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 719: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Welcome to Friday and the new Just Add Ink challenge. Are you up for it? It's a fun colour combo suggested to us by Kim.

I love that she's selected the gorgeous trio of pinks that all work so well together. The rich green is a lovely compliment to the pinks. Of course, it screams flowers, so that's what I did!

I used all retired products on my card today. The die cut flowers are from Pierced Blooms Dies, and they are popped up over a Stitched Shapes circle die.

The swishes in the background are from the Patchwork Pieces dies. I just used a few of the segments for a fun look. Finally, the sentiment is from Simply Fabulous. They are all products that I love so much, and it was fun to play with them again.

All the same things were used on the inside of the card. I chose to cut the leaves from The Shaded Spruce paper from the Regals DSP pack. The polka dots add some whimsy to the card, I think!

What do you see in this colour combo? We'd love to see what you make. You can add your card to our linky over on the Just Add Ink blog when you're ready. You can also see the other fabulous cards made by the Design Team.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 685: Just Add Flowers

 Hi!

Welcome back for another fun year of Just Add Ink challenges! As usual, we are kicking off the year with a Blog Hop to launch the first challenge of 2024. The blog before mine was Annie Alexander's. Wasn't her card gorgeous?

Speaking of gorgeous, what about that challenge graphic? So pretty! We are asking you to Just Add Flowers for our first challenge of 2024.

I reached for my retired Pierced Blooms dies - my favourite floral dies of all time, I think. I cropped the blooms from Berry Burst and Bubble Bath cardstock, with Lemon Lime Twist leaves.

The circle die cut is from Stylish Shapes Dies, and was edged in Balmy Blue ink using a Blending Brush. I cut a length of Shimmery White ribbon in half lengthwise for the sweet little bow.

The sentiments I have used on my card are from Days To Remember. I sometimes forget that this set has more than just calendar stamps!

That's all from me for this week's challenge, but please keep hopping around all of the blogs tonight. Just keep on going until you get back to where you stared. The next stop along the way is the lovely Lou Kitzelman.

When you've made your Just Add Flowers card, jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the Linky for the challenge. We'd love to see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 364: CASE An Easter Project

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. This week we are asking you to CASE an Easter project from either of the two current catalogues.

I don't usually send Easter cards, so I went looking for a project that could easily be made into a birthday card. I found this gem on page 77 of the Jan-June Mini.

I loved the three horizontal stripes on the background of the card, and the cluster of strips that makes up the bunch of stems. 

I don't own the Daffodil Daydream bundle, so I substituted for the soon-to-retire Pierced Blooms Dies. I just trimmed some strips of Soft Succulent cardstock and DSP to use for the stems.

I also used some Pale Papaya Shimmer Vellum instead of the stamped stripes. I embossed it with the long-retired Decorative Dots EF. I am a bit lacking in embossing folders lately, so this was my best option.

I used some offcuts to complete the inside of the card. The sentiments on the card are from the Sweet As A Peach stamp set

We'd love for you to play along with us for our challenge. Just make a suitable card and add a photo to our Facebook group. It's that easy!

For now though, please continue your way around our Blog Hop. The next stop is the lovely Julia Quinn, with an absolutely gorgeous card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Petal Pink

 Hi!

Welcome to Petal Pink week of the Colour Creations Blog Hops. I thought that I'd give a Fancy Fold a spin this week. I'm not exactly sure of the name of the fold, it's just something that's been bouncing around in my 'must try this' part of the brain for a while. I guess it's some kind of Easel card. I'm certainly not claiming to have invented the fold -I just can't recall where/when I saw it.

Here's the card flat. I scored the front of the card base in half and then ran it though my Big Shot with the second largest Layering Circles Die, but with the top plate of the sandwich only covering the top half of the card front, level with the score line. I hope that makes sense! The effect of this was that only the top half of the circle die cut through the card stock.

You can see it a bit better when it's open in the easel position. The top half of the circle pops up from the top. You could probably get the same effect by just adhering a circle die cut to sit over the top of the fold, by this way just adds a bit more fancy to the fancy fold, LOL.

Here's a closer look at the inside, with plenty of room to write a message.

The next stop along the way is the lovely Rachel Woollard. I can't wait to see what she's made with Petal Pink.

Catherine Proctor's blog is the place to go is you run into any difficulty. She's got a list of all participants on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mango Melody

 Hi!

It's time for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop! This week it's Mango Melody's turn to feature on our cards. It's a lovely orange tome from the Brights colour family. I don't use orange a lot, but Mango Melody is my go-to when I do.

I was a bit stumped for ideas this week, so I went for a fairly classic card layout. The four squares are a great way to feature either a small image or die cut, and I chose to use my Pierced Blooms Dies. It's been a while since I played with them!

I used my Stitched Greenery Die on the background, but I think it would look just as good with just a white background. You can't see it, but I have added a swim of Wink Of Stella to the white centres of the flowers. Each square was popped up using Dimensionals.

One final flower completes the inside of the card. The flowers are double layered, as I thought that the single layer wasn't quite enough.

Thanks for joining me again - I do hope that you continue your way around our Blog Hop tonight. The teams has been fabulous each week, full or inspiration for the feature colour. The next blog in the hop tonight is my lovely friend, Theresa Gerrard. I'm sure she's got a stunner for us, waiting over on her blog!

Jump on over to Catherine Proctor's blog if you run into a problem - she's our fabulous hostess, and has a full list of all tonight's hoppers on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 572: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Nikki has found a glorious photo to inspire our creativity.

Doesn't it make you so happy that Spring has finally arrived? I certainly love the warmer weather! This photo gave me a great excuse to play with two new purchases that I had yet to use. They worked so well with my favourite Pierced Blooms Dies.

The first new product is an embossing folder from Altenew, called Cloudy Day. The layers of clouds are wonderful! I used my chalk marker to highlight the top edges of the clouds to give a little more definition.

The second new product is the Uniquely Creative Stitched Sun die. It's so happy and cheerful!! I heat embossed the sentiment from Sweet Strawberry and cropped it with a circle punch before popping it on top of the sun. 

I added an extra flower to the inside of my card. I had thought about using the stem die for the flowers, but it would have been way too fiddly, so I used the leaf die instead. I like the effect, even if I'm not sure that the extra leaves are correct. But who cares, really? It's a fun, happy card and the friend I gave it to was delighted to receive it - and that's all that matters.

That's it from me for now, but please pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design team cards. We have some new members on the Team, so please go and give them a warm welcome. Sadly, we are also farewelling one of our wonderful long-term members of the DT. While on the blog, you can also link up your card for our challenge. I can't wait to see what you make.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 567: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

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

Aren't the colours fabulous? Such a rich palette. I took my inspiration from both the colours and the rug on the floor for my card. I used Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Cinnamon Cider, Calypso Coral, Mint Macaron and Basic Black.

I started with my Stitched Greenery Die on the Island Indigo cardstock. It's a great base on which to nestle the Calypso Coral Pierced Blooms flowers, don't you think?

The sentiment is a mix of Biggest Wish and Pretty Perennials. I finished off the front with a scattering of black sequins, and a swish of Wink Of Stella on the flower centres.

When I used my Stitched Greenery die on the front of the card, I cut the cardstock a little wider so that I could trim off the extra width to use on the inside. The sweet little flower was a good way to finish decorating the inside of the card.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of the Design Team's cards. You can also link up your card for the challenge. I can't wait to see what you make!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Blushing Bride

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for this week's Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are looking at Blushing Bride this week, which is a dusty pink from the Subtles colour family.  Pink is not really a colour I find myself reaching for a lot, so I had to think hard about what I was going to make this week.

To keep it simple, I decided upon a bouquet of flowers using the Pierced Blooms Dies. I started the card with a wash of Blushing Bride ink on Shimmery White cardstock. I knew I wanted to mix in some white flowers with the pink, so this was a way to avoid them getting lost in the background.

Once it dried I adde the flowers and stems over the top. The flower centres have a little Wink Of Stella added, but it was hard to photograph on the gloomy day I took the photo. The sentiment is from Sweet As A Peach, and is cropped using the label die from the All Dressed Up Dies. I often forget I have that label - it's a good size for those slightly larger small sentiments.

I had a few flowers left over, so they were put to good use on the inside of my card, along with another sentiment from Sweet As A Peach.

Next up on tonight's Blog Hop is my lovely Victorian friend, Theresa Gerrard, with what is bound to be a gorgeous card!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 325: Die Bundles Section

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop.  This week Rebecca has challenged us to CASE a card from the Die Bundles Section of the Annual Catalogue.

The section runs for six pages, so there's plenty of choices for you. I found this card, that uses the All For Baby bundle.

I really loved the stripes of colour that faded out toward the top of the card, and how the images layered over the top matched the colours. I don't have this bundle, but I thought that flowers would make a great alternative.

I started with a piece of the new Hostess DSP, Pattern Party. I cropped the piece a little longer than I needed for the card front by about half an inch. I then trimmed this piece into four 1 inch wide strips. Each of the strips were then inked using Blending Brushes, fading the colour out to the top. I used Pale Papaya, Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party and Petal Pink. After colouring, I trimmed the extra length from the bottom of the strips and adhered the strips to a card front sized piece of Whisper White. You can see that I was careful to keep the strips in the same order, so that the little circles in the paper match up.

The flowers were cropped from matching cardstock and adhered to the front of the card. I used Granny Apple Green for the leaves.

I used the pieces I trimmed from the front to decorate the bottom of the inside - you can just see them peeping out from underneath the flowers. It was much easier to ink the strips in one go and then trim them to size.

Have you joined our Facebook group so that you can participate in our challenges? We'd love to see what you make!

Please continue on with our Blog Hop tonight by jumping on over to Rebecca's blog. You won't want to miss any of the stops along the way - there's lots of inspiration to be seen.

Bye for now,

Tina