Hello Love for JAI #363

Happy Friday everyone and welcome  :-) Here in Melbourne, it's the start of Queen's Birthday Weekend with a pubic holiday on Monday. The last week in our house has seen a lot of vet visits as Sally the Lab has a severe infection in and around her right eye that worsened every day despite treatment and eventually was diagnosed as a "hot spot". We think it started with a spider bite on the eyelid... after a weekend temperature, trip to the Emergency vet for an injection of antibiotics and then an Eye Specialist on Monday.... and a whole pile of medications and ointments later...am glad to say she is slowly improving. Where would be without the wonderful team of vets that keep our pets on their feet! And yes, it did make a serious dent in my planned new Catalogue stamp order ...but not for long I'm sure :-)

So just in time to inspire your long weekend crafting, we have a fun new challenge for you at Just Add Ink.  This week Chantell has suggested we "Just Add....Anniversary" and the design team have created a wonderful array of cards to inspire you so I hope yo can take a moment to pop on over and join with us too :-)

I used the now retired Sealed With Love Bundle to create some love notes for an Anniversary card. These cards are are always to good to have in your stash ready for when they are needed. And this stamp is one set that I will hold on to for a while  as I love the mix of textured dies and elegant scripts. Here, I made 2 envelopes with little notes.

Here you can see that the note on the left has room for a little message and the one on the right has a stamped note already :-)

I used a combination of the papers from the Sending Love DSP and some gold foil to make the envelopes and detailed heart.

Card stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Gold Foil
Designer Series Paper: Sending Love Stack
Ink: Real Red, Momento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Sealed With Love
Accessories: Big Shot, Sending Love Thinlits, 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 see all the fabulous projects the design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fun theme too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hello Friend for JAI #362

Happy Friday and welcome :-) It is the first week of Winter here in Melbourne and it has really arrived with a vengeance - even the ski fields have decided to open early!! That is great news if you want to go skiing....however it's also a good excuse for many of us to spend time in the craft room :-)

So just in time to inspire your weekend crafting we have a fun new challenge for you at Just Add Ink! This week we have a gorgeous colour combination for you from Nikki. It is so fresh and crisp - perfect for Summer ice creams and beach scenes and also just as lovely to brighten a chilly, Wintery day too. The design team have created such amazing cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join us.

For my card I looked through my stamps to see what I could find that hadn't seen much love for a while. I started with Sunshine Wishes and then moved to the Swirly Bird set. Finishing with something new - the new Lovely Word Framelits. These are a favourite already from the new Catalogue that went live yesterday and am sure will be a favourite of many of you too :-)

I used a water colour "smooshing" technique for the background and then stamped the swirls from Swirly Bird and flicked some Clear Wink of Stella over it before stamping the flowers and leaves. To get the soft look to the flowers, I stamped them off onto scrap paper and intended this to be a little uneven - it then gives a faux water coloured effect without the water.

Now you may notice my photos are looking a little different - I've bought a new camera! All the previous shots have been thanks to my phone so I am on a rather steep learning curve. I did own a camera before we had mobile phones...but now I'm just showing my age LOL! So please be patient as I experiment a little with the angles, focusing distances and light etc as it now involves a little more grey cell work. Hopefully looking in focus at least by next week. Ideally, they will look more like they do in real life :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer, Whisper White
Inks: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Perfect Peach, Versamark
Stamps: Swirly Bird, Sunshine Wishes
Accessories: Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Thinlits, Lovely Word Thinlits, White EP, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Clear Wink of Stella
Non SU: Water Colour Card Stock - Tim Holtz

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 lovely inspiration the team have made for you and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this beautiful colour challenge too.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Kelly's Stamping Friends Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to a special Blog Hop celebrating Kelly Kent and her 5 years as a Stampin Up Demonstrator. Kelly has invited 25 of her stamping friends to take part in this happy event so I hope you enjoy all that we have for you!

