Birthday Celebration Make A Wish Cupcake CCS 554

by Joanne James18. February 2025 12:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & SketchesThis week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Suzy has asked that we layer a couple of shapes with the sentiment behind:

 

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to create a simple birthday card using the Birthday Celebration stamp set and Wildflower Celebration papers - take a look:

 

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

This card was so simple to make: I stamped my sentiment onto a stitched circle and for my accent added a cupcake, complete with candle, that I fussy cut from one of the mixed sheets in the Wildflower Celebration paper pack:

 

A few party dots complete the front of my card. I used a combination of the other sentiments in the Birthday Celebration stamp set to create this oversize greeting inside my card too:

Easy as that - the Birthday Celebration Suite is perfect for quick and easy birthday cards.

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.

Heart Shaped Clean and Simple Love

by Joanne James17. February 2025 10:47

As promised, I've another quick post to share one of my weekend crafty endeavours that I made for a couple of challenges:

CAS on Friday have the theme of 'Valentine' and my old team mates, Team X over at TicTacToe (waves enthusiastically!) also have something of a love-themed board (I went along the diagonal with heart/dicut/love sentiment). With only a couple more weeks left of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion, I wanted to have a play with one of my free Sale-A-Bration bundles that I had yet to break the seal on take a look:

 

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

The Heart Shaped Bundle is one of only two that are available for FREE during the Sale-A-Bration promotion with a £110 purchase (as opposed to £55 purchase; the other is the Corner In Bloom stamp set). Containing stamps and dies, it's perfect for a clean and simple card to someone you love - the sentiments in this set are just lovely, in addition to the simple leaves and flowers. I stamped the heart in pink, then overlaid with a diecut heart and some flowers cut from some ombre coloured paper that I'd inked up with a variety of pink Blends markers:

 

A touch of white glimmer foliage and some sparky pink enamel dots complete my card. Isn't that sentiment just lovely? This card is heading to my husband for our wedding anniversary later this week - he likes clean and simple, so hopefully this will tick his box! If it ticks yours too, you still have a couple of weeks to pick up the Heart shaped bundle for FREE during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - time to get shopping!

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.

Thankful Garden For FMS673

by Joanne James17. February 2025 10:00

Another Monday, another week! For me it's a week that's commute-free, as the youngest of the James Juniors is on his half-term break - yay! We have no big plans - next week is A-Level Exam mock week, so it's mostly an opportunity for revision - and possibly some extra crafting! I did escape the rain on Saturday and spent some time playing with some new goodies, so I have a couple of projects to share with you today. The first of these uses Jen T's fabulous layout over at Freshly Made Sketches:

      

I toyed with a simple, silhouette-style diecut against an ink-blended background, but I had a new bundle that had just arrived and when I saw the mood board over at Inkspirational I knew I'd need to go in a completely different direction - take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

Those lilac hyacinths on the mood board led me to create a lilac hydrangea head using my new 'Thankful Garden' bundle: this is a stamp and die bundle that includes stencils and will be available in a couple of week's time with the March release of Online Exclusives - a range of out-of-catalogue products that will only be available online. I stencilled mine using Highland Heather for each layer of the stencilled bloom and added it to a diecut circle with some border detail, again picking up inspiration from the moodboard. There was only one colour choice for my card base: it had to be Coastal Cabana, it's so vibrant in the inspo photo and provides a fresh backdrop for the single flower head:

 

A simple stamped sentiment that celebrates gratitude for good friends - so I'm also linking up over at Just Us Girls where that's their theme this week - along with a trio of enamel dots, complete by card.

The Thankful Garden Suite will be available to customers to order the week after next; I have a few more projects to share between now and then and I think it's going to be a firm favourite!

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. 

What great inspiration to start the week! Enjoy your day and I'll be back shortly with my second project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Yay For Documenting The Day PP725

by Joanne James16. February 2025 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 Jan to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

 

I love a clean and simple card and although this week's theme is masculine and I definitely made my card with that in mind, it could also work for females too - take a look:

 

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

I went with another masculine congratulations card; as my regular readers will know, this is a big exam year in the James household as the youngest of the James Juniors is sitting his A Levels, and with lots of male friends too I'm expecting there to be lots of congratulations cards in order, so I'm getting ahead now! Following my previous card here featuring the word DADDY, I had another idea using the letters from the word DAY in the Sale-A-Bration 'Documenting The Day' stamp set. Selective stamping also makes the word YAY, perfect for a congratulations card so that was the starting point for my card. My graphic 3D style lettering was inspired by a photo that I saw a few weeks ago over at Inspired By featuring these colourful cushions - can you spot the one that inspired my card in the photo below?

I liked the one with the dimensional word FUN so set about recreating it with my DAY stamp. I simply stamped the letters A and Y onto post-it notes, then once I'd stamped the word YAY, I masked each letter and stamped it again, offsetting the stamp to achieve the shadow effect using a different colour each time:

I popped the finished stamped panel onto a bright blue card base with a yellow frame to complete my card. Creative use of a stamp, ink and paper - simple! If you dismissed the 'Documenting The Day' stamp set as only useful for scrapbooking, then think again - there are lots of creative card options too! Sale-A-Bration runs until 28th February, so you can still get your hands on this set whilst supplies last!

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; we are still celebrating Valentine's this weekend and I am being treated to a day out with the men in my life - dinner and a double-cinema date is on the cards, oh to be loved!! I'll be back on Tuesday 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.

Grateful Blessing Thank You For Your Prayers

by Joanne James13. February 2025 09:00

I was having a play with the 'Grateful Blessing' stamp set, an annual catalogue stamp set that's been sat on my shelf uninked for some time, trying different things with it and ended up making a clean and simple card using the muted colour palette over at AAA Cards

Here's the card I came up with:

 

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

I heat embossed my sentiment and image in white, then added white and mossy green detail to my flower using a combination of white craft ink and my watercolour pencils:

 

A simple scored border completes my card. I think it looks a little like a lily of the blossom flower in this colourway, don't you? This is quite a different set for me, but I love the outline flower image and the sentiments in this set too. I'll share some of the other cards I made using it another time - watch this space. 

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. 

Short and sweet from me today; enjoy your day and I'll be back soon 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.

Darling Dinos Valentine's Card

by Joanne James10. February 2025 16:00

Today I'm sharing a cute Valentine's card that was inspired by a number of challenges:

            

Pink and red are the perfect colours for a Valentine's Day card and Color Hues and Inkspirational are jointly featuring these colours. Lisa is is looking for hearts for die week over at Just Us Girls and Sunday Stamps had the perfect layout (I used it with my card in landscape mode). Take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

 I had the idea that the cute brontosaurus-like dinosaur in the 'Darling Dinos' stamp set would frame a large heart perfectly with a mirror-image mate, so I grabbed my stamping platform and silicone mat, stamped my chosen dinosaur onto my mat using black ink, then placed my cardstock carefully on top and stamped again so that the pressure of the stamp transfers the ink from the mat to the underside of the cardstock, thereby creating a mirror image. I coloured my dinosaurs in coordinating red and pink and positioned them either side of a large diecut heart which I stamped with my sentiment from the set:

 

To add interest for the horizontal element, I used one of my favourite retired heart-shaped dies from the Be Mine Stitched Framelits; I diecut the border piece twice and infilled the pink outline with the red hearts. So what do think? Cute, right?! I think this might be my card for my hubby - I mean hearts and dinosaurs, what's not to love, 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. 

It's so, so cold here in the UK at the moment; I just want to stay inside, keep warm and craft! Enjoy your day and I'll be back later in the week 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.

Natural Botanicals Three Ways For PP724

by Joanne James9. February 2025 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 fresh colour challenge for us to work with:

    

I decided to break out a new set that I haven't yet used and armed with the layout over at Try A Sketch On Tuesday, set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

Natural Botanicals Three Ways - I decided the large botanical images in the 'Natural Botanicals' stamp set would be a great way to showcase LeAnne's bright colour palette this week and I used the stamps in three different ways: as layered images on my diecut circle (the yellow flower is the reverse of the daisy), heat embossed in white onto Flirty Flamingo cardstock for my fussy cut daisy and finally stamped the smaller images tone-on-tone onto cardstock strips in the challenge colours to create my background panel. I overlaid my stripes with a piece of vellum to tone the colours down slightly, but you can still see the detail of the stamping beneath:

 

Greetings For All - My simple 'hello' greeting is from the Greetings For All Mix & Match Ephemera pack in the mini catalogue. With 6 sheets of black and white pre-diecut greetings, you'll never be lost for a suitable sentiment to finish your card - and no stamping required.

Want Natural Botanicals For FREE? - I purchased 'Natural Botanicals' from the mini catalogue and it is still available to buy, however it can also be yours FREE with a £55 product purchase as part of the second month of our current Sale-A-Bration promotion - how good is that?! You can read about the other new products that have been added in my Sale-A-Bration post earlier this week - here's the link if you missed it. 

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'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.

Birthday Celebration 18th and 21st Birthday Cards AYSI 341

by Joanne James7. February 2025 12:00

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a fun recipe challenge chosen by Jan:

       

I decided that I could find solutions to much of Jan's recipe in the Birthday Celebration suite, so I used that as my starting point. I used the layout over at Sketch Saturday and decided to create a special birthday card that was definitely inspired by that fabulous birthday cake in the Hand Stamped Sentiments inspo photo - take a look:

 

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

Birthday Celebration - The sketch layout was perfect for framing a large sentiment, so I made a large card measuring 21cm x 14.9cm and created a custom birthday greeting using the new Birthday Celebration bundle. This bundle is perfect for creating special cards for milestone birthdays; I stamped and heat embossed the words and added a diecut 21 from gold foil.  

Wildflower Birthday - The real star of today's card is the tiered birthday cake - all decorated and ready to go, courtesy of the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper. In addition to the pretty patterned sheets, two of which I used to create my frame, there are two whole sheets of diecut cakes, flowers, balloons and more. Having used all of Jan's recipe ingredients apart from ribbon/twine, I decided to finish my card with a spray of Pretty in Pink and gold ribbons, each of which I frayed to create a fun confetti spray - it makes a change from a bow, don't you think?

 

A few gold sparkly enamel dots complete my card.

Not Just For The Girls - I loved the finished result of my first card, so on completion I decided to make a second card using the same products and layout, but this time with a more masculine feel: 

 

I used another of the pre-embossed papers in the pack for my frame, this time using the same pattern for each panel, switched out the numbers for an 18 and adding another of the diecut cakes in the pack, this time backed with some gold twine:

 

I stamped a couple of banners behind the sentiment and added a sprinkle of gold sequins to finish. The Birthday Celebration Suite is perfect for fancy cards with lots of impact - the paper really does do a lot of the work and the diecut numbers are a great way to personalise your cards for a special milestone birthday or anniversary.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
  • For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
  • Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
  • Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
  • Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
  • You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
  • We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.
We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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.

One Year Older CCS 553

by Joanne James4. February 2025 12:00

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

        

Whilst I love this week's trio of colours, I struggled to make them work together. I tried big and bold but ultimately settled on using each sparingly for a pop of CAS colour - take a look:

 

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

One More Year - I do love a funny card, so as soon as I saw the 'One More Year' stamp set I knew I'd have to add it to my collection. Fun images and quirky sentiments, what's not to love? I used the pug on my birthday card today and used the challenge colours for the pup's tongue and party hat with a touch of neutrals for the dog himself:

 

Centre Focus - The team over at Addicted To CAS currently have 'centre focus' as their theme and my birthday pug was just perfect for a single image to create a central focal point. There's something about his comical expression that just draws you in I think. I'm also linking up over at Inspire Create Challenges where the theme is clean and simple - right in my wheelhouse.

Birthday Fun - The 'One More Year' stamp set is full of fun, quirky sentiments - the one on the front of today's card pairs with this one on the inside:

 

I used Stampin' Blends to colour my pup, but Stampin' Write markers to colour my sentiment in a combination of Summer Splash and Basic Black; selective inking and a quick huff on the stamp to moisten it before you stamp, this is an easy effect to create. Use a stamping platform too to make alignment easy. Now to decide who to send my quirky pup to!

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.

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.

Latte Love To Start The Day But Only If You're Quick

by Joanne James3. February 2025 09:55

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm starting the week with a card that I made when crafting up a storm last week that I had hoped to share but never got round to. It used the current Hand Stamped Sentiments sketch for the layout - I love things in threes!

I could have gone so many ways with this one and I was very tempted to dig out 'Bee My Valentine' as I haven't used any bees in a while, but instead I decided to use up some scraps of one of my favourite Online Exclusives sets instead - take a look:

 

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

I had lots of scraps of A Little Latte designer series paper in my stash, so used two strips of the coffee art pattern for the border edges and a trio of cups that I'd already cut from another sheet of the paper, which I overlaid onto some stamped splatters and coffee rings. A simple thank you sentiment stamped on the vertical finishes my card:

 

The Latte Love Suite is one of the Online Exclusives suites that is on the last chance list so if a morning coffee is your thing, you can still snap up the stamp set for the bargain price of £7.60 but you'll need to be quick! Since making my card the designer series paper has sold out and the dies have gone 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. 

I have a short day today since the youngest of the James Juniors is on early pick up and I've blog posts to prep for later this week, so I'd better crack on! 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.

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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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