New Wednesday Weekly Deals Are Here!

by Joanne James13. August 2014 08:00

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for August (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right). 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

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

More great deals on Big Shot Dies this week, along with the gorgeous chevron ribbon and the ever-useful Artisan Label Punch.

Back later with today's creative post - happy stampin'!

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Promotions | Shop Online

One Layer Wondrous Wreath Christmas Card

by Joanne James12. August 2014 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's challenge over at Less is More that is full of sneak peeks from the new seasonal Autumn-Winter catalogue that is launching at the end of the month. This week it's a one layer challenge with the focus on foliage; the minute I saw the theme, I knew exactly what I wanted to create. Here is my card:

I have used the new Wondrous Wreath set for my card today. This set comprises layered elements to create a beautiful Christmas wreath and also comes with a set of co-ordinating framelits, that make light work or cutting out. It's a photopolymer set too, which makes for incredibly easy alignment of the images - no stamp-a-ma-jig required! For today's card though I used the stamps alone - they are also great for a one layer card. I stamped the base wreath in Pear Pizzazz, then stamped the second section in Old Olive. I then stamped the berries and bow in Versamark and heat embossed with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder to leave a lovely sheen. Lastly, I added the sentiment from the same set in Cherry Cobbler ink.

The seasonal catalogue is choc-full of amazing products, but I think this may turn out to be my favourite of the Christmas sets due to its sheer versatility. If you like the look of this set, you only have another 16 days to wait until the new catalogue launches.

Following yesterday's fun day of Lego building, a trip to the cinema and birthday cake, today I'm partying of a different kind - I'm demonstrating at a Stampin' Up! party this afternoon. Wish me luck! Back tomorrow with this week's Design Team card for the Colour Me...! card challenge. until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

*Wonderous Wreath - available 28th August

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

 

 

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Cards | Stamping

Hip Hip Hooray - Sea Street Shaker Birthday Card

by Joanne James11. August 2014 08:00

It's Monday and today I have a special card for a special day - today my youngest James Junior turns 7! I can't quite believe it - some days I'm not sure where the last 7 years have gone. So today I'm sharing a birthday card I made for Ben to celebrate his special day. I used this week's sketch over at the Paper Craft Crew as my inspiration: 

My card is slightly larger than usual - A5, 21cm x 14.9cm - and features a fun shaker element along with my favourite Sea Street stamp set:

The shaker is made using the surround from the On Film framelit set and filled with fussy cut starfish, crabs, lobsters, gold sequins and some fish and anchors cut with my now retired Oh Whale! clearlit. I stamped the 'Hip Hip Hooray' onto the background before putting the shaker together and carried the sentiment on to the inside of the card:

We have a fun day planned today, including a visit to the cinema and maybe even a cycle ride on his new bicycle if the weather holds! 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.

Simply Created Thank You Collage Card

by Joanne James10. August 2014 08:00

Yay - it's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! Today Nance has an interesting colour challenge for us:

 

Today I have an unusual card to share with you, in more ways than one! When I saw Nance's colour palette, I immediately thought of the Simply Created Banner Kit that I used for the decorations for Rebecca's recent birthday party; I knew I had a few offcuts and leftover pieces of DSP from the kit and that Calypso Coral, Blushing Bride and Basic Grey were 3 of the feature colours of the add-on kit, so using this week's sketch over at Create with Connie and Mary as my starting point (perfect for using up scraps!) I set to work. Here is my finished card:

Using Calypso Coral as my base, I layered a number of strips of DSP in varying widths/lengths across the front of my card, alternating between the Calypso Coral/Blushing Bride chevron pattern and the Basic Grey/Smoky Slate chevron pattern. I then embossed a strip of Blushing Bride cardstock with the Arrows Embossing Folder and cut one end to a point. I layered some Calypso Coral chevrons that I had cut out with one of the framelits from the Circle Thinlit card, then created a tag, again using a pre-printed leftover tag from the kit. I added some black chevron ribbon (a little bit of a liberty as far as the colour scheme is concerned, but the closest match I could get from my stash!) and tied it with some retired Calypso Coral baker's twine in a double bow. I finished my tag with a die cut 'thank' in Hello Honey, part of the 'thankful' framelit from the now retired Expressions Thinlits set (still available on the European Clearance Rack if you fancy snapping up a bargain!) and the YOU cut out of Basic Grey with my Big Shot and the new Perfect Print Alphabet Bigz die. lastly, I added an Essentials Hardware Clip to my tag before adhering it to my card with dimensionals.

I love the idea of collage cards but find them really difficult to create, so am quite pleased with the way this arrow-filled card turned out. Also, on completion I realised that I hadn't done any stamping at all on this card - how unusual is that??! For more inspiration from the Design Team and to see the fabulous cards they've made using this colour palette, pop on over to The Paper Players blog to see what they've created and to link up your own card.

Back tomorrow with a fun birthday card; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Live The Life You've Imagined

by Joanne James9. August 2014 20:53

Yesterday we spent a fun day with friends and I was out in the evening, so didn't manage to squeeze in a blog post. However today I'm sharing two cards to make up for it! These are a couple of cards I made for Stampin' Up! using the Traveler stamp set that I demonstrated at the Stampin' Up! UK Regional Training Day in Telford at the end of May. The Traveler stamp set consists of a number of travel-themed sketch images and I created the cards that I'm sharing today to show that masculine cards don't always have to be dark or brown colours - take a look at the first one:

 

Both cards follow the same basic design: this one has a Marina Mist card base, with a Wild Wasabi panel stamped with the World Map stamp in the same colour, then the Very Vanilla tag is punched with the Angle Tag Topper Punch, stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Early Espresso embossing powder and the globe sponged with Marina Mist and Wild Wasabi. An early Espresso bker's twine double bow finished it off and it is adhered to the card with dimensionals. The final banner is cut from Marina Mist and stamped in Early Espresso and embellished with a tag left over from my Hip Hip Hooray Simply Created card kit.

I created exactly the same card, this time using a much brighter colour combination just to pep things up a bit:

This time I used a Pumpkin Pie card base, stamped the map in Cherry Cobbler and embossed the tag in Silver on Night of Navy, tied with some silver baker's twine and finished with an Essentials Hardware Clip. As we enter the season for exam results during the next couple of weeks, I think these cards would make great congratulations cards for someone who has passed and is about to embark on a new phase - be that further study, travel, a new job.

So, thoughts - which colour scheme do you prefer? Leave me a comment below - I'd love to know what you think.

Back tomorrow with my design team card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players; unitl 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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Cards | Stamping

My First Flower Flower Patch Card!

by Joanne James7. August 2014 20:56

Today I'm excited to share with you my first Flower Patch card! Now, this may not seem like a big event, but for someone who has had the stamp set for over a month whilst having to wait (not so) patiently for the matching framelit set, it is a big deal! I decided to make a card for the challenges over at 'Less is More' and Retrosketches, where the colour palette and sketch were perfect for what I had in mind:

 

Since the lovely Sarah over at 'Less Is More' is celebrating her birthday this week, I decided a birthday card should be the order of the day. Here's what I came up with: 

My card base is Coastal Cabana, which I matted with Whisper White and stamped my sentiment in Momento Black, then surrounded it with a trio of flowers in Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Bermuda Bay, cutting out one of these with my framelits and layering it to add depth and dimension. I finished with a few candy dots for the flower centres and a random one (just because!). The stamp set is photopolymer, which makes aligning everything so easy no need even for a stamp-a-ma-jig!

I liked my card so much, I decided to create another one with one of the other framelits in the set - I need a few extra birthday cards in my 'emergency' box - here is my slight variation on the card above:

These cards use surprisingly few supplies, yet I think they have real interest. This set has so much potential I am so glad that I can finally get creating with it - it my well replace Simple Stems from the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue in my 'bold flower' affections! I'm also linking my card up over at SUO Challenges, where the theme this week is 'new toys' - well, I've certainly had fun playing with mine!

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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Cards | Stamping

Monochromatic Pistachio Pudding for this week's Colour Me...! Challenge

by Joanne James6. August 2014 11:00

Happy Wednesday everybody! Today is a good day - the sun is shining again, my Autumn-Winter pre-order has arrived so I have lots of Halloween and Christmas goodies to play with, there's a new bunch of weekly deals (see earlier post here) and it's time for this week's Colour Me...! Challenge, where we have a monochromatic colour challenge this week using Pistachio Pudding and a neutral:

 

I thought this challenge would be trickier than it actually was. I used the latest sketch from the Deconstructed Sketch for my layout and inked up my new Kinda Eclectic stamp set which I have been keen to get working with - here's my card: 

For my card I used a base of Pistachio Pudding, then layered one of the die-cut pieces from the now retired Simply Sent card kit in last year's annual catalogue. I added some Pistachio Pudding polka dot paper from the All Abloom DSP stack, then stamped the sunburst from Kinda Eclectic in Pistachio Pudding onto Whisper White and cut out using my Big Shot and Circles Framelits and cut the bottom third off the circle. For the central banner, I stamped the spots in Pistachio Pudding on the cardstock of the same colour, then stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in White embossing powder over the top to add additional dimension. Lastly, I replaced the flags in the sketch with the butterflies from Kinda Eclectic, stamped in Pistachio Pudding onto Whisper White cardstock and punched out using the co-ordinating punches. I think the key to a single colour card where you are using one single colour plus a neutral, and don't have then benefit of tonal shades of the same colour, is to add layers, patterns and shapes for extra interest. If you're based in the UK and Europe, the Pistachio Pudding ink pad is on this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals List too and can be yours for just £3.71 instead of the usual £4.95 this week, so if you needed an incentive to have a go at this week's challenge, this is it!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the gallery this week - meanwhile, check out what the other designers have in store for you over at Colour Me and our new featured guest designer for the month of August.

Back tomorrow with another project for you; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

New Wednesday Weekly Deals

by Joanne James6. August 2014 08:00

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for August (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right). 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

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

This week's delights include two great embossing folders that have lots of uses and a great deal on the banners framelits dies and another couple of ink pads at a bargain price, along with The Great Outdoors stamp set and a couple of My Digital Studio downloads - so much to choose from!

Back shortly with today's creative post - meanwhile, race you to the shop!

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Promotions | Shop Online

Owl Gift Fry Box

by Joanne James5. August 2014 19:54

Well, it's been a little colder here in the UK today and we've had a fair amount of rain, which has kept us largely indoors for most of the day, but we made the most of it with some early morning baking (chocolate chip muffins - yum!), an indoor picnic and a pleasant few hours catching up with friends so all in all not a bad Tuesday.

Today I thought I would share another 3D project with you - a cute little owl gift box made using the Fry Box Bigz L Die that we made at our last team training session. Check out this cute little fella:

As 'The Crafty Owl', I was always going to like this cheeky chap, but the die itself has so many dress-up possibilities! The owl was so easy to make: the front of the box was covered with a piece of All Abloom DSP, then some black and white circles punched with the 1/2" and 1" circle punches, black eyelashes using the largest flower from the Boho Blossoms punch, ears from the Bird Builder punch and a Pumpkin Pie triangle nose from the Petite Pennants Builder punch then some Sahara Sand Scallop Ovals for wings. Some 1/4" red cotton ribbon was used to create a little plume of feathers and to tie a bow to adorn the 'For You' stamped greeting from the Chalk Talk stamp set, which was finally finished with a punched flower. Some filling was cut from yellow cardstock using the fringe scissors to support the box contents.

These fry boxes are the perfect size for a little gift or a few chocolates - look out for lots more variations on this in future posts.

Back tomorrow with the new weekly deals and my Design Team card for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Blended Bloom Class Card

by Joanne James4. August 2014 21:12

Considering that today is Monday, I feel like I've lived half my week already! So a quick post from me to share one of the cards made in today's Blendabilties class.

We made a variety of cards with everyone using different colour pens so we ended up with a complete mix of finished pieces. This is one of the samples I made using the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities set - I think the yellows are my favourite! Here's my card:

All of the cards in this month's classes featured the Blended Bloom stamp and were quite simple in design, since the focus was on colouring the images and practising different blending techniques. For this card, we simply stamped the Blended Bloom flower onto an offset panel of Whisper White, coloured using Daffodil Delight and Skin tone (for the centre) Blendabilities and added the 'celebrate' sentiment from the Fabulous Four stamp set in Early Espresso and a taffeta ribbon bow in the same colour (this colour is now retired in this ribbon type but you could easily substitute with the new 1/4" cotton ribbon in the same colour). 

That's all from me today; 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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Cards | Stamping

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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.