Just Add Ink #246: Just Add Giving

Hi!

I know, I'm a little late with my post for the newest Just Add Ink Challenge.  I've been away having a lovely break over Christmas with my mum, sisters and their families.  We've had two brand new additions to the family recently, two baby boys who are my Great Nephews.  It was really lovely to meet them, and also to spend lots of fun times with my family.

So, back to the new JAI Challenge.  For the last challenge of the year we are challenging you to Just Add Giving.  The challenge was suggested by Mae, and it's a perfect way to end the year. You still have another 8 days or so to enter the challenge before the Just Add Ink team take a break and return later in January.

I designed this gift box to hold a Red Balloon Gift Voucher, some Party Lite tea light candles and a handful of chocolates. The voucher was hidden under the chocolates in the middle section so that it becomes a little surprise.

I made the box from Early Espresso cardstock and included dividers so that the contents all stayed in place.  I then used a piece of window sheet as a belly band to ensure that the contents didn't fall out of the box.

I finished off the box with some DSP from the Trim The Tree DSP stack and a huge bow in the gorgeous Cherry Cobbler Ribbon from the Holiday Catalogue.  It's such lovely ribbon and adds the perfect finishing touch to the box.

I'm pleased to say that the recipient loved the gift and is busily planning her Red Balloon experience!

I hope to see you over at Just Add Ink!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #245: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Here we are again with another Friday (which just about has to be the second best day of the week. Saturday's the best, being the first day of the weekend!) so it's time for another Just Add Ink Challenge. This week the lovely Nikki has put together an inspiration board of pictures to inspire our creativity,

Isn't it pretty?  I love all of the soft neutrals with the touches of gold throughout.  So peaceful and calming.

By coincidence, I have used the same colours two weeks in a row on my JAI cards! Oh well, other than the colours they are very different cards, so it doesn't matter too much I guess.

I stamped the full wreath stamp with Crumb Cake ink and then stamped over the top with the highlight wreath stamp in Crumb Cake also.  I was very impressed with how well I managed to line up the two stamps!  The berries were then stamped in Early Espresso.

I think I said last week how much I like the snowflake paper from the Trim The Tree DSP Stack.  I couldn't resist adding a strip of it to the inside of the card.

I hope you can find time to play along this week, we'd love to see your cards over at Just Add Ink.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #244: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Here we are again on another Friday, so it must be time for another Just Add Ink Challenge.  This time it's my turn to provide the challenge and I have designed a sketch to follow.

Now, just remember that a sketch doesn't need to be followed exactly - you can have a lot of fun and play with it a bit.  Having said that, I did follow the sketch exactly!

Just for a change I decided to go with a neutral colour palette. The DSP is from the Trim The Tree DSP Stack.  I'm not usually a snowflake person, but I thought the pattern on this DSP was sweet.

The trees were stamped and then the tinsel was heat embossed in Gold over the top.  I love how easy the photopolymer Festival Of Trees stamps are to line up perfectly!

I stamped and embossed a fourth tree to finish off the inside of my card, along with a little strip of the DSP from the front.

Why don't you pop on over the the Just Add Ink blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have done with the sketch? Make sure you take some time out from the Christmas madness to play along with us, we all love to see the cards you make for our challenges.

Bye for now,

Tina

Memory Keeping With PLxSU: December

Hi!

On the first Monday of each month I participate in a challenge hosted over at the Memory Keeping With PLxSU Facebook group.  The Design Team are based in countries all around the world and we are all SU Demonstrators and Project Life fans.  This month we are challenging ourselves (and you of course!) to complete a page or pages around a December theme.  It's important to note that this doesn't necessarily mean a December Daily page - it can be absolutely anything to do with December.

Having said that, my pages today are from my December Daily album.  This is the third year I have started a December Daily album.  My first year I didn't complete the album until the following September.  Last year I finished the album in January.  Not too bad!  This year keeping up will be so much easier with the Hello December PLxSU Collection.

Now, you might notice that I have actually started my December Daily with a November entry. That's because in Adelaide the Christmas season officially begins with the Annual Christmas Pageant.  This year Rob took the big kids into the city and they watched from his office window.

Another November entry, simply because we attended our first Christmas party for the season in November.  The party had a Super Hero theme, and Rob and Hudson didn't need much encouragement to dress in their Superman t-shirts!

December 1st is the day we put up our Christmas tree.  It fell on a Monday this year, and it felt really strange doing it on a weekday.  From my perspective it was great though, as I could assemble the tree without any 'helpers' or whining kids!  I did briefly regret allowing the big kids to decorate the tree by themselves as they made a huge mess and left it for me to clean up!

Here's a little trick for pocket pages: don't be afraid to cut photos to fit them across multiple pockets.  It makes planning your pages a little easier.  If you are cutting a photo of people though, place the photo on a flat surface and lay the pocket page over the top.  This way you can see if you are going to cut through someone's head BEFORE you start chopping up the photo.

My husband was on call and got called out on Monday, so we decided to wait for him to be home on Tuesday to finish decorating the tree.  All the kids have name baubles and they take turns putting Santa on top of the tree each year.  The tree is so tall that Rob needs to lift them up so that they can reach!  It worked out well that we did the tree over 2 days, as I didn't have anything else 'planned' for my DD that day.

It's not Christmassy at all, but it was the 'story' for the day - the surgery I had on my head. A DD doesn't necessarily need to be all about Christmas, you just pick a story for the day and tell it!

Sometimes, no matter how much you try, you just can't make a back to back page work.  In this case I had one landscape photo and one portrait photo.  Thankfully in each pack of Photo Pocket Pages you get one page that is a single 6x8 inch pocket.  I just cut a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock to size and adhered the photo, date card, journalling and embellishments to the cardstock and slid it into the page.  Easy!

I really like the addition of the Cherry Cobbler Glimmer Paper to the date cards.  I saw this somewhere, but I can't remember where.  I quite liked it, so I've decided to use it through my album.  It helps the cork numbers you get in the Hello December Accessory Pack to stand out.

So, that's it from me for now.  I have a few more pages to show you, but I will do it in batches through the month.  You can see what the rest of the MKWPLxSU Design Team have come up with by clicking on the links to their blogs listed below.

Claire Daly, Australia – http://www.clairedaly.typepad.com

Julie Kettlewell, UK - http://www.juliesjapes.blogspot.com.au/

Delys Cram, New Zealand - http://delysc.wordpress.com/

Constanze Wirtz, Germany - http://conibaer.blogspot.com.au/

Janet Morrow Wakeland,  USA - http://remarkablycreated.com/

Kim Holterman,  Netherlands  - http://kims-scrapbooking.nl/

Kimberly VanDiepen - http://stampinbythesea.com/

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #243: Just Add Colour!

Hi!

Wow, where did that week go?  It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting at my computer typing up last week's Just Add Ink post.  I swear that time goes faster at this end of the year.  Anyway, this week at Just Add Ink Kim has challenged us to use a colour combination in our papercrafting.

Now, I don't know about you, but I was always taught that you don't mix red and pink, or blue and green for that matter.  The best part of being a grown up is that you get to break the rules whenever you like, and this combination ended up being really fun to work with.

I should add that I'm really not much of a rebel, so when I break the rules it's more like I bend them, or dip a toe over the line.  In this case I decided to opt for a tiny splash of Real Red, Strawberry Slush and Wild Wasabi.  By keeping most of the card Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White I was able to avoid the colours clashing with each other.

The card didn't look quite finished with just the hearts and the sentiment on the circle, so I added a row of piercing to the circle and some rhinestones to the hearts.  Done!

So I guess I cheated a little by leaving the Strawberry Slush and Wild Wasabi out of the middle, but I was nearly in hives over my rule breaking on the front of the card so I decided to go simple on the inside.

How are you going to bend or break the rules?  Are you a rebel or not?  I can't wait to see over at Just Add Ink.

Bye for now,

Tina