Stacking Animals for JAI #353

Happy Friday everyone and welcome! Here in Australia it is the end of Daylight Savings this weekend.  Even more than the cold, I am not looking forward to the darkness of Winter...but lets not get ahead of ourselves -we are not there yet and there is still the odd warm day in next week's forecast and hopefully for a while yet  :-)

And we have a challenge for you that we think you will enjoy at Just Add Ink this week!! Karren has suggested that we Just Add....Critters to our projects this week. A "Critter" according to Google is "a living creature, an animal" so there are many options for you to consider and we hope that you can join us. The design team have all had such fun with this and it shows in their amazing creations so I hope you have a moment to pop on over and join us.

For my card, I turned to  a stamp set that hasn't seen as much ink as these adorable images deserve. It's called Stacking Animals and so that is exactly what I did  with it :-)  I was initially inspired by a card on Pinterest by Laura Bassen and then decided to see how many "critters" I could get on the page as it is all about them this week after all. I do like how they appear to be looking at each other once they are stacked up!  I coloured them with Copics and added them over a light Distress Ink with some Wink of Stella and water flicked background for interest and sparkle.

Card stock: Whisper White thick and standard
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Suite Sayings
Accessories: Wink of Stella
Non SU: Tim Holtz Watercolor Card Stock, Salty Ocean Distress Ink, Stacking Animals Bundle (SSS), Copic Markers

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a great week and can take a moment to join in the fun at Just Add Ink .  I so look forward to seeing what "critters" you will add in your projects :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hooray for birthdays JAI #352

Hello and welcome back this sunny and happy Friday! After two whole days of rain (although much needed) it was so lovely to see the sun again this morning. It reminds me of growing up in Nelson,  the sunshine state of New Zealand where everyone seemed to get depressed if we had more than 3 days of rain :-)

Our new challenge at Just Add Ink this week is from Nikki who has chosen these delightful colours for us all  to use in our crafting this week. The design team have used these colours in many beautiful ways that will definitely inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join us :-)

These lovely bright colours are right up my alley and so I have made two cards with them this week. I've used the same design for both, just swapped the base colours and flowers for each.

The design is called a Twisted Easel and is not a new fancy fold, but is a goodie and very easy too :-)
You just make a regular side opening card and score the front panel from corner to corner diagonally and then only attach the front panel (that will stand up) to the bottom triangle as shown above. The panel stays upright because of the die cut flowers on the base panel. It also folds flat for posting too - bonus :-)

To create the water coloured look I simply applied colour to the stamp with a sponge dauber and then spritzed lightly with water before stamping onto Whisper White Card stock. I tried water colour paper too but found I got a crisper image with the WW. Once it was dry, I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to go over the "hooray" and the die cut flowers (3 stacked together) to add some shine and texture which you may be able to see below. Then it just needed a few flicks of Wink of Stella and some bling to complete this CAS little number :-)

Card stock: Flirty Flamingo, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Tempting Turquoise, Smoky Slate, Momento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Reverse Words (Saleabration), Balloon Adventures

Accessories: Big Shot, Rose Garden Thinlits, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Basic Rhinestones, Brights and In Colours Enamel Shapes, Clear Wink of Stella

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see  all the beautiful inspiration from our lovely design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this fun challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Just Add...Labrador! JAI #351

Happy Friday to you and welcome back again :-) March is proving to be hotter than Summer so far and our veggie garden is loving it - as long as we keep up the Christmas lights, its safe from the hungry possums :-)

This week's challenge at Just Add Ink is another of Tina's very popular letter challenges - to Just Add..."L". The design team have so many wonderful and varied ideas to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join in the fun with us.

Sally the Lab has been in the wars again lately and amongst other things needed a molar (large back tooth) extraction as it was broken. We are heading out for her post op appointment today and she is doing really well so the timing is perfect for a Labrador thank you for the Dental team at Hallam who truly are awesome and went well out of their way for both of us.

It also was a good opportunity to practice some Copic colouring. 

And am not sure if you can see that Glossy accents was applied to the little heart and black nose.

 As this is an "L" challenge, there are some more "L" elements added inside using a combination of sentiments :-)

Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer

Designer Series Paper: Brights Stack

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Stamps: D is for Dog (retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Enamel Shapes

Non SU: Stamps: Max (Taylored Expressions), Furry Friends (Avery Elle), Dog Sayings (Stampendous), and Glossy Accents.

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 inspiration our team have made for you and I look forward to seeing what you will make for this fun and versatile challenge!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

So In Love Wedding

Happy Sunday to you and welcome :-) It's a long weekend here in Melbourne - Labour Day tomorrow and the Moomba Festival in the city is in full swing. It is a family friendly and free event that has a celebratory feel and a lot of fun activities including water sports, the annual "bird-man" competition and a parade on Monday.

Today's card was made for a special celebration too - that of a lovely friend's wedding :-)

Using a combination of stamps and dies from two new stamp sets, I wanted to create a relatively CAS card  with lots of white space. In real life, there is lots of texture amongst the bling - I love these heart dies with their textural and 3D elements as they add a modern and elegant touch which you can see best in the first picture.

For the inside, the heart is embossed in white instead of gold as on the outside. 

The gold overlay is attached at the top and folded over so it appears to float til the hearts play anchor.

Card stock: Whisper white (thick and standard), Real Red, Gold Foil

Ink: Versamark, Real Red

Stamps: So In Love, Sealed With Love

Accessories: Big Shot, So Detailed Thinlits, Love Notes Framelits, Gold EP, White EP, Basic Pearls

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

You Are Pretty Amazing for JAI #350

Happy Friday to you and welcome :-) Another week of beautiful weather, warm and sunny days and slightly cooler nights. This settled weather is out of character for Melbourne - better known for it's four seasons in one day - but we will happily enjoy it whilst it lasts :-)

It's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week we have a fabulous and very versatile sketch designed for us by Chantell. The design team really enjoyed using it and have created amazing and very varied cards so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a peek and join in with us :-)

For my card, I've taken elements from here and there to combine into this colourful little number.
The bloom is from the Stylish Stems framelits (trimmed), the sentiment is from a SSS set called You Matter.  I love the encouraging sentiments and it was designed by one of my favourite stampers, Laura Bassen so has been on my wish list for a while :-) And the sparkly "you" is cut from the Bermuda Bay glimmer paper available during Saleabration.
Both the bloom and die cut sentiment have 3 layers of white underneath to give them a little extra dimension and height amongst the background colours.

Card stock: Whisper White (thick), Basic Black, Sliver Glimmer, Bermuda Glimmer (Saleabration)
Designer Series Paper: Irresistibly Floral
Inks: Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Versamark
Accessories: Big Shot, Stylish Stems, White EP, Sponge Brayers
Non SU: You Matter bundle (Simon Says Stamps), Crystal Reflections Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

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 design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fabulously versatile sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Cake Crazy for JAI #349

Hello and welcome back! Autumn has brought some reduction of daylight but our temperatures here in Melbourne have still been quite balmy this week - even a little Hot yesterday! So we will enjoy it whilst it lasts :-) And a very happy Spring to all those of you in the Northern Hemisphere - I hope the Sun soon melts any snow and that the Spring colours are soon in abundance :-)

 Also abundant in colour is our new challenge at Just Add Ink this week :-) This gorgeous photo has been suggested for us by Patrice to use in our projects this week and I'm sure you're going to enjoy using it. And our lovely and talented design team have made a beautiful array of cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and join us :-)

This card is one I received some time ago from Patrice and I just love everything about it. As I was thinking about this challenge, I passed her card still on a shelf and saw it in a new light....in that the words are stacked so beautifully like in this week's photo! So as it also was inspiration behind my card this week, I thought I'd share it with you :-)

Here is my card. I kept the same general layout as Patrice and to represent the cake in the photo simply stamped, tone on tone and fussy cut the word-cake images. This is a great way to use up any scraps of card stock by the way too :-)
Something in odd numbers was needed amongst all the order and as the photo also had balloons, they seemed the obvious addition.

Card stock: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Tempting Turquoise, Mint Macaron, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Melon Mambo
Designer Series Paper: Neutral Stack
Inks: Versamark, Tempting Turquoise, Mint Macaron, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette
Stamps: Cake Crazy, Balloon Adventures
Accessories: Balloon Bouquet Punch, White EP, 13/4" Circle Punch, 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 all the beautiful cards our design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this gorgeous photo too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan