JAI #673 - Just Choose Two

In the mood for crafting? At Just Add Ink this week we've our Choose Two option to inspire you.

I chose doors and windows for another decor piece. This project was very time intensive to make but extremely satisfying once completed.

The whole house was made from heavyweight black cardstock. Once I'd die-cut all the pieces, I spread grit paste randomly over the walls, allowed it to dry then dry-brushed with various distress paints. The marks on the window panes were made with a white gel pen to mimic cracks and cobwebs and there's semi-transparent plastic on the insides for glass. 

The grass is crypt paste coloured with reinker and all the leaves were adhered to the house using glossy accents and spread over the lawn while the paste was still wet. The thin threads are the string from a hot glue gun (how perfect are they?) and I grunged up the tiny jack o'lantern with some distress crayon. The same heavyweight card was used for the fence and for the sides of the box I created a kind of gothic wallpaper vibe by stamping a damask pattern and embossing in black. 

But the most fun part? It lights up!

As Tim Holtz would say, "tiny lights for the win!" lol.

This is not a large piece - the box measures just 12cm x 12cm and the mansion is about the same height. Fine-tip glue and squeezers (reverse tweezers) were definitely my friends, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Damask (Tim Holtz)
• card - black mixed media heavyweight
• dies - Village Collection, Graveyard colorize (both Tim Holtz)
• distress paints - black soot, pumice stone, hickory smoke
• other - Big Shot, hot glue gun, distress grit paste opaque, distress grit paste crypt, rustic wilderness oxide reinker, spatula, white gel pen, artificial leaves and jack o'lantern (Temu), square vignette box (Tim Holtz), glossy accents, tiny lights clear (Tim Holtz), black embossing powder, heat tool, Sidekick, collage medium opaque

Check out what my team mates made using their two choices over on the Just Add Ink blog and, as always, we'd love you to join us by adding your creation to our gallery. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Moonlight Mischief

Today's card is for the following challenge:

Having gotten some ideas from watching the Tim Holtz Halloween YouTube over the weekend, plus having a new die set just burning a hole in my craft desk waiting to be used 😉, I was only too happy to play with distress goodies to create a spooky, sparkly background.

It's a dull, wet day here so it's very difficult to catch the sparkle on camera, lol. 

I masked the area for the moon then sprayed the background with distress spray stains. Once they'd been dried off I spritzed with water to get the ink to 'wick' into the moon area. Love the spooky effect this gives. The final touch for the moon was moonscaping using the second part of the mask. Next I added some sparkle to the sky with two mica sprays, then set about making my roof and that adorably sassy cat from new die set Mischevious (and it couldn't be more appropriately named!). 

Materials used:

• card - watercolour, basic black (SU), Metallic Jewels kraft stock (Tim Holtz)
• Tim Holtz dies - Mischevious, Village Collection
• Distress spray stains - wilted violet, uncharted mariner, villainous potion, iced spruce, hickory smoke, black soot
• Distress mica stains - flickering candle, hocus pocus
• other - black soot distress archival ink, sponge dauber, blending brush, Sidekick, water spritzer, heat tool, moon mask (Tim Holtz), picket fence distress crayon, computer and printer

So much fun! Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #586 - Just Add a Blog Hop!

♬  Summertime and the living is easy... ♪♫

Hello and welcome to the Just Add Ink blog hop for 2022 where our theme is SUMMER. You may have just arrived from Annie's blog but if not you can start here and carry on around the hop.

The bucket and beachballs in the inspiration pic immediately made me think of trips to the beach, both as a child and as a parent, so that's what gave me my original inspiration. Then, while I was browsing ideas, I discovered that my new home town of Melbourne has 82 bathing boxes or beach huts. I've only ever seen these in the UK and Europe, so I was charmed to learn there are locals and decided my make would be an homage to these delightful constructions. And so my framed piece was born.

A weathered old anchor rests in the corner.

And the sea sparkles in the background.

I had an almost illegal amount of fun putting this together! Lol. It will be put on display in my brand new craft room and stimulate so many happy memories. 

Materials used:

• card - distress watercolour, basic white, crumb cake, Cool Collab paper pad (MFT)
• distress oxide inks - antique linen, frayed burlap, walnut stain, peacock feathers, tumbled glass, cracked pistachio
• dies - Village Collection (Tim Holtz/Sizzix), Birds in Flight (Poppystamps), Under the Sea (SU)
• other - translucent grit paste, collage medium, Art Stones (Prima), mounting strips, blending brushes, antique linen distress paint, slimline cloud edges stencil (MFT), 8"x8" dimensional frame (Nicola Spring), barn door and black distress archival inks, celestial copper ink (Delicata), chipboard anchor (Kaisercraft), twine, shells (Island Living Australia), white gel pen, clear Wink of Stella, black marker

Next up is Narelle, then you can keep hopping around until you've seen the whole team's offerings (there are 16 altogether). And, of course, it's always very much appreciated if you leave everyone some comment love. If you feel inspired to create your very own summer themed project, we'd love to see it in the JAI gallery on the blog HERE. 

Thanks so much for calling in!

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