A big welcome to you if you've just come from the lovely Julia Quinn and her fabulous projects. Otherwise you can start here and continue hopping along by simply clicking the Next button at the bottom of each person's post. I'm sure you will enjoy seeing what each person has created and hope that you are inspired to pick up some stamps and paper too :-)

 I have had the pleasure of getting to know the lovely Kelly thanks to working with her on the Just Add Ink team and am so thrilled to be part of this blog hop to celebrate her happy milestone. I've made two cards featuring some sneak peek items that are coming in the new Stampin Up catalogue that goes live this Thursday. They both have the same colours and a similar layout and were so fun to make. This card was my first play with the Happy Birthday Gorgeous bundle. When looking for a background to pair with my other elements I couldn't go past this beautiful ombre DSP from the Delightful Daisy pack.

There are 3 layers of white card stock underneath the shiny Copper to give it extra strength and  dimension to compliment the Berry daisy. And did you notice the sparkly gold flower centre? Yes, some new bling too - yay!!

For the second card, I flipped it back to a portrait format using the same stamp set, and added the "lovely" from the Lovely Word Thinlits. You may be able to see the Wink of Stella liberally applied to the flower petals and the stand to the bottom in the pic below.

Card stock: Berry Burst, Whisper White, Basic Black, Copper Foil

Designer Series Paper: Delightful Daisy

Inks: Versamark, Berry Burst

Stamps: Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Daisy Delight

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy Birthday Thinlits, Lovely Word Thinlits, Large Numbers Framelits, White EP,  Gold Faceted Gems, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Clear Wink of Stella

Thanks for stopping by today! Next you are off to see the lovely Sara Levin and her beautiful projects. Just click on the button below or you can see a full list of the Blog Hop roll underneath. Happy Hopping :-)

Blog Hop Participants List:

1.   Kelly Kent

2.   Angela Meiretz-Reid

3.   Monique Fielder

4.   Narelle Farrugia

5.   Wendy Hodkinson

6.   Deborah Harris

7.   Nicole Wilson

8.   Josie Dean

9.   Elizabeth Gross

10. Rachel Palmieri

11. Cheryl Algie

12. Kristel Rimmer

13. Kathryn Mangelsdorf

14. Mandy Depiazzi

15. Fi Cobbin

16. Nicole Goding

17. Holly Stene

18. Claudia Ausborn

19. Julia Quinn

20. Jan McQueen - you are HERE

21. Sara Levin

22. Carolina Evans

23. Tamra Davis

24. Narelle Simm

25. Jenny Hall

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Berry Burst for JAI #361

Happy Friday everyone and welcome :-) Only one week to go now before we can all order from the new Stampin Up Catalogue and the last chance to get the retiring products we've had our eyes on. Have you got your Wish List sorted yet? Mine is still a work in progress but getting longer by the day - so many lovely items to choose from!

And also with a few items to choose from this week is this week's Just Add Ink challenge suggested by Kelly. She has a beautiful choice of Flowers, Washi Tape or Watercolour for us to choose two from to use in our projects this week. Such fabulous and interesting choices and the design team had heaps of fun creating projects to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join us :-)

I chose flowers and water colouring and created a birthday themed card. There is a Pool Party water colour wash that I've flicked some Gold Wink of Stella over for some texture and interest and then added a berry Daisy thanks to the new Daisy Delight stamp set and co-ordinating punch. This is one of my favourite items in the coming catalogue along with the new Berry Burst In Colour just in case you had any doubts :-) I also added several layers of white card stock under the Copper Happy Birthday to add a little height and contrasting colour,

Card stock: Berry Burst, Basic Black, Whisper White, Copper Foil

Inks: Pool Party, Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Tranquil Tide, Versamark

Stamps: Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Daisy Delight

Accessories: Big Shot, Happy BirthdayThinlits, Daisy Punch, White EP, White Perfect Accents, Gold Wink of Stella, Gold Faceted Gems

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can take a moment to pop on over to Just Add Ink and see what our talented design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create to share in this great challenge too! I'm also looking forward to sharing better photos with you soon as have a new camera on the way though it might take a little time to get to know it :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Snappy Birthday for JAI #360

Happy Friday and welcome! This week has flown by and we've had fun playing with some new sneak peak products ahead of the next SU Catalogue release - now just two weeks away :-)

And it's also time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink! This week we have a lovely clean and simple sketch from Narelle for us all to play with. The design team have created a fabulous array of cards as always to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join us :-)

For my card, I've gone with a mix of a retiring Hostess set with a new In Colour to create a bright and vibrant birthday card for a friend who has a flair for photography and art in general so hope he likes this :-)  It doesn't look quite so psychedelic in real life -  the overcast weather this week has made taking photos a little challenging - might be a good excuse for a new camera for moi too :-)

The background  is water coloured and I deliberately kept the brush strokes bold and resisted the usual need to blend as I was after a more striking and graphic effect for this masculine card. The other elements are quite simple,  both the camera and sentiment are embossed to add a little shine and there is some Wink and sparkle hiding in the background too.

I combined two sentiments on the Bermuda circle - the original from the Pun Intended and added the "Happy" from Sunshine Wishes with a little masking as am sure there will be some happy snaps of the birthday :-)

Card stock: Basic Black: Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Silver Foil
Designer Series Paper: Pop of Pink
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Versamark
Stamps: Pun Intended (Retiring Hostess), Sunshine Wishes
Accessories: Black EP, White EP, Brights Enamel Shapes, Clear Wink of Stella
Non SU: Watercolor card stock (Tim Holtz)

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 the design team have made to inspire you and I look forward to seeing what you will create with this fun sketch too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Thank You JAI #359

Happy Friday and welcome! The days are getting shorter and definitely cooler but the beautiful colours of Autumn are on show. The leaves have turned to beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow and there is a often a carpet of them on the streets - which remind me of my childhood and walking to school kicking and dancing through them:-)

This week at Just Add Ink we have this gorgeous floral bloom photo for you suggested by Kim. The design team have all made stunning creations to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and join us :-)

The layers and orientation of the flower in the photo reminded me of this lovely birthday image so that was my starting point.  I white embossed it onto water colour card stock and then used an Aqua Painter with ink pads. To get the depth of colour, I first applied a light wash taking ink from the lids and then took ink direct from the ink pads to add the shading.

The white embossing makes it easy to stay within the lines and also gives a rather vintage effect which I decided to embrace and added layers of ribbon to represent the layers of petals in the photo. Whilst I'd love some white Wink of Stella some embossed dots from Timeless Textures give some subtle shine to the background :-)

I coloured a second flower just in case there was an accident with the fussy cutting but as all went well I decided to use it on second card.

This time I layered the coloured panel on a base of the same colour but I might change that to the same as the one above. And the greeting is a sneak peek of a new set available June 2 called Happy Birthday Gorgeous - it is indeed gorgeous and will get plenty of use am sure :-)

Card stock: Dapper Denim, Soft Sky
Ink: Melon Mambo, Garden Green, Daffodil Delight, Versamark
Stamps: Birthday Blooms, Thankful Thoughts, Happy Birthday Gorgeous, Timeless Textures
Accessories: White EP, Burlap Ribbon, White Organza Ribbon, Gold Metallic Ribbon (Sab), Metallic Sequin Assortment

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 inspiration from the design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this beautiful inspiration challenge too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Stitched Circles for JAI #358

Happy Friday to you and welcome to a new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week Rochelle has suggested that we Just Add...Stitching to our projects this week. As always, the design team have created some wonderful inspiration to inspire you so I hope you can take a moment to pop on over and take a look and join us.

Whilst I used to be quite a good cross stitcher, the eyesight these days means that hasn't been possible for a while. So I decided to make the stitched circle dies the focus of this card and water coloured them. Some metallic thread lies under the layers of butterflies - as you can't stitch without thread now can you :-) This card was made with a special stamping friend in mind - though in retrospect,  copper would've been better suited than gold for her but will remember that for next time :-)

Card stock: Whisper White, Gold Foil, Basic Black, Vellum
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Night of Navy
Stamps: Dragonfly Dreams
Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Dies, Beautiful Butterfly Thinlits, Triple Banner Punch, Gold EP, Gold Wink of Stella, White Perfect Accents (stickers removed), Aqua Painter
Non SU: Water colour card stock (TH)

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 inspiration from the design team and I look forward to seeing what you will create using the fun stitching theme too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan