Butterfly Thinlits Bokeh Card

by Joanne James28. February 2015 22:26

Good evening blog readers! A busy couple of days so a later blog post today. Just time to share with you another card using the Butterfly Thinlits, this time including the largest of the trio: 

This is a larger than usual card at 6" x 6", as I wanted to allow enough cardstock to frame this rather large butterfly and set if off to true effect. The base of my card is Crumb Cake cardstock, onto which I added a raised mat panel consisting of a piece of the current Sale-A-Bration 'Best Year Ever' Designer Series Paper onto a piece of Coastal Cabana cardstock. I love this bokeh-inspired patterned paper - it saves the time of creating your own and makes for a lovely background effect. |Even better still, it can be yours free with an order of £45! I then added a piece of Strawberry Slush cardstock, and wrapped some linen thread around the panel before adhering to my card. I then added my layered butterfly - the largest butterfly cut from Crumb Cake and the smallest butterfly cut from Coastal Cabana - and finished with a bow of Strawberry Slush thick baker's twine. A no-stamping card, that really shows these delicate butterflies off to great effect.

I'm linking today's card with the sketch challenge over at Fab Friday (I turned the sketch through 90 degrees and used my linen thread in place of the flagged banner in the sketch).

Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players and news of some new Sale-A-Bration goodies that you can earn during the month of March. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Bermuda Bay Butterfly Basics

by Joanne James26. February 2015 20:35

Thank you for all the lovely comments I've received on my 'Guy Greetings' cards these past couple of days - I'm so glad you are enjoying them. I have more of these to share, some of which I made with my lovely stamp-a-stack ladies at our class earlier today, but instead I'm having a break to share one of the cards I designed for my recent technique class featuring the Butterfly Basics stamp set and co-ordinating framelits:

 

I stamped the lacy butterfly onto my Very Vanilla base in Bermuda Bay ink, then used the co-ordinating framelit to cut the shape out of the top mat layer. I then added some Crumb Cake, sponged through a stencil made with my Hexagon Hive thinlit, the border stamp, a simple sentiment and some linen thread and a scattering of pearls as a final simple embellishment. I love the versatility of thinlits and how they can be used in so many ways; using the negative space gives a different look to simply using the thinlit to cut out the butterfly and attach on top. 

I'm linking today's card up with this week's challenge over at Less Is More where the theme is 'wings', which suits my butterfly perfectly.

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

No One Else Could Fill These Shoes Masculine Card

by Joanne James25. February 2015 09:00

I have another monochromatic masculine card for you today - I still had the papers and stamp set out on my desk from yesterday's card and couldn't resist creating another sample using this week's sketch over at As You See It:

This is a great sketch for combining patterns or images and I had a few ideas as to how I was going to use it so don't be surprised if you see me use it again. For today though, it's all about the shoes - take a look at my card and you'll see what I mean:

 

I used Very Vanilla as my base and this time a piece of checked Typeset paper on black for my panels, then I narrowed the four square elements of the sketch so that I could fit in four pairs of shoes - you can never have too many pairs of shoes, right?! A stapled banner sentiment, some wide chevron ribbon and some funky shoe laces to highlight one of the pairs of shoes and done!

Making this card reminded me of the Robert Redford/Michelle Pfeiffer movie "Up Close & Personal" - such a great movie, but the scene where she sees his shoes with the red laces at the end ... if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you, but if you're an old-fashioned romantic I can highly recommend it - just don't forget the tissues!

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

New Wednesday Weekly Deals Are Here!

by Joanne James25. February 2015 08:18

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 February (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right) and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

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 is the week to stock up on ribbon and twine, with 5 different offerings to tempt you. There are also sequins for a little sparkle, and a banner refill kit and themed MDS download if you are thinking about your Easter home decor. 

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

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Hats Off To You Masculine Birthday Card

by Joanne James24. February 2015 08:45

I'm here today to share my card for this week's challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary where they have a rather interesting sketch to play along with this week:

 

I've been playing with my new 'Guy Greetings' stamp set this week, in preparation for my next stamp-a-stack class which is featuring masculine cards and I decided that this sketch would work perfectly with a trio of hats - take a look at my card to see what I mean:

I went for a monochromatic look for my card with a Very Vanilla base and a piece of striped Typeset paper, set beneath another layer of Very Vanilla cut at an angle. I masked the hat stamp and inked three of the six hats and stamped them above a piece of black cardstock cut at an angle, then stamped my greeting on the Vanilla base panel. I finished my black strip with a trio of Very Vanilla candy dots. Clean and simple and I like 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

Tap, Tap, Tap!

by Joanne James23. February 2015 08:53

The children are back to school today so a sense of normality has been restored - or blogging normality at least, with a nice early post! Today I have a relatively quick, clean and simple card to share that uses this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch as my inspiration:

I decided to take a break from the lovely seasonal catalogue and ink up my 'Tap, Tap, Tap' stamp set that I've had for ages, but has been languishing unused on my shelf. I thought the typewriter would make an interesting take on the 'any shape' element of the sketch - take a look at my card and see what you think:

I used Very Vanilla as my card base and stamped the alphabet border strip in black onto Coastal Cabana for my diagonal piece and after adhering to my card base, tied a piece of co-ordinating thick baker's twine around the middle of it. After stamping the 'tap, tap, tap' stamp a couple of times onto my card base, I then stamped my typewriter on a piece of Very Vanilla and coloured it with my Smoky Slate and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities, before fussy cutting out adding to my card with a couple of dimensionals. This is where the 'relatively' quick and simple comes in, as I spent a pleasant 5 minutes or so colouring in - there may have been quicker ways to execute this card, but I find colouring in theraputically relaxing, so it was no hardship. Here's a close-up of my tyepwriter: 

I love this old-fashioned typewriter stamp and if I had a typewriter like this, it would definitely be a red one!! If like me you too are a fan of Stampin' Up! Blendabilities, don't forget you can claim a set as your free gift during Sale-A-Bration with every purchase of £45 or more. Many of my customers are using this as a great opportunity to expand their marker collections and Sale-A-Bration runs until the end of March, so there is still plenty of time to take advantage of this offer. Just click on the links below to go straight to my online store or give me a call. My next technique class on 9th March also features the new Pink Pirouette Blendabilities and the lovely stamp set 'Indescribable Gift', so if you live in or around Northampton and would like to join me, do get in touch to book your place.

That's me done for today - I'm off to finish preparations for this week's classes. I'll be back tomorrow with another project, but 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

Up, Up And Away with The Paper Players!

by Joanne James22. February 2015 10:00

It's Sunday and time for another challenge over at The Paper Players. Thank you to everyone who played along with my CAS bird challenge last week - there were some fabulous entries. This week the lovely Sandy is hosting and she has a sketch challenge for us - my favourite! Here is her sketch:

       

I decided to use the colour palette over at Colour Me for my card today - I haven't had the opportunity to play along with these lovely ladies since I finished my Design Team post over there at the start of the year, so time to say 'hello ladies!' to Hayley, Tara and the team. I just so happen to be using another stamp in the 'Time To Celebrate' hostess set that I used on my Paper Players card last week - take a look:

The temptation to use a feather in my design as per the sketch was high, however there are some wonderful examples using feathers by other members of the Design Team, so I decided to look at what else I could use and settled on the hot air balloon instead. My top mat layer is a piece of 'Flashback' DSP, the circle pattern perfect to echo the central circle of the sketch. I embossed a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock with the now retired 'Cloudy Day' embossing folder and sponged the sky in Pool Party around the clouds and framed this with a Real Red circular frame cut with my Big Shot and Circle Framelits. I added a simple sentiment banner with a little fussy cutting around the 'y' in 'you', then mounted the hot air balloon with dimensionals for a little lift. I stamped the balloon on very Vanilla and coloured it with my So Saffron Stampin' Write marker and the lightest of my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. I also added a little Crystal Effects to my stars for some additional dimension, although that's quite difficult to see in the photo below: 

That's my card done and I hope you like it. I love the stamps in the 'Time To Celebrate' hostess set - if they are your thing too, please get in touch if you would like to host a party to lay your hands on your very own set. Before you reach for your ink pads, do visit the other design team members to see what interesting ideas they've had this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than three challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN! 

I look forward to seeing how you interpret Sandy's sketch this week - so many possibilities! 

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.

 

Mum's Love 'For You' Card

by Joanne James21. February 2015 21:37

Finally I'm back with the program! Apologies for my lack of blog posts over the last few days; it has been a busy half term holiday week with the children at home and whilst we have had a fun week and I had a couple of classes too, I've had little opportunity for stamping and blogging. Anyway, what better way to get back into it than to enter this week's Mojo Monday challenge where the talented Julee Tilman has the following sketch for us to work with:

      

I also used this week's colour palette over at Colour Q for my card today, although I substituted the now retired Raspberry Ripple for Rose Red as this was the closest match I had. I decided to ink up the two step flower from the 'Mum's Love' set for the first time today - here's my finished card:

I kept my layers simple, with a Whisper White card base, thin border of Blackberry Bliss and then Wisteria Wonder for the main panel. I stamped the flower outline in Blackberry Bliss then in-filled with Rose Red - this stamp set is photopolymer so it makes two-step stamping really easy, no stamp-a-ma-jig required! I also used Rose Red for the smaller mat layer beneath the image and used gold foil cardstock for the diagonal. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, finishing with a punched gold foil flower with candy dot centre. I love the solid blocks of colour on this card and the pink and purples are such a lovely colour combination, with a touch of gold for added glamour.

I'm back tomorrow with this week's card for the new challenge over at the Paper Players; if you would like to see who I chose as the headliner for my ' CAS feathered friends' challenge, please click here for today's Paper Players post

Until tomorrow, 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

Another Feathered Friend!

by Joanne James16. February 2015 21:29

Today is the first day of the half-term holiday, so that makes for a late blog post today! Just time to squeeze in a card for this week's challenge over at The Color Throwdown where there have a lovely bright colour palette to work with this week:

I had another of the birds from the 'Time to Celebrate' stamped and laying on my desk, so decided to colour him up using my Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler and Wisteria Wonder Blendabilities - here's my card:

A different layout to yesterday's card and again using some 'Sweet Taffy' DSP but both combined to give quite a different look and feel to yesterday's card. I have taken a real shine to this bird stamp - there's something so whimsical about it and the other stamps in this set. The 'Time To Celebrate' stamp set is a hostess set that can be earned exclusively by hosting a party (or placing an individual order of £150 or more). If you would like to host a party, please do get in touch

That's all from me today - short and sweet! 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.

 

Hello There Birdie - A Feathered Friend For The Paper Players

by Joanne James15. February 2015 09:00

It's Sunday and time for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players - and this week it's a double does of excitement as I am hosting my very first challenge with this wonderfully talented group of ladies. 'Feathered friends' is the theme of my clean and simple challenge this week so I'm looking for a bird (or two!) on your card! Here is the wonderful challenge badge that the lovely Nance has created for this week's challenge:

 

This is one of those challenges when I was truly spoilt for choice - there are lots of great bird images around at the moment. I decided after my busy week that I was definitely in need of some theraputic colouring, so decided to reach for the quirky bird stamp in the Spring-Summer hostess set, 'Time To Celebrate':

Since this bird doesn't look like any I've ever seen in my garden, I decided to throw caution to the wind and colour him in some totally tropical colours and really go to town! I used my Daffodil Delight and Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities markers and a Tempting Turquoise Stampin' Write marker and got colouring. I love that you can colour images like this and you really don't need to be any kind of expert to get a good result. Here's a close up of my bird so that you can see just how imprecise my colouring is: 

I really would urge anyone who is reading this and not tried colouring with Blendabilities to give it a go - I guarantee you'll like the results! I paired my bird with a piece of brightly coloured 'Sweet Taffy' paper and added a few simple banners in co-ordinating colours to finish off my card. I love the colours I used on my card today - Brights are my favourite of the Stampin' Up! colour families, and whilst there isn't a huge amount of 'white space' on my card due to my piece of bold, patterned DSP I love the finished card, which I think still has a clean feel with minimal layers and embellishments.

Before you reach for your ink pads, do visit the other design team members to see what interesting ideas they've had this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than three challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN! 

I look forward to seeing your bird projects in the gallery this week, whether chirpy, quirky or just plain feathered! The children are on half-term holiday this week so we are having a more restful week than usual. I was almost ready for a sport-free day today, when Ben was selected to play in a basketball tournament this afternoon. He is really excited about it though as it's his first one and he LOVES basketball, so is really looking forward to 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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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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