Today I thought I would share with you the Christmas star wreath I made at my class yesterday. I used the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper for my version, which looks like this:

I layered a circle of Lost Lagoon flat stars, cut out with my Stars framelits, onto my wreath base, then cut 12 stars out of the All Is Calm Speciality DSP for the 3D stars. Each of these stars was scored from the point to the opposite side then pinched together to create the dimension and once glued to the wreath base, finished with a selction of Brights, Neutrals, Subtles and silver buttons:

To finish, a length of the luxurious In-Colour Lost Lagoon satin ribbon to create a bow and hanging loop:

You can see another example of this wreath made with the Under The Tree Speciality DSP over on my Facebook page - it looks lovely in the kraft and more traditional, red, greens and browns, so do check it out. I have another of these classes next week where the ladies will be making them using other papers of their choice.

I hope you like today's project; this is going to be my indoor wreath as it matches my dining room colours perfectly; I have another two wreaths to share with you in coming weeks, so if home decor is your thing, keep an eye out for the other versions!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Stars Framelits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform
Lost Lagoon 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Simply Scored	Mini Glue Dots	Basic Metal Buttons	Brights Designer Buttons
Subtles Designer Buttons	Neutrals Designer Buttons

A late post from me today as I've spent a lovely day crafting with friends, followed by James family piano lessons this evening (3 out of 4 of us are learning!) so have only just got around to it. Our craft session was fun - we finished off some projects we started a little while ago, which always gives a good sense of achievement. With Christmas creeping ever closer, today I thought I would share with you the advent calendar I made for the James juniors, which is a case of a project by the lovely Julie Kettlewell. I love the Tiny Treat Boxes in this year's Stampin' Up! seasonal catalogue, which are of course perfect for making advent calendars. The sample in the catalogue shows just how easy it is to make something to a basic design, however having seen Julie's project a little while ago - you can see her original project here - I knew I wanted to create something similar. So without further ado, here is my framed advent calendar in all its glory:

Isn't it beautiful?! It is framed in a 20" frame/50cm, so is a substantial piece in terms of size and it makes a real statement. I chose to make mine using the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper, here are some close ups:

This is the central panel, with a sentiment stamped using the Epic Alphabet and some trees punched using the Tree Punch and decorated with some frosted sequins.

Each of the boxes is covered on 5 sides using the All is calm DSP, then a number label made from a layered section using a 1 3/4" scalloped circle punch and a 1 3/8" circle punch, and numbers cut out of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper using the Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die and the Big Shot.

This is a great project to showcase all of the lovely papers within the All is Calm DSP stack.

I adhered my boxes so that the flaps would open upwards and put my numbers in order from one through twenty four, however you could 'mix and match' if that's more your style. Each pack of treat boxes contains 25 boxes, so you have one spare to package an extra special treat for Christmas Day if that's your thing. I'm really pleased with how my calendar turned out and am busy acquiring lots of little treats to fill my boxes for the month of December. I can see this project becoming a real heirloom piece that we bring out year after year.

Hope you like today's project; back tomorrow with the new Wednesday Weekly Deals and my Design Team post for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die	1-3/8 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/4 Inch Scallop Circle Punch	Frosted Sequins	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper
Tiny Treat Boxes	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad
Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Whisper White 12 X 12 Smooth Card Stock	Tree Punch	Mini Glue Dots	Sticky Strip
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive

Today I'm back with a Christmas card (haven't had one of those for a few days!!) I saw this week's sketch over at Create With Connie and Mary this week and immediately had an idea - always great when that happens! Here is the sketch that inspired my card:

This is a great sketch with many possibilities; I wanted to use the 'Mingle All The Way' stamp from the stamp set of the same name and this is the card I came up with:

I used Soft Sky for my card base and a piece of the swirly snowflake paper from the 'All is Calm' speciality DSP pack for my offset layer. I then used a plain piece of Soft Sky for my bottom banner flag and overlaid this with a vellum banner that I stamped in Versamark with snowflakes from the Endless Wishes stamp set and then heat embossed in White. For the circle, I stamped the sentiment again in Versamark and heat embossed in white, then punched it out using my 2 1/2" circle punch. To finish, I added a few snowflake sequins and a bow in white seam binding ribbon.

Without trying, I made a monochromatic card, something I usually find quite tricky. I love the calm, serene feeling of this card.

Back tomorrow with this week's Design Team card for Colour Me...! and a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Mingle All The Way Clear-Mount Stamp Set	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Frosted Sequins	White Vellum A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky

Here at last with today's post! A busy day today - homework, grocery shopping, we had friends round to make cake pops this afternoon (always fun!) and then a swimming gala this evening - so finally I'm sitting down for long enough to share today's card with you! Today's card is for this week's Merry Monday Christmas Challenge, where the theme from Karren this week is to let your sentiment take centre stage:

I was tempted to go with a few obvious choices for my card using some of the fabulous new sentiments in the current seasonal catalogue, but decided to take the opportunity to try something different that I've had in mind for a while. I made a sentiment all of my very own - take a look:

I decided to make a long, thin card and used the 'What's Your Type?' stamp set to stamp the word 'snow' using the various patterns and shapes in the set. I love this unusual graphic style type and it is great for making the sentiment the feature of your card. I stamped the various letters in a combination of Smoky Slate, Soft Sky and Lost Lagoon and finished the 'O' with one of the new snowflake embellishments and some silver ribbon. I mounted this section with dimensionals on a base of Soft Sky with a couple of strips of silver washi tape running along it. To complete my sentiment, I used my Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker to write 'let it' in my own handwriting on a little handcut banner and adhered to the top of the sentiment panel. A rather modern take on 'let it snow', granted, but I think it works and it's very different.

That's all from me; back tomorrow with this week's Design Team card for The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

What's Your Type? Photopolymer Stamp Set	All Is Calm Designer Washi Tape	All Is Calm Snowflake Embellishment	Silver 1/8" Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker

Apologies firstly for anyone who saw a partial post within the last 10 hours - my blog appears to have published one version of tomorrow's post whilst also saving a draft; not sure what's happened there, but as it wasn't complete anyway it won't have made much sense. Come back tomorrow to see the completed post, with card! I think the moral of the story is don't spend too much time late at night preparing blog posts.

Anyway - today I'm sharing a Christmas card that I made for this week's challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary, where we have been challenged to use the following colour palette:

Whilst today's card took less than 10 minutes to make, I could have made six in the time it took me to decide upon my final design! I started out with my 'All Is Calm' Christmas Designer Series Paper as I knew it featured these colours, but then was overwhelmed by all of the possibilities and options and couldn't decide where to start. Here's my finished card:

I eventually decided to use the paper you can see on the edge of this card; I had been unsure how I was going to use this pattern as I don't have any of the stamp sets that obviously co-ordinate with it and it's quite a bold pattern. Eventually I thought it would make the perfect background for my Endless Wishes stamp set - SOOO glad SU! put this in the catalogue this year for us Europeans to enjoy too! - so I bordered my Lost Lagoon base card with it, then adhered my stamped top panel using dimensionals after tying a loop of Old Olive baker's twine around it. I know this is a bit of a cheat to the colour palette, but there's so little of it in the twine it could be mistaken for Pear Pizzazz at a distance (or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I love the simplicity of this card and think I will actually make a few more of these to add to my stock of Christmas cards. Back tomorrow with a double post for you: my usual Design Team card for Colour Me...! and a special post as the Guest Star Stamper over at The Color Throwdown as I was their Featured Stamper with this card last week! Oh, and not forgetting the new Wednesday Weekly Deals! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Baker's Twine	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stampin' Dimensionals

Back to my blog today after a couple of days absence; I've had a lot on these past few days and it's taken me until today to get back with it! At least now it's the weekend and today has seemed altogether more peaceful. I managed to make a card today with this week's challenge over at Merry Monday in mind; I also used the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches for my layout:

 I was so inspired by the gallery cards over at Merry Monday this week - love all those cars and trucks transporting Christmas trees - that I wanted to have a go. Only problem is - I don't have a single car stamp. So I decided to think laterally and decided to use the santa sleigh and reindeer stamp from the 'Holiday Home' set - here is my card:

I actually turned the sketch upside down, so that I could use the reindeer and sleigh as the arched element of the design - the 'Holiday Home' stamp set is photopolymer so it's really easy to curve the stamp to look as if it was flying across the roof of the last house. I stamped the sleigh and sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in Whisper White so that it would really stand out against the Soft Sky central panel. I edged the top of this with two thin stripes of Real Red and Whisper White respectively to add definition then used a piece of the snow pattern from the All is Calm DSP for the top section. For the bottom section, I fussy cut a row of houses from the Nordic Noel DSP - I love the bright colours in this paper and the little houses have such pretty designs.

I hope you like today's card; back tomorrow with my Design Team card for The Paper Players.

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Holiday Home Photopolymer Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky