Friends Are Like Seashells PP530

by Joanne James28. February 2021 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 fabulous Ann to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

    

So many options for today's sketch! The weather is slowly warming up as Spring approaches and whilst we may not be experiencing beach vacations for some time to come still, I decided to break out my Sand and Sea Suite and recreate that feeling with a card or two instead. So this is the first card I came up with:

 

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

Sand and Sea - So much to love about the Sand & Sea Suite! One of the most unique aspects is the way that the dies contain a whole joined sheet of shells and sea fronds that can be both stamped and embossed then either used as a single piece or the individual pieces can be cut away as I've done on my card. I stamped, embossed and diecut the panel in both pink, yellow and pearlescent cardstock and mixed the various elements on my card, with that large, pink circular shell as the centrepiece. I gave it a pearlescent finish by sponging with frost white shimmer paint before adding to my card - just check out the amazing texture and detail:

 

I added some pearls and braided trim to finish. This stamp really does have the most lovely sentiments too; one the front of my card I used the one that forms the basis of the name for this stamp set - here's a peek at the inside of my card with the second part of my greeting:

 

This card is headed to one of my oldest and most dear friends for her birthday - I know she will love it! I'm also linking it up with the team over at Time Out Challenges, who are also celebrating their 7th birthday this week and challenging us to make birthday cards too - way to go Time Out!

A Pearlescent Alternative - I had another piece of the Sand & Sea DSP left after making the above card, so I decided to flip it and make another card using the reverse pattern, with the same layout but changing out some of the elements and colours and going for a slightly softer look:

 

I actually had something of a happy accident with this pearlescent shell. I had intended to simply emboss it, but having embossed the pink shell on the card above first, I hadn't realised that some of the pink ink had rubbed off onto the embossing folder so when I removed my pearly shell from the embossing folder, it had traces of pink ink on the indents. I wiped some of it away but then decided to go with it and instead rubbed the raised areas with Blushing Bride ink to accentuate them. I decided I actually quite liked the detail so no harm done - what do you think?

 

So which of these cards do you prefer? This one: 

 

Or this one:

 

Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. I am using this suite for my next monthly online stamp class and am looking forward to creating more fabulous cards with it - get in touch if you'd like more information.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's main 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; the weather has been unseasonally mild here this week, so I will be spending some time in the garden today and probably heading out on my bike for a long cycle ride with the other members of the James household to take advantage of the warmer temparatures in case winter decides to make a return! I will also be placing my last Sale-A-Bration order as the current Sale-A-Bration promotion ends today - last call for orders if you would like to earn one of the amazing free gifts that are available as part of the promotion. 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.

Playful Pets Clean and Simple Birthday Feline For PP529

by Joanne James21. February 2021 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 fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun clean-and-simple challenge for you to work with:

       

Fabulous felines - what a fun challenge this week! I used the sketch over at Fusion (come back tomorrow if you'd like to see a card that uses the Fusion photo inspiration too) to make a clean and simple birthday card - take a look:

 

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

Today's card is super simple! I've been wanting to make a card using this cat that features on the Playful Pets designer series paper for ages - I just love her quirky expression! - and our challenge this week was the perfect opportunity. I cut a strip of (retired) Brights DSP in a two-tone stripe that picks up the pink of the cat's neck bow, and a suitably tongue-in-cheek sentiment from Itty-Bitty Birthdays that seemed to reflect just what my fussy-cut kitty was thinking, and placed the various pieces onto my card. A quick check to our clean and simple guidelines:

  • minimal layers
  • little/no embellishments
  • lots of clean white space (no pattern)
Done!  

I finished my sentiment on the inside of my card and added a mouse that I fussy cut from my DSP sheet too:

 

Since this is a birthday card, I'll be linking up over at The Spot today too where they have a birthday theme.

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

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

to follow

Red Glimmer Detailed Hearts Love You Always Card PP528

by Joanne James14. February 2021 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 fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a timely colour challenge for you to work with:

       

I chose red and silver to pair with black and white for my card and since today is Valentine's Day I was also inspired by the glittery hearts in our challenge photo this week to create something using the Fab Friday sketch that also meets the clean and simple 'hearts' code word over at Addicted to CAS - take a look:

 

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

All Heart - I decided that the Fab Friday sketch panel was perfect to showcase the Detailed Hearts Dies in the annual catalogue. When I went to my dieset I discovered I had one already cut in retired red glimmer paper, as I'd used the heart pieces on a previous project, so rather than cut another in Real Red I thought I would use this one for a sparkly centrepiece.

Love Always - For my focal point I decided to add a layered 'love' diecut using my Always Dies, with a black base and silver foil centre - I just love these dies and it's nice to pair them with an older die for a fresh look. I also added another touch of silver by adding a heart charm to one of the solid hearts on my glimmer paper:

I've been looking for an opportunity to use these on a project and finally today's card provided the perfect opportunity, as the two shapes mirrored each other perfectly. 

And Forever - I finished the sentiment on the ffront of my card by stamping with the 'Forever & Always' stamp set and carried this over to the inside of my card too, and added a few more of those glittery hearts for a simple decoration:

 

This is one of those cards that whilst it is all love and red hearts, it doesn't have to be a Valentine's card. I will be sending mine to a certain young lady in my house who is something of a magpie as far as glitter is concerned and I know she will love it!

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

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; are you doing anything special to celebrate Valentine's Day? We had a family Valentine's dinner yesterday evening and will be sharing a special breakfast today, along with a rather elaborate choolate fondue this evening. So it's all about the food in the James household! 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.

Love Hearts Wreath Builder Pastel Valentine PP527

by Joanne James7. February 2021 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 fabulous Anne Marie to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

       

I'm not generally into pale colours but I was really drawn to the pastels over at the Color Throwdown challenge this week, and was also inspired by their photo of those old-time Love Hearts sweets to make another Valentine card and create some love hearts of my own - take a look:

 

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

Today's card has no stamping at all! I decided to use a slimline card layout and create a layered square in each of the CTD challenge colours, using one each of a scallop-edged square, stitched square and a diecut heart from the Wreath Builder Die set. Each square is so simple, yet the detail of each of the diecut pieces is what makes this card so pretty:

A quartet of pastels that look good enough to eat! In additon to playing over at Color Throwdown, I'm also linking up over at Just Us Girls where their word this week is 'Valentine'. 

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

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I've been decorating so am hoping to get a little more done today. Whilst the James Juniors are still hoping for snow, it's looking less and less likely. The arrival of the 'Beast From The East Mark Two' is threatening to push daytime temperatures below zero, so unless there's the opportunity to build a snowman, I'll be staying safely indoors! I'll be back tomorrow with another project using these colours. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

 

Berry Blessings For You PP526

by Joanne James31. January 2021 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the fifth Sunday of the month so the lovely Laurie is hosting this week and she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge board for us to work with:

  

   

I used Julee's current Mojo Monday sketch as the basis for my card and went top left to bottom right on the diagonal across the board with die cut-embossing-blue for another fruity card for you this week - take a look:

 

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

Berry Blessings - Today's card is all about the free - free product that is! Both the stamp set and the designer series papers on today's card are part of the Berry Blessings bundle that is one of the free products available with a Stampin' Up! order of £90 or more during Sale-A-Bration. I love the designer papers that feature both the blueberries and raspberries in the bundled stamp set and also the strawberries from the Sweet Strawberry bundle - fruity patterns and also some fabulous checks and plaid. This card is all about the blues and greens, so I chose two plaids that would co-ordinate with my blueberry focal point. They just so happen to also be perfect for Stesha's takeover at TGIF Challenges this week where they are all about the plaid too. I also used the stamp set for the sentiment and a little extra stamping on the inside of my card too:

 

Stitched Shapes - The layers of Julee's sketch allowed me to fully indulge of my love of stitched shapes: rectangles for the background and then a circle as the base for my fussy cut berries. These are my most used of all my dies and the circles are for sure a staple - I just love the way they elevate a humble shape into something just a little bit more.

It's In The Details - I did a lot of fussy cutting on my berries and leaves, so wanted to add only a few extra small details. The embossing that completes my tic-tac-toe line is both dry embossing using my favourite Subtles folder on the white layer, and a white heat-embossed sentiment on my blue sentiment banner. I also added a simple white twine bow (with my banner that makes my two things from the Just Add Ink list this week) and a single pearl to the centre of my blue flower. You can see those finishing touches better below:

 

I really love how this card came together. Pacific Point was one of the first ink pads I ever bought when I started stamping, yet it isn't a colour I use often now so it was great to get it out for this card. I love that most of the rest of the product that I used was free - links to the store below if you'd like to snap up this bundle 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 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 were forecast more snow here in the UK this weekend, but yesterday both James Juniors were disappointed to find temperatures had plummeted but it was more like freezing rain than snow. Today they will be hoping for the proper white stuff so that we can build another snowman! If not, we have some cooking to do and we might even get cracking on a knitting project that we've been promising to start for a while. 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.

Sweet Strawberry and Berry Blessings Birthday Wishes For PP525

by Joanne James24. January 2021 09:00

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 my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

 

I chose a simple layout for my sketch so that it give lots of creative licence. I decided to take the opportunity to break out another new bundle, or two bundles in fact. Today's card is all about the berries - take a look:

 

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

Sweet Strawberry - Today's starting point was the strawberry that I used to anchor my sentiment - courtesy of the Sweet Strawberry stamp set. The set comes complete with two-step stamps for a berry, flower, leaf and stem, in addition to a selection of varied sentiments. Interesting fact for you: did you know that technically, a strawberry is not actually a berry at all? Botanists call the strawberry a "false fruit," or a pseudocarp. A strawberry is actually a multiple fruit which consists of many tiny individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle. Who knew?! I also used the stamps to decorate the inside of my card:

 

Strawberry Builder Punch Tip - A stamp set with a co-ordinating punch is always great for quick embellishments and whilst I've shared this tip with you before, I thought it worth reminding you of a great way to save even more time with a builder-type punch. Create a mask using a piece of cardstock with all of the pieces punched out as a guide to stamp the individual pieces. This way, when you put the stamped cardstock into the punch, all of the images are aligned and punch out perfectly - check out the photo below to see what I mean:

 

Berry Blessings - What could be better than one berry bundle? Well, two of course! One of this year's Sale-A-Bration freebies with a £90 purchase is the Berry Blessings bundle, comprising the Berry Blessings stamp set that features the sentiment on the front of my card along with the Berry Delightful DSP, full of great berry patterns and coloured ginghams and plaids. These bundles co-ordinate perfectly with each other and if you have one, you are probably going to want the other too - check out the hand-painted look below:

 

This is the first card I've made with these bundles, but they won't be the last - there lots more berries, patterns and colours to choose from!

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

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

IEnjoy your day; we are forecast snow here in the UK today; the James Juniors are very excited, although I'm not sure it will be enough to build a snowman - I'll update you tomorrow! I'll be back then 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.

Oh So Ombre Snowman Season PP524

by Joanne James17. January 2021 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 lovely Claire to host this week and she has a seasonal clean and simple  challenge for us to work with:

       

I used the sketch over at Global Design Project for my layout (I rotated it through 180 degrees) and was also inspired by the snowman and the blue and white winter sentiment over at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week for my clean and simple snow card - take a look:

 

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

I used the Oh So Ombre free Sale-A-Bration paper as the base for my card and heat-embossed the cute skyward-looking snowman onto the ombre paper in white, adding a little extra white with a chalk marker. I added my sentiment, finishing with the word 'snow' made out of the Playful Alphabet letters in white and replacing the 'o' with a glittery white glimmer paper snowflake. Finally I added a sprinkling of sequins from a selection of mixes in my stash amongst the falling snow:

I think I might add this card to next year's Christmas card stash - not that it ever snows here in the UK at Christmas, much to the disappointment of the James Juniors who continue to live in hope! We had the tiniest dusting yesterday morning first thing but it didn't hang around, and we are forecast a return to drizzle and grey skies by today! Hope my little snowman brings some cheer your way in lieu of some sunshine.

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

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; nothing much happening here this weekend as we continue to endure lockdown. I am enjoying having more time to read and build Lego and as a family we seem to have rediscovered chess this past week as we finished watching 'The Queen's Gambit' on Netflix. If you haven't seen it, I can highly recommend it. And you can't bit a game of chess for immersive distraction! 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 Darling Donkey Triangle Trio For PP523

by Joanne James10. January 2021 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 fabulous Ann to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

       

Now I know I said Ann had an 'interesting' colour challenge for us this week ... what I really meant to say was 'incredibly difficult'!! Or at least, it was for me this week! Whilst I don't mind any of these colours in their own, or even paired, as a trio I struggled with them. All three are featured in the new Dandy Garden designer series paper, and usually DSP would be my first port of call for a colour challenge, but the truth is I am not a fan of this pack! Or at least, I should qualify that by saying I'm not a fan of the sides with mixed colours - the monochromatic patterns in this pack are just lovely! Anyway, I had to call in help for this one, both in the form of this week's Paper Craft Crew sketch and a certain James Junior - take a look at what we came up with:

 

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

A Trio Of Triangles - I was drawn to this week's PCC sketch with its three triangles, as I had been having a team chat this week with one of my team who has been using her stitched triangles as part of an ongoing challenge and I mentioned that I had bought these before Christmas but not yet used them and I thought the sketch would be a good way to remedy that. The trio would also enable me to work in this week's colours, so provided a great starting point.

A Darling Donkey - I then needed to decide upon my neutral colour; this is where Rebecca, the self-confessed 'brains' behind today's card, suggested I go with grey and a donkey from the super cute 'Darling Donkeys' stamp set, one of the sets that can be yours free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration. So I coloured one of the funny kicking donkeys and fussy cut it out - perfect!

Hinge-Step HeeHaw - Finally, I just had to work out what to do use for the horizontal background panel. I decided to go with a tri-colour sentiment block, made up of alternating colours of 'heehaw!', one of the sentiments in the Darling Donkeys set. I used my Stampuratus and moved the plates up and down the hinge to perfectly space my words to create a seamless flow across the page. The Stamparatus made light work of the stamping, although 'the hands' (Rebecca's reference to my contribution!) were definitely not working as quickly as 'the brain' (apparently, since it was all her idea!!) I finished my card with a birthday sentiment and a trio of enamel dots. 

Despite my initial reservations about this week's colours, I'm actually pretty pleased with the end result. What do you think? Did Team James pull it off?! Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll be linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges too where they have 'Designer's Choice' themes 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!

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'm hoping to do a little crafting and maybe wrap up and brave the elements for a brisk walk - but I'll see what the temperatures are like first! 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.

Always In My Heart Foiled Heart Anniversary Card PP522

by Joanne James3. January 2021 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for the first challenge of the new year over at The Paper Players! We have a new trio of guest designers to welcome - hello to Debbie, Amanda and Nancy, and it's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she the perfect theme challenge for you to work with:

    

Something new - what a great theme to get our craft on into the new year! I have so many lovely new things that can't wait to share with you - I was truly spoilt for choice! I decided to use the current layout over at The Spot and use new papers, foils dies and stamps on today's card  - take a look:

 

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

Floral Heart Centrepiece - Today's card features a number of new items from the Love You Always suite, which includes two stamp set and die bundles. On today's card I used the fancy floral heart as my centrepiece, cut from Rococco Rose foil to compliment the foiled specialty paper that I used for my panel piece and decorated it with some additional flowers and foliage cut from other dies in the set. Isn't it just so pretty?!

Love You Always Foils - There are both solid foils and specialty foiled paper in the suite. It's always difficult to show foil to full effect on a photograph, so you'll have to take my word for it how beautiful and shiny it is! Here's another view that hopefully captures some of it for you:

Always In My Heart - The Floral Heart Dies alone are fabulous, but it also had a lovely stamp set too. I decided to go with a white heart for the front of my card, stamped in Merry Merlot (I think this red compliments Rococco Rose beautifully) given that I had used Merry Merlot for my card base and finished with a little extra stamping on the inside of my card:

 

It is my wedding anniversary in February, so I might save this one and use it for my dear hubby - if that's not too organised of me! So what do you think? Is the 'Love You Always' Suite one you can see yourself falling in love with? Do leave me a comment below - I will be sharing more projects using new products from this suite in the coming weeks.

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

 

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL. 
4.  Have FUN!

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. No links to the online store today as these products are not available to purchase until 5th January; only another couple of days to wait though!

Enjoy your day; we will be taking our Christmas decorations down today as Jason is back to work tomorrow and this is definitely a two-person job. The Juniors have another week of Christmas vacation but if they had their way, we would have Christmas decorations up until April, so they can't be relied upon to help in a constructive way so it's not a job that can be left until Twelfth Night!! 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.

Christmas Gleaming Ornaments in Silver and Gold PP521

by Joanne James13. December 2020 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's our last challenge of 2020 and the turn of the amazing Claire to host this week. She has a colour challenge for you to work with:

       

I've been super busy this week so have not been a frequent blogger I'm afraid. To make amends, I have two cards for you today! I'm still making Christmas cards and wanted to play along with challenge over at The Card Concept because I loved the textures in the inspiration photo so I decided to make two cards, both using the Fab Friday sketch layout: a silver, black and white one for my Paper Players card and then a gold, black and white version for The Card Concept. So first up - here's my Paper Players card:

 

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

Both cards feature a pair of ornaments from the Christmas Gleaming set, one heat embossed on Whisper White card and the other onto Basic Black, along with piece of foil embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder and wiped with black ink for a slightly more aged look, black and silver/gold glimmer paper, tassels, gem embellishments and mesh ribbon and twine bows. Just check out the texture and detail:

 

I switched out the background embossing folder and one or two other small details to recreate a gold, black and white version:

 

I'm going for a 'classy and elegant' look with my cards today: the polished, shiny finish, layered textures and sparkly embellishments are a definite change from my normal 'clean and layered' style, but I quite like them. I think the sparkle and shine balances all the black and the textures are just lovely:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 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!

This is our last challenge of the year before we take a short break over Christmas. It is time to say thank you and goodbye to Stef, Allisa and Mary, our fabulous guest designers this year. They have all been fabulous and we will miss them lots! 

Enjoy your day; I am going to try and finish writing my Christmas cards today, whilst also squeezing in some festive baking and maybe just a little crafting 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.
 
 
Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

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Hi I'm Joanne and live in Northampton and when I'm not looking after my husband and two beautiful children, am an avid crafter with a passion for all things Stampin' Up!

I must confess that I have never been a big rubber stamper - until I discovered Stampin' Up! that is. I love the fact that I can get such great results with co-ordinating stamps, inks, papers and punches - the possibilities are endless! Join me on my stamping journey as I share the things I love and be inspired to create amazing things yourself!

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This is my personal blog and is not endorsed by Stampin’ Up! I hope you find it a plentiful source of ideas and personal inspiration but please don't copy my designs for contest submission or use for classes, publication or sale without express permission.