Just Add Ink #545....Just Add a Colour Combo

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Helloooo ~

Shades of green....that's what Lou has us doing for this week's brand new Just Add Ink colour challenge. There are so many gorgeous greens in the Stampin' Up! colour families....where to start....I chose the beautiful Soft Sea Foam with a touch of Pear Pizzazz ribbon today.

I love the subtle Tasteful Textile embossing folder, which I've layered on Gold Foil here. And for the third challenge running I've used the gorgeous florals from the True Love designer paper. I fussy cut two layers & popped just the flowers up on dimensionals, using Wink of Stella all over the flowers for some shimmery sheen. Honestly this card looks a whole ton better in real life!

If you have a favourite (or more) shade of green, then pop over to JAI & join in the challenge fun with us.

Not a lot of news this week. We had coast fun last weekend, which included a public holiday - always a bonus! We are making so many lovely new friends down there. The kids love the freedom of riding their bikes everywhere & having several visits a day to the beach. I'm enjoying the food options way too much....I'm finding all the local tucked away cafes. Good but not so good if you know what I mean :) This weekend I need to stay in Canberra & tend the garden. 

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #543....Just Add a Sketch

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 It's Friday ~

Kelly has given us a fun sketch challenge to work with this week over at Just Add Ink. I'm totally loving on the True Love designer papers. So much so, that I need to order a second packet already!

Here I've coloured the florals softly with my copic markers & popped up on dimensionals, adding a little copper thread underneath for interest. And once again, Label Me Bold stamp set to the rescue. I love these small sentiments as they just fit in anywhere.

Why don't you join the challenge fun with us? Pop over to JAI for some gorgeous inspiration, & get busy with your own version of this awesome sketch.

The twins had a birthday this week! They're getting old enough now that they like to celebrate separately. So little Miss had a sleepover pizza party with the girls last weekend & they spent most of it in the pool thanks to lovely weather! This weekend Master is taking a friend to the coast, while his sister stays in Canberra. He'll have his own pizza party & beach fun. Let's hope I can transport his cake in one piece!

Here is her cake. My girlfriend makes amazing cakes, & a really good size so you're not eating it for days on end. We all love her oreo balls - which she has decorated in Miss' favourite colour purple. If you're local & want one of these for yourself leave me a comment & I'll happily pass on contact details.

Thanks for popping by today. Have a fabulous weekend!

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #541...Just Add a Blended Background

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 Happy Friday ~

Over at Just Add Ink this week, Nikki has set a pretty cool challenge to add a blended background to our projects. Back story .... I made a card a couple of weeks ago that I wasn't entirely sure of. So it's been sitting on my desk & I've been looking at it & looking at it trying to decide if I like it or not. Late last night I decided to whip up something different .... & because it was late my fallback was the gorgeous SAB paper  Oh So Ombre'. Bit of a cheat move but it is beautiful paper.

I also coloured some of my other favourite paper - True Love - & fussy cut it, popping it up on dimensionals. Label Me Bold seems to be my go to for quick & easy sentiments these days too.

When uploading my card I realised I must like this colour combo because I found a card I'd made for a previous challenge using the same colours. Hmmmm.

If you fancy joining us this week, pop over to JAI & check out some inspiration from the design team & the challenge guidelines. 

News for me this fortnight is that we bought a coast cabin! Exciting. The beach is beautiful, with gentle waves (thinking we may invest in a kayak too) & dog friendly. I'm going to love morning walks & chatting to everyone else's doggos on the weekends & holidays that we visit. The twins are beyond thrilled at the prospect of meeting new friends & being 'free' to explore their new area. Gorgeous Kid is looking forward to going down with his mates when the folks aren't there!

I've spent some of this week out purchasing lots of new items to furnish it....I really thought that would be more fun that it actually was!

Have a super weekend, whatever you get up to!

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #539....Just Choose Two

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 Happy Friday ~

Welcome to a new Just Add Ink challenge. We're back into the swing of things, this being our third challenge for the new year. This week, Di, has asked us to Choose Two - Banner, Border or Bow. I love the variations we all come up with using these challenges.

I needed to make a couple of thank you cards to accompany small gifts for family members who took the twins on an awesome coastal holiday over the summer break. I tell you, those kids have had the best break ever because we took them away a couple of times too - being Covid safe of course. They've hardly had their feet on the ground. But we started slowing down yesterday as school goes back next Monday & we need routine again. Hard to believe they're going into Year 4! Getting big kids now.

I chose to use a banner & bow, combining some fussy cut Forever Greenery designer paper with the Tropical Chic (retired) stamp set & a sentiment from Clearly Besotted. 

Pop over to JAI & check out all the lovely design team projects. We'd love to have you join the challenge fun. Here is the banner for you to use.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #537 - Just Add Family Blog Hop

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Happy New Year!

As we do every year, the Just Add Ink team is participating in a Blog Hop. With the absolute crazy that has been the last 12 months our theme is Family! We've been separated, had important events put on hold & generally had our routines thrown up in the air....

One of the biggest impacts to our family this past year was losing both of our beloved fur family members within 10 months of each other. Our beautiful Lilli girl & Humphrey bun. They have left a gaping hole in our hearts!

LOVE really is a four legged word.

I've coloured up a few MFT images, keeping the card base super simple. I really like the Oh So Ombre designer paper SAB freebie! All the blending is done for me :)

If you'd like to join the challenge fun this week & share one of your own family projects, pop over to JAI & check out all the details. 

To continue the hop click on the button below to visit Kelly.

Thanks for stopping by today. Stay well.

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #532...Just Add a Sketch

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 Happy Friday ~

We have a brand new sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink today & I chose to colour these cute little hippos from MFT. I did a little blending in the background with Pretty Peacock, Peekaboo Peach & Mango Melody (very lightly). I splattered my clear Wink of Stella pen all over for some shimmer & added a few enamel dots in similar colours from my stash.

This card went on its way to Queensland for a sweet little boy's 4th birthday earlier this week.

I think you'll get lots of use out of this super versatile sketch so pop over to JAI & play along with us. Here is the banner for you.

Life has been pretty busy around these parts of late. Everything is gearing up for the busy Christmas season, so lots of end of year activities on at school, & I've been getting to as many gym classes a week as I can. The weather has warmed up beautifully & we're currently looking to buy a little weekender down the coast....

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #530...Just Add Stamps, Ink & Paper

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Happy Friday ~

We have a new challenge starting over at Just Add Ink today. Rochelle has asked us to add Stamps, Ink & Paper - it was so hard not to use die cuts, & embellish...I do love some bling. In fact I ran into a little trouble with my first card (will attach at bottom) so had to make another at the last minute. I guess that's why it's called a challenge :)

I've fussy cut some of my favourite designer paper - Best Dressed & used a sentiment from the matching Dressed to Impress stamp set. Lighting not so great as we've had so much rain of late, which means cloud & dull skies.

I rarely take a pic of the inside of my cards, so here it is.

And here is my original card - I realised I couldn't use heat embossing so went with Craft white ink. Which was lovely & crisp initially, but a few days later had faded & become a little blotchy, as you can see. So I quickly whipped up a reverse colour version. I've since added versamark over top of the white ink (super easy to line up photopolymer stamps) & heat embossed so it wasn't a wasted card.

Pop over to JAI & be inspired by the design team offerings. We'd love you to join the challenge fun with us...here is the banner for you.

In other news 2020 strikes again. We have to say goodbye to our beloved bunny, Humphrey today. He has developed kidney disease & just the last few days is deteriorating. We don't want him to suffer, or have a poor quality of life. He's been with us for almost 7 years so we're very very sad. Here he is enjoying some leaves off one of the trees in our yard (he's a free range bun & uses the small doggie door to come & go as he pleases - he really has had the best life).

Here he is chilling in the lounge room with us watching tv. 

I took this pic today, of him lying upside down like a baby in my arms. He's the most placid, snuggly not so little guy. Always up for a cuddle. He's got a few grey hairs these days as he's quite old for a bun.

Well that was rather photo heavy, but I'm feeling all sentimental & just had to share him one last time. 

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #528...Just Choose Two

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Hello & happy Friday ~

We have a brand new challenge kicking off today over at Just Add Ink. This week Jan suggested we choose two of sequins, ribbon or metallic foil.

I made a start on my Christmas gift giving. Here are the gift card pockets I made using the long retired Mini Treat Bag Thinlits with the current Neutrals DSP.

The gorgeous little gnome is a die from Simon Says Stamp & comes in two sizes. This is the smaller of the two. There are so many variations you can put together to make him look totally awesome! On the reverse side I have stamped To: & From:

For the inside I created a card for writing a Christmas message & on the back of that I made a little pocket for the gift card to slip into. You could fold cash neatly into this too.

Here are all four together - Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Mossy Meadow & Merry Merlot. My photo colours are a little off as I'd lost light when I took the pics.

We'd love you to join the challenge too so pop over to JAI & get some inspiration from the design team then link up. We really enjoy looking at your blogs.

Thanks for stopping by. If you'd like measurements or a bit more of a how to, then just get in touch & I'll happily help.

Enjoy your weekend.

Patrice x

Just Add Ink #526...Just Add Inspiration

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Hello there ~

Happy Friday! Just Add Ink is kicking off a brand new Inspiration challenge today - chosen for us by, Jo.

I was inspired by the beautiful blue & green in the image (see at bottom of post). After stamping the flowers from Tasteful Touches in Blueberry Bushel I spread the ink across the petals with an aqua painter. My leaves are from the Beautiful Friendship stamp set, in Garden Green & Granny Apple Green inks. I love how the colours really pop off the Whisper White card base. My sentiment has been heat embossed in gold.

I really struggled to get a good photograph this week as we've had overcast days & lots of rain. Good soaking rain for the garden so no complaints. What you can't see in my photo is all the pretty shimmer :(

Here is the image we're working with this week. Pop over to the JAI blog for all the details & join us for the challenge.

Today is officially the last day of school holidays for the twins. Hard to believe they're about to start their fourth & final term of Year 3. Little Miss has just finished reading James & the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl so tonight we're going to watch the original film as a family.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you & yours are healthy & well.

Patrice x