Thanks For The Laughs Friendship Card PP692

by Joanne James2. June 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 our intrepid traveller, the lovely Jaydee, to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

    

I knew when I saw Jaydee's theme for this week it would be the perfect opportunity for me to ink up a set that is long retired, but that I have never broken the seal on - oops! It's called 'Thanks for The Laughs' and has some of the funniest sentiments for cards that are perfect to share with special friends - take a look at one of my favourites:

 

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

We all have those kinds of friends, right?! I added my sentiment to a Nested Label diecut, and created a fun background using lots of leftover strips of retired designer series paper, mostly from the Delightfully Eclectic pack plus a couple of others. I decorated my label with a trio of flowers diecut using the Thoughtful Wishes Dies (I thought these were similar to the flowers on the Misty Moonlight DSP strips):

The sentiment continues inside the card and I also added another couple of diecut flowers to decorate:

This card was so fun to make! My background was inspired by the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and it was a great way to use up leftover strips of patterned paper. I simply chose about half a dozen patterns, that worked together (similar colours and patterns) and started laying the onto a piece of Basic White cardstock. Once the whole front was covered, I simply trimmed away any excess - easy. I still had a few strips left over once I'd made my card, so I decided to use the to decorate my envelope flap in a similar style for a co-ordinated finish. Whilst I've used a retired stamp set and papers on my card, you could easily use the same design with current product

This card will be headed to one of my long-time friends and partners-in-crime to let her know how much I appreciate her - there's nothing like true friends!

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'm hoping to fit in a little crafting today - it was so cold watching Ben play cricket yesterday I feel like I've gone into hibernation mode - and it's June!! 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.

Faith Hope Love CCS 537

by Joanne James21. May 2024 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches.This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Patricia has asked that we add a panel with 3 banners behind. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

 

For my card today I decided to do another showcase of one of the beautiful designs in the Thoughtful Journey paper pack on that panel - take a look:

 

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

I used one of the Nested Essentials Dies to cut out my scenic panel and decided to highlight three of the colours in the sky and use those for my horizontal strips. I heat-embossed my sentiment onto each in white and used words from the 'Unbounded Love' stamp set that worked well together. How gorgeous are these papers? 

A trio of co-ordinating pearls complete my card front, with a corresponding sentiment added to the inside of my card:

 

What do you think? This is a great design that is quick to make and really does showcase the pretty papers.

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.

Finally, a quick reminder that all orders placed today over £60 are eligible for free shipping - so a great time to stock up on your new annual catalogue favourites.

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.

CAS Happy Birthday Sweet Peas PP690

by Joanne James19. May 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 Anne Marie to host this week and she has a fun theme for this week's Clean and Simple challenge:

    

You know how I can't resist a sketch by the lovely Cecile over at Freshly Made Sketches, so since this is her week I had to grab her layout and use it for the basis of my clean and simple punny birthday card using a new stamp that I also couldn't resist that is perfect to celebrate all things birthday over at AAA Cards too - take a look:

 

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

HapPea Birthday - what punny fun is that?! The 'Sweet Peas' stamp set is found in the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue and is choc-full of cute images and punny sentiments for lots of occasions. For today's card I chose the birthday peas, bursting out of their pod and stamped it onto a panel cut with an (elongated) Nested Essentials Die and coloured with three of the new In Colour Stampin' Blends: Shy Shamrock, Peach Pie and Petunia Pop (and a little Shaded Spruce and retired Call Me Clover for good measure). I could have finished there, but decided to create a loose 'frame' behind my panel using one of the long pea shoot stems in the set, adding just a little outline colour and fussy cutting them to allow for some overlap and lift for interest:

Don't you just love those grinning peas?! I added another pea along with a 'let's celebrate' sentiment from the (retired) 'Simply Fabulous stamp set to the inside of my card and repeated this on the envelope flap for a little co-ordinated decoration. Shy Shamrock is such a fresh and vibrant green - I know I'm going to use it a lot. Do you love these new in-colours too? Remember in May you can receive a fabulous bundle of new in-colour products for free when you sign up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - you can find the details on this amazing offer here. This stamp set makes me hap-pea (pun intended!) and I just love this clean and simple birthday card. I have lots of birthdays in May and June, and this card will be headed to a dear friend who will I know appreciate the sentiment!

