A Nice Cuppa

Hi!

I was able to get a bit of unexpected crafting time in yesterday while hubby made dinner, and today's card is the result.  I wanted to have a play with the new Have a Cuppa suite of products.  I'm a big tea drinker, so this suite really appealed to me.

I don't make a lot of single layer cards - probably because they nearly always seem unfinished to me. I do like this card though. It took a lot of playing around to get it to look right, but I'm fairly satisfied with the final product. The colours (Melon Mambo, Wisteria Wonder and Bermuda Bay) were taken from the coordinating Have A Cuppa DSP. You can see a bit of it peeking out from under the teapot.

The teapot was originally just the pot and lid, but it looked a little plain.  I die cut some scallop trim and adhered it to the pot using my Fine-Tip Glue Pen.  It still wasn't quite enough, so I grabbed my Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush and added highlights to the scallops and lid.  Much better!

Isn't that curl of steam so cute? Love it!

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #294: Just Add Something New Blog Hop

Hi!

At Just Add Ink we always like to start the year off with a blog hop to showcase the first challenge of the year.

This year Rochelle has suggested we all "Just Add Something New". Now I know that won't be hard for the Stampin Up! demonstrators out there as the new Occasions catalogue and Sale-a-bration promotions have started! If you don't have anything new from SU! please join us using whatever new product you have and be sure to let us know what it is.

To make the blog hop extra special the design team have donated new SU! SAB items as prizes to the winner and two honorable mentions participants. Please note, to be eligible, you must create a "NEW" project using "SOMETHING NEW TO YOU" and leave a comment on all the design team blogs, be or become a JAI follower and blog your project exclusively linked to Just Add Ink. Any entrants that link to additional challenges will be disqualified. (The prizes are open to both international and AUS/NZ participants).

We look forward to kicking the year off with a celebration of new crafty goodness and inspiration and hope you will join the challenge with us.

I've decided that my 'something new' is both the Beautiful Ride stamp set (from the Occasions Catalogue) and the Perfectly Artistic DSP pack (from the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue). Recently, on a very hot night where there was nothing much on the TV, I stamped a few of the Beetle images on Watercolour Paper and sat and coloured them with my Stampin' Write Markers and Blender Pen.  I decided to use one of them for this Hop, but when it came down to it I couldn't choose a favourite image to use, so I just used all three!

Colours used: Basic Black, Blackberry Bliss, Soft Sky and Crumb Cake
Stamp Sets: Beautiful Ride, Number Of Years

I love that this set is Photopolymer, which makes stamping the dog in the Blackberry Bliss version and the surf board in the Crushed Curry version super easy.

Colours Used: Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Soft Sky, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point and Basic Grey

I hope the surf board on the inside looks like it's propped up against a wall, or similar. I was a little worried it looks a bit strange!

Colours Used: Basic Black, Soft Sky, Watermelon Wonder, Smokey Slate
Stamp Sets: Beautiful Ride, Work Of Art, Lighthearted Leaves

Whoops!  I used Lighthearted Leaves before I realised it has retired.

Here are the three together.  You can clearly see I've used the same layout for each, this was to keep things quick and simple.  By the time I'd coloured the images and then fussy cut them, quick and simple was looking good! I've used the 'Watercolour' side of the DSP rather than the 'Marbled' side as I wanted the softer look for the background.

You can begin the blog hop here on my blog or at any of the other design team members blog posts. Just follow the hop by clicking on the back or previous buttons you will find at the bottom of all the design team posts. Or you can start Here at the beginning.



Before you go, don't forget that there are prizes on offer for this challenge, but you must follow a few easy guidelines to qualify. You can find these at the top of my post, or at the Just Add Ink blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

Going Places On Your Birthday

Hi!

Today I have a card for you that I made using a heap of new products from the Occasions Catalogue. I needed to make a card for my brother-in-law for his 40th birthday, and some of the new stuff fit the bill perfectly.

I used the new Number Of Years stamp set and the coordinating Large Numbers Framelits to create the main panel of the card. I hadn't intended to use the banner, but the word 'birthday' didn't stamp cleanly, so I had to cover it up. Not a bad fix, I think!

