JAI 676: Just Add Inspiration

Hi! 

This week at Just Add Ink, we have a somewhat Halloween-themed Inspiration Challenge for you.

Or maybe you don't do Halloween, and you use other elements of the photo on your card. The colours and textures are great inspirations, too.

I did a little of both - Halloween for my main panel, and the gorgeous black & white plaid from the retired Pattern Party DSP in the background.

The main panel is a free colouring sheet from Kate Hadfield. I simply printed it to the size that I wanted, and coloured it with my Stampin' Blends.

The sentiments I've used are from a retired Stampin' Up! set, called Mr Funny Bones. A great set for Halloween!

We'd love for you to play along, even if you don't do Halloween. There's a lot more to take from the photo! You can see what the rest of the Design Team have used for Inspiration over on the Just Add Ink blog. You'll also find the linky so that you can add your card to our challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Gorgeous Grape

 Hi!

Welcome to our short and sweet Colour Creations Blog Hop for Gorgeous Grape week! There's not many of us hopping this week, but there's still lots of gorgeousness to be seen!

I had a couple of bunnies that I'd stamped from the Playing In The Rain stamp set floating around on my desk, so I decided to put them to work on my card today. I started by colouring the bunnies using my Watercolour Pencils.

The background is my Rays Of Light stamp. I used a Blending Brush to ink up the stamp so that the edges weren't harsh. I then stamped the sentiment from Sending Smiles to frame the bunny. Isn't he joyous? He certainly does bring sunshine to brighten anyone's day.

Silly me had already cleaned and packed up my Rays stamp, so for the inside of my card I coloured behind the bunny with my Blending Brush. It was a great way to use up the excess ink after using it on the stamp!

The nest stop on tonight's Blog Hop is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan. She's bound to have something fabulous for you to see.

As ever, if you run into any issues with links, pop on over to the wonderful Cathy Proctor's blog. She'll have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 12

 Hi!

Welcome to another week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I've taken a break from making cards using the Sheetload Of Cards templates this week, as I was extremely time poor. Although they save a lot of time by having all the dimensions set out, I still need to convert to Australian A4 size and then cut out all the pieces.

Beary Christmas DSP to the rescue! All I needed was a sheet of the paper, a card base, and a sentiment. The hardest part was working out where to put the sentiment panel so that I didn't obscure too much of the gorgeous DSP.

My sentiment is from Brightest Glow, cropped with the Modern Oval Punch. It just arrived in my latest order, and I can see that I will use it lots! I added a little piece of ribbon under the sentiment, just to help it pop a little from the DSP.

I love that the little strip of DSP that I used on the inside of my card has a polar bear peeking in from the side. I didn't plan that cut, it just happened. Serendipitous!

Please keep on hopping around the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop tonight. The next stop is my lovely friend, Andrea Sargent.

If you run into any difficulties with links, please jump on over to our wonderful Hostess, Sharon Davern's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants with the correct links to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Garden Green

 Hi!

Welcome to Garden Green week of the Colour Creations Blog Hops. I'm not a big green user, but Garden Green is one of the greens that I reach for most often.

I decided to use my Sending Smiles bundle this week. The flower stamp that I've used makes me think of lavender. I think it's meant to be wisteria, but the lovely watercolourish look of the stamped image allows for a bit of stretching of the imagination. Do you agree?

I used the smaller label in the Sending Smiles Dies to crop the sentiment. I actually cropped it twice, so that the label was smaller than intended. I didn't like all of the space on either side of the 'Birthday Wishes' sentiment.

I left the inside sentiment-free for now, as none of the other sentiments in the set really suited. I think it's fine with just the extra sprigs of lavender.

we'd love for you to stop by all of the blogs in tonight's Garden Green blog hop. It's always fun seeing what others have done with the feature colour. The next stop tonight is our lovely Hostess, Cathy Proctor.

Cathy will also have a list of all of tonight's hoppers on her blog to assist you if you run into any difficulties with links.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 11

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the eleventh week of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. We are inching ever closer to Christmas! I'm enjoying the inspiration I get from doing the hops each week, and I hope that you are too.

Today I have a pair of cards for you, made using the August 2022 Sheetload Of Cards template. I wanted to use my Joy To You stamp set, and this was a template that I thought suited the large format of the sentiments.

I used a strip of the presents DSP from the Beary Christmas DSP pack on the inside of my card, and as I type my blog post, I notice that I've glued this one down upside down. Oops! Hopefully the recipient won't notice!

Here's my pair of cards together. I matted the sentiment on the more purple-ish of the Silver Foils, which looks quite blue against the blues in the papers. I like the subtle touch of shimmer.

My lovely friend, Kate Morgan, is bound to have something wonderful for you to see, so don't miss out. Just click the next button to jump over to her blog.

If you run into any issues, pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She's our wonderful hostess, and will have a list of all of tonight's hoppers to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 674: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a colour challenge for you, suggested to us by Rochelle.

The first thing that came to mind was flowers, and the addition of Gold made me think of Christmas. In the end, I went a completely different direction!

How cute is this combi image? It's a digi stamp from Indulgy that I must have received as a freebie. I printed it on some Blending card and then coloured it with a mix of Stampin' Blends and Copics in the challenge colours. I had a gold marker that I used for the headlights, number plate and the logo on the front of the van.

The rest of the card was a bit of a mish-mash of bits and pieces in the challenge colours. I loved the striped ombre paper from the Bright & Beautiful DSP pack, and then I layered some cropped and embossed ovals over the top.

I had the foresight to print a smaller version of the van for the inside of my card. Usually, I forget and then can't be bothered to fire up my laptop and printer again. I coloured it in the same colours as the front. The sentiments that I used are from a retired SU set, called Driving By. I thought it worked well with the image!

That's all from me for now, but pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You'll also find the Linky for the challenge for when you're ready to add your card. What do you think you'll do with the colours?

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Fresh Freesia

 Hi!

Welcome to the Fresh Freesia week of the Colour Creations Blog Hops. Are you a fan of Fresh Freesia? It's a soft mauve that is yet to grow on me. Knowing the rest of the Colour Creations hoppers, by the time I've seen everyone's creations I will love it!

I started with my pack of Bright & Beautiful DSP. While 'bright' might not apply to my selected papers, I think that 'beautiful' does. I love the spotty paper, and the soft wash of the bottom paper.

I struggled with what to do after creating the base of the card, and then I found the die cut from Artistic Dies floating on my desk. I painstakingly added little snippets of Dimensionals to the back so that I could pop it up over the base. I love that I got the floral effect, but I can still see lots of the spotty paper underneath.

Because I loved it so much, I used it again on the inside of the card. A sweet twine bow finishes it off nicely, along with a sentiment from Days To Remember.

Next stop in tonight's hop is my lovely friend, Andrea Sargent. I'm sure that she has made something fabulous with Fresh Freesia!

If you happen to run into any problems with links, just jump on over to the wonderful Cathy Proctor's blog. She keeps us all organised, and will have a list of all of tonight's participants on her blog to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 10

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for another Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. We are up to Week 10, can you believe? We are creeping ever closer to Christmas. Hopefully you've been inspired to start your Christmas crafting along with us, so it's not such a rush at the end.

My card this week uses the June 2019 Sheetload Of Cards, which I think was the first one ever. I thought that it was a great way to show off the different papers from the Beary Christmas DSP pack.

I used my Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments, and the coordinating Labels Aglow Dies on the front of the card.

I made two cards, and constructed both of them slightly differently. The sentiment placement was to suit the DSP on each card, as I didn't want to cover up the polar bears. The longer Real Red label on the right side card was because I was worried that the one on the left was too short. Which do you prefer?

Please continue your way around our Blog Hop tonight - there's lots more Christmassy inspiration to be found. My lovely friend, Judy May, makes gorgeous Christmas cards!

Hopefully all tonight's links are working as they should for you, but if you do run into a problem please pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 440: Embossing From The Mini

 Hi!

Welcome to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This week we are asking you to CASE a project from the Mini Catalogue that features an embossing folder. 

After flipping through the catalogue, I chose this card from page 65. I really liked the simple composition of the card, with the focal items framed by the embossed circle.

When I looked army stamp shelf, I decided that I hadn't played with Taco Fiesta for a while, and I could make the images in the set work with the layout of the card with a few little tweaks.

I also hadn't used my Stripes & Splatters 3DEF for a while, so the Splatter folder got a run, too. I made my circle smaller than the original card, as my images were smaller and they would have been swamped on a larger circle.

It's been a looooong time since I've sat down with my Stampin' Blends and had a play. I enjoy the shading and blending, so it was nice to get back into the groove of it.

I carried the DSP and the scattering of corn chips onto the inside of my card. Isn't that spotty Brights DSP fun? I think it's retired now, but I couldn't resist using it on my card.

We'd love for you to play along with our challenge this week. Which Embossing Folder project from the Mini Catalogue catches your eye? All you need to do is CASE the card and add a photo to our Facebook Group. Easy!

Before you go, please do finish the Blog Hop. Just keep on jumping until you get back to where you started. The next stop is the wonderful Rebecca Scurr. Her embossed Christmas card is gorgeous!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 673: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a Choose Two challenge, suggested to us by Jan. I always love seeing the mix of elements in the Choose Two challenges. Sometimes it's really hard to choose just two!

My card was guided by one of my other creative pastimes - music. I play Bass Clarinet in a concert band, and we recently played a concert for a huge audience of people who live in a lifestyle village. They were such a fantastic audience. Anyway, one of the charts we played was a medley of songs from a particular band, and it got stuck in my head - especially after seeing this week's challenge elements.

Can you guess which band I'm referring to? Haha, yes, The Doors. So my two elements are Doors and flowers. I had a play on Canva to create the lyric/sentiment panel. I tried to get the purples to match the gorgeous Favoured Flowers DSP, but sadly my Canva skills aren't that great. Or maybe it's just because I was using the free version, LOL!

Apart from the playing around on Canva, this was a fast and easy card that came together quite quickly in the end. I didn't stamp an inside sentiment, as I have no idea who will get this card, and for which occasion. I'll stamp it, or maybe just write on it, when I work that out!

Is your mind swirling with ideas? I hope so! Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards for your inspiration. You'll also find our Linky, where you can add your card to the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina