Blooms and Wishes For The Paper Players

by Joanne James10. July 2016 10:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our fearless leader the awesome Nance to host this week and she has a colour challenge for us to play along with:

    

For my card this week I decided to use this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch and took my inspiration from the Blooms and Bliss suite to create my card today:

 

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

Blooms and Bliss Colour Combo - The trio of colours chosen by Nance for today's challenge all appear in the Blooms and Bliss Suite and in particular the designer series paper of the same name, so I was drawn here for the starting point for today's card. Having ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the whimsical floral patterned papers, I eventually settled upon this rather bold, mostly Island Indigo, patterned paper for the base of my card. This pattern is great for a background as it doesn't interfere with the detail of the focal image and the watercolour-like flecking adds a softness to this otherwise strong colour.

Blooms and Wishes - I decided to create a randomly stamped floral panel as the focal point for my card, featuring each of the challenge colours and using the co-ordinating Blooms & Wishes stamp set to create an almost watercoloured effect. I used a combination of both first and second generation stamping for each of the colours to add depth and overlapped the flowers slightly too. This is the only place where there is any Sweet Sugarplum on my card, yet it performs an important role: without it the card would be perfectly co-ordinated, but rather flat. The addition of the warm lilac tones prevents this card from being too 'cold' and clinical I think. I finished with my sentiment stamped in Island Indigo onto Mint Macaron cardstock, for an additional burst of strong colour.

A Simple Oval - I don't use ovals all that often on my cards, but since the sketch asked for one here I thought I would follow it literally and do think it makes a pleasant change from squares or circles and is the perfect shape for my florals. I left it frameless to enable the white to really stand out against the background and added nothing more than a few pearls for a subtle embellishment. 

The Blooms and Bliss suite is such a pretty set of co-ordinating products, with plenty of scope for artistic expression.

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with Nance's colour combination this week.

I am looking forward to a day of rest and relaxation in the sun today and some quality family time. Back in the next day or so 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 Foxy Festive Reindeer

by Joanne James3. July 2016 09:00

It's been a busy week with blogging every other day I'm afraid as there is just so much happening in the James household. Rebecca gave a sterling performance as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz on Thursday and whilst Friday evening was a relatively quiet one, I did not manage a post! Yesterday I did manage to finish my preparations for next week's classes and make a few more cards, so onwards and upwards as the saying goes! 

Today it's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Sandy to host this week and she has a festive themed challenge for us to play along with:

       

Christmas in July - now that is what I call organised! For my card this week I decided to use my Foxy Friends bundle again - this time to create a cute reindeer for my Christmas card. I also used this week's Mojo Monday sketch and the Color Throwdown colour palette for my creation:

 

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

A Little Foxy Festive Reindeer - As I mentioned last week, the 'Foxy Friends' stamp set makes all kinds of cute baby critters and woodland animals - including a festive reindeer. Aren't those little antlers just adorable?

Lots of Labels - I decided to frame my stamped reindeer with a double mat in Real Red and Chocolate Chip using the Lots of Labels framelits. These framelits are great for layering and create a little more interest than a standard rectangle.

Red-Nosed Rudolf - I have used a number of retired products on my card today: the red button, the circle framelits to cut the background circle and the paper that I used for it (it's so vintage I don't even remember its name!) but since the background paper has a lovely glittery red polka dot pattern, I decided I did need to use one of my new favourite embellishments to finish my card in style: a Real Red Enamel Shape circle - the perfect finishing touch for my reindeer's nose!

I just love the versatility of this stamp set; that coupled with my first Christmas card of the year I think makes this a worthy card! 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

I look forward to seeing your Christmas creations in the gallery this week.

It is another big day in the James household today: Ben was selected for the Northamptonshire county allstars under-10s basketball team and he has his first match against Oxfordshire this afternoon. It's a big deal as he is one of only 12 children selected across the whole of the county - and we are all going to cheer him on for his match. Wish him 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.

What Does The Fox Say? Foxy Friends

by Joanne James26. June 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 300th anniversary celebrations last week - there were some fabulous cards in the gallery and it's your support for our challenge that keeps us going. Congratulations to all those who were winners in our grab bag prize draw - I'm looking forward to sending mine out to someone soon!

