Just Add Ink #216

Welcome everyone to a wonderful Friday! Today's is a very special post as I have been invited to share as a Guest Designer this week at Just Add Ink and I am super excited as they are such a talented team and I love to play along with their challenges :-)
And the challenge this week is to "Just Add Water Colour" - so fabulous as water colouring is so "in"  at the moment! I hope you have time to pop over and check out all the wonderful inspiration they have for you :-)

In the meantime here is my card :

The main water colouring is in the background  - although I did use an Aqua Painter to colour the Lobster too!

For the background I used some Water colour paper and gave it a soft wash of colour with Pool Party and Coastal Cabana inks - adding water and ink with a paint brush to get the right amount of colour and blending. Then, whilst the paper was still wet I sprinkled on a small amount of salt - Rock Salt in this case as it has larger granules than the Table variety - and allowed to dry naturally. Less is more when it comes to the salt as otherwise you may find you have more "bubbles" than water as in this my first attempt :-) 

When the (second version) paper was dry I stamped it with the plant image from By the Tide and then cut it out with the Square Framelits.

Card stock: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Water Colour Paper

Inks: Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Island Indigo, Smoky Slate

Stamps: By the Tide, A Dozen Thoughts

Accessories: Big Shot, Square Framelits, Decorative Dots EF, Silver Basic Buttons, Burlap Ribbon, Hemp Twine, Aqua Painter, Basic Rhinestones, Paint brush, Rock Salt

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out the amazing cards the Design Team at Just Add Ink have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you create for this challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Thinking of Sally

Good afternoon and what a mild Autumn day it is too here in Melbourne! It has been at least a week since I have had the fun of playing along with a challenge and  I was needing to make some doggie cards for some animal loving friends and Le Anne's  sketch at The Paper Players this week seems perfect!

There are some cute new dog and cat stamps coming in the new Catalogue available here in July but for now I turned to a retired favourite:

This stamp is so like my own Sally I had to mirror her red collar :-) But more on Sal later…

The card base is of course the bright and lovely Real Red and the DSP is from the Polka Dot Parade pack which has seen a lot of cards this year!

To stamp the "Sally replica":-) I used a Stamp a Ma Jig to line up the images to make them look a little like a walking dog.

Card stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Polka Dot Parade

Inks: Real Red, Black Stazon

Stamps: D is for Dog (Retired), So Happy for You (Saleabration, retired)

Accessories: 3/4 and 1" circle punches, Basic Rhinestones, Stamp -A- Ma-Jig

Now this card was definitely made with Sally in mind - she spent a day last week in Hospital having X-rays and it seems her limping is caused by worsening hip dysplasia. We are resting her completely to try and avoid the need for a hip replacement for several reasons - one, she is a Rescued girl and gets really anxious away from home and two - not being able to play again with her best friend Monty will break her (and his) heart.

This photo was taken some weeks ago now but its still obvious they are happy together :-)

Hopefully after a rest she will be able to be back on top of things and showing her younger friend she still has it soon!

In the meantime, I hope you have time to check out all the wonderful designers cards at the Paper Players and maybe you might be inspired to join in too.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy day for the Paper Craft Crew

Welcome to another mild Autumn day in Melbourne! A sprinkling of rain but at least its not cold :-) I have had a lovely day as a good friend that attended our Convention last week popped in with the new Catalogue for me to see - and all her amazing swaps! Such fun!! And now being Wednesday, it is time for another sketch from the Paper Craft Crew.

An interesting sketch this week!! And if you are wondering how to incorporate all those chevrons…you are not alone :-) So it is a good challenge for me too! 

I decided to change the heart shape to a circle which led to the making of a square card :-)

For the card base I used some Whisper White card and the DSP is from the soon retiring I Am Me pack  which I will miss! This is added to a piece of Calypso coral embossed with my favourite Decorative dots EF - so glad this is coming back soon!!

I embossed the spray image from Happy Watercolor with Black EP before getting out my little paint brush and using some more water colouring ideas from the recent Online Card Class and used both Calypso Coral and Strawberry Slush inks - and some Pacific Point on the butterfly. Embossing the images really does make it easier for the water (and colour) to stay where you want it :-)

For the greeting I used a stamp from A Dozen Thoughts and stamped directly onto the Calypso coral card, cutting it out with the fun Word bubble Framelits. The chevrons are punched with Chevron Border punch and then their wings were trimmed down a little :-) And then it was time for some Bling!

Card stock: Whisper White, Calypso Coral

Designer Series Paper: I Am Me

Inks: Calypso Coral, Strawberry Slush, Versamark, Black Stazon

Stamps: Happy Watercolor, A Dozen Thoughts, Papillon Potpourri

Accessories: BS, Decorative Dots EF, Circle Framelits, Word Bubble Framelits, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Paint brush, Chevron Border Punch, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out all the great cards the Design Team members have for you this week at the Paper Craft Crew.

As for me…well, my good friend has been kind enough to lend me her copy of the Catalogue overnight so I'd better go get reading :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hello more water colouring

Hello everyone, what a wet morning we woke up to today! Quite a shock to the system after the mild Autumn weather we have been enjoying…but it had to come to an end of course!
So it was a great opportunity to practise some water colouring techniques from the Online Water Color classes last week. These classes simply involve watching videos of the techniques (so is not hard!) and a PDF Tutorial is also available for each technique too.

So here is some of my "home work" - another background and also colouring of a stamped image.

I won't go into detail about the techniques used as they are based on the Class tutorials but I am happy to share how I pulled it all together :-)

The card base is Strawberry Slush and for the background I used Strawberry Slush, So Saffron and Crisp Cantaloupe inks.

And the flower spray is from the Happy Watercolor set and I decided to emboss it with Black embossing powder to make it easier to colour.  The flower colours are a mixture of the Strawberry and Calypso Coral and some Gumball Green used for the stems. For consistency both the little butterfly and the greeting are also embossed in Black :-)

Lots of Corner Rounder-ing here :-) here and a few sparkles of Rhinestone bling complete this real "girly" card :-)

Card stock: Strawberry Slush, Water colour Paper

Inks: Strawberry Slush, So Saffron, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Pacific Point, Versamark

Stamps: Happy Watercolor, A Dozen Thoughts, Papillon Potpourri, 

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Corner Rounder Punch, Linen Thread, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stop pig by today, I hope you have a wonderful week - and don't forget to stop by on Friday for a special post :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Water Colour background 2

Good afternoon! Well it is official - this has been the warmest 13 days in May ever!! Wow!! And I must admit that 22 degrees Celsius in May is fine by me - more like Queensland weather than Melbourne but it is just so pleasant :-)

Today I have another card that is inspired by the Online Water Colour Class I took last week. You can find out more details about that here 

The technique to create the background involves ink and an Acrylic block and was shared by Laura Bassen. I won't go into detail about the background because it was part of the class content but I will show you how it morphed from a background to a finished card!

So here is the background - you can see I used a large Acrylc block and the pencil lines I used to line it up by. And to create the "Moon" I punched a 1" circle and used the negative of the circle to create a mask which I then coloured with a Versamark marker and then embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. 

Next I stamped the sailing ship image in Black Stazon ink and coloured the sails with a White Gel Pen. Then came the finishing details…

A touch of the rustic with the Burlap Ribbon and some twine and an Antique Brad :-)

Card stock: Island Indigo, Water colour paper, Whisper White

Ink: Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Versamark

Stamps: The Open Sea, Four You

Accessories: Antique Brad, Navy Bakers Twine, Burlap Ribbon, Clear EP

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I hope that you too might be able to look into some water colouring - it seems to be the latest trend at the moment and the Class provides so many different techniques to make it easy for everyone - even me :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Starbursts for the Paper Craft Crew

Good evening everyone! Well, what another beautiful Autumn day in Melbourne. Yes, that's right, I am not at Convention! And although I'd love to be there, it has worked out for the best as my best doggie friend, Sally is not very well and I wouldn't have been able to leave her to go anyway. She spent the day at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital yesterday and is wanting to stay very close to Mum today.
So like most Mums, I'm taking advantage of the fact that she is sleeping to share a card for the Paper Craft Crew! I hope you are able to check out all the fabulous cards the Design Team have made to inspire you this week. Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on it :

 I decided to make a standard sized (fits a C6 Envelope ) card and use one of my favourite stamp sets - Starburst Sayings. Now ideally I would've paired this with the World map background stamp….but as that's still on the Wish List I found this lovely (retired) DSP instead! It is from the Fan Fare pack and I was saving it for something special - such as this :-) The colours I took from the DSP - and I will miss both these retiring In Colours - esp Midnight Muse, which has been my "go to" navy colour the last two years! The World image is inked in both colours and then the "World" in green was cut out and added with dimensionals to the Midnight version.
The Chevron cork pieces are from the Saleabration Sweet Sorbet Accessories pack and so I cut the banner using Framelits from a Cork sheet too.
Both the arrows and heart are made from the gorgeous Silver Foil card stock. Cork and silver - just loving all the texture available! For the arrows I used the Label Card Thinlits and shortened both of them. And the heart is punched from the (retired) 3 heart punch.

Card stock: Gumball Green, Whisper White, Silver Foil
Designer Series paper: Fan Fair (retired)
Inks: Midnight Muse, Gumball Green
Stamps: Starburst Sayings
Accessories: Big Shot, Label Card Thinlits, Starburst Framelits, Banner Framelits, Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack, 3 Heart punch (retired), Silver Sequin (Non-SU)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I look forward to seeing what you create for the Challenge this week at the Paper Craft Crew :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

More water colouring

Good evening everyone! What a lovely evening it is here in Melbourne - Mild temperatures and a gently snoring labrador to keep me company:-) Now I'd show you a photo but with legs in the air, sleeping on her back and lips ajar, slightly drooling….you get the picture - it wouldn't be very flattering!!! And yes, we are talking about a dog LOL!!

So today's card…yes, still a water colour theme but different inspiration. I saw a video by Dawn Olchefski and used this technique. Except for one rather major change - I used Watercolour paper instead of Glossy card stock. Why? Just to try it:-) And the main difference I think is that the watercolour paper absorbs ink whilst the Glossy repels it…so you need a lot more ink on the Watercolour paper.

Now I do think the idea was to have muted colours underneath the black but I couldn't resist the red - red and black…:-)

So to apply the ink I used my Aqua Painter. I started with the Crisp Cantaloupe and after a few stripes got my pattern sorted and then went back and added more colour till I had the depth I wanted. And then I repeated the process for the other two colours too.

Then I stamped the shoe image in jet Black Stazon - and the greeting too - on a separate piece of Watercolour paper. And before adding to the card, I layered the Watercolour paper onto a piece of Whisper White card so I could add it with some dimensionals. Then I used a black permanent marker to colour some Basic Rhinestones.

Card stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Watercolour Paper

Inks: Crisp Cantaloupe, So Saffron, Real Red, Black Stazon ( Black permanent marker)

Stamps: Fabulous You

Accessories: Aqua painter, Crisp Cantaloupe Twine, Basic Rhinestones, Hexagon punch (for banner flag ends)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Water coloured background

Hello everyone I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday? Mine has been a little busier than I'd planned but it's now time to relax! We have had almost a week of unseasonably warm weather and I must say I've loved it :-) Temperatures in the early 20's (Centigrade) and sunny days towards the end of Autumn are just wonderful for both humans and their veggie gardens LOL!

For todays' card I decided to try something new. During the week I enrolled for a week of classes - videos you can take at your own pace etc. and NOT a marked class :-) So do check them out. Seeing as I purchased the Tutorial and the teachers went to a lot of trouble, I won't be sharing details on the techniques - you can find more information by following the button link.

So I decided to try a technique by Jennifer Rzasa to create a soft wash background. Then I had to come up with the rest of the card while not taking away from the background  - not always as easy as you think! THIS is what took me the time  - I tried multiple images…before deciding on this:

And yes, I used ink to create the background - some Pool Party, and Pacific Point. For the Butterfly I stamped him first in Versamark and then Pacific Point ink before heat embossing. then I used the same wash technique to colour him before cutting out and layering over a Die cut Vellum butterfly. I also added a layer of Whisper White card under the Watercolour paper to help it lie flat and because I wanted to raise it on dimensionals

To colour the greeting I inked the stamp first in Pool Party and then rolled the edges of the stamp in the Pacific Point - its called the "Rock and Roll" technique and details can be found.here. Now as for card stock I actually used Island Indigo for the base and behind the tag - because I created the colour of the back ground and it is a bluey- green, the Indigo seemed the way to go!

Card stock: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Watercolour paper, Vellum

Inks: Pacific Point, Pool Party

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Sassy Salutations

Access: Paint brush, Big Shot, Bigz Beautiful Butterflies die, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Basic Rhinestones, Hand held hole punch ( NON- SU),  

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

More Film for the Paper Craft Crew

Good afternoon this sunny Wednesday and welcome! What a wonderful Autumn day ii is - Crisp morning but beautiful sunshine most of the day - I hope it stays like this for Winter :-) And now its time for another sketch from the Paper Craft Crew.

I still had the fabulous I Am Me DSP on my desk from yesterday's card and couldn't resist using it again :-)

For the card base I used Real Red a card and added a layer of White under the DSP layer. Next I cut some of the gorgeous Silver Glimmer Paper with the Starburst Framelits and layered that under the Tag - which is hand cut as this punch is still on my Wish List :-)

Then I stamped the Globe from the Around the World stamp set on the Tag and the plane on another piece of card and fussy cut this out and added with a tiny piece of dimensional…

Next the Camera from the On Film Framelits is first inked up with a So Saffron marker before running it through the Big Shot as I like how this gives the embossed lines and markings some added depth. For the greeting I went with the fabulous saying from the Word Bubbles and cut some more DSP and flagged the ends for underneath . And last - but never least! - some beautiful red sequins to complete the sketch details. So two quite different cards using the same products!

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper

DSP: I Am Me

Inks: Real Red, Pool Party, So Saffron (marker)

Stamps: All Around the World, Just Sayin'

Accessories: Big Shot, On Film Framelits, Word Bubble Framelits, Starburst Framelits, Red Sequins (Non- SU)

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you can pop over to the Paper Craft Crew to see all the great cards the Team have come up with to inspire you today and I look forward to seeing what you create!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

All Around the Sketch and an Announcement!

Good evening everyone! I hope you have had a good Tuesday? I have had a full day and am ready for a quieter one tomorrow :-) Between dog walks and some grocery shopping I did have the pleasure of a friend's company this afternoon - so much fun to see my good friend Katerina and she even brought some Show and Tell!! Sadly I completely missed the opportunity to take some photos to show you her amazing Scrap booking pages - so it will have to be next time! And now here is a card for this week's challenge at Just Add Ink - a sketch! Now before I get onto the sketch I do have some wonderful news: As the Winner for last week's challenge I have received an invitation to join the JAI team as a Guest Designer for a challenge later this month!! I am so excited as you can see by how often I've entered that I do love their challenges :-) So it is such a lovely honour - thank you Ladies!
Now for the Sketch :

And without further ado…here is my card

Sorry about all those shadows!

This lovely DSP only came this week and I've been looking forward to pairing it with the On Film Framelits :-)

The card base is Real Red with a layer of Whisper White on top and then the fun begins with all the angled cutting - not quite as easy as it looks but once I'd got my first angle, I just kept them the same down the card. the Film Frame is added with dimensionals as are all the stamped images :-) The camera die I coloured with a So Saffron marker before running through the Big Shot - as the die embosses as well as cuts and this just gives a bit of added depth to the lines and helps them stand out a bit more. 

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White, So Saffron

Designer Series Paper: I Am Me

Inks: Basic Grey, Real Red, So Saffron (Marker)

Stamps: All Around the World, Just Sayin

Accessories: Big Shot, On Film Framelits, Word Bubble Framelits, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out the fabulous inspiration by the Team at Just Add ink and maybe you might be inspired to enter too  - you never know, YOU may be the next Guest Designer :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Butterflies for Can You Case It

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers today! I hope you are having a wonderful day being spoilt by old and young :-) So special to be able to celebrate with your Mum and thank her for all that she does and has done!
And I also have a card for you today for Can You Case It's challenge this week to make a Single Layer card.

Whilst I am loving the"clean and simple"style these days I usually still like to add a layer or two of colour so this was a good challenge for me :-)

So I couldn't help myself  - the butterfly is stamped twice and popped up but it still fits the brief of a single Card Layer :-)

The card base is of course white and I started by first embossing a butterfly on this base with Gold Embossing Powder and colouring it in Strawberry Slush ink with a Blender pen. Then I repeated that on a scrap piece of White to add on a dimensional.

And Gorgeous Grunge came to the rescue for the background again! I stamped the lines images in Sahara Sand and the Dots in Coastal Cabana ink creating a little ink frame :-)

For the Greeting I used "A Dozen Thoughts" in Strawberry Slush and then it was time to add the second butterfly and some embellishments…

I started with the largest of the Vintage Faceted buttons in the corner of the 'frame" and added a White Bakers Twine bow to it and then added a couple of sequins from the Sequin Trim and trimmed down a little Gold Foil chevron to help the little greeting stand out and blend in with the gold embossing on the butterfly :-)

Card stock: Whisper White, Gold Foil Specialty

Inks: Sahara Sand, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Versamark

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Gorgeous Grunge, A Dozen thoughts

Accessories: Gold EP, Blender Pens, Vintage Faceted designer button, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Gold Sequin Trim, Chevron Punch

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have time to pop over to Can You Case It and see the cards the talented Design Team has come up with this week and maybe you too might be inspired to join in too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

A"Pearler" for the Paper Craft Crew

Today has been a bit of a busy day for me, running around to various appointments but at least the sun has been shining and the rain has been banished for one day anyhow! I must make it sound like it is always raining in Melbourne but actually, we have just had one of the driest Summers on record! But maybe that's why when it does rain everyone notices it and after a day or so of it we have had enough thanks :-)
And so my card for this week's sketch at the Paper Craft Crew has an Underwater theme LOL!

The Design Team have come up with some great samples to inspire you so do take some time and pop over and have a look if you can :-) Here's my take on the sketch:

My inspiration also came from The Stamp Review Crew blog hop this week where they featured the By the Tide stamp set with some amazing creations! So I decided to feature the Sea horse - one little fellow I haven't used that often, and the shell.

For the card base I used some Bermuda Bay and used the same colour for the square Frame. The frame was easily created with the Square Framelits and I cut the stamped card behind with the larger of the two squares.

Next I passed half the Whisper White piece through the Big Shot with the Decorative Dots EF - I love this folder, it looks like bubbles and am so glad it is going to become available again soon! Then I stamped a piece of Crumb Cake with some Gorgeous Grunge in Baked Brown Sugar and added the Burlap ribbon over the top. The Burlap is so wide I decided to add some White Bakers Twine over the top too!

The shell itself is quite shiny - I embossed the image with White Embossing Powder onto white card stock and then coloured over it with a Crumb Cake marker. I love how it turned out - Like a shell in the sand :-)

Inside the frame I first stamped the "splatter" image from Gorgeous Grunge in Pool Party ink. I wanted this really subtle so I stamped off twice beforehand. Then I used a sponge to add more Pool Party ink to cover the entire panel. Next I stamped the plant image in Baked Brown Sugar, and finally the greeting in Real Red over the top.

The cute little Sea horse is stamped in Real Red and then coloured using a Crisp Cantaloupe marker and  then it was time for all the  pearls! The sketch called for the three large ones on the ribbon and I used more pearls inside the frame for the same reason. Then it was hard to stop really :-) Of course the Sea horses needed some eyes and then the shell couldn't be left out now could it :-) Such a fun card to make!

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Inks: Pool Party, Baked Brown Sugar, Real Red, Crisp Cantaloupe, Versamark

Stamps: By the Tide, A Dozen thoughts, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF, Square Framelits, White EP, Burlap Ribbon, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Basic Pearls

Thank you so much for popping by today and I do hope you have time to check out the rest of the Design Team cards for the Paper Craft Crew this week and I can't wait to see what you will be inspired to create!

Happy Stamping until next time,

Jan

Congratulations with Flowers

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are having a great afternoon at your place today - here in Melbourne it feels like Winter has arrived already -  we have some heavy rain and freezing wind to keep us inside!! I had hoped to go into the City this afternoon to the Dog Lover's Show that's on this weekend but hopefully the weather is kinder tomorrow and we can go then instead.  Of course an afternoon inside has its bonuses and so here is a card for the Inspiration photo challenge at Just Add Ink this week  - a little earlier than expected :-)

Isn't that so pretty? Pink, gold, blue and white and chevrons :-) And one of those cushions on the sofa has gold Polka dots….which reminded me of the Fancy Foil Gold Vellum :-)

The only problem for me was the flowers - I don't have that many of them currently as am waiting to see what's in the new Catalogue ...but after much ado trying to make some scalloped punch ones and Clay ones …..I decided to go with a slightly different style of layered flower :-) 

The card base is the retired Pretty In Pink and next is a layer of Whisper White underneath the Vellum. Frames are something I am loving at the moment and so used the Oval Framelits to create one here for the Gold embossed greeting.

So the flower is from the Happy Watercolor stamp set and here is stamped and embossed in Gold three times and coloured and layered with a Gold sequin from the Sequin Trim used as a centre. To colour the flower I used a Blender pen - though am looking forward to being able to try the Blendabilities markers soon!! Some Strawberry Slush ink around the edges and lighter toward the centre. 

The punched chevrons have a little gold ink sponged onto them before being added with some dimensionals and the twine is 3 circles - each put together like a figure of 8 with glue dots .

Card stock: Pretty in Pink (retired) Pool Party, Whisper White, Gold Foil Specialty

Designer Series Paper: Gold Fancy Foil Vellum

Inks: Versamark, Encore Gold, Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink

Stamps: Sassy Salutations, Happy Watercolor

Accessories: Big Shot, Oval Framelits, Chevron Punch, Hemp Twine (retired), Gold Sequin Trim, Gold Embossing powder, Beautiful Wings Embossilits

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you can check out the wonderful samples by the Design Team at Just Add Ink and be inspired to have a go to!

And seeing as we missed the Dog Lover's Show in the City today here are a couple of photos of our Sally (black Lab) playing with her best friend Monty - Sal's had a sprained hock ( ankle)  - prob due to their rough play! - and has been resting this last week so it was a very happy reunion for the two besties yesterday!

Monty's smile here is obvious - but if you look closely, Sal too is smiling and oh so relaxed!

But she's not off her feet for long - let the teasing begin, who will make the first move??

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan