As promised today I have a card using another of the stamps in the lovely hostess set 'Six Sayings', this time using the Halloween stamp and this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for inspiration:

I'm also linking up with this week's challenge over at Addicted to CAS since my card has a definite 'spooky' feel to it today - take a look:

I used Tangelo Twist as my card base and stamped my sentiment onto Very Vanilla using my Stampin' Write markers, so that I could colour the main word in Basic Black and highlight the 'BOO' in Tangelo Twist. I cut out the sentiment on the diagonal and backed it with a mat of Basic Black, but before adhering to my card I added in a couple of pieces of Spider Web doilies top and bottom - I just love these for adding a spooky touch to projects and a pack seriously lasts for ages!! To add to the theme, I fussy cut one of the ghosts from a sheet of the Happy Hauntings Designer Series Paper and placed him as if he was floating out of the 'O' of the 'BOO' - cute and spooky at the same time, right?! A sprinkle of black sequins finishes my card.

Another winner from the 'Six Sayings' hostess set - don't forget this set will only be available until the seasonal catalogue end on 4th January, so if it's on your wishlist then contact me about hosting a party before it;s too late!

Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Six Sayings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Happy Haunting A4 Cardstock Pack	Spider Web Doilies	Metallics Sequin Assortment
Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers

Yay, it's the weekend! I've had a child-free day today as the James juniors are at Grannies for a couple of days, which has meant a whole day of crafting and lots of things made and ready to share with you for the forthcoming week.

Today I have a fun Halloween card with some paper-pieced pumpkins, inspired by the inspiration over at The Challenge and Curtain Call, where the theme is patterned pumpkins, and The Friday Mashup where they are looking for projects with either a Halloween theme or featuring ribbon, or both (which I managed this week!):

I went with a sketch layout that you've seen me use previously on my reindeer Christmas card here as it was perfect for my paper-pieced pumpkins - take a look:

My card is something of a showcase of the Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper today: I created my base layer using the plaid pattern on a mat of Basic Black and a card base of Tangelo Twist, then for my centre square created a trio of paper-pieced pumpkins, each one featuring a different paper pattern, using my retired small oval punch and a stalk from a punched acorn top. My sentiment is from the 'A Little Something' set, stamped in Memento Black ink and the trio of little pumpkins coloured in with my tangelo Twist Stampin' Write marker. I adhered my central square to my card base using dimensionals, having first added a piece of spider's web doily and retired Tangelo Twist satin ribbon to my corner treatment.

The papers in the Happy Haunting pack are great and not just useful for Halloween - three of the four paper patterns I've used on today's card would work equally well on non-Halloween themed projects.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with a stunning Christmas creation (even if I say so myself!) for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Little Something Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Acorn Builder Punch	Spider Web Doilies	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers

Just time today to squeeze in a blog post using this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday; the talented Julee Tilman comes up with some of the best sketches and I love to play along here whenever I can. Here is this week's sketch:

The minute I saw this week's sketch I knew what I wanted to do with it and fortunately I managed to find some time this afternoon to bring my design to fruition. Here's my card:

I just knew I wanted to use one of my spider web doilies for the circular element, so my Halloween theme and everything else just came from there. A Tangelo Twist base and a piece of the large gingham-print Happy Hauntings DSP served as the background, with a panel of the fun ghostly pattern from the same set as my feature piece. I overlayed this with the spider web doily and a 'Boo' from the Cheer All Year set stamped in Tangelo Twist on Very Vanilla for my centre. I stamped my main sentiment in black on a piece of Tangelo Twist - also from Cheer All Year, although I masked it and stamped the 'happy' above the 'haunting' rather than alongside it. I was looking at my finished card and felt like it was missing a little something, so I fussy cut a spider from black glimmer paper and placed him on the spider's web (I did cut him freehand, so don't look too closely at his less-than-straight legs!). I'm also playing along with the team over at Fusion this week since my chosen theme fits with their photo inspiration a treat (right down to the lone spider!) 

I hope you like today's card; back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Spider Web Doilies	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Black Glimmer Paper	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Punch Corner Project Life	Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	1" Circle Punch

Did you have fun celebrating World Card Day yesterday? I sent the afternoon crafting, but making home decor rather than cards as Rebecca had a friend round and we spent a couple of hours putting together our Witching Decor Project kits. It did rather put me in the mood for today's new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it's my turn to host again and since it's the first Sunday in October I have a fun theme challenge for you:

Yes that's right - it's Halloween! I took the opportunity to have some fun with my Howl-o-ween Treat Stamp set and the co-ordinating Boo To You framelits and created something that's been on my general 'to do' list for ages - a matchbox style pop up card. Lots of photos today - here's my card from the outside:

My outer box sleeve is made from Tangelo Twist cardstock decorated with the fun ghost patterned paper from the Happy haunting DSP set - I've been wanting to use this pattern for ages! - and a tag punched with the Ornate Tag Topper punch attached with some Tangelo Twist satin ribbon available on the Clearance Rack currently while stocks last!) My tag is decorated with some bats courtesy of the Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 set and the Trick or Treat sentiment from the Howl-o-Ween treat set. The question is though, which will it be - trick or treat? Let's take a look inside the box:

 I made the drawer tray using Basic Black cardstock and my trusty Envelope Punch Board, and lined it with more Happy Haunting DSP. I used my framelits to cut a 'Boo!' out of black glimmer paper - so perfect for Halloween projects - and stamped a bright green owl, complete with pumpkin basket and spider hanging down from a piece of black baker's twine. Here's another view - oh and I backed my owl with a partial spider web doily too: 

I made my box quite large so that I could accommodate both my pop up owl and greeting and a little something behind. If you look closely in the photo above you can just catch a glimpse of what it is - it also determined the colour of my owl. Can you see what it is? How about a brightly coloured spider to scare your nearest and dearest:

This time more trick than treat (although I've a feeling there are plenty of little ones out there who may think otherwise, given the potential for the odd practical joke or two!), however you could always include a bar of chocolate instead. I hope you like my fun Halloween card - I think the bright orange spider is my favourite!

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

I look forward to seeing your Halloween-themed cards this week. I'm off for a morning of basketball and then home for birthday lunch - today it's my husband who's celebrating; I'll share his birthday cards with you later this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Howl-O-Ween Treat Clear-Mount Bundle	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Spider Web Doilies	Black Glimmer Paper	Envelope Punch Board
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Basic Black Baker's Twine	Ornate Tag Topper Punch	Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tangelo Twist 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch challenge for you:

I'm linking up with the talented peeps over at Stamps Ink Paper (I'm hoping they are going to allow Vanilla as my white!) and I decided to go with a Halloween theme today and as today's blog title suggests, if your arachnophobic you should look away now - there are lots of spiders! Here's my card:

This card is a total showcase of this fabby spiderweb patterned paper from the Happy Haunting designer series paper pack - like I said, not one for those that are not a fan of the creepy crawlies, but at least they are on paper and not in the bathtub!

I stamped s bunch of extra spiders from the Cheer All Year set and fussy cut them, before adhering beneath my sentiment banner. I like how they are mostly obscured, but look like they are crawling out from underneath! They took a while to cut out, but so worth it as they are quite realistic-looking I think. To add just a splash of colour to my rather monochromatic card, I stamped my sentiment in Rich Razzleberry onto a banner, having flagged the end with my hexagon punch. I added a fussy-cut bat also from the Cheer All Year set which I allowed to overhang my card and finished him with one of the lovely new Iced Rhinestone embellishments, the centre of which I coloured with a purple Sharpie to add another spot of colour.

I hope you like today's card. Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day; my Juniors are at Granny's house today, so you can be sure my day will be a jam-packed one, full of chores and errands. You know what they say - no rest for the wicked! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is my turn to host and I have my very first sketch challenge for you:

You know how much I love a sketch challenge - it's so exciting to have designed my first one for you to play along with this week! I am still pre-occupied with my pre-order goodies, so I decided to use this week's Color Throwdown colours to create not something floral as per the inspiration photo, rather a decidedly spooky Halloween treat for you. Here's my card:

So many lovely things to share on my card this week! The background paper is a piece of the new Halloween DSP pack 'Happy Haunting' - there are some great patterns in this pack. For the large circle on my sketch, I used one of the new Spider Web doilies - I think these may be my actual most favourite Halloween product in the new catalogue! They are so dramatic and such great value, at just £4.25 for a pack of 24. I will be using these everywhere! for the smaller circle, I just had to use the owl from the Howl-o-ween Treat set - isn't he adorable?! The stamp set comes with a co-ordinating set of 'Boo To You' framelits dies and what's more they are available as a bundle too - great news! The framelits are a must as they make cutting out the shapes, such as the wand, the pumpkin basket and the hat, so easy. This card is choc full of texture too: I accented the eyes with a couple of round Itty Bitty Epoxy Sticker Accents and stamped the hat in Versamark and heat embossed it in black to add a lovely shine against the Cucumber Crush cardstock of the hat - you can see it better here in this close-up photo:

I also used the awesome new black glimmer paper for my sentiment, again cut out using my Big Shot and the 'Boo To You' framelits. Just look at how sparkly it is: 

Lastly, I added a Cucumber Crush banner punched with my Triple Banner Punch and the Confetti Stars Border Punch and I infilled the star shapes by paper-piecing with black glimmer paper stars for added sparkle. I also decorated the inside of my card and what's more, remembered to take a photo of it:

How cute is that?! I hope you like today's Halloween card and that it has you even more excited for the fun things still to come in the new seasonal catalogue. Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing how you choose to interpret my sketch on your cards in the gallery this week. I'll be spending today in the garden; yesterday's BBQ and vegetarian menu was a huge success, so today we are following that with another lunch of vegetables from our garden - with sausages too though, of the meat variety! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Howl-o-ween treat - available September 1st

* Boo To You Framelits - available September 1st

* Spider Web Doilies - available September 1st

* Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

* Black Glimmer Paper - available September 1st

Banner Triple Punch	Confetti Stars Punch	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets	Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers