Funky Folds Blog Hop - October

lI'm joining in with this months Funky Folds Blog Hop. We are a group of like-minded paper crafters who love to make cards with funky folds. Funky actually means "modern and stylish in an unconventional or striking way"... in other words, cards that are not your usual rectangle/square portrait or landscape style. Think 'easel', 'pop-up', 'gatefold', 'z-fold', 'shaped' or 3D cards etc. The list is endless.

All Blog Hops have an 'anything goes' theme and you may have come from Mo Roote's blog and her fabulous project!

My card is called a WV Fold card as that is the shape you see from above.  I was inspired by a card made by Susan Campfield and mine is for a special,  pink loving friend's birthday. 

I've used the Flowering Meadow Bundle and several pieces of the Velvet Meadow DSP . 

This paper features some white flocking on the images which adds another layer of texture and interest - it's especially lovely in person as it's designed to be touched.

The flower images on the front of the card are fussy cut from the DSP whilst the greenery is cut using the dies that co-ordinate with the stamp set. You can see the raised white dots on the left of the card and flower centres feature the white flocking too.

These daisies on the inside, smaller panel, are created using coloured card stock and the stamp and die bundle.

This last page is rather busy - the happy birthday is die cut from Pink card from the Velveteen Assortment pack. It's special flocked paper that works with the white details in this DSP. 

And this area on the back is added for somewhere to write a message. The sentiment stamps used here are retired now and were offered as a monthly special stamp set earlier this year. 

Thanks for stopping by to see my card!

Next you are heading off to see Tracy Held and her amazing project. If you get lost along the way, there is a full list of those taking part at the end of this post.

Card stock: Berry Burst, Peaceful Pine, Daffodil Delight, Cloud Cover, Bubble Bath

Inks: Berry Burst, Versamark, Bubble Bath

Stamps: Flowering Meadow, Fern & Flora, Fabulous Sayings, Attention Shoppers (retired).

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Flowering Meadow dies, Fern & Flora dies, Well Worded dies, White EP, twine

See below for a full list of those taking part in this month's Hop.

Colour Inkspiration #218 Boxes of Joy

 

It's a long weekend in Melbourne as Friday was a holiday in honour of the Footy Final and the weather was cold outside so it was the perfect time to head for the craft room.

At Colour Inkspiration this week, they have a combo with a Winter warmer feel.

And it made me think of perhaps doing something Christmas related.

I had bought the Box of Joy stamp set recently and mainly because of the "Spoiler alert: it's not a pony" sentiment as 2 of my teenage nieces are horse mad and this saying made me smile! But in the process of deciding what colour of card stock to use as the box...I realised I had used all 3 colours and so decided to use them all for this week's challenge.

All three of the little boxes are made using last year's Jolly Delivery dies and embossed using the Plaid EF.

This image from Unbridled Beauty was my starting point and I wanted the fun sentiment to be a highlight so it is embossed in white on red card. 

I also have a teenage nephew and he is car mad....though the ironic thing here is that I am the only family member with a VW! 😂 A retired set for the image but the new set provides the sentiment again here. Black satin ribbon beneath the red & white twine helps give that black tie masculine look.

And last but not least is this adult - or maybe not - chocolate themed gift box. 

The sweet images are also from the Box of Joy and are coloured with Blends and fussy cut. I forgot to show the back of the boxes - each has the smallest round Spotlight on Nature used as a white piece of card and a small gold circle over the locking circle used to keep te box closed.

Thanks for popping by and I hope that you like my entry for CI #218 and this encourages you to create your own project for this great challenge!

Card stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Pecan Pie, Basic White, Gold Foil

Inks: Pecan Pie, Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Stamps: Box of Joy. (Current). Unbridled Beauty, Jolly Delivery and Home for Christmas are all retired.

Accessories : Die cutting machine, Perennial Postage Dies, Spotlight on Nature dies, Plaid EF, Jolly Delivery Dies, White EP, Red grograin ribbon, Black satin ribbon, Red & White twine.

"Til next time,

Jan

Koookaburra Flys away with the Star JAI #795

 

Happy Friday and welcome to what in Melbourne, is a long weekend to celebrate the AFL footy final. Something many of us here in Victoria raise eyebrows about. But this year, will be interesting - Sunshine for the holiday on Friday and for Sunday but game day- rain and apparently during the game! Perhaps the weather is responding to neither of the teams being local?? Or perhaps it could be to give those of us not particularly interested in the game a reason to be in our craft rooms. 😉 Perhaps I could support the team with longest odds whilst I make a card and maybe you might join me? 😀

This week at Just Add Ink  we have one of our regular challenges - to Just Add Stencils, Dies or both. And from now on, these challenges will have a theme to help spark your creativity. This week the theme is KIDS. Our design team has pulled out all the stops, lots a of dies and a few stencils too to help give you some starting points and we'd love you to join us and add your entry over on the Just Add Ink blog. You have until Wednesday 30 September so lots of time to plan your creation.

For my card....I took this and kind of hopped with it! I used lots of dies to create my Aussie Christmas scene card. You will know the old Nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle -where the dish ran away with the spoon. Well, let me give you an Aussie version - where the Kooka(burra) flew away with the star! 😂

Firstly, the kangaroo and joey and the cheeky little kookaburra are all from the Joyful Christmas stamp set. Unfortunately there are no dies with this set - and no NZ animals which I do find rather sad as a Kiwi myself....but we'll save that for another day.

For the background, I've used the wonderful Christmas Words Hybrid EF which has both the EF to emboss all these words and then a matching die to cut them all out - which was used to cut out the sentiment after I coloured it using Blends. You do have to move quickly if colouring so the ink doesn't spread off the letters.

Then the Tree and all it's decorations are from the retired Decorative Trees Bundle. Here the base tree is water coloured on regular card stock and then the some Red foil is used to create a tinsel effect and then there are the foil baubels and the glimmer star  and tree base are all cut using dies from this set. 

This card I will use to send to family members and / or friends with kids as the roo and joey seems a real family friendly image to me and whilst it might be going out on a bit of a tree limb for this challenge I hope it is something the kids enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you might like to join us at Just Add Ink for this challenge and I look forward to seeing what Kid friendly Die and /or Stencil creations you might make this fortnight!

Card stock: Shaded Spruce, Basic White, Gold Foil, Gold Glimmer

Designer Series Paper : Joy of Christmas (long retired), 

Stamps: Joyful Friends

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Shaded Spruce, Blends.

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Christmas Words Hybrid EF, Decorative Trees Bundle, Water Brush, Wink of Stella, Red and white twine

'Til next time,

Jan

Joyful Koala for JAI #794

Happy Friday and welcome! Here in Melbourne, Spring has officially sprung! And the garden is listening with the jonquils and daffodils and blossoms all beginning to bloom! So it is a very pretty time walking past the neighbour's gardens to the dog park this time of year.

At Just Add Ink  this week we have a Clean & Simple Sketch for you from me! So I hope that you like working with it. Our design team have all created beautiful projects to inspire you and we really hope that you will join us. You have until Wednesday 23 September to enter your project - card or scrap layout - over at the Just Add Ink blog.

September 1 is also the day the SU Catalog with Christmas products has now been released and so I chose to create an Aussie themed Christmas card for this sketch. 

This beautiful koala in a wreath of gum leaves is a gorgeous image and this is the first time I've coloured it up, I am the only member of my close family living "over here" so this will be winging it over the water to NZ. 

Of course we need a little bling and there is some Silver Glimmer paper behind the sentiment and Wink of Stella all over the koala image.

The leaf from the Ferns & Flora Dies could be a eucalyptus leaf and so is added on the lower circle - to give the koala the energy to make it "across the ditch" as we say. 😅

I've been here in Australia over 25 years now and that is almost half my life....it wasn't my original plan but I suspect many people have made plans that change as time goes on too!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the projects from the design team and entrants and I'd love to see your creation too!

Card stock: Basic White, Coastal Cabana, Grey Granite, Peaceful Pine,

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Peaceful Pine

Stamps: Joyful Friends

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Spotlight on Nature Dies, Postage Stamp Dies, Plaid EF, White Twine, Metallic Sequins collection.

These days I'm mostly a hobby Demo but I'm thinking about running some small number classes for people able to come to me in the run up to  Christmas. So if you'd be interested, please leave me a comment either here or on my Insta @mcqueenjan or via the SU Demo search and I'll be in touch.

'Til next time,

Jan

You Make the World a Better Place for JAI #793

 

Happy Friday everyone and welcome! It is only 4 sleeps until Spring is here in Australia and I can hardly wait! I love Spring as the garden starts to wake up and is filled with colour again. Here in Melbourne, we definitely experience all Four Seasons and the colour and extra daylight hours of Spring are so special!

This week at Just Add Ink we have this Colour And Inspiration Challenge. For these types of challenges you can use either the Image or at least 3 of the colours or both. Our Design team have made a variety of cards to show these different options. You have until Wednesday 9th September to enter your project and I hope that you can join us!

For my card, I chose to use the Colours and added 4 of these - Poppy Parade, Old Olive , Mossy Meadow and Crumb Cake. This wasn't an easy challenge for me as none of these colours are ones I use often. But a challenge is about stretching you and enabling you to grow.  😊

I started with this beautiful piece of Moonlit Flora DSP and went from there. 

I created a posy using the white - card stock and then white embossing on Old Olive and then adding more of the greens with the different leaf fronds. Next the flowers were cut from Poppy Parade and white card and topped with a teeny tiny white pearl.

The sentiment is from the same Bundle and so is the frame outline. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that are able to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the design team cards and entrants for inspiration and are able to join us.

Card Stock: Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Basic White

DSP: Moonlit Flora

Stamps: Fern & Flora

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Fern & Flora Dies, White EP, Gold Ribbon, Basic Pearls

'Til next time,

Jan

Just Because Pet Sympathy for CI #215

Hello and welcome! It's the weekend and I'm grateful for finally starting to feel better after battling fevers for a few weeks now. Hopefully it will be onwards and upwards from here on.

Today, I'm playing along with the team at Colour Inkspiration Challenges  who have this very pretty Colour combo this week. I love Pool Party and Night of Navy but the other two colours I must admit I haven't looked at for a little while so this is a great opportunity to show them some love.

During the week, a friend shared how upset they and their kids are over having to say goodbye to their family dog at the vets. It was just a two week illness and came as such a shock. Saying goodbye to a dog where the kids can't remember life without them is such a tough time for kids and parents alike. So this card is for their family.

To create my card, I started with the four Challenge colours in card stock and cut these into 1cm and 1/2" strips. These were used to create a horizontal background pattern, on a piece of Basic White which was then added to a Basic White card base.

Next, there is a little spray of leaves using the beautiful Fern and Flora dies. I love the fabulous, deep textural details these dies produce and the little butterfly also has a pretty and detailed design and here is white embossed.

The white strip of paws sits just under another layer of navy card, white embossed with the sentiment. And the finishing touches are a swirl of white twine and a little sprinkling of silver sequins.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you enjoy your weekend and the last week of Winter ahead.

You too can enter and see more details about this challenge at Colour Inkspiration Challenges. You have until Monday at 5pm to get your project in.

Card stock: Pool Party, Night of Navy, Flirty Flamingo, Calypso Coral, Basic White

Inks: Versamark

Stamps: Fern & Flora, Flowering Meadow

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Fern & Flora dies, Cutest Crew Dies, White EP, White Twine, Metallic Sequins Assortment.

'Til next time,

Jan

Fern & Flora Flowers and Circles for JAI #792

We're almost through the coldest part of Winter here in Australia and the flowers in the garden are starting to grow again. Bulbs are starting to push up from the soil and the Wattle, a native tree is beginning to bloom. Spring is coming soon and I can't wait! I have not been very well this Winter and I am looking forward to warmer days.

This week at Just Add Ink we have Choose Two Challenge from Tristan. She would like you to Just Add Two or more of  Gingham, Circles, Flowers or Sequins. The design team have created cards with mixtures of combinations of these and we hope that you will enjoy playing along with us!

I have a special card for you today that I made for a lovely young person celebrating a special birthday. This is how the card appears when you bring it out of the envelope.
For the Challenge elements,  I have used Flowers and Circles for my Choose Two items.
This card design is from Sue Campfield and she calls this design a Tuck and Reveal Fun Fold Card. I am guessing the name is because you Tuck the left side of the card in behind, in this case, the back of the circles to close it and the Reveal comes later when you open it.
I followed along with Sue's fabulous Youtube demo of this card from her blog but changed the dimensions slightly, just to lengthen the card to suit the C6 Envelopes we use here in Australia. 

And here is the "Reveal!" When the card is opened, both the  3D tower and the raised square box element pop up. This design is perfect for a special occasion!

I chose to use the gorgeous Moonlit Flora DSP. The recipient is a lover of pink and I thought to mix the moody green with the little berry flowers paper with the pop of the berry diamonds for a contrast - and a berry surprise when opening!  And whilst there is a room to address and sign the card here, there is a place for a message on the back.

The recipient can display the card without the message needing to be obvious.

The design in the circle was inspired by the DSP itself. The stamped floral spray is coloured with Blends and has some berry stamped leaves behind it and then the layers of different green, die cut leaves. I adore the amount of texture that is in these leaves and flowers. As someone with vision impaired friends and as a volunteer who has held card making classes for vision impaired people, I am always on the lookout for products that you can touch and note the texture.  And these are some of the most detailed leaves I've found. I love the variety of the die cut leaves...some of them make me a little homesick for NZ too. 

So my card has Circles and Flowers - and almost gingham in the pink - added. Which items out of Gingham, Flowers, Circles or Sequins might you add for our Just Add Ink challenge this fortnight? 
You have until 7pm on Wednesday 26th August to enter your project and we'd love to see it!

Card stock: Secret Sea, Basic White, Silver Foil, Pretty Peacock, Granny Apple Green, Berry Burst.

DSP: Moonlit Flora 

Inks: Berry Burst, Momento Tuxedo Black, 

Blends: Berry Burst, Old Olive, Shaded Spruce

Stamps: Fern & Flora, Artistically Inked

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Spotlight On Nature Dies, Large Number Dies (retired), Fern & Flora, Silver ribbon, rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by!

'Til next time,

Jan