Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the amazing LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

My card is all about the winter blues today - perfect for the Double D challenge (thanks for the heads up on this one LeAnne!) I really liked LeAnne's sketch layout this week and decided to use those panels to highlight one of the photographic images in the Feels Like Frost designer series paper pack - take a look:

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

I chose a lovely image of frosty seed heads against a blue background and cut out the panels using my Rectangle Stitched Dies before piecing back together to create the finished layout:

I brushed the frosty elements with my clear Wink of Stella brush which is difficult to see in the photo but give it a lovely subtle sparkle in real life. I added a sentiment from 'Snowflake Wishes' and a mat border of silver glimmer paper and finished off the inside with a sentiment from the same set:

The most tricky part of today's card was cutting the stitched rectangles and aligning them to the image. Otherwise, a pretty straightforward card!

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

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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; today is officially 'Stir up Sunday', an old tradition when home cooks spend the last Sunday before advent 'stirring up' their Christmas pudding and in modern times their Christmas cake and homemade mincemeat too.  The day gets its name from the beginning of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer, which begins with the words, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people". We had a day of preparation yesterday and made a batch of mincemeat and some mince pies; today we are making Christmas puddings and cake - yum! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FEELS LIKE FROST 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)

SNOWFLAKE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£24.00)

RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)

SEASIDE SPRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

WINK OF STELLA CLEAR GLITTER BRUSH (£7.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the amazing Jaydee to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

Jaydee's sketch has three vertical images; it's a great sketch that is wide open to interpretation. I considered something that incorporated three panels but in the end decided on a much more liberal interpretation and decided on three candles - take a look:

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

Sweetest Time - I've used the 'Sweetest Time' stamp and co-ordinating borders dies before (here if you missed it), but had yet to combine with the candles. I went all-out on today's card, layering a piece of Feels Like Frost foiled designer paper (it has a pines pattern but that is obscured by the main panels), followed by the panel with the stamped candles, followed by the integrated holly border.

Borders in Blue - Whilst this border looks great in traditional reds and greens, I thought I would ring the changes and make a blue card today. I know that you don't get blue holly and berries but it's the cardmaker's prerogative to get creative with colour, right? That's my story anyway and I'm sticking to it! 

Foil, Frost and Sparkle - The challenge over at Just Add Ink this week is to add two of foil, ribbon and sequins to your card. I did use some foil-embossed designer paper for my background layer to compliment my silver heat-embossed flames and sentiment, but I also added some loops of Seaside Spray/Silver metallic ribbon behind my paper-pieced holly border and since the diecut berries are obscured by my sentiment banner, I added a selection of clear epoxy droplets and a few Seaside Spray sequins for some added sparkle; you can see them better on the photo below:

So I inadvertently ended up incorporating all three - and I love the finished effect!

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 have no specific plans; if the weather is as poor as it has been these last few days, we may hunker down for a movie afternoon. We watched Disney's live remake of 'Mulan' last week; have you seen it? We thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SWEETEST TIME BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	FEELS LIKE FROST 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	FROSTED & CLEAR EPOXY DROPLETS (£8.25)	WOVEN THREADS SEQUIN ASSORTMENT (£4.75)	SEASIDE SPRAY 1/4" (6.4 MM) METALLIC RIBBON (£6.50)	SEASIDE SPRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SEASIDE SPRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN’ PAD (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	SILVER STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a busy day with a great class this morning and physio and some chores this afternoon, so a quick post from me today with a Christmas card I made using the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches this week:

I had a few ideas for this sketch but ended up deciding to pair a returning favourite, the Feels Like Frost speciality paper with a cutaway circle, a diecut from the retired Snowfall Thinlits set and a heat embossed sentiment from the new Snowflake Wishes stamp set:

I added a few rhinestones to the foil diecut too for a little extra sparkle:

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 another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNOWFLAKE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£24.00)

FEELS LIKE FROST 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)

LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)

WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

SILVER STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

This is my second post today - if you missed it, you can read my earlier post about Sale-A-Bration and the new Spring-Summer mini catalogue here. In this post I'm sharing my design team card for our first challenge of the new year over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonally-themed recipe challenge:

I used Amy's versatile layout over at Freshly Made Sketches for the design of my card, then grabbed my recipe ingredients and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

A Hint of Hammered Metal - Today's card uses some unusually wintery product, considering it is the launch day for the Spring-Summer mini catalogue, but whilst lots of the items used are from the Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue, it's still all available (kind of!). Firstly the hammered metal embossing folder that I used for my silver foil background layer is a carryover product and continues to be available to purchase. You can't see much of the effect on today's card, but it does look great on a larger panel, adding lots of great texture and detail. 

Au Revoir Feels Like Frost - I decided to use a piece of foiled snowflake Feels Like Frost DSP for the main rectangle on the front of my card. Whilst we have bid farewell to this popular paper, it is for the first time an 'au revoir' rather than a goodbye forever - it is one of the favourite items that will return again with the launch of the 2020 Autumn-Winter mini catalogue - yay! So if you don't have a stash of this paper already, you've only another 7 months to wait until you can buy some more!!

New Year Inspiration - The sentiment on today's card is taken from a brand new set, called 'Beautifully Braided'. I had this set out on my desk as it features in my January technique card class and couldn't resist using these uplifting words on my card today. As the Headmaster at Ben's school often says to the children, "If you can be only one thing, be kind" - words to live by, in 2020 and beyond I think. Finally, a sprinkling of rhinestones completes my 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Hammered Metal 3D Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Silver Foil Sheets (£4.75)
Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Beautifully Braided Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£16.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a theme challenge:

I saw the wonderful autumn trees on Heather's badge this week and had an idea to create something inspired by this, but I couldn't get out of the Christmas zone that I am in this week as I plough ahead with the final preparations for my forthcoming Creative Escapes weekend craft retreat the weekend after next and with the beautiful Feels Like Frost papers still out on my desk following my technique class earlier this week, I couldn't resist another card featuring them - take a look:

This week's Inspire.Create sketch was perfect for a large centrepiece and this photographic image of snowy fir trees is worthy of a showcase. The photographer has managed to capture the sunlight peeking through the trees and the bokeh along with the soft pink sky make for a stunning image I think. I bordered my DSP with a couple of strips of sparkle glimmer paper to add to the feeling of frost and snow and used a Purple Posy card base - an unusual choice for a Christmas card, yet I think it ties n with the paper nicely.

Today's card really does feel a little like cheating, as I couldn't even bring myself to stamp a sentiment on the front of my card. The only stamping was this sentiment from 'Perfectly Plaid' that graced the inside, along with a tiny offcut of DSP from the front of my card (waste, not, want not!):

This card really would take no time at all to create, even though in reality it took me ages as I deliberated over whether to add a sentiment or not - does that ever happen to you when making a card? Still, at least now I can go and make a few more using the other sheets of this paper in the pack in record time!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£13.00)

Sparkle Glimmer Paper (£4.75)

Purple Posy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Purple Posy Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)

Perfectly Plaid Photopolymer Stamp Set (En) (£16.00)

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I can't believe it's Thursday already - as usual the week is flying by! Tonight I have a super quick post with an even quicker card that I made for the current challenge over at Just Us Girls:

Once I saw that the word of the week was Designer Paper how could this self-confessed designer series paper addict not play along?! Here's my super-simple Christmas card featuring the Feels Like Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper:

I mounted my DSP onto a Night of Navy mat and an extra-thick Whisper White cardbase, having first stamped my sentiment from the Frosted Foliage stamp set directly onto my DSP. And that's it! So simple. I made a version of this card in my technique class earlier this week; we were featuring the Feels Like Frost Suite and this card was voted the unanimous favourite - it just goes to show that sometimes stamps, ink and paper (of the patterned kind!) is all you need! A great example of #SimpleStamping.

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 lunchtime with my card for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£13.00)

Frosted Foliage Cling Stamp Set (En) (£19.00)

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)