JAI #248: Just Add Colour!

Hi!

Did you enjoy last week's Just Add Ink Blog Hop?  I hope you were able to complete the Hop and see all of the gorgeous Design Team projects.

We are back this week with a Colour Challenge suggested by Kim.

I really enjoyed making my card for this week's challenge, even though it was quite time consuming to stamp.

I used the Mosaic Madness stamp to create the background panel for my card.  I was a bit naughty and just eyeballed the placement of the images  -I probably should have used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig but I really couldn't be bothered.  I just used the 4 mosaic stamps and the 4 colours and stamped away.

I eyeballed the stamps on the bottom of the main panel too.  I lined up the blues ok, but I was a bit off with the Sahara Sand.  Oh well!

I tried using the larger mosaic stamps on the inside but it didn't look right, so I ended up using the straight stamp again, which didn't look too bad.

I hope you can find time to play along with us this week over at Just Add Ink.

Bye for now,

Tina

Easel Calendars

Hi!

During January I made a few Easel Calendars as class samples.  My daughter saw my two samples after the class and instantly claimed them - one for her and one for her bestie.  I guess that's just as good as a seal of approval!

I used the DSP from the Painted Blooms pack to provide a background for the gorgeous butterfly.

Even with the Post-It Note pad, the calendars fold down flattish so that they could be posted if necessary.

Here are the two samples side by side.  I didn't have enough of either paper for the whole class to make the same calendar, so they got a choice between the two.  I can't decide which one is my favourite!

Bye for now,

Tina


EDITED TO ADD INSTRUCTIONS: I've had a few recent requests for instructions. They are pretty simple to make, I just made an easel card at a regular card size. This will vary depending on where you live in the world! You can find a tutorial on making Easel Cards here, just adjust the base cardstock to be half of an A4 sheet, and the front to be a quarter of an A4 sheet.

Irresistibly Painted Petals

Hi!

Happy Australia Day!

Today I have a card for you that I made as a sample for one of my January classes. I made it to show off the new Irresistibly Yours DSP that is one of the freebies you can choose during Sale-A-Bration.

We used a piece of the floral Irresistibly Yours DSP and sponged it with Soft Sky ink.  The DSP has the patterns pre-embossed, so all you need to do is add some colour for spectacular results.

The flowers from Painted Petals were stamped in Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi (stamped off once first).  Some of my ladies found it a little tricky to line up the flowers with the stems.  I think it just takes a little practice.

The flowers look fabulous again on the inside.

Well, it's back to school again tomorrow!  Hopefully I can keep up the blogging while we get back into the school routine, but if I drop off for a while you know why!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #247: Just Add A Blog Hop!

Hi!

I hope you've had a great January so far.  I've had a nice break from my Just Add Ink Design Team duties, but now we are back with our first challenge for the year.  We have decided to kick off the new year and this challenge with a blog hop around the Design Team.  If you get lost just click on the badge to go back to the Just Add Ink blog.

So, what's the challenge?  It's a challenge with a twist this week!  The theme is Just Add Love, and the twist is that you need to incorporate the following sketch.  You can use the whole sketch, or just use the tag part of the sketch on a bag or a box.  Easy!

I decided to use the whole sketch as the basis for my card.  My first step was to make the tag.  I used some of the SAB Specialty DSP Irresistibly Yours and sponged it in Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette and Rose Red.  I love the effect it gives!

I don't tend to make 'Love' cards, so I struggled a bit finding a sentiment for the front of the card.  I finally settled on the stamp from Itty Bitty Banners.  I didn't want the banner part of it, so I just coloured the text with my Rose Red marker.

I had the same struggle with finding a sentiment for the inside, so in the end I just left it out.  Doesn't the effect of the sunburst behind the hearts look great?

Well, that's me done! You can continue on to Shona's blog to see her fabulous card by clicking on the badge below.

Bye for now,

Tina

First Play With Butterfly Basics

Hi!

One of the first things I had to have from the new Occasions Catalogue was the Butterfly Bundle.  I loved both the stamps and the Thinlits.  When I sat down to stamp with them I was a bit intimidated though! I wanted to create a card that did justice to the products.  I hope I succeeded!

I really liked the colour combination I used on this card too - Rose Red, Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla.  I don't often use Always Artichoke, but it's great in combination with Rose Red.

The Butterfly Thinlits are fabulous! I love the intricate shapes they make.  You do need to be careful in getting them out of the die though - they tear easily, as you may see in the above picture.

I'm sure you'll be seeing much more of the Butterfly Bundle on my blog in coming months!

Bye for now,

Tina

Housewarming In A Hurry

Hi!

Today's card was one I made in about 10 minutes flat.  Rob was invited to a mate's housewarming party and I put off doing the card until the last minute, as I was a bit stumped for ideas.  Thankfully inspiration struck in the end.

Too easy, right?  I made this card  few months ago when all I had to represent houses was the What's Up punch.  Imagine how great it would look now if I'd used the new You Brighten My Day Sale-A-Bration set?  It includes a cute little house stamp that fits perfectly into this punch.  Oh well!

The stamp I used on the front comes from the Everyday Occasions Cardmaking Kit.  It's a great kit to get - if you use the kit as intended you can make 20 cards - more if you get a bit creative!

No sentiment is impossible when you have the Alphabet Rotary Stamp!

Bye for now,

Tina

Neutral Perfect Peacock

Hi!

Are you a lot like me? Do you waste spend a lot of time blog surfing and looking at cards on the Internet?  Sometimes too much time? Sigh....

Often it is worth it as you find a lovely card to CASE.  The card I'm showing you today was made as a sample for a card class.  I found it while blog browsing, and it proved to be a popular one for my class ladies.

You can see the original card here. Sue is, in fact, my upline and I quite enjoy browsing her blog! There were a few differences, but only minor.  Sue coloured her card using a Blender Pen and Whisper White Craft Ink.  I used the Chalk Marker on mine.  I also stamped my sentiment straight onto the card, while Sue used some punches.

It's such a gorgeous stamp that it really doesn't need much to make it spectacular.

We stamped the peacock again on the inside in Crumb Cake ink on Crumb Cake cardstock to give a lovely, subtle image.  I think it looks really pretty.

Bye for now,

Tina

Love Is Kindness

Hi!

One of the first stamps that caught my eye in the new Occasions Catalogue was the single stamp Love Is Kindness. I thought it was really pretty and would make a feature on a stamp without much else on the card. Having said that, the first card I made with it used quite a lot of new product!

Isn't it great?  I carried over the newspaper theme to the background, by using the Dictionary Background stamp.

I coloured the tulip image using some of the new Blendabilities - Pink Pirouette and Wild Wasabi.  I also used the Smoky Slate set to create some highlights on the newspaper.  I'm loving the new, softer colours in the Blendabilities.

As I made this card I thought that it would make a great Mother's Day card too.  I wanted to test out the theory, so I made a second card.

I used the retired For My Family stamp set for the sentiment on the second card.  What do you think? Is it better as a birthday card or a Mother's Day card?

Bye for now,

Tina

Shabby Chic Cards

Hi!

Last year in one of my card classes I had a request for a shabby chic card.  It's not a style I make often, but it is a style I enjoy doing, so I was quite happy to grant the request.

I used the Lullaby DSP pack to provide the background and colour scheme for the card.  I'm a bit of a fan of pink and brown colour schemes - in this case it was Baked Brown Sugar and Crisp Cantaloupe.

We stamped with the two best sets for shabby/grungy cards - Gorgeous Grunge and Work Of Art.  Shabby Chic also requires a feminine touch, hence the butterflies, doily and pearl.

The inside was finished off with a sentiment from Remembering Your Birthday and some more butterflies.



I liked the card so much that I decided to make a second version, this time using the Gold Soiree Specialty DSP as a background.  I'm not sure which one I like best.  What do you think?

Bye for now,

Tina

Work Of Art Sunflower

Hi!

It seems a little strange to be posting something on a Friday that isn't a Just Add Ink challenge.  The Design Team are having a well-earned break and will return later in the month, but I'm just getting back into the swing of regular blogging and I didn't want to stop the momentum.  So today I have for you a card I made as a RAK for a friend.  What's a RAK? It's a Random Act of Kindness - a card out of the blue for no reason at all other than to let someone know you are thinking of them.  Guaranteed to put a smile on the recipient's face!

This was the first card I made when I received my Work Of Art stamp set.  I've seen cards like this around the 'net heaps, so I can't remember which specific one I CASEd unfortunately.

I really love the effect of the 'halo' around the centre of the flower.  Not quite sure how I managed that, but hey, I think it's great!

I used the Hostess set Hello There to create another, far smaller sunflower on the inside.  I had someone in mind when I made this card who loves sunflowers so it was really a no-brainer to include as many as I could on the card!

By the way, she loved the card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Some Embossed Kissing

Hi!

I'll bet you're thinking 'huh?' over the post title right? My stamping ladies did the same thing when I introduced them to the technique a couple of months ago.

In this card it is the focal tree that is Embossed Kissed. It's a pretty simple technique really. You just ink up a solid stamp in one colour and a fairly closed design embossing folder in another colour and then smooch the two together.

The ink on the embossing folder transfers to the stamp so then you can stamp on cardstock and get a really cool effect.  The only downside is that you need to clean both the stamp and the embossing folder each time you stamp - so not a great technique for mass produced cards!

Why don't you give Embossed Kissing a go? It's a lot of fun trying out different stamp/embossing folder combinations.  I used Festival of Trees, Decorative Dots, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler.

Bye for now,

Tina

Creeper Card

Hi!

Do you have young children? If so, you're bound to know what Minecraft is.  My children play it lots.  Over the Summer holidays they have played it lots and lots. They talk to me about it lots too.  How about your children?  Anyway... Alex was invited to a mate's birthday party so I took the opportunity to make a punch art Creeper Card.

It's really easy to make, you just need a heap of different shades of green cardstock punched into 1 inch squares. I arranged them randomly to create the background.  I made this card ages ago, but I think I used Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive and Pistachio Pudding.

I then used the 1 inch punch to create the face from Basic Black cardstock.  It took a bit of trial and error to get what I guess is the mouth bit right, but I did eventually.

Kids are a bit obsessed with their age, so I thought that this stamp was perfect for the inside!

Bye for now,

Tina