Hello Friend - Just Add Ink Challenge #714

Welcome to a new challenge with Just Add Ink and this week we've a colour combo for you to play with:

These gorgeous rich colours would be perfect for an autumn theme, but for today's offering I decided to use birds instead and pulled out my Songbirds on Branches suite. 

I stamped, stencilled and die-cut the images before arranging them on my peacock background, which I'd inked darker around the edges to draw the eye into the centre. They're attached with dimension and a little excess trimmed off the edges. Once the sentiment was on, I covered it and the birds then splattered liberally with gold paint.

Materials used:

• stamp/stencils/die - Songbirds on Branches (Pinkfresh Studio)
• card - pretty peacock, basic white (Stampin' Up)
• other - blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, MISTI, sticky mat, Big Shot, Wordies Sentiment Sheets - Friendship (Creative Expressions), tarnished brass distress paint, fan brush, VersaFine Clair nocturne ink

I hope you'll check out what my fellow team-mates created and decide to join us using these beautiful colours.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Just Add Ink Blog Hop

At Just Add Ink challenges we're starting off the new year with a blog hop and the theme is 

If you've come from Rochelle's blog then you're in the right place. If you're starting here, you'll be able to keep following all the links to take you around the hop. 

My two favourites pasttimes are crafting (naturally) and reading - I'm rather a voracious reader and always have been and it's something I wanted to pass down to my girls. Elder Daughter seemed keen for a while  but her interest began to wane when she was in year one.

Then something happened that changed everything.

She came out of school one day chattering and excited about a book all her friends were talking about. Having never heard of it, I asked some of the other mothers, to be told it was a new phenomenon everywhere and that some of them had read it too. So I bought the book and we took turns reading it - and thus began her love for the fantasy genre and reading in general.  

The book? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

So for my favourites project, I'd like to share an item that combines my two favourite pasttimes as well as being something I made for one of my two favourite people. 

There were lots of steps in making this, as you can imagine, but it was a labour of love. I began with making the 'book' base to support all the other bits - this is made from a wooden box (Tim Holtz vignette box) and I pretty much followed a tutorial by Tami Bastiaans here but changed a few things to suit, using a copy of the original bookcover, which is the edition we have. 

The suitcases were made using the SU retired matchbox die and some TH cracked leather cardstock. Luckily we live in a digital age, so I was able to find copies of the Hogwarts letter to Harry and his ticket for the Hogwarts Express. 

For the inside of the 'textbooks' I scanned pages from the actual book and cut them to size. The covers are TH ephemera. For the 'potions' inside the bottles I coloured glossy accents with alcohol ink, mixing them together with a toothpick. The bottles were grunged up a bit with collage medium and touches of distress crayon. I rolled up vellum for parchment (in the cauldron and down front with a quill die).

The owl was bought from a dollhouse miniatures place here in Melbourne. I did have to shave a bit off the tail to make it fit in the birdcage, lol.

As this represents Harry at the train station ready to head off to Hogwarts for the first time, I know that strictly speaking the broomstick shouldn't be there, but it was so adorable I just couldn't resist. Call it poetic licence, lol.

If you're a fellow Harry Potter fan, I hope you enjoyed that walk down memory lane! And I'm very happy to report that ED loves it.

Materials used:

• card - Coastal (Kaisercraft), basic white, vellum
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology - birdcage, cauldron, broomstick, potion bottles, vignette box, Memoir ephemera pack, 
• other TH products - collage medium matte, walnut stain and vintage photo distress crayons, vintage photo archival ink, antique linen distress paint, jump rings, alcohol inks,Regions Beyond die
• other - linen thread, computer and printer, Wee Creations miniatures, glossy accents

Thanks for calling in. I hope you find plenty to love along the hop and of course we'd love to see YOUR favourites on our challenge board this week.

Cheers

Kerry

Click on the icon below to hop to the next blog, which is Narelle.

JAI #610 - Just Add Inspiration

We've an inspiration pic for you this week at Just Add Ink.

I've taken inspiration from the rainbow colours, balloons and black/grey backgrounds and used an adorable new stamp set from SU to create a sweet birthday card.

