JAI #375: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Wow, these Fridays are flying by!

This week at Just Add Ink, Kim has designed this fabulous sketch for us to use.

I think this is a fun sketch, with lots of possibilities. The Design Team have come up with some fabulous cards this week. I recently purchased a few new stamp sets (non SU!!) so I decided to use some of the stamps to make my card.

I think I've said many times before that my family are all Harry Potter mad, so these stamps just *had* to be purchased! I made this card for my husband for Father's Day on Sunday, so I decided to use the Dumbledore stamp on the card. Our kids often tease him by calling him grey beard, so I think this was the perfect stamp to use!

The sentiment actually says 'Have a magical birthday', so I used my Pacific Point marker to just ink up the sections I wanted. I coloured Dumbledore with my Copic markers, but I think I grabbed the wrong cardstock, as the colour bled a little bit.

I'm trying to push Rob out of his comfort zone a little, so this sentiment was perfect for the inside of his card.

The rest of the Design Team have done amazing things with the sketch this week. You can check it all out over at the Just Add Ink blog, which is where you can also link your card.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 14

Hi!

Welcome to week 14 of The Heart Of Christmas.

This week I made a card using some pieces I stamped during a team meeting I held a few weeks ago. One of the ladies I'd invited brought along a stamp set I didn't own, so I stamped a few images using the set. It can be tricky stamping without a plan, but I think I did alright with it this time.

The stamp set is from the about to be released Holiday Catalogue, and it is called Labels To Love. It's a great set that includes a lot of sentiments for a range of holidays. I used a Santa from Cookie Cutter Christmas to finish off the front of the card.

I thought the "Ho Ho Ho" stamp would look great as a background, so I stamped it over and over again in Crumb Cake ink on the Crumb Cake cardstock.

The Merry Christmas sentiment is from the same set, but is part of a larger stamp. I simply used my Cherry Cobbler marker to ink up the part that I wanted. It's a great technique to remember!

You can pop on over to Claire's blog to see lots more Heart Of Christmas inspiration. I hope you've been enjoying it each week.

Bye for now,

Tina

Traditional Scrapbooking with Memories and More

Hi!

A couple of weeks ago I had a little burst of scrapbooking inspiration. Today I have the second of the layouts that I made. It's a traditional page, but I've used our new pocket scrapbooking products for it. In this case, I've used the Perfect Days Memories and More pack, which coordinates beautifully with the Naturally Eclectic DSP.

This layout records the day that my daughter and her BFF spent the afternoon not just horse riding, but doing everything horse related - they fed them, cleaned the tack, groomed the horses and learned how to lead a horse. That's why I called it "The Whole Shebang". The girls had only ever rode a horse before, but are very horse obsessed, so this was a bit of a treat for Ada's birthday. We kept it a huge surprise - they only found out where they were going as we were about to walk out the door.

I cropped one of the Memories and More cards to fit my gap. I wanted it to match the card I'd used on the other page of the layout, but it didn't have any Emerald Envy on it. I they realised that the burlap stamp in Jar Of Love nearly matched the pattern in the Emerald Envy on the other side. Perfect! I've also used some of the stickers from the Memories and More pack. I'd sanded around the photos to give them the look of having a matt, so I did the same with the stickers.

To give a bit more of a country feel to the page, I laid some of SU's long retired Hemp Twine across the page and stapled it down. Most of the loops are placed randomly (however the twine wanted to naturally lie), but in this case I used the loop  to frame Ada leading the horse. It's the only photo on the layout that's not a close up, so I felt it needed something special.

This layout was a lot of fun to create. I love pocket scrapping for the speed and convenience, but traditional scrapping will always be my favourite. How about you?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #374: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Here I am, back with another card!

This week we have an Inspiration Challenge at Just Add Ink. Jan found the picture for us, and it's a different one - no flowers! It's a great one for a male card, or even a 'let's catch up for a cuppa' card. Does anyone send those? LOL

When I looked at the picture, I straight away thought of Text Ya Later and Coffee Break DSP, so using the KISS principle, that's what I used!

I really like the coffee ring pattern, but I'd been yet to find a reason to use it on a project. I thought that this one was perfect! I added some coffee pots and mugs, just to tie in the coffee mug in the Inspiration Photo.

I punched the circle from vellum, and then sponged around it with Early Espresso ink, just so that it kind of mimics the look of the coffee rings on the DSP.

I always laugh at this pair of sentiments, but I do acknowledge that not everyone would. The person I have in mind for this card would probably laugh too, so I'm sure they will be OK.

What will you create this week? The Design Team have made a stunning range of cards, as usual. You can see them over at Just Add Ink, where you can also link your card for the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH Blog Hop: Holiday Catalogue

Hi!

Tonight some of the Art with Heart Stampin’ Up! team girls are sharing some fun and fabulous ideas to inspire you from our brand new Holiday Catalogue available on 1st September until 2nd January 2018. Be sure to request your copy of the catalogue today!

I only placed a small preorder of products from the Holiday Catalogue, so I had to be a bit creative with how I could use them for this Blog Hop! In the end I decided to create a small gift box, that could also be used as a luminaire. 

To create the Diamond Box, I followed a tutorial on the Stampin' Up! blog. It was a really easy box to make - you just need your paper trimmer and a Gift Bag Punch Board. Before assembling the box, I ran it through the Big Shot a few times with the night sky die from the Card Front Builder Thinlits. I also stamped it with some houses and trees from the Hearts Come Home stamp set. Have I mentioned before that it's my favourite from the Holiday Catalogue? LOL.

Here you can see the effect of the box as a luminaire. I popped a battery operated candle inside and photographed it in low light so you can see how the light comes through the stars and the moon cut into the box.

I used some Pool Party Shimmer Ribbon from the Annual Catalogue to create the bow on top. It was a little fiddly, but the end result was well worth it!

Here's a closer look at the stamping and the die cuts. I used some new Specialty DSP from the Holiday Catalogue to create the box lid. It's called Merry Music, and features Christmas Carols, musical notation and snowflakes in both white on black, and black on white. It's thinner than our usual DSP, but you get twice as much in the pack - 4 sheets each of the 6 double sided designs.

Because the DSP is thinner, I decided to reinforce the bottom of the lid with some Pool Party cardstock. Then I decided I'd hide the flaps on the bottom of the box with some of the DSP - a nice little surprise for the recipient!

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented fellow South Aussie, Kathryn Mangelsdorf

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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. Alisha Watson
2. Claire Daly
3. Ros Davidson
4. Judy May
5. Monika O'Neill
6. Rebecca Jacovou
7. Rachel Palmieri
8. Kate Morgan 
9. Caroline Manwaring
10. Catherine Proctor
11. Tina Gillespie
<-- br="" me="" s="" that="">12. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
13. Rachel Woollard
14. Sharon Davern
15. Kimberly Hern

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH HOC Week 13

Hi!

I wasn't sure I was going to get to make a card for this week's Heart Of Christmas post, but then I remembered I had a half made card that I could easily finish. Yay!

This card was my first play with the Hearts Come Home bundle from the new Holiday Catalogue. have you seen it yet? It's a fantastic catalogue. My wish list grows longer each time I look through it!

This is a smaller card, just 4 1/4 inches square. I like making this size sometimes, just as a change from the regular size cards.

Do you remember to stamp on DSP, or forget like me? It's a great way to add a bit of interest to a card. I love the silhouette Santa with his reindeer, and I think it looks great tucked away up there in the corner of the card.

The long edgelit dies in this set are so pretty. I have plans to make a bridge card using them (just like everyone else LOL), so keep an eye out for that!

You can see the cards that the rest of the team that's participating in today's Heart Of Christmas share have made over on Claire's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

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