Birthday Fishes

I love the Seize the Birthday challenge this week! 

I sat and had a play with the first idea that came to mind - but you never know, I might think of more before the week is out, lol. 

After cutting my postage die and positioning the blocks stencil, I inked with light and medium aqua, then placed my second stencil over the top (the waves) and inked with medium and dark aqua to get this tone-on-tone effect. Next I stamped some weeds along the "sea floor" before stamping, colouring and fussy-cutting the aquatic friends and cake. If you imagine those things at the top of the cake are candles (and that you could actually light candles underwater, lol), the blowfish is perfectly positioned to be blowing them out! (I know, my mind is a scary place 😉)

Materials used:

• stamps - Gill Friends (My Favorite Things), Big Bite (Gerda Steiner Designs)
• postage collage - A6 die and blocks stencil (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, Copic markers, waves stencil, Big Shot, MISTI, sticky grip mat, Dimensionals, foam tape, blender pen

Thanks for swimming by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #596 - Just Add a Sketch

Hi everyone and welcome to another challenge with Just Add Ink. This week we have a sketch for you:

As always, you can rotate the sketch if you wish or leave as is. I've used it in this portrait style for a fun watercoloured spotlight underwater scene.

Materials used:

• stamps - Gill Friends (MFT), Picture It Ocean (Clearly Besotted)
• card - coastal cabana, watercolour
• distress inks/oxides - antique linen, brushed corduroy, cracked pistachio, salvaged patina, mermaid lagoon, mustard seed, carved pumpkin, ripe persimmon, pumice stone, hickory smoke, black soot
• other - craft foam, Dimensionals, aquapainter, clear embossing powder, heat tool, small talk stickers (Tim Holtz), black marker

Do visit the JAI blog to see more creations made to inspire you and of course we'd love you to join in the challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Edited to add: For Christine (thanks for asking) and any other interested parties - First I placed my background piece of watercolour card into my MISTI and stamped the sea bed scene, then removed it and put a piece of printer paper the same size as my background piece in and stamped again. Then I cut the 3 strips of watercolour paper and used repositionable adhesive to attach them in place over the top of the printer paper so I could get them just where I wanted them, and re-stamped. 

In Which My Opening Sentence Could Surprise

The only thing wrong with getting brand new crafting goodies - if I may be so bold as to suggest there could possibly be anything wrong with getting new stuff - is that ... no, wait, I think I need to amend that sentence. The only thing wrong with getting a bunch of new crafting goodies (cause I guess it's not really an issue if you only get one or two) is deciding which ones to play with first.

And then, of course, is the 'first try phenomenon'. By that I mean that you're so keen to just ink those stamps up or cut that ribbon/designer series paper that your first creation is not always...well, an important work of art, let's say. Not that I hate the cards I'm about to show you - no, no - it's just that they didn't come out as well in real life as they did in my head. Such is life, I guess. Maybe I could list that as the second thing wrong with getting brand new crafting goodies? Yeah, I hear you; I'd better stop there before I think of more things wrong and commit crafting sacrilege!

Alright, take a look at some new stuff:

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Gala
• card - highland heather, whisper white, Gingham Gala DSP
• other - Stampin' Blends, Big Shot, stitched seasons framelits, butterfly duet punch, glitter enamel dots, Dimensionals, edging dies (non SU)

This card uses products from the Gingham Gala suite - there's the stamp set, matching punch, gingham designer papers (in 5 colours), sequins and more. Plus, the upcoming Sale-a-bration catalogue also has matching butterfly designer paper AND ribbons to match the gingham papers. I'm not usually much into butterflies, but this suite was too lovely to resist.

Materials used:

• stamps - Climbing Roses
• card - petal pink, whisper white, smoky slate
• inks - petal pink, smoky slate, mint macaron, basic grey
• other - Stampin' Blends, scissors, Stamparatus, sponge daubers, distressing tool, Dimensionals

I do love me some distressing and sponging. A little bit of stamping-off softens background colours too.

And I also have a bunch of not SU goodies and couldn't possibly neglect them, so here's how my first card with those turned out:

Are these little guys cute or what? The shimmer mist sunbeams look gorgeous when they catch the light too. I've done a video on the making of this card, so if you're interested pop on over to YouTube HERE. And if you like it, give me a thumbs up and subscribe so you'll get notified each time I put up a new video.

Materials used:

• stamps - Gill Friends (My Favourite Things)
• card - soft sky, basic black, whisper white
• distress oxide inks - faded jeans, mermaid lagoon
• other - embossing buddy, white embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Gill Friends dies, Stampin' Blends, Dimensionals, clear epoxy shapes, white shimmer mist, sun ray stencil (MFT), paper towels, blending tool

So that's what I've been playing with - more to come (but maybe not until after Christmas). Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez