JAI #342 Just add 'N'

Hello there,
well the end of the year is almost upon us and I have (almost) made it through the pre-Christmas chaos. To end the year at Just Add Ink we have one more challenge for you. We will be keeping the challenge open for two weeks (closing date will be Jan 4) so you'll still have time to play along after the Christmas festivities are over. This will be a non-voting challenge as the JAI team will be on summer holidays returning on January 20 with a blog hop to begin the year. So what is the challenge? Well we are ending the year with Tina's suggestion to Just Add 'N'. The main element of your project must be something beginning with 'N'. This could be navy, neutral tones, a night scene, or a nautical scene! 

Here's what I came up with.

A simple inside pocket.

I usually give my Dad a book gift card but make sure to create some special packaging for it. This year I used Night of Navy as my base, and added lots of sparkle with embossing, silver foil and silver glimmer paper. I think I made it fancy, as the die cuts add lots of detail and texture, without making it too girly - this is for my Dad after all! The holder was super simple to put together. Simply cut a piece of cardstock 4" by 12". Then score at 2" and 5". The 2" flap forms the pocket, just tape up the sides, and you secure the top flap by adding a 1" wide (roughly 9" long) belly band.

Hope you can join us either before Christmas (it's not long to go!) or after - remember the challenge close Jan 4. Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's projects too!

Thanks to all who have dropped by my blog. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2017!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Christmas Pines, Merriest Wishes
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Whisper White (Thick)
Ink: Pretty Pines thinlets dies, Night of Navy, Versamark, Whisper WhiteAccessories: Silver foil, Silver glimmer, Silver embossing powder, Silver metallic thread, Rhinestones - Jewels, Tear and tape

JAI #341 Just add a Colour Combo

Hello there,

well Christmas is speeding towards us - too fast if you ask me! At the moment I'm thinking this might be the first Christmas that I will not be sending cards out (cause I haven't made them, written them or sent them). But who know may'be miracles will happen! The good news is I have one more to add to my meagre stash because of this weeks Just Add Ink challenge. This week we want you to Just Add a Colour Combo, from me! Here are the colours.

And here is what I came up with.

Short and sweet this week. Basically it was all playing with dies and some (quite a lot of trimming out especially as I don't have the dies to match the trees). I'm thinking I'm going to add some silver sequins to the inside - it just seems a little plain.

Hope you can join us at Just Add Ink this week and do check out the rest of the DT for some fabulous projects.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Foxy Friends, Thankful Forest Friends (R), Stitched with Cheer, Cool Yule (My Favourite Things)

Cardstock: Basic Grey, Old Olive, Shimmery White

Ink: Versamark, Old Olive

Accessories: Silver glimmer paper, Bunch of Banners framelits, Stitched Snow Drifts Dienamic (My Favourite Things), Snowfall Vertical Dynamic (MFT), Copic markers, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape

JAI #340 Gift Tags

Hello there,
well I've been away most of the last week for work and I thought there was no way I was going to get a project done for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. But I'm delighted to prove myself wrong! I can tell you this challenge is just perfect for this time of year and you will love the inspiration from the rest of the team for fabulous, fun, fast tags. Yes tags! This week Jan challenged us to Just add Gift Tags.

Here's what I came up with for a special friend I was having a pre Christmas lunch catch up with.

And now attached to a little package.

Curious what's inside? A little felty Christmas tree! (Another little hobby of mine.)  

This challenge was just what I needed and my tag is going to serve as a prototype for embellishing several more Christmas gifts. Hope you can join us and show us your tags for all seasons - Christmas, birthday, whatever you need right now!

PS: I have to fess up that in my rush to make and deliver this I forgot to write in the tag - rolling eyes at myself - but it was kind of funny too.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Foxy Friends, Christmas Pines, Merriest Wishes
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Scalloped Tag punch, Silver embossing powder, Silver foil, Silver glimmer paper, Silver and Blushing Bride sequins, 1/4" silver taffeta ribbon, Silver cord (R), Dimensionals, Tear and Tape

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JAI #339 Sketch

Well hello,
I actually had a weekend at home last weekend and that meant I had some time to craft (but only after I got our overdue tax paperwork sorted - groan! It was a good motivator to get that job out of the way though!). This week's Just Add Ink challenge proved to be perfect for my purposes. This week Narelle wants us to Just Add a Sketch. Here it is.

And here is what I made of it.

The inside.

As you can probably guess this is for a very significant anniversary (the tag is a tiny clue ;). This year just before Christmas my parents reach the truly inspirational milestone of 60 years of marriage. So a special card is warranted that reflects that lifetime together. Flowers were my first thought and so I pulled out Jar of Love and started by creating a watercolour background using reinkers. It ended up with a lovely worn feel and is much more luminescent in real life. For the panel on top I stamped up a bunch of branches and flowers and created a bouquet to come out of my shaker jar (I included a few heart sequins in there if you look carefully). A little tag, a scatter of sequins and a liberal dose of Wink of Stella finish it all off.

I know Mum and Dad will like it regardless and while I was uncertain for a while if it was going to turn out ok I think it did in the end.

Hope you can join us this week. The rest of the team have lots of fabulous inspiration to get you going so do check them out!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Jar of Love, Express Yourself (R)
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Real Red, Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo, Marina Mist, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Old Olive, Garden Green, Versamark
Accessories: Everyday Jar Framelits, Tiny Tags dies (Papertrey Ink), Number Time Trio dies (PTI),  White and Clear embossing powder, Red glimmer paper, Stacked with Love DSP (R), Window sheet, Assorted sequins - SU! and Pretty Pink Posh, Memento 0.3 marker, Fine Tip glue pen, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape

JAI #338 Just add inspiration

Hello there,
well another hectic week has passed. The most recent highlight was seeing my Mr8 perform in his first guitar concert. He only started learning this year and he did great - and so did the other kids! They were all so amazing, clever and brave to get up in front of an audience to show what they had learned.

Despite a busy weekend I did manage to snatch a little time to make something for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Jan wants you to Just Add Inspiration. She picked a great vibrant filled image to get you going. Use the image to inspire your project - it might be the colours, an object or patterns. Here it is.

And this is where I ended up.

You just knew it had to be another Christmas card didn't you!
Those vibrant colours made me think the aurora's - aurora borealis and aurora australis I looked them up and the colours were perfect. So why not a Christmas night sky filled with one! To start I pulled out watercolour paper and got my reinkers a paintbrush and set to work. I toned down the colours with a wash of Night of Navy over the top, then added some water splotches and Wink of Stella for texture. Once that was dry I added fine splatters of white gouache over the top to complete the starry sky, leaving a little gap for my silver embossed Christmas star. The perfect companion to a background like this is a sweet silhouette die (my first pick from last years SU! Holiday catalogue now sadly retired). I cut that from shimmery white and also silver foil and offset the two slightly. A scattering of sequins finishes it all off.

The rest of the team have lots of gorgeous inspiration for you so don't forget to drop past their blogs too.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Jingle All The Way (R)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Shimmery White
Ink: Night of Navy, Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Emerald Envy
Accessories: Sleigh Ride Edgelits, Watercolour paper, Silver foil, Wink of Stella, White Gouache, Silver embossing powder, Jewels - rhinestones, Metallic sequins, Dimensionals, Tear and Tape

JAI #337 Just choose two

Hello there,
well we have a fun new challenge for you at Just Add Ink this week. For this new type of challenge we'll give you three options and you Just need to Choose Two and use those two in your project. 

So what can you choose this week? Well I set the challenge this week and your three options are dollies, die cuts and designer (patterned) paper.

Patterned paper is not my natural go to. So my starting point was dollies and die cuts. I wanted to use Merry Mice again (still loving these) and I was trying to think of different way to use dollies. When the combination of the singing mouse and the idea of using dollies as curtains popped into my head. A lot of this card was strongly influenced by a wonderful crafter Kelly Latevola. Kelly has posted two videos recently, one where she created a stage scene sketching her curtains in by hand with copics and another that is all about a spotlight. Do go watch these you'll learn so much about light and copic colouring!

Here's how I combined all that information to come up with my mouse doing a stage concert. (Please forgive the light quality I took the photos early in the morning and have tried to adjust for that but its not perfect).

So first up my dollies. I smooched them into my Real Red ink pad, then heat set them. The lacy edges were just not right for the swags, so I just cut the lacy edging off and that was perfect. I did use just a little of the lacy bits at the bottom. (Just a note as dollies are so delicate I did reinforce them with punched circles of red card stock underneath). As the finishing touch to the swags I used my copic markers to add detail, that worked great and was really effective. So where are my die cuts - there are two obvious and two not so obvious. The banner and stitched edging around the inside of the window frame are the obvious ones. Not so obvious, well I used a large circle one as the mask for the spotlight and a die cut of the Sunburst thinlet as a mask for my spotlight rays. The finishing touches were some dazzling diamonds to the mouse hat and fine tip glue pen to add gloss to the book.

Well that was a very wordy post today! It may have taken a while but I did have fun putting this card together. I hope you'll join us for this new challenge at Just Add Ink. Don't forget to check out the awesome projects from the rest of the DT too.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Merry Mice, Stitched with Cheer
Cardstock: Real Red, Kraft, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
Accessories: Sunburst thinlet, Stitched shapes framelits, Copic markers, Stitched rectangles (Simon Says Stamp), White embossing powder, Metallic Sequins, Fine tip glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals

JAI #336 Just add a Colour Combo

Hello there,
well life has been busy busy but also lots of fun as I had the pleasure of attending Stampin Up's OnStage in Brisbane last week and catching up with lots of special friends. While I was straight back work as soon as I got home I did manage to snatch a little time for this week's new Just Add Ink challenge from Nikki. This week Nikki wants you to Just Add a Colour Combo. Here it is.

Here's what I came up with.

Now some of those special stamping friends of mine will recognise the design as a variation of the swap card I made for OnStage. You can see that just below. Ironically I think I like the new version better :o However, I have to admit replicating 20 of the original, especially when I had a helping hand (thanks Patrice :) was probably easier than replicating my new version.

As you can see there is lots of ink involved in the new version. First I brayered my background and once that was dry silver embossed snowflakes over.  Next I watercoloured my mice, once they were dry I added some sparkle to the lead mouse's hat, and shine (using the fine tip glue pen) to the light globes and ornament.

Hope you can join us this week. Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT for some fabulous colour inspiration.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Merry Mice, Stitched with Cheer
Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Night of Navy, Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Smokey Slate, Stazon Black
Accessories: Gift card envelope and trims thinlets, Watercolor paper, Aquapainter, Fringe scissors, Silver glimmer paper, Silver embossing powder, Sewing machine, Silver metallic thread, Jingle bell - silver, 1/4" natural trim silver, Dazzling Diamonds, Fine tip glue pen, Tear and tape, Dimensionals

JAI #335 Sketch

Hello there,
well I am recovering from some travelling and a germ overload but am back into the swing of things here at home. One of the fun things to get into at this time of the year is Christmas preparations, the shops are all decked out, and it is truly time to get on with making some Christmas cards. This week's Just Add Ink challenge was just perfect for that purpose too as this week Tina has asked us to Just Add a Sketch.  

Please note this challenge will run for two weeks, closing November 9th, as nearly all (hooray) of the JAI design team will be at Stampin Up!s OnStage event in Brisbane, in early November. Here's the sketch.

Here's what I came up with using this serious cute mouse set from Stampin Up!

The inside

I pulled out some water colour paper and got to work colouring this carolling mouse. I kept very much to traditional Christmas colours, as they look good, and the red and green really pop against the blue background. After I was done with my mouse I trimmed him out and mounted him over the same image stamped in Stazon On on some vellum (that way you get some of the extra details and very importantly his tail!). I always think of carolling as an image of people out in the snow so out came some trees and a starry sky to make the background. Last thing to add was some silver details (and a fun jingle bell) for that all important Christmas bling. This was a fun card to make (it did take a while though so it will truly be a one off).

Do check out the rest of the JAI DT for some fun sketch inspiration! Hope you can join us.

Thanks for visiting.
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Merry Mice, Foxy Friends, Jingle All the Way (R)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Vellum, Real Red
Ink: Real Red, Night of Navy, Island Indigo, Dapper Denim, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Soft Sky, Garen Green, Wild Wasabi, Smokey Slate, Blushing Bride, Stazon Black, Versamark
Accessories: Water color paper, Gift card envelope and trims thinlets, Layering Circles framelits, Silver embossing powder, 1/8" silver taffeta ribbon, Silver metallic thread, Metallic sequins, Mini jingle bells, Tear and tape, Dimensionals, Fine tip glue pen, Aquapainter

JAI #334 Inspiration

Hello there,

unfortunately I was going to be away for my Dad's birthday this year and so I wanted to do something special for him. Luckily this week's Just Add Ink challenge was just perfect to inspire a masculine card. This week we have an inspiration challenge for you from Di. Here's the picture - you can choose the colours, the textures, patterns and use those to inspire your project.

Here's what I came up with.

The inside with a surprise!

A close up of the inside to show the pop up

The inside pop up element is actually pretty simple - just cut a piece of acetate big enough for your letters and secure it in the centre fold by adhering to small bits of scored cardstock (to match base colour - as you can see it blends in very well) and then adhere those to the base.

I'm pretty sure this will make Dad smile :) The rest of the DT have some great inspiration projects. So please do go check them out!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Celebrate Today, Guy Greetings
Cardstock: Kraft, Dapper Denim, Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Vellum
Ink:Versamark
Accessories: Balloon framelits, Balloon Bouquet punch, Woodgrain embossing folder, BigZ Alphabet Typeset (R), Neutrals DSP stack, Kraft specialty paper (R), Adhesive sheet (R), Window sheet, White embossing powder, Basic Black baker's twine, Sewing machine, Tear and tape, Dimensionals, Fine tip glue pen

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JAI #333 Just add G

Hello there,
Well it's been an eventful week. So I'm going to keep this short and plunge straight into this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Tina has asked us to Just Add 'G'. Add 'G' you ask? Well that means we want you to add something, or several somethings, that begin with G as the main focus of your project. This could be colours - gold, or green for example, it could be an activity - golf, it could be a giant or gladioli or a technique or card fold as long as it starts with G!

