JAI #196: Just Add Christmas Projects

Hi!

I'm pretty certain that it's Friday (see my previous post!!), which means it's time for the very last Just Add Ink challenge for 2013.

This week we are challenging you to show us your Christmas projects.  Apart from Christmas cards my biggest Christmas project is my December Daily album.  This year it's been a much easier task thanks to Stampin' Up!'s Season Of Style suite of products.

This is the first page, which isn't actually the first page.  The Adelaide Christmas Pageant is on in early November and really marks the start of the Christmas season for us.  I couldn't possibly leave it out!  I also included the Special Children's Christmas Party which is on in late November.

This is my title page.  I'm still deciding on a photo for the bottom left pocket, which is why it's blank for now.  I will add the year over the photo when I choose one.

The hardest part, which isn't really hard at all, is choosing which pocket page to use for which day.  You also have to think about the day that is going on the other side of the page.  The page above is the front and the page below is the back.  I knew that I would have a lot of photos on day 6, but not many on day 5.  I picked the 16 squares page to suit the busier day and then cropped my photos for day 5 to fit the pockets.  It's a really cool effect!

Any spare squares I just fill with some of the Season Of Style DSP Stack papers.

My main tips for completing a December Daily are:

• Keep it simple - don't try to document everything every day.  Pick one thing from the day and document that.
• Plan ahead!  I wrote down what we were doing each day so I knew which days would be quiet and which would be busy. On the days where we have nothing on I will do a page about a Christmas tradition, or favourite things about December.
• I also made my date numbers in advance.  I made them all on 2x2 inch squares and used the same colours and materials for them all to keep the look uniform.
• Having a home photo printer certainly helps to keep on top of the album and up to date, but it's certainly not an essential.

See you over at Just Add Ink with your fabulous Christmas projects.

Bye for now,

Tina

Get Well Card

Hi!

Apologies for the late posting today.  School holidays.  Christmas.  Need I say more?

Edit: I realised today that I actually posted this a day early, not half a day late as I thought!  Ooops!  I stand by my original comment: School holidays. Christmas. Need I say more? lol

Today's card was one I made for a friend undergoing the biggest battle of her life.

I made the card for a group of us to sign to wish her well for the surgery she was facing.

This was my first use of the Postcard stamp and the Simply Sketched hostess set.  I love both stamp sets.

I really liked this combination of sentiments for this card - so appropriate!

Bye for now,

Tina

World Map Birthday Card

Hi!

A bit of a break from the Christmas cards tonight.  Instead I have a card made for my uncle, who has done a bit of travelling lately.

I recently purchased the World Map stamp set, and this was my first play with it.  I stamped it on watercolour paper with Stazon ink and then watercoloured it.  I coloured the oceans in Marina Mist, trying to make it darker around the edges than the middle of the ocean.

For the land areas I coloured the whole thing first with Summer Starfruit and then coloured around the edges and anywhere else I thought should be green with Wild Wasabi.  I was going for an atlas looking map and I think I got pretty close!

I finished off the inside with the compass stamp from The Open Sea, a great companion set to the World Map!

Have a great week,

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #195: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Let's get straight into it, shall we?

This week Nikki has found this absolutely gorgeous picture to inspire you for the new Just Add Ink challenge.

So very pretty!  These are the colours we have picked out of the image to use.

So many possibilities!  I really loved the softness of these colours.

My sister is in India at the moment for a wedding but before she left she asked me to make a Thank You card for the family she is staying with while she is there.  I thought about it for a while and then put it to one side.  Then one night I dreamed about making this card.  When I got up and made it, it turned out exactly as it did in my dream.  Love when that happens!

The large bubbles were created using one of the circle offcuts from the Daydream Medallions stamp set.  We got the stamp set as a gift at Convention 2 years ago and one of the presenters told us not to throw out those bits as they could be used as stamps.  The smaller dots were stamped using the eraser on the top of a pencil.  I couldn't decide where to put the sentiment, so I stamped it on some vellum.  I wrapped it around the card and adhered it to the back.  That way you don't have to worry about hiding the adhesive and it makes the sentiment appear to float on your card.  Such a neat trick!

The bubbles continue through to the inside.  I really loved this card, so I think I'm going to have to make some more.

I'll see you over at Just Add Ink!

Bye for now,

Tina

Color Me Christmas Reindeer

Hi!

Today's super cute Christmas card was a CASE of one I found on Pinterest.  You can see the original card here.  It was such a cute card that I didn't change much.

This was a really quick and simple Christmas Card.  When I first made the card I heat embossed the reindeer and present (on this inside) before colouring, but in the end I switched to stamping in Stazon ink as it was much quicker and less messy.  Quick and easy is good when it comes to Christmas cards!

I changed the embossing folder too, as I don't have the snowflake one.  If you squint a bit the polka dot folder looks a bit like snow.  Well, not really, but I can pretend it does!

A bit more colouring finishes off the inside.

Bye for now,

Tina

Ornament Keepsakes in Wisteria Wonder

Hi!

Are you sick of the Christmas cards yet?  I still have a few more up my sleeve to show you.  Today's card was one I made with a few of my stamping groups, and it was a popular card.  The non traditional colour scheme went down well with the ladies.

The card was made on a base of Brushed Silver, which looks so luxurious.  I then layered Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder for the main panel.

The bauble was stamped and cut and popped up on Dimensionals.  We also pierced around it as an extra little feature.

Such a pretty card.  Purple and Silver is such an elegant colour combination I think.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI Scrap #24: Just Add The Date

Hi!

Here we go with another Just Add Ink Scrapbooking Challenge.

This month Delys has challenged us to Just Add The Date.  This can mean what ever you like, as long as it's to do with a date.  As I'd been browsing Pinterest I'd seen some family word art designs, so this challenge seemed a perfect time to try my hand at making one.

I used My Digital Studio to create this print.  It's 6x8 and just printed as a photo and then framed.

It's a bit hard to photograph with the glass reflecting everything!  Here's the jpeg file I created.

Isn't it a neat idea?  The Established date is our wedding day, and then the kid's birthdays follow. I've wrapped this up for Rob and it's under our Christmas Tree.  I'm sure he will love it!  I already have an order for another one from my sister - thankfully MDS makes it easy to alter so it will take me no time at all to customise it for her.

I hope you can play along with us at Just Add Ink this month.  Which date will you choose?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #194: Just Add Santa

Hi!

How many days until the man in the red suit visits good children?  I don't think I really want to know at this point in time! So let's think about something else instead, like the latest Just Add Ink challenge.

This week we are challenging you to Just Add Santa to your papercrafting projects.

I've made a few of the shirt front cards lately, so I decided to make a Santa version.

It was a pretty easy card to make, and I love how cute it looks!

I made the silver buckle from the Glimmer Paper.

I made this card with a few of my regular stamping groups, and it was quite a popular card.  A lot of the ladies added a few black buttons down the front of the shirt using a small circle punch to create the buttons.  Two of my ladies went a step (or more!) further and made these cards.

I loved how they turned my Santa Claus idea into Mrs Claus!  Fabulous idea!

I hope you can find some inspiration amongst the Design Team cards and also some time to play along with us at Just Add Ink this week.

Bye for now,

Tina

Washi Christmas Card

Hi!

In my last post I showed you a Christmas card I'd made using the Winter Frost DSP.  It was a really simple design, and one I really liked, so I decided to repeat it, but with different papers.  I went for the Season Of Style DSP Stack this time.

Isn't the Christmas tree cute?  I used the coordinating Season Of Style Washi Tape to create the tree.  I cut the Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler strips in half longways and layered them on a triangular piece of Whisper White cardstock.

I used some of the Crumb Cake tape to create the pot for the tree and popped both pieces up on Dimensionals.  A small rhinestone finishes the tree off nicely.

 

I used some more washi on the inside, just to tie it in with the outside.  This would be another card that would be easy to mass produce.  You could layer the washi on a long rectangular strip and then trim it into the triangles.  Easy!

 

Bye for now,

 

Tina

Winter Frost Christmas

Hi!

Well, December is finally upon us, and Christmas is creeping ever closer.  A little too quickly for my liking, but there's not much I can do about it!

This is another Christmas card I did with a few different class groups.  I really love the Bermuda Bay/Smoky Slate colour combination in the Winter Frost DSP stack.  I don't usually go for snowy Christmassy stuff, but I really loved the colours in the DSP.

For the classes I changed the Rhinestones to Dazzling Details Silver Sparkle.  It still adds the same bling but it's a little more cost effective.  I ended up making another 10 of these cards a few nights ago using the Dazzling Details also.

Both of the Smoky Slate ornaments were stamped off once before being stamped on my cardstock.  It gives a lighter shade of grey, allowing the Bermuda Bay to stand out more.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #193: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Boy - where did that week go? Apologies for not posting on Wednesday as usual - the week really ran away on me!  But now it's Friday, and time for another Just Add Ink Challenge.

This week Kim has found this gorgeous picture to inspire us.  Lots and lots of stars for all kinds of Christmassy (or not!) inspiration.

I had resisted buying the Christmas Star stamp for a long time, but while it was on special last month I gave up resisting and purchased it.  So glad I did, as it's fantastic!

Sequins are very on trend right now in papercraft, so I decided to add some to give the card a bit more sparkle.  It was in fact the sequins that dictated the use of Tempting Turquoise on the card, as they matched perfectly.

I used a Candy Dot and brad combination at the centre of the star, just for a little more emphasis.

Can't forget the inside of the card either!

And because I'd also purchased the Envelope Punch Board, and the card was 5 inches square, I just had to make a matching envelope too.  Any excuse!  I used Sahara Sand cardstock to match with the card.

Well, that's it for me.  Are you inspired to create?  I hope to see you over at Just Add Ink.

Bye for now,

Tina

Simply Stars Christmas Card

Hi!

Just a quick post today, as I forgot to schedule it last night and I'm about to head off to the hospital with my eldest boy for day surgery.  Nothing major, just a small procedure.

This is a card I made with a few different groups a couple of months ago. It's a great card for showing that you don't need a Christmas specific stamp set to create a fabulous Christmas card.

I used the Simply Stars stamp set, with Teeny Tiny Sentiments on the outside and Sweet Essentials on the inside. The colours are Wild Wasabi, Real Red and Whisper White.

So quick and easy!  You could whip 10 of these a night and have your Christmas cards made in a few evenings.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #192: Just Add Colour

Hi!

Time for another Just Add Ink challenge!

This week we have been given this fab colour combination to use.

I straight away thought of a male card so I decided to make a shirt card.

The card was made for my husband's great uncle's birthday.  I thought the shirt card really suited him as he's a bit of a gentleman.

The card front was embossed using the Lattice Embossing Folder and the tie was embossed with the Argyle Folder.

The base card was weakened a little by the embossing so I lined it with an extra piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock to give it strength.

How will this colour combination inspire you this week?  See you over at Just Add Ink!

Bye for now,

Tina