It's my turn to host again this week and I have my most favourite of all challenges, a sketch, for to play along with:

    

For my card this week I decided to go with some of my favourite new items from the new annual catalogue - the Little Foxy Suite:

  

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

More Than A Little Foxy - So I'm in love with this cute fox! The 'Foxy Friends' stamp set makes all kinds of cute baby critters and woodland animals - I think this fox is just the sweetest. The fact that he comes with a co-ordinating punch - I used it here to punch out his head for extra dimension - is a bonus and the co-ordinating paper stack makes this suite a force to be reckoned with. 

Layered Layers - My card today is all about the layers. Whilst my sketch looks quite simple, I used a total of 9 separate layers on my card. In addition to my mats and patterned papers, I used the new Layering Circles Framelits to create the surrounds for my woodland scene, added to which partial diecutting of the uppermost circle and the masked stamping of the fox, tree stump and trees, adds further depth and the illusion of even more layers.

What Does The Fox Say? - I thought this would make a fun sentiment for my card today, easily created using the Labeler Alphabet, which is perfect for bespoke sentiments and cut out with the Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits. I highlighted the word 'Fox' in Calypso Coral with the solid letters and added an enamel heart too. Oh and my fox - he says "Happy Birthday!" in case you were wondering :-)

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with my sketch this week. I have a day of sewing in store with some last minute guard costumes to make for Rebecca's school production of the Wizard of Oz this week, so my day will involve much green fur fabric - 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.
 

Pop Of Pink Balloon Celebration

by Joanne James19. June 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week is a very special one for us - we are celebrating our 300th anniversary - isn't that just AMAZING?! It's the turn of the awesome Jaydee to host and she has chosen an appropriate theme for her CAS challenge this week for you to play along with - Celebration:

      

To celebrate this occasion we have blog candy to give away, and lots of it! The team has assembled not one, not two, but ten grab bags full of stamping goodness! To be eligible to win one, all you need to do is play along with our challenge this week. You can play as many times as you like, but each needs to be a new project (no back linking, please) and see The Paper Players blog for our other challenge rules. Winners will be selected from all PP300 challenge participants using Random.org and will be posted on Saturday June 25th.

For my card this week I decided to go with and a little pop of pink and a big party balloon for my celebratory card, using this weeks Freshly Made Sketches sketch (upside-down, of course!):

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

Celebrate Today - Every celebration needs a balloon or two! I decided to go with a large pink one from the 'Celebrate Today' stamp set. This balloon was the perfect focal point for the sketch and the co-ordinating Balloon Framelits make cutting it out a cinch.

A Pop Of Pink - I decided to use a piece of the Pop of Pink specialty designer series paper for my background. The gorgeous black and white papers with a pop of pink (and a little gold too) were the inspiration for the colour scheme for my card. 

Touches of Gold - Whilst I didn't use any of the gold patterned Pop of Pink DSP, there are a number of subtle gold elements that make this card: the gold foil trim, the heat embossed sentiment and sparkle of the balloon and the trailing gold sequins.

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 haven't been with the team all this time, but I can honestly say I am so pleased to have been a part of it for as long as I have - these gals are truly inspirational, supportive and all-round top notch in equal measure and I sure hope I can be a part of the next 300! Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

I look forward to seeing your celebratory CAS creations in our gallery this week and reading your kind comments on our blogs. Don't forget we have 10 bags of blog candy to give away too, so you should definitely consider an entry this week. You have to be in it to win it! I'm not telling you what's in my grab-bag  - it's a surprise! - but I can guarantee it's full of crafty goodness. We are shipping worldwide, so everyone can join in!

I'm not sure what today has in store for me, other than it will certainly involve some pampering of my husband by myself and the two children as it's Father's Day. Happy Fathers Day wishes to all of the men out there celebrating along with us today! 

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.

Patriotic Stars and Stripes Thoughtful Banners Card

by Joanne James12. June 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my dear friend LeAnne to host our challenge this week and she has a great colour combination for you to play along with:

    

I thought these colours were calling out for a patriotic red, white and blue card. I toyed with creating something in honour of HM Queen Elizabeth II who is celebrating her official 90th birthday this weekend, but in the end decided to go with something more appropriate for American Independence day as 4th July is not that far away. This is what I came up with:

 

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

Thoughtful Banners - I used the new 'Thoughtful Banners' stamp set to create my abstract stars and stripes card today. This set is all about the sentiments, with many combinations to choose from. It also has a useful stripe stamp, that can be used with or without the words and banners to create a striped pattern, as I've done here. This is a photopolymer stamp set too which makes it easy to line up without the need for a stamp-a-ma-jig - bonus! 

Duet Banner Punch - I could have used so many of the stamps in this set on my card today, however when I thought about independence and the armed forces both here in the UK and abroad, the one word that summed up how I felt was 'blessed' - blessed that so many men and women are prepared to serve our countries and protect the rights and freedoms we so often take for granted, so this was the word I chose to feature on the banner of my card. A banner that was easily created with the co-ordinating Duet Banner Punch. Buy this with the Thoughtful Banners stamp set as a bundle and save 10%; don't mind if I do!

Shine Like A Star - I backed my sentiment banner with a layered star, cut from silver foil with the Star Framelits and centred with a smaller one in Whisper White. 

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 hope this card is a fitting tribute to those who give of themselves in order to protect the freedoms of us all, for whom we should all feel truly blessed.

I'm linking up with the ladies over at SUO Challenges today where their current challenge is Summer Celebrations.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with our colour palette this week. We have basketball this morning then an afternoon of music practice for Rebecca who is singing in a concert on Monday evening, along with more practice of her lines in readiness for her stage performance as Dorothy in her school production of the Wizard of Oz in just a few short weeks time. 

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.

Copper Embossed You're My Anchor Masculine Card

by Joanne James5. June 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-talented Claire to host our challenge this week and she has a timely theme for you to play along with:

   

With only a couple of weeks to go until Father's Day, today's challenge is a great opportunity for you to get your cards made (and posted if necessary!) in a timely manner. For my card this week I debated with myself what stamps to use: old or new! In the end I ended up making not one but 3 cards, each using a different set. I will be sharing them all over the next three days so if you're in need of masculine inspiration be sure to check back for three very different cards, each of which would work for both Father's Day or a male/Dad's birthday.

For today's card I used this week's sketch over at the Global Design Project and decided to go with one of my favourite existing masculine sets, Guy Greetings, along with some new product - copper embossing powder. Take a look:

 

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

Add Shine With Copper - Heat embossing adds a 'wow' to any project and the new copper embossing powder is no exception. I stamped my anchors from the 'Guy Greetings' stamp set in Versamark onto a panel of Whisper White and heat embossed them in copper. Check out the lovely sheen that you get when the light bounces off it on my card above! I chose Bermuda Bay for the base and top split layer above my recessed anchor panel; it looks great with the copper and reminds me of the sea, so seemed appropriate for today's card. 

A Multi-Purpose Guy Greeting - I saved my 'Happy Father's Day' sentiment for the inside of my card and chose the anchor one for the front. It ties in with my visuals of course, but would also make this card a multi-purpose masculine card that could be used for other occasions too.

A Layered Label And Embellished Anchor - I used a layered label from the Tags & Labels Framelits set for my sentiment, modifying the mat as I wanted it to have a thinner border than the standard framelit size. This was easy to do: I just cut a standard sized one, then cut it again to remove a slice off two of the four sides. To finish I embossed another anchor in copper, then fussy cut it by hand, removing the rope pieces. I then took some thick Bermuda Bay baker's twine and wrapped it around the anchor where the embossed rope would have been and secured it in place with glue dots. You can see it in more detail in the thumbnail at the top of today's post.

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing your masculine creations in our gallery this week. The weather hasn't been great here this week, however yesterday was a little warmer and today is forecast the same, so I'm looking forward to a BBQ lunch in the garden - doesn't food always taste better if eaten in the open air? I think so! Then I'm hoping to spend some time in the afternoon preparing for my Annual Catalogue Open House on Friday later this week. I hope you enjoy your Sunday too.

I'll be back tomorrow with another masculine project; until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Bear Hugs - Love You Paper Bear

by Joanne James29. May 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host our challenge this week and I have my very own tic-tac-toe board for you to play along with:

    PPA-302-May26

Tic Tac Toe - hmmm, so many possibilities! For my card this week I decided to go with the diagonal - yellow, die-cut, paper clip - and using this week's Pals Paper Arts sketch for my layout, this is what I came up with:

 

My card is a card from a special little girl to her precious Daddy - here's the low-down:

Bear Hugs - The front of my card features the baby bear from the Bear Hugs stamp set, cut out with the co-ordinating Bear Hugs framelits. I also fussy cut his nose and added a couple of pearls coloured black with my Sharpie for eyes. These little bears are so cute - I'm glad that these are being carried over to the new catalogue. I also carried this little sweetie over to the inside, where I paired her with her Daddy and finished the final part of the sentiment:

 

Bow Paper Clip - I added my oversize bow paper clip with a little white seam binding ribbon tied around the middle to the ear of my little bear for an obvious feminine touch. 

A Daffodil Delight - I added a piece of Daffodil Delight flower-patterned designer series paper from the Brights DSP Stack for the main panel of my card. I wanted my card to feel girly, even though the recipient was the world's best Dad - I think he'll appreciate it! I think the yellow really compliments the Soft Suede too; here's my colour combo should you wish to save it:

 

I'm also linking up with the team over at Just Add Ink where the challenge this week is to 'Just Add B' which in my case, is B for Bear.

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. 

Whilst I love the bright yellow and cute bear, I must confess the execution of today's card is lacking a little something. I played around with it lots and couldn't work out exactly what it was that wasn't working, so in the end time constraints meant I had to just go with it. Don't you just hate it when that happens?!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing how many different combinations you make with my board this week. We are off to basketball today and are having a little James family get-together later, which should be fun. Otherwise the day will be spent clearing up the mess that was yesterday's flooded kitchen. We had such a busy day, that included shopping for Rebecca's new bike, a trip to the garden centre and a mow of the lawns, that when a pipe burst in the kitchen as we were cooking dinner we spent the rest of the evening filling bowls, waiting for emergency plumbers and mopping up. Hence no blog post yesterday - just too exhausted! Today I'm hoping will be the start of the restful Bank Holiday I was hoping for...

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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Swirly Scribbles Bird's Nest Baby Card

by Joanne James22. May 2016 09:00

   

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the queen of diecuts, the lovely Laurie, to host our challenge this week and she has a fun sketch for you to play along with:

 

As you know, I love a good sketch and for my card this week I had so many ideas! I will be using this sketch for my card tomorrow too; today I decided to feature a die from one of my favourite sets from the new catalogue called the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits and make not one, but two, new baby cards featuring two of the new in-colours. 

Here is the first one, a baby boy card featuring the new blue, Dapper Denim:

 

Here is the second baby card, featuring the new pink, Flirty Flamingo: 

 

Now I know I'm biased, but aren't they just the cutest?! Here is the low-down on today's card:

Swirly Scribbles Thinlits - There are some great swirl, flower and leaf dies in this set - the one that I used here makes the cutest bird's nest backdrop for the cute birdie ready to welcome her babies to the world.

Swirly Bird Masking and Kissing - I did some masking and kissing of the stamps to create my little bird in her nest: first, I stamped the nest twice in Soft Suede, and cut one of them out and used it as a mask so that I could stamp my bird and eggs in the nest. I also created some light speckling on my eggs by inking the 'grunge' stamp in the set in Soft Suede, inking the eggs in Sahara Sand, then 'kissing' the two together before stamping them into the nest. You can get a closer look at this on these close up images below:

 

Perfectly Wrapped Border - I used a mat of each of the new in-colours that I featured on my cards to accentuate the colour and decided to add an additional border detail as per the stitched detail on the sketch. I used one of the border stamps from the 'Perfectly Wrapped' stamp set; this set is photopolymer which makes lining up a breeze. 

Hello Baby Bear - I couldn't finish today's write-up without a nod to the sentiment on today's card. This is one from an adorable set called 'Baby Bear' that also features in the new catalogue and is finished on the inside of the card with '...welcome to the world!'. Perfect for today's card.

I love these dies and the co-ordinating stamp set; you can be sure you'll be seeing lots more projects with them. 

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

Baby Boy Dapper Denim card, with a masking tip:

Flirty Flamingo baby girl card, with a kissing technique tip:

 

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

We do rather have birds on the brain in our house at the moment; the baby blue tits in our nesting box hatched about 10 days ago and we are watching the bird cam with interest on a daily basis. There are seven healthy babies and the mum and dad spend many hours each day flying in and out with caterpillars and bugs to feed the young chicks. Here is a photo of them waiting to be fed:

 

Apologies for the poor photo - the quality isn't great - but I can honestly say watching these little chicks grow is the best tv drama ever, they are so entertaining! Hopefully I'll be able to get some photos of them as they leave the nest when they are grown and share those at a later date.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week's sketch. We are off to basketball today and are then looking forward to a restful afternoon, with either some time in the garden weather-permitting or indoors watching a movie and the antics of our own baby bird family!

Back tomorrow with another card that also uses this sketch, but is quite different in terms of execution; until then, happy stampin'!

 

 

From Land To Sea Turtle One Layer Card

by Joanne James15. May 2016 09:00

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my good friend LeAnne to host our challenge this week and she has a fun clean-and-simple theme for you to play along with:

 

For my card this week I wanted to use my 'From Land To Sea' stamp set. I bought this set for the turtle - I love turtles! - but to date have only used the lighthouse stamp, so this week's challenge gave me the opportunity to change that. The ladies over at Less is More have a one layer challenge with the theme 'At Sea' so I'm linking my card with them too, along with the challenge over at Just Add Ink where the theme is 'masking'. I've a new product 'sneak peek' for you today as well! Without further ado, here is my card:

 

This isn't the first card I made for this week's challenge: I remembered 'wild animal' but forgot 'clean and simple' on my original card, so I will share that one with you later. As far as this card goes though, I just love it! Here's the low-down on how I created my card:

Sea-faring Turtle - Turtles are the one species of sea creature that has always captivated me. I have spent many hours BC (before children!) scuba diving in the warm waters of the Caribbean and nothing ever thrilled me more than to come across a turtle in its natural habitat. They really are so graceful and fascinating to observe. I stamped my turtle in Archival Black ink, once directly onto my extra-thick Whisper White card base, and again onto a post-it note. I cut the second one out and used it as a mask to cover the one on my card base, whilst I sponged in the sea behind. 

Swirly Scribbles Stencil - Secondly, the 'sneak peek'! I made a stencil with the wavy die in the new Swirly Scribbles Thinlits set from the forthcoming new annual catalogue by cutting one and then placing across a masked rectangle behind my turtle. With my turtle masked, I sponged through the stencil with Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo inks to create the seascape and then removed both the stencil and turtle mask and coloured my turtle with inks and a blender pen.

A Teeny Tiny Sentiment - To finish my card, I added a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments set. This stamp set has a great variety of sentiments for each and every occasion that are suitably small and work perfectly with this layout. I chose my sentiment with the recipient of my card in mind; we haven't had a diving holiday with our good friends Cathy and Andy in such a long time, so this card is perfect to send to them to remind them that one day we will all dive together again!

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing your wild animal CAS creations this week. We have double basketball today: training this morning them both James Juniors are playing at a tournament this afternoon - on opposing teams! One is playing for school and the other for club, so that should be interesting!!

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're Sublime In Subtles!

by Joanne James8. May 2016 09:00

Apologies for a lack of blog posts these last couple of days. I've plenty of projects made, I've just been away for a couple of days and then had my Crafternoon Tea Home Decor class yesterday at Bell of Northampton in Kingsthorpe. Along with everything else that makes up day-to-day life I've just not managed to find the time to write!

Anyway, today it's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players so I'm back to it! It's the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host our challenge this week and she has a four colour combination for you to play along with:

   

For my card this week I was inspired to use the flower-filled wheelbarrow from the 'You're Sublime' stamp set as the focal point (hence my rather compliment-filled blog post title today!), incorporating lots of layers as per the current sketch over at The Challenge:

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

A Barrow of Flowers - This sweet little wheelbarrow stamp is one of the images in the 'You're Sublime' set that I haven't yet used and I these Spring pastels were perfect to fill my grey barrow. I coloured them using my Stampin' Write markers and added a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella to my blooms, which adds a lovely sparkle in real life although is, alas, difficult to see in the photo. I then punched out my circle with my 2 1/2" circle punch - I'll miss this one when it retires!

A Subtle Collection of Pastels - I don't use Subtles that often, less so exclusively on a card, unless it's a baby card. These lovely ice-cream colours (there's an idea in itself!) work really well together and this card proves when mixed with a liberal dose of Whisper White they work for flowers too.

Uniformity In Layers - I focused on one each of the challenge colours per layer and kept the pattern the same on each of the DSP layers to create a uniformity to my design. Using a borderless circle for my focal image, white matting and a white seam binding ribbon and bow trim, each element ties together without overwhelming the others.

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

The Paper Players Design Team
 
 
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! 

 

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colours. We are off to basketball today and then hoping for a little more of the lovely sunshine we've been having here in the UK these past few days and an afternoon in the garden.

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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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.