JAI 701: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

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

Isn't it fab? The chairs look very comfy, and the floral decorations are gorgeous. I thought about stamps that I had that featured chairs, and settled on I Heart Books, by Three Room Studio.

I don't know that I'd be able to sit/lay like that and read anymore, but definitely when I was a teen! I coloured the image with my Stampin' Blends, using colours from the image. I couldn't resist adding a pink streak to her blonde hair. 

The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted set, called Bedtime Story. Unsurprisingly to those who know me, I have quite a collection of book/reading themed stamps!

Haha, I could't resist adding this 'Ssshhh' stamp to the inside, along with a pile of books. Both are from another Three Room Studio set, called One More Chapter. When you're that involved in a book, the last thing you want is to be interrupted!

We'd love for you to play along this week. The Design Team have been fabulously creative in how they've taken inspiration from the challenge photo. What do you see in it? We'd love to know, and you can show us by adding your card to our Linky on the Just Add Ink blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 654: 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 Rochelle.

I really love it! The bright colours are a little bit Summery (as I sit here on a miserable rainy day in late Autumn) and a little bit retro. I had some arch dies that I hadn't played with yet, and thought they'd go well with a retro theme. We used to have curtains with an arched pattern when I was a little kid in the late 70's.

The arched Dies are from Paper Rose, and are called Nesting Arches. I used the largest three to cut cardstock in the challenge colours and then layered them up over some Whisper White cardstock embossed using the Timber 3DEF.

The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted stamp set, called Bedtime Story. It has a marvellous range of sentiments, all book-related. Speaking of books, I used my WaffleFlower Layered Books Dies to create the book for the front of my card.

I used the smaller version of the book and another arch and Clearly Besotted sentiment on the inside of my card. I like this sentiment - I definitely do not like being disturbed when I am engrossed in a book!

I realised today that the challenge colours were very similar to the block I just finished sewing in my current quilt. It you remove the pinks, you're just left with lime green, aqua, yellow, black and white.

Isn't it funny how hobbies can sometimes intersect? If you're interested, the quilt is Galaxy by Lilabelle Lane, and is English Paper Pieced using Tula Pink fabrics.

That's all from for now - I'm off to sew the next block in my quilt! Hopefully you're off to check out the Just Add Ink blog for more Design Team inspiration before making your card and adding it to our Linky for the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 637: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Hello, there! It's Friday, which means that it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a sketch challenge, designed by me.

I've been doing a lot of hand quilting for the past 6 months or so, and the triangles in the sketch made me wonder if I could translate some of my new skills with fabric to paper using the gorgeous Lovely Linen DSP. It's a lot like quilting fabric, so I was pretty sure I'd be able to make something awesome.

I was right! I used my Stitched Triangles Dies to fussy cut the paper, and then adhered it to a Night Of Navy base. I always love the new patterns that this process creates.

I couldn't bear to cover any of the card front up with something to represent the circle part of the design, but then I realised that the square cross that's formed in the middle of the card works for the circle element. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Bedtime Story stamp set.

I'm not yet sure who will get this card, or for what occasion, so I've chosen not to stamp on the inside of my card for now. A strip of the DSP will do for now!

We'd love for you to play along with us this week at Just Add Ink. I'd especially love to see what you do with my sketch! You can see what the rest of the Design team have done with it over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card for the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 628: Just Add Colour

Hi! 

Hooray for Friday and the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a colour challenge for you, suggested to us by Annie.

Isn't it fabulous? I really love the teal/purple combo, and adding pink to the mix is such a great idea. I decided to use some new purchases, the Layered Books Dies from Waffle Flower.

I started by cutting and layering up a whole lot of the books from the dies - as you can see, some are laying flat and others are on their sides. I love that the die set gives so many options - there's even open books. I just used some Basic Black offcuts to create the bookshelf, all popped up on Dimensionals to add to the scene.

I laughed so much at this sentiment, which is from Bedtime Story by Clearly Besotted. Are you a quitter? LOL! I am not - well, I try not to be, but sometimes my drooping eyes late at night defeat me, haha.

I had a few books left over from the front, so they were put to good use on the inside of my card, along with another Bedtime Story sentiment. I definitely agree with this one, too!

What do you think you'll do with these colours? You can see what the Design Team have created using them over on the Just Add Ink blog. You'll also find the link for the challenge on the blog. I can't wait to see what you create!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 627: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Yay! Friday means that it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a Choose Two challenge, and I was the one who suggested the three options.

You can choose two of day, night or silhouette to add to your card. Which two will you choose? I went for night and silhouette.

My card is a tri-fold opening card. I cropped the front window using my Stitched Rectangle Dies, added two thin strips of cardstock to create the window panes, and then added another cropped black panel to the back to hide the ends of the strips. The black cat silhouette was adhered, and then a window sill, cut using the Hearth & Home Framelits, was adhered over the top. I'd heat embossed the sentiment, from Bedtime Story by Clearly besotted, on the piece first.

On the next section, you can see the scene I created for the cat to gaze at. I started by stamping the Lovely As A Tree large tree at the bottom, making sure that it came up high enough to overlap the moon. The moon is from the Tim Holtz Moon Mask pack. I laid the solid mask over the stamped card, used a Blending Brush to apply some Balmy Blue ink, and then went around the edges with some Night Of Navy ink. I then splattered some Frost White Shimmer Paint over the top. Once it was dry I laid the detail mask over the moon and blended some Sahara Sand ink over the top. The moon really looks like it's glowing!

Another cat silhouette and sentiment from Bedtime Story finished off the inside of the card.

Which two will you choose to go on your card this week? I think that day and night would be tricky, but I'd love to see it done. Maybe it will be your card! You can see the rest of this week's Design Team cards over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also link up your card for the challenge there. I can't wait to see what you make.

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