Northampton Saints-Inspired Clean and Simple Birthday Card

by Joanne James16. September 2018 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my good friend Claire to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

    

Remember in addition to the theme of "sports/favourite team/team colours", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

  • Minimal layers and embellishments
  • Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
  • Simple and uncluttered

As my regular readers will now, the James household is big into sport: the James Juniors both swim competitively, Rebecca is a keen hockey player and also plays netball and cricket for her school teams, whilst Ben plays basketball, rugby football and cricket. We also enjoy sport as a family and are keen cyclists and scuba divers. Our weekends are often filled with one sporting activity or another and my life seems to revolve around fixtures, matches, galas and competitions. So I was rather spoilt for choice this week! In the end, as I needed something clean and simple I took my inspiration from a birthday gift that Ben received from one of his cousins recently - a drinks bottle bearing the colours and badge of our local town rugby team, the Northampton Saints. Here's a picture of the drink bottle: 

 

And here is the card it inspired that also works perfectly for this week's challenge over at Stamp Ink Paper which is all about large sentiments:

 

I used the stripes for my background and added a diecut sentiment in white - and that's it! Really not much explanation required for my card this week, no stamping and super clean and simple. I do have a tip for you though if you want to create a neat background using strips of cardstock: I cut my cardstock into 1cm strips that were longer than I needed, then glued them to a base piece of black cardstock that I then trimmed neatly to size before adhering to my white card base.

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. 

My 16 year-old nephew plays rugby for the Northampton Saints Junior Academy and is one of the official ball boys for the first team on match days, so it's fair to say is Saints-mad. Ben has already decided this card should be for William; given that his next birthday is in November and this card is made already, I suddenly appear to be very organised for once - it will never last!

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 have a second day of hockey and a birthday party to look forward to. 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.

Country Lane Happy Harvest Blessings PP409

by Joanne James9. September 2018 09:00

I took a few days away from my blog - call it a little birthday gift to myself as I was celebrating being another year older on Friday! It hasn't stopped me creating though and as it's Sunday you all know what that means: it's time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our returning Player, the lovely Anne Marie Hile, to host this week and she has a gorgeous colour challenge for you to work with:

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These colours were asking for something natural and autumnal and I decided to do another make using products from one of my current favourite suites, the Country Lane Suite, for my card today and I used the current sketch over at Inspire.Create for the layout of my card - take a look:

 

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

My Colour Of Choice - I decided to use the Country Lane designer series paper that you see as the two outer vertical border strips as the starting point for my card today, so decided that my colour of choice in addition to the Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake and Blackberry Bliss chosen by Anne Marie would be Early Expresso - a rich, dark brown that outlines the cotton on the paper. I used it to heat emboss the outlines of my jug and floral stem arrangement, and to ink my Pinewood Planks embossing folder for my background stitched circle, then finally for my sentiment strip. Whilst there is a lot of white elsewhere on my card, I am counting this as a neutral rather than a colour in its own right.

Lots of Layers -  I couldn't resist adding lots of layers to my focal point; in addition to my fussy cut flower jug, I added an embossed stitched circle and a stitched label in Blackberry Bliss. Sometimes it just has to be the way to go!

An Embellishment or Two - I finished my card with some Blackberry Bliss natural twine and faceted jewels; this adds a bold pop of colour in addition to the purple berries in my floral jug. 

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 really love this Country Lane set - it is so versatile and lends itself to lots of great autumn-inspired cards and the blooms are great for a spot of colouring with Blends 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!

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! 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.

Treehouse Adventure Lunchbox Love Note Trio PP408

by Joanne James2. September 2018 09:00

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

 

This week is back-to-school week here in the UK and so it's the time that I start thinking about little notes to put in the lunchboxes and pencil cases of my James Juniors to let them know I'm thinking of them during the school day, hence my chosen theme this week.

When I think about lunchbox love note cards, I like to create something that is slightly smaller than usual that can be slipped into a pocket or pencil case (or lunchbox!) and 'discovered' during the day. One of the sets I couldn't wait to get my hands on when the new annual catalogue went live was 'Treehouse Adventure' - so perfect for these types of cards! So I decided to create a little trio of cards using this set for the challenge this week - take a look:

 

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

Take A Simple Notecard - If I am making lunchbox notes, I generally like them to be quick and easy to create and tend to make them smaller than a standard card as they are easier to slip into a lunchbox, blazer pocket or pencil case. At 5 1/4" x 3", Stampin' Up!'s notecards and envelopes are just perfect for this. I took a trio of notecards and stamped three simple designs, mostly one layer apart from the smallest amount of fussy cutting (the signs, flags and tyre swing) and some punched sentiments. Easy peasy!

Here are each of my cards individually:

 

I just love this card - what a great sentiment! This next one is a perfect uplifting phrase for the start of a new school year: 

 

And this final one is perfect for the start of a new year and all the changes that this brings:

 

Treehouse Adventure Colour Combo - I chose a bright and cheery colour combo for my child-friendly notecards - here it is if you would like to save it to use on your projects:

 

A Little Treat Too - In addition to my notecard trio, I decided to make a quick and easy co-ordinating treat too. I wrapped a small chocolate bar in a piece of Brights DSP and stuck it top and bottom and added a simple ribbon and tag - you can see the wrapped and an unwrapped version below:

 

These cards will be for Ben and I often bring him a little treat on a Friday afternoon to celebrate the end of the school week and give him a little pick-me-up before his Friday evening swimming lesson. We often play a game of '10 questions', where he has 10 questions to try and guess what the treat inside the packaging is, by asking questions that can have only 'yes' or 'no' answers. If he guesses within the 10 questions, he gets his treat - I don't think he's never not managed it, but it has enabled him to develop some astute questioning skills, not to mention his knowledge of sweet treats, brands and packaging! It is one of the little games we play to make our car journey pass quickly - I can highly recommend 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. 

I am also linking today's notecards up with the challenge over at SUO Challenges where the theme is 'Babies and Kids' this week. And just in case you think my older James Junior is missing out, not so - I made some slightly more sophisticated notes for her which were inspired by a rather unlikely object which I will share with you later this week!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week - the lovely Ann Schach is back with us too as a permanent design team member again following an extended break, so be sure to pop by her blog and say hi:

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 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 Trio Of Festive Sneak Peeks For The Paper Players PP407

by Joanne James26. August 2018 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 fabulously creative Jaydee to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

 

I just love this sketch and could have used it a hundred times over (thanks Jaydee!) and in fact I actually used it to make 6 cards in one sitting, two sets of three cards each, all featuring fabulous new products from the forthcoming Autumn-Winter catalogue and I'm going to share one of those sets with you today.

My cards focus on some of the fabulous products in one of my favourite new festive suites; here are the three cards I'm sharing with you today:

 

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

Joyous Noel - I decided that the sketch layers lent themselves to a showcase of both the designer series paper and co-ordinating glimmer paper in the Joyous Noel Suite. The papers feature classic festive seasonal designs with copper foil accents on one side of each sheet and take it from me, they are beautiful! I co-ordinated each of my chosen patterns with a background of glimmer paper - these papers come in Copper, Merry Merlot and Tranquil Tide as on the close up of the card below:

A Wooden Sentiment - Each of my cards feature a wooden sentiment element, from another of the suites in the catalogue - the Festive Farmhouse Suite. These wooden accents come with a light grey finish (I've coloured mine - more on that below!) and contain 3 separate sentiments, along with a collection of stars and Christmas trees. There are a total of 32 pieces for just £3.75, so they represent great value - I know I'll be using lots of these! Each of my cards features a different sentiment and detail - the second of my cards is the set features the word 'joy' and a  couple of stars:

 

Shades of Copper - As I mentioned above, the wooden elements are grey in colour straight out of the packet. Ordinarily I would have heat embossed them in copper embossing powder, but there is a new product in the seasonal catalogue that does a much better job: shimmer paint. Yes, for those of you die-hard Stampin' Up! fans that go back as far as I do, you will remember we used to stock champagne shimmer paint previously; the new catalogue includes shimmer paint in 4 colours: champagne, white, gold and the copper that I used here. Simply apply with a sponge dauber to add subtle and shine to your projects - so easy! Here's a close-up of the detail so you can appreciate just how pretty it is:

 

And here's the full final card in my set - this card really is all about the copper:

 

Don't you just love all that shimmer and sparkle? I am going to be getting through a lot of this paper during the festive season; it will also be featuring in the projects at my two day Creative Escape Luxury Weekend Craft Retreat in October. You can read all about that in yesterday's post here, along with details of a Bank Holiday offer for those who would like to join me and fill the last few remaining spots - I hope you can join me for some festive creative fun!

Oh and I almost forgot - I decorated the insides of each of my cards too! Here's a peek inside:

 

Not long now until the new seasonal catalogue launches and you can purchase these products for yourselves; meanwhile, 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!

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 will share my other set of three cards that I made with today's sketch later in the week. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend 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.

Fairies and Cherries For The Paper Players PP406

by Joanne James19. August 2018 09:00

Another week of school summer vacation in the James household this week! Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. It's the first challenge for our returning Paper Players designer, the lovely Anne-Marie Hile, this week so be sure to pop by her blog with a friendly 'hello'. It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

    

Remember in addition to the theme of "fruits and vegetables", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

  • Minimal layers and embellishments
  • Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
  • Simple and uncluttered

Having trawled through my collection of current stamps, it turns out I have very few with fruit (or veg!) for that matter, so a little creative stamping was called for. I actually found some fruit 'hidden' in the Fairy Celebration stamp set - take a look:

 

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

This little fairy happens to be hanging from a cherry tree, so a little watercolouring using my new watercolour pencils and an aquapainter (I am so happy that we have more of these now, the new colours in the second pack available exclusively this month extend the variety of colours and allow much greater flexibility - don't leave it too late to get yours!) was all I needed to create a focal point for my card. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the fairy wings and some fine tip glue to the cherries to give them a glossy finish - both of which are difficult to see from the photos, but add subtle detail in real life.

I decided to use the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week for my layout, and used a couple of pieces cut with my Stitched Labels Framelits then trimmed to add interest behind my main image. I have seen these Stitched Labels Framelits used on some fabulous cards elsewhere on the internet and hold my Paper Player team mate LeAnne responsible for me 'needing' to add them to my own collection (check out her blog for some great examples of how to use them!) so thought I would try something a little different with them. The two blocks of colour mirror the colouring on my cherries and leaves and add detail, without encroaching too much into my white space and maintaining my overall clean and simple feel.

And that's all there is to it: clean and simple - 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 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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another project: a Christmas card featuring some sneak peeks of some great new products from the forthcoming seasonal catalogue. Do come back then, you won't want to miss it. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Enjoy Life And A Million Dollar Sunrise For The Paper Players PP405

by Joanne James12. August 2018 09:00

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my wonderful and talented friend LeAnne to host this week and she has a gorgeous colour challenge for us to work with:

    

I fell in love with this trio of orange/yellows that LeAnne chose and whilst I was tempted to go floral, I decided instead to use the sketch inspiration over at Fusion for my layout and create a pretty sunrise and silhouette scene using the Enjoy Life stamp set - take a look:

 

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

A Million Dollar Stamp Set - I decided to use a combination of images from the 'Enjoy Life' stamp set on my card today. This stamp set, with its beautiful collection of silhouettes and inspirational sentiments, was designed by Connie Fitzgerald, one of Stampin' Up!'s Million Dollar Sales Achievers, as a celebration of this milestone achievement. I absolutely love this set and it was one of the first on my wishlist when the annual catalogue was launched - thank you Connie for such a great set!

Sunrise, Sunset Made Easy - I wanted to create a vertical panel with a sunrise that featured all three of the challenge colours, so I punched a 3/4" circle and masked off my sun and used a sponge brayer to build up a graduated sunrise, blending each of the colours in turn starting with the lightest colour at the top. Sponge brayers are so great for this; they make light work of the art of ink blending, and can be washed out when you're done. I also brayered the colours on the diagonal of the bottom corner of the inside panel too and added a little interior detail:

 

Blended Ombre Embossing - My card today is ultra-clean, with minimal layers and detail to allow my inked panel to really shine, but I'd also like to share another great tip with you; did you notice I created a blended ombre of colour on my sentiment that mimics my sunrise? Curious as to how I created it? With a Basic Black card base, I originally heat-embossed the sentiment in white, but this was too stark. I decided to use my Pumpkin Pie Blends to carefully colour the lettering and change its colour. Did you know you can use your Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in this way? This tones down the brightness of the white and adds a co-ordinating pop of colour that wouldn't have been possible with ink alone on such a dark background.

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!

I usually struggle with colour challenges, but this bright, monotone pallet really spoke to me - so many creative possibilities! I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week. 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.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas for PP404

by Joanne James5. August 2018 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

    

I decided to use this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout and by complete coincidence have another card for you using the Half Full stamp set I featured last week, although this week's is decidedly more festive - take a look:

 

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

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas -  When I came to make my card for today's challenge, I realised I actually don't own that many overtly funny stamp sets - clearly something to be rectified another time! However the principle reason that I purchased the Half Full stamp set that I used on last week's card was for the sentiment that I used on today's card - what a fun play on words! Along with some fussy cut holly it makes for the perfect festive tipple.

Humour on the Inside - The real humour in this set comes when this sentiment on the front of the card is combined with the one I used on the inside. I actually made two of these cards at the same time (I wanted to make a dent in my Christmas card stash!) which made it easy to photograph both the inside and outside at the same time to get the full effect:

 

I just love that - makes me chuckle very time I read it! So perfect for my wine-loving besties, who I know will appreciate the sentiment too.

Under The Mistletoe Plaid - I wanted to add some festive colour to my card and settled on this warming plaid from the Under The Mistletoe designer series paper set. The warm colours were just what I was looking for to go with my glass of wine - here's the colour combination if you would like to save it for a future project:

 

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 off for a day at the waterpark with a bunch of 11 year old boys to begin the birthday celebrations of the youngest of the James Juniors. To be followed by a BBQ, football and Nerf wars, so a fairly full-on day - wish me luck!

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.

Half Full For The Paper Players PP403

by Joanne James29. July 2018 09:00

Another busy week in the James household with little time for crafting - too busy having holiday fun with the Juniors and putting everything back into my fabulous new kitchen which is pretty much finished at last! I Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my awesome friend Claire to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

    

A card with a tag - I haven't made one of those in a while! I decided that the sketch layers lent themselves to a card using the Half Full stamp set which I haven't yet used for a non-Christmas card, along with a little DSP too - take a look:

 

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

Half Full And An Old Faithful - My starting point for today's card was the tag and I decided to use the ready-to-stamp one that comes with the half Full stamp set. This makes the tag element really easy to create, with the sentiment, decoration and border all laid out. Not only that, it perfectly co-ordinates with one of my most-used punches, the fabulous Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, which makes tag creation a breeze. I fussy-cut the bunch of grapes for extra interest and also used the single glass and bottle stamps to create a tone-on-tone background panel and to decorate the inside of my card and the envelope, whilst I stamped the row of glasses in white kraft ink to create a contrasting border too. I am quite partial to a glass of red (or white!) so this set is perfect for cards for my wine-loving friends and also to quickly dress-up a bottle to say thank you to a party hostess, for example.

Tranquil Textures Colour Combo - I often use colour combinations straight from Stampin' Up!'s designer series papers as the basis for my cards and today as I looked for something with a non-descript pattern that would compliment my various stamped layers and tag I decided upon this Night of Navy, Whisper White and Fresh Fig combination from the Tranquil Textures pack. Here is the colour combo for you to save should you wish to use it as inspiration for your future projects too:

Whilst this pack is designed to co-ordinate with the Tranquil Textures Suite, which has an under-the-sea theme, I wasn't constrained by this. The pack has lots of interesting textured designs that can be used in many other ways too. This is my 'twist' for the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week, although it is a little more tenuous than some of those that the JAI design team have come up with - check them out to see which items they have used in a different way on their projects. Don't forget these papers are available for just 3 more days as part of the current 'buy 3, get 1 free' DSP offer that is running this month; if you missed the details, you can read all about it here.

A Trellis Textured Border - The final element to my card was some actual texture, courtesy of the Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder on the navy border panel. It creates just enough interest to differentiate and separate the layers, without detracting from the stamped images.

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 will be spending mine in London at the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup with the rest of the James family, as we have tickets to watch the India v USA and England v Ireland matches that are taking place this afternoon. I'm hoping we will escape the thunderstorms and it will stay dry for us and the players, although I'm sure they will appreciate the slightly cooler temps that we have been having this week.

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.

Cancer Support Ribbon CAS Card for PP402

by Joanne James22. July 2018 09:00

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

 

Remember in addition to the theme of "negative space", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

  • Minimal layers and embellishments
  • Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
  • Simple and uncluttered

Now I love to use negative space on a card - if you browse my blog you will find tons of examples. Today though I have a card that is super quick and easy to recreate using a thinlit I haven't used before, that also showcases a glimpse of one of the fabulous designer series papers that is on offer as part of this month's 'buy 3, get 1 free' paper promotion - take a look:

 

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

Negative Space - I am a big fan of using dies to create 'negative space' as I think it creates real interest on a clean and simple card. Today I chose to use the largest die in my Support Ribbon Framelits. This die cuts a ribbon shape and in order to retain this shape when you are using the negative, you need to remember to retain and add in the extra piece that forms the centre of the loop. This will be loose once you've made your diecut - the easiest way to ensure you get it in the right place is to place the positive diecut back into the gap to align the centre piece and stick it in place, before the removing the positive diecut once more. 

Impressionist Pinks - I decided to add interest to my ribbon by using designer series paper in my negative space, and chose this gorgeous impressionist pattern of pinks from the Garden Impressions DSP set. I think this is my current favourite paper; good job it's in the 'buy 3, get 1 free' set so that I can stock up and save at the same time! Patterned paper should be used sparingly with lots of white (or in my case pink!) space surrounding it, to ensure a 'CAS' feel is retained.

Hope and Courage - I overlaid my negative space with a stacked diecut of the word 'hope' from the Sunshine Wishes thinlits set, which I felt fitted with the theme of my card. Cancer is such a vicious disease, hope is essential for those diagnosed with it. It also tied in perfectly with the stamped inside of my card (the only stamping on today's card!), courtesy of the Ribbon of Courage stamp set:

 

I hope this card will be uplifting for the recipient and brighten their day.

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!
 
I can't wait to see your clean and simple creations and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - it looks like we are going to enjoy another day of sunshine here in the UK so I will be looking forward to spending some time in my garden, amongst other things. 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.

Serene Garden PP401 & GDP146

by Joanne James15. July 2018 09:00

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who joined in with our 400th anniversary celebration theme challenge these past two weeks - what an amazing gallery! You made it very difficult for us to choose our 'cut aboves' and the headliner this week for sure. We will be announcing the results of our random.org draw and the winners of all those amazing prizes donated by our generous sponsors on Wednesday; meanwhile, it's my turn to host this week and I have a bold and vibrant colour challenge for you to work with:

    

I've had the Serene Garden stamp set and Garden Scene Framelits out on my desk preparing for my next technique class, so decided to use them for my card today, which also uses this week's Global Design Project sketch for my layout:

 

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

A Peek of Granny Apple Green - I've been getting to grips with the new inks in my collection following the recent colour revamp by Stampin' Up! and I chose three of my new favourite bold and bright colours for my challenge this week. That said, my card today features a lot of white in order to balance these colours and keep my card feeling light and bright and not too garish. I've stamped each of the elements of my design - leaves, flowers and butterfly - in one of the challenge colours. The colour that features most is the fresh Granny Apple Green, since I stamped the leafy corner on a mat in the same shade and then used the Garden Scene Framelits to cut out the leaf sections, to reveal the tone-on-tone image below. I toyed with stamping the flowers and butterfly tone-on-tone too, but when I put it together I decided I preferred the colours on white with a little more added with a blender pen - an altogether more subtle affair.

Words of Courage - The Serene Garden stamp set is sentiment-free, so I rooted through my stamp collection and decided these words from the Ribbon of Courage stamp set fit perfectly with my layout and immediately gave me an intended recipient too, which is always nice. The swirly font fits nicely with this stamp set, although I'm sure there will be many others that work well with it too.

Polka Dots and an Embellishment Cheat - When it came to embellishing my card, I added a strip of Lovely Lipstick cardstock with a couple of notches punched out with my 1/2" circle punch to hold my pretty white polka dot tuille. I also added a trio of one of my favourite new embellishments, the glitter enamel dots, around my sentiment and yes, here's the cheat: they are actually Gorgeous Grape and Melon Mambo in colour. They tone in beautifully with the colour scheme though,so I went with it (I know my secret is safe with you!)

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 love this colour combo and know it's one I will use again; the tuille bow is a little fussy for my generally clean style, but I do love how easy it is to work with and adds a real touch of pretty to the finished card.

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!

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. Today I will be waving off the eldest of my James Juniors for a 2 week sports tour of South Africa to play hockey and netball and experience all of the tourist delights this fascinating country has to offer. As for me, I will be at home braving week 2 of the summer vacation with the youngest of the James Juniors and continuing to monitor progress on the kitchen renovation project - I know where I would rather be, for sure! I have at least managed to get a little making done over the last few days so 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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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.