JAI 96 - Just add Tania Gould

Hello there,
how is everyone going at this busy time of year? I still have a heap of half completed projects I want need to get done by Christmas, although I am making progress. But our December calender is filling up with work Christmas lunches (yes lunches ;), Christmas shopping - yikes!!, school end of year concerts and fetes etc etc. It's all fun and crazy at the same time - I am seriously hanging out for some time to chill at Christmas!

OK enough blather!! We have a great challenge for you this week at Just Add Ink - we want you to just add one of the team - Tania Gould. The idea is to go and have a look at some of Tania's work and pick something to CASE or be inspired by. It won't be hard trust me! I was stopped  in my tracks by a gorgeous mini book Tania made recently, check out her post here. And here is a pic so you can see where I started from.

Now this is where I went with it.

One of the pages open

The back.

My version is going to be a mini photo album of some highlights of 2011, and will be going to one of the family grandmother's as a Christmas present. I started by cutting two thick chipboard Top note die cuts, then another two inserts in a thinner chipboard. Then I cut eight Top note die cuts from First Edition DSP. Then it was time to get sticky - I used Tombow to glue all the DSP Top notes to the chipboard Top notes then left them to dry for a day or two. Then I went around all the edges with some distress type ink. Now I wanted to use a silhouette image like Tania did in the bottom LHS corner - so I pulled out Upsy Daisy and then got to try something I have been wanting to do for ages, ever since seeing this post by Amanda Reddicliffe , way back in May. Yes I played with different coloured embossing powders (so pleased that SU! has introduced some coloured ones!). It was a bit hit and miss as I could hardly see the versamark image on the DSP but I took my best guess and sprinkled the coloured powder about. I LOVE how it turned out. And then I got to do it again, so I could have another embossed Upsy Daisy image on the back :) and of course every single one is unqiue. Anyway I just added some die cut numbers to the front and punched the holes for the album rings.  Now I just need to add the photos, some journalling and a few extra embellishments - I'm thinking some stamped brightly coloured flowers - to finish up this Christmas present!

Thanks for visiting and do go and check Tania out!

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Upsy Daisy

Cardstock: Textured Early Expresso

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Timeless Type alphabet sizzlet, Top note die, First Edition DSP, Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise embossing powder, Leaf, Butter and Apricot embossing powder (Zing), Chai ink (PaperTrey Inc), Cropodile, album ringlets (Kaiser), Tombow multi, adhesive sheet

JAI 30 - Helping Hudson

Hi everyone,
welcome to a very special Just Add Ink challenge. This week the challenge is to just add wheels and is in aid of the Helping Hudson fundraiser. To find out more about this, and to buy some super papercrafting tutorial bundles go to the Helping Hudson website.


Ok so what do we mean by Just add wheels - well it can be to use a stamp/image that has wheels in it, or you could use any stamping wheel or punches too.

I dug out my Loads of Love set so I could use the truck image, and because this challenge is all about wheels - I put it on wheels - well a slider anyway so it could move. I wish I could claim the credit for this idea but I CASEd it from Bev Watt. So here is my version.

First with the slider all the way in

Now with the slider half way out

Having a Miss 5 in the house, who is all girl! I am surrounded by pink so you'd think I might avoid it, but no I went straight to pink for this one. I used a mix of old and new. The base is Melon Mambo, but I have also used Pink Passion and some Pink Passion DSP. I stamped the truck three times, using Versamark - onto Pink Passion DSP, silver and black cardstock, then embossed them all with black embossing powder. Then I trimmed out the black wheels and silver bumpers and added them to the DSP truck. I then backed that all with another piece of cardstock so the truck was nice and solid. Next I used Melon Mambo and my So Swirly wheel on some Whisper White. I then used my word window punch to create the slot for the slider mechanism to run in. The slider is basically a variation of a spinner card, you can find a tutorial for one of these here on Splitcoasters. To make the mechanism I made two dimensional/coin stacks. Dimensional, 5 cent coin, 2 dimensionals, 5 cent coin. I peeled the cover off the first dimensional in each stack and stuck them evenly spaced onto the back side of the truck. Then carefully manuovered the mechanisms into the card stock slot. Still working on the back side I added alot of dimensionals to the back of the swirly slot layer and also attached the pull tab to the truck, after punching an oval out on the LHS of the swirly panel so that you can easily access the pull tab. The last thing I did before adhering the swirly/slider layer to its Pink Passion backing was to add some turquoise coloured satin ribbon across the front. The good news is that we have a wonderful range of SU! satin ribbon headed our way in the new catalogue beginning Sept 1.

Ok to wrap up the rest quickly - I added a scalloped trim across the top and down the bottom direct on the base Mambo layer I used Versamark to stamp a selection of mixed birthday greetings. Them embossed them with white embossing powder. This idea was another great one I picked up from a fellow demo - this time Sharlene Meyer. The inside was just finished off very simply to match.

Thanks for visiting - and why don't you take the time this week to add some wheels and then link your creation back to Just Add Ink.

Have a good weekend :)
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love accessories, A Little Birthday Cheer, Party Hearty, Upsy Daisy, So Swirly
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Pink Passion, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Brushed Silver, Basic Black
Ink: Melon Mambo, Tempting turquoise, Versamark
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, Word window punch, White and Black embossing powder, four 5 cent pieces, dimensionals, Turquoise satin ribbon (local craft store), Blender pen, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape.
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JAI26 - just add embossing

Hi there,
well welcome to my first offical post as a member of the Just Add Ink design team! Luckily for me this week the challenge is to add one of my favourite techniques - just add embossing.
Here is what I came up with. Heat embossing is darn hard to capture with photography so I hope you'll be able to see what I'm talking about below.



I used two different techniques that involved heat embossing to make this card. Firstly on the background DSP mat I first inked up my stamp in Versamark and then the coloured classic ink (Rich Razzleberry in this instance). I stamped that direct onto the DSP and then sprinkled over clear embossing powder and then used the heat gun.

The second technique is called emboss resist and I used this to create the top image panel. In this case I stamped my daisies using Versamark only onto the DSP, then sprinkled over clear embossing powder and then used my heat gun embossed the image. Now that the daisies were embossed I inked up my brayer with Rich Razzleberry and rolled over a thick coat of ink, then carefully wiped the Razzleberry off the daises, which because they are embossed resist the ink.

I matted the top image panel on a mat of scalloped Whisper White, made using my Scalloped border punch, this is mounted up on dimensionals above the base layers. Threaded below the top panel is some White Taffeta, with a bow on the bottom left of the top panel. The base DSP layer is mounted on a mat of Whisper White and a base layer of Rich Razzleberry. The inside is finished off simply to match by stamping off Upsy Daisy in Rich Razzleberry.

So this week why don't you give it a go and - just add embossing and then link your creation back to the Just Add Ink challenge post!

Thanks so much for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU!
Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Cottage Wall DSP, Scallop border punch, White Taffeta ribbon, Chit Chat rub ons, Brayer, Clear embossing powder, Heat Gun, 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

Rustic Daisy

Hi all,

well I'm back to post my challenge card this week. I was able to combine two great challenges again this week. The inspiration challenge set by Makeesha Byl and a sketch challenge from the Just Add Ink team.

Well the picture certainly set me on a path of thinking about brown tones, contrasted with some lighter details. After some pondering I decided on using Upsy Daisy and the emboss resist technique. Here's the result. (Weirdly the Choc Chip actually looks purple in this first shot).

Unfortunately in the first shot you can't see the embossing so here is a second shot to show you that.

And of course the inside, nice and simple I just stamped off Upsy Daisy laterally.

I started with a Very Vanilla base, I inked up Sanded with Soft Suede, stamped off once, and it was still quite dark on the Vanilla but I was happy with how it looked. It toned down the brightness of the base. For the main panel I started with a Soft Suede base. I wanted larger softer scallops (in contrast to the scallop border punch along the base of this so I used my corner rounder punch. Then for the feature panel I started by spritzing the Very Vanilla cardstock with Choc Chip and Close to Cocoa to get some speckle detail. Then inking up my Upsy Daisy stamp in Versamark I stamp it over the speckles. Then clear embossed it. Next I sponged Soft Suede alonge the bottom edge, lighter as I got further in. Next I used Choc Chip at the very top of the panel, lightening that the further I went down and layering it with Close to Cocoa. Once I was done with all the sponging, I capefully wiped any ink off the daisies. The embellishing detail for the main panel is a string of buttons, that are all tied and knotted together with the same embroidery thread, then Tombowed in place. The main image panel was mounted up on dimensionals. Lastly the sentiment was stamped (in Suede) on the base Very Vanilla layer, in a word window shaped ink free space (made by stamping the background over a temporarily adhered word window punched shape).

Hope you like it more than my beloved Miss 5 who said it wasn't "pretty" and that I had used "yucky" colours! Luckily enough I have a somewhat different opinion of the end result :)

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Trendy Trees, Sanded
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Colour spritzer tool, Corner rounder punch, buttons (local craft shop), vanilla embroidery thread. Tombow, sponges, Clear embossing powder, Heat Gun, Dimensionals, Double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive.

An Amethyst Anniversary

Hi there,

I had two key inspirations for this card. Firstly I saw a striking card by Nancy Riley using this tent card format – that was the first time I really remember seeing a card like this. BTW I loooove that Dasher stamp – sadly we don’t have it here in AUS. The other inspiration was this card by Kirsty Brown, I really loved how she combined Upsy Daisy with Pocket Silhouettes.

So this card was my take on combining these two inspirations and it was for a special occasion, my Mum and Dad’s anniversary. This was a 50+ years anniversary for them – so they are well and truly beyond Amethyst but I used some artistic licence with the title.

A side view that gives you a glimpse of the inside

I started by looking up the tent card tutorial on Splitcoasters. I decided to go with a combo of (predominantly) Almost Amethyst and Close to Cocoa. So I cut a base of Almost Amethyst, (scalloping the bottom front edge prior to cutting the final length) and layered that with some Amethyst DSP from a promo pack in 2008 (?). The final touches to the base was some lovely wide retired Choc Chip satin ribbon (but I always felt that the colour was a better match to Cocoa). I’m not a big bow person but I decided to try and I must admit it did look nice. The final touch to the base was to stamp the sentiment, in Choc Chip, direct onto the Amethyst in DSP- I wanted it to be clear but not dominate the card – the top image panel is really what I wanted to feature.

OK now the image panel. I coloured direct to rubber with my markers for the Upsy Daisy stamp. Close to Cocoa for all the stems, a layer of Almost Amethyst over the flowers then highlights with Lovely Lilac, I blended those two colours using a blender pen. Then a lot of huffing on the stamp later I stamped it on Whisper White. To give it a setting I stamped one of my Pocket Silhouette stamps repeatedly below. I did stamp, the Close to Cocoa ink off once each time before stamping – so they didn’t over power the Upsy Daisy image. The finishing touch was to add a butterfly to fly above the flowers. So I inked up my butterfly in Almost Amethyst gently rock and rolling the edges in Lovely Lilac and stamped it on Whisper White. After punching it out, I was able to attach it using dimensionals, adding a purple rhinestone on the body to just bling it up a little. Having stamped the image I got out my circle nestabilites selected about the biggest size that would be appropriate for the top of the tent card (remember it has to fit in a standard card envelope). I cut the image out, then added a plain frame (I did do this before adding the butterfly!) in Close to Cocoa and then finished with a scalloped circle border in Almost Amethyst.

I was really happy with how it turned out, and importantly Mum and Dad liked it too!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless other wise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Pocket Silhouettes,
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Circle nestabilities (standard and scalloped), wide satin Chocolate Chip ribbon (R), Scalloped Edge punch, Almost Amethyst DSP, Purple rhinestone (Kaiser), dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Breezy Birthday and Sleigh Time

Hi there,

time again for Makeesha challenge this week a sketch. Here it is:

I liked the sketch as soon as I saw it , but for some reason struggled to come up with an idea. Late Sunday, like 10:30 Pm (this is really late for me) I was still browsing through my stamp file (this was a fantastic idea I picked up several years ago from Tracey Harp, basically when you get a new set, you photocopy the label stickers before you mount them on the stamps and you put that set image in a little folder. That way you can always see everything you have just by flicking through the folder). Ok back to the cards, anyway thankfully courtesy of inspiration from flicking through my stamp file and just plain lots of mulling on it I did some up with some ideas. In the end I couldn't help myself I had to make two if them.

The first one "Breezy Birthday" is intended for my Dad for his birthday (today - its going to be a little late). Here is it.

A close up of the dragonfly

I used the Parisian Breeze DSP as inspiration for the colours. I did the image panel first - stamping the tips of the grass from Inspired by nature across the panel. I decided to wanted to have a dragonfly up on the top LHS as per sketch. So I dug out my Winged Things set (retired) and I wanted it to be sort of translucent. So first I stamped it in Brown Satzon on acetate. Then I tried colouring in his wings with Copics - but it was just too faint. I then stamped a second dragonfly on vellum, and coloured the vellum in with two copics (BG13 and BG18), cut out the wings from the vellum, and adhered them to the acetate dragonfly (also trimmed out). Now I got the effect I wanted - his wings were a lovely bluey colour but still translucent. To finish it off I added a silver brad through the head and stuck it on the the grass panel with two glue dots. The sentiment (from Upsy Daisy) was added at the bottom, accented with a little Baja circle. Below the image panel I added a strip of Kraft taffeta that had been knotted three times - it was that or hemp and I decided to go with this in the end. The broad stripes from the Parisian Breeze DSP seemed to complement the image so that what I went for as the main matte on the card. The inside is just finished off very simply with a bit more of the DSP.

Now for card two - this time a christmas card. I realised in the process of thinking this one up that all my Christmas sets are retired bar Tree Trimmings - sorry about that but retired sets are part of my stash and so far have stayed with me.

Obviously a red and white theme, (real red and Whisper White) I think my initial thought was that I wanted to white emboss the sleigh onto red, so all the layering worked out from there. The white main layer is stamped with stars also from the same set. The embossed central panel was set off with the holiday sentiment from Rivetting (also retired but so very useful) at the top and with a Button Latte button threaded with red embroidery cotton and backed by a little looped white grosgrain ribbon. I added the scalloped border at the bottom to represent the element Keesh had at the bottom of the sketch.

Hope you liked them and thanks for visiting.

Kim

I am running really late with getting dinner ready so I am going to have to leave this without adding the recipes, any questions please just ask.

Party Time Part One

Hi there everyone,

Well I had a lot of fun as a guest designer for Makeesha Byl and I was definitely kept busy. That hasn’t changed as I went straight from the last challenge to preparing for my first workshop and that is where today's post comes in. The focus concepts for the workshop were to use this years in colours and border punches. Here is the first make and take card.

As you can see I made two colour variations. I decided to go with the Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red version for the workshop. The idea for how the image was stamped I first saw on Di Barnes blog and she referenced Marelle Taylor as the originator. Marelle used the So Saffron, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango combo. The Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose and Riding Hood Red combo I came up with.

As to how you stamp it – well ink up the entire stamp in the lightest colour (Don’t Stamp), then press the lower two thirds of the stamp into the mid colour (Don’t Stamp) then press the bottom third into the darkest colour, blend where the colours change with a blender pen or sponge dauber– now Stamp It!!

The stamped image is balanced by adding a circle sentiment in the upper corner and a bow at the bottom. Rounding the upper corner also provides a link to the circle sentiment. Finishing details include stamping a small flower, cutting it out mounting on a dimensional and adding a brad to the centre of the sentiment. Adding a brad to the corner of the stamped image and down the bottom a strip of DSP and some ribbon provide interest. The eyelet punch provides a decorative finish to the bottom of the card. To finish the inside I also stamped Upsy Daisy but its important to stamp it off first or the image will be too dark.

Recipe (Card one) All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Seeing Spots
Card Stock: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Candy Lane DSP, Red Riding Hood Taffeta ribbon, Eyelet punch, Corner rounder punch, 1 3/8” and 1 1/4 “ circle punches, silver brads, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Recipe (Card two) All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Seeing Spots
Card Stock: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Haiku DSP, narrow white grosgrain ribbon, Eyelet punch, Corner rounder punch, 1 3/8” and 1 1/4 “ circle punches, gold brads, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Relax

Hi there,

Well the title does not describe my week so far but I hope it describes the two cards I made for Makeesha’s inspiration challenge. That’s how her image struck me, very natural light earthly colours, soft and calming. Here’s her pic.

Who wouldn’t want to cuddle up to those pillows on a couch for a snooze!

My first idea was to make a square card, and I did, but I struggled with it, and somehow I still feel not quite 100% happy with it. So my “official” card is this one.

My first thoughts were to use a combination of Kraft, White and Sahara, with white embossing and the eyelet border punch to give some decorative detail. That basically sums up the recipe for both my cards. The basic points to note are that I first stamped the grass side of Inspired with Nature in Sahara onto the top Sahara layer, then using white craft ink stamped the daisy side over the top and then embossed using white embossing powder. To accent, I used the eyelet border punch down both sides but on different layers. The final details are to add some white taffeta ribbon and some pewter hodgepodge. My cunning plan here was to connect up two of the eyelet punch holes to make a slot to feed the ribbon through. A big pewter brad with ribbon fed through underneath finishes off the bottom. I didn’t want the sentiment to detract too much from the image which is why I have just left it on a Sahara layer, but raised it and added a brad to give it some impact.

OK now here is the second card, I’m slowly getting the hang of making two at one time, not that hard when you have all your stuff put really.

The main thing to note here is that I first stamped Upsy Daisy in Sahara and then, offset it and stamped again with white craft ink. Once again I embossed using white embossing powder. The shadow effect is kind of neat! The final details on this card include some piercing, Kraft and White Taffeta ribbon, pewter hodgepodge. I also stamped off the Linen background stamp in Sahara before stamping most of the white layer. The white just seemed a bit too strong when I was putting the card together and I wanted to tone it down a bit.

Enjoy

Finally to finish, thanks again to Sam, for lending me Inspired with Nature and her eyelet border punch. You can't half tell that my next order from the catalogue is going to be big!

You can find the links to the cards from the other design team members here. Sorry I don't have time to link separately this week, in fact this post will be scheduled to post itself while I'm away - I hope.

“You’re on my mind”
Recipe:
Stamps: Inspired with Nature, Upsy Daisy
Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White, Sahara
Ink: Sahara, White craft , Eyelet border punch, white embossing powder, pewter hodgepodge, white taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Stamp-ma-jig, cropodile.
Accessories: Eyelet border punch, white embossing powder, pewter hodgepodge, white taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Stamp-ma-jig, cropodile.

“Thank You”
Recipe:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Linen
Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White, Sahara
Ink: Sahara, White craft
Accessories: Eyelet border punch, white embossing powder, pewter hodgepodge, Kraft and white taffeta ribbon, piercing tool and mat pack, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Stamp-ma-jig.

Upsy Brown

Hi there,

I have to admit I found the latest colour challenge from Makeesha, well - challenging!! So challenging in fact that I made two cards (how did that happen?). Here are the colours for the challenge.



This is my first effort and while I'm happy with it - I just had the feeling that it didn't "sing" to me. OK I know that sounds wierd but sometimes when you put things together it just all comes out with every element somehow acentuating and improving each other and somehow this one didn't :( But still its not too bad. See for yourself.

I did get to finally break out my Upsy Daisy stamp set which I had coveted for months when it was in the US catalogue - and I really did like the effect I got by using markers direct to rubber. I did try to get some blending and texture effect by dragging over the ink with a plastic bag an idea I got from Teneale Williams in this post. Oh and I think the crystal effect on the petals did lift it too. Aside from that the card is lots of layers, DSP, distressed edges and some paper piercing for detail. The ribbon knot tied onto the pewter hodgepode was a last minute addition - I had literally stuck all the layers down and then then went hmmmmmmm (to be honest I think I even dreamed about putting something Sage up in that corner last night so my subconscious must have still been speaking to me). So I pried up the top corner and added the hodgepodge and ribbon. What do you think better with or without??


Recipe: (All SU unless noted otherwise)
Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Ink: Sage Shadow, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip
Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Spring Showers DSP, Fall Flowers DSP, Cutter kit, Mat pack and piercing tool, Sage Shadow wide Grosgrain ribbon from District Ribbon Originals, Scallop Edge punch, 1/8 inch circle punch, Pewter Hodgepode, Crystal effects, SNAIL adhesive, double sided tape