JAI #350 Sketch

Hello there,
well I find myself laid up with a horrible head cold this week probably a legacy of last week being pretty stressful (our beloved 18 year old fur baby was having some health issues) and busy (training at work and then running classes on Saturday. Both of those were fun and interesting, but they take a lot of energy investment). Luckily, I was able to craft ahead for this week's new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we want you to Just Add a Sketch from Chantell. Here it is.

And this is what I came up with.

As soon as I realised I wanted the bottom portion of the sketch to be a field of flowers I got to work stamping and masking (post it notes were my go to for this). This is going to pink loving friend so I decided to keep the foliage black and white rather than introducing any greens. To get the slight blur in the Melon Mambo detailed layer I just quickly swished over my base Pink Pirouette layer with a damp aqua painter before stamping. To glitz it all up I added gold stitching, gold wink of stella splatter and sequins.

This is a super versatile sketch! Do go check out the rest of the JAI DT for some fabulous inspiration and then join in the challenge.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Crazy About You, Penned and Painted
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Shimmery White
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Stazon Black, Versamark
Accessories: Gold glimmer paper, Neutrals DSP stack, Gold embossing powder, Gold wink of Stella, Metallic sequins, Sewing machine, Fine tip glue pen, Dimensionals, Tear and tape

JAI #317 Just add a colour combo

Hello there,
well things got serious this week as I had to go and buy a new pair of thermal socks (my old ones were decidedly holey :o) The socks were an absolute requirement as it's been wet and it's been cold and my poor toes were feeling the cold!  However, some of that wet weather meant it was a good time to stay in and stamp (actually who needs an excuse ;).
My first task was this week's Just Add Ink challenge - this week I (yes me) want you to Just Add a Colour Combo. It's a very friendly colour combination - I promise!

The colours said flowers to me, and I knew instantly I wanted to try something I had seen my lovely JAI team mate and friend Nikki do recently. See her card here. She used the Botantical Blooms stamps straight to paper. It's funny I've been so absorbed by the matching dies that using the stamps like that had never occurred to me!! Here's what I came up with.

This is remarkably CAS and flat for me :o One way I got depth but kept it flat was by masking parts of the design as I stamped. The flowers make a great background for a strong but simple sentiment. To make that a little special I die cut three layers and then added a gloss top by covering it with glue (fine tip glue pen) and leaving it to dry. (Thanks for the tip Di :) I also pulled stripes into the sentiment to echo the stripey border. Sequins were the last thing needed to finish it all off.

Hope you can join us this week! Before you do, do go check out the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the DT.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Crazy About You
Cardstock: Flirty Flamingo, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Rose Red, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Hello You thinlets, Neutrals DSP stack, Metallics mix sequins, Clear sequins (non SU!), Wink of Stella, White embossing powder, Basic Black marker, Epic Day This and That washi tape (R), Fine tip Glue pen, Tear and Tape

JAI #305 Just add a sketch

Hello there,
I hope you all enjoyed some time off and chocolate over Easter. I had both :)  and there is still plenty of chocolate left, even the kids will take quite a while to eat through their stashes! Especially since they both got sick over Easter and appetites were lagging for a few days (it's when they don't want to eat chocolate that you know they are really not feeling well!)

Anyway on to this week's Just Add Ink challenge (which has nothing to do with chocolate, although it's entirely possible some was consumed during it making ;). This week Tina has a sketch for us. 

And here is what I made of it.

Oops meant to add a small flower to the inside but never got around to it!

Those rectangle boxes did I admit take some pondering but I finally came to a solution which I liked. Then I did some more pondering about the background, three background mats later I finally sorted that out too - so I wouldn't say this card came easily. The only 'easy' part was water colouring the flower! The finishing touches are of course some bling in the form of subtle black glimmer paper and not so subtle red sequins.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT projects - they're gorgeous! Hope you can join us.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Birthday Blooms, Crazy About You
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Cherry Cobler, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green
Accessories:  Go Wild DSP, Chevron embossing folder, Water color paper, Aquapainter, Black glimmer paper (R), Black and White embossing powder, Red sequins (non SU!), Fine tip glue pen, Dimensionals, Double sided tape

JAI #303 Just add something begining with E

Hello there,
you could say the plethora of chocolate eggs appearing in the supermarkets heralding the imminent arrival of Easter was the inspiration for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Tina is asking us to Just Add E. Now this means the main elements/ or theme of your project must be something starting with E. That could be Easter (wink) or it could be embossing, elephant, egg, a colour like Elegant Eggplant or even envelope! 

As you can probably guess I have gone with the Easter theme. I decided to make a special little Easter package for my two munchkins. Nothing too complicated and they can actually be opened up (with chocolate inside that is a given) without destroying the packaging - bonus for Mum ;)

A side view to show the eggs tucked inside.

These are super simple to create. Simply cut a piece of card stock (A4) in half lengthwise and then score at 4.5, 5.5 and 10 inches. As you can see the two packages are very similar with just a few personalised features. On the Bermuda package to echo the dotty embossing I used an oval framelit to create a curved edge to the front flap. While on the Indigo stripe embossed package I just rounded the flap corners. Twine threaded through the three layers of cardstock holds the packages closed. To dress them up I added some fun and fancy bits first water colouring up some cute little chicks and then finishing with some colour coordinating flags, sequins and sentiment.  

Hope you can join us this week. Do go and check out the rest of the DT for lots of fabulous 'E' ideas.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Crazy About You, Honeycomb Happiness
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo, Whisper White
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Hello Honey, Pumpkin Pie, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Watercolour paper, Ovals collection framelits, Project Life corner rounder, Large polka dot and Stylish Stripes embossing folders, Typeset specialty DSP, Brights and Regals Color Collection DSP, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry baker's twine, Bermuda Bay and Gold sequin trim, Cellophane bags (10.2 x 15.2 cm), Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, stapler

JAI #277 Just add a colour combo

Hello there,

the ridiculously spring-like weather last weekend may well have inspired today's card. Sadly, the warm breeze we had last weekend did not last! Perhaps, the challenge we have for you at Just Add Ink this week will remind you of spring too. This week we have a colour challenge for you (from me). Here are the colours.

 And here is what I came up with.

I tried my hand at colouring my flowers using an aquapainter filled with Isocol (rubbing alcohol). It came out patchier than I was hoping for expecting, but I decided that it was an acceptable reflection of the play of light.  I couldn't resist adding a lot bit lot of black and white chevron DSP in. However, I did mute it right down by adding a layer of vellum over it.

Hope you can join us this week. Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's wonderful projects.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Crazy About You, You've Got This 

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Mint Macaroon, So Saffron, Whisper White (oops!), Cardstock Vellum

Ink: Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Stazon Black, Versamark

Accessories: Center Style: Feminine die (Papertrey Ink), Stacked with Love DSP (R), Subtles DSP stack (R), Neutrals sequin assortment, White embossing powder, Whisper White baker's twine, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press), Aquapainter, Isocol

JAI #271 Just add a sketch

Hello there,
well by the hair of my chinny chin chin (speaking metaphorically that is!!) we have (almost) made it to the end of the school holidays. There have been times when I've welcomed the relaxation of routine but this time I am looking forward to the return of school. It also means (I hope) a return to crafting time for me! Luckily I could plan ahead so I have something to show you for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have another lovely sketch from Narelle for you.

I had fun mixing up different colouring mediums for this one.

I wanted a mix of soft pinks and yellow for this one. I actually coloured my flower and put it aside, as I wasn't quite happy with the pink tones. Luckily I managed to find the right tone in the end to go over and blend in to bring it down to a more dusky pink tone. (It started out what I can only call fluorescent pink - not joking!). I'm still loving watercolour texture and strong stripey patterns at the moment so of course both of those had to go in there as well, oh and lots of gold. 

Do go check out the rest of the DT, their creations will knock your socks off! Hope you can join us this week - we'd love to see what you do with the sketch.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless noted
Stamps: Blended Bloom, Crazy About You
Cardstock: So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Delightful Dijon, Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
Accessories: Copic markers, Banner triple punch, Autumn Accents BigZ die (R), Stacked with Love DSP (R), Fancy Foil Designer Vellum (Gold), White embossing powder, Metallic thread (Gold), Champagne glimmer paper (R), watercolour paper (non SU!), Aquapainter, Double sided tape (X Press), Dimensionals

JAI #268 Just add a sketch

Hello there,
brrrrrrr we are back to heavy frosts this week - and we even saw snow (!!) when we went for a walk in the national park last weekend. The kids could only make teeny weeny snowballs but of course they had to try. Being mid winter there are no flowers in my garden right now but I couldn't but help pull some out for the new challenge at Just Add Ink this week. This week we have a sketch from Narelle for you. Here it is.

Oh goodness me I struggled to get a decent shot in our mid winter light. Not entirely happy with this but it was the best I could get.

A bit of brayering brought in some colour to the front, then I scattered a few water drops over the top and once they were dry over stamped a few flowers as well. Aside from that it was straightforward layering of panels and a bit of flower fussy cutting. 

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

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless noted
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Crazy About You
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink: Real Red,Versamark
Accessories: Autumn Accents BigZ die, Typesett DSP, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie Blendabilies, Brayer, Black embossing powder, Red sequins, Dimensionals, Double sided tape

JAI #260 Just add a sketch

Hello there,
well myself and many of the Just Add Ink design team have an exciting week ahead of us this week as we are all heading to the SU! South Pacific Inspire, Create and Share event (aka convention) (Big smile). Because we are going to be  - just a little busy next week :o - we are going to run the new Just Add Ink challenge for two weeks.  This week we want you to Just Add a Sketch  - a real classic from Narelle.

Here's what I came up with.

It has been a while since I've play with my Spiral flower die so I pulled it out and made something a little bold and bright to really shine against the neutral vintagey background. As you can imagine this turned out very dimensional - but luckily I was able to hand deliver it (in a big envelope) with promises it will not be opened till Mother's Day.

Remember you have two weeks to play along with the sketch (close date 6th May) - so I hope you can join us. Do go check out all the DT projects - they are inspiring!!

And I might add so are the DT girls - I'm really looking forward to catching it with lots of the team in just another 4 sleeps!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Crazy about you
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Vellum
Ink: Versamark, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Spiral Flower Original die, Autumn Accents BigZ die, Pansy and Petite Petals punches,Typeset DSP, Basic Bookmark 2 die (PaperTrey Ink), Gold Sequin trim, Cherry Cobler embossing powder,Tombow, Double sided tape (X Press), Hot glue gun

JAI 251 Just add thank you

Hello there,
this week was MUCH better than last week something for which I am very thankful for. It was nice to finally feel as though we had some routine back in the house and even better tomorrow I get to spend the day at the SU! party time event. Yippee! But first let me tell you about this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This week Patrice has given us the great challenge to Just Add Thank You. This is the chance to build up your thank you stash. So when you need one you'll be ready to go!

I decided to go gender neutral and with lots of colour and texture.

This is about as clean and simple as I get! I love the texture from the water colour paper, and accented with the stitching and embossed sentiment I reckon it stands up on its own. I discovered after some experimentation that to get the best water colour effect I had to wet the paper first then add the ink (ink refill on acetate with paintbrush). My experimental versions will not go astray as the kids snaffled them up straight away to save for their crafty projects.

Hope you can join us this week - and don't forget to check out the rest of the DT for inspiring "thank you" projects.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Another Thank You, Crazy About You
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Hexagon punch, Confetti Stars border punch, Itty Bitty Accents punch pack, Bitty Banner framelits, Handheld stapler and staples, Black and white embossing powder, Sewing machine, Double sided tape (X Press), Tombow multi