Snowflake Wishes Shaker Card for AYSI 233

by Joanne James28. August 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 'fill in the blank' challenge:

    

There are lots of colour combinations that I love, but must confess that one of my current favourites is Balmy Blue and Highland Heather. I have always been a fan of purple, but the beautiful papers featuring this combo in the Snowflake Splendor Suite have me creating a lot with this colour combo at the moment. For today's card I decided to share one of the cards that I created on one of my live Zoom demonstration sessions with my lovely customers last week that showed them how to step up their shaker cards with embossing folders - take a look:

 

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

Snowflake Splendor - I've mentioned previously how much I love this suite; having started creating with it for my class last month, I am quite hooked and have been using it for lots of projects lately, some of which I've shared here already. I love the papers, that give the patterns a hand-painted feel, with wonderful watercoloured patterns too.  

A Fresh Winter Colour Combo - I love the way the colours combine in the Snowflake Splendor papers and I think the addition of Highland Heather amongst the blues really rings the changes and freshens up this wintery colour scheme. For my shaker, I paired a watercolour design frame with a background printed with white snowflakes, and added a fussy cut snowflake stamped in my colour duo (in the interests of full disclosure, I did also add a little Pacific Point to this particular snowflake), along with some diecut snowflakes in Balmy Blue glimmer paper for added sparkle:

 

A Winter Snow Shaker - Before mounting my shaker window, I ran my window sheet through the Winter Snow Embossing folder. This was a tip I saw recently shared by one of Stampin' Up!'s artisan designers, Stesha Bloodhart, using the Seabed 3D embossing folder, and couldn't wait to try it with the snowflakes. If you look carefully at the photo below you can see the snowflake impressions:

 

I think this is such a great way to step up a shaker card as it adds lovely texture and detail.

If you'd like to see a little video clip of my shaker in action, in all its snowflake shaker glory, you can see that on my Facebook page here.

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.
  • Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
  • 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.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

Enjoy your day. Mine is going to be a rather special one, as young Master James finally gets to attend his Year 8 Prize Giving Ceremony today. For him and the other year 8 pupils, this year has not been full of the post-Common Entrance Examination rewards that might have been in different times, but today we will have a special year 8 only socially-distanced Speech Day, with Prize Giving and picnic lunch, followed by family cricket (weather permitting) and then the children will be having a disco and hog roast in the evening, in lieu of their Leaver's Ball. They are all very much looking forward to it and it will be a wonderful way to end this special period of his educational journey before moving to his new school and the next chapter.

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 Punny Owl I Want For Christmas Card

by Joanne James25. August 2020 08:00

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's Inspired By challenge where it's all about the punny sentiment:

       

I love a good punny sentiment and a quick perusal of current stamp sets and I knew exactly where I was headed. I used the sketch layout this week too - take a look:

 

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

Have A Hoot - Yes, this adorable pair of loved-up owls and that festive punny sentiment 'owl I want for Christmas is you!' were a perfect fit for the challenge! I coloured my little scene with Blends and diecut my feathered friends and popped them up on dimensionals for a little lift, within their framed circle. I also added a little simple stamped detail inside my card:

Plaid Tidings - The colour scheme for my card was inspired by one of the many lovely patterns in the Plaid Tidings set, with a combination of Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White. I used each of the colours in my layers, finishing with the Cherry Cobbler top panel for a festive touch. 

It's All In The Details - I added a sprig of mistletoe, complete with pearl berries and tied with some retired baker's twine, to the top of my window, perfectly positioned above my owls, and I also added some small rhinestones to the snowflakes for a little festive sparkle:

 

I'm also sharing today's card over at Christmas Kickstart where the challenge is 'Christmas Birds' - in truth, I'm not sure whether an owl constitutes a Christmas bird but these two are definitely set for Christmas so hopefully the ladies over there will appreciate 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. 

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.

Trimming the Town Horizontal Card Three Ways

by Joanne James24. August 2020 08:00

Another Monday, another week! Lots happening this week so I need to be even more organised that usual! Today I'm sharing a card (or 3!) using this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew:

Remember when I cut up that 12" x 12" sheet of scene DSP from the Trimming The Town pack I cut up to make 4 slimline cards here? I showed you the other 3 smaller pieces of DSP I had leftover and this week's sketch was perfect for me to use these to complete my set of cards. Here is each of my cards in turn:

 

Card 2:

 

Card 3 - I flipped the sketch on the vertical for this one as the sentiment worked better on the left side of my framed scene:

 

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

Each of my cards uses a Misty Moonlight card base, with a panel of snowflake paper followed by a piece of the scene, which is framed in a Poppy Parade border cut with the scallop-edged Layered Squares dies. The sentiments have also been cut from the Trimming The Town DSP and popped up on dimensionals, along with a fussy cut tree and also a small ribbon bow on one of my cards:

 

I did a little stamping on the inside of my card, but the outside was all about snipping with my scissors and some diecut frames - nice and straightforward and I've used my whole sheet of DSP.

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.

Gilded Autumn Patterned Paper Trio of Thank You Cards for PP505

by Joanne James23. August 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 amazingly talented LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

    

LeAnne's sketch is perfect to showcase some designer series papers and I couldn't resist another card using the Gilded Autumn speciality designer series papers - take a look:

 

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

Gilded Autumn Goodness - The Gilded Autumn papers are beautiful, with some fabulous foil detailing. I paired my chosen patterns with a sentiment and label from the 'So Sentimental' bundle and added some of the ribbon from the suite to my label too.

A Copper Acorn - I used some retired dies for my diecut leaves (from the Beautiful Bouquet die set) as they had a shape that works well with the patterns on the paper and added a double linen thread bow. I stopped there on my two additional cards as I wanted them to be post-friendly, however I couldn't resist adding one of the lovely copper acorn trinkets from the suite to one of my cards - these are just so pretty:

 

I'm going to link this card up over at Hand Stamped Sentiments too - I just love their inspiration photo this week, it's so perfect for the season!

And Two Makes Three - As I mentioned above, having cut 3 rectangular pieces of DSP, and then cut all three together at the same angle on my guillotine, I made another two cards to use up all of the pieces. Here's my second card:

 

And my third card:

 

A little simple stamping using the 'Beautiful Autumn' set inside finished each card:

 

Here's all three of my cards together - do you have a favourite? Leave me a comment, I would love to hear your 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 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'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 Suite Layered Thank You Card

by Joanne James21. August 2020 20:00

Today I'm sharing another card that uses this week's Global Design Project sketch and this time the inspiration photo over at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

   

The #GDP254 sketch has so many possibilities and I couldn't resist those autumnal colours, leaves and acorns on the HSS photo. This is the original card I made with the sketch (if you missed it I shared another one yesterday here), along with my first outing with the fabulous Gilded Autumn Suite of products - take a look:

 

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

Gilded Autumn - The catalogue describes the Gilded Autumn Suite as 'nature-inspired imagery, with gold and copper foiling to give autumn an infusion of elegance' - this totally sums up the beauty of the products in this suite, especially the papers. I used a piece of gold-foiled Cajun Craze paper for my card base, then added a layer of brushed gold cardstock before adding a Stitched Rectangle with the reverse of my base pattern, featuring a variety of coloured autumn leaves. 

Leaves and Acorns - I used a trio of gold heat-embossed leaves and acorns to decorate my sentiment label, each of which was easily punched out using the autumn punch pack punches. These punches are quite a decent size; I thought they would be small, like the itty bitty punches we've had previously, but they are more like the size of the small bloom punch. They also co-ordinate with some of the paper patterns - bonus! They are two-step stamps, with an outline and infill and are easy to align - I even used them to decorate the inside of my card: 

 

Gold, Gold and More Gold - I couldn't resist adding more touches of gold to my card: the designer paper, the heat embossed sentiment and punched leaves, along with the brushed gold cardstock border and a tiny gold twine bow on my acorn give the whole thing a wonderful warm glow:

I think I've fallen in love with the foil detailing on these papers and all of the lovely coordinating products in this suite. Looking forward to creating more with them!

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.

So Much Happy Happy Birthday Balloons TTT78

by Joanne James20. August 2020 18:00

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: 

 

I went with the right hand column balloon/any shape die/free, but my card also works for the diagonal balloon/celebration/any colour ink. I needed some birthday cards for my stash so took this opportunity to break out my So Much Happy Bundle for a bold and bright card - take a look:

 

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

That fabulous HAPPY Die is the starting point for my card, set at a jaunty angle. I then added the rest of my sentiment using the coordinating 'So Much Happy' stamp set and stamped a whole bunch of balloons in a variety of sizes and patterns, some of which I diecut and added strings to also, before adding to my card.

I popped a few up on dimensionals to add to the effect - you can see that more closely here:

 

And finally I added a little extra stamping inside my card to finish:

 

The dies really make this card a step-up from what is otherwise a collection of stamps, ink and paper - and easy to create in so many different colourways! What colours would you use to recreate this card? Do leave me a comment - I'd love to hear your 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 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 evening; 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.

 

Whale of A Time Porthole Birthday Card

by Joanne James20. August 2020 12:00

Thursday? Where has the week gone?! I have had a class this week and another online demonstration session this morning and it's the summer holidays of course; I did some making on Tuesday but am super behind with my blogging, so you will see a few posts from me today as I'm in catch-up mode! The first is this card that I made using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout and if I'm quick I can just squeeze in a link up:

The minute I saw that sketch I knew it would be perfect for one of the papers I had in my Whale of a Time paper pack - take a look:

 

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

That shoal of colourful swimming fish was crying out to be framing a 'faux porthole' that I used to highlight my embossed sentiment, then decorated with a stamped and punched whale and some sea coral. Check out my co-ordinating inside decoration 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. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back later with another couple of projects. Until then, happy stampin'!

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Back To School CAS Inspiration PP504

by Joanne James16. August 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 Claire to host this week and she has a timely Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

       

Back to school is still a few weeks away here in the UK, but I'm all for getting organised! Hopefully the Juniors will be returning to school properly; this is a big year for us, with one about to embark on GCSEs and the other moving schools for the start of year 9. So I have a couple of cards to share with you today, each made with them in mind. Here's the first one, that was inspired by the current sketch, colours and photo over at Sugar Pea Designs:

 

I used the sweet image of a young lady reading a book whilst sheltered under a tree from the annual catalogue hostess set, 'Summer Days', and coloured with my Blends in the likeness of Miss Rebecca, before cropping with my (retired) Circle Framelits and mounting on a Night Of Navy card base, with a Cherry Cobbler banner piece tied with some twine from my stash. The sentiment on the front of my card is from the 'Rooted In Nature' stamp set and I used another stamp from this set to complete the inside of my card:

 

My second card uses this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout from Jen B where I challenged myself to embrace the diagonal and got creative with my diecut sentiment - take a look:

 

I added a 'd' from the 'adventure' die and added it to the 'inspire' die in the Sweet Silhouettes set and combined with a 'be' from the Rooted In Nature set to create my sentiment and backed it with a black strip for a chalkboard effect, then anchored it with a stamped and punched red apple that I added a couple of clear epoxy dots too for a little shine:

 

And I finished off the inside with an inspirational quote from the 'Silhouette Scenes' stamp set: 

 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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 have no special plans today and the weather is looking pretty poor, so I think it will be baking and board games for us! 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.
 
 
Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Pampered Pets Layered Birthday Card

by Joanne James15. August 2020 19:25

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Festive Friday where they are celebrating National Dog Day which i'm also linking up over at The Card Concept where they have a cute inspiration photo featuring a dog front and centre: 

   

I have been looking for an opportunity to break into the products in my Pampered Pets suite and this challenge gave me the perfect reason - take a look:

 

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

Pampered Pets - A collection featuring cute cats and dogs, the Pampered Pets Suite is perfect for cards for animal lovers. I decided to make a birthday card for a dog-mad friend of one of the James Juniors. She loved it! Today's card is definitely all about the layers - there are 11 in total!

Pets Dies - The dies in the suite not only cut out the images in the stamp set, but also fit some of the dogs on the DSP and since I was featuring several of the paper designs on my card today, I also die cut one of the cute dogs too. Check out another neat die trick - did you notice that the horizontal die piece that features pawprints? Don't throw away the inside pieces if you are going to use the negative space diecut - the 'paws' also make cute hearts when turned the other way up - I used mine in front of my dog. You're welcome ;-)

Suite Treats - The Pampered Pets Suite has a ton of cute elements that can be used to decorate your creations, including ribbon, twine and these cute heart and bone trinket embellishments, one of which I added to my dog's collar:

I know I only needed three items from the inspo list on my card today, but I couldn't resist going to town on this card: I included red, black, baker's twine, heart, paw print, dog, bone and embossing (heat-embossed sentiment). I think stripes and a love/loyalty sentiment are the only two things I didn't include!!

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.

 

 

Peek A Boo Sunflowers For AYSI 232

by Joanne James14. August 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:

 

Whilst sunflowers are by no means mandatory for this week's colour challenge, my card today was totally inspired by this week's challenge badge - take a look:

 

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

Not A Jar of Sunflowers - I used one one of the flower toppers featuring sunflowers from the Jar of Flowers set to create both a stemmed bunch and a layered group on today's card. For the layered bunch in the bottom window, I used my Stamparatus to stamp a mirror image, so that it would create a uniform display. I coloured them with my Blends (I used a combination of Dark Mango Melody and Dark Daffodil Delight to achieve a colour close to Crushed Curry) and fussy cut them, before popping them up on dimensionals. I tucked in some wooden stems and added a double-linen bow to my tied bunch for added decoration. 

Peek A Boo Florals - My florals and sentiment are nestled in the apertures cut using one of the new Peek A Boo dies; co-ordinating with the fabulous 'Have A Hoot' stamp set, I decided to use this window die piece to create a focal point for my florals and sentiment instead of owls today. I also embossed this panel with the Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder for added texture, again inspired by our challenge photo.

Banner Year Greeting - Finally the greeting on my card comes from the new 'Banner Year' stamp set. This will be a super useful set with lots of teeny tiny images and sentiments for this time of year. Again, this set is designed to co-ordinate with the new Banners Pick A Punch punch, but I decided to mask it to enable me to stamp the words one under each other to fit my square. A Cajun Craze enamel heart from my stash finished 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. 

 

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. The temperatures are blissfully cooler in the UK today and this can only mean one thing - no excuse now to not do the cleaning! 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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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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