JAI 721: 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 Kerry.

I love the neutral colour scheme of the photos, and the books are an obvious draw for me. I have lots of book related crafting products! However, I recently purchased a bundle of floral stamps and dies, and thought that I'd have play with them for my card.

The bundle is called Bella Flora, and is by Ink Road Stamps. They are really pretty stylised flowers and coordinating dies. I think that they have a little bit of a tattoo feel to them, but they would also look wonderful coloured. So many possibilities!

I lightly stamped the Sheet Music background stamp on my Crumb Cake cardstock, and then randomly stamped the flower over the top. A die cut of the flower was layered over the top, with the die cut 'hello' popped up over the whole lot. It's also part of the Bella Flora bundle. A few lengths of twine and some champagne rhinestones finished off the front of the card.

The inside was left mostly blank, as I don't know how I'll use this card yet. The flowers in the corner are a nice finishing touch.

We'd love to see what strikes your interest in our Inspiration Photo this week. You can jump on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see what inspired the rest of the Design Team. You can also link up your card in our Linky when you're ready.

Bye for now,

Tina

Non Traditional Christmas Traditions

Hi!

It's time for the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Share. This week has been a bit of a purple week for me. Did you see yesterday's Gorgeous Grape card? Tonight I've gone for the other new purple - Highland Heather. I've teamed it with the new Silver Foil Edged Cards and Envelopes, which you can find in the Holiday Catalogue.

I started by stamping the Sheet Music stamp in the top left and bottom right corners. I then sponged all around using Highland Heather ink, leaving the middle bare. I stamped the starry swirl from Star Of Light through the middle. I then splattered some water on the card, and finished by using my Aqua Painter to splatter some Frost White Shimmer Paint over the top. Be careful with the water - it does not agree with the silver foil.

The sentiment stamp is also from the Holiday Catalogue. It's from the Christmas Traditions bundle, which also includes the punch and a gorgeous Christmas tin. How perfect is this sentiment with the Sheet Music stamp? I've layered it over a Silver Foil banner and a vellum circle.

Luckily, another stamp set has some more lyrics from the same song! I've used Hearts Come Home on the inside. I've finished it off in the same way as the front of the card. I really love the way the swirls look along the edge of the sponging. I think I'll use that on another card soon!

You can find the rest of this week's Heart Of Christmas cards over at Claire's Blog. I always look forward to seeing what everyone creates each week.

Bye for now,

Tina

AWH Blog Hop: Favourite Colour Combination

Hi!

It's time for the monthly Art With Heart Blog Hop. This month is a fun one, and I'm very keen to see what the rest of the team has created!

The Art with Heart Team ladies are selecting their favourite colour combinations to share with you tonight. Choosing the right colour scheme can be essential to your design and with Stampin’ Up!'s stunning collection, there are 50 colours to choose from. There’s sure to be some combinations that work really well together and you can take inspiration from.

Now sit back and enjoy some time out of your day to cruise through our blog hop and soak up some colour explosion eye candy!

If you're a bit like me, choosing a favourite colour combination is a bit like choosing a favourite child - it depends on the time of the day, the mood of the children, my mood.... I could go on! I've been on a bit of a vintage roll lately, and using a lot of Tranquil Tide. It's one of the colours that I thought was yucky when I first saw it, but I'm a total convert!

As you can see, this time around I've paired it with Fresh Fig, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla to create my card.

You may notice that the pattern in my Fresh Florals DSP doesn't look white, as it should. I used a clever trick for 'ageing' it - I used my sponge brayer to roll over some Crumb Cake ink. It works a treat for subduing the white in the pattern.

The tulips were stamped in Fresh Fig onto some scrap Very Vanilla, fussy cut and then popped up on Dimensionals. I used my new Sheet Music stamp on the oval, and then went around the edge using one of the stamps in Timeless Textures. I also used the stamp to go around the edge of the sentiment panel.

I think the inside is one of my favourite parts of the card. I selectively inked the Sheet Music stamp, and then pressed parts of the cardstock onto the inked stamp while holding up the rest of the cardstock. I used my fingers to press the cardstock to the stamp so that I got a soft edge to the stamped image. I sponged a little Crumb Cake ink over the top, and then stamped the stamp from Timeless Textures along the edges.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented Kathryn Ruddick. 

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Catherine Proctor
2. Sharon Davern
3. Tina Gillespie
<-- br="" me="">4. Kathryn Ruddick
5. Andrea Roberts
6. Rebecca Jacovou
7. Monika O’Neill
8. Caroline Manwaring
<-- br="" me="">9. Rachel Woollard
10. Kimberly Hern
11. Ros Davidson
12. Amie McIlroy
13. Kate Morgan

AWH HOC Week 8

Hi!

Woo Hoo! I'm back on the Heart Of Christmas blog shares. Having to miss last week was not fun, so I made doubly sure I'd have time this week to make a Christmas card.

AS with my past card, I'm still playing with the Be Merry Suite of products. I was going for a bit of a clean vintage with this card - there's a bit of sponging, but no other ageing type effects.

The Be Merry DSP has lovely, traditional colours, but I keep finding myself adding Crumb Cake to the mix Don't you think it works beautifully? It really adds to the vintage feel, as does the Sheet Music background stamp.

I tried something new with the sentiment panel, by having the Garden Green layer only exposed on two sides. I quite like the effect. Here's a confession - I accidentally trimmed too close to the sentiment, so I went for the lopsided look to try to hide it! The twine and the wooden star from the Hearts and Stars Elements help to give the panel balance.

I used all of the same elements on the inside as I did on the outside, just pared back a little. I wasn't going to include the star, but at the last minute I added him to the card.

You can see what the rest of the Art With Heart team have created by heading over to Claire's blog. She's got all the links to everyone's blogs there.

Bye for now,

Tina