All Abloom So Sweet of You Card

by Joanne James31. July 2014 08:00

Hello there - this card is for you all! I used the latest sketch at Create With Connie and Mary this week, as I liked the unusual layout:

I'm too late to link up with the challenge, but wanted to share the card with you as it is a little different for me - here's my card:

I'm not sure I've ever used so much Strawberry Slush on one card! I thought the All Abloom papers would be perfect for this kind of paper-piecing and I loved the way that Mary Brown used thick bakers twine across the joins on her design team card here so I decided to do the same on my card. I also added some of the retired ruffle trim in the same colour to edge the patterned panel. Lastly I finished with one of the sentiments from the 'Hello There' hostess set, having first inked the outline with Strawberry Slush and Mossy Meadow markers to frame it and added a simple twine bow.

I really like the combination of Strawberry Slush and Mossy Meadow on this card; the green seems to really balance the vibrancy of the pink, and along with the vanilla and Blushing Bride cardstock makes for a very feminine card, without being too 'pink'.

I hope you like today's card - I'm off to prepare a picnic for an afternoon at the park, do enjoy your day, however you choose to spend it.

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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Cards | Stamping

Wednesday Weekly Deals are Here!

by Joanne James30. July 2014 13:04

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection 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 July or August (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.
 
There are some great offers this week - that old favourite, the cupcake builder punch, and edgelits and thinlits, but one of my absolute all-time favourite products - the Gift Bow Bigz L Die. This Bow Die is so versatile and useful, for bows and so much more - if you need reminding of everything you can do with it, check out my 1 minute video below:

So what else are you waiting for? Hop on over to my online store quick pronto and snap one up! Alternatively, if you live local to me and would like to save on postage, get in touch by 8pm tomorrow and I will add to the order that I am placing Friday morning!

Back later with another creative post - until then, happy stampin'!

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Promotions | Shop Online

Summer Silhouettes Hello for this week's Colour Me..! Challenge

by Joanne James30. July 2014 08:00

Good morning everyone - today I have my Design Team card for our challenge this week over at Colour Me...! where we are having a creative week where you get to choose your colour palette and which team you would like to play along with:

I am on 'Team Tara' this week so I'm working with Night of Navy, Soft Sky, Garden Green and a neutral (in my case, Whisper White). Here's my card:

I decided to use Soft Sky for my base and flowers, stamped and fussy-cut from the Summer Silhouettes stamp set, with Garden Green for the foliage and Night of Navy as my accent colour and for my statement 'hello' greeting - this is from the 'Hi There' stamp set - I think it's going to be a new favourite of mine. A smattering of pearls and a piece of retired grosgrain ribbon (you could substitute this with the new seam binding ribbon in the same colour) finish my card.

To see what the rest of the team have created in each of the colour schemes, stop by their blogs for inspiration and do play along with us at Colour Me this week!

Back later 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 | Stamping

All Abloom For Pals Paper Arts

by Joanne James29. July 2014 15:11

The sun is shining here in the UK today and I have a similarly bright and beautiful card for you - no snowflakes today, I promise! Today's card uses the sketch over at Pals Paper Arts as its starting point:

I love a good sketch and there are lots of them out there in blog land this week; I liked the squares on this one, so many possibilities! I took the opportunity to use mine to showcase another of the gorgeous patterns in the All Abloom Designer Series Paper stack - here's my card:

My base card is Daffodil Delight with a mat of Island Indigo, followed by a sheet of yellow polka dots from the Brights DSP collection - these colours echo those of my chosen feature DSP. I matted my patterned squares on Island Indigo too and did the same for my central square, which I chose to include my sentiment. Lastly, I finished with a layered flower made with my 'vintage' Floral Fusion Sizzlits centred with a candy dot. I know this is now retired, but it made the perfect flower to echo the pattern in my chosen paper.

That's all from me today - I have a few more jobs to do before rewarding myself with a bike ride, so must get on! Back tomorrow with my card for this week's Colour Me...! design team card and the Wednesday Weekly Deals.

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

149 Days Until Christmas - Snowflakes for Freshly Made Sketches

by Joanne James28. July 2014 18:51

I know, I know - we re experiencing some of the hottest weather we've had in the UK for ages and I'm making Christmas cards with snowflakes on!!! My new seasonal catalogue arrived with the postman on Saturday (it doesn't go live until the beginning of September, but as a demonstrator we receive them early so that we can pre-order items to plan classes and make samples to share with you (one of the many perks of being a demonstrator) and so for the last couple of days I have well and truly had Christmas on the brain! When I saw this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches I decided festive was the order of the day - here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I changed the orientation of my card as I wanted to use two of the embossed layered snowflakes stamped with the Festive Flurry stamp set and cut out with the coordinating framelits and needed it to be wider rather than taller. I cut my banners out of silver foil sheet and a scrap of last year's Winter Frost DSP that I found in my box, along with a retired snowflake embellishment. I added a few of the current in-colour sequins in Coastal Cabana to add a little more sparkle and finished with a vintage sentiment (from the 'Sweet Essentials' set).

You still have another month and a bit to wait until the launch of the new seasonal catalogue, however if you're the kind of person who likes to get organised and wants to start making Christmas cards now, the Festive Flurry stamps and Framelits are on the Holiday Carryover List and, along with a number of other seasonal items, are still available to purchase until 27th August. You can find the full list of items in the 'Holiday Carryover' section on the right hand side of my blog page, or by clicking here.

That's all from me today - no more Christmas cards I promise - well, at least not this week. Once my pre-order arrives next week, I might not be able to stop myself from sharing a few 'sneak peeks' of festive loveliness!

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.

 

Blendabilities Blooming With Hope for The Paper Players

by Joanne James27. July 2014 08:00

Good morning everyone - it's Sunday and time for my Design Team card over at The Paper Players where Ann has a great sketch challenge for us this week:

Now I love a sketch challenge and often I follow a sketch completely to the letter. Today is something of the exception to the rule though - when I saw the 'any shape' piece, I really wanted to use one of the flowers from the Bloom with Hope hostess stamp set that I had coloured with my set of Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. As a consequence though, the layers didn't work for me - so I switched them about and offset them - I hope Ann doesn't mind! Take a look at this week's card to see what I mean:

I wanted my flower to take centre stage so went with a neutral Crumb Cake card base, with a Hardwood stamped mat. I really wanted to use a sentiment alongside my flower - this stamp set has a great selection of really useful ones, but to follow the sketch literally I would have needed to stamp my sentiment on one of the banner flags to be seen, but this didn't work as I wanted them to bring some additional colour to my card. So I decided to tuck my banners behind my central rectangle; this allowed me to both stamp my sentiment onto it and add some leaves, which I stamped in Mossy Meadow and coloured with my Old Olive Blendabilities (they work on coloured cardstock too!). Here's a picture of my fussy cut flower, coloured with Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities, in all its glory:

Isn't it just lovely? I'm still getting used to my alcohol markers and how they differ from water-based colouring. I am no expert (yet!) but I think this flower shows you can get great results without much experience - it looks much more 3D than with ordinary markers and a blender pen. I have a little tip for you too - when you fussy cut a coloured flower like this one, you invariably end up with some white that shows around the cut edge. If you run your marker around the edge of the flower, it takes that away and makes your flower look just a little more finished.

If you would like to know more about Blendabilities, do check back for more hints, tips, techniques and tricks as I learn what works best. Better still, if you live in Northampton and the surrounding area, get in touch about attending my August card class where we will be using Blendabilities, along with the lovely Blended Bloom stamp. Also, if the 'Bloom with Hope' set has caught your eye and you would like your own set, do get in touch to book to host a party or enquire about my new Stampers 6 Club that is beginning next month: for a monthly commitment of £25 a month for 6 months, you get to be the hostess one month and enjoy a minimum of £25 hostess credits to spend free on anything in the catalogue, including hostess sets. Party freebies without needing to actually invite your friends round!  There is one space left in this current club - get in touch if you'd like it to be yours!

Do pop on over to The Paper Players blog to see what everyone else did with this sketch - there are some great cards there this week! I'll be 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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Cards | Stamping

Giggle Greetings Birthday - My First Blendabilities Coloured Card!

by Joanne James26. July 2014 23:24

A late post from me today - I returned late yesterday evening from a family mini break and seem to have spent all day today washing and ironing, isn't that always the way?! That's not strictly true - I did manage to get some long overdue gardening done this afternoon and fit in a grocery shop; all in all a very productive day! I made this card earlier in the week for my brother-in-law's  birthday; it's not until next week, but as he doesn't read my blog I know I'm safe to share! I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge as the inspiration for my layout:

 

I've spent some time practising with my Blendabilities this week and thought today's card would be a great opportunity to show you just how great these fabulous markers are for achieiving a blended coloured image. Here is my card:

 

Since my Bro' is officially 'post 40' this year, this image and sentiment from the 'Giggle Greetings' set seemed rather appropriate. I coloured the candle and cheese with my Daffodil Delight and Coastal Cabana sets of markers and echoed these colours elsewhere in my card. I am loving these new pens - they allow for beautiful shading with seamless colour blending and are so easy to use - no previous expertise necessary, although if you're the type of person who liked to colour as a child, you may find them rather addictive! I also embossed the top layer of my card with the Large Polka Dot embossing folder - it kind of reminded me of the holes in the cheese, albeit a little too regular in design. Lastly, I went with thick baker's twine for my bow detail - as a true 'man's man', I'm not sure my brother-in-law would appreciate anything more fancy!

Back tomorrow with my design team card for the Paper Players this week when we have a great sketch challenge for you - and another card using my Blendabilities markers!

Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Life's Adventure - Rainy Day for Less is More

by Joanne James25. July 2014 08:00

Yay it's Friday already! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's theme challenge over at Less is More where it's all about taking inspiration from the song 'Singing in the Rain'. Given the glorious weather we've been having in the UK of late, I'm just hoping today's card isn't tempting fate! Here it is:

I don't have many stamps that fit with the theme of rain, even less so singing in the rain, but I have been wanting to use this sheet of DSP from the Moonlight DSP stack on something to do with rain as the pattern says 'raindrops' to me, so this seemed like a good opportunity. I also found this cute little fox with an umbrella in one of the new hostess sets, Life's Adventure, so this gave me enough to get started.

I actually took much of my inspiration from Sarah's card this week, as she had a cute paper pieced duckling on her DT card and I decided to do a little paper piecing of my own. I stamped the fox onto the card layer, then again onto some spare white cardstock, onto a piece of Pumpkin Pie retired dotty paper and lastly the umbrella onto a piece of Rich Razzleberry. I then cut each out carefully with my paper snips and paper pieced them together - you can see the detail on the picture below, including the Crystal Effects that I added to the spots on the umbrella (I think they look more like raindrops!)

Cute, eh?! Whilst this card is all about the rain, I'm sure the bright colours would cheer someone up who was feeling a little down - I'll let you know when I eventually send it to someone, assuming I remember! Life's Adventure is an exclusive hostess stamp set, that you can only purchase if you either host a Stampin' Up! party or are a member of my Stampers 6 Club: for those of you that haven't heard of this before, this is where you commit to a minimum spend of £25 per month for 6 months and then in one month o the 6 you get to be the hostess, with a minimum of £25 of free hostess credits to spend. A virtual party, if you will, with none of the hassle of hosting or inviting your friends around if that's not your thing. I am starting a new Stampers 6 Club in August and currently have one space left - if you would like to participate, then get in touch. Once this last space has been filled, I will begin collating a waiting list for an additional Stampers 6 Club so either way you've nothing to lose.

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 | Host a Party | Stamping

Be The Star You Are Card

by Joanne James24. July 2014 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card I made for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

The minute I saw this sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it - I love it when that happens! I definitely had stars in my eyes with this one - have a look at my card and you'll see what I mean:

I decided to use one of my favourite products from the new annual catalogue, the star framelits, along with some of the images from the co-ordinating 'Be The Star' stamp set for this card. I simply stamped one of the stars in Pumpkin Pie onto Whisper White, then cut it out with the framelit of the same size. Using the framelit the next size up, I cut out another star from Crushed Curry cardstock and paper pierced this around the edge using my Eclectic piercing template. I finished the star with the 'be the star you are' sentiment stamped in Bermuda Bay and punched out with a 1" circle punch. Lastly, I used the small bundle of stars stamp in Coastal Cabana directly onto the base layer of cardstock.

All being well I'll be spending a family day at the beach today - buckets and spades at the ready! Hope you have a fun day however you choose to spend it.

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 | Stamping

Born To Be Loved for Colour Me...!

by Joanne James23. July 2014 08:00

Yes folks it's Wednesday already and so it's time for my Design Team card for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...!, where we have a 'playful collection of colours for you this week:

 

Now it's time to confess - I found this a really tricky collection of colours this week! I love brights, but I found it tricky to combine this overall combination and produce something I was truly happy with. So several binned prototypes later, and with the help from the sketch above over at Fusion, here is this week's card:

I decided to use pink and black as my key colours, with highlights of yellow and gold. Using a base of Basic Black, I added a top panel of Melon Mambo, stamped with 'Born to be loved' from the 'Groovy Love' stamp set, then added a wide band of Champagne Glimmer Paper across the join (Stampin' Up! has just introduced pure gold coloured glimmer paper, which would look equally as nice - I just don't own any yet!) I then stamped the animal print heart from the same set in Versamark onto Daffodil Delight and heat embossed with black embossing powder to give a textured shine. I punched the heart out with the co-ordinating heart punch, and punched a second heart out of Basic Black cardstock and overlapped the two before adhering onto my card. Lastly, I stamped the 'love' stamp from the same set in Melon Mambo onto Whisper White and punched this out with my 3/4" circle punch and adhered using a dimensional to add height.

So what do you think? Check out the other Colour Me...! designers for their take on this colour combination. I for one will be stalking this week's gallery in earnest to see how you all make this colour combination work for you!

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 | Stamping

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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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This is my personal blog and is not endorsed by Stampin’ Up! I hope you find it a plentiful source of ideas and personal inspiration but please don't copy my designs for contest submission or use for classes, publication or sale without express permission.