This Week's Wednesday Weekly Deals

by Joanne James30. April 2014 09:26

It's Wednesday and they're here: week 4 of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for April (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right. If you're local to me in Northampton, I'm placing an order tomorrow so if you would like to add anything to this order and save on postage, then give me a call today and I will place your order for you.

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

As you can see, some great deals this week: in colour stretch ruffle trim and another DSP and some great deals on Big Shot Dies - the Tasteful Trim die and two of my personal favourites - the Pop 'n' Cuts dies. Here's my most popular card made with the Dress Form Pop 'n' cuts - my pop up Lego City Fireman from last August (original post here):

More good news too - Wednesday Deals will continue throughout the month of May! I will post them here every Wednesday, so do make sure you check back each week - there are some great deals to be had!

Back later with today's creative post - until then, happy shopping!

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Pop Ups | Promotions | Shop Online

Thanks A Million - Retro Fresh Journalling Tag Card

by Joanne James29. April 2014 12:06

Today I'm sharing my entry for this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge. I was lucky enough to be a PPA Top Pick with my monochrome baby card last week on their 200th anniversary post (you can see that card here) and this week Nicole has a great sketch to follow:

For my card this week I decided to use one of the Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags. I've used these on cards before and really like how you can make a feature of them for a quick card. So here's today's take on the sketch:

I went for a really clean look for this card and I think this really allows the tag and sentiment to be the star of the show. I used one of the Retro Fresh DSP sheets to co-ordinate in with the colour scheme, which I allowed the tag to dictate. This card actually uses very few products, has no stamping and would be really quick to recreate. If you want some great ready-made sentiments, you should definitely check out the Retro Fresh tags - at just £4.50 for a pack of 32 they are great value for money - and you can use them for journaling too!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

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Cards

Video Tutorial: Make Any Size Envelope Using Your Envelope Punch Board and Envelope Expert from The Crafty Owl

by Joanne James28. April 2014 21:16

Good evening blog readers! Today I'm just in time with a card for this week's Colour Q challenge - here is the colour palette:

Last week I was chosen as one of the ColourQ Courtiers - you can see my winning card here. I saw this week's colour palette and photo inspiration and decided to make a card using a technique that I'm teaching in my card classes this week - painting on a white watercoloured background within a heat-embossed outline (not sure if there's a more succinct title for this technique, but that's how you do it!). Here is my card:

I went for a simple and bright layered background of Daffodil Delight on a Pear Pizzazz base, as I wanted the detail on my tag to take centre stage. I stamped my flower image in white kraft ink onto a piece of Crumb Cake cut with the Scallop Tag Topper Punch, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then, using my aquapainter, I painted the whole of the image white using the white craft ink, then when dry used my aquapainter again to over-paint with Daffodil Delight and Elegant Eggplant on the flowers, and Pear Pizzazz for the stems. I backed this tag with a second one cut out of Elegant Eggplant for another splash of colour and finished with a double ribbon bow topper and stamped a simple birthday sentiment.

The stamp that I used on my tag is from the 'Happy Watercolour' set and does require quite a long tag to fit it onto, which doesn't lend itself to a standard A6 card size. So I made a bespoke card, 200mm x 105mm, for which I then needed a bespoke envelope. And so to the exciting news that I hinted at the end of yesterday's post - I have another cool tool for you!

Following on from the huge success of Box Buster from The Crafty Owl, which enables you to make any size box using your Envelope Punch Board, I had so many requests for a similar tool to create an envelope of any size, I thought I had better get on with it - and Envelope Expert from The Crafty owl is the result! In truth I don't make that many unusually sized cards, and therefore envelopes, I didn't appreciate there was such a need to go beyond the 66 standard envelope sizes that come with the board - but having 'busted' boxes, Envelope Expert was pretty straightforward. So for everyone who asked, here it is! you can find this free to use tool at www.thecraftyowl.co.uk/envelopeexpert or simply go to www.thecraftyowl.co.uk and on the menu choose 'Tools' and 'Envelope Expert'. To see Envelope Expert in action, why not watch the short video below:

 

Now you can make any size card and matching envelope you like, just as easily as you can make an any size box - can you tell how much I love my Envelope Punch Board?!

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin' - and envelope-making :-)

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

Blue Hexagon Quilt Card

by Joanne James27. April 2014 21:35

Good evening lovely blog readers! I hope you have all had enjoyable weekends; mine has been pretty good, with the final finishing touches to Ben's Lego bedroom, a little crafting and even a bike ride in between the showers today. More on the bedroom later, but for now today's card is my entry for this week's Colour Me Card Challenge, where there is lovely colour palette of blues on the menu:

For today's card, I also took my inspiration from the picture of the cotton reels and went with a sewing-themed card - here it is:

The Six-Sided Sampler set has always reminded me of quilts - the hexagon pattern has to be one of the most popular quilting shapes, or at least one of the most iconic to me. I decided the colour palette would lend itself to a quilt, so set about laying out mine. I stamped from top and bottom opposing corners - my stamp-a-ma-jig was invaluable in getting them all aligned - and stamped my sentiment in the centre in Pacific Point. For fun, I also added a needle threaded with Pacific Point stamped from a retired set called 'Hoop La', just to add to the 'stitched' effect.

Just before I go, I wanted to share with you some of the photos of Ben's Lego-themed bedroom, featuring Lego City Firemen (of course!) - he chose a three colour wall combination, but the most fun was in customising the decoration, all of which were inspired by various photos on Pinterest:

The letter 'B' is my favourite - the windmill rotates, the wheels turn and the firemen and surface bricks can all be changed out as desired. Working wall art - how cool is that?!

Back tomorrow with something very exciting that you are not going to want to miss!! Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

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Cards | Stamping

Stampin' Up! Coram Cards For Keeps Charity Auction

by Joanne James26. April 2014 21:06

I've been busy preparing for next week's classes today; I'll share those cards with you later next week, however today thought I would share something a little different. If any of you are followers of Stampin' Up! UK's Facebook page, you will probably already be aware of Stampin' Up!'s 'Cards For Keeps' charitable auction that is due to take place on Ebay in May. For those of you that aren't, Stampin' Up! have joined forces with Coram, the oldest UK children's charity, to celebrate its 275 year anniversary by inviting a wide range of stars from sport, stage, screen, music and art to create a unique card using Stampin' Up! supplies.

Stampin' Up! demonstrators have also been invited to submit a card for a pre-auction competition; the winning card will also be entered into the 'Cards for Keeps' auction, alongside those of the participating celebrities. In trying to decide on a design for my contest submission, I did a little research about Coram. Through services such as adoption and creative therapies, Coram helps some of the UK’s most vulnerable children to feel safe and loved and have access to the education and opportunities in life all children need. I read several inspirational stories about the work they do and the difference they make to the lives of so many young people, they really are a charity worthy of our support.

So without further ado, let me share the card I designed;for me, this card sums up everything that Coram stands for:

My colour scheme of Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White was inspired by Coram's logo and corporate colours. I decided to make a square card with a strong focal point - the 'you make the world a better place' stamp from the Starburst Sayings set. For me, this stamp sums up the work of Coram so well - they make the world a better place for thousands of children each and every year. l brought in lots of detail to my card with layers and textures: I stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed in Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, cutting out the 'World' banner and popping it up on a couple of dimensionals for extra emphasis. I then matted my starburst on white and Cherry Cobbler circles, followed by a final starburst of Pumpkin Pie. I cut my banner using the Banner Framelits and a piece of Cherry Cobbler Cored'inations cardstock. The base of the card is Pumpkin Pie, with Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White mats and a central panel of Polka Dots DSP in Pumpkin Pie. A Cherry Cobbler seam binding double bow tied with white baker's twine and a Pumpkin pie button finish my card.

The inside had a little treatment too, before I added my personalised message:

If you would like to see some of the celebrity cards that have been created for the 'Cards For Keeps' online auction, check them out here on the Cards For Keeps Pinterest board. There are sure to be some sought-after auction lots, with celebrities from Benedict Cumberbatch to Liza Tarbuck, and Axel Scheffler to Twiggy.

I'll let you know if my autographed version is lucky enough to join them, but for now I'm off to work out which ones I'm going to bid on - so far my favourite is Jo Brand and the Jelly Babies (yes, for real!)

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

 

CAS Washi Tape Butterfly

by Joanne James25. April 2014 09:45

Well, I don't know where yesterday went! I was so busy I didn't even manage a blog post; I had my card all ready and just didn't get it photographed. So in the interests of all things quick, here is the card that I had intended to blog yesterday - my second attempt at a CAS washi tape card for Nance's challenge over at The Paper Players this week:

I have now replaced the earlier photograph with one of a better quality! this kind of card is so quick to create: my card is a simple white background with a Night of Navy mat for my image. I then took a rectangle of Whisper White and covered it in diagonal strips of co-ordinating Gingham Garden washi tape. As with my washi tape card earlier this week, you can use the washi tape directly onto coloured card for a diferent effect, but I wanted the colours to remain true here, so needed a white background. I then adhered this to the mat and lastly popped a Melon Mambo rectangle on with dimensionals, having first cut out a butterfly shape using my butterfly die. You could just leave it there, however I decided to add a little 'hello' greeting and a candy dot flower cut from one of my pieces of card scrap just to complete my card.

A quick card for a quick post! Everything is about speed today; I'm off to the hairdressers shortly and have a hundred and one jobs to do before I collect the James Juniors from school today for the weekend. I've already ticked a few off my list though this morning, so am making good progress!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

Smile Says The Mouse - Again!

by Joanne James23. April 2014 08:00

My James juniors are back at school today after a long Easter break, but I assure you that's not the reason behind the sentiment for today's card ;-) I started off with an idea in mind for this week's Less Is More challenge, where the theme is 'something that makes you smile'; unintentionally, I ended up combining this with the colour challenge this week over at CAS Colours and Sketches, where black and shades of grey are the order of the day:

 I knew immediately that my 'something that makes me smile' would have to be that cute little mouse from the Life in the Forest stamp set that I used on this card last week; I decided to use him in conjunction with the word 'smile' from the Happy Day stamp set and position him as if he was standing just behind the word and peering around. I stamped 'smile' in Versamark and heat embossed in black embossing powder, as I wanted the sentiment to really stand out and look solid, then stamped the mouse using black stazon and coloured him with the greys and my blender pen. I sometimes struggle with the simplicity of 'less is more', but this card seems to tick all the boxes for clean and simple: lots of white space, few layers (none) and minimal embellishments (none). I think this may be my 'zen' of CAS cards!

I love this card for all its black and white one-layered simplicity, but couldn't help play around with an initially discarded version where I sought to introduce some colour - this card is so far out of my comfort zone, I just couldn't help it. If you'd like to see a more colourful version, check out the post on my Facebook page today - I'd love to know which one you prefer. For me, the one above wins; as for the mouse, he makes me smile every time, with or without!

I'm off to my office for a nice early start: lots to do today, including amongst other things start preparing next week's classes. Back tomorrow with another project, until then happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

 

Wednesday Weekly Deals are Here Again!

by Joanne James23. April 2014 07:45

It's Wednesday and they're here: week 3 of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for April (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right.

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy shopping!

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Promotions | Shop Online

Monochrome Baby Girl Card for The Pals Paper Arts 200th Anniversary

by Joanne James22. April 2014 08:00

This week the Pals Paper Arts Card Challenge is celebrating its 200th anniversary - a whole 200 challenges! To celebrate this milestone, they have a sketch along with a twist - to complete your card in a monochromatic colour scheme. Here is the sketch:

 

Both design teams have designed cards to inspire this week; initially I was really tempted to use the Starburst Sayings stamps and framelits which lend themselves totally to this sketch and worl with my favourite Brights colour palette, but as lots of the designers had the same idea and I couldn't see how I was going to create something suitably unique, I decided to go with something completely different - a baby card using the 'Baby We've Grown' stamp set in Blushing Bride pastel pink:

Using a pink base, I matted both of my cardstock layers on Whisper White and used a piece of Polka Dot DSP from the Subtles DSP stack for panel 2, whilst for panel 3 I stamped the 'sweet baby' stamp repeatedly in Whisper White onto Blushing Bride cardstock - a stamp-a-ma-jig is essential for this - and coloured the word 'baby' with my chalk marker to give it a powdery look. Lastly, my focal point panel 4 is a triumph of layers and fussy cutting: I stamped the shoe stamp 3 times, twice on Whisper White and once on Blushing Bride, then I fussy cut the shoes from the pink and glued them to the white base; with the other image stamped on white, I fussy cut the bows from the shoes and adhered them on top. I finished the shoes with two tiny seed pearls for fastenings, and layered this circle on a pink starburst mat and a further white circle. My card has 10 separate layers in total - this must be something of a record!

This card took a little while to create, but I love it - and only Blushing Bride and Whisper White used throughout. Do check out the other monochromatic cards at the Pals paper Arts this week - there is a mass of inspiration.

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

 

Blossom Party Originals Melon Mambo Flower

by Joanne James21. April 2014 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card I made with Jen Brum's great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches - I combined it with the colours over at The Colour Throwdown, where one of my favourite colour combinations - Basic Grey and Melon Mambo - is trio'd with Garden Green:

A great combination - here is my card:

I used Basic Grey for my base and matted this with a piece of Melon Mambo to create a narrow border between my base and my central panel of High Tide DSP. I decided to use a flower as my focal point, but instead of stamping I decided to die cut two flowers with my Blossoms Originals die and layer them together, finishing with a small grey circle and pink candy dot centre. I tucked a Gumball Green leaf behind (cut with the Secret Garden framelits) and stamped my sentiment in Versamark onto Basic Grey and heat embossed with Melon Mambo embossing powder. The green leaf provides a lovely 'pop' of colour behind the flower and lifts the whole card, I think. Gumball Green has to be my favourite of the soon-to-be retiring In-Colours - I will so miss it when it's gone!

As I stepped back to admire my card, I realised that I had adhered my mat panels upside down in relation to Jen's sketch - and by this point, my Tombo was well and truly stuck fast - oops! I am hoping the team at FMS will forgive me this oversight ;-)

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

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About Me

Hi I'm Joanne and live in Northampton and when I'm not looking after my husband and two beautiful children, am an avid crafter with a passion for all things Stampin' Up!

I must confess that I have never been a big rubber stamper - until I discovered Stampin' Up! that is. I love the fact that I can get such great results with co-ordinating stamps, inks, papers and punches - the possibilities are endless! Join me on my stamping journey as I share the things I love and be inspired to create amazing things yourself!

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