JAI 590: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. We have an Inspiration Photo for you this week, selected by Nikki.

Such a cute little succulent! I have no idea of what type it is, but the flowers are so pretty! I don't have a lot of succulent-related stuff in my physical stash, so I went looking through my digi stamps for ideas, and stumbled across this little beauty.

She's called Springtime Girl and is from Stamp Anniething, and I think that she was a prefect choice for this challenge! 

I've coloured her with my Copic Markers, trying to pull colours from the Inspiration Photo. I deliberately made her blonde, as I have very dark brown hair. If I don't think about it, all the people that I colour end up with brown hair!

Being a digi stamp on a PDF, it's tricky to print her off again to use on the inside, so I tried to create a succulent on the inside. I used the pot die from my Perfect Plants Dies and just hand drew the outline. The plant is from an old set - I can't recall the name - that had a llama and a cactus tree in it. I've just chopped up the tree, added hand-drawn lines, and arranged the pieces in the pot.

I can't wait to see what inspires you in our challenge image this week. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You can also add your card to our challenge linky.

Bye for now,

Tina

Freshly Made Sketches 516

 Hi!

You've probably worked out by now that I love my pop culture stamps. I'm getting quite a collection!! One company that I like, Ink Road Stamps, just started a monthly challenge in their FB group, with the first theme being Movies. To make the challenge a little easier on myself, I went searching for a sketch challenge to go with it. I've known of Freshly Made Sketches for a while, but never played along. Today was the day!

This is their current sketch challenge, which will close in less than a day. Oops, better get my skates on! I chose my Pretty Bizarre stamp set, by Ink Road Stamps, to go with it.

I started with the silhouette stamp, which I stamped on my Stamparatus. I had to stamp a few times to get a full, solid black image. He's just fussy cut, which I really shouldn't do late at night! I really love this sentiment, too. It cracks me up every time! I love how the silhouette is framed by the two Stitched Triangles die cuts - such a cool effect.

The stencil that I used is Burst Layering Stencil, by Tim Holtz. Lucky Clover Distress Oxide was the ink I used, and stencilled onto Shaded Spruce cardstock.

I used a couple more stamps from Pretty Bizarre on the inside. I struggle a bit with needing to put a 'happy birthday' stamp somewhere on a birthday card, but then I usually end up writing happy birthday anyway, so maybe the stamp is a little redundant? I shall have to ponder some more!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 584: Just Add A Christmas Gift Tag

 Hi!

Thanks for again joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. As we inch ever closer to Christmas, we have decided to challenge you to make a Christmas gift card holder or tag - we all need plenty of those right now!

Every year I like to send a huge box of chocolates to my youngest son's school as a thanks for all their hard work. It's a very small special school, so they certainly work very hard with the kids all year. I decided to make an extra-large tag to attach to the chocolates.

I started with a piece of In Good Taste DSP, which I cropped to 2 1/2 by 6 inches. I then used snips to shape the top and bottom edges into a more tag-like shape. Some Glittered Organdy ribbon was stapled to the top.

The Star Wreath Die is from Uniquely Creative, and was used to cut some Green Foil. I layered it under some of the Be Dazzling SAB paper and the retired Joy Dies and Red Foil to finish it off. It's very sparkly!!

Please jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team gift tags and gift card holders. You can also link up your project in our challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 576: Just Add A Moving Element

 Hi!

Welcome once again to my blog for the start of the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's one that Kelly and I dreamed up - to add a moving element to a card.

What do we mean by this? It's simply something that moves on your card. Some examples may be things like a wobbler spring, a spinner or a slider of some sort - if it moves, it counts! I've always been intrigued by the idea of the Theatre or Stage card, so that's what I decided to make.

I used a combination of a few different tutorials to make the base of my card. Most Theatre cards are landscape orientation, but for the idea I had I needed a portrait orientation. I used the wooden and brick papers from the In Good Taste DSP, as I was trying to recreate a magical alleyway that opens at the tap of a special umbrella.

Here is the card with the brick panels opened up to reveal the alleyway behind. The gigantic character is from a Kindred Stamps set, called Masters Of Magic. I coloured him with my Stampin' Blends. He's an earthy character, so I stuck with Mossy Meadow, Old Olive and Soft Suede.

I was reasonably happy with my first attempt at a Theatre card, but I think I'll have another go at it soon. What Moving Element do you think you'll add to your card? Will you use the opportunity to try something new, or revisit an old favourite? I can't wait to see. You can link your card for our challenge over on the Just Add Ink Blog, where you will also find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. We had a lot of fun with this challenge!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 569: Just Add N

 Hi!

Hooray for the end of another busy week. And double Hooray for it being Just Add Ink time! This week it's one of my Alphabet Challenges, and the letter we have for you this time is N.

If you're new to these challenges, it just means that you use one or more things on your card that start wth N. It could be a stamp set, embellishment, colour, theme - your imagination is the limit!

If you know me and my family, you'd know that we are all mad Harry Potter fans. Given that today is the 20th Anniversary of the first movie release, I couldn't help but make a HP card. My N element is the character that I've featured. Do you know his ghostly name? You're a real fan if you know his living name!!

To get a ghost-like image, I stamped him in Smokey Slate ink on a piece of In Good Taste DSP. I then coloured him with some grey Copic markers. The effect is as I hoped it would be - you can see the bricks through the image, just like you would in the movie! The sentiment is a reference to the character being not quite headless, as his beheading was botched, much to his ghostly frustration.

I've stamped the image again on the inside, stamped off once for a softer, ghostly look. The stamps I've used are all from the Kindred Stamps set, called World Of Magic. I think it's now retired, but definitely a set for my permanent collection!

That's all from me tonight, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you will find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. We all have lots of fun with the Alphabet Challenges, and we hope you do, too!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 321: Mini Project, Masculine Twist

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's a fun challenge this week. Actually, all our challenges are fun (I think!) but this one was extra fun for me.

We are tasking you to find a project in the Mini Catalogue and give it a masculine twist. I like to really challenge myself, so I decided to look for a very feminine card to twist.

Smoochy, lipstick lips are super feminine, right?

My first thought was to replace the lips with a bow tie, and the rest of the card was built around that! The bow tie, from Handsomely Suited, was coloured with my Night Of Navy Blends and then cropped with the matching Suit & Tie Dies. My sentiment is from Sweet Strawberry, and I've just noticed that it has a mix of fonts, just like the catalogue card I am CASEing.

The DSP is from the In Good Taste pack, which carried over from the previous Annual Catalogue. I layered it on a discarded piece of Whisper White that had beens tamped with the Birch stamp and cropped with a Stitched Rectangles Die. I had made it for a different card and didn't end up using it, but it worked perfectly on this card. I tied a reef knot in my twine, instead of the bow on the original card.

My DSP offcut from the front of the card and a tie were the perfect additions to the inside of the card.

That's all from me for tonight, but your job is just beginning! We'd love to see how you turn a non-masculine card into a masculine card. All you need to do is make the card and post a photo in our Facebook group.

Don't race off too quickly, though! You will want to finish our blog hop first! Please pop on over to Peta's blog, where she has a stunner of a card made using a popular stamp set for masculine cards.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 553: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to Friday and the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Kelly has designed a really cool sketch for us to use.

In case you haven't worked it out by now, me and my family are huge Harry Potter fans. I've been wanting to make a HP card using the Suit & Tie dies since I purchased them, and this sketch gave me the opportunity.

All I did was pull the four thin strips in the sketch to the front, rather than under the main panel. Four house ties later, and the card was nearly done! The sentiment is from a long-retired Kindred Stamps set, called Wizard Friends.

To create the ties, I cut one each of a full tie and the knot piece from Cherry Cobbler, Blueberry Bushel, Crushed Curry and Shaded Spruce cardstock. For the strips, I added a piece of Adhesive Sheet to the back of the appropriate colour and used my Mini Trimmer to cut thin strips, some wider than others. I adhered the stripes to the first tie and then, to get the ties to match, I laid the next tie over the top. By doing this, I was able to line up the strips exactly with the tie underneath. Once I'd finished the second tie, I lifted it off the first, trimmed the strips and moved onto the next. A bit fiddly, but worth it, I think!

I was a bit lot over making ties by the time I got to the inside, so I settled with stamping a tie image from another Kindred Stamps set, called Magic Planing. I used my Stamparatus to line them up, and stamped them in the matching inks as the ties on the front. The card is 5 inches square, so it leaves plenty of room for writing a message!

That's all from me tonight, but please do pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. They are all as wonderful as usual! We can't wait to see the wonderful card you make with the sketch as your inspiration.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 551: Just Add 3D

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Rachael has challenged us to add 3D. Hmmm! Thinking cap on!

I decided that this might be a good opportunity to make a 3D card. I was originally searching for a tutorial for that card that looks like a stack of blocks. As you can probably guess, I had no luck as I couldn't think of the name of it, and Google wasn't helpful with the descriptors that I was using to search for it. I did come across a Bay Window card, though, and as it's another Fancy Fold I've wanted to try for a while, it was the winner.

Most Bay Window cards that I've seen don't actually have a window in the front, which seems a little strange to me! I had the idea of using one of the Forever Gold laser cut pieces to frame the window. Great idea, but as I only had hexagonal ones left, it did make it a little more trickier to cut the opening. I got there in the end though. I was even able to get the sentiment in the right spot to be seen through the window. Go me!

Here you can see how the front of the card sits out from the back. The Forever Gold leaf to the side holds it in place, but the card also folds flat for easy postage. I think that it would be really cool to create a little scene on the inside to view through the window - I will have to try that another time.

Here's the inside of the card. I used another of the Forever Gold leaves on the inside. It's funny how you can be a bit stingy using these during the year, but when you realise that they are about to retire you are suddenly throwing them around like confetti, LOL! Luckily, the In Good Taste DSP is carrying over.

That's all from me tonight, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the rest of this week's Design Team 3D projects. There's a fabulous mix of dimensional projects! You can also enter your 3D project up using our Linky. Can't wait to see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #542: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday, and hopefully the start of a cooler weekend! It's been 30+ here for most of the week, so I'm looking forward to a few cooler days. But let's get into the challenge! This week at Just Add Ink, we have an Inspiration Photo, suggested by Lou, to spark our creativity.

It's such a fun mix of colours and textures, don't you think? You can be inspired by anything in the photo, like the colours and textures as I mentioned. You don't have to recreate the photo, but having said that, that's pretty much what I did! LOL!

I started by pulling my retired Tropical Chic bundle down off the shelf. I kept it for the gorgeous, lush fern stamps. I knew they would come in handy one day! I used the mirror stamping technique with my Stamparatus so that the fat leaf would bend in both directions. Apologies to any gardeners that I may have offended - I have no idea what the different types of ferns are, or even if fern is the right word to describe them!

The pot for the ferns was cropped using the Balloon punch. I just trimmed off the top and bottom and wrapped some of the Blushing Bride Snail Mail Twine around it. I also used some Blushing Bride DSP, from the retired Tropical Escape pack. To replicate the wall in the Inspiration Photo I used some rendered wall DSP from the In Good Taste pack.

I had a fe left over bits and pieces from the front, which were put to good use on the inside. The sentiments on the card are from the A Good Man stamp set, stamped in Shaded Spruce ink.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can link up your card for this week's challenge - after you've checked out eh rest of the Design Team cards, of course!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #304: Love You Always Suite

 Hi!

Welcome to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's always fun looking at which catalogue, or part of the catalogue, we are challenged to CASE each week. This week was an extra challenge for me, as I am really not into any of the lovey-dovey stuff!

The Lovely You Always suite is allllll about love! You can choose any project from pages 10-13 to CASE this week. I had to look past the hearts and flowers to find a card to CASE. I liked the layout of this card on page 13.

The angled banner behind the main sentiment was the feature that caught my eye. I love a good banner, but sometimes it's good to shake things up by doing a single diagonal cut, rather than a flagged end. Don't you agree?

I had some Darling Donkeys sitting on my craft desk, ready to be coloured, so that's what I decided to use on my card. To go with the country look of the donkeys I used some of my In Good Taste DSP for the background. I really love the wooden papers!

The grass is from the retired Wiggly Bugs Dies, and the sky was created using a template made from the Rainbow Builder Dies and my Blending Brush with Balmy Blue ink. You may noticed that this frolicking donkey is popped out from the card - he's actually on a wobble spring! The spring happened to be on my desk near the donkeys, so it was the perfect combination for my card. 

You can check out the wobble in the video. However, my phone camera did not pick up all of the wobble - very strange! Still, it's enough to give you the idea. He's having a grand old time leaping through the grass!

And now he's all puffed out! LOL! I thought the sitting donkey was the perfect addition to the inside of my card, along with matching grass and sky. I'm not sure yet who I will give this card to, but hopefully they find it just as fun as I do!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around the Blog Hop. We'd also love you to join in the fun by entering our challenge through our Facebook Group. All you need to do is join the group (if you're not already a member), and add a photo of your CASE to the group. Simple!

Next up in the hop is the lovely Rebecca. She must be into the lovey-dovey stuff, as she was doubly inspired by the suite!

Bye for now,

Tina