JAI 775: Just Add A Celebration

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge! Are you loving the new fortnightly schedule? I sure am!

This fortnight, Lou has challenged us to add a Celebration to our cards. That was an easy choice for me, as I recently attended a very special event to celebrate a book launch. You may know that my youngest son, Hudson, has severe disabilities. One of his classmates, Tahlyiah, wrote a book called The Monster And The Vet. That deserved an extra special card, don't you think?

I purchased this stamp set, Friends Forever from My Favourite Things, several years ago. I know lots of young people who are wheelchair users, so it was a great addition to my stash. The imaged was cropped with a Stitched Shapes oval die, and the DSP is from the Full Of Life pack. The book is illustrated with bright, watercoloured images, so this paper was the perfect choice! The sentiments are from Amazing Phrasing, a SAB set from a few years ago.

I thought that this sentiment, from Here Comes The Sun, was fabulous for the inside of the card. Miss T has severe disabilities too, but has persevered to have her creative voice heard and published! She's so amazing.

We'd love to see which Celebration you add to your card. There are so many choices! You can see what the rest of the Design Team have made over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also enter your card in our challenge. We'd love to see what you make. Oh, and if you'd like to see and order Tahlyiah's book, you can find it here.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 774: Just Add Stencils, Dies or Both

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This time, we are asking you to add either Stencils or Dies, or both!

I keep most of my stencils in a box together, so it was fun to have a dig through and work out which one I wanted to use. It's been a while! I also realised that I have a lot of both burst type stencils, and dotty ones. For this card, I decided to go dotty.

I used my Simon Says Stamp Polka Dot Party stencil with some Balmy Blue ink and a Blending Brush to create a soft, subtle background. The gorgeous flower and the text are from Ink Road Stamp's Bella Flora set. I used the coordinating dies to crop the flower so that I could pop it up on Dimensionals. A scattering of  Subtle Shimmer sequins and a Melon Mambo twine bow finished off the card.

I repeated the main elements on the inside of the card. The floral image, coloured with Stampin' Blends, was actually a mis-stamped image. I just cropped it to fit the corner so that the missing part of the image was cut away. I don't like to waste things! You can also see a little more stencilling under the bloom.

We'd love to see what you choose - stencils, dies or both? You can see what the rest of the Design Team chose, and then enter your card in our challenge, over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 773: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Welcome, and thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. Are you enjoying the new two-week format? I am!

This time we have a sketch for you, designed by Tristan. That huge bow is just gorgeous, but when I sat to create I wasn't in the right kind of mood for the kind of card that suits a bow like that. I went super simple, instead.

I recently purchased the Hobby Haven DSP, but hadn't used it yet. The papers I've used are the one sheet - the pink check is the reverse of the side with the chairs and plants. Doesn't this look like an awesome place to sit and read for a while - or let's face it, a really long time? LOL!

I fussy cut the scene and popped it up over a piece of vellum cropped with a Nested Essentials die. The sentiment is from Australia's first ever Paper Pumpkin kit, Hugs From Shelli. I cropped it with a Happy Little Things die.

The inside used a few left over bits and pieces from the front of the card. I really like how this one turned out! The DSP is really fun, and I can see myself using it a lot.

We'd love for you to play along with us. You can jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of the Design Team cards for the Sketch Challenge. You'll also find our Linky to add your card to the challenge gallery.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 772: Colour & Inspiration

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink Challenge. We have changed to fortnightly challenges to give you more time to play along with us. This fortnight we have a fun Inspiration and Colour palette for you to play with.

This was a tricky one for me, as it screams Halloween, but I don't usually make and send Halloween cards. The witches hats on the cupcakes made me think of witches and wizards, and knowing my collection of pop culture stamps, you can probably guess where that led.

I started with the Witches & Wizards No 2 paper pack from Echo Park Paper Co. Both the background paper (which features witches hats and pumpkins) and the sentiment panel are from the pack. I love it when cards come together that easily!

The young wizard is from a Kindred Stamps set, called Wizard Friends. I coloured him with my Stampin' Blend markers and popped him up over the sentiment panel. To add a bit of bling, I dotted a small amount of glitter glue to the sparkles on the sentiment panel.

On the inside I used more stamps from the Wizard Friends set to decorate the inner. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. We'd love for you to play along with us. You can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of the Design Team cards. You'll also be able to link up your card to the challenge gallery using Mr Linky. Don't forget that you now have two weeks to get your entry in,

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 771: Choose Two Or More

 Hi!

Thanks for joining us here at Just Add Ink! We're so excited to share with you the first challenge of our new format and hope you'll embrace the changes and have a ton of fun creating.

For challenge # 771 we have expanded our regular Choose Two to now be Choose Two or More! You can use as many of the listed options as you like to feature on your projects, as long as it's at least two, and don't forget to tell us in your post which ones you chose. You'll also have more time to create as we've moved from a weekly to bi-weekly (every two weeks) challenge!

This week, Jan has suggested this list of fun things to choose from - pets, plaid, plants, pretties, pens or patterned paper. I have a little secret: I hate plaid! Funnily enough, it features prominently on my card. LOL! I guess because it's more at the gingham end of the scale it's a little more appealing to me.

Plaid paper nicely covers two of the categories to choose from, but I also decided to throw in some pretties with the use of some Glimmer Paper. I cropped it using the Build A Stage dies from Kindred Stamps.

I coloured my dancer, from Hair Hopper by Scrappy Boy Stamps, with my Stampin' Blends, but decided to add some plaid to her outfit. I stamped her lower half onto some of the Plaid DSP, fussy cut the skirt, and glued it over the skirt on the full image.

I decided to include the beau of the beauty on the front on the inside of my card. Isn't he a cutie? I toyed with the idea of making his tie plaid in the same way as I did her skirt, but discarded that idea pretty quickly as being way too fiddly!

Which two (or more!) will you choose? We'd love to know, and to see your card. You can add it to our Linky over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll also find the rest of the Design Team's cards. Don't forget that you now have two weeks in which to pay along.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 764: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

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

Which combination of Pearls, Patterned Paper or Pastels will you choose? I'm not usually a pastel person, but something about it called to me this time. I also had my Inspiration Squad stamp set on my desk and thought that a pastel dragon would be super cute!

What do you think? Was I right? I coloured him with my Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink and Ivory Stampin' Blends.

I fussy cut him out and the popped him up over a Stylish Shapes circle die cut. I used the same die set to crop the sentiment, from Simply Said. A scattering of Party Dots in Pretty In Pink finished off the front of the card.

The Patterned Paper that I used was from a 2024-26 In Colour DSP pack. I'm a sucker for stripes, and the delicate stripes on the paper worked well with the pastel theme. While I used the stripes horizontally on the front, I chose to use them vertically on the inside, along with a second dragon. He's so cute!

I can't wait to see what you choose to use on your card. You can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see what the rest of the Design Team chose. You can also link up your card when you're ready to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 762: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's an Inspiration Challenge, suggested to us by Kim.

Hmm, this one stumped me for a while. Then I thought that the cup had coffee in it, which led me directly to my pop culture collection of stamps.

There's only one thing I think of when I think of coffee! And if you didn't read at least the first part of the sentiment in *that* voice then we can no longer be friends.... joke!! I took the brown and black from the Inspiration Photo, but otherwise, it's all about the coffee.

I did include a cup on the inside!

We'd love to see what you create using our photo as inspiration. Jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can see what the rest of the Design Team have made. It's always interesting to see what catches everyone's eye in the photos. When you're done, you can add your card to our challenge using Linky.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 760: Just Add Colour

Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a colour combo for you, suggested to us by Tristan. 

