JAI #416: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Hooray for school holidays! I've been on the count down for weeks, and now they are here. Two weeks of chilled time home with the kids - I can't wait!

In the meantime, it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Patrice has given us this fabulous sketch to work with.

It's so versatile - you could really do anything with that square! I went very literal with the sketch this week, as it suited the theme of my card.

Who doesn't love those colourful plastic building blocks? Until you step on one, that is! My kids are mad on it, but this card was made for a friend who, as you can probably guess, was turning 40. The figure stamp was from a set by Kindred Stamps called Building Blocks. The paper was some I had in my stash by Creative Imaginations.

I had a lot of fun colouring the little man with my Copic markers. Unfortunately I didn't have the correct colours among my Stampin' Blends. It was great practice for trying to show a curve in a shape by using highlight and lowlights. It's hard to see in the yellow head, but you can certainly see it in the top pant of his pants.

Anyone else got a certain song from a movie soundtrack stuck in their heads right now? LOL! Alex used to sing the famous line from it all the time, and it drove me nuts!

Why not pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can see the gorgeous cards the Design Team have come up with this week? You'll be just as amazed as I was how everyone has interpreted the sketch. What will you do with it? You can link up and join in the challenge on the blog. See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina

Goodbye, Tranquil Tulips

Hi!

I have another pair of cards for you today, both made using the Tranquil Tulips Hostess stamp set. I think that it's been one of my biggest sellers this year! It's such a gorgeous set, and it's so easy use.

This first card was my own design, and was made for a class during 2017. It's taken me a while to blog it! Looking at it now, I think just about everything I used on it is retiring! The DSP (Naturally Eclectic), sentiment (Milestone Moments), ribbon (Night Of Navy Crinkled Seam Binding) and dies (Lots of Labels Framelits) are all going alongside Tranquil Tulips. I can't recall what colour I stamped the tulips, but the stems and leaves are in Emerald Envy, and that's going too!

I particularly loved the Crinkled Seam binding, mostly because it's so soft and easy to use. If you tied a bow you weren't happy with it was easy to start again - what's a little more crinkle in an already crinkled ribbon?

I just loved how easy it was to make cards look great with the set. The trio of stems gave the perfect placement for the flowers, making them look awesome every time.

My second card was a more recent class card that was a CASE of this card by Wendy Aungst. Wendy's card was for Easter, but I liked it as a Sympathy card. I used the retiring Thoughts And Prayers for the sentiments. I thought that was a stamp set that would never retire!

I didn't change much else from Wendy's card. I used a different sheet of DSP from the retiring Delightful Daisy pack, and also a different ribbon. I used the Whisper White Organza from the Occasions Catalogue. It's another fabulous ribbon that I will miss! I may need to stock up before it retires.

Bye for now,

Tina

Milestone Moments Farewell

Hi!

One of the stamp sets I have loved the most from the current catalogue is Milestone Moments. It's one of those unsung hero sets. There aren't any images, just words, but that's what makes it great! There are a heap of special numbers, as well as words to make happy birthday, or happy anniversary, etc. Such a versatile set!

I've only used the happy and birthday stamps on this card. It's such a fun font - especially as it doesn't need to be stamped exactly straight to look great. I've also used some Jute Twine on the card. It's a fabulous, chunky thread that looks great on masculine cards. It retired when the last Holiday Catalogue ended, but you can currently find it on the Clearance Rack at an absolute bargain price. I must admit that a couple of rolls found their way into my last order!

I'm very happy that the Wood Textures DSP stack is carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue. It's such fabulous paper - I've used it heaps in my cards this year, so I'm very glad to get another year to add it to more cards. I wasn't very keen on this pattern, but I've changed my mind - I now think it looks great as a feature.

The stamp I've used on the inside is from the Soft Sayings kit, which is also carrying over. I'm yet to make only of the cards from the kit, but I've used the stamps quite a bit. One day I'll get around to making the cards, hopefully before the kit retires!

Bye for now,

Tina

Bubble Over For A 50th Birthday

Hi!

Just after Christmas one of Rob's mates turned 50. An important birthday requires an important card, and Rob knew he was a home brewer of beer, so I decided to put the Bubble Over bundle to good use to make a beer themed card.

Can you tell which brand of beer inspired this card? LOL.

I die cut the two different sized labels from the Bottles and Bubbles Framelits set, and then added a punched star from a retired punch set. The largest labels and the bottle tops are both cut from Silver Foil paper.

The DSP I used on the front was repeated on the inside. The Real Red piece is from the Tutti Frutti pack and the Lemon Lime Twist piece is from the Sale-A-Bration pack called Bubbles and Fizz. It's the perfect accompaniment to the Bubble Over suite!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #391: Just Choose Two

Hi!

Can you believe that this is our last challenge for the year? I guess all good things must end - but not for long, as we will be back in 2018 with a heap of fun weekly challenges.

This time around Kim has set our challenge, and it's to Just Choose Two. These have been popular challenges this year at Just Add Ink.

OK, I will admit that I'm a little over making Christmas cards by this time of year, so when Alex got invited to his best mate's 16th birthday, I was more than happy to create a teen boy's birthday card.

There's quite a few sneak peeks on this card. The DSP is from the new Tutti-Frutti suite. It's such a fun, colourful suite, but I love that the DSP has some not-so-bold patterns too.

It's difficult to see in the photo, but the twine is also new. It's silver and white twisted together, and it's very cool. Finally, the stamps are from a new Sale-A-Bration set called Epic Celebrations - absolutely perfect for those hard to make teen cards. If you have teens in your life, you'll definitely be wanting this set!

I've used another stamp from the set on the inside. The birthday boy is musical, so I went for the two stamps in the set that related to music.

As this is the last Just Add Ink challenge for the year, you have two weeks to get your entry in. The linky list will close on the 3rd Jan. If you're like me, the few days after Christmas when everyone else is playing with their new toys is a great time to get some stamping in!

This will be my last blog post for the year, so thanks for taking the time to stop by during 2017, and I look forward to sharing more of my cards and scrapping with you next year. Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year to you all!

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH November Blog Hop: Texture

Hi!

Tonight the Art with Heart team girls are sharing some creative projects by adding texture with embossing. Embossing can add a lovely dimension, and with our wonderful Stampin’ Up! products, we can create many different looks. These include Heat embossing using embossing powder, dry embossing using our textured folders or by adding embossing paste!

Just as I sat down to work on my project, my special preorder from the recent OnStage event arrived. I was very excited, as the box contained a new embossing paste. You will be able to purchase it when the Occasions Catalogue goes live in January, and trust me, you will want to purchase it!

Oooh, doesn't that Silver Embossing Paste look divine as a background? It has a different feel to our current Embossing Paste, but it's just as easy to apply to cardstock. The only real difference I have found is that it takes a little longer to dry.

Now, I mustn't forget the other big sneak peek on my card - the new Bubble Over bundle and DSP. The front of my card with the sponged bottles, was inspired by a card that Kathryn Ruddick made as a Display Stamper at OnStage using this bundle. Don't they look fab? The DSP is one of the upcoming Sale-A-Bration freebies that coordinates perfectly with the Bubble Over bundle.

How cute is this bubble stamp that Ive used on the inside of the card? Super cute is the answer!

Well, that's it from me. I hope you've been inspired! Next you're off to see the creativity of the lovely Leanne Mitchell.

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.  Alisha Watson
2. Ros Davidson
3. Rachel Woollard
4. Sharon Davern
5. Kate Morgan
6. Catherine Proctor
7. Caroline Manwaring
8. Monika O’Neill
9. Tina Gillespie
10. Leanne Mitchell
11. Rachel Palmieri

Bye for now,

Tina

A Beautiful Bouquet CASE

Hi!

Today I have for you a fun set of cards that I CASEd from Leonie Schroder. I saw them on a demo Facebook group and thought they looked so fresh and fabulous - I just had to CASE them right away! Leonie CASEd the cards from Jennifer McGuire, who called it the Four From One technique.

Basically, you cut one card front and die cut a shape into it. Jennifer and Leonie used hearts, but I went for an oval.

You then need to cut four card bases. I cut them from Thick Whisper White, and cut two in landscape orientation, and two in portrait orientation.

You then adhere the two pieces from the card front to two of the card bases using temporary adhesive. In my case, this was the oval and the card front with the oval hole. Next, you stamp around the shape, making sure that half the stamp is on either side of the edge of the shape.

Once you've finished stamping, you carefully peel apart the layers. You should be left with two card bases that have been stamped, and tow pieces of card front that have also been stamped. On two pieces the stamping is on the outside of the oval, and on the other two, it's on the inside. All that's left to do is stamp the sentiments and assemble the two also cards. Oh, and embellish, if required.

I can't forget to stamp the insides either!

Here are the four cards together. If you look closely, you can see that the top and bottom card fronts were stamped together, and the two side cards were stamped together. It really is a super fun technique to try!

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH Blog Hop: Fancy Folds

Hi!

Welcome to another Art with Heart Team blog hop where we are focusing on fancy folds. You will find loads of creative inspiration tonight, showcasing different folding techniques and projects. Don't be afraid of trying some Fancy Fold cards; they may look intimidating, but in fact, they are not that difficult to create.

I was recently asked to make a birthday card for a woman turning 50, but it had to be big enough for around 30 people to sign. My first thought was to make a super-sized card, but I thought about how annoying that would be to store, so I decided to make something that was the size of a regular card, and add some extra pages for the guests to write on.

I'm not sure of the name of the fold, but you pretty much take a sheet of cardstock that is double the height of the finished card and 3-4 times the width. In this case I used a sheet of 12x12 cardstock in Elegant Eggplant. I should mention at this point that my brief included using purple and no flowers - the recipient is a really outdoorsy kind of person who enjoys camping, etc.

I scored the 12x12 at 4 and 8 inches, and then turned it 90 degrees and cut at 6 inches from the edge and stopping at the second score line from the edge. I also cut two extra pieces of cardstock that were 6x4, with an additional flap on one 6 inch side. Here's a diagram that shows what I did. Dashed lines are scored, solid are cutting lines, and all measurements are in inches.

I adhered the to extra flaps to the edges of b and c. I then adhered A to a, B to b and C to c using Tear And Tape Adhesive. This creates a little book with 8 pages. You could leave the top of each page open, so that you could have extra tags in the pockets too.

I decorated the front and back cover with Wood Textures DSP and used another piece of cardstock to act as a spine, hiding all of the folds. I added a length of twine to the cover before adding the spine, so that the card can be tied shut.

Each of the pages was decorated with a little more of the DSP, and I also added a few stamps from the Tabs For Everything set to give it a bit more colour. I heard that the card was a hit, so I was very pleased!

Well, that's it for me, so now you're hopping off to visit Kate Morgan's blog. She always has something fabulous that is bound to inspire.

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. Caroline Manwaring
2. Ros Davidson
3. Monika O'Neill
4. Sharon Davern
5. Tina Gillespie
6. Kate Morgan
7. Andrea Roberts
8. Rachel Woollard
9. Claire Daly
10. Alisha Watson
11. Kimberly Hern
12. Catherine Proctor

Bye for now,

Tina