Beachey Vibes for JAI #778

Happy Friday everyone and welcome to another new Challenge week at Just Add Ink! 

It's been a hot week here in Melbourne with temps in the 40's so this week's image of a beach seems so perfect!

This week's Just Add Ink Challenge is a Colour and Inspiration Challenge suggested by Nikki. You can choose to base your project on either the Image or use at least 3 of the colours or both. Our design team have all created some lovely projects to inspire you and we hope that you will join us.

For my card, I was inspired mainly by the image - the beach and sand and the starfish and shells. So I created a beachey background and then coloured some of the Notes &Totes dies to create a bag and bits and items to take or find at the beach. And as well as the image, I also managed to include 3 of the colours. 

To colour the tote itself, I used a retired stamp on the white card stock and added some Coastal cabana pieces cut with the trimmer. The bottle and sunglasses are coloured using Blends and the starfish and sentiment are coloured using Copics. 

The sentiment is from a long retired set called Sunshine Sayings that comes in handy often in Summer.

The 3D effect of the tote is quite special and I'm so glad that I had the chance to try out these products before buying them.

Thanks for popping by today and taking the time to leave a comment. It's always very much appreciated.

I hope that you will enjoy this challenge and especially for those experiencing snow, you can perhaps dream of warmer things. Whereas here was me wearing an ice filled vest the other day to keep cool! 

So I look forward to seeing all your projects at Just Add Ink this week.

"Til next time,

Jan

 

Just Add Ink #777 Blog Hop - Just Add Something Seasonal

 

Happy New Year and WELCOME to a new Just Add Ink Challenges year! As usual we are starting things off with a Blog Hop from the whole design team. 

So a special welcome if you have just arrived from the lovely Nikki Spencer and her very pretty card and perhaps you may like to grab a cuppa (or maybe you already have one) whilst you take a tour of all of our team's projects.

For the first challenge of 2026 we're asking you to "Just Add Something Seasonal."

What do we mean by Seasonal? Yes, it could be weather related - which is of course different in every hemisphere. But it also could be that it's almost Valentines Season - and here in Australia it's wedding season as well. Or you may have a personal Season to share. Hopefully our design team projects will inspire you to pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog and join with us in this first challenge of the year.

For my card, I have chosen Sunflowers. Yes, it is Summer in Australia and I really do love sunflowers and have many growing in my garden each Summer. I collect the seeds from the flowers each year so that I have plenty for the following one. There are giant ones along the backyard fences and some dwarf plants in pots too. So this was an easy choice for me!😊

The 3D Sunflower EF (an Online Exclusives product, still available) is something I have made a few cards with but this is my first attempt at colouring it realistically. You can use all sorts of methods. 

I was inspired by a technique by Claire Daly who first used a brayer to add ink to the debossed (background or downward) area of the EF before colouring the raised petals and leaves.

So I've added some Balmy Blue ink using a brayer to the flat areas of the debossed (downward ) side of the EF before using it with Basic White card stock. I was a bit light with this so went back over it adding some more of the ink using a sponge on the Basic White card.

For the focal images, I've used a combination of Stampin Blends and Copics and suddenly we have this bold, amazing image with big pops of colour!  I love the way it looks like the flowers have the hot Summer's sun shining on them (and haven't we had a few days like that here already!)
Finally, a sentiment from a retired Sunflower set was used and a touch of ribbon, twine and sprinkling of rhinestones and we have our first card of 2026!

Next you're off to see the fabulous Chantell Randall and her amazing project - Enjoy!

I hope that you feel inspired to join in the challenge with us and start the year creatively! If you get lost along the way you can pop by Just Add Ink to find a full list of our team taking part or see below.

Card stock: Basic White, Basic Black.

Inks: Balmy Blue, Versamark, Blends, Copics

Stamps: Celebrate Sunflowers (retired).

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Sunflower 3D EF, White EP, Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon, Linen Thread, Basic Rhinestones.

Here is the full  Blog Running List if you get lost along the way:

1. Lou Kitzelman

2. Kerry Parkinson

3. Tristan Dawes

4. Tina Gillespie

5. Narelle Farrugia

6. Nikki Spencer

7. Jan McQueen - You are here.

8. Chantell Randall

9. Joanne Stubbings

'Til next time,

Jan

                                              

Westie Greetings for JAI #776

Happy Friday everyone and welcome the last Just Add Ink challenge of 2025!
What a year it has been! We are so grateful for all those regular challenge entrants that have continued to follow us in the new almost fortnightly format and for new entrants too! 

For our last Just Add Ink challenge of the year we have a Choose Two or More of Trees, Twine, Stripes, Snow, Shimmer and Stockings. So if you are still making Christmas cards or gift packaging or tags, you have a good chance of finding a project that you can make to join with us. Our design team at Just Add Ink have created a ton of different projects to inspire you so I hope that you can pop on over and see!

Many of you know that I make a lot of Labrador related dog cards because of my friendship with Guide Dogs Victoria. But I also have friends with other dog types. Including a good friend with a gorgeous Westie that I pick up from her home and walk with Sally several times a week. Gracie and Sally have been besties since Gracie was a young puppy. So it makes sense that I would make her Mum a Westie card.

The little Westie is from the Christmas Scottie set from a few years ago and is embossed in White to create a shiny, textural Westie as it adds texture to look like fur. So that fulfils the "Shimmer " part of this week's challenge. I've also added "stripes" with the DSP  and a "Tree" using the retired Decorative Trees set.

So thank you all for following along and for all your kind comments throughout 2025. I really appreciate the effort of writing a few words when a simple "Like" on Instagram is what many people do these days.

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and start ot the New Year and look forward to catching up with you all in 2026 for a fun Just Add Ink Blog Hop to kick off a new year pf creativity on January 16th 2026.

Card stock: Gray Granite, Basic White, Garden Green, Highland Heather

DSP:  Christmas Tags and More (6x6)

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Christmas Scottie, Christmas Classics

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Decorative Trees Dies - including the sweet bow, White EP, Basic Rhinestones.

'Til next time,

Jan

Layers On My Mind for CI #201

Happy Saturday and welcome! I was very sad to miss Colour Inkspiration's 200th Challenge recently so when I saw my favourite colour (Melon Mambo) featured as part of CI #201,  I saw it as a second chance and so here is my entry for the challenge!

Colour Inkspiration Challenges is a Facebook based challenge and you can find more information and see the design team and entries there for this, the last challenge for 2025. I hope that you are as inspired as I was to join in!

Whilst this colour combo is a fantastic one for Christmas and I may return to make a Christmas card with it yet,  but I really felt to make a card for a friend. 
Sometimes Christmas can be a difficult time for people and I have a good friend who has recently lost a significant family member and so this card is for her. 

I started by stamping the main image of the Layers of Beauty Bundle and using the masks to colour it using the Challenge colours. Then the coloured image was carefully cut apart to enable layering it at the top and bottom of the card.  This left room for the heartfelt sentiment from the now retired, Memorable Blooms in the middle. To be heat embossed using the 4th Colour of the challenge: Gold.

Then last but not least, the Mambo ribbon was layered and tied with the gold twine. And a scattering of gold jewels were added to some of the smaller flower centres to complete this card.

Thanks again for stopping by to see my entry for this beautiful Colour Inspiration challenge -their last for the year. I hope that you might be able to enter too!

Card stock: Pretty Peacock, Basic White

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Melon Mambo, Pretty Peacock, Poppy Parade, Versamark

Stamps: Layers of Beauty, Memorable Blooms

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Layers of Beauty Masks, Layers of Beauty Dies, Melon Mambo Ribbon, Gold Twine, Gold flat adhesive jewels.

'Til next time,

Jan

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

A little Baby Celebration for JAI #775

 

Happy Friday and welcome!! It is hard to believe it is only a few weeks to Christmas - no I'll not do the daily count yet as it will scare me just as much as you!! I hope that you are getting there with your preparations and all is going to plan for you and your family.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun, wonderful and broad Challenge for you from Lou - to Just Add a Celebration. It could be a season of Celebration such as Christmas, an individual Celebration for example, a Birthday or any other time we celebrate! The whole Just Add Ink design team have come together to provide you with inspiration and we are very grateful how you, our loyal JAI followers have responded to our new format and also for the new followers that are now joining in with the extra time available to enter. It is wonderful to see you all filling the the gallery with beautiful creations!

My card is to celebrate a new baby girl arriving soon! 
I haven't had to make a baby card for a little while so I've turned to an old favourite and retired stamp bundle and teamed that with the pretty Crochet EF. Babies are such a special reason for a Celebration!

If you were wondering why there was no sentiment visible on the outside of the card, well that is because it is a little interactive. The recipient presses the bottom of the little flower to release the elephant's toe and uses the ribbon handle to open the little elephant card and view the hidden sentiment. It's a little bit cute! 

 I've used a lot of different stamp and die sets to make this card. Sometimes as crafters, use just the one stamp and die bundle and sometimes we can use quite a few depending on what we are looking to make and for whom. Being able to personalise a card for friends and family is what is so special about being able to make a card. One thing that I kept the A Litte Wild bundle for is it's versatility. The die cut animal card is one of three shaped cards that can also be used as gift cards. So I will colour up another little ele the same for the gift card. 

Thanks for stopping by today to see my card! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink to see what all the rest of the design team have created for you too. And I hope that you might feel inspired to join us and create something for a Celebration too. I can't wait to see what you will make!

Card stock: Basic White, Bubble Bath

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers

Stamps: A Little Wild (retired), Welcome Home (retired)

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Crochet EF,  Little Loves Dies (retired) Country Flowers Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Gold Twine, Pink ribbon, White textured ribbon, Iridescent pearls.

'Til next time,

Jan

A North Pole Christmas for JAI #774

Happy Friday and welcome! It has been lovely to see how you all have responded so encouragingly to our longer challenge times at Just Add Ink. It has been heart warming to see, so thank you very much!

This week at Just Add Ink we have another new style of Challenge for you - to make Stencils, Dies or both the main feature of your project. These crafting tools are often used in a supporting role - for backgrounds or to cut out a stamped image. This week is the time to let the stencils and dies shine! Yes, you can use stamps as well but in a supporting role to dies and stencils. 

My card this week uses Dies and is very special to me. 
I will be holding a Christmas card making workshop at the Melbourne campus of Guide Dogs Australia for their clients and volunteers today and this is one of the cards we will be making. 
I have been a client and volunteer with Guide Dogs for the last 7 years and am very grateful for all they do for me and so many people. This workshop will be held at the Guide Dogs campus where there will be large magnifiers - including digital ones that use a camera to scan an image and bring it up on a screen - can be available to workshop attendees thanks to the so people who may not usually be able to make a card - or perhaps think they couldn't - should be able to make and enjoy these cards

Many of us remember making our first cards and that feeling of accomplishment. Now imagine if you thought your disability would make it impossible....but discovered that you actually could! How wonderful would that be?! That is what I am hoping will be the outcome of this workshop.

The Christmas Words Hybrid  EF was my inspiration as the words can felt as either a background or a main sentiments for a card. Many people with serious eye conditions don't like bright, shiny surfaces so there will be the choice of using the gold foil words like I used on this card, or coloured card that is not so painful for sensitive eyes. 

The card base is embossed with the Plaid EF which gives a deep effect that can easily be felt.

Of course the Labs are a given for this class as all guide school dogs are labradors but we will also have available the other animals and die cuts from the North Pole Delivery DSP for people to add to their projects which also include gift tags and a gift box.

Thank you for reading my story behind this card. 

Now it is your turn to create a card or scrap book page using Stencils or Dies as the main focus. We  at Just Add Ink would love to see what you can create whether for a cause like mine or to share with your loved ones.

Card stock: Coastal Cabana, Basic White, Poppy Parade, Gold Foil

DSP: North Pole Delivery

Accessories: Die Cutting machine, Plaid EF, Christmas Words EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Fluffy White Ribbon, Red and White Twine, Traditional Sparkling Sequins.

'Til next time,

Jan

 

 

Happiest Ribbon Birthday for JAI #773

Happy Friday to you and welcome! Thank you for your response to the changes we have made to our challenges at Just Add Ink. It has been so wonderful to see you responding by joining with us and filling our gallery with your creations and we are so grateful to you for this! It has been so encouraging for all of us on the design team to see the gallery full again! So again. thank you!

Our new challenge this week at Just Add Ink is this beautiful Sketch with a Bow at it's centre from Tristan.

When you pop on over to the blog you'll see our whole design team have created projects we hope will  inspire you. So we hope that you will join with us once again and share your creations with us. Again, you have almost 2 weeks to enter.

I am more used to tying twine than ribbon these days but when facing a challenge, I think it's often good to step outside of what we usually do and try something new and use that to grow.

So I have used ribbon here - white ribbon layered onto itself with glue dots and then have tied a string of sequins around the middle and gathered it to give the illusion of a bow.

Many of the elements of this card are from my leftovers box. It was getting full so it was definitely time to look to see what I could use and so this card came together rather quickly! All I needed to add was more leaves and rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope that you have liked seeing all the design team's cards this week and that you enjoy the longer time frame to enter our challenges at Just Add Ink. I really look forward to seeing what you will create with this sketch. 

Card Stock: Lemon Lolly, Basic White, Soft Sea Foam

Inks: Lemon Lolly, Versamark

Stamps: Memorable Blooms, Charming Sentiments

Accessories: Die Cutting Machines, Artistic Mix Masks, Country Flowers Dies, Mini corrugated EF, Silver EP, White Satin Ribbon (retired), Silver Sequin trim (retired), Basic Rhinestones

'Til next time,

Jan