Feels Like Frost Split Panel Christmas Card PP518

by Joanne James22. November 2020 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 amazing LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

    

My card is all about the winter blues today - perfect for the Double D challenge (thanks for the heads up on this one LeAnne!) I really liked LeAnne's sketch layout this week and decided to use those panels to highlight one of the photographic images in the Feels Like Frost designer series paper pack - take a look:

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

I chose a lovely image of frosty seed heads against a blue background and cut out the panels using my Rectangle Stitched Dies before piecing back together to create the finished layout:

I brushed the frosty elements with my clear Wink of Stella brush which is difficult to see in the photo but give it a lovely subtle sparkle in real life. I added a sentiment from 'Snowflake Wishes' and a mat border of silver glimmer paper and finished off the inside with a sentiment from the same set:

 

The most tricky part of today's card was cutting the stitched rectangles and aligning them to the image. Otherwise, a pretty straightforward card!

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

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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; today is officially 'Stir up Sunday', an old tradition when home cooks spend the last Sunday before advent 'stirring up' their Christmas pudding and in modern times their Christmas cake and homemade mincemeat too.  The day gets its name from the beginning of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer, which begins with the words, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people". We had a day of preparation yesterday and made a batch of mincemeat and some mince pies; today we are making Christmas puddings and cake - yum! 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.

Have a Hoot Christmas Owl Collection

by Joanne James19. November 2020 09:31

Thursday already - where does the week go?! Today I'm sharing a card that I meant to blog yesterday, but simply ran out of time! It uses this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout and the current Colour Inkspiration colour palette:

   

Firstly, I would like to say an big 'thank you' to the CAS(E) This Sketch team for choosing my entry last week as their winner - always an honour as the competition is stiff, with so many notable entries! If you missed it, you can see that card here. Now onto my card for this week! I thought long and hard about this sketch, especially because I couldn't come up with a design solely with words that I liked. I did come up with one non-Christmas idea that I am still playing around with, but as my challenge entry I decided to settle on creating the overall shape and mix some images in with my sentiments - after all, a sketch is for inspiration as a starting point, right? Take a look at what I came up with:

 

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

I used the various festive owls in the 'Have A Hoot' stamp set and created my pyramid of owls and sentiments to follow the sketch layout. I used my Stamparatus to help with positioning and stamped the whole thing onto my card (minus the mistletoe above the pair) and then stamped the owls again and diecut them, so that I could pop them up on dimensionals. This was largely because my card is otherwise one layer, and I didn't want my Blends to bleed through to the reverse. I added a few snowflake sequins, and my card was complete - a #simplestamping Christmas card, save for the diecutting of the owls!

 

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.

 

Reindeer Clip Clean And Simple Christmas Cards

by Joanne James17. November 2020 17:30

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at CASology where I haven't played in a while that also uses the sketch over at Paper Craft Crew:

    Vertical Sketch Challenge PCC401   

  I loved the sketch over at PCC this week and knew it would be perfect for me to use up some fun reindeer paper clips that I had lurking in my embellishment drawer - take a look:

 

Cute, right?! Here's the low-down on today's card:

I loved these little reindeer clips when they came out a few years ago and must confess to having hoarded a few containers of them when they retired. The sketch was just perfect to add one to a square of Soft Suede and embellish with some gold twine, a strip of brushed metallic cardstock and some gold gilded gems - oh and an 'All The Trimmings' red enamel dot to make my stag a Rudolf ;-) I paired it with a simple block 'MERRY' sentiment from the super-useful 'Peace and Joy' stamp set for for an additional pop of festive colour:

 

I added some simple stamping to the inside using other words from the same stamp set: 

 

And I was done! Quite simple really but I think the reindeer paper clip makes a fun focal point in and of itself.

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.

When I'd finished my card, I liked it so much I made a couple more - I also used glitter enamel dots on one of them:

I'm now building my Christmas card stash at a pace - hoping to get them all in the post nice and early this year for a change, I figure we could all do with a little early festive cheer!

Enjoy the rest of your day; I'm off to watch the Great British Bake Off semi-final tonight, so looking forward to drooling over their makes and bakes, especially as it's patisserie week! 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.

Gilded Autumn Thanksgiving Cajun Craze Pumpkins

by Joanne James15. November 2020 21:00

 

A lockdown weekend with pouring rain gave me extra crafting time today so I thought I'd squeeze in a second post with a thanksgiving card that I made for a friend of mine, that was inspired by a number of challenges:

    

I used Julee's fabulous-as-always Mojo Monday sketch and the Card Concept inspiration photo with its rich oranges and browns and pumpkins galore inspired me to use the gold-embossed pumpkin paper from the Gilded Autumn paper pack for my clean and layered card. I decided to pair it with one of my favourite sentiments from 'Country Home' for a Cajun Craze monochromatic card - take a look:

 

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

My Gilded Autumn embossed paper was the starting point for today's card. I just love it! I added a stitched gold foil border and a layered pumpkin, made from one of my retired Patterned Pumpkin Dies and then with the pumpkin coloured with Cajun Craze Blends and splattered with gold shimmer paint, before adding some die cut leaves and vines:

 

I finished my sentiment banner with a double bow of Cajun Craze metallic ribbon and gold twine for some extra shine. So what do you think? I don't use Cajun Craze that often and there's a lot of it on this card, but I think the gold really takes things up a notch and compliments it beautifully. This almost feels like a Cinderella-esque rags to riches card, metaphorically speaking! I'm also linking this card up over at SUO Challenges where the theme is thanksgiving.

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 evening 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.

 

Sounds of the Season CAS Christmas Bells PP517

by Joanne James15. November 2020 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 amazing Ann to host this week and she has a timely Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

       

Our theme this week is 'Hooray For The Holidays'. With Christmas just around the corner I decided to go with another card to add to my growing pile, but you could choose Thanksgiving or any holiday you like - as long as your card is clean and simple.  So what do we mean by Clean and Simple?

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

I decided to use the Sounds of the Season jingle bells again on my card this week, this week changing from silver to gold and pairing with red for the challenge over at Less Is More. I also used the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches which gave me the perfect opportunity to use a die from the Dove of Hope Dies that I haven't been able to find a good use for until now - take a look:

 

 The die was just perfect to create a couple of lengths of holes to show the gold foil below, to compliment my diecut bells and gold heat embossed sentiment. You can see the detail a little better on the angled shot below - the weather has been so poor here in the UK that I've struggled to photograph the foil without artificial light, which is never as clear as daylight:

 
 
 
A quick clean and simple check:
  • Minimal layers and embellishments with one main focal point - yes
  • Lots of open 'white' (or in my case red!) space - yes
  • Simple and uncluttered - yes
I'd call that a result! 
 
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; my day will definitely be spent indoors today, so I'm thinking cooking, crafting and a movie could be the order of the 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.

Snowflake Splendor Sparkling Snowflake Wishes TTT90

by Joanne James12. November 2020 17:00

A busy couple of days but it's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Ashwini is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

    

I decided to go down the centre column with blue, holiday and sparkle/shine and am sharing a clean and layered snowflake card with you today - take a look:

 

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

True Blue - The main blue that I chose to feature on my card today is Pacific Point - one of the first three ink pads I ever purchased when I started stamping (along with Real Red and Old Olive, in case you're interested!) and whilst, like my other initial purchases, this is a colour that is still going strong, it's also one I don't use as frequently in my general crafting. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I saw it feature as one of the colours in the Snowflake Splendor patterned paper - I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to give it some love!

Snowflake Splendor - There are so many beautiful patterns in the Snowflake Splendor papers it's difficult to choose just two, but choose I did! I went with a couple of complimentary patterns, both of which feature Pacific Point, to bring out the bold blue colour. I used white mats on my project, which is something I don't often do but is a great way to showcase a stronger colour such as Pacific Point. 

Glimmer and Sparkle - Pacific Point is not the only blue that I showcase on today's card though; the Balmy Blue glimmer paper is so full of sparkle I couldn't resist adding some to my festive snowflake showcase and I think it compliments the other elements beautifully. I also added a sprinkling of sequins for a little more shimmer; along with my sparkle-filled sentiment I think this card is perfect for the current Time Out challenge too, where the challenge word is 'festivals' with the option of added shimmer/glitter - yes please!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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.

Enjoy The Moment CAS Watercolour Sneak Peek

by Joanne James9. November 2020 19:50

 

So here it is - the card that I actually intended to blog today! This card was inspired by a number of challenges: the colours over at CAS Colours and Sketches, along with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout. It's also a great example of #SimpleStamping as it uses nothing more than stamps ink and paper which also just happens to be the theme of the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week:

      

What's more, this card is a sneak peek of a brand new Stampin' Up! stamp set that will debut in the 2021 Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue - take a look:

 

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

For those of you that follow me on social media, you will know that I attended the bi-annual Stampin' Up! Onstage event this past weekend, which because of Covid, was held virtually online, with some of my team #OnstageAtHome2020. We had a great time and as always it was still exciting to get a first view of the new catalogue and play with some of the new products. I received a new stamp set called 'Enjoy The Moment' in my Onstage swag bag and whilst I don't usually blog cards with new sets this far in advance of catalogue launch (I don't like to be too much of a tease!) I really like this stamp set and I thought it was perfect for the above challenges. I simply watercoloured 4 ovals using the challenge colours onto some Fluid 100 watercolour paper and then using my Stamparatus, I stamped four of the seed pods over the top of each one, stamping a few times to get them nice and black. I stamped my sentiment in black onto a strip of Bumblebee cardstock and added it to my card with dimensionals to finish. A great example of #SimpleStamping - sometimes stamps, ink and paper is all you need!

 

So what do you think? Have I wet your appetite for the new catalogue?! There are still a couple of months before it launches, so rest assured won't be tempting you too much at this stage. The only way you can get it sooner is to join my team - do get in touch if you really can't wait! Either way, I will be firmly back to Christmas cards tomorrow!

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'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.
 

Plush Poinsettia Specialty Paper Banner Christmas Card

by Joanne James9. November 2020 19:25

Happy Monday everyone! I had a fun card class this morning and encouraged by the ladies on my call (thank you Deborah!), instead of getting on with my household chores this afternoon, whilst the edited recording of my class video was rendering I decided to make a 'quick' card which has resulted in an extra post for today because I used the current Freshly Made Sketches layout so I'm squeezing in a link up:

I'd been mulling over what to feature on Judy's banner element and finally settled on some of the gorgeous Plush Poinsettia specialty paper - take a look:

 

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

This card wouldn't take long at all if I was to make it again from scratch, but I spent ages procrastinating over colours and backgrounds so it ended up taking way longer than it should have! It really is pretty straightforward: a banner of the lovely textured flocked white vellum, popped up on a panel of Real Red and a Whisper White card base, with a white-on-red heat-embossed sentiment from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set on some stitched rectangles, with a final embellishment of some sheer ribbon tied with two tiny (retired) jingle bells from my stash because I felt without it my card, whilst beautifully 'clean', was lacking a little something. 

Here's another view of that gorgeous paper, even though I'm not sure the camera really does it justice:

 

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'll be back shortly with the post that I actually intended for today! Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Sounds of the Season Silver Bells Christmas Card and Gift Tin PP516

by Joanne James8. November 2020 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 I have a festive colour challenge for you to work with:

    

I'm also linking up with the challenge over at Festive Friday, where I used diecut, pattern paper, ribbon and sentiment from the inspo list. The colours I chose for this week's challenge are some of my favourite to work with when creating cards and projects for the festive season, and whilst you are free to create whatever you like with the palette, I couldn't resist creating a card and matching gift box ready for Christmas. This is a rather photo-heavy post, so here goes! First up - here's my card and co-ordinating gift packaging together:

 

Pretty, right? Let's take a close look at each on turn. First up - here's the card I made:

 

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

Sounds of The Season - A pair of silver foil jingle bells from the Sounds of the Season Dies are the centrepiece of today's card. I used these larger-than-life bells to frame my sentiment from the 'Wrapped in Christmas' stamp set and paper-pieced the holly leaves with a second set cut from green foil for contrast. I added Real Red Rhinestone jewels for my berries, added some diecut pine sprigs and finished with a Real Red sheer ribbon bow to each. These bows do make the card a little less post-friendly, but I think the extra detail is worth it. You can see the detail on the bells on the close-up below:

 

'Tis The Season - I used a combination of a Shaded Spruce/Real Red/Black/White plaid and a holly pattern from the 'Tis The Season designer series paper pack to compliment my silver bells and added a thin border of silver between the layers for added shine. I love the white splatter on the plaid pattern - and it's part of the design, no extra effort required!

Rectangle Gift Tin - I liked my card so much that I decided to create a belly band wrap for one of the silver rectangle tins that are in the Autumn-Winter catalogue. Available in packs of 4, they are great for a gift card or to hold a small item such as a piece of jewellery or item of make up, for example. Here's my finished tin:

 

I've decorated it in much the same way, strengthening the band with a piece of Real Red cardstock for the base layer and adding a wrapped bow in the wide Shaded Spruce ribbon from the Wonder Of The Season Ribbon combo pack. Here's a close up from another angle with a better view of the bell decoration: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 And for the tin:

 

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; I'm hoping to do a little bit of crafting, a little bit of cooking and generally catch up on everything I've avoided doing whilst I've been at Stampin' Up!'s Onstage at Home virtual online event these past couple of days. 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.

Freezin' Friends Seal For A Pink Christmas

by Joanne James6. November 2020 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:

    

I'm also linking up over at Festive Friday where I chose embossing, diecut and sentiment from the inspo list and decided to use our colour palette this week to create an unusually coloured Christmas card - take a look:

 

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

I was rather time-pressed this week, with class prep, in-colour club and I've been attending Stampin' Up!'s Onstage at Home virtual event, so I needed something I could pull together fairly quickly! I thought that the little seal from 'Freezin' Friends' would be perfect in grey, with a stripey pink bobble hat; I sat him on a little slippery patch of ice (hence the sentiment!) which I diecut from cardstock and layered with vellum brushed with clear Wink of Stella for a sparkly shine. The unconventional element to my card was the Flirty Flamingo card that I used for my card base, which I embossed with the Evergreen Forest Embossing Folder and added a sprinkling of adhesive-backed sequins with a pinkish hue to compliment my wintery scene:

 

So what do you think - does the pink tree background work for you? A little girly maybe, but I love it!

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

 

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

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 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.