Materials used:

• stamps - Elephant Parade (SU), Tiny Words Birthday (SSS)
• card - basic white, basic black, rainbow stripes (Etsy)
• other - Copic markers, Dimensionals, craft foam, white gel pen, MISTI, Big Shot, black marker, Elephant dies (SU), white embossing powder, heat tool, frosted dots, slimline stitched rectangle die (Paper Rose), Sidekick

There's plenty more inspiration for you over at the JAI blog and we do hope you'll play along with us.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #608 - Just Add a Colour Combo

We've a colour challenge at Just Add Ink this week, something to really sink your teeth into.

I had so many ideas for this challenge it was difficult to make a final decision, lol. In the end I went with some stamping and masking.

I haven't tried two-tone clouds before but love how they turned out and must thank Michelle Zindorf for the inspiration.

Materials used:

• stamps - Treeline (Tim Holtz)
• card - very vanilla, basic grey
• other - mini cloud stencil (MFT), blending brushes, 1 1/4" circle punch, craft foam, hickory smoke distress oxide ink, hickory smoke embossing glaze, heat tool, basic grey marker, post it note, MISTI

 

There's plenty more samples to get your creative juices flowing over on the Just Add Ink blog and as always, we'd love you to join our challenge.

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #604 - Just Add...You

For something a bit different this week at Just Add Ink we're asking you to...

Yes, just choose a card or project you've made previously and CASE (copy and selectively edit) it. You could change the stamps, dies, colours or shapes, but it needs to clearly be based on the original.

For my sample I chose to case my very first JAI design team card which was based on a sketch. Here's my original (click on it to be taken to the blog post if you'd like details).

And here's my case. I stuck with the shabby chic style and used Stamperia's totally gorgeous Provence collection which really appeals to the part of me that still loves girly and purple, lol. 

Materials used:

• card - highland heather, basic white, Provence DSP (Stamperia)
• other - Provence die cuts (Stamperia), pearls, Dimensionals, craft foam, distressing tool, sponge dauber, computer & printer, Sahara sand marker, hickory smoke distress oxide ink

Be sure to visit the Just Add Ink blog to see which of their creations my fellow team-mates decided to case and, as always, we would love for you to join the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

 

JAI #602 - Just Choose Two

This week at Just Add Ink we have our 'choose two' option and I was very excited as all the choices are some of my favourite crafty things to do!

In the end I incorporated all three on my mixed media card.

I stamped the image first with oxide ink and clear embossed it so I could do my ink smooshing afterwards. On my background I stencilled using crackle texture paste and the Metropolis stencil, which is a city map - look closely and you'll see the streets, blocks and roundabouts. Although the stamp set has some great sentiments in it, I couldn't resist using this word band and rubbed distress crayon into the etched writing to highlight it more. Lots of distressing and sponging of edges, along with the faux stitched border, give it a great shabby/grunge look.

Materials used:

• stamps - Theories (Tim Holtz)
• card - early espresso, watercolour
• distress oxide inks/sprays - speckled egg, weathered wood, vintage photo
• other Tim Holtz products - word bands, Metropolis stencil, crackle texture paste, picket fence distress crayon
• other - clear embossing powder, heat tool, MISTI, linen thread, craft foam, sponge dauber, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, early espresso marker, ruler

Be sure to check out what my fellow team-mates have made to inspire you and, as always, we'd love you to join the challenge with us.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry 

JAI #600 - Inspiration Challenge

Welcome to this week's inspiration challenge with Just Add Ink; we have a very evocative image to get your creative juices flowing.

With the cooler Autumn temperatures finally arriving in my little neck of Aus, this pic makes me long to curl up with a chai latte, warm blanket and a good book. When I'm not in the craft room, that is! Here's the card this inspired:

I needed the DSP I was using to not be so vibrant so I painted it with some watered-down gesso, which not only achieved that but also gives it an almost flannel/fabric kind of effect, don't you think?

The leaves and wooden barrel were cut from watercolour card after I'd had a fun old time with oxide inks and sprays. The barrel was then run through Tim Holtz's mini lumber 3D embossing folder - just love these minis and how fabulous does it look? Quite realistic, in my humble opinion. 

Materials used:

• sentiment stamp & dies - Mini Buzzwords Seasons (Honey Bee Stamps)
• card - basic white, watercolour, lost lagoon, early espresso, SU retired DSP
• Tim Holtz products - Potted Bigz die, Funky Foliage dies, (many) distress oxide inks and sprays, ground espresso archival ink, Idea-ology hardware heads, walnut stain distress paint, mini lumber 3D embossing folder
• other - Big Shot, sponge dauber, Dimensionals, water spritzer, heat tool, paint brushes, white gesso, white embossing powder, blending brush, antique gold gilding wax, early espresso marker, stitched rectangle die

We would love you to join in the fun and create your own project inspired by the pic. My fellow design team members have plenty of goodies to share, so pop over to the Just Add Ink blog and have a look. 

Thanks for calling in.

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. 

JAI #590 - Just Add Inspiration

It's inspiration photo time at Just Add Ink and how could you resist this pic? So sweet. Succulents are very big in the crafting world at the moment and although I'm really not into them, this made me go 'awwwww' big time!

I took the pot and pink flowers as inspiration for my shabby mixed media card, with some dark green thrown in too. 

For the flower pot I began with inks on heavy watercolour card, then embossed it for added texture. Next I used distress crayons to add what I hope is a mossy, weathered look. I gave it a slight curve and once the flowers were in place, popped in some craft moss for that extra touch of authenticity! I added an antique brass embellishment at the top of my card and used a ribbon slide which echoed the same shape as a frame for my sentiment.

Materials used:

• stamps - Field Notes (Tim Holtz), Merci Beaucoup (Clearly Besotted)
• card - watercolour, mossy meadow, Spring Botanic designer paper (Stamperia), Marina designer paper (Mintay)
• distress crayons - kitsch flamingo, tea dye, rustic wilderness, forest moss, picket fence
• Tim Holtz dies - Potted, Wildflower Stems 1
• other - gathered twigs and antique linen distress oxide inks, distressing tool, craft foam, mounting tape, aqua painter, blending brush, Subtle embossing folder (SU), craft moss (Spotlight), Big Shot Switch, hodgepodge hardware embellishments (SU retired), paper piercer

Do pop over to the Just Add Ink blog to see what gorgeous creations my fellow team mates have come up with for you. Of course, as always we'd love you to make your own and take part in the challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI#588 - Colour Challenge

Hi everyone, it's time for a colour challenge with Just Add Ink and this time we're using some of SU's 2020-2022 in-colours. 

I went for a vintage look and cracked open two Tim Holtz stamp sets I've had for some time but in all the busyness of packing and moving, hadn't gotten around to using. The colours lend themselves so well to a floral theme and I love the pop of colour the magenta madness provides! Bright pinks aren't usually my thing, lol, but here it's just perfect.

Materials used:

• stamps - Floral Outlines, Observations, Entomology, Field Notes (all Tim Holtz) 
• card - watercolour, brushed gold, early espresso
• distress oxide inks - antique linen, vintage photo, frayed burlap
• other - MISTI, gold embossing powder, embossing buddy, aqua painter, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot Switch, craft foam, sponge dauber, vintage photo archival ink, heat tool 
• inspired by an Emma Williams creation

More samples await you on the Just Add Ink blog and hopefully you'll see something to inspire you to sit and create - and, of course, if you do we'd love to see it in our gallery.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #585 - Just Add Christmas Gift Packaging

Hello and welcome. With the final stretch before Christmas fast approaching, we have a wonderful challenge for you over at Just Add Ink:

My wrapped treat has a gingerbread component (YUM!) so I decided to make gingerbread and candy cane themed packaging. The house is my first-time make with the new Village Collection dies from Tim Holtz/Sizzix. 

I cut the bits for my house from heavyweight watercolour paper (300gsm) and coloured with inks. The window frames, door frame and shutters were left plain. Frosted acetate was placed behind the windows for glass and the icing/frosting-like stuff is actually texture paste piped on. The gorgeous little confections are made of resin and were easily cut to fit my rooftop or glued together for the awning posts. 

For the tag it's sitting on, I masked off the inner portion and inked a border, then added both stamped and die-cut greetings. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Peace & Joy (SU)
• card - heavyweight watercolour (Cansen), Toile Tidings Gift Wrap (SU)
• distress oxide inks - rusty hinge, candied apple
• dies - Village Collection (house 1), The Vault Christmas (both Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, Sticky Grid, Christmas Confections (TH Idea-ology), die pick, embossing paste (SU), masking paper, mounting tape, red tinsel ribbon (SU)

We do hope you'll join our challenge and have tons of fun making your own Christmas gift packaging - there are an infinite number of choices you could make and we'd love to see them in our gallery. Meanwhile, pop over to the JAI blog to see what gorgeous creations my fellow team mates made to inspire you. 

Thanks for calling in. 

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #581 - Just Add Legs

Welcome! It's time for another weekly challenge with Just Add Ink and this time around we want you to

So many possibilites - we can't wait to see what you come up with!

I decided to feature a creepy crawly with lots of legs (could have been influenced by the huntsman spider that's been wandering around my place for the last few weeks, lol). Now, as luck would have it, around the same time I began to think about creating, my new distress colour arrived and was needing to be used - you know how it is ;-D My first play was to combine this luscious purple (villainous potion) with the gorgeousness of orange (crackling campfire) and when I saw them together - oh wow! Immediately a vision of a card came to mind - and the rest, as they say, is history, lol.

My grunge side has definitely come out to play with this mixed media card - take a look, then I'll tell you all about it.

My first step was to create the background on thick watercolour card. I sprayed with villainous potion and crackling campfire oxide sprays and once they were dry, did a little stamping in black before stencilling with distress crackle paste. I wanted fine crackles, so applied only a thin coat here and there through my stencil. Once it had done its magic, I rubbed distress crayon into the crackles to highlight them then sponged black ink around all the edges to create a border and draw the eye in to the centre. The last step was to add some paint splatters in both black and white. Just love all the speckly, crackly goodness!

I made a second background in predominantly orange ink with some purple speckles, cut out a piece for my tag, stamped my creepy crawly on it and again on plain card. It was coloured with a distress marker then I added glossy accents to give it that creepy, shiny hard shell look. I added a few pieces of ephemera and a remnant rub to the tag as well as some grunged-up mummy cloth. 

Like I said, I really got my grunge on! Not my usual style but it's fun to step outside your box every now and then, don't you think? 

Materials used:

• stamps - Fragments, Damask, Entomology, Specimen (all Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
• card - watercolour, basic black, basic white
• distress oxide sprays - villainous potion, crackling campfire
• distress oxide inks - crackling campfire, black soot
• distress paint - black soot, picket fence
• distress marker - mowed lawn 
• distress crayons - black soot, crackling campfire
• other Tim Holtz products - distress crackle paste, Harlequin stencil, Remnant Rubs-Specimen, Ephemera Pack-Field Notes, Halloween Trimmings
• other - water spritzer, heat tool, tag die (Kaisercraft), Crop-o-dile, MISTI, craft foam, Dimensionals, embossing stylus

We'd love to see your creations in our gallery. Meanwhile, head on over to the JAI blog to see the jumble of legs my fellow team-mates have created to inspire you!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry 

JAI #579 - Just Add Two

Welcome back to another Just Add Ink challenge. This week it's a 'just add two' where you pick two out of three elements to include in your design.

Yes, it's all about the shine! 

For my card I picked shimmer and glimmer - though I confess I had to look up the difference, lol. I discovered that glimmer is 'a faint light, a dim glow' while shimmer is 'a faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or shining'.  

Meet Winston the snowman - isn't he just the cutest? All my snow, including Winston, has been sprayed with white shimmer mist and has a kind of mother-of-pearl glow. 

And for my 'faint light' of glimmer, I popped three teeny tiny rhinestones on the berries in Winston's hat and used black gems for his eyes and buttons. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Text Christmas (Tim Holtz)
• ard - basic white, basic black, basic grey, pumpkin pie, real red, granny apple green, watercolour
• dies - Winston colorize (Tim Holtz), stitched rectangle (Paper Rose)
• distress oxide sprays - speckled egg, stormy sky
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, white shimmer mist, rhinestones, black gems

We'd love to see your own shimmery/glimmery/foil creations in our gallery this week! And if you head over to the JAI blog, you'll find more shiny goodness to inspire you from my fellow DT members.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #573 - Just Add a Sketch

Howdy! Welcome to my first posting as a newly-fledged member of the Just Add Ink design team. I'm excited to be creating alongside these talented ladies.

This week we have a sketch for you. Remember you can flip it, turn it or even reverse it to suit your needs, as long as the sketch is recognisable in the end result.

On my shabby/vintage card I've used a lacey die for my edging feature and a frame for my focal point. 

As I tend to be all about dimension, I cut three of the frames and stuck them together before stamping and embossing with a wood grain effect. The background paper was given a light coat of white ink just to fade it a touch so it didn't compete with my focal feature and the edges were heavily sponged (which draws the eye in) and distressed. Too much fun!

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Text, Entomology, Attic Treasures (Tim Holtz), Hardwood (SU)
• card - watercolour, basic white, crumb cake, Rose Avenue dsp (Kaisercraft)
• distress oxide inks - kitsch flamingo, spun sugar, vintage photo, old paper, tumbled glass
• Tim Holtz dies - Crochet, Bloom Colorize, Decor Frames
• other - leaf punch and embosser, antique linen embossing glaze (TH), heat tool, Big Shot, MISTI, blending brushes, distressing tool, Dimensionals, stitched rectangle die (Paper Rose), picket fence distress ink, vintage photo archival ink, aquapainter

I do hope you'll head over to the JAI blog to see how my team mates interpreted the sketch and, of course, we'd love for you to join in the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Be Curious

I had a late afternoon burst of creative energy yesterday, so decided to have a go at this week's Just Add Ink challenge.

For my "N" I chose Nature and a mixed media card and as it's almost Spring, I used soft colours.

The background was smooshed with distress oxide inks and I love, love, love the gorgeous oxidisation effect I managed to get from dusty concord - wowser, such a beautiful colour. I cut some hexagons and stencilled them with a floral pattern using texture paste and once dry, watercoloured over the paste. For my dragonfly I cut the three layers from watercolour card then used a combination of ink smooshing and watercolouring. Each layer of the wings has also been given subtle sparkle. Some rub ons added a bit of interest and the last feature was the word chip.

Here's some close ups so you can see the layers of the dragonfly and the sparkle on the wings (which is easier to see if you click on the pic to enlarge it).

Materials used:

• card - smoky slate, basic grey, watercolour
• distress oxide inks - dusty concord, tattered rose, squeezed lemonade, hickory smoke, twisted citron
• Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies - Funky insects, Stacked hexagons
• other Tim Holtz products - remnant rubs - Specimen; word chip; matte texture paste; floral stencil
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, water spritzer, Dimensionals, heat tool, sponge dauber, water brush, clear Wink of Stella, embossing tool

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Hello, Hi, Hey

Hello, hi, hey, how's it going? If you're in lockdown too - I feel for you. If not - good on you, stay safe.

Meanwhile, it's time for another challenge over at Just Add Ink and it's one more I couldn't resist. 

So after my allowed one visit per day to the shops, I sat me down to make a card:

(not a terribly great photo, sorry - weather not conducive today)

I coloured the birds to resemble crimson rosellas, a type of native parrot who visit my backyard quite regularly. 

This card had a few different parts to it - cutting the frames (they're doubled up for extra depth), sponging the clouds (so easy with a stencil and oxide ink), colouring the birds and branches (Copic markers) and then embossing the greetings. I listen to my favourite music playlist while I work - and, admittedly, usually sing along too. Am I alone in that? Come on, admit it! Yeah, I didn't think so 😉.

Materials used:

• stamps - Some Birdie Loves You (Clearly Besotted)
• card - basic white, basic black
• other - Big Shot, Copic markers, mini cloud stencil (MFT),  decor frames die (Tim Holtz/Sizzix), blending brush, white embossing powder, heat tool, Dimensionals, clear sequins, mini glue dots, tumbled glass distress oxide ink

Hope you're enjoying some creative time too. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry