JAI 544: Just Add L

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. Hopefully you have time to play along with us. It's a long weekend here in Adelaide, which always means a little extra crafting time for me. I'm hoping to get the next block in the quilt top I am working on done - what about you?

If you're paper crafting, why not join in our Just Add L challenge? Your card just needs to have one thing that starts with L on it. Maybe a stamp set, or a colour, technique, embellishment, theme, whatever you can think of that starts with L!

I went for Lipstick! I haven't used my Dressed To Impress stamps much lately, so this was a good excuse to pull them out. I stamped the lipstick with Memento ink and coloured it with my Watercolour Pencils and Wink Of Stella. It's lovely and shimmery in real life!

For a bit of added texture, I ran my DSP through the Big Shot with the Subtle 3DEF. It's such a pretty effect, and makes the paper look like fabric.

The DSP on the inside got the same treatment as on the front. And I'm happy, because I now have one of the two Mother's Day cards that I need for this year made. Now just to put it in a safe spot where it won't get lost!

Time now to pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can see the rest of this week's Design team cards. I love these alphabet challenges, as everyone is so creative in interpreting them.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Pumpkin Pie

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new Colour Creations Creative Showcase. Fittingly, for our first colour of Autumn, it's Pumpkin Pie being featured this week. It's a lovely orange, and a very classic addition to any Autumnal colour scheme.

My card was built around the 'happy' part of the sentiment. I've seen this technique, where you fussy cut around die cut letters, around a lot recently and I wanted to give it a go. It was certainly fun to try!

I also wanted to play with my Stampin' Blends to create the background. I used the Dark Pumpkin Pie Blend to scribble on a piece of Vellum and then I spritzed it thoroughly with the heavy duty isopropyl alcohol. This allowed me to move the ink around on the vellum for a short period of time before it dried. I used a piece of acetate to help move it. It was a lot of fun.

Of course, I made my vellum piece a bit larger than I needed it to be for the front so that I could have an offcuts to use on the inside. I work smarter, not harder, as my good friend Rachel taught me!

Please pop on over to Cathy's blog for the rest of this week's Pumpkin Pie cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #307: CASE The SAB Catalogue

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Today is the very last day of Sale-A-Bration, so we are CASEing the SAB Catalogue one last time.

You can choose any card or project from the catalogue that takes your fancy. My eye was caught by this A Touch Of Ink card on page 12.

I decided to use the Berry Blessings stamp set to create my card, which is another SAB freebie choice.

I started by embossing a piece of Night Of Navy card using my Pinewood Planks 3DEF. It's such a great folder, I really should use it more! The next layer is from the Ornate Layers Dies. I cropped the shape from Whisper White card and then masked off the edge. I used a Blending Brush and Balmy Blue ink to add a layer of colour to the frame that still left the edges white. I love how this adds a visual layer without adding a physical layer.

The berries and leaves were all stamped and fussy cut before being adhered to the card.

I had a few blueberries left over, so I added them to the inside of the card, after adding a little bit of Balmy Blue ink to the panel. I'm not a big fan of the "you sweet thing" part of the Sweet Strawberry sentiment, so I masked it off before stamping it on the inside of the card.

You can join in with our challenge by CASEing any card from the SAB catalogue and adding a photo to our Facebook group. No blog, fancy camera or software required!

Next up is my lovely friend, Rachel, with what is bound to be a gorgeous card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #543: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Kelly has designed a really fun sketch for us to use.

What do you think of when you see the sketch? I am quite a logical person, and I like the orderliness of the grid. It made me think of a die that I'd purchased recently, but had yet to use. It's the Circle Coverplate Die, from Uniquely Creative.

You didn't think I'd cut all those circles individually, do you? LOL! The die cuts them all at once, and the stitched border too. The stars were cut individually though, using the Stitched Stars Dies. I used Magenta Madness, Basic Black and Silver Foil. 

When I was finished adding all the stars, I realised that there wasn't really a good place for a sentiment. I tried a few different things, but nothing that I was happy with. In the end, I just left it blank. The repeated stars and the bold magenta make enough of a statement, that I think a sentiment isn't really necessary.

I didn't have a suitable sentiment for the inside, so I used my retired Labeller Alphabet stamps to create my own. The star die was used to create the opening to allow the magenta to peek through. I'm not sure what I'll use this card for, but like for my daughter next time she dances in a performance. The colours fit her dance studio colours perfectly!

Please head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You can also enter your card in our challenge - what do you see in the sketch?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Pretty Peacock

 Hi!

It's Colour Creations Creative Showcase time! This week we are featuring Pretty Peacock - pretty by name, pretty by nature! It's a gorgeous, deep teal that is fast becoming a favourite. I will be very sad when it retires in a few months. I may have to stock up on some of the cardstock before it does!

Such a gorgeous colour doesn't need much else to dress it up, so I stuck to a Pretty Peacock and Gold Foil combo. The feature panel is a piece from the Forever Gold Specialty Paper pack. I just popped it out, added a heap of Black Mini Dimensionals to the back, and layered it over my Subtle-embossed card front.

The sentiment, from Blossoms in Bloom, was heat embossed in gold and just layered over the top. Such a quick and easy card that really packs a punch. The hardest part was peeling all the backings off of the Dimensionals!

I used some left over Gold Foil, embossed cardstock and another foil element from the Forever Gold pack on the inside. Done!

Please head on over to Cathy's blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Pretty Peacock cards. I can't wait to see what everyone has made!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #306: Bring The Bling

 Hi!

Phew! Where did that week go? I swear it was only a day or so ago that I was writing last week's CTC post! This week we are asking you to Bring The Bling - or in other words, to CASE a sparkly project!

There are lots of sparkly things in the Jan-June Mini, including the new Gilded Leafing,  Specialty Acetate, embellishments and Foil papers. I chose this card from the Bundles section of the Mini, as it has Gold Embossing.

I really loved how the images was stamped and chopped and put back together again. Whoever made this card is a very patient person! I am not, so I cheated and gained a similar effect by using a die cut over the chopped up background.

The Sunflowers Dies had the best outline image in my collection for this sort of card. I cropped the outline from Basic Black cardstock and layered it over the top of my chopped up background. The word 'friend' was cropped four times and stacked to give a more dimensional sentiment.

You might be saying 'but where's the bling?' The background paper is the new Pearlescent Specialty Paper. It has a gorgeous, subtle shimmer, but is very hard to photograph! The centre of the sunflower is also cut from the paper. 

I had a couple of sunflower leaves that I'd also cut from Basic Black cardstock that I'd planned to try to use on the front of the card. I didn't like the look, so I used them on the inside instead. I'm not sure what I'll use this card for - it's probably more of a 'thinking of you' card than a birthday card.

Our challenge is run through our Facebook group. All you need to do is make your bling card, take a photo and add it to the group. Done!

But please do continue on with this week's Blog Hop before you dash off to get creating! Next up is the wonderful Rebecca, who has made a gorgeous card using a sparkly product that I considered using too.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #542: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday, and hopefully the start of a cooler weekend! It's been 30+ here for most of the week, so I'm looking forward to a few cooler days. But let's get into the challenge! This week at Just Add Ink, we have an Inspiration Photo, suggested by Lou, to spark our creativity.

It's such a fun mix of colours and textures, don't you think? You can be inspired by anything in the photo, like the colours and textures as I mentioned. You don't have to recreate the photo, but having said that, that's pretty much what I did! LOL!

I started by pulling my retired Tropical Chic bundle down off the shelf. I kept it for the gorgeous, lush fern stamps. I knew they would come in handy one day! I used the mirror stamping technique with my Stamparatus so that the fat leaf would bend in both directions. Apologies to any gardeners that I may have offended - I have no idea what the different types of ferns are, or even if fern is the right word to describe them!

The pot for the ferns was cropped using the Balloon punch. I just trimmed off the top and bottom and wrapped some of the Blushing Bride Snail Mail Twine around it. I also used some Blushing Bride DSP, from the retired Tropical Escape pack. To replicate the wall in the Inspiration Photo I used some rendered wall DSP from the In Good Taste pack.

I had a fe left over bits and pieces from the front, which were put to good use on the inside. The sentiments on the card are from the A Good Man stamp set, stamped in Shaded Spruce ink.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can link up your card for this week's challenge - after you've checked out eh rest of the Design Team cards, of course!

Bye for now,

Tina