Today I'm sharing a card that I made at the weekend that was just for fun as I wanted to play along with a few challenges:

I still had the (retired) 'Well Defined' stamp set out on my desk having made this card and another of the sentiments in the set was just perfect to make a card inspired by the current Time Out Challenges quote:

I used the palette over at Color Throwdown - I love the balance of bright orange with pale blue and cream - and the pumpkin inspiration over at Just Add Ink - to create my pumpkin-packed, card full of thanks - take a look:

I saw this card by Martin Stone last week and loved the idea of a bold sentiment overlaid on a slimline card, so decided to use the same design principles for my card. I added a light stencilled houndstooth pattern in Balmy Blue to my vanilla card base, followed by a panel featuring a selection of layered stamped and diecut pumpkins and overlaid this with my bold fussy cut 'gratitude' sentiment.

I used the retired set 'Sophisticated Serifs' which is very similar in size and style to the current online exclusive 'Classic Letters' stamp set. I added the rest of my sentiment that paired with this along with a few extra pumpkins inside my card:

This card took a little while, but I love the finished look and the combination of the bold sentiment on the front and detail inside that for me really does some up what gratitude is all about. I do like to send thank you cards, so these are the kind of cards that there are never enough of and I will definitely be sending this to a worthy recipient.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ABUNDANT BEAUTY DECORATIVE MASKS (10.00)

BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)

VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

PUMPKIN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

Today I have a quick 'extra' post to share a card that I made for the current challenge over at Fusion that I'm also linking up over at Global Design Project where their theme is 'Hey Pumpkin' #GDP315:

I love both the Fusion sketch and inspiration photo, but as I have no current pumpkin products in my collection, I went on the hunt through my retired paper for some featuring neutral coloured pumpkins and ended up making a card that comprises entirely retired product, save the basic colours which are all current (Mint Macaron, Old Olive, Basic White and Cajun Craze):

I found this lovely retired paper in the 'Country Lane' paper pack, and paired it with a white layered pumpkin, diecut with the Patterned Pumpkins dies and tied with some retired old olive twine, and finished the whole thing off with an oversize sentiment cut with the Expressions Thinlits Dies.

Thank you Fusion for the inspiration to use up more of my hoarded paper and give some of my retired tools some love - this card is for you my readers, who am I am thankful continue to follow along and sometimes even comment as I share my crafty musings and creations with you!

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As You See It where it's time for my favourite, a sketch challenge:

 I considered a number of options before settling on using this week's muted palette over at Color Throwdown to create an autumnal thank you card - take a look:

The sketch gave me the opportunity to do something that I've been wanting to try for a while with my Seasonal Wreath embossing folder. I'm also linking up with the Retro Rubber Challenge since they currently have an 'anything goes' theme. I am making a concerted effort to use up more of my retired papers and give some old favourite stamp sets some love so their theme this week is perfect: my card uses a piece of left over retired DSP and a bunch of products that are all more than a year old - read on to see just how old! Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Blended Embossed Wreath - The Seasonal Wreath is in my 'top 5' of favourite embossing folders, especially for Christmas cards. I've had mine since it was launched in 2018 and I do feel it's one of those annual catalogue 'unsung heroes' - lost in the pages at the back of the book, buried amongst the other patterns, but it's great for quick cards and works for all seasons depending on how you decorate/embellish it. I usually use it as a straight forward emboss, but I wondered what it would look like if I coloured it. I decided to try Blends in the first instance and I actually quite like the effect. It isn't as easy to see the dimension from a distance, but even in just three colours I think it gives it a new look.  

Thanks and Appreciation - The sentiment on my card comes from probably my most favourite fall stamp set ever: Painted Harvest. I've had this stamp set since it's launch in 2017 and I can't ever imagine parting with it. Such wonderful thankful sentiments and sunflower stamps that are pretty much foolproof to use and look fabulous in a wide variety of colour combinations. The best thing about it is this set features in the current Stampin' Up! annual catalogue and is still available to purchase :-) The other stamp I've used on my card today is my orange pumpkin embellishment; this stamp is from one of my old sets, 'Pick A Pumpkin', also from 2017 but now retired. I held onto this set and the co-ordinating Patterned Pumpkin Thinlits as they contain some nice pumpkin shapes that work for both fall and Halloween-themed cards alike.

Other 'Oldie but Goodies' - Other items that I've used on today's card that I've had for longer than I can remember are the circle punches I used to layer my sentiment and that piece of Paisley and Posies DSP, which is from Autumn-Winter 2016 - not that I'm a hoarder of patterned paper or anything ...!

I debated whether to add anything else to this card, but decided to leave it 'as is' and allow the wreath to take centre stage. I am enjoying experimenting a little this week and with this card it certainly felt good to use up some bits and pieces, albeit just a few - not sure I made enough of a dent to justify a shopping spree!

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. 

Do check out the cards by the other members of the As you See It design team - we have all interpreted the sketch differently so there is a ton of creative inspiration!

Enjoy your day; I have a date with the ironing basket before heading out on the swim run this evening. What are your plans for the weekend? We are having a split one in the James household: the girls are at home looking forward to a weekend full of hockey, GCSE coursework and crafting, whilst the boys are on the school rugby tour to York via Nottingham. Hopefully the pitches won't be too waterlogged to play - I am looking forward to unpacking the kit bags on Sunday already!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Seasonal Wreath 3D Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Linen Thread (£4.75)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch (£17.00)	2-1/4" (5.7 Cm) Circle Punch (£17.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my sweet friend, the lovely LeAnne, to host this week and since it is the fifth week of the month she has a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

The fun thing about tic-tac-toe are the many creative possibilities the board offers and as you will see from the design team cards this week, there is a wealth of inspiration to choose from. 

I decided that I would go down the centre for my card this week - patterned paper, pumpkin, orange/rust (although by coincidence my card fulfils one of the diagonals of diecut, pumpkin, green too) for my card this week - take a look:

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

Inspired By Country Lane - My card today was inspired by the bold repeating pattern on my sheet of Country Home Designer Series Paper. I used the Mint Macaron green to frame my card and colour my milk churn, and paired it with a small panel of Whisper White that has been embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder too; it's a little difficult to see in the photo but I wanted to keep the balance of colour light and the panel not too busy.

Blended Country Home - I stamped and partially diecut my filled milk churn using my Stitched Shapes circle thinlit, courtesy of the country Home stamp set, then coloured it with similar shades to the milk churns on the DSP using my Stampin' Blends. I'm really pleased that the seasonal catalogue includes additional shades of these marker pens; they give such a smooth finish. I added a small bow of braided linen trim to finish.

Pick A Pair of Pumpkins - To complete the picture, I added a pair of pumpkins from the retired 'Pick A Pumpkin' stamp set. I heat embossed them both in white onto Basic Grey cardstock, and coloured one of them with my Cajun Craze Blends markers - along with the berries in my milk churn and the thankful sentiment, these are my rust/orange contributions to the tic-tac-toe board.

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 hope you like my Fall themed card today; I'm also linking up with the team over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is Nature/Fall. 

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; having spent yesterday dividing my time between hockey, a swimming gala and a fairly hefty jam making session (raspberry jam and chilli jam, in case you're wondering!) to use up the last of my own garden harvest, I'm hoping today will be slightly less hectic! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Country Lane 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim (£6.50)	Blackberry Bliss Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Cajun Craze Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)
Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

Firstly apologies to anyone who had difficulty accessing my Paper Players post early yesterday; there was a scheduling blip on my part which I hadn't appreciated until later in the evening, so apologies for that. Here's the link to yesterday's post if you missed it - it's a bumper project post too, so definitely worth a look! Back to today - I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays that features sequins and I'm using the colours over at CAS Colours and Sketches:

I decided to with a simple fall-inspired shaker card - take a look:

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

Seasonal Patterned Pumpkin Shaker - I have lots of spare sequins in my stash and just happened to have some in Pumpkin Pie, so decided to combine them with a few copper ones to create a simple shaker using the retired Patterned Pumpkin thinlits. I love the pop of bright green that the Granny Apple Green adds to the leaves and tendrils too! 

A Masked Sentiment - I wanted a simple sentiment in keeping with the theme of thankfulness (I could have gone with Halloween I guess, but I know this card will be more useful and these colours reminded me much more of autumn/fall) so inked one of the stamps in the 'Labels To Love' set with my Fresh Fig marker, omitting the branches above and below it. This is the only stamping on the front of my card, although I did use my markers to selectively colour a pumpkin from the 'Seasonal Chums' set to decorate the inside of my card too:

So Subtle Texture - The last feature of today's card is the subtle embossed texture that I added to my card base and orange banner piece, courtesy of the new Subtle 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I finally caved and bought this embossing folder as I've seen so many wonderful cards that feature it, many from my lovely Paper Players teamie LeAnne over at WeeInklings (thank for being my enabler LeAnne - I think!) I must say, I'm not at all disappointed; whilst a little difficult to see on the dark colours of today's card, it adds a wonderful subtle texture that 

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:

Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Foam Adhesive Strips (£7.25)	Metallics Sequin Assortment (£4.75)	Labels To Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)
Seasonal Chums Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Fresh Fig A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)
Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)