From Our House to Yours for JAI #791

It's the last Friday in July and the days are indeed chilly, but slowly but surely the daylight time is increasing and the sun is rising earlier, the bulbs are starting to pop up in the garden and the wattle trees in our favourite bush style park are flowering.

 

So for the last Just Add Ink challenge for July, Kim is asking you to create a Christmas project. The design team have all created a variety of cards to inspire you and I hope that you can join us! You have until Wednesday 12th of August to create your project and enter it on the Just Add Ink blog. 

I must admit I'm not sure of the Christmas in July trend. I have been to only one of these dinner parties in all my 26 years in Australia. Growing up in NZ, December was still cool enough for the oven to be busy with all kinds of roasts and ham glazing and the pudding to be bubbling away at Christmas as we sat at the table with our paper hats from crackers and a pile of wrapping paper in the lounge. 

But I might as well get a jump on the cards! So this is my first Christmas card for 2026! 
Last December, I held a Christmas card making workshop at Guide Dogs Victoria for clients and volunteers. And the Jolly Delivery bundle and its accompanying DSP featured heavily given this Lab/Golden image. Thankfully, I still have some of the DSP with die cuts and pieces we cut out and so all of my card elements (except the arch ) were all ready for me. 

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing what you create for this challenge! You have til Wednesday 12th August to enter you card on the Just Add Ink blog.

Card stock: Basic White Thick, Real Red (to back the Ephemera sentiment)

DSP : North Pole Delivery (retired) - this includes all the images

Greetings for You Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (retired0

Accessories: Postage Stamp Dies, Metallic sequins assortment (retired), Red and white twine

Non SU: Sizzix Big Shot Welcome pack: Arch die.

'Til next time,

Jan

Happy Birthday JAI #790

Happy Friday and welcome!! It's three weeks since the Shortest Day and the mornings and evenings are slowly but surely getting lighter. I love this time of year! The garden starts to grow again and there are little signs that Spring will come despite the cold nights and often grey days.  It also makes taking project photos a little easier!

This week at Just Add Ink we have one of our regular Challenges for you: Just Add Dies, Stencils or Both. It currently has an open theme so you can choose whatever takes your fancy. This means the design team cards have very varied themes and colours too so I hope you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and are inspired to join us. You have til Wednesday 29 July to enter your project. 

This week I chose to make a birthday card for a lovely friend and my own dog's best Westie friend's owner. So my dog is a black Lab and of course her Westie is White...plus I know that her favourite colour is Fresh Freesia and/or Grapefruit Grove which pairs well with a soft green. And so that is how this card came to be!

As today's card is about the Dies and/or stencils, I've used LOTS of dies.

There's the wonderful Eyelet Blooms Die that forms the main background, Cutest Crew Dies, Spotlight on Nature Dies and the Attention Shoppers and Stitched Circle Dies (both retired). 

It is very special to be able to create a card for friends using images and colours that you know they will enjoy. That is the joy of handmade cards!

Thanks for popping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and join us for this Challenge. You can use whatever Dies and/or Stencils you have  and I look forward to seeing what you will create!

Card stock: Fresh Freesia, Basic White, Mint Macaron, Specialty Foil
Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark 
Stamps:  Cutest Crew, Attention Shoppers

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Eyelit Blooms Die, Cutest Crew Dies, Spotlight On Nature Dies, Attention Shoppers Dies, Stitched Circle Dies, Subtle Enamel Dots

'Til next time,

Jan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

A Special Pet Sympathy Card for CI #212

Today, I am sharing this card using the CI #212 Colours that I used to make a Pet Sympathy card for a lovely young person who recently had to say goodbye to a beautiful, elderly pet dog she has known all her life.

It is something I am sure that many of us can relate to and so a special card was needed. 
Pet Paw prints is something that many vets and pet parents alike can take as a memory of a special pet. 
So I decided to use that as my starting point for this card which for once, uses many products across company lines which is not something I usually do. Usually I use one, maybe 2 sets to make a card these days. But not today!

The paw prints are embossed in gold so they have a textural element to them. This and the sentiment are from the same same stamp set. All the other bits and pieces and layers are from a range of sets and die sets.

And here you can see the gold embossed paws better.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you can have a look at all the wonderful cards for the Colour Inskpiration Challenge this week and if you want to get a card in you will have to hurry as it closes at 5pm today!

