JAI #409: Just Add Eclipse Technique

Hi!

Hooray for Friday! Are you as excited as I am? The Royal Wedding is in less than 48 hours!

Let's pass the time waiting by checking out the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week Rachael has challenged us to add the Eclipse Technique to our cards.

The Eclipse technique has been taking the paper crafting world by storm - it's so popular lately! Never heard of it? You basically die cut over the top of a stamped image. Easy!

I just can't resist a lot of pop culture stuff, and when I found these Friends stamps by The Ink Road, they found their way into my shopping cart and in the post to my house. The set is called 'The One With All The Stamps', how cool is that? They are a whole lot of individual stamps that I used to make one big background. I placed the cardstock in my Stamparatus then laid the stamps all over and played until I was happy with the placement. I then used the Stamparatus plate to pick them all up, inked them and stamped all in one go.

To create the Eclipse effect, I die cut the 'friend' (what else?? LOL) from Lovely Words and then cut around the oval using a Stitched Shapes oval. This piece was then popped up using Mini Dimensionals. Can you see your favourite Friends quote on the front? How you doin'?, or Oh My God! would have to be some of the classics, and they are both on there.

I kept my two favourite stamps for the inside. I always longed to catch up with friends and drink a cuppa on that lounge. What about you?

I may have also purchased Pitch, Please from The Ink Road, so keep an eye out for that set in the future!

Now, we are just that little bit closer to watching the wedding of the year, but there's still plenty of time to pop on over to the Just Add Ink blog to check out the rest of the Design Team's cards. Will you craft while you watch the wedding? I will be sipping tea and eating scones with some of my friends. Can't wait!

Bye for now,

Tina

Kelly's Birthday Blog Hop

Hi!

Tonight I have something a little different for you. I'm blog hopping with the lovely Kelly Kent and 18 of her friends to celebrate her birthday. What a fun way to celebrate!

Being a blog hop, you should travel around each of the blogs until you get back to the blog you started on. The blog before me was the fabulous Jacqui Crouch. We don't get to see what the other hoppers have created until the blog hop starts, but I'm sure she's bound to have created something gorgeous!

I decided to make a birthday card using some new, returning and retired products. I especially loved saying a big 'welcome back' to Mint Macaron. I was sooooo happy to see that name on the list of returning colours! I was so happy that I couldn't resist sneaking a little bit of the retired Mint Macaron Glimmer paper onto the card. It's so pretty and sparkly, as are the retiring Glitter Epoxy dots.

So, let see, what's new on my card? Look at that fantastic new butterfly die! It's so pretty! It's from the new die set called Springtime Impressions, and has a whole suite of products that it coordinates with that includes stamps, DSP, ribbon and embellishments. Speaking of DSP, the paper I have used today comes from the new Nature's Poem pack. It also has a whole suite of coordinating products! Finally, I've used a new stamp set called Pick A Pennant to stamp the sentiment.

I was very happy to see that Picture Perfect Birthday is carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue. It's such a fun set!

Well, that's it for me now. The blog hop will now take you on to the blog of the wonderful Jan McQueen. Just click on the Next button to get you there. Once you've finished this hop, why don't you pop on back to Kelly's blog? She's actually running TWO blog hops tonight for her birthday, so there's a whole other 20 gorgeous projects to look at. It's like a set of steak knives - buy one, get one free LOL. Click here for Kelly's second hop, but do finish this one first!

Bye for now,

Tina

Farewell Sweet Sugarplum

Hi!

I think that of all of the colours about to retire, Sweet Sugarplum would have to be one of my favourites. It's a gorgeous, dusky pink that works beautifully with a range of other colours.

This card is a CASE of this card made by Dawn Olchefske. I liked it a lot, so I didn't really change much. It's teamed with Soft Sky (also retiring), Very Vanilla and Silver.

I left off the sentiment, as I preferred it without. I also stamped the starry swirl on the base card for a little extra something.

The swirl was also stamped on the inside, but this time in Soft Sky. It's a great backdrop for the sentiment. I love the way it follows the slant of the swirl!

I have a second card for you today, also using Sweet Sugarplum. This time I've used it to colour some Embossing Paste.

It's such a fun trick, to be able to colour the paste.

The flower was watercolored using a mix of Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive.

Will you miss Sweet Sugarplum? Is it a colour you've used a lot over the past two years?

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #408: Just Add Colour

Hi!

I'm back with the new Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a colour combination, designed by Rochelle. It's so pretty and feminine!

Such a gorgeous mix of pinks and greens. I am hosting an ATC swap that features the Ghosting Technique, so I thought that for this card I could do a trial run. I was so pleased with how it turned out!

You can see the Ghosting on the green panel. You take a piece of glossy cardstock, stamp on it using Versamark ink and then brayer ink over the top. It's like Emboss Resist without the embossing. I started by using my Sponge Brayer to roll over some Pear Pizzazz Ink and then went over the bottom part with Wild Wasabi ink to get an ombre effect.

The heart stamp was stamped over the whole panel, it's just harder to see in the lighter parts. The stamp is from the Ribbon Of Courage stamp set, which I've used on the entire card. It's the perfect stamp set for this card, which I made for a friend who is more than determined to kick cancer's butt. You can see I've coloured the ribbon using the colours in this week's combo. I cheated a little and added some Soft Sky, as it didn't quite look finished leaving it white.

I also coloured these flowers in Powder Pink, just to help them pop a little.

Well, that's it for me, you can see the rest of the gorgeous cards the Design Team have created over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card.  See you there!

Bye for now,

Tina

Goodbye Lovely Inside and Out

Hi!

I have two cards for you today, because essentially they are the same card with just a few tweaks. They both used the Lovely Inside and Out bundle, which is retiring and only available while stocks last.

This first card was a direct CASE of this card by Alison Okamitsu. I loved it so much that the only thing I changed was to use cardstock behind the opening rather than ribbon. I kept the cardstock the same colours and widths as the ribbon.

It's such a cute card, it really didn't need any changes!

I was on my own for the inside though, as Alison doesn't show the insides on her blog. I used a stamp from the also retiring Thoughts and Prayers for the sentiment, masking off the bits I didn't want.

Not long after I CASEd the card, I was planning on attending a stamping day with a group of other demonstrators. I wanted to make a little card to give to each of the ladies attending, so I decided to CASE my CASE of Alison's card.

You can clearly see the similarities and differences. I kept the layout the same, but changed the size of the card to be a 4 1/4" square.

I also decided to use DSP behind the opening, rather than ribbon or strips of cardstock. It's such a different look!

Aww, how nice is this sentiment? Perfect for a bunch of like-minded Stampin' Up! demonstrators! It's from the Bunch Of Blossoms set, which is carrying over.

Bye for now,

Tina

Milestone Moments Farewell

Hi!

One of the stamp sets I have loved the most from the current catalogue is Milestone Moments. It's one of those unsung hero sets. There aren't any images, just words, but that's what makes it great! There are a heap of special numbers, as well as words to make happy birthday, or happy anniversary, etc. Such a versatile set!

I've only used the happy and birthday stamps on this card. It's such a fun font - especially as it doesn't need to be stamped exactly straight to look great. I've also used some Jute Twine on the card. It's a fabulous, chunky thread that looks great on masculine cards. It retired when the last Holiday Catalogue ended, but you can currently find it on the Clearance Rack at an absolute bargain price. I must admit that a couple of rolls found their way into my last order!

I'm very happy that the Wood Textures DSP stack is carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue. It's such fabulous paper - I've used it heaps in my cards this year, so I'm very glad to get another year to add it to more cards. I wasn't very keen on this pattern, but I've changed my mind - I now think it looks great as a feature.

The stamp I've used on the inside is from the Soft Sayings kit, which is also carrying over. I'm yet to make only of the cards from the kit, but I've used the stamps quite a bit. One day I'll get around to making the cards, hopefully before the kit retires!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #407: Just Add O

Hi!

Did you survive the first week back at school? I have three tired and grump children after a big first week. Lucky it's nearly the weekend so they can sleep in and relax a little.

Friday also means the new challenge at Just Add Ink. This week it's one of my alphabet challenges. We are challenging you to Just Add O to your card.

What do we mean by Just Add O? It means you can use anything that starts with O on your card - it could be the name of a stamp set, a technique, a theme or an embellishment, or any combination of the above!

I included 4 O's on my card - I used the outgoing In Colours to create an ocean scene that you can see through an oval opening. How's that for clever? LOL

I started by die cutting the oval opening and then lightly marking the edges on the card base. I then masked, sponged and stamped the ocean using Dapper Denim and the water stamp from Fabulous Flamingo. I then flipped the mask over to sponge Soft Sky over the top of the scene. The boat from Swirly Bird was then stamped using Memento, Emerald Envy, Peekaboo Peach and Sweet Sugarplum.

The boat was so cute that I couldn't resist stamping it again on the inside, however I mixed up the colours from the front.

The Design Team found the O challenge a little tricky, but lucky for you, you get to see all our cards to help spark your imagination. You can see them over at the Just Add Ink blog, where you can also link up your card. Have fun with the letter O!

Bye for now,

Tina