Iconic Imagery Monochromatic Snowflakes for CCS550

by Joanne James3. December 2024 12:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & SketchesThis week's we have reached a milestone - it's our 550th challenge! As is traditional, for the final challenge of the year you can choose any of the challenges in 2024 - colour or sketch - and make it seasonal. I decided to choose my sketch from way back in March - here's a reminder of that sketch:

   

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. You can see the original card I made using this sketch hereFor my card today I decided to the Iconic Imagery stamp set - the images are the perfect size for this kind of layout - to create my seasonal card. Check it out:

 

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

I stamped six snowflakes in Azure Afternoon and added rhinestones at the centre for a little sparkle. I added my heat embossed sentiment to a little tag - I used the retired Tailored Tags Dies but you could use the label in the Iconic Imagery bundle or any other one of your choice and finished it with some silver twine:

 

My sentiment is from the retired 'Sparkly Seasons' stamp set as I made this card before I had purchased the current 'Sophisticated Sled' stamp set, which has another stamp with the same wording which would be a better current alternative. Another quick clean and simple Christmas card that is already in the post! I'm linking today's card up over at AAA Cards where the theme is 'anything CAS goes - with the optional theme of Christmas/winter', which I chose.

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.

Reindeer Days Celebrate The Season PP717

by Joanne James24. November 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 Steph to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

    

The open space of Steph's sketch allows for so many options. I thought I was going to go in a completely different direction, but I've been wanting to use this Reindeer Days paper and when I saw the inspiration of those two fluffy reindeer slipper in the bottom right corner of the Just Us Girls mood board I took it as a sign that today was the day - take a look:

 

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

I love the pattern on this Reindeer Days paper sheet, but as it's quite busy it doesn't work with all kinds of layout. That open space is just perfect though.  I made sure the design of the paper was centred, as this makes for a more harmonious design. I picked out the red for my festive diagonal stripe and part of my sentiment from 'Iconic Imagery' which I paired with a retired wooden diecut 'celebrate':

I added a few snowflake sprinkles for added decoration, but otherwise let the paper do all the work. Having made this card, I decided to make a second one using a smaller, cropped panel:

I paired this one with a heat-embossed 'celebrate' from Iconic Imagery and kept all other details the same. Whilst I like the smaller panel for bringing the reindeer more into focus, I prefer the sentiment placement on the first one. Here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer?

 

I love this paper - and a great sketch too - thank you Steph!

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.

Iconic Celebrations Acorn Gratitude AYSI 336

by Joanne James8. November 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 theme challenge chosen by Heather H:

 

I had limited options this week as I don't have much current product featuring seeds or acorns, but this actually made the challenge easy as there was only one way to go - take a look:

 

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

The Iconic Celebrations designer series paper has patterns suitable for lots of different occasions and fortunately it has a lovely repeating acorn pattern. I paired a panel of it with a couple of labels cut using the Iconic Imagery Dies and paired it with a sentiment from the co-ordinating stamp set, along with a couple of stamped and diecut leaves and some twine for a little extra embellishment: 

I used Basic Beige for my base and main label - I think it gives a nice natural tone when paired with Mossy Meadow and Pecan Pie - what do you think? The perfect seasonal card to let someone know how thankful you are for all they do. 

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.
  • 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.

Celebrate The Season Of Green and Gold CCS547

by Joanne James15. October 2024 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & SketchesThis week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Laura has asked that we add a diagonal corner detail to our clean and simple cards:

 

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I decided to make a feature of that corner with an offcut of Season of Green & Gold Specialty Designer Series Paper (another of my Online Exclusives favourites) that was the perfect fit:

 

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

Isn't that paper beautiful? I added a simple strip of gold foil and 'went large' with my sentiment, choosing one from another Online Exclusive, the 'Iconic Imagery' stamp set, and followed the line of my Old Olive cardstock base; I just love the large 'celebrate' stamp:

 

That's all there is to it - super simple and another Christmas card for the pile! This is such a great card design - perfect for using up scraps or strips of patterned paper and you could pair with any kind of sentiment 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 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.

Double Embossed Leaf Fall Card PP711

by Joanne James13. October 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a seasonally-inspired colour challenge for us to work with:

          

My colour choices this week were inspired by the falling leaves on the trees here in the UK now that we are well and truly experiencing Autumn weather there are shades of orange and brown all around. Nance found me this lovely inspo photo so I had to stick with the theme and create something leafy today! I also wanted to try a fun technique using two of my embossing folders. Read on to learn more - first up, here's my card:

 

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

All Autumn Colour - I used a card base of Pumpkin Pie with an Early Espresso mat layer and added additional Pumpkin Pie ink using a blending brush around the edge for depth. I used every shade of orange and brown Blends marker that I own to colour my leaves and added a few brown splatters for added interest.

Double Embossing - The really interesting feature on today's card is a double-embossing technique - have you ever tried it? I first debossed my mat layer with my Timber 3D embossing folder, adding a little Early Espresso ink to the raised portion so to further highlight the embossed grooves. I then ran my panel through my diecutting machine again, but this time with my Leaf Fall Embossing folder; this adds some beautiful dimensional leaves over the top of my woodgrain, further highlighting the leaf detail by colouring them with my Blends markers. Here's a close up - what do you think?

