Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge from the fabulous Heather C:

I don't mind admitting, I struggled with this one! I tried a few things but found combining all of the elements a challenge - but I guess that's kind of the point, right?! In the end it was the inspo photo over at Inspired By that unlocked things for me - take a look:

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

Oxidised Copper - I used a panel of Oxidised Copper paper, a gorgeous warm metallic, for my card base. Although I've mostly covered it with my embossed strips, its beauty still shines through. This ticked off both warm tones and metallics. 

Leaf Fall - I decided to make a feature of my dry embossing, so embossed a panel of Early Espresso with the Leaf Fall 3D embossing folder and then cut it into strips, over my oxidised copper panel. I chose this darker brown as I liked the contrast and warmth of those blankets in the Inspired By photo and wanted to evoke that in my fall card. I love the detail of those embossed leaves! Embossed texture - tick.

 Final Copper Touches - I added my sentiment from the 'Friends For Life' stamp set to a tag diecut using one of the Greetings of The Season Dies - these are so useful! - and heat embossed it in copper. A snippet of retired copper ribbon tied with some dark brown baker's twine and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it tiny retired copper pinecone that I found in my stash completed my card and allowed another nod to that Inspired By photo:

Tag and thinking of you sentiment - tick and tick. Recipe complete! So what will you cook up with this week's challenge ingredients? Do share your projects in our gallery and show us your makes!

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

Enjoy your day; I'm off to tick off some chores in the hope of a little crafty time over the weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LEAF FALL 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON DIES (30.00)	OXIDIZED COPPER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (7.50)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)
VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Laura has asked that we add a diagonal corner detail to our clean and simple cards:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I decided to make a feature of that corner with an offcut of Season of Green & Gold Specialty Designer Series Paper (another of my Online Exclusives favourites) that was the perfect fit:

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

Isn't that paper beautiful? I added a simple strip of gold foil and 'went large' with my sentiment, choosing one from another Online Exclusive, the 'Iconic Imagery' stamp set, and followed the line of my Old Olive cardstock base; I just love the large 'celebrate' stamp:

That's all there is to it - super simple and another Christmas card for the pile! This is such a great card design - perfect for using up scraps or strips of patterned paper and you could pair with any kind of sentiment too.

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:

SEASON OF GREEN & GOLD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

ICONIC IMAGERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)

METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a fun 'fill in the blank' challenge from Deborah:

This was a tough one - there are so many things that I love to craft with!! For sheer versatility though, I think my favourite thing to craft with has to be my diecutting machine - it really allows for so much creativity and with such a beautifully crafted finish. In case you thought my choice was going to be designer series paper, it is a very close second - so today's card is a celebration of both! I was inspired by the words of the fun blackboard inspiration over at Time Out and decided to make a coffee-themed card using one of my favourite Online Exclusive Suites, A Little Latte - take a look:

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

A Little Latte Love - The A Little Latte Suite is the perfect way to discover your inner barista and create beautiful latte art and today's card contains a little of everything: designer series paper, stamps, dies and adhesive swirl dots all add up to yummy coffee goodness! 

The Diecutting Difference - I used my diecutting machine on today's card in a number of different ways: I used the Latte Love dies to both cut out stamped images (the spoon and coffee beans) and to diecut images directly from the designer series paper (the coffee cup and more coffee beans), as well as standalone dies to create the cafetiere and some additional Spotlight on Nature dies to diecut the stamped sentiment. Each adds another element, but the cafetiere in particular is a standout - if you look at the image below, you can see that it consists of three separate diecut elements to create the finished item:

Paper Perfection - A final mention to the gorgeous A Little Latte designer series paper too. I featured a few of the patterns on today's card: two for the background and then I diecut both beans and a latte art-filled coffee cup from a couple of the other sheets - I love it when dies and paper co-ordinate too!

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. 

I must confess I'm more of a tea drinker than coffee connoisseur, but I do enjoy a nice coffee with friends every once in a while - this card will be winging its way to one with an invitation to join me soon.

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Fill In The Blank Challenge you must tell us how you filled in the blank and completed the sentence.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LATTE LOVE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (44.00)	A LITTLE LATTE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	ADHESIVE-BACKED SWIRL DOTS (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)
SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (33.00)	LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	SILVER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	WINDOW SHEETS (4.75)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Laura is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

These colours had a real autumnal feel for me so I decided to play along with the challenges over at CAS on Friday where the challenge theme is 'Leaves' and AAA Cards where they are all about autumn and create a clean and simple card featuring one of my favourite leaves - take a look:

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

'Lighthearted Leaves' is a leaf set that I've had in my collection for a long time and will never part with! It contains one of my favourite sentiments for autumn cards (I used that on Sunday's card - you can see that here if you missed it) and I love the intricate design of the leaves, that are so perfect for a spot of quick colouring. I created a Night of Navy square frame using my Stylish Shapes Dies and used the challenge colours to colour my leaf with my Blends. I then I tied my leaf with Night of Navy baker's twine and added a snipped sentiment stamped on orange cardstock for an additional pop of autumnal colour:

My regular readers will know I'm not a fan of Wild Wheat generally, but I must confess I love it in this colour combination, so thank you Laura! I think colours can sometimes be like tasting vegetables - sometimes you just need to try cooking them a different way!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	WILD WHEAT STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for an interesting colour challenge from Deborah:

I  love bold colours, but I was initially stumped as to what to do with this week's colour palette. Then I saw last week's Freshly Made Sketches layout and since I'm in Christmas mode, I decided a bright Christmas tree (or two!) was in order - take a look:

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

I used a couple of retired tree dies from the Pine Woods Dies set (I've included a current set that's very similar below) to make a pair of layered pine trees and added them to a panel of Azure Afternoon cardstock that I embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder - so pretty! I added some deetail to the background by carefully outlining some of the snowflakes with a white gel pen and adding some (retired) iridescent snowflake sequins to others - you can see the detail more closely below: 

A blanket of white snow on the ground and a sentiment from the (retired) Sweet Candy Canes stamp set complete my card. I actually really like the finished result - the bold blocks of colour are really impactful and I love the finished look. Another Christmas card for my stash! 

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Colour Challenge use all of the given colours and only those colours with these exceptions:
• White and Very Vanilla are free colours.
• In addition, you may use of ONE of these neutrals: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNOWFLAKE SKY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
WHITE LOOSE SNOWFLAKES (7.50)	PEACEFUL EVERGREENS DIES (38.00)

STOP PRESS for an important announcement: For 24 hours only, starting at 11pm UK time this evening, Stampin' Up! are offering FREE shipping on orders of £60 or more.

The key information is as follows:

• Free shipping applies after the qualifying order amount has been met.
• The minimum qualifying amount to receive free shipping is £60 or more.
• Free shipping only applies during the 24-hour period the promotion is live in each market; this means that the order must be opened and closed between 17 September 2024, at 11p.m. and 18 September 2024, at 10:59 p.m (UK).

This is a great time to grab some Christmas crafting supplies, stock up on either of this month's kits which are now in stock, or to treat yourself to a bargain from the clearance rack. So start making those lists and head off to my online Stampin' Up! store to place your order. Remember to add the current hostess code JQEHTZGK to receive an extra thank you in the post from me.

Happy shopping!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches.This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Nancy has asked that we add any non-square shape and a sentiment banner:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I used another of the diecuts from the A Little Bit of Festive designer paper pack - take a look:

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

I masked off a panel on my card and used my blending brush to add a strip of Cherry Cobbler ink, onto which I heat embossed part of my sentiment and then added a diecut element from the Joyful Sayings pack to complete my greeting. I used a pair of drums from my paper pack as my irregular shape:

That's all there is to it - super simple and another Christmas card for the pile.

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:

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

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

I had a card designed in my head for this sketch, but as is often the way my time has not been my own this week and I did not have the luxury of a peaceful few hours to pull it together. So - time to pivot and instead I grabbed my new 'A Little Bit Festive' designer series paper pack and a few other new items and rustled up a quick Christmas card - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Little Bit Festive - Those of you who are regular visitors know what a fan I am of the 'Frames & Flowers' paper pack ion the annual catalogue; well think of 'A Little Bit Festive' as its Christmas equivalent! Full patterned paper sheets, combined with diecuts and fabulous frames, the pack is great for all kinds of festive projects and is definitely one of my favourite things in the new mini catalogue. On today's card I used a strip of striped paper and a cute red truck, complete with Christmas tree in the back - you can see the diecut detail more closely below:

Just One Stamp - With the diecut elements bringing most of the detail to my clean and simple card, I only needed to add a stamped greeting to my card - no other stamping required. I used a sentiment from the new 'Greetings of the Season' stamp set and am linking up with the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges where this is actually their theme this week. 

Tag or Label - I added my sentiment to a label - or is it a tag? - from the coordinating 'Greetings of the Season' Dies. These dies look like labels but actually have a hole that makes them into a tag; perfect on today's card to tie a twine bow to finish off the red twine that I'd wrapped around my card base. A trio of Garden Green enamel dots complete my clean and simple Christmas card. I can't wait to make a few more using these papers - I think they will help me to build my Christmas card stocks nicely!

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (48.50)

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

It's time to get festive - the new Stampin' Up! mini catalogue is here! Paper copies of the catalogue are on their way to those customers who have shopped with me in the last 6 months (slightly later than usual due to my vacation). If you don't have one, never fear - the catalogue is available right now for you to download by clicking here or on the image below:

It will be available until it ends on 6 January 2025 by clicking on the image on the right hand sand of my blog page. So many great stamp sets, papers and more for your Halloween, Autumn and Christmas projects.

Also launching today is the new Digital Scrapbooking Catalogue. Further to the purchase of Close To My Heart, Stampin' Up! is expanding it's 12x12" scrapbooking line. There are new packs of 12x12" coloured cardstock, new two-tone cardstock and some fabulous scrapbooking kits too. The scrapbooking catalogue is only available in digital format and the full product line will be available online and through me as your Stampin' up! demonstrator whilst supplies last. New products will be added to this line on an ongoing basis.  The catalogue is available right now for you to download by clicking here or on the image below:

Here are some useful links that show some of the new scrapbooking product in more detail - the first shows the new two-tone cardstock (this is an addition to our current solid core cardstock, not a replacement):

The second gives a closer look at the new scrapbooking kits in more detail:

I also want to bring to your attention two new kits that will be available later this month. The release date has not yet been confirmed, but as with other recent kits they are likely to be popular (the Haunted House Kit sold out in days!) so if either of these kits appeals to you, please let me know and send through your order now so that I can order for you as soon as they release to avoid any disappointment. The first of the kits is a Card Keeper Kit:

Both kits will retail at £24 each and make great gifts too. The ornaments would also be great to make with children  -a half-term project perhaps?

I'll let you know when they are available to purchase, but if you're interested you should get in touch now so that your order is ready to go. Back soon with a new project and some samples from new mini catalogue makes.

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Nancy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

Nancy's colours are all from the Neutrals family and whilst I like each of them, I'll confess I struggled to know how to use them effectively together. So I decided the best thing to do was keep it simple - take a look:

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

I still had the Friends For Life bundle out on my desk having made Sunday's card, so decided to choose 3 elements - a sentiment and two diecuts - and created a simple layout making a feature of the structured leaf stem and added a trio of Blackberry Bliss enamel dots to complete my card:

Turns out I actually rather like the finished result - sometimes less really is more, right?

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with news of the new mini catalogue. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDS FOR LIFE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

TRANSPARENT ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (7.50)