JAI #537: Family

 Hi!

It's time for Just Add Ink to resume for 2021! Yay! As always, we start the new year of challenges with a Blog Hop featuring the entire Design Team.

This year our chosen theme is Family. 2020 was such a crazy year for most of us, whether you spent more time with family due to lockdowns, or you were separated from family by border closures and travel restrictions. For me personally, I enjoyed the time at home. We were very lucky in South Australia that it was for a relatively short time. I also had weekly zoom calls with my mum and sisters, as we are scattered all over Australia. It was wonderful to connect with them more regularly.

I thought for a long time about what I could make for the Blog Hop, and then I saw a bookmark that a friend had made for her diary and though that it would be the perfect choice for the theme. My diary is a vital part of my life, and my family's life, as I keep track of everyone's appointments and schedules. The number of times that I get asked "Can you check your diary?" or, "Am I free on xxx day?" is huge!

I started by looking at the outside cover of the diary, and particularly the colours of the stripes. I thought that they would work well for a rainbow, so that's where I started. I used the retired Rainbow Builder Dies to cut the arcs. Real Red, Bumblebee, Shaded Spruce, Pacific Point and Melon Mambo were the colours that matched the best.

I used an old SU stencil to create the sun's rays with a Blending Brush and Daffodil Delight ink. Have you used the new brushes yet? They are lovely to use, and I quite like the larger head. The clouds were created using one of the lines of cloud dies in the Rainbow Builder Dies and another Blending Brush with my Balmy Blue ink. The die cut rainbow was adhered over the top, with a die cut cloud hiding the ends of the arcs.

The phrase I stamped in the sun is from the retired stamp set, Ribbon Of Courage. I thought that it was very uplifting, and a good reminder every time I open my dairy. The sun and the rainbow are also a reminder that after the storms come the rainbows. The sun will always shine again.

Next up on your Blog Hop is the wonderful Narelle. You won't want to miss her gorgeous cards, nor the rest of the Blog Hop, so do keep hopping around until you get back to where you started. I hope you can join in with our Just Add Family challenge, too.

Bye for now,

Tina