Just Add Ink #572 Inspiration

 

Hello there,

this week at Just Add Ink Nikki is asking us to Just Add Inspiration. I loved the bright colours, and while flowers would usually mean flowers this week I decided to follow a different path. The colours from the inspiration picture inspiring a bright Christmas card. Here's the inspiration pic.

This is how my card turned out.

It's been a crazy busy exhausting week so I am going to keep this super short and simple.

Ink blended background.

Alcohol coloured images.

Embossed snow in the background.

Wink of Stella and Shimmery Crystal effects for the necessary Christmas bling.

The Just Add Ink design team has an abundance of stunning projects to show you this week so please go check them out and then come back and join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Stamps: Cup of Christmas (R), Gnome for the Holidays (R), Santa's Elves (My Favorite Things)

Dies: Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes (R)

Cardstock: Thick Basic Whisper White, Basic Whisper White, Pacific Point

Ink: Balmy Blue, Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Versamark, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: SU! Blends (lots and lots of colours - sorry no details this week), Blending brushes, White embossing powder, Heat Tool, Horizontal Snow stencil (My Favorite Things), Wink of Stella, Shimmery Crystal Effects, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #568 Sketch

 

Hello there,

having a bit of a deja vu week with our first lockdown in a year happening this week. Spending some extra time at home however had the added benefit of time to work on my project for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Lou is asking us to Just Add a Sketch, here it is.

My niece has a birthday coming up soon so I made this card with her in mind.

To start I added a subtle embossed texture to the background and then blended a soft gradient of colour coming up from the bottom, finishing it with a light splatter. For the main focal point I coloured in my sweet fairy girl, trimmed her out and mounted her on a couple of stitched layers. She was finished off with wink of Stella and shimmery crystal effects, and I added a scatter of sequins around her. I feel like the black I added makes it feel a little bit of grown up which suits an almost teenager.

The Just Add Ink DT 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: Itty Bitty Birthdays, Maisy Ketto (Stamping Bella) (R)

Dies: Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes (R), Stitched Nested Labels (R)

Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Basic White, Basic Black

Ink: Balmy Blue, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark

Accessories: Blends (Balmy Blue, Real Red, Magenta Madness, Ivory, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie), Sparkle Glimmer paper (R), Blending brushes, Subtle embossing folder (R), Wink of Stella, Shimmery Crystal Effects, Woven Threads sequins (R), Flowers for Every season twine (R), White embossing powder, Heat Tool, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, Fine Tip Glue, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #566 Frame

 

Hello there,

this week at Just Add Ink, Jan has asked us to Just Add a Frame. I quite like to make my own frames using dies so that is what I did.  Theme wise not sure if I was inspired by a work colleagues recent trip to the northern territory or just wishing for a warmer climate. It's cold here right now! Whatever it was, I end up with a very lush green tropical card.

Here it is.

My best tip for frames is to make one yourself using two dies one smaller than the other. Ideally the two dies are proportional too. I pulled out my stitched rectangle dies and selected two based on how wide I wanted my frame to be. To die cut the frame I lined the rectangles up, the smaller one within the larger and secured them with washi tape to prevent movement. That way when they were run through my die cutting machine I would get the even border I wanted.

Having created my border frame, I watercolored up a background, once dry splattering it with some water. Coloured up my crocodile and trimmed him out, then die cut lots of tropical leaves. The frame was mounted on dimensionals to give it more impact as a frame and more depth. I thought it would be fun to have the sentiment sort of flow up and out of the crocodile's mouth, and then finished it all off with some clear droplets.

Sadly this crocodile set retired from the mini catalogue earlier this year but as croc's are such an iconic Aussie animal I'm thinking I will hang on to this one.

The Just Add Ink DT have lots of fantastic 'frame' 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: Oh Snap (R)

Dies: Stitched Rectangles, Botanical Builders (R)

Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Basic White, Garden Green, Shade Spruce, Granny Apple Green

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Blends (Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green), Watercolored paper, Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Wink of Stella, Tear and Tape, Flowers for Every Season Droplets (R), Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #564 Choose Two

 

Hello there,

we have a new challenge for you at Just Add Ink. This week Di has asked us to Just Choose Two, which means you need to pick two of the three options and feature them in your project. For me it was the perfect opportunity to prepare ahead for my brother's birthday.

Here's the Choose Two options.

And this is how my project turned out.

This card is all about the wave die! I cut the wave mat in a dark blue shade and the 'foam' pieces in white then blended a transition of blue shades, going from the highlight white at the top of the wave to a deeper blue at the base. The rest of the scene is ink based, first a stamped sea, then a blended sunrise/ sunset sky. Originally I had masked a 'sun' but got a speck of blue ink in it so added a stitched circle over the top. My surfer is placed on the top lip of the wave - which my husband was quick to point out is not how surfers surf waves - but it looks more spectacular! My inside in that respect is more accurate.

The Just Add Ink DT have lots of fabulous scenic 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: Text and Texture Ocean (PaperTrey Ink), Beach Heroscape (Hero Arts)

Dies: Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes (R),  Surfs Up (Hero Arts)

Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Basic White, Basic Black, Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight

Ink: Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Wink of Stella, Blending Brushes, Multipurpose Glue, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #562 Inspiration

Hello there,

we had so much frost on the ground one morning this week it almost looked like snow! So is it any surprise my thought's turned to my first Christmas project for the year? The inspiration photo for this week's new challenge from Just Add Ink may have also given me a push in that direction ;) Here's the inspiration picture, this week suggested by yours truly.

Now you do not need to go with the Christmas theme, but please use the colours, patterns, or objects you find in the inspiration photo to feature in and inspire your project. Here's how mine turned out. 

I'm not ready to retire last years Gnome for the Holidays set - they are just too cute! So I stamped my gnome, and his house (I did have to free draw a mushroom top to his little tree home) coloured it all up with my Blends. Die cut some trees and a little slope of snow and put it all together to create my Christmas scene. Given the inspiration photo featured a lot of white, I kept my background white but added the corrugated embossing that helped echo the pattern of the stair railing in the inspiration photo. I added Christmas sparkle with shimmery crystal effects, sequins and wink of Stella!

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

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Gnome for the Holidays (R)
Dies: Stitched Rectangle, Majestic Mountain, Pine Woods (R)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Basic White, Real Red, Garden Green, Shaded Spruce

Accessories: Corrugated embossing folder (R), Blends (Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Cinnamon Cider, Ivory, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight), Shimmery Crystal Effects, Wink of Stella, Metallic sequins (R), Fine Tip glue, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, Big Shot die cutting machine (R) 
 

Just Add Ink #560 Colour

 

Hello there,

this week at Just Add Ink, Jo is asking us to Just Add a Colour Combo. The colours are really a lovely mix of shades. I ended up with something that I think works as a sympathy card, not actually where I was planning to end up but having one in the stash is always useful. Here's the colour combo.

This is how it turned out.

Blackberry Bliss is a really really intense colour, so I decided the best technique was to watercolour, as this would allow me to pull out a variation of shades. With that starting point I coloured a few clusters of blooms, and a background panel to match in Coastal Cabana. Once dry I splattered that panel to add extra texture. To add even more texture I added in a panel of Grey Granite that I dry embossed. With the addition of the black sentiment strip, and twine, it's a little sombre but not too sombre. Subtle finishing touches include a swish of wink of Stella on the flowers and adding some clear droplets.

The Just Add Ink DT have lots of lovely 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: Hand Penned Petals, Art Gallery

Dies: Penned Flowers, Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes (R)

Cardstock: Thick Basic White, Basic White, Grey Granite, Basic Black

Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Coastal Cabana, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark

Accessories: Painted Texture 3D folder, Fluid watercoloring paper, White embossing powder, Wink of Stella, Black Baker's twine, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, White gel pen(Sakura), White gouache, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)

Just Add Ink #558 Sketch

Hello there,

the big freeze hit us this week but no snow so far, although for us that usually just means seeing some flakes floating down and then melting once they hit the ground. My project for this week's Just Add Ink challenge actually has a bit more of a temperate feel - hint, the tiger might have something to do with that ;) This week we are asking you to Just Add a Sketch (from me). Here it is.

And here is the card.

I was intrigued by the clever design of this stamp set, and I'm a sucker for cats - big and small. So it was quite fun to take it for a spin. I kept all the colour concentrated in my focal point and my tiger, with its characteristic orange tones really pops. To add more colour depth to the tiger, I used an old but good technique called rock and roll. First, I inked up the base tiger stamp in Mango Melody, then dipped or rolled selected edges in Pumpkin Pie. I accented the tiger with some die cut foliage and added a subtle foliage pattern to the background mat using the new Stitched Greenery die.

I think this card and all my future cat ones are going to be really versatile, perfect for the animal loving tween or grown-up.

The rest of the Just Add Ink DT 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: Wild Cats

Dies: Big Cats, Stitched Greenery, Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Shapes (R)

Cardstock: Thick basic whisper white, Basic whisper white, Balmy Blue, Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Pear Pizzazz

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Balmy Blue, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Blending Brushes, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape, Big Shot die cutting machine (R)