Colour Creations: Old Olive

 Hi!

Welcome back to the latest Colour Creations Creative Showcase. This week we are looking at Old Olive, an earthy green from the Regals colour family. The temptation was strong to describe it as a dirty green, but I get in trouble for using that word! LOL!! Old Olive has been a SU colour for a very long time, I think it was the first green I purchased when I joined SU nearly 11 years ago. Although I use other greens, I find myself reaching for Old Olive most often.

I wanted to make a floral card, but that was proving a little tricky, as I have limited myself to just using the focal colour with black/white/metallics this year. Then I had the idea to heat emboss the flowers using white embossing powder, and what better stamp to use than Blossoms In Bloom? I took it one step further and created a split card front, so that I got two cards from the one stamped and heat embossed image.

I liked the flowers on the left, so I flipped the second card front to keep the flowers in my preferred position. One big hint is to lay the outline die cut over the stamp before stamping using the Stamparatus.  The die cut extends beyond the stamped image, so you get a much better idea of the proportions by also including the die in the planning stage.

My first attempt at the card was messed up because I forgot to put the foam mat back into my Stamparatus. Parts of the image didn't emboss fully, and I nearly chucked it in the bin. Then I realised that I could use the parts of it that did stamp nicely on the inside of my card. I just used my snips to trim around the outside of the black border and adhered it to the inside of the card.

You can find the links for the rest of this week's cards over on the lovely Catherine's blog. I can't wait to see what the rest of the ladies have made!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #300: CASE Any Mini Catalogue Project

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the newest CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This week Bec has set the challenge for us to CASE any project from the new January-June Mini Catalogue. There's over 90 pages of delightful inspiration to choose from!

Have you guessed yet? Yep, I started my flicking from the back of the catalogue 😂. It wasn't long until I found this beauty on page 88.

I loved the way the card layered two patterns - DSP and a stamped DSP layer. A also adored the layering around  the sentiment and the focal bloom. I think it's a hydrangea? LOL, I am soooo not a gardener! I don't have any of the products used in the catalogue card, so I had to get inventive.

I had some Dandy Garden bits and pieces floating around on my desk, so I decided that they would work nicely for this card. I used two pieces of the DSP for my background, layered on a Calypso Coral card base. I changed the layers from the original by making them smaller and gluing each one at an angle.

The Coral dragonfly was punched from another piece of the DSP, I layered him over a piece of Seaside Spray cardstock that I'd stamped the sentiment on in Misty Moonlight ink. I punched the piece using my Banners Pick A Punch, which I was excited to see was a carry over product. Yay! A length of white ribbon from the Flowers For Every Season combo pack, some more Calypso card and a circle of Vellum completed the front of the card.

I finished off the inside with another strip of DSP to match the front. It's one of my favourite pieces from the DSP pack. The sentiment is from Seaside Notions, as is the one on the front. 

That's all from me for tonight, but now it's your turn to get creative! Make your card and upload it into our Facebook group to be in the running!

Before you dash off, though, please do finish our Blog Hop! Next up is the wonderful Rose! I wonder which card she's CASEd tonight?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Night Of Navy

 Hi!

Welcome back to the Colour Creations Creative Showcase for 2021. We are continuing our alphabetical tour through the Stampin' Up! colour range, resuming with Night Of Navy. It's a lovely dark blue, with purple undertones, and is a part of the Neutrals family.

I had yet to play with any of my new catalogue goodies, so I pulled out the Pretty Perennials Bundle for my card. I was keen to see how the flowers would go with the blue and white colour scheme - and I love it! I stamped the three watercolourish flowers on the front of my card in Night Of Navy ink and layered it over a Night Of Navy base.

The sentiment label is from the Painted Labels dies, with the Silver Foil layer hand-cut to match the corner notches. I also cut the leaf spray from the Perennial Petals Dies from Silver Foil. The full die cut is to the left of the label, with just a single leaf to the bottom right.

A few more flowers were stamped on the inside to finish off the card. Do you recognise the sentiment? I used it a *lot* at the end of last year! I was very excited to realise that the font in Pretty Perennials nearly perfectly matches the font in the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin kit stamp set. Yay!

I simply masked off the word 'Christmas' before stamping the sentiment. The single word 'Birthday' fits in the gap perfectly. I'm so excited to realise that the sentiment works equally as well for Birthdays as it does for Christmas! If you missed it last year, the Joy Of Christmas Paper Pumpkin kit is still available 😉

Thanks for joining me tonight, please head on over to the very lovely Catherine's blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Night Of Navy links.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #299: Step Up An Annual Catalogue Project

 Hi!

Welcome back to CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenges for 2021! This year we are kicking off by asking you to CASE any project from the current Annual Catalogue. Hmmm, which one to pick?

As always, I started at the back and only got as far as the Punch Bundles section before I found this beauty.

I loved the simple stamped grass and flowers, and the sweet dragonflies in the background. I don't have this bundle, but the Friend Like You bundle is a very good alternative, especially as I needed to Step Up the card.

I stepped up the stamping by using a die cut instead. This die from the Friendly Silhouettes Dies was perfect! I cropped some Watercolour Paper and then used my ink pads and a Water Brush to colour the diecut. I realised after I'd glued it down that I should have flipped it and coloured the other side so that I didn't have to flip the layout of the whole card, but I think that this layout works too.

I continued to Step Up the card by adding a few layers, heat embossing in Silver rather than White, adding some Silver Foil paper and a few Rhinestones.

I watercoloured another little section of the die to use the inside. It finishes off the card nicely, don't you think? I couldn't resist adding a few more dragonflies too!

Our challenge is run through our Facebook group, so once you've joined the group all you need to do is add a photo of your card to the group before the challenge deadline on Sunday evening. Easy!

Before you dash off to get creating, please do finish our Blog Hop! Next up is my fellow South Aussie, the wonderful Michelle. Hmm, I wonder which card she chose to CASE?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #536: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new Just Add Ink challenge - the last one for 2020. We have an Inspiration Challenge that will run for two weeks. How cute is this picture that Nikki has found for us to use?

It is super cute - but very Northern Hemisphere! I started wondering what a similar decoration would look like for the Southern Hemisphere's summery Christmas, and that's the theme I ended up using on my card.

I pulled out my Sun Lovin' Santa stamp set and stamped and coloured a whole lot of images. I really had no plan for a card at that point. By a happy coincidence, the colours I used worked perfectly with the retired Tropical Escape DSP.

I love the bright, fresh feel of the card, provided by the Flirty Flamingo card base. Santa looks pretty cool in his Flirty Flamingo Hawaiian Shirt too!

There's that Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin stamp again - I am getting so much use out of it!

I had a lot of images left over from my stamp and colour session, so I decided I would make another card rather than let them float around on my craft desk until next Christmas.

I used the exact same colours, DSP and layout, I just switched it to portrait orientation rather than landscape. I sort of wished that I'd coloured a few more palm trees to put behind the vehicle, but it was getting late and I was feeling a little lazy by that point!

Hehehe, I couldn't resist adding the flamingo to the inside - coloured with Flirty Flamingo, of course!

Here's the two cards together. They were very fun to make - I will definitely have to use this stamp set way more next year!

As always, you can find the rest of this week's Design Team cards over on the Just Add Ink Blog, where you can also link up your card for this challenge - remember that it goes for two weeks!

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I will be taking a blogging break until early January so that I can spend some quality time with my family.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mossy Meadow

 Hi!

Welcome back for the final Colour Creations Creative Showcase of 2020. We'll be back in 2021 with the remaining colours, but we are closing 2020 out with Mossy Meadow. It's a colour that I haven't really used much of, as it's a bit of a dirty, dark green. If you're a vintage fan you've probably used it heaps! I tend to prefer brighter greens.

I started my card with a piece of Whisper White cropped with the largest Stitched Rectangles Die. I stamped it all over with the flower image from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin stamp set using Mossy Meadow ink. I left quite a gap between each flower, as I wanted to keep the card light and airy. I find Mossy Meadow to be a heavy colour! The focal flower was stamped three times and then fussy cut so that I could layer it up. The bottom layer was the whole image, the middle layer was the large flower and the top layer was just the smaller flower, finished with a Rhinestone centre.

Hopefully you can see here how I embossed the floral base layer with the Subtle 3DEF in both directions. I then matted it with a thin border of Mossy Meadow card before adhering it to a Silver Foil card base.

I used the Stitched Rectangles agin on the inside, this time choosing the third largest rectangle to crop both my Mossy Meadow and Whisper White card. I stamped the floral image around the Mossy Meadow piece, leaving a space in the bottom corner. After I'd adhered it to the card base and inset the WW piece, I stamped the final floral image over both the WW and MM cardstock. I was quite pleased with how this looked!

Thanks again for joining me for the final (for 2020) Colour Creations Creative Showcase. You can find the links for the rest of this week's cards over on Catherine's blog. We'll be back on January 6th with Night Of Navy.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #298: CASE An Embossing Folder Project

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me again for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. 

This week Bec has challenged us to CASE a project that features an embossing folder. You can choose a project from either of the two current catalogues, so there's plenty to choose from!

I chose my project to CASE from the back of the August-December Mini Catalogue. It's a card designed to show off the Coming Home bundle, but it features the Winter Snow Embossing Folder.

I recently purchased the Tag Buffet Project Kit, and at the end there are 5 of these Christmas Tree laser cut pieces left. I couldn't let them go to waste, so I made a set of cards for them. The sentiment banners were also left over pieces from the kit. I used the plain curved die in the Home Together Dies to cut the Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper. It's the same curve as on the original card, just upsized!

I used the inked embossing folder technique to add a little something to my card. I simply tapped my Balmy Blue inkpad all over the indented side of my embossing folder, placed my cardstock in it and ran it through my Big Shot. The ink stays on the flat sections of the cardstock, leaving the raised snowflakes white. It's so pretty!

The stamped sentiments are both from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin kit. I am getting so much use out of them!  I also added a little offcut from the embossed panel to the inside.

I forgot to trim one of the snowflake pieces, so I ended up with one card with a narrow border rather than the wider border, as in the CASEd card. I'm not sure which I like best! What do you think? The Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper looks much nicer in this photo too!

To join in with our challenge, just make your card, take a photo and upload it to our Facebook group. It's that easy!

I'm the last stop on this week's Blog Hop if you started with Julia or in the Facebook group. If you started mid way though, please hop on over to Julia's blog. Her cards are stunning!

Bye for now,

Tina