All is Calm Star Christmas Wreath

by Joanne James14. November 2014 21:36

Today I thought I would share with you the Christmas star wreath I made at my class yesterday. I used the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper for my version, which looks like this:

I layered a circle of Lost Lagoon flat stars, cut out with my Stars framelits, onto my wreath base, then cut 12 stars out of the All Is Calm Speciality DSP for the 3D stars. Each of these stars was scored from the point to the opposite side then pinched together to create the dimension and once glued to the wreath base, finished with a selction of Brights, Neutrals, Subtles and silver buttons:

To finish, a length of the luxurious In-Colour Lost Lagoon satin ribbon to create a bow and hanging loop:

You can see another example of this wreath made with the Under The Tree Speciality DSP over on my Facebook page - it looks lovely in the kraft and more traditional, red, greens and browns, so do check it out. I have another of these classes next week where the ladies will be making them using other papers of their choice.

I hope you like today's project; this is going to be my indoor wreath as it matches my dining room colours perfectly; I have another two wreaths to share with you in coming weeks, so if home decor is your thing, keep an eye out for the other versions!

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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3D Projects | Classes

One Layer Festival of Trees Starry Night Card

by Joanne James13. November 2014 20:10

Today I'm sharing my card for this week's challenge over at Less is More, where the focus for this week's one layer challenge is a 'starry, starry night'. I was aiming for an early LIM entry this week and this post was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but best laid plans and all that .... So two days later, here it is:

So how did I create today's card? Well, I've been wanting to create a sponged snowy scene for a while, so this card was the perfect opportunity. I masked off a horizontal panel, added a masked circle for my moon and then created a 'hill' mask to create my landscape itself. I sponged in my sky using Night of Navy ink and used the same colour to highlight the edges of the snow dunes and some subtle tree shadows (I did this bit after I stamped in the trees). Once I'd created my snowscape, I used the tip of the pine tree from the Festival of Tree stamp set to add in my trees. I stamped them in Memento Black ink, being careful to keep my mask in place each time so that the trees were behind the surface of the snow. To finish, I used some Encore silver ink to sponge in some tiny stars using a stencil I created with my Confetti Stars punch, along with a few dots added with my Silver marker. I also lightly sponged some Encore Silver onto some areas of the sky to add a subtle sheen. To finish, I stamped my sentiment from the 'Good Greetings' stamp set beneath my scene. Here's a closeup of the scene itself so that you can see it in more detail: 

For such a 'blue' card, this really is very pretty and for a one layer card has so much going on. I think I might have to make a few more like this!

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Sparkling Red and Gold Star Bauble Christmas Card

by Joanne James10. November 2014 21:46

It's Monday - yay! I've spent most of my day at the swimming pool watching both James juniors taking part in an inter-school gala. The school team didn't win, but there was some stiff competition and all of the children put in a sterling effort. I got home and managed to get a couple of cards made, so all in all a good day. Today's card is for the challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches where this week its a colour challenge and a new (to me) challenge that I've come across called Addicted to Stamps where the inspiration photo caught my eye:

  

With these colours and that fabulous sparkly bauble, I just had to make a Christmas card; here it is:

I used Real Red for my card base and then matted a panel of Very Vanilla with Brushed Gold. I stamped a sentiment from the Bright and Beautiful sentiment in Real Red, then created two baubles, each made from a circle punched out of Real Red cardstock with a 1 3/4" circle punch and punched with the Confetti Stars punch to reveal the gold foil stars underneath (this is a second 1 3/4" gold foil circle adhered behind). One of my baubles is adhered directly to the card an one popped up on dimensionals. Each is finished with a ribbon bow of sparkly gold ribbon. I'm not sure the photo really does this card justice - the gold stars on the baubles do have more shine in real life.

That's me done for today. Back tomorrow with another Christmas 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

Nordic Noel Christmas Card

by Joanne James9. November 2014 07:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players and this week Sandy has a fantastic colour challenge for us:

  

Aren't these colours so reminiscent of winter? I also used this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew for the layout for today's card:

I used Cherry Cobbler for my card base and matted this with a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. I created my own DSP for my background panel by stamping Mossy Meadow ink on Mossy Meadow cardstock and stamping a selection of the baubles from the Nordic Noel set. The focal image of my card is the main stamp in this set, which I coloured with my Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler markers to achieve the two-colour pattern. A Stylish Stripes embossed panel added a little background texture and I finished with the gorgeous in-colour Mossy Meadow satin ribbon and an antique brad, along with a sentiment from Good Greetings. Lastly, there is a 'cheat' element to my card today - did you spot it? For all of you wondering where I managed to get my Mossy Meadow candy dots from, since they aren't in the catalogue, I'll let you into a secret - they're actually Always Artichoke! I'm hoping Sandy will forgive me, but as they aren't next to anything that is Mossy Meadow you cant see the subtle difference in colour so they do the job as far as my card is concerned. I won't tell if you don't ;-).

I hope you like today's card; do pop by The Paper Players gallery to see what the rest of the team have come up with - there are some great cards as always. There's even one by LeAnne that uses the exact same sketch layout as me, yet it looks completely different, so check it out for double inspiration!

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.

 

There's No Happy Like Holiday Happy Christmas Card

by Joanne James8. November 2014 21:14

Today has been a busy day full of highs and lows: a poorly boy at home and a central heating boiler that has packed up and won't be fixed until early next week, but also a pleasant Ladies Afternoon at a local salon and a fun-filled evening at our annual Bonfire and Fireworks Display at school. All in all a busy one and a late blog, so I'd best get on with today's card! Today's creation uses this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday combined with the colour challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary:

  

I really liked this sketch and thought the colour combination was an interesting one, as I wouldn't normally choose to combine blue with red on a Christmas card, so I wanted to have a play and see if I could make it work. Here is my card:

I used Cherry Cobbler for my base and added a strip of Lost Lagoon followed by a piece of Whisper White trimmed on one side with the Scallop Border Punch and overlaid with a piece of white and Cherry Cobbler patterned paper from the Trim the Tree DSP paper stack. To create the pennant banner, I stamped the 'Holiday Happy' stamp from the Mingle All The Way stamp set and coloured it with my Lost Lagoon marker and Cherry Cobbler and Smoky Slate Blendabilities. I added a strip of All is Calm washi tape the the top of the pennant and added a few rhinestones coloured with my Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities markers and stamped the 'Happy' banner a second time on a scrap of Whisper white cardstock, which I then cut out with my paper snips and popped on a couple of dimensionals for a little extra interest. To finish, I added a piece of Lost Lagoon Silky Taffeta Ribbon tied in a bow.

I rather like the finished look of today's card and this colour combo is certainly one I would consider using again.

Back tomorrow with my design card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players.

Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Nutty or Nice Nutcracker Christmas Card

by Joanne James7. November 2014 07:00

Yay it's Friday - always a good day! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's Less is More challenge, where the theme is non-traditional colours on a Christmas card (specifically no red or green). I decided to go with another Nutcracker card - he is so perfect for non-traditional colour schemes, and this time with a very simple layout; here's my card:

I used a base of Soft Sky and layered a couple of mats of Rich Razzleberry and Soft Sky, then stamped my Nutcracker image directly onto the Soft Sky layer and did some basic paper piecing on the jacket and hat to add the Rich Razzleberry elements and the Soft Sky crown. His face was stamped on Blushing Bride and again paper pieced together. I coloured the eyebrows and hair using my Smoky Slate Stampin' Up! Blendabilities markers, and stamped the moustache in Memento Black onto Smoky Slate cardstock and popped it up on dimensionals. Some Rich Razzleberry candy dots on his crown and Soft Sky ones on his jacket complete the look.

There you have it - another non-traditional nutcracker card. 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

Nordic Noel Joy To You Christmas Card

by Joanne James6. November 2014 09:36

Good morning everyone! I'm back with another Christmas card today - well, it truly is the season for it now! Today's card uses the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch which was the perfect layout for me to showcase some lovely Nordic Noel DSP and incorporate a layered die cut. Here's this week's sketch:

And this is my card: 

A simple layering of Garden Green on Soft Sky, followed by the Nordic Noel DSP. This paper has such a busy pattern I find it only really works on cards like this where there isn't anything to clutter it; I cut my 'Joy' die cut in Real Red, then stacked it on a couple of identical die cuts in Garden Green to give it real dimension (I used adhesive transfer sheets to hold the layers together, which made for very easy layering). I decided to mount it onto a rectangular piece of Garden Green cardstock, because the die cut didn't stand out enough against the patterned paper without, then I added the 'to you' from the Endless Wishes stamp set in Garden Green on Calypso Coral beneath it - the only stamping on today's card! Lastly, I added a sprinkling of candy dots in something of a nod to the sketch, albeit that I restricted use of them to the solid colour panels.

Hope you like today's card - if you like this layout you should check out the other cards on the CAS(E) This Sketch page - there are some great examples there.

