Well, what can I say - a seven day absence from my blog - unheard of!! I know this is a busy time of year and I've certainly no shortage of lovely things to share with you, but my real issue has been keeping up, both with the photography (lots of makes are leaving the house before being photographed!) and blog writing itself. The James juniors have finished school for the Christmas holidays already, and in addition to all of the usual pre-Christmas preparations, I have been having so much fun with them I've had little time for anything else this past week.

No festive project to share today - instead the alternative trio of cards made following the same layout used in my December Christmas card class (you can see the Christmas versions here) but with distinctly non-Christmas card designs. So here they are:

This one uses some of the Print Poetry paper stack that is currently available to buy on the clearance rack, whilst stocks last. The second one:

This one has quite a retro feel, with the colour scheme inspired by the retired Sycamore Street SAB paper - my customers love this paper, so are still looking for ideas and ways to use it. Lastly, the third card featuring a bow made with the Gift Bow Bigz Die:

This card actually uses a couple of the things we used to make the Christmas card version - the Seasons of Style paper stack paper and the 'Wishing You' stamp set and proves that these things can be used for non-Christmas as well as Christmas cards if you use alternative colours.

I liked the way all three of these cards turned out and the fact that they gave me a few cards to add to my stash ready for the year ahead. This really is a quick post from me, but before I go I thought I'd share one festive picture of the masterpiece created by my super-creative children today - our very first gingerbread house, from scratch! We made the house yesterday and they built and decorated it today. I'm pleased to say it's all their own work - I for one, think it's rather impressive:

Complete with gingerbread boy and girl and Christmas tree in the garden and following a considerable 'snowfall', of course! Tomorrow I have a day of present wrapping in store, so with Christmas music and tape in hand will be a woman on a mission!

I will hopefully not leave it so long before my next post; until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Standard Cutting Pads	Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Sticky Strip	Mini Glue Dots
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Wishing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies	Feel Goods Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Express Yourself	Brights Candy Dots	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad
Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Gumball Green A4 Card Stock	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder A4 Card Stock
Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Another busy day today so a late post - I'm still putting the final touches to a couple of video tutorials that I've prepared to go with my next couple of posts, so meanwhile I'm going to share with you three of the Christmas cards that we made at this month's card class. Each one features the Season of Style paper and a variety of different stamps. So here is the first one: 

This card uses the 'Love and Joy' single stamp on a set of layered pieces cut with the Deco Labels framelits. This was our second card:

This card uses the 'Warmth and Wonder' hostess set and is a CASE of a card I fell in love with by Mary Fish, who created a similar card using the Winter Frost colour scheme; you can see her original card here. Here is the third card that we made:

This uses a similar layout to one of the cards featured in the seasonal catalogue that showcases the 'Wishing You' stamp set, but I incorporated a small bow made with the Gift Bow Bigz Die for added impact. The last card was the Midnight Muse circle thinlit card I made a while ago featuring a bauble and two ways to make labels using the mosaic punch; the ladies in my class loved this card when they first saw it and were keen to have a go at it themselves. If you missed this card and would like to see it, you can find it here.

I also made alternative non-Christmas cards that followed each of the above design layouts, as I had a customer who didn't want to make Christmas cards (far too organised!); I'll share these cards with you next week.

I hope you liked the above cards, especially the last one - I love my Gift Bow Die and I have some great projects to share with you over the next few days using this useful product. Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Standard Cutting Pads	Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Sticky Strip	Mini Glue Dots
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Warmth & Wonder Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Love & Joy Wood-Mount Stamp	Wishing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents