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 764: Just Choose Two

 Hi!

Welcome to the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week we have a Just Choose Two challenge for you, suggested to us by Nikki.

Which combination of Pearls, Patterned Paper or Pastels will you choose? I'm not usually a pastel person, but something about it called to me this time. I also had my Inspiration Squad stamp set on my desk and thought that a pastel dragon would be super cute!

What do you think? Was I right? I coloured him with my Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink and Ivory Stampin' Blends.

I fussy cut him out and the popped him up over a Stylish Shapes circle die cut. I used the same die set to crop the sentiment, from Simply Said. A scattering of Party Dots in Pretty In Pink finished off the front of the card.

The Patterned Paper that I used was from a 2024-26 In Colour DSP pack. I'm a sucker for stripes, and the delicate stripes on the paper worked well with the pastel theme. While I used the stripes horizontally on the front, I chose to use them vertically on the inside, along with a second dragon. He's so cute!

I can't wait to see what you choose to use on your card. You can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you'll see what the rest of the Design Team chose. You can also link up your card when you're ready to enter the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 758: Just Add A Sketch

 Hi!

Thanks ever so much for joining me for the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Kim has designed a fun sketch to inspire our creativity.

I love using circles on cards, and that wee little bow? So sweet! I wanted to make a sewing themed card for a friend, so I went hunting through my extensive paper stash for some suitable paper. This gingham print from the Country Gingham DSP pack was the perfect choice.

The paper colour is Sweet Sorbet, thankfully I had some coordinating cardstock in my stash too. A layer of Whisper White under the DSP gave it a lovely pop.

The stamp set that I used is from Kindred Stamps, called National Sewing Machine Day. It's a great choice for a sewing themed thank you card! I used my Stylish Shapes Dies to crop the banners and the stitched circle. The solid circle is from the long retired Circles Collection Framelits.

The inside uses another sentiment from the Sewing Machine stamp set, a strip of left over DSP and some sweet die cuts from the Quilt Builder Framelits dies. I love it when different products from different companies work so well together!

That's all from me for this week, but we'd love to see what you make. You can see the rest of the Design Team cards over on the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also add your card to our Linky.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 701: 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 Nikki.

Isn't it fab? The chairs look very comfy, and the floral decorations are gorgeous. I thought about stamps that I had that featured chairs, and settled on I Heart Books, by Three Room Studio.

I don't know that I'd be able to sit/lay like that and read anymore, but definitely when I was a teen! I coloured the image with my Stampin' Blends, using colours from the image. I couldn't resist adding a pink streak to her blonde hair. 

The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted set, called Bedtime Story. Unsurprisingly to those who know me, I have quite a collection of book/reading themed stamps!

Haha, I could't resist adding this 'Ssshhh' stamp to the inside, along with a pile of books. Both are from another Three Room Studio set, called One More Chapter. When you're that involved in a book, the last thing you want is to be interrupted!

We'd love for you to play along this week. The Design Team have been fabulously creative in how they've taken inspiration from the challenge photo. What do you see in it? We'd love to know, and you can show us by adding your card to our Linky on the Just Add Ink blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Tahitian Tide

Hi!

Welcome to the final blog hop in the 2023-24 Colour Creations series. I can't believe that, once again, we have hopped our way through all of the colours in the Stampin' Up! range. We are finishing with one of my favourites. -Tahitian Tide. It's a lovely, bright blue that is, sadly, about to retire. I haven't used it anywhere near enough!

Also retiring, and also not used anywhere near enough, is the On The Ocean stamps and dies. They will certainly remain as a permanent part of my stamp collection. As will Rays Of Light, another retiring stamp that I have used as my background on this card. I love the way it can be used to draw your eye to a specific part of a design.

I had fun making the waves for the card. I cropped a piece of Whisper White using the solid wave die, and then inked both of the parts with Tahitian Tide ink. I left the tops of the waves white to give the effect of the breaking waves. I also cropped some Tahitian Tide, backed with Adhesive Sheet, using the outline wave die. The three layers look fantastic together!

I stamped a similar scene on the inside of the card, instead of using die cuts like on the front. The set is so versatile to allow both! I believe that the stamps and dies are around half price in the Last Chance sale, so snap them up if you're keen!

The next stop on tonight's Blog Hop is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan. I can't wait to see what she's made.

A huge thank you to the wonderful Cathy Proctor for keeping us going with the blog hops. We'll be back next week with Peach Pie, one of the new In Colours, to kick off the new year of Colour Creations.  In the meantime, pop on over to her blog if you you run into any issues with the links on tonight's hop. Cathy will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Soft Sea Foam

 Hi!

Hello and welcome to the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week it's Soft Sea Foam's turn to shine. It's a lovely, soft green that I like, but don't really use much.

I decided to play with a new stamp set that a lovely friend gifted me recently. It's from the upcoming Annual Catalogue, and is called Leaf Collection. I can see myself using this leafy background stamp a lot. I stamped it in SSF ink onto the coordinating cardstock, matted it on Whisper White, and then layered it over a SSF card base.

A scrap oval of vellum helped to distinguish the white Paper Butterfly Accents piece from the background. A scrap of ribbon was used to highlight the Biggest Wish sentiment. I cropped it using a banner from the Stylish Shapes Dies.

My card inside ended up a little differently than I planned. The butterfly was meant to be in the bottom left corner, but after I finished inking it, I noticed a smudge at the top right. I just flipped the card and stamped 'friend' over the top of the smudge to hide it. Phew!

The next stop on tonight's hop is the wonderful Cathy Proctor. I'm sure that she's made something fabulous that you won't want to miss out on seeing.

Cathy is also our amazing go-to-gal for when things go wrong with the links on the blog hop. Pop on over to her blog if you run into a problem. She'll have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

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

Colour Creations: Night Of Navy

 Hi!

Welcome to Night Of Navy week of the Colour Creations Blog Hop. It's a lovely, deep blue that's been in the Stampin' Up! colour line up for as long as I can remember.

This card is a CASE of one by Akiko Sudano of Stampin' In The Meadows. I loved the colours and layout that she used, but I didn't have any of the products that she used, so I had to improvise.

I chose to use my Sending Smiles bundle. The Night Of Navy flowers aren't quite as dark as in the photo - they nearly look black here! I was running out of time and had to take my photo inside. School holidays are fabulous for losing track of time!

The Boho Blue layer on the front of the card was embossed using one of the folders from the Basics 3DEF pack. I used an offcut to finish off the inside, along with a flower left from the front. I can't believe that I resisted buying the Basics 3DEF pack for so long!

My lovely friend, Di Furniss, is the next stop in tonight's blog hop. I wonder what fabulousness she's created with Night Of Navy?

If you come across a problem with links while you're hopping, just pop on over to the wonderful Cathy Proctor's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC 451: CASE The Mini Catalogue

 Hi!

Welcome to the first CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop for 2024! It's a new year, and we have two new catalogues to CASE from, so let's get cracking!

This week we are asking you to CASE from the new January - April Mini Catalogue. Don't have any products from the catalogue yet? That's OK - just use what you have!

I went straight for the back cover of the catalogue, intending to flip until I found something to inspire me The back cover provided this little gem. I loved the strips of paper behind the main image, and the bright, cheerful colours.

I haven't played with my Reach For The Stars bundle for a while, so I thought it would be a good choice for the card. I started with some strips of Stargazing DSP on a Tahitian Tide card base. It's a very bright blue!

The shuttle was stamped with Tahitian Tide ink, and the sentiment with Night Of Navy Ink. Both were cropped with Stylish Shapes Dies. I ran the banner piece through my Big Shot twice, as the label that was the perfect height for the sentiment was way too long. I just repositioned the die before the second pass to crop the label a little shorter.

These little star stamps match the DSP so well, and I thought that they were a great way to frame the inside sentiment.

We'd love for you to play along with our challenge. Just choose a card/project to CASE from the new Mini Catalogue, take a photo and upload it to our Facebook group. It's that easy!

Before you race off to get creating, please keep on going around our blog hop until you get back to where you started. There's lots more inspiration to be seen, starting with the lovely Julia Quinn with a gorgeous butterfly card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI 684: Just Add Colour

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the final Just Add Ink challenge of 2023. We'll be back in the New Year with another year of fun challenges, but we are taking some time off to be with loved ones. For now, though, let't get going with the challenge!

Rochelle has selected a Christmassy colour combination for us this time, handy for all those last minute Christmas cards. Or maybe you're over Christmas and you will make a different card. It doesn't matter, as long as you use the colours.

I chose Evening Evergreen, Real Red to go with the Gold in the combo. Can you spot the Gold on may card? In the bright sunshine it was difficult to capture!

Maybe this angle shows it better. Dasher was het embossed in Gold. Isn't he magnificent?

The stamped sentiments I've used are from Joy To You, and the die cut 'merry' is from the Christmas Greetings Thinlits dies.

This challenge is a non-voting one, meaning that we won't be choosing winners. We'd love for you to play along. There's plenty of time - Linky will be open for three weeks.

I hope that you have a lovely Christmas and New Year, with plenty of time for doing what you love to do. I have a quilt top that is very close to completion, so I will be madly trying to get that done by the end of the year.

Bye for now,

Tina