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

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

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                    

Sunflower 3D Birthday for Colour INKspiration #195

 

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome!
It's been quite a while since I've had the time to join in a challenge but this week's Colour INKspiration Combo is just my sort of style - a pop of colour amongst not too many others - and piqued my interest! 

Add to that the wonderful Sunflower 3D embossing folder just arrived into my craft space and I couldn't think of a better way to use it than to take a leap and enter this fun challenge that I've been watching from afar for what I think may be my first time!!

So without further ado, here is my first card...that's right! I got a bit carried away and managed to create two different looks!

I was inspired by the joyful, Sharon Armstrong whose You Tube posts always make me smile because she is so excited about what she does. She showed 10 or so ways of how to use this beautiful EF and this was one of them: 

The image is embossed onto Crushed Curry card stock and then wiped over with White Craft Ink. That is it. Simple and very effective!

I've added some leaf dies from both he Friends of Life and Memorable Blooms dies and a combination of shiny, silver ribbons, black twine and of course some bling - this time in the form of rhinestones.

The detail in the EF is absolutely incredible! And if you are a sunflower lover like me, then you will want to get your hands on this ASAP before it is sold out.

I did have another play....I was having so much fun!

For this version, I first swiped a Crushed Curry ink pad over the same colour card stock for a tone on tone look. Then....well it looked a bit flat still. So I added some Versamark ink over the top and some Clear EP and Boom! It looks a bit more Pumpkin Pie now than Curry but it is also super shiny....

I added the same details as with my first card as I already had these dies out on my craft desk. I originally was going to place what became a pile of ribbons and dies in a different place but I didn't want to obstruct the view of the three main sunflowers.

So which version do you prefer??
I think I prefer the subtle white version. The dramatic version does make me think of one of our hot, 40 degree summer days.  Maybe because we are still in early Spring here in Australia is why I am not quite so keen to look that far ahead yet!

But I am planning to get my first Sunflower seeds into the garden by October 1st this year. A mix of the big giant ones and some dwarves too. So I hope the Sunflower EF stays around too.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that you are enjoying the challenge too!

You can find the Colour Inkspiration Challenges and details on how to enter them on Facebook, here.

Card stock: Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Basic White

Stamps: Friends For Life (sentiment).

Inks: White Craft, Versamark

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Sunflower 3D EF, Friends for Life Dies, Memorable Blooms Dies, Silver Ribbons - x 2, Black Twine (Bakers Twine Essentials Pack), Basic Rhinestones, White EP. Clear EP.

'Til next time,

Jan

Inspired Imperfections for JAI #769

Happy Friday and welcome back! It's the first weekend of School Holidays here in Victoria and Spring has sprung with lots of trees in bloom and the usual suspects of daffodils and jonquils are all enjoying the increased light and occasional increase in temperatures. 

This week at Just Add Ink we have a Choose Two Challenge for you from Di Barnes. She would like us to Choose Two out of Numbers, Words or Neutral Colours.  The design team as always have created an array of cards for you featuring all different ways to use two of these three options. We would love you to join us! Don't forget to let us know which two options you have chosen in your post!

For my card, I chose Words and Neutral colours. Which for me was Basic White and Basic Black, Crumb Cake and a touch of gold for a warmer lift. Neutrals are not my go to colours - I prefer bright colours, so this was a true challenge for me.

The beautiful Inspired Imperfections bundle seemed perfect for this challenge as has a number of images and die cut embellishments to help make a thank you car a bit special.

The vase itself is embossed using Black EP and the little flower with Gold EP - both give an extra textural touch. The greeting is from the retired Memorial Blooms bundle and is embossed with White EP.

This card is designed to be simple to create, but elegant and so I also created another card using slightly more colourful colours - Secret Sea and Cloud Cover but you will need to come back to see that later as it didn't quite fit the perimeters of this challenge!

Thanks for popping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the cards the design team have created to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this challenge!

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Memorable Shaker for JAI #751

Happy Friday and welcome back! I hope you've had a good week and are ready for a relaxing weekend?

It's time for our next challenge at Just Add Ink and this week's fun Just Add... a Shaker Card is from Kerry.

There are lots of items that can be used to create the shaker elements and lots of images that would be well placed to be used as shaker elements. I hope you enjoy the cards that the design team have created to inspire you and we'd love you to join us!

For my card this week I used the delightful Memorable Blooms bundle. The pretty dies and the window that it creates seemed to be asking for a shaker card! 

To add a little colour on the side, are both a leaves assortment and a small flower spray coloured using Blends and Copics.  Then a combination of Sprinkles were used inside the shaker window itself so that it looked full and shakes freely.

The result with the pink background and floral images is a rather pretty feminine card that is yet to find itself in the post.          

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and enjoy the inspiration from the design team. We'd love for you to join us this week and to see what sort of Shaker card that you would enjoy making.

Card stock: Basic White, Lost Lagoon

DSP: In Colour (2024-2026)

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black and Blends and Copics

Stamps: Memorable Blooms Artistically Inked

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Memorable Blooms Dies, Sprinkles (various, retired).

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Memorial Blooms for JAI #747

 

Happy Friday - Good Friday too - and welcome! I hope that you have a lovely Easter long weekend planned. For us here in Victoria it is also the last weekend of the school holidays and the first half features weather more like Summer. The second half is likely to be raining and an excellent time to be crafting inside!

This week's Just Add Ink challenge is from Kerry and the mix of bunnies, birds and yellow could definitely work for an Easter card or many other theme as you'll see from the cards our Design Team have created to inspire you. I hope that you can pop on over to the JAI blog and take a peek. We'd love to have you join us and you have til Wednesday evening to finish your creation.

I made TWO cards for this challenge using the same main images - Memorable Blooms - and a similar layout for each card. But each is a little different. In two of the Challenge photos there are flowers and so I based my cards on these and the yellows, greys and whites in the photos.

For this first card, the background is created using a small floral spray stamped in Daffodil Delight. 

Whilst the hexagon is filled with a retired grey DSP with white writing. The single large floral spray is coloured and with Copics and Blends, there are two leaves die cuts a twine bow and a Birthday sentiment.

Whereas the second card uses Lemon Lolly as a base, two coloured floral sprays with a plain white background and silver hexagon and a white ribbon bow. 

I created the second card first and it just felt a little busy to me and so I went back to my craft desk the next day and the warmer image with the single spray of flowers was the result. But afterwards I felt both cards related well to this challenge and deserved to see the light of day.

Sadly this lovely bundle is now in the Last Chance section for ordering. I only recently purchased it so I hope that I can get a little more use out of it before it is all gone. It is super elegant and the mix of sentiments and images are beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you create for this challenge.

Card stock: Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lolly, Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Basic White, Silver Foil, 

DSP: (retired long ago)

Inks: Tuxedo Momento Black, Versamark, Daffodil Delight, Blends (and Copics).

Stamps: Memorable Blooms, Artistically Inked

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Memorable Blooms Dies, White EP, Metallic Sequins.

'Til next time,

Jan

Memorable Birthday for JAI #741

Happy Friday and welcome! This is a busy weekend for many in Australia. It is a long weekend here in Victoria, with the Moomba Festival and holiday on Monday. And Cyclone Alfred is preparing to strike Queensland -  the most populated South Eastern areas.

Wherever you are this weekend, in Australia or overseas, I hope that you, your family and your household are safe and hopefully, your home is too. 

Maybe you might be able to do some crafting as a way of keeping occupied and calm whilst at home before the storm arrives? Hopefully you will find the challenge below enables you to take part even if you have reduced supplies available.

At Just Add Ink this week, the lovely Lou has suggested we Just Add... Simple and Elegant. They are terms that are relative to your own style. But generally, Simple suggests an uncluttered space and Elegant can mean gold and silver and often female cards. I hope that this theme helps those in QLD that are away from their usual space, to still be able to take part. You can see all the design team cards and find the link to join in the challenge on the Just Add Ink blog and I look forward to seeing what you can create for this challenge.

The beautiful Memorable Blooms bundle has recently arrived in my craft room and is very elegant, I think! So using it for this challenge was an easy choice. 

I had a couple of colour options but decided that a White-On-White approach was what I wanted to explore for this challenge. To add texture, the Crochet EF was used after first die cutting the Hexagon opening.

Next, the larger floral image was stamped using Momento Ink on Thick White card stock and then water coloured. 

Yes, I know we usually use Stazon Ink for water colouring  and water colouring parper! But the theme for this Challenge is "Simple" and so I went for a simple technique and using simple supplies. It was done carefully, monitoring the amount of water the Water Painter tip used by blotting on paper towel where necessary. Once the initial, light colouring of the flowers and leaves was dry, a second round of colour was applied using even less water and the same blotting technique.

The way the Hexagon dies with this bundle create a delicate border on each cut side is really beautiful - and seemed so perfect for this challenge. Unfortunately, if you want to keep the border die as I did, and to add in the white die cut image, you need to add something to hold all these pieces in place.

 I die cut a hexagon from Window Sheet to do this: adhesive was added to the back of the white die cut image as it was centred and then to the front of the corners of the Window sheet. This meant the Crochet embossed card front could be perfectly laid upon it as though the die cut is inlaid. Then the Crochet and acetate are added to a layer of Thick card stock before being attached to the card front. 
Then the simple sentiment was added along with the ribbon and sequin details to continue the elegance. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the design team cards and all the amazing entrants too and I look forward to seeing what you create for this Challenge.

Card Stock: Basic White, thick and standard. Basic Black, Window SheetInks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Petunia Pop, Summer Splash

Stamps: Memorable Blooms, Artistically Inked (retired)

Accessories: Memorable Blooms Dies, Crochet EF, Water Painter,White EP, Pool Party ribbon, Silver Trim, Metallic Sequin Assortment.

'Til next time,

Jan