Heart Of Christmas Week 2

 Hi!

Thanks once again for joining the AWH team for the second week of our Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Did you find plenty of inspiration last week? You'll find even more this week!

One again, I am using a Sheetload of Cards template from Crafty Al for my cards this week. This template is from July 2019. I am still waiting for my new Christmas goodies to arrive, so I have used the same paper and stamps from last week - Pattern Party DSP and Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin stamp set. Definitely not traditional colours and patterns in the DSP, but I like the modern look! You could definitely make these cards using more traditional supplies.

The templates make creating multiple cards very quick and easy. The hardest part is translating the measurements from US card size to Australian, which isn't too tricky at all. 

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop. Next up is my lovely friend, Theresa, who always makes such beautiful cards.

If at any time you find a broken link in this week's Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, please pop back to my blog, where you will find the list links of all of the participants. All of the ladies will have a link to my blog at the end of their post. Just remember who is next on the hop, and then click on their name in the list below:

Tina Gillespie < You are here

Theresa Gerrard

Michele Taylor

Rosa Leyden

Catherine Proctor

Sharon Davern

Caroline Manwaring

Kate Morgan

Andrea Sargent

Christine Blain

Rachel Woollard

Diane Furniss

Ros Davidson

Vicki Boucher

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 326: Step It Up

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me on a cold, wet Sunday evening for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. I ca't think of a better thing to to on such an evening, except to maybe craft! Although, I think I'll have an early night tonight, as I stayed up very late (for me!) watching Ash Barty at Wimbledon.

This week we are asking you to choose a project from the Annual Catalogue and Step It Up - basically, make it fancier! This may mean more layers, more products used, or more details on the project.

I chose this Birthday Chick card from page 6. It's already pretty fancy, but I thought that I could still step it up a little.

I started the card with the Pattern Party DSP. I randomly coloured some of the dots with my Stampin' Blends markers. I then cropped it with my Stitched Rectangles Dies. I also coloured the chicken with my Blends - adding extra colour is a great way of stepping up a project.

These banners from the Stitched Triangles Dies are a fun way to step up the card, don't you think?

On the inside of my card I used the offcut DSP from the front as a border. Another banner, and Blends-coloured chicken, and I was done!

To join in with our challenge, it's very easy - just join our Facebook group and upload a picture of your card with a little explanation of which card you've CASEd. I can't wait to see which one you choose!

For now, though, it's time to pop on over to Michelle's blog so that you can continue your way around our blog hop.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 562: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for popping in for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Kim has found a fun Christmas Inspiration photo for our challenge. Do you celebrate Christmas in July in your part of the world? I think it's a bit of a Southern Hemisphere thing, so we can have the traditional hot meal when it's cold enough weather to enjoy it! 

The things that struck me in looking at this photo were the expanses of white and the pops of green and red, so that's where I went with my card.

The Red and Green Foil sheets are a part of a pack from last year's Holiday Mini that is making a comeback in this year's Holiday Mini. I purchased them last year, but didn't even crack open the pack! The Stitched Stars dies were used to crop the star, and the 'merry' is from a long-retired set of dies, called Christmas Greetings.

I also cropped the swirly star swoosh from Stitched Stars in white cardstock. I snipped it into two pieces to extend how far it stretched over the background of my card, hiding the join under the star. The whole card front was popped up onto a white card base.

I cropped some extra stars from the left over Red Foil and popped them around the sentiment on the inside, which is from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin kit.

To see what the rest of the Design team have created using our Inspiration photo, please head on over to the Just Add Ink Blog. You can also link up your card in our challenge. The hardest part will be working out what inspires you from the photo!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Blushing Bride

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for this week's Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are looking at Blushing Bride this week, which is a dusty pink from the Subtles colour family.  Pink is not really a colour I find myself reaching for a lot, so I had to think hard about what I was going to make this week.

To keep it simple, I decided upon a bouquet of flowers using the Pierced Blooms Dies. I started the card with a wash of Blushing Bride ink on Shimmery White cardstock. I knew I wanted to mix in some white flowers with the pink, so this was a way to avoid them getting lost in the background.

Once it dried I adde the flowers and stems over the top. The flower centres have a little Wink Of Stella added, but it was hard to photograph on the gloomy day I took the photo. The sentiment is from Sweet As A Peach, and is cropped using the label die from the All Dressed Up Dies. I often forget I have that label - it's a good size for those slightly larger small sentiments.

I had a few flowers left over, so they were put to good use on the inside of my card, along with another sentiment from Sweet As A Peach.

Next up on tonight's Blog Hop is my lovely Victorian friend, Theresa Gerrard, with what is bound to be a gorgeous card!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 1

 Hi!

Welcome to our first Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. We've been doing this a few years now, and it's a great way to start getting your Christmas card stash organised early, avoiding that early December panic of not having enough cards to send out.

I'm trying something a little different this year - all of my Christmas cards for the HOC Blog Hop will be based off of Crafty Al's Sheetload Of Cards templates. It's a great way of getting multiple cards done quickly, as all the planning is already done for you - all you need to do is chop, stamp and assemble. This week's cards are from the June 2019 Sketch.

The stamp set that I used is from last year's Christmas Paper Pumpkin kit, called Joy To The World. At the time that I made these cards, it was still available on the Clearance Rack, but it is sadly now unavailable. I really love the stamp set, so it's a keeper for me! I used the Pine Tree punch to decorate the front. I ran the Pool Party cardstock through the Big Shot with my Tasteful Textile 3DEF first. The other colours in the cards are Misty Moonlight and Pale Papaya.

I don't yet have a lot of Christmas stuff - most of what I had retired over the last year. Instead I used the new Host DSP, called Pattern Party. So my cards are non-traditional colours and patterns, but I don't think it matters too much. The sketch template that I used was based around making 12 cards. I kept mine to four this time, but as Christmas gets closer, I may step up the numbers!

That's all from me for now, but please do continue on with our Blog Hop, as there's plenty more inspiration to come! The next blog in our hop is Caroline Manwaring, who makes the most stunning cards - you won't want to miss her creation!

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up please head to the blog of this week’s host of the  Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 325: Die Bundles Section

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop.  This week Rebecca has challenged us to CASE a card from the Die Bundles Section of the Annual Catalogue.

The section runs for six pages, so there's plenty of choices for you. I found this card, that uses the All For Baby bundle.

I really loved the stripes of colour that faded out toward the top of the card, and how the images layered over the top matched the colours. I don't have this bundle, but I thought that flowers would make a great alternative.

I started with a piece of the new Hostess DSP, Pattern Party. I cropped the piece a little longer than I needed for the card front by about half an inch. I then trimmed this piece into four 1 inch wide strips. Each of the strips were then inked using Blending Brushes, fading the colour out to the top. I used Pale Papaya, Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party and Petal Pink. After colouring, I trimmed the extra length from the bottom of the strips and adhered the strips to a card front sized piece of Whisper White. You can see that I was careful to keep the strips in the same order, so that the little circles in the paper match up.

The flowers were cropped from matching cardstock and adhered to the front of the card. I used Granny Apple Green for the leaves.

I used the pieces I trimmed from the front to decorate the bottom of the inside - you can just see them peeping out from underneath the flowers. It was much easier to ink the strips in one go and then trim them to size.

Have you joined our Facebook group so that you can participate in our challenges? We'd love to see what you make!

Please continue on with our Blog Hop tonight by jumping on over to Rebecca's blog. You won't want to miss any of the stops along the way - there's lots of inspiration to be seen.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 561: Just Add A Shaker

Hi!

It's once again time for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Nikki has challenged us to add a Shaker element to our cards. What fun!

I recently received a new stamp set from Kindred Stamps, called Showstopper. If there was ever a set designed to go with glitter, it has to be one called Showstopper, right?

I started my card by creating the stage scene using a stencil from Kindred Stamps called Stage Builder. The bulk of the curtains was sponged first using Real Red ink. I then laid the detail part of the stencil over and sponged using Cherry Cobbler Ink. Don't they look amazing? The stencil was also used to create the spotlight on the floor, which was just an offcut of some retired Wood Textures DSP.

It's really hard to see, because the glitter is *everywhere* in the shaker, but I sponged some Wild Honey Distress Oxide through the stencil onto some Basic Black card to form the spotlight on the performer. I love how the ink shows up so well on the black card, when it's not covered in glitter!! The aerialist was coloured using a mix of Copics and Stampin' Blends. 

I stamped and coloured another performer from the Showstopper stamp set on the inside. I haven't yet found a sentiment I like to stamp on the inside, but that just leaves more room for a personal message!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find plenty of shaking going on, LOL! The Design team have had fun with this challenge, and I hope you will too. Don't forget to link up your card before the deadline!

Bye for now,

Tina