Just Add Ink #543 Birthday Sketch

 

Hello and welcome! It's the last Friday of Summer and it seems to have flown by so fast. It has been a cooler time than usual but here in Victoria we are hoping for some of our Covid restrictions to ease today which would be good!

It's also time for our new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week, Kelly has given us this fun and geometric sketch to get the crafty thought processes working. Our lovely design team have created a wide variety of cards to inspire you so I hope that you can pop on over and have a look and we'd love for you to join us.

I created TWO cards using this sketch and here is the first one - although I actually created it second just to confuse you! The background DSP is cut into squares to represent the sketch and is much harder than it looks to get the right sizes. Then some flowers and dies from the lovely Pretty Perenials set and a strip of Glimmer paper complete this striking card.

This card was actually the first one I made and went into the post. The sketch details are a little bit hard to see - I scored the squares on the white background. The wreath was also created using the same same stamp set but the other details were from a number of different sets. 

The 50 is from a retired die set, the & is from the Playful Alphabet Dies and the Fabulous is cut from a sentiment in the Dressed to Impress set. This mix of mainly pastels is for a very lovely lady who is most definitely fabulous in all she is! 

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bermuda Glimmer, Highland Heather, Gold Foil.

Designer Series Paper: Oh so Ombre Salabration (2021)

Inks: Majenta Madness, Highland Heather, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Grapefruit Grove, Merry Merlot, Petal Pink, Granny Apple Green

Stamps: Pretty Perennials, Dressed to Impress

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Large Numbers Framelits, Playful Alphabet Dies, White EP, Basic Rhinestones, Clear Jewels, Gold Gilded Jewels

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

Til next time,

Jan

Broadway Birthday for JAI #426

Happy Friday everyone and welcome! It's mid September, and the Spring weather has Sprung - we even had a day above 20 degrees here in Melbourne this week 😊The cherry trees in many streets are in beautiful pink blossom and the dogs are getting antsy at the parks - yes, a definite sign, lol!

It's also time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week we have a clean and rather graphic sketch for you from the lovely Kim.  You can use the sketch just as it is or flip it around whatever works for the project you have in mind. Our lovely and talented design team have created a wonderful array of cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and we'd love you to join us.

I combined a few different things for my card....but the main star is the new Broadway Birthday bundle. I stamped the Hooray in Berry burst and then used the dotted version of the word in White Craft ink to create the patterned look. Sadly, there is no die for this word so fussy cutting was needed.

Details were added to the white banner background with the Simple Stripes EF, and the whole card front was embossed with the Subtles EF but it is very hard to see in the photo.

Card stock: Basic Black, Berry Burst, Whisper White, Gold Foil, Bermuda Bay Glimmer (Glimmer Paper Assortment, SAB)
Designer Series Paper: Fresh Florals Stack (Retired)
Inks: Berry Burst, Craft White, Versamark
Stamps: Broadway Birthday
Accessories: Big Shot, Broadway Lights Framelits, Large Numbers Framelits (Retired), White EP, Regals Enamel Shapes

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 inspiration from the rest of the team and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fun sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Magical Birthday for JAI #412

Yes, it's another happy Friday in paradise....so welcome :-) Of course, if it is Summer in your part of the world then it may well seem perfect - here it's Winter and with a couple of weeks til the Shortest Day so I'm allowing myself to dream LOL

It's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week Lou has suggested a fun and fabulous one for us all - to Just Choose Two of Spots, Splatters or Speckles. There are so many ways that you can go with this and our lovely design team have led the way again in creating gorgeous projects to inspire you. So I hope you can take a moment and pop on over and hopefully join us too!

My card uses last week's sketch but it fits the "splatters and speckles" theme too. To create the background, I started with water color paper and Distress Resist Spray - simply unscrewing the whole nozzle and flicking the spray onto the card created the splatters and speckles. Then it was a case of slowly but surely adding colour and more Resist Spray with each colour layer. The spray dries clear and is shiny and textural and traps whatever colour is underneath it. Be that white, yellow or pink!

The magical little unicorn has it's mane and tail coloured using Water Color Pencils and her body is covered in Wink of Stella just to make sure she sparkles. It is sad that both the stamp set and the Number of Years stamps and dies are all now retired. Unicorns are so "in" at the moment and this card is for a niece who is having a unicorn themed birthday party so it is one set I will hold onto.

Card stock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Sparkle Glimmer, Vellum
Inks: Black Stazon, Watercolor Pencils
Stamps: Magical Day
Accessories: Big Shot, Magical Mates Framelits, Large Number Framelits, Stitched Shape Framelits, Metallic Sequin Assortment.
Non SU: Watercolor Card stock (Tim Holtz/Ranger), Distress Resist Spray (TH), Distress Inks: Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw

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

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

Flourish Fiftieth for JAI #356

Happy Friday folks and welcome :-) This weekend is closely followed by another big Public Holiday- that of ANZAC Day on Tuesday both here in Australia and New Zealand as the name suggests. It marks the special bond between our two countries through serving in the armed forces together which began in Gallipoli in World War I. The bonds remain strong despite our great rivalry on the sporting fields - as long as the (NZ) All Blacks win the rugby I don't mind the rest of the sporting  results too much though LOL!

Even more fun than sport this weekend is the new challenge at Just Add Ink! Kelly has suggested this fabulous "Just Choose Two" theme of Metallics, Circles or Balloons and the lovely design team have all created fabulous projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and take a peek and join us :-)

I decided to go with Circles and Metallics to create this special 50th card for a lovely friend.
The starting point was the Copper numbers and pink background circle where the photopolymer sentiment stamp is pulled into a slightly tighter circle to fit. The flower and leaves added around the circles and allowed to pop up over the water coloured background that has a little Gold Wink of Stella flicked over for good measure. Does this come in copper yet does anyone know??

Hopefully you can see the colours better without the shine here :-)

Card stock: Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Mint Macaron, Sweet Sugarplum, Whisper White, Copper Foil

Inks: Mint Macaron, Sweet Sugarplum

Stamps: Number of Years, Flourishing Phrases

Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Flourish Thinlits, Large Number Framelits, Gold Wink of Stella, Aqua Painter, Metallic Sequin Assortment

Non SU: Water color paper (Tim Holtz), Stitched Circle Framelits (larger circle only - Simon Says Stamps)

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 cards our team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will choose to create with for this fun challenge too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Special Fish Birthday

Hello and happy Monday to you :-) Today's card is for another family member's birthday - we have so many this month and it's a challenge to keep up but we are getting there!
As the recipient for this one loves to go fishing, I knew I'd be using the now retired By the Tide stamp set. So what I needed was inspiration for a design and that's where Jen B's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches  came in and the ideas began to flow....love that :-)  It's been a while since I've had a moment to play and enter a challenge but FMS has long been a favourite so it is exciting to be able to be join in today and hopefully it won't be long til I'm back again.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Yes, this is a masculine birthday card that has pink on it!! That is because I've coloured the fish to be Rainbow Trout - a favourite of the recipient to catch and eat :-) The design idea was a version of the  "spotlight" technique for the raised panel with the fish seeming to come from behind it. Hence the stamping of the seaweed...but now questioning whether a black layer behind it would've been better.

The silver 70 is run through an embossing folder before being added onto 3 layers of white card stock to give it height and strength to go through the mail.

The fish are coloured with Pencils and an Aqua Painter on ordinary White card stock - so just a tiny amount of water is used and then some Wink of Stella has been flicked over the background and 70's panel to add some water - like bubbles and sparkle.

Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Silver Foil

Ink: Black Archival, Bermuda Bay, Versamark. Water color Pencils: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay

Stamps: By the Tide (Retired), Sunshine Sayings

Accessories: Big Shot, Large Number Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Argyle EF (Retired),White EP, Metallic Enamel Shapes, Aqua Painter, Wink of Stella

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches and join in the fun too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

21st Birthday Pop Up

Hello, and happy Monday to you! The weekend went so quickly - both mornings the sun was shining before the clouds arrived but today we only just made it to 11 degrees Celsius and the wind chill factor made it seems so much colder. We did make it to the park though and Sally the Lab had a lot of fun - and managed to roll in the mud and earn herself a bath...

The card I have to show you today was made recently for another family milestone birthday.
Last month I shared a special 18th birthday card for a Cousin - today's card is for her sister. So it also needed to be special :-)

This might remind you of the card I made for last week's sketch challenge at Just Add Ink - yes, I used the same sketch layout. These black and white stripes are so striking aren't they?  Here, there is a classical and fun balloon party theme that gives no hint at all of ....

....the surprise Pop Up birthday party inside!!

This seemed the perfect time to bring out these fun Pop Up Thinlits. There is a black panel added to the inside of the card which enables the black and white stripe theme from the outside to continue on the inside - layers in the centre here do increase the bulkiness - so the panel is no bigger than it needs to be. The white side edges are secured under strips of designer paper and card stock and the balloon party is ready to roll :-)

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Pop of Pink

Ink: Versamark, Pink Pirouette

Stamps: Balloon Celebration, Sunshine Sayings

Accessories: Big Shot, Large Numbers Framelits, Circle Framelits (Retired), Party Pop Up Thinlits, Triple Banner Punch, Balloon Bouquet Punch, Gold EP, Gold Metallic Thread, Brights Enamel Shapes

Non SU: Stitched Circle Dies (My Favourite Things)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Special Stickers for JAI #318

Happy Friday to you  - time is passing so quickly and it's hard to believe we are half way through another year already! The good news is of course that means we are also a third of the way through Winter - one of our coldest in a long time so we are all looking forward to Spring:-)

We have a really fun challenge at Just Add Ink this week from Tina who has suggested that we Just Add....S. Stencils, Stripes, Silver....so many fun options for you to chose from! Our talented design team have created gorgeous cards to inspire you with S themes so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look.

This card looks like an ordinary card....using the Number of Years stamp set and co- ordinating dies. But you might notice that there are 3 little holes behind the Vellum layer.....The Silver heart is a pressure Switch to turn on the special LED Sticker lights behind the Silver numbers on this Significant birthday card.... just a few special S items :-) 

 This fun idea was inspired by seeing a card and video from Caroline where she uses Sticker LED lights from Chibitronics (available here.) Caroline shows how to create the circuit using one light - to make it work for more than one light, you need to use more than one trail of copper tape....it's all do to with positives and negatives... Here is my "practice" circuit - I drew around the hillside and circle so as to be able to know where I could hide my circuit elements. The battery is under the card stock piece I am pressing to test the lights and is where on the real card, the silver heart is placed over. It looks messy and not stamped so well,  but it was the first practice - and it worked! As the copper tape that is under the piece of card touches the battery, the lights turn on :-)

If you would like more info on how to create these, I created a Pinterest board that has several video tutorials here and from these  I was able to work out how to create my circuit. This card is for a cousin who has just reached this milestone birthday and Miss S has always had a love of maths and science so it seemed the perfect addition to a special card for her  - I hope she likes it :-)

To create the hillside edge to the DSP layer, I used the Swirly Scribble Framelits. Because there is a battery involved that is about 2 Dimenionals in height,  the Foam Adhesive Strips were used to surround it  and then to support the other elements so that at first glance, they are all the same height, and there is "room" to depress the switch. A handheld circle punch creates holes large enough for the lights to be seen through the card stock layer and gives some hint that there is more to this than meets the eye :-)

Card stock: Whisper white, thick and standard, Melon Mambo, Silver Foil 

Designer Series paper: Brights Stack, Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum Stack

Ink: Melon Mambo

Stamps: Number of Years

Accessories: Big Shot, Large Numbers Framelits, Swirly Scribble Framelits, Circle Framelits,(retired) 1/8"circle handheld punch, Silver Enamel shapes, Foam Adhesive Strips

Non SU: Chibitronics Starter Kit - LED lights, Copper Tape, 9V battery

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 cards our design team have created to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create inspired by the letter S this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Just add..Inspiration JAI #299

Welcome to another Friday - the end of the week is nearly here again - and hasn't the time flown? Already we are over half way into February and it's hard to believe that it's almost the end of Summer.

But in the meantime, and before we get too carried away with thoughts of Autumn...we have a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this one was suggested by me and I hope you enjoy it :-) It is a photo that you can take in so many different ways - the colours, the ombre effect, drinks or even the watermelon itself.  The design team have made fabulous projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look :-)

Here is the photo:

And here is my card:

Yes, I went a little brighter and bolder than the pink in the photo as I went with the ombre effect as a sponged background for this birthday card for a special Niece. The greeting is embossed - the "hello" in gold and "birthday girl" in white once the sponging was all dry. This was a little trickier than it looks - especially when I thought I had the card made and was onto the inside and ran what I thought was the extra piece of white card through the Big Shot...only to find I had used the die on the finished card....and had to redo the whole thing! You see none of us are exempt from mistakes...

The Hip Hip Hourra is one of the new pop up dies....eventually it was cut and stamped from that extra piece of card with some DSP in between the layers for a little contrast from all the pink! This DSP is part of Saleabration and has a lovely ombre effect of it's own.

I also added a little Wink of Stella to the ombre 5 and the little heart for some added "princess" sparkle :-)

Card stock: Whisper White (thick and standard), Gold Foil, Vellum

Designer Series Paper: Perfectly Artistic (Saleabration)

Ink: Melon Mambo, Versamark, Wink of Stella

Stamps: Hello, Perfect Pairings (both available during Saleabration)

Accessories: Big Shot, Large Numbers Framelits, Balloon Framelits, Party Pop Up Framelits, Itty Bitty Punch Pack (Heart), Gold and White EP, Metallic Sequins Assortment, White Bakers Twine

Non SU: Stitched Rectangle Dies (SSS)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop by Just Add Ink and see all the wonderful projects the design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this sweet photo too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan