It's Your Day for JAI #379

Happy Friday and welcome! The best time of year is just about to start - Daylight Savings starts this weekend here in Australia!! In Melbourne, Spring still seems to be of two minds whether it is staying or not. We've had one or 2 days of warmish sunshine but the mornings are definitely lighter that's for sure :-)

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fabulous Inspiration Photo for us all to use in our projects, suggested by Kelly. It is full of the joy of Summer and you can use whatever details from it that inspires you. It could be the colours, the shapes, and of course the drinks theme. Our lovely design team have created such a great variety of projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and maybe join us :-)

As soon as I saw the photo, I knew I wanted to go with the strawberry punch idea and put it in a Mason Jar which is so popular at kids parties these days. As I don't own the Sharing the Sweet Treats stamp set yet,  it involved using a combination of stamps to get a similar effect - Jar of Love and the strawberries are from Cool Treats. Of course the jar needed a copper lid, and vellum creates a realistic looking straw - using the Coffee Cafe framelits.

This background is another "smooshing" watercolour - this time only using the one colour. And as it looks as thought there are a few splashes, it also inspired the fun sentiment :-)

Card stock: Tranquil Tide, Whisper White, Vellum
Designer Series Paper: Tasty Treats (retired)
Inks: Flirty Flamingo, Real Red, Pool Party, Tranquil Tide, Versamark
Stamps: Jar of Love, Cool Treats, Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Alphabet Labeller
Accessories: Big Shot, Coffee Cups Framelits, Everyday Jars Framelits, Copper EP, Copper Metallic Thread, Metallic Sequin Assortment

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 our lovely team have made for you and maybe you might like to "make a splash" and join with us too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Daisy Birthday for JAI #378

Happy Friday everyone and welcome :-) This week has really seemed to fly. We have had brief sightings of the sun but Spring seems to be still coming...maybe by next week :-)

This week at Just Add Ink, Di has challenged us to Just Add Texture to our cards. There are many ways in which you can add texture - embossing paste, embossing folders, 3D elements and much more. There are so many choices and our lovely team have created a great variety so inspire you so I hope you can take a look and join us.

I have a whole heap of birthdays coming up so it was the ideal time to make another feminine birthday card. For texture, I've added some woodgrain, embossing paste and powder, ribbon, 3D punched items, sequins...yes I had a bit of a field day :-)

The whiteness of the Embossing Paste allows it to add texture without it taking over the whole background.

This one actually came together in a bit of a hurry as I had made another card for this challenge and then during a late Pinterest search I came across a card so similar to the one I'd just made it looked as though I had Cased it so I went back into the craft room and this was the result. 

You can see the original card I made below and the one it looks like I Cased here. We are many of us all creating using the same products so I guess it happens that people on two different sides of the world come up with the same card - good taste you might say - but it was a big surprise! I was trying to think out of the box by adding scoring instead of Paste....Vicki must've had a similar thought :-)

Card stock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi
Designer Series Paper: Woodgrain Stack
Ink: Versamark, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi
Stamps: Daisy Delight, Happy Birthday Gorgeous
Access: Daisy Punch, Embossing Paste, Gold EP, Burlap Ribbon, Metallic Sequin Assortment, Gold Faceted Gems

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 lovey design team and I look forward to see what you will create with this fun theme too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Birthday for JAI #377

Happy Friday and welcome :-) Whilst we are hoping to soon shake off the last of the Winter weather here in Australia, our thoughts are with all those affected by Cyclone Irma and hoping that everyone gets the help they need during the long recovery and rebuilding process ahead.

This week at Just Add Ink  we have a lovely and fresh colour combo suggested for us by Rochelle. As always our lovely design team have created truly beautiful cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and take a look and we'd love you to join us :-)

These colours seemed so Spring inspired to me so I opted to go floral. This combination of stamp and die cut is one of my favourites from the new Catalogue and I really enjoyed working with it in these colours.

I started with 'smooshing" a water colour background.  I usually use an Aqua Painter for backgrounds as feel I have more control over it but it's good to give yourself an extra challenge :-)

Everyone has their own way of "smooshing". I use a 10x10cm piece of acetate and add a SMALL amount of ink to it direct from ink pads, spray that with water and then literally drag it over the paper. A few finger flicks from behind creates the little splotches. And having a paper towel handy to mop up any pooling water would be my best tip :-)

Card stock: Lemon Lime Twist, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer

Inks: Pool Party, Dapper Denim, Lemon Lime Twist

Stamps: Daisy Delight

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy Birthday Thinlit, Daisy Punch, Clear Wink of Stella, White organza Ribbon, Mini Silver Sequins, Metallic Sequin assortment

Non SU: Water Color Card Stock (TH)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team and I look forward to seeing what you will create with these fresh and pretty colours too.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

More Happy Birthday Gorgeous for JAI #373

Hello everyone :-) There is snow just outside the city today and it has been pretty chilly! Tomorrow Sally the Lab goes into hospital at Hallam to have a second CT and Bronchoscopy - her allergies are out of control with the Spring pollens and it is thought she will end up with a steroid inhaler and we both seem to have an ongoing Strep throat infection. Apparently Strep is one of the few bugs we humans and dogs can share...Sal will stay overnight in ICU to have her breathing monitored and hopefully come home the next day.

Here is another card I created for Just Add Ink #373 -  you can see my original post here. For this card I used re -inkers to colour the embossing paste before adding over the stencil. Again the inspiration came from the Rainbow Maker class at Online Card Classes, this time from a project by one of my all time favourite designers - Laura Bassen :-)

With these softer colours, a gold die cut add over layers of white adds a little extra bling and there is again, a sprinkling of sequins. I am really loving the new Sequins Assortments as they feature different sizes of the colours and it makes a fabulous difference!

Card stock: Whisper White (thick), Basic Black, Gold Foil, Vellum
Inks (refills): Lemon Lime Twist, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Berry Burst, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: BS, Happy Birthday Thinlits, Embossing Paste, Iridescent sequins assortment, Seasonal Masks (retired),
Non SU: Stitched Circle Dies - SSS

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Birthday Gorgeous For JAI #373

This week has really flown and the Spring blossoms are popping out which is so lovely!! Even more than usual the "Four Seasons In One Day" that Melbourne is well known for is really apparent too - so Spring is definitely coming- woo hoo!

And just in time for the weekend we have a fabulous fun new challenge at Just Add Ink for you! This week Karren has suggested we Just Add Stencils to our projects. Such a lot of scope for using ink or paste or even making your own stencil to use.  As always the design team have created a wonderful array of projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and take a look and maybe join us :-)

This last week I've been enjoying the new Rainbow Maker class at Online Card Classes. Day 5 featured using stenciling to make a Rainbow and my card idea was born, lol!  Jennifer McGuire used her Zig Clean Color markers to create a rainbow on Bristol card stock as it is a heavier weight, to take all the ink. As I happened to have some of both I just had to give this a try and I must admit, am loving the results :-) I did also try this with regular Thick White card stock - but the colours didn't blend but I'm sure that water colour paper would work if you wanted to give this a go.

I first did some block colouring with the Zigs and spritzed with water to enable the colours to blend - just hold the paper horizontally so the colours don't run into each other from top to bottom or you could end up with a brown mess lol!
Once it was completely dry it was time to find a stencil.... I went with one from the retired Happy Patterns set from a few years back and applied as light a coat of embossing paste as I could. There must be some water in the paste as the colour from the Zigs - although dry - reacts and colours it in places - giving a lovely opaque look which was what I was hoping for :-)

Once it was all dry, I added the 3 layers of the die cut sentiment over vellum with a sprinkle of sequins to finish as it didn't seem to need anything else :-) 

Card stock: Whisper White (thick), Vellum

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy Birthday Thinlits, Embossing Paste, Happy Patterns Decorative masks.
Non SU: Bristol card stock, Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, Stitched circle Die (SSS), Sequins - PPP

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can take a moment and 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 with Stencils as your main focus this week :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Eclectic Number of Years for CTC #135

Happy Saturday and welcome :-) It's the middle weekend of School Holidays and it would seem that many have left town looking for warmer weather! Not that we blame them - with Winter in full swing a warm break would indeed be lovely.

Today's card is for the Caseing the Catty challenge that you can find on Facebook here and I have Cased the layout of the Christmas card in the background from page 118.

 I kept the basic layout but changed some of the details as you can see to turn this into a Special Birthday card. I used leaves to create a wreath and instead of a white banner accoss the middle, it is placed towards the bottom of the card and there is an added Pink layer too :-)

 These photos were taken seconds before a downpour of rain so please excuse the darker tones.

Card Stock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Emerald Envy, Copper Foil, Vellum
Designer Series Paper: Wood Textures Stack
Ink: Versamark
Stamps: Happy Birthday Gorgeous
Accessories: Big Shot, Large Number Framelits, Layering Circles Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Happy Birthday Thinlits, Eclectic Layers Thinlits, Copper EP, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Facebook and take a peek at the Caseing the Catty Challenge and there is still time for you to join in too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Kelly's Stamping Friends Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to a special Blog Hop celebrating Kelly Kent and her 5 years as a Stampin Up Demonstrator. Kelly has invited 25 of her stamping friends to take part in this happy event so I hope you enjoy all that we have for you!

A big welcome to you if you've just come from the lovely Julia Quinn and her fabulous projects. Otherwise you can start here and continue hopping along by simply clicking the Next button at the bottom of each person's post. I'm sure you will enjoy seeing what each person has created and hope that you are inspired to pick up some stamps and paper too :-)

 I have had the pleasure of getting to know the lovely Kelly thanks to working with her on the Just Add Ink team and am so thrilled to be part of this blog hop to celebrate her happy milestone. I've made two cards featuring some sneak peek items that are coming in the new Stampin Up catalogue that goes live this Thursday. They both have the same colours and a similar layout and were so fun to make. This card was my first play with the Happy Birthday Gorgeous bundle. When looking for a background to pair with my other elements I couldn't go past this beautiful ombre DSP from the Delightful Daisy pack.

There are 3 layers of white card stock underneath the shiny Copper to give it extra strength and  dimension to compliment the Berry daisy. And did you notice the sparkly gold flower centre? Yes, some new bling too - yay!!

For the second card, I flipped it back to a portrait format using the same stamp set, and added the "lovely" from the Lovely Word Thinlits. You may be able to see the Wink of Stella liberally applied to the flower petals and the stand to the bottom in the pic below.

Card stock: Berry Burst, Whisper White, Basic Black, Copper Foil

Designer Series Paper: Delightful Daisy

Inks: Versamark, Berry Burst

Stamps: Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Daisy Delight

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy Birthday Thinlits, Lovely Word Thinlits, Large Numbers Framelits, White EP,  Gold Faceted Gems, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Clear Wink of Stella

Thanks for stopping by today! Next you are off to see the lovely Sara Levin and her beautiful projects. Just click on the button below or you can see a full list of the Blog Hop roll underneath. Happy Hopping :-)

Blog Hop Participants List:

1.   Kelly Kent

2.   Angela Meiretz-Reid

3.   Monique Fielder

4.   Narelle Farrugia

5.   Wendy Hodkinson

6.   Deborah Harris

7.   Nicole Wilson

8.   Josie Dean

9.   Elizabeth Gross

10. Rachel Palmieri

11. Cheryl Algie

12. Kristel Rimmer

13. Kathryn Mangelsdorf

14. Mandy Depiazzi

15. Fi Cobbin

16. Nicole Goding

17. Holly Stene

18. Claudia Ausborn

19. Julia Quinn

20. Jan McQueen - you are HERE

21. Sara Levin

22. Carolina Evans

23. Tamra Davis

24. Narelle Simm

25. Jenny Hall

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Berry Burst for JAI #361

Happy Friday everyone and welcome :-) Only one week to go now before we can all order from the new Stampin Up Catalogue and the last chance to get the retiring products we've had our eyes on. Have you got your Wish List sorted yet? Mine is still a work in progress but getting longer by the day - so many lovely items to choose from!

And also with a few items to choose from this week is this week's Just Add Ink challenge suggested by Kelly. She has a beautiful choice of Flowers, Washi Tape or Watercolour for us to choose two from to use in our projects this week. Such fabulous and interesting choices and the design team had heaps of fun creating projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join us :-)

I chose flowers and water colouring and created a birthday themed card. There is a Pool Party water colour wash that I've flicked some Gold Wink of Stella over for some texture and interest and then added a berry Daisy thanks to the new Daisy Delight stamp set and co-ordinating punch. This is one of my favourite items in the coming catalogue along with the new Berry Burst In Colour just in case you had any doubts :-) I also added several layers of white card stock under the Copper Happy Birthday to add a little height and contrasting colour,

Card stock: Berry Burst, Basic Black, Whisper White, Copper Foil

Inks: Pool Party, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Tranquil Tide, Versamark

Stamps: Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Daisy Delight

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy BirthdayThinlits, Daisy Punch, White EP, White Perfect Accents, Gold Wink of Stella, Gold Faceted Gems

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see what our talented design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create to share in this great challenge too! I'm also looking forward to sharing better photos with you soon as have a new camera on the way though it might take a little time to get to know it :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Thank You JAI #359

Happy Friday and welcome! The days are getting shorter and definitely cooler but the beautiful colours of Autumn are on show. The leaves have turned to beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow and there is a often a carpet of them on the streets - which remind me of my childhood and walking to school kicking and dancing through them:-)

This week at Just Add Ink we have this gorgeous floral bloom photo for you suggested by Kim. The design team have all made stunning creations to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join us :-)

The layers and orientation of the flower in the photo reminded me of this lovely birthday image so that was my starting point.  I white embossed it onto water colour card stock and then used an Aqua Painter with ink pads. To get the depth of colour, I first applied a light wash taking ink from the lids and then took ink direct from the ink pads to add the shading.

The white embossing makes it easy to stay within the lines and also gives a rather vintage effect which I decided to embrace and added layers of ribbon to represent the layers of petals in the photo. Whilst I'd love some white Wink of Stella some embossed dots from Timeless Textures give some subtle shine to the background :-)

I coloured a second flower just in case there was an accident with the fussy cutting but as all went well I decided to use it on second card.

This time I layered the coloured panel on a base of the same colour but I might change that to the same as the one above. And the greeting is a sneak peek of a new set available June 2 called Happy Birthday Gorgeous - it is indeed gorgeous and will get plenty of use am sure :-)

Card stock: Dapper Denim, Soft Sky
Ink: Melon Mambo, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight, Versamark
Stamps: Birthday Blooms, Thankful Thoughts, Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Timeless Textures
Accessories: White EP, Burlap Ribbon, White Organza Ribbon, Gold Metallic Ribbon (Sab), Metallic Sequin Assortment

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the fabulous inspiration from the design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this beautiful inspiration challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan