Happiness Abounds Birthday for JAI #663

 

Hello, happy Friday to you and welcome! It is almost the end of July and now the days are noticeably longer. Yes, it has been cold but hopefully the warmer days are coming soon. It is perfect weather to spend a little time in the craft room so hopefully you enjoy this challenge we have, it's JAI 665.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun Choose Two Challenge for you suggested by Tina. You can choose between Flowers, Gingham or splatter. As always our lovely design team have all created a beautiful array of cards over on the JAI blog for inspiration.    We'd love you to join us!

So you can see that I chose Flowers and Gingham for my Two items. 

The flowers were fussy cut from DSP and the gingham I stencilled using ink and the Artistic Mix masks. 

I had intended to colour the lovely images from the Happiness Abounds set myself but these flowers are coloured so beautifully that they cried out to be used. I love how the shading is added and so it really is a case of deciding how to arrange and display these.

Granny Apple Green is sponged through the mask to create the gingham effect. It is not a colour that I'm used to using but it is in the leaves in the DSP and it is good to use challenges to try new things whether that be colours or techniques - whatever that may be.

Thank you for stoping by.  I hope that you might be inspired to join us for this challenge and I look forward to seeing what you choose for your Two items and what you will create for this challenge!

Card stock: Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Basic Black, Gold Foil

Ink: Granny Apple Green, Versamark

Stamps: Well Said

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Well Written Dies, Artistic Masks, White EP,  Gold Faceted Gems, Metallic Sequins Assortment.

'Til next time,

Jan

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            you.

HeartfeltSympathy for JAI #661

 

Hello and happy first week back after School Holidays for those families here in Victoria! It is noticeable how much quieter the shopping centres are despite there still being the odd Sale on. I hope you and your family had a happy break whether you stayed home or managed to get away for a bit.

This week at Just Add Ink  we have an Inspiration Photo for you from Nikki. Inspiration Photo challenges are great as you can take whatever appeals to you from them and sparks your creativity. It may be the Christmas theme, the wreath, the colours or even a combination of all of these. I hope that you can pop on over to the Challenge blog and we'd love to have you join us.

I hope you can see what parts of the Inspiration that I used? The circle shape and yes, whilst there are no roses in the wreath, it does have an "arrangement" of natural elements.
The image I was very grateful to receive from one of my JAI DT friends, Tristan.

Sadly, beloved Gemma, a wonderful RDA horse that I have been privileged to ride during my Equine therapy classes this year passed away after a short and sudden illness during the holidays. Gem was loved by so many - including me. I was surprised by how closely we bonded in such a short time. She seemed to know I was unwell and took such good care of me. I was so grateful and brought her favourite treats - carrots and a little Licorice too. Her illness was so unexpected as she had been perfectly well. So it was heartbreaking to need to make this card for the staff and volunteers.

I coloured Gem first -I've never coloured a horse before so I was very grateful for an older Copic colouring video from Sandy Allnock. Many would know Sandy from Online Card Classes. One of her helpful tips for brown and bay horses - add a touch of an orange glow. So my base colour is YR23 - which is a light orange! And then I added the browns as shading and in layers - quite a few- to be as realistic as I could.

Then I coloured the rose and fussy cut both images before layering them back on top of each other in the same way the image created them. A layer of Wink of Stella helps make the colours shine.

Card stock: Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana, Pink Pirouette, Gold Foil

Inks: Versamark, Copics, Blends

Stamps:  Horse Thanks Tristan 😍, Well Worded,

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Layering Circle Dies (Retired),Leaves EF, Metallic Sequin Assortment, Wink of Stella

Of course, I have few photos to help me with her likeness. This one is after some carrots earlier in the year. It didn't take long for Gem to know my voice and she'd often turn fully around in her stall to suggest I might like to bring her some more. I will miss her so much and am so grateful for all she taught me. Now I am very thankful to be able to continue on a new horse and with the help of the fabulous staff and volunteers will begin again to build trust and a strong bond again.

"Til next time,

Jan