Today I'm sharing another of this week's class cards using the Festive Flurry stamp set and framelits bundle. Another simple layout featuring the Winter Frost paper stack. Here's the card we made:

This time we layered the snowflakes and overstamped on the top one (the snowflake was stamped in Smoky Slate, having been stamped off once first onto scrap paper to give a softer background). Bermuda Bay cardstock adds a real striking background and gives this colourway quite a modern feel. Some silver Dazzling Details on the tips of the snowflake adds a little finishing sparkle.

We used both of the seasonal colourways in our class, and I'm really undecided as to which one I prefer most. Which one do you like the most?

Back with another card tomorrow; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Apologies for the lack of blog posts for the last couple of days - I've had a streaming cold (back to school sniffles passed on by James Juniors - gotta love 'em!) and I also spent all day yesterday at the wedding of my friend and neighbour Annette. I'll share the wedding card and makes another time, but today I've been feeling much better so have managed some crafting and I'm going to sneak in a last minute entry to this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge (and not a stamp in sight!). This is this week's sketch:

When I first saw this sketch, I immediately knew what I was going to do with it - I thought it would make a great Christmas present, topped off with a lovely bow; so, here's my interpretation:

I know this card will need a box rather than an envelope due to the size of the bow on the front, but I just couldn't resist - the new die cut bow provides a great focal point. I angled the ribbon 'ends' downwards rather than out to the sides, because I still wanted the four boxes and the connecting lines to be visible. These bows are so easy to make - they will be decorating lots of my festive packages this season.

I'm also going to link up with Just Add Ink where the challenge this week is 'bows' (JAI #184).

I think I've got the bug for challenges now; I was delighted that my Dasher card from last week was chosen by LeAnne Pugliese as one of the 'A Cut Above' runners up with the Paper Players - if you missed it, you can check it out here.

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Another Christmas card and another challenge today! I'm loving the Season of Style paper stack, which is just perfect for making lots of Christmas cards and here's one of the designs in all its glory:

I'm entering this card for the Retrosketches #82 Challenge which has this great layout sketch as inspiration:

I stayed with the square shape and orientation and made a feature of the fun 'All I want for Christmas' stamp in the Christmas Messages stamp set. It comes with a co-ordinating stamp, which I've used here on the inside of my card:

The links to the products I used for this card are included below. Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

I'm finally catching up with my festive card making this week and today I'm very excited to be sharing a Christmas card that I've decided to enter into my first ever challenge! I often take my creative inspiration from challenge sketches or colour schemes, but have never before actually entered one of my card creations. So, here goes - this is today's card:

I'm entering my card into The Paper Players Challenge #164: Sandy's Sketch Challenge, which has the following sketch as the inspiration:

I was quite brave as whilst I kept the layout, I swapped out my scalloped circle and edging for chevrons and a more angular look, but since the sketch is for inspiration and doesn't have to be followed literally I'm hoping that's ok. I've been waiting to use Dasher's little brother on a Christmas card, as I was quite upset at the thought of not blogging about his big brother since his retirement at the end of last year, so this card gave me the perfect opportunity. The Early Espresso base is also quite a departure for me, but it seemed right given my reindeer starting point and I like the masculine feel of this card.

Welcome to any new Paper Players who are reading this! I hope you like the card; back tomorrow with another Christmas card to share. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

This is a quick post with details of this month's exciting Stampin' Up! offer and the new 'Best of...' set for September. This month's offer is on this great butterfly-themed bundle:

Buy the Papillion Potpourri stamp set and Bitty Butterfly Punch (pages 90/183 of the Annual Catalogue) together before 30th September and receive a 15% discount. If you've been considering purchasing either or both of these items, then this is the promotion for you!

 Secondly, the 'Best of...' set for September is 'Best of Christmas' - a lovely set of four stamps, that includes the little brother of the much-loved and missed 'Dasher':

This set represents great value at £13.95 (clear mount only) and like the other 'Best of..' sets, will be available until 31st March, although the sooner you get this set, the sooner you will be able to get cracking on those Christmas cards!

I will be posting ideas using both of these sets this month, so do check back to my blog in the coming weeks for inspiration. Meanwhile, if you would like to order either, do get in touch and I can place an order for you.

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Good evening devoted blog followers! I've returned from my two week family holiday in the USA and am back with you. You might not have noticed my absence, as I managed to schedule quite a few blog posts for you all to read whilst I was holidaying with Mickey Mouse (and my family too, but clearly The Mouse takes centre stage - I am his No.1 Fan!) More on my holiday shortly, but meanwhile I have lots of Stampin' Up! news to share with you, so the next few blog posts will be information-related whilst we catch up on the latest offers that are available.

So the first, and most important of these: the Autumn-Winter Seasonal Catalogue is now live! This is what it looks like:

I have updated the link on the right-hand side of my blog page to the electronic version of the catalogue - please feel free to browse at your leisure and enjoy the fabulous new kits and products that are available to make your festive season easy and beautiful at the same time. I will be sharing my favourite items with you later this week and once the James Juniors are back at school in  few days time, I will be making and sharing Christmas cards and projects in earnest, but for now, click on the link below to start browsing and creating your festive wishlist:

There is also a carryover list of popular items from last year's catalogue that are still available - these can be seen below:

If you would like a paper catalogue, to place an order or are thinking about hosting a party, please give me a call or drop me a line and I will be happy to help. I can honestly say there are some fabulous items in the second of this year's seasonal catalogues; it was quite tortuous to have my pre-order arrive just before a two-week vacation, that meant I didn't get the opportunity to try out some of my wonderful new goodies. That said, my vacation more than made up for it: this year it was a special one to Orlando, Florida. At 6 and 8 years old, my children are at a great age to enjoy everything that Disney World and beyond has to offer. Today, I'm going to share not a project, but one of my most special holiday photos with you:

This is me swimming with a dolphin at Discovery Cove, Orlando. See that big grin? This was a 'bucket list' moment for me, as I've always wanted to swim with a dolphin and I just couldn't keep that smile from my face.

Back with a few more information-related posts today, then full on with the creating towards the end of the week.

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing the last of the projects we made at last weekend's Christmas workshop: a stamped clay ornament and a decorated kraft gift box to put it in. Here's a photograph of the ornament:

These clay ornaments have a natural finish and can be stamped straight onto the surface, without any additional preparation. As we were going all out for Christmas, once we had stamped our design onto the ornament we stamped the pattern again with Versamark, sprinkled with Heat and Stick Powder and heated with the heat gun, then sprinkled with Iridescent Ice glitter and heated once more. This gives the finished item a more muted colour and a lovely sparkle that catches the light.

We also decorated one of the lovely ready-made kraft boxes from the catalogue to go with it - here's the top of mine:

Together they would make a lovely gift for someone, if you could bear to part with them of course! I will be using mine to decorate my tree during the festive season, but I'm sure I can make another one or something else to go in the box! I hope you liked my first Christmas projects of the season - there will be lots more where this came from. If you would like to join any of my classes, do get in touch for more details; my September card classes will be featuring the Mosaic Madness stamp set and then from October we will be doing Christmas cards all the way through until the end of the year.

Back tomorrow with the first of the weekend birthday cards: my brother-in-law is celebrating his 'big 40' with a party tomorrow and then my own 'Baby James' will be 6 on Sunday, so I've a few birthday cards to share. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials, Four Seasons (hostess - retired)

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red

Tools: Simply Scored, Big Shot, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 7/8" and 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punches, Merry Minis (star)

Finishing Touches: Champagne Glimmer Paper, 3/4" Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon,  Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon (retired)

Another week, another late post - I'm loving the summer holidays but when school's out it sure is tricky to keep everything else on track! So today I'm posting nice and early, so that I don't run out of time again!

Today I'm sharing another of the makes from my Christmas workshop that I held last weekend: a lovely set of four tea lights in a handmade box. This workshop was less about the stamping and much more about the scoring - if my ladies weren't proficient with their Simply Scored scoreboard beforehand, they sure are now! So here is our finished box:

We made a box with a sliding sleeve cover, from which we cut out an oval aperture with the Oval Framelits and backed with a window sheet, to allow a glimpse of our lovely hand-stamped candles inside. Here's a picture of the open box, with a peek at our 'dressed up' tea lights:

We edged each of them with a strip of DSP; I'll be making more of these when my festive washi tape arrives, as this is perfect for this kind of project. The candle stamping was really easy to achieve and as none of the ladies present had done this before, was a real 'wow' moment for them. I suspect lots of their friends and neighbours will be receiving stamped tea light gift sets for Christmas now that they've learned this clever technique!

I love this spotted star/snowflake paper from the retired 'Be of Good Cheer' paper set; with so many designs to choose from, we all made different ones though - here's one of the other finished sets made by Kathy during the workshop:

These papers are just so lovely, but don't be too sad that they are now retired; I have had a 'sneak peek' of the new Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue and can honestly say, you will not be disappointed with this year's offerings!

All being well, I will be back tomorrow with the last of my Christmas workshop projects. I'm off to have a quick spot of making before meeting friends in the park for a picnic - lovely! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Four Seasons (hostess - retired)

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Simply Scored, Big Shot, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punches, Oval Framelits

Finishing Touches: Creped Filter Paper, Window Sheet,  Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon (retired)

As I mentioned earlier this week, yesterday I held an all-day Christmas workshop with a lovely bunch of ladies and we made a good start with our preparations for the festive season with a number of 3D projects. I'm going to share the first of these with you today: a door wreath made out of paper rosettes and featuring the sadly recently retired Be Of Good Cheer Christmas DSP. After much scoring, gluing and decorating, this was the finished article:

This picture shows my version of the wreath suspended. In hindsight, I should have photographed it in situ on my front door, although then my neighbours would have thought me completely mad (they already think I'm part way there, as I grow potatoes and pumpkins in my front garden, but that's a story for another time!!) The rosettes made from the patterned paper were cut using the Designer Rosette Bigx XL die, which is great for fast and easy cutting and scoring; unlike the ones made from the plain cardstock, which we scored using the Simply Scored scoreboard so they took a little longer. We used a variety of circle and scallop punches to create the centres; here's a close up of a couple of mine:

The one below was our focal point rosette, complete with ribbon trim - did you spot the lovely new Cherry Cobbler chevron ribbon in there? - and we also included a banner sentiment in keeping with the season:

The nice thing about a project like this though is that whilst everyone starts out with the same materials, each person has their own 'take' on what theirs should look like, so you end up with lots of similar but slightly different outputs. To illustrate, here is one of the finished wreaths of one of the ladies who attended:

Isn't Maureen's wreath just lovely? I'll share the other projects we made with you later this week. I'm off now to recover from the party excesses of my day - my downline Barbara and I held a joint party for our 6 year old sons this afternoon: swimming party followed by birthday picnic in the park. I will share the invitations and thank you notes we made tomorrow; meanwhile, time for a nice quiet glass of wine and to put my feet up, I think!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials, Tiny Tags (retired)

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Simply Scored, Big Shot, Rosette Bigz XL Die, 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8" Circle Punches, 7/8", 1 1/4" 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punches, Itty Bitty Punches (circle), Merry Minis Punch Pack (star), Jewellery Tag Punch (retired)

Finishing Touches: Champagne Glimmer Paper, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, In Colour Dahlias, 3/4" Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon,  Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon

I know, I know - 145 days until Christmas, but as a crafter it pays to be prepared! I have been busy this week preparing for an all day Christmas workshop this weekend when we will be making a headstart on our 3D projects and gifts for the festive season.

As such, today seems like a good day to share another of our quarterly team training projects designed by Monica Gale: this time a Christmas card using the Mosaic Madness stamp set. I love this set and still have so many more projects to make with it. It is great for all kinds of cards, and the main mosaic shape does have something ornamental about it, so it works really well for a Christmas card. So here is the finished card:

 The hanging ornament is made by scoring four punched pieces vertically then adhering together around the bakers twine and is then suspended in the negative space of a punched circle. The nice thing about this card is that although it's very multi-dimensional, it still folds flat for posting. Also, if you're wondering where that piece of crumb cake DSP with the chevrons came from, you might be looking for some time as it's actually a strip cut from a Tag a Bag - these just have so many uses!

So the first of many Christmas cards and projects to come; I will share our weekend workshop projects next week, guaranteed to really get you in the festive spirit! This is also a good time to mention that Mosaic Madness is the stamp set that I'll be featuring in my September card classes. If you would like more information about my classes or to book a place, please get in touch to find out more.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Greetings of the Season

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Mosaic Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Finishing Touches: Baker's Twine (Tag A Bag Accessory Kit), Tag A Bag