Birthday Layers of Beauty for JAI #724

Happy Friday and welcome!! It is incredible how in just one week, how the weather can warm up enough to mean that it's time to change over to a Spring/Summer wardrobe from Winter. So glad that this time is now here! Spring is my favourite time of year, so much hope in the air! I hope that your week has gone well too!

We have a Colour Challenge with a difference for you at Just Add Ink this week! This fun challenge has been suggested by Nikki - that we use Misty Moonlight and Peach Pie (or the equivalent colours) and then choose one another colour to add for the third colour of the challenge. Ooh! This is going to be fun to see what colours everyone chooses! The design team have created a variety of cards to inspire you - but we wait to see you inspire US with this challenge! I really hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and join with us!

For my card I CASEd  (Copy and selectively edited) a card on page 57 of the Annual Catalogue. The catalogue is such a wonderful resource to take an idea and build on it to create something more.

The two challenge colours would be used for the flowers and then for a choice of green, I used the Colour Theory graphics on pages 132-133 to help me choose Granny Apple Green.

The Layers of Beauty masks are wonderful tools to help add -indeed, layers - of colour. So this is what I did. Starting with a really light layer of coverage with the Peach especially and the Moonlight and increasingly adding a little heavier colour for each layer. 

I love to water colour and to use markers to do this...and I was amazed at the amount of texture and detail in these masks.

I didn't change too much about the card because I loved it as it was! 
Obviously its now a portrait card, with an embossed white layer and the sentiment is different...and just a little - or big - gold bow. Metallics being allowed with colour challenges.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you are excited to join with us at Just Add Ink this week as we will be keen to learn what colours you would add to complete this Colour Challenge Combo!

Card stock: Whisper White (Thick and Standard), Midnight Muse

DSP: 2024-2026 In colour 

Inks: Peach Pie, Midnight Muse, Granny Apple Green

Stamps: Layers of Beauty, Well Said (retired)

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Layers of Beauty Masks, Layers of Beauty Dies, Forever Plaid EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Enamel Dots (retired). White EP.

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Lavender Sympathy for JAI #696

 

It's School Holidays here in Victoria - incredible that the first Term of 2024 is over already! 
And for those of us in the Eastern States of Australia, Daylight Savings is set to end this weekend too. That means a sleep in on Sunday morning but it sadly is also the last goodbye to warm, light evenings and a reminder that Winter is on it's way. It has been a lovely Summer, not too hot here in Melbourne but not a lot of rain either. 

This week at Just Add Ink we have this yummy Inspiration Photo Challenge, suggested by Kim, to spark your creativity. Inspiration Photos are great as you can take whatever inspires you from the photo. That may be the individual items - the cake or berries - and/or anything else! Our design team have a real variation of card styles and focal elements because of that. I hope that you will pop on over to the JAI blog and be inspired to join us!

My card is inspired by the colours - the two different purples, the white of the icing and the green of the cake stand. and also the patterns seen in the cake's icing.

These colours reminded me of the pretty Painted Lavender images and I am grateful to a lovely friend for stamping and die cutting these images especially for me to use for this challenge.

It's paired with the 3D  Lace Embossing Folder, matching ribbon, twine and a sprinkling of sequins.

 Lavender is something I have a lot of in the garden and its fragrance and oils are well known for their anti allergy, antiseptic and relaxing properties. So I am hoping that this card also brings comfort to it's recipient.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink as we'd love to see what inspires you to create from this photo. And I look forward to seeing what you create!

Card stock: Gorgeous Grape, Lost Lagoon, Silver Foil, Basic White

Inks: Versamark, Gorgeous Grape, Fresh Freesia, Lost Lagoon

Stamps: Painted Lavender, Well Said

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Painted Lavender Dies, 3D Lace EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies,White EP, Silver Twine, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Lost Lagoon Ribbon

'Til next time,

Jan

Twisted Easel Birthday for JAI #671

Happy Friday and welcome! It has been quite a lovely beginning to Spring so far where the weather is warming up and the blossoms and flowers are beginning to show. It's so lovely to see the daffodils and veggies starting to bloom and grow.

This week at Just Add Ink we have this fabulous collage of photos for our Inspiration Challenge from Kerry. The different scenes in the photos are all so beautiful and the design team have created a wide variety of cards to inspire you. I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over and we'd love you to join us.

I decided to make a special card for a special brother celebrating a big birthday soon. 

He loves to ride cross country and I've been looking for an opportunity to use the Greatest Journey dies and coordinating DSP.  It was the green images and sentiment that helped me decide it was time.

A Twisted Easel card is easy to make. Create a Landscape card base and then score diagonally across the front of the card. This will then enable it to fold over and be able to stand up using the inside of the card as a base. In this case, the 50 keeps the card upright.

And the card closes as normal for mailing which is really helpful!

I hope that he likes this card that was inspired by his recent 50km weekend cycling challenge! 

And there was one photo from a recent pet photoshoot by Kerry Martin of Puppy Tales Photos of my beautiful Sally that came to mind as soon as I saw the inspiration photo.... 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a wonderful week and are able to join us for the challenge at Just Add Ink.  I so look forward to seeing what you create each week.

Card stock: Jade, Basic White, Silver Foil

DSP: Enjoy the Journey.

Ink: Jade, 

Stamps: Biggest Wish
Accessories: Die Cutting machine, Greatest Journey Dies, Well Written Dies, 

'Til next time,

Jan

 

Happiness Abounds Birthday for JAI #663

 

Hello, happy Friday to you and welcome! It is almost the end of July and now the days are noticeably longer. Yes, it has been cold but hopefully the warmer days are coming soon. It is perfect weather to spend a little time in the craft room so hopefully you enjoy this challenge we have, it's JAI 665.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fun Choose Two Challenge for you suggested by Tina. You can choose between Flowers, Gingham or splatter. As always our lovely design team have all created a beautiful array of cards over on the JAI blog for inspiration.    We'd love you to join us!

So you can see that I chose Flowers and Gingham for my Two items. 

The flowers were fussy cut from DSP and the gingham I stencilled using ink and the Artistic Mix masks. 

I had intended to colour the lovely images from the Happiness Abounds set myself but these flowers are coloured so beautifully that they cried out to be used. I love how the shading is added and so it really is a case of deciding how to arrange and display these.

Granny Apple Green is sponged through the mask to create the gingham effect. It is not a colour that I'm used to using but it is in the leaves in the DSP and it is good to use challenges to try new things whether that be colours or techniques - whatever that may be.

Thank you for stoping by.  I hope that you might be inspired to join us for this challenge and I look forward to seeing what you choose for your Two items and what you will create for this challenge!

Card stock: Granny Apple Green, Basic White, Basic Black, Gold Foil

Ink: Granny Apple Green, Versamark

Stamps: Well Said

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Well Written Dies, Artistic Masks, White EP,  Gold Faceted Gems, Metallic Sequins Assortment.

'Til next time,

Jan

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            you.

JAI #622 Happy Birthday Masking

 

Happy Friday and welcome!! It has been quite a week of highs and lows. From watching the world and esp the UK mourn the loss of our longest reigning Monarch to today - a Public Holiday in Victoria to celebrate the finals weekend of our AFL Footy and at last it returns to it's home the great MCG after 2 years of being played elsewhere because of Covid. I'm not a huge footy fan, but go the Cats - let's hope the Victorian team wins!!

And it's a new challenge week at Just Add Ink. This week, Nikki has suggested an elegant Choose Two of Friend, Foliage or Masking. Such an elegant choice! Our design team has of course created a wonderful array of projects to inspire you so I hope that you're able to pop on over to the blog and we'd love you to join us!

For my card...I chose Masking and Foliage. 

I've gone for a simple design. The ink blending of a rainbow of colour for the background is enough vibrancy! 

To bring it all together, there is some Embossing Paste added through a leaf themed mask (being the Foliage  AND Masking) and then the sentiment is a mixture of die cutting using the Saleabration Real Red and White Glimmer Paper and embossing.

And of course a liberal sprinkling of rhinestone jewels complete this card.

This is such a bright and cheery card, inspired by the colours of Spring that are starting to show their blooms in the gardens all around the country.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and join us in this week's challenge. 

Card stock: Whisper White Thick, Vellum, Watercoloring Paper

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Stitched Shape Framelits, Rectangle Framelits, Well Worded Dies, Pattern Party Masks, White EP, Embossing Paste, Basic Rhinestones

Non SU: Distress Inks for ink blending.

Til next time,

Jan

JAI #620 Inspiration Eclipse Card

Hi there and welcome!! It's the second Friday in September and Spring has sprung! Our garden is full of pretty flowers and so it seemed the perfect time to add these to a card as well.

This week at Just Add Ink we have this stunning Inspiration Photo from Nikki to inspire our crafting projects. As always, our design team have created a wide variety of projects to inspire you and we'd love for your to join us.

For my card this week, I chose to highlight the beautiful Hues of Happiness DSP. 

Like the Inspiration Photo, it has a navy base and it has a mass of flowers - and this piece has yellow and light blue ones. 

It's easier to see in this photo that the yellow and blue floral images have been fussy cut and added with dimensionals over the DSP. Rhinestones have been added to the centre of each flower and the sentiment has been eased in between the raised flowers.

There really is very little stamping involved on this card - paper snips are the main tool, cutting out all the yellow and blue flowers by hand as they are a little different shapes and sizes than the stamp images. But it is worth it.

Card stock: Night of Navy, Whisper White

DSP: Hues of Happiness

Stamps: Well Said

Inks: Versamark

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Well Worded Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, White EP, Basic Rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by today!
I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to the Just Add Ink page as we'd love for you to join us.

 

JAI #618 Birthday Colours

 

Happy Friday everyone and welcome!! It is the last week of Winter and like so many, I am soooo looking forward to Spring!! It is always my favourite time of year - when the blossoms are on the trees, the garden bursts into flower and we can plan what to put in the veggie garden for Summer. What are you looking forward to this Spring - or Autumn whatever side of the Equator you are on. 😊

This week at Just Add Ink we have a Colour Challenge suggested by Jo. The colours are ones everyone should have as part of their collection and so we'd really love you to join us! Our design team have created a fabulous and varied array of inspiration for you to show how versatile this combo is so I hope you can pop on over and have a look.

I thought these colours would make a great a guy card. The Biggest Wish stamp is one I haven't used as much as I thought I would. But I've now discovered a trick to lining it up that will see me use it a lot more.

You may know this - or like me, you may not. But when using the Stamparatus....stamp the image and move the clear plate down two steps and stamp again - and repeat. This will give you alternate stamped words!!!!!!

Then all you need to do is line up again to do the second word - and moving down two steps each time will fill in the gaps! It really was a game changer for me and made lining up the words on this card sooo much easier than stopping and lining things up one word at a time which was time consuming and risky.

To complete the card it was time for some die cutting after all that intensive stamping. The Happy Dies for the balloons - plain card stock underneath them gives them more strength and dimension - and the Well Worded dies for the sentiment. A sprinkling of sequins and this simple but effective guy card is complete.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team and entries and I look forward to seeing what you will create with these versatile colours.

Card stock: Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Old Olive, Be Dazzling (SAB)

DSP: from my stash - retired.

Inks: Pacific Point, Crumb Cake, Old Olive

Stamps: Biggest Wish

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Happy Dies, Well Written Dies, Metallic Sequins assortment.

'Til next time,

Jan

JAI #614 Under the Sea

 

We are almost two thirds the way through Winter and it has been a cold and wet one this year. 

It does give a good excuse to be inside and in the craft room don't you think?

And This week's Just Add Ink's Challenge to Just Add... Under The Sea is suggested by Kerry and is such a fun theme. The design team all have used a variety of stamps and ideas to inspire you so I encourage you to pop on over to the main blog and check them out.

I needed a baby card and so decided a mermaid would be a way of adding Under the Sea.

I didn’t have anything appropriate in my SU collection yet so this cute wee Mermaid is from a Clip Art Digi stamp I purchased from Etsy. She is easy to colour and was cut out by hand.

The "sea" background is created using Distress Inks and then cut out with the Framelits.

And the little white "sea grass"is from a now retired SU die set called Little Loves. 

Pink glitter paper provides the little touch of bling needed for princesses and mermaids alike and this officially is now a completely unstamped card. Whilst lots of Wink of Stella and some enamel dots provide the finishing touches.

Card stock: Pool Party, Whisper White, Pink Glimmer

Stamps: non- SU Digi stamp

Inks: Copics and Blends, Background (non SU, Distress Inks)

Accessories: Die Cutting machine. Stitched Shapes Framelits, Playful Alphabet Dies, Well Worded Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Little Loves Dies, Wink of Stella, Enamel Dots.

Thanks for stopping by today and especially to those who take the time to leave an encouraging comment. 

I so look forward to seeing what you will create for this fun challenge at Just Add Ink this week!