Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Global Design Project where this week the challenge is to CASE The Designer and the man in question is one of my all-time favourites - the lovely Brian King. Here is the challenge badge showing the card of Brian's that we are to CASE:

And here's my festive-themed CASE of Brian's card:

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

CASE = Copy And Selectively Edit - I am a big fan of Brian's clean, layered style and so CASEing his work was not difficult for me! I was inspired by the layout of Brian's card, the sentiment style and use of designer series paper, although chose to add to my Christmas card stash with an alternative festive theme and colour scheme.

Watercolour Christmas - I needed a big, bold sentiment for my card and wanted to mimic not only the size but also the swirling script style of Brian's card so I settled on the largest of the sentiments in the Watercolor Christmas set. This set is designed to work with the Watercolor Christmas project kit, yet the gorgeous scripted sentiments, along with the trio of trees, is useful for so much more than the kit cards alone - it's a definite keeper. The angle of the letters meant I needed to add my embellishment after the sentiment rather than slightly more centrally, but the basic layout that inspired my card can still be seen. 

Going Green - One of the things I liked about Brian's original card was the definition that the Early Espresso borders gives to the individual layers and elements. Having decided to use the Be Merry Designer Series Paper for my main panel, I chose to use Garden Green for my borders and sentiment. I carried on the colour with my Garden Green Stitched Felt Embellishment, which also serves as a nod to the Christmas tree pattern on my DSP. 

This is a great card that uses relatively few supplies - thanks Brian for the inspiration!

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. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project - or two! - for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stitched Felt Embellishments	Watercolor Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Be Merry Designer Series Paper	Garden Green A4 Cardstock
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad

Wednesday already?! Just time for a really quick share of another clean-and-simple Christmas Wreath using the Painted Harvest stamp set that I made with some ladies in a Christmas card class a couple of weeks ago:

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

A Christmas Wreath - Today's Painted Harvest stamp set Christmas wreath uses the largest of the petal stamps, stamped once in Wild Wasabi then rotated through 180 degrees before inking and stamping again in Garden Green over the top. This gives a much fuller, more dimensional wreath than the one on Monday's card. I then used the small dot stamp to stamp my Real Red berries.

Painted Autumn - I added a narrow strip of Painted Autumn designer series paper to my card; I love that the reverse side of our papers often feature a more neutral design, such as these watercoloured stripes, that lend themselves to more than just autumn/fall projects. Some of the ladies in my class used the leafy pattern on the reverse of this strip and I must say that looked great too. I'm so happy the Painted Autumn papers are included in the 'buy 3, get 1 free' offer on designer series paper this month too - all the more reason to stock up!

Season's Greetings - Today's card features a big, bold sentiment from the 'Snowflake Sentiments' set, perfect for today's card and not a snowflake in sight!

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper
Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock	Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card that is actually a Christmas card but uses the Painted Harvest stamp set - take a look:

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

A Christmas Wreath - The Painted Harvest stamp set really is so versatile: stamped in festive green, either singly or using both stamps, it's easy to change the look from a sunflower to a Christmas wreath. You can then either use the small dot stamp to stamp your berries or a few Real Red enamel dots as I've done here; finish with a bow of Quilted Christmas ribbon and there you have it - a simple Christmas wreath. I am featuring the Painted Harvest bundle at my monthly stamp class on Monday 6th November; this is a popular class with space now limited. If you would like to join me to explore this stamp set, do get in touch and book your place before it's too late!

Gorgeous Gingham - I backed my stitched square with a panel of Gardden Green gingham, one of the patterns in the Quilted Christmas designer series paper. This 6" x 6" paper stack has some fabulous designs both for Christmas and beyond. I also backed my DSP with a piece of extra thick Whisper White for added stability. I'm partial to a nice gingham to add a classic touch to my projects and the stack includes a Real Red gingham too - gorgeous!

Merry Christmas - My teeny-tiny sentiment is stamped in red onto Whisper White so that the words are in relief - can you tell what stamp set it comes from though? You might be surprised - I cropped it from one of the banner stamps in the Brightly Lit Christmas stamp set. I've circled it on the image below:

This stamp set is one of those reduced by 15% to for World Card Making Day until tomorrow and will also feature in its bundle at my Brightly Lit Christmas class on Tuesday 24th October. You can find full details of my classes on my Facebook page or on my website here. The important thing is to always look at all the stamps in your collection - you may find the perfect sentiment in the most unexpected if places!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set	Brightly Lit Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set	Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Quilted Christmas 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Ribbon	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Enamel Shapes	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Happy World Card Making Day everyone! I hope you all managed to get some time in your craft rooms to make a card or two today. I spent the morning running errands and working with a client to finalise the design of their wedding stationery (always exciting!) but did manage to get a couple of hours in my craft room this afternoon to make a couple of cards; here's one of them that I'm entering for this week's challenge over at Merry Monday where the challenge is to feature a Christmas tree on your card and at Stamps Ink Paper where it's card maker's choice:

I immediately knew where I was going with this one - I chose my favourite Christmas tree of the season and this is what I came up with:

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

Iconic Christmas - This Christmas tree from the Iconic Christmas set stands on its own and has so much interest and detail, it doesn't need much else. I stamped the tree once onto Whisper White then again onto Garden Green and cut out the second tree, so that the images beneath would show through. I heat embossed the sentiment in gold onto a strip of vellum so that it wouldn't obscure the tree and simply wrapped this around my central panel.

Make the Most of Minis - I cut out my green Christmas tree using the Ornamental Christmas Framelits and used a whole bunch of mini Stampin' dimensionals on the solid sections to pop up my tree for added dimension. These really are so useful and their smaller size compared to our standard dimensionals makes them perfect for getting into small spaces. Nice things come in small packages as the saying goes and these are a great example of that!

Festive Colour Combo - Whilst the teeny, tiny images can be coloured with marker pens, I decided to keep things simple on today's card and instead stamped the co-ordinating images (the ones that look very strange in the catalogue, because you can't see how they come together until you stamp all three layers!) each in Real Red and Garden Green in keeping with my festive colour combination. I coloured a couple of additional images with my Crumb Cake marker pen, added a panel of Quilted Christmas paper with the simple stitched Christmas tree design behind to complete my card. Here is my trio of festive colours - feel free to save it for your future inspiration:

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. 

Before I go, just a reminder that the World Card Making Day offers from Stampin' Up! have a few more days to run until the 10th of the month; get the full details here. I have an order going in tomorrow; if you are local to me and would like to add on to it to save P&P just give me a call. 

That's all from me today I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players where I am the hostess. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Iconic Christmas Photopolymer Bundle	Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Vellum A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing a card that uses the sketch over at Fab Friday Challenge as my starting point:

I decided to go with sweet treats and created both a card and a co-ordinating mini pizza treat box, Here's my card:

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

Sweet Treats - My card today features another of those busy DSPs in the Christmas Around The World pack - perfect for the large expanse of card front today and just right with my sentiment. These papers are really growing on me - they work really well for clean cards as the pattern does much of the work. This one is covered in yummy treats - gingerbread, sweets and puddings - enough to make your mouth water!

It's The Little Things - The stamps in the 'It's The Little Things' set are designed to fit the lids of the Mini Pizza boxes; this one also works perfectly for this sketch. I stamped it in Early Espresso and then stamped again on scrap paper in Real Red and cut out the banner separately and popped it on a couple of dimensionals. I also added a little Real Red enamel heart to the sentiment - it fitted perfectly in place of the stamped one.

A Foodie Treat - I couldn't make a card with this sentiment and not pair it with a matching treat! I covered my box in co-ordinating paper and punched a window in the lid that I backed with clear acetate to allow the recipient to peek at the treats inside and added a Real Red scalloped circle to mimic the design of my card. Here are both items together:

These boxes are the perfect size for some homemade gingerbread or a baked brownie - I will be gifting so many treats in these boxes this year!

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:

The Little Things Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Mini Pizza Boxes	Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Window Sheets	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies
Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights Enamel Shapes	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Our superstar leader the lovely Nance is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

I took the opportunity to make another Christmas card today, this time in a rather unusual colour scheme - take a look:

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

Iconic Christmas - I decided to feature the tree from the Iconic Christmas set on my card today. Now I think this set is a little like Marmite - you either love it or you hate it! With all those teeny tiny iconic festive images I loved it the moment I saw it; you can stamp just the outlines, or you can use one or both of the infill stamps and a little two-step stamping to colour them in. You also have the option to use the co-ordinating Ornamental Christmas Framelits Dies to cut out some of them so that you can see the detail on a second layer below, as I've done on my card today. I honestly think the biggest hurdle with this set is that it's difficult to see it's true potential in the catalogue - you need to play with it to see how it all comes together. The set itself is more versatile than it looks - I'll be back to share more makes with it in coming weeks I'm sure. I tweaked the base of Nance's sketch to a 6" x 6" square rather than a rectangle, as the tree is a little too large for this layout to work comfortably on a standard A6 card, but all of the main elements are there so it works.

A Quilted Christmas - I used a piece of the Quilted Christmas 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper for my background panel, making sure to cut the pattern so that it was even and centralised within the panel. I matted it in white - not something I do often, but it really helps define the edge of this patterned paper and makes it stand out from the Pool Party card base.

Unorthodox Christmas Colours - When I initially sat down to make today's card, I knew exactly how I was going to work with the sketch, however I hadn't decided which patterned paper I wanted to use for the right-hand panel. I flicked through my swatches and decided on this one from the Quilted Christmas set and it inspired my PoolParty base and Lemon-Lime Twist Christmas tree. Not the most traditional of Christmas colour combinations although I love the bright and zingy Christmas tree. Here's my swatch in case you would like to use it as inspiration for your festive projects:

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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

So what do you think? Do these colours work or are they are little too non-traditional for the festive season? I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we had our usual day of sport yesterday so today is about finishing our homework and then we have a change of sport this afternoon, with Ben going sailing with friends. Let's hope it stays fine, although I guess he will get wet whatever the weather! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Iconic Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set	Ornamental Christmas Framelits Dies	Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock

It's the weekend at last! Today I'm sharing a card that I inadvertently posted yesterday before I had time to complete my write-up - oops! So here it is today with all the details. This card uses one of my personal favourites from the seasonal catalogue - Santa's Suit. Take a look:

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

A Festive Clothes Line - Today's card features the sweetest ever washing line! Mrs Claus has been doing the laundry and Santa's all-important suit is air-drying ready for the big day - how adorable are all those little bits and pieces?! You could easily stamp this set as one layer directly below the washing line, but I chose to stamp mine and cut them out with the co-ordinating Santa Builder Framelits for a little extra definition. As for the little pegs - fiddly, yes, but so worth it!

Jolly Christmas Banner - I kept with a red, black and white colour scheme for my card today with just a little pop of Emerald Envy green for Santa's braces and my sentiment banner, that I cut out and layered with my Triple Banner Punch and hung amongst the washing on the line. 

Merry Little Christmas Gingham - The washing line is really the star of the show on today's card, however rather than layer directly onto my Real Red card base, I added a mat of the black-and white gingham pattern from the Merry Little Christmas set. It adds a modern, almost graphic element to the card which I love. Note how I centred the pattern on this panel too so that the border is equal all the way around the main image. Sometimes it's the little things that make the difference :-)

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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Santa's Suit Photopolymer Stamp Set	Santa Builder Framelits Dies	Santa's Suit Photopolymer Bundle	Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Banner Triple Punch	Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Happy Friday everyone! I'm not sure where the time goes - I can't believe it's the end of the working week already - well, for some anyway! Today I'm sharing a another card along with a matching gift box from one of last month's monthly technique classes using the At Home With You bundle - take a look:

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

At Home With You At Christmas - The At Home With You bundle is so versatile and works for lots of different seasons. Today's card features the gorgeous holly bough around the door, along with the holly wreath and the ornamental trees either side of the front door. I coloured them with my Stampin' Write markers and they were easily cut out with the framelits. I even decorated the inside and envelope for complete co-ordination.

More Ways To Add Texture - As with the last card I shared featuring this set (you can see that card here if you missed it), today's card has another three ways in which you can incorporate texture into your projects:

Adding Texture 1: Stamping To add to the Christmas feel, I wanted a red front door; by stamping my Real Red cardstock with the Hardwood stamp in Real Red, before stamping with the door outline in black, to add some tone-on-tone interest and texture for added kerb appeal.

Adding Texture 2: Dry Embossing On both my card and box I embossed the Smoky Slate base cardstock with my Brick Wall textured embossing folder to create some textured walls as a backdrop for my festive entrance.

Adding Texture 3: Embellish Sometimes on a card it helps to minimise bulk especially if you need it to be post-friendly, however this is rarely the case with packaging and the addition of bulky embellishments is less of an issue. On my gift box, in addition to a tag and ribbon, I added a boxwood wreath to my front door - I love the extra texture this adds.

A Matching Gift Box - It's always nice to be able to create fancy packaging for gifts and no more so than at this time of year. I made my simple gift box using the Gift Bag Punch Board (I just didn't score the side indents to make the bag shape) and created a little triangle roof for a lid (it's a simple hinged closure that is held in place with washi tape) that I stencilled some tile on using some Basic Grey ink and my brick pattern Patterned Party Decorative Mask and added a tag punched with the super-useful Everyday Label Punch:

This box measures approx. and is a reasonable size, big enough to accommodate most small gifts. Here's a picture of both items together:

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 the rest of 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	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers	Boxwood Wreaths Embellishments	Pattern Party Decorative Masks
Gift Bag Punch Board	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Quilted Christmas 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Ribbon	Hearts Come Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Everyday Label Punch

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's TGIF Challenge and uses the sketch layout over at Fusion:

I'm back with a Christmas card today featuring another of the festive Christmas Around The World DSP patterns - take a look:

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

Driving Home For Christmas - I'm still in Christmas mode as far as my card making is concerned, but that didn't stop me joining with the TGIF team this week - with sleighs, donkeys and so much more besides, there are festive transportation options a-plenty! I decided to have another crack at using the Christmas Around The World designer series paper and specifically another of the larger designs featuring festive cars and bicycles, all transporting Christmas trees and piles of luggage and festive gifts across the sheet. The design on this sheet of paper totally makes me think of the Christmas song made famous by Chris Rea called 'Driving Home For Christmas' - I made this card and was humming the tune for ages afterwards (apologies if that's you now having read today's post!) Whilst I used a smaller piece of the paper compared to my nutcracker card earlier this week (you can see that card here), I still made sure I cut a piece that fitted with the theme of my card so that the little cards and bikes  are clearly identifiable.  

And Hearts Too - I matched my paper with a sentiment from the 'Hearts Come Home' stamp set, which also fit perfectly with my theme. I stamped it on a stitched circle and added a couple of Real Red enamel hearts and a trio of snowflakes from the 'Hang Your Stockings' set across the bottom for additonal decoration. 

There's Always Room For  A Bow - Lastly, I added a wooden bow from the co-ordinating Christmas Around The World embellishment set. A nice finishing touch to bring the elements together. 

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. 

I have another busy day today so enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Christmas Around The World A4 Cardstock Pack	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Christmas Around The World Embellishments	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Enamel Shapes	Hang Your Stocking Photopolymer Stamp Set

Following yesterday's clean and simple embossed snowflake, I'm following up today as promised with a 'stepped up' version of that card, along with a co-ordinating mini pizza gift box. Let's take a look at today's card:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Step It Up - If you have a bit more time and are feeling more adventurous, using a few extra tools and embellishments will allow you to 'step up' your card and create something with a little more depth and detail, whilst still relatively easy to make. Here I added a centrepiece of a stamped and silver embossed snowflake from the gorgeous new Snowflake Sentiments set, backed with a punched circle of silver glimmer paper, some metallic edged ribbon and a foil snowflake for some Christmas sparkle. 

Mini Pizza Anyone? - Have you noticed these fabulous little Mini Pizza Boxes on page 44 of the seasonal catalogue? These sturdy white boxes come flat packed for easy storage and are a great size for a few chocolates, notecards or even a cookie - they're foodsafe with a greaseproof lining and perfect for small gifts - and mini pizzas too! I decorated mine with the same embellishments as my card, along with a base of Year Of Cheer Specialty Designer Series Paper:

I also added a little tag made from the useful thinlit in the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies set, decorated with a diecut snowflake.

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:

Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set	Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Bundle	Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies	Foil Snowflakes
Year Of Cheer Specialty Designer Series Paper	Silver 3/8" Metallic-Edge Ribbon	Silver Glimmer Paper