JAI 87 - just add a colour combo

Hello there,

well I've been experimenting with a new card fold again this week (Ok actually several weeks ago - just as well considering the run of germs through the house recently). After having seen Patrice's (Patrice Easton) gorgeous telescoping circles card when Just Add Ink ran our fancy folds blog hop I was intrigued and it was at the top of my list to try so when the colour combo we have for the challenge this week came up well I decided to try colour and fold out together! Here's the colour combo.

(The colours are Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake and Whisper White) It might be hard to see what they are from the tiny colour swatch - need to talk to one of our JAI IT gurus about why thats happening! The lovely light colour scheme made me think of flowers and I couldn't resist pulling out my Eastern Blooms set, another advantage is that this set works well with markers which is all I have for the new in colours so far! So first up the unfolded card.

The fully unfolded version.

And now a close up of each layer.

I kept the design fairly simple, using the same elements on the first and third layers, but changing it up for the middle panel. Really it's all pretty straightforward inking and trimming out, and then all just finished off with paper pierced borders, and rhinestones. You can find a link to a tutorial for this type of card fold here.

Well I hope you find this colour combo as light and lucious (like a summer breeze) as I did :)

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Eastern Blooms (R), Well Scripted (R), It's Your Day, Iconic Images (PaperTrey Inc)

Cardstock: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Crumb Cake

Ink: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Scalloped Circle BigZ die, Classic Circle nestabillites (Spellbinder), Swirls and Scribbles sizzlet, Punch Pack, Jewels - rhinestones, Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon (R), Silver brads, Mat pack and piercing tool, dimensionals, Double sided tape.

Haiku for you

Hi everyone,

my did Makeesha have a in your face colour combo for her Inkspiration challenge this week! My first thought was argh how do work with that. But the DT put together some fantastic examples and the combo was rapidly growing on me. Factor in some zen time for thinking while I put Mr 2 to bed and I had an idea to work with! Here is the colour combo.


And here is the outcome.


I started with some folded over Pumpkin Pie cardstock which I then cut with my Scallop Circle die. To get an instant card just make sure you don't completely cover the die - that way you get your fold. Next on some Whisper White I stamped the flowering branch from Eastern Blooms. I inked up the stamp using markers for this, colouring the branches Chocolate and then the flowers in mixed Eggplant and Pumpkin. I could then place my circle nestie over the image and cut. I did try one extra trick - to trim out the end of the branch with my scissors and carefully lay this over the die so when it cut the circle the end of the branch would remain extending out from the circle - it worked :). Oh and when I cut the white image layer I also laid my DSP over so that was cut at the same time. Finally I cut a mat of Eggplant, then one of Whisper White. To embellish the front I stamped three flowers and trimmed them out, adding contrasting brads to highlight the centre. Another little trick that I tried was to colour a white brad (with Copic marker V09) to get an Eggplant coloured one - I put on two layers of ink letting it dry in between. Nice! I mounted the flowers on dimensionals above the branch, added a Chocolate rub on for the sentiment and then layered on some narrow Eggplant grosgrain (using sticky strip) to cover the image/DSP transition. The final touch, after some deliberation, was to sponge Pumpkin Pie and then Elegant Eggplant around the edges of the Pumpkin scallop circle base, and just some Pumpkin on the white edge of the image panel. The inside was finished off very simply to match.

I quite liked the end result - its always nice to end feeling that way :) I think I can see more circle cards in the future.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU!(unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Eastern Blooms
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Circle Die, Haiku DSP, Chit Chat rub-ons, narrow Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon, Circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Earth Element brads, white brad colours with V09 Copic marker, sponge, Sticky Strip,Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape.

Spinning into....the past

Hi there all,

its going to be a no rare no challenge week this week as I have decided to concentrate on making head way with making swaps for convention, which is rapidly approaching. However the good thing is that it gives me the chance to post a card I made almost exactly a year ago which I was really pleased with and was definitely a hit with the recipient. Here it is.

I'll do my best to remember the details....

OK I started with a Pink Passion base, layered that with Tempting Turquoise, then Pixie Pink. The top Whisper White layer was run through the Swiss Dots embossing folder, twice, so I could get the whole surface dotty. Then using the word window punch I punched out where I wanted the spinner track to run. Then using the punched window as a guide I could then stamp the birthday greeting (onto the Pixie layer - with Pink Passion) so you can see it through the slot. Right, now the flowers, using markers (Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, Pink Passion and Regal Rose) I coloured direct to the rubber lots of flowers. Stamped them and then using two way glue added lots of dazzling diamonds. All the flowers were then cut out - Ok I will admit that took a while - ahh so did the colouring direct to rubber. But it was quite theraputic. I used one big flower for the spinner, making the mechanism using dimensionals and a couple of 5 cent coins, I used the Spiltcoast tutorial here as my main guide for working out how to make the spinner. This was a birthday card so I added the birthday number to the spinner (can you believe that I actually put the wrong number on first!! There was me ready to go to bed, admiring my card, as you do;), while I waiting for the wheat pack to heat, when it hit me I had put the WRONG number on - arggghh. Thankfully it was an easy fix - pheww). Then I added a stamped scroll to the upper corner, and arranged the flowers around the card, some are mounted on dimensionals and few have extra bling added by using rhinestone brads. The total Whisper White layer was mounted up on dimensionals so the spinner mechanisim has room to spin and slide. The inside was finished off to match. I have to admit I can't remember which DSP I used though.

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe:All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Upsy Daisy, Yummy (R),Tidy Numbers (R)
Cardstock: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Ink: Pink Passion, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal
Accessories: Word window punch, SU DSP?, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Clear Rhinestone brads, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, 5 cent pieces

Three times the inspiration

Hi there everyone,

Not quite sure what got into me this week, but in the little snippets of free time I managed to grab from work and looking after my two darling little munchkins I made three cards for Makeesha Byl’s first challenge for 2010. I must have really missed doing them – waving hi Keesh. This was a colour challenge – so here is Makeesha colour selection.


Card One

Sorry about the crooked card but it was the best pic

This was my original idea for the challenge. But it has evolved from my original concept. OK I started with a Very Vanilla base, stamped that with En Francais in Cameo Coral (originally I had planned to keep it plain but I struggle with keeping to the clean and simple). The image panel has four flower stems stamped in Chocolate Chip. The flowers are a mix between stamps and buttons, some of the buttons have pink rhinestones adhered and some are threaded with coloured thread and a couple of buttons I left plain. The finishing touch for the stamped buttons was some dazzling diamonds which gives them a real glittering glow. The top of the image panel I scalloped with the scallop edge punch and at the bottom I added a base of Cameo Coral, used the Apron Lace punch (originally I had planned for the lace pattern to be at the bottom but it just looked better this way so thats how it ended up). Then I wanted to try making a pleated ribbon embellishment to go over this. I started by putting on some double sided tape then carefully pleating my ribbon over. That attached the ribbon but it still needed to be stitched flat. This was my first time trying to sew on cards, and I like it! It won’t happen too often as I have to haul my machine out of a cupboard plug it in etc etc but it’s certainly worth it sometimes. The inside was just finished off simply.

Card Two

This one came to me in a flash of inspiration while I was putting my Mr almost Two to bed. I realized that the colours could work really well for a tree going through all the seasons. It was actually a very quick card to make. I just stamped my tree trunk four times then inked up the tree top, progressively in So Saffron and then Cameo Coral. I decided to add the sentiment to the “winter” panel. Then a quick punch, punch, punch, punch and I had my images. I made a Choc Chip base – its just a small note card really, about 3 by 3"2'. I scored a line up the top and two below where the tree panels would go. Then I added a Saffron brad to the o in “you” and mounted all the panels on dimensionals. To give the whole card a lift I added dazzling diamonds to all the little leaves on the trees – nice. The inside is just simply stamped with another tree.

Card Three

Another crooked card - sigh

This one was quite experimental for me, but I certainly had fun trying new stuff and I think it turned out quite well. I started by getting out a selection of grosgrain ribbons in Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and So Saffron. I laid them out and decided on a transition from lighter to darker moving from top to bottom. I got a panel of cardstock the right size covered it with double sided tape then stuck all my ribbon down. Next more experimenting with the sewing machine – I stitched a border all the way around the panel. Tucked all the ribbon ends under and that was done. I decided to go a bit flamboyant for embellishments (not naturally me). I made three “poofy” paper flowers, I seen them on Dawn McVey’s blog recently and she made a little video and how she makes them. I used a mix between Vanilla stamped with Cameo Coral (mostly stamped with En Francais) and some Cameo Coral stamped with Cameo Coral. The biggest flower was made using my scallop circle punch, the two smaller one by using the smallest scalloped circle nestability die. There are five layers to each flower. I finished each off with threaded buttons. In the top left corner I added the sentiment – a rub on – it worked no problems although I was a bit nervous about transferring it to ribbon. To highlight that and balance the big flowers I added three buttons, two just threaded and one finished with a bow. I used DMC embroidery thread for all the buttons (I have quite a stash as my embroidery is a rather neglected hobby of mine at the moment). I didn’t check what the DMC numbers were – sorry. I was just trying to find the best match I could. Hmm I should mention the base, the ribbon panel was adhered to a base of Cameo Coral stamped with En Francais. Ok final touches , a couple of leaves to add to the flowers, stick everything down, glue dots for the buttons and I am upgrading the flower adhering method to sticky strip the double sided tape can’t handle the weight of the flowers in this heat – did I mention our air conditioning broke Saturday afternoon. Its already 30oC in the house at 1 PM today – urggghhhhhh.

Thanks for visiting and sticking through the post - see you soon I hope

Kim

PS: Cameo Coral is growing on me - who would of thought!

Recipes: All SU unless otherwise noted
Card One
Stamps: En Francais, Eastern Blooms, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Inc)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral
Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron
Accessories: Button Latte buttons, buttons from assorted craft pack from Spotlight, Kaiser Pink Rhinestones, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Edge punch, Fiskars Apron Lace punch, Two way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, DMC embroidery thread, Double sided tape, dimensionals, Tombow glue (stick buttons down), a sewing machine.

Card Two
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral
Ink: So Saffron, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 1 ¼ inch square punch, So Saffron brad, Dimensionals, Two way glue, Dazzling diamonds

Card Three
Stamps: En Francais, Floral (R), Petals Pizzazz
Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla
Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Grosgrain ribbon – Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, So Saffron, Scallop Circle punch, Scalloped circle nestability, Scalloped Edge punch, Chit Chat rub on, Assorted buttons from craft selection (Spotlight), DMC embroidery thread, Glue dots, silver brads, Double sided tape, dimensionals, a sewing machine, no dazzling diamonds ;)

An Aussie Christmas

Hey ho,

welcome back it's time for my card for Makeesha weekly challenge, it was an inspiration challenge this week, a very white and red, bright festive lunch from the looks of it. Here's the pic.

I decided to go with the festive idea anyway and make a Christmas card, fairly straight forward but I was quite happy with the result. Here it is.

The idea of using a red flower as/on a Christmas bauble sprang to my mind when I was mulling over the image (while as usual putting my Mr 1.5+ to bed). So I got out my Eastern Blooms (I so love the big flower in this set, but its been a while since I've used it - too much new rubber - Petals Pizzazz for example, just finished a card with that set last night too - so stay posted for when I can find the time to get it online - sorry I digress). Ok I stamped the big flower in Real Red on Whisper White, then using my circle cutter system (Martha Stewart) there were a few curses as what I was cutting slipped and I had to start again but eventually I managed to get my flower cut out and a larger circle border in Real Red. I layered my flower layer onto the red base, add one end of the word window punch with a hole for hanging and there you have a bauble! To finish it off I did add another flower trimmed out over the top and mounted on dimensionals, and just added a subtle hint of glitter on the little white spots in the middle. The bauble was hung from some of the lovely extra wide striped RRH ribbon in our current mini using some silver cord. I fished around in my white scraps and found a large piece of white cuttlebuged with the snowflakes folder and decided that it gave a subtle but nice texture to the background and in keeping with the festive spirit. Finally right down the bottom I just stamped the sentiment simply below the snow flakes.

Sorry no inside today - I usual keep most of the space free in Christmas cards so I can write a fair bit in there.

Hope you like it. Thanks for visiting and drop by soon as I should have more things to post in the near future.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Eastern Blooms. Short and SweetCardstock: Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Extra wide striped Riding Hood Red ribbon, silver cord (R), Cuttlebug snowflakes folder, 2 way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Stripey Blooms

Hi there,

well stripes and glitter seem to be a feature at the moment (and there is more to come now that I think about it ;)). Today's card is for the latest sketch challenge from Makeesha Byl. Here's the sketch.

I did put away my Sweet Always paper after the last card but pulled it out again for this one. Here is the end result.

It was really the stripey pattern that inspired the card. I decided to use markers and colour in the various sections of the largest Eastern Bloom (in Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose and Pumpkin Pie) to match the DSP. To finish the flowers off I added a little clear rhinestone brad in the centre of each, mounted them on dimensionals and then added dazzling diamonds to the Pumpkin stripes using the two glue pen. The stems are some crimped Chocolate Chip. To frame the flowers I used two different pieces of DSP, paper pierced around the edges of both panels, added a few Chocolate brads, rounded some corners. To separate the two DSP panels I used a strip of crimped Pumpkin, laid over with Chocolate Chip and then Pretty in Pink ribbon. Thats it bar a little Chocolate Chip bow!


Recipe: All SU unless noted otherwise
Stamps: Eastern Blooms

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose
Accessories: Sweet Always DSP, crimper, wide and narrow Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, narrow Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, clear Rhinestone brads, Chocolate Bo Bunny Brads (All Stuck Up Licorice), Mat pack and Piercing tool, Dazzling Diamonds, Two way glue stick, Tombow Multi, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, double sided tape, Sticky Strip, Corner rounder punch.

Happy Happy Birthday

Hi there,

well Kristina's colours initially had me stumped in this week's challenge. But I kept turning them over in my head, and eventually decided to try a mostly white background (all white did not work) and have little mixed and matched swatches of this weeks colours and just use black as an accent. First here are Kristina's colour picks for the week.

I went with a square card to balance the shape of the little square swatches and because of the pinks it had to be a girly card, so I wanted to add some extra girly touches - brads, ribbon, rhinestone, scallops. The final point to note is that the sentiment is black embossed (my first time using black !). Overall I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out, not perhaps my normal "style" so not bad for a first go.

Its a bit hard to see but all the panels are stamped with a little flower from Eastern Blooms, I stamped off once before stamping because I didn't want the flowers to dominate but given how light they are perhaps I shouldn't have. Live and learn. I haven't finished off the inside yet as I am only only to make the deadline by the skin of my teeth as it is.

Recipe:
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Birthday Whimsy
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Versamark
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose
Accessories: Berry Bliss DSP, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Black brad, Circle Fire Rhinestone, Kaiser Pink Flower Rhinestone, Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain ribbon, Black Gingham ribbon, SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals, Scallop edge punch, Mat pack and piercing tool.

Blooming Birthday

Hi there,

Sorry it’s been a while but our home and its inhabitants have had the full spectrum of colds and tummy bugs for the last week, thankfully now everyone is mostly on the mend.

So it was a very close run thing as to whether I would make Makeesha’s inspiration challenge this week. Here is Makeesha’s inspiration image.

I came up with the layout idea in the middle of the night as I was cuddling my Mr1 back to sleep, the main elements being the three panels and inter weaved ribbon. As the inspiration photo has dark on light and light on dark panels in the bedding I wanted to reflect that, which is why I went with the white embossed blooms on the Not Quite Navy panels and stamped Not Quite Navy blooms on Whisper White. Basically it’s a fairly simple card, one reason why I had time to make it this week, and since I didn’t have time to fiddle I will say that the embossing is supposed to be patchy like that - really.

Overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, although if I’m honest I’m not 100% sure about the happy birthday label.

I just finished the inside off simply like this.

Recipe
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Birthday Whimsy, Looks Like Spring
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Versamark
Card Stock: Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Accessories: White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Wide Certainly Celery Grosgrain ribbon, Blue Bayou striped grosgrain ribbon, Not Quite Navy brads, Scallop Edge punch, Corner rounder, Papercraft dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Birthday Mojo

Hi there,

I was a bit ambivalent about this one when I finished it last night - but it is growing on me. I must admit I didn't find this sketch the easiest to work with - some how it just wasn't comfortable. Perhaps thats why I had to take a couple of liberties with the sketch to make it work for me.

My aim was to make a birthday card for an old friend who is reaching a significant milestone birthday – no, I’m not going to mention which one. I decided to try and use this weeks Mojo Monday sketch (or may 'be I should say last weeks given that its now the following Monday for us here in AUS).

I went for subtle girly colours – Close to Cocoa and Regal Rose and used Loves Me DSP (retired back in 2008). To give some impact I rock and rolled the large Eastern Blooms flower, and the matching smaller one, first in Regal Rose then Cocoa, then embossed them to give some shine.
A bit of distressing, cuttlebug, ribbon and some assorted rhinestones and that finishes it off.

Recipe
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Warmest Regards
Card Stock: Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Accessories: Loves Me DSP, Clear embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Scallop edge punch, Mat pack and piercer, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, Fire Rhinestone, Kaiser rhinestones, snail adhesive, sanding block, distressing tool, Swiss dots cuttlebug folder

Summer time

Hi there,

this week Makeesha has an inspiration challenge - the idea being to use the theme and colours in the photo to inspire your card. The photo, to me, just said summer days, and the colours were such typical Aussie summer colours, bright and bleached by the sun at the same time. Since I liked the Mojo Monday 73 sketch so much this week I decided to use that again. Just click the MM73 link to see the sketch or scroll down to my previous blog entry. Anyway here is the inspiration pic.



I just got the Spring Break papers last week and when I looked through the pack there was this lovely flowery Hawaii shirt pattern in Soft Sky, that just said summer, beach, surf board to me. So thats what happened.



I used the ute from Loads of Love and drew a freehand surf board to go in the back, then cut that out from some So Saffron DSP and sponged and coloured some of it in with Rose Red. The colour palette ended up being Whisper white, Taken with Teal, Soft Sky, So Saffron with a few touches of Rose Red. Since the theme was summer I thought the Happy Holidays from Rivetting was a good match. I can just imagine driving off in that ute - OK may'be 10 years ago. These days the back would be full of travel cots and nappies not surf boards. Some crystal effects, assorted brads and ribbon - I love that Teal velvety ribbon - its so lucious to touch (sadly retired though) finish it off.


The inside is finished off simply with some stamped flowers that match the DSP (from Polka Dots and Petals and Eastern Blooms). Sorry the photos are a bit dull - still overcast here.

Recipe:
Stamps: Loads of love, Rivetting, Polka Dots and Petals, Eastern Blooms
Card Stock: Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Rose Red, Soft Sky
Accessories: Crystal effects (on surf board, car windows and soft sky circle under rhinestone), Dimensionals, Snail adhesive, So Saffron brads, Ice Rhinestone, Teal ribbon from Flirty pack, Apricot Appeal narrow grosgrain ribbon - but this so looks like So Saffron, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, 1 3/8 , 1 1/4 and 1/4 circle punches, Spiral punch, So Saffron DSP, clear Sakura glaze pen to outline the little cut out flowers.

Kristina Werner Colour Challenge # 38

Hi there,

well this was my first go ever at a Kristina Werner colour challenge, I have been watching everyone all over blogdom doing them and finally I took the plunge and did one. As I hadn't started my blog yet I posted this to the Eastern Blooms gallery on Splitcoaster as well as to my album there. Here are the colours Kristina chose:



Circles and flowers and Eastern Blooms were all still in my head and so I incorporated a bit of all of that into the card and I wanted to get some texture in there as well. So there are lots of little details - rock and rolling of the central flower as well as clear embossing it, cuttlebug embossing of the mount behind it and piercing of the punched circles that make up the scallops on the central element, the brads etc. I wanted it to reflect her inspiration photo as well - so that is why I went with the Petals wheel - it had quite a bit of white space in it and the flowers are actually quite similar to those seem on the notepad. Anyway here is my card and the recipe will follow.

Recipe:
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Petals wheel, So Many Sayings
Card stock: Whisper white, Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Mat pack and piercing tool, Large oval punch, Word window punch, 3/4" inch circle punch, Fiskars circle template and cutter, Dimensionals, Ruby Red brads, Crimper, 1/4"inch Pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon, Swiss dots cuttlebug folder