A Clean and Simple Beach Day

by Joanne James17. July 2024 09:37

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few current challenges that are all celebrating the delights of summer:

      

The team over at Just Us Girls are celebrating all things summertime, Addicted to CAS has the codeword of SUMMER and AAA Cards is looking for anything clean and simple, with the optional twist of summer.  

I have made a few cards using the 'Beach Day' set recently, mostly featuring the dies which I love. I wanted to try something more CAS that focused on the stamps alone - take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

This card really is super simple - I stamped a trio of images using my stamping platform for a crisp outline, added in some extra sand to extend the horizontal line and added a sentiment beneath. I coloured my images with my watercolour pencils, smoothing them with my blending pen:

 

This was my first experiment with the new neutral, Basic Beige, that I used for my card base. This really is a lovely neutral and makes a great soft, sand base for a beach-themed card. I haven't made a #simplestamping card like this one in ages, so it was fun to go back to basics. The Beach Day bundle is perfect for this kind of card, with so many images that can be combined to make fun little scenes. All we need here in the UK now is a little more sunshine - so far the summer has been rather damp!

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 am off to the hairdressers later, which is always a joy. A good natter and an uninterrupted cup of coffee that I can still drink whilst hot - bliss! I'll be back Friday with my project for As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Peekaboo Farm And A Welsh Lamb

by Joanne James14. April 2022 10:00

Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by a few current clean and simple challenges:

       

Over at AAA Cards they are asking us to create a design that is both along the edge and represents your country. Since I am Welsh I considered daffodils, but settled on one of the other things that my homeland is famed for - take a look:

 

Yes, a Welsh lamb! Perfect for the animal challenge over at Addicted to CAS and the code word 'Fluffy' over at CASology too!

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

A Welsh Lamb - The 'Peekaboo Farm' stamp set was perfect for today's card: I extended my brick wall to run along the edge of the base of my card, with the lamb peeking over the top. The eagle-eyed amongst you will see this is a slightly doctored image - the lamb in the stamp set has horns, but since I wanted the emphasis on 'fluffy' I thought I'd remove them. I fussy-cut my lamb, minus the horns, and popped him over the wall using a couple of glue dots:

 

Take 5 - This is a great #simplestamping card that uses only five key supplies: white cardstock, black ink, a stamp set and my watercolour pencils that I used dry - perfect for a beginner. I'm generally prefer my Blends markers for colouring as I like the more saturated colour they give, but since this is a (largely) one layer card, I went with pencils to avoid the issue of colour bleeding through to the reverse of my cardstock. On closer inspection I think my pencil blending needs a little work, but it was nevertheless fun to create - I might have to make another card to practice my technique!

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.

Bird Ballad Spotlight Friendship Card for PCC341

by Joanne James24. June 2019 08:20

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for my monthly technique class last week featuring the Bird Ballad Suite that uses the current sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew as the inspiration for the layout:

Paper Craft Crew Sketch Challenge PCC341

I was intrigued by the oval shape as I don't tend to use ovals on my cards often and I wanted to incorporate a few different techniques. This is what I came up with:

 

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

A Spotlight on Fussy Cutting - The Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper is beautiful and just like the co-ordinating 'Free As A Bird' stamp set, offers a ton of fussy cutting possibilities - no co-ordinating shaped framelits for these feathered friends I'm afraid! I fussy cut one of the birds and backed him with a Crumb Cake stitched oval shape. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that I didn't remove all of the paper - for the really tricky bits, such as around the legs and branches, I simply coloured the paper with my Crumb Cake Blends marker to blend in with the background. 

 

Background Birds on a Branch - The sketch shows some background stamping behind the banner and this inspired me to get out my watercolour pencils and add a very subtle row of birds using one of the stamps in the 'Free As A Bird' stamp set. I did some tone-on-tone stamping, stamping the image in So Saffron, then delicately coloured with my watercolour pencils and blended with a blender pen. Only the outer edges of the image are visible behind the oval, but I really like the way this detail adds interest to the background and spotlights the fussy cut bird and oval. 

Stamp and Emboss - Once I had completed all of the stamping and colouring on my card base, I ran the whole thing through my diecutting machine and embossed it with the Subtles 3D embossing folder. The texture this adds is so subtle it doesn't distort the stamping at all, but adds an almost silky feeling to the cardstock. I love it! Some lace and pearls and a little envelope decoration complete my 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. 

Enjoy your day; I have a lot to achieve today so need to get on with it! 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.

Lovely Lattice Kraft Birthday Card

by Joanne James11. March 2019 09:00

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Happy Monday everyone! Today is the start of my class week, so it will b a busy one Chez James! Today's card is one I made that uses the current sketch layout over at Just Add Ink and the colour palette at Color Throwdown:

   

I thought these colours would be perfect for a birthday card featuring one of the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice - take a look:

 

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lovely Lattice - There is lots you can do with this stamped image - many ways to colour it, and lots of options to cut it out and build layers and dimension with the flowers too - but I like it because the main image is one of those that can fill the card and there isn't much else required. I heat embossed my image in white onto Crumb Cake cardstock which really does show the detail of the lattice behind the flowers beautifully. For a free stamp set, this one really is rather pretty - and still available if you'd like to get your hands on it with a spend of £45 or more. Who doesn't love FREE product?!

Colour on Kraft - I decided to colour the image using my watercolour pencils, but dry with no added water for blending, as I wanted to see the pencil strokes; I used a combination of Gorgeous Grape, white and Basic Grey pencils, with a tiny spot of Crushed Curry for the flower stamens. 

Birthday Wishes - The 'Lovely Lattice' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I reached for one of my favourites from the current Spring-Summer catalogue that you haven't seen me use much here on my blog but rest assured they will be a keeper for me, regardless of whether or not they carry over to this year's new annual catalogue: the Well Said bundle. The' Well Said' stamp set combined with the Well Written Framelits dies really are the perfect pair and allow you to create endless sentiment combinations. I added a piece of Gorgeous Grape mini striped ribbon behind my layered sentiment and a sprinkling of pearls to complete my 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. 

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.

 

Fairies and Cherries For The Paper Players PP406

by Joanne James19. August 2018 09:00

Another week of school summer vacation in the James household this week! Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. It's the first challenge for our returning Paper Players designer, the lovely Anne-Marie Hile, this week so be sure to pop by her blog with a friendly 'hello'. It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

    

Remember in addition to the theme of "fruits and vegetables", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

  • Minimal layers and embellishments
  • Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
  • Simple and uncluttered

Having trawled through my collection of current stamps, it turns out I have very few with fruit (or veg!) for that matter, so a little creative stamping was called for. I actually found some fruit 'hidden' in the Fairy Celebration stamp set - take a look:

 

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

This little fairy happens to be hanging from a cherry tree, so a little watercolouring using my new watercolour pencils and an aquapainter (I am so happy that we have more of these now, the new colours in the second pack available exclusively this month extend the variety of colours and allow much greater flexibility - don't leave it too late to get yours!) was all I needed to create a focal point for my card. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the fairy wings and some fine tip glue to the cherries to give them a glossy finish - both of which are difficult to see from the photos, but add subtle detail in real life.

I decided to use the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week for my layout, and used a couple of pieces cut with my Stitched Labels Framelits then trimmed to add interest behind my main image. I have seen these Stitched Labels Framelits used on some fabulous cards elsewhere on the internet and hold my Paper Player team mate LeAnne responsible for me 'needing' to add them to my own collection (check out her blog for some great examples of how to use them!) so thought I would try something a little different with them. The two blocks of colour mirror the colouring on my cherries and leaves and add detail, without encroaching too much into my white space and maintaining my overall clean and simple feel.

And that's all there is to it: clean and simple - done!

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!

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: a Christmas card featuring some sneak peeks of some great new products from the forthcoming seasonal catalogue. Do come back then, you won't want to miss it. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

Blended Seasons Time-Limited Exclusive Bundle Available Whilst Stocks Last!

by Joanne James1. August 2018 09:00

This is my second post today - read all about Bonus Days in my previous post here. As promised, this post has a little more detail about the fabulous new  exclusive limited time stamp set and framelits bundle called the Blended Seasons Bundle that has also been released to customers today, along with a new assortment of Watercolour Pencils. Whilst the pencils will be available in a future catalogue, the Blended Seasons stamp set and Stitched Seasons framelits will not - available now until 31 August or whilst stocks last, you have just one month to get your hands on this exclusive bundle! Here's a close up of the images and framelits in more detail:

 

We haven't had a set like this since Thoughtful Branches (one of my all-time favourites!) and I'm sure this one will be equally popular, so don't delay in placing your order - I wouldn't want you to be disappointed. If you order the bundle, you will earn yourself a Bonus Days coupon to use in September too - an added bonus indeed! Don't forget if you are placing an order online to also include this month's hostess code K6VBCUXK to receive a free thank you gift from me too! 

Here are some photos from Stampin' Up! that really demonstrate the versatility of this fabulous set:

 

This really is a set suitable for every season! One of the things I love the most is the framelits, that add a stitched detail to both the label and the negative space. This is something that I've featured on my card today, that features the gorgeous palette of greens with a hint of pink over at Fab Friday currently:

I used an old sketch over at As You See It for my layout to create my aperture and layered label with the Stitched Seasons on the front of my card, and then added some of the little diecuts to embellish the front, along with a banner of the Share What you Love designer paper:

 

You can just see a glimpse of that fabulous floral that I then stamped and coloured on the inside, using my ink pads and a blender pen:

 

I really am loving this bundle and can't wait to create more with it this month. If you have any questions on any of the above, then please do get in touch - I am always happy to help!

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.

Bonus Days Are Back!

by Joanne James1. August 2018 09:00

It's the first of August and as the recruitment and designer series paper promotions end, I have news of two more fabulous specials for you for the month of August!

First things first: BONUS DAYS ARE BACK! Do you remember this promotion from last year? It was so successful, Stampin' Up! have decided to repeat it this year.

 

For every £45.00 you spend between 1 August and 31 August (before delivery), you’ll get a £4.50 Bonus Days coupon that you can use between 1 and 30 September. Our new annual catalogue has been out for a couple of months now, so I'm sure you will still have some items on your wish list; this is a great opportunity to shop from it and make savings when you shop again in September with your coupons! You could even use your coupons to shop from the new Autumn-Winter catalogue, which launches on 5 September - perfect timing!

There are some details in terms of small print that you need to take note of, as follows: 

  • Promotion period: 1–31 August 2018
  • Redemption period: 1–30 September 2018
  • An email address is required to participate in this promotion; Bonus Days coupon codes can only be delivered via email.
  • It is strongly recommended that you both save emails containing their Bonus Days coupon codes AND write down the coupon codes in a safe place. Codes cannot be resent if the email is lost, and lost codes cannot be recovered.
  • Bonus Days coupon codes can be redeemed for any product, excluding Starter Kits.
  • There is no limit to the number of coupons you can receive per order or throughout the duration of the promotion.
  • There is no limit on the number of coupons you can use on an order during redemption.

As a demonstrator I am able to pre-order items from the new Autumn-Winter catalogue from today and I am looking forward to collecting some bonus days coupons to make a further dent on my own wishlist in September! 

 

Today also sees the release of an exclusive limited time stamp set and framelits bundle called the Blended Seasons Bundle and a new set of Waterpencil colours. Whilst the pencils will be available in a future catalogue, the stamp set and framelits will not - available now until 31 August or whilst stocks last, you have just one month to get your hands on this set and its co-ordinating framelits too! Here's a close up of the images and framelits in more detail:

 

We haven't had a set like this since Thoughtful Branches (one of my all-time favourites!) and I'm sure this one will be equally popular, so don't delay in placing your order - I wouldn't want you to be disappointed. If you order the bundle, you will earn yourself a Bonus Days coupon to use in September too - an added bonus indeed! Don't forget if you are placing an order online to also include this month's hostess code K6VBCUXK to receive a free thank you gift from me too! 

For more information on this set, please see today's second post here, which also includes a card made using this gorgeous bundle.

If you have any questions on any of the above, then please do get in touch - I am always happy to help!

Back shortly with my second post of the day; until then, happy shopping!

 

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

Adult Colouring With Inside The Lines

by Joanne James8. February 2017 11:47

I'm back at my desk this morning so I'm getting in a nice early post (well, early for me!) Today I'm sharing a couple of cards using one of the great free Sale-A-Bration items, the Inside The Lines Designer Series Paper:

Adult colouring is a hot trend: adult colouring books feature consistently in the Amazon top selling books list across all categories. Did you know though that there are proven health and psychological benefits to colouring? Colouring is a great stress-reliever: colouring is said to calm the amygdala, the part of the brain related to the fear/stress response while stimulating the parts of the brain responsible for creativity and logic. A 2005 study documented a reduction in anxiety in subjects after a short time of colouring geometric patterns. In addition to reducing stress, there is also evidence to suggest that even a short colouring session is good for sharpening focus and encouraging creativity, making it popular with high flying business and creative professionals alike. Colouring can also make a great alternative to meditation, the psychological benefits of which are well documented; the ability to 'do' something without the need for active concentration produces a similar benefit to meditation in the brain, so if you are someone who finds it it difficult to 'switch off' and calm your mind, colouring may help you find your 'inner peace'.

I am the proud owner of a 'mindfulness' adult colouring book and a page a day calendar (you can read about that in my previous post here) however being the crafty soul that I am, I'm always looking at how I can use my coloured images in a constructive way, rather than just leave them completed in my book. That's one of the reasons that the Inside The Lines paper appeals to me: with 12 sheets each measuring 12" x 12", 3 each of 4 designs, they are great for making into cards or home decor projects once your colouring is complete. Here's the first of my cards, coloured with Stampin' Up!'s new watercolour pencils and my aquapainter, adhered to a Rich Razzleberry card base and a simple sentiment banner featuring one of my go-to sentiment sets, Tin of Cards:

 

The paper is pretty enough though to stand up in its own right; this CASE of a card by Louise Sharp (you can see her original card here) leaves the main panel of the paper blank, with just a small area of the pattern coloured and cut out and used to embellish the sentiment panel:

 

Here are some additional samples created by the Home Office Creative Team that show just some of the ways that this paper can be transformed with colour:

 

As if that wasn't enough, the lovely people at Stampin' Up! have even created a video demonstrating some fun techniques that can be used with this paper - take a look:

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. 

If you like adult colouring or just want to rediscover your 'inner child', then all you have to do is place an order for £45 or more and you can receive the Inside The Lines paper for FREE! If you are ordering online, simply add the item code (143830) to your shopping basket once you've added your other items and it will add it free of charge. If you are ordering online (it's easy to do: just click on the shopping basket link in the 'Shop Online' basket on the right of this page, or alternatively click on any of the product links in the supply table below) don't forget to add this month's hostess code 4X3KWTZY in order to receive an extra little thank you in the post separately from me. 

So what are you going to create with Inside The Lines? Do let me know in the comments below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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.

Colouring Inside The Lines And Recycling Christmas Gifts Already!

by Joanne James8. January 2017 09:00

It's Sunday and time for the first challenge of 2017 over at The Paper Players! Did you spot our new look? Our fearless leader, the lovely Nance, has given us a refresh and makeover over the Christmas break and we are returning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and raring to go! Our new guest designers are joining us too; a warm PP welcome to Crystal, Valentyna and Deanne - we are so happy to have you join us for the first part of 2017! 

To kick off the new year, it's the turn of my good friend LeAnne to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for us to work with:

   

If your house is anything like mine, the festive season has generated much packaging waste and many opportunities for recycling. So this week's challenge is perfect! I took the opportunity to recycle a Christmas gift on my card today and used the sketch over at Fab Friday for my layout. Recycling Christmas gifts already?! It's not quite as bad as it sounds - take a look:

 

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

Join The Colouring Craze - One of my Christmas gifts was a page-a-day colouring calendar. Well, to be truthful I bought one for Rebecca and loved it so much I treated myself to one! The calendar comes in a pretty box that can be used to display our coloured pieces once completed. I decided that by recycling my pages, I could easily use them to create a birthday card. Here's my day one finished page before I trimmed it to fit my card:

Effortless Blending - I coloured my page using Stampin' Up!'s new watercolour pencils and used a blender pen to seamlessly blend the colours and give a smooth finish as the paper was too thin to blend using an aquapainter. I also adhered my coloured piece to a piece of extra thick Whisper White for extra rigidity. I love that these pencils can be used in a number of different ways and am looking forward to trying other techniques with them too.

A Fiesta of Colour - I chose to inject some bright summer colour into my card today, using a card base of Daffodil Delight and a selection of papers from the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper set for my layers behind the coloured-in panel. I love these clashing brights - here are my main colours in case you would like to save them for future project inspiration 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. 

I hope you like today's card; you could create the same effect using the new 'Inside The Lines' Designer Series Paper Sale-A-Bration gift (free with a purchase of £45 or more) - I will have a fun project for you using this paper later this week, so be sure to pop by and check it out.

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 fun theme this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; 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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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.