Happy Birthday JAI #790

Happy Friday and welcome!! It's three weeks since the Shortest Day and the mornings and evenings are slowly but surely getting lighter. I love this time of year! The garden starts to grow again and there are little signs that Spring will come despite the cold nights and often grey days.  It also makes taking project photos a little easier!

This week at Just Add Ink we have one of our regular Challenges for you: Just Add Dies, Stencils or Both. It currently has an open theme so you can choose whatever takes your fancy. This means the design team cards have very varied themes and colours too so I hope you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and are inspired to join us. You have til Wednesday 29 July to enter your project. 

This week I chose to make a birthday card for a lovely friend and my own dog's best Westie friend's owner. So my dog is a black Lab and of course her Westie is White...plus I know that her favourite colour is Fresh Freesia and/or Grapefruit Grove which pairs well with a soft green. And so that is how this card came to be!

As today's card is about the Dies and/or stencils, I've used LOTS of dies.

There's the wonderful Eyelet Blooms Die that forms the main background, Cutest Crew Dies, Spotlight on Nature Dies and the Attention Shoppers and Stitched Circle Dies (both retired). 

It is very special to be able to create a card for friends using images and colours that you know they will enjoy. That is the joy of handmade cards!

Thanks for popping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and join us for this Challenge. You can use whatever Dies and/or Stencils you have  and I look forward to seeing what you will create!

Card stock: Fresh Freesia, Basic White, Mint Macaron, Specialty Foil
Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark 
Stamps:  Cutest Crew, Attention Shoppers

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Eyelit Blooms Die, Cutest Crew Dies, Spotlight On Nature Dies, Attention Shoppers Dies, Stitched Circle Dies, Subtle Enamel Dots

'Til next time,

Jan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

A Special Pet Sympathy Card for CI #212

Today, I am sharing this card using the CI #212 Colours that I used to make a Pet Sympathy card for a lovely young person who recently had to say goodbye to a beautiful, elderly pet dog she has known all her life.

It is something I am sure that many of us can relate to and so a special card was needed. 
Pet Paw prints is something that many vets and pet parents alike can take as a memory of a special pet. 
So I decided to use that as my starting point for this card which for once, uses many products across company lines which is not something I usually do. Usually I use one, maybe 2 sets to make a card these days. But not today!

The paw prints are embossed in gold so they have a textural element to them. This and the sentiment are from the same same stamp set. All the other bits and pieces and layers are from a range of sets and die sets.

And here you can see the gold embossed paws better.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you can have a look at all the wonderful cards for the Colour Inskpiration Challenge this week and if you want to get a card in you will have to hurry as it closes at 5pm today!

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Barely Blush, Crisp Canteloupe, Basic White

Inks: Bumblebee (in lieu of Golden Glow), Versamark, Lost Lagoon

Stamps: Fern & Flora, 

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Crochet EF(retired), Fern & Flora Dies, White Twine, Gold Dots

Non SU: Stamp: Fill My Heart -Whimsy Stamps

Sizzix Big Shot Welcome pack - leaf dies and arches dies.

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Flowering Meadow Sympathy JAI #789

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back! Here in Melbourne this week we've had a number of cold, wet and grey days that make photographing cards very difficult. So I apologise in advance for my card looking different as you go through my photos. It has been a dark, wet and miserable few days outside and a very busy week for us.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a beautiful Sketch for you from Tristan. You can keep this sketch in portrait of flip it to landscape, use strips of DSP, card stock or create your own stripes...as long as the sketch is recognisable. Our design team used this sketch with a number of different themes and colours and we look forward to seeing what you create! You have until Wednesday July 15 to enter your card in at the JAI blog.

I am sorry this first photo is so dark...Melbourne's dark grey skies and heavy rain was not helping me today...
You can see that I flipped the Sketch to Landscape. I thought it fitted with the upright stems of these pretty flowers from Flowering Meadow. I also tried a new technique for me that I've seen a little of online of raising the strips alternately. I didn't look into the workings of how others did this. But did make an attempt using dimensionals and I don't recommend as my version looked very uneven.

The beautiful Flowering Meadow DSP is first die cut using the now retired Stitched Rectangles and then I also die cut a layer of a different green paper from the pack and a piece of Peaceful Pine card stock to use underneath both papers.

This means that when looking at the different paper heights, you may see a little bit of green but not the open space that a dimensional might give and the paper layer is strong and stable to easily carry this little posy and sentiment.

These flowers are fussy cut from the DSP. I forgot I could've die cut them but you won't now!!

 I did die cut a stem for them and some leaves and then also fussy cut the two little leaf sprays to layer with them. This is a very pretty and elegant bundle and the DSP is stunning!!

This DSP is so soft to the touch  - Velvet Meadow is the perfect name as all the white in it is flocked, like soft velvet. And there is lots of it in this particular piece which is all white and green. It is super elegant and sadly I needed a sympathy card for a friend so it seemed perfect. 

 I find being able to create a card for a friend is an honour and especially in times like these, when we want to be supportive, the card carries more than the card and paper used to create it.

Thanks for popping by today and I hope that you might like to join us for this challenge at Just Add Ink.
You have until Wednesday 15 July so I look forward to seeing what you will create!

Card stock: Peaceful Pine, Basic White

DSP: Velvet Meadow
Inks: Versamark
Stamps: Flowering Meadow, Rose Wonder (retired).
Accessories: Die cutting machine, Stitched Rectangles, Flowering Meadow dies, Metallic Pearls, Gold EP, Gold twine.

'Til next time

Jan