JAI 147 Just add balloons

Hello there,
how are you all going with your pre Christmas preparations?I still have a loonnngggg way to go. Not to mention ALOT of Christmas cards to make and then write (yikes!!) I am feeling Christmassy though (despite our recent toasty temperatures). Seeing the kids so excited about getting a Christmas tree up probably has something to do with that ;) OK on to this weeks Just Add Ink challenge which is to Just add balloons - sounds like fun :) Here's what I came up with.

My nephew had a birthday recently and I wanted something fun for him.  I think balloons are always entrancing to watch but how much more fun when they are shaped ones! It was thinking of bright yellow diggers that inspired the colours of my balloons for this card.  To provide a sky background for my balloons I started with a Bashful Blue mat then added an embossed white layer that you get to see peeping through die cut clouds spaces cut in the top Marina Mist layer. I added a subtle embossed pattern to the Marina layer and an embossed sentiment on a cloud to finish the front off. The inside was finished off to match. I'm delighted to say that my nephew loved it :)

Do check out the rest of the DT for some fun balloon ideas. Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Little Hot Rod, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Ink), Up Up and Away (SU!)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Little Hot Rod dies, Cloud dies, Linen and Canvas Impression plate (Papertrey Ink), Rellie Rave embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Scallop border punch, Mini brad silver, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape (X Press)

JAI 84 - just add white and one other colour

Hello there,
well today I have the first in a string of more CAS guy cards. I have a lot of family birthdays through Sept/Oct not to mention Father's Day last weekend, and that made this week's Just Add Ink challenge just perfect. This week we want you to add white and one other colour (your choice on which).

I was rather purist and literally used just one colour - Pacific Point. Here's the result.

I had to make a Father's day card for my FIL, and I used two things as a starting point, first he has a flying affinity and second a sweet tooth. So a balloon filled with something sweet (Malteasers - not rabbit poo - as suggested by my DH!! - that didn't stop him from finishing off the packet I might add) seemed perfect. The card is pretty straightforward - lattice embossing in the background, sponged clouds, as a background for the balloon. A pull door so you can get at the goodies without pulling the card apart.

Reportedly my FIL liked the card and enjoyed eating the Malteasers. I tried to fit 5 in the balloon but just couldn't find 5 small enough to do - so I had to settle with four. I will admit to eating some of the rejects as well - another benefit of making a sweet treat card - lol!

Thanks for visiting :)

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: A Little Treat, Something Sweet, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Inc), Father's Day stamp (local craft shop)

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Whisper White

Ink: Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Sweet treat cups, 1 3/4" circle punch, Round Tab punch, Scallop circle punch, Lattice embossing folder, Double sided tape, Dimensionals

Turning Two - the last giraffe

Hi all,

well our household has been a tale of woe for the last week, with a family sized, all member, cold. Seriously I reckon we have gone through two boxes of tissues between the four of us, and we still haven't reached the end! It's been that bad that I just had no energy to stamp or summon up inspiration!! Just as well I'm a week ahead on Keesh's challenge. I did manage to grab the camera this morning though after dropping Miss 5 off to school to photograph, an oldie but a goodie. The birthday card I made for my little boyo when he turned two earlier this year. The inspiration for the design came from a gorgeous card that Kirsty Brown posted here.


And of course an inside to match

I started with a base of Riding Hood Red, rounded all the corners, then stamped it with Polka Dot in RRH ink. For the image panel I started with a So Saffron layer, then layered that with some of the cloudy DSP from Sweet Slumber (love this!) on the top and Washington Apple on the bottom. The transition is covered by a sentiment banner (RHH and Baja Breeze) which steps down from the image panel to the base layer. I stamped some balloon strings onto the cloudy DSP and then stamped the giraffe from Wild About You in RHH, then trimmed him out. The giraffe is mounted on dimensionals over the strings, so he can hold them in his mouth - of course ;). Lots of buttons finish it off. Two as balloons, and two on the sentiment banner. Mr Two's birthday milestone is added as the final balloon, RRH stamped on So Saffron and then covered with crystal effects.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out - I figured it was probably the last time I could get away with using a cute animal for his birthday cards - they grow up so fast!! I'm pretty sure next year he would rather have a car or train etc - no cute and fuzzies!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise mentioned
Stamps: Wild About You, Polka Dot, Party Hearty, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Corner rounder punch, Sweet Slumber Specialty, Washington Apple DSP, Button Bouquet, Playground Buttons, Pure Poppy buttons (PTI), 3/4" circle punch, crystal effects, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Tombow, various embroidery threads

Three times the inspiration

Hi there everyone,

Not quite sure what got into me this week, but in the little snippets of free time I managed to grab from work and looking after my two darling little munchkins I made three cards for Makeesha Byl’s first challenge for 2010. I must have really missed doing them – waving hi Keesh. This was a colour challenge – so here is Makeesha colour selection.


Card One

Sorry about the crooked card but it was the best pic

This was my original idea for the challenge. But it has evolved from my original concept. OK I started with a Very Vanilla base, stamped that with En Francais in Cameo Coral (originally I had planned to keep it plain but I struggle with keeping to the clean and simple). The image panel has four flower stems stamped in Chocolate Chip. The flowers are a mix between stamps and buttons, some of the buttons have pink rhinestones adhered and some are threaded with coloured thread and a couple of buttons I left plain. The finishing touch for the stamped buttons was some dazzling diamonds which gives them a real glittering glow. The top of the image panel I scalloped with the scallop edge punch and at the bottom I added a base of Cameo Coral, used the Apron Lace punch (originally I had planned for the lace pattern to be at the bottom but it just looked better this way so thats how it ended up). Then I wanted to try making a pleated ribbon embellishment to go over this. I started by putting on some double sided tape then carefully pleating my ribbon over. That attached the ribbon but it still needed to be stitched flat. This was my first time trying to sew on cards, and I like it! It won’t happen too often as I have to haul my machine out of a cupboard plug it in etc etc but it’s certainly worth it sometimes. The inside was just finished off simply.

Card Two

This one came to me in a flash of inspiration while I was putting my Mr almost Two to bed. I realized that the colours could work really well for a tree going through all the seasons. It was actually a very quick card to make. I just stamped my tree trunk four times then inked up the tree top, progressively in So Saffron and then Cameo Coral. I decided to add the sentiment to the “winter” panel. Then a quick punch, punch, punch, punch and I had my images. I made a Choc Chip base – its just a small note card really, about 3 by 3"2'. I scored a line up the top and two below where the tree panels would go. Then I added a Saffron brad to the o in “you” and mounted all the panels on dimensionals. To give the whole card a lift I added dazzling diamonds to all the little leaves on the trees – nice. The inside is just simply stamped with another tree.

Card Three

Another crooked card - sigh

This one was quite experimental for me, but I certainly had fun trying new stuff and I think it turned out quite well. I started by getting out a selection of grosgrain ribbons in Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and So Saffron. I laid them out and decided on a transition from lighter to darker moving from top to bottom. I got a panel of cardstock the right size covered it with double sided tape then stuck all my ribbon down. Next more experimenting with the sewing machine – I stitched a border all the way around the panel. Tucked all the ribbon ends under and that was done. I decided to go a bit flamboyant for embellishments (not naturally me). I made three “poofy” paper flowers, I seen them on Dawn McVey’s blog recently and she made a little video and how she makes them. I used a mix between Vanilla stamped with Cameo Coral (mostly stamped with En Francais) and some Cameo Coral stamped with Cameo Coral. The biggest flower was made using my scallop circle punch, the two smaller one by using the smallest scalloped circle nestability die. There are five layers to each flower. I finished each off with threaded buttons. In the top left corner I added the sentiment – a rub on – it worked no problems although I was a bit nervous about transferring it to ribbon. To highlight that and balance the big flowers I added three buttons, two just threaded and one finished with a bow. I used DMC embroidery thread for all the buttons (I have quite a stash as my embroidery is a rather neglected hobby of mine at the moment). I didn’t check what the DMC numbers were – sorry. I was just trying to find the best match I could. Hmm I should mention the base, the ribbon panel was adhered to a base of Cameo Coral stamped with En Francais. Ok final touches , a couple of leaves to add to the flowers, stick everything down, glue dots for the buttons and I am upgrading the flower adhering method to sticky strip the double sided tape can’t handle the weight of the flowers in this heat – did I mention our air conditioning broke Saturday afternoon. Its already 30oC in the house at 1 PM today – urggghhhhhh.

