Retirement for JAI #659

 

Happy Friday everyone! It's the end of the first week of the School Holidays here in Melbourne and it is bitterly cold and damp. No wonder so many people have gone away for a break in warmer climates. For those of us still at home though, it is a perfect opportunity to stay warm and dry in the craft room - even if we have to go out for a dog walk first.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fresh Colour Challenge for you suggested by the lovely Lou. The design team have created a wide variety of projects to inspire you so I hope that you can take a moment and pop on over to the JAI blog andI'd love to see you join us.

One of the lovely things about making cards is that you can personalise them for the recipient. And that is what I have done here. I've used this week's Colour Challenge to create a retirement card for a priest. 

As I've said previously, this card is personal to the recipient. So let's talk through the elements.
The Merry Melodies EF is to reference his career before his call to the priesthood - that of an opera producer. He orchestrated the Passion performance at the Australian WYD in 2008 which used those skills and he also supported me in putting together the parish choir. 

The book images are from the Birds Eye View set in the latest catelogue, coloured with Blends and Copics and the daffodils are from a long retired set called Blessed By God and symbolise new beginnings ( or Spring). The Cross is from the same set. And the final stamp set used here is the much loved Well Worded bundle for the sentiment.

So I hope that this card shows you how you can combine a number of different stamp sets, new and old to make a card that has personal significance for a recipient. Challenges can help make that happen as they can give you a guiding hand in how to choose the images and perhaps layout and in this case, it is the colours used. I hope you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you create for this challenge.

Card stock: Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Silver Foil

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Blends: Pretty Peacock combo

Stamps: Birds Eye View, Blessed By God (retired), Well Worded (retired).

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Well Written Framelits, Silver EP, Merry Melodies EF, 

'Til next time,

Jan 

Pet Sympathy for JAI #657

 

Hello and happy Friday! It's the end of another week and we are nearing the Shortest Day here in Australia. That is when our mornings and evenings will slowly become lighter and we can begin to look towards Spring. I hope that you all have had a good week and are ready to do some crafting this weekend.

This week at Just Add Ink we have this clean and graphic Sketch Challenge for you from Nikki.

It is such a fabulously versatile sketch as you can see on the challenge blog from all the design team members cards. I hope that you'll be able to pop on over and see and I'd love it if you were able to join us!

This week I used the sketch to create a pet sympathy card using this very touching set called Fill My Heart by Whimsy Stamps. 

Sadly, a lovely friend's dog that I have known for most of his life, is terminally ill. When I initially saw the sketch, rows of paw prints came to mind. So that was the starting point of this card and then slowly the other details took shape. 

A ruler was used to slowly and surely stamp the individual paw print image from the Happy Tails set and emboss these in gold. 

Then the dog image was stamped and coloured with Copics and the touching sentiment was also embossed with gold being the accent colour for the card.

So that is my card for this week. What will you make with this clean and versatile sketch we have for you at Just Add Ink this week? I can't wait to see!

Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Gold Foil

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Gold EP

'Til next time,

Jan

Rock On For JAI #655

 

Hello and welcome! It's the first Friday of June and Winter in Australia, 2023.  To be fair, it has felt very Winter-like the last month with the cold, wet days easily out numbering the few dry, sunny ones. It does mean that inside at the craft desk is a good place to be at when the weather outside is not so pleasant. I hope that you are enjoying time crafting during these colder months too.

At Just Add Ink this week, Tristan has suggested we "Just Add....Music" to our projects this week. Our design team have all added varying ideas on this theme to inspire you so I hope that you can pop on over to the challenge blog and join us!

My card....well yes, it's bright! 😂

I am part of a musical family and have a teenage nephew who takes after me in that he plays guitar. In fact even before he was a teen, one of the few school bands he's in played as opening act for his music teacher's band. It was an exciting night for him and a proud one for his parents - and rightfully so.

So now perhaps you can see where I was going with this card? Yes, it is supposed to be the look of a music gig - ie. stage lighting -  and obviously a guitarist. The silhouette is a retired SU single stamp called Extreme Guitar. 

The background is sponged onto watercolor paper to enable the colors to blend more easily, it was sprinkled with water to create the dotted effect and then, once dry the single image is embossed x3.

To create the sentiment, a further background image was created and this was die cut several times to provide height and then covered in Fine tipped glue to give a shiny and clear coat to the letters.

Some silver star sequins complete this masculine music themed card. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope this shows you that you can use whatever inspires you to create a musical themed card for this week's Just Add Ink Challenge. I look forward to seeing what you create!

Card stock: Basic White (Thick)

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Extreme Guitar (Retired)

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Playful Alphabet Dies (retired), Metallic Sequins, Fine Tip Glue

Non SU: Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Inks for background.

'Til next time,

Jan