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

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                    

Inspired Just For You for CI #197

Happy Thursday everyone and a very warm welcome to you!! I am very honoured and was indeed a little nervous to be invited to be a Guest Designer for the fabulous Colour Inkspiration Challenges. It is very special indeed and I am very grateful!

This week's Colour Inkspiration Challenge is with these elegant colours - Misty Moonlight, Night of Navy and Crumb Cake. You can also use, Black, white, Vanilla and metallics if you would like. You can find the Challenge on Facebook  (follow the link above) and I encourage you to check out all the designers cards and see what other entrants have created there too.

I thought this was a beautiful and elegant colour combination and so chose the Inspired Imperfections bundle to use for this challenge. 

The vase image is stamped on Misty Moonlight card stock with the same colour ink. Whilst all the other blues used are Night of Navy.

The white layer is embossed using the Joined Together EF and the EF was also used on some Gold Foil which was then cut out and added to it. 

To create the flowers, I used some white card stock and the Country Flower Dies. Then alternating flowers were coloured with Night Of Navy Blends. It is a quick and easy way of creating the card stock colour you want which is especially good when just needing small pieces like these. 

Crumb Cake was used for the frame and sentiment strip and the flower branches and that is the last Challenge Colour to be included. 

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that you check out this week's  Colour Inkspiration Challenge and consider joining in too! There is plenty of time for you to join us as the challenge lasts for two weeks!

Card stock: Night Of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Crumb Cake, Gold Foil, Basic White

Inks: Misty Moonlight, Versamark

Blends: Night of Navy

Stamps: Inspiring Imperfections, Charming Sentiments (Retired)

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Inspiring Imperfections Dies, Joined together EF, Country Flowers Dies, Crumb Cake Twine ( Essentials Pack), Night of Navy Ribbon, Gold Faceted Gems

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Sending Kintsugi Love #JAI #757

It is definitely feeling like Winter this week in Melbourne! We have had hail and black ice in the city and the nearest snow fields received another 10cm of snow overnight alone. Perfect timing to spend the weekend warm and dry inside and crafting!

This week at Just Add Ink we have a gorgeous Inspiration Photo Challenge from my friend, Lou. 

Inspiration photos are great challenges because you can take as much or as little from what appeals to you. Our design team have created a fabulous array of cards to show you all sorts of things that appealed to us and we would love you to join us!

My card was inspired by the blue and white patterns, the frames and the use of foliage in the Inspiration Photo.

The Inspiring Imperfections Suite is based on the Japanese art of Kintsugi - "is a Japanese art form that involves repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks with lacquer dusted or mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. Rather than disguising the damage, kintsugi highlights the breaks, transforming them into a unique and beautiful part of the object's history. "

I love the idea of beauty being created through trials and growth. And I also love the patterns in the stamp set and in the DSP.

 and the co -ordinating DSP. The vase is stamped in Misty Moonlight and then the gold overlay is from a matching Die Cut using Gold Foil card stock.

The base layer of DSP features blooms in Misty Moonlight with gold foil accents and is very pretty in real life.

And the White layer in between these, is embossed using the EF that also comes with the suite. The EF is particularly interesting as when embossed in gold, parts can be paper pieced onto white or coloured card stock for a very unique look.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink where you'll find the Linky to enter this week's #757 Challenge. I look forward to seeing what you inspired you to create from this week's Photo Inspiration too!

Card stock: Misty Moonlight, Basic White, Gold Foil

DSP: Kintsugi Impressions Specialty DSP

Stamps: Inspiring Imperfections, Country Flowers (Retired)

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Rectangle Framelits (retired), Inspiring Imperfections Dies, Memorable Blooms Dies, Country Flowers Dies (Retired), Joined Together EF, White EP, Gold Twine, 

White Cord (from my stash)

'Til next time,

Jan

 

 

Two Country Flowers for JAI #735

Happy Friday everyone. It's the last weekend before school returns after the summer holidays here in Victoria. I hope all your back to school organising has gone to plan and you can relax this weekend and join us for some crafty fun!

This week at Just Add Ink we have an elegant colour combo with a pop of colour for you from Rochelle. 

Our design team have created a fabulous array of projects which you can see over at the Just Add Ink blog and we'd love you to join in the Challenge with us!

I created two almost mirror image cards. Both using a half and half amount  of black and white.

The black teapot version was made first and then the white teapot version second.

The Black and white triangles were cut first. The black side here was run through with an EF and the white base card was stamped in versamark and gold embossing powder was heat set and the black layer added on top.

A further tea pot was stamped and die cut and the leaves were coloured with Copics in Summer Splash tones. The little die cut flowers are also amongst the dies in the set and some retired sequins are added on top. Ribbon and gold twine above the sentiment hopefully add a little softness and texture too. The sentiment is embossed with black embossing powder to help it pop on the Splash card stock.

And the black card is the same but opposite. I actually made this card first and wasn't quite happy with it and that helped me make the white embossed version. And then this card seemed better as it became a pair. There, I've shared the angst of design with you!😅

On this card, the white side was dry embossed and the black, base card side was stamped in versamark and gold embossing powder heat set.

The same leaves were stamped and coloured and the same ribbons and twine used as accessories. But this time there are no die cut flowers. I almost added a die cut gold tea pot...but that seemed a bit too much I thought lol! 

I often remember when creating, the words of fashion designer Coco Chanel, to" look in the mirror and take off at least one thing before you leave the house." I apply that to cards ...to help me not over accessorise them and keep them relatively Clean & Simple. I'm not sure I take enough off, but that is the theory!😊

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog and see all the fabulous card from the rest of the team and also other entrants. And I look forward to seeing what you create with this elegant colour combo with a pop of colour too.

Card stock: Basic White, Basic Black, Summer Splash

Stamps: Country Flowers, Artistically Inked

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Country flowers Dies, Subtle EF, Black EP, Gold EP, Ribons, Sequins, Non SU: Copics

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Country Flowers Birthday for JAI #716

 

Happy Friday and welcome! It's officially almost the last week of Winter here in Australia and down in Melbourne it has been particularly chilly. The coldest winter in 24 or 28 years! But we seem to be enjoying the early signs of Spring this week with warmer and longer days but still crisp overnight. It has been lovely to see the flowers start to bloom and some bird calls we haven't heard in a while. Hopefully you can spend some time in the garden in between your craft room as I'm sure you might like to join in this challenge!

This week at Just Add Ink we have this pretty Inspiration Photo for you from Kim.  You can take as much or as little as you choose from photo challenges and there is lots to love about this one. There are the beautiful colours, the textures and of course the beautiful image itself - the gorgeous steps and those cute little flower pots. 

So I hope that you can pop on over to the JAI blog and see all the cards from the design team and other entrants and we'd love you to join us!

For my card I just couldn't go past those gorgeous little flower pots of roses on all the steps. So I finally broke open the pretty Country Flowers bundle. Truth be told, when I saw this Challenge I knew that I wanted to use this set and for me, the start of every card is which stamp set so that was the hardest part decided. 

The flowers were coloured using a mixture of Blends and Copics and the flower pot too. Then the pretty and die cut leaves were added. 

The Country Lace DSP has beautiful patterns and these sheets are in similar tones to the Challenge photo and they fit in well here. I was a little tired by the time of stamping the sentiment and it is a touch lower than I wanted. But it was too late to move the DSP by then...one day I will learn to stop sooner and come back the next day. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you create for this pretty challenge.

Card stock: Basic White Thick and standard, Pool Party.

DSP: Country Lace

Inks: Tuxedo Momento Black, Blends and Copics

Stamps: Country Flowers, Friends for Life

Accessories: Die cutting Machine, Country Flowers dies, Basic Rhinestones

'Til next time,

Jan