JAI 597: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. I've missed creating for JAI over the past couple of weeks, as my whole family contracted COVID. We are mostly over it all now, so I was ready to pick up my stamps and ink pads again!

This week Annie has challenged us to Choose Two to add to our cards. I don't naturally gravitate towards flowers, so for me it had to be Paper and Pattern.

I really hadn't played much with the SAB DSP, Sunshine & Rainbows, before it retired, so I pulled it out for my card today. I really needed the happiness that the paper brings! Polka dots (my Pattern element) always make me feel happy, and when they are in gorgeous, bright colours, the happiness is multiplied.

My Paper element is the rainbow and the clouds. The rainbow was fussy cut from the DSP, and the could were cropped using the Cloud Punch. In exciting news, the Cloud Punch is carrying over to the upcoming Annual Catalogue - hooray!!

Speaking of hooray, the two sentiments that I have used on my card are from the new Light The Candles card kit. The kit is cute, but I mostly purchased it for the stamps - I think that they are a great font and sayings for young kid's cards.

We'd love to see which two you choose for our challenge. I'm always interested to see which options people gravitate towards. You can see what the Design team chose over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll also find the linky for our challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Shaded Spruce

Hi! 

Wow, it feels like forever since I've posted to my blog. Unfortunately I tested positive to COVID two weeks ago, with the rest of my family testing positive a week later. I'm two weeks post-diagnosis and I'm still feeling unwell, but I missed my card making too much, so I found the energy to create for this week's Colour Creations blog hop. We are looking at Shaded Spruce this week. I did not like this green to start with, but I have found myself using it more and more lately.

I wanted to create an inked green backdrop for my card this week. I initially thought I'd use the smooshing technique, but in the end I decided to use a piece of bubble wrap. I tapped my Shaded Spruce ink pad onto my largest clear block and then spritzed the ink with water. I laid a piece of bubble wrap over the top, pushing down to help pick up the ink. I then laid the inked bubble wrap over a piece of Shimmery White cardstock. It's probably a technique that works better with paint rather than ink, but I liked the end result.

I used my Plentiful Plants bundle to create the feature. At first I only had the two stamped and die cut leaves, but they didn't stand out enough from the background for my liking. Of all the things I tried to do to give them some lift, the plain black die cut leaves worked the best - even though you can barely see them!

My pots were created by cropping the outline layer from Basic Black cardstock with a piece of Adhesive Sheet on the back, adhering the outline to another piece of Basic Black card and then carefully cutting around the edge with my snips. I then used Wink Of Stella on the outline piece for a bit of extra shimmer.

It's good to be back hopping with the team for the Colour Creations hops. The two hops that I missed while I was sick were the only two I have ever missed, so I was a little sad to ruin my perfect record. Aren't I lucky that that's my biggest problem? LOL!

You won't want to miss out on the rest of the hop, so please do continue on your way. The next stop is Caroline Manwaring's blog. I can't wait to see what she's made!

As always, Catherine Proctor is doing a wonderful job of keeping us all organised. If you have a problem with any of the links, just jump on over to her blog and pick up the trail again.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 594: Just Add Masking

 Hi!

Are you ready for the weekend? It's a long weekend here in Adelaide, so I'm sneaking off for a quick girl's weekend by the sea. I can't wait! There'll still be plenty of crafting time to be had, though, so get your entries in for the new Just Add Ink challenge.

This week Kerry has challenged us to add Masking to our cards I think I went a little overboard, but why not? LOL. To put it simply, masking is protecting one area so that you can apply ink to another area without getting ink on the first area. Got it? I hope so!!

I've just received this Clearly Besotted stamp set, called Picture It Castle. I can't resist anything from this fandom!! My first mask was the large oval. I cut it from copy paper and laid it over my cardstock before stamping the image over the top. I left it in place while I coloured the image. I also stamped the castle on a sticky note and fussy cut it, creating another mask so that I could use a cloud stencil (another masking tool) to create the sky. I'd also cut away the lake part of the image so that I could use a Blending Brush to ink the lake. How fab does the moonlight on the lake look? I just faded out the ink over that section.

I'd also used a circle punch to crop a mask for the moon, which I used while I was sponging the clouds. After I'd completed the clouds I removed the mask and then used the negative to allow me to colour the moon without getting the ink into the clouds. Finally, I popped the could stencil back in place so that I could do one cloud covering the moon. My final masking technique on the card was to mask off part of the bird stamp so that I only inked one bird. The stamp is from On The Horizon. I also used this technique to mask off part of the sentiment. I used the first line on the front and the second line on the inside. The stamp set is Expecto Stampo from Ink Road Stamps.

So much masking! But it was worth it, I really love this card! I celebrate my 20th Wedding Anniversary next month, so I think this would be a good card to give to my hubby.

What are your favourite masking techniques? I can't wait to see what you make. To see what the Design team made, and to link up your card, please pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog. See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Real Red

 Hi!

Hello, and thank for joining me again for the Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are looking at Real Red, which is from the Regals colour family. I think it used to be a Bright, but got moved in a colour shuffle. Either way, it's a nice red.

I decided to make a card for a child, as I think it's a happy red, and very suitable. I started with some Sweet Talk DSP that I got in a paper share from the current Mini Catalogue. I'm not much for lovey-dovey papers (or anything, really!), so the plainer sides are more to my taste. This paper looks a bit like confetti, so works with my birthday card, I think.

I used my Penguin Place stamp set to create the focal panel. I stamped the penguin first, and then masked him off before stamping the balloon strings. Hopefully it looks like he's holding a bunch of balloons.

I don't have anyone in mind yet for this card, but when I know who will get it I will add a number to the inside - kids get excited by things like that!! People my age, not so much! LOL.

Thanks again for stopping by, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop by jumping around the blogs until you get back to your starting point. The next blog tonight is my fabulous friend, Rachel Palmieri.

As always, the wonderful Catherine Proctor keeps us all organised each week. If you get stuck, she's got a list of all participants on her blog to get you back on track. 

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 359: CASE A Die Project

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me at the end of another weekend that has gone by in a flash! I need another weekend to recover from my weekend, LOL! But the end of the weekend means the start of the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop, so it's not all bad 😁

This week we are asking you to CASE a Die Project from any current catalogue. I decided to choose a die bundle from the Annual Catalogue that hasn't seen any love for a few weeks - my Perfect Plants Dies.

I chose this card to CASE, as I liked that the background DSP was cut on an angle - I quite like little quirks like that! 

I'm really not much of a gardener, but I wish I was! I chose my background DSP because I'd love to have a lush garden like that, but I'm realistic enough to know that it's beyond my talents. I can have it in paper form instead!

I used the Perfect Plants Dies to cut all of the focal elements - the hanger (trimmed), the pot and the different leaves in the pot. All but the hanger were cropped from the Bloom Where You're Planted DSP. I really must buy another pack of this paper before it retires in a few months!

I used my off cut DSP from the front to decorate my inside. It's also a great opportunity to use up images from the sides of your DSP that may not be full images. In this case, the pot was cropped at the side, so I just lined it up with the edge of my card.

We'd love for you to join in with us for our challenge. Do you have a favourite set of dies? Just CASE a card from the Annual or Mini catalogue made with those dies and you're good to go! Add a photo to our Facebook group to inspire us all.

As always, thanks for stopping by, but please do continue your way around our Blog Hop - there's plenty more inspiration to be found. My lovely friend Rachel Palmieri is next, with an absolutely stunning card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 593: Just Add Colour

Hi! 

Tine for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week we have a colour challenge, with the combo being my suggestion. 

I love the bright, summery combination of colours. Do you agree?

The teacup image is from a new to me stamp set by Ink Road Stamps, called Beau-Tea-Ful. I couldn't

t resist the set, as I am a big tea drinker, and the image is so pretty! I coloured it with a mix of Blends and Copics.

How to get a layer without an actual layer - after die cutting a shape, leave the die in place and use Blending Brushes to apply some colour. It's a neat little trick!

Hehehehehe, I love this sentiment!! Ink Road is known for it's snarky/cheeky stamps. I don't usually buy the full on ones, but I do love this.

We'd love for you to play along with us this week. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the rest of this week's Design Team cards and then add your card to our linky. Easy!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Pumpkin Pie

 Hi!

It's time for Pumpkin Pie! Sadly, not the food, but the colour. Well, maybe 'sadly' isn't the right word - the colour is a nice one, I'm just hungry as I'm writing the post! Anyway, enough with the rambling, on with the card.

I struggled a lot with the card this week, and the end result was vastly different to the card I had planned originally. The daisy was meant to be on a tone-on-tone Pumpkin Pie background, but it didn't look good and ended up in the bin. The striped DSP was an attempt to bring a bit more orange into the card.It kinda makes me think of tigers, though! I would totally have used Foxy Friends instead of the daisy if it was still current.

After I made the card I googled to see if tiger daisies were a thing - and they are! Phew! The daisy and the tiger stripes are a justifiable combination. LOL!!

I pulled out my trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the daisy on the inside. Some things just can't be done on a Stamparatus!

Thanks for stopping by for a little taste of Pumpkin Pie (pun intended!). Please continue your way around our blog hop tonight by jumping on over to my lovely friend, Andrea Sargent's blog. You won't be disappointed!

Head baker for tonight (oh geez, I have to stop with the pie jokes!) is the fabulous Catherine Proctor, so if you run into problems hop on over to her blog, where she has a list of all tonight's participants.

Bye for now,

Tina