Right, I'm off to get some work done - back tomorrow with another Christmas 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

Ho HoHo Santa's Mustache Christmas Card for Colour Me...!

by Joanne James5. November 2014 10:00

It's Wednesday and time for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! where we have a monochromatic palette for you to work with this week:

I decided to go with something CAS and festive with this week's feature colour of Real Red - here's my card:

I used Real Read as my card base, then used some of the red chevron pattern paper from the Brights DSP stack down the centre of my card, which I then overlaid with another panel of Real Red, mounted on dimensionals. I cut a white Santa mustache using the Mustache Framelit and my Big Shot and adhered this using dimensionals and stamped my 'Ho, ho, ho!' sentiment from the 'Good Greetings' Stamp set in Versamark and heat embossed in White embossing powder to finish. Simple, yet effective, I think - I am surprised at just how much I love my Mustache framelit!

So what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment on today's card, before hopping over to check out the amazing cards by the rest of the Colour Me...! team:

And our talented guest designer for November - Anita Bowden
 
We look forward to seeing your creative creations - will you go festive or choose something completely different? 
 
I have another busy day today, with a trip to the hairdressers and Parent's Evening at school amongst other things. 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

Framed All is Calm Advent Calendar Using Tiny Treat Boxes

by Joanne James4. November 2014 23:00

A late post from me today as I've spent a lovely day crafting with friends, followed by James family piano lessons this evening (3 out of 4 of us are learning!) so have only just got around to it. Our craft session was fun - we finished off some projects we started a little while ago, which always gives a good sense of achievement. With Christmas creeping ever closer, today I thought I would share with you the advent calendar I made for the James juniors, which is a case of a project by the lovely Julie Kettlewell. I love the Tiny Treat Boxes in this year's Stampin' Up! seasonal catalogue, which are of course perfect for making advent calendars. The sample in the catalogue shows just how easy it is to make something to a basic design, however having seen Julie's project a little while ago - you can see her original project here - I knew I wanted to create something similar. So without further ado, here is my framed advent calendar in all its glory:

Isn't it beautiful?! It is framed in a 20" frame/50cm, so is a substantial piece in terms of size and it makes a real statement. I chose to make mine using the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper, here are some close ups:

This is the central panel, with a sentiment stamped using the Epic Alphabet and some trees punched using the Tree Punch and decorated with some frosted sequins.

 

Each of the boxes is covered on 5 sides using the All is calm DSP, then a number label made from a layered section using a 1 3/4" scalloped circle punch and a 1 3/8" circle punch, and numbers cut out of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper using the Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die and the Big Shot.

This is a great project to showcase all of the lovely papers within the All is Calm DSP stack.

I adhered my boxes so that the flaps would open upwards and put my numbers in order from one through twenty four, however you could 'mix and match' if that's more your style. Each pack of treat boxes contains 25 boxes, so you have one spare to package an extra special treat for Christmas Day if that's your thing. I'm really pleased with how my calendar turned out and am busy acquiring lots of little treats to fill my boxes for the month of December. I can see this project becoming a real heirloom piece that we bring out year after year.

Hope you like today's project; back tomorrow with the new Wednesday Weekly Deals and my Design Team post for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Traveler Train - The Polar Express Christmas Card

by Joanne James2. November 2014 07:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players, where this week LeAnne has an interesting challenge for us:

  

I had a minor panic when I saw this week's challenge, for two reasons: firstly, vintage as a style is not my forte, and secondly, when I looked through my (extensive!) stamp collection, it was obvious I didn't have much in the way of vintage stamps either!! In fact, I only have one set that looks even remotely 'vintage' and that's my Traveler set - at that moment though, I relaxed. I love this set and suddenly remembered an idea I'd had way back when it first came out in July. I wondered what the vintage steam train would look like converted into the Polar Express, the famous train in the Christmas movie starring Tom Hanks - well wonder no more, here's my card:

I used Night of Navy for my card base, stamped with some grunge spatters from Gorgeous Grunge in Gold Encore ink, and matted my focal image with an offset piece of Brushed Gold cardstock. I stamped my image in black Stazon on watercolour paper, then sponged in my sky using Night of Navy and a little Pacific Point. I added more colour to the train using my Aquapainter and a touch of gold, then I used Whisper White kraft ink for the snow on the ground, the smoke from the train's funnel and I masked off an area and sponged white for the beam of light coming from the front of the train. I also stamped some falling snow using the snow stamp in the 'White Christmas' set. I wanted to frame my image with the 'On Film' framelit as per the sketch from The Paper Craft Crew because I wanted the connection to the movie, but in truth it does crop the image a little small and you lose some of the detail. I will probably make another version of this without such a tight crop, but as I was racing towards my deadline I didn't have time to make another for today so had to go with this one. I do love the overall effect though. The flags are made from striped gold vellum and gold foil, and the sentiment from 'Good Greetings', in keeping with one of the famous straplines from the movie, 'The bell still rings for all who truly believe', which I punched out with a small oval punch and finished with a small brushed gold star.

I hope you like my vintage festive train today; do check out the other design team cards over at The Paper Players - there is, as always, some fantastic inspiration to be found there.

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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