Social Stamping - Oh 2020!

Happy New Year's Eve everyone and welcome to my last blog post for 2020!! Today is another fun Social Stamping blog hop hosted by the lovely Kelly Kent. These hops were started back when the first Covid lockdown in Australia was in full swing as a weekly hop to enable people to craft together whilst we were all isolating at home. As restrictions lifted in many areas, the hop continued as a monthly event. For this last hop of 2020 the theme is very apt - "Oh 2020" as it has been a very different year and one we are likely to look back on for generations to come.

You may have come from the lovely Julia Quinn and her fabulous projects or you can start the hop here and use the Next buttons at the bottom of each post. To see a full list of participants please click on the coloured header image above.

This project is one I made back in early May for a Just Add Ink colour challenge. You can see my original post here. The Share Sunshine digital stamp set was made especially for Covid 19 related issues and I was  staying in a hotel (not for Covid) when I made this card. Looking back, I can hardly believe I was able to make a card at all let alone one I still love for it's soft and feminine details.

This card speaks to me of that time - the Basic Grey circle is a piece of smokey slate  I inked with BG as I didn't have that colour card on hand and had to improvise...and the sheer determination and touch of humour distraction we all needed to get through 2020.

And even if we were wearing "day pyjamas" or track pants it didn't mean we had to go without perfume- or roses. You just had to order them all online 😄

So it is finally time to say goodbye to 2020 and welcome in a New Year. We have all learned a lot this year. Apart from the deep and meaningful things...we learned how to sew a mask and  how to make a no-sew mask. How to make and use hand sanitiser, how far 1.5metres apart actually is, that toilet paper is an essential purchase and that any brand will do when it is in short supply!! Oh and how could I forget this big one - how to use Zoom!! So it hasn't all been bad but hopefully not all of these skills will be needed in the year to come. Wishing you all a very happy New Year and that 2021 is a fabulous year for you and all your families!!

Next you are off to see the lovely Andrea and her gorgeous projects that I'm sure you will enjoy!

Card stock: Whisper White, (Thick and Standard), Smokey Slate, Pink glitter

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Rococo Rose Blends & Copics

Stamps: Dressed to Impress, Share Sunshine (PDF)

Accessories:Die Cutting machine, All Dressed Up Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Ribbon, Metallic Sequins assortment (retired)

Til next time,

Jan

Social Stamping - Sunshine!

It's time for another hop over at Social Stamping, a fabulous idea of the lovely Kelly Kent to enable us to be able to create together whilst we still have to stamp alone. 

This week the theme is "Sunshine." Sunshine is something that seems to make everything better  doesn't it! Whether it be the heat of Summer or, as it is here in Australia at the moment, a comfortable warmth in late Autumn. With everyone staying at home we have more time to appreciate the sunshine and all that goes with a beautiful day outside.  I have a dog - sometimes two to walk -  and we are seeing so many more people at our local park that has a great walking track. It's great to see people out and about whilst distancing and enjoying the current slower pace of life.

You may have arrived here from my lovely friend Chantell Randall's blog and her fabulous projects or you can start the blog hop here by clicking on the Next button on the bottom of each post.

So I decided to create a fun "Sun" for the Sunshine theme and create a male 50th birthday card. Recently, I saw these fabulous Retro inspired cards by Laura Bassen and several Cases of this over facebook and blogland and decided it was time I had a go myself! I am a fan of a rainbows and sunshine-y  bright colours but it took a bit of fiddling to to get a balance even I was happy with here.

The swirl design is a lot easier to create than you might think. It is simply a matter of layering the different circles on top of each other, cutting them in half and then swapping out the colours from another circle created the same way. Below are the left over circles from this card ready to be used for the next one. A little space between the circles does allow the best match up of the swirls.

Seeing as this gives a real Retro vibe, I thought it would work well for a 50th - someone old enough to know about Austin Powers, yeah baby!😆😂😂The sentiment comes from the latest generations' texting abbreviations... so a few years covered this week! Each letter and number has at least 3 layers to give them height impact and strength.

Next you're off to see the gorgeous projects that Shannon Kissane has made to inspire you. Enjoy your hopping around the different blogs this week and I hope that you are able to take some time out to enjoy the Sunshine this week. If you get lost along the way, just click the Banner at the top of the page to go to the full list of participants.

Card Stock: Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Balmy Blue, Real Red, Poppy Parade, So Safron, Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana, Cajun Craze, Terracotta Tile, Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Gold Foil, Black Glimmer

Inks: Versamark

Stamps: Lined Alphabet (retiring)

Accessories: Die Cutting machine - Layering Alphabet Dies, Large Number Dies.

Non SU: SSS Stitched Circles Dies.

Til next time,

Jan

JAI #505 Hang In There

Happy Friday to you and welcome! It's been another week in Isolation here in Victoria and the restrictions haven't changed that much yet. It's a good excuse to spend some time crafting if one is ever needed. 😀

It's a new challenge week at Just Add Ink  and Chantell has suggested a very timely theme challenge - to Just Add Thinking of You. In these uncertain times when so many people's lives have changed and there is a lot of concern both financially and health wise, it is a great way to send kind thoughts especially when you can't meet up in person. The design team have created some truly fabulous projects to inspire you and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to the main blog and take a peek and of course, we'd love you to join us!

I have created a card with a friend in mind and used the new Ornate Style bundle for the floral spray and the vellum background frame. The sentiment is from the Share Sunshine PDF and it is with intended irony that the layers are angled like they are just hanging on....after all, we want to bring a smile to someone's face!

Blends brought this image to life and I paired it with a single vellum frame in an effort to keep it  Clean and Simple (CAS) and give a modern twist to this vintage inspired bundle.

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

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black 

Blends: Old Olive combo, Lovely Lipstick combo, Balmy Blue Combo, dark Calypso Coral and light Petal Pink.

Accessories: Die cutting Machine, Ornate Layers Dies, Subtle EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Metallic Sequins Assortment.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see what the design team have created to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this great theme too! 

Til next time,

Jan

#JAI 504 Dressed To Impress in Pyjamas

 Happy Friday everyone and welcome! It is mid Autumn here in Australasia and whilst the trees are as colourful as ever and the weather variable that is about all that is going ahead as expected for this time of year. There have been some good things come out of this and appreciating the little things such as a handmade card or a day full of sunshine are amongst them.

It's time for a new Challenge week at Just Add Ink and so we have this pretty and feminine Colour Challenge from Tina to spark your crafting interest.  It's just in time for Mother's Day here in Australia and New Zealand, too!

 Our lovely design team have created a gorgeous array of creations to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a peek as we'd love you to join in the challenge with us!

This week I decided to play a little more with the fab elements of the Dressed to Impress stamp set as the perfume bottle and shoes in that set caught my eye early on....but the shoes didn't quite make it to this card. I currently have a "pop up " craft space as I'm not at home and to my horror found I was missing Basic Grey and Rococo Rose card stock and the latter ink pad too so I improvised! You can do the same if you don't have the exact colours, just use the closest that you have.

I did have Blendabilities Pens in both of these colours so for the Perfume bottle I mimicked the stamp image and scribbled over the bottle. To create the Basic Grey circle, I coloured over the top of the lighter Smoky Slate card. In real life you can hardly tell it isn't factory made but the camera is a little less forgiving.

The sentiment is from the current Share Sunshine PDF which is part of Stampin Up's Covid 19 Giveback download. I simply coloured over it with a Blend and voila, an individualised version!

Thanks for popping by today and I look forward to seeing how you used these pretty colours in the Just Add Ink gallery this week.

Card stock: Whisper White (Thick and Standard), Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride Glimmer

Inks: Smoky Slate, Momento Tuxedo Black.

Blends: Rococo Rose, Smoky Slate, Light Basic Black 

Stamps: Dressed to Impress, Share Sunshine

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Stiched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, White Crinkled Seam Binding, Metallic Sequins (retired)

Til next time,

Jan

Social Stamping - Birthdays in Isolation

Hello and welcome! We are hopping over at Social Stamping and this week the lovely Kelly has set the theme as "Birthdays in Isolation". The timing couldn't be better with Stampin Up releasing a digital download stamp for all your Isolation needs!

With Social distancing restrictions currently across every state and territory in Australia and indeed around the world, birthdays are being celebrated differently than we have ever known them. We can't  give a birthday hug let alone have a special party. This is Kelly's birthday month - and today also happens to be one of lovely sister's birthdays in NZ too so this theme has come just in time to help us all celebrate whilst social distancing.

You may have arrived here from the lovely Sheila Pybus blog and her gorgeous project and you can also hop around all the different posts by clicking on the Next button on the bottom of each blog.

For my card this week I used DSP and images from the All Dressed Up bundle to compliment the sentiment which is from the Share Sunshine Digital Download. 

The flowers are coloured using Blends and then die cut - I don't mind fussy cutting but it is much quicker to build a spray of florals if you don't need to 😀The Sentiment and backing panel are both cut with the same Stitched Rectangle die and slight trimming of the stitching enables the main panel and not the backing to be the focus.

Thanks so much for popping by and Next you're off to see the stunning project that Andrea Sargent has made! Enjoy your hopping around blog land.😊

Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Vellum

DSP: 6x6 Sampler

Stamps: Dressed to Impress, Share Sunshine

Inks: Blends -Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry Rococo Rose

Accessories: All Dressed Up Dies, Wink of Stella, Stitched Rectangle Dies, 3D Lace EF