Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I saw this sketch and immediately saw ... snowmen! Take a look:

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

Snow Place Like The Front of a Christmas Card - Apologies for the pun, but these snowmen - and women - definitely deserve to be showcased on the front of a Christmas card. 'Snow Place' is such a fun stamp set with infinite dress up possibilities for the snowmen and penguin in the set. What's more, the co-ordinating Snow Friends Framelits Dies make cutting out the shapes easy-peasy.

Go Large - Bigger is not always better, granted, however to accommodate my snow family of five I needed more cardfront, so I decided to make my card A5 size (21cm x 14.9cm) instead of a more standard A6. This allowed me enough room for my mats and layers, without my family needing to jostle too much for a space on my card.

A Pattern Surprise - Do you recognise my patterned paper? Are you wondering where I found my seasonal snowfall? This paper isn't from one of the festive seasonal packs at all; it's actually one of the patterns in the Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper. As with many of our DSP packs, the reverse of the feature papers often has a more repetitive pattern with spots, stripes or solid colours. This gorgeous mix of navy and white papers hides this spotted pattern which makes perfect snow. The moral of the story? Always check both sides of your papers and don't assume that because a pack isn't designed with Christmas in mind, there won't be a hidden gem that is perfect for your card.

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's 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:

Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set	Snow Friends Framelits Dies	Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Chocolate Chip A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad

Happy Monday everyone! Happier for some than others - I'm working from home with one James Junior off school today fighting the seasonal lurgy - but for everyone reading this, your day is about to get better! I have a double post for you today (to make up for Saturday's lack of post!) with cards for a couple of challenges. The first is my card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where they have a great sketch - I combined with the theme inspiration of 'Blue Christmas' over at Fusion:

I love the simplicity of Jen T's sketch this week, although by the time I finished my card I wondered if I'd got just a little bit carried away - take a look:

I made a cute 'faux shaker' card using the snowman image from the 'Sparkly Season' stamp set, stamping him in Memento Black and colouring him in with my Pool Party and Bermuda Bay markers, with Pumpkin Pie for his nose, then used my two-way glue pen to adhere some Dazzling Diamonds to the snow mound that the snowman is sat on. I then stamped the snowfall stamp in Versamark to my window sheet and applied Heat & Stick and Iridescent Ice to give it a lovely sparkle, before adhering behind the hole that I'd cut in my Pool Party top layer. On this layer I stamped a few clusters of snowflakes in Pool Party using the snowflake stamp in the Snow Place stamp set and highlighted these with some silver sequins along with a few retired snowflake sequins from last year's stash. To finish, I added a layered banner that contains a little of everything: white glitter ribbon, Bermuda Bay sequins and a dash of silver glimmer paper to boot! I just love the sparkle and shine of this card and the shades of blue - so very pretty!

Back shortly with another quick and easy card for today; I must be on a roll! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sparkly Seasons Photopolymer Bundle	Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set	Gold & White 3/8" (1 Cm) Glitter Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool (Uk)	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Many Marvelous Markers	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Heat & Stick Powder	Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder	2-Way Glue Pen	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim
Silver Glimmer Paper	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch	Window Sheets

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

I decided that each of the flowers in teh sketch would become snowmen on my card today and dug out my 'Snow Place' stamp set and Merry Moments DSP stack and set to work:

I used the colours of the Merry Moments DSP for the various elements of my card and created a snowy background by embossing my Whisper White layer with the 'Softly Falling' embossing folder. I die cut my little snowmen and their accessories with co-ordinating Snow Friends framelits dies - this makes life so easy, no fussy cutting required! My sentiment is from the 'Peaceful Pines' set - it fitted perfectly in my layered circle.

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's 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:

Just time to sneak in a creative post today with a couple of cards for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge. They have a great sketch this week and I managed to make not one but two cards (and will be using this layout for a couple more too!). Here's the sketch:

I wanted to make a Christmas card and whilst originally I had planned on an execution to my second card below, I was inspired byChrissy's card on the CAS(E) This Sketch design team and decided to take a slightly different tack and use some Designer Series Paper and a layer - here's my card:

I covered the front of my extra thick Whisper White cardstock base with a piece of snowflake-patterned Season of Cheer DSP and made a panel out of Night of Navy, cut out with my Project Life framelit and Big Shot, and repeatedly stamped the ' Let it snow!' sentiment from the 'Snow Place' stamp set in Versamark and heat embossed it in white. To finish I took a Snowflake Elements embellishment, stamped it in White kraft ink and heat embossed it in white, then stamped it again in Versamark and heat embossed it in Iridescent Ice to give it a wonderful sparkle. This snowflake DSP is one of my favourites in the Season of Cheer pack - I love the ombre effect of the finish and those snowflake embellishments are gorgeous, whether left plain or jazzed up a little as I did here. The photo doesn't show just how wonderfully sparkly the snowflake is in real life - it's really something!

For my second card I went with an every day card and decided to make something bright and colourful:

I used a Bermuda Bay card base and I took my colour inspiration from the Cherry on Top DSP stack of papers. I created my repeated 'Hello' sentiment using my Greetings thinlits. I decided to add a simple punched bird as my embellishment this time, punched from a piece of Watermelon Wonder Color Me Irresistible Specialty DSP  - you can't really see it in the photo, but I love the subtle embossed pattern this adds in real life - and a little Bermuda Bay wing.

Two very different takes on this week's sketch - do let me know which one you prefer in the comments below! Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Season Of Cheer Designer Series Paper	Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set	Snowflake Elements	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool (Uk)	Embossing Buddy	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits Dies
Greetings Thinlits Dies	Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper	Bird Builder Punch	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock
Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Big Shot

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great colour challenge for you:

Here's my card: 

I am loving these cute little penguins (and the snowmen!) in the 'Snowplace' stamp set and the co-ordinating framelits make cutting them and their accessories out a cinch! For today's card, I used a Pool party base with a strip of Whisper White, onto which I stamped my penguins directly using the new Basic Black Archival ink. Each of them is peeking out of a hole punched with my 1 1/2" circle punch into a strip of School House DSP and their accessories stamped in a combination of Basic Black and Watermelon Wonder, which are popped up on dimensionals for a little added lift. I customised the sentiment as it wouldn't fit as per the stamp onto my card front; I continued the remainder inside, where I also added a few festive snowflakes to pretty things up a bit:

Isn't that fun? I have used this set so much already and I just know that I will get lots more use from it - it's already a favourite with my daughter!

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge colours; 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:

* Snow Place - available September 1st

* Snow Friends Framelits - available September 1st

Good evening lovely blog readers! You may well have to bear with me this week; I am away spending some quality time with the James juniors before returning to school in a couple of weeks time, but our coastal location is virtually devoid of a mobile phone signal and even the local wifi is hit and miss, so even with pre-prepared blog posts communicating with the online world is proving something of a challenge! Likewise I am struggling with sending and receiving emails, so if you have emailed me in the last few days, bear with me - it may take a few days longer than usual for me to respond to you!

I did send out some good old snail mail before I left for our mini-vacation; my seasonal catalogues were shipped to all of my online mail order customers, and I know from the texts and emails that have managed to get through that you are liking what you are seeing! That's all great news - there is lots be excited about! If you are reading this and don't already have yourself a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and you would like a seasonal catalogue, do email me at joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk and I will pop one in the post to you. 

So along with the catalogue, I had to send out a little card showcasing some of my favourite 'sneak peek' Christmas product and I though you might like to see it today - here it is, featuring the adorable penguin from the 'Snow Place' stamp set:

I stamped the penguin and sentiment in the new Basic Black Archival ink onto an extra-thick Whisper White card base, then ran the card front through the new 'Gently Falling' Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - this is the perfect finish for falling snow, so pretty! Lastly, I added some earmuffs and a matching scarf in a variety of colours - the one above is Rich Razzleberry and the one below is Watermelon Wonder (beak and feet coloured with a Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write marker):

Here's a shot showing the rainbow of colours I used - how lovely are they?! The little earmuffs and scarfs were so easy to cut out using my Big Shot and the co-ordinating Snow Frames framelits - this is also one of the many great product bundle deals on offer in the new seasonal catalogue too, making them great value. 

So not Christmas already, but we are definitely well on the way! I can guarantee you'll be seeing lots more of this little fella, along with his snowman friends, throughout the festive season; in fact, he is also making an appearance tomorrow, so come back for another great sneak peek!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Well it's Monday and whilst I'm off on my way to the beach today, I couldn't go without squeezing in an entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge - they are afterall celebrating their 200th sketch challenge, what an achievement! This is their sketch - so many possibilities:

I decided to use the line as the top of a brick wall, with a peeking penguin in the style of Kilroy/Chad graffiti of old (here's the Wikipedia link if you have no idea what I'm talking about!):

Using a base of thick Whisper White cardstock, I adhered a piece of Soft Suede cardstock embossed with the Brick Wall TIEF and some Dazzling Diamonds which I cut freehand as snow on top of the wall. I stamped my penguin and sentiment from the 'Snow Place' stamp set in the new Archival Black ink directly onto my card base, then stamped the penguin's ear muffs and scarf in Real Red and cut them out with the co-ordinating 'Snow Friends' framelits and pooped them up on dimensionals for a little extra lift. 

So what do you think of today's card? I am loving the little penguin in the new 'Snow Place' stamp set - you will be seeing lots more of him this week! You still have time to link up to FMS if you want to have a go at this week's challenge and you should certainly check out this week's gallery, it is absolutely amazing!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Snow Place - available September 1st

*Snow Friends - available September 1st 

*Archival Black ink - available September 1st

Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock