Sunflower 3D Birthday for Colour INKspiration #195

 

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome!
It's been quite a while since I've had the time to join in a challenge but this week's Colour INKspiration Combo is just my sort of style - a pop of colour amongst not too many others - and piqued my interest! 

Add to that the wonderful Sunflower 3D embossing folder just arrived into my craft space and I couldn't think of a better way to use it than to take a leap and enter this fun challenge that I've been watching from afar for what I think may be my first time!!

So without further ado, here is my first card...that's right! I got a bit carried away and managed to create two different looks!

I was inspired by the joyful, Sharon Armstrong whose You Tube posts always make me smile because she is so excited about what she does. She showed 10 or so ways of how to use this beautiful EF and this was one of them: 

The image is embossed onto Crushed Curry card stock and then wiped over with White Craft Ink. That is it. Simple and very effective!

I've added some leaf dies from both he Friends of Life and Memorable Blooms dies and a combination of shiny, silver ribbons, black twine and of course some bling - this time in the form of rhinestones.

The detail in the EF is absolutely incredible! And if you are a sunflower lover like me, then you will want to get your hands on this ASAP before it is sold out.

I did have another play....I was having so much fun!

For this version, I first swiped a Crushed Curry ink pad over the same colour card stock for a tone on tone look. Then....well it looked a bit flat still. So I added some Versamark ink over the top and some Clear EP and Boom! It looks a bit more Pumpkin Pie now than Curry but it is also super shiny....

I added the same details as with my first card as I already had these dies out on my craft desk. I originally was going to place what became a pile of ribbons and dies in a different place but I didn't want to obstruct the view of the three main sunflowers.

So which version do you prefer??
I think I prefer the subtle white version. The dramatic version does make me think of one of our hot, 40 degree summer days.  Maybe because we are still in early Spring here in Australia is why I am not quite so keen to look that far ahead yet!

But I am planning to get my first Sunflower seeds into the garden by October 1st this year. A mix of the big giant ones and some dwarves too. So I hope the Sunflower EF stays around too.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that you are enjoying the challenge too!

You can find the Colour Inkspiration Challenges and details on how to enter them on Facebook, here.

Card stock: Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Basic White

Stamps: Friends For Life (sentiment).

Inks: White Craft, Versamark

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Sunflower 3D EF, Friends for Life Dies, Memorable Blooms Dies, Silver Ribbons - x 2, Black Twine (Bakers Twine Essentials Pack), Basic Rhinestones, White EP. Clear EP.

'Til next time,

Jan

Inspired Imperfections for JAI #769

Happy Friday and welcome back! It's the first weekend of School Holidays here in Victoria and Spring has sprung with lots of trees in bloom and the usual suspects of daffodils and jonquils are all enjoying the increased light and occasional increase in temperatures. 

This week at Just Add Ink we have a Choose Two Challenge for you from Di Barnes. She would like us to Choose Two out of Numbers, Words or Neutral Colours.  The design team as always have created an array of cards for you featuring all different ways to use two of these three options. We would love you to join us! Don't forget to let us know which two options you have chosen in your post!

For my card, I chose Words and Neutral colours. Which for me was Basic White and Basic Black, Crumb Cake and a touch of gold for a warmer lift. Neutrals are not my go to colours - I prefer bright colours, so this was a true challenge for me.

The beautiful Inspired Imperfections bundle seemed perfect for this challenge as has a number of images and die cut embellishments to help make a thank you car a bit special.

The vase itself is embossed using Black EP and the little flower with Gold EP - both give an extra textural touch. The greeting is from the retired Memorial Blooms bundle and is embossed with White EP.

This card is designed to be simple to create, but elegant and so I also created another card using slightly more colourful colours - Secret Sea and Cloud Cover but you will need to come back to see that later as it didn't quite fit the perimeters of this challenge!

Thanks for popping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the cards the design team have created to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this challenge!

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Friends For Life for... Just Add Ink #767

 

Happy Friday and welcome back! Winter is finally over and it's officially Spring - not that Melbourne's weather seems to have gotten the memo yet. It's remained cold and often wet - perfect weather to spend in the craft room.

It's a new challenge week at Just Add Ink  and we have this Inspiration Photo from Kim for you. The design team  -and guest designer, Deb - have all taken this photo in various ways and so I hope that you can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog and hopefully join us.

I will say that I found this challenge really hard. I don't really have any car stamps in my collection. 

So after trying another idea for a few days, I looked through my DSP...and found piece from the (retired0 Full of Life pack. The grid on the paper is not too dissimilar to the cars parked in the photo...

I decided to follow through with the rest of the suite - using both the matching stamp set and dies and a scattering of copper sequins for a change.

Thanks for popping by today! I hope that you can take a moment to hop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the other cards from the designers and I look forward to seeing what you will create too!

Card stock: Basic White, Basic Black,

DSP: Full of Life (retired)

Stamps: Friends for Life

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Friends for Life Dies, White Twine, Metallic sequin assortment.

'Til next time,

Jan

Umbrella Days for JAI #765

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back! It's been a busy week in our household and we are definitely enjoying the early peeks of Spring sunshine that we are occasionally getting. I hope that Spring or Autumn is treating you well wherever you are living.

This week at Just Add Ink, we have something special for you. We have two Guest Designers joining us for this challenge. So please give Jolanda and Deb a warm welcome. You can find their projects on the JAI  page.

And this week we have for you a Colour Challenge suggested by me so I hope that you like it. The design team and guests have created a fabulous array of cards to inspire you.

For my card, I turned to the lovely Umbrella Days. An Online Exclusives set that is still available if you're after it. The stamp set has a number of beautiful images and sentiments and the coordinating dies have all sorts of fabulous details - including the puddles, and flowers used here plus even a dog coat!! Yes, will melt the heart of almost every dog owner!

The umbrella has been paper pieced with DSP thanks to one of the dies in the set and the human and dog were coloured with Copics and Blends. The sentiment was embossed with Black EP.                                                                                                  

One of the things I love about this Colour Combo is how Lost Lagoon pairs with Gorgeous Grape. So I used these as my base layers. The Lagoon looks fabulous with the Mini Corrugated EF effect too. It is amazing the difference that one little detail can make! 

        

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog and see all the cards that the design team and guest designers created to inspire you. We'd all love to see what you create with these colours too.

Card stock: Gorgeous Grape, Lost Lagoon, Basic White, Highland Heather

DSP : Retired from my stash.

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black,   Versamark

Stamps: Umbrella Days

Accessories: Die Cuttiing Machine, Umbrella Days Dies,Stitched Rectangles Dies, Mini Corrugated EF, Black EP, Rhinestones, Wink of Stella.

"Til next time,

Jan 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

Kintsugi Birthday Sketch #763

Happy Friday and welcome back! It's the first Friday in August which means that Winter is over two thirds done and dusted here in the Southern Hemisphere. The wattle is flowering and Spring is on it's way!

It's a new challenge week at Just Add Ink and Tristan has given us this fabulous Sketch for us to use in our projects. Our design team have all created an array of projects, all with different styles and focal points and so I hope that you can pop on over to the JAI blog  and we'd love you to join us!

For my card, I decided to flip the sketch to Portrait so as to accomodate some flowers in this vase cut from the Kintsugi Inspirations DSP. The flowers are stamped using Smoky Slate ink, stamped off and water coloured using my old favourite colour, Melon Mambo using just a tiny bit of water so as not to make the ink run.

 The background is also from the same DSP pack and the white pieces that are the sketch elements, are embossed using the Joined Together EF which is also part of the suite. 

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope that you might pop on over to Just Add Ink and join us in this challenge. I look forward to seeing what you create using this week's sketch.

Card stock: Marina Mist, Basic White

Inks: Smoky Slate, Versamark

Designer Series Paper: Kintsugi Inspirations

Stamps: Inspiring Imperfections, Charming Sentiments

Accessories: Die Cutting machine, Stitched Rectange dies, Imperfections Dies, Sentiment silhouettes Dies, Gold EP, Joining Imperfections EF, Gold twine, Metallic sequins

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Let's Prance For JAI #761

Happy Friday and welcome!! Thankfully it is now almost the end of July and Winter is at least 2/3 of the way over - Spring is coming! It is wonderful to see the sun rising a little earlier and setting later. And here in Melbourne, the Wattle is now flowering - which signals the start of allergy season. Hopefully, we'll see the temperature rising a little soon too!

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun challenge for you from Kerry. She has given us a Christmas in July theme to create with. The design team have all created fun and gorgeous projects to hopefully inspire you so we hope that you might be able to join us by popping over to the JAI blog and using the Linky to enter.

Christmas in July isn't something I have much experience of except for one dinner 25 years ago when I first arrived in Australia.  The other dinner guests introduced me to the "Not Happy Jan!" TV ads that were new and very popular at the time. Such a classic series of ads that have become a part of our everyday speech - especially for those of us called Jan! 😅

For my card, I looked through my past Bits and Pieces container for Christmas ideas and found the blue coloured reindeer. Instantly, I knew a pink one was needed and then came the aqua....next was the background and this card was well on it's way.

To bring it all together, and create the snowy hills, I used a retired die set called Home for Christmas. The final little touch - the Silver Glimmer Christmas tree - is actually from a pine branch from last year's Joy of Noel bundle. 

So delving into my Bits and Pieces container soon had me pulling out all sorts of Christmas sets to complete this fun card!
I hope that you are soon going through your Christmas sets, new and old and look forward to you joining us for this fun challenge at Just Add Ink this week.

'Til next week,

Jan

 

Umbrella Days Sympathy for JAI #759

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back!! It is the end of the first week of School Holidays here in Victoria and a pretty cold and week it has been too! So if you're looking for some crafting inspiration for the weekend, to stay inside, warm and dry you have come to the right place.

This week's Just Add Ink Challenge is to Choose Two out of Trees, Beach or Water and is suggested by Di Barnes. It is a challenge that has produced quite a variety in the style and themes of cards from the Design Team. I look forward to seeing what you might create with it.

For my card, I used ink and brushes to create a beachy background scene and then I added water. This helps to give the look of a damp, rainy scene as well as fulfil the sketch brief. 

The sweet images- including the pretty florals - are from the Online Exclusives set, called Umbrella Together. I needed a pet sympathy card for a friend and these images and sentiment seemed so appropriate. 

It's a stamp set that I hope I will be able to use a bit of during August - where we try to raise money for Guide Dogs Australia by walking every day with a dog. I love how the dies include a cute jacket for the dog - although I chose not to use that for this card.

So these are the two elements that I chose for my card, I look forward to seeing what out of Trees, Beach or Water that you will choose to make for your cards this week at Just Add Ink.

Card Stock: Basic White, Watercolor Paper

Inks: Crumb Cake, Sea Spray, Pool Party, Balmy Blue, Tuxedo Momento Black, Blends, Copics

Stamps: Umbrella Days.

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Umbrella Days Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, 

"Til next time,

Jan