Yay it's Friday! This has been a busy week, but a good one nonetheless. Today I'm sharing a card that I made earlier this week for this week's Less Is More challenge but am only just getting the opportunity to share - how does that happen?! Anyway, the LIM girls have a challenge this week to use the colours green and gold on your card (with lots of white space!) and I just couldn't resist. Here's my card:

I decided to use Cucumber Crush as my green as I think it has a real vibrancy with the gold and white for a Christmas card. I heat embossed the pattern on my tree using the Festival of Trees stamp set in gold and combined this with a piece of Cherry on Top check DSP, my sentiment which is a combination of a gold foil 'merry' cut using the new Christmas Greetings thinlits and the stamped 'Christmas' from the Holly Jolly Greetings on a white banner. I added a couple of loops of gold corded trim and a sprinkle of gold star sequins - on offer on weekly deals this week and so easy to adhere with my new fine tip glue pen! - and that's my card done. 

A super modern CAS Christmas card that would be easy to mass-produce and in tradition colours. Maybe this will make the 'shortlist for mass production' pile this holiday season!

That's all from me today; my week has worn me out! Back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Bundle	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Big Shot
Magnetic Platform	Heat Tool (Uk)	Banner Triple Punch	Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Gold Cording Trim	Fine-Tip Glue Pen

Merry Christmas to you all, my lovely blog readers! After a welcome few days break hosting Christmas for my family, today I'm back to the blog! I have a couple of pre-Christmas makes to share still; do you ever find yourself so busy crafting in the run up to the big day that you spend more time 'in the moment' rather than recording it and sharing? Well, this year that was definitely me! Today I am being treated to a day of rest - my seven year old has declared that he is doing the cooking today, from his new boy's cookbook (doing well so far - fresh fruit and pancakes for breakfast, followed by shepherd's pie for lunch) - so whilst he prepares a feast of chicken dippers for tea, I thought I would take the opportunity to get back into my blog. 

Today's share is some lovely gift packaging made with the Gift Box Punch Board, Envelope Punch Board and the Big Shot and Banner Framelits. I decorated some gifts using boxes made with the gorgeous Under the Tree speciality DSP and the Gift Box Punch board and some easy die cut tags to co-ordinate:

If your gift fits the standard boxes that the Gift Box Punch Board makes, it is a quick and easy 'no glue' packaging solution. With some ribbon and a fancy tag they really look the part:

I also made some bottle tags using the Banner framelits and a circle punch, again decorating with some simple wreaths cut with the Wonderful Wreath framelits - here's a close up:

As my regular readers will know, I am a big fan of the Envelope Punch Board and it is still my tool of choice for creating custom boxes - this is so easy to do with my BoxBuster tool - it enables you to create the perfect box size first time with no paper wastage. Here's one I made for my niece's Christmas gift that is the perfect case in point, this time finished with a tag made with the tree punch to co-ordinate with the Under The Tree paper:

If you are a fan of creating easy, attractive gift packaging, you will be pleased to know that the Gift Box Punch Board is carrying over and will still be available when the current Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue ends. The Envelope Punch Board is always available as a standard annual catalogue item - phew, I don't know what I'd do if this tool was ever discontinued!

Back tomorrow with another of my pre-Christmas makes and a special announcement, so check back then for more crafting lovliness!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Under The Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper	Gift Box Punch Board	Envelope Punch Board	Banners Framelits Dies	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch
Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies	Tree Punch	Gold Glimmer Paper
Red Glimmer Paper	Real Red A4 Card Stock

A late post from me today as I've spent a lovely day crafting with friends, followed by James family piano lessons this evening (3 out of 4 of us are learning!) so have only just got around to it. Our craft session was fun - we finished off some projects we started a little while ago, which always gives a good sense of achievement. With Christmas creeping ever closer, today I thought I would share with you the advent calendar I made for the James juniors, which is a case of a project by the lovely Julie Kettlewell. I love the Tiny Treat Boxes in this year's Stampin' Up! seasonal catalogue, which are of course perfect for making advent calendars. The sample in the catalogue shows just how easy it is to make something to a basic design, however having seen Julie's project a little while ago - you can see her original project here - I knew I wanted to create something similar. So without further ado, here is my framed advent calendar in all its glory:

Isn't it beautiful?! It is framed in a 20" frame/50cm, so is a substantial piece in terms of size and it makes a real statement. I chose to make mine using the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper, here are some close ups:

This is the central panel, with a sentiment stamped using the Epic Alphabet and some trees punched using the Tree Punch and decorated with some frosted sequins.

