Happy Monday everyone! As promised yesterday, I have another card for you using the Special Reason bundle and this week's colour palette over at Fab Friday:

In the process of making my card for our challenge over at The Paper Players this week, I had lots of bits and pieces left over, including the very piece I started out with that included a stamped flower. So often these end up in my scrapbox never to see the light of day again; to avoid this happening, I set about making another card right away - here it is:

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

A Special Reason to Rock 'n' Roll - As I mentioned yesterday, I love how the pale blue and warm vanilla tone down the Sweet Sugarplum in the above colour combination, as I sometimes find this purpley-pink a little stark when paired with stronger colours. I thought I'd use the rock and roll technique to add a little plum to the tips of the petals of my blue inked flower taken from the Special Reason stamp set; I also used a cotton bud (aka 'cue tip' for my USA friends!) to add a little to the inner petals too; I love how this gives subtle added definition to the form of the flower itself.

Ways With Stylish Stems Framelits - In addition to my large diecut flower and leaf, I also used my Stylish Stems Framelits to add some subtle detail to my stamped flower: if you look closely, you will see I partially die cut the mat in order to have my flower hang over that lovely piece of Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate and the metallic ribbon. It adds dimension without bulk and the need for an extra layer.

Fancy Some Free Metallics? - In addition to the strip of gold scallop pattern Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate (I just love this stuff!) I added a strip of ribbon and a bow to my card, using the gorgeous vanilla and gold ribbon from the Sale-A-Bration Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack (the other ribbon in the pack is white and woven with silver). This ribbon has a soft, almost velvety feel and ties the most beautiful bows - check out this fabulous gift packaging too:

This is one of the items that can be yours free during Sale-A-Bration with a £45 order - you are definitely going to want some!

I also used one of the two-part sentiments from the Special Reason stamp set - the inside of my card reads "...except to let you know how special you are!" How lovely is that?! Perfect to send to a friend of mine 'just because'.

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. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; I'm finally getting back into the swing of things here in blog land! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Special Reason Clear-Mount Bundle	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Stylish Stems Framelits Dies	Special Reason Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate	3/8" Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack

I had a fun family day yesterday, full of laughs and the last of the Christmas crackers. I'm back today with another couple of cards to welcome in the new year for the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I made two identical cards, one in each of two colourways. Here's the first one, in white and silver:

And here's the second one in black and gold:

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

A Frosted Medallion - For today's card I've used both the large medallion and the sentiment from the 'Frosted Medallions' stamp set as intended for a new year's card. I stamped both in Versamark and heat embossed them in silver on the white version. I debated about whether or not I should obscure that gorgeous medallion shape with the sentiment, but in the end decided that the card looked a little naked without the sentiment and besides, I like the way the edges frame the centred oval, giving just a hint of the design beneath. The Frosted Medallions stamp set is still available as part of the 'Year End Closeouts' for just a couple more days before retiring to make way for a new range of seasonal products, so if this set appeals to you, snap it up now before it's gone for good.

Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate Panel - My vertical background panel is courtesy of the Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate - I just love this for adding layering detail to cards without bulk. Easy for a two-way card too - I just cut two pieces and flipped one (don't forget to remove the protective seal from the silver-patterned side to see it shine in all its glory).

Stitched Shape Framelits Are Returning - I finished my card with a sentiment from the Frosted Medallions set framed in a simple stitched oval. I know these have been unavailable to order due to unprecedented demand when first introduced, however good news - those who did manage to order them before they were put on hold and had theirs on backorder will be receiving them any day now and for those who still want to get their hands on them, stocks are likely to have been fully replenished by mid-January so they will once again be available to purchase - and in time for Sale-A-Bration too, wahoo! These stitched shapes just finish off a sentiment beautifully and I guarantee one you have them you won't be able to stop using them!

So which one of these colourways do you prefer? I gave the gold and black one to my mother-in-law yesterday as I know she is partial to this colour combo, but I think I prefer the silver and white one myself - so crisp and fresh. I would love to know what you think - do feel free to leave me a comment below, I read them all and love it when you share your views with me.

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Frosted Medallions Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Gold Foil Sheets	Silver Foil Sheets	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! Before I get into my post, I must just give a shout out to the lovely Linda, Hannelie and Colleen who have been the most awesome guest designers with us for the last six months; these ladies have done a fabulous job and I will miss your contributions and do hope you continue to play along with us from time to time. Thank you for sharing your designs and creativity with us! Whilst we are sad to see these ladies leave, it also means we will have some new guest designers joining us too; watch out for more news on this with my mid-week reminder post on Wednesday to see who will be joining us to kick off 2017!

Meanwhile, it's the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host this week and she has a glamorous colour challenge for us to work with:

All the sparkle of silver and gold, paired with brilliant white! I decided that a glamorous stocking was going to be my focal point today and I also used Amy's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout - here's my card:

My card today is another one with lots of layers and a variety of foil and glimmer paper to add lots of sparkle: my diecut stocking is gold foil layered with gold glimmer and a white glimmer top with embossed holly decoration, I layered a silver foil doily behind and added a piece of silver foil acetate between my white cardbase and mat, which I embossed with my favourite embossing folder of all time, Softly Falling, for added detail. I used my Stitched Shape Framelits for my sentiment square (you will be pleased to know theses will be available to order again early January in time for Sale-A-Bration - yay!) and chose a sentiment from the Christmas Pines stamp set to complete my card as this seemed the most appropriate, which I also heat embossed in gold.

This is the kind of stocking I imagine someone like Joan Collins to own (or maybe Donald Trump, since he seems to be a fan of all things glitzy and gold!) - either way, definitely all about the luxury! I'm more of a traditional red and white girl myself :-)

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. 

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 this colour palette this week. This morning I will be recovering from a Christmas night out yesterday and this afternoon we are officially decorating the James household for Christmas. My wreath is made and hanging proudly on my front door already, so with the tree up and the rest of the decorations in place, I'm sure it will start to feel like Christmas is well and truly on its way!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hang Your Stocking Photopolymer Bundle	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set	Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Gold Foil Sheets	Metallic Foil Doilies	Gold Glimmer Paper	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy	Heat Tool (Uk)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our fearless leader the wonderful Nance to host this week and she has a fun wintery theme to get your creative juices flowing:

Use a snowflake (or two!) on your card. I decided that I wanted to feature the large frosted medallion snowflake from the stamp set of the same name on my card this week and this week's Mojo Monday sketch gave me the perfect layout - here's my card:

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

All About The Layers - My card this week has 9 layers in total, rather a lot even by my standards! Can you spot them all? They are, in order: Pool Party card base, Sugarplum square panel, vellum square, Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate, silver foil, Fancy Frost Specialty DSP, Sweet Sugarplum circle, a vellum circle with the frosted medallion stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in white and lastly the word 'joy' cut out of silver glimmer paper with my Wonderful Wreath framelits. A lot of layers indeed, yet I think they all play a part in contributing to the balance of the card design.

Glitter, Glitter - I used lots of elements to add sparkle to my card, from the Fabulous Foil Acetate, to the glimmer paper and sprinkle of Fancy Frost sequins, along with a rather fancy bow in silver (current) and Pool Party (retired) glitter ribbon beneath my snowflake. This card is definitely not practical for posting, but will make a nice special one to be hand delivered. The snowflake/glitter combination means I am linking up with CAS-ual Fridays too where these are both the order of the day!

A Contemporary Colour Combination - you may recognise my colour combination this week as the one our very own lovely Nance used for her pines card last week - you can see her card here. This isn't a colour combination I would ordinarily choose for a Christmas card, and I did start out using just white, silver and Sweet Sugarplum, but I felt it needed something more. I decided to add in the Pool Party as it looked so great on Nance's card and voila - an altogether brighter card, so thank you Nance! If you like this colour combination, feel free to save it:

So only one main snowflake on my card, but it is a big one! That said, I did use the snowflake background stamp from the Pretty Pines stamp set on my card base to add a little background decoration, so there are lots more there 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. 

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 theme this week. We are off for our usual Sunday morning of sport, followed by a spot of lunch and then we are going to watch a basketball game this afternoon - go Northampton Neptunes!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Frosted Medallions Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Fancy Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper	Fancy Frost Sequins	3/8" (1 Cm) Glitter Ribbon Combo Pack	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set
Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Embossing Buddy	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Silver Foil Sheets
Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate	Silver Glimmer Paper	Vellum A4 Cardstock	Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock
Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad