Thursday 31 March 2016

Easter Treat Bags


A very happy Easter to you all! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend whether you were celebrating with friends and family, going away or spending some time crafting for the long weekend. As for me, I didn't go away but did have a lovely time with friends and also a little fun crafting too :-)

Each year I usually make a little something for people in our music group at church for Easter. This year I decided to use different DSP's to make some Easter gift bags - full of a variety of little eggs. Some Ferrero Rocher, Lindt, Cadbury...all sorts of flavours and colours and sizes of eggs. So much fun!!


To make the bags I used different DSP too - colourful ones for the ladies and some black and white versions for the men. Sadly, I ran out of time to make tags -or take photos of them all. So each one ended up with a co-ordinating twine bow. Really simplistic I know - but it worked :-) I have laid out here some of the papers I used with the twine colours so you can get an idea. Each bag was therefore individual whilst all had the same contents.


The bag is a Medium size using the Gift Bag Punch board with a folded over top held in place with a Glue dot when full - the bow goes on the front. For measurements I followed the instructions and used a piece of DSP that is 10" x 81/4" and also watched a video tutorial by Hannah to create the fold over top. In this video, she also uses a ribbon closure which I decided to omit :-)


Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are enjoying the Easter break - and school holidays for those in the South Pacific :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Friday 25 March 2016

Pop Up Card for JAI #304

Hello and a very happy Good Friday to you! I hope that you have a wonderful Easter and can enjoy a little rest and relaxation amongst the lovely celebrations with family and friends.

And if you're looking for some inspiration for crafting ideas to complete over the long weekend then we have a brand new challenge at Just Add Ink that may well be just what you were looking for :-) Jodene has suggested a fabulous photo for us all to use - it is full of colour and fun and movement. The design team have created a wonderful array of cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop over and take a look :-)

Here's the picture:


And here is my card:


It's a special pop up slider card for my "middle" Niece...Miss 4years :-0 Where has the time gone??


Here is how it looks when it is closed -it is slightly larger than a standard card for a C6 envelope at 11.5cm x16 cm so will need it's own envelope. From the inspiration photo can you guess what my starting point was? Yes, I saw the floating umbrellas and thought instantly of balloons - and I used the colours too :-)


Here is the front when opened.



And the back - kept this part very simple as isn't going to be seen that much!



The main panel greeting features the cute little dog from Hey Girl and the Balloon Celebration balloons. The blue ones are stamped in the same ink whilst the pink are embossed to give them a little lift. I used Copics to colour the images - thanks to an old but very useful Online Card Class that I can thoroughly recommend, I am learning a little about shading....so much so that I've had my first marker ran out of ink! So my learning curve continues :-)


This is not that unlike Miss 4 herself - same hair length (altho she is a little more blonde) blue eyes and I know she will be wearing Pink and sparkles:-)

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Basic black, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer,
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark,
Stamps: Balloon Celebrations, Hey Girl
Accessories: Balloon Bouquet Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Melon Mambo Polka dot Ribbon (Retired), Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Metallic Silver Thread, White and Silver Embossing Powders, Basic rhinestones
Non SU: Copic Markers.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see all the wonderful cards the design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this week's fun and fabulous challenge too !

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan





Sunday 20 March 2016

Another Easter Card


A very happy Palm Sunday to you! Easter is just around the corner and I have another card to share  with you that might help give you extra inspiration to join us at Just Add Ink and our "Just add E" themed challenge. You can see my original post related to this challenge here.
This card was supposed to be a little masculine but it ended up with a few flowers none-the-less - and was inspired by JAI's Rochelle Blok's card this week. I love her rustic Cross so wanted to make one of my own and decided to team it with the Sunburst die.


Of course the gold foil does make it a little difficult to get a good photo as it reflects and shines so well....but shine is what we want for an Easter card  :-) I stamped the Petite Petals on corresponding card stock before and punching the flowers. Later versions may well involve a layer of vellum and some background stamping on the white circle but I was looking for a clean and look for this one as it was for a male.

Card stock: Island Indigo, Soft Sky, Gold Foil, So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White, Corrugated Kraft
Inks: Island Indigo, so Saffron, Soft Sky
Stamps: Petite Petals, Seasonal Wishes (Retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, Sunburst Thinlit, Banner Framelits, Petite Petals Punch, Bird Punch, Linen Thread, Basic Rhinestones
Non SU: Stitched Circle Dies- SSS

Whilst walking at our local park this week we have noticed that cricket pitches are being replaced by posts of various kinds. I was delighted to see Rugby posts amongst them - in AFL (Australian Rules football ) heartland, it is quite unusual and certainly made this ex pat New Zealander's heart skip a beat. Rugby being our national game :-) Of course the dogs have other uses for them too :-0


Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are enjoying the change of seasons - the overnight temperatures have dropped seemingly instantly this weekend and the mornings and evenings are considerably darker later and earlier respectively. Daylight Savings is likely coming to an end soon.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan


Friday 18 March 2016

Easter Blooms JAI #303


It is mid way through March and yet the Summery temperatures remain - so unusual and the garden would love some rain yet I know in a few months we will all be looking forward to the heat again!

 We have a new fun challenge at Just Add Ink. This week, Tina has suggested that we "Just Add.....E" That could be Elephants, Eggplants, Embossing......or as the Season is fast approaching... Easter :-) The design team have created a wonderful array projects to inspire you so I encourage to take a moment to pop on over and take a look and see :-)


Yes, I chose Easter as my "E" element - I have a few Easter cards to make each year and I just couldn't resist another play with one of the few sets in the Occasional catalog that I was not instantly in love with. However, since their arrival in the last couple of weeks they have barely left the crafting table - so am definitely making up for lost time :-) Here, they are teamed with the colourful Wildflowers Fields DSP available for free as part of Saleabration and plenty of bling.


Card stock: Whisper White (Thick), Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Pool Party
Designer Series Paper; Wildflower Fields (SAB)
Inks: Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Seasonal Wishes (Retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, Botanical Builder Framelits, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous inspiration the design team have created for you and I look forward to seeing what you will make using the letter "E" this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan


Friday 11 March 2016

Helo Sunburst JAI #302


This last week has been very hot and humid but we have been treated since last night to something we haven't seen in what seems like ages - rain!! After a 40 degree day and our hottest March night (30 degrees) since records began it was wonderful to see :-)

And also fun to see is the new challenge at Just Add Ink.  This week I had the pleasure of suggesting the colour combo for us all to use. The design team have created beautiful cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to go and take a peek.

Here are the colours:


And here is my card:


The idea I had was to attempt to create a water coloured sunset. Sometimes the clouds of a sunset really set off the sky behind and that was my inspiration.
The water colouring was done with some Rich Razzleberry ink on water colour paper and then I trimmed the paper and sunburst framelit together using the stitched rectangle die to add a little interest and definition. That is carried through in the dotty stamps on the rays - each stamped off once -  and the birthday sentiment. I fussy cut the hello and added with some dimenionals before covering with a light layer of Wink of Stella for a surprise of sparkle at sunset :-)


Card stock: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Tip Top Taupe, 
Inks: Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry, Tip Top Taupe
Stamps: Sunburst Sayings, Hello (Saleabration), Petite Petals
Accessories: Sunburst thinly, Petite Petals Punch, Brights Sequins Assortments
Non SU: Stitched Rectangle  and Circle Dies (SSS)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop by Just Add Ink and see the fabulous cards the team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will make with this colour combo this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan


Friday 4 March 2016

Special Birthday and JAI #301


Hello and welcome to the first Friday in Autumn - time has gone so quickly once again and already the glorious Summer is over! Certainly it was one of the hotter ones - not so many extreme days maybe, but consistently warm and it has been lovely! We are short on rain - the grass at our local park has predominantly been replaced by dust and yellow "stubble" but with no water restrictions as yet, the veggie garden has done really well with regular watering.

And being Friday it is time for a newchallenge at Just Add Ink where the lovely Nikki  has suggested a real fun challenge for us all this week - to Just Add.....Numbers!The design team have created fabulous cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look :-)


As I have a lovely friend who is about to have a significant birthday very soon, this was the perfect opportunity to make her card. She loves red and black as a colour combo so the colours were already decided for me. I decided to break out a little though and add the numbers in gold foil - I hope she won't mind :-) The Big Brown box containing the Botanical framelits just happened to arrive on the day I was sitting down to make this so seemed the perfect accent to help make what is not a very feminine colour combo a little more so. Behind the 60 is some of the Botanical Gardens Vellum DSP over some plain red card stock - with a lovely subtle and textural feel as the result. And there is some gold Wink of Stella added to the pearls for some more sparkle and shine.


Card stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold Foil, Black Glimmer, Basic Black, Mossy Meadow
Designer Series Paper: Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum, Brights Stack
Ink: Versamark
Stamp: Four You
Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Large Numbers Framelits, Botanical Builder Framelits, Large Polka dots EF, Black EP, Triple Banner Punch, Basic Pearls, Gold Wink of Stella 

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 has made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with numbers this week :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan



Wednesday 2 March 2016

You're Sublime PCC#184


Happy Wednesday to you and welcome to another hot Autumn day in Melbourne!  At 35 degrees (Celsius) it was even 5 above the forecast temp for today and although the sun has long gone down it is still quite warm - good for the new veggies I recently planted in the garden but a bit hot for sleeping.

Today's card is for The Paper Craft Crew and sadly will be my last as part of the team of lovely ladies there. I am very grateful to Pam for giving me my first post on a Design Team and it has been a great time of growth - my cards have changed so much over the years. I hope to use the time to take a bit of a break and then to start entering the odd challenge again - something I haven't been able to do for a while and so I hope to still see you around :-)

Here is this week's sketch:


And here is my card:


This card is for a special young Teen who loves Purple - and what better colour to compliment purple than pink :-)
The purple caravan is coloured on Water colour paper using Zig markers and an Aqua painter. I find this helps me get a more vibrant image than using ink pads alone and is so much fun! The sentiment is white embossed and the stars and stripes and polka dot elements aim to keep it young and fresh. Did I succeed? 


Card stock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer, Water Colour Paper
Designer Series Paper: Brights and Regals Stacks
Inks: Black Stazon, Versamark
Stamps: You're Sublime, Sky is the Limit
Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Star Framelits, Large Polka Dots EF, Itty Bitty Punch Pack (Star), White EP, Brights Sequins Assortment,
Non SU : Zig Real Brush Markers

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to The Paper Craft Crew and see all the lovely cards the rest of the Team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will make with this fun sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan