Guest Designer for Just Add Ink!

Yes,  I am Sooo excited to share with you that I have been invited to be a Guest Designer for Just Add Ink for the next little while!! Just Add Ink was the first challenge blog that I saw when I first started card making back in 2007. I was in awe of the wonderful cards people made for their challenges let alone what the Design Team made!!! Then a year or so ago I started entering challenges after the encouragement of some wonderful friends - and JAI was one of those…and now what seems like such a short time later here we are: as Guest Designer!! I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real :-) Such a fantastic Team of beautiful people as well as inspirational crafters and I am indeed honoured.

So this week at Just Add Ink we have a wonderful sketch by Tina for you and the Team have come up with some amazing ideas to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and have a look.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

OOPS!

Here is another look at it with the twine and bow that I somehow missed seeing originally!

For this card I created a Bokeh background using a technique I saw in a video by Dawn Olchefske. Bokeh is a technique often used in photography to blur the image and makes an interesting effect for a card background :-) You can create this effect in many ways - by water colouring or sponging ink on the white card stock to create your coloured background. And when it is dry apply white Craft ink in circles one the top - for this I used the Circle Framelits to cut a stencil with different sizes of circles .out of Window Sheet And once the white ink was dry I used a hexagon punch as well as circle framelits again for the central layered image.

Card stock: Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Window sheets (For stencil for background)

Inks" Calypso Coral, Crushed curry, Coastal Cabana, Craft White, Momento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Perfect Pennants, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Basic Rhinestones, Hexagon Punch, Window Sheet

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink to check out all the wonderful inspiration from the Team and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Flower Patch Birthday

It is a beautiful Spring Day here in Melbourne today - cool overnight with clear skies that has allowed the sun to warm up everything by lunch time. Just perfect really! 

We were up early this morning to head off on a reasonably long drive to take Sally (black Lab) back to the Vet Specialist surgeon as she is limping more with her right hind leg again and as I suspected, the tumour appears to have regrown somewhat ( thought to be Benign) and so Sally will have a CT Scan next Monday to check out what is happening both in her knee and look to see there is nothing anywhere else. The difficulty is that the pathologist who looked at her biopsy some months ago was quite unsure of a diagnosis (had never seen anything like it - and the Specialist the same) but didn't think it was a cancerous growth. So we will hope and pray that that is all it is and that total removal will be easier than first thought.

And now for today's cards - I  have been waiting for one to arrive in the mail before posting it here. These are CASEs of a cardI saw when I "Google'd" the stamp name some weeks ago. And now when I went to look for it again it appears to have been taken down as unable to be found! I do like to give credit on the odd occasion I Case a card and am sorry but am unable to do that this time. If anyone finds the original please do let me know.

So this first card is as close as I remember the original being.

And the second is very similar - just different greeting.

So as you can see the front of the card is cut out halfway using the Flower Fair framelits.

To do this, I first measured the size of the White card I was using as the top layer and I found it easiest to first stamp the base flower images and then when placing them in the Big Shot only placing the Top Plate halfway over the framelit to where I wanted it to cut. As where there is no top plate, there will be no cut. 

Next, using a ruler, I lined up the difference between the two flowers and drew a straight line to cut upon. 

Once the top layer is cut I then laid it onto the Bermuda Bay card front and marked where the cuts were so that I could cut the card from the same.

Then I simply stamped and cut the leaves and flower layers and added them separately with dimensionals and stamped the greeting - once with Momento Tuxedo Black and then in Bermuda Bay on a scrap piece of card and cut out just the centre which I then added on top of the black.

For the inside I covered the whole facing piece with the Back to Black DSP - such strong contrast to all the colours! And so the message it is written on the back of the card front. This way it doesn't interrupt the contrast with the DSP :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Crushed Curry

DSP: Back to Black

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Crisp Canteloupe, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzaz, Momento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Flower Patch, Perfect Pennants

Accessories: Big Shot, Flower Fair Framelits, Calypso Coral Seam Binding, Basic Rhinestones, Itty Bitty punch pack

And just in case you're wondering, Sally is still quite happy despite the obvious pain she has in her knee at times and enjoyed chewing on a dental treat whilst I have been typing - suffice to say she finished long before I did!

 Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Flower patch birthday

Today I had lunch with an old friend I haven't seen in a few years because we simply lost touch and today when we met for a coffee it was so nice and also so easy to sit and talk. So it has been a lovely day!
And I have a card to share that I made a few weeks ago and have been waiting to arrive and now that it has I can share it with you :-) This was a card I CASED from one I saw while on a google search….strangely now, when I have looked several times in an effort to credit the original it is no longer able to be found. I did change colours and embellishments but as you who regularly view my blog know, I do like to give credit if I case a card but this time it seems that won't be possible unfortunately.

So here is my card:

The card base is Bermuda Bay and the white piece of card on top is first cut to sit just inside the full front card size. Next I stamped the larger images from Flower Patch onto the white piece of card and put it into the Big Shot with the co-ordinating framelits but I placed the top Plate of the machine only half way along the images - therefore cutting only where the plate is in contact with the card and framelits. I used some paper snips to but from the outside in to lose half the piece of cut out card around the flowers. Next I layered the other images from the set and also stamped the Make a Wish in Bermuda Bay and also in Momento Tuxedo black. the leaves behind the flowers are stamped separately and cut out and added behind the flower. Then, by lining up the white piece of stamped card with the outside of the base I used my paper trimmer to help me trim the Bermuda Baby layer back.

Instead of ribbon, I chose to use some of the lovely Gold Sequin Trim and add some Strawberry twine to help give it some colour boldness too :-0

For the inside, the beautiful Designer Vellum, gold specialty paper is first put onto a piece of white card before being attached to the base of the card. And the message is written on the back of the front piece of card…

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Crushed Curry 

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Pink Piroutte, Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizazz, Crushed Curry

Stamps: Flower Patch, Perfect Pennants

Access: Big Shot, Flower Fair, Gold sequin trim, Designer Vellum - gold, Strawberry Slush twine, Basic rhinestones

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, I hope you have a great week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Good World

Yesterday we woke to the sad news that a plane had been shot down over eastern Ukraine killing all 298 passengers on board. There are 28 Australians who will never come home to their families. And 100 of the passengers were Delegates of an HIV Conference being held in Melbourne this weekend including Conference Speakers.

So as a mark of respect to all the families around the world that have lost loved ones this week and to remind ourselves that there is more good in the world than evil I made this card:

And it is a CASE of a lovely card by Penny Tokens that she entered in the Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge last week. I loved how she used the world stamp from The Open Sea and so while I kept the basics of the card, I changed the greeting onto Squares and used just one circle behind the world.

The fun arrow is also topped with one of the long retired Rhinestone brads with the legs removed - such and instant bling effect :-)

Card stock: Midnight Muse, Real Red, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Maritime

Ink: Midnight Muse, Real Red

Stamps: The Open Sea, Perfect Pennants

Accessories: Big Shot, Square and Circle Framelits, Rhinestone Brads ( Retired), Stitched Satin Ribbon (Retired)

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today - and I hope wherever you are in the world today you may have a wonderfully good day and remember to hug those you love.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Label Thinlit Cards

A happy Labour Day to all those in Victoria and happy Anniversary weekend  to those in Taranaki (NZ) too! Always great to have a public holiday and here we had an early hot start and a great Moomba Parade in the city :-)

Now today's card is not for any challenge - other than getting to work out the newish Label Thinlit card dies :-)  And to make a special card for a special girl! Natalie has been coming to stamping days with her mum since she was 6 years old and now she is 10!! Yippee!! This version was made in February, when I had to evacuate for a weekend so had somewhat limited resources - just took my latest order in its box with me!

Here is how the card folds to fit into a standard C6 envelope, so is the 'front"

The 10 is first coated with Crystal Effects before being added to the card with dimensionals (once I came home!)

Here is the inside of the card and you can see there is a third panel created by cutting the card a third longer than the framelit and leaving the back end on top of the framelit. This means that you get a faux score line on which to fold the third panel. You can see there are a range of framelits and Occasions Catalogue stamps and the fabulous Retro Fresh DSP. To cut the scallop to decorate the card I cut a rectangle piece of paper and then held it in place before turning it over and tracing the edge of the scallop on the card onto the paper before cutting out with the scallop that comes with the Framelit pack.

And "hi" is a favourite saying of Natalie's :-)

Card stock: Coastal Cabana, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry

Designer Series Paper: Retro Fresh

Inks: Coastal Cabana, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry

Stamps: Just Sayin", Starburst Sayings, Perfect Pennants, Petal Parade

Accessories:Big Shot, Word Bubble Framelits, Starburst Framelits, Circle Framelits, Label Thinlit Card Framelits, Banner Framelits, Basic Rhinestones

Though when I had finished, I did wonder if it wasn't "girly enough "so I made another version using Rich Razzleberry and Tangerine Tango :-)

And this time, being back home I was able to use some other of her favourite stamps - the Banners and Cupcake :-)

The greeting is from the Sassy Salutations set and I love how this too fits the fabulous Word Bubble framelits!! The little flowers are part of the Create a cupcake set and the Razzleberry DSP is part of one of my favourites from the main Catalogue - Polka Dot Parade.

I used the same sets and layout for the inside - the wonderful arrows and "hi" are all are part of the Label Thinlit Card dies,  just LOVE that!!

And the back view :-)

Card stock: Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper, Polka Dot Parade, Retro Fresh

Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Baked Brown Sugar

Stamps: Just Sayin, Perfect Pennants, Starburst Sayings, Create a Cupckake, Banner Blast

Accessories: Big Shot, Label Thinlit Card, Starburst Framelits, Word Bubble Framelits, Banner Framelits, Cupcake Builder Punch, Banner Punch, Basic Rhinestones

So which card to give? In the end…. BOTH! Nothing like a surprise of a couple of cards for a card lover.  And amazingly she did like them both!!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Swallowtail for JAI

Welcome to the first of Autumn -  or for those in the Northern Hemisphere it will be Spring :-) Wherever you are today something is in the air - time for a change!

So it is with stamping sometimes too :-) When I started card making in 2008 I jumped into the Shabby-Chic style and loved to sponge every layer etc. In the last 6 months or so….I've found "clean and simple" and fallen in love with that style too! So when I saw this week's colour calling at Just Add Ink I found myself in a bit of a quandary - which style to use?

 It is such a beautifully soft colour combo that it would so suit a Shabby- chic card but then the Team designers have come up with some great clean cards (as well as gorgeous Shabby too!)  so what to do? In the end I think I've used a mixture of the two :-)

The Swallowtail butterfly has two layers and there is a double tied bow - but no sponging :-) And there is a bit of white between the gold dots too :-)

The card base is Pistachio Pudding and there is a layer of white card stock underneath the gorgeous Gold Vellum DSP.

The greeting is embossed in Gold embossing powder and then cut out with the Circle Framelit dies to match the circles in the DSP.

The bow uses Crumb cake seam binding ribbon and the centre is covered using a Gold Antique brad (that for some reason looks a lot darker in the photos than in real life) and held in place with just a few glue dots :-)

Card stock: Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White

DSP: Gold Fancy Foil Vellum

Ink: Versamark, Pistachio Pudding

Stamps: Swallowtail, Perfect Pennants

Accessries: Big Shot, Circle Framelits, Crumb cake Seam binding ribbon, Antique brad 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend and maybe you too might feel inspired to head over to Just Add Ink and enter the challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

EDITED to add that I am so honoured to have been chosen by the fabulous Just Add Ink team as the winner of their challenge this week! Thank you all so much for your wonderful challenges and generous comments!!