A Gingerbread Man on Candy Cane Lane

Hi!


I'm in the full swing of things now with Christmas cards - are you? My favourite DSP from the Holiday Catalogue was the Candy Cane Lane pack. I loved the non-traditional colours and all of the gingerbread houses.

This was a card I made quite a few weeks ago as a class sample. It was a CASE of one of my recent Just Add Ink cards, with a few changes to make it easier to make in a large group.

He's a bit out of focus, but I think the Gingerbread Man is my favourite stamp in the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set.

I especially love the way that, by changing the placement of the bow, you can also have a Gingerbread Woman!


Bye for now,


Tina

JAI #339: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!


Oooh, these weeks are whipping by!

It's Friday, so it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Narelle designed an awesome sketch for us to use.

There's a lot to love about this sketch - I certainly had a lot of fun playing with it.

I used a stamp set that I won in Prize Patrol at the recent On Stage event. It's called Swan Lake, and it's a lovely one to colour. In this case, I stamped with Stazon on Shimmery White cardstock and watercoloured the swan.

I used Blushing Bride on the swan, Marina Mist for the water and Soft Sky for the sky, with a smidge of Crushed Curry on the beak. The floral motif stamped on the background was coloured using my Chalk Marker.

You know me - I also had to do the inside of my card. I love this little stamp, and thought it was perfect there down in the corner. I also love the sentiment, so prefect for a heartfelt thank you card.


You can join in the fun at Just Add Ink too. Just make a card based on the sketch and link it up over on the blog. Easy!


Bye for now,


Tina

Happy Ornament Clear Block Stamping

Hi!


At the recent On Stage event, one of the stamping techniques we saw during a stamping demonstration was stamping with your clear blocks. I was very intrigued and decided to try it when I got home.

I used the new single stamp from the Holiday Catalogue called Happy Ornament. It was a stamp I overlooked a bit at first, but ended up buying, It's a great one for quick and easy Christmas cards.

So, onto the technique! To colour the bauble I scribbled on the clear block with my Tempting Turquoise marker, huffed on it, and then pressed the clear block to my cardstock to transfer the ink. You can repeat if you aren't happy with the result. I then stamped the bauble over the top and cut out just the bauble section with my snips. I stamped the bauble a second time, and adhered the coloured bauble over the top. I then coloured the rest of the bauble with my markers. Doesn't it look great?

I used the Playful Backgrounds bubbles on the background of the front, so I carried it over to the inside as well.


Bye for now,


Tina

A Bloomin' Hearts CASE

Hi!


Today is the last day to grab a bargain in the Online Extravaganza - have you had a look yet? Today's card uses one of the products that is discounted by 30%, the Bloomin' Heart Thinlit Dies. I also used the coordinating stamp set Bloomin' Love.

The card is actually a CASE of this card made by Valerie Moody, a member of Stampin' Up!'s Artisan Design Team. I loved the white on white elegance of Valerie's card.

The Real Red heart was stamped with the heart from Bloomin' Love before being cropped with the Sweetheart punch, The little birdie comes from the Tree Builder punch.

I'm not usually one for lovey-dovey cards, but it can be handy to have a few in your stash for the odd occasion that you need one.


Bye for now,


Tina

JAI #338: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!


Phew! I've had a busy week! How about you? Is it time to sit a bit and relax over the weekend? I hope so!

This week's Just Add Ink challenge is a fun inspiration photo, put forward by Jan. I deliberately didn't think about using paint brushes to paint a wall, because that's no fun! Well, not for me anyway. Instead I thought about paint on an artist's palette and went from there. What do you think of?

I decided to have a play with some of my reinkers and my Stampin' Spritzer to create an arty background using the colours in the picture. It took me 5 goes to get a piece I was happy with, but then I ended up going back to the first piece after they had all dried!

To get the background I spritzed a piece of Shimmery White cardstock with water using my Stampin' Spritzer. I then dripped ink from my reinkers onto the cardstock. If the colour didn't spread well, I gave it another spritz. Once I was happy, I placed a paper towel over the top to soak up some of the extra water and then left the pieces to dry. I then used my largest die in the Layering Circles Thinlits set to cut the circle. I laid it on the paper and moved it about until I was happy with the mix of colours within the circle.

From memory, the colours I used were Tempting Turquoise, Island Indigo, Real Red, Watermelon Wonder and Elegant Eggplant. The dragonfly (a sneak peek from the upcoming Occasions Catalogue) was cut from Gold Foil paper.

The sentiment stamp set I used is also from the Occasions Catalogue, it is a set that is designed to coordinate with the Dragonfly dies. You can see that I've also used a small dragonfly on the inside of the card. The bundle was one of my first 'must-haves' from the catalogue.


I hope you have a fabulous weekend, with hopefully some time to join us at Just Add Ink.


Bye for now,


Tina

AWH Christmas Blog Hop

Hi!

Today some of the Art with Heart Stampin’ Up! team girls have created some amazing Christmas projects to inspire you with the theme, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We have tags, gift bags, teacher gift ideas, decorations and many more fun projects to create this holiday season.

I have decided to use Merry Mice for my projects. It's my absolute favourite set out of the Holiday Catalogue, and it's also been a favourite among my customers - especially as it's currently 25% off in the Stitched From The Heart promotion. It's a ripper bargain for just $22.50!

I stamped the singing mouse on Shimmery White cardstock and coloured him using Dapper Denim, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay and Pool Party.

I love the subtle little scalloped border the Layering Circles Thinlits provide. In this case, a cute touch of Real Red that doesn't overwhelm the rest of the card.

I love the cute little star stamps in this set. They give a nice finishing touch to your card.

I had a bit of extra time up my sleeve and some extra stamped images, so I decided to make a set of tags using the Merry Mice. I masked the little mice so that I could stamp them as individual images. My Stitched Shapes Framelits finally arrived, so I kind of went a little nuts with them!

I hope you've been inspired by my Merry Mice projects, but now you're off to be dazzled by the lovely Kathryn Mangelsdorf.

Bye for now,

Tina

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Rebecca Jacovou
2. Ros Davidson
3. Kathryn Ruddick
4. Kate Morgan
5. Rachel Palmieri
6. Claire Daly
7. Mary Kelly
8. Monika O'Neill
9. Tina Gillespie
10. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
11. Catherine Proctor
12. Judy May

MKPLxSU Blog Share: Hello December

Hi!


This month at MKPLxSU we have decided to try something different - instead of all posting our pages on one day, we are spreading them out through the month. Today it's my turn to share my pages.

This month we have decided to focus on the Hello December 2016 kit that you can find in the Holiday Catalogue. While it's mainly designed to be used for a December Daily type project, you could really use the kit in any way you'd like! As a bonus, it is also among the products discounted this week in the Online Extravaganza. Nice!

This is the fifth year I have started (and completed!) a December Daily album, so for me it was a no-brainer to get the kit and plunge straight in. I usually leave the title page until last, but I was so excited by the 2016 transparency card that I just had to make it first.

The kit didn't come with sequins this year, so I used some from the Metallics and Brights packs in my stash. I also managed to find some sequins that were pretty close to Emerald Envy among my hoarded bits and pieces. I think they came from a kit that Ada had where you push pins through the sequins and into a foam board to make a picture. I sealed the pocket with my Fuse tool to ensure they stayed put.

I usually have a page or two at the front of my album from November, as we often attend some Christmas events that are held early. In this case, the second page of my DD documents the Adelaide Christmas Pageant. Rob, his mum and the big kids took some silly selfies while they were waiting for the pageant to start. I think these kinds of memories are the best kind to preserve!

The very next day Rob, his mum and the big kids went to a Christmas party at the Adelaide Zoo. They had far too much of a good time to remember taking photos, so all I had was this one of Alex playing Pokémon Go as they walked around. He's so obsessed with it at the moment, and it was far more interesting to him than the animals!


I should point out that I would usually go to these events with the rest of the family, but as I was still recovering from my ankle surgery it was best for me and Hudson to stay home and let the more energetic members of the family enjoy a couple of special days out without having to worry about us keeping up. Hud and I had some fabulous mother-son bonding time at home.

This is my last page for now! Usually the Christmas tree would go up on Pageant day, but we had such a huge weekend that we just didn't get time. I was going to wait for Dec 1, but Ada nagged until we gave in on Sunday. It's not decorated yet, but as it's a fibre optic tree it still looks great at night with the lights glowing.

Did you see that I created another transparent pocket? I used one of the metal paper clips that come in the kit, as well as some more sequins. I didn't actually realise it was a paper clip until after I'd sealed the pocket. Oh well, it still looks great floating around in the pocket with the sequins!

Are you planning a DD album this year? Have you started it, like me? Please join us in the Facebook group and post your pages for us to see and enjoy!

Bye for now,

Tina