Yay - it's Friday - always a good day! I've had a busy one with a few errands, appointments and a pleasant afternoon watching Ben play rugby. Not much time for crafting today (I did help a friend make good progress on some Christmas bunting, but we still have a few finishing touches to make so I'll share that another time!) so I'm sharing a home decor project I made in a class with a lovely group of ladies last week. We decided to decorate a pillar candle and make a table centre, using the Festive Flower Punch and the Spiral Flower Originals Die to make a wreath of flowers around the base.

Here's my finished project, in Real Red with Very Vanilla roses:

I stamped the flower from 'Reason to the Season' on filter paper and melted it into the candle to set it, then covered a small polystyrene wreath with Very Vanilla satin ribbon before adhering my flower to it. A few gold glimmer and pearl flower centres and some loops of gold glitter ribbon interspersed in between completes the project.

The ladies in my class made their arrangements in a variety of colours; you can see their creations on my Facebook page here (feel free to give me a 'like' whilst your there!) for more colour inspiration. This was such a fun project to make and another way to show the versatility of the 'Reason for The Season' stamp set and co-ordinating Festive Flower Punch - this is one bundle that just keeps on giving, so many creative possibilities! The new Spring-Summer catalogue also offers another stamp set that co-ordinates with this useful punch - watch this space!

I'm linking up with the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges too who are working with your favourite holiday colours - my traditional colour scheme remains a favourite, even though it's sometimes nice to step out of the creative comfort zone (see next Sunday's post for an example of that!) That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Reason For The Season Photopolymer Bundle	Spiral Flower Originals Die	Big Shot	White Filter Paper	Very Vanilla 5/8" Satin Ribbon
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Gold Glimmer Paper
Gold & White 3/8" (1 Cm) Glitter Ribbon	Pearl Basic Jewels

I've been busy today with the final preparations for the first of my all day Christmas Stamp-a-Stacks later this week but today's card that I'm going to share is the final one from last month's technique class using the 'Reason For The Season' stamp set:

For this card we used a base of Real Red and decorated the front with a piece of Merry Moments DSP, then cut away a section using a 2" circle punch, so that it would fit around a 3D poinsettia flower made from Real Red card stock and adhered to the inside to the card. We used two layers of petals and a trio of leaves for our flower and wrapped a few loops of fine gold metallic thread behind it. This was a great card to get everyone used to building the 3D flower using the punch, having stamped the patterns onto the petals and leaves beforehand. These flowers also look great on festive packaging and really make the most of this versatile stamp set. This is one of the many great value bundles in the seasonal catalogue - with 15% off when you purchase the bundle, it represents a great saving. If you would like to see this stamp and punch combo in action (and a refresher for the ladies that attended my class!), here's a great video from Stampin' Up! that gives you the lowdown:

I hope you enjoyed that video. Don't forget, if you live in or around Northampton and would like more information on attending any of my classes, you can find full details here or just get in touch to confirm availability. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Reason For The Season Photopolymer Bundle	Merry Moments Designer Series Paper	Gold Metallic Thread	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Cardstock
2" Circle Punch	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

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:

I decided to use the lovely 'Reason For The Season' stamp set on my card again today. Here's my card: 

I decided to use the tone on tone stamping on my Real Red card base as it was so popular on my earlier card here. I used a band of Garden Green and a Garden Green mat for my Whisper White oval, cut with my Big Shot and Oval Framelits, and added a band of Real Red striped Holiday Fancy Foil Designer Vellum to the central band to add a little shine. I stamped my sentiment in black and then for my embellishment, I stamped the poinsettia three times on Whisper White and fussy cut each one, creating different layers of petals as I did so, so that when they were adhered on top of each other they have a real 3D effect. I also coloured some pearls with a yellow Sharpie and added those to the centre of my flower. Here's a closeup of the detail:

I love the effect you get with some good old fashioned fussy cutting and layering and for this card, no punch required. This set really is so versatile!

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 project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Good evening blog readers! I had a lovely time with the ladies - and gent! - that attend my card class at a local residential care home this morning. As always, the lovely Sheila and Brenda were wonderful hostesses and today we were joined a new resident, Peggy, for the first time. We enjoyed a pleasant few hours making Christmas cards and this afternoon I caught up with one of my team over a quick coffee and got some jobs done before collecting the children and embarking on the usual Tuesday round of homework, piano lessons and dinner. Anyway, enough about my day! No time to make a card today, so I thought I'd share with you another of the cards we made at my Technique class this month. Another using the 'Reason For The Season' stamp set, but this time in white and gold:

I used extra thick Whisper White cardstock for my base, then created a layered central panel using a piece of gold foil cardstock and a piece of Whisper White covered with a piece of the gorgeous gold foil Winter Wonderland Designer Vellum Stack. I stamped the sentiment and flower onto a piece of Whisper White in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, then fussy cut the flower and punched the sentiment out using a 2" circle punch. To put together, I created a few loops of gold corded trim and adhered these to my card, followed by the sentiment then lastly the flower, overlapping each slightly. A sprinkling of gold sequins from the Metallics Sequin Assortment completes my card.

This is my favourite of all the cards we made in this month's technique class - I love the modern, crisp gold and white finish. That's all from me today; back tomorrow with a new collection of weekly deals. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set	Winter Wonderland Designer Vellum Stack	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Gold Cording Trim	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	2" Circle Punch

I held the second of my monthly technique classes today so I thought I would share with you one of our class cards. We have been using the 'Reason For The Season' stamp set this month and this is the first of our cards, our 'warm up' card:

I created a lovely 'tone on tone' background, by stamping the petal flower image in Real Red onto Real Red cardstock. We then created a white panel to go across the front, where we stamped the complete flower in Real Red and Garden Green, including the outline. 'Reason For The Season' is a two-step stamp set, where you stamp the outline then infill the coloured areas with separate stamps for the petals, leaves and centres. This sounds much more difficult than it actually is, when the stamps are photopolymer like this one; because the stamps are transparent it makes aligning the images a breeze, with no stamp-a-ma-jig required. 

The outline and sentiment were stamped in the new Basic Black archival ink, which gives a lovely crisp image. To finish, I added a row of gold sequins either side of the panel and some decoration to the inside of the card. This is a great stamp set with so many creative possibilities. Best of all, it has a co-ordinating punch and is one of the many fantastic bundle offers in the seasonal catalogue - buy both items and save 15%, can't get better than that!

If you live in or around Northampton and would like to attend one of my classes, please do check out my class schedule or contact me for more details. They are a great way to learn new crafting techniques and enjoy a pleasant few hours creating with like-minded individuals.

Back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals and another creative project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Gold Sequin Trim	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock

Happy Monday everyone! Today is an especially happy one for me as it's my birthday - yay! There has been lots going on today: the James Juniors are back at school today, I had the first of this month's technique stamp classes and there were lots of presents, flowers and birthday cake! Anyway, onto today's card! We are using 'Reason For the Season' stamp set in my technique classes this month and whilst I was making up some samples last week, I decided to use the set to make a card using last week's Mojo Monday sketch, although I didn't get a chance to link up. Here's my card:

I used a piece of the 'Season of Cheer' poinsettia patterned paper for my background, picking out the Mossy Meadow for my mat and Soft Sky for my card base. I stamped three flowers in Cherry Cobbler and Hello Honey on Whisper White and fussy cut them out, mounting each on a double-mounted circle and linking them together with a piece of retired Mossy Meadow satin ribbon. I stamped the sentiment in Mossy Meadow and mounted this on a panel in the centre of my card.

I wasn't sure about the busy background paper, but this is one of those cards that has really grown on me the more I look at it and I actually quite like. The 'tall and skinny' 6"x4" layout also means that it is a little different from the norm.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another festive project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Season Of Cheer Designer Series Paper	Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set	1-3/4" Circle Punch	2" Circle Punch	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock