I'm here with my second card of the day - and on a class day too, go me! And it's only Monday - let's hope that this is a sign of a productive week! This card is one of the ones that we made in my technique class this morning featuring the Painted Poppies bundle and I used this week's colours over The Color Throwdown as my inspiration:

This is the card I came up with: 

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

Painted Poppies and Peaceful Moments - All of our class cards featured the Peaceful Poppies stamps and co-ordinating Painted Labels Dies. Here the poppies were simply coloured using Real Red ink and the watercolour 'splodge' stamp in the set, with a little detailing added with a marker and then diecut. The leaves were stamped in black and some tiny splodges added in Smoky Slate before fussy cutting by hand. We paired it with a sentiment of our choice from the 'Peaceful Moments' set - I chose this one, but everyone in my class used the 'With Deepest Sympathy as they thought this card wold work well as a sympathy card.  

Sweetly Stitched - I used the largest of the Stitched So Sweetly rectangular dies as the mat on my card; these are on page 20 of the Spring-Summer mini catalogue and worth a look if you've passed over them as they are easy to miss, especially if the co-ordinating stamp set is one that doesn't appeal. You're welcome ;-) 

A Pattern Party - I sponged some darker Basic Grey onto my scalloped rectangle piece using one of the Pattern Party masks, graduating the colour outwards from the corner, to add interest and tie in with my flowers. I added some clear sequins and some black pearls (regular ones coloured with a black marker) to the centre of my flowers to finish.

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. 

This was the middle card from my class today and it's fair to say the ladies loved it. I'll share the others another time; in the meantime, if you live in or around Northampton and would like to attend a class, do get in touch - we would love you to join us! The next one features the 'Peaceful Moments' bundle and will be held on Monday 9th March - the day after my residential weekend craft retreat!

Enjoy your evening; I have to go and start on my ironing pile now - I can't put it off any longer! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Painted Poppies Bundle (£48.50)	Peaceful Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) (£20.00)	Stitched So Sweetly Dies (£30.00)	Pattern Party Decorative Masks (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Real Red Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)
Pearl Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Basic Black Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)	Peaceful Poppies Sequins (£6.50)

Happy Friday everyone! I'm not sure where the time goes - I can't believe it's the end of the working week already - well, for some anyway! Today I'm sharing a another card along with a matching gift box from one of last month's monthly technique classes using the At Home With You bundle - take a look:

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

At Home With You At Christmas - The At Home With You bundle is so versatile and works for lots of different seasons. Today's card features the gorgeous holly bough around the door, along with the holly wreath and the ornamental trees either side of the front door. I coloured them with my Stampin' Write markers and they were easily cut out with the framelits. I even decorated the inside and envelope for complete co-ordination.

More Ways To Add Texture - As with the last card I shared featuring this set (you can see that card here if you missed it), today's card has another three ways in which you can incorporate texture into your projects:

Adding Texture 1: Stamping To add to the Christmas feel, I wanted a red front door; by stamping my Real Red cardstock with the Hardwood stamp in Real Red, before stamping with the door outline in black, to add some tone-on-tone interest and texture for added kerb appeal.

Adding Texture 2: Dry Embossing On both my card and box I embossed the Smoky Slate base cardstock with my Brick Wall textured embossing folder to create some textured walls as a backdrop for my festive entrance.

Adding Texture 3: Embellish Sometimes on a card it helps to minimise bulk especially if you need it to be post-friendly, however this is rarely the case with packaging and the addition of bulky embellishments is less of an issue. On my gift box, in addition to a tag and ribbon, I added a boxwood wreath to my front door - I love the extra texture this adds.

A Matching Gift Box - It's always nice to be able to create fancy packaging for gifts and no more so than at this time of year. I made my simple gift box using the Gift Bag Punch Board (I just didn't score the side indents to make the bag shape) and created a little triangle roof for a lid (it's a simple hinged closure that is held in place with washi tape) that I stencilled some tile on using some Basic Grey ink and my brick pattern Patterned Party Decorative Mask and added a tag punched with the super-useful Everyday Label Punch:

This box measures approx. and is a reasonable size, big enough to accommodate most small gifts. Here's a picture of both items together:

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 the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

At Home With You Photopolymer Bundle	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers	Boxwood Wreaths Embellishments	Pattern Party Decorative Masks
Gift Bag Punch Board	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Quilted Christmas 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Ribbon	Hearts Come Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Everyday Label Punch

Today I have another Oh So Eclectic card from this month's technique class which is the second CASE from the front cover of the current 2017-18 Annual Stampin' Up! catalogue.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the eye-catching front cover was in part what attracted my ladies to the Oh So Eclectic Bundle in the first place, so it seemed only right that we should make some of the cards showcased. This card is so very detailed though even for a technique class and I'm sure at one point my ladies were wondering what they had let themselves in for! Here is my version of the card:

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

Step It Up - This cover card embodies for me, a rather clean and layered kind of gal, what is the ultimate in stepped-up cards. It uses the Oh So Eclectic suite of products to the full and whilst its roots are in the Oh So Eclectic stamp set, it also utilises a number of other tools, accessories and techniques in its construction, including:

• Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper
• Die Cutting using the Eclectic Layers Thinlits and the Lovely Words Thinlits
• Dry embossing using the Eclectic Layers Thinlits
• Textured background using embossing paste and the Pattern Party Decorative Masks
• Heat embossing using Versamark and white embossing powder for the sentiment
• Rock and roll ink technique for the flower centre
• Lot of accessories including gold foil, mini sequin trim, Berry Burst Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon and wooden Touches of Nature Elements.

That's a lot of activity for one card and whilst time-consuming to create, results in a beautiful, multi-layered card that in addition to needing a box rather than an envelope to send it, also creates something with so much detail you can spend ages looking at it and truly admiring the level of skill that has gone into it.

We had a lot of fun making this card in our extended class and everyone was justly proud of the end result. 

Join A Class - If you are local to me and would like to know more about my classes, you can find details here on my website or here under 'events' on my Crafty Owl Facebook business page.

My next technique class is on Tuesday 1st August and features the Beautiful Bouquet Bundle, followed by one the following week on Monday 7th August featuring the Eastern Palace Suite. Booking for my Beautiful Bouquet class closes next Monday and there are still a couple of spaces available - why not join me?

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'll be back soon with another card featuring the versatile Oh So Eclectic product suite. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Oh So Eclectic Clear-Mount Bundle	Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock
Gold Foil Sheets	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad
Palette Knives	Pattern Party Decorative Masks	Embossing Paste	Heat Tool (Uk)	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Blender Pens	Touches Of Nature Elements	Berry Burst 5/8" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon
Gold Mini Sequin Trim	Lovely Words Thinlits Dies

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Our amazing leader Nance is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

I love a good sketch and this one has lots of creative possibilities. I couldn't resist trying out another technique with my embossing paste, this time adding colour to it and creating a brick wall  - take a look:

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

Add Colour To The Texture - I am having fun with my embossing paste and for my card today I decided to add a little Smoky Slate re-inker to my paste before spreading it across my brick Pattern Party Decorative Mask, to create my brickwork background. This paste is so easy to colour - just add a few drops of re-inker and mix with a palette knife and it's good to go.

Grown With Love - I was inspired to use the 'Grown With Love' stamp set, with my bright yellow flowers and copper-embossed watering can, by the recent challenge picture over at Just Add Ink. This is challenge is from a couple of weeks ago but the photo stayed with me and I was keen to create something with this source of inspiration and Nance's sketch offered the perfect fit. I've included the picture here so that you can see what I mean:

I loved the combination of copper, brick and wood, along with the white and yellow flowers and the dark green foliage - you can see how I've incorporated them on my card. I added a Tranquil Tide In-Color Bitty Bow to my jug in lieu of the horizontal banner on Nance's sketch. Normally I would have used this for a sentiment, however as the sentiment is in the centre of the flowers I thought a bow would make a nice alternative, if less literal, interpretation.

Another Border, Another Wood Texture - As with last week's card, I decided to use another strip of the Wood Textures designer series paper for the border edge, this time in a grey wood to tone in with my bricks. Whilst I love these papers, I wasn't sure how I was going to use them on my projects, so I'm enjoying experimenting with the patterns in small quantities to add texture and pattern to my cards.

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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Grown With Love Clear-Mount Bundle	Pattern Party Decorative Masks	Embossing Paste	Palette Knives	Glitter Enamel Dots
2017-2019 In Color Bitty Bows	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock
Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Versamark Pad	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder

It's the weekend and an activity-filled one here in the James household! Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where the lovely Karren has an interesting sketch to work with:

I'm on a bit of a roll with my FMS cards lately -thank you Kim for choosing me as your Princess of Clean last week (if you missed it, you can see that card here) so thought I'd try my hand with Karren's sketch. I've been playing with embossing paste this week and this sketch was perfect for something I wanted to try - take a look:

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

Pattern Party - The sweeping arch on the right-hand side of Karren's sketch was perfect for creating a textured design using my embossing paste and this medallion-inspired design with one of the Pattern Party Decorative Masks. The decorative design of the mask was such that I could use it to make my textured panel a real feature of my card.

Metallic Medallion - There is lots you can do with embossing paste: you can use it 'neat', colour it with re-inkers and also add colour using sponge daubers or Stampin' Spritzers. Here though I decided to see what it would look like if I sprinkled my wet embossing paste with copper embossing powder and heat set it to give a shiny metallic finish. This was really easy to do and whilst it doesn't give a perfect finish, it's easy to get pretty even coverage and it adds additional texture and interest as well as shine to the card. Along with the copper foil mat, this card has a real luxurious feel - I love it!

Dapper Denim Ombre - I used a piece of Dapper Denim ombre paper from the Color Theory designer series paper stack for the background to my textured medallion. It adds just enough additional interest without detracting from the star of the show. I added a circular sentiment from the Eastern Beauty stamp set to finish - it's in broadly the right place when compared to Karren's sketch, but I have used a little artistic licence here as it worked for 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. 

If you liked this card do pop back over the next few days, as I have additional examples of cards I've made using embossing paste and a variety of different techniques. Enjoy your day; I'm off to spend the rest of mine at the swimming pool (spectating rather than swimming!) and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pattern Party Decorative Masks	Embossing Paste	Palette Knives	Color Theory Designer Series Paper Stack	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock
Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Copper Foil Sheets	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set	2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch