Big Thank You for JAI #334

Hello and welcome! Well, the move has finally happened and we've just spent our first night in the new home. The strangest thing is waking up in the middle of the night a little disorientated and once we have realised where we are, needing to turn lights on to find our way. But it will soon become the new normal for sure :-) Sally is a little anxious about it all but we will be going back to the empty one today and that will help her work out that the new place is home now.

Also new today is the challenge at Just Add Ink where Di has suggested a photo filled with school shapes and letter ideas for our crafting this week. The design team have all created such fabulous and varied cards so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join us.

Here is the photo:

And here is my card:

What first jumped out at me from the photo were the large letter stamps and different typography elements so it seemed the perfect time to bring out the large text stamp in Thankful thoughts. The swirly shaped flowers represent the other swirly shapes on the table and the colours and there is the Hardwood background for the table itself. With all involved in the move, and such at least one thank you card has been needed so is perfect timing too :-)

Card stock: Dapper Denim, Whisper White

Ink: Dapper Denim, Calypso Coral, Smoky Slate, Cucumber Crush

Stamps: Thankful Thoughts, Swirly Bird, Hardwood

Accessories: Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Framelits, Basic Rhinestones

Non- SU: Stitched Rectangle Dies - Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the beautiful cards our lovely team has made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fabulous photo for inspiration too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Celebrate Inspiration JAI #274

The days are slowly getting longer if still very chilly. Apparently this has been Melbourne's coldest winter in 20years! Just over 3 weeks until Spring so not long to go now :-)

And as it's Friday we have a brand new challenge for you at Just Add Ink. The lovely Trish has found these fantastic Photos to inspire us. The talented Team have created fabulous projects from them so I hope you can pop on over and have a look :-) Photos can be a great starting point for creativity as you can take as little or as much from them as you like.

Here are the Inspiration Photos:

Lots of layers of texture - neutrals and whites - and a fabulous chevron pattern too!

And here is my card:

The layers of texture are what first jumped out to me - the fabulous lampshade and placemat along with the rounded chair..and of course those amazing chevrons. So I decided to use those elements and make a masculine card. Although as it turned out with all the addition of the gold bling, it could possibly work for females too now lol! I started with the Hardwood background stamp using Sahara Sand ink. The next layer starting point was the newThick Whisper White card stock to be strong enough to hold the heavier items and then came the gold Vellum and balloon with it's trailing hemp twine.

Card stock: Sahara Sand, Thick Whisper White, Whisper White (standard), Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Gold Vellum Specialty

Inks: Versamark, Sahara Sand

Stamps: Celebrate Today, Hardwood

Accessories: Big Shot, Balloon Framelits, Chevron EF, Wooden Accents, Hemp Twine (retired), Burlap Ribbon

(Non SU, Stitched Rectangles from My Favourite Things)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see the wonderful inspiration from the the Team and I can't wait to see what you will create with these fabulous photos this week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Just Add Mother's Day

With Mother's Day less than two weeks away it's definitely time to get started making some cards! Though I won't need one for my Mum ( who passed away over 20 years ago now) I do get requests for cards for others and for this card used the Colour Challenge this week at Just Add Ink

Now for those that visited yesterday and saw another card I made with these colours that I didn't think was up to the Challenge, YES, I am regretting not entering that card now - and you can see it here:-) (EDITED to ADD - the Plane card has now been entered too - thanks Christine :-) )

And here is today's card…

For the card base I used Bermuda Bay card and the next layer has some Very Vanilla embossed with the Polka Dots EF and some Crumb Cake stamped with the Hardwood background stamp.

To cut the frame for the flowers I used the Square Framelits and some more Crumb Cake card - just by layering the framelits inside each other.

The happy Tulips are stamped twice and then fussy cut to add a layer to each one. For the greeting I used a much loved but long retired stamp set called Well Scripted and stamped this straight onto the Hardwood using the Baked Brown Sugar ink.  I am a bit out of practice at almost Shabby chic cards these days but I thought the style might suit the colours and the theme too :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake, Baked Brown Sugar

Stamps: Hardwood, Simple Stems, Well Scripted ( Retired)

Accessories: Square Framelits, Polka Dots EF, Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, Basic Pearls

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out the fabulous cards the Team at Just Add Ink have made to inspire you and maybe you too will be excited to join in!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Easter

Its been a lovely Good Friday - starting out with clouds that later delivered the rain that was promised and finishing with sunshine. Lots of people going to Church today - including me :-) and a busy day for the Fish Mongers in town!

And so fittingly, today's card has a Good Friday theme for Easter too.

The card base is Baked Brown Sugar stamped with the Hardwood in the same colour. Then there is a piece of white card before the delightful piece of the Watercolor Wonder DSP - which just seems so colourful and celebratory for Easter!
The Cross is another piece of Baked Brown Sugar stamped with Hardwood - and the individual Planks are cut to size and layered with dimensionals.
Unfortunately, even though it is embossed with White Embossing powder, the greeting doesn't really stand out but in some ways that is good as the Cross remains the star.
Next there are two lovely Tulips from the Simple Stems set and then there are the leaves. Now ideally I would've used my Bird Punch for these but it has not yet been released from the punch "hospital" after an admission for a paper jam - fortunately it has been repaired, just not quite home yet :-) So the last resort was indeed the stems front the Simple Stems set - with the top of the stem removed.

So I hope you are having a very good Good Friday wherever you are today and whatever you are doing and wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Easter Eggs

Today the sun has come out at last! After the last four days of quite heavy rain it is wonderful to be able to enjoy some sunshine and take the dog for a longer walk :-) And of course it is also only one week to Easter so another fabulous reason to celebrate!
Unfortunately my health has not been great recently but today is a better day and so am joining in the fun at Can You Case It. Where the theme this week is "Bunnies, chicks and eggs."

Now this card didn't quite turn out how I had envisioned it  - of an egg falling down steps and cracking open but its nearly there :-)

For the card base I used some Whisper White with some Coastal Cabana card between the layers.

To make the "steps" I stamped the wonderful Hardwood onto some Sahara Sand card and cut the steps and rounded the corners. I had some left over grass from a previous project and added it here to give an outdoorsy feel along with some Gorgeous Grunge stamped in Gumball Green.

Next the egg and chick were stamped in Baked Brown Sugar and the insides with some Calypso coral and the the little chickadee was coloured with Crushed Curry ink using a Blender pen and added with dimensionals.

And finally a little bling with (just a few!) sequins :-) Yes, I still love the bling!!

Card stock: Coastal Cabana, Gumball Green, Sahara Sand, Whisper White

Inks: Baked Brown Sugar, Gumball Green, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry

Stamps: A Good Egg (Retired), Hardwood, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Hexagon Punch (flag ends), Blender pens, Non-SU sequins

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you pop over to Can You Case It and see what the wonderful designers there have made and maybe you could have a go too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Birthday Butterflies

Today has been a bit chilly and cool and sadly it is obvious Summer has gone - especially by how dark it is in the mornings lately! So it has been a good opportunity to sit and make another card for the interesting sketch at Just Add ink this week. Love all those shapes together!

I saw this sketch last night just as I was heading to bed and then woke up this morning with an idea :-)

And this afternoon had some time to see if it would work :-) Just love it when it all comes together!

The card base is Island Indigo to match the DSP and then the Hardwood is stamped onto some Sahara Sand card using Baked Brown Sugar ink.

To cut the Gold Foil Vellum I used my Circle Framelits - and also used them for both circles under the butterfly too - so easy!

The tag is made by layering the gorgeous Watercolor Wonder  DSP onto the card before punching in the Scallop Tag Topper punch and then the ends are trimmed. And the plain Vellum card tag is cut to size and then I used my Corner Rounder punch on all  four corners.

Because I wanted to use an Aqua Painter to colour the little butterfly, I first stamped him in Versamark before the Island Indigo ink in order to Clear Emboss him as otherwise the water based ink would run as I coloured him and he has such pretty markings!

And the greeting is stamped in Island Indigo ink too and then both ends are flagged using the Hexagon Punch before being added with dimensionals as are most of the layers :-)

Card stock: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Watercolor Wonder, Fancy Gold Vellum, Vellum (plain)

Inks: Island Indigo, Baked Brown Sugar,  Pool Party, Versamark

Stamps: Hardwood, Papillon Potpourri, Happiest Birthday Wishes (Retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Hexagon Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Scallop Tag Topper Punch, Clear EP, Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack (Twine), Basic Rhinestones

Thank you for stopping by today and I do hope you have some time to check out the fabulous sketch at Just Add Ink this week and maybe you will be the next to enter the challenge!

And now a little something for those that have asked about Sally and her friend Monty - yes, they still play regularly! 

They will often walk side by side, Monty with his "arm" around Sally who gives him a few kisses…..in between the rough and tumble play :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Just Sayin' challenge

Well it's been a lovely Friday afternoon - a gorgeous sunny day so managed to get a bit of gardening done before a good friend arrived to help and then we planned to make a card or two together. What more could you want?  :-)

I have been thinking about the great sketch at The Paper Players this week

 And today finally had some time to make the card - and I've teamed it with a Splitcoast Stampers Clean and Simple challenge too - to make a clean card that has a colour (not a neutral) for a base card..

The chevron above the above the Word Bubble is supposed to look a bit like a raised eyebrow..:-) It is first punched with the chevron punch and then each end was shortened.

For the base card I've used some Tangerine Tango - something nice and bright :-)  - and goes with the Retro DSP. I've also used some Retro Washi tape and some So Saffron card stock embossed with the pretty Decorative Dots EF that's still available for FREE as part of Saleabration. 

Card stock: Tangerine Tango, Baked Brown Sugar, So Saffron, Very Vanilla

Designer Series Paper: Retro Fresh

Inks: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar

Stamps: Just Sayin', Hardwood

Accessories: Big Shot, Stripes EF, Decorative Dots EF, Word Bubblle Framelits, Circle Framelits, Brown button, Chevron punch, Linen thread (in button), Retro Fresh This &That Washi tape

Well, its time now to take Sally the Lab out for a walk to meet her pal Monty in the parkwhile the weather is still good. Such a great day for the last day of Summer!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Easter is coming

Welcome everyone to a wonderful Wednesday! It is the last week of summer and I will be sad to see it go for another year but in the meantime, today has brought some gentle sunshine after some cooling light rain overnight. And it is time for another sketch from the Paper Craft Crew!

This sketch has several layers and I'd love you to check out the wonderful examples the Design Team have created and feel inspired to join us this week :-)

For my card I decided to get ready for the next big season - Easter! And to use some of the gorgeous DSP available for Free as part of Saleabration until the end of next month.

The DSP is layered together - using the Scallop border punch on the River Rock layer - and added onto a piece of Whisper White card so that it can be added with dimensionals above another white layer.

Seeing as the  middle strip of paper here is so colourful it doesn't really need much added to it I think - just one flower from the lovely Simple Stems set and a gold sequin for the starfruit flower :-)

For the greeting I used a retired stamp set with the Banner Framelits - the greeting is actually cut with them too and then trimmed down using my paper cutter to sit within the Cantaloupe one. And the little banners are cut from the same DSP as used in the horizontal strips. 

Card stock: Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Sweet Sorbet *

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe

Stamps: Simple Stems, Seasonal Wishes ( Retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Banner Framelits, Crisp Cantaloupe Twine ( Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack*), Non SU Sequin

*Available during Saleabration

I actually made TWO Easter cards using this sketch this week!! So here is the other card too. It uses the same sketch of course and the same layout, just different designer series paper to create a different look

You can see the similarities here to the first card I am sure :-) 

The starting point here was the beautiful Watercolor Wonder (USA spelling) DSP with its subtle blues and greens. The middle strip uses the Hardwood background stamp and the lower card layer is embossed using the Decorative Dots EF.

Card stock: Island Indigo, Whisper White,

Designer Series Paper: Watercolor Wonder

Inks: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit

Stamps: Simple Stems, Hardwood, Seasonal Wishes (retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF*, Banner Framelits, Coastal Cabana Twine (Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack*)

*Available during Saleabration

So I hope you feel inspired  to check out the beautiful samples from the rest of the Team members and come and join us this week at the Paper Craft Crew!

Happy Stamping until next time,

Jan