Iconic Imagery Peace on Earth and Christmas Tree Trio

by Joanne James16. September 2024 10:49

Another week, another Monday! Today I'm sharing a couple of Christmas cards that I made at the weekend using a mix and match of old and new. First up is a card that was inspired by the lovely Kim S's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

    

Kim wants us to make a focal feature of a large sentiment. I love a large sentiment, whether a diecut or stamp, and there is some great inspiration from both the design team and in the gallery this week, so if you're a fan or need some inspiration on how to use a large sentiment, I urge you to check out this week's challenge. I perused my collection of large sentiments and decided that I had the perfect one in my retired collection that I could give a fresh look to with some new product - take a look:

 

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

'Peace on Earth' is one of my favourite large sentiments from the retired 'Thinking Thanks and Peace' stamp set. I often use it on its own (if you use the 'search' function you can find lots of clean and simple cards using this stamp elsewhere on my blog) but one of the things I love to do with a large sentiment is frame it in some way. I was excited to see that one of the patterns in the Online Exclusives Iconic Celebrations pack is of a repeating dove, that is similar in style to the one that forms part of the sentiment stamp - perfect!  I used a sheet of DSP to cover the whole of the base of my card, then heat embossed my sentiment in white onto Misty Moonlight card and placed it in the centre. I cropped my sentiment quite tightly to allow the image on the background to be seen. Here's a close up:

 

Since my card is monochromatic too I'm also linking this card up over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where I've not played along in ages. I've also just realised that Kim's design team card used both the same colour scheme and sentiment, albeit using completely different supplies - clearly I was channelling her in more ways than one this week!

Since I had the Iconic Celebrations designer paper stack out on my desk and I was on a roll, I made another card - this time using the layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments and the muted colour scheme at Color Throwdown:

   

The tree paper pattern had 2 of the 3 muted, woodsy colours in it, so again I used this as my base, before diecutting a stitched rectangle and adding a trio of stamped Christmas trees using the coordinating Iconic Imagery bundle:

 

The stamps in this set are two-step, super easy to line up and give a lovely dimensional effect to the completed image. I used Cherry Cobbler for a subtle pop of red on the sentiment and carried the colour over the sentiment on the inside of my card:

 

I love the fonts of the sentiments in this set - they were what prompted me to add it to my collection. I was trying to resist the paper, but well it coordinates so beautifully and makes for a relatively quick card too. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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; time for me to crack on with some household tasks before I can hopefully squeak in a little extra crafting time later. 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.
 

 

Seasonal Swirls Harvest Thanks PP562

by Joanne James10. October 2021 08:00

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

 

I thought Anne Marie's colour palette was perfect for an autumn and decided to make another card using my Seasonal Swirls Dies featuring orange pumpkins; my card is much more about fall thanks than Halloween spooks this week though - take a look:

 

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

Seasonal Swirls - I'm a sucker for a good wreath die and the Seasonal Swirls Dies are no exception. On today's card I layered two of the leaf/twig dies, one in Crumb Cake and one in Early Espresso and decorated it with some cute pumpkins that I had sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink for a little added dimension and tied with linen thread bows.

Thinking Thanks - My extra-large sentiment across the front of my card is from the 'Thinking Thanks and Peace' stamp set. I stamped it in Early Espresso onto Pale Papaya cardstock (minus the wheatsheaf) and fussy cut it before adding to the centre of my wreath. I also did a little stamping on the inside of my card using a sentiment from the 'Sparkle of the Season' stamp set:

 

A Word About Colour - I used Crumb Cake as my fourth colour to complete today's colour combination. Technically this could count as a neutral so I could justify it as a 'free' colour, but I did deliberately choose it as I wanted to keep a brown/orange colour scheme on today's card. The background is a piece of retired DSP from my collection, but you could easily splatter a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock with the tip of an Early Espresso marker and achieve the same effect:

 

I was quite sparing with my use of Pale Papaya on today's card, but in using it for my base and to ground my sentiment, I think it adds a nice freshness to these otherwise rich autumn colours. What do you think? Do leave me a comment below - as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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!

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; no special plans in the James household today. 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.

 

Harvest Meadow Sending Thanks AYSI 257

by Joanne James20. August 2021 12:00

Hello everyone! A few blog-free days as I've been busy enjoying time with the James Juniors, cycling and activities with friends as we continue to enjoy the summer vacation. Today I'm back though and I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge:

 

Heather came up with today's recipe and I really like it, although I did struggle with one element of it! Here's my card - can you tell which ingredient had me stumped?

 

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

I dry embossed my background panel with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder (tick) and then added a collection of strips of Harvest Meadow designer paper in Crumb Cake (tick) and Misty Moonlight, both of which feature wheat (tick) as does my sentiment from the 'Thinking Thanks and Peace' stamp set. I threaded my diamond weave ribbon with some linen twine (tick) and tied in a bow. Which just leaves gingham! I did struggle a little with this one, as I didn't have any gingham patterns that I could make work with the other recipe elements, so I resorted to some Crumb Cake monochrome plaid as my closest substitute and used it to back my sentiment, so there is just a thin border of it showing - it could pass for gingham, right?!

 

I really like the colour combo that I ended up using today; this background of strips is also great for using up those leftover scraps and offcuts and would work with lots of other patterned papers too.

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

  • Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
  • Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
  • If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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.
 
 
Challenges: I used this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew for my layout today.

Thinking Thanks And Peace CAS Christmas in July Sneak Peek

by Joanne James22. July 2021 20:45

We might be in the middle of a summer heatwave here in the UK, but there's a pre-order in the house and lots of Christmas in July challenges out there currently, so I finally managed a clean and simple card for a couple of them:

   

Both Less Is More and SUO Challenges have a Christmas In July theme, so I decided to play with a new set from my mini catalogue pre-order called Thinking Thanks and Peace  - take a look:

 

This set features a selection of large sentiments for a variety of occasions. I heat embossed the Christmas one in gold onto Night of Navy, then cut out a panel with a rectangle stitched die, added a gold border and adhered to a navy card base. I paper-pieced a gold-on-white embossed dove, having first coloured with a white pencil but I couldn't get the bright white effect that I was after and I like this much better:

 

In fact, I love this card so much, I actually made two! This sentiment set is great for quick, clean and simple cards - I think I'll be using it a lot in the run up to the festive season.

 

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.

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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.