A Little Bit Festive Oval Wreath And A Zentangle Birthday

by Joanne James27. October 2024 20:00

I had a super crafty day yesterday so I have a quick extra post with a couple of cards I made using some sketch challenges that are closing today:

   

The first is a Christmas card that uses the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches and is a no-stamping-at-all card - take a look:

 

I used a diecut wreath from the A LIttle Bit Festive speciality paper pack (I used the offcut to decorate the envelope) and a foiled diecut sentiment from the Joyful Sayings pack. A few metallic gems and a simple gold twine bow were the finishing touches that complete my card:

 

My second card is for the challenge over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge; I haven't managed to play along there in a while but since they are celebrating their 600th challenge sketch I had to play along. Not only that, the sketch was perfect for another zentangled circle creation featuring the Full Of Life designer series paper - take a look:

 

I added a panel of paper and a birthday sentiment from the 'Friends For Life' stamp set, separating the two with a black and white gingham ribbon bow:

 

A few black enamel dots complete my card. This card is heading to my nephew for his upcoming birthday - I think he will appreciate the modern design (the bow maybe less so!)

Here are the visual summaries 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. 

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.
 

 

A Little Bit Festive Striped Wreath Christmas Card PP713

by Joanne James27. October 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! If you live in the UK I hope you enjoyed an extra hour in bed this morning as the clocks changed! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

    

I have another Christmas card to share with you today, which I'm also sharing with the team over at Inkspirational where they are all about seasonal cards, and this one is full-on traditional festive - take a look:

 

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

A Little Bit Festive - The A Little Bit Festive specialty designer series paper is the big hitter on today's card: I used a sheet of the red and white striped candy cane panels for the base and one of the diecut wreaths as the backing for my sentiment. This paper is so great for 'one and done' cards, with pre-diecut pieces making light work of decoration. I couldn't stop there today though; in addition to adding in some extra diecut foliage and berries, I added a few other pieces too; for more information, read on!

Greetings Of The Season - I added a heat-embossed sentiment from the 'Greetings of the Season' stamp set to the centre of my wreath, in two parts in order to fit the whole sentiment without obscuring too much of the foliage:

Joyful Sayings - Since the sentiment on the sketch was actually at the bottom of the left panel, not inside the shape, I chose some words that would allow me an extra element instead of substituting something else here; I actually used one of the pre-printed Joyful Sayings elements - it works perfectly.

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. 

I love the traditional festive look of today's card; what's your favourite kind of Christmas card design? Do let me know in the comments below.

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.

Santa Stache Nutty or Nice Nutcracker

by Joanne James25. October 2024 13:00

Today I'm sharing a quick card I made a couple of nights ago for the current challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where the theme this week is 'Nutcracker':

   

I still have my long retired 'Santa Stache' stamp set so paired him with a layout that gave me the opportunity to use up some retired nutcracker-patterned paper I had in my stash too - take a look:

 

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

A quick stamp of my Nutcracker and coloured with my Blends. I diecut his moustache and popped it up on dimensionals for a little extra lift because, well, why not?

 

I used an offcut of patterned paper to decorate both the inside of my card and the edge of my envelope - and done.

No visual summary today - this card was simply for fun and to show some love to old Nutcrackers! 

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

 

Sophisticated Sled Clean and Simple

by Joanne James22. October 2024 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for the current clean and simple challenge over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is WOOD:

So many ways to interpret this code word; as I'm still very much in the festive cardmaking zone, I decided to make another one, this time featuring the stamped sled from 'Sophisticated Sled', one of my current favourite Online Exclusives - take a look:

 

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

I used the diecut sled previously on these cards, but thought that I would use the stamped sled for today's clean and simple version and use my Blends markers to achieve a realistic wooden effect on the slats - here's a close look:

 

I decorated my sled with a simple ribbon-tied bunch of berries for a little added festive colour and stamped my sentiment directly onto my white cardbase. I love the look of this traditional sled - so many of those you see today are made from brightly coloured plastic, this sled is a real touch of festive nostalgia for the way things used to be.

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.

Layers of Beauty Perennial Postage Collage

by Joanne James21. October 2024 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card using Narelle's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches along with this week's Color Throwdown colours:

   

I decided to use Narelle's rectangles to experiment with another technique using my Layers of Beauty stamp set - take a look:

 

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

I used my Perennial Postage Dies to create three 'postage stamps' in various colours, each featuring the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set. I stamped and heat-embossed in white the main floral image once each onto my chosen colours of cardstock, then selected various portions of the images and cut them out. My top tip to get your sizing right on this is once you've cut your white mats, use the same dies to cut out the coloured layer too and simply trim off the decorative edge. I placed each of my stamps onto a background embossed with the hatched 3D Basics embossing folder and decorated with some diecut leaves and some flowers from the Country Flowers Dies, finished with pearl centres. Using just a portion of the main image is another way to showcase the detail of the main Layers of Beauty stamped image:

I was tempted to overlay my design with a large diecut sentiment, but instead fussy cut a sentiment from the stamp set and added it the corner of the card to allow those colourful stamps to take centre stage. 

I so love the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set - it really is so versatile.

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; it's the start of the half term break so I am looking forward to a quieter week getting some things done at home and driving a few less miles! 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.

Humble Home Gingerbread House Tag Card PP712

by Joanne James20. October 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 LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

 

I decided to make my tag the central feature of my card and paired a new tag die with a gingerbread house courtesy of the super-cute 'Humble Home' bundle - take a look:

 

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

Humble Home - I heat-embossed my sentiment from the 'Humble Home' stamp set directly onto my Real Red cardbase, then separately stamped and heat-embossed the little gingerbread house onto both a piece of Pecan Pie and Real Red and punched out with the coordinating house punch, before paper-piecing the door into place for a pop of colour.

Grab A Tag - My tag is courtesy of the Greetings Of The Season Dies - they contain so many great shapes for labels and tags alike! I diecut my tag in basic white, before dry embossing with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder. The effect is subtle, but I love the addition of the snowfall behind my gingerbread house - you can see it more clearly on the closeup below:

I added a simple red and white twine bow to the top of my tag.

Snowflakes and Peppermints - I accented my little gingerbread house with some of the adhesive peppermints from the mini catalogue - how cute are they?! I also added a scrap of retired Gingerbread & Peppermints designer series paper to the lower portion of my tag, to pick up on the peppermint swirl design. 

With all that detail on my tag, I am probably pushing the boundaries of 'clean and simple' this week, but tag aside, the rest of my card is clean and uncluttered ... and I love this card so much I just had to share it! I actually do have a slightly more clean and simple version - the card that I based this one on, which is the card that I send out with my mini catalogues at the start of September - here's a picture of that card:

 

As you can see, less embellishments and a different colour scheme - this one was easier and quicker to make multiples of, which is always a consideration when it's catalogue mailing time. Here's a shot of lots of them together:

 

I guess you could say my red version is a 'stepped up' card, but since we aren't super strict with our definition of 'clean and simple' over at The Paper Players (minimal layers/embellishments, open/white space) I wanted to share it - I think the additions make this card a real festive treasure!

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.

 

You Are Amazing WIth Lily Pond Lane

by Joanne James17. October 2024 10:00

Today I've a quick post with a simple card that I made using the sketch layout over at TGIF Challenges:

I had the Lily Pond Lane designer series paper out on my desk as I wanted to make a card for one of my lovely downline team members who is mad about ducks and when I saw those three panels, I decided they would be perfect for me to create a simple split block scene - take a look:

 

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

I chose my paper pattern then cut out the vertical section that I wanted to feature and using my Stylish Shapes Dies, I creatively cut it into three rectangles and positioned them on my Pretty Peacock card base:

 

I added my sentiment from the 'Hooray for Surprises' stamp set to some Pretty in Pink cardstock and overlaid that directly onto one of the DSP rectangles using dimensionals for a little extra lift. I added one of the offcuts from my sheet to the inside of my card to carry the decoration through - this is a great way to use up scraps and add some quick interior detail.

That's it - super simple! My team member calls her team 'ducklings' so this paper is just made for her - I hope she likes what I did with 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 '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.

Sophisticated Sled Season of Elegance Christmas Card

by Joanne James14. October 2024 18:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card that I made using Karren's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I loved Karen's layout and loved the idea of featuring a tag, although when it came down to it I wanted to play with a Christmas bundle I hadn't yet opened and that tag shape became a sled - take a look:

 

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

There are some fabulous festive sets in the Online Exclusives section of the Stampin' Up! online store and the Sophisticated Sled bundle is definitely one of my favourites so I was excited to break it out for the first time today. I used a gold/vanilla pattern from the Season of Elegance specialty designer series paper to create my split background, bordered with a strip of gold foil, before adding my diecut sled. I used Cherry Cobbler for my sled base and cut the slats out of a piece of dark Country Woods designer series paper to emphasise the embossed woodgrain for a realistic finish - you can see the textural detail more closely below: 

 

Some greenery and berries, a gold twine bow and a simple gold heat-embossed sentiment complete my card. Having cut a panel of the Season of Elegance paper across the diagonal for my first card, I decided to make a second one with the remaining DSP for the lower portion of the card and some vanilla berries on my greenery:

 

Here's a photo of both cards together; my favourite is still the first one, but what do you think - do you have a favourite? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

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; I have to dash - I need to get my card linked up! 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.

Double Embossed Leaf Fall Card PP711

by Joanne James13. October 2024 08:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a seasonally-inspired colour challenge for us to work with:

          

My colour choices this week were inspired by the falling leaves on the trees here in the UK now that we are well and truly experiencing Autumn weather there are shades of orange and brown all around. Nance found me this lovely inspo photo so I had to stick with the theme and create something leafy today! I also wanted to try a fun technique using two of my embossing folders. Read on to learn more - first up, here's my card:

 

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

All Autumn Colour - I used a card base of Pumpkin Pie with an Early Espresso mat layer and added additional Pumpkin Pie ink using a blending brush around the edge for depth. I used every shade of orange and brown Blends marker that I own to colour my leaves and added a few brown splatters for added interest.

Double Embossing - The really interesting feature on today's card is a double-embossing technique - have you ever tried it? I first debossed my mat layer with my Timber 3D embossing folder, adding a little Early Espresso ink to the raised portion so to further highlight the embossed grooves. I then ran my panel through my diecutting machine again, but this time with my Leaf Fall Embossing folder; this adds some beautiful dimensional leaves over the top of my woodgrain, further highlighting the leaf detail by colouring them with my Blends markers. Here's a close up - what do you think?

This was so fun to try something new and I really like the finished effect. I think there are lots of different embossing folders you could pair up to achieve a similarly interesting effect - something 3D paired with something with a smaller detail would work well. Let me know if you have any tried-and-tested suggestions - I'd love to give them a go.

Iconic Imagery Sentiment - I added a handcut sentiment from the 'Iconic Imagery' stamp set which I stamped on to orange so that it would blend into the background - no neutrals, other than a sprinkle of sequins, on today's card!

I'm also linking today's card up with the team over at Just Us Girls where their word of the week is 'LEAVES' and my card has plenty of those and over at Inspire.Create where the theme is autumn/Halloween..

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; yesterday was filled with hockey and university previews, so I'm hoping for a quieter one today, with possibly a little crafting too. 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.

Layers of Beauty Anniversary Card PP710

by Joanne James6. October 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 my dear friend, the fabulous Jan, to host this week and she has a theme challenge for us to work with:

    May be an image of text

I wanted to try something else new with my Layers of Beauty set, so decided to use the soft colour palette at Colour Inkspiration which I thought would work nicely for an anniversary card and set to work. This is what I came up with:

 

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

I cut a whole bunch of strips 5mm wide in each of the challenge colours, including strips in a variety of designer paper and glimmer paper that coordinated, and glued them diagonally to a panel and added to the front of my card. I heat embossed the main image in the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set in white on vellum and added it to my striped panel and secured it beneath the vertical panel on the left hand edge, onto which I stamped my sentiment. The vellum layer softens the colours and detail of the stripes whilst highlighting the embossed detail:

I added a sprinkle of purple faceted gems to complete my card. I love the interest that the stripes add and I think this is a great alternative method of adding colour to the Layers of Beauty stamp. A brief interlude between autumn and Christmas projects with these fresh, mostly pastel colours 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 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 been having a rare child-free weekend as the youngest of the James Juniors has been away on a school field trip to study sand dunes amongst other things. Its amazing how many things you get done without a Saturday sports fixture, especially when the day stays dry for once! 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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