Hello everyone! A few blog-free days as I've been busy enjoying time with the James Juniors, cycling and activities with friends as we continue to enjoy the summer vacation. Today I'm back though and 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:

Heather came up with today's recipe and I really like it, although I did struggle with one element of it! Here's my card - can you tell which ingredient had me stumped?

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

I dry embossed my background panel with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder (tick) and then added a collection of strips of Harvest Meadow designer paper in Crumb Cake (tick) and Misty Moonlight, both of which feature wheat (tick) as does my sentiment from the 'Thinking Thanks and Peace' stamp set. I threaded my diamond weave ribbon with some linen twine (tick) and tied in a bow. Which just leaves gingham! I did struggle a little with this one, as I didn't have any gingham patterns that I could make work with the other recipe elements, so I resorted to some Crumb Cake monochrome plaid as my closest substitute and used it to back my sentiment, so there is just a thin border of it showing - it could pass for gingham, right?!

I really like the colour combo that I ended up using today; this background of strips is also great for using up those leftover scraps and offcuts and would work with lots of other patterned papers 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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HARVEST MEADOW 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	THINKING THANKS & PEACE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	3/8" (1 CM) DIAMOND WEAVE RIBBON (£9.25)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing a card from one of my recent monthly technique classes featuring the At Home With You bundle. This class was also all about ways to incorporate texture into your projects and so is perfect to link up with the team over at Just Add Ink this week where the theme is 'Just Add Texture':

Each of the cards that we made used texture in different ways: one using embossing paste, another using stencilling and dry embossing and this Autumnal new home doorstep card which actually features three different ways to incorporate texture into your project - take a look:

Aside from the obvious texture created by layering my diecut pieces, there are also more subtle textures added to this card. Here's the low-down on how I did it:

Adding Texture 1: Use Patterned Paper - I used a piece of the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack for my front door - this is a quick and easy way to add texture to your project. I chose a piece of whitewashed wood pattern to stand out against my Bermuda Bay walls, however with each DSP stack containing 4 sheets each of 12 double-sided designs, you have 24 different wood effects to choose from - seriously spoilt for choice!

Adding Texture 2: Dry Embossing - To ground my door I added a strip of Crumb Cake cardstock across the lower part of my cardfront, but before I glued it in place I first embossed it with one of the hidden gem pieces in the Bike Ride Framelits set; did you know that this set, just like the Eclectic Layers Thinlits, includes a piece that embosses as opposed to diecuts? I've circled it so that you can see it in the set below:

This added a fun cobblestone-textured path outside my front door.

Adding Texture 3: Stamping - Lastly, I wanted my doormat to look like one of those rough, coir mats that are a traditional feature of a front doorstep. To achieve this look, I used one of the stamps in the 'Timeless Textures' stamp set and stamped it in Soft Suede onto Soft Suede cardstock, for a tone-on-tone textured look. I stamped off first so the effect is subtle, yet it adds a little detail that definitely contributes by adding further texture to my card.

There are lots of ways to add texture to your projects; I will have a few more to share in the other projects from this class and the gallery over at Just Add Ink also has lots of inspiration 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:

At Home With You Photopolymer Bundle	Build A Bike Framelits Dies	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Many Marvelous Markers	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Monday and the start of a very busy week for me! Today I'm sharing a card that uses this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew:

This week is the week when the Macmillan cancer charity here in the UK are holding their 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning' here in the UK on Friday and I needed a card for a friend who is hosting an event. You can read all about the wonderful work this charity does here; meanwhile, here is my card: 

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

Happiness Is ... - I knew I wanted to use this sentiment from the 'Coffee Cafe' stamp set on my banner today, so as much as I loved the sketch in its original orientation, I rotated it through 90 degrees to make it work for me. All of the basic elements are there though and I'll definitely be using this sketch again. 

Time For A Coffee Break - Today's card features two of the fabulous papers in the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper set - can you spot both? Here's a picture of the full set of papers:

I used the large spots to border my card and the second piece of paper is actually the adorable little coffee cup embellishment, cut straight from the paper. Even better still, there is a tiny coffee cup framelit that co-ordinates perfectly and makes getting a neat finish easy. Once I'd cropped my cup, I did another one out of extra-thick whisper white and glued them together before adding to my banner tag, for extra stability.

A Textured Pair - I added a little textured coffee stain stamping to the background base of my card - inspired by one of the patterned papers in the above set, but in fact stamped with the coffee ring stamp in the Timeless Textures set, along with a few splatters for good measure.

Such a fun card and quick to produce and will be perfect for my friend to wish her well in hosting her event later this week. I like it so much I'm going to make a few more of these for my other coffee-loving friends too - who doesn't enjoy coffee with friends?!

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:

Coffee Café Photopolymer Stamp Set	Coffee Cups Framelits Dies	Coffee Café Photopolymer Bundle	Coffee Break Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Subtles Enamel Shapes	Linen Thread	Banner Triple Punch