Spooky Fun Halloween Notelets

by Joanne James27. October 2016 08:05

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

 

It would be fair to say I struggled big time with these colours this week! I couldn't get away from the idea of Halloween, yet making them work was definitely a challenge! I ended up making two cards and I must confess I'm not completely happy with either of them! That said, I'm sharing my notelets with you anyway - here's the first one:

 

And here's the second one:

 

Both use a combination of the challenge colours and the Spooky Fun stamp set and co-ordinating Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies. The second one also includes a sentiment from the 'Suite Seasons' stamp set and a background created with the spots stamp in the 'Perpetual Calendar' set, along with a sentiment banner on each. Each would be quick and easy to create, although first time around they took me longer than I would have liked!

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day - we are off to Brick Live to play Lego all day, a James family passion! Hope you enjoy your day too 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.

Halloween Night Card and Treat Box

by Joanne James26. October 2016 10:00

Today I have more Halloween fun for you, with a card and some co-ordinating Halloween treats that are again perfect for this week's TGIF Challenge where treats are most definitely the order of the day:

   

 

So I've made both a treat box and a matching card today using one of the gorgeous foil specialty sheets in my Halloween Night DSP pack. Here's my treat box, which holds a stack of chocolate coins adorned with spiders and filled with popping candy:

 

So much shine with all that foil! Here's a close up of my treat box:

My treat box measures 4 1/2" x 1 1/2" finished size, and is made from a piece of designer series paper measuring 7 1/2" x 6". I added a little trick or treat banner tag and a silver mini tassle tied on with black baker's twine. Instructions to make if you'd like to have a go are as follows:

  • Score paper on short side at 1 3/8", 2 6/8", 4 1/8" and 5 1/2"
  • Score paper on long side at 1/2", 1 1/2", 6" and 7"
  • Cut an aperture in one of the long central sections using your Big Shot and Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits
  • Fold on the score lines on the short side to make a long thin box, then pinch the ends and glue/staple one end, fill with chocolate then pinch and glue/staple the other end closed.
  • Add tag and twine to complete.

 Finally, here's my card featuring those large Letter Framelits again: 

 

Check out the cute dangling spider in the 'O' - isn't he just so fun?! I stamped him in Versamark and heat embossed him in silver then coloured him in with my black Stampin' Write marker. 

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 and I'll be back tomorrow with a card (or two!) for this week's Connie and Mary Challenge. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Halloween Spooky Fun Treat Boxes

by Joanne James25. October 2016 21:35

Another week and Tuesday already! The James Juniors are on their half-term holiday from school this week as are lots of other children in the area; I had a children's class today making fun Christmas crafts (you can read all about it on my Facebook page here - do give me a 'like' if you'd like to be kept up to date with events and photos). This week I have lots of Halloween fun for you, starting with some quick and easy cute packaging ideas for Halloween treats that are perfect for this week's TGIF Challenge:

   

 

I used some of the clear tiny treat boxes so that you could see the goodies inside and decorated with belly bands made from Halloween Night Designer Series Paper and black baker's twine. Here's the first one, a box of pumpkin chocolate balls decorated with a tag made using the Tags and Labels framelits and the Spooky Fun/Halloween Scenes bundle:

 

For my second box I created an eyeball tag using a 1 1/4" circle punch:

 

Well, what else for a box of eyeballs, right? In case you're wondering how I achieved the bloodshot look, it's actually really easy - I used the tips of the tree branches from the Sheltering tree stamp set:

 

Clever and rather effective, even if I say so myself! I love it when a set can be used for more than one thing.

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 tomorrow with more Halloween treats, so stay tuned. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Oh What Fun Meets Warmth and Cheer

by Joanne James23. October 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host this week and she has a great sketch for you to work with:

    

I decided to combine my card with the challenge over at Merry Monday and use some of the lovely plaids featured in the Warmth and Cheer designer series paper stack. I actually made two cards for today's challenge and couldn't decide which one I liked best, so thought I'd share them both! Here's my first card:

 

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

Warmth and Cheer - Both of my warm plaids are from the Warmth and Cheer designer series paper pack, which is choc full of great plaid patterns that work for both autumnal and Christmas cards. Here I've combined two of the plaid patterns, each featuring Cherry Cobbler, for my vertical panel and mat. 

Oh What Fun - I was prompted to use this sentiment from the 'Oh What Fun' set following a conversation with one of my team members this week. This set is choc-full of great sentiments and having featured in last year's seasonal catalogue this year has made the transition to the annual catalogue. It was perfect for my card today, allowing me to ink up each half with Delightful Dijon and Cherry Cobbler markers on a 1 3/4" punched circle and separated by a fussy cut Cherry Cobbler banner. 

Dijon Doily - To finish I added a 2015-17 In-Color Doily in Delightful Dijon behind my circle sentiment. I often forget to use doilies yet I like the added detail it adds to my circle here without being overly fussy, clean and simple person that I am! 

Here's the second card that I made - this one has a few less layers and features only one piece of plaid, along with a couple of metallic sequins:

 

Lastly, 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. 

So which one of today's cards do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below with your thoughts - I love reading them!

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

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's sketch.

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.

Thinking of You At Christmas

by Joanne James22. October 2016 20:48

Hurrah for the weekend and what's more, the start of the half term holiday for the James juniors! They each have at least a week off (one has two!) so we are looking forward to a rest from our full-on daily routine. I managed to get some time this afternoon to make a card for this week's sketch challenge over at The Global Design Project:

I decided to add another Christmas card to my stash - here's my card:

 

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

Presents and Pinecones - For my background I used a piece of the Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Papers, another of the packs that is available with the 'Buy 3, get 1 free' offer this month - you can read all about it here. This is a great sketch to really make a feature of a piece of designer series paper; check out the Global Design Team's creations for some inspiring examples of this.

It's That Time of Year - I used the large sentiment from 'Time of Year', one of the sets exclusively available to hostesses from the annual catalogue, for my focal point, stamped using the Emerald Envy ombre ink pad to co-ordinate with the lovely greens of the DSP. I also stamped the holly from this set on a piece of Whisper White and fussy cut it before adding to the edge of the rectangle to balance my sentiment and banner. This is such a great set with options to create a number of sentiment combinations for different occasions and great if you want your sentiment to make a statement on a card.

All That Glitters -  I decided to use a piece of red glimmer paper for the panel behind the sentiment to add a little sparkle to my project. I then cut a few different banners, but was struggling with the fact that they were masking out too much of the lower portion of my main sentiment. I decided to stamp onto acetate to allow for some transparency to the sentiment below and decide to use some red glitter embossing powder for a final glittery pizzazz - job done!

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. 

That's all from me; I'll be back tomorrow with 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.

Wishing You Brighter Days!

by Joanne James20. October 2016 08:05

I had a great workshop yesterday with a fabulous group of ladies making family tree home decor frames and watched the semi-finals of The Great British Bake Off on TV yesterday evening in lieu of a blog post. Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

 

Now you all know how much I love a good sketch, but I must admit this one had me stumped for a little while until I figured out what to do with it. I was totally in the Christmas zone, but once I stepped away from the festive season it came to me - an umbrella! Take a look:

 

A seriously bright card to brighten someone's day! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Dimension and Layers - I used the fun Umbrella Weather Framelits from the annual catalogue to create the umbrella, clouds and shower of hearts on my card today. There's lots of layering and dimension on today's card, with the blue panel popped up to allow the hearts to stand in relief against the pink card base and the clouds around the umbrella.

Weather Together - The sentiment is from the co-ordinating stamp set 'Weather Together' and perfect for a cheery pick-me-up kind of card. I stamped my sentiment in Melon mambo to accentuate the colour of my card base, and added an enamel heart shape in the same colour to one of my clouds too.

Buy 3, Get 1 Free Paper Offer - Time To Party! - My colour scheme today was inspired by the colours in the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper pack and I used the stripy pattern from this set for my umbrella canopy. This is one of the papers available as part of the October 'Buy 3, Get 1 Free' Designer Series Paper offer:

You can read all about it in this blog post here - a great offer and the perfect time to stock up so don't delay and get your party on!

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Another busy day today with a meeting first thing then an afternoon of housework in store. 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.

Warmth And Cheer Merry Tags Christmas Bauble Card

by Joanne James18. October 2016 07:00

 

It's Tuesday and today I have a Christmas card for you using this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts:

 ppa322

This is such a great sketch with so many options; I decided today to make a Christmas card that is all about baubles - take a look:

 

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

Warmth and Cheer - My strips of festive paper come from this season's 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper stack, Warmth and Cheer. A mix of warm reds, greens and yellows, with everything from sweater patterns to plaids, baubles, pine trees and stars, these papers will take your projects from autumn through to winter and the festive season with ease.

Merry Tags Bauble - I took my inspiration from my DSP strips and diecut a bauble in Real Red using the Merry Tags Framelits for the circular element of my card. I stamped my sentiment from the Merriest Wishes stamp set and heat embossed it in black for added shine. I added a Garden Green bow cut using the Perfect Pines Framelits and finished with a metallic enamel shape.

Decorative Stripes - They are very subtle, however if you look closely at my bauble you will see I sponged some diagonal stripes in Real Red ink using one of the Seasonal Decorative Masks onto my bauble before I embossed my sentiment, to echo the stripe of the baubles on the DSP and just add a little extra interest without stamping.

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 have another busy day today that will start with the children attending their Speech and Drama exams - wish them luck! I hope your day is a good one too. 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.

Cookie Cutter Skeleton Halloween Card

by Joanne James17. October 2016 07:00

Happy Monday everyone! I'm here with a nice early blog post - let's hope that the week continues in this vein! Today I have a card for this week's CASOLOGY challenge where the code word is 'spooky', that uses this week's TGIF Challenge sketch and the colours over at Colour Q:

     

I decided I had to ink up one of my Cookie Cutter Halloween stamps for today's card - take a look:

 

A spooky skeleton - how cute is he?! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Not Just For Christmas - What's better than a punch and a co-ordinating stamp set? Why, a punch and TWO co-ordinating stamp sets! The skeleton I used on my card today is from the Cookie Cutter Halloween stamp set. This is a second set that, like Cookie Cutter Christmas, also co-ordinates with the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch and has a number of fun Halloween characters, including a scarecrow that is also perfect for autumn cards. I stamped him in Archival Black onto Very Vanilla cardstock and punched him out.

Ways With Washi - I used some retired Halloween washi tape to create my striped panel behind my skeleton. The newsprint includes stories about Halloween and the skulls provided a contrast whilst still fitting in with my skeletal theme. 

He's All Heart - My spot of colour really is just that, in the form of a bright Real Red enamel heart shape. It adds just enough dimension and shine to really make the colour pop!

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 have a day of appointments and errands today, so will be kept more than busy. 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.

Grateful For Vintage Leaves

by Joanne James16. October 2016 10:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Nance to host this week and she has a great clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

       

What a great challenge for Autumn! I just had to dig out my old favourite Vintage Leaves for this one and my Leaflets Framelits along with the colours over at Color Throwdown for my card today; they are somewhat unorthodox for Fall yet they enabled me to try a fun inlaid die masking technique that I've been wanting to experiment with to add interest to my clean and simple card today. I used this week's sketch layout over at CAS Colours and Sketches - here's my card:

 

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

A Vintage Leaf - Vintage Leaves is a favourite stamp set of mine at this time of year and is perfect for Fall cards. I used a single leaf, stamped in Bermuda Bay onto Pool Party cardstock, as the anchor for my sentiment banner. 

Inlaid Die Masking - The vertical strip on my card uses a fun technique called inlaid die masking. I made a stencil mask by cutting out a number of random leaf shapes using the Leaflet Framelit that corresponds with the leaf stamp I used, then sponged a combination of Pool Party, Smoky Slate and Pear Pizzazz inks through the mask, then over-stamping these sponged areas with the detailed leaf stamp in Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey and Old Olive respectively. This adds a soft hue of colour to each leaf which I really like. 

G is for Grateful - My sentiment from the Paisleys and Posies stamp set is perfect for the season and the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week where the theme is to 'Just Add G'. This is the time of Harvest Festivals here in the UK, with Thanksgiving for our American friends around the corner and celebrated by Canadians recently and as such is a time of year when we are reminded to be grateful. I enjoyed a school assembly on this very theme last Friday, where pupils expressed thanks for everything from the food they eat, to the opportunities given to them by their parents and their favourite footballer, amongst other things! We all have much to be grateful for and it is all too easy to take for granted those around us who enrich our lives and make the world a better place for the greater good.

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. 

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

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's clean and simple theme. We are off for our usual Sunday morning of sport, followed by lunch with friends and an afternoon of crafting of a different kind - Rebecca has been working on some dolls clothes so some supervision of the sewing machine is in order! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; 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.

May Flowers In October and Irresistibly Floral - Embossing Made Easy

by Joanne James15. October 2016 19:49

 

Welcome to the weekend! Yesterday I finally feel like I turned a corner with this rotten cold I've been struggling with this week and today I'm feeling much more like my old self - hurrah! Even better, after a morning spent on the sidelines of the rugby pitch I managed to spend the afternoon in my craft room catching up on some challenge cards and enjoying a few hours of welcome creativity now that my personal fog has lifted! Thanks for your patience; this evening I have a card that was inspired by this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout and the colours over at Global Design Project:

   

I was immediately drawn to Jen Mitchell's card over at FMS this week and it inspired me to turn to florals for my card today - take a look:

 

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

Irresistibly Floral - The main panel of my card today is a piece of Irresistibly Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper, sponged in the challenge colours to bring out the beautiful white-on-white floral pattern. This was mounted on a piece of Rich Razzleberry and finished with a Razzleberry ribbon banner and some Blushing Bride baker's twine.

May Flower in October - I paper-pieced a flower cut with the May Flowers Framelits to create a focal point on my card and added some Mint Macaron leaf diecuts and a white Perfect Accent to the centre. 

A Teeny Tiny Sentiment - I chose to use a 'happy birthday' from the Teeny Tiny Sentiment stamp set for my sentiment today. Teeny tiny it may be, but it is just the right size to ensure a sentiment on my card today, without detracting from the detail of the sponged floral paper and flower embellishment.

These colours were much easier to work with than I imagined and I just love the detail of the floral embossed designer series paper.

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 my 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.

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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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