Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Stef to host this week and she has a seasonal clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Autumn - the season of turning leaves, pumpkins, acorns and more! I decided to feature a pumpkin on my clean and simple card today and took my inspiration from a number of other challenges too (I think 4 including our own must be a record!) - take a look:

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

I thought those patterned pumpkins in the Inspired By photo were really pretty, so I searched through my vast collection of patterned papers and came up with this pretty pattern from the Petals & Paisley DSP and grabbed my Pick A Pumpkin Dies for a little paper piecing - perfect for the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week. Since this is Clean and Simple Week - minimal layers and embellishments, uncluttered design, lots of white space - I added nothing more than a tiny leaf and twine bow, and a simple diecut sentiment (Blessings Dies from My Favourite Things) to complete my card:

Since I chose to feature a pumpkin on my card, I'm also linking up over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'pumpkin'. No traditional orange for me, but these warm colours definitely remind me of autumn. 

Another card that features lots of retired bits and pieces from my collection - it is fun to revisit old favourites!

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 taking the Mother-In-Law out for the day so will be wrapping up warm - winter temperatures arrived yesterday with a vengenace! I got lots of crafting done yesterday though, so I'll be back tomorrow with another project - I've lots to share this week. Until then, happy stampin'!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Suzy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

These colours are so perfect for fall and my card today is super simple and oh-so-quick to create - take a look:

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

I actually had the retired 'Cheer All Year' stamp set and these punched shapes out on my desk having completed another card and when I realised the shapes were in the challenge colours, I knew I had to use them up on today's card. When I saw the challenge prompt at Inspired By, it wasn't the mugs that caught my eye, but the piece of home decor on the top shelf. I stamped my autumn sentiment in Cajun Craze and added my leaves and acorn above on dimensionals:

And that was it - so simple! I used a Very Vanilla base instead of white for a change, as I think the warmer tone seems to suit fall cards better - what do you think? I didn't even add any embellishments - a real exercise in restraint today!!

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jan to host this week and she has a seasonal colour challenge for us to work with:

The minute I saw these colours, I knew I wanted to have another go at a coloured embossed sunflower card. Take a look at my finished card:

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

3D Embossed Sunflowers - I have been looking for a good colour combination to try another card using this embossing folder and Jan's chosen palette was perfect! This embossing folder looks lovely both on the embossed and debossed sides (I used the debossed side again on today's card) and it really is a huge folder too; here's my piece before I cut it down to make my card and even this isn't the whole of the folder:

Another Colouring Technique - I used a similar technique to my previous two-colour card using this embossing folder (you can see that card here if you missed it), but this time I coloured the various elements of the debossed design with my Stampin' Blends in the challenge colours, with Cajun Craze petals, Old Olive leaves and Mossy Meadow stems. Once coloured, I dragged my Early Espresso ink pad across the entire cardfront to bring out the relief of the design before trimming to size.

Words Of The Season - I featured a stacked sentiment with a drop shadow using the Words For The Season Dies - these sunflowers are perfect for Autumn in this colourway: 

I added a trio of bronze sequins to the front of my card then a co-ordinating sentiment to the inside my my card, along with a border from one of the offcuts of the front panel to finish:

This embossing folder really does make a card all on it's one I think.

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:

Enjoy your day; ... I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SUNFLOWER 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£11.25)	WORDS FOR THE SEASON DIES (ENGLISH) (£30.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	MOSSY MEADOW STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS DEEP COMBO PACK (£10.25)

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: 

So much seasonal goodness to choose from on Felicita's board this week! I got so excited with all the elements and the lovely Julee's fab Mojo Monday sketch that I covered pretty much every square on this week's board except wreath and Thanksgiving! I paired the beautiful Gilded Autumn papers with lots of rust and one of my most favourite stamp sets to use at this time of year - take a look:

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

Country Home - My milk churn and autumn florals come from the 'Country Home' stamp set that has been around for a while, but I have to say is one of those sets that is a real keeper. I've made many, many cards with this set (and never featured it in a class, interestingly); I've coloured those florals many times and each of them different - search my blog for lots more inspiration using this set. I love the sentiment font and sizes too and they are great for thankful cards, whatever the time of year. My milk churn features a tiny 'thanks' and I saved one of my favourites for the inside of my card:

Rusty Colour - I decided to look at ways to incorporate the 'rust' element into my card and whilst I wasn't in a mood to get messy, I decided that the brushed brass foil (as opposed to copper) would add a nice metallic element and I embossed it using the Tin Tile Embossing Folder for some texture. I also majored on browns in my colour scheme and added some loops of coppery ribbon to my florals too.

