Giving Gifts of Snowflake Stencils CCS458

by Joanne James22. February 2022 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This is the final challenge this month and YoonYoung is ending her hostess duties in style with this great sketch for us: 

     

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. I combined today's card with my entries for the current challenges over at Addicted to CAS where the codeword is 'snowflake' and the lovely ladies over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where Melanie has chosen 'W is for Winter'. The recent storms we've had here in the UK with wind, sleet and rain definitely had me thinking about the weather and although we have yet to get a proper snowfall here so far this winter I decided YoonYoung's sketch would be the perfect opportunity to add one to my card - take a look:

 

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

Following on from my experiment of using dies as stencils last week (you can see my first example of this in last week's post here), I decided to have another go at this technique. YoonYoung's sketch made me think of a window and I was inspired by the beautiful stencilled snowflakes on Jaydee's ATCAS card, so I took the snowflake die from the now retired giving Gifts Dies from last season and created a stencil by cutting the twice and then masking a central column using some washi tape to create my four quadrants (you can see my mask on the photo further down this post). 

I then used a combination of Balmy Blue and Pacific Point inks with my blending brushes to add ink to my card, concentrating the darker colour across the diagonal and fading to the outer corners. Similarly inspired by Vicky's beautiful stencilled snowflake creation over at ATCAS where she used a contrasting bright orange for her sentiment, I decided to use bright pink and used a simple sentiment from the retired 'Sparkly Seasons' set for a pop of contrasting colour:

 

I also added some iridescent rhinestones to the centre of some of the snowflakes for a touch of subtle sparkle - I love the way they take on a slightly pink hue to compliment the sentiment too.

 

I didn't add a sentiment to the inside of my card as I haven't decided whether to use it as a Christmas card or just send as a festive winter notecard and write a note inside. 

The James Juniors have been wishing for snow since the wintry weather arrived in October; anything for a day off school, or so they thought. Rebecca was most perplexed when we received a letter home from school recently stating that the plan should we be subject to inclement weather from this point onwards would no longer involve a day off; instead all learning would simply move online. Covid clearly has a lot to answer for - it would seem that improved use of technologies is not always welcome, for the pupils at least!! 

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.

Let It Snow Snowflakes Card

by Joanne James6. December 2015 10:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my good friend Claire to host and she has a fun theme to get our creative juices flowing this week:

           

I had an idea brewing in my mind all week for this challenge, but I had rather less time to craft this week than I would have liked so ended up in the end going with something altogether more clean and simple! I was intrigued by this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and was sad to see that Hayley and Tara are winding up the Colour Me...! blog after this week's challenge. I had such a lovely time when I did my DT stint over there I just had to play along for this their final challenge (although I did take a little liberty by adding in silver to my monochromatic colour scheme - well ladies, it is Christmas!) I'm also linking with CAS-UAL Fridays, since my card today features snowflakes - take a look:

 

I used a base of Soft Sky then added some strips of silver glimmer paper, before adding my Whisper White panel. On this panel, I stamped the small snowflake from the Project Life Hello December set in Versamark and heat embossed it in silber. I then cut a stencil with my 1 1/4" circle punch and sponged around the snowflakes in Soft Sky ink. I then took my 'let it snow' sentiment from the Sparkly Season stamp set and having  curved it on my block, I stamped just the first two words in Versamark and heat embossed that in silver too. For my 'snow' to finish the sentiment, I used the coordinating die cut from the same set and cut three in extra-thick Whisper White and one in silver glimmer paper and layered them together to create my stacked sentiment. In retrospect I would change the placement of the 'let it' (it should be above the 'snow' rather than below it) but I was against the clock and didn't have time to make a second panel. That aside, I like the card -there is something soothing about the soft blue colour and the pattern is an interesting one. Oh and it's got silver glimmer paper, which I seem to be using everywhere lately!

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 your snowy creations this week. I'm off for a morning of basketball and then I've some final preparations for the last of my Christmas card classes tomorrow, hopefully time for a spot of crafting, then Ben is attending a birthday party in the afternoon. Oh and we are going to attempt to put the Christmas tree up - not much to be going on with then!

