JAI 246 Just add giving

Hello there,
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas day spending it with family and friends enjoying some yummy food and company! We were lucky enough to do that :) We have now moved on to the recovery period which involves more eating and spending time with the kids helping them work out, construct, read etc their Christmas presents. It's a time of year I enjoy very much!

We have one final challenge for you all this year at Just Add Ink and it's to Just Add Giving a lovely idea proposed by Mae, a former DT member. We'd really like to see what you made as special gifts for people in your life to thank them for their love, support, friendship and company. 

As the Just Add Ink team will be taking a little summer break till January 23rd this won't be a judged challenge - but we encourage you to share you wonderful projects with other crafters and link up your projects.

I have a fairly simple little project for you today - but then that's what you need in the lead up to Christmas!

A close up

I made quite a few of these delightful little boxes, but kept it fun and fresh for me by making them in a whole range of different colour ways. I was quite astonished with how much chocolate you could actually fit into these! The tag is almost bigger than the boxes but I was still having so much fun playing with my Festival of Trees set and punch that I just had to dress up the boxes.

For a little time on my part and a whole lot of inky fun I also had the added bonus of making people smile when they received one of these!

Go check out what the rest of the DT made as special gifts this year and please do join us in sharing what you made this year!

Happy New Year to you all and I'll see you in 2015 with the Just Add Ink's annual blog hop challenge on January 23rd. 

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Festival of Trees
Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive
Accessories: Curvy Keepsake box thinlets, Scalloped Tag Topper punch, Tree punch, Itty Bitty Accents punch pack, Champagne glimmer paper, Season of Style DSP stack (R), Gold baker's twine, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

JAI 245 Just add inspiration

Hello there,

I'm wrapping up work this week which is really important because I am still utterly completely disorganised for Christmas, on the crafting make stuff side (like Christmas cards - eek!). However, I am a super organised Mum on the got the kids sorted side so at least that's something!

Every year I pull out my favourite angel stamp and make a special Christmas card, this year this weeks Just Add Ink challenge was just the perfect inspiration for her. This week we want you to Just Add Inspiration. Here's the lovely picture Nikki put together for us.

And here is my angel

The main inspiration I pulled from the photo was the neutral palette. I was going to use snowflakes but decided to go stars instead as I liked the thought of using the stencil to create a backdrop of gold embossed ones.

What inspiration will you find? Hope you can join us.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless noted
Stamps: Love Lives Here: Holiday (PaperTrey Ink), Bells and Boughs (PTI)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, Whisper White
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Expresso, Versamark
Accessories: Mega Mat stack 3 (PTI), Love Lives Here: Holiday dies (PTI), Bells and Boughs dies (PTI), Owl builder punch, Hearts and Stars stencil, Gold, Early Espresso and White embossing powder, Gold glimmer paper, Linen thread, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

JAI 244 Just add a sketch

Hello there,
is anyone feeling like Christmas is arriving just that little bit too fast??! And the shops are ridiculously busy already at 9 am on Saturday mornings!! Thankfully I'm well prepared on the present front but not doing so good on the handcrafted side - eeek! Luckily I have another Christmas card for the stash courtesy of this week's Just Add Ink challenge - this week we want you to Just Add a Sketch - a real fun one from Tina.

I was turning over the idea of threes, what three could I use rather than a tree? When this idea popped into my head.

It was a bit fiddly to put this together but sometimes it's nice to just putter and fiddle - and to have the time to do so! To give the penguins some depth I stamped the two little guys on the base and then diecut and coloured the big guy. He and the frame are mounted up on dimensionals. A bit of sparkle is essential for Christmas so I added a big glimmer snowflake frame and lots of tiny dots of dazzling diamonds. Even though it's likely to be just a bit warm (we are talking mid summer here ;) at Christmas the appeal of snowy images is still strong.

Hope you can join in the fun at Just Add Ink this week. Do check out the rest of the DT for some fun inspiration for the sketch.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise notedper
Stamps: Tiny Treats Christmas (PaperTrey Ink), Tremendous Treats Christmas (PTI), Winter Snow Globe (PTI), Endless Wishes
Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer (R)
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Versamark, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Banner framelits, Damask Snowflake dies (PTI), Tremendous Treats Christmas die (PTI), Circle punches, Copic markers, Dazzling Diamonds, Two way glue, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press) 

JAI 243 Just add a colour combo

Hello there,
I am plunging, swimming, sweating (it's hot again!) heading full steam towards Christmas. The Christmas decorations aren't up yet but it's only a matter of time now! Somewhat scarily only a handful of Christmas cards are complete - but I was able to add another one using this week's Just Add Ink challenge to Just Add a Colour Combo. It's bright and cheerful perfect for the festive season.

I originally started with a white embossed panel behind my Christmas tree shaker but I was having white space issues again and re did the panel brayering the upper half in turquoise graduating the colour. I was much happier with that! Then I embossed it graduating the embossing so it faded out towards the bottom too.  Lots of fun star confetti fill up the shaker, ribbon and a banner finish it all off.

I had fun making this (except for the bit where my fingers got stuck to the adhesive and in the process of un-sticking myself ended up with my confetti all stuck to it - grrr!! But in the end fingers and confetti were both unstuck and the shaker was sealed up.) Hope you can join us! Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT for some great colour inspiration!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless noted
Stamps: Many Merry Stars
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Strawberry Slush, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Silver foil, Silver glimmer
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi, Strawberry Slush, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Shaker Shapes Tree die, Star die and Circle die (PaperTrey Ink), Bountiful Banner die (PTI), Lucky Stars embossing folder, Adhesive foam sheet (PTI), Real Red stitched grosgrain ribbon (R), Brayer, Jewels - rhinestone, Double sided tape (X Press)