149 Days Until Christmas - Snowflakes for Freshly Made Sketches

by Joanne James28. July 2014 18:51

I know, I know - we re experiencing some of the hottest weather we've had in the UK for ages and I'm making Christmas cards with snowflakes on!!! My new seasonal catalogue arrived with the postman on Saturday (it doesn't go live until the beginning of September, but as a demonstrator we receive them early so that we can pre-order items to plan classes and make samples to share with you (one of the many perks of being a demonstrator) and so for the last couple of days I have well and truly had Christmas on the brain! When I saw this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches I decided festive was the order of the day - here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I changed the orientation of my card as I wanted to use two of the embossed layered snowflakes stamped with the Festive Flurry stamp set and cut out with the coordinating framelits and needed it to be wider rather than taller. I cut my banners out of silver foil sheet and a scrap of last year's Winter Frost DSP that I found in my box, along with a retired snowflake embellishment. I added a few of the current in-colour sequins in Coastal Cabana to add a little more sparkle and finished with a vintage sentiment (from the 'Sweet Essentials' set).

You still have another month and a bit to wait until the launch of the new seasonal catalogue, however if you're the kind of person who likes to get organised and wants to start making Christmas cards now, the Festive Flurry stamps and Framelits are on the Holiday Carryover List and, along with a number of other seasonal items, are still available to purchase until 27th August. You can find the full list of items in the 'Holiday Carryover' section on the right hand side of my blog page, or by clicking here.

That's all from me today - no more Christmas cards I promise - well, at least not this week. Once my pre-order arrives next week, I might not be able to stop myself from sharing a few 'sneak peeks' of festive loveliness!

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

 

Flowerfull Heart Notecard Holder

by Joanne James9. January 2014 21:37

Today I've another of this month's Envelope Punch Board class projects to share with you - a rectangular box notecard holder and a set of notecards. So here is the box, complete with belly band:

The box is made from Cherry Cobbler textured cardstock, which is great for boxes as it's really thick and has a lovely quality feel. In this photo I've finished with a belly band made from burlap and cotton ribbon; in class, we also made bows from Modern Medley paper using the Envelope Punch Board and created belly bands with bows on. Inside the box, we made a set of simple notelet cards, in co-ordinating vanilla and Cherry Cobbler and paired with Crumb Cake envelopes:

We used the Sweet Essentials sentiment stamps; this is a great set with sentiments to suit a variety of occasions. This set would make a lovely gift for someone and depending on the sentiment, it could be for a birthday or even created as a set of wedding thank you or acceptance cards.

The finished box base measures 5 3/4" x 4 3/8" and was made from a starter piece of 9" x 9" card stock. As with all boxes, whether square or rectangular, the piece of card you start with needs to be perfectly square; it's the points at which you punch and score that determine the finished dimensions of the box. To create this box, we punched and scored at 3 1/2" and 4 1/2".

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

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

 

Table built using Stampin' Up! Product Table Builder from The Crafty Owl.

 

Make a Wish and New MDS Downloads

by Joanne James15. October 2013 20:23

A quick post from me today as I'm keen to finish watching the rest of tonight's Great British Bake Off semi-final. Here's a birthday card I made last week, very similar to this one by Mary Fish, which is so easy yet so effective:

I thought this would be the perfect card for my teenage niece - girly, but not too childish with clean geometric lines. The in-colour designer paper does most of the work here without the need for lots of stamping. It was also a good excuse to get my bird punch out of the drawer, as he hasn't been used in a while. If you're quite new to stamping and reading this and thinking I've finally lost the plot as there isn't a bird to be seen on this card, you'd be right - but the wing shape from the punch in question makes the perfect flame for the birthday candles (so I'm not completely mad, just a little!)

Just before I go, it's Tuesday which means MDS Digital Download Day. Here's a quick look at some of today's new downloads:

Just click on the date button to go straight to my online store to download them.

October 15, 2013 - Digital Downloads

Back tomorrow with another project - right now I'm off to watch the end of the Bake Off! Until tomorrow, happy stampin!

 

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Bird Punch - by Stampin' Up!2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper StackSweet EssentialsSilver Mini Brads

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Cards | Punch Art | Stamping

Festive Flurry Card and New MDS Downloads

by Joanne James8. October 2013 15:40

A quick post from me today as I'm out again this evening preparing for our school annual bonfire and fireworks display. I promised to share a card with you today, so thought I'd share this lovely festive flurry card that we made in my card class yesterday:

This is a case of a Mary Fish card (you can see her original card here) minus the frosted finish embellishment. Whilst I love the embellishment and you will see them on future blog cards, our class cards are all intended to be post-friendly, so the frosted embellishment on this card had to go! We replaced with a large rhinestone instead to give a little sparkle but not add too much bulk. I love the Winter Frost colours of this card - they have a real fresh and modern feel.

Lastly, it's Tuesday, also known as Digital Download Day. Click on the link below to see all of the new digital downloads available in the online store this week:

October 8, 2013 - Digital Downloads

There are some great new downloads this week, including calendar and photobook templates that would make lovely Christmas presents. Why not have a click and take a look?

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

 

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Festive Flurry Clear-Mount BundleWinter Frost Designer Series Paper StackSilver 1/8 RibbonStylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' PadBasic Rhinestones Jewel Accents - by Stampin' Up!Magnetic PlatformBig Shot Die-Cut Machine - by Stampin' Up!

Christmas Ornament and Decorated Box

by Joanne James9. August 2013 22:13

Today I'm sharing the last of the projects we made at last weekend's Christmas workshop: a stamped clay ornament and a decorated kraft gift box to put it in. Here's a photograph of the ornament:

These clay ornaments have a natural finish and can be stamped straight onto the surface, without any additional preparation. As we were going all out for Christmas, once we had stamped our design onto the ornament we stamped the pattern again with Versamark, sprinkled with Heat and Stick Powder and heated with the heat gun, then sprinkled with Iridescent Ice glitter and heated once more. This gives the finished item a more muted colour and a lovely sparkle that catches the light.

We also decorated one of the lovely ready-made kraft boxes from the catalogue to go with it - here's the top of mine:

Together they would make a lovely gift for someone, if you could bear to part with them of course! I will be using mine to decorate my tree during the festive season, but I'm sure I can make another one or something else to go in the box! I hope you liked my first Christmas projects of the season - there will be lots more where this came from. If you would like to join any of my classes, do get in touch for more details; my September card classes will be featuring the Mosaic Madness stamp set and then from October we will be doing Christmas cards all the way through until the end of the year.

Back tomorrow with the first of the weekend birthday cards: my brother-in-law is celebrating his 'big 40' with a party tomorrow and then my own 'Baby James' will be 6 on Sunday, so I've a few birthday cards to share. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials, Four Seasons (hostess - retired)

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red

Tools: Simply Scored, Big Shot, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 7/8" and 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punches, Merry Minis (star)

Finishing Touches: Champagne Glimmer Paper, 3/4" Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon,  Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon (retired)

 

Christmas Rosette Door Wreath

by Joanne James4. August 2013 19:36

As I mentioned earlier this week, yesterday I held an all-day Christmas workshop with a lovely bunch of ladies and we made a good start with our preparations for the festive season with a number of 3D projects. I'm going to share the first of these with you today: a door wreath made out of paper rosettes and featuring the sadly recently retired Be Of Good Cheer Christmas DSP. After much scoring, gluing and decorating, this was the finished article:

This picture shows my version of the wreath suspended. In hindsight, I should have photographed it in situ on my front door, although then my neighbours would have thought me completely mad (they already think I'm part way there, as I grow potatoes and pumpkins in my front garden, but that's a story for another time!!) The rosettes made from the patterned paper were cut using the Designer Rosette Bigx XL die, which is great for fast and easy cutting and scoring; unlike the ones made from the plain cardstock, which we scored using the Simply Scored scoreboard so they took a little longer. We used a variety of circle and scallop punches to create the centres; here's a close up of a couple of mine:

The one below was our focal point rosette, complete with ribbon trim - did you spot the lovely new Cherry Cobbler chevron ribbon in there? - and we also included a banner sentiment in keeping with the season:

The nice thing about a project like this though is that whilst everyone starts out with the same materials, each person has their own 'take' on what theirs should look like, so you end up with lots of similar but slightly different outputs. To illustrate, here is one of the finished wreaths of one of the ladies who attended:

Isn't Maureen's wreath just lovely? I'll share the other projects we made with you later this week. I'm off now to recover from the party excesses of my day - my downline Barbara and I held a joint party for our 6 year old sons this afternoon: swimming party followed by birthday picnic in the park. I will share the invitations and thank you notes we made tomorrow; meanwhile, time for a nice quiet glass of wine and to put my feet up, I think!

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

 

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials, Tiny Tags (retired)

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Simply Scored, Big Shot, Rosette Bigz XL Die, 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8" Circle Punches, 7/8", 1 1/4" 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punches, Itty Bitty Punches (circle), Merry Minis Punch Pack (star), Jewellery Tag Punch (retired)

Finishing Touches: Champagne Glimmer Paper, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, In Colour Dahlias, 3/4" Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon,  Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon

 

 

 

Storytime Friends

by Joanne James13. July 2013 20:29

So shout 'yay!' if you've been enjoying the sunshine today - what a scorcher! I've spent much of it in my craft room preparing my swaps for quarterly team training tomorrow, but I'm not complaining! I'll be sharing swaps tomorrow, but today I'm sharing this post which was scheduled for earlier this week when I was cutting up my Storytime paper, but in the business of my week I totally forgot to post - go figure!

So here is today's creative post: another card I made this week as a 'friendship' card for Rebecca to give to one of her little friends who left school at the end of term:

The layout is simple and I know the red wagon is very American (we actually have friends stateside who have one of these - I think it's great!), but I love the feeling of friendship that the image gives. The check background also works to bring the whole card design and colours together.

Back tomorrow with news of quarterly training and pictures of my swaps. Until then, happy stamping'!

 

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials

Cardstock: Real Red, Pool Party, Night of Navy, Storytime DSP

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red

Tools: 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch

Finishing Touches: Pool Party Baker's Twine

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Cards | Stamping

Embossed Daisies and new Build-a-Brad

by Joanne James11. July 2013 22:06

Another mad busy day today, working on several commissions, a few household chores and preparing for the last day of the school term tomorrow. As promised, here's the other card Barbara and I made when we were busy embossing the other day - a sunny yellow base with a heat embossed white daisy pattern:

Here's a close up of the embossed detail where you can see the raised pattern:

I love the simplicity of this kind of card and Barbara and I originally left ours with the embossed panel taking centre stage, but I later decided to add a sentiment from the Sweet Essentials stamp set and two of the lovely new build-a-brads with Daffodil Delight candy dots (did you guess the new product correctly?!)

Just a reminder too that 'Sweet Essentials' is one of the greeting stamp sets available at 25% off this month - it can be yours for £10.46 (clear mount).

Back tomorrow with another project - another of my new annual catalogue favourites. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials

Cardstock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Daffodil Delight, Versamark

Tools: Heat Gun

Finishing Touches: White Embossing Powder, Brights Candy Dots, Candy Dots Brad Bases

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Cards | Promotions | Stamping

Really Good Greetings - 25% off this month!

by Joanne James3. July 2013 15:08

Just a quick interim post from me today to bring to your attention yet another great Stampin' Up! offer this month. As if the launch of the new annual catalogue wasn't enough, Stampin' Up! are offering a selection of greeting stamp sets at 25% off when purchased before the 31st July.

The sets on offer are:

Sale Price

Catalogue Price

Description

Item

21,71 €/£15.71

28,95 €/£20.95

Sassy Salutations Wood-Mount Stamp Set

132070

17,21 €/£12.71

22,95 €/£16.95

Sassy Salutations Clear-Mount Stamp Set

126707

17,96 €/£13.46

23,95 €/£17.95

Sweet Essentials Wood-Mount Stamp Set

132085

14,21 €/£10.46

18,95 €/£13.95

Sweet Essentials Clear-Mount Stamp Set

126457

26,21 €/£19.46

34,95 €/£25.95

Petite Pairs Wood-Mount Stamp Set

128706

20,96 €/£15.71

27,95 €/£20.95

Petite Pairs Clear-Mount Stamp Set

122497

These are three very popular stamp sets each of which offer a variety of greetings that are useful for a wide range of cards and projects. Here's a picture of each of the sets:

If you would like to see samples of projects I've made using these sets, then simply do a search on the name of the stamp set in the box on the right and you will find lots of examples. If you would like to purchase any of these sets this month, then do drop me a line or give me a call and I can arrange that for you.

Back shortly with today's creative post!

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Promotions | Stamping

Current Promotions

Stampin Cut and Emboss

Save up to 30% off on all your favourite kits from 1 to 31 October! 

Click here to see the current kits available and order yours online today.

Join My Team

It's always a great time to join Stampin’ Up! During October you can get even more in your starter kit! New team members can get £160 worth of products for only £99 + free business supplies + free shipping + all the fun being a part of Stampin’ Up! Stampin' Up! has something for everyone: join my growing team and benefit from my support to enjoy Stampin' Up! however you choose.

If you're interested, call me for a chat to understand how I can help you realise your goals. Alternatively, if you have already decided to sign up and you just can't wait, please click here for the link to the online form where you can sign up and order your starter kit right away! 

Shop Online

Access my online shop 24 x 7, 365 days of the year:

Current October hostess code:

4XPEYCB9

Shop Online

Scrapbooking

Stampin' Up! has introduced a new range of 12x12" scrapbooking product and kit - the full range is now available to purchase online. To download a copy of the new digital Scrapbooking Catalogue click here.

Mini Catalogue

BROWSE THE CATALOGUE

'Tis The Season - the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue is here! For more details and to download your copy click here

2024-25 Annual Catalogue

BROWSE THE CATALOGUE

Click on the image to download your copy of the 2024-25 annual catalogue. For a full list of current SU! supplies, go to my online store. If you would like any help or advice, please drop me a line at joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk or give me a call on 07773 421446 - I'd be happy to help.

Latest Kits!

Stampin Cut and Emboss

The Christmas Ornaments Kit and Card Keeper Kit are the latest kits in the online store - get yours here!

New Online Exclusives

There are new products available exclusively in the online store from 5 November - check them out here.

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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Click here to see the current kits available and order yours online today.

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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.