Lush Berries - Just Add Ink Challenge #766

Hi all and welcome. It's Friday, which means a new Just Add Ink challenge and this time around we're asking you to...

Here's my one layer Christmas card:

I dry embossed first, changing the orientation of the embossing folder so it would work for one layer, then stencilled before stamping my sentiment. Next I inked very lightly around the outer edges of the card - this helps draw the eye in and made it look less like a branch floating in the middle of nowhere, lol. All those speckles on the background are gold ink splatters. I used ink for this rather than paint as I wanted them to be very subtle; they give a lovely sparkle when they catch the light but are pretty impossible to catch on camera (of course!). Of course the debossing shows on the inside front, but I don't think the recipient will mind too much, do you?

Materials used:

• stamps - Christmastime 3 (Tim Holtz)
• stencils and embossing folder - Lush Berry Branch (Altenew)
• distress inks - bundled sage, peeled paint, candied apple, lumberjack plaid, brushed corduroy
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, MISTI, sticky mat, golden glitz ink (Delicata), fan brush

I hope you'll have a go at making a one layer card and share it with us in the Just Add Ink gallery.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Just Add Ink #693 - Just Choose Two

Welcome to another Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a choose two option, with your choices between

Here in the southern hemisphere March heralds the beginning of my favourite season of the year, autumn. Recently I noticed that one of my nearby neighbours had a crop of beautiful yellow sunflowers in their front yard and the cheerful, happy 'faces' not only made me smile but also inspired my card featuring autumn colours and sunflowers, with my 'choose two' options being squares and circles. 

For my background I did some ink blending with oxides and after dry embossing, inked over the raised areas with another oxide. To preserve the vividacity of the colours I smooshed some distress micro glaze over everything. My window frame got some distressing treatment and ink, then I added the sunflowers (which were already made up in my stash) and attached them all to my background. I made some little bunches of sisal threads and added those, splattered with vanilla and gold paints and lastly added a sentiment. 

Materials used:

• card - blackberry bliss, very vanilla, basic white (Stampin' Up)
• distress oxide inks - fossilized amber, ripe persimmon, candied apple, seedless preserves
• other Tim Holtz products - baseboard window frame, ground espresso archival ink, metallic sticker, blending tool, micro glaze
• other - floating foliage 3D embossing folder (Altenew), sunflower dies (Simon Says Stamp), Big Shot, fan brush, Dimensionals, craft foam, sisal thread, distressing tool, sanding block, sponge dauber, blending brushes, stitched rectangle die

There are more cards to inspire you over on the Just Add Ink blog. I do hope you'll join us and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

It's a Blackout!

For something just a wee bit different, today's card features a new-to-me technique called Blackout Embossing.  

I did encounter a problem straight away though - and that is most of my 3D embossing folders are texture patterns like brick, timber, weaving, etc, rather than a focal image. So I settled on Tim Holtz's gorgeous poinsettia and decided to use some non-Christmassy colours to hopefully make it look like just any old flower, lol. 

The technique is you emboss, then ink inside the debossed portion of the image (in this instance, flowers and leaves). Once that's done, use direct-to-paper with a dark coloured ink pad, in my case black. You have to be fairly lighthanded so it doesn't get in too much of the debossed areas but I must admit to also using a sponge applicator when my direct-to-paper didn't give me quite as much coverage as I wanted. I absolutely love that I ended up with this slightly patchy effect - it has so much more texture and character than an all-over smooth finish would have. I paired it with a gold foil die-cut sentiment and some gilded gems.

The end result is what I term a bit 'arty-farty' lol, but I rather like it. It's not grungy nor is it clean - kind of an in-between - and makes me think of a burned wood etching for some reason. I'd love to hear what you think.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #668 - Just Choose Two

I really wanted to play along with this week's Just Add Ink challenge because the choose two options are right up my alley:

My choose two options are - duh - timber and tearing (hopefully the little tears in my distressed edges count) and if sisal can count as twine then I've got that covered too!

My starting point was the leaf die. I rummaged through some prepared pieces I had on hand, finding this gorgeous rusty hinge and cracked pistachio combo, and cut out the die. I knew I wanted some texture, so embossed some watercolour card with the timber part of the challenge and used the debossed side for a change. I fiddled and played around with it a bit before ending up with this combination of elements - ie some more of the rust/pistachio for a layer behind the timber, then more embossing for my background piece. The finishing touches were sisal, dots and a sentiment strip. 

Materials used:

• card - cajun craze (SU), watercolour
• embossing folders - Pinewood Planks, Timeworn Type (SU)
• distress inks/oxides - rusty hinge, cracked pistachio
• other - sisal fibres, distressing tool, Big Shot, sponge dauber, copper clay dots, Buckeye Leaf die (The Greetery), Dimensionals, craft foam, Wordies Sentiment Sheets - Friendship (Creative Expressions)

Check out which options my team mates chose over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Making Me Smile

The Inspired by challenge board really caught my eye and it didn't take long before I decided to try out an idea.

I do love using neutrals occasionally, especially the combo of white and kraft used here. Those two colours were inspiration for my card and I think the leaves also echo the triangular shape of the bookshelves. 

I cut all the leaves and veins from both heavyweight watercolour and kraft heavystock - I love the extra heft for small pieces, plus they take really well to dry embossing. I stamped the 'make me smile' part of the sentiment a little darker as I wanted to emphasise those words.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sentiment Strips 2 (Altenew)
• card - watercolour (Cansen), kraft heavystock (Tim Holtz), basic white (SU)
• inks - crumb cake (SU), vintage photo archival (TH)
• other - craft foam, Dimensionals, blending brush, water spritzer, Big Shot, MISTI, regular and 3D embossing folders, Artsy Leaves dies (TH)

Hope you have some crafting in your day today. Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Edited to add: Thanks so much to the design team for the pick as winner for this challenge.

Hello Beautiful!

Late last night I was in the mood for a little creating but was just tired enough that I didn't want complicated, so I ended up using the very simple technique of running a white pigment ink pad over a 3D embossed image. 

The card I used is orchid oasis, which has got to be my second fav SU colour in many years (cherry cobbler still owns my heart). Shame it's an in-colour and not around for long - I'll have to hope it comes back in a future colour reshuffle! 

I placed the sentiment strip in the lower corner because when I sat it up in the top area, it stole the limelight from the embossing. Here your eye is drawn to the embossing first and then the sentiment. Black was chosen for the matting for the same reason; a light colour just detracted from the main feature. This cardmaking business can get to be so technical, lol! The edges of both pieces were lightly distressed.

Materials used:

• card - basic black, orchid oasis
• ink - white pigment (Ranger)
• embossing folder - Book Cover Engravings 3D (Altenew)
• other - Wordies Sentiment Sheets - Friendship (Creative Expressions), craft foam, Dimensionals, Big Shot, distressing tool

What technique do you go for when you crave simplicity?

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept Challenge #197

Welcome to the second challenge of the month with The Card Concept, when we give you not one but two mood boards to inspire your creativity. This time around we offer you Industrial Modern and Nature Calls.

I love to play with industrial chic so picked option A for my mixed media card, inspired by the cogs and rusty metal. 

I used a background I had on hand that had been sprayed with uncharted mariner and rusty hinge distress inks and ran it through the fabulous mechanical 3D embossing folder. This was then highlighted with antique gold wax rubbed over many of the raised areas and cut into three sections. The chipboard corner piece was left plain as I like the contrast and that it enhances the background without stealing its limelight, so to speak. The copper clay card base was given a very light sponging with black ink around the edges.

Materials used:

• card - watercolour, basic black, copper clay
• distress sprays - uncharted mariner, rusty hinge
• other Tim Holtz products - Mechanical 3D embossing folder, Paper Dolls mini, Small Talk sticker
• other - Big Shot, Industrial corners chipboard (Dusty Attic), heat tool, Dimensionals, craft foam, antique gold wax (Art Alchemy), sponge dauber

What's your vibe? Maybe you have someone in your life who loves industrial, steampunk or fishing and the great outdoors? We'd love to see your creation in our gallery, plus don't forget there's more to see and inspire you over on The Card Concept blog. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry 

Hello Hummingbird

This week's Color Throwdown combo gave me the perfect excuse to try out some new-to-me dies and inks. 

Love this vivid combo, so tropical and summery. Here's my card:

As I wanted the bird to be the focal point, I chose embossing rather than stamping for the flowers. For the same reason I stamped the sentiment directly on the card in a light colour, rather than raising it on a separate piece of card. Plain white looked nice for the card base but I felt this lovely light yellow enhanced the yellow on the bird.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Words Birthday (Simon Says Stamp)
• card - basic white, lemon lolly
• SU inks - Tahitian tide, parakeet party, lemon lolly, azure afternoon, smoky slate
• other - layered hummingbird wafer die (SSS), black gem, sponge daubers, Dimensionals, Big Shot, Book Cover Engravings 3D embossing folder (Altenew), craft foam, MISTI

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #643 - Just Choose Two

This week at Just Add Ink we have our choose two option:

In a perfect example of serendipity, DD needed a wedding card last weekend, so I used embossing and white as my two options to create this for her.

I used a heavyweight white card with my 3D embossing folder - the photo doesn't do justice to the fabulous depth of this. After running around the edges with my Versamark ink pad, I dipped them into gold embossing powder and melted it to leave a barely-there-but-vital border and gave the inside insert the same treatment. On a separate piece of card I also gold embossed the sentiment and die-cut these, adding them with mounting strips, and my card was complete. (I did toy with the idea of adding some gold pearls but decided the card was busy enough already and I wanted the stunning embossed image to be the star of the show.)

Materials used:

• stamps - Happily Ever After (Trinity Stamps)
• card - Distress white heavyweight (Ranger)
• embossing folder - Book Cover Engravings 3D (Altenew)
• other - gold embossing powder, heat tool, Happily Ever After dies, Big Shot, craft foam, mounting strips, water spritzer

Do check out what my team mates have created to inspire you over on the JAI blog and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #619 - Just Add Masculine

I'm playing along with the Just Add Ink challenge again this week. It was a case of an idea popping into my head that wouldn't leave me alone - I'm sure many of you know exactly how that goes, lol - so of course I gave in to it and headed off to my craft room. 

And here's my card. 

Isn't that background a-maz-ing? Love, love, love the depth you get on 3D embossing folders - this is a Tim Holtz one called Mechanics. I embossed a piece of silver foil card then added black soot distress paint and distress crayon to highlight all that wonderful texture. To me it looks just as real as the actual pieces of metal on there, which are the gauge frame and the 'screws' on the quote chip.

Materials used:

• card - crumb cake, silver foil, real red (all Stampin' Up)
• inks - black soot distress archival (Tim Holtz), crumb cake (SU)
• Tim Holtz products - Mechanics 3D embossing folder, gauge dials, gauge frame, quote chip, Postale die set, memoirs ephemera pack, mini paper dolls, hardware heads, black soot distress paint, black soot distress crayon
• other - Big Shot, sponge daubers, craft foam, Dimensionals, corner rounder punch, Copic markers E31, E55

Of course it's always handy to have masculine cards on hand and there's plenty more ideas to inspire you over on the Just Add Ink blog. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

#IBlameItOnJennifer

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Jennifer McGuire is an enabler! LOL.

She's also one very talented lady and if you don't already subscribe to her YouTube channel, I thoroughly recommend you do. It was one of her excellent videos that alerted me to the myriad of ways you can use 3D embossing folders.

Here's my attempt at CASEing one of hers:

Materials used:

• stamps - none
• card - whisper white, soft sea foam
• inks - soft sea foam, garden green
• other - subtle embossing folder, Big Shot, frame dies (stash), brayer, Tim Holtz 3D texture embossing folder 'Botanical', mounting tape

I inked up the inside of my embossing folder before running it through the Big Shot, then ran a brayer very lightly over the top of my embossed piece with a darker ink.

And here's another one: 

This folder isn't quite as deep as the Tim Holtz one so my background ink is slightly patchy, but I like to think it adds to the effect (well, that's what I'm going to tell myself, lol). I've deliberately left the sentiment at 'Happy' as I like to think it could be for a number of uses - happy birthday, happy for you, you make me happy, etc - the rest can be added inside. You're limited only by your imagination! 

Not my best photos, sorry. However, are you loving SU's Subtle embossing folder as much as I am? It gives great texture to your backgrounds and lives up to its name perfectly.

Materials used:

• stamps - none
• card - daffodil delight, basic grey, whisper white
• inks - daffodil delight
• other - happy die (Altenew), Sizzix 3D embossing folder 'Floral Blossom', Big Shot, stitched rectangle framelits, mounting tape, mini glue dots, metallics sequin assortment, subtle embossing folder

You can watch Jennifer's video HERE on creative uses of embossing folders. If you're like me, you'll soon be ordering some 3D goodies to play with!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez