A Clean and Simple Dandelion Trio For The Final CAS(E) This Sketch CTS#405

by Joanne James3. February 2021 07:00

Today I'm sharing a card for the final challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I'm so sad this challenge is ending! I thought this sketch was a tricky one, and I did take quite a liberal interpretation, but since it was the very last one I couldn't not play along. After much consideration, I decided to go with dandelions for my card - take a look:

 

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

A Dandelion Trio - I've both a trio of dandelions and a trio of dandelion products on today's card! The first is the beautiful Dandelions 3D embossing folder from the main catalogue. This embossing folder is the makings of a card in itself and I thought the positioning of the dandelion seed heads worked really well for the tag elements of the sketch - just check out the detail:

 

I addition to the embossed dandelions, Once I'd added my strip of DSP (more on that in a moment) I added a scored line at the edge of the paper to tie it into my embossed design, which you can just see on the photo above. A small and subtle detail, but it really adds to the finished appearance of the card.

Dandy Garden - I decided I needed something to represent the vertical element of the sketch, so decided that some of the dandelion-patterned paper from the Dandy Garden DSP pack in the current mini catalogue woould do the trick. I used a strip of white and Bumblebee for my first card, then I also made a second card and used a strip of the Calypso Coral design. On both cards I used a circle punch to remove a semi-circle so that my strip fit around my embossed dandelion head:

 

My customes and team know how much I have a love-hate relationship with the dandelion designs in the Dandy Garden DSP pack; I am not keen on the bold designs of proper yellow dandelions in this pack (they realy are just weeds, right?!) but I do love the reverse patterns that depict the more whispy dandelion seed heads that I've used here. Here's a shot of each of the cards together - which one do you prefer?

 

Dandelion Wishes - Finally, I paired my embossed design and DSP border with a heat-embossed sentiment from the 'Dandelion Wishes' stamp set - the third dandelion element. I also used the dandelion stamp in this set to add some decoration to the inside of my card:

 

I added a trio of faceted gems to the front to complete my card. So what do you think - did I do the final CAS(E) This Sketch justice? I hope so.

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.

 

A Tricolour Birthday Card Approaching Perfection CCS 405

by Joanne James2. February 2021 13:00

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

     

These colours were a bit of a challenge for me originally but I thought they would work well for a birthday card for a teenage boy - and I always need those! I decided to showcase another free Sale-A-Bration stamp set today - take a look:

 

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

'Approaching Perfection' is another of the stamp sets that you can get for free with a Stampin' Up! order of £45 or more during Sale-A-Bration - and you still have another month to take advantage of this promotion! Full of fun birthday sentiments, it is perfect for clean and simple cards. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to create an outer border of multi-coloured candles on my base, then add a stitched square featuring my sentiment to the centre, fussy cutting the 'news flash' so that I could highlight it in red - reminiscent of a red-top tabloid:

 

I'm also joining in with the current challenge over at Less Is More where they are looking for 'things in a row' - in addition to the rows of candles on my card, I decorated the flap of my envelope to match too:

 

A detail that might be wasted on the average teenage boy to be fair, but it made me happy! This is a great set for #SimpleStamping - you could easily forgo the stitched diecut. All you need is stamps, ink and paper - #SimpleStamping at its best!

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.

Life Is A Beautiful Journey World Map Card

by Joanne James1. February 2021 12:00

Happy Monday everyone! So no snow here over the weekend in the UK, much to the disappointment of the James Juniors, but more than enough rain - with more on the way! So I'm staying away from the flood waters and dreaming of distant shores today with a card inspired by the inspiration photo over at The Card Concept that also uses the sketch over at Fusion:

    

As much as I love the Fusion inspiration photo, I wanted to use the sketch to create a Clean and Layered card using some rather neglected annual catalogue supplies for The Card Concept - take a look:

 

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

World of Good - I chose to break out some of the World of Good papers for today's card, which reminded me of the colours and textures in the CC inspiration photo. Having chosen a piece of embossed map paper for my main panel, I then used this as the basis for the colour scheme for the rest of my card. 

Beautiful World - There isn't a huge amount of stamping on today's card, since it's the diecuts and paper that takes centre stage. That said, the sentiment, detail for the base of my globe and the detail inside my card are all courtesy of the 'Beautiful World' stamp set, which is about travel in the traditional sense but also personal journeys, which is where I went with my card today. You can see how the sentiment finishes inside my card below:

 

World Map Dies - I decided to pick up on the gold embossed detail of my paper by using a golden globe (not of the acting award kind!) as the focal point for my card. I backed this with a vellum panel, as I didn't want to detract from that wonderful map paper. I adhered my globe to it, then added glue to the reverse of the vellum where the globe was to enable me to add this to my card base without seeing any adhesive through the vellum. 

 

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 this week's card for our new colour challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Berry Blessings For You PP526

by Joanne James31. January 2021 09:00

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the fifth Sunday of the month so the lovely Laurie is hosting this week and she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge board for us to work with:

  

   

I used Julee's current Mojo Monday sketch as the basis for my card and went top left to bottom right on the diagonal across the board with die cut-embossing-blue for another fruity card for you this week - take a look:

 

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

Berry Blessings - Today's card is all about the free - free product that is! Both the stamp set and the designer series papers on today's card are part of the Berry Blessings bundle that is one of the free products available with a Stampin' Up! order of £90 or more during Sale-A-Bration. I love the designer papers that feature both the blueberries and raspberries in the bundled stamp set and also the strawberries from the Sweet Strawberry bundle - fruity patterns and also some fabulous checks and plaid. This card is all about the blues and greens, so I chose two plaids that would co-ordinate with my blueberry focal point. They just so happen to also be perfect for Stesha's takeover at TGIF Challenges this week where they are all about the plaid too. I also used the stamp set for the sentiment and a little extra stamping on the inside of my card too:

 

Stitched Shapes - The layers of Julee's sketch allowed me to fully indulge of my love of stitched shapes: rectangles for the background and then a circle as the base for my fussy cut berries. These are my most used of all my dies and the circles are for sure a staple - I just love the way they elevate a humble shape into something just a little bit more.

It's In The Details - I did a lot of fussy cutting on my berries and leaves, so wanted to add only a few extra small details. The embossing that completes my tic-tac-toe line is both dry embossing using my favourite Subtles folder on the white layer, and a white heat-embossed sentiment on my blue sentiment banner. I also added a simple white twine bow (with my banner that makes my two things from the Just Add Ink list this week) and a single pearl to the centre of my blue flower. You can see those finishing touches better below:

 

I really love how this card came together. Pacific Point was one of the first ink pads I ever bought when I started stamping, yet it isn't a colour I use often now so it was great to get it out for this card. I love that most of the rest of the product that I used was free - links to the store below if you'd like to snap up this bundle 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. 

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; we were forecast more snow here in the UK this weekend, but yesterday both James Juniors were disappointed to find temperatures had plummeted but it was more like freezing rain than snow. Today they will be hoping for the proper white stuff so that we can build another snowman! If not, we have some cooking to do and we might even get cracking on a knitting project that we've been promising to start for a while. 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 With Oh So Ombre

by Joanne James30. January 2021 20:40

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far! I'm popping by with a quick post with my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

Jen B's sketch was perfect for me to dig out my Forever & Always bundle again and try out an idea that I had using the free Sale-A-Bration Oh So Ombre paper - take a look:

 

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

I had seen this card by Mary Deatherage on Pinterest and wanted to explore the idea of diecutting the centre from a piece of Oh So Ombre DSP and flipping it and this sketch provided the perfect opportunity. I decided to use the Forever & Always bundle for my design; the key to getting a good result is to use the Stamparatus, as you need to have both flowers in an exactly opposing position and then the die needs to be placed absolutely centrally, before cutting. You then flip the central panel and add the sentiment.

I stamped a couple of flowers, then masked them to add in some leaves. I cut out my central panel using my scalloped stitched rectangle Stitched So Sweetly Dies before adding a diecut and stamped sentiment, with a few enamel dots to finish. Popping the central panel up on dimensionals also adds a shadow from the black mat below:

 

Doesn't it create such an interesting effect? Unable to stop there, I also applied the same technique on a Bermuda Bay background using the Friends Are Like Seashells set:

 

This time I stamped my shells, again with some masking, and sentiment and added some pearls to finish:

 

I used the free Sale-A-Bration Oh So Ombre papers as my background, but you could equally create your own ombre background with a sponge brayer or blender brushes. These cards are quite addictive - I think the idea could be used for lots of sets! Here's a shot of both cards together - do you have a favourite?

 

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

 

And my second card:

 

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 for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Love In The Scrap Bin For TTT 98

by Joanne James28. January 2021 17:00

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 Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

       

When I was sorting through my scrap bin the other week for our Speed Stamping Scrap Bin Challenge over at As You See It (you can see those cards in my previous post here), I had a whole bunch of black, red and gold bits and pieces, lots of which were heart shaped, so I thought I would use them for my TicTacToe card today. Here's what I came up with:

 

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

I went both down the first column and across the third row of our TicTacToe grid with today's card, completing both 'red-free-sentiment' and 'sentiment-embellishment-diecut' I had a red tone-on-tone stamped heart, a row of black diecut hearts (Stitched Be Mine Dies), some leftover strips of foiled DSP and gold glimmer paper and a gold foil diecut from the 'Joy To The World' Paper Pumpkin kit from before Christmas; I held onto the French 'amour' pieces as I thought they would be perfect for a Valentine's card too. I layered all of my pieces together then added a trio of Real Red resin hearts to compliment my large red heart and add a little additional pop of red. You can see the dimension on my simple layered cluster better below:

 

No product summary or supply list for today's card as it contains lots of retired bits and pieces. It does feel good to get a few more things used up though! I'm linking today's card up over at Festive Friday as it uses red, gold and foil paper and at The Spot where they are all about getting your heart on this week. 

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'!

 

Sale-A-Bration Paper Blooms CAS Layered Cards

by Joanne James27. January 2021 21:19

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards I made using the first sketch of the year over at Fab Friday:

 

It's definitely a keeper, and is a sketch with lots of possibilities - I would definitely suggest you check out the DT cards and those in this week's gallery, as there are some great crafty creations. I considered a few options, but ended up going super simple and making a couple of cards to showcase some of my favourite FREE Sale-A-Bration papers - take a look:

 

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

I just love the colours and bold floral patterns of the Paper Blooms paper, so decided to make a couple of cards with two of the patterns. A simple Night of Navy offset mat, sentiment in a Stitched Rectangle and added a loop of denim ribbon to each:

 

Here's the second one that I made where I flipped the colours:

 

And a shot of both cards together:

 

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.

Curvy Flower and Field CAS Birthday Card CCS 404

by Joanne James26. January 2021 13:00

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Today we have a sketch challenge and Jeanne has asked that we incorporate a curve into our design. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

 

Following last week's inner wrestling, for my card today I went uber clean and simple - just 4 items make today's card:

 

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

Curvy Dies - Jeanne's sketch was a gift to Curvy Dies this week! A swift run through the diecutting machine with the simple dotted edge die and my Seaside Spray panel had the necessary curve I was looking for. 

Quite Curvy - I added a birthday sentiment from the co-ordinating Quite Curvy stamp set in Tuxedo Black to my panel; it aligns to the contour of the diecut perfectly and has the bonus of being photopolymer, so is super easy to line up too.

Flower and Field - Having chosen to keep my top layer completely 'clean' (remember, 'white space' doesn't have to white in colour, just free from detail), I decided to add a little detail to the edge of my card base below with a strip of designer paper. This pattern is one of the designs in the Flower & Field Designer Series Paper pack, one of the items that can be yours FREE with a purchase of £45 during Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration promotion. The patterns in the pack are a collection of bold florals, perfect for all kinds of projects.

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.

Interactive Valentine's Fun with Kangaroo and Company FMS469

by Joanne James25. January 2021 11:00

Today I'm sharing a card using Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sletches this week:

I absolutely love Kim's sketch today; the minute I saw it I cam up with a ton of ideas for it (love it when that happens!) so don't be surprised when you see this layout on my blog again in the coming weeks! Today I'm breaking out more new things to make a card with a fun interactive element - take a look:

 

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

Hearts and Stitching - I thought the horizontal lines on today's card would be perfect to highlight the little row of diecut hearts and stitching that is another of the dies in one of my current favourites, the Floral Hearts Dies. I made my card base Poppy Parade red and my heart diecuts white, so that the hearts would then peek through in red. I love the simple detailing this die adds to a card; as an added bonus, you get all the little diecut hearts for confetti or as a shaker filler too - bonus!

Kangaroo & Company - The star of today's card though is the fun adult kangaroo from the Kangaroo & Company stamp set. This set contains a Mum, and a baby and young joey, along with lots of fun accessories and things to carry in her pouch, along with a wide range of greetings for birthday, baby or 'just because' cards. 

Interactive Fun - The cutest part of this bundle though is that the die that cuts out the large kangaroo also cuts a slit into the mama's pouch, ready for a greeting to be hidden inside. Since my card today was for Valentine's Day, I stamped the main greeting on the front of my card in black and masked off the word 'Hi!', then completed my greeting with a message attached to my bunch of hearts and hidden inside the pouch:

 

Tell me that is not just the cutest?! I made this card for young Master James, who whilst he now maskerades as a too-cool-for-school teenager, I know will just love the fun of this cute hidden message card, especially from his Mum!

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. 

Today's card is also my second entry for the love-themed challenge over at SUO Challenges - some lovely cards on display over there this week!

Enjoy your day. It is a beautiful, clear, bright and sunny day here in the UK today - there is still plenty of snow on the ground following yesterday's snowfall and it took all the James Juniors' willpower to log on and start school on time today, when another day of playing outside building yet another snowman seemed much more appealing, especially since one of them has to do online assessments this week in lieu of formal GCSE mock exams. Never mind - I am reliably informed there will be more snow next weekend, so I'm sure there will be more opportunities for snow fun. I'll be back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Sweet Strawberry and Berry Blessings Birthday Wishes For PP525

by Joanne James24. January 2021 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 my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

 

I chose a simple layout for my sketch so that it give lots of creative licence. I decided to take the opportunity to break out another new bundle, or two bundles in fact. Today's card is all about the berries - take a look:

 

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

Sweet Strawberry - Today's starting point was the strawberry that I used to anchor my sentiment - courtesy of the Sweet Strawberry stamp set. The set comes complete with two-step stamps for a berry, flower, leaf and stem, in addition to a selection of varied sentiments. Interesting fact for you: did you know that technically, a strawberry is not actually a berry at all? Botanists call the strawberry a "false fruit," or a pseudocarp. A strawberry is actually a multiple fruit which consists of many tiny individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle. Who knew?! I also used the stamps to decorate the inside of my card:

 

Strawberry Builder Punch Tip - A stamp set with a co-ordinating punch is always great for quick embellishments and whilst I've shared this tip with you before, I thought it worth reminding you of a great way to save even more time with a builder-type punch. Create a mask using a piece of cardstock with all of the pieces punched out as a guide to stamp the individual pieces. This way, when you put the stamped cardstock into the punch, all of the images are aligned and punch out perfectly - check out the photo below to see what I mean:

 

Berry Blessings - What could be better than one berry bundle? Well, two of course! One of this year's Sale-A-Bration freebies with a £90 purchase is the Berry Blessings bundle, comprising the Berry Blessings stamp set that features the sentiment on the front of my card along with the Berry Delightful DSP, full of great berry patterns and coloured ginghams and plaids. These bundles co-ordinate perfectly with each other and if you have one, you are probably going to want the other too - check out the hand-painted look below:

 

This is the first card I've made with these bundles, but they won't be the last - there lots more berries, patterns and colours to choose from!

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. 

IEnjoy your day; we are forecast snow here in the UK today; the James Juniors are very excited, although I'm not sure it will be enough to build a snowman - I'll update you tomorrow! I'll be back then 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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