A Little Bit Country - Having spent more time than anticipated deciding how best to layer those papers (I alternated each pattern for each layer before deciding), I wanted to keep with my country feel and added some wooden leaf embellishments and some green and white gingham ribbon to finish. A lot going on with this card, but sometimes it's really nice to move away from 'clean and simple' and see how far the layering can take you!

I'm also linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges too where the current theme is Autumn/Fall and my leafy, rusty creation definitely evokes the season for me! 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 day; half term continues in the James household with nothing much of interst to report! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

COUNTRY HOME PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	BRUSHED METALLIC CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	TIN TILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	BASKET WEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)
FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	IN GOOD TASTE ELEMENTS (£6.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS MINT MACARON COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CAJUN CRAZE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

I've been enjoying a well-earned rest this week and some quality family time since the James Juniors are on their half-term break. Some time spent creating though so lots to share with you this next coming week - regular blogging may be about to make a comeback! Today I'm sharing a card using the current colours over at Global Design Project and the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches:

I'm also linking up with the Paper Craft Crew where the inspiration is trees and leaves. My card was a quick and easy card, using an old favourite - take a look:

I haven't used my Sheltering Tree stamp set in ages, but it is perfect for creating seasonal trees and great for clean and simple cards. I stamped the leaves twice, once in Pumpkin Pie and again, offsetting the image slightly, in Crushed Curry, to create my autumn leaves. I added a sprinkling of falling leaves and some leaves strewn across my swathe of Old Olive grass. I wanted the orange and yellow to be the dominant colours of my card today, so the only other place I've used green is to frame my central image, which I cropped quite tightly to accentuate those leaves and autumnal colours. 

Clean and simple autumn with just stamps, ink and paper - done!

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 a card (or two!) for the new challenge over at the Paper Players which begins tomorrow. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set (£23.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my good friend, the awesome LeAnne, to host this week and she has a timely clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I'm also playing along with the team over at Stamp Ink Paper today as I'm just in time to link up with their CAS Fall challenge and the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges where the theme is Autumn colours.

When I think about harvest, I think about harvest loaves, vegetables from the garden ... and pumpkins! I love the photo inspiration that Nance found for this week's challenge and I decided I just had to have pumpkins on my card. I decided to go with something a little different - take a look:

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

Pumpkins Are For Harvest, Not Just For Halloween - Most of the pumpkin stamps I have in my set are ones with carved faces, all ready for Halloween. This stamp from the new seasonal catalogue is one of the few that I own that isn't - do you recognise which set it comes from? It's actually from the 'Seasonal Chums' set on page 47, but it's not the front of the face on the Halloween tag - it's the back piece of the same tag. I've circled it below so that you can see which one I mean:

This part of the stamp makes for a perfect pre-carved pumpkin - all I needed to do was mask off the front portion of the stamp and stamp just the back image. I also created a mask out of a post-it note to enable me to stamp my trio of pumpkins overlapping each other, to create depth and dimension.

No Line Watercolouring -  I decided to use a little no-line watercolouring to give my pumpkins a natural look. I love this effect and it's so easy to achieve: simply stamp your chosen image in a pale colour such as Sahara Sand onto watercolour paper, then use your chosen inks and an aquapainter to colour your stamped images normally, making the lines 'disappear'. 

Colours of Fall - Warm yellows, oranges, reds, browns and olive greens are the colours I associate with autumn and I chose to focus on orange and brown on my card today. Here's my colour palette should you wish to save it as inspiration for your fall projects:

To finish my card I added a little lace and ribbon embellishment (retired bits and pieces); not something I usually do with a CAS card, but I felt my card needed a little something just to balance it visually. I love this 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 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:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; mine is sports-filled, with hockey, swimming and ice hockey yesterday and basketball and more hockey today! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Seasonal Chums Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has a great clean and simple theme for you to work with:

I toyed with some time about my card this week: pumpkins, apples, acorns - what to choose? I browsed through my new goodies and when I happened across this pumpkin patterned DSP hidden away in the Halloween Night Specialty pack, I knew what I wanted to do. I also used this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts for my layout today. Here's what I came up with:

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

Not Just for Halloween - Whilst many of the papers in the Halloween Night Specialty Designer Series Paper Pack are overtly Halloween-inspired, this pattern of watercoloured pumpkins can also be used on more general Fall projects, as can the spotted paper I used for my banner and the stripes and checked patterns in the pack. This paper became the starting point for my card.

Spooky Pumpkin Fun - My layered square was the perfect place for my sentiment from the 'Spooky Fun' stamp set, along with a popped up trio of pumpkins, coloured with my Pumpkin Pie ink and a blender pen and cut out with the co-ordinating Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies.

Festive Fall Colours - The colour scheme for today's card comes straight from the Halloween Night DSP: the warm orange tones of Pumpkin Pie, contrasted with Basic Black, Whisper White and Smoky Slate. More Halloween than Fall granted, but by emphasising the warmth of the orange, I think it works. Feel free to save this colour combination if it's one you'd like to try:

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. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's CAS challenge. We have a day of sport and birthday parties today - we are most certainly back into the swing of things as far as the new school term is concerned!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Halloween Night Specialty Designer Series Paper	Spooky Fun Photopolymer Bundle	Halloween Night Enamel Dots	Layering Squares Framelits Dies	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Blender Pens	Banner Triple Punch	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

I've had a busy day today with my 'Shake It Up!' Children's Craft Class making the shaker cards featured in the 'To You And Yours Shaker Cards Project Kit'. We all had tremendous fun and made lots of great cards. I'll share a picture from our class at the end of today's post, however in the meantime my blog project to share with you today is the one that my Facebook followers had a sneak peek of last week that I made with a lovely group of ladies - our Autumn leaf wreaths. We based our design on this one created by Stampin' Up! Artisan Designer Alison Okamitsu; I made a large wreath like Alison's to hang on my front door and the ladies liked it so much they wanted to create a similar, smaller version - here is ours:

We used a selection of muted colours and the wonderful Vintage Leaves stamp set and cut out the leaves using our Big Shot and co-ordinating Leaflets Framelits (one of the catalogue 15% off bundles if you are a bargain-hunter!), some pinecones, a few leaves punched with the bird builder punch and a burlap bow to finish. Isn't that pretty? The ladies were all so very pleased with their wreaths and their stamping as this is something of a first for them! 

This was a private class that I held for a group of like-minded friends who often invite me to run a class just for them. If you have a group of friends that you would like to arrange a crafty get-together with, or would simply like to join in with one of my existing scheduled classes, then do get in touch - I would love to hear from you! Don't forget the offer of additional Stampin' rewards is also still valid until the 9th November - party sales of £200 or more will earn an extra 3% of Stampin' Rewards (formerly known as Hostess Credits) so if you have a long wish list, I've still a few slots left so contact me to book your party today!

Before I go, let me share a photo of the James Juniors proudly displaying their handiwork from this morning's class:

Like mother, like daughter (and son!) as the saying goes - what else can I possibly add?!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Vintage Leaves Photopolymer Bundle	Big Shot	Hello Honey A4 Cardstock	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper
Bird Builder Punch	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon

It's all about leaves today! I've had a busy yet fun day today with a lovely bunch of ladies today making autumn wreaths. It's always fun to get together and do something a little different and it's nice to teach people to make things other than cards once in a while. I will share our project later this week; today I'm sneaking in a card to a couple of challenges I've had my eye on:

I just love this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch (patterns in threes are always good!) and the theme and colours along with the wonderful autumnal inspiration at The Challenge inspired me to create my card today:

A base of kraft cardstock with a mat of Cheery Cobbler provide the perfect backdrop for my Very Vanilla panel, which I stamped with the Hello Autumn sentiment from the 'Cheer All Year' set (such a versatile set, this one!) in Soft Suede and the leaf image from the Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 set, which I stamped alternately in Delightful Dijon, Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler. I added a linen thread bow to one of my leaves to finish and that's my clean and simple card for today! I love stamp sets that can be used for lots of different things and today's cards uses two such sets. 

That's all from me today; back early tomorrow with this week's post for the new challenge this week over at Create With Connie and Mary. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Delightful Dijion Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Kraft 12" X 12" Cardstock	Linen Thread

I'm back with today's creative post; I managed to find the time to whip up a card for two challenges using the very versatile 'Cheer All Year' stamp set. My card uses the rather autumnal colour palette over at Fab Friday and this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout:

I thought the Fab Friday colours would be perfect for some autumnal acorns; since I'm still waiting for my Acorny hello set to arrive though, I decided to use the acorn in the 'Cheer All Year' set. Take a look:

I used an Old Olive card base and covered the whole of the front with a piece of gingham Farmers Market designer series paper in Old Olive and Very Vanilla. I cut my Very Vanilla top panel slightly smaller and offset it to show a border of dsp on two sides, then stamped by sentiment in Rich Razzleberry before adding my row of acorns in Old Olive. I stamped them again in Soft Suede on some scrap paper and cut out the tops and adhered them separately allowing the top of the uppermost one to overhang. I made a feature of one of the acorns, stamping the base of this one in Rich Razzleberry and punching out with the new Acorn builder Punch, before adding a gold button double tied with linen thread and popping it up on a couple of dimensionals. 

A quick clean and simple card - I just love those graphic acorns! 'Cheer All Year' is such a versatile set - it has something for all seasons as it is designed to accompany the 'Season To Season' Wreath Project Kit, yet can be used for so much more besides.

Back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stmapin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Acorn Builder Punch	Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Farmers Market Designer Series Paper	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Gold Basic Metal Buttons	Linen Thread