JAI #348: Just Add Ombre

Hi!


Here we are again on a Friday, ready for a new Just Add Ink challenge!

This week Rochelle has challenged us to Just Add Ombre to our cards. I don't think I've ever made an ombre card in my life, but I was certainly willing to give it a go! Wikipedia tells me that ombre is is the gradual blending of one color hue to another, usually moving tints and shades from light to dark.

I went with Mint Macaron for my ombre background. I first watched this video tutorial by Alisa Tilsner to get an idea of the technique behind the ombre look. It's pretty easy - just load up your sponge brayer and start rolling! Stampin' Up!'s new sponge brayers are the bomb - so much easier than the old rubber brayers.

Once I has the look I was after on the background I set it aside and started work on the Jar Of Love jar and flowers. There was a lot of stamping and cutting involved, but I think that the awesome background deserves the effort.

I had a few flowers left over, so I used them to create a smaller jar of flowers on the inside.


There are soooo many ways to incorporate ombre into your card making. I can't wait to see what you make. Link it up at the Just Add Ink blog so we can see what you create.


Bye for now,


Tina

AWH Blog Hop: Kid's Birthday Parties

Hi!

Today I’m excited to bring you a blog hop with some of the awesome ladies in the Art With Heart Stampin’ Up! Team. Today we focus on the kids in our lives, from birthday cards to party ideas.


Hopefully you've arrived from Rachel Palmieri's blog, but if you haven't you can just start hopping from here and keep hopping until you get back.

Sale-a-bration continues and this week we have three new additional items you can earn for free with a $90 order - ask me how!

I decided to make a lolly bag for my project for the Blog Hop. Apart from getting the invitation in the first place, I think the lolly bag is one of the big things on a kid's radar when they attend a birthday party!

I started with a Night Of Navy base and used my Gift Bag Punch Board to create the box. While it was still flat I Silver Embossed the city scape image from Everyday Hero onto the front a couple of centimeters from the bottom of the bag. I also Silver Embossed the same image a few times on a separate piece of Night Of Navy cardstock. I then Clear Embossed the 'ray' image onto the background. It turned out a little darker than I'd like, but I still think the effect works.

The superhero was stamped on Shimmery White cardstock, coloured with my new Watercolour Pencils and then blended with my Clear Wink Of Stella pen. I think the WOS is my favourite way to blend the pencils. I stuck with shades of Black and Grey on the superhero, mostly because the new Lego Batman movie is coming our soon, and this fits right in!


You can also see in the photo that I have trimmed the other city scape pieces and layered them across the bottom of the box. The top layer is popped up on Dimensionals to give more depth.


What do you think? Would a young party goer love to get a box like this to take home? I think so!


You are about to continue the Blog Hop by jumping over to Ros Davidson's blog. She's fabulously creative, so you're bound to find oodles of inspiration there.

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Rachel Palmieri
2. Tina Gillespie (that's me!)
3. Ros Davidson
4. Rebecca Jacovou
5. Claire Daly
6. Catherine Proctor
7. Alisha Watson
8. Kim Dallinger
9. Kate Morgan 
10. Rachel Woollard
11. Monika O'Neill
12. Tania Johnson

New Make A Medallion and Glimmer Paper

Hi!


Did you know that Stampin' Up! are releasing three new Sale-A-Bration choices tomorrow? Hold onto your hats, people, because these new ones will blow you away! I especially fell in love with two of them - Make A Medallion stamp set and the Glimmer Paper Assortment.

This card combines those two favourites. The layout is actually a CASE of the Emerald Envy card on the front of the new flyer.

When I got the stamp set, I sat down nearly straight away to give it a go. I just happened to have my Mint Macaron, Night of Navy and Smokey Slate inkpads on my desk, so they were the ones I used. After a few goes, I found it was best to stamp the Mint Macaron layer first, followed by the Night Of Navy and finally the Smokey Slate.


Can you see the gorgeous Mint Macaron Glimmer Paper in the photo? It's from the SAB Glimmer Paper Assortment Pack in the new SAB flyer. You get 12 sheets of 6x6 inch paper, four each of Mint Macaron, Bermuda Bay and Sweet Sugarplum.  I can't wait to make this card again, this time using the Sweet Sugarplum Glimmer Paper.

If you'd like to get your hands on these new Sale-A-Bration items, just get in touch with your Demonstrator. They are free from tomorrow with a qualifying order.


Bye for now,


Tina

JAI #347: Just Add Colour

Hi!




Apologies for the late post this week! I'm posting for the new Just Add Ink challenge, which is a great colour combination suggested by Kim.





Oooh, I found this one to be a tricky one! But that's half the fun of a challenge - to get out of your comfort zone.  This is the card I made.

I really love this cloudy paper from the Carried Away DSP pack. It was the perfect backdrop for the hot air balloons on my card.

The banners for the sentiment looked a little plain when I laid them flat on the card, so I ended up curling the top one a little to give a bit of movement.

I love this inside sentiment. It's so full of positivity and excitement for the future.

I hope you can play along with us this week at Just Add Ink. I'd love to see what you do with these gorgeous colours.


Bye for now,


Tina

Quick and Easy With Everyday Hero

Hi!


Today's card was made last month for a little mate of mine who had a birthday earlier this month. He's a bit of a superhero fan, so the Everyday Hero stamp set was perfect for his card.

I CASEd this card from the Quick and Easy card on page 8 of the Occasions Catalogue. Our catalogues are a great source of inspiration, even if you don't have the same stamp sets or colours. There's always something you can CASE.

I think the city skyline is an awesome stamp from the set, but the WOW stamps are a pretty great combo too. There's three separate stamps to put together, which makes me very glad the set is in photopolymer. Stamp placement is so easy when you can see through the stamps!

I repeated the front on the inside. The tone on tone stamping is a great way to add subtle detail to a card.


Bye for now,


Tina

A CAS Valentine's Card

Hi!


I don't usually make Valentine's cards. Rob and I aren't really the lovey-dovey types! I actually made this card waaayyyy back in January for a Colour Inkspiration challenge. We were given an inspiration photo that had six (!) different colours in it, with the requirement that three or more were to be used on our cards. You can see the picture here.

Never one to back down from a challenge, I decided to use all six colours on my card. To keep it from getting overwhelming, I went for a mostly white card, with just small touches of colour.

Labeler Alphabet is the perfect solution for custom sentiments. I thought the hash tag was a great modern touch for the card.

I think this is a great Valentine's card for those who may have left it to the last minute to make a card for their significant other. You could use any colours you like.


Bye for now,


Tina

JAI #346: Just Add Two

Hi!


Welcome back to another week of challenges at Just Add Ink.  This week Nikki has challenged us to Just Choose Two.

What do we mean by Just Choose Two? Easy - you just choose two of the named elements and incorporate them into your card. This week you have the choice of hearts, flowers or butterflies. Can you see what I have chosen? The two elements are both on the front of my card. Look closely!

To create my card I had a bit of a play with water. I spritzed my Whisper White cardstock all over and then stamped the solid stamps from Garden In Bloom. I used Sweet Sugarplum and Old Olive. Once the cardstock dried - I left it overnight - I stamped over the top of the flowers and leaves with the outline stamps in the same ink. The water really softened the solid images.

Have you seen the butterflies yet? Take a close look at the next picture.

If you look really closely, you can see that I embossed the cardstock using my Fluttering TIEF. The easiest butterfly to see in this picture is just to the left of the sentiment, where the two leaves are. Can you see it? The vertical leaf runs through the middle of the embossed butterfly.

Just in case you can't see them on the front, I added a couple of extra butterflies to the inside of the card.


Which two elements will you choose? There are a few different combinations you could choose, and I can't wait to see what you do. Link up to the challenge over at Just Add Ink. See you there!


Bye for now,


Tina

Lift Me Up CASE

Hi!


Today's card is a CASE of this card by Kim Williams. I saw it online and loved it, so I just had to CASE it.

I made a few changes, mostly the colours. I went with colours from the Carried Away DSP, which is a Sale-A-Bration selection.

I added some extra little clouds in Soft Sky to my card, and I also changed it to be a birthday card.

I hope your day is on cloud nine, whatever you are doing today!


Bye for now,


Tina

Dragonfly Dreams in Bermuda Bay

Hi!


Do you ever CASE someone else's card? I do! Typically I CASE when I have a new stamp set that I love, but I'm a bit intimidated by the set because I've already seen soooo much great stuff that I'm sure I'll never be able to make anything as good. Sound familiar? CASEing is a great way to get the set inky and build up some confidence.


Today's card is a CASE of this card by Carolyn King. I didn't change very much at all, because I loved her card so much.

While Carolyn used Enamel Dots on her card, I used clear sequins. I really liked the subtle touch they added.

Carolyn also mentioned that she coloured her wings using the rock 'n' roll method. I chose to colour mine with the new Watercolour Pencils and then blend them using my Clear Wink Of Stella pen. I stamped the dragonfly in Momento ink so I didn't smudge it using the Wink Of Stella. Using the pencils allowed me to use Pacific Point, Old Olive and Bermuda Bay to colour the wings.

Carolyn didn't show the inside of her card on her blog, so I was on my own for my inside. I didn't stamp a sentiment, so that the card is versatile enough for several different occasions.


Bye for now,


Tina

JAI #345: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!


Welcome to the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week we have a fabulous sketch for you, that was designed by Narelle.

Isn't it great? There's so much room for interpretation in this sketch. I decided to pull out my brand new Everyday Hero stamp set and my Watercolour Pencils for this card.

How much fun is this stamp set? In my family, the answer is LOTS! My hubby and kids are all comic book nerds, so this stamp set will never leave my house. In fact, when hubby saw it in the catalogue he said "You have to get that!".

Anyway, back to the card! I sponged the large circle first using a mask I cut with my Layering Circles dies. I stamped the 'ray' stamps coming out of the centre of the circle. The cityscape was stamped on Whisper White and coloured with my Watercolour Pencils, as was the super lady.

I kept the inside of the card relatively easy. To be honest, I was really over the fussy cutting by the time I got to the inside, so plain stamping it was!


How are you going to use the sketch? Make sure to link up your creation over at Just Add Ink so we can all admire your creativity! Don't forget that you don't need a blog to play along, you can email us your card to be in the challenge.


Bye for now,


Tina

Delicate Details

Hi!


I don't usually blog on a Thursday, but I made a little bit of a discovery and I just had to share!


Waaaaayyyy back when the Annual Catalogue was released I was invited to a friend, and fellow demonstrator's, house to join in with her team on a stamping day. Thanks, Kathryn! The idea was that we would bring stamps, etc that the rest of the group didn't own. We made cards and stamped with these so that we could have samples of sets we didn't actually own. This generosity and sharing is one of the things I love so much about Stampin' Up!


Sadly, mine have sat pretty much untouched since that day. Time to rectify that!

The flower is from the Hostess set Fabulous Flora. I had originally intended to colour it with my markers and blender pen, but I couldn't resist giving the new watercolour pencils a go. I used a combination of the Real Red and Daffodil Delight pencils to colour the flowers, and Old Olive for the stem and leaves.


My exciting discovery was that if you carefully bend the lace stamp in Delicate Details to follow the curve of the largest Stitched Shapes Oval Framelit and then stamp it twice, it nearly perfectly frames the oval die cut. I was so excited when I realised it would work! I think the lace provides a lovely frame for the floral image. What do you think?

The gap you see here on the side is just because the oval panel is popped up on Dimensionals. From front on the gaps are pretty tiny - only someone who was really looking would see it.

Thankfully I also stamped a flower for the inside of the card. A little something on the inside just finishes it off so nicely I think.


Bye for now,


Tina

Catching Fireflies with Jar Of Love

Hi!

Today's card was one I made a while ago, but haven't gotten around to blogging yet. It was a card class made by request of a lady who wanted a card for her young grandson, who loved catching bugs. This card on Pinterest was one I took inspiration from.

I used one of the foliage stamps to create some grass. Originally I only had it on the Whisper White panel, but I ended up carried it across the whole card. I really like how it looks.

The fireflies are so cute! The glow part is a little round stamp in the Jar Of Love set. I mimicked the look of the glow by making the sentiment circle Daffodil Delight, the same as the glow.

I love the inside sentiment - and I think it's so true when it applies to a card given to a grandchild by a grandparent.


Bye for now,


Tina