Monday already - where does the time go?! This week promises to be full of fun and excitement, but for today there is lots to be done! I have a Stampin' Up! party to prepare for this evening and I need to put the finishing touches to tomorrow's project class, so a nice early blog post is most definitely the order of the day! As Halloween approaches, lots of the current colour challenges have colour palettes to match - today's card uses this week's colours over at Pals Paper Arts and this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

There are some great examples on the challenge page where these colours have been used in a non-traditional way, but I decided to stick with the spooky theme and create another Halloween card - take a look:

I used a base of Basic Black cardstock, then used a panel of Tangelo Twist that is narrower than the base and popped up on dimensionals. I used my little letter thinlits to cut the word 'BOO' out of the length of the orange cardstock, then I used my Fun Fall framelits to cut two ghosts out of Very Vanilla and adhered these to the edge of the Tangelo Twist piece, aligning the 'O's to look like the ghost's mouth - they really look like they're floating off the edge of the card. I finished with a stamped sentiment and tied some black and white baker's twine around the Tangelo Twist layer and tied in a bow.

Whilst I used the negative space of the die cut letters for my card, the letters themselves didn't go to waste - I stamped some bats from 'Freaky Friends' onto a Very Vanilla envelope then adhered my 'Boo!' on top to add interest. Waste not, want not, as the saying goes!

I hope you like today's fun spooky card; back tomorrow with something altogether more Christmassy! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Fun Fall Framelits Dies	Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Little Letters Thinlits Die	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Basic Black Baker's Twine
Stampin' Dimensionals

It's Sunday which means one thing - it's time for our weekly challenge over at The Paper Players! This week Sandy has a great sketch for us:

Sketches are my absolute favourite challenges - so many possibilities, and this sketch is no exception! So much so, I actually made two cards using this sketch already which I thought I would share with you today. If you've come from The Paper Players blog, this is the card that you will have seen there:

My first take on the sketch was this fall-inspired card, where I layered a combination of 1" punched circles and little leaves cut out using the Big Shot and the Fall Fest framelits, in Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow and Tangelo Twist on a base of Baked Brown Sugar, and finished with a simple knotted bow of Hello Honey satin ribbon and a sentiment from the 'Good Greetings' hostess set. I haven't used this colour combination before but thought it would make a nice fall colour scheme; I prefer these colours in cardstock rather than stamped on Whisper White, as I find the inks too intense somehow. I am linking this card up with the challenge over at SUO Challenges this week as they are looking for cards using autumnal colours, so this totally fits the bill.

I liked this sketch so much, I couldn't stop at one card though; the card below is the very first thing that came to me when I looked at the sketch and it was so simple I just had to make it and share it with you:

I stamped the 3 pairs of eyes from 'Freaky Friends' twice each in Versamark onto Basic Black cardstock and heat embossed in Crushed Curry, then did the same with the sentiment and heat embossed that in white. I then matted this panel onto a panel of Crushed Curry and a Basic Black card base. Simple, but so effective in real life - the eyes have a real shine as if they are looking out of the card at you!

I had to stop there for today, but I know I will use this sketch again - it is a keeper! Do pop by The Paper Players site and check out the blogs of the rest of the design team - there are some awesome cards this week, as always!

Right, we have a morning of sport in the James household today - Rebecca and I are going to explore a new hockey club and the boys are off to check out a rugby club, before reconvening for lunch and hopefully a restful afternoon.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fun Fall Framelits Dies	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Hello Honey 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar
Hello Honey A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	1 Inch Circle Punch	Freaky Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Basic Black A4 Card Stock

Happy Monday everyone! I enjoyed a restful Sunday yesterday and can honestly say I feel like I am starting the week on the front foot again for the first time in a few weeks! Today I'm sharing a cute clean and simple Halloween card that I made with this week's colours over at Colour Q and the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch:

Despite the adorable wellie boots in the inspiration picture, when I saw this week's Colour Q colours I couldn't help but wonder if I could make them work for a Halloween card. This is what I came up with:

I stamped the Frankenstein stamp from 'Freaky Friends' in Blackberry Bliss onto some retired Summer Starfruit cardstock and fussy cut him out. I used a piece of film strip made using Calypso Coral cardstock and the On Film framelit, modified to make it smaller and placed the film strip behind my layered sentiment banner and then my figure on top. Lastly, I finished with some Blackberry Bliss bats to add to the Halloween theme.

I hope you like today's clean and simple Halloween card. I'm off to move mountains (of the craft and ironing pile variety!) Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Freaky Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	On Film Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

Today my blog posts are a little like buses: nothing for ages then three come at once! Well, maybe not for ages, but this post was actually yesterday's scheduled post (apologies to those of you who were waiting for a post only to find it never arrived!) but it didn't publish as there were some server problems at my blog hosting site. All sorted today though, so here is Tuesday's post - soon to be followed by the Wednesday Weekly Deals and Wednesday's actual creative post - this week's Colour Me..! card!

Today I'm sharing another Halloween card, featuring lots of goodies from the current seasonal catalogue. I'm also using this week's colour palette over at CAS Colours and Sketches:

I haven't played along with these ladies for a little while and this week's colours were just perfect for my spooky Halloween card:

I used a Blackberry Bliss base for my card, to which I adhered a piece of Tangelo Twist, partially overlaid with a section of Basic Black cardstock, which I punched down one side with the Confetti Stars punch to allow the orange to peek through and then alongside this I stamped a house from the 'Holiday Home' photopolymer stamp set in Whisper White Kraft ink. I used the co-ordinating framelit to cut out the same shaped house out of a Lost Lagoon tag, made using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, and after decorating, adhered this to my card using dimensionals so that the house could be seen on the layer beneath. I punched a small moon using my 3/4" circle punch and decorated this and my tag with the bat and lamp images from the Holiday Home set. I also stamped a ghost from the same set onto Whisper White, fussy cut him and adhered him so that it looks as if he is floating out of the window of my haunted house.

The Holiday Home set is one of my favourites in the seasonal catalogue - it is so versatile, with options from new home to Christmas, Halloween and tons in between and it comes with lots of little stamps to enable you to make your cards unique, along with matching framelits to make for easiest ever cutting out. What's more, if you buy the bundle you save 15% so all in all lots of great reasons to put this in your Top 5! To finish, I added my sentiment from the 'Ghoulish Greetings' stamp set - perfect for my spooky house - and a piece of Tangelo Twist satin ribbon to my tag.

A fun Halloween-inspired card for this time of year; I think I might use mine as an RSVP to an invitation I received to a Halloween party this year. I often have fun with my kiddies at home at this time of year, but must confess to being quite excited at the prospect of a family Halloween party, with obligatory fancy dress (pictures to follow nearer the time!!)

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals and my Design team card for Colour Me...! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Holiday Home Photopolymer Bundle	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Confetti Stars Punch	3/4 Inch Circle Punch
Tangelo Twist 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

It's the start of the week and I've had such a busy - and productive! - day; I love days like that! I'm late blogging though, so a quick post from me with a card I made today using this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I've been making Halloween card samples for a party that I'm running this week, where the hostess is mad about all things Halloween! This sketch allowed me to make a really quick and simple card using one of the cute monsters from 'Freaky Friends' and probably the only piece of designer series paper in the Motley Monsters DSP pack that I really wasn't sure about. Here's my card:

So my American friends tell me the little triangles on this paper are known as 'candy corn', a popular sweet treat at Halloween. We don't have it here in the UK and wasn't sure how to use it on my card, when it came to me - I could pair it with a stamp that I'm never quite sure how to use either - the 'Om Nom Nom' stamp in the 'Ghoulish Greetings' set and one of the cute little monsters from 'Freaky Friends'. So using the DSP as my starting point, I cut a base of co-ordinating Crushed Curry cardstock and added a pennant banner of the DSP. I stamped my monster in Memento Black onto Tangerine Tango cardstock and punched it out with a 1 3/4" circle punch and mounted this on a 2" circle punched out of Basic Black. I added a decorative twine bow using the extra thick twine in the seasonal catalogue (it comes in Old Olive too) and lastly stamped my sentiment, a combination of two stamps from the 'Ghoulish Greetings' set. I was going to go with the 'Om Nom Nom' on its own - I figured this is what the monster would be saying if he was eating all the candy corn, right? - but then I added 'my little monster' as I think I will use it as a funny card for one of the James juniors - either the one who is often my little monster, or the one who never stops eating - I'll leave you to work out which is which!

Back tomorrow with another Halloween card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock
Freaky Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	White & Tangerine Tango Two-Tone Trim	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	2" Circle Punch