Presents and Pinecones Large Square Double Display Christmas Card

by Joanne James1. November 2016 20:00

This is my second post of today - if you missed the first one about the new Stitched Shapes Framelits you are going to want to check that out here. No blog post yesterday as I still have one of the James Juniors on half term this week and then my evening was spent trick or treating. Today I've had full day with back to back classes, one of which was my first technique class of the month featuring the Christmas/Pretty Pines bundle. I've made lots of projects with this bundle, although I've yet to blog them all (so many projects, so little time!) Click here to see one of the cards that I've shared previously using this set, that was also one of our makes in our class. 

Today I want to share a card that I CASE'd from the lovely Amanda Bates over at The Craft Spa, who is for me the queen of fancy folds. She has made lots of versions of her Large Square Double Display Card but this one using the Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Paper and the Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies really caught my eye and I just had to have a go at re-creating it. Here's my card:

 

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

Presents & Pinecones - What can I say, the Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper is definitely the star of this card. Four of the twelve designs in this pack are showcased here, such a great layout to really let these papers shine. What's more, they are the perfect pairing for the Christmas/Pretty Pines stamp set thinlits combo. The colours are traditional yet fresh and modern, with the addition of the mint and white to the red and Emerald Envy green.

Christmas Pines - Whilst it's rare that I advocate buying a stamp set or thinlit set without its counterpart when it's available as a bundle (and this is most definitely not one of those times!), it is easy to focus on the detail of the thinlits with this set and rather overlook the stamp set. This would be such a mistake though, as it's a set choc full of great scripted sentiments in a variety of sizes, along with some useful border stamps, a fancy frame and a snowy background stamp that will have tons of uses on so many Christmas cards. This card showcases two of the sentiments and the snowflake background stamp, which adds subtle interest and detail to the panels on the front and inside. This set is definitely worthy of a place on your shelf!

The 'How' - I made a few tweaks to Amanda's tutorial when I made this card, so thought I would share the details with measurements below. This card is measured in cm and is a metric template for standard A4 cardstock; if you would like to make one in inches or using 12" x 12" cardstock, do check out Amanda's blog via the above link where she has lots of useful tutorials to follow. Here goes:

To make this A4 metric large square double display card, you will need:

  • Thick Whisper White A4 Cardstock 15x 29cm
  • Whisper White Cardstock 15cm Square
  • Early Espresso Cardstock 10 cm Square
  • Presents & Pinecones Paper Mint Macaron Mini Chevron 9.5cm Square (x2)
  • Presents & Pinecones Paper White Cones and Pines 4.5cm x 9.5cm (x2)
  • Presents & Pinecones Paper White Cones and Pines 4.5cm x 2cm (x2)
  • Presents & Pinecones Paper Stripes 4.5cm x 2cm (x4)
  • Stamps & Dies – Christmas Pines Stamp Set and Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies Bundle 
 Instructions:
  • PORTRAIT (short side): 
  • Line up at 2.5cm across the top ruler
  • Cut from 2 to 12cm. LIFT. Cut from 17 to 27cm
  • Turn 180 degrees and repeat both steps above.
  • LANDSCAPE (long side):
  • Score across whole width at 4.5cm and 9.5cm 
  • Score top and bottom sections only at 2cm and 12cm 
  • Turn 180 degrees and repeat both steps above.
  • From the PORTRAIT end (short side):
  • Fold the outer creases into a mountain, valley, mountain, valley set of folds
  • Fold the centre section score lines into first a mountain fold then a valley fold 
  • This gives you the basic layout for the base of your card.

I just love this card - a little time and effort but well worth it for the end result. Thank you Amanda for the inspiration!

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'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.

Warmth And Cheer Merry Tags Christmas Bauble Card

by Joanne James18. October 2016 07:00

 

It's Tuesday and today I have a Christmas card for you using this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts:

 ppa322

This is such a great sketch with so many options; I decided today to make a Christmas card that is all about baubles - take a look:

 

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

Warmth and Cheer - My strips of festive paper come from this season's 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper stack, Warmth and Cheer. A mix of warm reds, greens and yellows, with everything from sweater patterns to plaids, baubles, pine trees and stars, these papers will take your projects from autumn through to winter and the festive season with ease.

Merry Tags Bauble - I took my inspiration from my DSP strips and diecut a bauble in Real Red using the Merry Tags Framelits for the circular element of my card. I stamped my sentiment from the Merriest Wishes stamp set and heat embossed it in black for added shine. I added a Garden Green bow cut using the Perfect Pines Framelits and finished with a metallic enamel shape.

Decorative Stripes - They are very subtle, however if you look closely at my bauble you will see I sponged some diagonal stripes in Real Red ink using one of the Seasonal Decorative Masks onto my bauble before I embossed my sentiment, to echo the stripe of the baubles on the DSP and just add a little extra interest without stamping.

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 have another busy day today that will start with the children attending their Speech and Drama exams - wish them luck! I hope your day is a good one 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.

In Colour Perfect Pines Christmas Card

by Joanne James29. August 2016 19:00

We've had a Bank Holiday here in the UK today - not only a long weekend, but the sun has shone all day too! I spent my morning sewing name labels in new school uniform for the James juniors (I have the needle pricks to prove it - ouch!) then a pleasant afternoon outside and a little crafting time too. Today I have a card I made for the current challenge over at Fab Friday, where the challenge is to make a card that uses each of this year's new in-colours:

I decided to have a go at an in-colour Christmas card that used all five colours. Take a look at what I came up with: 

 

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

Perfect Pines Christmas Tree - I cropped my Christmas tree with the Perfect Pines framelits. This set featured in last year's holiday catalogue and I was thrilled to see it carried forward into the annual catalogue. I love all of this year's in colours, however they aren't designed to be used as a set. So a word of caution - to prevent visual overload, it makes sense to choose one or two colours to focus on and allow the others to have a supporting role. Preserve white space too! I decided that Emerald Envy would be the main colour on my card, with Dapper Denim also providing some border colour and then the three lighter colours used sparingly elsewhere on my card.

Colour Blocked Fairy Lights - The simple appearance of this card belies how tricky it actually was to create. Why, you ask? Well, I had this idea that I would use the framelit to cut out strings of lights on my Christmas tree and place strips of cardstock behind. I wanted to ensure that each light was a single colour and that you couldn't see the joins between the coloured strips through the gaps. After much fussing and fiddling with my layout, I eventually worked out how to achieve the look I was after: I increased the height of each coloured strip by 1mm as I progressed down the tree, starting at 5mm and finishing at 10mm. I also cut away the top two strips so that only one of each of the colours could be seen extending beyond the tree across the card front. So easy when you know how - and yes, you are welcome!

Enamel Star - the only other things I added to my card were my greeting from the new Merriest Wishes stamp set and a Sweet Sugarplum enamel star that I added to the top of my tree. Love these enamel shapes in every colour!

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. 

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.

Perfect Pines This Christmas

by Joanne James27. July 2016 12:00

I'm a little later posting today - I blame trying to catch up with my latest favourite TV drama last night (The Catch - if you want to check it out - I'm addicted!) Anyways, 152 days until the big 'C' day - it must be time for Christmas in July! Lots of card makers start preparing for Christmas at this time of year, in addition to which us lucky Stampin' Up! demonstrators get to see and pre-order from the new Stampin' Up! Autumn Winter catalogue - which if you're a customer you have to wait until 2nd September for! I've seen some sneak peeks and can assure you there are some new products that you are going to LOVE!!!!

If you would like to get ahead of the curve and be able to see and order these products before everyone else, do get in touch to find out more about joining my team. In the meantime, I thought I would make a card for this week's colour challenge over at Fab Friday, where although a Christmas card is not compulsory the colour scheme this week is certainly festive:

For my card today I decided to go with the new Christmas papers in the annual catalogue and one of the carryover Christmas sets, Perfect Pines to create a simple holiday card:

 

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

More For You This Christmas - At Stampin' Up! we do Christmas all year round however in your excitement to see everything in the new Annual Catalogue you might have missed a key detail about the new This Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper: like the now retired Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper, This Chrismas is printed in lightweight paper - similar to a newspaper print. As a result, you also get 4 sheets of each of the 6 designs in the pack, so 24 sheets in total as opposed to 12 - bonus!

Double-Up - Because the This Christmas paper is not a thick paper, it's tricky to pop up on dimensionals if it's not backed with something thicker. I wanted to be able to tie my baker's twine around my DSP layer, so in order to make it more sturdy, I backed it with a piece of extra thick Whisper White that was the same size, by simply gluing together. Easy! 

Paper-Pieced Perfect Pines - I decided to use one of the Perfect Pines Christmas trees to act as both sentiment and focal point on my card today. I stamped my tree in Garden Green and cut it out with the co-ordinating framelits, then stamped it again in Cherry Cobbler on some scrap cardstock and fussy cut the banner so that I could add the tiniest paper-pieced detail to my tree. This, in addition to a gold metallic enamel star, a sliver of gold glimmer paper and some split Cherry Cobbler baker's twine (I divided the twine into three so that it would add less bulk to my card) complete today's festive masterpiece (even if I say so myself!!) 

One more for the Christmas pile - I guess that means I'm in danger of appearing organised, 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I have a rare child-free day today, so I am making the most of it to get through a chunk of activities on my growing 'to do' list. 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.

Pink Perfect Pines Silhouette Card

by Joanne James29. November 2015 10:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the talented Sandy to host and she has a tic tac toe board to get our creative juices flowing this week:

       

There were so many ways I could have gone with Sandy's board this week - the creative possibilities are endless! - but in the end I decided to go with the far-right column: white, embossing and punch or die cut. I used this week's colours over at Colour Me and the Friday Mashup sketch for today's card:

 

I used a base of Melon Mambo for my card then on a piece of Whisper White I stamped the silhouette from the 'To You and Yours' stamp set in Memento Black then sponged in my sky using each of the Colour Me challenge colours and masking off a small moon with a small circle of post-it note. I also added a few tiny white stars using my chalk pen. I then took a piece of Basic Black cardstock and diecut the tree using the medium-sized Perfect Pines framelit, wrapping some silver thread around the base of the card and securing behind. The top layer is a piece of Shimmery White cardstock - you can't really see the sparkle of this card in the photo, which is a shame as it's lovely! I embossed this piece with the Softly Falling embossing folder to add texture then used the largest Christmas tree framelit to cut an aperture in my card to frame the tree in the black layer. Finally I added my sentiment; I added the silver glimmer 'peace' from the Christmas Greetings thinlits (I trimmed down the ends) and heat embossed the 'on earth' in silver onto the black layer. 

I've been wanting to use this silhouette stamp for ages and I like the idea of framing it with the diecut. Quite unconventional for a Christmas card, but I just love the colours of the pretty sunset too. 

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 how many tic tac toe combinations you can come up with this week. I'm off for a morning of basketball and then a quiet day for the James juniors, given that Rebecca has an awful cold and needs some R&R to prepare for the busy month ahead in the run up to Christmas. I'm hoping to work on a few projects and get a few jobs done - wish me luck!

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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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.