A New Year and a JAI Blog Hop!

Well welcome back to our regular weekly challenges! 

We have a Big Shot Blog Hop for Challenge #149 and its a pearler! Instead of posting the pics of each of our members' projects involved in this blog hop..we will be starting with Mae and then going on a blog hop around the Design Team. If you get lost along the way, come back here and click on the next link down the bottom of this post.

The challenge of course this week is, to use the Big Shot or any diecut machine on your card, scrapbooking page or box/project etc. 

And here's what the Design Team came up with ...

So off we go on the first Blog Hop Journey  to Mae Collins. 

Click on the Big shot badge to go to the next blog.

Here is our Big Shot Blog Hop order if you get lost.

Mae

Delys

Nikki

Christine

Tina

Chantell

Jodene

Patrice

Kim

Trish

Narelle

JUST ADD INK RULES

• Create a card, layout or 3D project using our challenge as inspiration.
• Link your post, NOT your whole blog back here.
• Your project must be new, created for this challenge and combined with no more than 5 other challenges.
• Please mention JUST ADD INK in your blog post and provide a link so others can come and join in the fun too.
• Please DO NOT use your challenge entry as self promotion. We are here to have fun and encourage creativity.
• We reserve the right to remove links that do not comply with the above guidelines.
• The challenge closes each Wednesday at 10.00 pm (AEST) Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Id like to apologise to Bronwyn Eastley and Helen Heil for deleting their submissions during this challenge. It was a mistake on my part and I apologise profusely to you both of you for deleting your gorgeous submissions! We hope you will join us again for our challenges girls!

Vellum Luminaries Tutorial

Well we hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to New Year festivities. Ill be in bed sleeping well before midnight.. I'm sure! Well when you have to be up milking the cows at 4am the next morning New Years Eve is not important..sleep is!
Most of the DT are away so Im waiting for some more votes for our last challenge and will post the winner soon.
In the meantime, we have an awesome tutorial from Chantell Randall with her Luminaries.

Vellum Luminaries

Way back in July I made a Card and some Luminaries for the Just Add Winter Challenge (JAI # 125). I had several people ask me about how I made them so I have put together this tutorial for you.
They are quick and easy to make, are great for decorating tables, mantles and also make cute little personalized gifts.

 
 
The steps I used to make these luminaries and my dimensions are as follows……

Step 1
I started with 1 piece of Night of Navy card stock that makes the base of the luminary and a piece of Vellum that makes the sides.
My dimensions are as follows:
1 – 3“ x 3” . I scored this at ½” on each side.
1 – 4” x 8.5” – score this at 2”, 4”, 6” and 8”’s
















Step 2
Cut slits into each side of the Night of Navy card stock and crease to make your box shape. Using sticky strip put the box together.

 


Step 3
Stamp your Vellum. I have used the Lovely as a Tree stamp set with Night of Navy Ink.
But they can be stamped to suite the occasion you are making them for.

Step 4
Fold and crease your vellum along the score lines – so it makes the outside box shape.

Run some sticky strip down the ½” section – this goes on what will be the outside of the luminary (but don’t stick it together yet).


Step 5

Run a strip of sticky strip around the outside edge of the luminary base.

 

Starting with the ½” section of the vellum, stick the vellum around the base.


Step 6

Remove the sticky strip from the side of the vellum and stick the vellum wall together.

Your luminary is now complete and you can decorate it with ribbon (which also hides your sticky strip at the bottom and add a small embellishment if you wish.
I use the battery operated tea lights in mine – which are very safe.


Here are some others that I and my Card Class ladies have made.

Chantell and Delys.

Adding a JAI Winner or Top Picks badge to your blog

If you're reading this post, chances are you've clicked on the link on a Just Add Ink Top Picks post. Congratulations!

Here are two different ways to add the Just Add Ink badge to your blog.

Super Easy Way
The easiest way to add a badge to your blog it to right click on the picture and save the image on your computer. Then you add the badge to your post or sidebar by inserting it as a picture (exactly how you would have inserted your project picture).

We would appreciate it if you could please add a link to the picture back to http://just-add-ink.blogspot.com/


HTML Code
Some people prefer to use html code to add their badges (I'm one of those people!). So if you'd prefer to add your badge that way, here are the instructions.

Whether you are adding the badge to your blog post or on the sidebar, the principle remains the same. Ensure that you are editing in HTML format, then copy and paste this code:

<a href="http://just-add-ink.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt=""border="0"src="http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab121/Just-Add-Ink/99f5c573.jpg" /></a>

Hope that helps! Email us at just-add-ink@hotmail.com if you have any problems.

Blog Tutorial - Using Mr Linky

Blog Tutorial

Using Mr Linky

Hi there! If you're reading this entry, then chances are you're checking how to link your work to our site using Mr Linky.  Here are the steps!


Step One
At the bottom of a challenge post, you'll see the Mr Linky gadget.  It looks like this:

Step Two

In a moment you're going to enter your details, but first you need to get the DIRECT link to your entry.  Go to your blog and click on the blog post (the title) that contains your challenge entry.  I've used my blog entry as an example.  You'll see this:

Highlight the address (at the top):

That's what you're going to enter as your URL.

Step Three

Back on Just Add Ink, type your name into the Your Name field, then paste your DIRECT link to your entry into the Your URL field.  My example looks like this (you can't see the entire address - you can see the end part):

Step Four
Now click on Enter.  Your entry is now linked!



Some important things to remember:

• In your blog post about your challenge entry, you need to include a link back to Just Add Ink, preferably to the challenge requirements themselves.
• Incorrect links are NOT eligible for Top 5 picks, and may be deleted (you can always re-link your entry correctly).
• If you're having any problems, get in touch with us by emailing us at just-add-ink@hotmail.com.

Blog Tutorial - Leaving a Comment on a Blog

This tutorial was originally posted on my blog, Danielle Daws, after I had a few people email me to say they were having difficulty leaving a message. I thought it would be appropriate to post it here as well. You can see the original post HERE.

Blog Tutorial

Leaving a Comment on a Blog

Step One
At the bottom of a blog post, there are details about the post. When you move your mouse over these details, the word comments should highlight indicating a hyperlink. Click on this (the word comments at the bottom of the post you'd like to comment on). 

Step Two
What will come up on your screen next looks like the picture below. If there have been previous comments made, they will also appear. All you need to worry about is what you see in the picture below. Click on the drop down menu that says select profile.

Step ThreeWhen the drop down menu appears, you'll see this:

Step FourFor the purposes of this tutorial, I am assuming that the viewer does not have a Google Account or any other type of blog. You can select Anonymous, but it's much nicer to leave your name (assuming you're leaving a nice comment!). So, select Name/URL. This screen will appear:

Step FiveEnter your name in the Name field (where I've put "Enter Your Name Here"), and leave the URL field blank. This means that your name will appear with your comment, but there won't be a hyperlink attached to your name. Click Continue.

Step SixWrite your comment in the Post a Comment box provided (where I have written "Leave your comment!").

Step SevenWhen you have finished writing your comment, click Post Comment. You should see this:

Please Note

• 
  
  If for some reason your screen says a message like: "Comment could not be published", just try again. I don't know why, but sometimes the comments don't go through first go.
• 
  
  Some bloggers have security measures on their sites. For instance, you may be required to type in a security word. This is just because the blogger is avoiding spam comments from being placed on their blog - it does happen!
• 
  
  Some blogs save your comment but don't publish it. There should be a message nearby that says something like "Comment will be posted after author approval". It's just another security measure.

That's it! I hope this little tutorial has been of use.