Just Add Ink #402 - Choose Two

Good Day Crafty Friends,

It's challenge time over at Just Add Ink, and this week we have a fun choice to play along with. Just Choose Two elements from: Stencil, Foil or Feathers. I love these types of challenges, as sometimes I don't have all the requirements for all challenges.

For my card I used a Stencil I made with various circle Dies and punches.

To a whisper white card base I added a layer of Gold Foil Card. The whisper white front has been sponged with the stencil circle in Powder Pink, Flirty Flamingo and Melon Mambo.

I have also added a few flicks of Archival Black ink with a paint brush before adding the sentiment stamped in Flirty Flamingo.

The flower from Remarkable You has been Gold Heat Embossed and water coloured using Powder Pink and Lemon Lime Twist. The image was fussy cut and adhered to card front with dimensionals.

To finish the card I added a few teeny tiny gold sequins.

 

Be sure to check out all the Design Teams creations here. We would love for you to play along, you can add your card using this weeks challenge here.

 

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, stay crafty

 

Just Add Ink #379 Inspiration Picture

Good Day Crafty Friends,

Well, that week went uber fast! Thank goodness it's nearly the weekend. Hope we get a spot of that elusive thing they call sunshine. 

It's challenge time over at Just Add Ink! My favourite time of the week. I am supposed to play along fortnightly, but I simply adore JAI challenges and just cant help myself. I love the variety in the challenges, they are so much fun and always inspire me to create items outside my comfort zone. 

This week, the fabulously talented, Kelly Kent has chosen a stunning picture to draw inspiration from

I just adore the pink and neutral tones. Plus, that jug of delishiousness makes me think of mocktails by Pool. I'm not a big drinker but give me a smoothie, frappe, glass of fruity punch and I'm a happy glamper. No I don't camp - are your crazy.....there are poisonous snakes in this country! 

I chose to take the pinks in the jug of yummyness and soft white in the tablecloth and use them in my card. My card didn't turn out how I envisioned but was happy with it as I knew the receiver loves pink and stitched cards. 

I stuffed up the card front stitching at the very end (see pic below) right hand top corner. blahhh!

It annoyed me so much I had to cover it with little glitter hearts. Then they looked ridiculous by themselves so added the Berry Burst hearts lol 

I'm really digging square cards at the moment. This one is half a 12x12 sheet of Blushing Bride for the card base. 

 

The card front has been water coloured with a light Powder Pink wash. Embossing paste and white embossing powder were applied through the medallion stencil, from the Party Patterns Decorative Mask set. I heat set the powder so the embossing paste has a lovely bright white sheen. 

 

I then attached the card front to a layer of Blushing Bride and Crumb Cake card with a zig zag stitch around the border. 

 

The Floral images from Remarkable You and Birthday Blooms were heat embossed in gold and water coloured using Powder Pink ink. The sentiment was also heat embossed in gold. A lace doiley, glimmer white card and vellum leaves, strip of glimmer white card, year of cheer embellishment and powder pink ribbon were layered using a Whisper White stitched circle as the centre piece 

Be sure to check out my fellow design team creations here, so many beautiful cards - I love all the pinks! We would love for you to join us and play along. 

Until next time, stay awesome

Embossing Paste and Decorative Masks - stencils

Hello Crafty Friends,

I know, second post today, apologies for that, I am playing the catch up game, having been extremely busy with work. Plus, I have been meaning to share for weeks now.....

 

Two words - Embossing Paste!!! So much fun. I had a little play with both heat embossing and embossing Paste to create some unique textured backgrounds.

Using one of the decorative masks to apply embossing Paste off the corner of the Powder Pink card front, I then applied silver heat embossing using a splatter image stamp and Versamark. 

The background Die from May Flowers Thinlits was cut in Powder Pink and laid over the centre edge of the embossing Paste. 

The Floral image from Remarkable You was inked in Archival Black and coloured using Powder Pink ink with an aqua painter. 

The card front was then cut down and backed with silver foil card. A strip of Shimmery Silver was tucked underneath the sentiment along with a silver Doily. 

The sentiment "Thinking of You" is from the Colourful Seasons stamp set, inked with Black Momento onto Powder Pink card 

I may have gone a little crazy with my embossing paste. To say I love the stuff is an understatement! Thinking I may need to order another container very soon. Its so much fun, makes me feel like an artist with all my tools, and colouring the paste with my inks is just the bee's knees. Best I go make some cards with all the card fronts I have applied embossing paste to thus far.

 

Until next time, stay crafty

Hello Friend and Decorative Mask

Hello Crafty Friends,

I have some more fantastic news to share with my crafty readers today, but first a card! 

The Hello Friend stamp set is part of the new heat embossing kit, which is among a few kits available in the Annual Catalogue. 

This stamp set has the beautiful hello sentiment which I have used on this card. I love the font. It also has a partial background stamp. This stamp has an almost trellis look with faded out edges, and it looks great heat embossed and coloured with watercolour splashes.

For this card I have done exactly that. On Shimmery white card, the trellis stamp was white heat embossed. Then using an aqua painter I splashed Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo and Peakaboo Peach inks.

The large detailed floral Thinlit from May Flowers was used to cut the Peakaboo Peach die cut. Two flowers from Remarkable You stamp set were stamped in Archival Black ink and coloured using an aqua painter in Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight. Sorry that was short and sweet but I was so eager to type the next paragraph lol

 

My news.....I have been asked to be a guest designer during August and September for Just Add Ink! I cannot express how delighted I am to be given this amazing opportunity. The Design Team are absolutely amazing, so many talented creators, and so many demos whose work I have admired for sometime. I get the warm fuzzies looking at JAI DT List. So, its extremely exciting to work alongside some of my Stampin'Up! idols, but also immensely nerve wracking.  And even more amazing, I am one of five guest designers, I will be joined by the crazy talented - Lou Kitzelman, Jo Stubbings, Rachael Lewsley and Denita Wright-Smee! OMG right!!

 

Until next time, stay awesome 

Jar of Blooms - JAI#364

Hello Crafty Friends

I have had a wonderful week off, during which time we celebrated our youngest fur baby and Hubby's birthdays. We were blessed with the most amazing weather for this time of year in Perth and enjoyed every minute soaking up the winter sun.

 

I was excited to get back into my crafty space today. This is not hubby's card, but a card I made for the Just Add Ink Challenge #364 Click the link or picture below to play along with the challenge or to check out the other entries.

 

Wow wee this was an all round hard one for me as I kept wanting to use the new supplies that I had just ordered - but these goodies, including my new embossing paste, wouldn't be here until next week. 

So I just made do with the things I already have in my ever growing craft stash.

 

I started with a Smoky Slate card front. To this I Stitched some vellum that had been embossed with the brick wall Embossing Folder and underneath that layer I slipped a small piece of Whisper White that had been stamped in Smokey Slate ink with the hardwood background stamp.

The Jar was cut from Silver Foil cardstock using the Jar of Love Framelits. Using a scrunched up piece of paper I tapped it into Versamark and then randomly onto the Jar and heat embossed in gold. 

 

The flowers from Happy Birthday Gorgeous and leaves from Remarkable You stamp sets, were white heat embossed on Whisper White card stock. Then using sponge daubers with Daffodil Delight & Lemon Lime Twist inks to colour.

The little Lemon Lime Twist strip of card stock was heat embossed in gold using the Bless Your Heart sentiment from Jar of Love. Finally to add a teeny weeny bit of copper I threw in the copper ribbon bow.

Before I depart to the mess that was my tidy craft room before entering this morning, I wanted to share my news

 

Wahooooo! Last weeks entry won!! I was so blown away, I did a happy dance all around the house lol

Till next time, stay crafty  x

Remarkable You & Detailed Floral Thinlit

Good Day Crafty Friends

 

It was another stunning day in Perth today, and being such fabulous weather for winter, I got out and enjoyed the sunshine by helping hubby on a set of apartments he is working on. My better half is in the construction industry and I often go to work with him, especially on the larger jobs. Its great for the crafting budget but cuts into my crafting studio time something chronic!

 

I finished off this card last night before bed as it needed to be posted today to ensure its timely arrival for a special birthday next week.

I started with a Thick Whisper White card base and attached to this a layer of Lemon Lime Twist. For the card front I inked the Background Wood Grain stamp in Crumb Cake and stamped onto whisper white. Using the layering Oval thinlits to cut the void in the card front and also the border for the lattice piece. The lattice piece is cut using the Detailed Floral Thinlits from whisper white card.

 

I attached the card front to the lemon lime twist later with dimensionals. The scalloped oval border was adhered to the card front using Tombow.  The Calla Lilies from the Remarkable You stamp set were heat embossed in gold and water coloured using Lemon Lime Twist.

 

The sentiment "make a wish" is from the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set and was heat embossed in white on basic black card.  I tucked in behind the sentiment with the Calla Lillies, a small gold foil doiley and die cuts from the Colourful Seasons bundle in gold foil and Lemon Lime Twist.

 

I am finishing off another two birthday cards tonight which hopefully, life allowing lol, I will post tomorrow. Until then, stay crafty x

 

Just Add Ink #361 - Remarkable You

Hello & Welcome Crafty Friends,   

I have decided to enter my very first blog challenge today!! Scary stuff for such a newbie - I feel nervous just talking about it. But, they say writing it down is a form of commitment, so it's done now - that means I have to follow through and enter!

Plus, the two main reasons I started a blog was to share my crafty creations, and to be able to enter challenges. Entering competitions like a blog challenge or blog hops requires you to put your creative hat on and design. Simply use the products you have at your disposal and follow the challenge guidelines to create a card.

It has been proven that creativity can be learned, through constantly creating and designing. The more you design and make your own creations the easier it becomes to be creative. Hence, why challenges and blog hops are fantastic outlets for ensuring your creativity juices are constantly flowing.

 

I have decided to enter the Just Add Ink Challenge as I have personally met a few members of the design team at the Stampin' Up! Perth convention in April this year. If you do not have a blog, JAI also accepts entries via email!! The Just Add Ink challenge this week offers a choice - you choose two from the available three concepts. Flowers-Washi Tape- Watercolour. I decided to chose water colour and flowers - surprise, surprise lol.

 

I started with a black card base and heat embossed the sentiment from the Colourful Seasons stamp set with gold embossing powder.

Using gold foil card stock and the Detailed Floral Thinlits, I cut the smaller of the two detailed end pieces and used this as a base for the flowers. The die cut is adhered directly to the card front using tombow. If I wasn't posting the card I possibly would have raised the die cut with dimensionals opposed to gluing directly onto the card front.

 

Using Shimmery White card stock I stamped the Floral images from Remarkable You & Birthday Blooms stamp sets in Versamark and heat set using gold embossing powder. The flowers were water coloured using Daffodil Delight, Peakaboo Peach, Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist inks, and then fussy cut.

 

The flowers were adhered using both foam strips and dimensionals as I wanted to achieve a layered look. I thought about adding some gold metallic Twine - but that stuff and I don't get on too well so I canned that idea.  I didn't like the look of any jewels/sequins/rhinestones so I just left it as is.

The card is now in the post making its way to New Zealand - due to the layering, I put my overseas cards in a cello bag first, then the envelope. This helps keep everything attached as the card passes through the postal machines, and also prevents damage if the card is left in a wet letterbox (trust me, twice now, this has happened and both times the envelope was ruined but the card was perfect thanks to the cello bag!)

With loads of family and friends celebrating special occasions in June, I have a busy few days ahead in the craft studio - Yay!!! Hope you get time for you today and get to do something you enjoy, or even try something outside your comfort zone like entering a challenge - until next time - stay crafty x

 

Colorful Seasons - Blossoms

Hello & Welcome to my blog,

 

I have been playing with the Colorful Seasons bundle and was able to make a few decor pieces in addition to cards with relatively little effort aside from passing dies through the big shot.

 

I spray painted a branch with Black spray paint and cut a gazillion blossoms. To attach them I have used Tombow to adhere two die cuts, front and back of branch.

The next picture shows a quick jazz up of cheap tea light candle holder from Bunnings. 

The card was very simple to create as it's just two window Dies cut and glued with lightly sponged vellum behind.

 

The blue card in the front was inspired by a card created by Natalie Lapakko at stampwitch.blog and I have shared details on two of these cards in an earlier post.

Below is another home decor piece for my daughters bedroom. Spray painted gold Chinese lantern with the branches and blossoms adhered with tombow.

 

The card above was heat embossed in gold embossing powder on Black stock using the gorgeous sentiment from Colorful Seasons stamp set. A strip of gold foil either side of the card front was then attached to a Blushing Bride card base. The blossoms were stamped in Blushing Bride and Daffodil Delight inks and then die cut and attached with tombow.

The card on the left uses the branch die to create the background Sahara Sand card stock. This was then adhered to a matt of Berry Burst with dimensionals and then attached to a Thick Whisper White card base. The sentiment was heat embossed in gold on vellum and attached using tombow and a sponge. The floral image are the Calla Lillies from the Remarkable You stamp set, and was water coloured using Berry Burst ink.

 

The gift box in the middle was simply decorated using Berry Burst card stock, some Fresh Florals DSP in Powder Pink, gold heat embossed sentiment on vellum, a doiley and a single blossom in Berry Burst card stock.

 

Hope my creations have inspired you to get into your crafty space and make some coordinating gifts for your cards - tags, gift boxes or home décor.

 

Till next post, stay crafty x

Remarkable You Magnolia's

Good Day Crafty Friends    

It was Mother's Day here in Australia recently and I got to spend a few hours in my craft room creating.

One of the cards I completed during my "time out" uses the Magnolia flower image from the Remarkable You stamp set.

On Shimmery White card stock I stamped and masked the Magnolia's going up my card front on an angle. The images were stamped in Archival Black ink and coloured using an aqua painter with Powder Pink and Berry Burst inks.

I then lightly water coloured the remainder of the card front with Tempting Turquoise before fussy cutting around the top edge of the stamped flowers.

On a separate card base I stamped the sentiment then adhered the fussy cut card front with foam strips (I like these as they are higher than dimensionals and thin enough to fit into the fiddle cuts)

 

Hope you are inspired to get into your crafty space and try some masking and water colouring, or simply crafting and enjoying some "you time". Till next time, stay crafty x

Seasonal Thinlits

Good Day & Welcome to my blog of craftiness 

Today I want to share a background I accidentally made when die cutting a heap of branches for an upcoming swap. I was trying to conserve my card stock on each turn I was turning the die upside down.

Anyways this happened......

 

I also thought when I was doing the cuts on my Big Shot that the little branches looked like Ents - the ancient trees from Lord of Rings (love fellow Kiwi Peter Jackson and all his amazing films!)

 

The Seasonal Layers Thinlits is part of the Colourful Seasons bundle and has nature inspired images covering all four seasons. For this card I have only used 1 of the 17 dies - the tree branch. Vellum, Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Berry Burst card stock were used along with gold embossing powder for the sentiment "just breathe"

I heat embossed the Calla Lillies image from the Remarkable You stamp set in White Embossing Powder and water coloured the flowers with Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist inks. A gold doily to match the heat embossed sentiment and then a Delicate Details doily underneath.

 

Hope I have inspired you to get into your crafting space today and perhaps you too will have a happy accident like mine x

Happy Birthday Gorgeous & Calla Lillies

Good Day Crafty Friends

I got to use the new Happy Birthday Thinlits today.....Oh Wow!

It allowed for me to whip up this card in under five minutes - given the heat embossed and water coloured flower images were already done from a previous crafting session. These beautiful Calla Lillies are from the Remarkable You stamp set - one of three large floral images.

 

I have also used some of the new Fresh Florals DSP in Lemon Lime Twist (I just love this new in colour with Black) The Stitched Shaped Framelits were used to cut the oval background behind the flowers.

 

The soon to be released (June 1st) Happy Birthday Thinlit is also part of a bundle called Happy Birthday Gorgeous - although as with all Stampin' Up! bundles you can purchase each component individually but when you buy as a bundle you save 10%. I cant wait to ink up the coordinating stamp set, it has some beautiful sentiments, in a font I adore and small floral images that will provide endless variations.

 

Hope you are having a crafty day and get to make something to inspire or share with someone else x

Remarkable You Tulle Card

Good Day Crafty Friends

The Australian Post Courier arrived yesterday!!! He brought a few new to me items (in current catalogue) and some new pre-order items from the soon to be released catalogue (available June 1st)

I had been sitting on the fence with the Remarkable You stamp set, up until I had discovered my love for the Birthday Blooms set. When I finally realised that in fact you do like flower image stamps Jackie, I went hunting for similar large flower images in the catalogue and boom "Remarkable You" - how did I not notice you earlier (hugs new stamp case)

Even though among my new shipment of goodies I had the choice of new pre order goodies to play with, this stamp set was the first I inked up today.

 

I also got my first batch of foil doilies (having also just realised I have an addiction for the delicate doilies I figured I'm going to love these too - and I do!)

This shaker card uses Tulle to hold the sequins - which are retired but they went so perfectly with my colour scheme (insert happy face)

The little Thank You sentiment is heat embossed in gold and is from the Love Notes Bundle. The Magnolia flower was water coloured in Blushing Bride ink to coordinate with the Cardstock. I also used the Hexagons Embossing Folder for the Whisper White card front.

Hoping you had time to craft today and my tulle card provided some inspiration.