I don't know about you, but my first thought when looking at it was Christmas, but I'm just not ready to make any Christmas cards just yet! It did bring to mind this retired set of dies, called Tree Lot Dies.

I decided to use the dies, along with the Hello Sweetums Mountains Of Fun Dies, to create a fun scene. I realised that I needed blue for a day time sky, but as it wasn't part of the colour challenge, I had to think a bit more.

I decided to use black so that I could add some Gold Foil stars and call it a night time scene! There's also Gold Foil on the caravan, but it was very difficult to photograph in the sun. The sentiment is from Beautiful World, cropped with a Tasteful Labels Die.

I cheated a little on the inside, and used some Balmy Blue ink to add to my scene. Black ink would have just looked weird!

Please jump 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 can also add your card to our Linky when you're ready to enter the challenge. We'd love to see what you create.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 758: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks ever so much for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Kim has designed a fun sketch to inspire our creativity.

I love using circles on cards, and that wee little bow? So sweet! I wanted to make a sewing themed card for a friend, so I went hunting through my extensive paper stash for some suitable paper. This gingham print from the Country Gingham DSP pack was the perfect choice.

The paper colour is Sweet Sorbet, thankfully I had some coordinating cardstock in my stash too. A layer of Whisper White under the DSP gave it a lovely pop.

The stamp set that I used is from Kindred Stamps, called National Sewing Machine Day. It's a great choice for a sewing themed thank you card! I used my Stylish Shapes Dies to crop the banners and the stitched circle. The solid circle is from the long retired Circles Collection Framelits.

The inside uses another sentiment from the Sewing Machine stamp set, a strip of left over DSP and some sweet die cuts from the Quilt Builder Framelits dies. I love it when different products from different companies work so well together!

That's all from me for this week, but we'd love to see what you make. You can see the rest of the Design Team cards over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also add your card to our Linky.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 754: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Kim has suggested the we Just Choose Two to add to our card.

That's a tough choice! I'm not much of a flower person, so I decided to go for the other two options - a Die Cut and some Ribbon.

I had a dig through my dies and came across this Legendary Word die, by Sweet Stamp Shop. Perfect! And speaking of perfect, this stamp set, Legendary by Kindred Stamps, was a great choice to pair with it. I enjoyed colouring the young man with my Stampin' Blends.

Cam you see the sparkly ribbon laying underneath the die cut? The card is so CAS that I used it there to give the word a little touch of oomph. I also used my Blending Brush to add a little Balmy Blue ink under my legendary lad to give him a bit of a boost, too.

I couldn't use one legendary character without the other, so she's made an appearance on the inside.

We'd love to see which two you'll choose. You can see the rest of the Design Team cards, and add your card to the Linky over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 752: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week we have an Inspiration Photo to spark your creativity, suggested to us by Jo.

It's a cute vintage car, and the flowers in the back scream 'wedding' to me. Do you agree? Having said that, I instantly thought of a cute stamp I had that I thought worked well. To me, the stamp and the inspo photo both have flowers in unexpected or unusual places.

The stamp is called Basics: Floral Coffee Mug, and is from Ink Road Stamps. I stamped it using Memento ink, and then coloured it with colours pulled from the Inspiration Photo - Mint Macaron, Petal Pink, Daffodil Delight, Cinnamon Cider and Just Jade Stampin' Blends.

The sentiment is from Attention Shoppers, and the DSP is Mint Macaron gingham. It's one of my favourite ever SU colours, and the car was close enough in colour to justify using it on my card.

On the inside I stamped the main image again in second generation Mint Macaron ink, with another sentiment from Attention Shoppers. I accidentally cut the Whisper White cardstock too small, but I think it looks ok - just a larger border on the inside!

We'd love to see what inspires you from the Inspiration Photo. Will it be the car, the colours, or maybe the flowers? You can see what the Design Team made over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also link up your card when you're ready.

Bye for now,

Tina