Counting Sheep Happy Birthday Card For Festive Friday

by Joanne James17. September 2021 09:00

 

Today will be a two-post day as I have some news: I am joining the Festive Friday Challenge team! This is a fortnightly challenge that is inspired by a particular day of the year that I have played along with on a number of occasions. The fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project.

 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Balloons Around The World Day' which is on 1st October. I often only use three or four elements when I play along, but when I saw this week's board I knew exactly what I wanted to create - and ended up using balloons, red, purple, clouds, sun, stripes, twine and paper-piecing!

This is the card I created:

 

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

I grabbed my 'Counting Sheep' and co-ordinating Sheep Dies, both freebies with the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and created a little scene. I used a (retired) stitched square for my scene and layered this onto a striped banner and then a stitched rectangle, to tie in with the stitched detail on the sun. The one thing you may be asking yourself is 'where is the paper-piecing?' It's subtle, but I assure you it's there: I paper-pieced my sheep's wool with the Snowy White Velvet Sheets - it gives the sheep's coat a fun, almost fuzzy felt, feel and you can see it better on the close-up below:

 

How cute is that?! And all the better for being made with free products too! If you'd like to get your hands on this bundle, you still have a couple of weeks to place your order before the Sale-A-Bration promotion ends. Bear in mind that products are only available whilst stocks last and as we near the end of the promotion, there is a chance that popular items will sell out, so don't leave it too late!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the 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.

Festive Foliage Winter Wishes

by Joanne James15. September 2021 19:14

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's Inspired By challenge - I went with the holiday option as I couldn't resist the white and turquoise of the inspiration photo:

I've been making lots of samples using my Festive Foliage background stamp for my online technique class that I held earlier this week and these colours were perfect to demonstrate heat embossing and the use of less traditional colours for a foliage-rich card - take a look:

 

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

Festive Foliage - I heat embossed the 'Festive Foliage' background stamp in white onto Bermuda Bay cardstock and added a simple white mat border to accentuate it. Background stamps are a great way to cover a cardfront, but they don't need always need to be coloured. I did brush over the leaf details with some clear Wink of Stella; it's quite difficulty to see in the photos, but it adds a lovely subtle shimmer in real life.

Winter Wishes - I decided to add a 'Winter' sentiment to the front of my card using some retired Bermuda Bay ombre paper from Sale-A-Bration earlier in the year, popped up on a label and backed with a couple of co-ordinating ribbons. 

 

Well Defined - There was a reason why I chose 'Winter' as the greeting on the front of my card; I wanted it to follow through to my sentiment from 'Well Defined that I used on the inside:

 

Whilst this card would work for the holiday season, I thought it would be perfect for seasonal greetings or even to send to someone who celebrates a birthday during the winter months.

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.

Be Dazzling Stitched Snowflake Slimline Card CCS 437

by Joanne James14. September 2021 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 Jenny has asked that we create a slimline card, with a rectangular element behind a single focal image:

     

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I created a mini slimline card and took the opportunity to combine with my entry for the current Less Is More challenge for a clean and simple card that is all about the sparkle - take a look:

 

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

Stitched Snowflakes - I recently picked up the new Stitched Snowflakes dies (I blame my blog friend, the lovely LeAnne Pugliese lol!) having been convinced I can never own too many snowflake dies and these ones also have a lovely stitched detail - bonus! I thought a single diecut snowflake would make a great focal point, and used one of the other dies that cuts a swirl of snowflakes into a flat panel for my rectangular element. 

Be Dazzling - The challenge over at Less Is More currently is 'sparkle' so I just had to cut my snowflake out of Be Dazzling sparkly paper - the ultimate in sparkle and free with a purchase of £45 during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion to boot! I also added a sparkly border between my mat white layers - I mean, you can never have too much sparkle, right?! Well, so long as it's balanced with lots of 'white' space to keep that clean and simple feel ;-) If you would like to get your hands on some 'Be Dazzling' paper, you have until the end of this month or whilst supplies last (whichever comes sooner) to grab some: just hop on over to my online store or give me a call to place an order.

 

Sparkle of a Different Kind - My sentiment comes from the 'Sparkle of the Season' wreath set - it seemed just right to pair with my sparkling snowflake on today's card.

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.

That's all from me for now; I have lots to do following yesterday's monthly Stampin' Up! class; on the upside, the forecast is rain all day today so at least I won't be tempted to go out into the garden! 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.

Blackberry Beauty Panel Card PP558

by Joanne James12. September 2021 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 she has a fun colour challenge for you to work with:

    

Ann's colour palette this week is a wonderful palette of pinks and purples. I paired them with the current TGIF Challenges sketch layout and some of the most gorgeous papers from the seasonal catalogue - take a look:

 

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

I couldn't wait to use the Blackberry beauty papers for today's card as it features all of Ann's chosen colours. I added Cinnamon Cider as my colour of choice and chose the really busy pattern that features owls and leaves for my central panel, with a trio of strips of the pattern that features on the reverse added to my Rich Razzleberry card base. I stamped my sentiment from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set onto a label and added some gold shimmer ribbon and some gold enamel dots to finish:

 

The foil detailing on these papers really is beautiful. I also added some further decoration to the inside:

 

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!

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; 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.

Beauty of Tomorrow Changing Leaves Card

by Joanne James11. September 2021 18:58

Hurrah - my new laptop has arrived - normal blogging can now resume! Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses Jen B's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

      

I'm also linking up over at Inkspirational and the Alphabet Challenge who are all about leaves, and autumn leaves in particular. I took Jen's layout and used that panel to feature one whole large sentiment, from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set - take a look:

 

I covered my card front with some retired Nature's Poem designer series paper - I love those almost skeletal leaves in colours that change from green to rust. I added a piece of folded gingham ribbon tied with twine below my sentiment, along with a sponged embossed leaf trio as an accent:

 

I love the clean and fresh feel of this card, even though the colours are definitely reminiscent of cooler days and changing seasons.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with my project 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.

Stitched Leaves Thank You Trio TTT130

by Joanne James9. September 2021 14:00

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: 

    

I went across the centre of the board this week with Diecuts/Leaves/CAS and paired with the gorgeous autumnal colours over at TGIF Challenges for a simple leafy thank you  - take a look:

 

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

I used my Stitched Greenery Die to add interest to my background, then added a trio of autumnal leaves in the TGIF Challenge colours cut using my Stitched Leaves Dies - a worthy annual catalogue carryover from last year’s seasonal catalogue and I was delighted to get these back out again for this card. I tied them with a linen thread bow and added a simple ’thank you’ sentiment that is actually from the ’Sweet Ice Cream’ stamp set, but is great for a fussy cut greeting - just the right size:

 

As you can see, today’s card is definitely all about the stitching - and not a needle and thread in sight!

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; so my laptop has officially died and is beyond recovery, hence no blog post yesterday and there probably won’t be one tomorrow either. Whilst I’ve still got an iPad and phone at my disposal, I really need the keyboard and software on my laptop to work efficiently, as well as screen real estate - my eyesight cannot cope with these teeny, tiny screens for any length of time! A new laptop is on its way though so I’m hoping to be back by the weekend with another project. Less tech time does mean more craft time though - the ladies that are signed up for my Background Stamps Class next week will have their work cut out when they see my samples! Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Turtle-y Loved Turtle Friends CCS 436

by Joanne James7. September 2021 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. The lovely Jenny is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

     

For my card today I decided to pair a couple of cute turtle friends for a sweet clean and simple card - take a look:

 

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

I thought the two greens would make great turtle colours and the pink a bright accent, so I stamped a little turtle onto my panel, having first run the bottom edge of the panel through my dots embossing folder, added some grass and hearts and a little bird directly to the base before adding a larger turtle which I coloured and punched out and popped on some dimensionals for added lift:

 

A super simple little scene with a sweet sentiment that makes this a fun school snack box love note for one of the James Juniors as they are headed back to school this week (obviously with the pink toenails this one is headed to Rebecca - definitely wouldn’t suit Ben’s cool kid status to have pink varnished toenails!!)

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! color 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.

Enjoy your day. Today it’s my birthday so I will be taking it easy (ish!) And definitely partaking in a Colin the Caterpillar birthday cake at tea time - it’s tradition! I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with another project but my laptop is currently with the IT doctor so it might be Thursday until service is temporarily restored (that post is already written and schedule). Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Blackberry Beauty Clean And Simple

by Joanne James6. September 2021 12:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a super clean and simple card for the following challenges:

   

The sketch over at InspireCreate was perfect for a clean and simple (CAS) card so I decided to grab a quick 10 minutes to create a card also inspired by the Addicted to CAS challenge of 'Nature' inspired by autumn colour and foliage - take a look:

 

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

Now I know here in the UK we are enjoying the second day of what looks to be a 4 day mini heatwave, but I couldn't resist the rich blackberry tones of the Blackberry Beauty designer paper on my card today. I just love the jewelled tones of this paper and I paired it with one of my current favourite generic sentiments from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set, which finishes on the inside of my card:

Isn't that just the nicest sentiment? I debated whether to reverse the paper and 'white space' on my card, but decided that the strip on the sketch was perfect for really highlighting the beauty of the paper and its gold foil detail - just look at those pretty acorns and oak leaves: 

 

This is a great standby design if your pressed for time and a good way to use up those leftover strips of paper we all have in our craft room 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; mine's been a busy one, with pre-season football training this morning and a trip to buy new hiking boots in readiness for the next Duke of Edinburgh expedition amongst other things! At the rate at which teenage boys grow (or is it just mine?!) these have to be left until a few weeks before the hike; enough time to break them in, but not enough time to grow out of them!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

The Big Fifty Birthday Card PP557

by Joanne James5. September 2021 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 LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

       

LeAnne's theme was a timely one for me this week since my 'better half' celebrates a milestone birthday early next month so this gave me the perfect opportunity to make his birthday card. I thought the colours over at Just Add Ink were perfect for a fresh, masculine card and I absolutely love Kim's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches so I used this for my layout (albeit I created my card in a landscape orientation in order to fit all the words in! So first up - take a look at my card:

 

Whilst browsing the internet for birthday inspiration, I saw a pin badge that had the above phrase on it and I thought it would be perfect for a milestone birthday card and I know Jason will appreciate this kind of sideways humour. I stamped the phrase in Night of Navy using my retired 'Sophisticated Serif' stamp set with the 'F' highlighted in Coastal Cabana, which I carried through to my '50', diecut using my retired Large Number Framelits, and used for contrast on my background panels in some retired Brights DSP in a masculine argyle pattern.

Kim's sketch also features a vertical sentiment banner, which was the perfect place to add a happy birthday greeting (stamped using my retired 'Milestone Moments' stamp set) which I heat-embossed in silver on vellum so that it wouldn't obscure the message on my central panel. This was also the perfect place to add an embellishment of a trio of retired co-ordinating ribbons tied with silver twine:

 

My card is otherwise very clean and uncluttered, but I figured it might be a masculine card but a milestone birthday needs a little pizzazz, right?!

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!

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 forecast here is for a warmer day so we are hoping for one last BBQ before the James Juniors return to school and the summer well and truly leaves us for good. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

This card uses mostly retired products apart from the current colours so there is no supplies list today.

Happy Holly Days Festive Robin AYSI 258

by Joanne James3. September 2021 13:00

I've had a few days break from the blog as I make the most of the last few days of the long summer holiday before the James Juniors head back to school next week. I'm back today though and I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a theme challenge:

    

I used the great sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout this week. So many options for that central panel but with our theme this week of 'up in the air' I decided to feature a festive feathered friend on mine - take a look:

 

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

Happy Holly Days - First up, I have a little story for you! I can't tell you how many UK Leadership training events I've attended over the years where I've been in meetings where we've brainstormed ideas for future catalogues, and if I had a penny for every time the request for a traditional Christmas robin has been made I would be rich by now! The cardinal gets featured frequently in the Stampin' Up! catalogue and whilst he is a common visitor for many in Stampin' Up!'s global markets, the robin is a particularly European bird and doesn't travel as far south as the USA. As such, our requests have often fallen on deaf ears - until now! This year's mini catalogue has a beautiful robin just waiting to be coloured, so I had to scoop him up and I'm so glad to give him his first outing on my card today.

I've seen some interesting colours applied to this bird as I've browsed the internet, but my robin is true to type! His tummy is maybe a little more red than a real-life bird, since they are actually more of an orange-red colour, but I wanted to emphasise the red so went with Poppy Parade Blends and made mine a full-on 'robin red breast'. As for this set, not only does it have this lovely robin and some holly to colour (more on that in a moment) but it has some lovely sentiments for both the outside and inside of your cards. I used a large 'Noel' on the front of my card, then continued on the inside with this one:

 

Shimmer With The Holly Border - In addition to the holly in the stamp set, which I coloured and fussy cut and adhered around the feet of my robin, the stamp set is bundled with a holly border punch. I didn't use the border pattern in my design today, instead I punched it out of some Evening Evergreen vellum and then adhered the leaves in between my stamped ones for some extra sparkly detail:

 

 I did wonder if I was a little over-enthusiastic about this, but I do like the little added shimmer it adds to the card. Once complete I also wished I'd splattered my white rectangular panel as I felt it was a little too 'clean' (if there can ever be such a thing!) but I didn't want to remake or deconstruct, so added a trio in in-colour gems to break up the space and add a little more sparkle instead. 

Painted Christmas - For my split background panel, I chose two patterns from the Painted Christmas DSP pack. There are some lovely foliage patterns in this pack and I had a hard time choosing just two. I covered the join with some lovely dark green chevron weaved ribbon to complete my card.

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? I really love this robin and am on a mission to feature him on lots of cards this season, especially since he has been so longed-for in terms of stamp sets! In the meantime, what will you choose to feature for our 'up in the air' theme this week?

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

  • Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
  • Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
  • If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

Enjoy your day; the James Juniors are off to get pre-school haircuts today and Ben for one needs it - the yeti currently has nothing on him!! Rebecca is actually going in for Sixth Form Induction day this afternoon and she is so excited! 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.