Begin With A Dream Kindness Card FF132

by Joanne James14. April 2023 08:00

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge

    

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Global Pay It Forward Day' which is on April 28th. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week my card works perfectly for our theme: I used kindness sentiment, hearts and hands along with the trio of retiring colours being showcased over at Inspire.Create and this is what I came up with:

 

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

Begin With A Dream - The 'Begin With A Dream' stamp set is a host set, exclusively available to those who earn Stampin' rewards when they host a Stampin' Up! get-together with friends or place a single order of £150 or more. All about love and kindness, this set is perfect for the theme of 'paying it forward'. I used the row of people to create a custom DSP panel and layered my sentiment over a stamped pink heart for a pop of extra colour:  

 

You can still get this stamp set with a qualifying order before the end of the month, so if it's on your list don't delay - get to my online store!

Bye Bye Brights - All three of the colours on today's card are retiring as part of the upcoming colour refresh. Polished Pink is a departing 2021-23 in-colour (I will miss this pink!) and Mango Melody and Bermuda Bay are retiring from the Brights family. I love all three of these colours, but wasn't sure I could make a project that featured all three on one card. I decided simple was best, so used Bermuda Bay as my main colour, with Mango Melody for my base and a pop of Polished Pink for accent colour. I think it works - what do you think? Will you miss any or all of these colours? 

All Heart - As I looked at my almost finished card, I decided it needed a touch more pink than just the heart stamped behind my sentiment. I decided to add in a trio of cascading punched hearts for a little extra colour and the small heart on the Country Heart Punch was the perfect size and shape for the job. Love it when that happens!

This card took way more thought than it did execution time, but I really like the cheery result and will be perfect to pair with a treat for someone who is least expecting it. How will you 'pay it forward' later this month?

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for my GD spot over at Just Us Girls. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Farewell to Hand Penned Petals And More PP635

by Joanne James9. April 2023 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've a colour challenge for you to work with:

    

I chose pastel colours for this week's challenge; I rarely choose pastels as a starting point, much preferring brights, so I thought this would both challenge me and also give me a gallery full of pastel design inspiration - a win-win I'd say! With the recent Stampin' Up! announcement of a full colour refresh, we are saying goodbye to not only the outgoing 2021-23 in-colours, but several from across the colour families too. I've used one of the retiring in-colours and three of the four retiring pastels from the subtles family on my cards today along with the layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday - take a look at the first one:

 

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

Farewell Hand Penned Petals - I used the retiring 'Hand Painted Petals' stamp set and coordinating Penned Flowers Dies on my car today, along with the border dies from the Eden Dies set, also retiring, to pick out the border edge of my Country Gingham panel. This is a great stamp set if you're new to stamping - it has both outline stamps and individual pieces to infill the various flowers and leaves with colour, but they intentionally don't line up with each other exactly. The easy, artsy look means that you don't have to align the stamps perfectly - yet they still look great, perfect for a beginner! Get your stamp set and dies from my online store here whilst stocks last. 

Bye, Bye Blushing Bride - This card features Blushing Bride and Mint Macaron, retiring pastels from the Subtles family, along with Pale Papaya, a retiring in-colour. I've never been a big fan of Blushing Bride (I find it a 'muddy' pink) but I do think it can be enhanced when paired with other colours. Paired with the peachy tones of Pale Papaya and the fresh green of Mint Macaron and some ribbon and gems in those colours too, it does look quite pretty - what do you think?

 

So Long, So Saffron - So Saffron is another of the departing Subtles, so I decided to make a variation on my first card using Pale Papaya for the larger flowers and the pale yellow of So Saffron for the smaller ones; all other details were the same.

I think I prefer this version, but I'll leave it for you to decide if you have a favourite!

 

So are you a fan of the Subtles colour family and pastel shades? If so, you should definitely consider entering our challenge this week!

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

 

And the second one:

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'm off to set up my Easter egg hunt for the James Juniors - they might be in their teens now, but they still like to hunt for their chocolate, they are nothing if not sticklers for tradition! We have a roast turkey lunch planned then this afternoon will be spent consuming the fruit of their spoils and if the sun continues to shine, walking it off! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

 

Easter Bunnies Are Not Just For Easter PP634

by Joanne James2. April 2023 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 Jaydee to host this week and she has a theme challenge for us to work with:

 

The animals came in two by two - feature two animals on your card, how fun! I actually have two cards to share with you today: I made my Paper Players card after I made the first one, so I'll share that one first so that the second one makes a bit more sense! My first card is an Easter card using Jen T's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and the current Colour Inkspiration colour palette:

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I thought the oval layout would be perfect for two bunnies and the colour palette would be just the ticket for a dark chocolate brown bunny and some floral decoration courtesy of the Dainty Delight Dies - take a look:

 

Whilst the layout worked beautifully for one bunny, two were definitely a squeeze, so having added some soft clouds and grass to surround my single bunny, I decided to add an Easter sentiment from the retired set 'Crazy About You'. This is such a pretty colour combo and I love the embossed detail on the Dainty Delight flowers and leaves too:

 

I then moved on to card two. I punched another bunny so that I had another pair and also had the country gingham oval left over from my first card that I still wanted to use up, so this time I switched to the current Sketch Saturday layout and decided to play along with the challenge over at TGIF Challenges and look at what other scraps and offcuts I had that would co-ordinate with my gingham oval.

