Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

I have a fancy card to share with you today that is perfect to give someone special for the festive season - take a look:

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

A Card In A Box - Is it a gift? Is it a card? I guess it's a little of both! When closed it looks like a gift box, but undo the ribbon and the top and bottom of the box separate to reveal an accordion-style expanding card:

I made a holly-themed 'card in a box' project at my October Creative Escapes Craft Retreat using the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set and made a few other versions to show the attendees how they could use the same concept using other papers and stamp sets - this is one of them. They are quite straightforward to make and rather addictive; I've had lots of photos from my retreat weekend attendees after the event showing me more examples of ones they've created too, so it must be catching! One of my top tips when making this type of card is to use temporary adhesive or a couple of glue dots to hold the last panel in place so that you can remove it to write your message to the recipient before gluing it in place; this is much easier than trying to write it when it's already in the box.

Let It Snow - I used the 'Let It Snow' papers for the accordion-fold of my card and the letters that spell out 'snow', which I diecut using the Hand-Lettered Prose dies and I used the adorable Let It Snow Embellishment Kit to dress up the snowman on the front of my box - how cute are those little felt accessories?!

Snowman Season - The sentiment on the front and inside my card are from the 'Snowman Season' stamp set. The 'Let It Snow' stamp was perfect for a partial stamp to then finish the sentiment with the diecut letter panels. I also used the snowflakes in the stamp set with some Stampin' Glitter to add some sparkle to each of the Coastal Cabana panels and a snowman on the first panel that I coloured with co-ordinating Stampin' Blends markers:

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'm also linking today's project up with the current fancy fold challenge over at Inspire Create.

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; as it's the first of December we are going to begin decorating the house for Christmas today, much to the children's delight! Especially as we have a couple of extra Christmas trees and some new rainbow baubles too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Let It Snow Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Snowman Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (En) (£17.00)	Snowman Builder Punch (£17.00)	Hand-Lettered Prose Dies (£35.00)	Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)
Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (£5.50)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Real Red 3/8" (1 Cm) Cotton Ribbon (£6.50)

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 great Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

As you are reading this, I am away entertaining a lovely group of ladies at my Creative Escapes weekend craft retreat where we will be Christmas crafting to the max. My cards for you today though are all about birthdays - and male birthdays at that! I made these cards a while ago when I was preparing for my 'Come Sail Away' technique card class, although I didn't feature them in the class itself and LeAnne's challenge this week is the perfect opportunity for me to share them with you. I made two cards in one sitting and wanted to share both with you, so first up the more clean-and-simple of the two: 

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

All At Sea - Both of my cards feature a background layer embossed with the High Seas embossing folder for some subtle texture. I love the detail that this gives and it’s perfect for my nautical theme. 

Ahoy The Hand Lettered Prose Dies - I used my diecutting machine and the Hand Lettered Prose Dies to diecut an a, h, and y from my Balmy Blue card layer before I added the waves embossing. This allowed me to use the negative space to show the contrast of colour with the navy cardstock behind and gave me the opportunity to make a second card using the letters I had cut out with just a little extra effort. If you like these letters, it is worth also checking out the blog of one of our current Paper Players guest designers, SU Mohr (see the link list below), who has created many wonderful projects using them.

O It's A Ship's Wheel - I substituted the ‘o’ in the word ‘ahoy’ with a ship’s wheel from the Smooth Sailing Dies to tie in with my theme and added a frosted epoxy droplet to the centre for some subtle bling. I love playing with words to create this effect! I finished my sentiment with a stamp from the ‘Broadway Birthday’ set. The second of my two cards is below, which uses an extra layer and the positive rather than negative letters, but is otherwise the same basic card:

So what do you think? Is today's sentiment loud enough to celebrate a birthday? I’m now of an age where I’m not shout from the rooftops with each passing year, however I do love to celebrate and am thankful for the many thoughtful cards i receive from friends and family near and far. 

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 later this week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

High Seas 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Hand-Lettered Prose Dies (£35.00)	Smooth Sailing Dies (£30.00)	Broadway Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (£8.25)