JAI 746: Just Add Swirls

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Nikki has challenged us to Just Add Swirls to our cards.

There are so many different ways to interpret this challenge. In the end I decided that I would pull out an old favourite stamp set, and add a swirling dancer to my card.

To add an extra bit of movement, and another swirl, I die cut the swirling stars from my Stitched Stars dies in Bubble Bath cardstock to the background of the card.

The swirling dancer, from Born To Shine, was coloured with my Melon Mambo (and a few other) Stampin' Blends and popped up over the top.

The Bubble Bath stars came from the swirl of stars on the front. I don't like wasting perfectly good offcuts, so they were put to work on the front and inside of the card, along with sentiments from Born To Shine.

We'd love to see which swirls you will add to your card. You can see what the Design Team have made over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you will also find our Linky so that you can add your card to the challenge album.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 725: Just Add Stencilling

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week, Lou has suggested that we Just Add Stencilling to our cards. Fun!

It's been a while since I used any of my stencils, so I dusted off the box that I store them in and started digging. At first I thought that I might use a moon stencil, but then I rediscovered my Warp Speed stencil, from Altenew. Bingo!

I love how it creates a focal point at the centre of the card. I inked it up using Salty Ocean Distress Oxide and a blending brush. I had to make sure to ink from all angles so that the shapes came out cleanly. I then added a couple of Stitched Stars die cuts, cropped from Silver and Gold foil, to further highlight the focal point.

My wonderful superhero is from a Kindred Stamps set, called Wonderful. Isn't she fabulous? I coloured her with my Stampin' Blends and a couple of metallic markers. The sentiment from the stamp set was a great way to finish off the card.

I left the inside fairly plain, with just a gold foil star. This way the card could be used for several different occasions.

We'd love for you to-lay along this week. Stencils are a fun and inexpensive way to add interest to a card, I think. I can't wait to see what you make. You can see what the rest of the Design Team have created this week over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also add your stencilled card to our Linky.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 699: Just Add Colour

Hi! 

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a colour challenge for you, suggested to us by Di.

I really love this combo, and I feel like, depending on how you use the colours, it could be either masculine or feminine. This is a bit of a last hurrah for Starry Sky, as it retires at the end of the month.

My oldest son recently turned 21, and so he needed a special card. I decided to make a Double Z Fold card for him. On the front I stamped a combination sentiment from a long-retired SAB set, called Amazing Phrasing. I used three separate stamps for the sentiment, mixing and matching from the options available in the set. A couple of Coastal Cabana Stitched Star die cuts finished off the front.

I used the Alphabet A La Mode Dies for the foil numbers, and Number Of Years (also long-retired) to stamp around them. Another Stitched Stars foil star finished off the front of the card.

I decided to add an extra panel to the back of the card to give us plenty of room to write our messages to Alex. I couldn't resist dressing it up with yet another foil star.

We'd love to see what you make with this week's colours. I think they are gorgeous, and hopefully you do too. Pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see what the rest of the Design team have made with them. You can also add your card to our Linky to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 688: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Welcome to another week of Just Add Ink challenges. This week we have a fabulous Choose Two challenge for you, suggested to us by Lou.

We'd like you to Choose Two of Sequins, Stars or Stitching to add to your card. I immediately thought of my Stitched Stars dies, which meant that I got my two in one go!

I've been doing a bit of rearranging in my craft space and picked up the Showtime Limited Edition kit from Kindred Stamps. I thought that this little piggy was the perfect choice to go with sequins, stars and stitching. I coloured her with my Comic markers and popped her up over the foil Stitched Stars die cuts on top of some Expressions In Ink SDSP.

I love the swirly star die cut on the front of the card, especially as you end up with five stars that can be used to decorate there rest of your card. I used three on the front and the final two to jazz up the inside of my card.

We'd love to see which two elements you choose from our challenge this week. You can see what the Design Team chose over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also find our Linky when you're ready to enter your card in the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 11

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Can you believe that we've been going for 11 weeks now? Time is flying by! Speaking of time, I was very time short this week, as I got sucked into the vortex of a new hobby - I've started English Paper Piecing, and it's very addictive! As such, I was racing to get my cards made this morning. I had an hour to spare, and I just squeaked into that time frame. 

I used the June 2020 Sheetload Of Cards template, which makes things a lot quicker - all the thinking has been done for me. The banners were offcuts from a previous set of Heart Of Christmas cards, so there was very little cutting to do. The paper is from the Lights Aglow DSP, which is just gorgeous.

The sentiments are from the coordinating stamp set, called Brightest Glow. I love the mix of fonts and sentiments from the set. I also used a couple of offcuts of DSP to decorate the bottom of the inside.

Here's my group of four cards. The bokeh paper makes a really nice base for the sparkly paper banners. This was a great way to use up more of the black DSP from the pack, as it's mostly hidden by the other banners!

That's all from me for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. There's plenty more Christmas gorgeousness to be seen, with my lovely friend Andrea Sargent up next.

Another of my lovely friends, Sharon Davern, does a marvellous job of keeping us all organised each week. It's a big job, and the work she does is very appreciated. If you run into a problem with links, jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all participants.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 379: Sale-A-Bration Catalogue

 Hi!

Welcome back to the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Can you believe that it's the end of the week - and for me, the end of the school holidays - already? 

This week we are returning to the Sale-A-Bration catalogue. You can CASE any project on any page. I found this fun card on page 4.

Rays Of Light was one of the very first stamp sets I purchased from the Annual Catalogue, so I'm always on the lookout for samples using it. I loved that each individual ray was cut out and applied to this card, so like a crazy woman, I decided to CASE it.

There's a LOT of rays! LOL. I stamped the image on two pieces of Flirty Flamingo cardstock. One was cropped with a Stitched Rectangles Die. I fussy cut each ray from the second piece of cardstock and layered it over the top. I adhered the inner part of the ray directly to the cardstock, and the end of the ray was popped up on Dimensionals. It gave a really cool effect to the card.

Once I finished, I trimmed the edges and adhered the piece to a Gold Foil card. The Nothing's Better Than bundle was used to decorate the card. I cropped the word 'Cocktails' five times - four in Basic Black and one in Gold foil. I made sure I used Adhesive Sheet on the back so that I was able to adhere the layers together easily. 

I couldn't resist adding another cocktail to the inside. This card will be going to a niece, who is celebrating her 18th birthday later in the month.

We'd love for you to play along with us this week, and every week! All you need to do is make a suitable card, take a photo and add it to our Facebook group. Easy!

Please keep on hopping around our blog hop, as there is plenty more gorgeous Sale-A-Bration inspiration to be found, starting with the lovely Julia Quinn. 

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 562: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Thanks for popping in for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Kim has found a fun Christmas Inspiration photo for our challenge. Do you celebrate Christmas in July in your part of the world? I think it's a bit of a Southern Hemisphere thing, so we can have the traditional hot meal when it's cold enough weather to enjoy it! 

The things that struck me in looking at this photo were the expanses of white and the pops of green and red, so that's where I went with my card.

The Red and Green Foil sheets are a part of a pack from last year's Holiday Mini that is making a comeback in this year's Holiday Mini. I purchased them last year, but didn't even crack open the pack! The Stitched Stars dies were used to crop the star, and the 'merry' is from a long-retired set of dies, called Christmas Greetings.

I also cropped the swirly star swoosh from Stitched Stars in white cardstock. I snipped it into two pieces to extend how far it stretched over the background of my card, hiding the join under the star. The whole card front was popped up onto a white card base.

I cropped some extra stars from the left over Red Foil and popped them around the sentiment on the inside, which is from the Joy To The World Paper Pumpkin kit.

To see what the rest of the Design team have created using our Inspiration photo, please head on over to the Just Add Ink Blog. You can also link up your card in our challenge. The hardest part will be working out what inspires you from the photo!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #543: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week Kelly has designed a really fun sketch for us to use.

What do you think of when you see the sketch? I am quite a logical person, and I like the orderliness of the grid. It made me think of a die that I'd purchased recently, but had yet to use. It's the Circle Coverplate Die, from Uniquely Creative.

You didn't think I'd cut all those circles individually, do you? LOL! The die cuts them all at once, and the stitched border too. The stars were cut individually though, using the Stitched Stars Dies. I used Magenta Madness, Basic Black and Silver Foil. 

When I was finished adding all the stars, I realised that there wasn't really a good place for a sentiment. I tried a few different things, but nothing that I was happy with. In the end, I just left it blank. The repeated stars and the bold magenta make enough of a statement, that I think a sentiment isn't really necessary.

I didn't have a suitable sentiment for the inside, so I used my retired Labeller Alphabet stamps to create my own. The star die was used to create the opening to allow the magenta to peek through. I'm not sure what I'll use this card for, but like for my daughter next time she dances in a performance. The colours fit her dance studio colours perfectly!

Please head on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll find the rest of this week's Design Team cards. You can also enter your card in our challenge - what do you see in the sketch?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #532: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome back to the new Just Add Ink Challenge. This week we have a cool sketch, designed by Patrice.

My oldest son graduated High School recently. Due to a new COVID 'circuit breaker' lockdown in Adelaide, his formal was cancelled. We did a little celebration for him at home, which included strawberry cake and red and gold star shaped balloons. Can you tell what his favourite colour is? LOL! I decided that I would make him a card to mark this huge occasion in his life.

I stuck with the red and gold stars theme, using my Stitched Stars Dies and Red and Gold Foil to cut the starry flourish and large star for the front. The word 'congratulations' is from Well Said, and is cropped using my Stitched Rectangles Dies.

You can see that I've also used my Dainty Diamonds EF on the background. I thought that it worked well with the stars without being too girly.

I cut a few smaller Red Foil Stitched Stars for the inside, and complimented them with the Gold Foil stars that popped out of the flourish on the front.

You can join in the fun over on the Just Add Ink Blog. Once you've checked out the rest of the DesignTeam cards, you can add your card to our linky. I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Just Jade

 Hi!

Welcome back to this week's Colour Creations Showcase. This week we are highlighting one of the newest In Colours - Just Jade. It's what I'd call a dusky green, and is a shade that I really like. Despite that, I haven't used it much, yet. After this week's showcase, I may find myself reaching for it a little more!

I started by using my Stitched Triangles dies to cut a heap of isosceles triangles from Just Jade cardstock. I then threw them into my Subtle 3DEF and ran it though my Big Shot. I didn't want the embossing to go in the same direction on each triangle, although it seems that in trying to be random, two have ended up the same! Oh well.

I cut some tree trunks from Brushed Metallic foil, and also the word 'peace' from my Joy Dies. The stars are from the swirly die in the Stitched Stars set. All this was layered over the top of a Whisper White layer, embossed with the Dainty Diamonds 3DEF. I like how the pattern could be stars twinkling in the background.

I repeated the trees on the inside, just on a much smaller scale, and the finished off with a sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas.

As is usual for our Colour Creations Showcase, the list of all participants is over on the lovely Catherine's blog. Please do pop on over to see what everyone has made.

Bye for now,

Tina