JAI #253: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

This week at Just Add Ink Nikki has selected a gorgeous bunch of pictures to inspire our creativity.

I was taken by the bold pink and black colour combination with little hints of blue and grey.

Can you tell I quite like this pink DSP? I also used it a few weeks ago on my JAI card!

I love how striking the Basic Black butterfly looks with the Island Indigo backing.  To get this look I first cut a butterfly in Basic Black and then adhered one wing to a sheet of Island Indigo cardstock.  I cut around the butterfly and then repeated for the other side.  The reason I cut the Island Indigo in two sections was so that there would be a gap in the Island Indigo on the back of the butterfly. This allows you to bend the wings of the butterfly up without resistance if you so desire.

The Just Add Ink Design Team have aced this challenge - why don't you pop on over to see the gorgeous creations on the blog?

Bye for now,

Tina

Love Is Kindness

Hi!

One of the first stamps that caught my eye in the new Occasions Catalogue was the single stamp Love Is Kindness. I thought it was really pretty and would make a feature on a stamp without much else on the card. Having said that, the first card I made with it used quite a lot of new product!

Isn't it great?  I carried over the newspaper theme to the background, by using the Dictionary Background stamp.

I coloured the tulip image using some of the new Blendabilities - Pink Pirouette and Wild Wasabi.  I also used the Smoky Slate set to create some highlights on the newspaper.  I'm loving the new, softer colours in the Blendabilities.

As I made this card I thought that it would make a great Mother's Day card too.  I wanted to test out the theory, so I made a second card.

I used the retired For My Family stamp set for the sentiment on the second card.  What do you think? Is it better as a birthday card or a Mother's Day card?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #230: Just Add Dad

Hi!

This week at Just Add Ink we have a bit of an obvious, but still very fun, theme for our challenge this wee.  We want you to Just Add Dad!  Yes, with Father's Day in a couple of days we want you to show us what you've made.  If you don't celebrate Father's Day a male card would be fine too.

I made this card for Rob for Father's Day.  His favourite colours are red, white and black because his favourite footy team is the St George Dragons.  I went for a few retired items on the card too, including the Real Red Coredinations cardstock and the For My Family stamp set.

I've also used a lot of new stuff, like the Typeset SDSP and the Point & Click photopolymer stamp set.  Rob loves maps, so I deliberately chose the map page from the Typeset SDSP pack.

I love this little star cluster and the way it highlights the inside sentiment.  The sentiment is from the Just Sayin' stamp set, but I chose to use a different word bubble that the one it was in.  I used my Real Red marker to selectively colour the stamp to just use the words and then used the speech bubble from Point & Click to frame it.  Love the photopolymer stamps for easy placement!

Can't wait to see what you've all come up with for the males in your life! See you over at Just Add Ink.

Bye for now,

Tina

Baby Boy Onesie Card

Hi!

A couple of weeks ago I showed some baby boy cards that I'd made on commission. Today I have the final card that I made.

This was my first go at making a onesie card and I loved it!  They are so easy to make and look so fabulous.

I used my circle punches to cut the neck and leg holes, after trimming the card to the shape I needed.  I then added some crisp white accents to the arms, legs and neck.  The glimmer paper star is a cute little finishing touch.

The trickiest part of the whole card was cutting the insert for the inside!

Come back on Wednesday for some more Onesie cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

Epic Day Male Card

Hi!

On Monday I showed you a card I'd made as a sample for a Masculine Cards class that I'd run recently.  Here is one of the other cards we made at that class.

This card showed a great way to use up the multitued of little scraps of patterned paper you always seem to end up with.  I just cut them to the same height and adhered them to a piece of backing cardstock. The widths don't matter, in fact I think different widths look better than uniform widths.

A bit tricky to see, but I scored some lines between the sentiment and the DSP panel.  Scor
ing is a great way to add some interest to a card.

We used the Soda Pop Tops (now retired) to add a feature to the card.  We stamped the compass from The Open Sea to go into the Soda Pop Top and then covered it with a layer of Crystal Effects.  In hindsight I would have stamped it in a darker ink.

Bye for now,

Tina

Foil Embossing

Hi!

Today's card has some retired product on it, but I thought I'd show you anyway.  It shows a great technique, and it was one we made in a Masculine Cards class a few months back.

Isn't the metallic background awesome?  So simple too - it's just kitchen foil adhered to some cardstock and embossed in the Big Shot.  Easy peasy!

Fabulous technique for male cards as it adds a really industrial look to the card.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #179: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Friday once more, so another Just Add Ink challenge!

This week Mae has designed a sketch for us to use.  Interpret it how you'd like, but the sketch must be the inspiration for your card.

I chose to make a very literal interpretation of the sketch using some of my new goodies from the new Annual Catalogue.

This was my first play with Gorgeous Grunge, Off The Grid and Smoky Slate.  Love them all!

I cut the arrow shape from the Smoky Slate layer using a punchie for a template and then popped it up on Dimensionals to give it a better effect.

Some complimentary stamping on the inside.  The clock was originally meant for the front, but I felt it needed more than just the red hands.  I restamped one for the front that had the red body, but didn't want to waste the grey one, so I used it on the inside.

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Off The Grid, Clockworks, Make A Wish, For My Family (retired)
Ink: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Smoky Slate, Real Red
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Basic Grey
Other: Paper Snips, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, Fiskars Arrow Punch

What do you think you'll do with Mae's sketch?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #173: Just Add Water

Hi!

Straight into it today, as it's school holidays and the kids are demanding my attention!

 

 The challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to add water.  It was inspired by a water bottle at the recent Convention! You can see the pics and read the story on the Just Add Ink blog.

For my card I decided to use water in a technique rather than as an image on the card. I used the faux watercolour technique, where you ink up your stamp, mist it with a little water and then stamp.  The edges of the stamp go a little blurry and give a watercolour like effect.

You can see the blurriness and also the loss of detail in the flowers that occurs as a result of the misting.  It's a lovely effect, beautiful on female cards. To get the two colours on the sentiment I stamped it in each colour and trimmed the centre bit from the Always Artichoke image before layering it over the Perfect Plum image.

Not hard to tell who got this card!  I was a bit lot late in sending my mum her Mother's Day card. Luckily for me she's a forgiving type.

Stamps: Wildflower Meadow, Label Love, For My Family (retired)
Ink: Island Indigo, Perfect Plum, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Always Artichoke
Other: Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon (retired), Artisan Label Punch, Basic Jewel Pearls, Dimensionals

Bye for now,

Tina

Epic Day Washi Tape Birthday Card

Hi!

One of the products I was most excited about in the new catalogue was the washi tape.  I've seen lots of it used on cards and layouts on the internet but hadn't used any myself.  It's one of those things that I knew I'd love and become addicted to.  Now that Stampin' Up! have added it to their range I can indulge to my heart's desire.

This card was one I made for a few classes I ran last month.  I thought it was a great way to show how washi tape can be used on a card. I used the Epic Day Washi Tape with the Epic Day DSP.

I love the way the tape is translucent so you can see some of the DSP and stamping underneath the tape.

We used some more of the tape on the inside of the card.  It's such a cheap way to decorate a project.  For $8.95 you get 3 rolls of tape, each 4.6 meters long.  That's nearly 14 meters of tape!  I have the more feminine Gingham Garden Washi Tape on it's way to me and I can't wait to play with that too.

Stamps: Clockworks, Just Believe, French Foliage (retired), For My Family (retired)
Ink: Basic Grey
DSP/Cardstock: Epic Day This and That DSP, Very Vanilla, Basic Grey
Other: Epic Day This And That Designer Washi Tape

Bye for now,

Tina

Shimmery Wildflower Meadow

Hi!

I've had a lot of fun playing with this new stamp set, called Wildflower Meadow.

I this case I used my Island Indigo marker to ink up just one of the stems on the stamp. All the white space adds some elegance to the card I think.

To glam it up a little I spritzed the whole card to make it shimmer.

I used the same stamp, but a smaller stem to decorate the inside of the card.

Stamps: Wildflower Meadow, Sweet Essentials, For My Family (retired)
Ink: Island Indigo
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Whisper White
Other: Island Indigo Baker's Twine, Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint/Isocol Mix (retired)

Bye for now,

Tina

Another Festive Friday Christmas Card CASE

Hi!

Today's card was another CASE of a previous Festive Friday Challenge card of mine.  You can see the original card here. Today's card was made as a sample for my November Stamp-A-Stack class.

On this card I used different stamp sets - Ornament Keepsakes and For My Family, as the stamps I used in the first card are now retired. I also used Heart of Christmas on the inside.

I am really loving the Festival Of Prints DSP Stack papers for cards.  Each sheet has enough to cover the front of a card with some smaller strips left over to decorate the inside.

Bye for now,

Tina

Festive Friday #44

Hi!

After a bit of an absence from my Design Team duties I'm back with a Festive Friday card.

This week Nicole has chosen a gorgeous candy cane and peppermint picture to inspire us.

I have been suffering from a serious lack of mojo over the past month.  I've had a lot going on and not much headspace for creating.  Some advice for these kinds of situations is to find a card you love and CASE it.  In this case I decided to CASE myself, so I went right back to the very first Festive Friday card I made. It was a Valentine's card and you can see it card here.

I used the large snowflake stamp from Snow Swirled  and my Real Red Inkpad to recreate the red and white striped look of the peppermint lollies in the inspiration photo.  The merry stamp is from For My Family.  Here's a closer look at the panel.

The scallop punchies are the new smaller Scallop Circle punch from the Holiday Catalogue. I also used some Rhinestones for a bit of bling.  Don't forget the score lines created using my Simply Scored Scoring Tool.

Nice, simple stamping on the inside to compliment the simplicity of the outside.

I hope you can play along with us this week!

Bye for now,

Tina

Just Add Ink #138: Just Add Colour

Hi!

 

Here we are again with another Just Add Ink challenge.  This week Kim has challenged us to use the following colours in our projects.

 

Summer Starfruit seems to be one of those love/hate colours.  Which side of the spectrum are you on?  I'm moving ever closer to the love side after playing with this week's colours.  Here's the card I made for the challenge.

I inked up my Pleasant Poppies stamp for the first time.  It's such a gorgeous stamp.  I also used the new Basic Grey striped satin ribbon from the Holiday Catalogue.  I love that it's double sided - in this case I used the plain side.

I wanted to inject a bit of colour into the main panel so I stamped the poppies a second time onto Summer Starfruit cardstock, fussy cut them and popped them up on dimensionals.

 

I also used the stamp on the inside.  It's such an elegant stamp, perfect for colouring or using as a line image.

 

Stamps: Pleasant Poppies, For My Family, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired hostess)

Ink: Basic Grey, Summer Starfruit

DSP/Cardstock: Basic Grey Patterns DSP, Basic Grey, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

Other: Big Shot, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Basic Grey Striped Satin Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Paper Snips, Sponge Dauber

 

Why don't you give this colour combination a whirl?  You might surprise yourself like I did.  See you over at Just Add Ink.

 

Bye for now,

 

Tina

Festive Friday #38

Hi!

Time for some Friday Christmassy inspiration from the new Festive Friday Challenge.  This week Nicole has designed a sketch for us to play with.

I loved this sketch - it allows a lot of room for playing and could be interpreted in soooo many ways.  Here's how I chose to use the sketch.

I used the new In Colour Midnight Muse as the base of my card, with Brushed Silver as the matt.  I quite like this rich new blue to play with.

The centre panel was embossed and then I used some Frost White Shimmer Paint on a sponge dauber to dab lightly over the panel.  Most of the paint settles on the raised sections of the cardstock, but little bits also land on the lower sections.  I like the 'dusted' look this gives.

Stamps: Snow Swirled, For My Family
Ink: Midnight Muse
Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Brushed Silver, Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Petals A Plenty Embossing Folder, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sponge Dauber, Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Dimensionals

I hope you can play along with the new Festive Friday challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina