Retirement for JAI #659

 

Happy Friday everyone! It's the end of the first week of the School Holidays here in Melbourne and it is bitterly cold and damp. No wonder so many people have gone away for a break in warmer climates. For those of us still at home though, it is a perfect opportunity to stay warm and dry in the craft room - even if we have to go out for a dog walk first.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a fresh Colour Challenge for you suggested by the lovely Lou. The design team have created a wide variety of projects to inspire you so I hope that you can take a moment and pop on over to the JAI blog andI'd love to see you join us.

One of the lovely things about making cards is that you can personalise them for the recipient. And that is what I have done here. I've used this week's Colour Challenge to create a retirement card for a priest. 

As I've said previously, this card is personal to the recipient. So let's talk through the elements.
The Merry Melodies EF is to reference his career before his call to the priesthood - that of an opera producer. He orchestrated the Passion performance at the Australian WYD in 2008 which used those skills and he also supported me in putting together the parish choir. 

The book images are from the Birds Eye View set in the latest catelogue, coloured with Blends and Copics and the daffodils are from a long retired set called Blessed By God and symbolise new beginnings ( or Spring). The Cross is from the same set. And the final stamp set used here is the much loved Well Worded bundle for the sentiment.

So I hope that this card shows you how you can combine a number of different stamp sets, new and old to make a card that has personal significance for a recipient. Challenges can help make that happen as they can give you a guiding hand in how to choose the images and perhaps layout and in this case, it is the colours used. I hope you can pop on over to Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you create for this challenge.

Card stock: Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Silver Foil

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Blends: Pretty Peacock combo

Stamps: Birds Eye View, Blessed By God (retired), Well Worded (retired).

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Well Written Framelits, Silver EP, Merry Melodies EF, 

'Til next time,

Jan 

Pet Sympathy for JAI #657

 

Hello and happy Friday! It's the end of another week and we are nearing the Shortest Day here in Australia. That is when our mornings and evenings will slowly become lighter and we can begin to look towards Spring. I hope that you all have had a good week and are ready to do some crafting this weekend.

This week at Just Add Ink we have this clean and graphic Sketch Challenge for you from Nikki.

It is such a fabulously versatile sketch as you can see on the challenge blog from all the design team members cards. I hope that you'll be able to pop on over and see and I'd love it if you were able to join us!

This week I used the sketch to create a pet sympathy card using this very touching set called Fill My Heart by Whimsy Stamps. 

Sadly, a lovely friend's dog that I have known for most of his life, is terminally ill. When I initially saw the sketch, rows of paw prints came to mind. So that was the starting point of this card and then slowly the other details took shape. 

A ruler was used to slowly and surely stamp the individual paw print image from the Happy Tails set and emboss these in gold. 

Then the dog image was stamped and coloured with Copics and the touching sentiment was also embossed with gold being the accent colour for the card.

So that is my card for this week. What will you make with this clean and versatile sketch we have for you at Just Add Ink this week? I can't wait to see!

Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Gold Foil

Inks: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Metallic Sequins Assortment, Gold EP

'Til next time,

Jan

Rock On For JAI #655

 

Hello and welcome! It's the first Friday of June and Winter in Australia, 2023.  To be fair, it has felt very Winter-like the last month with the cold, wet days easily out numbering the few dry, sunny ones. It does mean that inside at the craft desk is a good place to be at when the weather outside is not so pleasant. I hope that you are enjoying time crafting during these colder months too.

At Just Add Ink this week, Tristan has suggested we "Just Add....Music" to our projects this week. Our design team have all added varying ideas on this theme to inspire you so I hope that you can pop on over to the challenge blog and join us!

My card....well yes, it's bright! 😂

I am part of a musical family and have a teenage nephew who takes after me in that he plays guitar. In fact even before he was a teen, one of the few school bands he's in played as opening act for his music teacher's band. It was an exciting night for him and a proud one for his parents - and rightfully so.

So now perhaps you can see where I was going with this card? Yes, it is supposed to be the look of a music gig - ie. stage lighting -  and obviously a guitarist. The silhouette is a retired SU single stamp called Extreme Guitar. 

The background is sponged onto watercolor paper to enable the colors to blend more easily, it was sprinkled with water to create the dotted effect and then, once dry the single image is embossed x3.

To create the sentiment, a further background image was created and this was die cut several times to provide height and then covered in Fine tipped glue to give a shiny and clear coat to the letters.

Some silver star sequins complete this masculine music themed card. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope this shows you that you can use whatever inspires you to create a musical themed card for this week's Just Add Ink Challenge. I look forward to seeing what you create!

Card stock: Basic White (Thick)

Ink: Versamark

Stamps: Extreme Guitar (Retired)

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Playful Alphabet Dies (retired), Metallic Sequins, Fine Tip Glue

Non SU: Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Inks for background.

'Til next time,

Jan

Pastel Happiness for JAI #653

 

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back! It is mid May and a very chilly Autumn indeed. Already we are seeing Mid- Winter temperatures and lots of rain. We've missed the last two weeks of horse riding with Riding For the Disabled because of it. Hopefully we will be able to resume our favourite new exercise soon. But in the meantime, we have a lovely new challenge to share with you first.

This week at Just Add Ink we have a pretty and potentially very cute Challenge for you from the lovely Niki!
Choose Two from Pastels, Banner and Baby and we hope that you have a lot of fun too!

Our design team have created a wonderful collection of cards to inspire you so we really hope that you might join us and look forward to seeing which Two of the challenge items that you choose to create with.

I chose Pastels and Banner and created a card suitable for an Engagement or perhaps a Wedding.

The Blooms and the leaves are all in soft pastel colours and the sentiment is turned into a large banner.

Usually, I will colour with a lot more depth added when using Blends or Copics. But this time we are focusing on pastel colours, so I let the softness of the colours be the stars and only added minimal shading.

The sentiment on the banner is from the Charming Sentiments Bundle and embossed in Gold.

A touch of ribbon and twine under the banner and gold sequins on top add finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope that you can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog and we'd love you to join us. With the weather getting cooler it is the perfect excuse to spend some time indoors in a craft space and I look forward to seeing what you will create for this week's challenge.

Card stock: Basic White (Thick and standard)

Ink: Versamark, Momento Tuxedo Black. Blends /Copics

Stamps: Charming Sentiments, Happiness Abounds (Retiring)

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Stitched Nested Labels Dies, Blossiming Happiness Dies, Gold EP,  Metallic Sequin Assortment, Ribbon and Twine.

'Til next time,

Jan

JAI #651 Friend Inspiration

 

It is the first week of May and here in Melbourne it feels like it might just be the middle of Winter. Time to get out all the Winter woolies and start looking at those bubbling slow cooking recipes to keep us warm. 
It's also the perfect time to spend sitting in my sunny craft room! What will you be doing this weekend?

This week at Just Add Ink we have a very pretty and feminine Inspiration Photo Challenge for you suggested by Kerry. Lots of things in this pretty collage to help spark your crafting! The design team have all created beautiful cards to inspire you so I hope that you can take a moment to pop on over to the blog and take a look and join us.

I focused on the top right photo with the beautiful vase of flowers for inspiration and there are a couple of different polka dot images in amongst the pictures. 

The stamp set is of course the beautiful Artistically Inked and I've used both Fresh Freesia and the returning Berry Burst for the floral colours.

Shaded Spruce contrasts for the leaves and some gold touches and white complete this card for a friend. 

Many, I know will use these lovely feminine images to create for Mother's Day. But for those of us whose Mum's are no longer with us it is a lovely opportunity to give a friend or other family member something special too.

Card stock: Basic White, Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Dainty Flowers

Inks: Fresh Freesia, Berry Burst, Shaded Spruce

Stamps: Artistically Inked

Accessories: Die cutting machine, Artistic Dies, Well Written Dies, Metallic Sequin Assortment, White Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you are inspired by our challenge over at Just Add Ink and I look forward to seeing what you create!

'Til next time,

Jan

JAI #649 Colourful Planters

 

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back! It's been a busy school holidays for us - with appointments almost every day and we are looking forward to the weekend and hoping to do some crafting. I hope you are your family have had a fun time and the kids are are looking forward to returning to school.

Just in time for the weekend is this bright and beautiful Colour Challenge at Just Add Ink  It's suggested by the lovely Annie and I hope that you enjoy it! The design team have all created a variety of cards to inspire you for this week over on the JAI blog and we'd all love you to join in!

For my card this week I decided to make the colours focal points filled with plants. 

The background is embossed with a 3D Wood finish and a shelf made with the plants using some black, silver and Bermuda Bay glimmer card stock.

Firstly, I can hardly believe that Bermuda is retiring! It is a much used and loved colour of so many, including me...but I guess we will all soon realise how good the new colours are. 

The plants are all stamped with Smoky Slate to balance the bright colours with the similarly bright white background I chose and help the planters be the focal points.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that you can have fun with this bright and cheerful Colour Challenge at Just Add Ink this week. I look forward to seeing what you create!

Card stock: Smoky Slate, Basic White, Bermuda Bay Glimmer, Basic Black

Ink: Poppy Parade, Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate

Stamps: Plentiful Plants

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Stitched Rectangle Framelits, Plentiful Plants Dies, Hardwood EF,

Metallic Sequins assortment

'Til next time,

Jan

 

JAI #647 Welcome Sketch

 

Happy Good Friday everyone and welcome!! I hope that you and your family are having a very Happy Easter weekend wherever you are and whether you are celebrating this season or not. Many kids will be enjoying the end of the first school Term for the year and many families going away which still seems a bit different having had so many months of not being able to travel over the last couple of years!

As for Sally the Lab and I...we aren't going away and will be celebrating some of the weekend festivities. 

This week at Just Add Ink we have this sketch from Di to spark our creativity.

The lovely team as always have created a fabulous array of cards with many themes and colours and I hope that you can pop on over to take a peek and hopefully join us!

For my card I just moved the layered sentiment panel to the top of the door from the side. 

This sweet Welcome home bundle is in the Occasions Catalogue and is retiring so if you like the look of it, there is not much time to left to order it. 

The DSP is from the lovely Dainty Flowers suite and the bouquet is coloured to match it using Blends and Copics. Such a cute stamp set I am sad this will be retiring soon!

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope that you have a lovely Easter and enjoy perhaps some extra time to enter our challenge this week at Just Add Ink.

Card stock: Basic White, Fresh Freesia, Old Olive

DSP: Dainty Flowers

Inks: Fresh Freesia, Momento Tuxedo Black, Copics and Blends

Accessories: Die Cutting Machine, Welcome Home Dies, Metallic Sequin Assortment, White and Silver Ribbon

'Til next time,

Jan