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

I decided to pair this week's colours with the current sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday to use a stamp that I've not yet had the opportunity to ink up, even though I've used each of the other stamps in the same set - take a look:

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

A Colour Confession - First up - I have a confession to make! I had decided on my stamp and layout, so gathered my supplies and various ribbons and accessories that would work for my card and set to work. I completed my card and went to upload it then realised my oversight - I had used Cherry Cobbler instead of Merry Merlot! I had the colour banner in my mind but hadn't double-checked it before I started; a rookie mistake and my only defence is that I really have had one of those weeks! I had no time to remake, so I hope LeAnne forgives me and you can imagine how the same card would look in a slightly darker shade of red. What can I say - I think it's time for a Christmas break!

Seasons of Fun - I used the image of the sweet little girl pulling her sled and tiny Christmas tree on the front of my tailored tag. This is the final image in the 'Seasons of Fun' hostess set that I had yet to use and I think it's so sweet, I just had to use it on today's card. I stamped it twice, once directly onto my tag and a second time, so that I could fussy cut the little girl's hat and scarf so that I could layer these and extend the image beyond the boundaries of the tag. I left my card sentiment-free and also added some stars and a stamped image of the little Christmas tree inside:

Sometimes I like to leave clear space to write, even on a Christmas card, when often I'm writing to someone I haven't seen in a long time.

Touches of Gold - I incorporated lots of gold elements into today's card: the (retired) plaid banners, the gold-edged Cherry Cobbler ribbon tied with gold twine, the gold holly leaves and some (retired) gold Wink of Stella for the star on top of the Christmas tree:

I love the addition of the gold to the festive red and green and switching out the usual white for vanilla adds a lovely warmth to this cute Christmas card. The 'Seasons of Fun' host stamp set is still available, so if you have your eye on it now is the time to order - it will disappear for good when the current July-December catalogue ends on 3rd January.

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; today we are spending the day fully embracing our Christmas preparations at home, with tree trimming and festive baking planned - yum! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

TAILOR MADE TAGS DIES (£20.00)	SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	DECORATIVE MATTE DOTS (£5.25)	GOLD HOLLY LEAVES (£7.00)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

This is my first post of a two-post Friday and I'm here with my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Cat Day' which is on October 27th. 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 cat, orange and texture from the inspo list along with the sketch layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments to create a Halloween-inspired birthday card, perfect for a late October birthday - take a look:

I'm also linking up over at SUO Challenges where they are sharing all things Halloween for their current challenge too.

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

Seasons of Fun - I thought the trick-or-treat roller skater in the 'Seasons of Fun' host set would make for a fun Halloween-inspired birthday card for someone celebrating a late October birthday, so stamped and coloured my image with Blends and added a combination of sentiments on the inside of my card for a play on the idea of 'trick or treat' that the image suggests to fit my birthday greeting:

I used up a whole bunch of retired Halloween DSP and a background panel embossed with a retired cobweb embossing folder for texture for the remaining details on the front of my card, along with a sprinkling of retired enamel dots.

Spot The Difference - Did you spot the difference between my roller-skating pumpkin and the stamp in the catalogue? I took a leaf out of my creative friend Vicky's book (she is a whizz at combining stamps in unexpected ways to come up with amazing designs!) and coloured and fussy-cut the cat from the image with the boy playing in the leaves that I used on this card here and added him to the little girl's pumpkin treat bucket:

Crafty, eh? Well, I had to get a cat onto my card somehow!

My Little Pumpkin - I realised when I went over to grab the link for Hand Stamped Sentiments to add my card to the gallery, that one of their design team, Ange McKay, also used this image on her card so mine does naturally look very similar. I hadn't seen her card before I made my own though; this cute image reminds me of a little pumpkin of my very own:

My children loved to dress up when they were little and this photo of Rebecca was her first Halloween photo when she could walk - check out those pink shoes! This photo is now more than 14 years old - but is still makes me smile!

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

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans

Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PAMPERED PETS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	TIMELESS TULIPS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)

Happy World Card Making Day everyone! Have you crafted today? Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenges over at Global Design Project and Double D Challenge where they are both about leaves:

I’ve changed things up a little for my card with a super easy shaker card to really make the most of those autumn falling leaves - take a look:

Isn’t it just the cutest? Here's the low-down on today's card:

Seasons of Fun - The little boy having fun playing in the leaves is from the ‘Seasons of Fun’ hostess set in the mini catalogue and was the perfect background for my shaker. I stamped him onto a stitched rectangle and coloured him in with a variety of Stampin’ Blends, matching the colours to those of my falling diecut leaves to create a seamless picture.

How To Create An Easy Shaker Card - The shaker card element on today’s card was so easy and straightforward to create: all you need to do is place your shaker pieces - I used leaves cut with the Seasonal Swirls Dies and some gold sequins for a little sparkle - onto your background image and panel and carefully slide into an acetate sleeve, the kind you sometimes put finished cards into for sale, and fold the sides and tape behind. This creates a flat pocket with less depth and freedom of movement than a traditional shaker card, which is better for posting, but still allows the contents to move around and ‘shake’. 

Pattern Party With Colour - I placed my shaker pocket onto a background of leafy paper from the Pattern Party hostess paper pack. This is a black and white paper, but I coloured the leaves in with my Stampin’ Blends to further continue my leafy theme tie in my frame with the central image:

I deliberately left the front of my card sentiment-free, as I didn’t want to obscure my shaker and central image. I’m also not sure who I’m going to send this card to so it made more sense to add one at a later date if needed.

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:

SEASONAL SWIRLS DIES (£32.00)	SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	PATTERN PARTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) HOST DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SEA FOAM STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

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

I love our challenge badge this week and decided to embrace the fun of our challenge photo and go with a card that is all about playing with leaves - take a look:

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

I stamped this super-cute image of this little chap playing in a big pile of leaves with his kitty from the 'Seasons of Fun' current seasonal hostess set onto a panel cut with the Whimsy Dies (the swirly border reminded me of a breeze!) and coloured with my Stampin' Blends markers: 

That's all there is to it - super clean and really simple to achieve!

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'm linking today's card up for another entry over at The Alphabet Challenge where they are on 'L is for Leaves' and over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is 'people'. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	STITCHED WITH WHIMSY DIES (£27.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)