Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

So I toyed with going with a thank you card today, as it is Thanksgiving in the USA - happy Thanksgiving to my fellow team members and any other US followers today! In the end I decided to go with something a little different from me; I watched this video here by Jennifer McGuire recently and have been keen to try the embossed impressions technique; these colours were perfect for what I had in mind. Here's my card:

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

Rich Red Watercolour - I created a watercolour background for my central panel using Delightful Dijon and Cherry Cobbler inks and my aquapainter. I also spritzed my card with a mix of alcohol and clear Wink of Stella to give an all-over subtle shimmer and allowed it to dry thoroughly before moving on the next step.

Embossed Impression - To create my ornament feature, I used the round bauble from my Delicate Ornament Thinlits, inked it with Versamark then placed the thinlit onto the watercolour paper and rolled it carefully through my Big Shot. The Big Shot sandwich here is key: multi purpose platform open to Tab 2, acrylic plate, silicon mat, watercolour paper, thinlit die then lastly the final acrylic plate. This allows the die to create an inked impression on the watercolour paper, without it cutting. I then heat embossed this with gold embossing powder to give a fine line of gold detailing. I then used my gold Wink of Stella pen to highlight each of the detailed sections on the bauble for added sparkle - the close up below does show some of the detail, but I can assure you in real life it's gorgeous (even if I say so myself!):

Touches of Gold - I finished my card with a gold foil mat and a gold foil bauble hook, hung by a piece of gold thread with bow detail along with a gold foil 'merry' sentiment cut with my Christmas Greetings Thinlits and mounted on a few additional layers to add some depth. As for the kraft - I used it for my cardbase; the neutral tone really allowed my watercoloured shimmery panel to take centre stage.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

I did manage to get myself very inky making this card, however I'm quite pleased with the results and am looking forward to trying this technique with other thinlits dies.

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too! This will be my last week as a designer on the Connie and Mary Thursday team; family demands have led me to have to scale back my commitments and as such I am stepping down. I have enjoyed my time with the team; this has always been one of my favourite challenges and will still play along when I can.

That's all from me; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies	Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy
Heat Tool (Uk)	Watercolor Paper	Gold Foil Sheets	Kraft 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Gold Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Aqua Painters

Stampin' Up!'s Online Extravaganza is here! Starting tonight at 11pm GMT for one week only, 21-28 November, you can save up to 40% on select products. To sweeten the deals, we will be having 24-hour sales on the first and last day of the promotion, featuring special products available for that day only. 

Select items (those marked with an asterisk), including those that will be on the future autumn/winter catalogue retiring list, are available only while supplies last.

The all-important details for the promotion are as follows:
• You must use the bundle item codes provided. Discounts will not be applied if individual item numbers are entered separately. 
• Some bundles are exclusive to Online Extravaganza and will not be available after the promotion ends. 
• There is no minimum purchase required in order to receive the discounted price. 
• Additional products from current catalogues may be purchased on the same order.

Here is the full list of deals this week:

You can download a PDF version of the deals list by clicking here.

Don't forget, the first of the 24 hour flash sales begins tonight at 11pm GMT and includes the following items with some great discounts available:

Some great deals there, with the enamel dots and gift bag punch board being two of my favourites - no excuses to not have your Christmas packaging sorted! 

Happy shopping everyone!

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

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 new Hostess Code for February UYGWGF4W if your order is under £150 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:

Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies	Metal Rimmed Pearls	Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set
Snow Flurry Punch	Wondrous Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set

One of my favourite stamp sets, Sheltering Tree, on offer today and some great punch and framelit set offers too! 

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Good evening lovely blog readers! Christmas preparations are full steam ahead here in the James household and now that the Juniors have broken up from school for the holidays I'm sure there will be even less crafting time than usual; so tough when there is a huge big box of pre-order Spring-Summer seasonal goodies sitting in the corner of my office! Luckily for you I still have some Christmas cards and projects that I haven't shared with you. So today I'm sharing one of the cards from my all day Christmas stamp-a-stack back in September - this one features the Home for Christmas DSP and one of the stamps from the Cozy Christmas set and was a favourite for the ladies who attended:

The Pacific Point really makes the colours on this card pop and the addition of the gold corded trim and the red glimmer paper poinsettia cut out using the framelit from the Delicate Ornament Thinlit Dies set adds a lovely touch of sparkle to this card. If you are in need of some last minute Christmas cards, you could knock a few of these out in no time. This sentiment is one of my absolute favourites - it says everything that is good about the holidays for me.

That's all from me tonight; The Paper Players team and I are taking a couple of weeks break over the Christmas period but fear not - I will be back tomorrow with another festive project that I think you'll like. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cozy Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Gold Cording Trim	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Banner Triple Punch	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies
Red Glimmer Paper

A quick post from me today to share one of the cards we made at this month's Technique class, featuring the Embellished Ornaments stamp set and Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies. For this card, I combined it with the 'Season of Cheer' designer series paper and used it to fill the framelit space of the bauble:

I chose soft Sky and Night of Navy for the mats and layers for my card and having stamped a sentiment on the front, then also decorated the inside of the card to co-ordinate:

I layered the sentiment over the stamped bauble for extra detail and interest. This stamp set and framelits are one of the great bundle offers that you can find in the seasonal catalogue, with 15% off the combined price if you purchase both items together. Who doesn't love a bargain?!

I really like this card - the colours are rather unconventional for this kind of card yet they are the perfect match for the designer papers. I think this may actually be my favourite of this month's class cards! I set my ladies a challenge too - to use the bauble shape that was wastage on this card to create another one - I'll be sharing them on my Facebook page in due course as their entries start coming in!

If you live in or around Northampton and you would like to join me for either of next month's technique card classes, we will be featuring the 'Happy Scenes' stamp set and co-ordinating Hearth and Home framelit dies. Please get in touch for more details!

I have another class tomorrow - this time Autumn home decor is the name of the game! Come back tomorrow to see what we made and also find out what's on the latest set of Wednesday Weekly Deals and a new project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Bundle	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Season Of Cheer Designer Series Paper	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
Gold Foil Sheets

A quick - and late! - post from me today, but since I didn't post yesterday I thought I'd better squeeze one in today! I was fundraising at a MacMillan Coffee morning yesterday and have been busy with the usual flurry of household chores, homework and swimming clubs that generally occupy a Saturday in the James household today. The lovely ladies over at Less Is More have a challenge for 'something shiny' this week and I have the perfect CAS creation to fit - here's my card:

I used a simple base of Real Red and a mat of Whisper White, onto which I stamped 'have a' and 'Christmas' in red around a gold foil 'Merry' diecut, formed using my Christmas Greetings thinlits (I am so in love with these!) I cut an ornament shape out of gold foil using my Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies and my Big Shot and backed this with a 1 3/4" circle of red glimmer paper (well what is shine without a little sparkle too?!), added a gold cord trim bow and adhered the ornament slightly off the edge of the card to look as if it was hanging from the 'y' of 'merry'. 

I designed this card as one of the makes for my all day Christmas stamp-a-stack this week and the ladies present loved it, although having to remove the tiny pieces from the ornament was proving tedious by the time they had made six of them! I'm also using the ornament dies in my October technique class in a couple of weeks time and can't wait - combined with the Embellished Ornaments stamp set (another 15% off bundle when you buy the two together!) they really are very versatile.

Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players; come back then, you won't want to miss it!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies	Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Bundle	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets
Gold Cording Trim	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Red Glimmer Paper