Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the fifth week of the month and the turn of the amazing Anne Marie to host with a fun TicTaToe challenge board for you to work with:

I decided to go all-out with a fancy fold card today and originally was aiming for the central column of the board with diecut - fancy fold - embellishment; by the time I'd finished my card, I had inadvertently covered every square except 'colouring tool'! This card (almost!) has it all - take a look:

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

Double Fan Fancy Fold - I chose to make a double fan fancy fold card today as I've seen lots of these doing the rounds this season and for a fancy fold, they really aren't that tricky. I did a little bit of internet searching for a template, but in the end decided to make my own. My card measures 8 1/4" x 9", scored on the vertical at 1 1/2", 3", 6" and 7 1/2" and then scored on the diagonal as shown below. The basic outline is really straightforward - cutting the mats and layers to decorate was a little more time consuming, but worth it as they look lovely when finished. The card then has space on the reverse for the panel that would otherwise have been on the inside:

Poinsettia Showcase - I chose my favourite holly paper from the Poinsettia Place pack for my panels and chose to create a single layered poinsettia for my centrepiece. I cut a three layered flower from red velvet paper for my poinsettia using the poinsettia dies and added some holly leaves and gold berry sprigs. The red velvet paper is gorgeous and perfect for a showcase flower such as this - I wish you could feel the texture of it; it embosses beautifully too, as you can see on the close up below:

Pearls and Shine - I added a beaded pearl embellishment to the centre of my flower for the perfect finishing touch. Combined with the velvet paper, touches of gold foil and twine and gold embossed sentiment, this makes for quite a special Christmas card.

I'm linking my card up over at TGIF Challenges where the theme is 'Have a magical Christmas' (my sentiment was the perfect choice!) and over at SUO Challenges where the theme is also Christmas.

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:

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; for the first time ever whilst still in November, I think we are decorating the house for Christmas this afternoon. The James Juniors have been pestering me all week and to be honest I think we could all use a little festive cheer, so decorations it is!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

RED VELVET PAPER (£5.50)	POINSETTIA PLACE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	POINSETTIA PETALS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£52.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
WONDER OF THE SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£8.25)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	BEADED PEARLS (£7.50)

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:

For my card today I paired an old favourite with some new Christmas papers - a look:

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

Beautiful Boughs - The Beautiful Boughs Dies are in the annual catalogue as a carryover from the last Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue and whilst I don't have the bundled stamp set (hence choosing a greeting from 'Itty Bitty Christmas' for today's card, that most useful of Christmas sentiment sets!) I do love the dies; their beautiful layered detail is great to add bold festive greenery to a project.

Pine Cone Poinsettias - The starting point for today's card was most definitely the designer series paper (no surprises there then!) I decided to use one of the papers that is on offer as part of this month's designer series paper sale (you can read all about that here) so I chose the Poinsettia Place paper pack and a pattern that I haven't yet used featuring pine cones, hence the fit with the Beautiful Boughs dies.

A Slight Confession - Whilst the layout of today's sketch is clearly visible on my card, I chose not to follow the suggested sentiment placement, instead making mine a feature of the circle. This is in part because I was originally going to use an alternative paper and use a diecut flower as the focal point, but in the end changed my mind at the last minute as I wanted to play with a new paper design. Either way, the sketch is a suggestion and does not have to be followed to the absolute letter; as long as the broad elements are visible, artistic licence is welcome!

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

Both of the James Juniors are now officially on half-term for a week; I've spent the last few days enjoying some quality mother-daughter time with Rebecca as Ben was still at school, and tidying up some odds and ends, hence my lack of blog posts. They are both having a 'lazy day' today though so once I've battled my way slowly through the ironing pile, I am hoping to make a card or too later :-) Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEAUTIFUL BOUGHS DIES (£33.00)	POINSETTIA PLACE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£9.14)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SOFT SUEDE CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON GEMS (£6.00)
SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR 1/4" (6.4 MM) RIBBON (£6.50)