Happy Holidays, Theodore

It's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink so let's take a look at the theme:

July in Australia is, of course, mid-winter, so the Christmas in July theme has become a popular way to celebrate with things we might not do in December when it's far too hot to contemplate roast dinners and steamed pudding! 

Here's Theodore the polar bear ready for some Christmas fun.

Materials used:

• dies - Theodore colorize mini, mini Accessories Colorize, Tall Pines (all Tim Holtz), stitched rectangles
• distress inks - antique linen, candied apple, lumberjack plaid, aged mahogany, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness, black soot, stormy sky
• other - white gel pen, blending brushes, Big Shot, foam squares, remnant rubs - Christmas Tiny Text (Tim Holtz), white gouache, fan brush

I hope you'll join the fun and create something Christmassy! Check out more samples to inspire on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Entering in Inkspirational challenge, also Christmas in July.

Warm Wishes - Just Add Ink Challenge #776

It's time once again to Choose Two or More items to create with for the new Just Add Ink challenge.

I actually managed to incorporate all six options on my wintery Christmas card!

It occurred to me that snowmen would not want to hang their stockings by a fire (for obvious reasons, lol), so I figured they'd put them on the tree instead. Here are Chilly and Freezy doing just that. 

All the snow aspects - the ground, snowmen and snow on the tree - were given a  liberal spray with shimmer mist and I also used sparkle texture paste for the falling snow. Here's a better look at that shimmer:

Materials used:

• dies - stitched circle, Chilly and Freezy (Tim Holtz), Snowcapped tree (Waffle Flower), Fireside (Tim Holtz)
• other - blending brushes, shimmer mist, MISTI, foam squares, sparkle texture paste (Tim Holtz), Copic markers, distress inks, black rhinestones, speckles stencil (Tim Holtz), Big Shot, thick white bakers twine, Subsentiments Snow diecut (Waffle Flower)

I hope you'll pick two or more things from the list to create with and join our challenge. Check out the Just Add Ink blog to see which options my team mates chose.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge of Anything Christmas/Holidays
• Christmas Kickstart challenge of Anything Christmassy
• Double D challenges of Santa and/or Snowman
• The Four Seasons challenge of Anything Goes Winter

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Peaceful Poinsettia - Just Add Ink Challenge #774

It's time for a new challenge with Just Add Ink and this time anything goes as long as we ...

I made a simple Christmas card focused on dies.

This was very straightforward to create, the main work was in the colouring. I cut all the floral pieces from heavy watercolour card and used distress inks. Once I was happy with an arrangement, I began by adhering the poinsettia then tucked everything else behind or around it. The sentiment has multiple layers.

Materials used:

• dies - Festive Blooms (Concord & 9th), CZ Design Peace wafer die (Simon Says Stamp) 
• distress inks - worn lipstick, abandoned coral, scattered straw, antique linen, brushed corduroy, walnut stain, shabby shutters, peeled paint, twisted citron, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, sticky mat, glue gun

I hope you'll have a chance to sit and create with dies and/or stencils over the next two weeks and join our challenge. Do be sure to check out more samples over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Our Finest Gifts

Today's card is for the Christmas Crafts All Year Round challenge. We're to create a project inspired by the song, The Little Drummer Boy. 

I used the line 'Our finest gifts we bring' as inspiration for my card.

The little elf is three layers of kraft heavystock - there are some very delicate areas on the die where I felt extra strength and support was essential. The gift boxes are all two layers; paper over card. I used the woodgrain paper, kraft and muted colours to give a rustic kind of feel, appropos of a visit to a stable. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Elegant Christmas 2 (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Santa's Helper (Tim Holtz), circle
• papers - Christmas Blessings and Add-On paper pack (Mintay)
• other - Big Shot, blending brush, Dimensionals, foam tape, vellum, brushed corduroy distress ink, clear dots

By the way, did you know The Little Drummer Boy (originally known as the Carol of the Drum) was first recorded by the Trapp Family Singers in 1951? Sound of Music, anyone? 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

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

Sending Love

I think I might have mentioned in a previous post how much I LOVE the current Color Throwdown colour combo, so when I saw the Tic Tac Toe challenge board and an idea came to mind, it was beyond my capabilities to resist using them again! And yes, it's another Christmas card, lol.

  

From the TTT board I picked the diagonal row of letters, free and rectangle shape. Here's my card:

I began with my envelopes - die cutting, sponging the edges and stencilling the features on the fronts. Then I worked on the foliage, cutting from teal card but adding depth of colour with Copics. Rhinestones were used for the berries and I clear embossed the sentiment after stamping in red. 

Materials used:

• stamp - Sending Love (Hero Arts)
• dies - nesting postage stamps infinity dies (Hero Arts), mini holiday greens (Tim Holtz), postage collage mini seals, envelopes (both Waffle Flower)
• stencil - postage collage addressed envelope (Waffle Flower)
• patterned paper - Cool Collab (MFT)
• SU cardstock - pool party, coastal cabana, Bermuda bay, poppy parade
• other - Copic markers, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponge dauber, craft foam, rhinestones

Hope you're having as much fun in your day as I did making this! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Merry Birdie

I absolutely love, love, LOVE the combo at this week's Color Throwdown! 

I've often used this combo and especially love it for Christmas - it's just that little bit different and also bright and cheerful. As soon as I saw the board I knew I had to play along and that I had to dig out some papers I bought a few years back that fit the challenge to perfection! They feature red, white and three shades of aqua. 

So cute! 

I cut several layers of  'Merry' for depth, also raising it with foam. The little birdie was coloured with Copics and a bit of paper piecing. On the background I blended some aqua ink then stencilled over it with the same colour. 

Materials used:

• dies - Overlapping Vertical Merry Word die, Birdie Friends in Winter (both Waffle Flower)
• papers - Cool Collab 6x6 (My Favorite Things)
• other - Copic markers, Sidekick, silver thread, silver pearls, blending brush, sparkle fade stencil (Tim Holtz), Dimensionals, craft foam, white gel pen

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow! - Just Add Ink Challenge #761

It's time for a brand new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week it's a chance to drag your Christmas supplies out of storage and make with the ho-ho-ho!

I love making Christmas cards when it's actually winter here and I can add snow elements without it looking weird - or maybe it's just because I have the perfect excuse to go to town with the splatters! And I certainly took advantage of that on my card 😁, as you can see...

It's a veritable blizzard! 😂 I really wanted to emphasise the winter aspect, lol. 

For my background I inked the inside of the embossing folder before running it through. I used puffy embossing powder for the snow on the ground - love the texture. The baubles on the tree (what do you mean, you don't bring your tree home fully decorated?) were cut from glitter card then coloured with Copics. All the other pieces - apart from the obvious white bits - were cut from coloured card and inked for shading. As usual, I cut two layers of the sentiment die and applied some white pan pastel top and bottom for a wintery look. The whole thing got a spritz of shimmer mist so has a lovely subtle sparkle to it when it catches what little sun we have at the moment. 

Getting the tree is one of my favourite Christmas memories from when my girls were younger. We'd go to the same tree farm every year and take ages choosing just the right one before chopping it down and fitting it in the boot of the car. On the way home we always stopped and bought tons of fresh fruit - strawberries, cherries, grapes, apricots, watermelon. The cherries were usually almost gone by the time we got home, lol. 

Materials used:

• dies - Beach Bound, Beach Bound Holiday Add-Ons (HoneyBee), Merry Christmas print (Waffle Flower)
• other - snowflake embossing folder (Couture Creations), Big Shot, blending brushes, Copic markers, white pan pastel, puffy embossing powder, heat tool, craft foam, picket fence distress paint, fan brush

It was a very chilly day when I made this, which seemed appropriate, but it did make me laugh that it followed on the heels of the tropical/summery theme I used for my last challenge cards, lol. Talk about polar opposites!

We hope you'll join us in creating for this theme and share them over on the Just Add Ink blog, where there are more samples to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Always Believe - Just Add Ink Challenge #733

Howdy! It's not my week to create for Just Add Ink challenges, but with this choose two combo, how could I possibly resist? Plus, it was yours truly who suggested it in the first place, lol!

I had plenty of ideas for this but in the end went with a stamp set I've had for three years and never used. GASP! I know, I know! Mind boggling! I'm so glad I did though 'cos it was lots of fun inking and colouring. Here tis:

I masked off my moon and did the background first, using oxide inks on watercolour paper then adding water splatters and the moon detail. Once that was all dry I stamped Santa and his sleigh, colouring it with distress watercolour pencils - these are pigment, so they show up over ink. Because the pigment tends to obscure lines, I stamped again over the top once all the colours were dry. I embossed the 'magic swirl' in gold and added gold to the edges as well, co-ordinating with a gold on black sentiment sticker.

Materials used:

• stamps - Stamptember 2021 (Tim Holtz)
• distress oxide inks - wilted violet, villainous potion, black soot
• other Tim Holtz products - moon mask, distress watercolour pencils, Holiday Talk metallic sticker
• other - aqua painter, blending brushes, gold embossing powder, heat tool, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, Dimensionals, craft foam, kraft heavystock card, watercolour card, Versamark ink

We'd love you to join in our challenge and create, so grab your Santa supplies. This challenge runs for two weeks and there won't be voting as normal, it's completely for fun! 

As always, there's more samples to inspire you over on the Just Add Ink blog. 

This will probably be my last post before Christmas, so I just want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season. Thank you for your support during the year, it means a lot.

Cheers!

Kerry

Christmas Wreath - The Card Concept Challenge #212

It's time for a new challenge with The Card Concept and this month the moodboard features a stunning Christmas wreath to inspire you. 

I chose to go vintage collage for my card which incorporates both wreath and tartan from the pic. 

I added ink to the background pieces to provide cohesion as well as enhance the vintage vibe. My wreath was cut from card coloured with various inks as well as some mica, so it has a lovely sheen and glow when it catches the light. For the bow I attached plaid washi tape to card and die cut from that. The stars were thick chipboard but I removed a couple of layers as I didn't want that much bulk; the chipboard sentiment strip I left as is, as it provides a nice base for the gentleman to stand on. 

Materials used:

• dies - Vault Collection Christmas 2021 (Tim Holtz)
• papers - Christmas backdrops (Tim Holtz)
• ephemera - Christmas ephemera pack, Baseboards & Transparencies Christmas 2023 (TH)
• other - antique linen and vintage photo distress inks, sponge dauber, blending brush, Big Shot, Christmas design tape (TH), distress inks and mica stains, Dimensionals

I hope the moodboard gives you inspiration for your own cards and that you'll share them with us over on The Card Concept blog. Do check out the samples from my fellow design team members. 

This card is also being entered in the current Christmas Kickstart challenge. 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Happy Holidays - Just Add Ink Challenge #731

Looking for ideas for more Christmas cards? We've got you covered this week at Just Add Ink with this lovely inspiration pic:

I was lightly influenced by the red and white colours but didn't pick any particular item, rather using the overall Christmas theme as inspiration for my card.

As I didn't want the sentiment to steal any limelight from those gorgeous images, I chose a silver-on-white sticker. 

Materials used:

• dies - Postage Collage and Postage Collage Blocks (Waffle Flower)
• papers - Merry & Joy 6x6, 6x8 add-on pack (Mintay)
• other - Big Shot, craft foam, sponge dauber, Holiday metallic stickers (Tim Holtz), Dimensionals

There's more samples to see over on the Just Add Ink blog, so do pop over and check those out, and of course if you create, we'd love you to share your projects using the Linky tool. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

We Wish You Joy

I love this week's word theme at the Just Us Girls challenge and happily played along.

I'm also loving this new-to-me die set from Honey Bee Stamps. You just can't help but adore this sweet face!

I die cut all the pieces from white, vanilla or beige card and added shading with either ink or Copic markers. The antlers have two layers to give them a bit more strength, likewise the letters J and Y have three layers for dimension. The sticker initially read 'we wish you a merry Christmas' but I just cut off those first three words to use. 

Materials used:

• dies - Lovely Layers Vintage Reindeer (Honey Bee Stamps), Large Letters (retired SU)
• other - gold glitter card, Christmas patchwork papers (Etsy), Big Shot, Copic markers, blending brush, metallic sticker (Tim Holtz), vellum, Dimensionals, white gel pen

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Naughty or Nice - Just Add Ink Challenge #728

It's time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink and this week we've a Choose Two option.

Patterned paper and pens were my picks for a fun festive card.

The looks on their faces is rather sassy, so I just had to go with an equally sassy sentiment, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Oddball Boy and his Reindeer (Stamping Bella), Stamptember 2020 (Tim Holtz)
• other - patterned paper (SU retired), MISTI, water brushes, Clean Color real brush markers (Kuretake), small pennant punch, Sahara sand marker (SU retired)

We have more samples to inspire you over on the JAI blog and we can't wait to see which options you choose to create!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Three Wise Penguins

I absolutely love the theme over at the Christmas Kickstart challenge this week and just had to play along.

My card features three playful penguins bearing gifts - and how adorable are they? 

I cut my pieces from black and white card then used Copics to colour, keeping to soft pastels apart from a pop of red on each wee cutie. My background was ink blended before stencilling the star and spritzing with shimmer mist for some gorgeous sparkle, which - as I'm sure all crafters know - just doesn't photograph well. Sigh! Everything was kept very simple because I wanted those penguins to really be the star of the show (excuse the pun!). 

Materials used:

• dies - Playful Penguins (Spellbinders)
• other - Copic markers, Big Shot, blending brush, Sparkle stencil (Tim Holtz), Dimensionals, shimmer mist, shaded lilac oxide ink, Christmas tiny text remnant rubs (Tim Holtz)

Thanks for waddling on by.

Cheers

Kerry

Christmas Wishes and Gingerbread Kisses - Just Add Ink Challenge #725

I'm back with more stencilling! It's not my scheduled week but I couldn't resist playing along with the new Just Add Ink challenge, lol.

I love, love, love all the layering stencils that are so popular in the craft world at the moment. Here I combined two Christmas-themed stencil sets, unifying them by using the same ink colours throughout. 

Materials used:

• stencils - Postage Collage Gingerbread, Postage Collage Christmas (Waffle Flower)
• dye inks - wintergreen (Catherine Pooler), picked raspberry, tea dye, rusty hinge (Tim Holtz)
• dies - Postage Collage, Merry Christmas Print (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, Dimensionals, vellum

Have you some stencils you just love using? Dust them off and create, then share over on the Just Add Ink blog; we'd love to see them.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Christmas Blessings - Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

 

It's my last week as Guest Designer with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. I've really enjoyed taking part and hope you've enjoyed seeing my creations each week. For this challenge we're to make a CHRISTMAS OR WINTER themed card.  Here in Australia Christmas happens in summer, but I love making winter-themed cards so I've incorporated both. 

This scene was a lot of fun to put together. I really wanted anyone looking at it to feel like they're there in the snow so was very generous with my gesso splatters, even extending them to the card base itself. And in case you didn't notice, the music in the background is 'White Christmas', lol. 

I used Lawn Fawn's Build a Birdhouse and Christmas add-on dies, distress oxide inks, Waffle Flower mini slimline nesting rectangle frames dies, Wow white puff embossing powder, white gesso and Waffle Flower Elegant Christmas 2 stamp and die set.

Do head over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog to see what the design team have come up with to inspire you.

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a fabulous $25 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store - all you have to do is take out your crafting supplies, make something following this week's prompt, and link up at the bottom of the Challenge Blog post. You can join up to 5 times, giving you 5 chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Joy

The good folks at the Color Throwdown challenge must really love this colour combo, as it's the third time this year they've given it to us to play with (see CTD785, CTD788) - but as I love it too, I'm certainly not complaining!

The summery vibe in the pic made me think Christmas (which is a summer event here Down Under), so I got out my inks and a stencil and got to playing.

I blended two shades of pink on the flowers and added tiny touches of gold paint to the centres. The same colours were used for the inner pieces of the Joy die and I must say I am loving pink for Christmas! It's just a softer shade of traditional red and works so well with other seasonal colours. 

Materials used:

• distress inks/oxides - tattered rose, worn lipstick, bundled sage, scattered straw
• stencil - Poinsettia background (Waffle Flower)
• card - watercolour, vellum, gold foil, pink
• other - gold Posca pen, Dimensionals, blending brushes, Holiday Talk metallic sticker (Tim Holtz), Sidekick, Joy die, craft foam

It won't be long until we're all crafting Xmas goodies in earnest - where on earth does the time go? 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Comfort & Joy

I've been doing a bit of a clean up in my craft room and came across I card I made quite some time ago. At the time I couldn't decide whether or not I liked it, but today I decided yes I do, lol. I think I was experimenting with slightly non-traditional Christmas colours.

After so long I can't remember exactly what I used, but I'll try to give details as close as I can! There's a layer of something over the whole panel that gives it that soft, muted look and it's driving me crazy that I can't recall what I used! I THINK it was clear rock candy glitter, though it's not really glittery - but perhaps that's a 'been stashed away for ages' thing, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Winter Watercolor 2 (Tim Holtz), Christmas Classics (Stampin' Up)
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, moon mask (Tim Holtz), blending brushes, MISTI, abandoned coral distress oxide ink, craft foam, Versamark ink, clear rock candy glitter (Tim Holtz), lost lagoon (retired) SU ink and cardstock

Hope you like it too! Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #683 - Just Choose Two, Take Two

I've made a second project for the Just Add Ink choose two theme this week, picking trees and ornaments. It's a card design I've been wanting to make for some time after seeing gorgeous samples on Pinterest, and as the elements fitted right in with our 'just choose two' options, what better time?

Anyone dreaming of a white Christmas?

I cut the ornament die from masking paper and attached the outside portion to my kraft card, sponging inside with white ink and adding white artist's pastel around the edges for extra intensity. Using a white gel pen I went around the outline of the ornament then used my MISTI to stamp the image in permanent ink just where I wanted it. The gel pen was used again for the snow highlights on the cabin, trees, smoke and ground before the mask was removed. Next I set the inside part of the mask (the ornament) over my image and gave a light sponge of brown ink around it for shadowing. Once that was removed, the whole front panel got a splattering of white paint.

Materials used:

• stamps - Winterscape (Tim Holtz)
• card - distress kraft heavystock (Tim Holtz)
• inks - picket fence distress ink, vintage photo oxide ink (Tim Holtz), Nocturne (Versafine Clair), titanium white (Pan Pastel)
• other - ornament die (stash), Big Shot, blending tools, MISTI, white gel pen, craft foam, picket fence distress paint (Tim Holtz), paintbrush, gold cord, mini glue dot, sponge dauber, masking sheets (Lavinia)

Which two of our options will you pick? We'd love to see your projects in our gallery!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept Challenge #202

Welcome back to another challenge with The Card Concept. This month our board is called Christmas Cheer.

 I took the Christmas theme and colours, predominantly red and white, for my clean and layered card.

My caroling elves were coloured with Copics and fussy cut. Aren't they adorable? Such sweet little faces. Oxide inks were blended for the background together with a little water splatter. As a finishing touch I added glitter to the 'fur' bits and just love the texture as well as the subtle shimmer.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sing Joy! (by Mo Manning for Penny Black)
• card - basic white, real red, basic black, Merry Bold & Bright DSP (Stampin' Up)
• Copic markers - E00,11,21,33,41,50,55; G24,43,82; B0000,000; YR24,27; R24,29,39
•  distress oxide inks - antique linen, brushed corduroy, tumbled glass
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, water spritzer, Dimensionals, Quickie glue pen, distress glitter clear rock candy

Do check out more samples over on the Card Concept blog and remember we'd love you to create your own festive card and join us.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry