Thankful For You Fall Card

by Joanne James29. September 2014 08:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing another autumn-inspired card using this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts and this week's colours at Colour Q as my inspiration:

  

I love this colour palette and resisted the urge to recreate that check shirt, which is adorable! Instead I decided to use my Fall Fest framelits to recereate the layout of the sketch and make a bright Autumnal card - here it is:

I used Kraft cardstock for the body of my card, which has a lovely texture and thickness to it. I matted a square panel of Night of Navy onto the base, then stamped some leaves in orange and yellow onto Whisper White cardstock and overlaid this with another piece of kraft attached with dimensionals with the same leaf shapes cut out so that you can see the stamped leaves beneath. The leaves are edged in white, which just helps add to their definition. In space of the fourth square, I didn't cut out - instead I tied an acorn and leaf wooden embellishment together with a piece of Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon and some linen thread and attached them to my card. A little bulky for mailing, but a nice statement for a hand delivered card.

I added the sentiment to a banner on the bottom, using another of the stamps from the Good Greetings set (available as a hostess exclusive until the end of October) and mounted this on a piece of Night of navy wrapped with linen thread.

That's all for today; I have a Christmas card class to look forward to later using Festival of Trees, which should be fun! 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.

 

Autumn Leaves and Happy Hauntings For The Paper Players

by Joanne James28. September 2014 07:00

It's Sunday which means one thing - it's time for our weekly challenge over at The Paper Players! This week Sandy has a great sketch for us:

Sketches are my absolute favourite challenges - so many possibilities, and this sketch is no exception! So much so, I actually made two cards using this sketch already which I thought I would share with you today. If you've come from The Paper Players blog, this is the card that you will have seen there:

My first take on the sketch was this fall-inspired card, where I layered a combination of 1" punched circles and little leaves cut out using the Big Shot and the Fall Fest framelits, in Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow and Tangelo Twist on a base of Baked Brown Sugar, and finished with a simple knotted bow of Hello Honey satin ribbon and a sentiment from the 'Good Greetings' hostess set. I haven't used this colour combination before but thought it would make a nice fall colour scheme; I prefer these colours in cardstock rather than stamped on Whisper White, as I find the inks too intense somehow. I am linking this card up with the challenge over at SUO Challenges this week as they are looking for cards using autumnal colours, so this totally fits the bill.

I liked this sketch so much, I couldn't stop at one card though; the card below is the very first thing that came to me when I looked at the sketch and it was so simple I just had to make it and share it with you:

I stamped the 3 pairs of eyes from 'Freaky Friends' twice each in Versamark onto Basic Black cardstock and heat embossed in Crushed Curry, then did the same with the sentiment and heat embossed that in white. I then matted this panel onto a panel of Crushed Curry and a Basic Black card base. Simple, but so effective in real life - the eyes have a real shine as if they are looking out of the card at you!

I had to stop there for today, but I know I will use this sketch again - it is a keeper! Do pop by The Paper Players site and check out the blogs of the rest of the design team - there are some awesome cards this week, as always!

Right, we have a morning of sport in the James household today - Rebecca and I are going to explore a new hockey club and the boys are off to check out a rugby club, before reconvening for lunch and hopefully a restful afternoon.

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.

 

 

Noel Christmas Card - Traditional Colours With A Modern Twist

by Joanne James27. September 2014 21:27

Hello lovely blog readers! I hope you're having a good weekend. I've spent my day preparing for my cardmaking class on Monday (more on that later in the week). I had a lovely day yesterday, the highlight of which was spending the morning at a fundraiser coffee morning held by my sister-in-law; wonderful cakes and tea in vintage china and a balloon release in memory of those we have known and loved who passed away as a result of cancer. We raised £323 in total which will go towards the charity MacMillan Cancer Support, to fund nurses to support those suffering this terrible disease, so a fantastic effort for a worthwhile cause.

Today I'm sharing my entry for this week's Merry Monday challenge, where Kathy is hosting a fun game of Christmas Bingo:

I decided to use the diagonal - red, ribbon or twine and emboss - for my card, which you can see below:

I decided to make a square card and wanted to try another sentiment-based card using the 'What's Your Type?' stamp set, this time using the word 'Noel' and more traditional Christmas colours of Real Red, Garden Green and gold. I stamped my sentiment onto Very Vanilla, with the lined elements of each letter stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. I finished the 'O' with  gold button threaded with Real Red 1/4" cotton ribbon and tied in a bow.

These cards are quite fun and not at all tricky when you get the hang of aligning the various stamps to make the letters. That's all from me today; back tomorrow with my Design Team card for The Paper Players - and a bonus 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

A Thousand Thanks For A Piano Man (or Woman!)

by Joanne James25. September 2014 14:17

A quick post from me today as I am having the busiest of weeks! Today I'm sharing my entry for this week's challenge over at 'Less is More' where this week the challenge them is 'Let's face the music and dance' and the ladies are looking for cards with a music or dance theme. Now today's card is not overly original, in that I've seen many of them on Pinterest and the internet in general for a long time, but I needed a thank you card for someone who plays piano and as I've never made one of these cards before, I thought I'd create my version which just so happens to fit the bill for this week's LIM challenge. So here's my card:

Quite difficult to photograph, so bear with me! This the front, in Basic Black, with the edge cut shaped like the lid of a grand piano, and then piano keys punched from a Word Window punch in Very Vanilla and Basic Black. Behind the cutaway section you can see the sheet music that is adhered to the inside of the card, which you can see more clearly below:

The sheet music is a piece of retired 'Modern Medley' DSP (I must confess to having hoarded the sheet music pages, I love them!), with space below for the sentiment and your message.

So a fun and simple piano card, where the 'white space' today is entirely black! Check out the other LIM entries this week for plenty of music and dance inspiration - I personally am loving the ballerinas on display!

One other thing - the Stampin' Up! UK Clearance rack updated last night - lots of new bargains at up to 80%, including 12 x 12" papers, washi tape and last season's Halloween papers and kits. You can check out all the bargains at my online store by clicking here - go and grab yourself a bargain!

Lastly, on the subject of THE Piano Man, Mr Billy Joel himself, if you're a fan and have never seen him play live, I can highly recommend it; I saw him in concert for the first time last year and can honestly say it was the best concert performance I have ever attended.

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.

 

A Vase Full of Flowers For This Week's Colour Me...! Card Challenge

by Joanne James24. September 2014 10:00

It's Wednesday and time for a new challenge over at the Colour Me...! Card Challenge. This week we have a playful colour palette for you to work with - I also chose to use this week's Retrosketches layout for my card:

 

I love the bright colours of this week's colour palette, so decided to create a nice cheery card to really make the most of them - here's my card:

I used Bermuda Bay as the base colour for my card and decided to make a 4" square card for a change. I layered a sheet of Real Red polka dot paper from the Brights paper stack and a piece of Confetti Celebration DSP that features a fun Bermuda Bay design. I stamped the flower vase from Pictogram Punches, having inked it with my Stampin' Write markers to enable me to add the chevron detail on the vase and the flower stems in a different colour to the vase itself, then stamped and punched three flowers, finishing each with a rhinestone in the centre that had been coloured with my Blendabilities marker and adhered the flowers separately using glue dots. After stamping my sentiment from Petite Pairs, this left-handed section was adhered to the front of the card using dimensionals, to allow space for my selection of co-ordinating buttons to sit above and below it as per the sketch design.

I even remembered to take a  photo of the stamping on the inside of my card today:

That's my Colour Me...! card for this week - why not visit the other Colour Me...! designers and check out their takes on this week's colour combination:

And our talented guest designer for September - Holly Endress
 
We look forward to seeing your subtle creations. Right, i'm off to get some work done before this afternoon's hockey match (observer, not participant!)

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.

 

A New Set of Stampin' Up! Weekly Wednesday Deals!

by Joanne James24. September 2014 08:00

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 September (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.

This week's offers are a feast for framelit-lovers and paper piercers everywhere,  with three popular framelit sets (the Window Frames collection is incredibly useful and versatile and the On Film Framelits are great for scrapbookers and Project-Life lovers!) and a host of paper piercing templates - piercing is a great way to add a little something extra to your cards and is so easy to do.

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

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Promotions | Shop Online | Stamping

Boo To You! Ghosts Galore Halloween Card

by Joanne James23. September 2014 20:00

As promised, here's my second post today as I wanted to share with you the card I made for this week's sketch challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary:

I love a sketch challenge and was intrigued by this unusual layout, which was crying out for the use of some washi tape with those bold stripes, something that is quite under-utilised within my craft stash at times. Anyways this was one of those cards that the minute I saw the sketch I knew what I wanted to do with it, so it took me next to no time to pull this card together. Here's my card:

I used a base of Sahara Sand for my card as this is the colour of the ghost DSP from the Motley Monster set, but as it's quite neutral used lots of splashes of Tangerine Tango to really bring this card together and prevent it from looking washed out. By the way, check out the faces on the ghosts on the paper - how cute are they?! In addition to the mat, I added a strip of Tangerine Tango Retro Fresh washi tape for the vertical band (I love how you can see the ghosts through it - adds to the spooky I think!) and then used a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock for the horizontal band, onto which I stamped my 'boo to you!' greeting. I bordered this with a piece of thick orange and white two-tone trim (I frayed the ends before adhering to the back of my panel so that it wouldn't have too much bulk). Lastly, I finished with a lovely Dazzling Diamonds sparkly ghost (thank you Mary Brown for the inspiration on a previous card of yours - love it!) I wanted my ghost to look towards the sentiment so cut the paper on the reverse using my framelit so that I could turn him over (hope that makes sense). I used one of the eyelits from the 'Chalk Talk' framelits to create the eyes and punched his mouth using my Crop-a-dile and adhered a piece of Basic Black cardstock to the reverse for definition, before adhering with dimensionsals.

The greeting I used on this card is from the 'Good Greetings' set that is currently available free with qualifying party sales of £200 or more for parties held between now and 31st October. This is such a versatile set - whilst this card has a definite Halloween feel to it, I think the 'boo to you' greeting means it would work as a nice 'Hello' card for this time of year. If you would like to earn this greetings set for free, I do still have a couple of slots available for parties in October so if you'd like one, do get in touch as soon as possible!

If you like this sketch, you should check out the other cards over at Create with Connie and Mary - there are some great interpretations and ideas of how to use it.

Back tomorrow with this week's Design Team sketch for the new challenge over at Colour Me...! and this week's Weekly Wednesday Deals!

Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Thankful For ... You! Thank You Card

by Joanne James23. September 2014 13:30

Hello everyone! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Craft Crew, for which I also used the current colour palette over at The Card Concept:

  

I thought the sketch layout with the word bubbles and the leafy inspiration photo would combine to create the perfect opportunity to showcase the sentiments in the 'Gratitude For Days' stamp set - a rather unsung hero from the current seasonal catalogue I think, but a set that I have used lots and lots. Here is my card:

I used a combination of Real Red, Crushed Curry and Wild Wasabi for my card and inked the outlines of the Just Sayin' stamped word bubbles using my markers then stamped the insides with various 'gratitude' stamps in contrasting colours. I used some little leaves cut with my Fall Fest framelits as the embellishment for the word bubbles, and gradually layered them over a Gorgeous Grunge background to achieve my finished design. I think this still qualifies as 'clean and layered' as far as The Card Concept is concerned (if you've ever wondered about the definitions of the various cardmaking styles, you should check out their site - it gives some great guidelines), maybe bordering on 'freestyle collage', although probably not random enough to truly be a collage!

Hope you like my card; I'll pop back later with another quick make today for this week's challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary, so stay posted. until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Freaky Friends Frankenstein CAS Halloween Card

by Joanne James22. September 2014 07:30

Happy Monday everyone! I enjoyed a restful Sunday yesterday and can honestly say I feel like I am starting the week on the front foot again for the first time in a few weeks! Today I'm sharing a cute clean and simple Halloween card that I made with this week's colours over at Colour Q and the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch:

  

Despite the adorable wellie boots in the inspiration picture, when I saw this week's Colour Q colours I couldn't help but wonder if I could make them work for a Halloween card. This is what I came up with:

I stamped the Frankenstein stamp from 'Freaky Friends' in Blackberry Bliss onto some retired Summer Starfruit cardstock and fussy cut him out. I used a piece of film strip made using Calypso Coral cardstock and the On Film framelit, modified to make it smaller and placed the film strip behind my layered sentiment banner and then my figure on top. Lastly, I finished with some Blackberry Bliss bats to add to the Halloween theme.

I hope you like today's clean and simple Halloween card. I'm off to move mountains (of the craft and ironing pile variety!) 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

You're How Old - Really??! Birthday Card

by Joanne James21. September 2014 07:00

It's Sunday so I'm here with my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players, where Jaydee has the following clean and simple challenge for us:

 

I also used the above sketch from Freshly Made Sketches again for my card this week and this week's card is a lot more 'clean' than last weeks - here is my card:

My card is really simple, with a piece of the numbered Typeset paper mounted on Basic Black as the central panel of my card, with a couple of strips of Flashback DSP behind to add some colour and the focal point word bubble 'You're How Old?' stamped in Real Red. I finished my card with the sentiment 'happy birthday Grandpa' (stamped with my vintage 'For My Family' stamp set - a keeper!) and a punched star.

Yesterday was my Dad's 70th birthday and I made this card for him from the children - they think 70 is positively ancient, so the word bubble was entirely appropriate! - however it occurred to me as I typed up my post that not only could you change out the sentiment to just say 'happy birthday' or include the role of any family member (dad, brother, uncle, etc.) this might also work as a fun tongue-in-cheek card with the sentiment as is. So beware any male that feels he's 'over the hill', because one of these cards could be heading your way Grandpa!

Do check out the other design team cards this week; as always, there is some great inspiration and I look forward to seeing your challenge entries in the gallery. Right, I'm off to prepare for Sunday lunch and hopefully enjoy a restful family day before the onset of a new week. Enjoy your weekends everyone!

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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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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