Just Add Ink #278 - Just Add Inspiration

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I do love a Friday morning ~

We have a brand new inspiration challenge over at Just Add Ink for you today.  Nikki chose this one for us, and it's perfectly timed with Spring starting this week.  I love Spring.

I'm a bit rusty as it's been a good six weeks since I played in my craft room (packing and moving house and all that).  What I had in my head didn't really come out on paper the same way.

I white heat embossed a bunch of PTI flowers and coloured them with my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers. The colours were really vibrant and bright whilst wet.  Unfortunately once dry they had toned down quite a bit. Still pretty but not as bright as I'd planned.  A little sponging, some spritzing and a few sequins and blingy bits....

It's been pouring rain here again the past couple of days, not complaining as I put a few tomato plants in the garden yesterday.  I'm thinking it's going to be a good day to play with some of my new goodies from the Holiday Catalogue. Have you seen it yet?  If you go to the right hand sidebar you'll find a link.

If you'd like to join the JAI challenge this week, here is the inspiration pic for you.  Need a little direction?  Pop over to look at the design team inspiration and let your imagination run wild.

We're off to a mad hatter/steam punk themed 40th birthday party tomorrow night.  Good grief!  Yep I had to google the latter...obviously I don't get out much because steam punk seems to be quite popular, and I really had no clue. More on the party next post :)

Have a great weekend!

Just Add Ink #277 - Just Add a Colour Combo

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Good Friday morning ~

It's been a wet and wild week in Canberra but the spring flowers are popping up everywhere and I can't wait for the warmer weather.

We have a new challenge starting over at Just Add Ink today.  Kim has given us a lovely colour combo to play with - Mint Macaron, So Saffron, Calypso Coral and Very Vanilla.

I went with a fun shaker card - do these ever get old?  I've used various circle punches to make my confetti and added a couple of sequins and some cute little candy dots just to mix things up a bit.  A little tip for shaker cards - I always like to adhere just a couple of them in the die cut/window area so that when all the confetti pieces drop to the bottom there is still a little colour 'floating' about.

If you'd like to join our fun challenge this week, head over to JAI and check all the gorgeous inspiration from the lovely design team ladies.  They never disappoint.  I love these ladies so much.

I'm off to the hairdresser today, woop woop.  It's always a good day when it's spent this way, don't you agree?  Hope you've got a great weekend lined up.

Just Add Ink #276 - Just Add Cards for Males

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Woohoo it's Friday ~

We've been a sick house all week (and half of last).  We've all shared the love and I'm so hoping the germs are behind us now...It's been a particularly bad winter for colds and flus in Canberra.

Jan has given us a well timed challenge with Father's Day coming up.  This week at Just Add Ink we're adding cards for Males.  I think most of us agree that masculine cards are probably the most difficult to create - well I certainly find it challenging.  No pretty flowers, ribbon and tizzy embellishments to fall back on.

I've heat embossed the vintage car from the awesome masculine stamp set Guy Greetings and layered my image on some Go Wild designer paper, adding a few of the White Perfect Accents to finish.  I stamped a Father's Day greeting on the inside.  Voila, all done.  Not so difficult after all.

If you're in need of masculine cards head over to JAI and check out the design team inspiration then join the challenge fun this week.  I'm sure you'll be glad you did!

Super happy birthday wishes to my big boy today.  Gorgeous Kid is 15 years old!  I can hardly believe it myself.  He now rests his chin on the top of my head, lol.  I'll come back and share his card in a few days.

Just Add Ink #275 - Just Add a Sketch

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Hello, and happy Friday ~

Well I think I finally have my head out of boxes, and the new house organised.  Yippee!  My craft room isn't completely as I want it but I'll be sure to share some pics when it's done.  It's been a long and busy few weeks and we're all looking forward to normal life resuming.

Over at Just Add Ink this week, Kim has given us a fun sketch to work with.  I pulled out my cute little sail boat dies from Paper Smooches.  I even made a sailor's knot - it's a little fuzzy in my pic, apologies.  I found a really easy tute over on Barbera Anders blog.  In keeping with the nautical theme I've used the Maritime designer paper from Stampin' Up!

Short and sweet from me today.  Here is the sketch so you can play along with us - don't forget to pop over to JAI and check out the design team inspiration.

Hope to be back again soon.  Have a fabulous weekend - Canberra is due some lovely warm, sunny days so I'm looking forward to spending a bit of time outdoors.

Just Add Ink #274 - Just Add Inspiration

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Helloooooo ~

It's been a long time, and so much has happened in the fortnight I haven't been online.  We settled on the new house!  We auctioned our other house - with results that exceeded our expectations.  We even made it to the Canberra Times newspaper - for achieving a street record price!  Since then, life has been all go.  I'm still emptying boxes and finding new homes for everything.  But - loving our new home for sure!

My craft room is a work in progress, however, once it's back in use (soon I hope) I'll post a few pics for you.  I'm itching to get my stamps, inks and pretty papers out again....alas too many other things to do before that happens! Yes my design team cards were made weeks ago, knowing everything would be in boxes for some time.

Trish has given us an inspiration pic over at Just Add Ink this week.  Once you see the pic (I'll add it at the bottom of my post) you'll notice I changed things up a bit.  Normally I stick fairly close to the sketch, or inspiration but this time I felt the need for a pop of colour.

Once again I've used the awesome new Thick Whisper White c/s as my base.  I've used Smoky Slate for the inlaid chevrons, and cut/trimmed some Pear Pizzazz leaves and added a handmade Watermelon Wonder flower and a couple of little raindrop embellishments that match perfectly in colour.  You'll see I did incorporate the main colours of the pic, the chevrons, and a touch of black....but couldn't resist brightening things up.

Why don't you pop over to JAI, check out the challenge and join us this week?  We'd love to see your take on the inspiration Trish has given us.  Here is the inspiration pic for you.

Special birthday wishes today to one of my favourite people, Christine Blain.  Hope you have a truly wonderful, fantabulous birthday beautiful!

Just Add Ink #272 - Just Add Butterflies

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Happy Friday lovelies ~

I'm very happy to say my big boy (aka Gorgeous Kid) arrived safely home from Borneo last week. He was dirty and smelly, extremely tired and pretty happy to see his old mum.  I didn't let him out of my sight all weekend!  More on that another day.  Today I'm stopping in super quickly because I have next to no time at the moment :(

We have a new challenge over at Just Add Ink today, and this week Di has asked us to add butterflies.  I think this one is going to be very popular.  Who doesn't love butterflies?

I've used the lovely new Thick Whisper White c/s - loving it!  So sturdy.  I used the Butterflies Thinlits to cut a piece out of my mat layer, then added an ombre watercolour wash (on w/c paper) in pink tones - darkest at top going lighter all the way down - under the mat.  You can't really see it well in the photo.  I then added my die cut butterfly, along with a second butterfly cut out of vellum and popped up on dimensionals to give 'flight'.  It's kinda pretty irl. The sentiment is heat embossed using the now retired Smoky Slate ep.

It's settlement day on our new house!  Woohoo!!!  And Auction day on the current house tomorrow!  Eeek.  A very busy time ahead for us.  Hope to be back again soon, however, our internet service provider may have other ideas. Hope it's all up and working in no time. Can. Not. Live. Without. Internet. Sad as that is!

If you find some time to get inky this weekend, please do join the challenge fun.  Pop over to JAI and check out all the gorgeous butterfly inspiration.

Just Add Ink #271 - Just Add a Sketch

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Today is going to be a good, good day ~

My big boy is coming home (finally) from Borneo.  I can't wait to see him.  There are going to be lots of cuddles and I'm looking forward to hearing all his stories and the adventures he's been experiencing.  Hope to see some pics too!

We have a lovely new sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink today, courtesy of Narelle.  I made my card for a beautiful friend who celebrated her 50th birthday yesterday.  Using the gorgeous new Timeless Elegance papers and coordinating colours - Basic Black, Sahara Sand and Very Vanilla - I inked up my Stippled Blossoms stamps.  The photo doesn't show the dimension on this card, or the shimmer on the flowers, but trust me, they're quite lush in real life.

We'd love you to join the challenge this week.  Pop over to JAI and check out the design team inspiration.  Here is the sketch for you.

All things open house are still on the go.  Sigh.  The auction is next weekend so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Once that's done and dusted things will really kick into gear with the big move. My craft room will be packed up for a few weeks :(  Any spare moment I've had lately has been spent at my desk.  I've been busily creating and trying to get ahead with my deadlines.  I am looking forward to re-furbishing my new craft room - shopping for new furniture, having lights installed etc. Lots to do, but it's going to be loads of fun.

Does anyone watch Wayward Pines on Foxtel?  It has me completely intrigued and I still can't figure out quite what's going on.  If you've got any ideas, please do share :)

Thanks for stopping by today.

Just Add Ink #270 - Just Add Inspiration (Christmas in July)

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Happy Friday ~

Welcome to the brand new challenge over at Just Add Ink.  Nikki has given us a lovely Christmas themed inspiration pic this week.  I've used the traditional Real Red and Old Olive for my card - mainly because the inspiration pic calls for that.  Typically I prefer non traditional colours, pink, silver, blue... Here I've white heat embossed my sentiment and added a little silver glimmer heart, along with bling of course.

No news from Borneo this week.  This poor old mum is missing her boy big time!  GK has been in the Kelabit Highlands jungle trekking for most of the week, and as at yesterday he will have arrived at the small village of Pa'Umor to complete the community project phase of his expedition.

FYI - Pa' Umor village is a 60 minute walk east of Bario, which is an upland settlement in the Kelabit Highlands, very close to the international border between the Malaysian state of Sarawak and the Indonesian state of Kalimantan.

If you'd like to play along with the challenge this week, below is the inspiration pic.  Choose any of the elements that inspire you to get crafty.  Don't forget to check out the JAI design team projects if you need a head start.  I'm really looking forward to seeing all of your Christmas projects.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Canberra is expecting snow, brrrrrrr.

Just Add Ink #269 - Just Add a Colour Combo

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Happy Freezing Friday friends ~

Yep I'm calling it that because the temps these past few days have been super low and chilly.  I'm so over Winter already.  Brrrrr.

I'm sure you're here to check out the new challenge over at Just Add Ink today.  Kim has chosen these lovely colours for us to use - Tip Top Taupe, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sky and Pool Party. 

Before I show you my card here's the disclaimer - I've been extremely short on time recently, totally distracted, and completely lost any creativity I may normally possess.  Sooooo my card is not entirely original.  I spotted a really lovely card over on Mary Fish's blog (although I now realise through reading her post that it isn't her original design either) and went ahead with a CASE (copy and share everything).

This was my first play with the new Birthday Blossoms stamp set {love}.  You'll notice a few subtle differences....I used the little stripes stamp in the Painted Petals (retired) set as my background, sequins and bling instead of buttons and I put my silver thread around my flower clusters.  The doily is an MFT die.

Our open house went really well last weekend.  Lots of interest, and several return families the following day.  A good strong start, and we get to do it all over again this weekend.  Sigh.  I look forward to it all being over at the end of the month.

Gorgeous Kid has been in Borneo for just over a week now, and I'm super happy to say I heard from him a few days ago via FB.  It was a really quick note to say hi, it's hot, he's got lots of mozzi bites and he's doing just fine - oh and "don't worry about me mum, I love you".  Sweet kid.  I haven't been sleeping well lately, no doubt a combination of everything going on at once.  I was awake at 4am and after tossing and turning for an hour decided to have a look at my phone....  you have no idea how excited I was to see that message pop up in my feed.  I nearly fell out of bed, along with my squealing and arm flapping and feet kicking.  Suffice to say no one else got any sleep in this house after that.  Lol.

If you're still with me (sorry lots of blabbering in this post) and find yourself looking for some creative inspiration, head over to JAI and check out the current challenge.  Hope you find some time to join us this week.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks, as always for your lovely, supportive comments.  They make my day! Seriously, it's really nice to know I still get a few visitors :).  Have an awesome weekend.