It's A 2017 Celebration With The Crafty Owl

by Joanne James1. January 2017 07:00

Well hello! Have you missed me? I hope you've all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for a very happy new year! I had a very busy Christmas season and had to take an extended blogging break; sometimes some things just have to give and for me my blog was one of them this past few weeks. Anyway, now I'm back and here with a card to welcome in the new year. I'm also entering a couple of challenges: the Paper Craft Crew are looking for a black-tie gala inspired card and the peeps over at CAS-ual Fridays are working with the theme of 'Celebrations':

Join me for a Black Tie Gala event with the Paper Craft Crew and play along with Challenge 224. #pcc2016 #themechallenge #blacktie www.papercraftcrew.com   

I decided that today the owl should return in more ways than one - take a look at my card to see what I mean:

 

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

A Dapper Owl - The star of today's card is the super-sparkly, rather dapper Fred Astaire-esque owl that is tripping the light fantastic as he welcomes in the new year! The Owl Builder Punch was one of my first Stampin' Up! purchases and I love how versatile it is. I used the owl punch to make the very first new year card that I blogged way back in 2013 when I first began blogging (you can see that card here) so it seemed fitting that I should use an altogether more elegant owl to kick start 2017. This card also heralds the start of a new weekly feature of mine: each week I will be creating a card that features a different owl or character made with the Owl Builder Punch. This is a fun way to demonstrate the versatility of this popular Stampin' Up! punch, so be sure to tune in each week for your owl inspiration. Today's owl sports a gold glimmer waistcoat and a top hat and bow tie courtesy of the Snow Friends Framelits. The walking cane is a simple strip of glimmer paper and a circle punched with the owl builder punch. Along with my Large Number Framelit numbers, today's owl is seriously sparkly!

It's A Celebration - My starry background is courtesy of the fireworks in the 'It's a Celebration' stamp set in the current seasonal catalogue; I stamped them in Versamark and heat embossed in silver and gold for a dramatic background reminiscent of the night sky.

Yes, Let's Celebrate 2017! - I finished my card with a sentiment from the 'Confetti Celebration' stamp set - ot just for birthdays, this set works for lots of other kinds of celebration 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. 

That's all from me; I'm off to spend the day with the extended James family to welcome in the new year. 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.

Thanks Very Very Very Much Teacher Card

by Joanne James10. March 2016 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:

 

My card today started with the sentiment on the sketch, which immediately reminded me of the thank you sentiment in the 'Fabulous Four' stamp set. I decided to get an early start on my end of school year thank you cards - a long way off yet, but I will need lots of them this year so no time like the present! Here's my card:

 

The three key elements of today's card are as follows:

Fabulous Four stamp set - this is a stamp set with four large sentiments, three of which are two-line sentiments like the one on today's card. They are big, bold and fun and perfect if you want to make the sentiment the focal point of your card.

Owl Builder Punch - I haven't made an owl with my Owl Builder Punch for a while so I decided to take the flower element of the sketch and make it a scholarly owl, complete with spectacles, mortar board and shiny apple courtesy of a little Crystal Effects. I coloured him to co-ordinate with my chosen designer series paper - isn't he so cute?!

Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper - I used two of the papers from the Schoolhouse pack for my card today: the alphabet fitted in perfectly with my school theme and the stripes added some additional colour for the bottom portion of the card. I also added a piece of co-ordinating Tangelo Twist In-Colour Washi Tape beneath the sentiment as per the sketch; a small touch, but it does nicely emphasise the positioning of the owl.

Here's today's visual summary for easy reference:

 

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:

  • Fabulous Four Clear-Mount Stamp Set
  • Owl Builder Punch
  • Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper
  • 2014-2016 In Color Designer Washi Tape
  • Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad
  • Whisper White A4 Cardstock
  • Basic Gray A4 Cardstock
  • Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock
  • Garden Green A4 Cardstock
  • Basic Black A4 Cardstock
  • Crystal Effects
  • Real Red A4 Cardstock
  • Tree Builder Punch
  • 1/8" Silver Mini Brads
  • Whisper White Baker's Twine

 

Chip And Mrs Potts Cups and Kettle Framelits Card

by Joanne James28. January 2016 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:

 

Now as my regular readers know I love a good sketch but it wasn't actually the sketch that inspired my card today; I was working on a couple of projects at the same time and had my Cups and Kettle Framelits Dies still out on my desk from my Paper Players card (if you missed it you can see that card here) and the minute I set eyes on that little cup (or it might even be a milk jug, I'm not sure) I just knew it would be perfect to make Chip, the little cup from Disney's movie 'The Beauty and The Beast' - you know the little guy I mean?

Image result for mrs potts and chip (Copyright Disney)

Paired with a customised teapot for Mrs Potts, Chip's Mum, this sketch gave me the perfect layout to showcase my fun characters - here's my finished card:

Now I know I'm biased since I made the card, but aren't that pair just the cutest?! So how did I make them? Here are the key component parts you need:

  • Basic teapot and cup cut from Shimmery White cardstock (I reversed my cup for the above card as I wanted the characters to be looking at each other)
  • Cupbase and teapot base made from the base of the other cup framelit cut from Wisteria Wonder
  • Cut an extra teapot and cup in Daffodil Delight and trim off the handles and some strips to edge the bases
  • Cut three of the looped framelit pieces, one each in Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise and Pink Pirouette. Detach and use one whole yellow loop to line the cup. Snip the blue and pink ones in half across the middle and glue them in alternating colours to the Wisteria Wonder base.
  • Cut a teapot lid out of Wisteria Wonder and add a Pink Pirouette candy dot to the lid top. 
  • Cut two pieces of the wave shapes, one each from Daffodil Delight and Wisteria Wonder. Paper-piece them together and adhere to the teapot edge to create the frill.
  • Punch some eyes using the circle from the owl builder punch, adding eyelids and eye lashes to Mrs Potts and cut the eyebrows and mouths freehand with paper snips. 
  • Lastly, don't forget to snip to add Chip's chip!

I stamped a faint heart on the background, added a strip of 'Have a Cuppa' designer series paper and a heart boarder, along with my sentiment, to complete my card. Punch art-type cards like this are sometimes time-consuming to create, but so worth it I think for a special card!

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: 

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

Punch Art Guitar Cards

by Joanne James10. October 2015 09:00

I have a couple of fun punch art cards to share with you today (to make up for no post yesterday)! I was all ready to link up with the ladies at SUO Challenges but it would appear that our clocks are not coinciding this week - never mind! Check them out if you're a punch art fan as that's their theme this week. Both of these were made for my lovely husband, who celebrated his birthday this week. You will notice there is something of a common theme to my cards - here's the first one:

 

My husband has recently taken up learning to play the guitar; I think living in a household with three pianists and a singer, he was feeling somewhat left out! So I decided for my card to go with a simple black and white combo, using my circle framelits for the holes and my word window punch and decorative label punches for the fretboard and strings. The strings themselves are made using the new silver corded trim - perfect for my six-string - and I added an actual re guitar pick 'borrowed' from my husband's collection to add a pop of red to my card.

My second card was made from my children and includes both a punched star and a rather clever guitar made with ... the owl punch! Take a look:

I used some retired music print paper for my background and the same 'Rock Star' greeting from the 'Be The Star' stamp set, this time stamped in Pacific Point on Very Vanilla then punched out with my star punch. I also added the word 'DAD' cut with my little Letter Thinlits for further personalisation. A silver glimmer star then formed the background to highlight my punch art guitar: an owl punch body (minus the feet!) in Pacific Point, a small punched circle and a piece of Smoky Slate wound in thin silver thread for the strings with a couple of the owl hearts attached to the end for the keys that tighten the strings. Not a bad replica of the blue electric guitar he is practising on - thank heavens for headphones that plug in to his amplifier, so we are not all having to witness his Eric Clapton impressions until he is more polished!!

Back later with some exciting news for you, so watch this space; meanwhile, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

to follow.