Each of the boxes is covered on 5 sides using the All is calm DSP, then a number label made from a layered section using a 1 3/4" scalloped circle punch and a 1 3/8" circle punch, and numbers cut out of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper using the Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die and the Big Shot.

This is a great project to showcase all of the lovely papers within the All is Calm DSP stack.

I adhered my boxes so that the flaps would open upwards and put my numbers in order from one through twenty four, however you could 'mix and match' if that's more your style. Each pack of treat boxes contains 25 boxes, so you have one spare to package an extra special treat for Christmas Day if that's your thing. I'm really pleased with how my calendar turned out and am busy acquiring lots of little treats to fill my boxes for the month of December. I can see this project becoming a real heirloom piece that we bring out year after year.

Hope you like today's project; back tomorrow with the new Wednesday Weekly Deals and my Design Team post for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die	1-3/8 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/4 Inch Scallop Circle Punch	Frosted Sequins	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper
Tiny Treat Boxes	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad
Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Whisper White 12 X 12 Smooth Card Stock	Tree Punch	Mini Glue Dots	Sticky Strip
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive

A quick post from me today with one of the cards we made at my card class earlier this week. This month's class featured the Festival of Trees stamp set and co-ordinating punch - without further ado, here's today's card:

I started with a base of Crumb Cake with a mat of Cherry Cobbler, then an additional mat of Crumb Cake which was embossed with the Decorative Dots embossing folder and lightly sponged with white kraft ink to look like snow. I added two Whisper White snow drifts, edged with Dazzling Diamonds, and then stamped and punched three trees in Garden Green on Whisper White and interspersed them between the snow drifts. The tree at the front is also over-stamped with the bauble stamp in Cherry Cobbler and a few pearls coloured with Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities added to give extra dimension. A sentiment added inside and out, and finished!

All of the cards in this month's class were quite different as I was aiming to show my ladies just how versatile this stamp set and punch can be. If you live local to me in Northampton and would like to join me for a future class, do get in touch - newcomes, whether experienced or novice papercrafters, are always welcome!

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Bundle	Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter
Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	2-Way Glue Pen	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad

Yay - it's Friday! I've had a productive craft day today, even if no housework managed to get done (ah well, there's always tomorrow for that!) and am finally finding time to write today's blog post. I used this week's sketch over at Retrosketches to make today's Christmas card and broke out my Festival of Trees stamp set for the first time. Here's the sketch I based my card on:

A great layered layout - and here's what I did with it:

I based my card around the graphic Christmas tree design paper from the Trim The Tree DSP stack - these are so great for making cards! - and having layered this piece onto my Early Espresso card base and a mat of Whisper White, I embossed a piece of gold foil with the On Point embossing folder, which looks like little Christmas tree shapes, then followed this with a smaller piece of Whisper White mounted on Early Espresso and stamped with the first part of the sentiment that comes with the Festival of Trees stamp set. I then added my Christmas tree, which I stamped in Early Espresso on Whisper White, then stamped the baubles in Versamark and heat embossed them in gold - in real life they are really shiny and contrast beautiful with the dark brown of the tree. Oh and did I mention how easy it was to punch out with my co-ordinating tree punch? No? Well, it's a doddle!

An unconventional colour scheme for a Christmas card maybe, but I like it! Before I forget - I'm also joining up with the lovely Darnell's NBUS challenge - pretty much everything other than ink and solid colour cardstock that I used today was officially 'Never Before Used Stuff!'

Right - I'm off to catch up on some of the jobs that I should have been doing at home today. Back tomorrow with another Christmas card in an altogether more conventional colour scheme -until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Bundle	On Point Textured Impressions Embossing Folders	Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Gold Foil Sheets