Star of Watercolour for JAI #338

Happy Black Friday folks :-) No, It's not the 13th or related at all...but a huge world wide Sale day! I hope all those in the USA had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family - such a lovely reason to have a holiday - and are all ready for the sales due to happen just in time for Christmas!

And it's also time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week's photo for us all to use was suggested by me:-) The lovely colours and brushes had me excited to water colour so I hope you enjoy this challenge and can take a moment to pop over and see the fabulous cards our team have made to inspire you too.

Here's the Photo:

And here's one of two cards:

For the background, I used a technique that Shelli Gardener shared at On Stage in Sydney where she used soon to be coming Watercolor Pencils (hip hip hooray!) to colour on watercolor paper and then spritzed the paper with water til the ink ran to create a soft look. 

As I don't have the Pencils, I used Zigs. But first, I embossed the sentiment in beautiful Copper :-)

Here's the before:

I recommend taping the paper down to a board so it stays as flat as possible :-)

And after spritzing and mopping a little with a paper towel...

Water colouring always dries lighter - here's the finished card (version 2).

To finish both cards, there is a sprinkling of embossed stars and some die cuts stars from the same Bundle both in the lovely Copper Foil and some vellum. I was going for a Northern Lights kind of effect so the first one is my favourite :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Copper Foil, Vellum, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Star of Light

Accessories: Big Shot, Starlight Thinlit Dies, Copper EP, Brights Enamel Shapes

Non SU: Stitched Rectangle Dies (SSS)

               Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers: Red Carmine, Cornflour Blue, Turquoise Green, Light                Blue, Violet

Well, I'm taking it easy the next few days having just had surgery for a jaw bone infection in an old wisdom tooth site where they scraped the bone etc....so I look forward to seeing what you will create for this fun colour and brush themed challenge at Just Add Ink this week and I hope you get a moment to check out our talented teams's lovely designs to inspire you too as they are amazing!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Give Thanks for JAI #337

Happy Friday and welcome! Today, Spring has become Summer with our first 30 degree day in Melbourne since last Autumn. So lovely to see clear blue skies and finally feel a bit of heat :-)

And we have a great NEW challenge for you at Just Add Ink this week. Kim has suggested a challenge where you can Just Choose Two - of three options - to use in your paper crafting this week. Our lovely and talented design team have all created fabulous projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look.

For my card, I chose Die Cuts and Designer Paper. I needed another thank you card and wanted to use the saying "give thanks" and the rest came from there.  The leaves from Rose Garden are cut using Copper Foil - as is the "thanks" from the Hello You Framelits. And I've paper pieced the inserts from the different autumnal DSP colours...not that I am wishing Summer away btw, just the colours looked better with the lovely Copper :-)

The background stamping is an ombre effect created by simply stamping the lowest image at full strength and stamping off each time above.

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

Designer Series Paper: Rich Regals Stack (Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Calypso Coral)

Inks: Black Archival, Garden Green

Stamps: Labeller Alphabet, Timeless Textures

Accessories: Big Shot, Rose Garden Thinlits, Hello You Framelits, Metallic Sequins, Snail, Dimensionals, and Fine Tip Glue Pen

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink  and see the wonderful cards our design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create this week too :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Just A Note for JAI #336

Welcome and Happy Friday to you! We are settling into the new home and making some new routines. It is so peaceful here after moving from a busy road and we now get to welcome birds into our garden which is so lovely :-)

And also lovely is the new challenge at Just Add Ink this week. Nikki  has suggested a soft and elegant colour combo for us all to use and our lovely team have all created beautiful projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look!

Here are the colours:

And here is my card:

This is the first card made in the new craft room and I wanted to create a floral and leafy card to encourage a lovely friend back home in NZ.  Sadly, you can't quite see the shimmer to the flower from the Wink of Stella...One thing with everything being new is finding the best place to take photos - so still working on that  - and then of course remembering to take another view to show the layers before popping the card in the post ...(yes, I forgot!! ) but am sure will have it all worked out by next week :-)

Card stock: Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Mint Macaron

Ink: Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Night of Navy

Stamps: Flourishing Phrases

Accessories: BS,  Flourish Thinlits, Subtles Enamel Shapes, Clear Wink of Stella

This is a native Rosella feasting on the nectar on the flowers of one of our two red Callistomen (or Bottlebrush) trees. Isn't he gorgeous :-) 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Just Add Ink and see the beautiful projects the design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with these pretty colours too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Big Thank You for JAI #334

Hello and welcome! Well, the move has finally happened and we've just spent our first night in the new home. The strangest thing is waking up in the middle of the night a little disorientated and once we have realised where we are, needing to turn lights on to find our way. But it will soon become the new normal for sure :-) Sally is a little anxious about it all but we will be going back to the empty one today and that will help her work out that the new place is home now.

Also new today is the challenge at Just Add Ink where Di has suggested a photo filled with school shapes and letter ideas for our crafting this week. The design team have all created such fabulous and varied cards so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join us.

Here is the photo:

And here is my card:

What first jumped out at me from the photo were the large letter stamps and different typography elements so it seemed the perfect time to bring out the large text stamp in Thankful thoughts. The swirly shaped flowers represent the other swirly shapes on the table and the colours and there is the Hardwood background for the table itself. With all involved in the move, and such at least one thank you card has been needed so is perfect timing too :-)

Card stock: Dapper Denim, Whisper White

Ink: Dapper Denim, Calypso Coral, Smoky Slate, Cucumber Crush

Stamps: Thankful Thoughts, Swirly Bird, Hardwood

Accessories: Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Framelits, Basic Rhinestones

Non- SU: Stitched Rectangle Dies - Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the beautiful cards our lovely team has made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fabulous photo for inspiration too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Rugby Slider Card for JAI #333

Hello and happy Friday to you! This week has been full of early mornings and busy days - by this time next week we will have just spent our first night in our new home! Goodness, where has the time gone? Today we spent a little time in the new garden, giving it a tidy to get it veggie ready whilst waiting for a delivery....some might say it was an excuse to get away from packing and enjoy the sunshine and they wouldn't be wrong :-)

Also ready to be enjoyed is the new challenge at Just Add Ink this week.  Tina has suggested a letter challenge that is sure to be popular.....to Just Add ...."G".so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and see the fabulous cards our lovely Team have made to inspire you and we also have another announcement that you won't want to miss!

 

 For my "G" elements, I went with goal posts, grass and geometric shapes to create this rugby themed slider card for my brother's birthday. Our family are all rather passionate All Black rugby supporters - the national past time of New Zealand for sure :-) So a goal kicking slider card will hopefully appeal to my fabulous brother - and the rest of his young family can play with it too :-)

To create the slider track, I used the Shooting Star Framelits and there is a video tutorial by Stampin Up showing how to use them you can see here. I created the goal posts out of strips of card stock and rounded the edges using a small circle punch.  The rugby ball is made using circle framelits and the 13/4 circle punch andfaux stitching details are added with a White Gel Pen. Then, it's mounted using Dimensionals with their edges snipped and placed between eyelits. Using your Embossing buddy both on the sides of all things sticky, as well as the slider track will help it slide better.

Card stock: Whisper White (Thick and standard), Basic Black, Real Red, Old Olive
Designer Series Paper: Serene Scenery
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Sunshine Sayings
Accessories: Big Shot, Shooting Star Framelits, Circle Framelits, 1" Circle Punch, White Gel Pen, Paper Snips, Brights Enamel Shapes

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to see what you will create with "G" elements this week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Summer Floral Background for JAI #331

Happy Friday everyone and welcome! This week has really flown and I am really looking forward to moving into the new home- 2 weeks today! The sunshine also arrived today - we had our warmest day since May, a lovely Spring like 26 degrees. That's what we like to see :-)

This week at Just Add Ink we have a couple of announcements to make plus a fabulous colour challenge set by the lovely Patrice. It's a beautiful mix of bold and vibrant colours that are so versatile and would suit many themes - flowers and Autumn/ Fall, Halloween and so many more so I hope you feel inspired to join us :-)

Here are the colours:

 

And here is my card:

 I decided to sponge the colours onto the Irresistibly Floral DSP and make a summer themed birthday card. It's a bit hard to see the Blushing Bride but it's used on the smallest flowers. When sponging on this DSP I found it is good to have a paper towel on hand to polish the white lines in the paper and remove the ink before it dries so the design pops thru cleanly. Then I layered some butterflies and covered the  black one in Wink of Stella - love that sparkle! Of course that could never be enough sparkle so I also added some to the flower centres and several more petals beyond :-)

The sunshine is die cut 4 times from white card stock and piled on top of each other to create some height and strength. The easiest way is to leave the dot of the "i" in the cut page until you need it otherwise they can be fun to find lol!

Card stock: Whisper White (thick and standard), Basic black, Blushing Bride

Designer Series Paper: Irresistibly Floral

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Blushing Bride, Versamark 

Stamps: Sunshine Sayings

Accessories: Big Shot, Sunshine Wishes Thinlits, Bold Butterfly Framelits, White EP, Clear Wink of Stella, Fancy Frost Sequins. Black Metallic Thread

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 projects the design team have made to inspire you this week and and I look forward to seeing what you create with this fun colour combo too.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Pink Wings for Jai #321

Hello and a very happy Friday to you! Here in Melbourne it is a Public Holiday as we have the Grand Final of the footy on Saturday and there will be a parade today. It basically will be a Melbourne vs Sydney kind of thing the way it's worked out - and the local team, the Western Bulldogs haven't made a Final match in 62 years so even though I don't follow the game...Like most locals, I'm hoping the "Dogs" get over the line as would be a once in a lifetime event for their fans :-) EDIT: Am pleased to be able to say they DID win - woo hoo :-)

So just in time for the long weekend is our new challenge at Just Add Ink this week. Nikki has suggested a fabulous and fun theme for us all to use - to Just Add WINGS!! Now there are all sorts of different wings - fixed, floating and coloured and colourful. Our wonderful team have all created a beautiful and wide variety of Winged ideas to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment and fly on over and take a look and join us :-)

For my wings, I went with a mix of stamped and water coloured ones I haven't played with butterflies in a while and decided to aim for a soft and pink and girly look for the layers. The base layer is stamped in Melon Mambo - stamped off x5 for the lightest shade and then one less each time for the rest. The next butterfly is water coloured and die cut from water colour paper. And the top layer is of course some shiny gold foil for a bit of bling :-)

And many thanks to Di Barnes for creating this lovely new watermark too :-)

Card stock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold Foil, Water color Paper

Designer Series Paper: Pop of Pink

Inks: Versamark, Melon Mambo, Smoky Slate

Stamps: Watercolor Wings, Timeless Textures, Sunshine Sayings

Accessories: Big Shot, Bold Butterfly Framelits, Butterflies Thinlits, Swirly Scribbles Thinlits, Gold EP,  Metallic Enamel Shapes, Black Metallic Thread

It's all go for us at the moment too as we have now found our new home - less than 5mins drive away and there is much to do and organise in the next 3 weeks.  I am really blessed by the many offers of help already - from neighbours to old and new friends it really is awesome!! 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see the rest of our lovely team's amazing cards and I look forward to seeing what you create with this fun theme this week too.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan