Country Birthday for JAI #557

Happy Friday everyone and welcome! There is a feeling of deja vu for those of us in Melbourne, where we are in the midst of another Lockdown to limit the spread of Covid 19. We have gotten through it before so we can do it again. At least at home, we are lucky to have a craft space we can spend more time in and hope that for others in Melbourne, you too can take solace in getting creative.

This week's Inspiration Photo challenge at Just Add Ink  from Rachael is a beautiful Winter's fireplace scene full of layers of texture to choose from. With Inspiration photo's you get to choose from what pops out at you from the photo to inspire your projects. The design team have a lot of variation in their cards this week so I hope you can pop on over to the blog and we'd love you to join us!

I was inspired by the beautiful white bricks in the fireplace and the jars sitting in front. 

To recreate the bricks, I used some Shimmery Embossing Paste with a stencil. This is a quick and easy way to add texture and sparkle and dimension to a background.

The jar from the lovely Country Home set was stamped in Momento and coloured using Copics. The arrangement to top the jar was coloured using a mix of Blends and Copics. Although there are neutrals in the Photo, I needed some colour for the blooms in the stamped image so Balmy Blue to the rescue. It's such a soft and pretty blue and doesn't over power the neutral tones. I've found it's easier to fussy cut the images before you colour them - cause it's not so bad if you make a mistake cutting if you haven't spent time colouring it! Some ribbon and sequins add to the layers of texture and this Birthday card is ready to post.

Card Stock: Balmy Blue, Whisper White, Basic Black

Stamps: Country Home, Well Worded

Ink: Versamark, Momento Tuxedo Black, Blends ( and Copics)

Accessories: Shimmery White Embossing Paste, White Embossing Powder, Metallic Sequins assortment, Silver Sequin Trim, Burlap Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today! I look forward to seeing what you will create for this week's pretty Inspiration photo challenge at Just Add Ink.

Til next time,

Jan

 

Just Add Ink #555 Dressed Up Colours

 

Welcome to Friday and to you!! It's the end of a rather busy week in my world and we are ready to enjoy the forecast milder weather. What are your plans for the weekend? 

This week at Just Add Ink we have a super pretty Colour Combo for you from Rachael! The design team all loved working with these gorgeous and girly colours and we hope that you do too!

I used this week's colour combo to make an Easel card for friend's special birthday. This is the front of the card and how it lies flat for folding. It uses the fab Dressed to Impress bundle and the "mirror" is made using the Ornate Garden Suite that recently retired.

And standing tall we have some more shoes, flowers and of course the special milestone birthday.

To create the background of both the Pool Party and Majenta layers, I used the larger scribble stamp in the set and first, second and third generation stamping.

Both pairs of shoes and the flowers are coloured with Blends. 

The numbers are 3 layers high and act as the stoppers to keep the card standing tall.

Card stock: Pool Party, Just Jade, Silver Foil, Silver Glimmer, Whisper White

Inks: Majenta Madness, Pool Party, Blends: Majenta Madness, Just Jade, Versamark

Stamps: Dressed To Impress, 

Accessories: Die Cutting machine, Ornate Style Dies, All Dressed Up Dies, Number of Years, Shimmery Black EP

Thanks for stopping by today to see my card! I look forward to seeing what you will create with this pretty and girly colour combo for this week's challenge.

Til next time,

Jan

Guitar, Grunge and Green for JAI #554

Hello and welcome to a mid-week extra post! I needed a card for my now teenage Nephew. He is into music - plays guitar, bass and drums in 3 different bands at his school so I thought that could work for this week's Just Add G challenge at Just Add Ink and so I’m playing along!

So to add my G elements of Green, Guitar and Grunge....I started by sponging a rainbow of colour using Distress Inks to look a little like stage lighting and droplets of water to create interest and a grunge effect. As one of the bands my nephew is in recently opened for a big named band in his home town, a stage theme is perfect! 

Next the retired  Extreme Guitar stamp was inked in Versamark and embossed with Shimmery Black EP to accentuate the grunge factor.

Last but not least, the sentiment was embossed onto vellum cut to size so as to not hide all the background and some metallic star sequins added.

Music is in our family's blood, our mother’s family are all pianists and I too was once a reasonable guitarist whilst my brother played bass so its great to see the talents flow through the generations. I hope my nephew likes his card. 😊

Card stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Vellum.

Inks: Versamark

Stamps: Extreme Guitar (retired), Epic Celebrations (Sab retired)

Accessories: Black Shimmery EP, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Stitched Rectangle Framelits

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope to see you later in the week with the new Just Add Ink challenge!

Til next time,

Jan

Just Add Ink # 553 Perennial Sketch

 

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back! Another month has passed and we are now getting ready to celebrate Mother's Day this Sunday in Australia and NZ. What do you have planned? A sleep in and breakfast in bed maybe?

It's time for a new Just Add Ink challenge week and Kelly has designed this fun sketch to spark your projects. The design team as always have a fabulous and varied array of cards to inspire you so I hope you can take a peek at the main blog and we'd love you to join us.

For my card I flipped the sketch to portrait and chose a blend of old and new products. My favourite Bundle in the now Mini Catalogue is the beautiful Pretty Perennials. It has a fresh and modern look to the flowers and the sentiments. I've paired that with three of the new In Colours in the 2021-2022 Catalogue. Polished Pink, Fresh Freesia and Soft Succulent are added over a background stamped in 2nd and 3rd generation of Daffodil Delight.

A touch of Silver Glimmer for the sentiment that also passes for the small rectangle in the sketch and with the outline of the Stitched With Whimsy Dies, and a matching In Colour jewel and this little card is complete. 😊

Card Stock: Soft Succulent, Whisper White, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer

Inks: Soft Succulent, Polished Pink, Fresh Freesia, Daffodil Delight, Blackberry Bliss

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched With Whimsy Dies, Perennial Petals Dies, 2021-2023 In Colour Jewels

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you enjoyed my project and look forward to see what you will create with this fun sketch at Just Add Ink this week.

Til next time,

Jan

Just Add Ink #549 Choose Blooms

 

Hello and welcome!! Last weekend was the end of Daylight Savings here in Victoria and a sure sign that Summer is over. Except that the last few days we've still managed to have some 30 degree days!! That's pretty amazing for the second month of Autumn!! The sunshine has also been great for the garden.😊

Also great is this week's challenge at Just Add Ink! Kelly has given us Feathers, Leaves and Petals to Choose Two from to use as the focus of our projects. Our design team have created a lovely array of cards to inspire you so I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over and take a peek. We'd love you to join us!

So it is rather obvious that I chose Petals and Leaves!! The Bloom and Grow bundle is retiring and it is one of my favourites for colouring. Get it quickly before it is gone. 

Here, I've coloured with Watercolour Pencils on Whisper White card and then a touch with the tip of an aquapainter (Water brush) brightens the colour. Then I went back in to add more colour with the pencils whilst the card was still damp. I find this method allows me to add more depth and shading. For the petals, I used Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry and for the leaves, a mixture of Old Olive and Bermuda Bay. You could easily use water colour paper for this but I was happy to use only a little water so WW card worked well.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and  I look forward to seeing which of the fabulous Two elements you choose to create with this week.

Card stock: Whisper White (thick and standard), Gold Foil, Berry Burst (retired), Just Jade

Inks: Versamark, Watercolour Pencils: Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Bermuda Bay

Stamps: Bloom and Grow, Well Worded - both sets retiring 😢

Accessories: Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Well Written Dies (retiring), Ornate Frames dies, Budding Blooms Dies, White EP

'Til next time,

Jan

Just Add Ink #547 Inspiration Chocolate

Happy Friday and welcome everyone! Over the last couple of weeks we've started receiving Covid 19 Vaccinations and the restrictions are continuing to ease. It is amazing to think that 12 months on from our first Stage 3 Lockdown in Victoria we might be able to begin to look towards the future.

This week at Just Add Ink  we have a beautiful Inspiration Photo for you from Kim. There are many things that come to mind with this image - the gorgeous colours, the lovely wreath, the new life that eggs contain  and the chocolate that comes with eggs as we approach the Easter Season. So there's a lot of ways you can take this image and run with it and our design team have a lot inspiration for you over on the blog and we'd love you to join us!

For my card, I chose to use a new stamp set for me, Nothings Better Than and go with the theme of what is inside eggs this time of year along with the beautiful colours of the Inspiration Photo. 

Some pretty pink glimmer paper represents the background in the photo and some chocolate card stock and we have the beginnings of a card.

To create the colourful insides of the chocolates, I used Stampin Write markers on the individual parts of the stamps which requires a "huffing" on the stamp when finished to make sure the ink is not too dry for stamping.  It was one of those "I'm glad Covid is nearly over" moments as it's not a technique you could do whilst wearing a mask. I had thought of stamping with Momento ink and using Blends to colour but then the outlines would not be chocolate coloured. But it's an idea for next time 😊

This time last year, celebrating Easter with family and friends was not possible. We were all rather scared, locked down in our homes and Easter services were cancelled for the first time certainly in my lifetime. One year on and what a difference! For those of us in Victoria, with long time restrictions lifting - even masks no longer necessary in retail areas from today - it is a bit like we are the ones breaking out of our eggs of isolation and able to explore this new and beautiful world.

So whilst you're exploring, hop on over to the Just Add Ink blog and we'd love to see what you create to celebrate this beautiful Inspiration Photo.

Card stock: Whisper White (Thick and standard), Chocolate Chip, Pink Glimmer

Inks: Early Espresso, Markers: Regal Rose (retired), Melon Mambo, Perfect Plum, Coastal Cabana, Pineapple Punch, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Love You More Than Dies, Metallic Sequins Assortment (retired)

Til next time,

Jan

Just Add Ink #545 Healing Shades of Green

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today is a special day - Miss Sally the Lab and a good friend of mine share a birthday. Funnily enough this same friend's son and I also share a birthday so how is that for good timing! 😀

It's also good timing for our new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week the lovely Lou has suggested we "Add shades of green" to our projects. Our design team have again shown a fabulous array of projects from heroes to stripes and leaves and everything in between so I hope you can pop on over and be inspired to join us!

I combined the shades of the retired Tranquil Tide with Soft Sea Foam and Pear Pizazz along with Copper Foil and Whisper White. Together with some leaves they are a perfect guy card for an Uncle of mine.

When the idea came for this card, I had a picture in my mind of the stamped leaves I wanted to use... I had to go through my collection to find them. I eventually found the Oh So Eclectic bundle in the retried and for sale box - so they are safely out of there! Along with them were the Flourish thinlits. Some things really are timeless! When you get a project idea does it come similarly as a picture for you too?

Card stock: Tranquil Tide, Soft Sea Foam, Whisper White, Copper Foil

Inks: Pear Pizazz, Versamark

Stamps: Oh So Eclectic, Well Said

Accessories: Big shot, Rectangel Framelits, Flourish thinlits, Eclectic Framelits, White EP, Subtles EF, Metallic Sequins assortment

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and see all the great inspiration from the design team and I'd love to see what you create using Shades of Green. 

'Til next time,

Jan