A Clean and Simple Easter Chick

by Joanne James20. April 2022 09:00

Today I'm sharing another clean and simple card that was inspired by a few challenges:

      

I wouldn't normally gravitate towards the spring pastel palette over at Sunday Stamps, but the minute I saw it I couldn't help thinking it would be perfect for an Easter chick. So I paired it with the current challenge over at AAA Cards where they are looking for 'small and few' paired with Easter or spring for a fluffy chick (perfect for the CASology cue word too) and a few pastel Easter eggs hidden in the grass - take a look:

 

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I used my blending brushes to create a blended corner panel of yellow 'sunrays' and a little green across the bottom for the base of my scene, then added some diecut eggs from the retired Chick Dies in two shades of pale pink behind some grass, cut using one of the Horizon dies. My Easter chick is courtesy of the Birthday Chick Dies - I had completely overlooked this little diecut chick and discovered it when I was using these dies on this card earlier this month and thought it would make the perfect tiny Easter chick:

 

An Easter sentiment from the retired set 'Welcome Easter' completes my card. I know Easter has already been and gone, but it's always good to have a few cards set aside for next year - when Easter rolls around I never seem to have enough!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be 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.

Hey Birthday Chick Dancing Spring Chicken PP585

by Joanne James3. April 2022 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

    

Laughter is the best medicine - so true! I had a rummage amongst my stamps for something funny and using Jen T's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week (it's a keeper!) for my layout I set to work. This is what I came up with:

 

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I actually don't have that many stamps that are out-and-out funny, but plenty that can raise a smile and 'Hey Birthday Chick' is definitely one of them! I love that sentiment 'you're still a spring chicken' so I decided to pair it with the chicken in this set that always looks to me like she's dancing! I added some rainbow glimmer bunting and some stamped confetti, and having coloured my chicken decided to add a ribbon ruffle skirt by running a stitch through a piece of Polished Pink ribbon - doesn't it look as if she's doing the can-can?!

Very 'oo la la'!! What do you think - comical enough to raise a smile? It made me chuckle anyway :-) I added another chicken along with another sentiment from this set to decorate the inside of my card to finish:

'Hey Birthday Chick' and the co-ordinating Birthday Chick Dies are on the retired list, so if they tickle your funny bone and you'd like to add them to your collection, they are currently both available at 50% off - a real bargain! Rainbow glimmer paper is also on the retired list - I am so sad to see this go! Here's hoping there is more glimmer paper on the way in the new annual catalogue ... 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

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 four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

Enjoy your day; I am mid-way through a 'Mum and son' weekend with the youngest of the James Juniors: we spent yesterday watching Manchester United play at home in Old Trafford, stayed overnight and today we are doing the stadium tour - so we are all about the football, for sure! A lovely way to start the Easter school break though. I'll be 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.

Hey Birthday Chick Best of Cluck CCS 413

by Joanne James30. March 2021 12:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. It's the fifth Tuesday of March, and you know what that means:  Timeless Tuesday Double Challenge!  We're throwing back with a trio of retired Stampin' Up colours and one of our past sketch challenges, combining them into one color and sketch challenge:  

     

For our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutrals such as white, ivory, black, brown, grey, or metallics; however, no other colours should be added to your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.  Also, you're free to flip or rotate the sketch when creating your card.  Just remember to keep it clean and simple in style!

For my card today I decided to create a fun tongue-in-cheek good luck card for my favourite chicken expert - take a look:

 

Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Colour Challenge - This week's colours were something of a challenge for me, as whilst I still have a Tempting Turquoise ink pad to hand, the same can't be said of the other two colours so some creative colour-matching was required! Fortunately the light Pumpkin Pie Blends marker is very close to Peekaboo Peach, and the light Night of Navy my closest match to Marina Mist, so they are the colours I used for my balloon and chicken respectively. I kept with the square format of the sketch, and the orange dotty paper you can see to the left of my card is the customised envelope flap of the co-ordinating envelope (just in case you were wondering!)

Happy Dies Masking - I used some large post-it notes and a stencil made using the cloud die from the Happy Dies set to create a column of masked sky and clouds, using my blending brush and Tempting Turquoise ink to work down the card. I then positioned my chicken (in lieu of the circle on the sketch) to the right of this and added my sentiment to the corner of my white space. I am pleased with my clean and simple look this week - so much so, I am also linking up with the lovely peeps over at Less Is More who are looking for CAS inking on no more than a third of your card - I think I managed it!

Best of Cluck: Spot The Difference - So I have two versions of my card today; the second one is below. Can you spot the difference? 

 

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that in order to comply with our colour challenge, I did not colour the comb of my chicken on my original card. I really missed that pop of red though, so subsequently added it to version two! Did you know that not all chickens have red combs, with some breeds of chicken displaying purple or even black combs, although I must confess I've never seen one. Did you know that chickens are attracted to red, but not in a positive sense? If a chicken sees red blood on another chicken, they will turn cannibal and left untreated, peck at it until the wounded chicken eventually dies. Gruesome, I know! My investigation into comb colours caused me to wonder why, given the former, those with red combs don't automatically all attack each other; it turns out that comb size and redness is one of the things that chickens use to establish their pecking order and will peck each other within a flock until this has been established, however not usually to the lengths of devouring each other to oblivion!

I made today's card for Rebecca, who is currently studying for her GCSEs and still has exams to sit next term after the Easter break in order to form part of the teacher assessment criteria, as I knew she would find it funny. She loves all things chicken-related and is an absolute mine of information as far as her feathered friends is concerned. We keep chickens and in order to prevent the scenario outlined above, one of them is currently bright purple, curtesy of a liberal dose of antiseptic spray to confuse the others - she really does look funny! As the saying goes, no harm, no fowl - or something like that!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

Enjoy your day and I'll be 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.

HB2U Hey Birthday Chicks Card

by Joanne James3. March 2021 22:16

Today was one of those days that did not go to plan - do you ever have days like that?! So I'm late squeezing in a quick post for this week's Inspired By Challenge and another entry for the birthday celebrations over at Time Out:

   

I used both the sketch layout and number inspiration over at Inspired By for my fun birthday card today - take a look:

 

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I created a custom sentiment using my Playful Alphabet Dies, flanked by some happy-go-lucky party chicks from the Hey Birthday Chicks bundle. I used some of the Ice Cream Corner designer paper for my background base and carried through the colours of the stripes for the other elements of my card:

 

Some quick stamping to the inside completes my card:

 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be 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.

Hey Birthday Chick Meets So Much Happy

by Joanne James1. March 2021 18:47

Today I'm squeezing a card for the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches and Color Dare (bottom row):

   

I procrastinated somewhat with Judy's sketch this week (too many ideas!) In the end I took a couple of liberties and went with a floating birthday chicken - take a look:

 

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Hey Birthday Chick - I  kept the basic layout of Judy's sketch but used a landscape rather than portrait orientiation, in order that I could accommodate my 'happy' diecut into the horizontal stripe. I thought the floating chicken was the perfect shape to cross the horizontal element - and so easy to cut out with my Birthday Chick Dies too.

 So Much Happy - I used my 'Happy' die to create the horizontal element of the sketch and paired it with one of the stamped sentiments from the bundled 'So Much Happy' stamp set (my second sketch liberty, as I need to position it below rather than above the horizontal strip). I used another sentiment from this set on the inside of my card, along with another chicken to decorate:

 

Blended Clouds - I decided to make my floating chicken part of a simple scene, so used the cloud-shaped die from the Happy Dies set to create a stencil and with my blending brush, created a simple pattern with some Pool Party ink so that it looked as if my chicken was floating up, up and away:

I so love these new blending brushes! My skyscape was so easy to create and the ink blends so beautifully and evenly with them.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I've had a busy day, with a few errands and online Parents' Evening earlier, hence me being later than I hoped with this post. Enjoy your evening and I'll be 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.
 

Hey Rainbow Birthday Chick CCS 408

by Joanne James23. February 2021 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Julie has asked that we use the following layout:

      

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I am excited to use a new stamp set that I've been waiting for an age to arrive - take a look:

 

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Hey Birthday Chick - Remember the 'Hey Chick' stamp set that was a Sale-A-Bration stamp set in 2017? Well, you may have noticed a set in the current mini catalogue called 'Hey Birthday Chick' featuring the same group of feathered friends, this time all ready to celebrate a birthday, complete with cake, balloon and party hat! I used that crazy chicken with the mad hair on my card today, featuring both the old one from the 'Hey Chick' set and the one with the birthday cake from the 'Hey Birthday Chick' set. 

Chick and Birthday Chick Dies Exclusive - Not only are there the two chick stamps available, they are also available as part of exclusive bundles that will be available until 30 June. In addition to some great standalone dies, such as a fence, hen house, eggs, corn and a trellis, to name but a few, there are also dies to make cutting out any of the chicken shapes with ease. I used them to cut out one of my chickens to add a little dimension to my pair:

 

I am doing very well at meeting the CAS brief this week even if I say so myself, although I did take a small liberty with the sketch since my shapes are not identical. They would have been, but the temptation of the cupcake proved too much for chicken number one!!

Playing With Patterns - The colours for the rainbow colouring on my card today comes from the Playing With Patterns designer paper (Blends colours detailed below). Those subtle stripes were just enough to add interest to the base of my card. 

My rainbow stripes and funky rainbow-feathered chicks are perfect for the colour theme of 'rainbow colours' over at Just Us Girls this week and I'm also playing along with my gal pals over at TicTacToe where Team O are in charge this week and I went down the first column of Jeanne's board with Cute Critter/Celebrate/Coloured. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; the sun is shining here so since one of the James Juniors is officially on a Games lesson this afternoon, it looks like I am going to have company for a nice long walk. Following yesterday's announcement, we are officially on a two-week countdown to a return to school, so I think I need to make the most of it! I'll be 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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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.