CTS #17

Hey there, long time, no see.  I've had a bit of an unplanned blog break because I have had absolutely no inclination to stamp or create at all.  It's been nearly 3 months since in ventured into my craft room, but after receiving some new goodies in the mail on Friday, it felt 'right'to be doing something crafty.

I have wanted to play along with CAS(E) this sketch for some time, however, when I looked at this week's sketch, I thought I'd skip over cause it looked a bit hard, and I wasn't really feeling it.  I thought I'd sleep on it and come back the next night, but before I knew it, I had come up with this

I've used some of my Christmas 'washi' type tape,  my new SSS stamp and die set  (I think it's called You) and a PTI set (Grunge Me maybe??).   Not much else to say apart from it was good to put ink to paper.  Since the football has started up again, I'm sure the motivation to craft will grow stronger again.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Espressions for You (Simon Says Stamp), Grunge Me (PaperTrey Ink)
Ink:  Real Red, Going Gray (Stampin' Up!), Tuxedo Black (Mememto)
Cardstock:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Big Shot, You Die (SSS), Quickie Glue pen, Silver Glitter 'washi' tape

JAI 143 - Just Add Colour Challenge

This week at Just Add Ink we have a colour combo to challenge  you.  I know it certainly challenged me.  Check out the colours we are working with

It's a combo that I really liked but gave me no inspiration at all.  Usually I get a feeling for the combo and what will be best suited to it, but this one, it just left me with crickets.  I really had no idea of what I was going to do until I went to Ikea last Sunday.  Whilst I was there I found these awesome placemats, awesome for 2 reasons; the patterns and the fact that I can just wipe them clean.  So my idea was formed, I was just going to copy the polka dot pattern, changing the Ikea colours with the challenge colours.  All was going well until I realised that I didn't have a solid polka dot that was just the right size.  I tried it with a star patterned dot but it wasn't quite working.  So, back to the drawing board. 

Whilst working with the star dot, I had a thought to use its coordinating die and do some partial die cutting to cut the edge of the card.  Good idea but what was I going to use for cutting plates, my normal ones were too big and wouldn't work with the partial die cut thing.  So I tried some cardboard from one of my SU delivery boxes.  Not quite thick or sturdy enough.  So I tried adding an extra cardboard shim.  Still not quite thick or sturdy enough.  Then I thought, what about one of my clear blocks?  It was certainly going to be thick enough but would it work, cause I only  had one and still needed to use some cardboard to protect the rollers in my die cut machine.  With nothing to lose, I flipped open the tabs on the platform and ran it though and this was the result

Woo Hoo - it worked, but it did put some marks in my clear block.  It took me some time to decide on exactly which sentiment I would use - I'm still not convinced this one was the best choice.

Then, whilst working on that card, I wondered what would happen if I flipped the big star spot over and stamped using the back of the stamp.  Check this out

Bingo - just the sized dot I was looking for.  So instead of 1 card I ended up with 2.  Love it when that happens :)

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out what the rest of the design team's awesome creations.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Boy Basics - Simple Circles, Birthday Basics  (PaperTrey Ink)
Ink:  Marina Mist, Sahara Sand, Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso (SU!)
Cardstock:  Whisper White (SU!)
Accessories:  Big Shot, Simple Circles die (PTI), Acrylic Block

JAI 141 Colour Challenge

Ooops.  In my hurry to get my streak ridden benches clean, I totally forgot to schedule my post for this week's challenge at Just Add Ink.  And since the weekend was a bust for free time, here I am posting now.

The challenge this week is a colour challenge, check them out

Aren't they pretty.   I decided to use my brand new stamp set - Summer Silhouettes to make my card for this week and this is how it turned out

I stamped the border image off once before stamping it on the card.  I like the  little extra detail it adds.  The sentiment is from the Made for You set, which is also new.  It was stamped with Distress Embossing Ink and embossed using Zing Brown Sugar embossing powder.  I used my favourite corner rounder to round the top corner.  The card is a note card sized card, same ones as SU! sells.  The proportions just looked a bit better. 

Harry gave this card to his teacher on Friday just gone as it was Teacher Appreciation Day. 

Well, I'm keeping it short & sweet tonight.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you can play along with us this week at Just Add Ink.

Supplies Used: 
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Made for You (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder (Stampin' Up!), Distress Embossing Ink (Ranger)
Cardstock:  Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Heat Gun, Corner Rounder (retired) (Stampin' Up!), Brown Sugar embossing powder (Zing)

JAI #139 - Just Add Something Brand New

Hi there.  This week at Just Add Ink, Tina challenged us to use something brand new.  This threw me for a bit of a loop as I haven't bought any new crafting supplies since I placed my last order with SU! before resigning.  I couldn't really even remember what I ordered!  After wracking my brain I remembered that I had purchased Tim Holtz's Summer collection of Distress Inks recently and not used them yet.  This is what I made

I've used Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean for the background - a technique I learnt during Tim's Creative Chemistry 101 course that I took earlier in the year.  Originally I thought it would end up being a birthday card but the sentiment that I wanted to use was just a little bit too big.  I wish the sentiment that I ended up using was just a bit bigger because it has become a little 'lost'.

I made the card base from watercolour paper because I wanted the panel to match the base.  It wasn't until about 20 minutes ago that I realised that I have completely covered it with ink and you wouldn't be able to tell what colour it was to begin with.  Der!!!!  I think I need a holiday.  It's hard to see, but I have actually scored a border all around the focal panel, just to add a bit of extra interest.

The image is from Tim's Nature's Moments stamp set and the sentiment is from SU's Teeny Tiny Sentiments.  Both have been stamped using Archival Black ink.

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Design Team have designed for this challenge.  Lots of beautiful things to see!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes - Stampin' Up!, Nature's Moments - Tim Holtz by Stampers Anonymous
Ink:  Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean Distress Inks, Archival Black Ink
Cardstock:  Watercolour paper

JAI #135 - Just Add Colour Combo

Hello

This week we have a colour challenge at Just Add Ink.  Check them out

I must say that this week's sample is not the most imaginative thing that I've ever come up with.  I don't get a lot of crafting time, and for the past two weeks I've spent nearly all of it preparing for my son's birthday party, which we had on Sunday just gone.  Hopefully I can get back into a bit more of a routine now that it is all over.

Anyway, here is my sample for this week.

When I checked to see what the challenge was for this week and I saw it was this colour combo, it immediately reminded me of flower colours.  Then I thought about what flower stamps I had and remembered that I had this little beauty.  I love this stamp, and I must because after all this time, I still can't believe that I paid $22.95 for a SINGLE stamp!  It's made by Magenta.  The sentiment is an old favourite too from Savvy Stamps, one of my first 'international' purchases.  I wasn't sure they were still around but I've seen their name mentioned recently on a couple of blogs that I follow so they must still be in business.  I really like their clean & simple designs.

I stamped both the image and sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured them with my Pro-Markers, which I am using much more than I ever throught I would.  I used Baby Pink, Crimson and Pear Green which were excellent matches to the SU colours.  I think I may have to put another little order in to get some more :)

Well, that's it from me.  Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team have come up with.

Have a good weekend (I'm looking forward to this one because, apart from doing the grocery shopping, I don't have anything else planned, well, except for the cleaning)

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Flower by Magenta, Sentiment from Savvy Stamps
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Baby Pink, Crimson and Pear Green Pro-Markers from Letraset

JAI 133 - Just Add Mustard & Metallics

This week the challenge at Just Add Ink is to Add Mustard and Metallics.  When I first saw this challenge I had a very different idea in mind but the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't envision it in my head, so I decided to go in another direction.

I had recently purchased a book, 1,000 Bags, Tags and Packaging (or something like that), which is basically a book full picutres of just that; bags, tags & packaging, which provides some great jump off points.  It was an image that I saw in the book which gave me the inspiration for this (I probably should add a photo of it, hey?)

I also took some inspiration from the August sketch from The Craft's Meow

To make my card, I took a mini mister that I had already made up with So Saffron reinker and some Ranger Antique Gold Perfect Pearls and added some More Mustard reinker to it.  Then, with my circle in place (so the misting lined up), I misted my card stock.  I originally had the '50' masked off, but when I removed the mask, I didn't really like the fact that the edge wasn't quite as crisp as I wanted, so I decided to add the die cuts.

Then I stamped what I call the 'paint swoosh' in Distress Embossing Ink and embossed with Silver EP.  I always thought that when you layered the EP, all you had to do was tip more EP over the still warm embossed piece, but after blowing it from one end of my desk to the other, this is obviously NOT the correct way to do it, lol.  So I inked the image a couple more times, until it was about 4 layers thick before stamping the sentiment (inked up with embossing ink) into the still warm EP.  I used the same technique for the '50', except I die cut them once I had finished adding all the layers

The card base is courtesy of Felicity.  Would you believe in all of the crap that I have, I did not have one single piece of silver cardstock???????  Thank Flick for coming to the rescue, it is just what I needed to finish the card off.

Thanks for taking the time to visit.  As always, be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team's creations - they have shown some awesome ways to put Mustard to good use.

Have a great weekend

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Typically Teen (The Craft's Meow)
Ink:  Distress Embossing Ink, So Saffron, More Mustard Reinker (SU!)
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Brushed Silver (SU!)
Accessories:  Big Shot, Circles #2 die, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, Silver Embossing Powder, Heat Tool (SU!), Mini Mister, Antique Gold Perfect Pearls (Ranger)

For Sale

I have just added a 'For Sale' page.  You can either click on the top menu button or access it through this link.  So far, all I have listed are accessories and it's probably not a complete listing because I am yet to to through all my stuff - there's a LOT, it's going to take some time.

Hopefully, I'll be able to add some of my retired stamps that I have already got boxed up (needed the room in my cupboard) soon,  and then some more once go through my cupboards.

I'd really like to try and sell everything here on my blog without having to resort to Ebay, primarly because I only know how to buy on Ebay, lol!

Please leave a comment/email me if you have any questions or need any additional information.

Thanks