Special Reason for JAI #357

Happy last Friday in April everyone :-) It is incredible to think the year is passing so quickly. We have been very lucky to enjoy a mild Autumn so far. But it would seem that is over as we had hail yesterday amongst the 40 or so mm of rain and there was snow in the mountains. Time to wrap up and bring out the winter woolies :-)

This week at Just Add Ink we have a colour challenge for you that was suggested by me :-) These warmer tones seem a lovely way to warm up your crafting or could just as easily be used for a Spring inspired creation too. As always, our lovely design team have created a fabulous array of cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join us.

This lovely floral set is retiring and I will miss it!  I came across a new water colouring technique thanks to a Facebook video by Alisa Tilsner. Here she stamps the image in a lighter ink and then uses a darker coloured Watercolor pencil and an Aqua Painter to add shading.
I used this technique with the flowers - stamping in Sweet Sugarplum (stamped off twice), and then colouring with the Rich Razzleberry pencil and blending it with the Aqua Painter. As we don't have an Indigo pencil I used the Aqua Painter with an ink pad instead - this was a little trickier as you have to manage the water carefully on Whisper White, but it worked :-) So if you don't as yet have the pencils you can still try this technique with ink pads.

Yes, it was a week of new techniques - this is for a special sister so a special card was in order :-)
 I found a great tutorial for the Twist and Pop card by Maymay here and will leave the measurements and instructions to her. The only thing I changed is instead of using a piece cut at 8 1/2 x 10 1/2" for my insert, I used  8 1/2 x 11" to cater for our slightly longer card bases here in Australia.

You can see the colouring better here without the die cut overlay and perhaps also the liberal dose of Wink of Stella applied to everything :-)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see the fabulous creations by the design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create with these warm colours this week too :-)

Card stock: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Sweet Sugarplum Glimmer (Saleabration)
Designer Series paper: Blooms and Bliss
Inks: Versamark, Sahara Sand, Sweet Sugarplum, Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry (pencil)
Stamps: Special Reason, Rose Wonder, Suite Sayings
Accessories: Big Shot, Stylish Stems Framelits, Hexagon EF (retired), White EP, Aqua Painter, Brights Enamel Shapes

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Flourish Fiftieth for JAI #356

Happy Friday folks and welcome :-) This weekend is closely followed by another big Public Holiday- that of ANZAC Day on Tuesday both here in Australia and New Zealand as the name suggests. It marks the special bond between our two countries through serving in the armed forces together which began in Gallipoli in World War I. The bonds remain strong despite our great rivalry on the sporting fields - as long as the (NZ) All Blacks win the rugby I don't mind the rest of the sporting  results too much though LOL!

Even more fun than sport this weekend is the new challenge at Just Add Ink! Kelly has suggested this fabulous "Just Choose Two" theme of Metallics, Circles or Balloons and the lovely design team have all created fabulous projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and take a peek and join us :-)

I decided to go with Circles and Metallics to create this special 50th card for a lovely friend.
The starting point was the Copper numbers and pink background circle where the photopolymer sentiment stamp is pulled into a slightly tighter circle to fit. The flower and leaves added around the circles and allowed to pop up over the water coloured background that has a little Gold Wink of Stella flicked over for good measure. Does this come in copper yet does anyone know??

Hopefully you can see the colours better without the shine here :-)

Card stock: Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Mint Macaron, Sweet Sugarplum, Whisper White, Copper Foil

Inks: Mint Macaron, Sweet Sugarplum

Stamps: Number of Years, Flourishing Phrases

Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Flourish Thinlits, Large Number Framelits, Gold Wink of Stella, Aqua Painter, Metallic Sequin Assortment

Non SU: Water color paper (Tim Holtz), Stitched Circle Framelits (larger circle only - Simon Says Stamps)

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 our team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will choose to create with for this fun challenge too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Easter

A very happy Easter Monday to you!! I hope you're enjoying the long weekend and the little chocolate indulgences that come your way :-)

Today I have a little collection of religious Easter cards to show you of two different designs that unusually I CASED from Pinterest. Sometimes, when you see something that is already perfect it is best to just go with it :-) I did put my own spin on them as you will see and you may even notice how eager I was to get these in the post as the photos are not quite as good as usual.

These four are a CASE of Kathryn Mangelsdorf . I decided to leave off the bow and experimented with colouring the Cross with Watercolor Pencils in the closest one, and a layer of vellum over the top in the second. It's a lovely elegant way to use the Falling in Love DSP too :-)

The second card that inspired me to a CASE is this beautiful embossed and water coloured version by Heike Bastelotti. For my cards, I decided to experiment with a number of colours - and created a rainbow of cards :-)

Yes, some are quite bright!! Spring colours were an influence and also some of the recipient's favourite colours such as pink :-)

These image was clear embossed onto water colour card stock and then coloured around the image with Water Color pencils. Then I used an Aqua Painter to smooth the colour and move it to behind the image as well. Once it was dry, I added the sentiment, sequins and after these photos were taken, some flicks of Clear or Gold Wink of Stella - depending on what suited the colour. In the end, I suspect the blue was still my favourite as I made more of them than any other colour but the Razzleberry and pink weren't far behind :-)

This Easter weekend I have been making some non-card making projects - some for gifts and a little home decor project which I hope to share with you soon. What are you doing this long weekend? I hope you are able to enjoy a little craft time and creating something new too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

More Dragonfly Dreaming.

Hello again :-) We had an Inspiration challenge at Just Add Ink a week or so ago and I enjoyed doing some ink "smooshing" to create a colourful background. You can see my original post here. I made several of these backgrounds and have now turned these into cards too. These have a similar but slightly more CAS design which does show off the background more but I can't decide which I like best :-)

The splotches are created by inking up a small piece of acetate or Window Sheet, and spritzing with water and then pressing it onto water colour paper. Thanks to the water, they are different each time. The sparkly dragonfly is layered onto 3 layers of white to give it a little more height.

And here is another very similar version with a different base colour :-) 

This Bermuda version has already found a home, going in the post for a lovely friend's recent birthday :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Basic Black, Bermuda Bay Glimmer (Saleabration)

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Versamark

Stamps: Sunshine Sayings

Accessories: Big Shot, Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits, White EP, Clear Wink of Stella, Metallic Sequin Assortment.

Non SU: Distress Watercolor Card Stock (Tim Holtz)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are enjoying the Easter break. Don't forget to check out this week's Just Add Ink post here and you might like to pop back again soon to see some Easter themed projects :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Moon Baby for JAI #355

A very happy Good Friday to you and welcome :-) This Easter has come around so very quickly and I hope you all have a happy and safe time especially if you are travelling on the roads.

It's also time for another new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week we have a lovely clean and simple Sketch for you designed by Narelle. The design team have all created a fabulous array of beautiful cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join us.

For my card I decided to make the main circle a shaker window for a baby card. I still like a little green and yellow when a neutral card is needed :-)
The Moon and cute little baby are stamped onto Water colour paper before being coloured with an Aqua Painter and Ink pads and then it was a matter of filling the night sky behind the wee bub with sparkly stars. The clouds are from the Lift Me Up bundle and I've snipped them a little so they sit up close and snug with the window and form the second banner in the sketch.

Card stock: Mint Macaron, Whisper White (thick and standard), Basic Black, Silver Glimmer
Inks: Mint Macaron, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Smoky Slate, Versamark
Stamps: Moon Baby, Lift Me Up
Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits (Retired), Stitched Shapes Framelits, Up And Away Thinlits, White EP, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Window Sheet

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 inspiration from the design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this CAS sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Dragonfly Glimmer for JAI #354

Hello and welcome :-) It's one week til Easter and the local schools are on holidays which means the roads are full of caravans, boats and other toys whilst people enjoy what may be the last of the warm weather for a while.
Maybe some of those are headed to Sydney or Perth for the Stampin Up On Stage special events this weekend? I'm sure everyone going will have a fabulous time and I look forward to hearing all about it :-)

And it's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink! This week we have a lovely and elegant photo to inspire us - a legacy challenge from the lovely Trish who has just stepped down from our design team.
You can take the colours and patterns or whatever appeals to you from this elegant image. As always the design team created a beautiful variety of projects and I hope you have a moment to pop on over to have a look and hopefully join with us.

For my card, well somehow I seemed to completely miss the lovely flowers - seeing instead the almost seamless mix of colours and patterns. Not having any teacups in my stamp collection,  I decided to go with mixing those lovely bold colours with the intricate pattern of the Dragonfly Die and some feminine sparkle!

To create the background I used an ink "smooshing" technique by adding ink directly onto a small piece of acetate (or Window sheet), spritzing with water and then smooshing that onto water colour paper. It took a few goes to get the look and balance of colour and white space I was after for this card and in the end it was hard to choose between them as they always look a little different when they are dry. To get some tiny splatters, I flicked the back of the acetate and the ink just flew onto the card...Some flicks of Wink of Stella when dry gives a layer of sparkle that is much more visible in real life :-)

As the cup in the photo is also a circle, I added a couple of popped up circle layers under the dragonfly and a sprinkling of white sequins. A few black details to follow from the photo and this almost CAS card for a lovely friend is complete :-)

Card stock: Sweet Sugarplum, Basic black, Vellum, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum Glimmer Paper (Saleabration)
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry, Versamark
Stamps: Sunshine Wishes, Dragonfly Dreams
Accessories: Big Shot, Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, White EP, Metallic Sequin Assortment
Non SU: Distress Water Color Card stock (TH)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this elegant Inspiration Photo too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan