Just Add "W" JAI #286

This week has been pretty busy as Sally the Lab had surgery for a dislocating knee. She is doing really well and walking/limping out for essentials better than expected with a just a little support needed through her harness. But it will be 6-8 weeks before X-rays reveal if the very strict exercise restrictions can be lifted. Fingers crossed :-)

 And it's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week we have a brand new type of challenge for you! Tina has suggested we "Just Add W" so that is anything to do with the letter "w". It could be a technique or a concept or different elements including stamps and accessories - anything that you can think of! The Team have all come up with brilliant ideas to inspire your creativity so I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and take a look!

For my card I decided to go with Winter - and the Winter Wonderland DSP to be specific - as well as the lovely Wooden element :-) So you see this fun challenge is quite open to interpretation and there are so many options!

I've used the Sleigh Ride Edgelits with both white and gold card some other gold accessories for this night time Christmas card. And you may be able to see that I've added a little bit of gold foil behind all the windows too :-)

Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper white (thick), Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Winter Wonderland

Ink: Tuxedo Momento Black

Stamps: Jingle All The Way

Accessories: Big Shot, Sleigh Ride Edgelits, Snowflake Elements, Gold Cord Trim, Metallic Sequin Assortment.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see the wonderful ways ( yes, puns intended lol ) the Team have used "w" in their creations and I really look forward to seeing what you will choose this week!

In the meantime here is a fun little plaque that was given to me by a friend the day that Sally came home from the vet -very appropriate it seemed too!

Even if "runs the house" is from her bed at the moment :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Butterfly Thoughts

Today's card was inspired in part by the colours at Just Add Ink this week and also last week's challenge of using a Fancy Fold. I came across this fold - aptly called a "Gap " card and whilst it's name reminded me of the year often taken off by students between finishing at School and beginning at University…the style was one that I hoped would suit this otherwise very cleans and simple sympathy card for a friend.

 Yes, quite literally there is a GAP in the front of the card and in this case it is the navy and pink butterfly that holds it all together. A row of pink sequins and of pearls, a little draping gold cord and this clean, simple and full of bling card is ready to post.

Card stock: Whisper White (thick and usual),

Inks: Not Quite Navy, Pink Pirouette, Encore Gold (retired)

Stamps: A Dozen Thoughts, Floral Wings

Accessories: Metallic Sequins, Gold Cording Trim, Pink sequin trim, Basic Pearls

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you are inspired to try a different folding card again this week :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Flower Patch JAI #285

Welcome to another lovely Friday - this week has really flown! I had a lovely day yesterday for my birthday - lots of flowers and phone calls and lovely cards and the celebrations are due to continue on today too! So I have been totally spoilt :-)

And it's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and the lovely Nikki  has suggested these gorgeous colours for us all to use.  The design team have created really lovely projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look :-)

And here is my card:

These colours are so elegant and I couldn't resist using them for a friend's birthday card using a stamp set I haven't used for a little while - Flower Patch. With the Mint Macaron being a green it made sense to use that for the leaves and I love how the navy base brings out the "pink" tones in the Blushing Bride : -)

Card stock: Whisper White (Thick), Smoky Slate, 

Designer Series Paper: Neutrals Stack

Inks: Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron

Stamps: Flower Patch

Access: Big Shot, Flower Fair Framelits, Iced and Basic Rhinestones

Non SU: Stitched Fishtail Dies (My Favourite Things)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the wonderful cards the team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with these gorgeous colours this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hello Poinsettia for PCCCS #167

Welcome and a happy Wednesday to you! This week at The Paper Craft Crew our challenge is something a little different  -  we have a Colour challenge for you as our monthly variation from the usual sketches. Pam has suggested these lovely bright colours for us to choose just three from to play with this week. The design team have created a great variety of cards to inspire you so I hope you can pop on over and have a look.

Here is my card:

I will say that this challenge was a hard one for me as these are not colours I usually use. So it really was an opportunity to move outside my comfort zone and grow a little. The colours are excellent for a Fall or Autumn theme for those in the Northern Hemisphere and here in Australia it is of course Spring so I decided to use that as my inspiration to put these colours to work :-) 

The flower is created using the new Poinsettia Punch and the co-ordinating stamp, Reason for the Season. A touch of the always Gorgeous Grunge and a strip of polka dot DSP and some rhinestones for bling and it all came together :-)

Card stock: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White (thick)

Designer Series Paper: Brights Designer Series Paper Stack

Inks: Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Momento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Reason For The Season, Gorgeous Grunge, Four You (retired)

Accessories: Poinsettia Punch, Iced Rhinestones, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by today and I can hope you can take a moment and pop on over to The Paper Craft Crew and see what the rest of the design team have created to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fresh colour combo too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Upright Z Fold JAI #284

Welcome to another warm Friday - the week has really flown and we have some beautiful more like Summer days already!

We have a new fun challenge for you at Just Add Ink this week. The lovely Di  has asked us to "Just Add a Fancy Fold" So that means any card that is not the standard upright or horizontal folding one and leaves the door right open for you to create something a little different and maybe even a little bit special!! The Design Team have created truly gorgeous cards of all shapes and sizes so I hope you can pop on over and be inspired to join us :-)

For my card I decided to go with an "Upright Z Fold" Christmas Card using the lovely Decorative Ornaments dies. I just love the new Red Foil and Vellum!! 

To make an Upright Z Fold  just start with a standard card folding horizontally and then fold the front in half on itself and you have the base for the Z fold. The decorated piece is cut to the same size as if it would fit on a normal card front. The idea is that it is attached only at the bottom and the top of it tucks underneath an element on the base (or back)  to help hold it upright. Here that job is done by the holly and berries.

And because it still is able to lie flat, it is easily posted too - although it might need some "operating instructions"sent with it so people know it sits up by itself as it can look a little lack lustre otherwise:-) 

Here the greeting was set lower than usual so that it doesn't get covered over by the holly. And the Red Fancy Vellum was added to some white card stock first to bring out the contrast of the red and white stripes.

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Red Foil, Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Holidays Fancy Foil Vellum

Ink: Real Red, Garden Green

Stamps: Embellished Ornaments

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Ornaments Framelits, Softly Falling EF, Gold Cording Trim,  Home For Christmas Enamel Dots, Blender Pen, Owl Builder Punch ( for berries on Holly)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the fabulous cards that the Team have made to inspire you this week and I look forward to seeing what type of "Fancy Fold" you decided to add to your card this week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Pool Garden Birthday

It is a beautiful Tuesday here in Melbourne and we have some lovely warm days ahead to look forward to. Today's card is also a celebration - for a beautiful friend's birthday!

For the background I used the same inspiration as for my Just Add Ink card this week - that of Angie Leach. I kept the colour combination that Angie used - as it's totally gorgeous -  and stepped it up a little by adding a second sized flower within the background and all the other details :-)

To create the background I stamped the two flower images in Versamark ink on Pool Party card and embossed them in white. For the large flowers I then sponged on some Pool Party ink to the petals and Island Indigo to the centres. The colours were added to the smaller flowers using a Blender Pen and any excess ink was wiped off with a paper towel so the white embossing still shines.

The 'happy" is die cut 5 times - the last from Glimmer Paper so it has real dimension as well as sparkle and compliments the butterfly too. And the "Birthday"is also white embossed to continue the theme.

A tiny little bit of silver thread for antenna and one of the fabulous Iced Rhinestones and the butterfly is finished :-)

Can you see the dimension of the "happy"? The original plan was to put the background cut "happy" back in place on the top but it didn't have the impact  I'd hoped for  - so sparkly glimmer cut one to the rescue!!

Card stock: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer

Inks: Versamark, Pool Party, Island Indigo

Stamps: Garden In Bloom, Crazy About You

Accessories: Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits, Bold Butterfly Framelits, White EP, Triple Banner Punch, Silver Metallic thread, Iced Rhinestones, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful week and are enjoying the Seasons changing wherever you are :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hello in Flowers JAI #283

Hello and welcome to another beautiful Friday! Spring has indeed sprung and today is headed to a lovely and warm 27 degrees with the possibility of a storm later. The garden is blooming despite the heat earlier in the week and the veggies are all growing well too :-)

And we have a fabulous new challenge for you at Just Add Ink. This week Narelle has a wonderful sketch for us to use. Our lovely and talented Team have created a beautiful array of creations to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Yes, I did replace the horizontal panel with a stamped image but hopefully you can still see the horizontals here! The square panel was inspired by several cards by Angie Leach where she created a floral background using white embossing and sponging the  ink onto the petals and centres. It is such a quick, easy and subtle way of adding colour that has a softness to it. For my panel I kept the colours Angie used but included a variety of images in the larger piece this was eventually  cut from. And of course the rest of the card came together as per the sketch with a few additions of shiny Gold :-)

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Inks: Versamark, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo

Stamp: Garden in Bloom, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Square Framelits, Greetings thinlits, Elegant Dots EF, Triple Banner Punch, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Gold Metallic Thread

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the wonderful cards our Team have made to inspire you this week and I look forward to seeing what you create with this lovely sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Silent Night PCCC # 165

This week we have had a record heat wave already - 34 and then 36 degrees Celsius yesterday - the hottest two days in October since records began! There were even some bush fires but hopefully with the cool change that has come through they will have been brought under control. This Fire Season is here early as things are already tinder dry and the Summer is tipped to be a hot one.

And it is Wednesday so it's time for a new challenge at The Paper Craft Crew. This week we have a great sketch for you and the Team have created a great variety of projects to inspire you so I do hope you can take a moment to pop over and have a look.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card :-)

The way the squares were placed in the sketch reminded me of a window pane and as I have yet to get the Window Framelit I used the Square Framelits to create my window.
The background uses the Emboss Resist Technique - first emboss the stars with Gold embossing powder and then sponge the sky colours onto the the white card. To create the lights in the houses I cut some vellum to fit behind each house and then coloured on the back with a Daffodil Delight marker :-)

Card stock: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Gold Glimmer, Vellum
Inks: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Versamark, Daffodil Delight (marker)
Stamps: Jingle All The Way
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Framelits, Star Framelits, Sleigh Ride Edgelits, Gently Falling EF, Gold EP, Gold Cording Trim, Triple Banner Punch

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to The Paper Craft Crew and see the projects the Team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this sketch this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

You've Got A Birthday

It has been a lovely and warm 30 degrees today - it feels more like Summer than Spring and I am not complaining :-) The footy game is over - the local Melbourne team won and I admit if I had to pick a team it would've been purely based on that :-)

Today's card is for a lovely friend who had a birthday recently and she loves all things pink so I hope she likes this one.

The beautiful bloom is water coloured onto some Shimmery White card stock using an Aqua Painter. This card type gives a soft and subtle shimmer  that is really heard to see in the photos but us beautiful in real life - and being slightly thicker than water colour paper it also holds it's shape really well with the added water. I used Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss and some Meadow Moss for the leaves and kept the water to a minimum as I wanted the colours to stay nice and bright. And when dry  I added onto another layer of the Shimmery card to keep the sparkle going :-)

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Shimmery White

Designer Series Paper: Go Wild Stack

Inks: Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, Meadow Moss, Versamark, Black Stazon

Stamps: You've Got This, Crazy About You

Accessories: Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits, White EP, Aqua Painter, Bright's Sequins Assortment

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are enjoying your weekend too!!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Just Add Inspiration JAI #282

Welcome to Friday! It is a Long Weekend here in Melbourne - a new holiday for the Final game of the Football season. I must admit the footy doesn't interest me at all but it is expected to be lovely and warm so that will be wonderful!

And we have a wonderful new challenge for you at Just Add Ink this week :-) Narelle  has suggested we use these beautiful photos for inspiration. The Team have created gorgeous cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and take a look.

Here are the photos:

Beautiful colours, stripes and pattern details - what do you see?

The first thing that jumped out at me from these photos were the wonderful stripes on the wall and the elegant mirror.  And as I do have a wedding to go to this weekend that helped me decide on a stamp set too :-) I added the grey and white strips of card against each other on a piece of White card and then re created the mirror effect using some Silver Foil card and the new Label Framelits. And am totally in love with the new Iced Rhinestones too :-)

Card stock: Whisper White (Thick and normal), Smoky Slate, Melon Mambo, Silver Foil

Inks: Versamark, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette

Stamps: For The New Two, Petite Petals

Accessories: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Framelits, Hearts A Flutter Framelits (Retired), Petite Petals Punch, Silver EP,White Organza Ribbon, Iced Rhinestones, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the wonderful creations the Team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with these beautiful photos this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan