Just Add Ink #548 Sketch

 

Hello all,

this week at Just Add Ink we are asking you to Just Add a Sketch from Jan. I decided to dual purpose my project - it would get me ahead for Mother's Day (coming up here in early May) and also give some love to a neglected flower set from 2020. I do love flowers sets and can never resist acquiring one, two...or perhaps more new ones. Here's the sketch.

This is what I came up with.

My interpretation of the sketch is a bit loose particularly in the layering of the elements, but basically the red rose = the central rounded square, the circle = the lattice behind the rose, and the twine and sentiment = long central horizontal element.

I kept the background and colour palette simple, as I wanted all the attention on the rose. Colouring the rose red certainly achieves that aim! This was really all about the colours and colouring - an ink brayered, stamped and splattered background and the flower coloured with SU! Blends. The die cut lattice grounds the rose and adds in some detail.

Wink of Stella on the rose and some gems finished the project off.

The Just Add Ink team always have lots of fabulous projects to show you so please go check them out and then come back and join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: So Much Love, Dressed to Impress

Dies: Stitched Rectangles, Rose Trellis thinlets (R)

Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (R), Whisper White (R), Pool Party

Ink: Pool Party, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Blends (Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Granny Apple green, Shaded Spruce), Big Shot die cutting machine (R), Paper Snips, White Baker's twine (R), Flower for Every Season Gems, Wink of Stella, Fine Tip glue pen, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, White Gel pen (Sakura)

Just Add Ink #546 Steampunk

 

Hello there,

we have a bit of a different challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink. Chantell is asking us to Just Add Steampunk. No idea what that is? Then search up images and you'll see it's characterised by a vintage, victorian, mechanical vibe. Some of the costumes are stunning and very detailed!

Anyway my take on steampunk was to add the mechanical element, make it a bit worn and dark. This is how it turned out.

I die cut my gears in card stock, then embossed with mix of silver and copper embossing powder, to give a tarnished, rusted feel to the gears. I brayered an ombre background and then tone on tone stencilled a brick pattern over to add to the industrial feel. I'm imagining a pile of rusted gears leaning up against a old brick wall. Growing over that pile of gears I had to add flowers. The flower images were quite fine lined so I used a fine tip black marker to thicken the petal lines. Finally, I coloured the flowers, swished over Wink of Stella and a scatter of copper sequins. Trying to find a way to make steampunk work for me was a challenge but I enjoyed it and really liked how it turned out.

The Just Add Ink DT have fabulous steampunk projects to show you, so please go check them out and then come back and join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Dressed to Impress, Art Gallery

Dies: Garage Gears, Floral Gallery

Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (R), Whisper White (R), Pretty Peacock, Basic Gray

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Pretty Peacock, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark

Accessories: Blends (Mint Macaron, Just Jade, Bermuda Bay), Silver and Copper (R) embossing powder, Heat Tool, Sponge brayer, Brick stencil (R), Wink of Stella, Metallic sequins (R), Fine tip glue, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape

Just Add Ink #544 'L'

 

Hello there,

it's time for another Just Add Ink letter challenge and this week Tina is asking us to Just Add 'L'. This means we want the main element of your project to be something that begins with the letter 'L'. It could be the sentiment - 'L'ove You, it could be a lamp, a lion or leprechaun, or a technique like letterpress or a card fold like a luminara or a lever card - the possibilities are almost endless...well as long as it begins with a letter 'L'!

I decided to go with lace as my 'L' element.

The bulk of the time spent in making this card was in the colouring. To no-line colour you need to stamp your line image as faintly as possible. Try stamping your image off once or even twice, and ideally use a colour of ink that will match/ blend in well with your fill colour palette. Then its all about the shading and ensuring you get enough contrast that the image has definition and isn't flat. I'm still working on that aspect of my colouring but overall I was pretty happy with how my blooms turned out. I used my coloured blooms to frame the sentiment and add a pop of colour, adding sparkle with a swish of wink of stella and gems. I wanted to keep the background as neutral as possible as all the detail was in the die cut lace pattern.

The Just Add Ink DT have many fabulous 'L' projects to inspire you, so please go check them out and then come back and join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Band Together
Dies: Detailed Bands dies, Stitched Shapes framelits, Stitched Lace dies
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (R), Whisper White (R)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Blushing Bride, Granny Apple Green
Accessories: Blends (Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Magenta Madness, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie), Wink of Stella, From my Heart faceted gems (R), Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue, Tear and Tape, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #542 Inspiration

 

Hello there,

life's been kind of hectic and busy but I managed to snag some time to create my project for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Lou has asked us to Just Add Inspiration. You can use the colours, objects, patterns or textures to inspire the main elements of your project. Here's the inspiration picture.

This week several elements of the inspiration picture caught my attention - the colours, and the idea of greenery against a wall. Here's how it turned out.

I do love a colourful blended background so I started with that, created a window using dies, and then coloured some floral elements to go into my window box. This is simple and a different colour palette then I normally use but I really liked how the colours work together. I always finish my cards with some sparkles, in this instance Wink of Stella and some sequins.

The rest of the Just Add Ink DT have some gorgeous projects to show you so please go check them out and then come back and join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Stamps: Bloom and Grow, Well Said
Dies: Budding Blooms, Stitched Rectangles, Hearth and Home (R)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (R), Whisper White (R), Smoky Slate, Vellum

Ink: Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Terracotta Tile, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Blends (Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Real Red, Mint Macaron, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce), Sponge Brayer, Classic Label punch, Wink of Stella, Woven Threads sequins, Fine Tip glue, Multipurpose glue, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, White gouache

Just Add Ink #538 Sketch

 

Hello there,

this week at Just Add Ink Patrice has asked us to Just Add a Sketch. I found it super easy to work with and took a pretty literal approach, and went back to an old favourite technique of mine  - blended backgrounds. Here's the sketch.

This is how it all turned out!

Creating my own backgrounds is something I love to do, and the more inky the better! I used sponge brayers here to blend a transition of Pool Party, Coastal Cabana in from each end and finished off with Bermuda Bay between the two. This gave me a lovely gradual transition of colour in from each end. To add lots of texture I splattered with water, then Wink of Stella, white gouache and black ink. I ended up with more black splatter in the lower corner, than I perhaps would have wanted but I guess that unpredictable aspect is part of the fun of adding texture this way. 

To get the different colour tones on my flowers I inked up my floral stamp with markers. The rest was all die cutting and assembly. I loved the bright complementary colours - it's very happy!

The rest of the Just Add Ink design team have lots of beautiful projects to show you, so please go check them out and then come back and join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Supplies (SU!)

Stamps: Art Gallery, Itty Bitty Birthdays

Dies: Floral Gallery, Stitched So Sweetly

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Ink: Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, Tuxedo Back (Memento)

Accessories: Classic Label punch, Sponge Brayer, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, Fine Tip Glue, White gouache, From my Heart Gems (R), Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #537 - Blog Hop Family

Hello and welcome to the annual Just Add Ink blog hop! 

This year we decided that our theme was going to be to Just Add Family. So many family occasions have been impacted by COVID-19 recently, so it's even more important that we stay in touch any way we can - to say Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, Miss You, Thinking of You - any special family occasion! We would love you to tell us the story behind your project and why it's something special for your family.

You may have arrived on my blog via the talented Nikki Spencer's blog, be starting here with me, or you can start at the Just Add Ink website. Wherever you start just follow the 'next' links on each of the design team blogs to see all our projects.

This year I am aiming to up my game and make sure I have birthday cards ready to go for family and friends (I have been pretty remiss in this in the last couple of years). So with my Mum in mind I pulled out some bright colours and mixed them with a classic black and white background.

So lots of colourful stamping, some die cutting and a little fussy cutting is what this took (I think doing this for the 'happy' was worth the effort)! One point of caution, I swished all my flowers with Wink of Stella at the end and there was a significant and almost immediate colour change in the flowers stamped in Magenta Madness to a brighter, more neon shade. Honestly, I wasn't about to pull it all apart to start again and decided I was still happy with the altered pink shade...but I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Thanks so much for visiting, now it's time to go visit my good friend Patrice Easton.  I know she will wow you with something special! Enjoy finishing the blog hop and then please come back and join in the challenge. 

Supplies (SU!)

Stamps: Pretty Perennials

Dies: Perennial Petals, Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Nested Labels

Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (R), Whisper White (R), Basic Black

Ink: Real Red, Magenta Madness, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark

Accessories: True Love Designer Series paper, Wink of Stella, Woven Thread sequin assortment, Blending Brushes, White emboss powder, Heat Tool, Fine Tip Glue, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape

Just Add Ink #535 Magical Creatures

 

Hello there,

I've only made a few Christmas cards this year but I've enjoyed the process (in all honesty my cards usually involve quite a process). This week I have one more for you, for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Kelly has asked us to Just Add Magical Creatures. So get out your fairies, dragons, elves, gnomes or any other magical creatures you have!

I had to use my SU! gnomes for this - well one gnome anyway. 

Once I decided on using the Snowflake Splendour DSP all my colour choices were pretty much settled, and making that decision can be a really good way of getting yourself started on a project. I also decided to create an arched window, this turned out to be simple. First I die cut a circle from my DSP (that was added to the inside of the card). Using my trimmer I cut straight down from the widest part of the circle on each side and then made the final cut, parallel to the bottom of the card, to join the two side cuts. I created my scene and added my gnome and present which had both been glittered up with Wink of Stella and Shimmery crystal effects.

I was super happy with the end result :)

Please go and check out the magical projects of the rest of the Just Add Ink DT, then come back and join in the challenge.

This will probably be my last post for the year, as Just Add Ink will take a break till mid January soon. So I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Stamps: Gnome for the Holidays, #Elfie (R)

Dies: Pine Woods dies, Stitched Shapes framelits, Rectangle Stitched framelits

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Whisper White

Ink: Pacific Point, Night as Navy, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Snowflake Splendour DSP, 1" circle punch, Sparkle glimmer paper (R), Blends (Highland Heather, Cinnamon Cider, Ivory, Basic Black), Copic Markers (to match pacific Point) Shimmery Crystal Effects, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals, Sponge brayer, Tear and Tape, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)