Blossoms in Blooms - simple elegant birthday card

Hello again and welcome. Sorry for the delay in sharing the card I made from leftovers from the Blossoms in Bloom pop up window card I shared last time. Today's card is much simpler and easier to make, but I still love it. It's so pretty and has lots of lovely texture.

Take a look at the two cards together.

JAI 513 Just choose two - Prized peony

Hello & welcome! It's Choose Two challenge time at Just Add Ink this week - always a fun one.

Even more fun I picked the three challenge elements - Flowers, Trees and Texture - some of my favourite card elements, so it's no surprise that this was an easy one for me.

I chose flowers and texture as my two elements. The hardest part was which flower to choose. I picked a new stamp and die bundle - Prized Peony - which has the most gorgeous peony images.

Timeless Tropical Birthday 2 - double easel card

Today I have another of my Timeless Tropical bundle cards to share with you - this one shows a gorgeous hibiscus teamed with another amazing floral print paper from the Tropical Oasis pack.

This has many similar elements to yesterday's cards, but I've stepped it up to make a double easel card - because you know I can't resist an easy fancy fold.

March Stamping Sisters Tutorial Bundle - out now!

It's March already and a new month means a new Stamping Sisters tutorial bundle. This month's theme is project for the girls - to show our friends, Mum's Sisters and all the wonderful women in our lives how much they mean to us. 

Of course the layouts and ideas used on the projects can be applied to lots of other projects too, so you'll definitely want to buy or earn the tutorials free.

Here's a peek at the 5 projects we've created for you.

New Stamping Sisters February card tutorials - out now!

It's February already and we have a new Stamping Sisters Tutorial Bundle for you to create five fun new projects. You can either purchase the bundle, or earn it free by shopping Stampin' Up! with me in February.

Bonus projects - January Stamping Sisters Tutorial Bundle

Only 6 days of January to go already! That means you've only 7 more days to earn our January 2020 Stamping Sisters tutorial bundle free with a $60 purchase in Australia - excl shipping. This is a thank you and perk for shopping with me.

Alternatively you can purchase this bundle for $10 AUD if you're not in Australia, already have a Demonstrator looking after you, or are a Demonstrator too.

See & purchase January bundle here

Today I'm sharing a bit more about my January tutorial project plus some bonus card ideas using the same supplies.

My tutorial project focuses on colouring with Stampin' Blends markers, using circles in your layouts and adapting layouts for even more looks.

At Stamping Sisters our aim is to help you create projects you'll love using easy techniques and ideas you can use again and again to grow your paper crafting skills. Projects include pdfs with step by step instructions and measurements etc. Check out my tutorial page for all you need to know.

JAI 489 colour challenge - fabulous birthday

We have a colour challenge with a twist this week at Just Add Ink - use three of five possible colours on a project. As you see, all of the colours are bold & bright. What to do, what to do.

I chose to use bermuda bay, daffodil delight and lovely lipstick, with lots of white and my new Dressed to Impress stamp and die bundle, to create this fun, perfume themed birthday card for a dear friend.

Three Tea Together pop up cards

I'm back today to share one of my fave Tea Together card projects... or four. I totally have the lovely Lou Kitzelman to thank for this fun pop up design. As soon as I saw Lou's Tea Together cards using the Gingham Gala paper pack I knew I had to try them too.

I chose to use the gorgeous All My Love paper pack for my cards. The patterns & colours in this pack are just beautiful & work so well with the Tea Together stamp set.

Two cards for Tea Together

Hello friends :) You might have noticed it's been a bit quiet here lately.

Some of you know my dear Mum passed away mid March, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's. In April my darling man & I had some time out travelling around New Zealand, and going to Stampin' Up! Onstage in Auckland. Then earlier this month, our darling girl turned 18 so we celebrated her milestone. All this means I've had little time or head space for stamping or sharing here on my blog.

I do however have quite a bit of sharing to catch up with, from earlier in the year so I'm starting with a couple of cards made with the Tea Together stamp set & coordinating Tea Time dies. This is timely, as Mother's Day was yesterday, and my Mum loved her cup of tea & always in a china cup or mug.

JAI 442 sketch challenge - Tea Together

So it's time for a new Just Add Ink challenge and this week it's a sketch challenge. Yay!

I was intrigued by the swirly elements. They made me think of the large stitched pattern die in the Needlepoint Elements die set (also in the Needle & Thread stamp & die bundle), so I teamed this with the pretty teapot stamp from the Tea Together stamp set as my central element represented by a circle in the sketch. This is how it turned out.

Everyone needs a healing hug

Time get away from anyone else this week? The good news is I'm back today to share a simple and soooo useful get well card I made last month using our new Healing Hugs stamp set.

Simple springtime card trio

Today I have three easy clean, fresh, and easy cards to share with you, all made with the sketch look flower dies in the new Springtime Impressions thinlit dies set.

Share what you love - mix and match gatefold

Hi & welcome! Today I'm sharing the second card from my last class - a gatefold that's all about my gorgeous new floral Share What You Love heavyweight paper I've used.

Petal Palette shutter cards

When I shared the gatefold card in my last post, I mentioned I'm was through a bit of a shutter card & gatefold card phase, thanks to my stamping bestie, Kellie.  So today I'm sharing the shutter card project I made for my ladies only-Mother's Day class last in April, that I cased to make that gatefold.
As an extra treat I'm also sharing a shutter card Kellie made for (lucky) me. Lots of photos ahead so let's get started.

JAI 400 inspiration challenge - more blossoms

Exciting times this week at Just Add Ink as we're up to challenge 400! Now that is a BIG number.
You'll definitely want to head over to the JAI blog to celebrate with us. There are treats!
Stay a while here first though to see what I've made for the challenge. Kim has given us this inspiration image:

JAI 397 Just add H - here for you

Friday means a new challenge at Just Add Ink, and this week Tina has asked us to...

Special Reason for a special someone

Today I'm sharing some pretties from my Mother's Day - ladies only class in April. You know I've been loving the Special Reason stamps & coordinating Stylish Stems dies so they were top of the list to use for this class. As you know, these & pretty much all the other main elements (So Detailed dies & dotty dsp) are retiring & only available while stocks last) so you'll need to be quick if you like them.

This is the first one we made - a combination of flowers, dots, lace & soft colours. Pretty!

The flowers are coloured with a fab, new-to-me technique to create a watercolour look using solid stamped images, watercolour pencils & an aquapainter, that I saw Alisa Tilsner share.

It was one of those times that make me want to run straight to your desk to try it... so I did,  loved it & decided my class lovelies would too...and they did. I used a blender pen to blend the pencil & ink rather than an aquapainter. The blender pen made it so easy to achieve a great look with no risk of excess water.

The 3 main technique steps are:
1. Stamp the image in a light base colour - I used so saffron for the flower & pear pizzazz for the leaves.
2. Colour over part of the image with a heavy layer of watercolour pencil in a coordinating colour/s. Place the pencil where you want to have the most colour. I used calypso coral & old olive pencils.
3. Use a blender pen to blend the pencil over the image. This creates a soft watercolour look.

See Alisa's video sharing the whole technique here - thanks so much, Alisa

I  overlaid the coordinating Stylish Stems flower dies over the stamped images - adhering them only around the flower centre. I've flicked up the shape in this pic so you can see the coloured flower a bit better.

I must mention two more elements that I think makes me love this card:

- the two shaped nested frames in the Stylish Stems die set. They make a lovely combination & Special Reason stamp set includes an image that works with the dies too, as I've used it here. The dies are 40% off until sold out.

- The lacy panel using the So Detailed dies. This die is designed to fit a portrait card but I made this stretch to fit this one by cutting it in half & hiding the gap under the stitched circle shape. These dies are 30% off too.

Simple Special Reason

I was having so much fun trying different ink & pencil colour combinations that I made this card a bonus class project. I used the same method as the first card. For this one I stamped in pink pirouette ink, coloured with melon mambo watercolour pencil... & a good dash of  Wink of Stella, which you may see better in this pic.

I kept it very simple on the inside too.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my cards & the fun watercolour pencil technique. Do try it yourself with any solid images you have & I think you'll love it too. Leave a comment to let me know if you do, or if you have any questions. Here are some final images for you to pin for later inspiration.

Until next time,
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies
To see & order any items used in today's project, just click on the items below to see them in my Online Store. You can order from me if you live anywhere in Australia. I would love to be your Demonstrator if you don't already have one.  Please allow "Demonstrator contact" in your preferences so I can thank you properly when you place your order.
Actual items I used are listed first. Alternative purchase options are listed at the bottom of the supply list.

Retiring items are available while stocks last until 31 May, 2017


Dotty Special Reason

Print Recipe

Special Reason Clear-Mount Stamp Set $35.00	Stylish Stems Framelits Dies $54.00 $32.40	So Detailed Thinlits Dies $56.00 $44.80	Birthday Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set $33.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies $50.00
Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack $38.50	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky $14.00	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock $14.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock $15.75	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50	Watercolor Pencils $27.75	Blender Pens $17.00	Stampin' Dimensionals $6.00	Liquid Multipurpose Glue $7.00
Big Shot $159.00	Big Shot Magnetic Platform $70.00	Special Reason Wood-Mount Stamp Set $49.00	Birthday Blooms Wood-Mount Stamp Set $47.00	So In Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set $35.00 $29.75

Simple Special Reason

Print Recipe

Special Reason Clear-Mount Stamp Set $35.00	Stylish Stems Framelits Dies $54.00 $32.40	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies $50.00	Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder $15.00	Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack $38.50
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock $12.25	White Vellum A4 Card Stock $11.50	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50	Watercolor Pencils $27.75
Banner Triple Punch $38.00	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush $11.50	Big Shot $159.00	Big Shot Magnetic Platform $70.00	Special Reason Wood-Mount Stamp Set $49.00