Driving By With Love Clean And Simple

by Joanne James7. February 2022 10:00

This is my second card for today, again using the 'Driving By' stamp set that I made with a few challenges in mind:

    

It uses the current Color Throwdown colours and is most definitely a clean and simple take on the codeword at Addicted to CAS this week which is 'Hearts' - and it's another vehicle for the 'V is for Vehicle' challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge blog. I was inspired by a few clean and simple cards that one of the Stampin' Up! Artisans had posted on Instagram that used white ink on a kraft cardbase, so decided to take the fun open top sports car from 'Driving By' and replace the oval balloons with some heart-shaped ones - take a look:

 

The car and sentiment is stamped in white kraft ink and not heat-embossed, hence the paler appearance (in hindsight, I think I should maybe have used my Stamparatus to get a stronger image - I'll remember that next time!) I used the heart stamp from 'Here Together' and stamped the heats onto the ends of my freehand strings, adding highlights and some dots between the tiny stamped hearts with my chalk marker (these tiny hearts are from the 'Rainbow of Happiness' stamp set). I coloured my trio of hearts using my dry watercolour pencils in Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo and Flirty Flamingo to allow for some grainy shading: 

My sentiment is from the 'Happy & Heartfelt' stamp set and I finished with a freehand squiggly frame and some linen thread.

So what do you think? This was a bit of an experiment for me as I rarely use Crumb Cake as a base, but I do like the way it really highlights the three pink hearts. Besides, it's always fun to try something new - especially when the stamp was a freebie to boot! Yay for free products and Sale-A-Bration - you have until the end of the month to get your hands on yours!

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.

Driving By Congratulations Trio of Cards FMS521

by Joanne James7. February 2022 09:00

Today I have a couple of quick posts for you using stamps from the 'Driving By' stamp set, one of the products you can receive FREE with a £45 purchase during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. For this first one, I made a trio of cards using Linda's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches - here it is:   

 

Having pondered those criss-crossed lines on Linda's sketch, I decided to use the horizontal one as a road and the vertical for part of my sentiment. Take a look at my first card and you'll see what I mean:

 

I used a chalk marker to add some white lines down the centre on my road, and stamped my VW Beetle onto either vanilla or white cardstock (this one is on vanilla) and fussy-cut the car, minus the presents that feature on the roof, and coloured it with my Stampin' Blends, before adding to my card with some dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment onto my vanilla cardbase, having masked out the word 'hi' as I wanted to finish my sentiment with my wooden 'Congrats' diecut, which I added last. Check out the dimension that this adds:

 

Finally, I added a sentiment from 'Happy & Heartfelt' and a learner (L) plate to the inside of my card to finish:

 

I liked this layout so much, I created a couple more cards, using different papers. On the one below, I backed my Mint-Macaron car with a red heart (this card will be for my daughter when she passes her driving test - one of her aims in 2022!):

 

For my third card, I went with a multi-coloured map and a bright yellow car, and I heat-embossed my wooden sentiment with some retired Blueberry Bushel embossing powder for added shine:

 

 Check out that shine - I love it!

 

I used up a ton of retired product on these cards - all three of the map papers are from a variety of retired packs, as are the wooden 'congrats' sentiments, however you could substitute a stamped or diecut sentiment and even some of the current vellum layering designs (p.33, mini catalogue) in place of my paper choices. Rebecca will be 17 later this year (where did that time go?!) and suddenly all of her friends have either started learning to drive or will be within the next few months, so I am expecting to need lots of 'Congratulations on passing your driving test' cards and this set is going to get a good workout!

Finally, here's one last picture of all three cards together:

 

I'm also linking today's cards up over at the Alphabet Challenge blog where they are currently on 'V for Vehicle' - how appropriate! 

If you like these cars, check out my next post where I have another card with a totally different theme, using another car from the 'Driving By' Sale-A-Bration stamp set. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Nuts And Bolts Interactive Light-Up Valentine's Card PP577

by Joanne James6. February 2022 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Laurie to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

          

Love and friendship is our theme this week and my card today is all heart (perfect for the hearts challenge over at Double D). I used the sketch layout over at Paper Craft Crew and decided to put into practice an idea I've been wanting to try with another Valentine's card using the awesome 'Nuts & Bolts' stamp set - take a look:

 

At first glance, my card is quite simple: some stamped tone-on-tone hearts on my pink layer, a square of heart-patterned Sweet Talk designer paper and a robot, coloured with my Smoky Slate and Real Red Stampin' Blends.

The best part about today's card though? It lights up! I used a simple circuit and a red LED to give my heart a fun Valentine's glow:

 

When you press the sentiment, it light up the heart - check it out on the video clip below:

This type of card is so easy to create - and the interactive element makes for a super-cute card, right?! I also used an offcut strip of paper and one of the other robots in the set to decorate the inside of 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm also linking today's card up for a second entry over at SUO Challenges where they are all about Valentine's Day for their current challenge.

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.

More Love CAS Watercoloured Notecards

by Joanne James5. February 2022 18:00

Today I'm sharing a couple of clean and simple cards that I made for the current AAA Cards Challenge where they are looking for no layers and an optional big sentiment. Both of my cards were also inspired by the photo over at The Card Concept and I'm also linking up over at CASology where clean and simple 'affection' is the order of the day and at Just Add Ink where the theme is minimalism:

         

I love a good no-layer card, especially if it features a single sentiment. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the 'More Love' stamp set in the Stampin' Up! mini catalogue as it is the perfect 'one and done' stamp and whilst it could be used for Valentine's, I think it's a lovely set to send to someone as a gesture of more general love and affection. I love the bright green of the foliage on the Card Concept's inspiration photo, and as I was rummaging through one of my drawers came across some retired notecards that had a pre-watercoloured base in green that I thought would make a nice easy, yet interesting background for my stamp. So this was the first card I made:

 

I heat-embossed my sentiment in gold, then coloured the flowers in with Melon Mambo and Granny Apple Green Blends, in a nod to the pretty florals on that floral heart:

 

I really liked the texture of the watercolour paper and the green, but it was definitely a different take for me. I wasn't sure about my experiment so decided to revert much more to my clean-and-simple comfort zone and recreate my card onto a basic thick white cardbase:

 

On this card I used watercolour pencils to colour my flowers, as I didn't want my Blends to bleed through to the reverse, since my card was a no-layer:

 

My CAS-loving heart feels much better about this card, and the white base is more fitting with both the background in the Card Concept inspiration photo and my general approach to CAS card making. Either way, a simple card base, single stamp and a simple-yet wow impact from the metallic heat embossing with just a little colour is about as minimalist as I get!

I am linking up the white version of my card for the above challenges, but I'd be really interested to know which one you prefer - do leave me a comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts. Here's a side-by-side photo for comparison:

I really like this stamp and haven't seen many examples of it being used in blogland, so maybe I'm in the minority! Either way, I will be sending some of these to some special people this week to let them know they are in my thoughts.

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

 

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

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with a special project for this week's Paper Player's theme challenge - 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.

Abstract Beauty Yay For Love Valentine FF102

by Joanne James4. February 2022 09:00

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday:

    

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is Valentine's Day which is on February 14th. 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 pink, romantic sentiment, hearts, watercolour and aperture and this is what I came up with:

 

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

I decided to create a Valentine's card using a combination of both paper and pre-cut pieces from the Abstract Beauty Ephemera pack, based around the gold and white frame and watercoloured heart, layering them onto my cardfront until I was happy with the balance of elements. I added some black adhesive-backed hexagons and gold twine bow and finished my card with a fun sentiment from the 'Happy & Heartfelt' set, stamped in Magenta Madness to match my cardbase and fussy cut:

I added another sentiment from the same set and an offcut strip of paper to decorate the inside of my card to finish: 

I really like that this card with its modern, rather eclectic, feel - a change from the more traditional red and pink, hearts and flowers - although I still have some of those to share with you too! I'm linking today's card up with the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges where they are asking us for Valentines-themed projects 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. 

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 Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James - you are here!

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.

Forever And Always Valentines Card CCS455

by Joanne James1. February 2022 13:00

This is my second post of today - to read all about the pre-release of skin-tone Blends and the exclusive 'All Together' bundle, please see my earlier post here.

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. YoonYoung is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

       

These colours are perfect for Valentine's so I dug out a bunch of my favourite retired Valentine's bits and pieces and along with the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch and some inspiration from my talented blog friend Kim Singdahlsen, I set to work! This is what I came up with:

 

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

I absolutely loved this card that Kim made for last week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge - isn't that stencilled background amazing?! I didn't have anything similar in my stash, but decided that the TSOT sketch was perfect for a trio of (retired Sweet & Sassy Framelits) diecut hearts in this week's challenge colours, so I made my own stencil from a retired Detailed Hearts Die and blended all three colours into the central background circle to bring the diecuts together. I added a diecut and stamped sentiment from another retired stamp and die set, 'Forever & Always' and the Always Dies to complete my card:

 

These will always be some of my most favourite Valentine's items - so timeless and therefore super useful! 

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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.

New Release: All Together Collection And New Skin-tone Blends Pre-Release

by Joanne James1. February 2022 09:00

A new day, a new month and time to tell you about some new product too - the All Together Collection! In the words of Stampin' Up!, "loving hands and heartfelt words are the best way to show you care. With hand designs that illustrate coming together in friendship and solidarity, the All Together Collection will help you create cardmaking and paper-crafting projects that reflect the people you know and love."

The All Together Collection includes early-release products from the 2022–2023 Annual Catalogue—an exciting new range of natural Stampin’ Blends—and exclusive products you can’t get anywhere else! While the Natural Tones Stampin’ Blends are an early-release product from the 2022—2023 Annual Catalogue, the collection’s additional products are exclusive and only available while supplies last. Encourage them to shop early to ensure they receive the entire collection!

Here's a video from the lovely people at the Stampin' up! home office that shows the suite in more detail:

See the product details on the flyer below for more information, or to purchase from my online store I've included the clickable shopping links at the bottom of this post.

 

 

I have some great projects to share in the coming weeks that showcase these new naturals Blends markers and they will also be featuring in my upcoming March class that features the 'In The Moment' stamp set. This online class is scheduled for 21st March 2022, 11am-1pm - please get in touch for more information or to book your place. 

Equally, if you love the whole All Together Collection, you might like to consider joining my Stampin' Up! team and ordering it as part of your start kit - for just another £1.25 you could receive an additional £31 of product AND 2 free stamp sets of your choice - along with all of the wider benefits that come from being part of the Stampin' Up! family. If you'd like to know more, then please get in touch - I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Back later with today's creative post for this week's colour challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches; until then, happy shopping!

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

Butterflies And Flowers Stencilled Amazing Thanks Card

by Joanne James31. January 2022 11:32

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a couple of current challenges:

    

I just loved Lori's colours over at Color Throwdown this week and when I saw the photo inspiration over at Paper Craft Crew I knew it was time to dig out my new Butterflies and Flowers Layering Decorative Masks and get stencilling to create some floral love with a thank you card for one of my lovely customers - take a look:

 

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

Stencilling is very on-trend right now and I've been wanting to experiment more with background stencilling so couldn't wait to have a go with these new Layering Decorative Masks. I chose to feature the florals on my card today and I can honestly say they are so easy and fun to work with! I added the first layer of colour in Blushing Bride and then added the detail in Highland Heather, using a blending brush to build up the intensity of the colour. I then swapped out the masks and added two lots of leaves in two shades of green. It really takes no time at all to create these fun floral patterns. I then added a layered 'thanks' using some vellum and picking out the Highland Heather for the main sentiment - love these Amazing Thanks Dies too! A trio of clear elegant faceted gems complete my card:

 

I actually think I could get quite addicted to stencilling with these flowers - look out for lots more in different colours in the coming weeks!

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 have a busy week so today is being spent largely at my desk in an effort to get organised! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project and news of an exciting pre-release from the upcoming annual catalogue. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Brilliant Rainbow Dies Shaker Card PP576

by Joanne James30. January 2022 09:00

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 since it is the fifth Sunday of the month I have a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

    

I designed this board with lots of things that I wanted to use so that when it came to making my card, I was spoilt for choice! In my excitement I duplicated the 'birthday' square and didn't notice until my dear teamie Nance had already made the challenge graphic, so I decided to go with it - we all need lots of excuses for birthday cards, right?! That said, I ended up going in a completely different direction! I used the layout from Jen M's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week (I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the left and flipped it on the vertical edge for a mirror image) and went across the top row of my board with rainbow/sparkle/diecut and made a fun rainbow shaker card - take a look:

 

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

A Brilliant Rainbow - Having firstly used some Pool Party ink and a blending brush to create a cloudy sky background, I used the largest of the Brilliant Rainbow Dies to cut the windows for my half rainbow. I backed these with a piece of window sheet, ready to create my shaker. 

Frosted Shaker - I chose the four colours for my rainbow stripes, then selected some co-ordinating beads from the frosted beads assortment in the mini catalogue for my shaker element. For added sparkle, I brushed the coloured back panels with clear Wink of Stella. The rainbow shaker effect is so pretty - here's a close-up to show it in more detail:

 

I used the foam adhesive strips to create four individual shaker elements so that I could keep the colours separate. It's worth noting that because of the size of the frosted beads, the shaker does need a double thickness of foam strips to allow your beads to shake freely. This does made the card quite thick, but I think it's worth it!

All Things Stitched - I used my Basic Borders Dies to create a border of white clouds and to make a stencil for my background, with a combination of a stitched circle and four layered stitched triangles behind for my sunshine. The sentiment is from the free Sale-A-Bration set 'Special Moments' and I paired it with another from the same set on the inside, with some faintly stencilled clouds behind:

 

I think this will make a nice special card to show appreciation for someone who went the extra mile, don't you?

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 soon 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.

Edit: Jen B chose my card as one of the princesses for FMS520 - yay!

See the source image

Catch You Later Best of Friends AYSI267

by Joanne James28. January 2022 12:00

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As You See It where it's time for a colour challenge from the lovely Heather C:

    

I am using the current Fusion sketch again today for my layout (in the correct orientation this time ;-)) and another first-time outing for a new stamp set - take a look:

 

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

Catch You Later - Today's card features the cat and goldfish combination from the 'Catch You Later' stamp set, found on page 63 of the mini catalogue. An unlikely pair of friends perhaps, but the sentiment suggests they share a definite affection between them! I like this set because it contains lots of small images that are easy to colour. 

Circles, Circles - I added my stamped image to a pair of layered circles in each of the challenge greens and also used a strip of Soft Succulent in-colour designer paper with a circle motif across my card to tie the whole thing together. 

A Pop Of Extra Colour - I actually chose to use this image for today's challenge because I thought the goldfish would be the perfect animal to showcase Calypso Coral. When my card was almost complete, I decided I wanted to add a little more coral to accentuate it; luckily I found a few retired enamel hearts in my stash that were just the job!

The funniest thing about today's card? I didn't even register that our challenge badge also featured a cat until after I had loaded up my card into my blog post! Heather must have been sending me inspirational vibes in more ways than one!

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

  • Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
  • Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
  • If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
  • In a colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.
We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back soon 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.