Patchwork Wishes

Welcome to a new Tic Tac Toe challenge! Here's the grid to pick three-in-a-row elements:

I chose the left vertical line of friendship, any colour, any shape die for some colourful rooster fun.

Materials used:

• die & stencil combo - Country Rooster (Papertrey Ink)
• other dies - Essential Arches (Spellbinders), Best Wishes (stash)
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, paper clip, gingham ribbon, craft foam, distress tool, foam squares, sewing machine

I hope you'll join the fun and create and share. Be sure to check out more samples from my team mates over on the Tic Tac Toe blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Oceans of Love

It's my last week guesting with Just Us Girls challenges and I've had such a lot of fun playing along each week; I hope you have too. This week it's stencil week.

I created a fun under-the-sea scene using stencils and die cuts.

I began by stenciling the two-tone water background, overlayed with seafloor silhouettes and that fabulous sunken ship! Wanting one more layer in my foreground, I created a makeshift stencil using a die and acetate. I stamped the tiny fish silhouettes and added water splatters. All die pieces were cut from scraps of card I had on hand from previous playing. I sponged the edges of the rock and raised it so things could be added underneath. 

Stencils used - Drifts & Hills slimline (My Favorite Things), Sea Floor Silhouettes (Waffle Flower)

I hope you'll have the opportunity to get out your stencils and play along, and don't forget to check out what the design team ladies created to inspire you.

Thanks to the Just Us Girls team for having me and thanks to you for swimming by!

Cheers

Kerry

With Love Rose

It's Word Week at Just Us Girls where I'm guest designer for this month, and the word is ...

I had inky fun with some layering dies and stencil.

I began with cutting all the petals from vanilla cardstock, then the four largest layers again from blush card. Each layer was inked either completely or just around the edges for shading, then I curled some of them. Leaves were coloured and curled too. The background was inked and stencilled before adding white gouache splatters. As usual, the die-cut sentiment is multiple layers. This die is actually all in one piece but it just wouldn't sit right over the leaves, so I cut it in two. A great card for Mother's Day, Valentines, birthday, anniversary, get well or just because.

Materials used:

• dies - Lovely Layers Rose (Honey Bee), With Love (Waffle Flower)
• inks - tattered rose, shabby shutters, peeled paint, forest moss (Tim Holtz), caramel toffee (Altenew)
• other - blending brushes, white gouache, fan brush, trellis stencil (Tim Holtz), foam squares, craft foam

I hope you'll check out the JUGS blog for more samples and be inspired to join the fun and create with flowers!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Bake a Cake

A new month means a new challenge with All About Papercraft! This time around it's...

I love the baking themed products that various companies have released in the last few months and couldn't resist using some for my card.

Wanting a retro feel, I picked colours I thought fit a bygone era and stencilled the two focal images lightly so the colour wasn't too intense. These were then paired with warm blues and tiny polka dot hearts.

Hands up if now you're craving cake, lol ✋.

Materials used:

• dies - Nesting Postage Collage, Baking Fun (both Waffle Flower)
• stencils - NPC Baking Fun (WF)
• distress inks - saltwater taffy, abandoned coral, antique linen, shabby shutters, black soot, smoky slate, hickory smoke
• other inks - seaside spray, boho blue (SU)
• other - foam squares, Big Shot, blending brushes, Subsentiments Baking Fun diecuts (WF)

Check out more samples over on the challenge blog and of course, we'd love you to be inspired, create and share.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Baked With Love

The Time Out challenge for this fortnight held great appeal so I couldn't resist having a play with dies, stencils and pastels. 

Here's my offering:

Other than the yellow postage frame, everything else was cut from white card and coloured with inks. As usual, there are multiple layers to my sentiment die-cut. 

Materials used:

• dies, stencils and subsentiment die-cut - Waffle Flower Baking Fun collection
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, foam squares, sheer ribbon, stitched rectangle die

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Blooming Thanks

It's stencil week at Just Us Girls and I couldn't resist playing along.

I kept it very simple because, let's face it, you want those gorgeous blooms to be the star of the show! The die chosen for the sentiment is slim and 'open' so it doesn't obscure anything or steal the limelight. The edges were sponged and very lightly distressed (just using a fingernail) for a softer look. 

 

Materials used:

• stencils - Majestic Roses (Altenew)
• inks - coral reef, passion fruit, berrylicious, candy apple (Pinkfresh Studios), sagestone, olive grove, mossy granite (Altenew)
• other - blending brushes, craft foam, word dies (stash), Sidekick

Hope your day includes some crafty play. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Birthday Roses

The new challenge at Just Add Ink is one of my favourite regular themes:

Dies and stencils are so much fun to play with and for my card I've used both. 

I started by cutting and stencilling the roses. Some polka dot stencilling was added to the paler purple background behind the flowers as well as to my top darker layer. I used the flower pieces cut off from the inside to add on the outside. There's mounting foam between each layer to add even more dimension, and the sentiment strip and some clear dots were my finishing touches. 

I am really loving the orange/purple combo, which always reminds me of a scene from Four Weddings and a Funeral. Anyone else? lol

Materials used:

• die & stencil combo - Rose Bouquet (Waffle Flower)
• other die and stencil from stash
• distress inks - carved pumpkin, ripe persimmon
• SU inks - highland heather, gorgeous grape
• other - Subsentiment strip (Waffle Flower), Dimensionals, foam squares, Big Shot, blending brushes, clear dots

I hope you'll pull out some of your own dies and stencils and join the challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Covered with Love

It's been so hot this week and today is expected to reach 43℃ (109.4℉) which is too draining to do much other than try to stay cool - and make a card, lol. I saw a challenge to use a cover plate so I thought I'd play along, but unfortunately I was too late to enter, lol. Not to worry, it gave me the oppotunity to try out a new die & stencil set Santa brought me (lucky me!).

Materials used:

• coverplate die - Cross Stitched (Papertrey Ink)
• die & stencil set - Rose Bouquet (Waffle Flower)
• inks - saltwater taffy (Distress), passion fruit (Pinkfresh), bamboo & parrot (Altenew)
• other dies - With Love Word die (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, mounting squares, rhinestones

I hope you get the chance to craft today too. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Leafy Thanks

It's stencil week at Just Us Girls and who doesn't love playing with inks and stencils?

I was in the mood for some warm colours so here's what I ended up with.

After die-cutting my background piece, I sponged the edges with antique linen then stencilled the leaves. They're mostly dijon and cinnamon with hints of blackberry here and there for extra depth of colour. The stems were added with another stencil and of course - you know me - I then did some splatter with the dijon and cinnamon. I die-cut two of the 'thanks' and layered them over the vellum shadow before adhering. 

Materials used:

• stencils - Thankful Leaves (Kristina Werner)
• SU inks - delightful dijon, cinnamon cider, blackberry bliss, early espresso
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, stitched rectangle dies, thanks dies, Big Shot, antique linen distress ink, fan brush, water spritzer, craft foam

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

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

Thinking of You - Just Add Ink Challenge #763

Hello and welcome! It's time for another Just Add Ink challenge and this week we've a sketch for you to play with.

Sketches are the type of challenge I usually find the most ... well, challenging, lol, and this one certainly gave me a few (more) grey hairs until I came up with an idea I liked. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Wild Poppies (MFT), Postage Collage Beach Days, Winter View (Waffle Flower)
• dies - tree (stash)
• distress inks - saltwater taffy, villainous potion
• SU inks - flirty flamingo, calypso coral, highland heather
• other - blending brushes, circle mask, MISTI, Sidekick, white embossing powder, heat tool

What does your creative mind think of when you see the sketch? We'd love to see your projects over on our Linky list, and check out some more samples to inspire you from my team mates.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Perk Up! - Just Add Ink Challenge #762

Welcome! I couldn't resist playing along with the gorgeous inspiraton picture at Just Add Ink this week.

A warm blanket, hot drink and something pumpkin-y - muffins or soup, yuuuuuummmm! (You all know how much I love pumpkin!) Add to those a book or movie and you have the perfect way to snuggle up on these cold and dreary winter days - and we sure are getting plenty of cold and dreary at the moment, lol. 

My background is a quilt die and stencil combo which I am loving. On the coffee cup I masked with leaf die-cuts and inked over, then used some of the leaves as accents. For the pumpkins I inked over die-cuts and used some swirly vines I had left over from a previous card. Both parts of the sentiment come from a stamp set that retired years ago - just proving that when you keep things 'in case you need it some day', it can pan out! 😂😂

Materials used:

• stamps - Merry Cafe (Stampin' Up)
• die & stencil set - Tiny Square (Waffle Flower)
• other dies - Coffee Cup framelits (SU), Door Decor (Concord & 9th)
• distress inks - antique linen, wild honey, ripe persimmon, vintage photo, rusty hinge, spiced marmalade, dried marigold
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, MISTI, craft foam, Dimensionals, mini library clip, banner punch, vintage photo archival ink

I must admit, for me the drink would be a chai latte, though I'd imagine the spices are similar to a pumpkin spice latte. Got me a craving for some pumpkin muffins now though...

See more creations inspired by our picture over on the Just Add Ink blog and if you make something yourself, we'd love you to share. 

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

He Knows If You Are Sleeping...

I'm taking part in this week's Color Throwdown challenge. Here are the colours:

Now, you might not think these are Christmas in July colours (or in December, for that matter lol), but sshhhhhhhh! someone is peeking around the door frame to see if you're sleeping or awake...

This was very simple to make. Once the stencilling was done, I simply cut out the image and attached it to some grey card which had been edged with ink. The last step was stamping the sentiment over the top. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Bold Tidings mini (Tim Holtz)
• layering stencils - Peeking Santa (The Ton)
• distress inks - squeezed lemonade, mustard seed, kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry
• other inks - blush blossom, smoky slate (SU)
• other - blending brushes, MISTI

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Sweet Wishes

When Festive Friday Challenges decides to celebrate World Chocolate Day, who am I to argue? Never let it be said I neglected the opportunity to make a card with a chocolate theme, lol. I'm dovetailing it with Just Us Girls and Inkspirational challenges too, as they both have a stencil theme.

 

From the FF inspo list, I used brown, cream, cherries and a sweet sentiment.

I've layered the box of cupcakes, cutting two from kraft card and one from white, stencilling with a variety of inks. The sentiment comes from the same release. Anyone else craving a cupcake/some chocolate now???

Materials used:

• stamp & die combo - Hey Cupcake (Waffle Flower)
• dies & stencil combo - Boxed Cupcakes (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, white gel pen, craft foam, Copic markers, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool

Have a sweet day and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Gull-tastic Birthday - Just Add Ink Challenge #745

It's time for a colour challenge with Just Add Ink and this week's picks are

My whimsical offering was inspired by a card by Kathrin that I just love and I had fun incorporating the challenge colours in there. 

I don't have petunia pop so substituted with picked raspberry distress ink, and I used both the balmy blue and soft sea foam for the water to differentiate it from the blue sky. The grey was used on the gull and umbrella pole, while the sand was inked with neutral brown and overstamped for texture. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Inquisitive Seagulls, Postage Collage, Postage Collage Beach Days (all Waffle Flower), Friendly Seagulls (Stampin' Up)
• dies - Postage Collage, Inquisitive Seagulls (both Waffle Flower), Fair Winds (Spellbinders), Word Bubbles (Stampin' Up)
• other - blending brushes, grip mat, Big Shot, craft foam, MISTI, white gel pen

And speaking of birthdays, it's my birthday today! I'm now old enough to have my doctor visits bulk billed! 😂😂😂👵

If you head over to the Just Add Ink blog you'll find more samples to inspire you. We'd love you to create and share with us.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

For The Record

I think the folks at Festive Friday Challenges read my mind ... 

It's not long now until my SIL's birthday and I had decided to make him a music themed card as he not only plays multiple instruments, but also has an extensive vinyl record collection. Then I saw the current FF challenge ...

How perfect is that? I 'shopped my stash' for bits and pieces to create my card.

As you can see, from the inspo list I've used black, white, musical note, stripes, musical themed sentiment and vinyl record. 

Materials used:

• stamps/dies - Vinyl Style (Altenew)
• other dies - music notes and stave (stash)
• other - mini wheel stencil (Tim Holtz), blending brush, Dimensionals, Sidekick, craft foam

I hope he likes it! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Birthday Wishes and Cupcakes

Today's card is for two challenges, Inspired by... and Just Us Girls.

 

These challenges were the perfect excuse I really didn't need to bust out some goodies and play!

Materials used:

• dies - Postage Collage, Postage Collage blocks, Happy Birthday script word (all Waffle Flower)
• stencils - Postage Collage Cupcakes, Postage Collage Coloring, Confetti background (all Waffle Flower)
• inks - summer shower, seaside, coral reef, passion fruit (Pinkfresh), golden glitz (Delicata), twisted citron (Tim Holtz)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, Dimensionals, craft foam, clear Wink of Stella

I chose colours that are festive but not too bold and added some sparkly touches on each panel for extra birthday zing. As usual there are two layers to the die-cut sentiment for strength and depth.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry 

Simple and Elegant - Just Add Ink Challenge #741

It's Friday, which means it's time for another challenge with Just Add Ink and our brief for you this week is to:

I made a soft-toned sympathy card - something we unfortunately often need to have on hand, especially as we get older. 

For my focal feature I used a stamp/die/stencils set from PinkFresh Studios. A few pearls were all the embellishments needed.

Materials used:

• stamp, die, stencil set - Butterflies in Bloom (PinkFresh Studios)
• sentiment stamp - Country Flowers (Stampin' Up)
• distress inks - antique linen, dried marigold, saltwater taffy, shabby shutters
• Altenew inks - alpine aster, soft lilac, lavender fields, deep iris
• other - blending brushes, pearls, MISTI, grip mat, Big Shot, craft foam, Dimensionals

Do visit the Just Add Ink blog for more samples of simple and elegant to inspire you and if you create, we'd love you to share in our gallery.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Sending Love - Just Add Ink Challenge #739

This week at Just Add Ink it's our choose two challenge and our options are:

For my simple card I picked colouring and a variation on thinking of you.

Materials used:

• stamp & die combo - Overlapping Hugs Additions (Waffle Flower)
• stencils - Postage Collage Roses (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Postage Collage (Waffle Flower), large love (stash)
• other - dye inks, blending brushes, Big Shot, mini pearls, Dimensionals

There's more samples to inspire you over on the Just Add Ink blog and if you do create, please share it with us in our gallery.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry