A lockdown weekend with pouring rain gave me extra crafting time today so I thought I'd squeeze in a second post with a thanksgiving card that I made for a friend of mine, that was inspired by a number of challenges:

I used Julee's fabulous-as-always Mojo Monday sketch and the Card Concept inspiration photo with its rich oranges and browns and pumpkins galore inspired me to use the gold-embossed pumpkin paper from the Gilded Autumn paper pack for my clean and layered card. I decided to pair it with one of my favourite sentiments from 'Country Home' for a Cajun Craze monochromatic card - take a look:

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

My Gilded Autumn embossed paper was the starting point for today's card. I just love it! I added a stitched gold foil border and a layered pumpkin, made from one of my retired Patterned Pumpkin Dies and then with the pumpkin coloured with Cajun Craze Blends and splattered with gold shimmer paint, before adding some die cut leaves and vines:

I finished my sentiment banner with a double bow of Cajun Craze metallic ribbon and gold twine for some extra shine. So what do you think? I don't use Cajun Craze that often and there's a lot of it on this card, but I think the gold really takes things up a notch and compliments it beautifully. This almost feels like a Cinderella-esque rags to riches card, metaphorically speaking! I'm also linking this card up over at SUO Challenges where the theme is thanksgiving.

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:

GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	COUNTRY HOME PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)
GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	BASKET WEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)	WONDER OF THE SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

So much seasonal goodness to choose from on Felicita's board this week! I got so excited with all the elements and the lovely Julee's fab Mojo Monday sketch that I covered pretty much every square on this week's board except wreath and Thanksgiving! I paired the beautiful Gilded Autumn papers with lots of rust and one of my most favourite stamp sets to use at this time of year - take a look:

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

Country Home - My milk churn and autumn florals come from the 'Country Home' stamp set that has been around for a while, but I have to say is one of those sets that is a real keeper. I've made many, many cards with this set (and never featured it in a class, interestingly); I've coloured those florals many times and each of them different - search my blog for lots more inspiration using this set. I love the sentiment font and sizes too and they are great for thankful cards, whatever the time of year. My milk churn features a tiny 'thanks' and I saved one of my favourites for the inside of my card:

Rusty Colour - I decided to look at ways to incorporate the 'rust' element into my card and whilst I wasn't in a mood to get messy, I decided that the brushed brass foil (as opposed to copper) would add a nice metallic element and I embossed it using the Tin Tile Embossing Folder for some texture. I also majored on browns in my colour scheme and added some loops of coppery ribbon to my florals too.

A Little Bit Country - Having spent more time than anticipated deciding how best to layer those papers (I alternated each pattern for each layer before deciding), I wanted to keep with my country feel and added some wooden leaf embellishments and some green and white gingham ribbon to finish. A lot going on with this card, but sometimes it's really nice to move away from 'clean and simple' and see how far the layering can take you!

I'm also linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges too where the current theme is Autumn/Fall and my leafy, rusty creation definitely evokes the season for me! 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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; half term continues in the James household with nothing much of interst to report! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

COUNTRY HOME PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	BRUSHED METALLIC CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	TIN TILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	BASKET WEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)
FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	IN GOOD TASTE ELEMENTS (£6.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS MINT MACARON COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CAJUN CRAZE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely LeAnne is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

My card works for either of the diagonals: stitching, circle, diecut or gold foil, circle, designer paper today! I decided to CASe Sharon's card over at Less Is More with a trio of punched autumn leaves for a card for someone special today - take a look:

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

I featured a small area of the vanilla foiled Gilded Autumn designer paper between some curvy stitched borders (courtesy of the snowdrifts in the Freezin' Friends Dies!) and then punched a trio of leaves and mounted these on a selection of gold and copper foil and glimmer paper stitched circles at the meeting point. A gold heat-embossed fussy cut sentiment from 'Rooted In Nature' on the front was paired with this sentiment on the inside of my card:

Foil is always difficult to photograph, so I hope you can see how pretty this card is! I must say having seen some of the other cards from the design team this week, I now have a desire to go and make this card in burgundy too!

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. 

One more look at that pretty glittery leaf trio:

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your evening; I am still resting up and will be spending my evening attending a 6th Form Virtual Open Evening with Rebecca from the comfort of the sofa whilst recovering from today's physiotherapy session. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

AUTUMN PUNCH PACK (£36.00)	GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	FREEZIN' FRIENDS DIES (£27.00)	ROOTED IN NATURE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£39.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)
GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	COPPER FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

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

LeAnne's sketch is perfect to showcase some designer series papers and I couldn't resist another card using the Gilded Autumn speciality designer series papers - take a look:

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

Gilded Autumn Goodness - The Gilded Autumn papers are beautiful, with some fabulous foil detailing. I paired my chosen patterns with a sentiment and label from the 'So Sentimental' bundle and added some of the ribbon from the suite to my label too.

A Copper Acorn - I used some retired dies for my diecut leaves (from the Beautiful Bouquet die set) as they had a shape that works well with the patterns on the paper and added a double linen thread bow. I stopped there on my two additional cards as I wanted them to be post-friendly, however I couldn't resist adding one of the lovely copper acorn trinkets from the suite to one of my cards - these are just so pretty:

I'm going to link this card up over at Hand Stamped Sentiments too - I just love their inspiration photo this week, it's so perfect for the season!

And Two Makes Three - As I mentioned above, having cut 3 rectangular pieces of DSP, and then cut all three together at the same angle on my guillotine, I made another two cards to use up all of the pieces. Here's my second card:

And my third card:

A little simple stamping using the 'Beautiful Autumn' set inside finished each card:

Here's all three of my cards together - do you have a favourite? Leave me a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	ACORN TRINKETS (£7.50)	BASKETWEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)	SO SENTIMENTAL BUNDLE (EN) (£45.00)	BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)
CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
LINEN THREAD (£4.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

Today I'm sharing another card that uses this week's Global Design Project sketch and this time the inspiration photo over at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

The #GDP254 sketch has so many possibilities and I couldn't resist those autumnal colours, leaves and acorns on the HSS photo. This is the original card I made with the sketch (if you missed it I shared another one yesterday here), along with my first outing with the fabulous Gilded Autumn Suite of products - take a look:

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

Gilded Autumn - The catalogue describes the Gilded Autumn Suite as 'nature-inspired imagery, with gold and copper foiling to give autumn an infusion of elegance' - this totally sums up the beauty of the products in this suite, especially the papers. I used a piece of gold-foiled Cajun Craze paper for my card base, then added a layer of brushed gold cardstock before adding a Stitched Rectangle with the reverse of my base pattern, featuring a variety of coloured autumn leaves. 

Leaves and Acorns - I used a trio of gold heat-embossed leaves and acorns to decorate my sentiment label, each of which was easily punched out using the autumn punch pack punches. These punches are quite a decent size; I thought they would be small, like the itty bitty punches we've had previously, but they are more like the size of the small bloom punch. They also co-ordinate with some of the paper patterns - bonus! They are two-step stamps, with an outline and infill and are easy to align - I even used them to decorate the inside of my card: 

Gold, Gold and More Gold - I couldn't resist adding more touches of gold to my card: the designer paper, the heat embossed sentiment and punched leaves, along with the brushed gold cardstock border and a tiny gold twine bow on my acorn give the whole thing a wonderful warm glow:

I think I've fallen in love with the foil detailing on these papers and all of the lovely coordinating products in this suite. Looking forward to creating more with them!

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:

BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)	GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	BRUSHED METALLIC CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BASKETWEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLES DIES (£33.00)	PAINTED LABELS DIES (£33.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)