Just Kiddin Dress Up Fun PP703

by Joanne James18. August 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

        

Before we go any further - If you are a regular reader, you will know that I’ve been having my fair share of blog and website problems this week. They still aren’t fixed completely, hence today’s late (re typed!) short post although I am at least back online for the time being. It could be a couple of weeks before things are properly back to normal, so please bear with me for the next little while.

Onto today’s card! I took Claire’s fruit theme and thought it was perfect to feature this little cutie in her apple dress-up from the retired Just Kiddin’ designer series papers. I used the current Try a Sketch on Tuesday sketch for my layout - take a look at what I came up with:

  

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

I fussy cut my focal image and added her to a die cut rectangle, with a trio of die cut stripes from the Friends For Life Dies in coordinating colours behind. I think this would make a fun card for a young child or equally suit a thank you card for a teacher - after all, an apple for the teacher is the perfect image, right?!

 

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

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

Enjoy your day; all being well I'll be back on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Cheerful Daisies Trio PP702

by Joanne James11. August 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jan to host this week and she has a fresh colour challenge for us to work with:

       

I thought these colours would be perfect for some clean and fresh florals, so I grabbed this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and a stamp set I haven't used in a while, and set to work - take a look:

 

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

I used my Cheerful Daisies Dies to create a trio of diecut layered daisies, and mounted each onto a stitched square of Lemon Lolly. I added Flirty Flamingo to the top petal layer with a sponge dauber, to soften the intensity of the colour. I added some additional detail to my centre flower, with a trio of pale lemon pearls in the centre and a simple white twine bow and added a heat-embossed sentiment beneath it:

 

I almost left the card base plain, but as a nod to our hostess this week, my lovely friend Jan, who does love an embossed card front, I instead embossed it using my Eyelet 3D embossing folder. I must say I really do love the result.

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

 

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

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

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

Enjoy your day; we are celebrating the youngest of the James Juniors reaching the ripe old age of 17 today - finally able to begin driving lessons in earnest, hurrah! 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.

15% Off Designer Series Paper and New Halloween and Christmas Craft Kits

by Joanne James6. August 2024 18:00

 

It's August and there are some important promotions to bring to your attention! Firstly, we all love gorgeous Designer Series Paper, me especially, and during the month of August you can enjoy a 15% discount on select papers from the current annual catalogue. Now is a great time to stock up and save on some of our most popular paper designs! The papers included in the promotion are detailed below:

A reminder too that August is the month to redeem the Bonus Days coupons you earned in July:

The designer series paper sale is perfectly timed for redeeming those Bonus Days coupons earned; remember the must be redeemed before August 31st, so the sooner the better.

Also this month - we have two new great kit collections that have been released. The first of these is the Haunted Home Kit:

 

Get your Halloween crafting on with the Haunted Home Kit! This kit costs £17 and comes with all the paper pieces you need to assemble your very own haunted paper house. You’ll start with cardboard walls, pre-cut vellum, and other paper pieces for accessorising. Assemble the house following the instructions then add your own ghostly touch to it. It’s the perfect paper crafting activity for any gathering with fellow crafters, friends, and family during the spooky season!

The second kit is the Christmas Wishes Christmas card kit:

Keep your Christmas card crafting easy AND elegant with the Christmas Wishes Kit! This kit comes with 8 bright red card bases detailed with gold foil and coordinating gold, shimmer envelopes. Create your own Christmas cards using the pre-cut paper pieces, the stamp set, and Stampin’ Spot. Use the included address labels to send your cards to your recipients! This kit costs £22.

All of the above items can be found in my online store by clicking the links below. Happy shopping!

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

Hot Air Balloon Inspiration CCS542

by Joanne James6. August 2024 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Deborah is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

  

For my card today I decided to make a card to send to my Paper Players teamie, the lovely Anne Marie Hile, who is currently recovering from some serious health issues. It's a while since I sent her some happy mail and whilst her regular Facebook updates are keeping us informed of her great progress, I thought these colours would be perfect for a cute hot air balloon to carry my best wishes across the miles to let her know I am thinking of her:

 

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

My card really is super simple! I diecut some clouds out of masking paper, then added a sky using Boho Blue ink and a blending brush to my card base, before removing the masked clouds. I stamped a balloon in Melon Mambo and added a decorative panel from Calypso Coral cardstock, before adding to my card using dimensionals:

I almost left it there, but decided to add a trio of Melon Mambo glossy dots for a little understated sparkle - a nod to the lovely Anne Marie herself! I initially struggled with this colour combo, even though it includes my favourite Melon Mambo, but when it came down to it they suited my card perfectly. I can't wait to see how you use these 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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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.

