Scalloped Tag Dinoraur Bookmark Cards and Goodie Gear Simply Created Treat Bags

by Joanne James12. July 2014 21:19

Well what a day! The highlight has definitely been Ben's birthday party with his class mates at Bugtopia, an insect and reptile centre near here. He had the most amazing time, holding everything from stick insects and tarantulas to chameleons and crickets! I will share some photos with you when I've had a chance to download them from my camera, but for today thought I would share the cards I made for Ben's two fellow 'birthday boys' with whom he shares his special day and some of the sweet treats that made it into the party bags. So first up, one of Ben's frineds is currently dinosaur mad, so I made a card using the new retired 'Dinoraur' stamp set (with a soon to be 7 year old son, I couldn't possibly part with my set, retired or otherwise!). I decided to create a fun card with a removable dinosaur bookmark made with the Scalloped tag Topper punch. Here is the card with the bookmark in its little pocket:

And here is the bookmark when removed, showing Triceratops on the bottom too:

This card was such fun to make and perfect for a would-be palaeontologist. I have a bonus share for you today too: given the theme of our party, I used the Goodie Gear Simply Created Treat Kit for some suitably themed sweet treats - take a look:

I bought a box of jelly frogs and tied them into the kit bags, decorated the labels and made a little stamped frog button (this is also from the retired 'Spring Sampler' stamp set). I thought I would share these with you as these bag kits are currently available on the Clearance Rack for just £1.79, and the Pumpkin Pie versions too - bargain or what?! Go and snap up a few to add a little 'wow' factor to your party treats! We also gave each child their very own butterfly garden to enable them to hatch their own caterpillar eggs into Painted Lady butterflies - a perfect project for the forthcoming long school summer holidays!

I'll be back tomorrow nice and early with my Paper Players post for the week; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

All Abloom Feel Goods Card

by Joanne James11. July 2014 21:54

I've had another busy week and whilst it's great that it's Friday, boy do I have a busy weekend ahead of me! But before I get into my weekend, check out this card I made today for this week's Mojo Monday challenge; I haven't participated in this challenge for a while, but I really liked this week's sketch so thought I would use it for today's card. Here is the sketch:

 And here's my card, featuring some of the scrummy new paper in the All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack:

 

I followed the sketch but I have been a little liberal with the relative dimensions of the various elements, as I wanted to use this particular sentiment from the 'Feel Goods' set and show off as much of the bold paper pattern as possible. Taking the inspiration for my colour scheme from the DSP, I matted a piece of Mossy Meadow onto a Daffodil Delight card base, then positioned the DSP on the left and bordered the right hand side with a strip of Strawberry Slush edged in Pistachio Pudding, cut with the large scallop edgelit. I stamped my sentiment in Mossy Meadow and matted it on a piece of the same colour cardstock, with a small partial mat of Pistachio Pudding as I didn't want to obscure too much of the pattern. I finished with a simple circular flower, to echo those in the paper design, punched out with a couple of circle punches and finished with a candy dot.

I made this card with a friend of mine in mind and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Above all, I'm loving this new paper stack - the patterns in it are lovely and I can guarantee you'll be seeing lots more of this!

So that's me for today. And so to the weekend: tomorrow Rebecca has an extra ballet lesson before her exam on Sunday, we are holding Ben's birthday party for his school classmates tomorrow afternoon (more on that tomorrow!) and we are also hoping to squeeze in a visit to our local fire station open day and drop in on a church fete that a friend of mine has been working very hard to prepare for to show our support. That is all in addition to the usual homework and swim squad sessions - wish me luck!

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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Cards | Stamping

Star Framelits 3D Wall Art

by Joanne James10. July 2014 22:01

Another busy day for me today - for those who follow me on Facebook, you will have seen photographs of a class I ran a few weeks ago with a super bunch of ladies making 3D wall art using folded hearts so that they would each have a unique gift for their little girls. Well it just so happens that the same group of ladies also each have one or more sons, so in order that they wouldn't feel left out they wanted to make a similar project with boys in mind. Never one to resist a challenge, I already had an idea in mind using the new Stars Framelits - here it is:

Using a combination of the two smallest star framelits and the mini star punch from the new Itty Bitty punches pack, I cut lots of stars and then having scored them down the middle, adhered them to each other on one half in groups of three and arranged them in a star shape. This close-up shot gives a better explanation of this:

I used a combination of Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red patterned papers from the Brights Designer Paper Stack for my wall art as these colours will look great in Ben's Lego-inspired bedroom, however the ladies in my class used different colour combinations and even created some stunning monochrome designs. The dimensional stars really make this wall art stand out, especially in bold, bright colours. The wall art made in the class will be on my Facebook page in the morning if you would like to pop over and take a look, when I will also be updating the product links for today's post. If you live local to me in Northampton or the surrounding area and you would like to attend a class to make one of these lovely frames, then do get in touch.

This really is a quick post from me as I have a few more jobs to do before I turn in for the night, having been running a class today, sorting my school and after-school club runs and then a pleasant (if brief!) couple of hours with some of my lovely team this evening for one of our regular catch up sessions.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

 

 

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3D Projects | Classes

Wednesday Weekly Deals are Here!

by Joanne James9. July 2014 10:00

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for July (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right). 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

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

More shine this week with gold vellum and silver baker's twine making an appearance, along with the sparkly cut vintage faceted buttons. A bargain on washi tape too - there really is something for everyone!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy shopping! 

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Promotions | Shop Online | Stamping

Colour Me...! Spotlight on Swallowtail

by Joanne James9. July 2014 08:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! Double delights today: new weekly Wednesday Deals - I'll be back with the details on those later  -and more importantly for me my second Colour Me...! Card Challenge Design Team post! This week we are using the striking colour combination of Elegant Eggplant and Soft Sky:

This is an unusual colour combination for me, but I had a clear idea of how I was going to use these contrasting colours - here's the card I came up with this week: 

I decided to use Elegant Eggplant for my base card and then stamped the large Swallowtail stamp in Elegant Eggplant onto Soft Sky cardstock. I then took a rectangular piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock and punched a circular hole out of the centre and rounded alternating corners with my Project Life corner rounder. I then strategically placed this over my butterfly to include its head and adhered it to my card using dimensionals, having first coloured the portion of the butterfly visible through the circular hole using Elegant Eggplant ink and a blender pen. The top layer is used to create a 'spotlight' onto the butterfly and almost magnify its detail. I finished with a small birthday sentiment from Petite Pairs as I didn't want anything that would overshadow my butterfly, and stamped the inside of the card and the envelope too with the smaller swallowtail from the coordinating Papillion Potpourri stamp set.

I hope you like today's card - please do pop along to the 'Colour Me...!' challenge page this week to check out the work from the other talented designers that I'm working with and to upload your own creations.

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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Cards | Stamping

In Colour Work of Art Card

by Joanne James8. July 2014 21:21

I've had a fun day today with my monthly card class. Classes take a lot of thought and preparation, but I can honestly say I laugh so much with this fun bunch of ladies it so makes it all worthwhile! Today's class was all about getting to know new stamp sets, colours and tools from the new catalogue and I thought I would share one of the cards we made using the Work of Art stamp set and the new 2014-16 in-colours. Here is the card in question:

I based the design for my card on one I'd seen on Pinterest using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (I didn't pin it though and now can't find the link - apologies!) and  coupled the stripe and heart from the Work of Art set with one of my favourite vintage 'Happy Day' stamps (I have a new catalogue 'replacement' for this on order, but I'm not ready to part with this one yet!) Quite a simple design but tricky to line up and make everything look even without loosing the natural 'swiped' look; the main reason I'm sharing it though is because of all the cards we made today, this one not only raised a smile - it had us in stitches! I wish I had taken my camera as there were some lovely variations on the basic idea and everyone using a different colour of base card.

If you live in or around Northampton and would like to join my monthly classes, do get in touch. I am currently looking at expanding my class schedule further, so would love to hear from you if this is something that interests you.

Back tomorrow with this week's Colour Me...! design team card and the Wednesday Weekly Deals; 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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Cards | Classes | Stamping

Baby 'Gender Reveal' Card - Girl or Boy?

by Joanne James7. July 2014 08:00

It's Monday and the start of a busy week for me, beginning with sports day for both James juniors today. So a nice early post is in order and today I'm sharing a card inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown this week:

I thought these colour would make a fun baby card, but which way to go - girl or boy? In the end I decided to have some fun and use a little of both - take a look and see what I mean:

I decided to create a fun 'gender reveal' card that could be handed out to guests at a baby shower or similar, when the baby's gender has been kept a secret but it's time for the big reveal. I used Very Vanilla as my card base and created mats in Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush and Very Vanilla, then punched 4 squares using my retired 1 1/4" square punch (you could cut these by hand), 2 blue and 2 pink, and attached one of the cute images from the 'Something for Baby' set, stamped in alternating pink and blue, and cut out with the co-ordinating framelits and mounted on dimensionals on the coloured squares. I then took one of the baby sentiments from the 'A Dozen Thoughts' stamp sets and partially inked it up so that the start of the sentiment was on the front, with the final 'reveal' on the inside. So what did I choose for my card - well, here's the inside where the truth is out:

I made mine for a little girl, adding in the leading dots and the exclamation mark with my Strawberry Slush marker pen. You could just as easily create a similar card with alternate wording for a boy - cute, eh?!

We are making a card similar to this one in my monthly card class which is being held this week, which is featuring lots of products from the new Stampin' Up! 2014-15 Annual Catalogue. If you live in Northampton and are interested in attending card, home decor or Project Life classes, do get in touch - new faces are always welcome!

Right, I'm off to avoid being attacked by a javelin or alternative sporting object! 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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Cards | Stamping

The Paper Players Guest Designer - At the Beach

by Joanne James6. July 2014 08:00

 

Today is a very exciting day - my first official post as a Guest Designer with The Paper Players! I am very pleased to be joining this talented group of ladies for the next three months, along with the other amazing guest designers: Claire Broadwater, Yapha Mason, Andrea Whisman and Mike Funke - I'm really looking forward to working with you all. So today's challenge is from Nance and requires projects with a beach theme:

When I think 'beach' I immediately am drawn to the bold and bright colours of the Caribbean, where, as a keen scuba diver I've spent some of my best beach holidays. However, for today's card I decided to opt for something that shows a more traditional British beach scene and took the opportunity to use one of the new in-colours, Lost Lagoon. I also used this week's Freshly Make Sketches layout (turned through 90 degrees) for my card - take a look:

I took out the seagulls from my recently acquired 'Wetlands' set and with a Sahara Sand card base, stamped them in Basic Grey on a circle of Whisper White cut out with my Big Shot and circles framelits and sponged in the background using Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand and a little So Saffron masking the sun using a little punched circle of spare cardstock. I mounted this circle slightly offset onto a larger circle cut from Lost Lagoon and used a piece off paper from the new Moonlight Designer Series paper stack as a partial background - this paper so reminds me of waves! The pattern actually runs across the short side of the stack, so to make it extend along the whole of the long side of my card I simply matched the pattern and created a join, that is hidden behind the circular focal point - clever, eh? I then finished with a strip of Basic Grey cardstock wrapped with a piece of Lost Lagoon stitched satin ribbon, my sentiment stamped on a narrow flag and a basic metal button tied with linen thread to add to the natural feel.

I love the circular elements on this card and the muted colour scheme - it takes me back to my childhood when I lived quite near to some of the best of the British coastline and would often spend warm sunny days building sandcastles and paddling in the sea. I currently live right in the centre of 'middle England' and couldn't be further from any stretch of coastline than anywhere else in the country; I'll have to make do with watching the barges and moorhens on the local canals instead!

I hope you like my card today and that it inspires you to hop on over to the Paper Players challenge blog to join in and upload your challenge creations. The Paper Player challenge takes place weekly, opening on a Sunday at 8am (PST) and closes at noon on Friday (PST). 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!

We look forward to seeing your seaside-themed creations! We are having a restful family day today, having had a busy day yesterday with a theatre visit and swimming gala and the next two weeks choc full of things going on as the end of the school term draws near. 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.

 

 

Bravo! Sea Street Congratulations Card

by Joanne James4. July 2014 21:54

Today's card is my entry for this week's Summer Collection challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary where they have the following colour challenge:

I love this colour combo and couldn't pass up the opportunity to make something with it. All of these colours can be found in the new Sea Street designer series paper, so I decided this would be my starting point. Here's my card:

I've been wanting to make a life-buoy on a card with this paper that would enable me to use the new thick baker's twine too and this card provided the perfect opportunity. Using a Real Red base, I then used a mat of Whisper White and a further mat for the top layer in Night of Navy. I created my life buoy by cutting two rings using my circle framelits, one in red and one in white, then cutting the white one into quarters and overlaying two of the sections onto the red one. I wound Coastal Cabana baker's twine around this and adhered it to my card using dimensionals, having first stamped my sentiment onto a circle of Whisper White and adhered that directly to the card base. I then finished the front of my card with two strips of Sea Street DSP showing multi-coloured sailor's flags and stamped the co-ordinating stamp onto the inside card panel.

As my regular blog readers will know, both James juniors are keen swimmers and whilst only Rebecca currently races competitively, Ben is improving all the time as he grows older and stronger and is gaining on her all the time. He often undertakes distance swimming badges and skills-based certifications, so I made this card with him in mind - I think it will make a lovely congratulations card for my little swimmer the next time he achieves a milestone and I like that the card has a masculine feel that would suit both young and old alike.

I'll be back tomorrow with another project and I will be posting early as I will be watching the last swimming gala of the season tomorrow evening. Wish me luck - with the warmer weather we've been having the swimming baths will be roasting, so it will be all I can do to stop myself diving into the water too! 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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Cards | Punch Art | Stamping

Work of Art Wall Art Frame Card

by Joanne James3. July 2014 22:32

Good evening all - I've had a busy week so far, most of it out and about so have spent next to no time in my craft room. Good job I have a few things that I've already prepared to share with you! Today I'm sharing one of the cards I made for my new catalogue launch event, featuring the Work of Art stamp set:

This set, comprising lots of brushstroke-type stamps can be used in lots of different ways and for this card I decided to use it to create my very own 'work of art'. I stamped four of the brushstroke stamps randomly on a piece of Whisper White cardstock, then stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. I then stamped the Hardwood stamp in Baked Brown Sugar on a piece of cardstock in the same colour and cut it into strips and created a frame for my picture. I finished off with some linen thread and a candy dot brad to hang it from on my Real Red wall.

Simple enough - but I like it! That's all from me today -  a quick post as my bed is calling! 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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Cards | Stamping

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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.