Nothing's Better Than Pizza FF133

by Joanne James28. April 2023 08:00

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge

    

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Eat What You Want Day' which is on 11th May - who knew?! Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I did go with a food-themed card; I used pizza, diecutting, gingham and food sentiment and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I decided to create a custom sentiment as the focal point of my card, using a combination of stamped words from the 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set and letters diecut with the Alphabet a La Mode Dies - perfect for the challenge at Just Add Ink this week too! I paired this with a strip of gingham reminiscent of an Italian pizza parlour table cloth and a slice of punch art pizza:

 

I added some stamped mushrooms and tomatoes from a (retired) stamp set called 'What's Cookin?' to decorate my pizza slice and added a gingham pocket inside my card to hold a gift card; I will be saving this card to send to my daughter who will hopefully be going off to university later this year and am sure will appreciate some extra funds for a pizza night out to save her having to cook for herself occasionally!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

 

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.

Nothings Better Than Cocktails JUGS 676

by Joanne James22. April 2023 05:00

Today I'm sharing my fourth card for my Guest Designer spot over at Just Us Girls. This week it's Clean and Simple week - always a favourite!

       

The theme is food and beverages - I couldn't resist another outing with my 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set before it retires! I used the layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday and the bright colour palette over at Color Throwdown to make a colourful cocktail reminiscent of summer vacations - take a look:

 

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

I stamped my cocktail in yellow and decided to accent with a blue umbrella and slice of lime, then diecut it and backed it with a circle of vellum and carried my accent colours through to my strips of ombre glimmer paper and my two-tone sentiment: 

 

I stamped another glass on the front of my envelope and on the inside of my card for added colour:

 

If you stamp them all at the same time, it really takes very little extra time and it's a nice way of adding a little extra 'pretty'. I will miss this set soooo much when it retires - the stamps and dies have done double-duty in my craft room and then some; I love them and will never part with them! Be sure to check out what the Just Us Girls Design Team have made for Clean and Simple Week - I'm sure they will have some amazing projects to share!

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; I'd like to tell you that my plan for today was to consume cocktails, but alas no such luck! I will be stood at the side of the hockey pitch, as usual - cocktails will have to wait for antoher day! I'll be back tomorrow with my card for our 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.

Nothing's Better Than Cookies FF121

by Joanne James28. October 2022 08:00

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

    

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Family PJ Day' which is on November 14th - who knew?! Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used hot chocolate, cookies and circles along with the sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout and this is what I came up with:

 

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

To The Rescue - I almost struggled to combine enough of the elements this week - I had most of them in one form or another, but not that could be used together. Then I remembered I had some of this retired 'Night Before Christmas' designer series paper from a few years ago in my stash and bingo - it gave me cookies and hot chocolate in one! All I needed to do was combine with the 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set for my sentiment and the Love You More Than co-ordinating dies for my diecut circle-shaped cookies and I had a trio!

A Cookie Trio - I stamped and diecut a trio of cookies to compliment my greeting on the front of my card, which I carried over to the inside too:

This set really is so much fun - you can create all kinds of greetings and messages with it! This card will be perfect to go with a home-baked gift in the run up to the festive season and is sure to make someone smile!

A Stacked Sentiment - I diecut the word 'cookies' in my greeting and triple-stacked it to add height, using Poppy Parade to pick up the colour of the mugs on the paper - I used this for my banner topper too. 

 

Whilst this isn't a Christmas card, I think the red gives it a fun, festive feel. I also added some of the Early Espresso suede effect ribbon to the topper - this feels so luxurious and makes nice flat bows 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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

Like many families, the James' have a long-standing tradition of family pyjamas at Christmas time. My husband jokes that he has more Christmas PJs than ones he can wear all year around! Here's a Christmas selfie of us sporting ours from last Christmas:

 

These were actually quite tasteful considering some of the designs we've sported over the years - I guess that's what happens when you have discerning teenagers in the house! 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.

Nothing's Better Than Clean And Simple Glimmer Cocktails CCS45

by Joanne James21. June 2022 12:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Samantha is hosting this month and this week we have a colour challenge featuring three of the five new 2022-24 Stampin' Up! in colours: 

 

For my card today I made a colourful cocktail card using the 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set - take a look: 

 

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

Nothing's Better Than - I've used the 'Nothing's Better Than' for a colourful cocktail card previously (you can see that card here if you missed it) but this one is an altogether more clean and simple affair. 

Glimmer Shapes - I backed my stamped and die cut cocktail glass with a combination of in-colour glimmer stitched circles and backed the sentiment banner with another one in the third challenge colour - so much sparkle, yet concentrating it in a small area enables the clean and simple feel to be maintained:

 

I also added a trio of Tahitian Tide enamel dots to continue the circle theme.

