Friday, August 26, 2011

JAI 82 - just add something you've had in your stash for ages and not used

Hello there :)
we have a great challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink - it's time to dig through the back of your cupboard and bring something unused and unloved out into the light :) Yes this week the challenge is to use something from your stash thats been there a while and not used (now none of us do that do we!! cough cough). For me it was the prod excuse I needed to make a shadow box picture I had promised to make for my lovely Miss 6 nearly a year ago (when I made a picture for my Mr 2 as he was at the time. This is what I made for him).  So what did I pull out from my stash - well first up the shadow box frame (shiny gold of course - very important according to Miss 6) now thats been there for nearly a year. But my real reclaimation item was some paper flowers. I had a pack in a bright pink - which turned out to be perfect match to Melon Mambo and a pack of undyed ones. How long have they been in the stash? - so long I can't remember !! So I tried my hand at colouring paper flowers for the first time - it was so easy! Hah how long did it take me to work that out!! Ok on to the end result. I will post a warning though - expect princesses and castles and flowers and glitter (smile).
And a close up of some of the details.

I wanted to use the layers in the shadow box as well as graduated colours to create a sense of depth. After looking at the distant hills as I drove to work for several mornings in a row it seemed to me that often things get lighter in the distance. So for my trees the foliage of my front tree is Old Olive, then Wild Wasabi and the furthest away is Certainly Celery. Likewise with my two grass borders, the front one is Garden Green and then next one in Old Olive and the hill behind is some Kiwi Kiss I dug out from my retired stash. I used copics to colour in the princess, pony and castle. The castle was my first go at colouring on Crumb Cake which worked OK, but you certainly can't blend on it like you can on X-Press cardstock. I paper pieced all the windows and turrets so I could get brighter colours on those. I just had to add some stitching and had the idea of using the stitching to accentuate the rays from the sun I was really pleased with how that turned out. Funnily enough I had intended to use the other side of the backing DSP (it has a cloud pattern on it) but on packing it up (otherwise known as chucking everything back in the frame one day I had the gingham side turned up and both Miss 6 and I looked at it and went - hmmm like that! So the gingham stayed. Finishing touches include bling of course!!! rhinestones and dazzling diamonds, flowers and flower path for the pony, and a sentiment.

I had fun making this and am really pleased I have managed to fulfill my promise to my beautiful Miss 6. When she smiles the whole world is filled with sunshine and this did bring a smile to her face (and mine).

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to check out the other fabulous DT offerings!

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Pony Party, Through the trees (PaperTrey Inc), Magical Castle (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Garden Green, Kiwi Kiss (R), X Press blending card 
Ink: Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Lots of Tags sizzlet, 1 3/4" circle punch, Grass border punch (Martha Stewart), Copics, Punch Pack, Sweet Slumber DSP (R), Cloud dies (PaperTrey Inc), Paper flowers pink and plain (??), Jewels - rhinestones, Brayer, Dazzling Diamonds, Two way glue pen, Dimensionals

Friday, August 19, 2011

JAI 81 - just add a colour combo


Apologies but about to fall off the couch here - sooo tired. I'm hoping to crawl into bed soon and fall asleep listening to the rain - that is always so soothing :)  However hopefully the great challenge we have in store for you this week at Just Add Ink will keep you (and me) awake. This week its a colour challenge.

Ok I have to confess  - in the year since we've had the 2010-2012 in colours I have never ever!! used Peach Parfait - so this challenge was definitely a challenge. But once I pulled out a bit of cardstock in each of the colours I realised what a sweet colour combo this was - actually quite feminine and soft - so that where my card came from. Here it is.



Got to use some fun dies for this one and an SU! stamp set that I don't think you can mess up with. That's got to be a winner. I kind of wanted a vintagey soft result so I used lots of little text in the background (Peach Parfait), over stamped with flowers (stamped off Cajun Craze) and sponged lots of edges. Then dressed up with a large focal piece - stamped (inked up image with markers) and trimmed out flowers, with a punch of Bashful Blue to brighten it all up, finished off with stitching, tiny highlights of glitter and some decorative bling. I did kind of cut loose with the sewing machine for this one but I love how it turned out - even the wonky bits - cause that's kind of what its about ;) I hope the rest is self explanatory but if you have any questions just ask.

Thanks for visiting and do check out what the rest of the DT have come up with this week. Ok off to bed now - I think I can still hear that rain....

Kim
Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Watercolor Trio (SU!), Background Basics: Text Style (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait
Ink: Bashful Blue, Cajun Craze, Peach Parfait
Accessories: Edgers 3 die and Mat Stack 5 die (PaperTrey Inc), Washington Apple DSP (R), Filigree brads, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Ice circle rhinestone brads, sewing machine, sponge dauber, Two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, Double sided tape.

Friday, August 12, 2011

JAI 80 - just add a sketch

Hello there,
welcome back, again ;) this week for a new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a sketch for you, it puzzled me a bit at first, but I solved that by flipping it. If you're stumped I suggest going and checking out the rest of the DT samples - they are fabulous!! Here's the sketch.

 And here is what I made of it.


I made this card with a special friend in mind and that dictated my colour selection somewhat but I must say the combo of Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla and Rose Red appeals to me too!! Convention goers might recognise the main inspiration for this card - the coloured in flourish (from a new stamp set coming soon). A sample card was up on the boards with the flourish delicately coloured in and I loved it!!  Basically I paired up the flourish with a large decoratively stamped die cut label mounted up on dimensionals. I coloured the flourish using ink pad lid and blender pen. The final elements were some linen threaded buttons for the sentiment label, and a sprinkling of little Rose Red flowers, edges daubed with shimmer paint then finished off with pearls. Oh and I added tiny dots of shimmer paint to the little circles in the flourish using a toothpick - hard to see this in the photos though :(

Thanks for visiting, have a good week and perhaps a play with the sketch!
Kim
Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Creative Elements, Mat Stack One (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Rose Red
Accessories: Mat Stack One die (PaperTrey Inc), Itty Bitty punch shape pack, Platinum Shimmer Paint, Sponge Dauber, Blueberry Sky Vintage buttons (PaperTrey Inc), Distressing tool, Jewels - Pearls, Bella Blue DSP (R), Blender Pen, Double sided tape, Dimensionals, Glue dots, Linen Thread.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Inkspiration 81 - a baby girl owl birthday



Oh my - its been a lonnnng time since I've had time to play along with an Inkspiration challenge - and I do miss that! But I've had this week's sketch on my mind and I had a birthday card to make for my gorgeous little niece who turns one soon. Now I have been trying to make this card off and on for a week but it just wasn't working!! But this afternoon inspiration struck - you see I am actually making her a felt owl teddy in gray and pink for her birthday and it occured to me why don't I make a card to match. Rather amazingly this card I think only took me one hour to put together (with an interval for a school pick up in between). So first up here's the sketch.
And here is what I made of it.


I have a decided fondness for scalloped circle easel cards and I thought it added that something extra to make this significant birthday special. So very briefly I started with a Basic Gray base, then added a Pretty in Pink mat, then a Pink Pirouette top mat. This was stamped with the Woodgrain in Pretty in Pink. I punched out my owl and stuck her together, added some sparkle to her bow and crystal effects to the little heart. She is perched on some greenery and a strip of Bashful Blue grosgrain. The final touches are a little blue cloud and some tiny blinged flowers. The sentiment inside acts as the stopper for the easel card. It will be a perfect match to her owl (well once I finish making her owl that is) and that makes me happy :)

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps:  Woodgrain, Well Scripted (R)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue
Ink: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Two step owl punch, Two step bird punch, Wide Oval punch, Lots of Tags sizzlet, Cloud die (PaperTrey Inc), Sweet Always DSP (R), Stitched Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon (R), Itty Bitty punch shapes pack, Jewels - rhinestone, Spica glitter pen, Crystal effects, Double sided tape, Tombow multi, SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals.

Friday, August 5, 2011

JAI 79 - just add distressing, ripping, tearing


Hello there,

well I am seriously tuckered out tonight as I write this so I will try and keep it short and sweet this week - always a challenge for me ;). However we do have a very fun challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink - we want you to just add distressing, ripping, tearing.

The first thing I thought of was an awesome convention Wow presentation by one of my lovely convention roomies the talented Sharnee Torrents. She showed us how to make a torn paper frame. You can find a tutorial by Sharnee here. I matched up my frame with lots of grunge! Here's the result.

The inside
I started by stamping my top Mustard layer, and then taking a deep breath and scrunching it all up!!! Then I rubbed the ink pad over the creases to accentuate them. I adhered a partial Not Quite Navy panel under Mustard layer and then cut a hole in roughly the right place. Then I carefully tore the double layers of frame back to create the right sized frame for my guitar guy (stamped in Cajun Craze). All of that is matted onto a distressed Cajun Craze layer then the Not Quite Navy base. I finished it by adding very distressed sentiment. The inside was finished off to match.

Once I got over the heart attack inducing step of scrunching up stuff I had just carefully stamped I was really pleased with how this turned out. I will be trying do more distressing and torn paper frames in the future I think!! Thanks for visiting and if you can why don't you have a go.

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Extreme Elements, Extreme Guitar, A Little Birthday Cheer (R)
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, More Mustard
Accessories: Small star punch (R), Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Pewter brad, Distressing tool, Double sided tape (X Press)