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 don't have anything special planned today, so will be hoping for fine weather and some time in the garden. 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 Autumn Thanks

by Joanne James9. May 2024 15:02

Today I'm having a lovely day sat in my office with the sunshine streaming through the window and working on some projects to share with you. Whilst I was working on some design commitments, I decided to make a quick card to squeak in an entry over at Sunday Stamps, where their current sketch is too good to pass up:

I've been working my way through a pack of Thoughtful Journey designer series paper as I design projects for my upcoming Thoughtful Wishes Tutorial with my lovely friend Jan Clothier and whilst I haven't shared any of them with you yet, this layout was just asking to showcase one of the beautiful designs in this fabulous paper pack take a look:

 

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

I created both of the layers from my card from one sheet of paper, showcasing the warm Cajun Craze shaded grasses and using the right-hand side of the sheet with the lighter colours for the layer behind for a hint of contrast. I diecut my banner pieces in Old Olive using one of the Nested Essentials Dies and added a simple thanks sentiment from 'Thoughtful Wishes':

 

A simple green linen twine bow and sprinkle of copper sequins was all that I needed to complete my card. The thoughtful Journey papers really do contain such beautiful scenes, it's a shame to cover them up too much. I will have lots more cards to share featuring these papers in the coming weeks, so be sure to stay tuned.

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 the rest of your day; it does feel strange to be making a card in autumnal colours given that I think summer has finally arrived here in the UK, so much so that I enjoyed lunch in the garden today. Dare I say if this keeps up, we might even be able to BBQ at the weekend - fingers crossed! I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at 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.

Pretty In Pink Two Tone Flora For PP686

by Joanne James21. April 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 Jaydee to host this week and she has a seasonal clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

       

I thought the palette over at Color Dare was perfect for a card featuring spring flowers so I went with the pinks and green and decided to take the opportunity to say farewell to one of the prettiest floral sets whilst trying out a new in-colour - take a look:

 

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

Two Tone Flora is such a pretty floral stamp set - I will be sad to see it leave at the end of the month. I used the new in-colour Pretty In Pink as the base colour for my flowers today - isn't it pretty? I stamped one flower in Pretty In Pink only (I stamped off one layer then stamped in the detail at full strength), then stamped two more with a base in Pretty In Pink and added the detail in Melon Mambo. I masked the two base flowers then stamped the leaves in Lemon Lime Twist. Once the base flowers and leaves were stamped in place, I cut out my label using one of the Nested Essentials Dies, then added another flower and a sentiment from the Dainty Delight stamp set - I thought this sentiment worked well for a spring card, since that's a time of growth:

The label is popped up on dimensionals, allowing a hint of the pink card base to show through. Some silver twine and a trio of rhinestones complete my card. So what do you think of the new in-colour, Pretty In Pink? It's warmer than Bubble Bath but softer than Flirty Flamingo - I love it! I'll be introducing you to the other new in-colours this week, so keep an eye out for that! I'm also linking today's card up over at CAS on Friday where the theme is also 'Spring'.

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'm hoping to spend a little time in the garden today and possibly get into my craft room to work on a few projects that I have on the go. 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.

Textured Floral Hues of Happiness Birthday Card PP683

by Joanne James31. March 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 Ann to host this week and since it's the fifth Sunday of the month she has a tic-tac-toe challenge for us to work with. here's the board:

    

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities and my card today is a case in point; I had decided to use the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for my layout and was planning on going across the bottom row, but ended up settling on the first column of designer paper/sparkle/flowers - take a look:

 

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

I had a couple of floral stamp sets out on my desk and was intending to stamp a whole bunch of pastel flowers, however as I went on the hunt through my DSP for a piece to use to my background panel, I found a pack of flowers that I had diecut ages ago from the (retired) Hues of Happiness designer series paper and decided instead to use those up. I gathered a selection of flowers in yellow and blue, along with some diecut leaves, and set to work. Since I was using designer paper for my flowers, I decided to emboss my Lemon Lolly background panel with the hatched Basics 3D embossing folder. I added in some white foliage diecuts and decided on a Nested Essentials Dies label with a greeting from the 'Textured Floral' stamp set, stamped in Coastal Cabana and Early Espresso:

A trio of golden sparkly enamel dots to pick up on the warm yellow tones complete both my tictactoe column and my card. I love how this card turned out and it was a great way to use up those diecut flowers 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; I am looking forward to a delicious Easter lunch today followed by the spoils of the morning Easter egg hunt that is obligatory in the James household (apparently the offspring are NEVER too old for such activity where chocolate is concerned!) 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.

All About Autumn Oak Leaves Thank You TTT 232

by Joanne James26. October 2023 18:00

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Betty is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

    

I went on the diagonal from top left with metallics/free/leaves-foliage and took inspiration from the dried leaves and purple tones of the book in the Card Concept inspiration photo for my clean and layered card - take a look:

 

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

I am loving the photo prints in the All About Autumn paper pack - they truly are so evocative of the season. For today's card I chose a pattern of dried leaves which co-ordinates with Moody Mauve perfectly. I heat-embossed my sentiment and edged it with a snippet of copper foil and to incorporate a little more of the copper metallic once I'd diecut my panel of designer paper using the largest rectangle in the Nested Essentials Dies set, I cut an extra piece of the pattern that is actually on the reverse of the leaf image as it features a distressed copper embossed design - you can see the shine a little more closely below:

I added a background panel that I'd run through my diecutting machine with the (retired) Stitched Greenery Die for a little added interest and detail. Quite a simple card, with lovely warm autumnal tones of mauve, brown and copper - time to wrap up warm and go romping through the autumn leaves methinks!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at Festive Friday. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Abundant Beauty Autumn Changing Leaves TTT230

by Joanne James12. October 2023 16:00

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Vicky is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

          

So many lovely seasonal elements on Vicky's board this week! I went down the first column with leaves, autumn colours and twine and used the beautiful autumnal colour palette over at TGIF Challenges to create a clean and simple card with a little 'something old, something new' this week - take a look:

 

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

Blended Autumn Colour - The TGIF colour palette so reminded me of autumn leaves and I thought this trio of colours would be perfect to create a simple blended ink background using the leafy stencil in the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks - so I'm also sharing my card with AAA Cards this week. I applied each of the colours across my stencil randomly, being careful to blend them to avoid any harsh lines. I love the finished effect! These stencils are such great value for money - with 4 different creative options in each pack, they really can be used in so many different ways.

Envelope Detail - I am no stranger to a decorated envelope; my regular readers will be familiar with lots of different ways that I've shared to easily spruce-up the outside of your envelopes so I just had to play along with the current Inkspirational challenge to decorate your envelope to co-ordinate with your card. For today's envelope, I simply repeated the background stencilled pattern across the outer flap of my envelope - you can see it beneath my card in the photo above. So simple and a lovely hint of the detail inside too.

A Seasonal Saying - I chose to make the centrepiece of my card this beautiful quote from the retired 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set - my 'something old' for today. This quote seemed to fit with the ombre blended background perfectly. I stamped it onto a label diecut with the largest of the rounded rectangles in the Nested Essential Dies set and added a twine bow and retired wooden leaf embellishment as a final decoration:

This card doesn't have as much 'white space' as I would like for a super-CAS card, but using a stencil is a great way to add a quick pop of colour to a card base. A larger sentiment panel might have allowed for a little extra white space, albeit resulting in me covering up some of that lovely ombre colour - you see my dilemma, right?!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; the unexpected warmth at the start of the week has reverted now to temperatures more typical of this time of year, along with lots of rain in recent days and I am definitely starting to see more autumnal colour on the foliage as I'm driving around and about. 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.

Taco Fiesta Pinata Birthday Card

by Joanne James7. October 2023 09:00

Happy World Card making Day everyone! Today I've a quick post to share a birthday card that I made for a couple of challenges - I used the layout over at Try Stampin On Tuesday (including the option to feature patterned paper - no surprise there!) and this week's colour palette over at The Color Throwdown:

   

Each of the CTD challenge colours appear in a piece of designer paper from the Les Shoppes pack that I had yet to use so that was the starting point for today's card. I thought it had a vaguely Mexican feel too, so I paired it with the pinata image in the 'Taco Fiesta' stamp set for a fun birthday card - take a look:

 

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

This card was actually really simple: a little Blends colouring and blocks of solid colour to highlight the elements and really allow that fabulous patterned paper to shine!

 

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; the boys are out at hockey today and I shall be taking advantage of the fact that it's World Card Making Day and indulging in my hobby! Remember Stampin' Up! is running a virtual event today that you are all welcome to attend, even if you haven't registered - read all about it here.

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for 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.

All About Autumn Pumpkin Thanks TT228

by Joanne James28. September 2023 15:00

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

       

Our board has a distinctly Halloween feel this week, but since I don't have any current Halloween product and I wanted to use more of the lovely All About Autumn papers that I featured on yesterday's card (you can see that card here if you missed it), I went on the diagonal from top left with free/orange/embossing for a card that is still in keeping with the season - take a look:

 

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

Pumpkins! I thought this fabulous pumpkin-filled patterned paper would be perfect to play along with the 'pumpkin patch' theme over at TGIF Challenges this week. I'm not usually a big fan of photographic designs, but many of those in the All About Autumn pack are amazing! So much colour and texture - these papers are too good to cover up for sure. I decided to use the Try Stampin On Tuesday layout above so that much of my patterned paper remained visible, adding a contrasting horizontal piece and a pop of bright colour with the Pumpkin Pie banner and a simple copper-embossed thank you sentiment from the 'Something Fancy' stamp set to pick up on the copper tones in the paper:

A couple of brushed copper metallic dots complete my card. My own pumpkin patch doesn't have such a variety of pumpkins, but I can report that we managed to grow 5 bright orange pumpkins this year, 3 of which were rather decent in size too. They are already in storage in the garage, ready for carving. I have new young neighbours that were fascinated by my ever-expanding pumpkin patch this year, having never seen it before, and took great delight in checking on progress on a regular basis. They have challenged me to turn at least one of the pumpkins into Cinderella's coach for Halloween, so watch this space - I will share the results at the end of October!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at Festive Friday. 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.