All is Calm, All is Bright Wonderland Card

by Joanne James15. November 2015 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host and she has a clean and simple challenge to get our creative juices flowing this week:

 

I decided to get to work with my brayer and create a starry night sky over a forest created with my Wonderland stamp set for my card today:

 

I went for a long, thin card and brayered my background in Night of Navy, masking the moon with a circle of post-it note, then stamped the trees from 'Wonderland' and the santa and reindeer from 'Cozy Christmas'. I added a few stars with my white signo gel pen and a little white kraft ink. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed this in silver on vellum, wrapping it around my card front and finishing with an iced rhinestone embellishment. 

So I have something of a confession! I saw the brief for our challenge today and the word 'Wonderland' and immediately reached for my stamp set of the same name to create my card. As I sat back to admire my handywork, I  realised that a true 'Winter Wonderland' would surely have snow on the ground and mine didn't have a single flake in sight - oops! With Onstage Live and a trip to Brussels around the corner and 

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
Anne Marie Hile - on leave
 
 
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 three challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN! 

 

I look forward to seeing your CAS creations this week. I'm travelling home from Onstage Live today having had an amazing time with some of my team in Brussels. I've written this post in advance, so I'm sure I'll have lots more to report this coming week.

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.

 

Tis The Season Christmas Snowmen

by Joanne James12. November 2015 08:05

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

 

I decided that each of the flowers in teh sketch would become snowmen on my card today and dug out my 'Snow Place' stamp set and Merry Moments DSP stack and set to work:

 

I used the colours of the Merry Moments DSP for the various elements of my card and created a snowy background by embossing my Whisper White layer with the 'Softly Falling' embossing folder. I die cut my little snowmen and their accessories with co-ordinating Snow Friends framelits dies - this makes life so easy, no fussy cutting required! My sentiment is from the 'Peaceful Pines' set - it fitted perfectly in my layered circle.

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

  • Snow Place Photopolymer Bundle
  • Merry Moments Designer Series Paper Stack
  • Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
  • Whisper White A4 Cardstock
  • Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
  • Peaceful Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set
  • Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
  • Old Olive A4 Cardstock
  • Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
  • Real Red A4 Cardstock
  • Brights Stampin' Write Markers

 

Cream Poinsettia Layered Christmas Card

by Joanne James9. November 2015 13:00

Happy Monday everyone! I was fortunate enough to win over at The Challenge a couple of weeks ago - you can see my winning paper-pieced pumpkin card here if you missed it - so they have kindly asked me to be their guest designer this week: 

 

They have a great colour challenge this week with a wonderful inspiration photo too - take a look:

 

I used the photo to inspire my card today in both colour and design; my regular blog followers will know what a fan I am of Stampin' Up!'s 'Reason For The Season' stamp set and the co-ordinating Festive Flower Builder punch, which I used for the flower on my card today:

I used Real Red for my card base and mat layer, with a Crumb Cake layer embossed with the Modern Mosaic embossing folder. I sponged this with a little White Kraft ink, then on the top Crumb Cake layer I stamped my sentiment from the Wondrous Wreath set and heat embossed this in white. For my poinsettia flower, I used Very Vanilla cardstock and finished the centre with a retired snowflake embellishment. I also tucked a strip of silver glimmer paper beneath it for some added sparkle. 

I hope you like today's card - I think the white poinsettia makes a change from a red one and I love the embossed background; I really should use my embossing folders more often!

Do check out the other designers over at The Challenge - they are a talented bunch and have lots more inspiration for this week's colour palette. I have a busy work day ahead; I'm desperately trying to get things up straight before I leave for Onstage in Brussels on Wednesday - let's hope it's productive. 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.
 

 

Pear Pizzazz Peaceful Wreath

by Joanne James7. November 2015 22:34

A quick blog post from me today to share a card I made for the current Fab Friday Challenge where this have a great sketch to work with:

I decided that green was the order of the day today and decided to create a calming wreath in greens and silvers using the Peaceful Wreath stamp set:

I stamped the beautiful Peaceful Wreath in Garden Green on Whisper White and coloured it loosely with an aquapainter and Pear Pizzazz ink, highlighting each of the berries with some silver Dazzling Details, before cutting it out using my Wonderful Wreath framelits . I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed them in silver, added a split banner, some silver cord trim and some rhinestones for a little extra sparkle. 

I love greens - and with the hustle and bustle of the last couple of days, their calming influence is just what need. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a new 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.

 

White Christmas Clean And Simple!

by Joanne James5. November 2015 08:05

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great colour challenge for you:

    

I used the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as the basis for my card today - a largely one layered card, except for the banners and it also showcases a fun new technique:

 

I used extra thick Whisper White cardstock for my base and stamped two of the three trees from the White Christmas stamp set onto the bottom corner of my card in Memento Black. I coloured the trees in with my Smoky Slate Stampin' Write marker and added a couple of cardinals, coloured in Real Red for a little colour. Now for the fun technique! This was shown to me recently by the lovely Monica Gale who used it on a card stamped with the Wonderland set. for the snow on my trees and on the ground, I added a thin line of Tombo glue, then sprinkled this with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and then white embossing powder, then heated it gently with my heat tool. This causes the glue to puff up and produce wonderfully textured and sparkling snow - such a neat effect. To finish my card, I cut a reverse banner using my Triple Banner Punch - I simply fed the paper in from the underside of the punch and used the piece which normally you would throw away - from a scrap of Merry Moments designer series paper that has Real Red and Smoky Slate stripes. Finally to add a little extra sparkle, I added a thin banner of red glimmer paper - I just love this stuff!

I spent ages working up different cards for this week's colours and eventually settled on this one. It's very pretty in real life and has lots of texture for a predominantly white card, but it was incredibly difficult to photograph and I'm not sure that the picture really does it justice. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

  • White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set
  • Embossing Buddy
  • White Stampin' Emboss Powder
  • Heat Tool (Uk)
  • Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter
  • Multipurpose Liquid Glue
  • Merry Moments Designer Series Paper
  • Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
  • Banner Triple Punch
  • Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
  • Red Glimmer Paper
  • Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker
  • Real Red Stampin' Write Marker

Christmas Cuties and Home For Christmas

by Joanne James4. November 2015 10:23

Happy Wednesday everyone! This is my second post today - click here if you would like to see this week's Weekly Deals post. For today's creative project, I have another Christmas card to share with you featuring another of the adorable characters from the Christmas Cuties stamp set and this week's sketch over at Retrosketches:

I also paired my Christmas Cuties with one of my under-used papers with the Home for Christmas designer series paper pack - take a look:

I stamped my image in Archival Black onto Extra Thick Whisper White and coloured it with my inks and aquapainter, then stamped the snow stamp around it in Pool Party. I mounted my stamped image panel onto a piece of Real Red that I had cut out with my scalloped circle framelit, the largest one in the Circles Framelits set. Behind this I used my piece of patterned paper, matted onto Mossy Meadow and a card base of Pool Party. I cut out my sentiment with my retired Word Bubble framelits and popped it up on dimensionals for a little lift.

This is one of those super cute cards that is very satisfying to produce - all that theraputic colouring! I'm happy to have found a layout that makes the most of that lovely background paper too. 

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

All Ye Faithful Trio Christmas Card

by Joanne James2. November 2015 09:00

 

Good morning everyone - happy Monday to you! This morning I have a Christmas card using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

Now I looked at this sketch and loved the layout and almost went with it 'as is' using the square as my shape - such a classic layout - but decided since Cindy was ok with 'any shape' I would actually go with a much less literal interpretation. So without further ado, here's my card:

I used Crumb Cake for my base, then stamped the shepherds and wise men from the 'All Ye Faithful' stamp set onto a strip of Early Espresso cardstock and heat embossed them in gold and matted this panel with gold foil cardstock before adhering to my card base. I then did the same to my holy family onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and coloured it with my inks and a blender pen before cutting out with the smallest of the Ovals Framelits and my Big Shot. I then popped this up on dimensionals between the stamped images on the Early Espresso piece. To finish, I stamped my sentiment in Early Espresso directly onto the Crumb Cake base layer. 

So as you can see, a less than literal interpretation of the sketch but each of the key elements is present. I adore this stamp set and these images are beautiful whether used individually or as a set.

That's all from me today; 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.

