Just Add Ink 726: be inspired

It's time for another fun challenge at Just Add Ink and this week we have an inspirational mood board to inspire you.

Pic credit: https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/241575967501293188/

What do you see when you look at the mood board? I saw terracotta/apricot and sage greens plus the wee ginger kitten stole my heart. So I have ended up working with different greens than I normally would, which was actually quite a lot of fun. I'm sure I'm not the only person who gets stuck in the same rut and would normally work with bright yellow-greens to craft with. I've also added a wee kitty as well - one ginger and a wee grey tabby one, representing my fur baby Cinder.

I started by lightly blending some Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide ink in the top left hand corner. I then used a Leafy Background stencil (PFS), which is a set of 3 stencils to add Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough and Lucky Clover. 

I have Copic coloured up Newton's Blooms (NN) and tried to only colour with Apricot/Terracotta/Sage green tones. 

Copics used:

Ginger kitty: Y38 YR21/20 E000 R32/30

Grey kitty: W6/4/2 R32/30
Terracotta pot:  E19 YR27/24
Green leaves/grass/ pot: G85/82

Apricot flowers: Y38  YR02/61/20

White flowers: Y38 BG000
Bee: Y38 YR27 BG000

Well I sincerely hope you have a purr-fect day and you can find some time to play along with us. Do check out the fab inspiration from the Just Add Ink team, we'd love to see what inspired you.

Thanks for popping in.

AAA Card Challenge: Surf's Up!

When I saw the graphic for the optional twist this week at AAA Cards - the mini car, surfboard and suitcases I knew exactly what stamp set I wanted to use as it had a VW Kombi van stamp which was what I recall many, many years ago surfers used. My first car was a Mini Clubman so this evoked some old memories. 

I've coloured my wee Kombi up green and cream as that is what I recall as the most popular colour in the '70s and green is my favourite colour as well.

I've used the following Copics to recreate the colours above; G09/05/02/00 and E42/41/40. I also decided to use one of the BetterPress plates I received as part of a 6 month subscription with Spellbinders and used my Pinkfresh Studio inks to ink it up as I felt I needed a wee palm tree in the scene. I added 2 extra die cuts to give my wee van a bit of dimension as well.

Supply List:

Stamps: Beach Bound (NNN), Car Critters Road Trip Add-on (LF - sentiment), Summer Vibes BetterPress plate (SP)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Warm Buff (PFS), Mint (PFS), Versafine Clair Acorn

Paper: Porcelain cotton (SP), Xpress IT blending

Other: Copics, BetterPress Letterpress system (SP), Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Challenge: AAA#271

By the time this blog post goes live I will be in the middle of Winter in New Zealand so I hope the sun is shining where you live and "surf's up". Thanks for popping in and I hope you can join in with the challenge, anything goes as long as CAS or CAS with the optional twist. I look forward to seeing your cards in the gallery. As always you have 2 weeks to have a go.

✿Karen✿

Creative Art Retreat: fun colourful stenciled background aka "card 7"

One of the things I love about Jenn Shurkus classes is she makes colourful backgrounds which normally involve ink blending. This card is no exception and it's even more special as she actually designed the Flower Medallion stencil herself and collaborated with Stuff by Belle to get it made. This was an exclusive item for attendees of her November 2023 Cape Cod in-person art retreat and also for the few of us that were lucky enough to snaffle up a left over kit when they went on sale. 

My last Art Retreat with Jenn the Newton Nook Designs card was one of my favourite cards and this one is even more fun as we have 3 kitty cats with a fun image to colour up. The cat on the left is holding a fire extinguisher and the inside sentiment reads "your birthday is starting to become a fire hazard". One of our family members is actually a fireman so guess Russell may inherit this card for his next birthday but to be honest anyone should LOL at how gorgeous and cute the cats are. 

We've only used half of the A2 panel that we ink blended (we cut it in half) and we just made a quick approximation of the blend we used with the stencil directly to the top of the A2 card base. Isn't that fun! Colours used Mustard Seed, Kitsch Flamingo, Shaded Lilac, Salvaged Patina, Mustard Seed again. You get fun colour combos happening where the colours blend, I also love the big balloon die cut out of Pixie Dust Sparkle card stock (LF).

✿Karen✿

Take one stencil continued

Continuing on with my blogging of my Virtual Creative Art Retreat Journey with Jenn Shurkus. I blogged the other day (HERE) about the amazing Quatrefoil stencil from Newton's Nook that we used to make 3 different backgrounds.

Today I thought I would blog as my record of My INKredible Journey about the 2 other cards, starting off with the cat in the hanging basket that we got to colour up like Mr. Harley (Jenn's cat).

Stamp set: Newton's Hanging Basket (Newton's Nook)

Amazingly no glitter has been used in making this card, but we gave added interest to the hanging basket by adding flicks of our BG markers. Greens and blues are my favourite colours so this card resonates with me.

Stamps: Melody (Purple Onion Designs)

Glitter has been added to one and a half columns on the Quatrefoil pattern with a Quickie glue pen (Sakura) and Prisma glitter (LF). The fox has been grounded with wee dots of various Toner Grey markers.

Well I just loved both these card backgrounds and the critters too. I am absolutely loving this virtual class with Jenn and it is now my number one for next year 2024, same time by the sound of it (first week in June).

Four cards down, nine to go ;)

✿ Karen ✿