The DSP on the card is from the Going Places DSP stack. I think this page of schematic diagrams is one of my favourite designs in the pack. Lost Lagoon and Very Vanilla are a great combo, and pairing them with Basic Black adds a bold touch to the card - perfect for male cards!

The Going Places DSP Stack is a 6x6 inch pad, fabulous for cardmakers.  I always trim one side to 4 inches first, so that when I trim the other side I end up with a narrow strip that's also 4" wide - perfect for adding to the inside of the card! The inside sentiment is from Remembering Your Birthday.  I masked off the other words as I didn't want to use them on this card. My aim this year is to not have to use this 'belated' stamp again. Fingers crossed!

Bye for now,

Tina

MKPLxSU Blog Share: Memories In The Making

Hi!

I hope you didn't think I'd forgotten about my little blog! I was having a bit of a break over the Christmas/New Year period, but now I'm back and ready to get straight back into blogging.  What better way to start than with a Blog Share with the Memory Keeping with Project Life by Stampin' Up! team? We are a part of a Facebook group with a focus on scrapbooking using PLxSU products.  This month we are showcasing a brand new collection, called Memories In The Making.  You can find the collection in the new Occasions Catalogue.

One of the things we did over the holiday break was go home and visit my family in country NSW. My hometown is on the Murrumbidgee River, and this summer we decided to do a River Float. This pretty much involved gathering as many lifejackets and inflatable devices as we could find, jumping in the river at the boat ramp and floating along (hopefully as a group!) until we reached the beach further down the river.

I didn't actually get to float this time, I was a driver.  Someone had to meet the floaters at the other end and bring them home!

The title was made using the alphabet stickers in the Accessory Pack. The 'FUN' banner was also from the Accessory Pack, I simply cut one of the 5.1 x 5.1cm cards that said 'FUN FUN FUN' into thirds and used on third on the layout. I sometimes struggle to use those tiny cards, so this was a perfect way to use one.

I ran out of space on the main journalling card to write the names of all the people floating, so I decided to use another of the tiny cards to include this detail. I adhered it to the photo using some of the washi tape from the Accessory Pack.

So there you have my layout for the month. How did you spend your Christmas break?

There are several other blogs for you to check out this month:

Delys Cram, NZ
Elizabeth Richards Peterson, USA
Julie Kettlewell, UK
Constanze Wirtz, Germany
Janet Morrow Wakeland, USA - http://remarkablycreated.com/
 Linda Higgins, Australia

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #293: Just Add A Gift Card

Hi!

Phew!  It sure has been hot here in Adelaide for the past 2 days. Both Wednesday and Thursday have been 40 C or hotter (that's 104 F), and the next two days are looking to be the same. There's nothing else to do but close the blinds, crank the air conditioning and try to stay cool. At least the kids are on school holidays now, so there's no school run to do in the scorching heat. It's also a good excuse to get some crafting done. I've been busy creating for the new Just Add Ink challenge.

This week Kim has challenged us to make a Gift Card Holder. It can be for any occasion you'd like, not necessarily Christmas.  Having said that, I've made a Christmas themed holder, mostly because that's the DSP that was lying on my craft desk and I was too hot to be bothered looking for different DSP.

This is a really simple holder.  I took a piece of Pacific Point cardstock that was 4 1/8" by 5 1/2" and scored it at 2" and 4 1/2". I rounded the corners and then folded along the score lines.

I cut a piece of Rel Red cardstock to 4" by 1 7/8", rounded the top corners and then adhered it to the bottom flap.  I then took a strip of DSP cut to 1 1/2" by 9" and wrapped it around the folded cardstock, adhering as I went. The top flap was Real Red cardstock cut to 4" by 7/8" with the bottom corners rounded and then Whisper White cardstock cut to 3/4" by 3 7/8", also with the bottom corners rounded.  Stamp and decorate as desired!

I had to borrow a card from Rob's wallet to show what it would look with a card inside the holder. To hold it closed I will use a glue dot.

This challenge will run for 2 weeks, and will be the final challenge for Just Add Ink for 2015. We will be back in 2016 with a Blog Hop to kick off another year of fun challenges.

Bye for now,

Tina

MKPLxSU: Hello December 2015

Hi!

One of my favourite things in December is doing a December Daily album.  This year is my 4th year doing one, and I still love doing it as much as I did the first year.  I've got a little smarter along the way though - the first year I tried to document everything we did every day and I very quickly got bogged down in it.  Now I just pick one thing each day to document.  One photo, one story - easy!

This month the MKPLxSU Design Team have a Blog Share that highlights the Hello December 2015 Project Life Collection.  This collection makes it super easy to complete your December Daily album, and it's so very pretty!

The thing I struggle the most with on my DD Albums is the wording on the front page! I usually leave it til last, which is why the card on the bottom right is blank.  The right words will come to me eventually!  I used the gold alphabet stickers to write 'twenty fifteen' on the top card.  Part of my DD method is to get the photos and cards into pockets each day and then come back once I've finished to pretty up the pages.

I quite frequently start my DD with a page or two from November. Adelaide has a huge Christmas Pageant in November, which traditionally starts the Festive Season in South Australia.  We didn't go to the big Pageant this year, but I marched in our smaller, local pageant so I've started my DD with that.

Quite a lot of the earlier pages have nothing to do with Christmas! School is winding up for the year and there are a lot of events to do with that.  On these pages is Alex's last flute lesson for the year, and also his High School transition visit.

Alex and Ada have signed up for the local library's Summer Reading Program. The theme this year is Lost Worlds, which includes Star Wars and Dr Who.  They are both big fans, so they are keen to go to the themed events.  On the 5th we went to the library to see the Tardis and watch a Dr Who episode.

Of course, we had to include the Santa Photo. The photo I've put in my DD album was not the one we had printed.  The 'official' photo had all three smiling at the camera.  However, I loved this photo more than the smiling one.  Hudson really doesn't like sitting and having his photo taken. His missing tooth just adds a touch of humour to the photo.

Ada had an excursion in the last week. They went to the pool and the movies.  I forgot to get a photo in the morning (we are usually rushing out the door at the last minute) so I got one after she returned home. I try not to stress if I don't get the 'perfect' photo, sometimes it's just not possible.

So there's a little look at my DD album. I hope you've found some inspiration in my photos.

You can also check out the blogs of the rest of the MKPLxSU Design Team to see how they've used the Hello December 2015 kit.

Julie Kettlewell, UK

Delys Cram, New Zealand
Linda Higgins, Australia

Constanze Wirtz, Germany 

Janet Morrow Wakeland, USA - http://remarkablycreated.com/ 

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #292: Just Add Inspiration

Hi!

Woo Hoo!! It's school holidays! My big kids finished school for the year yesterday and Hudson has his last day today.  Boy, has that year flown by! I say this all the time, but I love the holidays - plenty of time to relax, fewer appointments and lots of time with the kids.  Oh, and heaps of time to get some crafting done!

Speaking of which, it's time to show you the latest Just Add Ink challenge!

This week Nikki has challenged us to use these gorgeous Christmas images to inspire our creativity. Aren't the colours stunning? I didn't think I was going to get an entry in this week, but then I realised that I'd used Christmas trees on the kid's classmate gifts so I was actually all set!

Looking at them now, I can't quite believe we made 90 of them! It took us a few days, but the end results were worth it.

I made Hudson's for him while he was at school one day.  They were my prototype batch to show Alex and Ada - luckily they liked them! I used a 1.5" by 5" piece of Whisper White cardstock, scored at 2.5". Ada, Alex and I stamped and coloured them in a production line and then the back was stapled to the cello bags.  The front was stuck to the other side of the bag using a bit of SNAIL.

I had previously filled the 1"x8" cello bags with Christmas M'n'M's while watching TV at night.  The trick to it is using a 'chute' to feed the chocolates into the bags.  I cut a strip that wasn't quite 2" wide and 8" long, folded it in half and then inserted it into the bag.  The lollies rolled down the cardstock and into the bag very easily.

By all accounts the children who received these were very excited to get them.

I hope you can find time in your busy week to play along with us at Just Add Ink this week!

Bye for now,

Tina