Well, I can't believe it's actually been six days since I last posted a blog entry, but it has! It's not that I've not been 'making', far from it; just that I've had some urgent makes that I sent even before photographing (oops!) and it was my birthday at the weekend and whilst I didn't make myself a card, my parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on the same day and I have two friends who also share my birthday so I was busy sorting cards for them. I have lots of friends and family with birthdays in September, so am still trying to finish these cards before I really get into the Christmas spirit! And this week I have two card classes too, so busy, busy!

Anyway, today's share is a quick 'make' and birthday card with the 'Great Outdoors' stamp set. I play an active role in the Parents' Association at James Juniors' school and last weekend was the now annual Dads, Lads and Lasses Camping Weekend. No Mums allowed, except to help with the planning, organising and shopping beforehand! The weekend was choc-full of great activities: a treasure hunt, mini beast hunt, stargazing and campfire breadmaking to name but a few. Another of the activities was to create a mini camp journal; everyone had a mini journal to stamp, colour and decorate and the 'Great Outdoors' stamp set was just perfect for this. Here's the simple one I created to give the children some inspiration:

The children created some fantastic journals and filled them with tales and memories of their weekend. The photo at the end of the post shows Rebecca's 'work in progress' (and this is just the outside of the book!) alongside mine.

I have one other photo to show you from the weekend; not a great picture I'm afraid, but it was a last-minute one taken with my phone - shock, horror!! One of the young campers was celebrating his birthday on the Sunday, so I made a themed card for the children to sign collectively as a special way to remember how he spent his 7th birthday. Here it is: 

I made a mask to enable me to stamp the tents in a row and fussy-cut the campfire and popped it up on dimensionals. Lastly, here's a picture of my happy campers eating their campfire-baked bread with jam:

I will be back tomorrow with another of my recent cards; hopefully blog normality is about to be restored! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: The Great Outdoors, ABC-123 Sketch Alphabet, Memorable Moments

Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers:  Old olive, Soft Sky, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip

Tools: Scallop Circle Punch, Circle Punch

A busy day today in more ways than one: both James Juniors returned to start a new school year today, but also some big news from Stampin' Up!:

Firstly, you can now shop with me online! 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; so if you have an urgent need for a roll of ribbon, or are awake in the early hours and have a sudden urge to start planning your next craft project, just click the 'Order Online' button on the right hand side of my page and start shopping. No need to change out of your pyjamas :-)

In addition to the button on the right, here is the link to my online shop for you to copy and save to your 'Favourites' bar:

http://joannejames.stampinup.net

All you need to do is go to my page, click on the 'Shop' button in the top right hand corner, then click on 'Create Account' on the left hand side, then you are ready to go. There is a flat fee delivery charge of £4.95 no matter how much you order, and your goodies will be delivered to your door by UPS within 3-5 days.

Secondly, for all of you who have been waiting since you saw the teaser on the back cover of this year's annual catalogue and have been waiting patiently - My Digital Studio (MDS) is here!

MDS allows you to embrace digital design the Stampin' Up! way: it's really easy to use with tons of fonts, stamps, punches and backgrounds included in the package. These, coupled with regular easy digital downloads will allow you to create and print your own custom-designed scrapbook pages, cards, invitations and other products with ease. Here's a link to an introductory video by Paula Gorry from Stampin' Up! UK showing you just how easy it is to create a tag in minutes:

I'll be sharing some of my own creations in due course, but if you can't wait to start using it yourself, you'll be excited to know that there is a 30 Day FREE MDS TRIAL available for you to download NOW! All you need to do is go to my online shop, create an account and look for the 'My Digital Studio' link on the left hand side and order it for immediate download (item number 130910). If this gets you hooked and you want to download the full version, this is available for the bargain price of just £13.95! Simply order MDS, item 130646, again for immediate download at £13.95. There are new digital downloads released every week, which I will share with you via my blog and Facebook pages.

That's all for now - any questions, please get in touch. Until next time, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing a birthday card commission that I made for my sister-in-law's very special Mum, who celebrates her 70th birthday today. I decided to use a combination of some of my favourite of this year's in-colours and the lovely Secret Garden framelits. Here's the finished card:

I love the pretty ruffle trim ribbon and added a tiny sliver of silver glimmer paper to add a little sparkle. I must confess to having had a few failed attempts before producing a card that I was really happy with - I needed this card to be 'just right' and am pleased to say I was happy with the finished result. Here's a quick picture of the card I made for Ann to wish her a special 70th birthday: 

Not the best of photographs, I'm afraid - when flat you can see the sentiment through the aperture cut with an oval framelit - but hopefully good enough to give you an idea. This one uses a similar colour scheme and the Flower Shop stamp set - check out the vellum flowers on the front, which I stamped then heat embossed with Iridescent Ice for a lovely sparkle.

One last thing on my original card: did you notice the little butterfly stamped on vellum that highlighted my label? Here's a close-up:

This is one of the butterflies in the Papillion Potpourri stamp set, punched out with the Bitty Butterfly punch - these are the items on offer at 15% off when you buy them together before 30th September - you can read more about this offer here.

Both James Juniors are back at school tomorrow; whilst I'll miss them not being at home, I can't deny that I'm looking forward to getting back into my craft room for a bit more creating - lots to do!

Do come back in the next day or so to see what I've been creating; I'm looking forward to sharing some of my Christmas ideas and September is a month of birthdays for me, so I'll have lots on this front too. Until next time, happy, stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Secret Garden, Delightful Dozen, Memorable Moments, Papillion Potpourri

Cardstock: Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, vellum

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers:  Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding

Tools: Secret Garden Framelits, Oval Framelits, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Finishing Touches: Strawberry Slush Stretch Ribbon Trim, Silver Glimmer Paper, Basics Pearls

Another product update post for you: as some of you may be aware, there are a number of catalogue errors in the current catalogue (contact me if you would like a full list!), most notably the pricing of the new colour ink and cardstock bundles. This item was temporarily withdrawn from sale, but I can now announce that the following items are now once again available to order:

In addition, for a limited time only (until 3 January 2014) single markers in the new colours are also available to order individually at a cost of £2.95 each.

This is the last of the SU product update posts for the time being I promise! Back tomorrow with a craft creation (or two!) Until then, happy stampin'!

This is a quick post with details of this month's exciting Stampin' Up! offer and the new 'Best of...' set for September. This month's offer is on this great butterfly-themed bundle:

Buy the Papillion Potpourri stamp set and Bitty Butterfly Punch (pages 90/183 of the Annual Catalogue) together before 30th September and receive a 15% discount. If you've been considering purchasing either or both of these items, then this is the promotion for you!

 Secondly, the 'Best of...' set for September is 'Best of Christmas' - a lovely set of four stamps, that includes the little brother of the much-loved and missed 'Dasher':

This set represents great value at £13.95 (clear mount only) and like the other 'Best of..' sets, will be available until 31st March, although the sooner you get this set, the sooner you will be able to get cracking on those Christmas cards!

I will be posting ideas using both of these sets this month, so do check back to my blog in the coming weeks for inspiration. Meanwhile, if you would like to order either, do get in touch and I can place an order for you.

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Good evening devoted blog followers! I've returned from my two week family holiday in the USA and am back with you. You might not have noticed my absence, as I managed to schedule quite a few blog posts for you all to read whilst I was holidaying with Mickey Mouse (and my family too, but clearly The Mouse takes centre stage - I am his No.1 Fan!) More on my holiday shortly, but meanwhile I have lots of Stampin' Up! news to share with you, so the next few blog posts will be information-related whilst we catch up on the latest offers that are available.

So the first, and most important of these: the Autumn-Winter Seasonal Catalogue is now live! This is what it looks like:

I have updated the link on the right-hand side of my blog page to the electronic version of the catalogue - please feel free to browse at your leisure and enjoy the fabulous new kits and products that are available to make your festive season easy and beautiful at the same time. I will be sharing my favourite items with you later this week and once the James Juniors are back at school in  few days time, I will be making and sharing Christmas cards and projects in earnest, but for now, click on the link below to start browsing and creating your festive wishlist:

There is also a carryover list of popular items from last year's catalogue that are still available - these can be seen below:

If you would like a paper catalogue, to place an order or are thinking about hosting a party, please give me a call or drop me a line and I will be happy to help. I can honestly say there are some fabulous items in the second of this year's seasonal catalogues; it was quite tortuous to have my pre-order arrive just before a two-week vacation, that meant I didn't get the opportunity to try out some of my wonderful new goodies. That said, my vacation more than made up for it: this year it was a special one to Orlando, Florida. At 6 and 8 years old, my children are at a great age to enjoy everything that Disney World and beyond has to offer. Today, I'm going to share not a project, but one of my most special holiday photos with you:

This is me swimming with a dolphin at Discovery Cove, Orlando. See that big grin? This was a 'bucket list' moment for me, as I've always wanted to swim with a dolphin and I just couldn't keep that smile from my face.

Back with a few more information-related posts today, then full on with the creating towards the end of the week.

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing a card I made recently for a football-mad friend. The 'Great Sport' stamp set was an obvious choice for this card - here it is:

There's lots of layering on this card, both in the background and the central design: I stamped the images a few times, then fussy cut the wings and punched and layered the football and fussy cut and layered the stars along the top. The card was inspired by Brian King who often uses layering to great effect. In this instance, it gave me the opportunity to use some 'Chelsea blue' to echo the fan team colours of the recipient and avoid the card being too 'black and white'. Some stamping inside the card and on the envelope added the finishing touches.

I'm sure I'll use this card design again - it would work for any footie-mad fan.

Back tomorrow with another card and lots of news; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Great Sport

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Black, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Pacific Point, Basic Black

Tools: 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch

Today it's time for another Angry Birds birthday card - well, it must be at least a few weeks since I shared the last one! This is another card I made a while ago for one of Ben's friends, who is officially Angry Birds number one fan! I took my inspiration from a tiered birthday cake I saw on Pinterest and decided on a bird tower with a pig on top. Here is the finished card:

I decided to make the features 3D to add interest and character to the faces. Just as I was punching the pieces for the final piece, the green pig, which I had absolutely intended to be a king pig, complete with crown, I had a visit to my craft room by young Master James who came to check on progress. He politely asked what I was doing, then announced, "Oh no, Mummy - it can't be a King Pig; it has to be a Grandpa Pig - they are Zak's absolute favourite!" A quick consult of my Angry Birds Visual Dictionary and some minor modifications, and Grandpa Pig was born. Check out the moustache: 

That has to be one of the best things about making your own cards - you can make exactly what you want and it can be completely personalised to the recipient, even if the requirement isn't always known until the last minute!

Back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Cardstock: Marina Mist, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze

Tools: Itty Bitty Punch (circle), Owl Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch

Today I'm sharing a recent commission card I made for a friend of mine who wanted to welcome the latest addition to her extended family, another in a long line of little boys! The brief was 'simple classic' and we agreed a bib style card would be perfect. I made a 6" square card, using the new Circles Framelits to create the bib: 

 I scored the central section on the reverse at 1/2" intervals and finished with tiny pearls for added detail. I added took the opportunity to create a layered label using my new baby Label Love stamp and co-ordinating Artisan Label punch - here's a close up:

How cute is this? I love how easy it is to create the background layer which in this instance added just enough colour to pop this off the front of this largely white card. I used some of my retired Bashful Blue card stock - I will miss this colour for baby boy cards, it's such a perfect shade. 

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Label Love

Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Bashful Blue (retired)

Tools: Artisan Label Punch, Circles Framelits, Simply Scored

Finishing Touches: Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon, Basics Pearls

A quick post from me today. Here is the last of my favourite Telford swaps to share: this one was by Maria (you can see her blog here):

I like it because it used a number of products and sets I don't have and showcases some beautiful clear embossing. I love the overall finished effect of this card and the unusual colour combination too.

Back tomorrow with another of my cards; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Postage Due

Cardstock: Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Whisper White, Early Expresso

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Versamark

Tools: Big Shot, Delicate Design Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Argyle Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Floral Fusion Sizzlit

Finishing Touches: Clear Embossing Powder, Early Expresso Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Basics Rhinestones