Congratulations Rita

 

I have a very special post today.

Freshly Made Sketches is having a blog hop for Rita and because Lesley knows we are such good friends she asked if I’d like to be a part of the hop too. 

Of course I was thrilled to wish her a big Congratulations and Best Wishes along with the rest of her friends on the team.

If you have come from the wonderful Jennifer Timko’s blog, “Welcome”  you’re in the right place.

 

This is the sketch we had to work with.  It is actually the last sketch Rita made for FMS before taking maternity leave.

I know Rita is having a girl but I also know she doesn’t like pink very much (although I have noticed she’s been using it a lot more lately, perhaps carrying a little girl does that to you?) So I dressed “Laila” in purple.

I also know that Rita has chosen a grey and yellow colour scheme for Laila’s room.  So I wanted to incorporate those colours into my card for her.

My card will be flying all the way to Texas very soon.  I hope she likes it.

 

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : All our dreams (Lili of the valley), Whimsical words

Card : basic grey, white, x-press it, subtles dsp stack, neutral dsp stack

Ink : memento black, stazon, baja

Other : nesties, big shot, subtles buttons, square punch, scallop trim border punch, copics, white pen

 

 

I’d also like to send Rita this Irish Blessing:

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!

 

 

LeAnne Pugliese’s fantastic blog is your next stop on the blog hop. Or you can visit Freshly Made Sketches and start at the beginning.

If you would like to visit Rita’s blog to leave her a message just click here.

Blog hop participants:

Anne Marie Hile

Ann Schach

Cindy Hall

Erna Logtenberg

Jen Mitchell

Jennifer Timko

Kathy Tanner

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Linda Callahan

Nance Leedy

Tui Nathan

Tara Murphy Bourgoin

 

Big hugs and kisses and my very best wishes Rita!

 

Kathy

Little Trumpet

There is another great sketch for Merry Monday this week.



And I got this stamp this week and couldn’t wait to play with her.  It was a perfect match!  It has been a really wet, dark, cold and dreary day in Hobart today but I had a lovely time in my craft room colouring her and making this Christmas card  :)



Ingredients :
Stamps : Little Trumpet (Lili of the valley), Four the holidays
Card : baja, white, xpress-it
Ink : baja, stazon, memento black
Other : copics, spica, white pen, nesties

Kathy

Dinosaur boy

 

I needed to make a birthday card this week and thankfully they had another great sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches for inspiration.

I did follow the sketch although mine does look a bit different I know.  It’s as if a dinosaur put his foot down right on top of it and it got a little squished. :)

 

 

This is a giant dinosaur sized card for my boy.  No he’s not turning 3, but there were 3 panels and I wanted 3 dinosaurs on it.  He’s not a boy either!  He’s actually turning 26!  He was one of those boys who are absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. Every book he read, story he wrote, picture he drew and game he played was about dinosaurs. So even though this is meant to be a kid’s set I just had to buy it and make a card for him to relive his childhood (plus he’s just a big kid anyway :)

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Dinoroar, French foliage

Card : black, white, sahara sand, x-press it

Ink : NQN, pumpkin, garden green, versamark, bashful blue, stazon

Other : copics, big shot, tasteful trim, mat pack, white pen

 

Kathy

So glad we’re friends

 

This week at Just Add Ink we are casing one of the team, Mae Collins.

Mae also lives in Tasmania and since meeting her through JAI we have become friends.  As soon as I joined the team she was so welcoming and friendly. Getting to know wonderful people like Mae is one of the best things about being on a design team :)

So when I was looking at Mae’s blog for something to case, I just couldn’t go past this card of hers.

Instead of a happy birthday card though, I just had to use a “friends” sentiment.

I have kept the layout and card pretty much the same as Mae’s but I have coloured mine with warm grey copics for a sepia effect.

 

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : The Nicest Things, Best Yet

Card : espresso, x-press it, mocha morning dsp

Ink : memento black, crumb cake, espresso

Other : espresso taffeta ribbon, oval punch, copics

 

Please take a look at Mae’s blog and join us in casing her this week.

 

Kathy

Lovely Challenge

I have made two Merry Monday challenge cards this week. 
It was hard to decide which one I liked better to use as my guest designer card because I liked this one a lot too.



The tree looks very pretty in real life because I stamped it using a combination of artichoke and champagne shimmer paint, it’s sparkly and pretty. I also like this colour combo, the background paper is baja and then I have brayered baja and NQN at the bottom and wisteria and eggplant at the top.

Ingredients :
Stamps : Lovely as a tree
Card : baja, shimmery white, plum, white, subtles dsp stack
Ink : artichoke, NQN, baja, wisteria, eggplant
Other : brayer, champagne shimmer paint, big shot, polka dot ef

Kathy

Merry Dasher

Last week my Merry Monday card was chosen as a winner. Thanks Lesley :)
Which means I get to be a guest designer for this week’s Merry Monday challenge.  YAY!
Here is the wonderful sketch we got to work with.


I decided to use my Dasher stamp for the first time this year.



I brayered the background using mustard and cherry at the top and wisteria and baja at the bottom.  Then I stamped various christmas images over the top of the brayering using crumb cake.
Dasher was then stamped using a mixture of espresso and champagne mist shimmer paint.  He is actually a nice sparkly, rich espresso colour but that was a bit hard to capture in the photo.

Ingredients :
Stamps : Dasher, winter post, lovely as a tree, tiny tags
Card : espresso, crumb cake, white, dsp (ret.)
Ink : espresso, baja, wisteria, mustard, cherry
Other : linen thread, rhinestones, tag punch, mat pack, white pen, big shot, square lattice ef, brayer

Please take a look at what the rest of the design team have created for Merry Monday this week and play along too.

Kathy

Wisteria Ballerina

 

Freshly Made Sketches have another great sketch this week.

I decided to make another ballerina card, this time in purple.

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Tiny Dancer (Tiddlyinks), So happy for you, confetti

Card : wisteria, concord crush, black, x-press it, in colour hostess dsp

Ink : wisteria, white

Other : jewels, square punch, big shot, polka ef, wisteria ribbon, copics

 

I am making a box of ballerina cards to give to a friend for her birthday and I have a lot still to make. Challenges are a great way to make similar yet different cards for a set I think and they keep you motivated to keep creating.

 

Kathy

Vellum elements

 

We have a colour challenge at Just Add Ink this week.

I decided to use these colours with vellum.

I thought these flowers from elements of style might look pretty dry embossed and so I decided to give that technique a try with this week’s colour combo.

I stamped the image onto vellum card with stazon and then dry embossed the flowers from behind with a stylus to make them white and give them dimension.

The butterflies are coloured with a saffron marker and cut out and placed on top with glue dots.  The “for you” is stamped on the vellum and I have simply placed a white circle behind it to make it stand out more.

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : elements of style. kindness matters,

Card : vellum card, white, saffron, brights dsp stack

Ink : stazon

Other : daffodil taffeta ribbon, circle punch, saffron marker, white brads, stylus

 

 

This is a close up to try to show the dimension the flowers have, it’s a bit hard to capture it but it does look pretty.

The rest of the design team have come up with some gorgeous yellow and white cards so please take a look and give this challenge a try yourself.

 

Kathy

Peaceful Tidings

 

Well last week’s Merry Monday came and went and I didn’t get around to making a card for it :(   But the week before that LeAnne chose me as her top pick :) Thanks LeAnne.

Here is this weeks Merry Monday sketch.

 

I used the Tidings of Joy stamp set again for this week’s sketch but in a way that makes it look totally different.  I hope you’ll leave me a comment and let me know which one you like best.

 

 

I had seen some beautiful copic cards just using greys and I really wanted to give it a try with this stamp.  These are warm greys and they actually matched better with soft suede and espresso than they did with grey.  Kind of a sepia look I guess.

The ribbon is crumb cake seam binding and it looks much better IRL as it just kind of blends in with the dsp behind it while still noticing the nice sheen it has. In the photo it looks completely different and much more dominating than it really is unfortunately. You’ll have to trust me ;).

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Tidings of Joy, Four the holidays

Card : espresso, suede, x-press it, mocha morning dsp

Ink : memento black, versamark, espresso

Other : clear embossing powder, crumb cake seam binding, copics

 

I was really happy with how this card turned out and I finally found a use for that dsp too.  (I love the look of it but I just haven’t been able to use it much?)  I think it will make beautiful Christmas cards :)

 

Kathy

Vellum style

 

This week at Just Add Ink the challenge is to Just Add Mother’s Day.

The main panel is vellum stamped with stazon using a stamp from Elements of Style. I have then attached that over a piece of pink pirouette cardstock.  The butterflies are stamped onto shimmery white and coloured with pip and razzleberry using a blender pen and adhered with glue dots.

We made this card at my club last weekend. I was showing the ladies lots of different ways to use vellum and they liked the cards and enjoyed using it.  But then one of them asked if I had any Mother’s Day sentiments for this card.  So it obviously didn’t look “Mother’s Dayish” enough for her but I hope it passes as one for our JAI challenge anyway :)

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : Elements of style, oval all, kindness matters

Card : shimmery white, black, pink pirouette, vellum card

Ink : stazon, pip, razzleberry

Other : oval punch, oval scallop punch, brads, blender pen, razzleberry satin ribbon, white pen, big shot, polka dot folder

 

Please take a look at what the rest of the design team have created this week and show us your Mother’s Day designs.

 

Kathy