The first thing that popped into my mind was gold. Since gold is perfect for blinging up Christmas cards I went gold, gold, gold and this is how it turned out.

The inside

See I wasn't joking about all the gold now was I! This is pretty simple in that it is just a mix of a bunch of different gold textures in a whole bunch of layers. All the shimmer is tricky to capture but I think you can get a feel for it.

Do stop past the rest of the DT for lots of fun and fabulous 'G' ideas.
Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless other wise noted
Stamps: Foxy Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Layering Circles Framelits dies, Banner framelits, Gift card envelope and trims thinlets die,  Gold Glimmer paper, Gold Foil sheet, Fancy Foil Designer Vellum Gold (R), Gold embossing powder, Star punch (R), Metallic enamel shapes, Metallic sequins, Sewing machine, Tear and Tape, Dimensionals

JAI# 332 Just add a colour combo

Hello there,
well the family and I enjoyed a very relaxing few days away at the coast this week. Unfortunately I came back with a nasty head cold that means I am writing this in a very drippy state - ick! However, in contrast to my decidedly icky state of health we have a bold, bright challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink. This week Patrice wants you to Just Add a Colour Combo. Here are the colours.

Here's what I came up with.

My initial concept for this card was several flowers with the petals coloured but leaving the leaves uncoloured only to discover to my shock, horror and amazement ;) a gap in my stamp collection - yes really! The only current line flower image I have is Birthday Blooms, which I love, but didn't quite fit my original planned layout. In the end I had to adapt to what I had and I think it came up quite nice! Honestly, it's very hard to go wrong playing with water colouring!

The rest of the JAI DT have come up with lots of gorgeous colour inspiration so please do go check out their blogs.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Birthday Blooms, Thoughtful Banners
Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink: Blushing Bride, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
Accessories: Banner framelits, Gift Card Envelope and Trims thinlets, Water colour paper, Neutrals DSP stack, Blushing Bride glimmer paper, Basic Black baker's twine, Sequins (In colour (R), Fancy Frost), White patterned vellum (PaperTrey Ink), Black embossing powder, Fine tip glue pen, Tear and Tape, Dimensionals

JAI #331 Just add wings

Hello there,
crazy busy describes my life right now. I've mostly been busy with good things like a visit by my brother and his kids - that made for a noisy chaotic fun weekend. We took them off into the bush to show them emu's and even better a platypus! And since the annual flower festival was on we took them to that too. Today's challenge from Just Add Ink is also nature related. This week Nikki wants you to Just Add Wings. Lots of options here - birds, bees, planes, angels!

One of the very first sets I ordered from the new SU! annual catalogue was Best Birds which sadly has languished untouched on my shelf. But it languishes no longer, here's what I made with it (minus some gold sequins that I decided I just had to add once I'd taken the photo's - grrr!)

Basically this is all about watercolour. I just stamped up lots of bits and then coloured them using my ink pads and aqua painter. Pink and green was the first colour thought combination that came to mind so that's what I went with. Then I added some little touches of gold to finish it all off.

The rest of the team have lots of wonderful inspiration for you so don't forget to check them out too!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! otherwise noted
Stamps: Best Birds
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Watermelon Wonder, Pink Pirouette, Cajun Craze, Stazon Black
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Birds and Blooms thinlets, Banner framelits, Watercolour paper, Wink of Stella - clear and gold, Aquapainter, Metallics sequins (you'll just have to imagine them), Sewing machine, Fine Tip Glue pen,Tear and tape, Dimensionals, Glue dots

JAI #330 Just add a sketch

Hello there,
well another jam packed week is behind me (are there any other ones?) The kids wrapped up Term 3 today and school holidays begin. That has a certain appeal (like not making lunch boxes up at 6:30 am) but it also means routine and my usual stamping windows go - well out the window. Before all the chaos hits I have put in some time on DT projects and today at Just Add Ink we want you to Just Add a Sketch (from me this week!) Here it is.

I had a completely different intention originally for this sketch until I realised that, with just a little adjustment, it was perfect to make a spinner card for my Dad. Here it is.

As you can see I brought the large horizontal banner to the front of the sketch to act as the track for my spinner. Despite the move you can still see how the elements of the sketch come through the design. I kept the rest of it pretty simple - no frills and bells for masculine cards - instead I opted for visual texture with the embossed background and some strategically placed highlights of stitching.

The JAI design team have come up with some awesome designs for the sketch, go check them out and then join in the fun!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Guy Greetings, Diagonal Stripe
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
Accessories: Banner framelits, Mini Treat bag thinlet, Stitched Circles (Simon Says Stamp), 1/2" circle punch, White embossing powder, Sewing machine, Foam adhesive strips, Dimensionals, Tear and tape, Crystal effects (R)