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.

 

Nutcracker Christmas Greetings

by Joanne James4. December 2015 22:59

It's Friday and mine has been a busy one! I have another Christmas card for you today, this time using the sketch over at Mojo Monday where it's 'tall and skinny' week:

   SIP Any Challenge 25 800

I'm also linking up with the peeps over at Stamps, Ink and Paper since my card today uses a stamp from my current favourite set - Sparkly Season. Take a look:

 

I used the striped Home for Christmas designer series paper as the inspiration for the colour scheme for my card and chose Pacific Point blue as the dominant colour; an unusual Christmas colour, but combining it with red and a touch of green definitely makes it worthy. I coloured my little scene with my Stampin' Write markers and finished my framed image with a cute bow cut using my Big Shot from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set. I heat embossed my minimalist sentiment in black on one of my two banners and added a Mossy Meadow enamel dot to finish. 

My finished card measures 4" x 8 1/4" so of course needed a custom envelope, easily achieved with a sheet of red envelope paper, my trusty Envelope Punch Board and my Envelope Expert tool - a winner every time! If you haven't yet tried it or my Box Buster tool you should check them out - custom envelopes and boxes with perfect results every time!

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.

 

Snow Friends Framelit Snowman Card

by Joanne James30. November 2015 12:48

As promised - here is my second card of the day, this time for this week's challenge over at The Color Throwdown:

I saw the colours and those adorable snowman treats and knew that I had the perfect idea for a card to play along! The feedback on this card last Thursday where I used my Snow Friends framelits to create a 'negative space' graphic snowman was well received with lots of positive comments, so today I went one step further - and added in a carrot nose! Take a look:

The best thing of all - I used one of my Snow Friends framelits to create it! Are you wondering which one? Yes, it was the ice cream cone - I simply trimmed away the icecream and it left a perfect carrot nose shape. I love it when you can multi-purpose things!! I also added in some twig arms on this card, because the colours worked so well. I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory - check out the layered die cut 'snow' too, cut using the die in the Seasonal Frame Thinlits set and adhered with ease using the fine tip glue pen - perfect for narrow elements like this! Any other questions, leave me a comment below - I read then all and will be sure to post you an answer if you have any queries on this or any of my cards!

Right, off to nurse the poorly one and hopefully fit in an hour or two at my desk before doing the school run. 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.

 

Sparkly Season Snowman Faux Shaker Card

by Joanne James30. November 2015 11:56

Happy Monday everyone! Happier for some than others - I'm working from home with one James Junior off school today fighting the seasonal lurgy - but for everyone reading this, your day is about to get better! I have a double post for you today (to make up for Saturday's lack of post!) with cards for a couple of challenges. The first is my card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where they have a great sketch - I combined with the theme inspiration of 'Blue Christmas' over at Fusion:

   

I love the simplicity of Jen T's sketch this week, although by the time I finished my card I wondered if I'd got just a little bit carried away - take a look:

I made a cute 'faux shaker' card using the snowman image from the 'Sparkly Season' stamp set, stamping him in Memento Black and colouring him in with my Pool Party and Bermuda Bay markers, with Pumpkin Pie for his nose, then used my two-way glue pen to adhere some Dazzling Diamonds to the snow mound that the snowman is sat on. I then stamped the snowfall stamp in Versamark to my window sheet and applied Heat & Stick and Iridescent Ice to give it a lovely sparkle, before adhering behind the hole that I'd cut in my Pool Party top layer. On this layer I stamped a few clusters of snowflakes in Pool Party using the snowflake stamp in the Snow Place stamp set and highlighted these with some silver sequins along with a few retired snowflake sequins from last year's stash. To finish, I added a layered banner that contains a little of everything: white glitter ribbon, Bermuda Bay sequins and a dash of silver glimmer paper to boot! I just love the sparkle and shine of this card and the shades of blue - so very pretty!

Back shortly with another quick and easy card for today; I must be on a roll! 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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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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