Pastels Big on Birthdays For CAS Colours and Sketches

by Joanne James4. April 2017 13:00

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's new challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches where for the next month I am going to be the guest designer! I shall be joining the lovely ladies on the CAS Colours and Sketches team and each Tuesday at 1pm GMT I will be publishing my post for the new challenge for the week. My first week is the following colour challenge:

   

Since all three colours are pastels I'm also linking up with the team over at Less Is More for the second time this week.

I decided to go with florals and a clean and simple birthday card - take a look:

 

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

Big On Birthdays - I used one of the sentiments from the 'Big on Birthdays' set as the focal point for my card today. A simple base of So Saffron and a Pear Pizzazz frame and all that was left was to spend some time colouring the florals in a combination of all three challenge colours. I added the co-ordinating longer floral bough on the back of my envelope and inside my card for a little extra detail and brushed the flowers on the front of my card with my clear Wink of Stella for a subtle sparkle, but it really was as easy as that!

This stamp set is great for a pretty card in a record amount of time, perfect for when you need a card at the last minute or are just short on time like me 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 '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 the rest of the team has created to inspire you this week. 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.

Mediterranean Moments and Easter Chick Punch Art

by Joanne James3. April 2017 08:00

I've a busy this week ahead with this month's technique classes then a trip to Amsterdam for Onstage Live with thousands of other Stampin' Up! demonstrators from across Europe for the launch of the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue - a whole two months ahead of its publish date - just one of the many things I love about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. More of that in future posts for sure, so this is a week I have to be organised! Today I have a couple of cards to share: here is the first one for this week's challenges over at The Color Throwdown and CAS Colours and Sketches:

      

I love this sketch layout - perfect for a large image. I chose to use one of the sketched images from the 'Mediterranean Moments' set and unusually decided to stamp it directly onto a coloured background:

I stamped in Night of Navy rather than black and added an enamel dot to my sentiment banner, but otherwise the stamped image speaks for itself and is perfect uncoloured for a clean and simple card. I also stamped one of the other images from the Mediterranean Moments set on the inside of my card. I'm also linking this card up with the challenge over at Less Is More where the recipe this week is to use three pastel colours.

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. 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

  

My second card today is for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge where the sketch was perfect for a fun Easter card idea that I had:

I saw some great Easter biscuits on Pinterest and one of them got me thinking about creating a round punch art-style chick - take a look:

 

I used my stitched shape circle framelit, a heart and flower framelit and the smallest shape from the Blossom Punch to create my fun chick and added a few co-ordinating strips of floral Brights designer series paper. My sentiment is from the Sale-A-Bration set 'Hey Chick' but if you don't have this you could add a 'Happy Easter' from Teeny Tiny Sentiments instead. A lighthearted clean and simple take on the sketch 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 '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.

If The Cape Fits ... My Hero GDP080

by Joanne James2. April 2017 21:00

This is my second post for today - you can see my regular Paper Players post here. This card is for this week's challenge over at The Global Design Project where this week they are casing one of their design team, Louise Sharp and this is her inspiration card:

 

I haven't made a tag card in a while and this one of Louise's is so pretty! Here's my take on it:

 

Here's the lowdown on today's card:

If The Cape Fits - I chose to feature the fun cape image from Everyday Hero on my tag as opposed to Louise's wheelbarrow and go with a fun card in bright primary colours that would make a great masculine card, for a would-be superhero. My image was also coloured, albeit in just one colour, Pacific Point - I also added a gold foil star and brushed my whole cape with my clear Wink of Stella brush for some caped-crusader sparkle. I also included the first part of my sentiment across my tag - the remainder I stamped on the inside:

 

Party Pattern - For my background I also chose to use a piece of designer series paper, taken from the Party Animal pack. The bold Pacific Point paper with subtle pattern was just what I needed for today's card.

Superstar Border - Instead of using a co-ordinating piece of DSP for my horizontal border, I decided to go with a punched border of confetti stars in red and gold, to add to my hero design. The fun thing about casing someone else's card is that you can take lots of basic elements that are the same - the layout, tag, coloured image - yet make them your own to produce something completely different.

My card is much less subtle than the challenge card, but similar in many other ways and it's clear to see where I did a 'Copy And Selectively Edit' of Louise's original. Thanks Louise for the inspiration 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project (or two!) Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Sale-A-Bration Any Occasion Baby Cards

by Joanne James30. March 2017 19:30

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that I made for my last Sale-A-Bration class using Stampin' Up!s precut notelets and envelopes - take a look:

 

 

These cards would be great for a note to welcome a new baby boy or girl and would also make nice birth announcement cards. I made a video showing how I put these together - here it is if you would like to see just how quick and easy they are to make:

This stamp set contains lots of fun bits and pieces - I'm sure there are lots of similar combinations you could make for well, any occasion! 

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. 

The links to my online store for the supplies to make today's cards are included below, but bear in mind you only have until 10.50pm GMT tomorrow evening to snap up your own 'Any Occasion' stamp set before we say goodbye to Sale-A-Bration for another year.

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.

 

Flourish Thinlits Framed Sentiment Card

by Joanne James29. March 2017 10:00

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch which is also my second entry over at Less Is More this week:

    

Here's my card:

 

 

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

Diecuts and Layers - When designing my card, I couldn't decide whether to stamp my base layer and diecut the sentiment, as suggested by the sketch, or whether to work it the other way around. The great thing about a sketch is that it's a starting point and always open to interpretation. I eventually opted for the latter, stamping my sentiment on my absolute base layer of Smoky Slate and heat embossing it in white, then creating a diecut oval in my top layers to frame my sentiment and then decorate this with my Flourish Thinlit diecut flowers. 

A Heartfelt Sentiment - Stampin' Up! sells some great stamp sets that have religious sentiment at the heart of their design and whilst they aren't for everyone there are a number that have a good mix and can be appreciated whatever your preference. Flourishing Phrases is one of those sets: some wonderful words of sympathy and marriage congratulation alongside some of general greeting and thanks. They also come in two parts: the inside of today's card is stamped with the second part of the one shown above, which reads "so he made you" - perfectly appropriate for the intended recipient of today's card.

A Flirt With 'That' Pink - When choosing my colour combination today, I started knowing that I wanted to use white for my floral diecut and so needed to choose a colour for my base that would highlight my embossed sentiment and another that would both compliment it and show off my white florals. I decided to go with Flirty Flamingo for my card front 'white space'; this is one of those colours that I find can be a little harsh when stamped, especially on white (you can see if on the envelope beneath my card in the photo above) yet the cardstock has a wonderful rich, yet soft warm pink tone and compliments Smoky Slate beautifully. Feel free to save this colour combination if it's one that appeals to you too:

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

 

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

Enjoy the rest of 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.

Sale-A-Bration Metallic Ribbon Woven Anniversary Heart

by Joanne James28. March 2017 19:30

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's Less Is More challenge where the recipe is to use a frame:

I used a heart diecut to frame a panel of ribbon weaving as a feature on a wedding anniversary card - take a look:

 

I made today's card to showcase the metallic ribbon that is one of the Sale-A-Bration products available FREE with a £45 order before the end of the month - only a couple more days to go to get yours! This gorgeous smooth ribbon ties beautiful bows, but I wanted to show another way that ribbon can be used on your project. I made a video tutorial to explain how you too could recreate this card with the same metallic ribbon or something similar:

I hope you found that useful - I haven't made any video tutorials in a while, I'd forgotten how much fun they are! 

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

 

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

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Cool Treats Trio

by Joanne James27. March 2017 20:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a quick clean-and-simple card using this week's colours over at The Color Throwdown:

 

I love these bright colours and having had a pleasant few days of sunshine here in the UK my thoughts have been turning to Cool Treats - take a look:

 

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

Cool Treats - The trio of bright colours with a compliment of white were perfect to showcase these delicious looking lollies from the Cool Treats stamp set. I stamped one of the lollies directly onto my white mat, then fussy cut the orange one so that I could pop it up on dimensionals. There are co-ordinating framelits for this stamp set, but I didn't use them here as I wanted my lolly to have a white border so cut it by hand. Hardly a trial though - it's such an easy shape.

Meltingly Delicious - One of the things that is fun about this stamp set is that there are a number of co-ordinating detail stamps that you can use to add highlights to your ice creams or lollies to make it look as if they are two-tone, or even melting. I added stamped mine onto the lollies in Versamark and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder to add a nice sheen - so difficult to photograph, but great in real life. Such fun!

A Visual Triangle - It is often said that a good designer works in threes - in terms of card elements, images or embellishments, for example. It helps to balance a card and is particularly good to create a focal point on a clean and simple card. Here I've balanced my two lollies with my sentiment to create a visually pleasing triangle of images, and I've mirrored this with the placement of my candy dots. I also used three colours. A little card-making tip that is worth bearing in mind if you have a card that doesn't seem to be working for you - you're welcome :-) 

And that's it - all done! I'm sure as Summer is well and truly upon us this is a set that I will be using more of.

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.

Easter Basket Bunch For The Paper Players

by Joanne James26. March 2017 09:00

To all my UK readers - Happy Mother's Day! It is of course Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend the super-talented Claire is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

       

I love a good sketch and this one has some great layering options. I decided that I would use the pretty Spring colours over at Fab Friday to create a basket of flowers for an Easter card - take a look:

 

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

I kept my layers fairly neutral - a stitched circle in Mint Macaron, a panel of Calypso Coral By The Shore designer series paper - and used the Easter sentiment from the 'Suite Sentiments' set on a Very Vanilla banner, with the real focal point for my card being my basket of flowers. I cut and layered my basket using the Basket Builder framelits then stamped my daffodils and peach flowers in Memento Black onto solid colour cardstock using the Basket Bunch set and cut the out with the co-ordinating framelits, finishing them with some Calypso Coral subtles candy dots. I love the Basket Bunch bundle, not only for the Easter eggs and bunny, but also the perfect daffodils (well, I am Welsh so it is to be expected!). The framelits make cutting out these little pieces so easy and offer some great layering options too.

I'm also linking up with those lovely ladies over at As You See It too - for me, there is nothing that says Spring more than daffodils. They are so bright and cheery and inexpensive and I love to have them cut in a vase, but also to see them along the banks and hedgerows as I drive around the countryside. At the moment there are rows and rows of them on my journey driving Ben to school - they never fail to brighten my 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:

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

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'm looking forward to a family lunch and maybe, just maybe, a sneaky visit into my craft room this afternoon. 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.

Showers Of Happiness To Welcome Little Miss Croghan Blog Hop

by Joanne James25. March 2017 14:00

Today I'm sharing a special baby card for a very special person!  The wonderfully talented and amazing Lesley Croghan, designer and creator of many popular online papercraft challenges, and her husband Corey, are expecting their first child, a little girl. To this end the lovely Lori Turner of Caffeinated Creativity has organised a fabulous blog hop to celebrate the forthcoming new arrival into the Croghan family.

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I have participated in many of Lesley's challenges, am a regular reader of her blog, Always Playing With Paper and I am privileged to be a designer with The Paper Players, a challenge that Lesley founded some years ago that is still going strong. I have a lot to thank her for and am thrilled to be participating in this hop to celebrate the arrival of Little Miss Croghan.

I knew immediately what kind of card I wanted to create - it had to feature one of the cuties from the Moon Baby stamp set:

 

As my card was going to have to travel from the UK to Canada to reach Lesley, I decided I was best to stick to my clean and simple style. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice - I just had to go with 'Moon Baby' for my baby card this week - this is such a perfect baby set! You know how I am a fan of partial die cutting and today decided to use my sweet umbrella baby to overhang the top layer of my card for added visual interest. I watercoloured my baby and umbrella in Melon Mambo using my aquapainter to add a pop of colour to my pale pink card.

Hello, Hello, Hello - I decided to use one of the sentiments in the 'Moon Baby' set to create a repeat 'Hello Baby' background panel - a great way to combine the sentiments in the set. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to get everything nicely lined up and staggered the words on each row to create a uniform pattern. 

A Shower of Hearts - I felt like my baby needed a shower of something to warrant the umbrella, so decided to use the hearts framelit from the Umbrella Weather set to create my shower. With the pink layer beneath, the little hearts against the beautiful lustre of the Shimmery White top layer look so pretty: 

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. 

There are a huge number of people participating in today's blog hop; you can see the full collection of cards on Lori's blog here and it would be great if you could visit as many of these as possible and leave the owners some love. We have also sent our cards to Lesley for her to open today en masse, so you will get a sense of the wonderful shower of love we sent to the Croghan family this morning!

Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

 

Boy and Girl Moon Baby Cards

by Joanne James19. March 2017 09:00

   

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

 

I've had the need for a few baby cards recently - all girls, funnily enough, whereas the last time I had a run on baby cards it was all boys, funny how that happens! So I decided that this week's challenge would be a great opportunity to replenish my stock, especially as we have some great new Stampin' Up! baby sets in the Spring-Summer Catalogue. I decided to create two cards today, identical in design but one each in a boy and girl colour scheme, using this week's sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches - I'm also linking up with the team over at TGIF Challenges where their challenge this week is also all things baby:

   #tgifc99 Baby! Oh, Baby!

I couldn't wait to ink up my 'Moon Baby' stamp set again for my cards today - take a look, here's the baby boy card:

 

And here is the baby girl card:

 

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

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - I stamped the moon baby onto Shimmery White cardstock and watercoloured them using my inks and aquapainters. I used my Stitched Shape Framelits to cut out my circle and added a layer of Clear Wink of Stella for added sparkle to my moon. I also added a gold metallic shape star to each of my cards for a fun detail.

Tone on Tone - To add interest to my background, I stamped the trio of stars randomly in the same colour ink as my cardstock base. This is a great way to add extra detail and interest whilst still keep your card clean and simple.

Blue For A Boy, Pink For A Girl - I used a duo of light and dark colours for each of my cards, with the darker colour for my card base and the lighter colour picked up in the banner. Here is my colour combination if you would like to save 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 just love the images in the 'Moon Baby' stamp set - it makes for such cute baby cards! I can't decide which of these colour combinations I like the most - if you have a preference, why not let me know in the comments below - I love to hear your thoughts!

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

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

 

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend - the James household is busy today with one of the James Juniors playing in a hockey tournament, whilst the other is attending a skills day in connection with school which will see him learning shooting and fencing (I think I'll be taking cover!!)

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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About Me

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.