Up, Up and Away New Home Card

by Joanne James18. May 2015 11:03

I am starting this week with a quick post to share a card that I made with my ladies at one of my recent Stamp-A-Stack classes which was all about punch art and fits perfectly not only for the colours but also the inspiration photo over at The Color Throwdown this week:

I had been wanting to make an 'Up!' style card for a while and had seen lots of versions on Pinterest - here's my take with the card I made with my ladies:

Quite simple, but it needed to be as everyone was making a few each - Stamp-A-Stack is all about creating lots of cards in a - relatively! - short time.

The base is a piece of Soft Sky, onto which I adhered a few Whisper White clouds and stamped a few straight lines using the balloon string from the 'Celebrate Today' stamp set. We then stamped the house from the now retired Sale-A-Bration set in Memento Black onto Crumb Cake and punched it out with the retiring 'What's Up?' arrow punch and popped it on a dimensional at the base of the strings. The cluster of balloons is a carefully layered group of balloons made with the small oval punch and a foot from the Owl Builder punch. The sentiment is taken from the also retired winter seasonal set 'Holiday Home'. These bright primary colours are perfect for this card and so remind me of the scene where the house takes off in the Disney movie 'Up!'; I'm a big Disney fan and this movie holds special memories as it was the movie I watched with my daughter the first time we visited the cinema.

That's not quite all from me today - I have a second post which is my-fill in post from Saturday when I was at the Stampin' Up! UK Regional training event in Telford, so scroll back to read that one if you want to hear about the fun I had! 

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.

 

Fun Children's Easter Projects using the Stampin' Up! Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlit Die

by Joanne James3. April 2015 22:26

It's Good Friday already so I thought it was about time I shared with you some of the fun Easter projects that I've been making with my children and their friends in recent weeks. Both James Juniors love to craft and Rebecca especially likes the opportunity to spend some time in my craft room whenever she can. At the start of the Easter holidays, we had a big group of their friends round and spent a fun morning making these cute Easter treat boxes using one of my favourite products, the Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlit Die:

I couldn't resist creating some Easter themed containers using this die, further to the popularity of my Christmas ones - you can see my tips on using this thinlit die in my Stampissimo video with Paula Gorry from Stampin' Up! here.

The girls made cute bunnies - I've seen lots of different versions floating around Pinterest, but for mine I decided to use my Flower Fair framelits to create the ears and the various pieces from my trusty Owl Builder punch for the face, along with some strands of split white jute ribbon for his whiskers and some added detail with a Smoky Slate marker and my white gel pen.

The boys made these cute Easter chicks:

The boys were slightly younger, so we went with something a little less complicated with less small pieces required for the face.

In addition, everyone also made a little Easter bag, inspired by this one created by Brian King and using this fabulous little tutorial by Val Moody to create the basic bag shape:

We kept things simple with some tone-on-tone stamping using the 'For Peep's Sake' Easter-themed stamp set and a little tag made with the handpicked framelits. These little bags are so easy to make and the perfect size for your mini Easter eggs. Everyone chose their own colours - here's a couple of pictures I took on the day of some of the children's finished projects:

 

Not many 'action' photos I'm afraid - just too much going on. It was a busy few hours of crafting with 16 children taking part, but they were all so well behaved and thoroughly enjoyed making some great treat boxes to take home. I have another easy Easter-themed project to share with you tomorrow, so do pop back then if you're in need of some last minute Easter inspiration. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

For the rabbit box:

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

 

For the chick box:

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

 

For the Mini Egg Bag:

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

 

Colourful Thanksgiving Turkey Card

by Joanne James25. November 2014 09:36

Today's card is for another couple of challenges: I'm having a second entry over at The Challenge, this time using the sketch, and also this week's colour challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary, where this palette of rich autumnal colours was just too good to pass up:

   

This weekend my American friends will be celebrating Thanksgiving; whilst it's not something we celebrate in the UK, we all have something to be thankful for and today's sketch and colours gave me the perfect opportunity to have a little go at something I've been wanting to do for a while and since I know I have lots of American and overseas blog readers, this one is for you! Here is today's card:

A punch art turkey - how cute is he?! I've seen lots of different punch art turkeys on Pinterest and wanted to have a go at creating one using the Four Feathers stamp set and co-ordinating framelits for the tail. The sketch layout is perfect for my card, as with such a detailed turkey there really isn't room for a lot else! I used Tangelo Twist for my card base with a mat of Blackberry Bliss, then followed this with a layer of Sahara Sand as my neutral, to really allow my turkey centre stage. I stamped a number of the small feathers in each of the challenge colours onto the same colour cardstock for a tone-on-tone look, and fanned them out in two layers for the turkey's tail. The turkey's body is the body of the owl punch, in Early Espresso with the ears and feet removed, and his jowls are a punched heart, cut in half and overlaid on top of each other. I placed a piece of burlap behind my turkey to add a little rustic texture then stamped my sentiment directly onto the card base. I'm hoping Lesley will forgive me the centralised sentiment; I spent so long fussing over my turkey, i didn't revisit the sketch before I stamped and centralised my sentiment rather than set it off to the side, as suggested. Note to self - make a final check before you stamp!

I hope you like today's card - please do visit both challenge sites for more design inspiration from some very talented designers.

Back tomorrow with a triple bill: two creative posts and a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals! 

Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Behind The Scenes at Stampin' Up! - Shooting a Stampissimo Video

by Joanne James30. October 2014 07:00

Today I have something very special that I've had to keep under wraps for a little while: the latest Stampin' Up! UK Stampissimo video has just been published and guess what? I am the starring demonstrator! I was so excited to be asked by Paula Gorry, Stampin' Up! UK Business Development Manager, to create a project for the latest video with the theme of 'Winter Treats' that once I had a copy of the Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue in my hands, it didn't take me long to decide what I was going to use - the fabulous new Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Die. You can make all kinds of customised boxes with this die, but for the theme of 'Winter Treats' I knew I wanted to create a range of Christmas characters, with Rudolf the Red-nose Reindeer being the star of the show. It meant I could combine the box die with another of my favourite catalogue products that you've seen me use so many times on different projects - the Autumn Wooden Embellishments (LOVE these and one pot lasts an age!)

Here is the reindeer box that I demonstrate in the video - how cute is this?!

The project itself needed to be simple enough to demonstrate whilst chatting at the same time - the purpose of Stampin' Up!'s range of Stampissimo videos is to spread the word about Stampin' Up! to both crafters and non-crafters who may not have heard of Stampin' Up! and give them some insight into the products and the demonstrators who sell them. Whilst they are based around demonstrating and sharing a particular product or project, the informational nature of these videos mean they last longer than your average tutorial so you need to get comfy!

You can get the details for how I made the box above and see lots of other boxes featured in the video itself, but I wanted to share with you some of the 'behind the scenes' photos from my day and give you a little insight into the fun that I had spending the day with Paula and Kelly in the studio, along with the now infamous 'Ben and Jerry' film crew of Ben and James, who do all of the filming for Stampin' Up!'s UK events and did such a fabulous job of recording the day and producing the final video.

This is what filming looks like from behind the scenes -  a real case of lights, camera, action! There are cameras that shoot from the front and from above in order to get a full range of shots and the necessary close-ups. When I shoot video tutorials at home I use an overhead camera, but I'm sitting at my desk. When you're standing up it is quite tricky because you have to be careful not to lean over your workspace, otherwise all the viewer sees is the top of your head! Sounds obvious, but I found out there is a real art to working with your arms outstretched and not leaning too far into your workspace.

Here are a couple of shots of Ben and James, the guys that produce the video - I struggle to tell them apart - they're twins! - but as you can see, one is slightly more camera-shy than the other:

 

They really are the nicest chaps you could wish to meet and I think they did a great job with the final edit, although I'll admit I'm biased!

This is my favourite photo of Paula and I on the day, taken mid-take once we were properly relaxed and into the swing of things - we really were having fun:

Lastly, here's one of us all post filming each displaying our favourite boxes, the chaps included. They decided the boxes were so easy to make, they might even have a go themselves at making some to grace their family festive table. At the UK training day at Telford earlier this year, the Stampin' Up! demonstrators were treated to a video of Ben and 'Jerry' making their first foray into crafting Stampin' Up! style, so this may well be their second!!

Also, note the festive pot plant on the edge of the desk and the Christmas tree in the video - Kelly and Paula did their best to make the studio look festive, which was quite tricky given that this was filmed some time ago when the sun was shining gloriously outside and it was not even remotely autumnal, let alone wintery! A big thank you the lovely Kelly Francis, who took all of the above pictures - she is an absolute star!

Here are some additional pictures of some of the finished boxes that feature in the video - this is Santa's helper, the mischievous elf: 

This is the man himself, Santa Claus - with his head!:

This one is Santa - without his head! Perfect if you are short on time or want something that's a little more adult-oriented:

Then we have the cutest snowman - check out his twirly carrot nose! 

Here they are altogether - one big happy Curvy Keepsake Box festive family:

I hope you found the 'behind the scenes' tour interesting - now here's the video that you've all been waiting for:

In summary, a truly great experience and yet another of the fantastic opportunities available to me as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator working with this amazing company that allows me to share what I love, be endlessly creative, manage and motivate a great team and have a job that totally fits around my family commitments and enables me to achieve the best work-life balance I've ever had.

If you're reading this and thinking that you would like to know more about the benefits of becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, then do get in touch with me on 07773 421446  - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you and tell you more.

If you would like to make Rudolf, the supplies list that links to my online store is below.

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.

 

 

Get Well Soon Dad!

by Joanne James9. June 2014 23:10

Today I'm sharing a card I made using this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the lovely colours at Colour Q:

 

 My Dad had a knee replacement operation last week and so I wanted to send him a 'get well soon' card that would brighten his day - here is my card:

I used a base of Night of Navy along with a mat in Tangerine Tango and using the sticking plaster from an old 2013 Sale-A-Bration set, Patterned Occasions (minus the attached sentiment), stamped it in the challenge colours and cut them out and adhered them to my card following the sketch layout. I coupled them with a simple 'get well soon' sentiment from the ever-so-useful Delightful Dozen stamp set (due to retire at the end of this month) and added a tiny Bashful blue heart punched with my trusty owl punch to finish.

I love the look of the stuck-on sticky plasters, which works so well with the get well theme - I'm sure my Dad wishes his knee could have been fixed that easily!

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

A New Home Card!

by Joanne James22. May 2014 15:30

I had a hugely productive creative day yesterday (I love days like that!) and decided to have another go at a card with the sketch layout from CAS(E) This Sketch (although I'm too late to link up to this challenge with this sketch). I am linking up with Addicted to CAS though as I have another 'over the edge' birdie and today's card features the zingy colour palette over at Color Throwdown:

 

So using the color throwdown photo for inspiration, I decided to create a 'new home' card. There is only one set is the annual catalogue that features a new home welcome - the hostess set 'Sweetly Framed' - so I decided to create something using some punch art with an idea that I've had swimming around in my head for a while. Here's my card:

I used Pear Pizzazz for my base, and popped my Soft Sky panel up on dimensionals and created a little bird house by punching a 1" square out and topping with a Tangerine Tango triangle cut from half a square for the roof. I punched a Tangerine Tango bird using the bird punch and highlighted the bird's wing by using a scrap of Retro Fresh DSP, adhering with rolled glue dots to give some height. I added some punched co-ordinating coloured hearts punched with my owl punch. Lastly, what to use as a sentiment? I eventually decided on 'Yippee-Skippee!' from the stamp set of the same name, stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in clear powder - not quite 'Welcome to your new home', but it's exactly how I felt when I bought a new house, both times, so it seemed more than appropriate! Another very clean and simple card, created with just a few punches and a sentiment.

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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Cards | Punch Art | Stamping

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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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