JAI #542: Just Add Inspiration

 Hi!

Hooray for Friday, and hopefully the start of a cooler weekend! It's been 30+ here for most of the week, so I'm looking forward to a few cooler days. But let's get into the challenge! This week at Just Add Ink, we have an Inspiration Photo, suggested by Lou, to spark our creativity.

It's such a fun mix of colours and textures, don't you think? You can be inspired by anything in the photo, like the colours and textures as I mentioned. You don't have to recreate the photo, but having said that, that's pretty much what I did! LOL!

I started by pulling my retired Tropical Chic bundle down off the shelf. I kept it for the gorgeous, lush fern stamps. I knew they would come in handy one day! I used the mirror stamping technique with my Stamparatus so that the fat leaf would bend in both directions. Apologies to any gardeners that I may have offended - I have no idea what the different types of ferns are, or even if fern is the right word to describe them!

The pot for the ferns was cropped using the Balloon punch. I just trimmed off the top and bottom and wrapped some of the Blushing Bride Snail Mail Twine around it. I also used some Blushing Bride DSP, from the retired Tropical Escape pack. To replicate the wall in the Inspiration Photo I used some rendered wall DSP from the In Good Taste pack.

I had a fe left over bits and pieces from the front, which were put to good use on the inside. The sentiments on the card are from the A Good Man stamp set, stamped in Shaded Spruce ink.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can link up your card for this week's challenge - after you've checked out eh rest of the Design Team cards, of course!

Bye for now,

Tina

CTC #269 W1: CASE Your Favourite Retiring Bundle

Hi!

Thanks for joining me once again for the new CASEing The Catty Sunday Challenge Blog Hop. Did you arrive from Sandra's blog, with her sweet daisy card? Or are you starting here? Either way, just keep on hopping until you get back to where you started.

This week we are CASEing our favourite Retiring Bundle. I chose the Tropical Chic bundle, which actually retired as a bundle a year ago, but is being completely retired at the end of the current Annual Catalogue.

I loved all of the leaves in the stamps and dies, great for creating a big impact on your card.

I started by creating the background for my card, which is just the Granny Apple Green Pigment Sprinkles on Thick Whisper White card. I used a lot of water, so that I could get a soft, nearly bokeh-like effect.

I stamped the leaves and flowers with Granny Apple Green, Garden Green and Melon Mambo on WW card, and then cropped them with the Tropical Dies. I then layered them on then card front, with a little swirl of Rose Metallic Thread between the leaves and flowers. A few Iridescent Sequins finished off the card front.

I used the same arrangement of leaves and flowers as the front on the inside of the card, except I omitted the thread and pulled it closer to the corner so that there is more room to write a message.

So what is your favourite Retiring Bundle from the Catalogues? It can be from either catalogue, so there's plenty to choose from! When you've made your card, just add a photograph of it to the wall in our Facebook group. Easy!

That's all from me this week, so now you're off to see Marvi, with Peta Stephen and her 'magnifique' card!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #469: Just Add Colour

Hi!

Once again, it's time for the new Just Add Ink challenge, and this week it's a colour combo set by the lovely Di. I really love this mix of In Colours.

My first thought was that it looks quite tropical, so that's where I went with my card.

I started by pulling out my Sponge Brayers and colouring the main panel. I used Terracotta Tile on the bottom, Grapefruit Grove in the middle and Pretty Peacock on top. The two oranges blend very nicely, but the Peacock was a bit of a challenge! I had to make sure I didn't intrude too far into the Grapefruit so that it didn't take over the whole card. I think I got the balance right though.

I then cut a heap of palm fronds from my Tropical Dies and adhered them over the top. I made this card with my classes, and to save a little time we stamped the palm fronds. It's a great way to cover up any little imperfections in the brayering too!

I did stamp the fronds on the inside - I think I was very over die cutting by the time I got to the inside!

So, what do you think of our colours this week? What will you do with them? You can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can link up your card and see the rest of the Design Team cards for this week. See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #460: Just Add Emboss Resist

Hi!

Tina for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week Lou has challenged us to add the Emboss Resist technique to our cards. I do enjoy a good technique, and this one's a fun one!

Now it just happens that I ran an ATC swap last month that used an Emboss Resist technique, called Joseph's Coat. I think it's also called Emerging Colour. It was a complete coincidence, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I just made extra so I'd have something to make into a card.

To create a Joseph's Coat panel, you take some glossy cardstock and add some colour. The tutorial I read said to sponge, but I just took some ink spots and rubbed them over the cardstock. Much quicker! You then heat emboss using clear embossing powder over the top. I used some palm fronds from Tropical Chic. Once again I took a short cut by putting all three stamps on one block so that I covered my cardstock much faster. Finally, you take a dark colour (usually black) and brayer ink all over, buffing it away from the embossed areas. The black inks we have aren't great for this technique, so I used Shaded Spruce. It still allowed some of the underlying ink to show though, but I was ok with that. It's brighter under the leaves, and the variegation adds to the jungle look.

How fun is this Treasure Hunter image from Kindred Stamps? I coloured him with my Blends, and then set about creating the background for him. I started by adding in the Light Crumb Cake path through the jungle, making sure it disappeared off to the right. I then coloured the rest of the background with Light Granny Apple Green, with a few splashes of Light Balmy Blue to add hints of the sky. I then used the brush end of my Light Old Olive Blend to create some grass by using a flicking upward motion in groups of 2-4 in random places over the GAG. Finally, I used the thin end of my Light Mossy Meadow Blend to repeat the flicking 'grass'. It's a really cool effect. I the added layers of die cut palm leaves over the top to further simulate the jungle. Phew, that was a lot of work! Worth it though, I think it's a fun card!

I had just enough of a scrap of the Joseph's Coat cardstock left to complete the inside. I also love the subtle snark of the inside sentiment. I will have to think hard about who to give this card to!

That's it from me, you can pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to see the rest of the Design Team's cards for our Emboss Resist challenge. There's an amazing variety just using this one technique, so well worth a look. Hopefully we inspire you to enter the challenge!

Bye for now,

Tina

Spruced Up Flamingo

Hi!

Gosh, we are getting to the end of our Colour Creations Blog Shares now. I will miss them! Hmmm, I wonder if I can convince everyone to continue for a further 5 weeks with the new In Colours? Maybe!

Anyway, this week we are up to Shaded Spruce. It's a fabulous deep green, new to the range this year as a part of the Regals colour family.

I recently saw this card by my JAI friend Lou, and thought it was a simple, but very effective fancy fold. Before I explain, let me show you how it folds out. You can see that there's a round window in the front of the card. I used my Tropical Chic stamp set to create a little frame for the window. It's carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue - yay!

The first flap opens to show the image from Fabulous Flamingo. I used my Stamparatus to line up all of the layers, making it so much easier to stamp. Sadly, the flamingo is retiring at the end of May. I used a piece of Tropical Escape DSP to anchor the flamingo panel. I will miss that DSP! You can see another little strip of it down the left side of the card....

...which is actually on the inside of the card. I like how it adds interest to both the middle layer and the inside layer - much like the flamingo for the front and middle.

So how do you make this card? Just take a piece of A4 card and cut it in half longways. Score at 4 inches and 8 inches and you're done! Oh, cut your window in the first 4 inch section so that it becomes the front of the card. This way the shorter panel becomes the middle flap, showing that little strip of DSP from the inside. It also folds much more nicely this way.

Time to pop on over to Catherine's blog for the rest of this week's Shaded Spruce cards. Don't forget that if you right click on each link you can open the link in a new tab or window to avoid having to jump back and forwards from Catherine's blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Powered Up Powder Pink

Hi!

Gee whizz, another week has flown around again! Where are they going? This week for Colour Creations we are making cards using Powder Pink. I'm really not a pale pink fan, so I found this week's card a little difficult to start. I needed to make a second giant Thank You card (you can see the first one here), and so I pulled out my Garden Impressions DSP, which has a multitude of pinks.

The lady I am making this card for is quite girly, so I thought this paper would be perfect for her. She has been running our support group for families of special needs kids while our regular coordinator has been on leave. One term ended up being one year and one term! We will miss her when she goes.

How cute are these little birdies?  They are from the Well Written Thinlits set, and the answer is 'super cute'! Once again, I ran my Wink Of Stella pen over the die cut Thank You and the birdies for a bit of extra bling.

As before, I added writing panels to both sides of the insides, as many people need to sign the card. It's a big one - nearly 6 inches square.

The Powder Pink ruffle ribbon adds that final, girly touch to the card, don't you think?

As always, Catherine's blog is where all the rest of the Colour Creations magic is happening this week. Why not pop on over?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #436: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

It's Friday - time for the new Just Add Ink challenge! This week we have a sketch deigned for us by Narelle, which is funny because as I was making my card I was thinking how very 'Narelle' this sketch is, not realising it was one of hers!

I straight away knew I wanted to use my Tropical Escape suite of products.

My first pick was the striped DSP from the Tropical Escape DSP pack. I then chose the darker colour DSP to help anchor the two papers. The circle that the flowers sit on is the reverse of the striped paper. I stamped the palm leaves and flowers in ink that coordinates with the DSP, except fo the pop of Berry Burst.

You can't see it in the picture, but the Blushing Bride layer (not the card base) is embossed with the Subtle 3DTIEF. Have you got this yet? It's such an awesome embossing folder.

I'd stamped and die cut some extra leaves and flowers for the front - there's nothing worse than cleaning your stamp or putting away your dies only to realised you need just one more! They never go to waste, as I just use the extras on the inside.

Why not pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog, where you can find the rest of this week's cards made by the Design Team? You can also link up your card - who could resist this awesome sketch?

Bye for now,

Tina