JAI 98 - Just add sparkle

Well hello there :)
How is everyone tracking with their Christmas preparations? I'm finally making headway with mine but still have a stack of cards to write and post out.  This week at Just Add Ink we have a very appropriate challenge for the Christmas season - its Just Add Sparkle. I had a special Christmas card in mind for this challenge...here it is.

This one came together pretty quickly once I had the colour combo, I wanted something a little vintage and soft to go with the gorgeous angel die that I planned to use. So first up a Pear Pizzazz base, then a Perfect Plum mat, then the vanilla top mat. I stamped a frame of greenery around the panel, adding Plum and Blushing Bride berries. Then I die cut and stamped my angel, and added a hanger for her. Finishing touches include the sparkle (of course ;) rhinestones "berries" and glass glitter on the wings, and a sentiment - a very appropriate one in my case as the card has already made its way to my parents :)

As usual at the momment I dead knackered so that is from me!! Have a good week and check out the rest of the amazing DT offerings  - they are stunning!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Love Lives Here: Holiday (PaperTrey Inc)

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum, Blushing Bride, Early Expresso

Accessories: Love Lives Here" Holiday dies (PaperTrey Inc), Corner Rounder punch, Silver glass glitter, Jewels - rhinestones, Tombow multi, Dimensionals, Double sided tape

JAI 97 - Just add inspiration

Hello there!

well this week at Just Add Ink we have a very bright inspirational photo for you brought to you by the lovely Jo Eades. Jo's suggested colours to go with the photo are Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party and Melon Mambo...want to see ;)

And this is what I made of it.

I have got to admit I did struggle with this one, in fact this card was sooo close to being binned! But a bit of last minute readjusting and I came out with something I half like. The colours suggested tropical flowers to me, with a dash of aqua to cool it all down. So starting point - lots of flowers in Melon Mambo, the layers were made by stamping and then stamping again to get the lighter shade. The red flowers were one layer of Real Red and one of Poppy Parade. The layered flowers were arranged on an oval base, and dressed up with some Limeade greenery. I kept the background neutral, but added some texture using embossing. I really like the distressed effect you get by running DSP through an embossing folder - nice :) Finishing touches - lots of rhinestones and some Pool Party ribbon.

Hopefully that gives you the general idea - I promised myself I would get to bed early earlier today so I need to get my weary body to bed otherwise my brain will be mush tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Array of Sunshine, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Real Red, Poppy Parade

Accessories: Rasberry Fizz DSP (R), Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (PaperTrey Inc), Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Ticket corner punch, Modern Label punch, Word window punch, Classic oval and scalloped oval nestabilities (Spellbinder), Pool Party ruffled ribbon, Dimensionals, Double sided tape, Jewels - rhinestones.

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 95 - Bah Humbug

Bah Humbug? Well not exactly - lol! But we do have a Christmas challenge with a twist for you this week at Just Add Ink.  Our challenge this week is to make a Christmas card but NO Christmas images allowed, NO traditional Christmas paper allowed! We want you to stamp a Christmas greeting and have some fun with some non traditional stamps. So get your thinking caps on ;) and see what fun ideas you can come up with.  I made a couple of "Bah Humbug" card versions as swaps for the Canberra regionals so I just stepped one up a bit as my offering this week. Here it is.

Just realised that I didn't get around to doing the inside for this one - oops! I'm somewhat distracted at the momment juggling lots of ready by Christmas crafting projects - not to mention the usual everyday business of work and family life. I've enjoyed using some different Christmas colour combos and this is another one I wanted to try - Old Olive, Perfect Plum and Riding Hood Red. My starting point was the idea of a button tree, so I cut myself a rough template, dottoed that down onto my white mat and started stamping buttons :) I used a Christmas sentiment stamped twice to create the trunk of the tree. To dress it up I added a few real buttons, some rhinestones and some star shaped brads, a Old Olive taffeta bow, and lastly to top the tree a glittery star (Boho flower punch). A scalloped border, with piercing detail down the right finishes it all off.

Do check out the other design team members they will all have some wonderful inspiration for you, and then perhaps you can have some fun and see what you come up with!

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Button button, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Cardstock: Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Scallop border punch, 1/2" circle punch, Boho Blossom punch, Old Olive 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Jewels- rhinestones, Mat pack and piercing tool, Green glitter cardstock (Spotlight), Star Brads (The Paper Mill), Dimensionals, Double sided tape, Dotto, Sticky Strip, Tombow multi

JAI 94 - just add a sketch

Hello there :)

well you can tell we are heading into the home stretch heading to Christmas (well it kind of feels that way as things get busier and busier), ah and may'be the predominance of Christmas cards and projects might be a clue too (smile). I have already made lots of Christmas cards this year (mostly finished) - but I just can't seem to stop making them!! So this weeks Just Add Ink sketch challenge - well you can probably guess...is...a...Christmas...card. Here's the sketch.

I did turn this sketch around in my head for a few days, and then at the last minute changed my mind, as you do sometimes. To change things up I went with an alternate red/green combo - Rose Red and Garden Green.

This a real mix of old and new (old favourite scallop die and new stamps). First up I cut a scalloped circle base for the card, added a Garden Green mat, then on the top Whisper White mat I started by stamping a garland of greenery. Embellishing it with some little Rose Red berries and some little sparkly rhinestones. Hanging from the garland are three little Christmas ornaments mounted up on dimensionals. The front was finished off with a sentiment and few extra little embellishing touches - piercing detail on all the scallops and dazzling diamonds on the tiny little heart on the middle ornament. The inside was finished off simply to match.

Thanks for visiting, perhaps you'll get the chance to give the sketch a go and make... a... Christmas... card... (smile).

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Love Lives Here: Holiday (PaperTrey Inc) , Think Big Favorites #8 (PTI)

Cardstock: Rose Red, Garden Green, Whisper White

Ink: Rose Red, Garden Green

Accessories: Scallop Circle BigZ die, Classic Circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), small Star punch (R), 1/2" circle punch, Jewels: Rhinestones, Two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, Double sided tape (X Press)

JAI 93 - just add a colour combo

Hello there :)

welcome back for another Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a colour combo (and yep umm I did come up with this one!).  Here are the colours.

The first thing that popped into my head was gelato icecream. So what flavours? Well Mambo would have to be watermelon, the celery - perhaps pistacio or lime - but I must admit - Pool Party had me stumped - not to many foods appears on your plate blue!! Any suggestions? But in the end I went with flowers as I had a new (free!! ) flower set - Fabulous Florets (prize patrol at Regionals yah :) - just calling my name to play with it. So here is the outcome.

I coudn't resist rock and rolling again - it adds such a great random shading effect. So first up I inked up my solid flower in Pool Party and then rock and rolled in Melon Mambo - alot of times. Then I trimmed out a whole bunch of different layers for each flower (alot of times - lol - its a good idea to do this watching tv! but the end effect is worth it). I also stamped and trimmed out one foliage spray for layering as well. The layers were piled up on dimensionals, and once they were finally placed I also went around each petal with a glitter pen which if you catch the light the right way really adds a lovely sparkle.  The rest of the card is pretty straightforward using a recent Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge sketch (#133) as its starting point. So Mambo base, then Pool Party mat, then DSP (old and new), I zigzagged around all that to add some subtlish detail (subtle cause the thread was white and mostly disappears). The flowers are framed with a Blossom Spellbinder diecut and the sentiment was added on a flag ended banner - Melon Mambo embossed (more new stuff to play with :) A few hot pink pearls finished off the front and the inside was finished off to match.

I certainly enjoyed playing with some new stamping stuff and this gelato rainbow of colours. Thanks for visiting and I hope you get the chance to play along this week :) and don't forget to check out the rest of the design team!

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Curly Cute

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Certainly Celery, Versamark

Accessories: Flirtaceous DSP, Fall Flowers DSP (R), Melon Mambo scalloped dotty grosgrain, Melon Mambo embossing powder, Blossom and circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Doubled ended banner die (PaperTrey Inc), Pink pearls (Kaiser), Spica glitter pen, sewing machine, Double sided tape (X Press), Dimensionals

JAI 92 - Just add a tag or a bookmark

Hello there,

well we have something fun for you this week at Just Add Ink. This week we want you to Just Add a Tag or a Bookmark - there are so many possibilities open with this challenge and we will certainly enjoying seeing what you make of it! I am travelling back in time for my "just add a" - to September and Father's Day. This is what I came up with...

Super simple inside  - just a little picnic basket as that was what we were planning for Father's Day.

I started with the idea that I wanted to recreate the family on a tag and have the tag as the feature panel on a card. So with my handy Stamp ma jig I stamped out all the family (including our puss - he thinks he is the first child!) and then coloured us all up to match my colour palette (Pacific Point and Real Red - bright boy colours). (The tag I just created by cutting cardstock to the size I needed to fit us all in). I added some texture by embossing the top mat of the main card, and finishing touches include a nice big strip of ribbon to underlay the main panel and then another bit to be tied off as the tag flag. Of course being a boy card I had to add some hardware - so out came the large eyelet ;) Oh and as the final touch a little heart balloon that DH and I are holding to just add that little touch of love to father day.

Thanks for visiting, oh and don't forget to visit the rest of the DT for some awesome tag/ book mark ideas!

Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted

Stamps: All in the Family, Family Favourites, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Whisper White, X Press blending white cardstock

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories: Square Lattice embossing folder, Modern Label punch, Word window punch, 3/4" circle punch, small heart punch, Antique Pewter eyelet (R), Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon (R), White gel pen, Copic markers (B02, B05, B06, RV14, R24, R27, R29, E000, E01, E13, E19, E33, E35, E39, E71, E74, E77), Black embroidery thread, Double sided tape, SNAIL adhesive, Glue dots, Dimensionals