JAI #286 Just add W

Hello there,
we have a fun new challenge for you at Just Add Ink. This week Tina suggested we Just Add W. What on earth do we mean? Well that means you can add any colour, material, technique, concept as long as it begins with W and it's the main focus of your project. Just a few ideas include Water, Watercolour, Winter, Wolf, Wild Wasabi! Put your thinking cap on and have some fun!

I'm still on my Christmas card drive so the first thing that popped into my head was 'Winter'. So I set out to make a wintery card - and nothing says cold like a polar bear! So here is what I came up with.

In a recent SU! Artisan blog hop Susan Wong tickled my funny bone by simply white embossing the bear from Thankful Forest Friends and turning him into a polar bear! I just loved how that colour change changed the bear so profoundly. This challenge proved the perfect time to stamp my own polar bear. First I chose some cool colours then added some sparkly stars and snow and finished it all off with pops of red. For a fun finishing touch I found the perfect sized santa's hat for my polar bear :)

Hope you can join us for this fun challenge. Don't forget to go see what W's the rest of the team used to inspire their projects.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Thankful Forest Friends, Festival of Trees, Winter Snow Globe (PaperTrey Ink), Cool Yule (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
Accessories: Bitty Banner framelits, Tree punch, Scene it: Basic Backer die (PaperTrey Ink), Scene it: Skyscapes die collection (PTI), Copic markers, Silver glimmer cardstock, White and Silver embossing powder, Softly Falling embossing folder, Winter Frost DSP (R), Silver thread, Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon (R), Dazzling Diamonds, Fine Tip glue pen, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

JAI 244 Just add a sketch

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

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

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

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

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

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

Merry Monday #76

Hello there,
well for the first time in ages I had the time to play along with a Merry Monday challenge. Life has been sooo busy the last couple of months. This week the challenge at Merry Monday was to use a snowman.

Now I don't have many snowmen but did manage to dig one out of my stash and then had fun colouring him with my copics. Here's how he turned out.

I haven't made a tent card in ages! So it was quite fun to put this one together. No picture of the inside this week as I kept it super simple in there as the space is a bit limited - so just some Crumb Cake snowflakes to echo the front. 

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Winter Snow Globe (Papertrey Ink), Holiday Hugs Snowman (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobler, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, X Press blending card
Ink: Cherry Cobler, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist
Accessories: Classic Circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Season of Style DSP, Word Window punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch, Copic markers, Two way glue pen, Dazzling diamonds, 5/8" organza ribbon, Jewels - rhinestone, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press) 

Merry Monday 67

Hello there,

well I didn't get the chance to play along with Merry Monday last week and that was because I was busy prepping up a guest designer card for the new Merry Monday challenge 67 that starts today! This week Lesley has another great sketch to work with. Here it is.

And this is what I came up with.

I couldn't resist colouring up this cute little reindeer and framing him in a wintery snow globe. I resisted my usual temptation to go with a blue colour scheme and went red/ brown this time as I felt it suited my reindeer. A touch of glitter and embossing add a subtle shine to the reindeer and a little faux stitching finished off the card.

Well I enjoyed my chance to play along with the Merry Monday challenge this week and hope you will too!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim 

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Winter Snow Globe, Fillable Frames #9,Tremendous Treats Christmas (PaperTrey Ink)
Cardstock: Real Red, Early Expresso,Very Vanilla
Ink: Early Expresso, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Versamark, Vintage Cream (PTI)
Accessories: Candlelight Christmas DSP (R), Copics markers, Sending You die (PTI), Early Expresso embossing powder, Mat pack and piercing tool,  Stitched dotty Real Red grosgrain ribbon, 1/8" Early Expresso taffeta ribbon, Atyou spica clear glitter pen, Double sided tape (X Press), Dimensionals

Merry Monday 64 - Blue Christmas Tree DSP

Hello there,
well once again I'm just scraping in with this weeks Merry Monday challenge! Another great sketch.

 And with no more ado - here is what I came up with.

I played around with ink and DSP - always a lot of fun :) The brayered background was inspired by meeting up a lovely friend Paula Dobson at SU!s South Pacific Convention last week. She did a awesome presentation on the bouncing brayer technique. I didn't try and bounce it here but I love how you can get a transition of colour by brayering! I also pulled out all my small Christmas tree dies and blue DSP patterns and mixed and matched till I got the effect I wanted. To finish it off I added sparkle  - of course - sparkly snowflakes and trees are a must ;)

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Winter Snow Globe, Background Basics: Herringbone (PaperTrey Ink)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Vellum
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Vintage Cream (PTI)
Accessories: Winter Snow Globe die, Love Lives Here: Holiday die, Double ended banner die (PTI), Scentsational Season die, Bella Bleu DSP (R), Beau Chateau DSP (R), Christmas Cocoa DSP (R), 1 1/4" circle punch, Silver brads, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, brayer, Stickles, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

Merry Monday #54 Holiday Hugs Snowman

Hello there,

well I'm just managing to squeeze my entry for Merry Monday's snowman challenge this week (sadly I was just too busy last week to play along :) But I couldn't resist the lure of a snowman. 

Here's what a came up with.

My snowman options weren't huge but I did manage to unearth this MFT one from my stash and as soon as I pulled the Spice Cake DSP out I knew what my colour palette was going to be.  I did realise as I was photographing it that it was missing one thing - sparkle! I'm definitely in favour of Christmas=sparkle. So I think I'll be adding some to the snowflakes! Sorry short and sweet tonight - its been a busy week and I'm tired. I'll be heading to bed real soon! 

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Holiday Hugs Snowman (My Favorite Things), Tiny Treats: Christmas, Winter Snow Globe (PaperTrey Ink)

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Soft suede, Whisper White, Pool Party, Rich Cocoa (Memento)

Accessories: Spice Cake DSP (R), Paper doilies, Jewelery Tag punch, Soft Suede dotted grosgrain ribbon (R), Pool Party bakers twine, Copic markers, Circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Sycamore street button, Piercing tool and mat, SNAIL adhesive, double sided tape (X Press)

  

Merry Monday 44- A New year goal

Hello there, 
well as a change from my 2012 unblogged series I decided I had better stick to a new year goal I set myself which was to play along with the Merry Monday challenges this year. I found myself for the second year running, rather ironically, after running Christmas card classes for the five months before Christmas not having mine done! So this is my attempt to rectify that - and also play with all of my Christmas stamp collection (which is ahh - rather extensive ;) The Merry Monday challenge this week was a colour challenge.

My mind wasn't playing along with new ideas so I decided to remake a card I made for a lovely friend (as part of a secret santa exchange) this past Christmas which remains unblogged, so far anyway. Here's the new version.

A shaker card is always going to bring a smile to anyone's face - so fun! Well its late, I only just realised I needed to get this up tonight 20 mins ago. So no more chatter from me!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Winter Snow Globe (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White 
Ink: Real Red, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Accessories: Labels collection framelits, Ski slope DSP (R), SU! shaker frames, 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Corner rounder (R), Double ended banner die (PTI), white embossing powder, Island Indigo ruffled ribbon, Silver glass glitter, acetate, Copic markers, Jewels - rhinestones, Double sided tape (X Press), SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals