Today I have a quick 'extra' post to share a card that I made for the current challenge over at Fusion that I'm also linking up over at Global Design Project where their theme is 'Hey Pumpkin' #GDP315:

I love both the Fusion sketch and inspiration photo, but as I have no current pumpkin products in my collection, I went on the hunt through my retired paper for some featuring neutral coloured pumpkins and ended up making a card that comprises entirely retired product, save the basic colours which are all current (Mint Macaron, Old Olive, Basic White and Cajun Craze):

I found this lovely retired paper in the 'Country Lane' paper pack, and paired it with a white layered pumpkin, diecut with the Patterned Pumpkins dies and tied with some retired old olive twine, and finished the whole thing off with an oversize sentiment cut with the Expressions Thinlits Dies.

Thank you Fusion for the inspiration to use up more of my hoarded paper and give some of my retired tools some love - this card is for you my readers, who am I am thankful continue to follow along and sometimes even comment as I share my crafty musings and creations with you!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my sweet friend, the lovely LeAnne, to host this week and since it is the fifth week of the month she has a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

The fun thing about tic-tac-toe are the many creative possibilities the board offers and as you will see from the design team cards this week, there is a wealth of inspiration to choose from. 

I decided that I would go down the centre for my card this week - patterned paper, pumpkin, orange/rust (although by coincidence my card fulfils one of the diagonals of diecut, pumpkin, green too) for my card this week - take a look:

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

Inspired By Country Lane - My card today was inspired by the bold repeating pattern on my sheet of Country Home Designer Series Paper. I used the Mint Macaron green to frame my card and colour my milk churn, and paired it with a small panel of Whisper White that has been embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder too; it's a little difficult to see in the photo but I wanted to keep the balance of colour light and the panel not too busy.

Blended Country Home - I stamped and partially diecut my filled milk churn using my Stitched Shapes circle thinlit, courtesy of the country Home stamp set, then coloured it with similar shades to the milk churns on the DSP using my Stampin' Blends. I'm really pleased that the seasonal catalogue includes additional shades of these marker pens; they give such a smooth finish. I added a small bow of braided linen trim to finish.

Pick A Pair of Pumpkins - To complete the picture, I added a pair of pumpkins from the retired 'Pick A Pumpkin' stamp set. I heat embossed them both in white onto Basic Grey cardstock, and coloured one of them with my Cajun Craze Blends markers - along with the berries in my milk churn and the thankful sentiment, these are my rust/orange contributions to the tic-tac-toe board.

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 hope you like my Fall themed card today; I'm also linking up with the team over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is Nature/Fall. 

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; having spent yesterday dividing my time between hockey, a swimming gala and a fairly hefty jam making session (raspberry jam and chilli jam, in case you're wondering!) to use up the last of my own garden harvest, I'm hoping today will be slightly less hectic! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Country Lane 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim (£6.50)	Blackberry Bliss Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Cajun Craze Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)
Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

I took a few days away from my blog - call it a little birthday gift to myself as I was celebrating being another year older on Friday! It hasn't stopped me creating though and as it's Sunday you all know what that means: it's time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our returning Player, the lovely Anne Marie Hile, to host this week and she has a gorgeous colour challenge for you to work with:

These colours were asking for something natural and autumnal and I decided to do another make using products from one of my current favourite suites, the Country Lane Suite, for my card today and I used the current sketch over at Inspire.Create for the layout of my card - take a look:

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

My Colour Of Choice - I decided to use the Country Lane designer series paper that you see as the two outer vertical border strips as the starting point for my card today, so decided that my colour of choice in addition to the Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake and Blackberry Bliss chosen by Anne Marie would be Early Expresso - a rich, dark brown that outlines the cotton on the paper. I used it to heat emboss the outlines of my jug and floral stem arrangement, and to ink my Pinewood Planks embossing folder for my background stitched circle, then finally for my sentiment strip. Whilst there is a lot of white elsewhere on my card, I am counting this as a neutral rather than a colour in its own right.

Lots of Layers -  I couldn't resist adding lots of layers to my focal point; in addition to my fussy cut flower jug, I added an embossed stitched circle and a stitched label in Blackberry Bliss. Sometimes it just has to be the way to go!

An Embellishment or Two - I finished my card with some Blackberry Bliss natural twine and faceted jewels; this adds a bold pop of colour in addition to the purple berries in my floral jug. 

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 really love this Country Lane set - it is so versatile and lends itself to lots of great autumn-inspired cards and the blooms are great for a spot of colouring with Blends too.

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

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Country Lane 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Stitched Labels Framelits Dies (£31.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)
Nature's Twine (£8.25)	Faceted Dots (£5.50)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blackberry Bliss Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)