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

I am still in festive card making mode, so thought I would use these colours for a card to play along with the 'Christmas' theme over at Inspire.Create and the the 'Christmas Animals (with hats)' theme over at Double D Challenges and create another card using the 'Festive & Fun' stamp set - take a look:

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

I used a Melon Mambo card base and added a strip of Real Red cardstock that I had added some strips of (retired) red glimmer paper to, then set about creating my Christmas tag. I decided to use the fun image of the rhino pulling a sleigh full of Christmas gifts and robins, and created my tag by just snipping off the corners of my rectangle - no die required! I added just a hint of the three main challenge colours to my design using my Stampin' Blends markers; slightly unconventional, but I think it works?

 I added a trio of enamel dots and a sentiment fussy cut from the 'Merry Christmas To You' stamp set, before incorporating my black and white with my trusty gingham ribbon, wrapped around the card and tied to my tag with a bow. Such a bold colour scheme was asking for a similarly bold sentiment inside my card too:

What do you think? I really rather like these colours for a Christmas card - it's fun to ring the changes with an unconventional colour palette. Are you done with your Christmas card making yet? I've written most of mine now, so any more Christmas makes will be heading into the 2024 pile!

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:

This will be our last Paper Players challenge of the year, and is also the time when we say goodbye to our wonderful 2023 guest designers, Suzy, Fran and Tara. Ladies you have been amazing - we will miss you! We have some exciting new guests lined up for 2024, so keep an eye out on The Paper Players blog for a future announcement!

Enjoy your day; I am recovering from the festivities of last night's office Christmas party (Jason's, not mine!) and we are collecting the eldest of the James Juniors from university, having just completed her first term - that just flew by! I will also be packing for a last minute pre-Christmas vacation - more on that another time! So all in all, a busy day. I'll be back soon with another project but until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FESTIVE & FUN CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (25.00)	JOY TO YOU CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BLACK & WHITE 1/4" (6.4 MM) GINGHAM RIBBON (6.75)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MORE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'International Animal Rights Day' which is on 10th December. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used alcohol markers, animals/critters/birds and stripes and I combined both the 'make a statement' and sketch inspiration over at Try Stamping On Tuesday for my card and this is what I came up with:

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

More Wishes - Ordinarily if I was going to use a large sentiment, I would make this the central focal point of my card, but the layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday had me intrigued and I wondered if I could instead use my bold sentiment to frame my illustration. The 'More Wishes' stamp set is perfect for this approach: it's just wide enough to create a frame whilst still leaving a central aperture. I did need to get creative with my choice of sentiment and how I laid it out across the four frame elements; as you can see, my repeated sentiment actually starts and ends on the long side. I added a cute robin from 'Festive & Fun' to delineate - I think it works but I'd love to know what you think!

Festive & Fun - I chose one of the images from 'Festive & Fun' to fill the centre of my frame, stamping it in Memento Black and colouring with my Stampin' Blends to co-ordinate with my frame:

Bold Colour - My colour scheme was inspired by the palette over at Global Design Project #GDP421 this week. I stamped the words on my frame using my Stamparatus and stamped them several times each to get a good, solid ink coverage. This does make the colours slightly darker and more intense; I actually really like this colour combination for a modern, festive Christmas 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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

MORE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	FESTIVE & FUN CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (25.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	POOL PARTY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	PARAKEET PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PARAKEET PARTY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	PECAN PIE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)