JAI 788: Colour and Inspiration

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to another challenge from Just Add Ink. This fortnight we have a Colour & Inspiration Challenge, suggested to us by Nikki.

It's a wet, windy, cold evening here in Adelaide as I write this post, and the cat snuggled up in a blanket is the perfect image to describe where I'd like to be. Although, being human, I'd like a cup of tea and a good book with me as I snuggle!

I'm definitely a blue girl, so this colour scheme was right up my alley. I don't have any suitable cat themed things in my stash, so I decided to go with birds instead. I fussy cut these birds from a sheet of Flight & Airy DSP. The backing DSP is also from the same pack. The watercolour effect is so pretty!

I'm not sure why I chose to make a sympathy card. I (fortunately) don't have need for one at the moment, but it never hurst to have a few in the stash, just in case. The sentiment is from Heal Your Heart, cropped with a Tasteful Labels die. I layered it over a Layering Ovals diecut, that I embossed with my Subtle DTIEF. It's hard to see in the photo!

The inside of the card includes both another bird and another sentiment from the supplies that I mentioned that I used on the front of the card.

What will you take inspiration from in this fortnight's challenge? You can see what the rest of the Design Team have created over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also find our challenge gallery there when you're ready to link up your card.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 787: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Tristan has suggested a Choose Two Or More challenge.

Hmm, which ones of patterned paper, animals, people, twine or shadows will you choose? I've been reading a lot of library books lately, and one of them had the paper that I've used in it. A previous reader must have been using it as a bookmark and left it in the book. It's very pretty, so I decided to put it to use on my card.

The daisy-like flowers are very delicate and pretty, don't you think? So, one element down, now for another.

Hehe, I decided to stretch the meaning of 'shadow' to include a shadowed sentiment. The blue layer under the birthday die cut is a shadow! I wanted it anchor it on the card with a Stitched Shaped Oval die cut, but cardstock ones were just too much for the card. Vellum to the rescue!

I used an offcut strip of the paper from the front to finish off the inside. I'd usually add a strip to the bottom, but as the paper was long and thin, I thought I'd add the strip to the side for something different. The sentiment is from Uniquely Creative's Sweet Sentiments stamp set, which coordinates with the Sweet Sentiments dies that I used on the front.

We'd love to see which two - or more - you choose for your card. 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 challenge gallery.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 784: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a sketch for you, designed by Tristan. The smaller circles made me think of bubbles, but I ended up going in a different direction with my card.

Would you believe that I used five different lots of dies on my card? I was a little surprised when I looked at my stack of supplies! I'd be very impressed if you can name them all.

I started by using Stitched Greenery to create the background of the card. I love the subtle texture it provides. Stitched Leaves was used to crop the leaves, and Pierced Blooms for the flowers. Stylish Shapes was used for the circle, and Textured Notes for the sentiment banner. Phew - did you know all of those?

I used most of the same supplies to finish off the inside of the card. I had a tiny offcut of the Stitched Greenery background, which I layered under another bloom and leaf. The sentiments that I used on my card, both front and inside, are from Simply Said. It felt a bit strange to only use one stamp set after all those sets of dies.but you have to draw the line somewhere!

We'd love to see what you do with this fortnight's sketch. You can see what the rest of the design team created over on the Just Add Ink blog. You'll also find our Linky there, where you an add your card to our challenge gallery.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 781: Just Add Wings

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a challenge suggested to us by Kerry, and it's to Just Add Wings.

My first thought was to use a fairy, and then I thought about a plane. However, while browsing for any plane stamp sets I may have, I found this cutie-patootie little dragon, who most definitely has wings. Sold!

He's from the Inspiration Squad stamp set, and was coloured using my Stampin' Blends. I fussy cut him and popped him up over a Stitched Shapes circle die cut that had been stamped with a sentiment from Simply Said.

This was all popped up over some DSP from the Lily Pond Lane pack. The predominant colour is Pretty Peacock, one of my all-time favourite SU colours.

The inside of my card was finished off with a left over strip of DSP and a sentiment from the Inspiration Squad stamp set. I love the handwritten font in this set. 

Of course, as soon as I finished my card, I thought of all the pop culture stamps I have that have space ships *with wings* that I could have used! Oh well, another time!

I'd love to see what you think of when you're asked to Just Add Wings. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what the rest of the Design team have thought of. You can also add your card to our Linky to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 779: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Welcome back to the newest Just Add Ink challenge. This time around it's a sketch challenge, designed by Jan.

My first thought was of a polaroid photograph! What fun would that be to incorporate into a card? Ultimately, though, I went in a very different direction.

I decided to use my Stitched Shapes Dies to create some dimension in my card. I started by stamping the flowers from Pretty Perennials and the leaves from Beautiful Friendship in Strawberry Sluch, Powder Pink, Garden Green and Mint Macaron. I do love the watercolour look of the images!

I then cropped the image with the largest square die. I glued the die cut piece to my card base and then popped up the rest using Dimensionals. I love the idea of the main part of the image being inset rather than popped up. A sentiment and a scattering of sequins finished off the front of the card.

I used similar stamping on the inside of the card. I really loved revisiting these older stamp sets!

What do you see in the sketch? You can see what the rest of the Design Team created over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also add your card to our challenge gallery when you are ready. I can't wait to see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina

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 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 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