This was so fun to try something new and I really like the finished effect. I think there are lots of different embossing folders you could pair up to achieve a similarly interesting effect - something 3D paired with something with a smaller detail would work well. Let me know if you have any tried-and-tested suggestions - I'd love to give them a go.

Iconic Imagery Sentiment - I added a handcut sentiment from the 'Iconic Imagery' stamp set which I stamped on to orange so that it would blend into the background - no neutrals, other than a sprinkle of sequins, on today's card!

I'm also linking today's card up with the team over at Just Us Girls where their word of the week is 'LEAVES' and my card has plenty of those and over at Inspire.Create where the theme is autumn/Halloween..

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; yesterday was filled with hockey and university previews, so I'm hoping for a quieter one today, with possibly a little crafting 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.

Iconic Imagery Charming Landscapes Christmas Card

by Joanne James29. September 2024 11:10

Today I've another quick post that I meant to share yesterday, but didn't get around to it! I finally managed to create a card for the Color Hues Challenge that is almost over that is also perfect for stencil week over at Just Us Girlstake a look:

    

I had a little 'something old, something new' in mind for today's card - another Christmas card - take a look:

 

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

Charming Landscapes - This card features a panel embossed with one of the retired Charming Landscapes embossing folders that is still a favourite of mine. These folders are great for adding embossed background layers to your cards, but I love pairing them with blended sky and making them the main feature. The village scene is my favourite of the two, so that's what I used for my card. 

Stencilled Sky - In order to keep my blended colour to the sky portion of my scene only, I created stencil masks for each embossing folder, by running it through my Big Shot with some acetate window sheet and using a scissors and craft knife to cut around the mountains/houses. I attached each to my white embossed cardstock and held in place before adding my ink colours, then removed when complete. I think the fresh blue and pink works really well, even if it makes for a slightly less conventional festive colour scheme. Once my blended sky was complete, I went over the star and snowflake details with a white gel pen and added a couple of rhinestones for a subtle sparkle. 

Iconic Imagery - I wanted to bring my embossing folder up to date by pairing with a new sentiment set, and the bold script of the online exclusive 'Iconic Imagery' stamp set was just the thing. I stamped one part in pink directly onto the embossed panel, then fussy cut the word 'celebrate' stamped in blue for a little extra impact:

I matted my decorated panel with each of the challenge colours too to complete my card.

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.

Iconic Imagery Peace on Earth and Christmas Tree Trio

by Joanne James16. September 2024 10:49

Another week, another Monday! Today I'm sharing a couple of Christmas cards that I made at the weekend using a mix and match of old and new. First up is a card that was inspired by the lovely Kim S's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

    

Kim wants us to make a focal feature of a large sentiment. I love a large sentiment, whether a diecut or stamp, and there is some great inspiration from both the design team and in the gallery this week, so if you're a fan or need some inspiration on how to use a large sentiment, I urge you to check out this week's challenge. I perused my collection of large sentiments and decided that I had the perfect one in my retired collection that I could give a fresh look to with some new product - take a look:

 

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

'Peace on Earth' is one of my favourite large sentiments from the retired 'Thinking Thanks and Peace' stamp set. I often use it on its own (if you use the 'search' function you can find lots of clean and simple cards using this stamp elsewhere on my blog) but one of the things I love to do with a large sentiment is frame it in some way. I was excited to see that one of the patterns in the Online Exclusives Iconic Celebrations pack is of a repeating dove, that is similar in style to the one that forms part of the sentiment stamp - perfect!  I used a sheet of DSP to cover the whole of the base of my card, then heat embossed my sentiment in white onto Misty Moonlight card and placed it in the centre. I cropped my sentiment quite tightly to allow the image on the background to be seen. Here's a close up:

 

Since my card is monochromatic too I'm also linking this card up over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where I've not played along in ages. I've also just realised that Kim's design team card used both the same colour scheme and sentiment, albeit using completely different supplies - clearly I was channelling her in more ways than one this week!

Since I had the Iconic Celebrations designer paper stack out on my desk and I was on a roll, I made another card - this time using the layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments and the muted colour scheme at Color Throwdown:

   

The tree paper pattern had 2 of the 3 muted, woodsy colours in it, so again I used this as my base, before diecutting a stitched rectangle and adding a trio of stamped Christmas trees using the coordinating Iconic Imagery bundle:

 

The stamps in this set are two-step, super easy to line up and give a lovely dimensional effect to the completed image. I used Cherry Cobbler for a subtle pop of red on the sentiment and carried the colour over the sentiment on the inside of my card:

 

I love the fonts of the sentiments in this set - they were what prompted me to add it to my collection. I was trying to resist the paper, but well it coordinates so beautifully and makes for a relatively quick card too. 

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

 

 

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

Enjoy your day; time for me to crack on with some household tasks before I can hopefully squeak in a little extra crafting time later. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

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Hi I'm Joanne and live in Northampton and when I'm not looking after my husband and two beautiful children, am an avid crafter with a passion for all things Stampin' Up!

I must confess that I have never been a big rubber stamper - until I discovered Stampin' Up! that is. I love the fact that I can get such great results with co-ordinating stamps, inks, papers and punches - the possibilities are endless! Join me on my stamping journey as I share the things I love and be inspired to create amazing things yourself!

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