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Barely Blush, Crisp Canteloupe, Basic White

Inks: Bumblebee (in lieu of Golden Glow), Versamark, Lost Lagoon

Stamps: Fern & Flora, 

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Crochet EF(retired), Fern & Flora Dies, White Twine, Gold Dots

Non SU: Stamp: Fill My Heart -Whimsy Stamps

Sizzix Big Shot Welcome pack - leaf dies and arches dies.

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Flowering Meadow Sympathy JAI #789

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back! Here in Melbourne this week we've had a number of cold, wet and grey days that make photographing cards very difficult. So I apologise in advance for my card looking different as you go through my photos. It has been a dark, wet and miserable few days outside and a very busy week for us.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a beautiful Sketch for you from Tristan. You can keep this sketch in portrait of flip it to landscape, use strips of DSP, card stock or create your own stripes...as long as the sketch is recognisable. Our design team used this sketch with a number of different themes and colours and we look forward to seeing what you create! You have until Wednesday July 15 to enter your card in at the JAI blog.

I am sorry this first photo is so dark...Melbourne's dark grey skies and heavy rain was not helping me today...
You can see that I flipped the Sketch to Landscape. I thought it fitted with the upright stems of these pretty flowers from Flowering Meadow. I also tried a new technique for me that I've seen a little of online of raising the strips alternately. I didn't look into the workings of how others did this. But did make an attempt using dimensionals and I don't recommend as my version looked very uneven.

The beautiful Flowering Meadow DSP is first die cut using the now retired Stitched Rectangles and then I also die cut a layer of a different green paper from the pack and a piece of Peaceful Pine card stock to use underneath both papers.

This means that when looking at the different paper heights, you may see a little bit of green but not the open space that a dimensional might give and the paper layer is strong and stable to easily carry this little posy and sentiment.

These flowers are fussy cut from the DSP. I forgot I could've die cut them but you won't now!!

 I did die cut a stem for them and some leaves and then also fussy cut the two little leaf sprays to layer with them. This is a very pretty and elegant bundle and the DSP is stunning!!

This DSP is so soft to the touch  - Velvet Meadow is the perfect name as all the white in it is flocked, like soft velvet. And there is lots of it in this particular piece which is all white and green. It is super elegant and sadly I needed a sympathy card for a friend so it seemed perfect. 

 I find being able to create a card for a friend is an honour and especially in times like these, when we want to be supportive, the card carries more than the card and paper used to create it.

Thanks for popping by today and I hope that you might like to join us for this challenge at Just Add Ink.
You have until Wednesday 15 July so I look forward to seeing what you will create!

Card stock: Peaceful Pine, Basic White

DSP: Velvet Meadow
Inks: Versamark
Stamps: Flowering Meadow, Rose Wonder (retired).
Accessories: Die cutting machine, Stitched Rectangles, Flowering Meadow dies, Metallic Pearls, Gold EP, Gold twine.

'Til next time

Jan

 

Best Day Kitties for JAI #788

Happy Friday and welcome! This weekend we will have the Shortest Day here in the Southern Hemisphere or the Winter Solstace on Sunday. It's a day that I really look forward to. As after this, the days start to get longer again despite being cooler and we can start to look out for all the colours of Spring. So whilst we might still need our woolly jumpers, it is all downhill to Spring and we also get more time to take daylight photos of our craft projects too!

And this week's Just Add Ink's Colour and Inspiration Image from Kerry continues with the warm, woolly thoughts with this cute little kitten curled up in it's knitted blanket or jumper. 
Just a reminder that for these challenges, you can choose either the image OR the Colours OR Both. But if you do choose to go with Colours only, you will need to use at least 3 of them.  And you have until Wednesday July 2 to enter your project in the challenge on the Just Add Ink blog.

For my card this week, I chose the Image Only option but I did end up using 2 of the colours as well. I hope that is not too confusing!
I was initially inspired by the cute kitten, the wool and the textures in the woven baskets and the jumper or blanket. I also needed a card for a cat lover who has a couple of colours of cats. So I coloured the image from Cutest Crew first and that is when I decided on using Coastal Cabana to emboss using the Crochet EF (retired) as it went better with the browns in the images than the challenge blues/ purples. Then the kitties and little butterflies all received a liberal coat of Wink of Stella.

Keeping all those little paws inside the in line die was a challenge in itself! Adding adhesive needed to be done carefully and I was probably more OTT with how I wanted this to line up and stay together than I was with most other elements on this card! 😅The sentiment is stamped and placed on dimensionals and so sits above both the paws and diagonal lines and it also provides a spot for the woolly bow to sit on.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the design team projects and we'd love to have you join us! 

Card stock: Basic White, Basic Grey, Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana.

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Coastal Cabana

Stamps: Cutest Crew

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Cutest Crew Dies, Crochet EF, Coastal Cabana Twine, Basic Rhinestones, Wink of Stella.

Til next time,

Jan

 

Exploring Unbridled Beauty for JAI #787

Happy Friday and the first week of Winter if you're in the Southern Hemisphere or a wonderful, beginning to Summer for you, Northerners! I am certainly not a Winter fan....the cold but especially the shorter, darker days, I find tough. But it is definitely a good excuse for being inside the craft room if you need one!

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun Choose Two or more Challenge for you. Tristan suggested that we Choose Two out of:  Patterned Paper, Animals, People, Twine or Shadows.

Our design team have showcased all sorts of choices for you but it is true that most of us did choose animals.  I'd love to see what Two or more items from this list that you might choose to create with!

You have until Wednesday 18 June to share your project with us at Just Add Ink.

I'm sure that many people who follow my blog and / or Instagram feed would be expecting me to showcase dogs - as I usually do. Well, maybe next time, but not today! 😀 

I am one of 4 horse loving girls in my family. I share the love of horses with two of my gorgeous nieces and also my fab Sister in law who all ride in NZ. For the challenge, I have also chosen to use Patterned Paper and Twine.

The horse and country images are all from the Unbridled Beauty set. This is still available in the Last Chance ordering section. The paper is long retired as is the twine but all the colours went together rather nicely. The horse was stamped in Early Espresso, coloured with Copics and then fussy cut. He's layered over trees that are stamped in the new In Colour, Peaceful Pine. It matches well with the Background DSP and the Fence is is also stamped in Espresso and coloured with Copics.

The sentiment is first stamped in Early Espresso ink and then Clear Embossed to help it stand out on the patterned paper. I used the new Stampin Positioner to help with this - it makes stamping the same image several times easy. 

As you can see, the bottom of the "f" in "free" is also stamped and embossed on the white circle too. Having the Stampin Postioner made lining up the circle for this, so much easier! 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the cards from the rest of the design team and all the entrants too. I hope that you are able to join us for this Challenge which closes on Wednesday 17th June.

Card stock: Early Espresso, Basic White

DSP: Adventure (retired)

Ink: Early Espresso, Versamark, Peaceful Pine

Stamps: Unbridled Beauty, Exploring Nature

Accessories: Die Cutting machine, Spotlight On Nature Dies, Clear EP, Coastal Cabana Striped Twine, Metallic Sequins.

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Polkadot Flowering Meadow for JAI #786

 

It is almost Winter here in Australia and the days are getting shorter, cooler and wetter already in Melbourne. Thankfully, spending time inside in our craft spaces is as handy in Winter as it is in the heat of Summer!

It's time for a new Challenge at Just Add Ink. This one is from Kerry and she would like us to "Just Add Polka Dots" to our projects this week. Our design team have all created projects featuring different Polka Dots in different colours and textures. We look forward to seeing what you would like to create for this.

You have until Wednesday 3 June to enter this challenge.

My card for this challenge features some new products from the Flowering Meadow Suite and a die from the Spotlight On Nature Circle dies creates the front window that opens all the way to the inside of the card.

The flowers and leaves are attached to the outside of the window using glue dots and some flowers have stems that attach to other flower heads. This gives the flowers a little more strength and also the front of the card in general.

And inside the card there are a couple of supporting leaves that add to the design when closed and give a clean design of their own when open.

The Polka Dots that are the Challenge focus are from the Striped and Dotted DSP and is in Lost Lagoon, one of my all time favourite colours. The sentiment is from the Fabulous Sayings set and was still available last time I looked if you are interested in getting it.

The flowers were inked first in Pretty in Pink and then some Petunia pop is sponged onto the stamp before it's stamped onto paper. This was to celebrate the retiring In Colours. Next the flower stems were die cut and attached to the flower heads - and to the lower ones too using glue dots.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the cards created by the rest of the design team and entrants too. And I look forward to seeing what you might create for this challenge too!

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Basic White, Coastal Cabana,

DSP: Striped and Dotted Specialty

Ink: Lost Lagoon, Pretty in Pink, Petunia Pop

Stamps: Flowering Meadow, Fabulous Sayings

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Spotlight on Nature Dies, Flowering Meadow Dies, Basic Pearls.

'Til next time,

Jan