Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that I made for my 2020 Christmas card stash; I always try and make some Christmas cards throughout the year, although I must confess I often get sidetracked as the year goes on! I was encouraged by a few challenges that are currently running:

The theme over at Christmas Kickstart Challenge is 'penguin parade' so I decided to use one of my (now retired) penguin stamps from the 'Making Everyday Bright' stamp set, along with the CASology cue word 'repeat' to create this little festive gang - take a look:

I used my Stamparatus to get all of my penguins in an even row across the centre of my Whisper White card base, and taking my cue from the current challenge over at Less Is More, used my Calypso Coral and Blueberry Bushel Stampin' Write markers to add colour to their hats. I punched out the central one and gave him a coral retired enamel heart to hold. I stamped my sentiment, from the (retired) 'Christmas Crowd' set in Blueberry Bushel and popped it up on dimensionals, using it to ground my row of penguins, and finished the inside with another sentiment from this set:

I had a few aborted attempts at getting my penguins in a neat line, but I liked the above card when I was done so I used my Christmas Bulb Builder Punch to punch out some of my leftovers and this time stuck them in a neat line (in hindsight I should have done this the first time, it would have been much quicker!) and coloured them in with a festive Real Red and Call Me Clover colour combo:

Here are both of my cards together:

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. 

The 'Making Spirits Bright' stamp set is one of the (many!) retired stamp sets I own that didn't see much love first time around, so it was fun to revisit it for today's cards. 

I have the first of my monthly card classes today using the Beautifully Braided Bundle so will be sharing some of those creations with you later this week. In the meantime, enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

No product table today as the stamp sets used on today's cards are retired; current colours are listed above.

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

I used Karren's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (turned through 90 degrees) for my layout this week and decided to use this fun stamp 'Christmas Crowd' again but in a somewhat less traditional way - take a look:

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

I stamped the image in Versamark then heat embossed it in silver and coloured with my Stampin' Blends, adding either clear Wink of Stella or Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the white areas for added sparkle. I heat embossed my silver sentiment onto vellum so that it wouldn't overwhelm the main image too much and added both a strip of Mercury Glass acetate over the Seaside Spray border edge of my card, with a strip of Seaside Spray scalloped edge linen ribbon to border my piece of Whisper White. A sprinkle of snowflake sequins completes my card.

Normally I wouldn't dream of colouring this image in anything but traditionally festive colours such as red and green (I mean, a blue Santa?!) yet I thought it would be a good opportunity to show how even a large image can be successfully coloured with only a few colours and supplies and whilst a break from the norm, I quite like the finished result. What do you think? Do you ever dress Santa in anything other than red or is that an absolute no-go?

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:

We understand that you are super busy in the run up to Christmas however we hope you can find a few minutes to craft along with us this week! Since it's our last challenge of 2019 before we take a break for Christmas, it's also time for us to say goodbye to our wonderful trio of 2019 guest designers: Su Mohr, Wanda Cullen and Windy Ellard. All three of them have proved worthy guest designers and share some fabulous creations with us this year. We will be sad to see them leave us and would like to thank each of them for their efforts. We look forward to welcoming in a new team of guest designers in the new year - more about that in a later PP post!

Enjoy your day; I have a busy day with a quick Christmas shopping trip, followed by the Christmas swim squad outing to the Snow Dome for some winter sledging and then an evening of tree decorating and Christmas card writing. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Crowd Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Seaside Spray Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Seaside Spray 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon (£7.50)	Seaside Spray A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Mercury Glass Designer Acetate (£10.75)	Snowflake Sequins (£5.50)	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (£5.50)	Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)

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

Since this challenge theme was the North Pole, I had to go with a Santa and his festive friends - take a look:

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

I used this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout and heat embossed my sentiment in white onto my Real Red card base before stamping my single stamp image from 'Christmas Crowd' in Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto my top layer of Whisper White and colouring with my Stampin' Blends. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the fur on Santa's suit and a sprinkling of snowflake sequins, before popping my panel up on dimensionals and attaching to the front of my card base. I also stamped the outline image on the inside of my card behind my sentiment:

Now I know not all of Santa's Christmas crowd can be normally found in the North Pole (cue the penguin!!) however I think for such a cute bunch we can make an exception and grant a little creative licence!

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:

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 day; we had a day packed with sport yesterday so today will be about homework and baking for tomorrow's school charity bake sale. I have a busy week ahead but I have managed to make and photograph some other projects, so I'll be back tomorrow with more Christmas goodness to share. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Crowd Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
So Saffron Light Stampin’ Blends Marker (£4.25)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Night Of Navy Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Basic Black Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)
Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Snowflake Sequins (£5.50)