Good morning everyone! It's Monday and I'm here bright and early with not one, but two cards for you today! The first is a chalkboard card using this week's colours over at The Color Throwdown:

I couldn't resist some bright yellow on a Monday morning, so decided to dig out my 'Feel Goods' stamp set and pair it with the sun in the 'So You' stamp set to create the following card:

I used a base of Daffodil Delight and a piece of chalkboard paper, then stamped both the sun outline and the sentiment and heat embossed them in white. I found a small piece of retired yellow polka dot paper in my scrap box and stamped the sun again onto it and cut out the pieces and paper-pieced them onto my card. I would say you could substitute with something out of the current Brights Paper Stack, but since this is on the retiring list and already sold out, you will all need to raid your current supplies for this one! To finish, I added a gel pen line around the edge of my chalkboard and just wiped over the card lightly with some Whisper White craft ink. It adds a cool chalkboard effect in real like, although the photo does just look a little 'untidy' I think! I'm also linking this card up with Diane at Pixie's Snippets Playground since I was good and actually used up some of my scrap box snippets on this card - that so hardly ever happens!

My second card is using the colours over at Colour Q and this week's Cas(E) This Sketch:

I'm still enjoying my re-acquaintance with my aqua painter as a means of watercolouring and when I saw this week's CAS(E) This Sketch I knew it would offer me the opportunity for a little watercolouring behind this sweet bird couple silhouette from the 'World of Dreams' stamp set: 

I stamped both the bird image and the sentiment (from the retired 'Good Greetings' stamp set) in versamark and heat embossed in black - this has a lovely sheen in real life - onto watercolour paper and then using my aquapainter, I picked up the inks in the challenge colours (I substituted Pear Pizzazz for Kiwi Kiss as I don't have this retired colour) and simply coloured in a 'halo' effect behind the silhouette image. I then adhered my finished piece to a base of Bermuda Bay cardstock. I think this will make a lovely anniversary card for my box - my own wedding anniversary doesn't come round again until next February; now that's what I call organised!

Right, that's me done for today - I have some admin to crack on with, dinner to prepare and a large basket of ironing to do - well, at least the sun is shining! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Feel Goods Card:

Feel Goods Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Chalkboard Paper	Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock

World Of Dreams I Love Us card:

Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay
World Of Dreams Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Aqua Painter	6 X 9 Watercolor Paper	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

Today a quick post to share the Christmas cards I made for my Mum and Dad and Mother-in-law respectively - and a little 'sneak peek' of some new product that will be available in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue at the end of January. I wanted to use the single stamp 'Christmas Star' for my cards; this is such a great statement stamp but feel like I haven't used it anywhere near enough this season. I was inspired by this Brian King card I saw a while ago here. For my version, I decided to use the same design for each card, but create it in two different colourways. Here's the first one in silver and Midnight Muse:

I wanted the star to take centre stage, so kept the design fairly simple and embossed the star then hand cut and scored along the point lines to create a lovely 3-dimensional effect. I adhered the star to the card with rolled glue dots at the end of each point; this is a better option where you don't want the bulk of a dimensional. To finish I added the Christmas sentiment from the 'Delightful Dozen' stamp set.

For the second version, I used gold and Cherry Cobbler:

Did you spot the 'sneak peek' of the new product? Yes, shiny gold sequins - just one of a number of new gold products that will make their appearance in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue in just over a month's time. I just couldn't resist using a few to finish off my Christmas projects.

So here's a picture of both cards together; the question is, which one do you prefer?

I must say, I think it's a tough call - I like them both, and I'm not sure which I would choose as my favourite. Both were well received by the recipients, so I guess that's the main thing!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so will be a day of food preparations for the big day, along with a few fun things too. I'll be back to share another Christmas project too; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Midnight Muse A4 Card Stock	Midnight Muse Classic Stampin' Pad	Brushed Silver A4 Card Stock
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Brushed Gold A4 Card Stock	Versamark Pad
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Delightful Dozen - Clear-Mount Stamp	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Yay - it's the weekend! I've been busy doing homework and more convention swaps today, along with other lovely items for my convention friends, all of which I will share with you another time ... because today I'm going to show you the easiest ever way to make Christmas Crackers using the new Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board! Not just pictures, but a video too. The new envelope punch board from Stampin' Up! has been hugely popular as lots of my customers will testify and it really is a versatile piece of kit. As I mentioned in a previous post, the board can be used not only to make envelopes, but also boxes in a variety of shapes and sizes and other 3D items such as crackers.

As we are fast approaching the start of the festive season, what better than to make some lovely Christmas crackers to decorate your Christmas tree, as table favours for the festive table or even to house a couple of chocolates as a little gift for someone special? Here are the ones I make in my video, along with a picture of some other ones that I've made:

I've seen lots of videos and tutorials on how to make them in a variety of sizes and styles, but if you want to make lots I think by far the easiest way is to use the current Designer Series Paper Stacks in the seasonal catalogue as your starting point: each sheet measures 4.5"x6.5" so it makes the score measurements really easy: 1", 2", 3" and 4" on the short side, and 1", 1.5", 2", 4.5", 5" and 5"5 on the long side. Simply score, punch stick and done - you can make a cracker in just a couple of minutes. Add a minute or two more to add some decoration and you could be mass producing these in no time. If you don't use the paper stacks, any designer paper cut to the basic measurement will do; I would avoid using solid colour standard cardstock as this is much thicker and whilst your envelope punch board will punch through a double thickness of cardstock, it is quite hard work and you risk damaging your punch and board as it isn't really designed with this in mind.

In my video, I also show a boxed set of crackers that I made using the Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Stack - here is the photo again:

This box set would make a lovely gift for someone - if you would like to make a box for your crackers, the dimensions you will need are as follows:

Box Base: Sheet of cardstock (I used Bermuda Bay) 8 1/4" x 8 1/2". Score at 1 1/8" and 7 1/8" across the short side, then rotate through 90 degrees and score at 1 1/8" and 7 3/8" on the long side.

Box lid: Acetate window sheet size 8 1/4" x 8 1/2". Create a shim for your score board using an offcut of window sheet, then with your shim in place, score the lid to the same dimensions as the base above (1 1/8" and 7 1/8" across the short side, 1 1/8" and 7 3/8" on the long side). This will ensure your box lid fits snugly.

I then decorated my box with some embossed die cut snowflakes using the Festive Flurry Stamp Set and Framelits, Bermuda Bay ribbon and a Frosted Finishes embellishment.

So without further ado, grab your paper stack and watch my video tutorial and start making your Christmas crackers today!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

This is the first of two posts today, as there's lots of news to share! Firstly, I'm excited to announce that there is a new series of never-before seen single stamps available from today, all with a Christmas theme:

These stamps are available as clear-mount only (blocks available separately) and won't be sent in typical SU! cases or packaging; they'll be packaged in cello bags. If you'd like a case for your stamp, you can buy Clear-Mount Stamp Cases that come in packs of four separately (these are available in the main catalogue).

There are 8 different stamps to choose from, starting from £4.50. These stamps are only available through 31 January 2014 and will be great for cards and tags during the festive season, so get them while you can! Choose one or collect all eight - the choice is yours.

Secondly, as today is Tuesday it's the day for this week's My Digital Studio (MDS) downloads - click on the date buttons below to link to my online store to view them in more detail and to purchase. I've also included the links to the downloads for the last two weeks in case you're new to all this and want to catch up!

This week's downloads include the new in-colour ribbons, the Thankful brush and tablescape kit and some of the Christmas stamps from the current seasonal catalogue. 

If you haven't already looked at MDS, you should really consider downloading the free trial version from my store: you get a really comprehensive trial version for 30 days absolutely free, to help you decide whether you would like to go ahead and purchase the full version for £13.95. I would urge you to download it and take a look: whatever your area of interest - scrapbook pages, photo albums, cards, home décor and more - you will be amazed at the things you can create.

I'll be sharing some of my own MDS projects here on my blog in coming weeks - if you've already downloaded and started creating, do share your creations with me - I would love to see them.

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy stampin!