SING Movie-Inspired Faux Illuminated Card Using Large Letters Framelits

by Joanne James24. February 2017 20:29

Yay it's Friday! Today I'm sharing a card that I made last week following my half-term visit to the movies with the James Juniors - take a look:

 

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

Movie Inspiration - We had been to the movies to see the fun computer-animated comedy movie 'Sing' (you can read all about that here if you're interested) and with this week's Paper Players challenge in mind (use a sentiment as the focal point on your card) I decided to create something using the movie title image as my inspiration:

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With a daughter who sings and often participates in public performances and examinations, I knew that this would make a great encouragement card for her - I'm sure you can see the similarities.

Love Those Letters - I know I say it every time I use them, but the Large Letters Framelits are so worth the investment - I love them! Buying them during Sale-A-Bration leaves you only £1 away from two free gifts too, what a great time to invest! Here I layered them, cutting one set in red and then tracing the inner line of the framelit with a pencil and fussy-cutting them by hand in order to leave a thin border visible. I also used my Labeler Alphabet for the 'loud' part of my sentiment - a great 'mix and match'. 

Fake Illumination - I used a liberal dose of gold metallic enamel shapes  to create my illuminated letters and heat embossed the starburst from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set to give the illusion of bright lights shining in the background along with a strip of gold glimmer for extra sparkle. The layering and lettering detail made this card less than 'clean and simple', hence the reason why I decided not to use it as my Paper Players card.

I love this card though - just shows that sometimes inspiration can strike in the strangest places. What things inspire you? 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. 

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.

Love Sparkles Congratulations Card

by Joanne James23. February 2017 07:00

Today I'm sharing a congratulations card that I made for one of the hard-working members of my team who has been achieving great things during Sale-A-Bration - take a look:

 

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Sparkly Celebration - I took the 'Celebrate' stamp in the 'Love Sparkles' stamp set and decided to create a multi-coloured embossed background to echo the idea of sparklers and fireworks. I used a selection of (retired) coloured embossing powders - Melon Mambo,Blushing Bride and Crushed Curry - but you could equally ink your stamp with the same colour inks and a sponge dauber, then heat emboss with clear embossing powder. 

Going For Gold - I added a stacked gold glimmer 'you', diecut with my Hello You Thinlits, a couple of strips of gold glimmer top and bottom and a starburst of gold glitter stars to add to the celebratory feel.

Be A Hoot Too - My team of demonstrators, known as The Hoots, range from happy hobbyists to full-time business builders - everyone is welcome and they are all united by a love of crafting and more specifically, a love of crafting with Stampin' Up! products. If you have ever considered joining Stampin' Up!, whether to get a discount on your hobby supplies or because you want to run your own successful direct sales company (or somewhere in between), Sale-A-Bration is one of the best times of the year to do so. During Sale-A-Bration, your starter kit is extra special as not only do you get your choice of £130/175 Euros worth of product for £99/129 Euros, but you get to choose an additional 2 stamp sets FOR FREE - that could be worth as much as an extra £93/126 Euros. There are so many ways in which you can benefit from being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - please do give me a call on 07773 421446 or email me if you'd like to discuss further.

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. 

Congratulations Helen and I hope you liked your colourful card! 

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.

Irresistibly Floral Spring Thank You Card

by Joanne James22. February 2017 07:00

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I decided to break out one of my new sponge brayers and some Irresistibly Floral embossed paper for my card today - take a look:

 

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

Easy Embossing - I decided to brayer the circle shape onto a piece of Irresistibly Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper using a sponge brayer. This is the first time I've brayered with one of these and I must confess I'm rather impressed - they make it so easy to get a smooth graduated finish and are great for this kind of ink technique, really bringing out the pattern of the paper. I created a simple circle stencil using a spare piece of cardstock and my Circle Framelits and brayered from bottom left to top right of my circle as I wanted to try and emulate the less-than-perfect circle of the sketch. As for the paper - this patterned clear-embossed white paper is great for colouring and sponging - a great embossed finish without any for of Versamark or heat tool required. Cheating? No! Easy? Most definitely!!

Co-ordinating Florals - I stamped a flower from the Falling Flowers stamp set and diecut it and a couple of leaves from the co-ordinating May Flowers Framelits to ground my simple diecut sentiment (cut from the now retired Greetings Thinlits - still one of my go-to sets!) This bundle which you can see on page 127 of the annual catalogue also co-ordinates with the patterns on the Irresistibly Floral embossed paper - and makes designing easy!

Fresh Colour Combination - I chose a fresh, spring colour combination of pink and green to compliment my contrasting black and white background and sentiment today - here it is if you would like to save it for future inspiration 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.

Hot Glue Embossed Moon Watercolour

by Joanne James21. February 2017 07:00

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at As You See It -  so happy to see these fabulous ladies back up and running and thank you for choosing me for the Featured Artist spot last week with this card

My second colour challenge this week - a rare thing! I find with colours as my starting point it takes me longer to come up with an idea (so glad that AYSI is on a two week challenge schedule now, it gives my ideas time to percolate!) I had so much fun making my card for Nance's challenge over at The Paper Players a couple of weeks ago (you can see that card here) and received such a lot of interested comments about the technique that I used - hot glue embossing - I thought I would make another card using the same idea but this time inspired by the AYSI challenge photo, I created a moonscape over the water - take a look:

 

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

A Fun Technique - I used the same layout and technique as for my previous card here, but this time embossed my hot glue in silver with a moon in my pinky-purple twilight sky. I then blended the pink and purple with the Dapper Denim blue for the water and reflection below the horizon using my re-inkers and aquapainter. I added a liberal does of Clear Wink of Stella to the sea to finish - this adds a wonderful sparkle that is difficult to see in the photo, but trust me, it's there!

Love Sparkles - The colours of this card I thought lent themselves to a more romantic card, so I decided to use the sparkly 'Love' sentiment from the Love Sparkles stamp set and turn this into an anniversary card for my husband since it was our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday. I'm not sure my husband was as impressed with my handiwork, but then I think he sees so many of my cards theses days he just takes it all in his stride! 

All Heart - I added a tiny pink enamel heart shape to finish my card in keeping with my theme and also stamped the inside of the card and the envelope to co-ordinate.

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. 

So what do you think - does the card say 'romance' to you? I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts below.

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.

New 2017 Sale-A-Bration Free Products Added!

by Joanne James21. February 2017 01:00

 

I know how much you've all been enjoying the benefits of the Sale-A-Bration promotion; as if it couldn't get any better this is a quick early post today to let you know that there are some new items being added to the selection of products that can be earned free with a £45 order: there are two new stamp sets and some rather lovely glimmer paper. 

Like the other items in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, these items will be available free with each £45 spend from now until the end of the Sale-A-Bration period, 31st March. You can see full details for each of the new product on the new Sale-A-Bration flyer here.

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Clean And Simple Cake Crazy Birthday Card

by Joanne James19. February 2017 09:00

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

 

So I have a slight confession: if you read my blog post on Friday you may have been expecting something else today! I had a moment of inspiration for a sentiment-based card on Friday and was so pleased with myself when it was finished. All was well until I came to load it up onto the Paper Players blog and I remembered this week was 'clean and simple' week and my card definitely wasn't! So I will share that card with you another day and in the meantime I took the opportunity to make another card using one of the great sentiment-based sets in the current Spring-Summer catalogue - take a look:

 

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

Cake Crazy - The Cake Crazy stamp set is a fun cake-building stamp set with lots of words. I made my cake stack entirely out of words, coloured to co-ordinate with my side strips of designer series paper for a fun, unisex birthday card.

Party With Balloons - I used some balloon-patterned Party Animal Designer Series Paper to border the edges of my central panel and tie in with my Emerald Envy baker's twine and fun balloon embellishment. After all, what's a party without balloons?

Add A Banner - I added a little stepped banner in Pacific Point to my card to top off my cake - whilst not designed to co-ordinate, the photopolymer stamp sits perfectly into the banner shape for easy co-ordination. 

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:

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 creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we have basketball this morning (riding high on last week's regional-qualifying tournament win!) and then a social lunch with the swim squad - should be fun. 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.

Opposites Attract - Love You Lots Notelet

by Joanne James17. February 2017 20:32

Yay it's Friday! It has felt a little like the weekend here today as my hubby has had the day off today having been away all week so the four of us have spent the day doing fun family things - a little more on that on Sunday's post though! Today I'm sharing a little card that I made for this week's challenge over at Less Is More where the challenge is for a one layer card featuring opposites that also works for the current CASology challenge too:

    

I haven't managed to play along with the LIM ladies for a while but as they are celebrating their birthday this month I was determined to squeeze in an entry at some point. I toyed with 'rain and shine' but decided to allow the ideas percolate in the back of my mind as I went about my jobs this week and as I was flicking through my Stampin' Up! catalogue last night I was suddenly inspired - take a look:

 

Cute eh?! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Love You Lots - I happened across the hostess set 'Love You Lots' and realised it had the perfect pair of opposites with the massive elephant and the teeny tiny mouse. I decided they would be perfect for a little love note ready for one of my James Juniors next week. 

Another Way With Watercolour Pencils - I wanted to try something a little different in terms of technique on this card too: I stamped my pair and sentiment in Archival Grey ink and coloured them with my Basic Grey and Whisper White watercolour pencils and my aquapainter onto a Crumb Cake (kraft) cardstock notelet. The lovely Darnell Kraus of NBUS fame used this as an optional theme on one of her recent challenges (check out Darnell's creations and the wonderful gallery on her blog here) and it intrigued me; I decided today's card would be the perfect opportunity to try it out; I must say I really like the effect.

A quick heads up for any of you with Watercolour Pencils on your wish lists; they have been incredibly popular with demand outstripping supply. Current stocks are likely to last only another few weeks before ordering will be suspended temporarily in order for stock levels to be replenished, so if you want to get your hands on them in the short term order now; once current stock has run out, they are estimated to be re-orderable mid- to late April.

And Finally A Love Heart - I finished my card with a tiny Blushing Bride enamel heart to add just a pop of colour to my otherwise neutral card. I toyed with adding some Blushing Bride baker's twine but decided against it - after all, sometimes less is more!

A sweet notelet using minimal supplies and perfect to send a few words of love!

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.

Carried Away Up And Away Hot Air Balloon

by Joanne James15. February 2017 21:57

Wednesday evening already? Where did the beginning of this week go?! That's what having the James Juniors home from school on half term does for you! We have been having fun with more still to come this week. Time I got back to sharing a card or two with you though; here's one that I made in my Sale-A-Bration class earlier this month featuring a selection of the gorgeous balloon papers that can be yours free during Sale-A-Bration with an order of £45 or more:

 

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Carried Away With Colour - I love designer series paper at the best of times, but I could get totally carried away with this one! The bright and colourful prints in the Carried Away designer series paper pack are just gorgeous; great for cards but they also make great scrapbook backgrounds too. Check out this gorgeous palette of colours to be found in the 6 designs in this paper pack:

 

Lift Me Up Too - We all know how Stampin' Up! does such a great job of product co-ordination in terms of inks, cardstock and accessories; there are also times when suites of products co-ordinate too. The Carried Away papers are designed to co-ordinate perfectly with the Lift Me Up Bundle in the Spring-Summer Occasions catalogue. The diecut and stamped balloons along with some useful sentiments in a great modern font, make it easy to pull together professional-looking cards. Here I left some of the diecut balloon open so that the papers below would peek through and used the stamp set for the sentiment and to decorate the envelope and inside of my card.

Everyone Loves A Freebie - Would you like to get your hands on the Carried Away Designer Series Paper? If you buy all the other supplies I used on today's card, you'll earn enough to qualify for a free Sale-A-Bration item - like the Carried Away Designer Series Paper. Just click on the items in the table below to go directly to my online shop and add these items to your basket.

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 using these fabulous papers. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Everyday Hero - You're My Super Hero

by Joanne James13. February 2017 07:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing another card using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch, along with the colours over at Can You Case It:

   

This was the first idea I had when I saw this sketch - I just had to break open my Everyday Hero set and get colouring! Here's my card:

 

Everyday Hero is such a fun set! There are lots of different super hero stamps that can be combined to make great comic book characters. Today I created a 'superwoman' and coloured her with my markers before fussy cutting and positioning her flying in from the side with a few clouds that I had left over from some of my balloon projects. I stamped my skyline onto a piece of Basic Grey and adhered this directly onto my Bermuda Bay panel, then popped my sentiment in between.

I love this fun card and can think of so many women deserving of this accolade!

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; it's officially the first day of half term here so I am looking forward to making the most of spending some time with the James Juniors with lots of things planned. 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.

Hot Glue Embossed Sunset Watercolour

by Joanne James12. February 2017 09:00

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-sweet and talented Nance to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

    

I absolutely love Nance's colour combination this week - so unusual! I considered a variety of things to do with my card - mostly floral - but decided to be brave and try something different: hot glue embossing. I used this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as it had a perfect vertical panel for my design - take a look:

 

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

Hot glue embossing is a fun technique to combine with watercolouring. The idea is simply that you take your hot glue gun and 'draw' a pattern onto a piece of watercolour paper. Once set, you reheat the glue with your heat tool, sprinkle with embossing powder then reheat to set. I decided that I would draw a sunset with my glue gun, by creating the sun on the horizon and then some reflection and I heat embossed this with copper embossing powder.

I then used my aquapainter and Blushing Bride and Smoky Slate reinkers to colour my sky and water. I finished my card with a sentiment  from Flourishing Phrases, which I also heat embossed in copper. Finally I used a piece of copper foil to border my sentiment and watercoloured panel. 

This card is rather abstract for me, yet such fun to create and I think it makes a lovely sympathy card - I've been needing a few too many of these lately. So what do you think? Is this a technique you would like to try?

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:

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 what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are attending a basketball match this afternoon with Ben captaining his team (hopefully to victory!) 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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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.