   

I actually had quite a few! A strip of Country Floral designer paper leftover from a previous project, an offcut of Mint Macaron and some offcut strips of Wisper White that were just wide enough to cut a couple of borders with my Penned Flowers Dies and a scrap of Poppy Parade. This is what I came up with:

 

I used a Petal Pink card base and this time positioned my bunnies mirroring each other, with a punched heart between them. I really wanted a 'Some bunny loves you' sentiment but alas, I don't have one in my collection so went with this one from the retired Sale-A-Bration set 'Thanks A Bunch' instead:

 

I think this would make a sweet anniversary card;. It actually came together quite quickly by collecting up a bunch of leftover bits and pieces and more importantly - I managed to accommodate my two bunnies this time!

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 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 off to an extra hockey game today and then we have the start of the Easter holidays, which for us means the start of serious revision season in the James household - not much in the way of excitement here! 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.

 

Crumb Cake Dainty Delight for JUGS673

by Joanne James1. April 2023 05:00

Today I'm nice and early with today's post and with good reason: following my pick as Chic of the Week over at Just Us Girls with this card for challenge #664, I was delighted to be asked by the lovely Vicki to be their guest designer for the month of April. I'm taking over from the equally lovely Michele Ferguson of I Card Everyone, so big shoes to fill (if you've never visited her blog, you really should!) For the next 5 weeks I will be guesting along with these lovely ladies bright and early on a Saturday morning! Our first challenge for the month of April is a colour challenge:

    

I interpreted these colours ass Crumb Cake and Mossy Meadow, which is not a colour combo I would ordinarily be drawn to, yet the minute I saw this pairing I had an idea - I love it when that happens! Using the sketch layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday I grabbed my Dainty Delight stamp set and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I went with a clean, white base and added a panel wrapped in Crumb Cake burlap ribbon, before adding my layered Crumb Cake Panel. I stamped my florals in Mossy Meadow directly onto the Crumb Cake cardstock, and coloured the leaves in with Mossy Meadow ink and a blender pen and colouring the flowers with a white watercolour pencil. I just love the fine detail of these florals - they are so delicate:

I added a heat embossed sentiment from the same set that I stamped and heat embossed in white, then punched out using a retired punch and finished with a trio of green enamel dots from my stash. I did some additional stamping on the inside and added a co-ordinating envelope to complete my card.

I don't often stamp on a neutral other than white before colouring, but I really like the finished effect on this card. What do you think? How would you choose to play with these colours? Check out the cards by the JUGS team over on the blog and why not have a go and link yours there 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. 

Enjoy your day; it's Saturday so I'm off to the hockey pitch. 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 Fish And A Wish Rainbow Thank You FF131

by Joanne James31. March 2023 09:00

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge

    

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Pet Day' which is on 11th April. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. I am not much of a pet person, but that didn't stop me perusing my stamp collection for a starting point for today's challenge. This week I used twine, fish and embossing folder and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I paired one of the fishes from the stamp set 'A Fish and a Wish' with the rainbow macaron colours of the current Inkspirational mood board and created a vertical rainbow of fishes, reversing the stamp each time I stamped it. I added a simple thank you sentiment, co-ordinating Starry Sky twine and a few clear gems, along with a little extra stamping on the inside and outside envelope of my card. I added an embossed layer to my cardfront using the (retired) Seabed 3D Embossing Folder - you can see the detail on the close up below:

This is such a versatile set and so easy to use. Both the stamp set and the co-ordinating fish builder punch are retiring when the annual catalogue finishes at the end of April; the stamp set will also be 30% from next Tuesday, so time to pick up a bargain, perhaps? I'm also linking up today's card with the team over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are celebrating reaching the end of the alphabet with 'Z is for Zodiac' and all things related; these fish are perfect for Pisces, the twelfth sign of the zodiac. Did you know that Pisces is actually the Latin word for 'fish'? Obvious when you think about it, but as a linguist the origin of words fascinates me!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

 

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Rain or Shine Brighten Your Day With A Turtle PP633

by Joanne James26. March 2023 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 a sketch challenge for us to work with:

    

I love a good sketch and had a few ideas as to how I was going to work with this one, but in the end I kept things pretty simple. I thought I would run with the theme over at Time Out of the changing weather so typical of March days, courtesy of the Dickens quote on their challenge badge  - take a look:

 

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

I used two patterns from the Rain and Shine Specialty designer series paper pack for my two vertical panels - one featuring grey skies and driving rain (it's difficult to see in the photos, but this sheet has a fabulous clear embossed rain detail) and the other featuring a sunny spring day and accented my card with a sweet flower-bearing turtle also fussy cut from another sheet in this pack:

I stamped my sentiment, from the retired set 'Special Moments' onto a layered banner cut with the Stylish Shapes Dies. That's all there is to it - pretty straightforward but hopefully the perfect mix of sunshine and showers to brighten someone's day.

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; hopefully if you're in the UK you remembered to turn the clocks forward last night - another sign that lighter evenings are on the way! 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.

Singing In The Rain Clean and Simple

by Joanne James25. March 2023 09:00

Today I'm sharing a super quick and easy clean and simple card for the current theme over at AAA Cards:

Make a card inspired by a movie, song or book - how fun! Here's my CAS card:

  

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

Ever since I saw the cute animals splashing in the puddles on the Rain or Shine designer series paper, I thought this sweet little rabbit looked like it was dancing and ...singing in the rain! I know Gene Kelly has an umbrella when he sings the title song to this iconic movie, but the fox with the umbrella on this paper doesn't look anywhere near as cheery as the sweet bunny, so I snipped a bunny and his puddle from the designer paper, then added some raindrops around him with my Balmy Blue watercolour pencil and accented these with some (retired) clear epoxy raindrops over the top. Cute, right?!

 

I don't have the co-ordinating stamp set from the Rain or Shine Suite Collection, so I used a sentiment from the (retired) set 'Yippee Skippee' that I thought matched the rabbit's demeanour. And that's all there is to 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. Mine will be spent at the hockey pitch as I'm covering all games today. If you like today's card do pop back tomorrow to see a more involved card using more of the Rain Or Shine papers for my Paper Players team card. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Sending A Big Squeeze With Tea Boutique

by Joanne James23. March 2023 14:42

Today I'm sharing a card that uses one of the current Try Stamping on Tuesday layouts (love the layering on this one!) that was inspired by the fabulous mood board over at Just Us Girls this week:

   

Yellow is one of my favourite colours and I couldn't pass up that sunny, sunshine-filled board! I decided to go with the lemons as my inspiration, but I really liked the green and yellow chalks in the photo next to it too, so decided that instead of another Sweet Citrus creation, I would showcase some of the lovely white, green and yellow lemon paper from the Tea Boutique pack - take a look:

 

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

These papers were great for the split panels and I combined a partial stamped sentiment from the 'Sweet Citrus' stamp set with the large diecut from the Sending Dies:

 

I did add a lemon segment and flower that I stamped, diecut and embossed with the 'Sweet Citrus' bundle (well, I couldn't not use it at all!!) and a ribbon tied with twine for a final embellishment. 

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; I have the youngest of the James Juniors at home today having been blessed with a stinker of a cold from a generous classmate, so some of are feeling very sorry for ourselves! He definitely needs a squeeze or two and some hot lemon today! Me? I'm cracking on with some crafting in the peace and quiet and hoping he isn't quite as generous in sharing his germs with me! 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.

Clean and Simple Flowering Tulips Thank You Card PP632

by Joanne James19. March 2023 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 seasonal theme challenge for us to work with:

    

It's clean and simple week and Ann has asked us to feature a spring flower on our card. here's a quick reminder of what we mean by 'clean and simple at The Paper Players:

We mean a card that:
  • Has minimal layers and embellishments
  • Has plenty of open space, aka "white" space
  • Is simple and uncluttered

After much deliberation, I decided to use my 'Flowering Tulips' stamp set as I haven't yet inked it up this spring. I chose the lovely bright colours palette over at Just Add Ink and created this really simple card - take a look:

 

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

I stamped a couple of tulips in the same colour as the cardstock, stamping off one of the layers to get a depth of colour and cut them out using the Tulips Dies and heat embossed the stamens in black for a little extra shine. I added my tulips to a matt layer onto which I'd stamped my sentiment and used one of the dies in the set to cut a pattern to reveal colour from the card base below:

I added a simple diecut silhouette border to the inside of my card to complete my design: 

 

Super simple and so bright and cheery, tulips, alongside daffodils, are one of my most favourite spring flowers.

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.

By My Side for FF130

by Joanne James17. March 2023 09:00

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. I used the great sketch below from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for my layout and the theme of dots or stripes (I went with dots) over at AAA Birthdays for my birthday card - take a look:

       

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'International Children's Book Day' which is on 2nd April. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used children's sentiment, children (child), bright colours, patterned paper and square and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I promised you another card this week using the 'By My Side' stamp this week and this is it! This time I decided to use the little girl with her sweet bluebird friend to make a bright and colourful birthday card. I used one of the sentiments from the set on the front of my card and finished the inside with a 'Happy Birthday' greeting. I was initially going to use squares of coloured cardstock for my background, but in the spirit of using up my scraps as encouraged by my friends over at SUO Challenges this week, I grabbed some of my retired Brights Collection designer series paper and pulled out offcuts from previous projects and used my Stylish Shapes Dies to diecut a selection of squares, all with a playful, dotty design to create a harmonious background (I've included a link to the current pack of Brights DSP at the bottom of today's post in case you'd like to recreate this card):

 

I love the versatility of this stamp set: sweet images, great sentiments and fun for both the young and the young at heart!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

 

Enjoy your day; I have my parents visiting at the moment for our delayed Christmas celebrations that didn't take place due to illness. At least we managed to fit it in before Easter - the James Juniors are very much looking forward to an influx of chocolate!! 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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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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