JAI 788: Colour and Inspiration

 Hi!

Hello, and welcome to another challenge from Just Add Ink. This fortnight we have a Colour & Inspiration Challenge, suggested to us by Nikki.

It's a wet, windy, cold evening here in Adelaide as I write this post, and the cat snuggled up in a blanket is the perfect image to describe where I'd like to be. Although, being human, I'd like a cup of tea and a good book with me as I snuggle!

I'm definitely a blue girl, so this colour scheme was right up my alley. I don't have any suitable cat themed things in my stash, so I decided to go with birds instead. I fussy cut these birds from a sheet of Flight & Airy DSP. The backing DSP is also from the same pack. The watercolour effect is so pretty!

I'm not sure why I chose to make a sympathy card. I (fortunately) don't have need for one at the moment, but it never hurst to have a few in the stash, just in case. The sentiment is from Heal Your Heart, cropped with a Tasteful Labels die. I layered it over a Layering Ovals diecut, that I embossed with my Subtle DTIEF. It's hard to see in the photo!

The inside of the card includes both another bird and another sentiment from the supplies that I mentioned that I used on the front of the card.

What will you take inspiration from in this fortnight's challenge? You can see what the rest of the Design Team have created over on the Just Add Ink blog. You can also find our challenge gallery there when you're ready to link up your card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mossy Meadow

Hi! 

Thanks for joining me for the first Colour Creations Blog Hop of 2024. This week we are featuring Mossy Meadow, a dark green from the Neutrals family. I find Mossy Meadow to be a very heavy colour, so it's not one I use often. I've paired it with Flirty Flamingo tonight to brighten up my card.

The layout and colour scheme of my card was inspired by a card that Teneale Williams made using Whimsy Wishes. I've used some Hello, Irresistible DSP as the feature panel on my card. It's my favourite paper in the pack, I think.

I used one of the smaller sentiments from Sending Smiles on my card. It fits in the coordinating label so well.

I fussy cut one of the blooms from the DSP to finish off the inside of my card. I didn't stamp a sentiment so that I had plenty of room to write my message to the recipient.

There's lots more Mossy Meadow inspiration to be found, so please keep on hopping around the linked blogs until you get back to where you started. The next stop on this hop is the lovely Rosa Leyden.

Cathy Proctor, as always, has done a wonderful job of getting us all organised. If you run into problems with links, please pop on over to her blog where you'll find a list of all tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mossy Meadow

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the third-last Colour Creations Blog Hop for 2022. Don't worry, we will be returning after a short break to continue our journey through the colour range in 2023.

This week's focus colour was Mossy Meadow, which is a colour that I really struggle with. I can't put my finger on why it's such a tricky colour - it just is! Yay for Brian King and his inspiring colour combinations.

This card wasn't originally going be a sympathy card, but when it came time to add a sentiment, the card seemed to suit a sympathy-related sentiment. I started by inking Petal Pink ink all around the edges of my Very Vanilla cardstock with a Blending Brush. I used Vanilla, as I think it works beautifully with the Petal Pink ink. The blending fades much more nicely! The Mossy Meadow leaves and Early Espresso splatters from Forever Fern were stamped over the top.

I think I need to add a glue dot behind my Very Vanilla twine bow - it's looking a little saggy! I can't have a saggy bow on a card, that just won't do. The die cut is from the coordinating Forever Flourishing Dies, I cut way the bottom two sets of leaves so that it wasn't quite so big.

A touch of coordinating stamping and inking on the inside never goes astray!

The next stop on tonight's blog hop is the lovely Theresa Gerrard. I wonder if she's struggled with Mossy Meadow as much as I have? Jump on over to her blog to find out!

Once again, the wonderful Cathy Proctor keeps us super organised with the Blog Hops. If you run into any issues with links, just pop on over to her blog to help get back on track. She has a list of all of tonight's participants there.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Fresh Freesia

 Hi!

Thanks for once again joining me for the new Colour Creations Blog Hop. It's Fresh Freesia week, one of the 2021-23 In Colours. It's a lovely, soft purple that I will miss once it retires in mid-2023.

I chose Brian King's combo that paired it with the other softer colours in the 2021-23 In Colour family - Pale Papaya and Soft Succulent. I had plans to make a floral card, but then I had the need to make a sympathy card and decided to turn the colours into a sunset scene.

I started by working out where the sun part of the Rays Of Light stamp would go on my card and then used a Blending Brush to apply some Pale Papaya ink. Fresh Freesia was used for the rest of the sky, and Soft Succulent for the forest. I then spritzed water onto my Rays Of Light stamp and stamped the inked panel. The water lifts the colour, giving this gorgeous effect. I use my Stamparatus to do this, by laying the stamp on the bed of the platform and adhering my cardstock to the plate. I didn't want to get drips of water in the wrong place, and this was a good way to avoid it.

The trees are from Trees For Sale. I stamped them on a strip of cardstock and then fussy cut the top edge. It was popped up over the main panel using Dimensionals. The back layer were stamped off, and the front were full strength Soft Succulent ink.

Of course, my inside was stamped and inked to match. 

That's all from me for tonight, but please do keep hopping around our blog hop tonight. The next stop along the way is Theresa Gerrard, with what I'm sure will be a gorgeous card.

Catherine Proctor does a wonderful job of keeping us all organised each week, so jump on over to her blog is you run into any problems with links. She'll have a list of all participants on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Mossy Meadow

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me as the Colour Creations Blog Hops return for 2022. We've got another four months of Blog Hops to go before we reach the end of the series. This week it's Mossy Meadow's turn to shine. It's a dark, forrest green that's a part of the Neutrals colour family. It's not a colour I use a lot of, but I do like the place that it has in the colour line-up.

I purchased the Inspiring Canopy Dies late last year, but had yet to use them. I thought that this was a great opportunity. I also saw a card made using them by the SU Artisan, Melanie Joyner, that I decided to CASE. Her card was in pinks and square, so I had to make a few changes to suit my purpose.

To get the canopy part of the trees, I coloured a half sheet of Watercolour paper with Mossy Meadow ink. I made sure that the colour went on very unevenly so that the end result had plenty of variation in shades. When dry, I cropped as many of the leaf dies as I could fit from the paper.

I'd trimmed the right-most tree from the die cut, so that I would have room for my sentiment on the front. It was easy to make use of it for the inside of the card, with some of the extra leaf die cuts. I haven't made this card with anyone in mind, but it never hurts to add Sympathy cards to your stash for when you do need them.

The next stop on tonight's Blog Hop is my friend, Rachel Woollard. She's bound to have something fabulous for us to see!

If you run into any problems along the way, with broken links or similar, please jump on over to Catherine Proctor's blog. She has a comprehensive list of all who are participating this week.

Bye for now,

Tina

Colour Creations: Pear Pizzazz

 Hi!

Welcome back to another week of the Colour Creations Creative Showcase. It's time to look at Pear Pizzazz. It's one of Stampin' Up!'s softer greens, sitting in the Subtles Colour Family.

I'm not entirely sure if I like the card I made this week, or if it's because I had to make it and send it straight away. Sadly, one of Hudson's schoolmates passed away after battling illness in intensive care for five weeks. His little body just couldn't fight anymore.

I've used two Sale-A-Bration sets: Heal Your Heart and A Touch Of Ink. I've kept the card very simple so that the message is the focus, just a bit of Pear Pizzazz ink applied over the stamped leaves using a Blending Brush.

As always, you can find the rest of this week's Pear Pizzazz cards over on Cathy's blog. She does such a wonderful job of keeping us all organised.

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #239: CASE A Layout

Hi!

Welcome back to a new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. It's been another busy week in my household, so I just squeaked into the end of the list for the blog hop, after Monique.

This week we are choosing a card from page 103 of the Annual Catalogue to CASE, but with an extra twist - we need to change the theme. So if the card you choose is a thank you card, you need to make anything but a thank you card. Easy!

I was in a bit of a rush to get my card done, so I went for the Crumb Cake card at the top of this photo. In my rush I assumed it was a new baby card, as it's in the Kid's and Babies section. What's the opposite of a new baby card? A sympathy card. I always seem to need them for my stash.

It's funny how 'I need to get a card made in a hurry' morphed into 'I'll just do some colouring with my Blends', which I can never do in a hurry! I stamped the flower from Best Birds three times, masking each one as I went. Once all three were masked I stamped the leaves over the top. They were coloured with my Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green and Daffodil Delight Blends.

The bird was then stamped and coloured using Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue and Light Night Of Navy Blends, with Light Crumb Cake for the ground. The sentiment is from a Paper Pumpkin set I got while I was in the USA. I think it's Birds Of A Feather.

When I cut the card for the inside I was kidding myself that I'd only stamp one flower and leaf combo. As soon as I stamped the first flower I knew I had to do the whole trio - it wouldn't look right with just one. Sigh. Luckily I'm quicker at the photo editing and blog post writing than I am at making a quick card! LOL!

That's it for me for this week. Don't forget to join our Facebook group so that you can play along with our challenges each week.

In the meantime though, you're hopping off to see what Julia has made this week.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #455: Just Add Sympathy

Hi!

Welcome to this week's Just Add Ink challenge. This time Kim has challenged us to make a sympathy card. I was a bit pleased when I first saw this challenge, as the sympathy section of my card box is empty, and I saw this as a chance to restock it a bit. Nobody likes making sympathy cards when they actually need them.

However, fate sometimes laughs at our plans, and as it happens, I needed to make a sympathy card this week. We very sadly learned that one of Hudson's little school mates passed unexpectedly last week and her memorial service is tomorrow.

The little girl's family are religious, and so I wanted to make a card to reflect this. I chose a piece of the Graceful Glass vellum that reminded me of a church stained glass window, and paired it with a piece of Wood Textures DSP that had the look of a church pew. Can you see it?

I coloured the vellum with some of my Blends and then wrapped it around a piece of Whisper White cardstock cut slightly smaller than the panel. This was to avoid having visible adhesive on the front.

On the inside I stamped a butterfly from my Painted Glass stamps set to bring a piece of the front to the inside. I think a sympathy card for a child is especially hard to make, but I hope this card will bring some comfort to her family.

The Design Team have made some beautiful cards this week. Quite a few of us were in the same boat of needing to make the cards to give straight away. You can find the cards at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your sympathy card.

Bye for now,

Tina

Old & New Are Better Together

Hi!

Today's card is one that features some old favourite Stampin' Up! stamps with some new product. It's Lovely As A Tree and Nature's Poem DSP. Although the DSP is a part of the new Nature's Poem suite of products, it was also designed to compliment the everlasting Lovely As A Tree stamp set.

I love this pattern from the DSP pack. The veiny, translucent leaves are just gorgeous! I thought the softer, muted colours (there's also the same pattern, but in a richer colour palette in the pack) were very suitable for a more masculine sympathy card.

All that Crumb Cake looked a little stark on it's own, so I stamped the tree from LAAT in the corner. Although it doesn't stand out much, it really adds some interest to the card. Any how gorgeous does Crumb Cake look teamed with Tranquil Tide?

I let the inside mirror the outside by using a smaller strip of the Nature's Poem DSP. It's definitely a pack to add to your DSP stash - or should I say DSP hoard? LOL!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #372: Just Add Colour

Hi!

This week at Just Add Ink, Nikki has chosen a gorgeous selection of colours to inspire creativity. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them as soon as I saw the palette.

Aren't they just stunning? I pulled out my trusty sponge brayer, and off I went!

I started by using sticky notes to mask off the area I wanter to brayer. I held it all down with some sticky tape too - just to be sure nothing moved while I was using the brayer, as that would have been disastrous! I started by rolling on some Powder Pink ink from the bottom up, and then some Pool Party ink from around 3/4 of the way to the top, running down into my Powder Pink area. I finished by brayering some Tranquil Tide ink down from the top. I had to be really careful to go easy with the Tranquil Tide, as I didn't want the darker colour to overwhelm the paler colours. I was very pleased with the end result!

I die cut the large flourish from the Flourish Thinlits in Basic Black to add a lovely, strong point of interest to the card.

I always find the inside of Sympathy cards the hardest to do - I'm not sure why. I do think that the leaves provide a nice backdrop to the sentiment though.

The rest of the Design Team have had a blast with these colours. You can see their gorgeous cards over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your entry for the challenge.

Bye for now,

Tina