An Even Quicker Beary Christmas Card for PP656

by Joanne James3. September 2023 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

 

I feel like I need to start today's post with a confession! I am hosting this week - and for a variety of reasons I have been super busy with family commitments and not had a moment to craft all week! So when it came to making my card with limited time to spare, I remembered I had the cutest family of four-legged friends that would enable me to make a super-quick card - take a look:

 

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

Yes - the Beary Christmas Memories & More Cards to the rescue! For this week's card, I used not only one of the printed cards but also a pre-printed card base with co-ordinating envelope; all I needed was to add a little ribbon loop detail and pop the card up on dimensionals and I was done. By using the pre-printed bases, this card was even quicker to pull together than last week. And isn't this cute family of polar bears just the cutest?

 

The Memories & More cards are perfect for crafting when time is of the essence - and this set of four legged friends is just adorable! They are making me sleepy just looking at them - so contented.

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 soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Timeless Arrangements Thank You Card and Envelope Gift Box FF0142

by Joanne James1. September 2023 09:00

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

       

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'World Gratitude Day' which is on September 21st. 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 embrace the challenge theme wholeheartedly and used ribbon, gift packaging, die cuts, flowers and thank you and this is what I came up with:

 

I created both some gift packaging and a co-ordinating card using the lovely autumnal colour palette over at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. Here's the low-down on today's projects:

Gift Packaging Made Easy - For my gift box, I created a decorative belly band for one of the Envelope Treat Boxes that can be found on page 126 of the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue. Have you seen them? They are white, stampable boxes that measure 2 1/4" x 3 1/2" x 1" when folded and are perfect for packaging little treats. I made my wrap using the Glorious Gingham designer paper in Pecan Pie, then added a label that I decorated with foliage and stamped and coloured flowers and a trio of solid gems:

 

Here's a picture with the belly band removed, so that you can see how the box opens (gold foil stickers are also included with the boxes to seal them, although they are principally decorative - the box will hold itself closed):

 

Here's a close up showing the stamping on my label and my coloured flowers - I just love the warm tones of this trio of colours together:

 

A Co-ordinating Thank You - I decided to create a co-ordinating card to give with my gift; I used elements of my packaging design and carried them into my card, using the simple layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday as the basis for my design:

 

On my card I only added foliage to the bottom portion of the sentiment strip, to mimic the sketch; I also added a thin, solid strip of cardstock to highlight the simple thank you sentiment:

 

The layering of the foliage diecuts in the Timeless Arrangements bundle adds so much detail to this otherwise clean card and I love the blend of this trio of warm, almost autumnal colours. It's been so chilly here in the UK these past few days, this set fits right in!

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. 

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'!

A Quick Beary Christmas Card for PP655

by Joanne James27. August 2023 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 LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

    

I thought that the main panel on LeAnne's sketch was crying out to frame something, so decided to create a quick and easy Christmas card using the panel with an aperture to frame a Memories & More card from the Beary Christmas set in the upcoming mini catalogue. - take a look:

 

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

The new Beary Christmas Memories & More cards feature polar bears, trees, presents and patterns and are just great for quick and easy Christmas cards. I added a small one featuring a large sentiment and trimmed slightly to a Balmy Blue card base, then taking a smaller panel of Balmy Blue, cut a square aperture using the Stylish Shapes Dies then ran the whole panel through my diecutting machine with my (retired) Wintry 3D embossing folder - check out the lovely embossed effect in more detail on the close up below:

I added a Real Red ribbon and bow to complete my card. So simple, yet the embossing adds a really pretty detail. I'm linking today's card up over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where they are asking us to make Christmas cards that feature an embossing folder this week.

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'!

 

 

Dainty Delight Clean and Simple Thank You PP654

by Joanne James20. August 2023 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 Ann to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

    

I love clean and simple week! With the theme of 'insects' I was tempted to make another bee card this week, but instead decided to make a card showcasing one of the prettiest embellishments in the current catalogue - take a look:

 

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

Brass butterflies - did you spot them? I stamped a simple spray of flowers and thank you sentiment from the 'Dainty Delight' stamp set, coloured my flowers with a variety of Blends (I've shared those that are still current below) and added a trio of brass butterflies for my insect embellishment:

These butterfly embellishments are small but pack a punch - when the catch the light they are so pretty! A super simple card today - #simplestamping at its best!

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. 

I'm also linking up today's card over at Color Dare; I went across the bottom row paprika/shortbread/mocha and also used honey yellow too.

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.

A Warm Hello With Circle Sayings For FF0141

by Joanne James18. August 2023 09:00

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 Beach Day' which is on 30th August. 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 pastel colours, pearls and shells and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I decided I would make a simple summery 'hello' card for my friend Elizabeth who leaves by the beach so I used a Pool Party background to evoke the sea and paired it with some pastel pinks an purples for a feminine touch. I added some horizontal stripes and coloured my collection of shells with co-ordinating Blends and a sprinkling of pearls and Fresh Freesia enamel gems:

Super simple and I really like that this card has a beachy, summery feel even with a pastel colour scheme. I'm also linking up over at Inspire.Create where their theme is summer so my shells should fit right in! I love collecting shells at the beach; I spent part of my vacation last year on Sanibel island off the coast of southern Florida, a place know for its magnificent shell beaches - here's one of my photos so you can see what I mean:

 

Shells as far as the eye could see for miles! I collected some beautiful shells and whilst I didn't find a prized junonia shell, I did see a beautiful conch one day whilst paddling in the sea - still inhabited though, so I left it where I found it. Perhaps I'll discover \n empty one next time!

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.

Textured Floral Birthday Blooms For PP653

by Joanne James13. August 2023 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 warm colour challenge for us to work with:

    

I love these warm colours together! I paired them with Jen T's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and grabbed one of my new sets to create a pretty birthday card - take a look:

 

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

Textured Floral - You know when you think you have enough floral sets and you couldn't possibly need another one? Yep, that was so not me when we had the recent stamp sale! I picked up the Textured Floral stamp set and couldn't wait to create something with it. The texture on these stamps adds so much detail and whether you use in conjunction with the co-ordinating dies and layer or use the stamps along to create more of a collage feel, this is a stamp set with lots of possibilities. It's a great set for a beginner stamper too - you really can't go wrong with it! I stamped a mirrored collection of florals in opposing corners and added some additional Calypso Coral ink with a blending brush to achieve even greater warmth and colour.

A Straightforward Sketch? - I love Jen's sketch this week and it was perfect for me to experiment with my corner florals. When it came to that sentiment though, I dithered for ages! I did consider a simple horizontal sentiment stamped directly onto my floral panel (a more literal interpretation of the FMS layout), but my sentiment was overpowered by the bold florals. I ended up trying diecut sentiments in various shapes/colours, eventually settling on a white-on-black sentiment cut with one of my circular Stylish Shapes Dies. I added a twist of gingham ribbon behind it for a little extra detail:

I like this version better and I think with these bold colours the addition of black as a neutral works well. 

Finishing Touches - Finally you can see a hint of the decoration I added to the front of the envelope; I carried the design to the inside of the card too. No naked envelopes or insides here! I have lots of September birthdays to prepare for, so this one will be heading into my stash. I am looking forward to having more opportunities to play with this set!

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; we have nothing on, so will just be enjoying the peace and quiet! I'll be back soon 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.

Holy Guacamole It's A Taco Fiesta Birthday

by Joanne James10. August 2023 19:00

Tomorrow is the 16th birthday for the youngest of the James Juniors, so I thought I'd squeak in a quick post to share one of the cards I made to celebrate his big day! I used the sketch over at Sketch Saturday (but had difficulty linking up so am not playing along) and this week's Color Throwdown colours:

   

I've had the 'Taco Fiesta' stampset for ages and until now it's sat uninked on the shelf. t was perfect with these colours and the fun circular sketch layout - take a look:

 

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

I did some basic stamping on my base mat that followed the outer contours of the circles, then added some tone-on-tone stamping to each of the circles with some of the stamps in the set. I then topped each of the circles with a larger image that I stamped on white and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends. You can see the detail a little more closely below:

A simple twine bow, heat embossed sentiment and trio of mat dots complete 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. 

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.

Ice Cream Sweet Birthday Wishes PP652

by Joanne James6. August 2023 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 Claire to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

       

It is more like winter here in the UK at the moment, with rain and chilly winds and generally quite miserable weather-wise, so it was great to see the warm summer colours and images on the badge for Claire's theme this week - so there will be summer vibes inside, even if not outside! My card today features a staple of summer - ice cream, although I can eat it all year round, to be honest! My summer ice-creams were inspired by the cones in the Inspired By photo this week - mine are not in an upturned tower though, instead they are filled with colourful ice cream - take a look:

 

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

With no current stamp sets featuring ice cream, I had to get creative! These fun ice cream cones were fussy cut from the Les Shoppes designer series paper, curved with my bone folder then layered onto my Very Vanilla cardbase. I paired them with a stamped sentiment from the 'Sweetest Cherries' stamp set, stamped in Calypso Coral and Balmy Blue with the 'sweet' fussy cut and positioned across the cones:

 

I added a sprinkling of sequins for a little extra summer sparkle to complete my card, which I'm also linking up over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog where the current challenge is 'I is for ice cream'.

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 sheltering from the stormy weather so I'll be inside keeping warm - I see a day of crafting, cooking, jigsaws and movies ahead! 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.

Black and White Bethlehem for FF0140

by Joanne James4. August 2023 09:00

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 'World Photography Day' which is on 19th August. 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. We have a number of keen photographers in our house, but I chose to go in a totally different direction today. I used black, white, rhinestones and landscape/cityscape from the inspo list and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I used some retired Peaceful Place starry night sky paper and my retired Bethlehem Edgelits to create a monochrome Christmas card that is something of a CASE of a previous card I made using this set (you can see that card here), adding my cityscape diecuts with dimensionals for a little extra lift. I heat embossed my 'O Holy Night' sentiment from the retired stamp set 'Illuminated Christmas' in white on black, and highlighted the embossed stars on the designer paper with a single rhinestone - the star of Bethlehem, perhaps?

 

I am linking today's card up with the team over at Time Out who are asking us to create monochrome cards for their current challenge; there is something so elegant about a single colour scheme, for sure.

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 did place a pre-order for Christmas goodies from the new mini catalogue yesterday, so will have some lovely new things to share with you in the coming weeks, but it has been fun to give some love to favourite sets of old this week and of course it's always good to use up retired designer series paper!

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'!

 

A Zoo Crew Reindeer For A Clean And Simple Christmas Card

by Joanne James4. August 2023 09:00

This is my second post of the day as today I'm guesting over at CAS on Friday further to my recent win (here's the link to my winning card if you missed it!) The theme of the new challenge is 'Holiday'. I initially thought about sunny beaches and the sea, but then realised that whilst us Brits tend to use the word 'holiday' as an alternative to 'vacation', in other countries, particularly the USA, the word 'holiday' is often used in connection with the festive season so yes, you've guessed it - I have another Christmas card for you! Take a look:

 

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

Do you recognise this ballet dancing reindeer? She is actually one of the characters on the Zoo Crew designer paper! I've shared cards made with other animals fussy cut from this paper before; I just added a hint of colour to her antlers and a pop of festive red and a sparkly rhinestones to the flower on her skirt, added a couple of pieces of retired festive paper from my scrap box behind and finished with a stamped Christmas sentiment from the current 'Ringed With Nature' stamp set:

 

And that's all there is to it! There are a few sets in the annual catalogue that are Christmas-themed or are not designed as such but can be used to make cards for the holiday season. So if you want to get started early on your Christmas crafting, go ahead and take a look. You could also treat yourself to a Christmas card kit as they are discounted with up to 30% this month or even sign up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - you would then benefit from the perk of being able to order items from the mini catalogue right away, a whole month ahead of customers - yay!

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. 

Be sure to check out the projects made by the CAS On Friday designers - I know they will have some fabulous inspiration to share.

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.

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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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