Beach Day Birthday Wishes PP701

by Joanne James4. August 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Stef to host this week and she has a fun seasonal theme challenge for us to work with:

          

Beach time! Well, I was tempted to go with another sunset like the one in the inspo photo, but I've made one using htese colours before so instead went with a daytime beach scene as I wanted to use the lifeguard hut image from the 'Beach Day' stamp set and dies that I haven't yet used on any of my beach-themed projects. I decided to use the layered sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout and the colours from the bright palette over at Color Dare (I went down the right hand column with Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana and (retired) Starry Sky as my equivalent colours, and a little Lemon Lime Twist from the top row too). I was faithful to the square shape of the sketch and had a lot of fun stamping and diecutting - take a look:

 

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

Perennial Postage - I decided to use my Perennial Postage Dies to cut out my layer shapes; for the larger square that I used for my beach scene, I simply used one of the larger rectangles and then ran through the die cutting machine a second time to cut the end off to make it square - easy peasy! The dies almost make this look like a postage stamp, don't you think?

Beach Day Layers - I worked on my beach scene first, layering all of the elements to create my scene. I masked off the edges and added an inked sky using a blending brush, then cut my sea, complete with foam, and my sand, onto which I stamped some shells for added interest. I used the diecuts only for my lifeguard hut as I wanted it to be completely white, and added a couple of stamped gulls to complete the scene. I added a sun for another of the sketch elements (diecut using the retired Hey Chuck Dies) and a trio of shells to another of the panels.

So Swirly - I decided to use (retired) Starry Sky cardstock for my cardbase as it really compliments the other elements and embossed my mat layer with the new So Swirly embossing folder. Oh my - I love this! I bought it to compliment my Latte Love bundle, but I thought it worked well to add a sense of watery movement to this card too. I think I'm going to get so much use from this EF - it comes in the new larger 6x8.5" size too, which is so useful. You can see the embossing and layering in more detail below:

I actually make this card with a birthday sentiment on the inside, but in hindsight I should perhaps have made it as a congratulations card for the youngest of the James Juniors who has spent the last week training to be a lifeguard (pool not beach as we live about the furthest from the sea that you can possibly get in the UK!) and passed his final tests and gained his qualification yesterday. Luckily I already had a card ready! I really love the Beach Day stamp set and dies and am so glad they carried over as I otherwise might not have added them to my collection and I'm getting so much use from them. I'm also linking today's card up over at Time Out Challenges where the quote to be inspired by is "It's always summer somewhere"; for me a visit to the beach is synonymous with summer - I would so love to leave near the beach all year round too, preferably a Caribbean one!!

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Thoughtful Journey Happy Birthday Card AYSI329

by Joanne James2. August 2024 12:00

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge from Heather H:

    

I used the lovely layered sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout and set to work - take a look at how I incorporated my recipe elements:

 

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

Thoughtful Journey - Unlike the rest of the team, I didn't go exclusively with 'shades of green'; I used a sheet of the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper featuring some fir trees for my focal point. I used another piece of the same paper for my matting layer, to echo some of the other colours. For my embossed layer, I embossed a piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock with the (retired) Evergreen Forest 3D embossing folder and cut this panel into three, which echoes the trees on the paper.

Happy Birthday Wishes - I fussy cut my birthday greeting from the 'Unbounded Love' stamp set and tucked this into my scene, near my Mossy Meadow linen twine bow. I also added a trio of Wild Wheat enamel dots, to pick up on the colour of my card base. Not my favourite colour to be fair, but I find mixing it with other strong colours makes it more palatable! There are so many layers to this card - you can see the detail below:

Finishing Touches - In addition to another sentiment inside my card, I used a scrap of the same designer paper to add a border and bring the colour through to the inside of the card:

I also added a border to the edge of the front of my envelope too - you can see that in my main photo. I don't often decorate the front of my envelope in this way, but it is the perfect solution to using up a leftover scrap if you have a piece that is the correct size/orientation and gives a lovely hint as to what's inside for the recipient.

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

  • Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
  • For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
  • Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
  • Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
  • Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
  • You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
  • We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.
We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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.

Layers of Beauty CAS Stencilled Circles PP700

by Joanne James28. July 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

       

Not only that, it's our 700th challenge too - what a milestone! I looked at this week's sketch and was tempted to go big on layers with those circles, but instead decided to try out a clean and simple idea that I had after browsing Pinterest a while ago that I wanted to try with the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set. I thought the soft palette of pinks and greens over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog would be perfect for it, so I grabbed my stencils as it's stencil week over at Just Us Girls and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

You may well have expected me to use the co-ordinating stencils since my card features the large outline image in the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set, but you would be wrong; whilst I would absolutely recommend you buy the co-ordinating dies and stencils with this stamp set, there are so many ways the stamp can be used without them too. On today's card I used some circle stencils instead that I made by using some circle dies in various sizes to cut circles out of acetate sheets, and then positioned them over the large roses and lightly blended a combination of Lemon Lime Twist, Pretty In Pink and Flirty Flamingo through them directly onto my cardbase to highlight areas of the stamped image. I stencilled each in turn and allowed each circle to overlap slightly to give further depth of colour: 

I added a white-on-black heat embossed sentiment from the same set and popped this up on dimensionals, with a sprinkle of in-colour shimmer gems to complete my design. Using circle stencils is a fun way to spotlight an image on a clean and simple card. Finally, I'm also linking today's card up at CAS on Friday where their theme is 'circles' 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!

Enjoy your day; the youngest of the James Juniors is off with friends to watch the test match cricket at Edgbaston today, so the house will be a quiet one - I'm hoping there will be time for crafting! Probably some Olympics viewing 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.
 

Sweet Peas HaPEA Birthday Card PP699 CAS

by Joanne James21. July 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's clean and simple week and it's my turn to host and I've a fun theme for you:

 

I chose birthdays - because everyone needs birthday cards, right? The important thing to remember though is that it's Clean and Simple (CAS) week and over at the Paper Players that means: 

  • minimal layers and embellishments
  • plenty of open space
  • simple and uncluttered

I decided to make another card using my 'Sweet Peas' stamp set, this time featuring a row of partying happy peas - take a look:

 

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

I added a strip of Full Of Life square patterned designer paper featuring a range of greens, then stamped a row of single peas, complete with party hats and party blowers, and coloured them with various Stampin' Blends before popping the final one up on dimensionals and adding my birthday greeting:

I added a sprinkling of coloured rhinestones around my partying peas for a little sparkle, then finished the sentiment using stamps from the 'More Wishes' stamp set inside, along with a few more peas for good measure: 

 

I stamped one more pea pod on the front of my envelope to complete my card. I just love these peas - their comical expressions make me chuckle and I can't resist a good pun!

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

 

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

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

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

Enjoy your day; I spent a couple of days visiting family in Wales at the end of last week, so today I'm catching up on a few jobs with nothing much else planned. Hope you are all looking forward to a restful Sunday 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.

Beside The Seaside Beach Day Sandcastles AYSI328

by Joanne James19. July 2024 12:00

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonal 'fill in the blank' challenge from Heather:

    

My favourite beach activity - well, I'm not one for lying on a sun lounger at the beach (I prefer to do that poolside!) so when I'm at the beach I like to be 'doing' and my favourite things to do include building sandcastles and paddling in the sea. So I knew I had to feature a sandcastle on today's card. I was inspired by this card that was my pick over at The Paper Players last week to try a similar technique and I ended up with not one, but two cards to share with you today. Here's the first one that I started with:

 

I used my retired Little Letters Thinlits Dies to cut my sentiment out a sheet of retired Serene Scenes paper with a beach scape, and infilled with the same letters cut from Basic White, and stamped a sandcastle using my Beach Day stamp set to which I added a little extra colour using my Stampin' Blends:

 

Having made this card, I decided that I would use the letters I'd cut out of my designer paper and make a second card:

 

This time I inset my letters into a white panel, that I popped up on a white card base which I had embossed with a retired waves embossing folder. Finally I added another sandcastle:

 

You still get a sense of the seaside from the letters, against all the white space. I decided I liked this card more than my first one, so that's the one that I used as my As You See it card, but I've shared both to explain the process. Here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer?

 

No visual summary of the key products today, as the key products are retired, but there are store links to the current products used below. I'm also linking today's first card up over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'H is for Holidays' and my second card for another play at Addicted to CAS where the current codeword is SUMMER.

So what's your favourite beach activity? Why not play along and share it with us over at As You See It.

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

  • Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
  • For a Fill In The Blank Challenge you must tell us how you would finish the sentence.
  • Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
  • Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
  • Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
  • You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
  • We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.
We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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 Clean and Simple Beach Day

by Joanne James17. July 2024 09:37

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few current challenges that are all celebrating the delights of summer:

      

The team over at Just Us Girls are celebrating all things summertime, Addicted to CAS has the codeword of SUMMER and AAA Cards is looking for anything clean and simple, with the optional twist of summer.  

I have made a few cards using the 'Beach Day' set recently, mostly featuring the dies which I love. I wanted to try something more CAS that focused on the stamps alone - take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

This card really is super simple - I stamped a trio of images using my stamping platform for a crisp outline, added in some extra sand to extend the horizontal line and added a sentiment beneath. I coloured my images with my watercolour pencils, smoothing them with my blending pen:

 

This was my first experiment with the new neutral, Basic Beige, that I used for my card base. This really is a lovely neutral and makes a great soft, sand base for a beach-themed card. I haven't made a #simplestamping card like this one in ages, so it was fun to go back to basics. The Beach Day bundle is perfect for this kind of card, with so many images that can be combined to make fun little scenes. All we need here in the UK now is a little more sunshine - so far the summer has been rather damp!

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; I am off to the hairdressers later, which is always a joy. A good natter and an uninterrupted cup of coffee that I can still drink whilst hot - bliss! I'll be back Friday with my project for As You See It. 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.