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

It's Monday - what else is there to say?! Today's card was using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, although I am too late to link up today, although I can still join in with The Friday Mashup where the challenge is to use glitter on your card and/or combine with a 3D project (I just went with the glitter). Here's the sketch:

Lots of possibilities. I wanted to try out an idea I'd had buzzing around my head for a while - here's my card:

So my card today is very 'green' courtesy of Cucumber Crush - but with good reason! I wanted to create a card reminiscent of the musical 'Wicked' that would serve as a celebratory card, and use a combination of blacks for contrast. I stamped my witch's hat from Howl-O-Ween Treat in Archival Basic Black ink, then stamped my 'wicked' sentiment from the new Project Life 'Seasonal Snapshot 2015 set in Versamark and heat embossed it in black a couple of times to give it real profile and shine. I added the 'awesome' from Endless Birthday Wishes, some shiny black sequins from the metallics sequin assortment (another use for one of this week's Weekly Deals!) and some silver Dazzling Details to the stars and band on the hat. 

This is one of those cards that looks so much better in real life - it has real sparkle and shine that s difficult to capture on film. My daughter really loves it though, so this is one that will be heading her way in due course I think!

That's all from me today; I have a class tomorrow with a lovely group at a local residential care home along with some mass Christmas card production for an event later this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Howl-O-Ween Treat Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock
Endless Birthday Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set

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