JAI #200: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

How are you all on this lovely Friday?  Have your children survived the first week back at school? Have you survived your children's first week back at school?  It can be a bit of a shock to the system after the lazy days of summer holidays!  How about trying the new Just Add Ink challenge to give you back your sanity?

Nikki found these gorgeous images to inspire our card making this week.  Wouldn't you just love to sit at that table and enjoy a cup of tea?

I saw this gift box and tutorial by Connie Collins a long time ago and have been meaning to try out the flower ever since.  This challenge seemed the perfect time.  Isn't it a beautiful flower?  It's not difficult to make at all, but it does take a while as you need to wait for it to dry.

This isn't a card you would want to post as the flower sits out quite a way from the card. Sending it in the post would squash that beautiful flower. Luckily I have plenty of friends I can hand deliver this card to.

I was a bit stumped as to what to do on the inside. I don;t have any daisy stamps, so I ended up stamping a leaf from Peaceful Petals and lightly coloured it with a blender pen.

Stamps: Field Flowers, Sassy Salutations, Peaceful Petals
Ink: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron
Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Floral Frames Collection Framelits, Decorative Dots TIEF (SAB), Scribbles Swirls Sizzlit (retired), White Baker's Twine, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Blender Pen

I hope you can join in this week at Just Add Ink, we'd love to see what you create.

Bye for now,

Tina

CPC Challenge #31

Hi!

It's been a while since I entered a card challenge, so I thought it was time to do just that! The challenge is over at Craft Project Central and it's a lovely sketch challenge.

Isn't it a great sketch? Here's my take on it.

The washi tape is the new Retro Fresh designs from the Occasions Catalogue.  It's so lovely and bright, a great focal point for this card.

The Essentials Wooden Elements are also new in the Catalogue.  There are a heap of great shapes in the pack.  I just have to let myself use them rather than hoard them!

Of course I had to finish off the inside of the card to match the outside!

Stamps: Off The Grid, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Make A Wish
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Tangerine Tango
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White
Other: Retro Fresh Designer Washi Tape, Essentials Wooden Elements, Star Punches (retired), Glue Dots

Bye for now,

Tina

Modern Medley Gift Box

Hi!

As a change from the cards I thought I'd show you a gift box I made to house a Secret Santa gift.  The recipient has guessed I was their Secret Santa, so I'm going to go ahead and show you the gift box as it won't ruin any surprise.  The idea for this box came from Shelli Gardner (CEO and founder of Stampin' Up!) herself - she showed us a similar project at the very first Convention I went to in 2011.

This gift box started life as a roll of packing tape.  Once I had used all the packing tape I kept the cardboard roll, thinking that it might come in handy one day.  I'm a bit of a hoarder of things like that!  The roll was a little tall for my purposes so I drew a line around it in pencil and then trimmed it down with a strong pair of scissors.  I then coloured the edges black using a permanent marker and covered the inside and outside with a layer of Modern Medley DSP.  A circle of Basic Black card stock was glued to the bottom and a second circle was scored and partly glued to the top to provide a lid.

I made the flower on the top from about 10 layers of Creped Filter Paper, held together with a black Glimmer Brad and then scrunched up.  It's such a pretty, soft flower.  I also tied a bow around the gift box with a length of 1/8" Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon.

Here is the box open.  I placed a small tub of lovely smelling hand cream inside it for my recipient.

I love upcycling, although I probably should do some more as my pile of things that might come in handy is getting quite big!

Bye for now,

Tina

One Final Christmas Card

Hi!

Today's post is a bit of a reminder that the current Holiday catalogue is about to end, and a lot of the products in it will be gone forever. You have until February first to place any orders.

The products I used on this card were some of my favourites from the Holiday Catalogue.  They include Colour Me Christmas stamp set, Christmas Messages stamp set and the Season Of Style DSP stack.

The design of this card came from a thank you card I received from a fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Angela Footit.  I liked how easy it was to recreate as a Christmas card.

Well, that's it for Christmas cards for now. I doubt I'll make any more for a while - I'm a bit Christmassed out!

Tomorrow the new Occasions Catalolgue begins, as does the Sale-A-Bration brochure. Sale-A-Bration is always exciting, but this year it's even better as the minimum spend requirement has been lowered.  You now only need to spend $90 to receive a freebie! There are lots of gorgeous freebies on offer.  You've seen some on my blog, and I will continue to post more in the coming weeks.

Bye for now,

Tina

Layouts 3 and 4

Hi!

Are you ready for a bit more scrapbooking?  Today I have the third and fourth layout from my Paris album to show you.

We flew into Paris at dawn, but we were too excited (and knew better) than to sleep off the flight.  Instead we hit the streets and started exploring, trying to get our bearings in the city.  These photos are some of the first I took of things that interested us.  The photo of me was the first (and worst!) food I had on Paris - a hotdog.  Very different to ours as it was on a toasted baguette and not very nice.

One of the first monuments we saw was this statue dedicated to the memory of Jeanne d'Arc.  It was located in front of a ginormous church, a very beautiful one.  We stopped briefly to take some photos, but we were eager to see the Paris of travel brochure photos, so on we went.

I'll be back with some more layouts next Saturday.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #199: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

It's Friday again, time for another Just Add Ink challenge.  This time it's a sketch, and it's one I designed for the team to use.

As I'd just received my preorder for Sale-A-Bration and the upcoming Occasions Catalogue I decided to have a play with some of the new products.

There's a few sneak peeks there!  Not long now 'til the catalogues go live and you can get your hands on this stuff too.

It's a bit hard to tell, but once I'd finished the front of the card I spritzed it all with some shimmer mist for a bit more 'pretty'.

There's that belated birthday stamp again!

I hope you can play along this week. Interpret the sketch as you will - it's just a guide for your creativity.

Bye for now,

Tina

A CASE of Myself

Hi!

Today's card was, as my blog post title says, a CASE of myself. You can see my original card here.

The central panel of this card was a left over from my original card.  It was too pretty to throw out, so I decided to build another card around it.

I went for a prettier look this time, rather than the more aged, vintage look on the original.

Bye for now,

Tina