All I want for Christmas is... to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! If this is you, read on - today is the start of a great one week promotion at Stampin' Up! for new recruits from today 25th November until 11am on Tuesday 2nd December. 

Stampin' Up!'s usual sign up offer is great value - for £99 you can choose £130 worth of Stampin' Up! products of your choice, in addition to the £45 business supplies pack (catalogues, order forms, etc.). During the current promotion, there are two great additional incentives:

The starter pack has been discounted by 25%, so for just £74.25 you will receive a whopping £130 worth of product of your choice, in addition to your £45 business pack and if you join my team, all the additional benefits that brings, including a complimentary copy of my Product Table Builder software valued at £35. Your order is also free from postage & packaging charges - a further £4.95 saving. Total savings of over £200!

In addition, whilst you always receive a 20% discount on all orders placed as a demonstrator, which is increased to 30% for the first order over £150 placed within 45 days of joining Stampin' Up!, if you sign up this week you will also have the opportunity to earn a one time cash back bonus of 5% on all orders placed during the month of December, (both demonstrator and customer/workshop orders). Wouldn't that be a nice little Christmas bonus?

Whether you're looking for a little income boost prior to Christmas, want to build a business longer term or just want to enjoy the benefits of discounted craft product as hobby demonstrator, Stampin' Up! has never had a recruitment offer like this one before and it offers exceptional value.

In addition, pre-order for Sale-A-Bration and the new Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue begins on 5th December; if you sign up this week you will be able to get your hands on these products before they go on sale to customers!

I would love you to join my team of Crafty Owls - if you would like to chat more about the benefits of becoming an SU! demonstrator and joining my team, please do give me a call on 07773 421446 or email me via [email protected]. Or if your mind is already made up, click here to complete the paperwork online. Why not treat yourself to the gift of Stampin' Up! for Christmas today?

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, I'm waiting for your call!

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had lovely weekends; mine was busy as always, with a Stampin' Up! party on Friday night, followed by the usual weekend of sport and a morning stood out in the driving rain watching my first rugby match yesterday (hockey is definitely a cleaner game!) Other highlights of my weekend included reaching the bottom of my ironing basket (to be celebrated!) and the addition of a new pet to the James household - Olivia the goldfish has joined Goldie, who was feeling lonely following the recent departure of Fishy.

So, onto today's card! Today I have a clean and simple card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches, where Cindy has another great sketch for us:

I took inspiration from another of the designs in the Nordic Noel DSP pack and paired it with the sentiment stamp from Cheerful Christmas for my card today:

I used Soft Sky as my base and a piece of the Nordic Noel DSP featuring the acorns and pine sprigs for the left panel of my card. I stamped my feature sentiment in Garden Green on Whisper White and matted this onto a piece of Garden Green cardstock, rounding the corners on the right-hand side of both pieces. I used some Soft Sky and Calypso Coral Candy Dots to add a little colour to the main panel. Lastly, I added a strip of Garden Green and finished with a double loop of Baked Brown Sugar baker's twine. I love this thick twine - it's great for packaging but also works as a substitute for ribbon and ties a lovely bow. 

I love the fresh look of this card; the Garden Green is definitely a festive colour, but pairing it with Soft Sky, Baked Brown Sugar and Calypso Coral and Whisper White adds a real crispness to it I think. That's all from me - I'm off to get ready for today's class featuring the Many Merry Stars kit; click here to order yours if you haven't already, before they're all gone. 

Back tomorrow with another project and news of a fantastic one-week only demonstrator sign up offer - come back and check it out, you are not going to want to miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cheerful Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Project Life Corner Punch	Subtles Candy Dots	Baked Brown Sugar Thick Baker's Twine

It's Sunday and time for another challenge over at The Paper Players where this week LeAnne has a great sketch for us: 

Sketch challenges are my absolute favourite and I had tons of ideas for this one; you may see some of the others later this week, but for today I'm sharing this Christmas card featuring some of my favourite Nordic Noel designer series paper:

I kept my layout really simple as the paper is quite busy, but used lots of layers to incorprate the colours in the DSP. I added a piece of white seam binding ribbon tied with some baker's twine and a Nordic Noel button and to the bottom opposing corner a co-ordinating ornament in Garden Green that I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in white, with a trio of pearls coloured with my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities for effect. A sentiment from 'Good Greetings' finishes off my card.

I'm off to hockey and then have a date with an overflowing basket of ironing this afternoon. If you have something altogether more fun lined up and have time for a spot of crafting, then check out the cards by the other Paper Players designers this week for some great inspiration and then see what you can come up with? We would love to see you in the gallery this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cheerful Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	Nordic Designer Buttons	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	White Baker's Twine	Whisper White 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Scallop Edge Border Punch
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

It's the weekend - yay! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's challenge over at the Merry Monday Card Challenge, where Sue has the following challenge for us this week:

Hmmm - bells! These designers are really keeping me on my toes this week, as this is another one of those where investigation of my extensive supplies led me to conclude not a single bell image, die cut or embellishment of any kind! Not to be beaten, I decided it was time to think laterally; the obvious choice was to run to my e-cutter, but instead I thought I would try and create some jingle bells using punches. Here is my finished card:

I had the urge to create something really glitzy today, so chose a plain background of Garden Green and decided on gold glimmer paper for my bells. They were surprisingly easy to make: I punched a 1" circle, then punched a star out of the top half. I punched two small circles with my crop-a-dile on the bottom half and used my paper snips to create the openings. Lastly, I punched a round edge using my 1 3/4" circle punch, adhered it to the centre of my bell and trimmed the ends. I also created a couple of gold bell hooks, but you can't really see these beneath the ribbon. I layered these onto my card base, popping one on a dimensional for a little lift, then finished with a rather extravagant bow. This red satin ribbon curls so beautifully I couldn't resist - even though this card is SOOO impractical for mailing!

My sentiment is a combination of the die cut using my Little Letters thinlits to spell 'jingle' and backed with Real Red cardstock, and the 'all the way' from the Mingle All The Way stamp set, which I selectively coloured with my Garden Green marker. 

I'm also entering this card for the challenge over at Less is More where the theme this week is aptly 'Jingle All The Way', although I have another card planned with a slightly different slant for later in the week and it didn't occur to me that this one probably fits the theme slightly better!

I'm really pleased with my shiny jingle bells - what do you think? I'm off for my usual Saturday of sport today; back tomorrow with my Design Team card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Mingle All The Way Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Little Letters Thinlits Die	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Gold Glimmer Paper
Real Red A4 Card Stock	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Regals Stampin' Write Markers	1 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch
Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon

Today's Christmas card uses the somewhat unconventional festive colour scheme over at The Challenge paired with the current Retrosketches layout for inspiration:

I decided to create another snowflake card using the Endless Wishes set, along with a few of the stamps in the Project Life December Wonder set that I happened to have out on my desk. This is such a great set, and not just for memory-keeping. Take a look:

A Pink Pirouette base with a mat of Rich Razzleberry for a pop of colour, then a selection of snowflakes stamped in pink and grey and interspersed with some Razzleberry stars. I added a few rhinestones for a little sparkle and decided to use my sentiment from the Project Life set, stamped and framed and cut out with the co-ordinating framelits and popped up on a couple of dimensionals. Very simple, but quite pretty and super quick to put together.

Back tomorrow with another Christmas card with some fun punch art; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set	Project Life December Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set	Cards & Labels Project Life Framelits Dies	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette A4 Card Stock
Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents
Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

Today's card has been made with a few challenges in mind: The Card Concept has the theme of a Krafty Christmas and a lovely inspiration photo and I decided to use the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout, although I'm too late to link up there today:

Since my design is definitely CAS, I am also using this as my entry for 'Less is More' this week where the theme is more than one tree. So, on to my card! I love the Card Concept inspiration photo and decided to use the idea of the punched shapes and colours on my card:

This sketch proved trickier to work with than I anticipated - I think it was all the angled lines! I punched a couple of panels of Crumb Cake with my retired mini tree punch and my star punch (I would have liked a snowflake punch, but alas I don't own one so a star had to do!) and backed them with Real Red and Whisper White, following the contours of the sketch. I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then came the dilemma - I felt like my card was too CAS, as if it was missing something. I fiddled about and eventually decided to try it with a Real Red satin ribbon bow; I'm not sure if this then goes too far the other way, but thought I'd include both photos - perhaps you'll leave me a comment as to which one you prefer!

I'm off to school to watch a class assembly this afternoon - Rebecca is role playing the teacher today, so she went to school with her hair up in a bun this morning because 'that's what teachers do', even though I don't think I've ever seen one at her school with one! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Project Life December Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon

Today's card is for this week's Colour Me...! card challenge where we have are working with a subtle palette of autumnal browns:

I also decided to use the rather unusual sketch layout over at Create With Connie and Mary for my card this week. Here is my card:

I used Soft Suede as my card base and layered a piece of paper from the Trim The Tree DSP stack at an angle across the bottom of the card. For the main image, I used the tree from the Nuts About You hostess set and having inked it up with my Soft Suede and Cajun Craze Stampin' Up! markers, stamped in out onto very Vanilla cardstock and partially cut out using my circle framelits, fussy cutting the leaves so that they would overhang the edge of the circle. I deliberately created a streaky finish on the tree truck to make it look a little bit like tree bark. I stamped both the sentiment and little creature (is it a possum? I'm really not sure what he's supposed to be, but he's cute all the same!) in Versamark and heat embossed them with Early Espresso embossing powder. I fussy cut the animal and adhered him over the tree so that he looked like he was 'hanging in there'. I finished with some strips of Early Espresso and a piece of retired Early Espresso taffeta ribbon to complete my card.

I made this card for a female friend who is having a tough time of it recently and I wanted to send her a little something to brighten her day and just let her know I was thinking of her. I really liked the finished card, then I read on a blog somewhere this week that it was the author's view that a thinking of you/get well card should always be in brighter colours to lift the recipients mood. As someone who was entirely happy with her card until I read this, and who also loves bright colours, I'm now having second thoughts  - maybe I should remake it with something less subtle; what do you think? Either way, I still love today's card!

Feel free to leave a comment on today's card, before hopping over to check out the amazing cards by the rest of the Colour Me...! team:

Nuts About You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Many Marvelous Markers	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Soft Suede A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Stampin' Emboss Powder Early Espresso	Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for November (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right) and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Autumn Spice Digital Kit - Digital Download	Bermuda Bay Celebration Add-On Kit	Calypso Coral Celebration Add-On Kit	Celebration Basics Invitations
Starburst Framelits Dies	Sweet Threads Simply Sent	Wisteria Wonder 3/4" Chevron Ribbon

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

Some great bits and pieces if you have a celebration coming up with invitations and the Celebrations Add-on kits in both colourways on offer this week. An Autumn-inspired MDS download, a Simply Sent kit and some Wisteria Wonder chevron ribbon, along with the ever-useful Starburst framelits.

Back shortly with today's creative post; meanwhile, happy shopping! 

Happy Monday everyone! I have spent a pleasant morning catching up with a friend, whilst making a whole bunch of Christmas crackers for a little service project that I have going on - they are for a community senior citizen's Christmas luncheon in a couple of weeks time. Today I'm sharing with you my card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where Kim has a great sketch for us to work with; I also used the colour scheme over at Color Throwdown:

I decided to rotate the sketch through 90 degrees for my card - whilst most other cards in the gallery seem to have used the sketch conventionally, there are a few of us who chose to rotate, so a real variety of inspiration for you if this is a layout that appeals. Here is my card:

I used the stampset 'Bearing Gifts' for my card today, having 'borrowed' it from my daughter, who is currently using this set to make her own Christmas sets.It's a great set to stamp and colour so I took the opportunity to get my Stampin' Up! Blendabilities out again and set to work colouring the trio of gift givers on top of the polar bear. I used my Pumpkin Pie and Night of Navy sets, focusing on the lightest of the two blues, and did stray from the colour palette twice: once for the wreath around the bear's neck, which I coloured with Smoky Slate (I thought this would be OK as technically grey is a neutral) although not sure I will be forgiven for the red Santa hat. The thing is, try as I might, I just couldn't bring myself to colour it in any other colour - they just have to be red, right?!

I mounted my panel on a piece of Marina Mist and the a piece of Soft Sky, and having masked the sentiment off the main stamped image, decided to stamp it vertically directly onto the card base, as this suited my layout better. I used a piece of retired Marina Mist polka dot DSP behind my image, and tied a Naturals white button with a piece of Tangerine Tango baker's twine to finish.

Hope you like today's card - back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bearing Gifts Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Neutrals Designer Buttons	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Night Of Navy Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Tangerine Tango Baker's Twine	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky
Marina Mist A4 Card Stock

It's Sunday and time for another challenge over at The Paper Players, where this week Ann has a clean and simple challenge with a 'thankful' theme for us:

Inspired by the leaves in our challenge badge this week, I decided to use up a few more of my much-loved Autumn Wooden Elements and create a colour-block card using the colours over at Colour Q (substituting for the closest match in my collection) - I'm also linking up with Catherine & Cathy Creates where the theme is 'thankful for fall'. Here is my card:

I used a base of Old Olive, then matted the front with a piece of Whisper White that I had stamped in the corner with my 'thanks' sentiment from Another Thank You in Chocolate Chip. I then took a piece of Old Olive and I added 4 panels to it, one each in Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze and Old Olive.  I then lined up my Fall Fest Framelits and cut a shaped edge, that mirrors the shape of the wooden leaves. This panel was adhered to the base using dimensionals - this allows the wooden leaves to fit right into the shaped edge - here's a closer look:

To finish, I added some Early Espresso baker's twine across the top and tied it in a bow. A super-CAS card using some fun techniques. Do pop by The Paper Players challenge blog to check out what the other designers have come up with this week - there is great inspiration there, as always.

We are having a quiet sport-free weekend this week; both James Juniors have been poorly this week and we are keen that they recover themselves enough to survive the rest of what is a busy half-term for them. We do have a little treat in store this afternoon though; I'll let you know well it's received tomorrow!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fun Fall Framelits Dies	Autumn Wooden Elements	Another Thank You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform
Stampin' Dimensionals	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad
Chocolate Chip A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso Baker's Twine