Today marks the start of a busy week with the first of my monthly classes, so I've a quick post to share a couple of cards inspired by the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge this week where it's a double featuring both a sketch and colours:

This is a great sketch and it just so happens that I still have two of these three retired colours, so substituting the current Balmy Blue for Bashful Blue I set to work and came up with a couple of cards using my favourite 'Snowman Season' stamp set. Here's the first one that I created for the challenge:

A little bit of snowflake tone-on-tone background stamping and a stamped image, coloured with a combination of Blends and Stampin' Write markers and a blender pen, along with a sentiment banner all from the same stamp set and anchored with a couple of snowflakes cut using the Seasonal Layers dies to finish my card. I liked this card so much I created a slightly stepped-up version that flipped the base and mat colours around and included a swirly embossed layer to my card base, along with a retired snowflake embellishment:

Honestly, I'm not sure which one I prefer - here's a photo of them both together, do feel free to leave me a comment below with which one gets your top vote!

Here is the visual summary of the key current 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. 

Right that's all from me today - I still have a few things to do before I rest up for the evening so must dash! Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with more news and another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Snowman Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (En) (£17.00)	Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder (£7.00)	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Seasonal Layers Dies (£31.00)

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

I had a few ideas for Ann Marie's 'woodsy' theme today and decided to really go all-out to incorporate as many wood-themed elements into my card as possible. I decided to continue with another Christmas card to add to my collection and ended up creating something a little different (for me!) - take a look:

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

Knock on Wood - My card has lots of elements that tie in to the wood theme: some woodland background dry embossing, a panel of retired Wood Textures DSP, the tree trunk stamp from Rooted in Nature (stamped in Crumb Cake and then sponged with Early Espresso around the edge), as well as some greenery and a couple of pine cones that could easily be spotted on a walk through the woods.

Texture, Texture - There are lots of layers and textural elements on today's card too: in addition to the dry embossing, I added shimmery white embossing paste to my greenery for  textured snow and the glimmer paper and twine bow also adds contrast. I originally started out using Jen's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (you can see that sketch here), but ended up adding so many layers and bits and pieces I rather lost my usual 'clean' look. Whilst I love the finished result, I will need to go back to the drawing board if I'm to put in an FMS entry this week!

Woodland Sparkle - All that wood made for a rather neutral card, with only the greens adding colour to the mix of browns. I decided to add a silver glimmer 'merry' diecut for some festive sparkle, along with some frosted epoxy droplet 'berries' and a silver and linen twine bow. I really like the finished effect.

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

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

I'm also linking up today's card to the Festive Friday Challenge (my card features silver, wood, texture, circles and green from the inspo list) and the challenge over at Paper Craft Crew where I went across the middle of the board: embossing paste/rustic/gone wild and the top left-bottom right diagonal: found in the forest/rustic/sponging)

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; we are enjoying the last day of the half-term holiday before returning the school tomorrow. We have some hockey planned and a trip to the farm shop, along with preparations for my classes this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Woodland Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Merry Christmas Dies (£26.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£39.00)	Flourish Dies (£27.00)
Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (£8.25)	Shimmery White Embossing Paste (£8.25)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Beautiful Boughs Dies (£33.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Silver Glimmer Paper (£4.75)
Linen Thread (£4.75)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

It's the first of November and with that comes two exciting announcements! Following the withdrawal of our previous trimmer due to Stampin' Up!'s inability to obtain a reliable source of blades, I am pleased to announce that our brand new paper trimmer is available to all customers today and I can honestly say it’s excellent!

Demonstrators have had the last month to order and fall in love with it and let me tell you, fall in love I did. I LOVED the old trimmer and never thought it could be improved. But I was wrong. This one has awesome larger blades that cut like a knife through butter. The new trimmer has some of the great features of the old trimmer and some new ones of its own, in particular a great detailed grid cutting guide, no removable cutting track and an improved ruler across the join of the extendable arm. The attendees at my recent weekend craft retreat also road-tested the trimmer and were extremely positive about its performance.

The new trimmer is a great price too at only £23 which is cheaper than our last one. The trimmer is available now from 1st November but packs of additional blades will not be launched for sale till January. They will be sold in packs of 4 blades for £11.25 and I will remind you when they are available to buy in the New Year.

Christmastime Is Here Suite

There is also a new exclusive product suite being launched today called 'Christmastime Is Here' which has the most beautiful Christmas Rose stamps, dies, patterned paper with matching accessories. It is available whilst stocks last and is not in any publication.

You can purchase the whole bundle or purchase your favourite products from the bundle, whichever you prefer. There is even a limited edition bracelet which would make a lovely Christmas gift for someone or a treat for yourself maybe.

Links to my online store for all of the configurations of the Christmastime Is Here suite can be found below. You can go to the item in my shop by clicking the photo or simply search for 'Christmastime is Here' (Christmastime is one word with no gap in between).

If you are considering treating yourself to the whole bundle and the new trimmer a starter kit would be a great option: you will receive £130 worth of any products of your choice and it only costs £99, so there's there option to add something else in too and still make a saving. If you'd like to take advantage then click here to join my team or get in touch to discuss further - I would love to welcome you.

Back soon with another post, including some lovely makes featuring this suite. In the meantime, happy shopping!

Paper Trimmer (£23.00)	Christmastime Is Here Suite Bundle (English) (£103.50)	Christmas Rose Bundle (English) (£56.50)	Christmas Rose Stamp Set (English) (£35.00)	Roses Dies (£28.00)
Christmastime Is Here Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Shimmer Ribbon (£6.50)	Gold Glitter Enamel Dots (£7.50)	Charming Rose Bracelet (£20.00)