Happy Monday! I had a little extra crafting time between Onstage presentations on Saturday so had a little play with Jacqui's current layout over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I made a couple of cards with the sketch, each featuring some of the current Christmas papers with some additional retired product. Here's the first one:

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

I wanted to use this 'dancing deer' paper from the Reindeer Days paper pack so used that for the main panel. This type of pattern really needs a big space to work and I didn't want to mix it with any other pattern, so added some coordinating solid colour blocks for the other three elements. It looked a little plain though and I couldn't decided where best to add my sentiment. I played with a few ideas and finally settled on some of the large wooden diecut words from last year's Santa Express Memories & More card pack:

I decided to have another go using one of my favourite patterns from the Winter Meadow designer series paper packs. This paper is a carryover from last year's mini catalogue and still available online. This time I mirrored the sketch as I wanted to position the deer in the outer corner for a more balanced design:

This time I did leave my border square and rectangles plain, picking out shades of grey from the image, and I added a stamped and fussy-cut sentiment to the cross point:

I also added some silver twine and a few rhinestones for a little festive sparkle to complete my card. I'm also linking this card up over at Inspire.Create Challenge where their current challenge is 'many shades of grey'; I'm not sure there are 50 shades on this one, but it is a Christmas card after all!

I wasn't feeling in a particularly creative mood so struggled a little with the FMS sketch this week, but it was nice to have a play - sometimes you need to just have a little crafty fun, right?

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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:

REINDEER DAYS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	WINTER MEADOW 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)

Happy Monday everyone - another week rolls around! Today I'm sharing a card that I made using Judy's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I don't often use ovals as the focal point on a card, but I was inspired by Judy's sketch as I had some diecut foliage in the A Little Bit Festive Christmas designer series paper pack that I knew would work perfectly for that element at the bottom of the frame - take a look:

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

I started with that foliage swag, which might seem a little backward, but I had been wanting to use it to decorate something, so that was the first bit. I then decided to feature one of the large sentiments from the 'Greetings Of The Season' stamp set in my oval. This has to be my favourite sentiment stamp set this season - you can make all kinds of greetings by combining the words in this set and the two larger sentiments are great as a framed feature or on the inside of your card too. Finally, with decoration and sentiment sorted, I had to decide how to 'frame' it and what background to use. Turns out this step took ages; I tried all kinds of embossed and patterned paper finishes, but nothing seemed to work. Then, as I looked at Judy's sketch, the ornate detail she used to decorate her oval reminded me of my old retired Heirloom Frames 3D Embossing Folders - and the retired one fit my sentiment perfectly:

A plain Garden Green background to allow the plaster-like embossed detail of my frame to shine, and my card was complete!

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:

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! If you live in the UK I hope you enjoyed an extra hour in bed this morning as the clocks changed! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I have another Christmas card to share with you today, which I'm also sharing with the team over at Inkspirational where they are all about seasonal cards, and this one is full-on traditional festive - take a look:

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

A Little Bit Festive - The A Little Bit Festive specialty designer series paper is the big hitter on today's card: I used a sheet of the red and white striped candy cane panels for the base and one of the diecut wreaths as the backing for my sentiment. This paper is so great for 'one and done' cards, with pre-diecut pieces making light work of decoration. I couldn't stop there today though; in addition to adding in some extra diecut foliage and berries, I added a few other pieces too; for more information, read on!

Greetings Of The Season - I added a heat-embossed sentiment from the 'Greetings of the Season' stamp set to the centre of my wreath, in two parts in order to fit the whole sentiment without obscuring too much of the foliage:

Joyful Sayings - Since the sentiment on the sketch was actually at the bottom of the left panel, not inside the shape, I chose some words that would allow me an extra element instead of substituting something else here; I actually used one of the pre-printed Joyful Sayings elements - it works perfectly.

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. 

I love the traditional festive look of today's card; what's your favourite kind of Christmas card design? Do let me know in the comments below.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge from the fabulous Heather C:

I don't mind admitting, I struggled with this one! I tried a few things but found combining all of the elements a challenge - but I guess that's kind of the point, right?! In the end it was the inspo photo over at Inspired By that unlocked things for me - take a look:

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

Oxidised Copper - I used a panel of Oxidised Copper paper, a gorgeous warm metallic, for my card base. Although I've mostly covered it with my embossed strips, its beauty still shines through. This ticked off both warm tones and metallics. 

Leaf Fall - I decided to make a feature of my dry embossing, so embossed a panel of Early Espresso with the Leaf Fall 3D embossing folder and then cut it into strips, over my oxidised copper panel. I chose this darker brown as I liked the contrast and warmth of those blankets in the Inspired By photo and wanted to evoke that in my fall card. I love the detail of those embossed leaves! Embossed texture - tick.

 Final Copper Touches - I added my sentiment from the 'Friends For Life' stamp set to a tag diecut using one of the Greetings of The Season Dies - these are so useful! - and heat embossed it in copper. A snippet of retired copper ribbon tied with some dark brown baker's twine and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it tiny retired copper pinecone that I found in my stash completed my card and allowed another nod to that Inspired By photo:

Tag and thinking of you sentiment - tick and tick. Recipe complete! So what will you cook up with this week's challenge ingredients? Do share your projects in our gallery and show us your makes!

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

Enjoy your day; I'm off to tick off some chores in the hope of a little crafty time over the weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LEAF FALL 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON DIES (30.00)	OXIDIZED COPPER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (7.50)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)
VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

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

I decided to make my tag the central feature of my card and paired a new tag die with a gingerbread house courtesy of the super-cute 'Humble Home' bundle - take a look:

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

Humble Home - I heat-embossed my sentiment from the 'Humble Home' stamp set directly onto my Real Red cardbase, then separately stamped and heat-embossed the little gingerbread house onto both a piece of Pecan Pie and Real Red and punched out with the coordinating house punch, before paper-piecing the door into place for a pop of colour.

Grab A Tag - My tag is courtesy of the Greetings Of The Season Dies - they contain so many great shapes for labels and tags alike! I diecut my tag in basic white, before dry embossing with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder. The effect is subtle, but I love the addition of the snowfall behind my gingerbread house - you can see it more clearly on the closeup below:

I added a simple red and white twine bow to the top of my tag.

Snowflakes and Peppermints - I accented my little gingerbread house with some of the adhesive peppermints from the mini catalogue - how cute are they?! I also added a scrap of retired Gingerbread & Peppermints designer series paper to the lower portion of my tag, to pick up on the peppermint swirl design. 

With all that detail on my tag, I am probably pushing the boundaries of 'clean and simple' this week, but tag aside, the rest of my card is clean and uncluttered ... and I love this card so much I just had to share it! I actually do have a slightly more clean and simple version - the card that I based this one on, which is the card that I send out with my mini catalogues at the start of September - here's a picture of that card:

As you can see, less embellishments and a different colour scheme - this one was easier and quicker to make multiples of, which is always a consideration when it's catalogue mailing time. Here's a shot of lots of them together:

I guess you could say my red version is a 'stepped up' card, but since we aren't super strict with our definition of 'clean and simple' over at The Paper Players (minimal layers/embellishments, open/white space) I wanted to share it - I think the additions make this card a real festive treasure!

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

HUMBLE HOME BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (37.75)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON DIES (30.00)	SNOWFLAKE SKY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	REAL RED & WHITE ADHESIVE-BACKED PEPPERMINTS (8.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
REAL RED & WHITE BAKER'S TWINE (4.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I created a sketch with a few layers, that also includes a diagonal, something I generally avoid! I decided that the layering lent itself to showcasing some papers, so I decided to break into a new pack and create a few Christmas cards. Here's the first one:

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

Season of Green & Gold - The Season of Green & Gold Specialty Designer Series Paper is the star of today's cards. This paper is part of the Season of Green & Gold Suite Collection that is one of the Online Exclusives, so does not appear in the mini catalogue and can only be viewed online. The paper is a specialty paper featuring festive foliage and one side of each design includes gold foil detailing I can honestly say each of the patterns is truly beautiful. The gold and vanilla pattern I used on my card is my favourite, so that had to be the one I used on my first card. I matted my panel with one of gold foil and did the same to my second layer, onto which I heat embossed a sentiment from the 'Greetings Of The Season' stamp set. 

Golden Greenery - For my 'any shape' element, I decided to add a bunch of coordinating foliage in Very Vanilla and gold foil, cut using the Golden Greenery Dies. It has a beautiful embossed detail and I finished my bunch with a simple gold twine bow:

I left my card base plain so as not to detract from the detail of the paper and foliage; a couple of sparkly gems was all I needed to complete my card.

Three Variations On My Design - I loved my first card so much, I decided to make a few more using other patterns and colour combos. The first one still uses a Very Vanilla card base, but this time with a panel of green and gold designer paper and green diecut foliage, cut straight from another of the sheets in the pack:

You could of course stamp the foliage too using hte 'Golden Greenery' stamp set and then diecut it too, but using the pre-printed paper is a great timesaver! My third card uses the same papers, but this time on an Old Olive card base. to pick up on the colour of the papers more:

My final card is similar to the one above, but this time with a slightly shorter sentiment layer (I prefer the longer length but this was my first one made and I couldn't bare to see it go to waste!) and a pair of bells nestled in my foliage, also cut from another of the paper sheets:

Here's all four of the cards together - which one do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The reverse of these papers have some fabulous patterns too, but I couldn't resist showcasing the gold foiled side - so elegant! If you haven't already, you should check out the 'Online Exclusives' area of my Stampin' Up! website - there are some fabulous products for your festive crafting. As for my sketch - I hope you'll play along with us over at The Paper Players this week - I can't wait to see what you create!

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:

Enjoy your day; no plans here today so I'm hoping to squeeze in a little crafty time at some point. I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	GOLDEN GREENERY DIES (37.00)	SEASON OF GREEN & GOLD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)
OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	GOLD & SILVER 1/8" (3.2 MM) TRIM COMBO PACK (8.50)	IRIDESCENT FOIL GEMS (7.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches.This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Nancy has asked that we add any non-square shape and a sentiment banner:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I used another of the diecuts from the A Little Bit of Festive designer paper pack - take a look:

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

I masked off a panel on my card and used my blending brush to add a strip of Cherry Cobbler ink, onto which I heat embossed part of my sentiment and then added a diecut element from the Joyful Sayings pack to complete my greeting. I used a pair of drums from my paper pack as my irregular shape:

That's all there is to it - super simple and another Christmas card for the 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 '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:

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

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

I had a card designed in my head for this sketch, but as is often the way my time has not been my own this week and I did not have the luxury of a peaceful few hours to pull it together. So - time to pivot and instead I grabbed my new 'A Little Bit Festive' designer series paper pack and a few other new items and rustled up a quick Christmas card - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Little Bit Festive - Those of you who are regular visitors know what a fan I am of the 'Frames & Flowers' paper pack ion the annual catalogue; well think of 'A Little Bit Festive' as its Christmas equivalent! Full patterned paper sheets, combined with diecuts and fabulous frames, the pack is great for all kinds of festive projects and is definitely one of my favourite things in the new mini catalogue. On today's card I used a strip of striped paper and a cute red truck, complete with Christmas tree in the back - you can see the diecut detail more closely below:

Just One Stamp - With the diecut elements bringing most of the detail to my clean and simple card, I only needed to add a stamped greeting to my card - no other stamping required. I used a sentiment from the new 'Greetings of the Season' stamp set and am linking up with the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges where this is actually their theme this week. 

Tag or Label - I added my sentiment to a label - or is it a tag? - from the coordinating 'Greetings of the Season' Dies. These dies look like labels but actually have a hole that makes them into a tag; perfect on today's card to tie a twine bow to finish off the red twine that I'd wrapped around my card base. A trio of Garden Green enamel dots complete my clean and simple Christmas card. I can't wait to make a few more using these papers - I think they will help me to build my Christmas card stocks nicely!

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (48.50)

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

I know, I know - 145 days until Christmas, but as a crafter it pays to be prepared! I have been busy this week preparing for an all day Christmas workshop this weekend when we will be making a headstart on our 3D projects and gifts for the festive season.

As such, today seems like a good day to share another of our quarterly team training projects designed by Monica Gale: this time a Christmas card using the Mosaic Madness stamp set. I love this set and still have so many more projects to make with it. It is great for all kinds of cards, and the main mosaic shape does have something ornamental about it, so it works really well for a Christmas card. So here is the finished card:

 The hanging ornament is made by scoring four punched pieces vertically then adhering together around the bakers twine and is then suspended in the negative space of a punched circle. The nice thing about this card is that although it's very multi-dimensional, it still folds flat for posting. Also, if you're wondering where that piece of crumb cake DSP with the chevrons came from, you might be looking for some time as it's actually a strip cut from a Tag a Bag - these just have so many uses!

So the first of many Christmas cards and projects to come; I will share our weekend workshop projects next week, guaranteed to really get you in the festive spirit! This is also a good time to mention that Mosaic Madness is the stamp set that I'll be featuring in my September card classes. If you would like more information about my classes or to book a place, please get in touch to find out more.

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Greetings of the Season

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Mosaic Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Finishing Touches: Baker's Twine (Tag A Bag Accessory Kit), Tag A Bag