Summer has finally arrived here in the UK and yes, you've guessed it - I'm sharing a Christmas card! I was intrigued by the layout that the lovely Linda Callaghan came up with for her Freshly Made Sketches design this week - check it out:

I managed to grab a little crafty time over the weekend so decided to have a go at creating something that made the most of her unique layering and this is what I came up with:

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

I almost went with a wreath for the circular element, but couldn't work out how to incorporate that vertical column effectively. I finally settled on using the fabulous circular die in the Labels Aglow set for the circular element and layering it with some (retired) Lights Aglow designer paper in festive Cherry Cobbler with a pattern of dots in vanilla and gold that tied nicely in with the gold dots of the circular element. I also lined my envelope with the same paper. I did take a liberty with the sentiment, in as much as whilst I retained the position I didn't have a skinny one that I liked. I thought I would try the 'Celebrate' diecut from the 'Wanted To Say' die set which never seems to leave my desk at the moment and I really liked the effect:

Whilst my card is designed for Christmas - I used a festive sentiment from the 'Brightest Glow' stamp set on the inside of my card - it occurs to me you wouldn't know from the outside that this card was designed with Christmas in mind. Hopefully the peeps over at Happy Little Stampers will appreciate my understated take on Christmas - which is perfect for their die challenge too (the only stamping is on the inside of today's card). For a card with 7 layers, the design is still clean and uncluttered - just how I like it! This isn't a layout that I would usually be drawn to, but I really love the finished effect - thanks Linda for a thought-provoking sketch!

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:

LABELS AGLOW DIES (31.00)

WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has a festive colour challenge for you to work with:

I still had my Lights Aglow designer paper out on my desk having made yesterday's cards, so I grabbed another of the patterns in the set and this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

I used a Cherry Cobbler card base, then adhered a sheet of Lights Aglow designer paper patterned with Very Vanilla stars to my card base. I then added a central panel of gold glimmer paper, and allowing for a thin vertical border, adhered another piece of paper from the pack, strewn with festive garlands, to which I'd added some diecut banners using one of the Twinkling Lights dies so that the gold glimmer paper showed through from below:

I did cut the piece of DSP that I used for the central section from the centre of the sheet, as I wanted the curves of the garlands to be centred, which is a little frivolous, but I know I will use the remnants on other projects as there is a beautiful gold embossed snowflake design on the reverse too.

I added a final panel of Cherry Cobbler with a sentiment heat embossed in gold to the bottom of the panel to complete the front of my card. To finish I added an extra sentiment from the 'Brightest Glow' stamp set to the inside of my card:

This is a great card that didn't take too long to create, which was especially good as I have been rather pushed for creative time this week.

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; today is the day that we will be decorating the James household inside and out for Christmas, so we are all looking forward to that. I am also going to be doing some crafting of a different kind, as I have a festive-themed fancy dress outfit to make for Rebecca to wear this week - a Sixth Form festive tradition, more on that later in the week! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BRIGHTEST GLOW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday - our last challenge of the year! 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' which celebrates the nativity of Jesus and begins on 25th December and runs until 5th January. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used square, Christmas, gold and red and this is what I came up with:

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

Keeping things Simple - In the run up to Christmas as things start to get busier, I like to have a simple yet elegant card design that can be produced in multiples and today's card definitely fits the bill. A simple sentiment on a diecut shape, a designer paper frame and gold foil mat, all on a Cherry Cobbler square card base:

That's all there is to it - with a little extra stamping on the inside:

The 'Brightest Glow' stamp set is perfect for sentiments both inside and out.

Lights Aglow Four-In-One - The product hero of today's card is most definitely the Lights Aglow Specialty Designer Series Paper. There a several sheets that feature four of these starry, gold foil embossed 'frames' - so it's easy to take the design and make four cards in only a little more time than one. Here's all four of my cards from one sheet of designer paper:

A Green Alternative - In addition to the Cherry Cobbler frame sheets, there is a Soft Succulent one too. I made four more cards using the green version, stepping them up slightly to include a background of DSP for three of the four cards too - take a look:

Here are both designs together - which one do you prefer?

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BRIGHTEST GLOW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	REGALS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (13.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (13.00)	CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)
STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)

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

I took the right-hand column of the board and went with tree, metallic and ornament and used the layout from Try Stamping On Tuesday and the beautiful Christmas setting in this week's Just Us Girls inspiration photo for my Christmas card today - take a look:

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

I used the Christmas tree in the 'Christmas Lights' stamp set as the centrepiece for my card, which I stamped and heat embossed in gold onto Old Olive cardstock and diecut with the Twinkling Lights Dies, and set this against a background of Very Vanilla with a gold foil mat and a horizontal piece of gold glimmer paper along with a piece of gold-patterned Very Vanilla Lights Aglow designer paper. I added a diecut tree in gold glimmer paper behind my green tree so that the glimmer shows through the diecut holes - it sparkles like tinsel on my tree. For my baubles, I used two colours of (retired) blue rhinestones to complete the decoration:

For my greeting I added a banner heat-embossed in gold on Very Vanilla, courtesy of the Christmas Banners bundle. The words are actually shaped to curve the opposite way, but it wasn't too tricky to bend my photopolymer stamp the other way so that my banner curve reflected the contours of my Christmas tree.

I love the finished effect of the tree on this card - it's so sparkly in real life!

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. 

Many of the seasonal items used on today's card are currently on sale as part of the Last Chance Promotion- read yesterday's post for more information, however it is fair to say that since it went live at 11pm yesterday, products have been literally flying off the shelves, so expect to see lots of the product used on upcoming cards sold out by the time the blog post goes live - the joys of working ahead!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (44.00)	FESTIVE PEARLS (6.75)	CHRISTMAS BANNERS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (47.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

Today I'm sharing a card using the sketch layout over at Sunday Stamps and the Hand Stamped Sentiments colour palette:

This is one of those cards that ended up looking nothing like it started out! I had a trio of stamped and diecut wreaths leftover from another project, so thought they would work nicely with the Sunday Stamps sketch. They were too large on a standard cardfront and I couldn't find a background I liked to accompany them, so in the end changed my colour scheme and went slimline and eventually came up with something I rather like - take a look:

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

Country Wreaths - I initially restamped my wreaths green-on-green instead of green-on-white, but the stamped detail just got lost so instead I went for a layered wreath using the dicuts only and I like this much more. I added some Cherry Cobbler Festive Pearls and a gold glimmer bow to each, to tie in with my ribbon banner and central sentiment element. I did add some stamped detail to the envelope and inside of my card though:

Framed & Festive - Instead of three wreaths, I opted to add a circle with my main sentiment to the centre. My sentiment comes from the limited-time stamp set 'Framed & Festive' that co-ordinates with the Framed Florets bundle currently on early release from the new mini catalogue - I love the big, bold font. I heat embossed it in gold onto Cherry Cobbler cardstock and added a sprig of greenery and some gold pearls to decorate: 

I almost ignored the banner detail on the original sketch, but there was the perfect stamp in the set to add a second sentiment part, so I added 'from all of us' heat embossed in gold directly onto the cardbase - you can just see it on the corner of the photo above.

A Neat Lights Aglow Trick - The eagle-eyed amongst you may have recognised that the background pattern I used comes from the Lights Aglow designer series paper pack. This is a 6"x6" paper pack - which is not wide enough for a slimline cardfront. The solution? I actually made my cardfront from two pieces of DSP, with the join running down the centre behind my red sentiment circle. I was careful to cut and line up the pattern perfectly and the presence of the circle means it is super difficult to see the join - if I hadn't just told you it was there, you wouldn't notice ;-). 

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; the bitter cold winds of winter seem to have arrived in force this week so I am hibernating! I hope you are warm and cosy wherever you are - and to all my American friends and readers, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration today. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COUNTRY WREATHS DIES (37.00)	FRAMED & FESTIVE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	LIGHTS AGLOW 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (14.00)	EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	SOFT SUCCULENT A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
GLIMMER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (9.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	FESTIVE PEARLS (6.75)	SLIMLINE ENVELOPES (9.50)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'World Space Week' which is 4-10 October. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I went festive rather than space and with the current Try Stamping on Tuesday sketch for my layout, used stars, sparkle and moving parts to create a pocket shaker card with the Lights Aglow paper and Twinkling Lights Christmas tree die - take a look:

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

This card is all about the sparkle! I used some gold foil embossed Lights Aglow designer series paper for the background of my shaker pocket and also added gold foil behind my Christmas tree diecut and with the gold glimmer star on top. I heat embossed my sentiment, from the 'Sweet Candy Canes' stamp set in gold onto Evening Evergreen cardstock - I also used another sentiment from this set on the inside of my card:

The stars and moving parts comprise the (retired) gold sequins I used for the inside of my pocket shaker - I also added some of the tiny stars to decorate my diecut Christmas tree. Isn't that just so sparkly?! 

These pocket shakers are so fun and so easy to make - you just put your background and shaker elements into a cellophane envelope and take the back shut before adding to your card. They are slimmer than a traditional shaker card, which makes them great for posting, but there is still room for the contents to move around. Have you ever tried one? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear what kinds you've experimented with.

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TWINKLING LIGHTS DIES (£27.00)	LIGHTS AGLOW 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	SWEET CANDY CANES CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£21.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	6" X 8" (15.2 X 20.3 CM) CELLOPHANE BAGS (£5.25)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)