 

Holly Jolly Christmas Greetings Christmas Cards - Two Ways

by Joanne James31. October 2015 22:29

A late post from me today - too much trick-or-treat fun earlier on this evening! Anyway without further ado, today I made a couple of cards using the sketch from Mojo Monday this week, the second of which is also for this week's challenge over at Merry Monday:

   

Both my cards feature papers from the Season of Cheer designer series paper, along with the Christmas Greetings Thinlits with the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set - one of the great bundle offers in the current seasonal catalogue. Here's the first card I made in traditional festive colours with the holly paper:

I went with a simple base layer of Real Red, then for the panel layered the holly paper with some Mossy Meadow and added a banner of red glimmer paper before adding my layered circles featuring my sentiment, a combination of stamped elements from the 'Holly Jolly Greetings' stamp set and a glimmer die cut using the Christmas Greetings Thinlits. I really liked this card, so decided to make a second one with a slightly different sentiment combination from the same sets, this time featuring the Christmas lights paper from the same DSP pack and a slightly less traditional colour scheme. Here it is:

I just love the glimmer paper on both of these cards; I'm not a fan of loose glitter, but glimmer paper is the best! So which one do you prefer - traditional or contemporary colour scheme? They are both great, although I think I'm veering towards the holly - I'm a sucker for red and green at Christmas time! I'd love to hear your thoughts - do leave me a comment below.

Back tomorrow with this week's new 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.

 

Flurry Of Wishes Lost Lagoon Christmas Card

by Joanne James29. October 2015 08:05

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch challenge for you:

 

I saw this sketch layout and immediately thought 'snowflakes' so dug out my 'Festive Flurry' stamp set and some Lost Lagoon cardstock, a colour that I haven't used much this season. Here's my card:

I decided to go with a square card today and worked directly onto my card base, as I wanted my snowflakes to add the layers. I stamped my first snowflake in Lost Lagoon directly onto my card base and centred it with an iced rhinestone , then stamped my sentiment in Versamark overlapping this and heat embossed it in white. Before adding my punched snowflakes, I also stamped the splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in Versamark onto the background and heat embossed this in Iridescent Ice; it looks quite dark in the photo but is actually really sparkly. For the remaining circular elements of the sketch, I stamped one of the smaller snowflakes in Lost Lagoon on Whisper White, added a rhinestone to the centre and punched it out using the co-ordinating punch, then for the remaining circle I used one of the natural snowflake elements that I stamped in versamark and heat embossed in white, then stamped it again in versamark and heat embossed it in Iridescent Ice so that it is super-sparkly. lastly, I added some silver cord trim to the folded edge.

I just love this card - so very sparkly and Christmassy, all rolled into one! I love the combination of snowflakes to add a little flavour of collage to my card today.

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

  • Flurry Of Wishes Photopolymer Bundle
  • Gorgeous Grunge Clear-Mount Stamp Set
  • Snowflake Elements
  • Iced Rhinestone Embellishments
  • Silver Cording Trim
  • Embossing Buddy
  • Versamark Pad
  • White Stampin' Emboss Powder
  • Heat Tool (Uk)
  • Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder
  • Whisper White A4 Cardstock
  • Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad
  • Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock

 

Blessings Snowflake Christmas Card

by Joanne James27. October 2015 10:23

Good morning everyone - another nice early post from me for a change! I had a lovely day yesterday making Halloween treats with all the little ones at the fundraiser that I attended; today it's all about music, with piano lessons and some last minute revision for Rebecca's music theory exam next week, along with completion of our holiday homework music project (I live in hope!) Anyway, enough about my plans for the day - I have a Christmas card to share with you today, for the current sketch challenge over at Pals Paper Arts:

10-22 PPA 273

I haven't played along with this challenge for a while - for some reason their posts stopped showing up in my blog feed - although I've sorted it now and this week's sketch intrigued me and so I had to play along. I decided to use the Christmas stamp in the new seasonal hostess set called 'Six Sayings' for my card today:

I love the saying on this cute Christmas stamp and I chose my colour scheme of Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy as I thought it would work perfectly with my natural Snowflake Elements - yes, I actually left them in their undecorated glory today - no heat embossing or glitter in sight! I inked the stamp using my Stampin' Write Markers, alternating the lines for contrast, and for the Cherry Cobbler strip across the centre of my card, I also stamped it with the knit-pattern stamps from the current Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 stamp set to add a sweater-feel to my card.

The wooden snowflake embellishments add a little bulk to this otherwise flat card, but at the same time this is an interesting way to use them and the use of the dark colours really allows them to stand out. As for the stamp set: 'Six Sayings' has a lovely selection of stamps that suit a variety of occasions and is exclusively available to be purchased with Stampin' Rewards to party hostesses or individual customers who place an order of £150 or more. There is still time to take advantage of the current promotion to earn an extra 3% of Stampin' Rewards on qualifying party sales before 9th November, so if this is something of interest to you, please do get in touch with me for more information.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with news of this week's Wednesday deals and a little Halloween fun for you using another of the stamps in this lovely hostess set. 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.