Today I'm sharing a card with the current challenge over at Global Design Project  #GDP309:

This is another of my cards using the Festive Foliage stamp as my background, this time paired with the robin from the Happy Holly-Days stamp set - take a look:

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

I kept to a black and white colour scheme for my background and sentiment label, with a pop of Real Red for my third choice - the perfect way to emphasise my lovely robin red breast and bring in a flash of festive colour:

I added some red sheer ribbon and rhinestone jewels to complete 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	HAPPY HOLLY-DAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)
BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	RED RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£6.50)	REAL RED 3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON (£6.50)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's Inspired By challenge - I went with the holiday option as I couldn't resist the white and turquoise of the inspiration photo:

I've been making lots of samples using my Festive Foliage background stamp for my online technique class that I held earlier this week and these colours were perfect to demonstrate heat embossing and the use of less traditional colours for a foliage-rich card - take a look:

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

Festive Foliage - I heat embossed the 'Festive Foliage' background stamp in white onto Bermuda Bay cardstock and added a simple white mat border to accentuate it. Background stamps are a great way to cover a cardfront, but they don't need always need to be coloured. I did brush over the leaf details with some clear Wink of Stella; it's quite difficulty to see in the photos, but it adds a lovely subtle shimmer in real life.

Winter Wishes - I decided to add a 'Winter' sentiment to the front of my card using some retired Bermuda Bay ombre paper from Sale-A-Bration earlier in the year, popped up on a label and backed with a couple of co-ordinating ribbons. 

Well Defined - There was a reason why I chose 'Winter' as the greeting on the front of my card; I wanted it to follow through to my sentiment from 'Well Defined that I used on the inside:

Whilst this card would work for the holiday season, I thought it would be perfect for seasonal greetings or even to send to someone who celebrates a birthday during the winter months.

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:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	PLAYFUL ALPHABET DIES (£32.00)	OPAL ROUNDS (£7.00)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)

Today I have a couple of festive Christmas cards that I made using my favourite 'Festive Foliage' background stamp from the annual catalogue - here's the first one:

I stamped one background stamp in Real Red on Basic White and another in Versamark onto Real Red cardstock and heat embossed it in white, then split the panels and swapped them so that there is one of each on each card for contrast. Here's the second one:

I added a sentiment from 'Poinsettia Petals' on a label cut with my Tasteful Labels Dies and backed each with some white glittered organdy ribbon from the upcoming mini catalogue:  

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. 

I've been looking at creative ways to use background stamps for my upcoming online class in September that features both the 'Festive Foliage' and 'Daisy Garden' background stamps and will look at ways to use them for all-year round cards. A split panel card is a great way to create two cards quickly using the same background stamp, so today's post is a nice taster for my class ladies who are already signed up for this class. If you would like to join them, you can find full details for this and all my online classes on my Facebook Page here or just message me for more information.

I used the sketch over at Inspire.Create and the monochromatic red colour scheme from over at The Rainbow Challenge as further inspiration for my cards today and since I'm still doing Christmas I'm also linking up with Christmas Craft Creations and their 'anything goes' theme.

The weather here has alternated today between brilliant sunshine and torrential downpours and apart from giving up on using the washing line completely, I have successfully managed to get a whole bunch of errands run whilst dodging the rain (mostly!) Since we are on the summer holidays, the children are taking turns to help out with cooking the evening meal. One is more enthusiastic than the other (I wonder if you can guess which one!) Needless to say, if I survive the flour tornado that is currently my kitchen, I will be eating Turkish-style flatbread pizzas for dinner this evening! Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)
TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	POINSETTIA PETALS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£25.00)

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

I usually have to spend a long time planning for a speed challenge, however my idea this week came together in a jiffy - take a look:

I went all-out for Christmas with my card today! Here's the low-down:

Festive Foliage - My favourite new background stamp in the new annual catalogue is the Festive Foliage stamp I've used on my card today - so perfect for festive Christmas backgrounds and featuring holly, pine, mistletoe and more. Using my Stamparatus, I stamped it tone-on-tone in Shaded Spruce on the same colour cardstock - this is one of my favourite Christmas greens. 

Playful Alphabet - I added the word 'NOEL' in gold foil and cut with my Playful Alphabet dies, raised on foam adhesive sheets, across my card front for a simple sentiment. I added a liberal sprinkling of (retired) gold glitter enamel dots in place of some of the dots in the stamped design.

Keep It Simple - The key to a speed challenge is always to 'keep it simple' and this card definitely does: the stamping took no time at all using my Stamparatus and I stamped it on a panel to make it easy to cut to an even size afterwards, a simple gold foil diecut sentiment and a liberal sprinkling of glittery enamel dots. My card was completed in 9 minutes 8 seconds - and most of that time was taken peeling and placing my enamel dots! They add a nice touch of sparkle amongst the green though, don't you think?

After I'd completed today's card, I went back to my Stamparatus and stamped another bunch of these green panels to make a few more stepped-up cards; I'll share those with you another day.

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• 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.
• In a speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	PLAYFUL ALPHABET DIES (£32.00)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)
FOAM ADHESIVE SHEETS (£7.50)