Thanks for visiting and sticking through the post - see you soon I hope

Kim

PS: Cameo Coral is growing on me - who would of thought!

Recipes: All SU unless otherwise noted
Card One
Stamps: En Francais, Eastern Blooms, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral
Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron
Accessories: Button Latte buttons, buttons from assorted craft pack from Spotlight, Kaiser Pink Rhinestones, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Edge punch, Fiskars Apron Lace punch, Two way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, DMC embroidery thread, Double sided tape, dimensionals, Tombow glue (stick buttons down), a sewing machine.

Card Two
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral
Ink: So Saffron, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 1 ¼ inch square punch, So Saffron brad, Dimensionals, Two way glue, Dazzling diamonds

Card Three
Stamps: En Francais, Floral (R), Petals Pizzazz
Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla
Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Grosgrain ribbon – Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Scallop Circle punch, Scalloped circle nestability, Scalloped Edge punch, Chit Chat rub on, Assorted buttons from craft selection (Spotlight), DMC embroidery thread, Glue dots, silver brads, Double sided tape, dimensionals, a sewing machine, no dazzling diamonds ;)

My first suite challenge

Hello there again,

Yes, I got another challenge stuck in my head this week, I decided to have a go at Dawn McVey’s Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge for the first time. Here’s her colour pick.
I have some recently acquired Lemon Tart buttons (PTI) and found they match fairly well to SU Barely Banana or Saffron. I went with the banana, I also decide on using Baja Breeze as the aqua, largely because I had more accents that match with it, although I suspect a lighter shade of aqua might have been nice to use. Here’s the end result.

Ok starting with a Chocolate Chip base I added Barely Banana layer, then on the right hand side a Baja layer that had been cuttlebuged with the Swiss Dot folder. For the left hand side panel I stamped some Confetti Cream with tiny Choc chip dots (using PTI’s Polka Dots Basics). Over the meeting point I added a card length strip of Chocolate Chip that had been scalloped down the RHS. I added a strip of Baja satin ribbon over that. For the image panel I used another PTI stamp from Every Button Bits, I inked up three of the four flower stems and stamped it onto some Confetti cardstock. Two of the flowers are lemon tart buttons and the last is a Baja corduroy button with a smaller lemon tart button layered onto. All the buttons were threaded with linen thread, and then stuck down with Tombow glue. The button panel was layered on some Chocolate chip and then placed so that the scallop centre element added a decorative finish to its RHS. The sentiment is from SU’s Trendy Trees. I stamped it in Choc Chip on Baja then used the Word Window punch to punch it out, added a So Saffron brad to the “o” in you. The both panel and sentiment were mounted up on dimensional.

The inside was as usual finished off simply with some more flowers using punched cardstock and DSP for “button” flowers.

Hope you like, and thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Inc), Polka Dot Basics (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Confetti Cream, Baja Breeze
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder, Scalloped Edge punch, Word Window punch, Baja satin ribbon (Valet Ribbon Originals), Lemon Tart buttons (PaperTrey Inc), Baja Breeze Corduroy button (R), So Saffron brad, Linen thread, dimensionals, Tombow adhesive, SNAIL adhesive, double sided tape.