JAI 791: Just Add Christmas In July

 Hi!

Hello, and thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. Before we get into it, I wanted to sidetrack for a little moment. 

Did you know that Just Add Ink ran a scrapbooking challenge for a time? It was actually how I joined the team 14 and a half years ago, as a member of the Scrapping DT. Here's my first DT submission, if you're interested! I was also allowed to play along with the main DT, and I took full advantage. Eventually the scrap challenges ended, and I officially switched over to the main DT.

All this to say that I have decided that it's time for me to step down from the Just Add Ink Design Team.

I've had a wonderful time, but life, and new hobbies, are pulling me in different directions and taking more of my time. I figure it's best to leave on a high, while I still love card making and being on the DT.

So this is my final DT post, and I'll use it to say a huge thank you, both to my DT friends, and to those of you that participate in our challenges. You're all so amazingly creative, and I have loved seeing what has been made over the years. The JAI community is fabulous!

And now, on with the show! This fortnight Kim has challenged us to Just Add Christmas In July to our cards. I don't usually start my Christmas cards this early, but I always regret that around November!

I pulled out two of my all time favourite Christmas sets (I'm not much into traditional stuff!) for the challenge. I started with the Christmas sentiment from More Wishes. I do love a big, bold statement sentiment!

I then stamped one of the penguins from Penguin Place. It's fun to mix and match all of the elements in the set to create a fun, Christmassy penguin. I finished by stamping the 'merry' part of the sentiment and the stars.

I gave my penguin a little friend on the inside of my card. It's always nice to finish off the inside with something special.

Thanks once again for joining me on my final challenge for Just Add Ink. I had a lot of fun making my card, and I hope you do too. I can't wait to see what you create!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 733: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Welcome to the final Just Add Ink challenge for 2024. Wow, I can't believe that the year is almost over!

Our Choose Two challenge was suggested to us by Kerry, and is a great one for those last minute Christmas cards, tags and gifts that we all seem to need!

I had a bit of a dig through my retired Christmas stash, and found the remnants of the Santa's Workshop Memories & More Card Pack. I loved this card with the cute stack of elves, and couldn't resist using it. The silver glitter highlights on their crowns, the tree and the star are adorable!

To add Santa into the mix, I cropped some Whisper White cardstock using a Tasteful Labels Die. If you look closely, you can see the embossed edge around the shape. The Santa sticker was popped up on the top half of the label, and the bottom half features stamped sentiments from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin Kit.

The inside sentiment, from the same stamp set, is one of my all time favourite Christmas stamps. I love both the wording and the font. I finished it off with a glittery Santa hat from the M&M kit. All in all, a quick and easy card!

We'd love to see which two that you choose for the challenge. You can see what the rest of the Design Team chose over on the Just Add Ink blog. You'll also find our linky for entering your card. The challenge will run for two weeks, and is just for fun - the DT won't be choosing winners this time.

Have a wonderful Christmas, and we will see you in the New Year!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 711: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

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

Brrr! It's been very cold here in Adelaide, so the hot chocolate/winter Christmas image seems appropriate. I loved the colours in the image, especially the red, white and soft blue/grey. I decided to make some Christmas packaging.

I used a pre-made pillow box as my base. The gorgeous shimmery ribbon was from my 'that may come in handy' drawer, and was just the right length for the box. The flowers are from Kaisercraft, that I've had in my stash for a very long time. The colours worked perfectly with the challenge image.

The sentiment is from Brightest Glow, stamped in Boho Blue ink. I cropped it with a Tailor Made Tags die and popped it up on the top of the pillow box. The other flowers were tucked in underneath. I think it's pretty, and would be a great idea for a gift card or cash.

You can see what the rest of the Design Team have created based on the Inspiration Photo over at the Just Add Ink blog. You can also add your card (or gift pack!) to the Linky. We'd love to see what you make.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 684: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the final Just Add Ink challenge of 2023. We'll be back in the New Year with another year of fun challenges, but we are taking some time off to be with loved ones. For now, though, let't get going with the challenge!

Rochelle has selected a Christmassy colour combination for us this time, handy for all those last minute Christmas cards. Or maybe you're over Christmas and you will make a different card. It doesn't matter, as long as you use the colours.

I chose Evening Evergreen, Real Red to go with the Gold in the combo. Can you spot the Gold on may card? In the bright sunshine it was difficult to capture!

Maybe this angle shows it better. Dasher was het embossed in Gold. Isn't he magnificent?

The stamped sentiments I've used are from Joy To You, and the die cut 'merry' is from the Christmas Greetings Thinlits dies.

This challenge is a non-voting one, meaning that we won't be choosing winners. We'd love for you to play along. There's plenty of time - Linky will be open for three weeks.

I hope that you have a lovely Christmas and New Year, with plenty of time for doing what you love to do. I have a quilt top that is very close to completion, so I will be madly trying to get that done by the end of the year.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Misty Moonlight

Hi! 

Welcome to the final Colour Creations Blog Hop for 2023. Never fear, we will be back in 2024 with the rest of the colours in the Stampin' Up! range. For tonight, though, our focus is on Misty Moonlight. It's a gorgeous denim blue that I adore!

I kept my card nice and simple this week. I started by heat embossing the large sentiment from Joy To You using White Embossing Powder. I then used a Blending Brush to ink the edges of the card with Misty Moonlight ink. Finally, I splattered some (retired) Frost White Shimmer Paint over the top of the card, trying to stick mostly to the edges. It has a mind of it's own, though - the splatter goes where it wants to go, LOL!!

A final simple sentiment to finish off the inside of the card.

Thanks for joining us in 2023 for the Colour Creations blog hops, I hope you join us again in 2024. In the meantime though, please do finish this hop! The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

The wonderful Cathy Proctor does an amazing job of organising the blog hops each week - thanks, Cathy! If you run into any problems with links, pop on over to her blog were you will find a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 682: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink Challenge! This week we have a Sketch challenge for you, designed by.... me!

When I design sketches, I try to make tham as open to interpretation as I can. I just love what the Design Team has done with the sketch. So many gorgeous cards.

I decided to play with my Beary Christmas DSP again. I thought that the mini scenes with the animals would be a great choice for the oval panel. To suit the paper, I rotated the oval, but otherwise kept the card the same as the sketch.

The glittery strip behind the polar bears was very difficult to photograph. It's gorgeous in real life - you'll just have to take my word for it! I finally cracked open my Navy Glitter ribbon too. Yum!

Did you notice that I didn't use a sentiment on the front of the card? I didn't think needed one, so I left it off. It's pretty easy to tell what occasion the card is for! Just in case the recipient can't work it out, there's a lovely big sentiment on the inside, stamped using my Joy To You stamp set.

That's all from me for tonight. Please pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created with the sketch. You can also link up your card to enter the challenge. I'd love to see what you do with the sketch.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Melon Mambo

Hi! 

Welcome to the second last Colour Creations Blog Hop of 2023. It's still so weird to think that we are so close to the end of the year! Anyway, we are focussing on Melon Mambo this week, a former In Colour that made it's way into the Brights and has remained a part of the core colour collection ever since. 

I've paired it with Granny Apple Green and Whisper White for my fun Christmas card. I love the tiny little pops of green under each layer of the card. A great way to introduce a colour with our it overwhelming the rest of the card.

I cut my Glittered Organdy Ribbon in half longways to create the smaller bow. It's such a neat trick with this ribbon!

I used my Joy To You stamp set for the sentiments on my card. I'm so sad that this stamp set is retiring at the end of the current Mini Catalogue. It's such a great set that makes a bit impact with very little work!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do keep on jumping around the blogs on tonight's hop. Just keep on going until you get back to where you started. The next stop tonight is our fabulous hostess, Cathy Proctor.

Cathy's blog is also where you need to go if you run into any problems with links. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 17

 Hi!

Welcome to the final Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2023. I haven't been able to participate as often as I have in previous years, but I was determined that I wouldn't miss the final week. I've missed not hopping each week, but life had other things in store for me.

This week I've used the April 2022 Sheetload of Cards template for my cards. I was determined to fussy cut some of the animals from the Beary Christmas DSP, and the layout of the card was chosen to suit. I think that this polar bear and bunny are adorable!

The cards have a shortened front, so that the snowflake DSP does double duty. An economical way to decorate both the front and the inside of your card. As a bonus economy, the trimmed section from the card base was used to matt the sentiment panel on the front of the card.

Here's my two cards together. I used my Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments. It's certainly been a favourite sentiment set for Christmas for me.

I hope that you've enjoyed this series of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops as much as I have. Sharon Davern has done a wonderful job of keeping us all organised along the way. Thanks, Sharon!

It's not quite over yet, though! Please keep on hopping around the blogs until you get back to your starting point. The next stop on the way is my lovely friend, Kathryn Mangelsdorf.

For one last time, if you run into issues with links tonight, jump on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She'll have a list of all 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

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

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