Inside And Out - Another cocktail inside my card and a second one on the envelope completes my card - no naked envelopes or insides here!

 

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.

Nothing's Better Than In-Color Glimmer Cocktails PP594

by Joanne James5. June 2022 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 fun theme challenge for you to work with:

 

I still had my Nothing's Better Than set out on my desk from Friday's cards out on my desk, so I decided to use the current Atlantic Hearts sketch layout and play along with the In-Color challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments and set about recreating the colourful cocktails on our challenge board this week - take a look:

 

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

I cut a whole bunch of stitched rectangles in glimmer paper in each of the new in-colours and laid them on my card base in alternating colours, with the lighter shades at the top and the darker shades bottom. I then added my sentiment and my colourful cocktail glass. I brushed my cocktail with clear Wink of Stella - along with the glimmer paper, this makes for one sparkly card!

I finished my sentiment on the inside of my card and added another cocktail for good measure:

I also added a stamped cocktail to the front of my envelope - it's definitely happy hour for the recipient of this 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 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'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.

   

Nothing's Better Than Coffee And Cocktails AYSI276

by Joanne James3. June 2022 12:00

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a theme challenge:

 

I was tempted to do something with lemons, as I love the bright yellow of the lemons against the blue in our inspiration photo today, however I have had a rainbow-themed idea percolating in my head for a little while so decided to try that out instead. As a result, I ended up wtih not one but two cards for you today - take a look:

 

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

Rainbow Pastels Coffee - I started off with this card that was inspired by the pastel rainbow colours over at Fusion (you can see them on the badge at the bottom of this post). I stamped and diecut a collection of coffee cups using the Nothing's Better Than stamp set and Love You More Than co-ordinating dies, and adhered them across the centre of my slimline card. I added a simple stamped sentiment either side, with the diecut 'coffee' added on top using adhesive foam sheet:

 

 I carried the sentiment and coffee cup theme through to the inside (and did the same with my second card too):

 

 I was going for a clean and simple card with lots of white space and could have stopped there, but decided that it would be fun to add a selection of sequins from my stash that co-ordinated with my rainbow colours around the cups for a little extra sparkly detail - it's also a nod to the round plates in the Fusion photo. Check out how pretty they shine:

 

Rainbow Brights Cocktails - Having completed this card, I thought it would be fun to make another card with the same idea, this time using the cocktail glass in the Nothing's More Than set. I changed up my rainbow of colours from pastels to brights (I was thinking more of a day to night vibe!) for my second card:

 

The cocktail glasses are larger than the coffee cups, so I went for a more uniform positioning across the centre of the card and placed my stamped sentiments to either side for better balance. I wanted to preserve my white space so didn't add as many sparkles this time; I still couldn't resist a few iridescent rhinestones to add to my cocktail party feel though!

 

So which are you - Team Coffee of Team Cocktails? Today it's a Bank Holiday here in the UK to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee - 70 years on the throne, wow! I think this means I'll be doing both as the day progresses; any excuse to raise a glass, ma'am!

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.

   

Nothing's Better Than Cookies Card FF103

by Joanne James18. February 2022 09:00

Happy Friday everyone! Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday:

 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Peanut Butter Lovers Day' which is on 24th January each year. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used baked goods, brown and enamel dots for my clean and simple cookie card today - check it out:

 

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

Nothing's Better Than ... - I love the sentiment combinations in the 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set - I mean, coffee, chocolate, cookies and cocktails!! I'm a tea drinker over coffee, but that would disrupt the 'c's, so I'm good with it! Today's card of course features cookies as my baked goods; the fun thing about the sentiments in this set is that they can be used inside and outside to make fun combinations - this is how I finished the inside of today's card:

 

... Cookies - I used a simple layered square for the sentiment on the front of my card, backed with a strip of (retired) pink plaid paper, and accented my sentiment with a couple of diecut cookies, complete with crumbs:

 

A trio of pink enamel dots complete today's 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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

Enjoy your day; it's the last day of half-term today however with the impending storm the James Juniors and I shall be battonning down the hatches and spending the day indoors! 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.

 

A Day Without Chocloate For AYSI 244

by Joanne James19. February 2021 13:00

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for an interesting 'fill in the blank' challenge:

    

The colour that makes me feel cosy? Hmm, well for me this is closely associated with my chosen theme today: chocolate! I love chocolate of all kinds and am particularly partial to a good quality milk or 70% dark, and there is something about the silky sensation when a square of chocolate melts on the tongue that leaves me feeling warm and cosy inside - or indulged, but either way I'll take it! So my colour today is brown and I decided to pair it with this week's challenge over at Inspired By where they are asking us to feature a quote on our card (I also used their sketch layout this week) - take a look:

 

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Nothing's Better Than - The choclates in the 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set were perfect for my card today. I used some retired cardstock in Chocolate Chip for my cardbase and stamped the outline chocolate stamp all over for a tone-on-tone background. I also stamped a couple of these chocolate trios on some Very Vanilla in Chocolate Chip and outlined in Early Espresso, then trimmed one chocolate from each, and used them to decorate my quote panel.  

Love You More Than - My quotation is made up from a combination of stamps in the 'Nothing's More Than' stamp set and a stacked diecut of the word 'chocolate' for a little added emphasis. I diecut it 3 times and glue them together for added dimension:

 

I love how this is an 'unfinished' quotation - this really is so me, I mean a day without chocolate?! Something I don't ever like to contemplate!

Chocolate Box Memories - I decided to use a stitched scallop rectangle as the base for my quotation - the shape reminded me of the almost velvet-like top sheet that used to sit in chocolate boxes in years gone by - do you know the ones I mean? I also chose to use Very Vanilla as opposed to Basic White, as a nod to white chocolate, which is more cream than white in colour.

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

 to follow.

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.
  • In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.
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:

CAS Nothing's Better Than Chocolate - Right?

by Joanne James18. February 2021 22:09

I've had a few card- and blog-free days as I enjoy time with the James Juniors who are on half-term this week. There has been lots of cooking, walking and cycling and crafting of a different kind (I'll share more about that in a few days time!) I did get a few cards made today though, including this one for the current challenge over at Less Is More:

   

These kings and queens of CAS are celebrating their 10th birthday with chocolate so as a self-confessed chocolate lover myself, I thought it would be rude not to partake in a little celebration with them! I channelled my clean and simple self and came up with the following #SimpleStamping card using just stamps, ink and paper:

 

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

A simple base of Very Vanilla, with a border of Early Espresso and some (retired) Chocolate Chip chocolates, with the outline detailing and the 'chocolate' word in my sentiment stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with some (retired) Early Espresso embossing powder for an additional touch of shine and texture:

 

I finished my greeting on the inside of my card like this and with a few more chocolates:

 

I'm sure, like me, that there are days when you feel like this too!

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

 to follow

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'm also linking today's card with a new-to-me challenge called The Dream Factory, which uses films as the starting point to inspire our crafty creations - and this month's film is appropriately 'Chocolat'.

Enjoy your evening; I'll be back tomorrow with another project also featuring chocolate - so if you are watching your waistline and would like to indulge in chocolate without the calories, do join me then. Until tomorrow, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cake and Cookies For PP513

by Joanne James18. October 2020 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 queen of diecuts, the lovely Laurie, to host this week and she has a Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

 

REMEMBER THIS IS CLEAN AND SIMPLE WEEK 
 
What do we mean by Clean and Simple?
 
Minimal layers and embellishments
Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
Simple and uncluttered 

I actually have a few cards for you today! First up - cake! A quick review of my stamp collection told me I had no current cake or cupcake stamps - go figure! So I decided to use Linda's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

 myI used my current Playful Alphabet Dies, along with some retired Patio Party designer series paper and last year's 'Piece of Cake' stamp set to create a couple of clean and simple cake-themed cards. Here's the first one using the negative space of the diecut letters:

 

And a close up of that fun sentiment:

 

And here's the second card, using the same paper and alternative colour base with the actual diecut letters, popped up on foam adhesive sheets:

 

Both cards finish with this sentiment on the inside:

 

Perfect for birthdays or other occasions! Here's a picture of them both together:

 

The Patio Party paper actually dates back to 2013 so I'm thinking there won't be many of you with some of this on your shelves (unless you are a paper hoarder like me!!) so I also made a third card using current products and this week's Global Design Project sketch:

For this card I reached for my 'Nothing's Better Than' bundle and tweaked my sentiment to create a festive cookie card:

 

I paired my cookies with some festive plaid from the Plaid Tidings DSP pack (15% off in this month's DSP sale!); having photographed my card, I wish I'd added a sprig of holly too (maybe I'll go back and add one on before I send it!) but to be fair this card is less clean and simple than the first two, with a few more layers and elements so probably best I quit when I did!

 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on the above 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; we will be having a quiet family day today as we head into the start of the half-term holiday for one of the James Juniors at least (the other has another 4 days of school to go!). I managed to get some crafting done yesterday so will definitely 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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