Rainy Days Are Better With You PP679

by Joanne James3. March 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

 

This theme couldn't be more appropriate for the British weather, especially this past few days, when once again it has, as the expression goes, been raining cats and dogs once again! My cheery little bunny isn't put off though - take a look:

 

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

Rainy Days - My bunny and sentiment come from the 'Playing In The Rain' stamp set and are cut out with the coordinating Playing In The Rain Dies. I coloured him with my Blends markers and gave him a green jacket to pick up the colours in the background paper.

Sunny Days - I know Sale-A-Bration is now over, but the Sunny Days papers were just perfect for today's card. I used a background of clouds and rain, then used a sun-patterned piece to cut out an abstract sun to tuck behind the clouds.

Collage Cute - I added a mix of stitched clouds, a ribbon tab and a mix of sparkly raindrops, enamel dots and sequins and layered them up to give my card a fun, collage feel:

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

 

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

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

Enjoy your day; I have no big plans today, maybe some baking and if I'm lucky a little creative time. One thing's for sure - it will be too wet for gardening! All being well I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Countryside Inn Easter Card AYSI318

by Joanne James1. March 2024 13:00

It's the 1st of March: Sale-A-Bration is over for another year and to any fellow Welsh readers out there - Happy St David's Day! No daffodils here though; today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonal theme challenge chosen by me:

 

I thought Easter would be a good theme for our challenge this week given that it's at the end of this month, although it did mean I had to get creative as I haven't purchased any new Easter sets and I don't have the Easter Bunny set in the annual catalogue either. Never fear though - I got creative! This is what I came up with:

 

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Countryside Inn - I noticed that one of the papers in the Countryside Inn pack has a rabbit in the pattern that I thought would make a sweet background for an Easter card and this set the tone for my whole card. I used a Boho Blue card base and balanced it with another of the patterns in the pack.  

Easter Bunny - I used a simple white rabbit punched with the Easter Bunny Punch as my focal point and stamped my greeting onto it directly - for those of you that picked up the 'Heartfelt Hellos' stamp set during Sale-A-Bration, this is where this sentiment comes from. A trimmed ribbon bow was all the decoration my rabbit needed: 

 

Everyday Details - You may recognise the layout of my card: it's this week's Paper Players layout that I used for my card on Sunday. The rabbit is in place of the hot air balloon, and on today's card instead of a row of clouds, I created a layered border using one of the Everyday Details Dies, adding pearls to the diamond centres for a little added detail.

I'm pleased with how my card finished up; it's also a great way to show how the same layout can be used in different ways. 

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. 

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; I am taking a well-earned break today following my final trips to both my local charity shop and waste tip respectively, which signify the end of my loft clearance project this week. Hopefully I will make it back into my craft room and I'll have something to come back and share with you tomorrow. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Just Kiddin CAS Birthday Card For Boys

by Joanne James27. February 2024 20:20

Good evening everyone! I am spending the week clearing out my loft (a job long overdue!) so today I'm sharing a quick clean and simple card for a couple of challenges:

 

AAA Cards would like anything CAS with the optional twist of birthday, so I did both and also went with the CAS on Friday theme of male/boy. I made a fun, cute card for a little boy who is celebrating his birthday - take a look:

 

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

I created a subtle sweep of Azure Afternoon ink to highlight my sweet hula-hooper that I fussy cut from the Just Kiddin' designer series paper, adding some stamped hearts and stars in the same colour:

 

A simple sentiment from the 'Hooray For Surprises' set completes my card. Just a few key items needed to create this super cute 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. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back later this week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Lighter Than Air Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card PP678

by Joanne James25. February 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Anne Marie to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

  

I love the layers on this week's sketch - perfect to showcase some pretty designer papers. I decided to embrace the pastels and showcase some patterns in the Lighter Than Air pack. This is what I came up with:

 

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

There are so many pretty papers in the Lighter Than Air pack. I chose stripes for my horizontal panel then a balloon patterned piece for my vertical one. I stamped and diecut a single Pool Party balloon as my focal point and added a banner to it for my sentiment. I added a cloud panel diecut using one of the Basic Borders Dies. I added a couple of extra diecut clouds to give further depth to my scene and a trio of rainbow adhesive dots to finish the front of my card:

 

I couldn't resist a little extra stamping and some stencilled clouds to decorate the inside too:

 

So many possibilities with this layout - I can't wait to see what you make with it!

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

- to follow - 

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

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

to follow

 

Storybook Gnomes Toadstool Christmas

by Joanne James23. February 2024 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card for the challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown that uses the current layout over at Tuesday Morning Sketches:

   

As with my previous Christmas card make, today's card features another of the patterns in the retired Storybook Gnomes designer series paper pack - where else can you find Christmas mushrooms?! Here's my card:

 

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

I chose a busy pattern featuring lots of gnomes and mushrooms/toadstools, split it into 3 as per the sketch layout, then added a circle embossed with the retired Wintry 3D snowflake embossing folder, where I highlighted the details with some white craft ink, before adding another toadstool and gnome that I diecut from another sheet of designer paper. I also added some puffy snow to my toadstool for an added wintry detail:

 

My sentiment comes from the coordinating 'Kindest Gnomes' stamp set, which I also used to add some detail to the inside of my card:

 

I couple of sparkly enamel dots complete the detail on the front of my card. The hubby ventured into my craft room the other evening as I was finishing this card, and was properly bemused to see me making a Christmas card in February. As I pointed out, it pays to be prepared! How is your Christmas card stash coming along?

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Biggest Wish Happy Birthday With Trusty Toolbox

by Joanne James22. February 2024 09:00

Today I'm sharing another card using one of the current Sale-A-Bration free products that I've been using but haven't shared a project that features it in a while - what can I say, so many goodies, so little time! So today it's the turn of the Trusty Toolbox designer series paper - take a look:

 

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

No Co-ordinating Product? No Problem! - The Trusty Toolbox designer series paper co-ordinates with the Trusty Tools bundle that can be found on page 56 of the mini catalogue, but you don't need the bundle to have a lot of fun with these papers! They are great for creating layered cards with lots of fun patterns and the tools themselves are so easy to fussy cut as I've done on today's card. 

Biggest Wish - I went with a diagonal design to give me the opportunity to fit in lots of lovely tools and paired my design with a birthday greeting from the 'Biggest Wish' stamp set - a great sentiment-only set:

 

And Another Thing - If you look closely at my card, you will see that none of the tools are shown in their entirety; I actually used a bunch of tools cut from the edges of the paper and used my diagonal to 'hide' their incomplete portions - waste not, want not, right? I also used a few more to decorate the inside of my card:

A few enamel dots were all that I needed to complete this fun masculine card that makes the most of these free papers!

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

 

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

I'm also linking this card up for a second entry over at TGIF Challenges where the theme this week is Sale-A-Bration.

Enjoy your day; it's still raining cats and dogs here in the UK so I will most definitely be spending the day indoors - I'm not sure that the ground can take any more! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

A Flight And Airy Celebration

by Joanne James21. February 2024 18:00

The ladies over at TGIF Challenges have Sale-A-Bration products as the theme for this week so I have a another card for you featuring one of my Sale-A-Bration favourites. My card was inspired by this card by Cindy Timmers. I decided to keep with the layout of Cindy's card and the use of designer series paper, but changed it out for the oh-so-pretty Flight & Airy papers - take a look:

 

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

Flight and Airy - My card actually uses three of the patterns in the Flight & Airy pack: a busy floral for the base, a panel of washed Boho Blue and some birds diecut from another of the designs. On every card I've made featuring these birds up until now, I've fussy cut the birds, but for today's card I wanted to show that if fussy cutting isn't your thing, these papers are still great! I used my Stylish Shapes Dies to diecut three circles, positioning the birds in the centre each time. 

Thoughtful Moments - I used a sentiment from the 'Thoughtful Moments' hybrid embossing folder across the centre of my card. I inked the embossing folder with Night of Navy ink using my brayer, then embossed and diecut it onto a piece of DSP the same colour as my horizontal band. These embossed and diecut sentiments make such an eye-catching centrepiece: 

 

Finishing Touches - Some Night of Navy twine, iridescent gems and some leaves punched using my retired leaf punch complete my card. The leaves in particular add lots of dimension and I must say I rather like the end result.

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 another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Sending Smiles Sunny Days CCS 531

by Joanne James20. February 2024 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & SketchesThis week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Michal has asked that we include a large focal sentiment on a bordered panel:

  

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I wanted to showcase more of the free Sale-A-Bration papers before they go away - so I paired them with one of my favourite large sentiment sets for a cheery card - take a look:

 

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

There is only a small area of designer series paper showing on my card (we are aiming for clean and simple, after all) but the bold and colourful flowers of the Sunny Days paper can still be seen. I paired them with sentiment from the Sending Dies and 'Sending Smiles' co-ordinating stamp set and added a trio of tiny diecut flowers for an added pop of colour to tie in with the paper:

 

That pattern is my absolute favourite in the Sunny Days pack so I had to show real restraint to use so little of it! If you would like some, you have another 9 days to place an order of £45 or more in order to receive a pack of this paper for FREE.

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; today I'm going out to lunch with hubby to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary - where did those years go?! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Just Kiddin CAS Friendship Card PP677

by Joanne James18. February 2024 08:00

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

       

I love a good clean and simple challenge and we all have 'forever friends' that we can send this kind of card to, right? I used Linda's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week (rotated through 90 degrees) and grabbed my Just Kiddin' designer series paper and my scissors and set to work. This is what I came up with:

 

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

Just Kiddin' - Just Kiddin' is one of my most favourite designer papers - ever! Perfect for cards, children's home decor and scrapbooking, it contains children being children, doing all kinds of things: playing, reading, baking, dressing up, painting and lots more besides. What's more, it is a showcase of diversity: there are children of every colour, wheelchair users, amputees, members of the deaf community and lots more besides - it's so inclusive. I fussy-cut my sweet pair of friends making their heart paper chain directly from one of the pages. This paper appears in the mini catalogue and during February is also available as a free Sale-A-Bration item with a £45 purchase - time to stock up before the end of the month, race you to the shop!!

Country Bouquet - I mounted my fussy cut pair onto an oval that I stamped with a sentiment from the 'Country Bouquet' stamp set that I thought suited these friends perfectly:

Are they not just sooo cute?!  A diagonal panel of the retired Country Floral Lane designer paper with a heart design to pick up on the detail of the image completed my card. I'm also linking today's card up over at Inkspirational for another play along with their 'hearts' theme. If you like this card, check out yesterday's post too that features another sweet pair from the Just Kiddin' paper.

What Is Clean And Simple (CAS) - I love a good CAS card; as a reminder, when we talk about 'clean and simple' over at The Paper Players we mean:

  • Have minimal layers and embellishments
  • Have plenty of open space
  • Are simple and uncluttered

My card definitely fits the brief this week - designer paper, a little fussy cutting and a well-chosen sentiment - and done! 

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

 

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

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules:
 
1.  Create a new paper project
2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the post featuring your challenge submission.
3.  Please link your card to no more than four challenges, TOTAL.
4.  Have FUN!

Enjoy your day; I am looking forward to a Sunday roast and a relaxing day today. 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.

Just Kiddin CAS Framed Friendship Card

by Joanne James17. February 2024 18:00

Today I'm sharing a quick card using the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches and the inspo list at Festive Friday (I chose pink, white, any shape other than a rectangle (heart and square) and supportive sentiment): 

    

And here's my card:

 

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

Just Kiddin' - Just Kiddin' is one of my most favourite designer papers - ever! Perfect for cards, children's home decor and scrapbooking, I fussy-cut my sweet pair of friends whispering to each other and framed them with a pattern from the Delightfully Eclectic designer paper pack.. 

 

More To Sale-A-BrateBoth the Just Kiddin' and the Delightfully Eclectic designer series papers have been added to the products available as a free Sale-A-Bration item with a £45 purchase during February - the whole collection is shown on the graphic below:

 

You've Got A Friend - I used one of my favourite sentiments from the 'Silly Goose' stamp set in a diecut heart to complete my card; it just seemed to suit my whispering (or are they gossiping?!) pair and will be perfect for any number of my friends - who doesn't love a good natter, 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. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project featuring the Just Kiddin' paper for my card 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.

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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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