? You can see what the rest of the Design team chose, and add your card to our challenge over on the Just Add Ink blog. See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Pear Pizzazz

 Hi!

Welcome back to another week of the Colour Creations Creative Showcase. It's time to look at Pear Pizzazz. It's one of Stampin' Up!'s softer greens, sitting in the Subtles Colour Family.

I'm not entirely sure if I like the card I made this week, or if it's because I had to make it and send it straight away. Sadly, one of Hudson's schoolmates passed away after battling illness in intensive care for five weeks. His little body just couldn't fight anymore.

I've used two Sale-A-Bration sets: Heal Your Heart and A Touch Of Ink. I've kept the card very simple so that the message is the focus, just a bit of Pear Pizzazz ink applied over the stamped leaves using a Blending Brush.

As always, you can find the rest of this week's Pear Pizzazz cards over on Cathy's blog. She does such a wonderful job of keeping us all organised.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #302: CASE Any Floral Project

 Hi!

Phew! Are you sweltering today? It's about day four of really hot weather here in Adelaide, but thankfully a cooler change (and hopefully some rain) is due tomorrow. My craft space is on the south east corner of the house, so thankfully it stays cool during the day.

But, let's get on with the show! This week we are asking you to CASE and Floral Project from ANY catalogue - the Annual, Mini or SAB. There are lots and lots of projects to choose from, so definitely no shortage of inspiration.

Just for a change, I found my inspiration at the front of the Mini Catalogue! This card is featured on both the front cover and on page 2. I'm not a big one for florals, but there were a few elements on this one that appealed to me - the blue background behind the flowers, the gold border and the sentiment on a narrow strip.

I started my card with a Gold Foil Card. I purchased a heap of packs of these cards when they were on the Clearance Rack recently, as they are a great (and cheap!) way to add a Gold Foil layer to a card. For my card background, I used the Smooshing Technique with Pool Party ink on Shimmery White card. It's such a fun technique, and in this heat it dries very quickly!!

I then stamped a heap of flowers and leaves from the Pretty Perennials stamp set on Whisper White cardstock and die cut them with the coordinating dies. I find it's easier to stamp a few more images that you think you'll need, as invariably you will need more after you've cleaned and put away your stamps! I just layered them on the front until I was happy and glued them down, some with Dimensionals. The colours I used were the colours in the Fine Art Floral DSP.

Some of the left over flowers and leaves were used to decorate the inside of the card. I layered a Stitched Rectangle die cut over a piece of Night Of Navy card, as an echo to the front of the card.

It's been great seeing more entries in our challenges lately, and I hope that you will join in too! All you need to do is join our Facebook group and post a photo of your card to the group. Easy!

Next up on this week's blog hop is the lovely Rebecca. Her card is so pretty - you won't want to miss it!

Bye for now,

Tina