Joyful Nativity Christmas Blues

by Joanne James7. December 2022 20:00

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments where they have an inspiration challenge:

It's pretty obvious to see where my inspiration came from! I loved that nativity silhouette in blues in the bottom left corner and I wanted to recreate it using one of my favourite retired sets, Joyful Nativity, and ring the changes with some new blue colours. This is what I came up with:

 

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

I took a stitched circle in Orchid Oasis, then using a mask of torn paper, added ink in both Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky to create a faux-layered background. I added white splatters before stamping my holy family and stable in Orchid Oasis, using my Stamparatus to get a good, densely inked image:

 

I added a couple of wooden stars and a 'peace' sentiment, courtesy of the Santa Express Memories and More pack and left them bare as I like the resulting contrast against the blues. A little extra stamping on the inside completes my card:

 

So what do you think? I like to have a few religious cards to send out at Christmas time so I was glad to have the opportunity to bring out this set again.

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 evening 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.

Joyful Nativity Silhouette Christmas Card

by Joanne James24. November 2021 11:29

Today I'm sharing another card for the current challenges over at Less Is More and Time Out:

   

I still had my retired 'Joyful Nativity' stamp set out on my desk from having made my previous entry for these challenges (if you missed it, you can see that card here); I love the silhouette images in this set and couldn't resist making another card with it - take a look:

 

So this one has a little more detail on it: I used the same colour scheme of Night of Navy, gold and white, this time stamping the word 'JOY' in navy and stamping the silhouette of the holy family inside the 'O'. I used my Stamparatus to get the images lined up and to be able to reink several times to ensure full coverage as I didn't want a patchy silhouette to ruin the effect - the Stamparatus is invaluable for this! I then stamped a star in Versamark and heat embossed it in gold just inside the circle to complete my scene:

 

I originally made this as a one layer card, but decided to cut it down and add to a white base to allow a subtle white-on-white border for my central image. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set to the inside of my card and that was it - done! A little more technique involved than my last card, but still beautiful in its simplicity (even if I say so myself!)

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've added a link to the basic supplies below, but obviously this doesn't include the stamp set as this is retired. I have included the link to the Stamparatus too - if you don't own a stamping platform, the Stamparatus is in my view the best of its kind and definitely worth a look - it would make the ideal Christmas gift for a crafter at any level or experience. I hope today's card inspires you to create something, festive or otherwise, with a silhouette. 

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.

The Most Clean And Simple Card EVER and A Farmhouse Christmas

by Joanne James20. November 2021 21:43

A very late post from me today but I wanted to share a couple of cards with you that I made with a few challenges in mind. My first card was inspired by the following:

            

It is unusual for me to get my inspiration from so many sources, but I couldn't resist those colours at Color Throwdown - navy, gold and white is one of my favourite colour combinations. I had already decided that navy would be perfect for a silhouette for Less Is More this week and I found the perfect image that enabled me to fulfil the brief over at AAA Cards of 'One Inchie' - take a look:

 

My silhouette angel from the retired 'Joyful Nativity' stamp set was perfect to fit into a slightly less than one inch square, just enough to allow for a gold foil scalloped square mat beneath it:

 

I left the whole of the remainder of my white cardbase blank - as the da Vinci quote over at Time Out states, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophisitcation' - hence my link up there too. So what do you think? Is my simple inchie silhouette too simple or seriously sophisticated? Do let me know in the comments below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I had a little extra time this morning and made another card that was totally inspired by Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and the wonderful photo at The Card Concept:

    

I took my inspiration in the photo from the deep red and vanilla gingham chair, the large rustic snowflake in the background and overall country feel for my clean and layered card:

 

I used some retired Farmhouse Christmas designer paper for the base and the sentiment strip and added some Cherry Cobbler twine and a wooden snowflake embellishment to finish:

 

This card came together really easily and I love the rustic feel. I also love Kim's sketch - I've another card using this layout to share tomorrow.

No supplies list as I was on a 'use it up' day - hope they still inspire you to create something similar with your supplies, old or new. I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Clean and Simple Christmas Joy

by Joanne James20. November 2016 09:00

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

        

I was inspired by a few other challenges too for my cards today - yes, not one, not two but three cards to share with you! The challenge over at Fusion has a great inspiration photo (you can see it below as the card that I am entering for this challenge is further down the post) that led me to use the 'Joyful Nativity' Christmas set from the annual catalogue and with the Addicted to CAS challenge codeword is ombre and CAS Colours and Sketches calling for monochromatic blues, I dug out my Marina Mist, Dapper Denim and Night of Navy ink pads and set to work.

The genre of 'clean and simple' tends to be rather subjective and whilst my general style is definitely 'clean' it tends toward 'clean and layered' rather than 'clean and simple'. So today I decided to take the same basic idea and create both a clean and simple and a clean and layered card to illustrate the difference! So here's my first card, a simple one layer affair stamped on extra thick Whisper White cardstock:

 

I stamped the angel in the centre of my 'o', brushed the stamped areas with my clear Wink of Stella brush and added a metallic shape to the star to finish my card. Super clean and simple! I also made a second version of this card, this time adding in the secondary sentiment, stamped in Night of Navy:

 

For my final card, I created a clean yet layered card, using this week's sketch over at the Global Design Project:

     

I used a cardbase of Marina Mist and switched out the angel for the Bethlehem skyline, added a piece of in-colour envelope paper for my background layer and heat embossed my sentiment in silver onto a strip of Night of Navy cardstock:

 

All three of the cards have a beautiful shimmer as a result of the careful brushing with my Clear Wink of Stella which adds a gorgeous subtle sparkle in real life. So which one do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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 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 cards this week. We are off for our usual Sunday morning of sport assuming the hockey pitch hasn't frozen with the sub-zero temperatures we've been having for the last couple of days, followed by lunch, some baking for a school bake sale this week and then a birthday party to attend for the youngest of the James Juniors, so another full-on Sunday!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project and news of an exciting new promotion for next week only; 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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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.