Friday, July 29, 2011

JAI 78 - Just add a colour combo

Hello there,
despite being in the depths of winter, with a -5oC night expected I felt like we had a touch of spring around today - firstly the sun was shining (mostly) and even more springy was that I noticed the first daffodil bud in the garden - its probably still a couple of weeks off blooming but its a nice sign of times to come! (also coming with Spring is our new SU! catalogue - also something to look forward to eh!!). My card today has a touch of autumn/winter to it inspired by the lovely colour combo challenge we have for you at Just Add Ink this week. Here it is.


I thought these colours would be perfect for a card for my Dad, and with Father's Day coming up down here in AUS in September I decided to try and get organised early. I also had a brand new set that I was very keen on inking up (French Foliage) so here is the result.
The inside

I started by stamping a panel of Very Vanilla all over with leaves inked first in Certainly Celery then rock and rolled in Not Quite Navy, I also added the text image in Sahara Sand, and spoltches in stamped off Chocolate Chip. That was mounted on a Chocolate Chip base.  Next I stamped a large branchy tree in Chocolate Chip on Vanilla and trimmed it out. I mounted that to the side of another Vanilla panel that I stamped with an assortment of sentiments to make up the message to my Dad. That Vanilla panel was mounted on top of a Choc Chip mat that had been embossed with the Square Lattice embossing folder. To finish off the front of the card I wrapped linen thread across the front, and added two little Not Quite Navy birds. The inside was stamped and matted to match the front.

Thanks for visiting, this is a really lovely colour combo so if you get the chance why don't you give it a go this week.

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: French Foliage, Vintage Labels(R), Teeny Tiny Sentiments (SU!), Through the Trees, Tiny Tags, Botanical Silhouettes (Papertrey Inc)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Square Lattice embossing folder, Large Labels (Spellbinder), Linen Thread, Silver brad, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X press)

Friday, July 22, 2011

JAI 77 - just add a sketch


Hello all,
welcome to  another Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have an interesting sketch for you. A good sketch I might add but it might take some thinking ;) Want to see? Ok here you go.

And here is what I did with it.
The inside

Hmm now that I compare my card to the sketch well it looks like I took a bit more lee way with it than I intended - thats what you get for working from memory instead of actually looking at the sketch! This might be my first official Christmas card for the blog this year - but then Christmas has been on my mind for the last couple of months as for the first time I am running Christmas card classes this year!! So I have been busy prepping designs for that and this card arose from that. One motivation being to create a green and purple Christmas card. So I translated the zig zag element going up the card into the Plum swirls from which I could hang my ornaments. I arranged my ornaments to represent the three staggered blocks of the sketch (well I thought I had - see what I mean about not looking at the sketch when I was putting it together). I actually knotted some silver cord and threaded it through a hole pierced in the top layer for each ornament, then mounted each ornament up on dimensionals. The Christmas sentiment represents the flower element coming up from the bottom of the sketch. My own personal addition was to add a extra section to the card at the bottom, using some Perfect Plum Pattern Stack DSP and Saffron grosgrain at the division. You can probably tell - but the card is quite a bit longer than the standard A5, 10.5 cm x 21 cm (4 1/8 x 8 1/4") in fact (to fit a business sized envelope). I haven't made a card this size for ages and I must admit it was nice to play around with that size for a change! 

Well thanks for visiting :) If you can give the sketch a try and have some fun this week.

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Contempo Christmas, Baroque Motifs
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Perfect Plum
Accessories: Ornament punch, Modern label punch, Subtles Pattern DSP stack, So Saffron wide grosgrain ribbon (R), Silver cord (R), Purple rhinestones (Kaiser), Double sided tape (X Press), Dimensionals

Friday, July 15, 2011

JAI 76 - just add inspiration

Hello there,
well this week at Just Add Ink we have an inspiration photo for you - they're always challenging but also a wonderful kick start to creativity and individual inspiration. Want to see? Here you go. 

A couple of things really grabbed my attention about this photo, firstly the colours, that big expanse of blue, the bright pink of the flowers, and the green of the foliage and shutters. The end result - well here it is.

You might be wondering where that flower is from - well its a sneak peek from a new set coming up in our new catalogue, its designed to work with buttons, and it does!  After seeing the inspiration pic I felt like I wanted to have flowers cascading down the right side and somehow a scalloped circle card seem to suit that idea. So I cut a scalloped circle Rose Red base, a white mat and then a Soft Sky top layer (this was just the right shade - lighter than Baja). I stamped and embossed the fab super sized  sentiment, with Elegant Eggplant and versamark. Then stamped lots of flowers and whenever I could grab a momment cut lots of layers out. Once that was done I layered them all up with dimensionals, and of course added buttons! Final touch was to add some sprigs of greenery. The inside I finished off to match with more layered flowers.

Well thanks for visiting, hope you are inspired this week and play along with the challenge.

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Button Buddies, Think Big Favorites #1 (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White, Garden Green, Soft Sky (R)
Ink: Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Versamark
Accessories: Scallop Circle BigZ die, Classic circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Little Leaves sizzlet, Royal Velvet buttons (PTI), Clear embossing powder, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

Friday, July 8, 2011

JAI 75 - Just add a colour combo



Hi there,

well first up thanks for all the lovely comments on the blog hop last week :) I hope you all enjoyed it and had the chance to play along. This week at
Just Add Ink we have a rather nice colour combo for you. Here it is.
I finally got my hands on Extreme Elements not all that long ago and I was itching to ink it up - so I got a bit grungy with this one - and had fun I have to say (mind you its hard to go wrong with this set!). So one grungy birthday card coming up ;)


As my starting point I picked a sketch (Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #116 ). Once I knew my layout I started with a Cherry Cobler base, then added a Soft Suede mat. Now on the Vanilla layer the fun stuff starts - getting inky! So first up I used Sanded in Soft Suede, stamped off once. Then added a couple of stamped off Suede blots and more Suede again (dotty pattern). Next was the Cherry stars. I tried to create a sort of stream effect out of the guitar. A couple of other Cherry extreme accents and that was it for the stamping. To finsh off this layer I added some strips of DSP, then for that extra effect added some crazy stitching with my sewing machine to keep with the grungy theme. Got to admit I like how that all turned out! The main image was made by stamping the guitar guy, in Cherry on Vanilla, then trimming him out. I mounted him up on dimensionals, on more DSP, with spiral border detail. Lastly I added a sentiment flag, with a Cherry brad to accent it. As usual I carried the theme through to the inside - more wonky (bit too wonky in one place) stitching but I liked the outcome regardless.

This is a really nice colour combo and really versatile - you can see that from the DT samples (go look if you haven't!!) so feel like getting inky?? Have fun :)

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Extreme Elements, Extreme Guitar, A Little Birthday Cheer (R)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobler, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Ink: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobler
Accessories: Love Letter DSP, Holly Jolly DSP, sewing machine, Cherry Cobler (Regal) brad, Spiral border punch, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)



Friday, July 1, 2011

Fancy fold blog hop - JAI 74


Hello there - welcome to the Just Add Ink Fancy Fold Blog Hop.

You may have come from Bronwyn Eastley blog, wasn't her Funky fold just stunning!! If you are starting the blog hop here, thats fine too, it works as a circuit so you can start at any of the stops.

TRISHUTTER CARD

Today I'm going to show you a Trishutter card, a fold that's been on my list to try for quite a while so I was delighted with the excuse to make one (in fact I made two!!). This is the end result.
Closed

Open




So how do you make a trishutter card? Well a great starting point is the Splitcoaster's tutorial, click HERE. I have also added some basic instructions and metric measurements below.

Step 1.
Using a 30.5 cm (12 x 12') piece of cardstock, cut a 30.5 by 15.2 cm piece (12 x 6 inches)
Step 2.
Along horizontal length score at 5.1, 10.2, 20.3 and 25.4 cm (2, 4, 8, 10 inches)


Step 3.
Now turn your cardstock 90 degrees and 3.8 cm(1 1/2 inches) in from each outside edge carefully cut between the first and last score lines (see S1 and s4 on the picture below).

Step 4. Fold. Not sure there is any easy way to describe how you fold the cardstock - but a picture tells a thousand words so hopefully the picture below will explain everything.

Step 5.
Trishutter card closed - now it's time to embellish!

Now I did say I made two didn't I? Well here is a sneak peek of it, I'll leave the full reveal for another time.


Thanks for visiting, next stop on the blog hop is the very talented Paula Dobson blog where she has another awesome Fancy Fold for you to try.

Just click on the blinkie below to take you there -


Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Curly Cute
Cardstock: Blue Brocade, Certainly Celery
Ink: Blue Brocade, Versamark
Accessories: Sarah DSP (long retired SU!), Small star punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Mat pack and piercing tool, Certainly Celery taffeta ribbon, White embossing powder, Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder), small ric rac border die (PaperTrey Inc), medium scalloped border die (PTI), Linen and Canvas impression plate (PTI), Flower die, felt and button (PaperTrey Inc), Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)