Merry Christmas to All for JAI #435

Hello, happy Friday and welcome!! It's a bit crazy how close to Christmas it is already so it is definitely time to start on making some cards to celebrate. Here in Melbourne, we have a few days of Spring to go and we have had a good hit of Summer heat in recent weeks and are now are back in the grip of a Wintery blast -it just takes the whole Four Seasons in One Day analogy to a whole new level!

It also sets the scene beautifully for this week's new challenge at Just Add Ink - a cool and crisp Inspiration Photo for you from Kim. Perfect to get your Winter snow and tree feel on, the design team had a lot of fun with this and so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and see all the fabulous examples to inspire you this week.

For my card this week - I was inspired by the leafy and classic snowy feel of the photo and pulled out the gorgeous Joyous Noel DSP and had my first play with the elegant Merry Christmas to All stamp bundle. The DSP itself is stunning - leaves of green, white and beautiful copper!

To accent the lovely leaves, I turned to the Pretty Pines Thinlits and also the Softly Falling EF added to the Vellum circle and let the copper and die cuts do the work.

Although I did colour some basic rhinestones with Blends to add another touch of bling too.

Card stock: Merry Merlot, Whisper White, Copper Foil, Vellum
Designer Series Paper: Joyous Noel Specialty
Stamps: Merry Christmas To All
Accessories: Big Shot, Merry Christmas Thinlits, Pretty Pines Thinlits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Gently Falling EF, Copper EP, White EP, Copper Thread, Tranquil Tide Cotton ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous inspiration from the team this week and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this fun challenge.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Christmas Tags for JAI #391

It's the ( Friday) before Christmas and all through the house not one thing is moving not even a mouse...or so the carol goes :-) It sure has been a busy week in our household with not enough hours in the night or day - but such is the life of a card maker come Christmas :-) Every year I say I'll start earlier (and I did!!) but some late decision projects have taken more time than expected...

Perfect to help you with last minute Christmas projects is this week's Just Add Ink Challenge suggested by Kim. With a choice of two of either Twine, Trees or Tags there are so many ways in which you can use the above ideas. This is the last challenge for 2017 and will last for two weeks to give you some time during the Christmas holidays to complete your projects. Our lovely design team have created projects that will wow you this week so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join with us :-)

I decided to create some tags using trees and these lovely cards from Last year's Hello December Project Life kit. So here are 4 tags that I've used for my nephew and nieces. These were very quick to make once they were all worked out.

This card features the little red deer from Carols of Christmas:-)

And this one the tree from Christmas Pines 

Of course the reindeer from Santa's sleigh had an outing too -twice!!
All have a little To/ From stamped on the back with room to write a good sized message

And they did look good on top of the presents too  if I do say so myself :-)

Card stock: Whisper White, REal Red, gold glimmer, Emerald Envy

Inks - Momento Tuxedo Black ( on the back )

Stamps: Merriest Wishes (retired I think...?)

Accessories: PL Hello December (retired), Big Shot, Pine bough Framelits, Christmas Greeting Thinlits, Gold twine, red ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today and a big thank you to everyone who has stopped by throughout the year and left comments. It is so appreciated and your encouragement helps me to continue to keep creating.
 I hope you all have a very happy and wonderful Christmas celebrating with friends and family and have time to relax and enjoy the little things amongst all the busyness and celebrating and Christmas services. I will be stopping by over the next little while to share some extra card ideas and little projects but the next Just Add Ink challenge is not until January 19 as the team are taking a little break so I hope you all have a Happy and safe New Year and may 2018 be a special year for you and all your family!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Christmas Pines Octagon for JAI #389

It's Friday and as the song goes...it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas :-) The shopping centres are full of people and sales and the postman is delivering most days. And it's so lovely to see the decorations up in all the windows and gardens!

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fabulously festive Inspiration Photo for you suggested by Kelly. Christmas parcels, neutrals and pine branches and gum leaves....so many things to kick start your crafting this week! Our lovely design team have created such beautiful projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and hopefully join us :-)

I was inspired to step outside of my usual colourful card routine and created an Octagon box using the colours and pine branches from the photo. This time of year gift packaging is another fun thing to create and so I decided to try a different shape too!! I started with a 15.5 cm square piece of card and then centred my 9cm in length octagon and went from there, scoring 3 cm from each edge all the way around. Every second tab has the corners folded in on both sides to create neat edges. I will add a tutorial if people are interested - just leave a comment to let me know.

These boxes can hold a number of things and can turn a gift card into a more substantial gift.

The ribbon belly band holds the box closed as well as being a base for all the other layers of decorations.

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Garden Green, Gold Foil

Inks: Garden Green

Stamps: Merriest Wishes (Retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Merriest Tag Framelits,  Pinecone Framelits, Striped Ribbon, Gold Sequin Trim, Jute Twine, Green Sprigs, Red and White Twine (retired)

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 fabulous inspiration from our lovely design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create inspired by this beautiful photo too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Red Reindeer photo cards for JAI #386

Happy Friday everyone and welcome! It is incredible to think that it's nearly a week since Stampin Up's On Stage and a wonderful catch up with friends. It certainly is one I won't forget in a hurry :-)

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun challenge for you suggested by Tina. It is to Just Add...R". Yes, it is one of her popular letter challenges and our lovely design team had so much fun with this so don't forget to pop on over and take a look and we'd love you to join us.

 My project this week is a collection of cards made for lovely friends celebrating their first family Christmas. These cards could hold a picture with Santa beautifully - or any other family photo to send to friends :-) For my R elements, I've used Red, Reindeer and Ribbon.

In fact, they even can hold a favourite doggie family photo - Sally the Lab and her Golden Retriever best friend, Monty seen here :-)

The frames are made from Thick Whisper White card using Stitched Rectangle framelits and covered with the reindeer DSP.  I purposefully kept the decorating simple so the photo remains the star. As these are for a gift, the frames are not yet attached but have dimensionals in place, all ready to go when the photo is added. The pretty snowflake vellum won't be seen but does make for a pretty gift.

A simple sentiment on the inside and packaged in acetate boxes, these are all wrapped up to go!

Card stock: Whisper White thick, Red Foil (sadly retired)
Designer Series Paper: Be Merry, Foil Christmas Vellum Specialty (Retired)
Inks: Real Red
Stamps: Christmas Pines
Accessories: Big Shot, Santas Sleigh Framelits, Christmas Greetings (retired), Silver Ribbon, Silver coil twine, Acetate Boxes
Non SU: Stitched Rectangle Framelits - Simon Says Stamps

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment and pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous inspiration our lovely design team have created for you and I am so looking forward to seeing what you create for this fun challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Neutral Noel for JAI #342

Hello and welcome to the last Friday before Christmas for 2016! Time has flown and Christmas and the end of the year are almost here. The decorations are up and blinking and the carols have been playing. It really is my favourite time of year even though this year the timing has caught me somewhat by surprise and I am not as ready as usual or as much as I'd like.

And it is also our last challenge at Just Add Ink for the year. This week, Tina has a letter challenge to spark our creativity  - she has asked us to... Just Add...."N". There are lots of "N" ideas you could use from Navy coloured to a Nativity or Noel. Our lovely design team have all created wonderful cards to inspire you this week so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look. This challenge runs until January 4th to give you some time amongst the holiday's fesitivities to join and share with us :-)

I chose "Neutrals" and a "Noel" for my "N" items and made 2 cards!! I don't often use a lot of Crumbcake card and so this ended up being a true challenge for me but I like how well the copper and emerald green pop against it so I will make a few more of these instead of my usual white based creations. Now I'm left wondering why I didn't use them more before!

The "Noel" is embossed in Copper and the background has some Gold Wink of Stella flicked onto it. I've only recently worked out how to do this and it is quite easy when you know how like all things :-)   First make sure your pen's nib is full of ink, then place on the inside of the lid and the motion is that of doing a tick - like you are marking school homework and the more ink, the bigger the splatter will be.

The second card uses the same design, just real ribbons are added for some softness and texture instead of the die cut ones. Which one do you prefer? In both, the white spray is stamped in Versamark and then embossed onto the Crumbcake layer and the Noel in Copper. The only other colour comes from the die cut green leaves and on this one, the red and white twine.

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Emerald Envy, Copper Foil
Ink: Versamark
Stamps: Christmas Pines
Accessories: Big Shot, Pretty Pines Thinlits, Copper EP, White EP, Gold Wink of Stella, Burlap Ribbon, Candy Cane Lane Bakers Twine, White Perfect Accents, Mini Pinecones

I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see what the rest of the design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create using the letter "N" too :-)

Thanks for stopping by today and all throughout the year and a special thank you for all of you who have taken the time to leave comments. I love hearing from you and hope that you are inspired to make some cards too and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and may 2017 be a wonderful year for you and all your family!!



Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Trees for JAI #341

Happy Friday to you and welcome! This week has simply flown. We are still struggling with no home phone or internet despite many phone calls to the local telco...so hopefully the fault will all be sorted out soon as it's been two weeks now and it's too long already.

Much happier news though is the new challenge at Just Add Ink this week. Kim has suggested a beautiful colour challenge for us all to use and it works so well for Christmas and all the last minute parcels and cards you may have to decorate. The lovely design team have all made wonderful creations to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look.

Here are the colours:

And here is my card:

The first idea that came to mind was to create Old Olive trees and the rest came from there. I've used trees from Santa's Sleigh and am wondering if the central tree is a little high but is a bit late now. For the background and to add details to the tree, I simply flicked on some Clear Wink of Stella to add a subtle Silver wink :-)

Card stock: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Old Olive

Ink: Old Olive, Versamark

Stamps: Santa's Sleigh, Christmas Pines

Accessories: Santa's Sleigh Framelits, White EP, Clear Wink of Stella, Basic Rhinestones, Silver Metallic Thread

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 the team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this fun challenge too.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop! This is my first time joining these talented and lovely ladies in their monthly hop and I am very honoured and excited to be doing so! In case we are new to you, our hops work on a circle basis so if you've started with me, just keep following the links until you wind up back here again.  So it's time to grab a cuppa and sit back and prepare to enjoy as you hop along to see the projects that all 9 of us have for you and we hope that you are inspired as we show you our Favourites from the Holiday Catalogue (or" Catalog" the spelling depending on where in the world you live :-) )

So a big warm Australian Spring welcome to you if you've just come from the talented Heidi Weaver - I just love her beautiful projects this month and I'm sure you do too!

 

For my three projects I've gone with a theme....beautiful Copper Foil! My usual style I would describe as Clean and layered with bling. I love a little dimension and sparkle :-) So todays' projects start very clean and become more layered as they progress so I hope you enjoy them.

This first card is very CAS - allowing the pretty copper star to shine. I've overlaid the star with a delicate vellum die cut from the matching Framelits. The sentiment is from a Christmas Carol (We Three Kings) so it was irresistible to the singer in me:-)

Card Stock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Copper Foil, Vellum

Ink: Versamark, Smoky Slate

Stamps: Star of Light

Accessories: Big Shot, Starlight Thinlights, Copper EP,  Metallic Enamel Shapes, Dimensionals.

The second card has a little more layers and colour in amongst the copper details and uses the fabulous new Christmas Pines bundle - right down to the Mini Copper Pinecones! How gorgeous are they!! I stamped just one spray of pines and overlaid die cut branches and pinecones.

Card stock: Emerald Envy, Whisper White, Copper Foil, Soft Suede, Real Red

Ink: Real Red, Wild Wasabi

Stamps: Christmas Pines

Accessories: Big Shot, Pretty Pines Thinlits, Mini Pinecones, Candy Cane Lane Baker's Twine (Red and White), Brights Enamel Shapes, Snail, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

For my third project I stepped it up a little and created a Gift Bag and Tag. The gift bag is created using DSP from the lovely Presents and Pinecones pack and the Gift Bag Punch Board. There is a great tutorial showing how to create the bags from Stampin Up that you can see here. Mine is a medium bag - using an 11"x 9" piece of DSP to start - and I created a flap to cover the top which is held in place by the copper band that the Tag is attached to.

For the Tag I couldn't help making a shaker ornament using the Merriest Wishes Bundle and Mica Flakes for snow. ( Shaker cards are my favourite in case you were wondering :-) )I die cut two of the pretty ornaments - one white, and one in copper and then used simple Circle Framelits (or you could use a punch) to cut the white version shorter so it fits within the copper circle. I also cut the Foam Adhesive strips in half longwise so they wouldn't be so easily seen as the outer circle width is thinner than the strips. Then it was a case of adding a back and a copper strip edge to enclose it all and suspending it on the tag itself. Such fun!!

Card stock: Whisper White, Emerald Envy, Copper Foil, Window Sheet

Designer Series Paper: Presents and Pinecones

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Merriest Wishes

Accessories: Big Shot: Merry Tag Framelits, Triple Banner Punch, Bakers Twine Trio Pack (Gold), White Organza Ribbon, Copper EP, Regals Enamel Shapes ( Cherry Cobbler), Mica Flakes (white), Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive Strips, Fast Fuse, Snail, Gift Bag Punch Board.

Thanks for stopping by today and now you are off to visit the lovely Marsha Reed and her gorgeous projects or you can head back and see the loveliness that Heidi Weaver has created for you - either way you won't be disappointed!

If you happen to get lost along the way, just click on  the "Home" button which will take you to the Wacky Watercooler Blog Homepage and a full list of all the participants :-) 

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan