A reminder that today is the last day of Stampin' Up!'s Online Extravaganza! Ending tonight at 10.50pm GMT, you can save up to 40% on select products. Today is also the second and final 24-hour sale featuring special offers available for today only:

Select items (those marked with an asterisk), including those that will be on the future autumn/winter catalogue retiring list, are available only while supplies last.

The all-important details for the promotion are as follows:
• You must use the bundle item codes provided. Discounts will not be applied if individual item numbers are entered separately. 
• Some bundles are exclusive to Online Extravaganza and will not be available after the promotion ends. 
• There is no minimum purchase required in order to receive the discounted price. 
• Additional products from current catalogues may be purchased on the same order.

Here is the full list of deals this week:

You can download a PDF version of the deals list by clicking here.

Today's specials include the ever-useful Magnetic Platform - if you own a Big Shot and don't have one, i would definitely recommend it, I use mine daily - the Flurry of Wishes bundle and the bell punch, which has 40% off and is a bargain at just £9.60.

You can see some of my favourite Flurry of Wishes cards in previous posts here and here - but for today I wanted to share a card with a difference that I made with the bell punch, also on offer today. Inspired by this card made by Amanda Bates, I just had to make my own clean and simple version of a gingerbread topiary - take a look:

What no bells? Did you spot it - the upturned bell with the end trimmed makes the perfect plant pot! My sentiment and candy cane stick was stamped with the border stamp in the 'Candy Cane Christmas' set and the bow punched with the Holly Builder Punch. The house I fussy cut from the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper and brushed the snow on the roof with my clear Wink of Stella for added sparkle - and the best bit? There are 56 whole houses in a pack of Candy Cane paper - that's a lot of cards!  

Some great deals there - don't miss out!

Happy shopping everyone!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used on Today's Card:

Bell Punch	Candy Cane Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Holly Berry Builder Punch	Pearl Basic Jewels	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

If you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the new Hostess Code for January W2ZHBH2D if your order is under £150 and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

2015-2017 In Color Blossom Accents

Eclectic Paper-Piercing Pack

Magnetic Platform

Tiny Triangles Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Some goodies in there, especially the magnetic platform if you don't already have one.

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

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

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:

As I'm still excited to be working may way through my box of seasonal preorder goodies, I have another Christmas card to share with you today using the All Ye Faithful stamp set and Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Sseries Paper and washi tape. Here's my card: 

My colour scheme today was inspired by the Winter Wonderland product suite - a mix of black, white and gold, with foil accents and real sparkle. Using Basic Black for my base with a mat of gold foil, then used a piece of Winter Wonderland DSP with a crackle-glaze pattern for the front of my card. I edged a piece of Whisper White with gold striped washi tape, then stamped my sentiment in Memento Black on the right hand edge. This sentiment does actually come on one line, so in order to make it work for my card and the sketch I carefully masked off parts of it to enable me to stamp it in three separate sections. For the oval, I stamped Mary and Joseph in Versamark onto Basic Black card and heat embossed it in gold. I backed this with an oval that was cut to the same size using my Big Shot and Ovals Framelits, then cut in half vertically; this then creates a frame that enables the oval to stand out, but isn't too wide, as it would have been if I'd used the next size framelit up. To finish, I added a trio of flags punched using my Tripe Banner Punch, featuring more of the patterns in the Winter Wonderland DSP suite. 

Whilst this isn't a colourway I would necessarily have been drawn to of my own accord, it is very on-trend and I do love the way the entire suite of products make co-ordination so easy - good old Stampin' Up! I love the All Ye Faithful stamp set too - one of my favourite religious sets in the new catalogue, it comes with two other feature stamps and a verse sentiment too that I used on the inside of my card:

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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another sneak-peek project, one for Halloween this time. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

 * All Ye Faithful - available September 1st

* Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

*Winter Wonderland Washi Tape - available September 1st

As promised, today I have another sneak-peek Christmas card for you using another of the Sleigh Ride Edgelits, using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout for inspiration:

As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew it would work perfectly with the new Sleigh Ride Edgelits. Here's my interpretation with today's card:

I went again with my favourite festive colour combination of navy, whisper white and silver and this time used the negative cut of the edgelit to look like a snowy sky, again embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, having first stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy along from the houses. These edgelits offer so many different ways to use them to achieve different looks, depending on whether you use the positive or negative cut out - I just love them! A loop of silver corded trim completes my card.

Clean and simple, yet rather effective. This card came together quickly and would look great in a wide range of colour combinations.

Back tomorrow with another card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Sleigh Ride Edgelits - available September 1st

* Softly Falling TIEF - available September 1st

Big Shot

Magnetic Platform

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at the Paper Players. Thank you to everyone who played along with my challenge last week - your entries were awesome! This week it is the turn of the super talented Sandy and she has a fun colour challenge for us:

With the 4th of July not far away, there are lots of patriotic themed cards floating about the internet. Thought of American independence and the stars on this week's badge inspired me to create my card this week:

I chose to use the Congrats! stamp from the 'Bravo!' stamp set as my focal sentiment, stamped in Island Indigo onto my Pool Party base, and die cut some stars around it using my Big shot and Stars framelits to decorate. I used a couple of snippets of retired DSP behind the negative space (the indigo stripes are from the 'All Abloom' pack and the red stripes from the 'Fresh Prints' DSP stack) and popped some stars up on dimensionals for a little extra lift. A red glimmer star punched with my Itty Bitty star punch and a single rhinestone finish my card. 

This card is ready for one of my lovely team who is close to promoting this month; I am willing her to get there so am thinking positively and I know I'll be sending this out real soon. I'm also linking up to SUO Challenges where the challenge is appropriately 'stars and stripes'. 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 colourful creations in the gallery this week. I'm off to begin a couple of days of birthday celebrations - we are starting early and making the most of it - after all, you're only 10 once!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set	Stars Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Red Glimmer Paper

Today's second creative post is for this week's Colour Me...! card challenge where we are working with a monochromatic colour scheme of Smoky Slate:

I love this week's inspiration photo - so cute! I went with a Christmas card today, although not a snowflake or sleigh in sight:

Today's card proved difficult to photograph, but I can attest that the silver embossed berries, bow and sentiment add a lovely touch of sparkle to this monochromatic card.

Feel free to leave a comment on today's card, before hopping over to check out the amazing cards by the rest of the Colour Me...! team:

 

Wonderous Wreath Photopolymer Bundle	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate

A quick post from me with today's card which is for this week's Merry Monday and Freshly Made Sketches challenges:

Snowflakes, naturals and dry embossing - and here is my card:

When I saw the challenge over at Merry Monday, I knew immediately that I was going to use the lovely Early Espresso/kraft paper in the DSP Under The Tree Speciality DSP pack; I teamed it with the Mingle All the Way stamp, stamped in Early Espresso on kraft, which also has little snowflakes on it and punched this out using a 2" circle punch and layered it using a couple of additional circles. I used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder for my embossed panel and had to finish with one of the little wooden snowflake embellishments from the Merry Many Stars kit - I love these and with I could buy them just one their own, I could find so many uses for them!!

I usually find monochromatic colour schemes so tricky, but this card came together so well and I love the natural look that this card has.

That's me for today; back tomorrow with my Design team card for The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Mingle All The Way Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform
Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Under The Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock	2" Circle Punch
2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch	Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a fun day today: made today's blog card first thing, caught up with a friend who's been away for a while, then spent the afternoon with the lovely ladies that attend my monthly card class - there can't be a better way to start my week! I tell you, those ladies are an absolute hoot and there are some real artists amongst them for sure (yes Chris, the reindeer was inspired!!) Pictures to follow on my Facebook page!

We used the Endless Wishes stamp set in my class today, but today's blog card is back on the theme of Halloween - I need to get the use out of my Halloween sets before they get retired for another year! I took my inspiration from the photo over at Fusion, but didn't double up and use their sketch too (I might have another go at this later in the week) - instead I used the rather interesting layout over at Pals Paper Arts:

I knew I wanted to use orange with a touch of black and definitely needed to incorporate the pumpkin in the photo - this is what I came up with:

I used Sahara Sand for my card base, and used a piece of the Motely Monsters DSP that is covered with happy smiling pumpkins as my first angular layer. For my top piece, I used a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock and cut out a pumpkin shape using my Fall Fest framelits, so that the DSP beneath would show through. I then stamped another smaller pumpkin is Crushed Curry onto Whisper White, stamped a face in Memento Black, cut this out with a framelit, tied it with a piece of linen thread and adhered to the edge of the open aperture. I popped this whole section onto dimensionals to give a little extra lift and depth. To finish, I stamped my sentiment from 'Good Greetings' in Memento Black onto the base of my card.

I hope you like today's card; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fall Fest Photopolymer Bundle	Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Linen Thread
Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

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As you read this I'll be on my way home from Stampin' Up!'s European Convention and will undoubtedly have some pictures to share later this week, but meanwhile it's time for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players and Sandy has a clean and simple yet glitzy challenge for us this week:

We are using silver or gold on our cards this week - think Encore ink, embossing, sequins, glitter - so many possibilities! I decided to go with silver paired with white, and chose to use the lovely Bright and Beautiful stamp set and co-ordinating star framelits for my clean and simple card:

I used Whisper White as my card base and stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. I did the same with the middle-sized star in the set, but cut this out using a framelit and layered it on a second star cut out of Brushed Silver cardstock using dimensionals, having glued the silver star to my card base. I added a sprinkling of Frosted Sequins to finish my clean and simple card. This would be a great card to make a lot of if you wanted to make a dent in your Christmas cards - you could switch the base card colours and even make in gold too to ring the changes and it doesn't take a large volume of supplies.

Hope you like today's card - check out this week's challenge page over at The Paper Players to see what the rest of the Design Team have been up to - there are some amazing cards to see as always. We look forward to seeing what you come up with this week!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bright & Beautiful Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stars Framelits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Frosted Sequins	Brushed Silver A4 Card Stock