JAI #434: Just Add A Big Bold Sentiment

Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge!

After a two week challenge last time, we are back to the usual one week timeframe with the new challenge. This week Nikki has challenged us to add a big, bold sentiment to our cards.

So, as you know, I've been in the USA for Stampin' Up!'s 30th Birthday Onstage celebration. My kids were pretty upset I was going without them, so I decided that I'd make them a card each that I'd post from the airport so that they'd get them in the mail. All kids love getting mail! Hopefully it will ease the sting of not getting to come too.

The stamp set is an old hostess set called Keep Calm. I love the different take on the classic English poster, and I thought it was perfect for these cards.

I used paper from the Garden Impressions DSP pack on each of the cards, choosing a different colour and design for each child. It's great that I was able to find two patterns more suited to boys in a very floral pack!

The card bases are the Silver Foil Edged Cards and Envelopes Pack. I've been using them quite a bit. Despite them being US sized, they are a great addition to our range, and an easy way to add a bit of pizzazz to a card. All I did was add the DSP and pop up the sentiment panel. Done!

My kids aren't really the kind to cry over me being away, in fact they'll probably have a fabulous time with Rob, as he tends to let them get away with more than I do!

All of the cards are the same on the inside too, just different colours and papers to match the front. I added a small strip of Silver Foil paper over the DSP just to help tie in with the front of the card. I really hope they love getting them I'm the mail!

You can see the rest of the Design Team's cards over at the Just Add Ink blog. Everyone had fun with this challenge, and I'm sure you will too.

Bye for now,

Tina

Copper For Christmas

Hi!

Hello, and welcome to the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Share. Have you been checking out the teams cards each week? You should if you haven't already. Plenty of gorgeous Christmas inspiration for you to see.

This week I went back to the Detailed Deer Thinlits. They are so beautiful! I had some copper ribbon left from the Notes Of Kindness card kit that I've been itching to use, so I decided to use it on this card. I hadn't yet decided to make it a shaker card, but as I had no other copper elements to add to the card except for the copper sequins, a shaker card it became! I think the copper works so beautifully with the rich tones of Tranquil Tide and Fresh Fig.

I used the putty end of my Take Your Pick tool to lift most of the copper sequins out of my Metallics Assortment pack of sequins. The putty tip makes the job so much easier!

I used the left over die cut from the front to complete the inside. I couldn't resist adding another copper bow!

That's it once again from me, but you can pop on over to Kate's Blog where you can see the rest of this week's cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

A Bike Ride Through The Highland Heather

Hi!

Time for the new Colour Creations Blog Share!

This week it's Highland Heather's turn. It's another new purple in the range. It's lighter than Gorgeous Grape, which we featured a few weeks ago, and they work wonderfully together.

My first thought was to use the purple to stamp a bike. I haven't used my Bike Ride stamp set much, so this was a good excuse. While I was stamping with a set I hadn't used much, I decided to use a few more from that same category - Handwritten and Pick A Pennant.

To make the pennant I first stamped the banner, stamping it off on some scrap paper first. I then stamped the letters over the top. I hand cut the banner because I haven't got the coordinating framelits. I found I had to snip right up between the sections on the 'birthday' banner so that I could bend it enough to fit on my card.

How cute is that little birdie? He's from the Pick A Pennant stamp set too. I couldn't resist adding him onto both the front and inside of the card.

Catherine is hosting this week's Colour Creations Blog Share as usual. You can pop on over to her blog to see the rest of this week's cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

Orlando Swaps Part Two

Hi!

Today's post actually has my second and third swap items. I hadn't intended to make a third, but somehow I found it on the go before I'd even finished swaps one and two! Oops!

Let's start with swap two, which was actually my first idea. I had decided early on that I wanted to do something around an Australian flag pencil. Do you think I could find an Australian flag pencil without paying ridiculous prices? In the end I found these Aboriginal Art designs, which I think worked much better with my colour scheme.

I've used the Animal Expedition DSP again, as I wanted to use the large kangaroos this time. There are two leafy designs - this one with the frogs, and another with little birdies. I used a mix of the two as my backing piece. The bags are in the Annual Catalogue.

I used my Stamparatus to stamp the 'g'day mate' sentiment on the Stitched Circle. It's very cliche Australian, but I'm hoping that the American demos will love it! I made 24 of these swaps.

Finally, I have my last minute swap. I happened to be in Coles when my favourite Twinings Tea, Australian Afternoon, was half price. It was the smaller packs with individually wrapped bags. I grabbed two to take to the US, but when I realised they fit with the Australian theme of my swaps I decided to add them to the mix.

I didn't have enough Animal Expedition DSP left to use, so I decided to use some of my Garden Impressions DSP. I used my Envelope Punch Board to create a little tea bagged size envelope, which I topped with a Stitched Labels Framelit. I stamped a pair of sentiments from Balloon Celebration and then used part of the big floral die from Springtime Impressions for the little cluster of flowers. A few rhinestones finished off the design.

I wonder which of my swaps will be the most popular - the Tim Tam Slam, Pencil or Tea? What do you think?

Bye for now,

Tina

Orlando Swaps Part One

Hi!

How exciting - today is the first day of OnStage in Orlando. I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago, but still, I bet I'm going to be excited on the day!

Normally on a Friday I'd have the latest Just Add Ink post for you, but to cater for OnStage, last week's challenge actually runs for two weeks. Click on the link to check out the challenge details.

Instead I have for you one of the swaps I made to take to Orlando. Did you know that most Americans have never heard of the chocolatey goodness that is a Tim Tam? Did you also know that you can buy a box of 150 individually wrapped Tim Tams at Officeworks? What a perfect opportunity to educate some people on the delights of Tim Tams!

I started by working out how I was going to package the Tim Tam. I ended up deciding to use my Envelope Punch Board and the Crafty Owl's Box Buster to create a little box. This is the shape I ended up with, after starting with a 5 1/8" square piece of DSP.

I had to do some additional trimming on the bottom left and top right corners, as they wouldn't fold nicely into the box if I didn't. Once I'd folded along the score lines and snipped to create flaps, I turned the piece over and used my SNAIL to adhere some instructions to the inside of the box. Yep, I'm going to educate my fellow on how to do the Tim Tam Slam!

I then popped a Tim Tam into the box and folded the instructions over the top. I then started folding the box. I worked out that if I folded the larger long edge, followed buy the two short edges and finally the shorter long edge, I could get away with using one of my demo labels to hold the box closed.

If I tried folding in the short edges first there wouldn't be enough of the flaps exposed to stick to the label.

Here's the bottom of the box with my label attached. Now - how to decorate the top?

Aww, how cute! I made 40 of these swaps, as that's how many little kangaroos there are in two packs of the Animal Expedition DSP. I had very sore hands after hand cutting all 40 kangaroos and 80 branches! Thankfully, for the stamping I was able to use my Stamparatus for super quick production line stamping.

I'll be back on Monday with my other swap.

Bye for now,

Tina

A CASE Of A CASE Of Myself

Hi!

Try saying that five times quickly!

 

Today's card is a CASE of both a card I made recently (that was a CASE of another card I made that was a CASE of a decor item in the Annual Catalogue - confused yet?), and also of an ATC I made recently for a swap I hosted. Let's get unconfused!

The front of the card is a CASE of my ATC. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card, and is usually a 2.5 by 3.5 inch card that is decorated. This time we did ATC Coins, which are 2.5 inches round. Here's my ATC so that you can see how I CASEd myself.

I used the same colour combo, but without the Daffodil Delight on the card. I also went for the slightly larger houses, as I used larger circles on the card. I kept the smaller houses for the inside of my card.

The starry (or even snowy) sky is made by flicking Shimmer Paint over the cardstock using an Aqua Painter or a small paintbrush. You basically pick up some paint with the brush and then flick the bristles of the brush over the edge of the paint lid while holding it over the cardstock. Play around with the amount of paint and the distance flicked to get different sized splatters. It is a bit messy though, so make sure you cover anything that doesn't need splatters.

This inside of the card is a CASE of this card. I won't try to explain the chain of CASEd cards, you can follow the links on each post if you're curious! I loved how the inside of my last card turned out, so I copied it pretty much exactly for this card. I just switched out the DSP for the Shimmer Paint splatters. I think they look more like snow than the stars on the DSP.

Claire is once again hosting this week's Blog Share over on her blog. Don't forget to go check out everyone's cards - you won't be disappointed!

Bye for now,

Tina

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Bat Punch!

Hi!

LOL, I couldn't resist that blog post title, and you'll see why in a second!

It's the new Colour Creations Blog Share, and this week we are looking at a new neutral, Grey Granite. As greys go, it's an ok grey. I thought it was a bit hard to get excited about grey, until I had the idea for this card.

Its classic Batman! I went with the colours in the original TV Batman to create this fun kid's birthday card. It may in fact also be the colours from the original comic, but I dare not ask my husband or I might still be getting the answer half an hour later. He likes the opportunity to show off his super hero knowledge!

I was inspired by Batman's cape and utility belt on the front of the card. The Blueberry Bushel DSP is from the Best Route DSP - just a scrap I had left over from another project. The Grey Granite piece is from the Twinkle Twinkle DSP pack. I thought it was a bit more interesting than just a plain Grey Granite background. The Pineapple Punch ribbon was a great substitute for Batman's utility belt.

The Spooky Bats punch is a part of the Halloween range in the current Holiday Catalogue. I'm not big into Halloween, but I just had to have this punch to make Batman cards. I made the rookie mistake of asking Rob about the shape of the bat however, and yes, I did get a very extended answer!

That's it for me, as usual the rest of this week's cards are over at Catherine's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina