JAI #373: Just Add Stencils

Hi!

Welcome to a new challenge from Just Add Ink!

This week Karren has challenged us to use stencils in our card making. There are so many ways to use stencils - you can use embossing paste with them, sponge or mist through them, or even brayer over them.

After a bit of thought, I decided to try a new to me technique. Not sure what it's called, but I really enjoyed it!

To get this look, I placed my stencil over some Shimmery White yardstick and then used my 0.01 Journaling Pen to outline each of the shapes in the stencil. It's a retired stencil from the last Holiday Catalogue in the Seasonal Masks pack. I then removed the stencil and used my Watercolour Pencils and Blender Pen to colour each shape.

I picked a point on my card, which was the top left corner. I used my Pencil to colour the section of the drop shape that was closest to that point, and then blended away from the point with the Blender Pen.

I used a small piece of Shimmer White that I've coloured the same way for the inside. I had only intended to trace a few of the drop shapes in each corner, but Ada insisted I needed to bring in the ribbon from the front of the card, so she made sure I did the inside 'right'. LOL.

The rest of the Design Team have had a marvellous time adding stencils to their cards this week. You can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what they've done. I hope we inspire you to play along with Karren's challenge this week.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 12

Hi!

I'm very excited to show you this week's Art With Heart, The Heart Of Christmas cards. Did you notice I said cards, not card? That's right, I have two cards this week!

I'm also excited because I made the cards using a new bundle from the upcoming Holiday Catalogue. As soon as I saw the bundle, I fell in love and just had to have it! It's called Hearts Come Home, and you can find it on page 39 of the Holiday Catalogue.

The card I made first is a CASE of a card on page 47 of the Holiday Catalogue it uses a different stamp set and DSP, but I loved the layout and colours, so I used them on my card. The DSP is a lightweight Specialty pack called Merry Music SDSP, and it's lovely - lots of Christmassy music designs, and you get 24 sheets in the pack.

I love the Edgelits in the bundle, that you can use to create layered scenes on your card. I've just used part of one for my card. I used the marker to rubber technique to colour my sentiment.

I've carried many of the same elements to the inside of the card.

Now for the second card - it's a stepped up version of the first card.

I've used many of the same things, just added to them - the scalloped layers under the main panel and the DSP, for example. They would also look amazing in Cherry Cobbler, I think.

The die cut house is where I went a little mad! I cut the house and tree again in Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight, and then used all the little bits you'd usually throw away to fill in the design. Very, very fiddly, but I love the look!

I also stepped up the inside by adding another scalloped layer, and by making the sentiment multi coloured. Most of these stepped up bits are quick and easy to do, making the card easy to mass produce if you desired. Maybe not the house bit though!

You can see what the rest of the team have created this week by visiting Claire's blog. You'll find all the links there.

Bye for now,

Tina

Vintage Leaves With Copper Trim

Hi!

I'm really not much of a metallics person, but when I first saw the new Copper Trim, I just had to have it! I loved the versatility - it can be used as is, or it can be stretched out to give a netting look.

For this card, I paired two very different DSPs: Wood Textures and Be Merry. I could have just used the Garden Green strip from Be Merry and left the right side of the card plain, but I liked the extra little something that using one of the more subtle Wood Textures papers gave.

Here's a bit of a closer look at that gorgeous trim! For this card, I threaded the trim onto my thumb to make it into a tube, and then cut along the tube to open it up flat. I stretched it out until I was happy with how it looked, and then adhered it using tape under where the leaf was going. It's important to use a fair length of the trim - as you pull it in one direction, it shrinks in the other direction! I did this in a class, and we ended up having to use a couple of pieces of the trim under the flower, as I'd cut their pieces too short.

Nice and simple on the inside. I think this is a great masculine card. Not too fussy, but the texture of the Copper Trim adds a lot of interest to the card. What do you think?

Bye for now,

Tina

Scrapping With Just Add Colour

Hi!

I mentioned on my Facebook page that over the past few weeks I've been doing a huge cull of my paper craft magazines. I went through each one, ripped out the pages that interested me, and then recycled the magazines. It was a huge job, but I did it in little bits and pieces so it was more manageable. Apart from the obvious benefit of reducing the amount of stuff in my craft space, it had the unexpected effect of re-igniting my passion for scrapping. I made myself wait until I'd finished all of the magazines before I started though, because I knew I'd never finish if I didn't!

One of the things that inspired me was a layout that tore an opening in the page, and had the photo sitting behind the paper. I'd recently taken this silly snap of Alex through some leaves, which tied in perfectly with the leaf paper in the new Just Add Colour SDSP pack.

I started by spritzing the paper with a mix of Isocol and Garden Green ink. Once it dried, I held my Garden Green reinker above the page, squeezed it gently and then tapped on the nozzle to get the dark splatters across the paper. I also dripped some water onto some of the splatters to get a different effect.

I then worked out where I wanted the photo to go and poked a hole from the back of the paper. I used my fingers to widen the hole until it was the size I was after.  I curled the torn strips around a pencil so that they sat away from the opening.

I asked Alex to write some lists of things he likes and dislikes before I started the layout. I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate these without taking away from the photo, until I had the brilliant idea of writing one little piece of information in some of the larger leaves. I really like that it's kind of hiding in plain sight! It also means I can easily add to it when I think of little bits to write about Alex Most importantly, Alex gave it his seal of approval when I showed him the page.

Hopefully I'll have some more layouts to show you I the coming weeks. I have another one all but finished, and I've printed a vintage photo to go on a third page. Stay tuned!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #372: Just Add Colour

Hi!

This week at Just Add Ink, Nikki has chosen a gorgeous selection of colours to inspire creativity. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them as soon as I saw the palette.

Aren't they just stunning? I pulled out my trusty sponge brayer, and off I went!

I started by using sticky notes to mask off the area I wanter to brayer. I held it all down with some sticky tape too - just to be sure nothing moved while I was using the brayer, as that would have been disastrous! I started by rolling on some Powder Pink ink from the bottom up, and then some Pool Party ink from around 3/4 of the way to the top, running down into my Powder Pink area. I finished by brayering some Tranquil Tide ink down from the top. I had to be really careful to go easy with the Tranquil Tide, as I didn't want the darker colour to overwhelm the paler colours. I was very pleased with the end result!

I die cut the large flourish from the Flourish Thinlits in Basic Black to add a lovely, strong point of interest to the card.

I always find the inside of Sympathy cards the hardest to do - I'm not sure why. I do think that the leaves provide a nice backdrop to the sentiment though.

The rest of the Design Team have had a blast with these colours. You can see their gorgeous cards over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your entry for the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 11

Hi!

I hope you're not tired of the Christmas inspiration just yet - there's still a lot of weeks to go before Christmas, but it will be upon us before we know it!

I got a little silly with this week's card. I'm waiting not so patiently for my Holiday Catalogue preorder to arrive, and I've used my other Christmas themed sets a lot, so I decided to try something different this week.

What do you think? A bit silly, but still a Christmas card! I usually only get to spend every second Christmas with my side of the family, so often the day starts with texts back and forth until later in the day when we can speak to each other.

Did you notice the new Basic Black shimmer ribbon in the background? It is soooo lovely!

Apologies for the not-so-great photos of my card this week - I've been doing a lot of purging and rearranging at home, and I still haven't found a permanent home for my photo booth. That job is top of the list for next week!

As usual, you can see the list of who has made a card this week over at Claire's blog. There's usually around 10 of us, so lots of Christmas inspiration. Just wait 'til next week, when we all have our preorders to play with!

Bye for now,

Tina

Happy 40th Birthday To My Superman

Hi!

A bit of a special card today, as I made it for my wonderful husband, Rob. He turned 40 last week, so. special card was certainly in order!

Rob is very much a comic book loving, superhero geek. I've made him superhero themed cards a few times, but this time I wanted to do something that was just that little bit extra. Superman is his all time favourite, so I found a line image online and printed it onto some Whisper White cardstock. I then coloured it with my Copic markers. You can see a little better in the next picture that I coloured a bit darker at the top of each part of the image, and graduated to slightly lighter towards the bottom. It was difficult to achieve the look in such small areas!

Did you notice I the first photo that I'd die cut the number 40 over the top of the logo? I wanted it to be quite subtle. After I die cut the numbers, I flipped over the piece with all the little bits still in place. I then ran some double sided tape across the back of the panel to keep everything in place. You can see that I used LOTS of white on white layers behind the logo. I was going for a very stylised Fortress of Solitude look, with the split down the middle of the lowest layer representing Superman pulling apart his white shirt to change from Clark Kent into Superman. Rob loved all the meaning I put into the card!

Here's a quick side look at the layers. Not counting the card base, there are 5 layers on the front, and one on the inside. Each of the layers is in pairs, with the bottom of the pair stuck flat to the one below and the top layer raised Dimensionals. I think I used half a sheet of Dimensionals, but the end result was well worth it!

The inside of the card features the retired You're My Hero stamp set - a keeper for me, with all of the geeks in my family!

Bye for now,

Tina