This is my first post of a two-post Friday and I'm here with my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Cookie Day' which is on 4th December. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used cookie, brown, circles and recipe and this is what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Gingerbread & Peppermint - My card front features a piece of the Gingerbread & Peppermint designer series paper with a circular pattern, behind an angled panel that is anchored by a gingerbread cookie, fussy cut from a Memories & More card, and with an added stamped sentiment from the 'What's Cookin' stamp set that gives a hint as to what can be found inside. 

Memories and More - There are no actual cookies inside my card, but there is the next best thing: a recipe for ultimate easy gingerbread! Presentation of my recipe was super easy, as some of the cards included in the Gingerbread & Peppermint Memories & More pack are perfect for noting your favourite holiday recipes. As such, they are perfect not only for memory keeping and recording, but also to create a fun mini-recipe folder like this one. I used two M&M cards; I wrote my ingredients on the first one:

Ultimate Easy Gingerbread - I added a second card, this time writing out the method detailing how to make the gingerbread. I photographed it so that hopefully you can read it and pin it if you'd like to have a go - it's delicious:

I love to bake at Christmas time and I am famed for my iced gingerbread biscuits. Here's a photo of them drying before going into jars for gifting:

Baking gingerbread is one of my favourite things to do during the festive season - although my friends and family usually request the finished product, rather than the recipe!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Challenge Design team.

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans

Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

REAL RED 3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON (£6.50)

WHAT'S COOKIN' CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)

EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

This is my first post of a two-post Friday and I'm here with my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Cat Day' which is on October 27th. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used cat, orange and texture from the inspo list along with the sketch layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments to create a Halloween-inspired birthday card, perfect for a late October birthday - take a look:

I'm also linking up over at SUO Challenges where they are sharing all things Halloween for their current challenge too.

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

Seasons of Fun - I thought the trick-or-treat roller skater in the 'Seasons of Fun' host set would make for a fun Halloween-inspired birthday card for someone celebrating a late October birthday, so stamped and coloured my image with Blends and added a combination of sentiments on the inside of my card for a play on the idea of 'trick or treat' that the image suggests to fit my birthday greeting:

I used up a whole bunch of retired Halloween DSP and a background panel embossed with a retired cobweb embossing folder for texture for the remaining details on the front of my card, along with a sprinkling of retired enamel dots.

Spot The Difference - Did you spot the difference between my roller-skating pumpkin and the stamp in the catalogue? I took a leaf out of my creative friend Vicky's book (she is a whizz at combining stamps in unexpected ways to come up with amazing designs!) and coloured and fussy-cut the cat from the image with the boy playing in the leaves that I used on this card here and added him to the little girl's pumpkin treat bucket:

Crafty, eh? Well, I had to get a cat onto my card somehow!

My Little Pumpkin - I realised when I went over to grab the link for Hand Stamped Sentiments to add my card to the gallery, that one of their design team, Ange McKay, also used this image on her card so mine does naturally look very similar. I hadn't seen her card before I made my own though; this cute image reminds me of a little pumpkin of my very own:

My children loved to dress up when they were little and this photo of Rebecca was her first Halloween photo when she could walk - check out those pink shoes! This photo is now more than 14 years old - but is still makes me smile!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans

Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PAMPERED PETS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	TIMELESS TULIPS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)

Today I'm actually combining my design team card for both our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a sketch challenge and the new challenge over at Festive Friday:

It just so happened my card fulfilled both briefs, so I thought I would go with it as I've been time-pressed this week (nothing new there then!) At As You See It we have a sketch challenge and at Festive Friday we are celebrating World Apple Day - but if you check out my card, you'll see there's not an apple in sight! Take a look at my card and you'll see what I mean:

My card today is for a baker - and a Christmas baker at that! The fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used red, green, baking and gingham on today's creation.

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

Gingerbread and Peppermint - One of my many passions in life is to bake, and at Christmas time I am known for my gingerbread cookies, so the Gingerbread and Peppermint Suite from Stampin' Up! immediately appealed to my inner baker. I love the papers in particular, as they are perfect for fussy cutting and that's where I took my trio of gingerbread cookies from that are on my card today. If you're not a fan of fussy-cutting, the Gingerbread Dies fit some of the shapes on the designer series paper, but honestly they are super easy to kit by hand too. The gingham banner on my card is some old retired paper, as there isn't a pattern that is technically gingham in this paper pack. There are lots of check and plaid patterns, but since I was being a purist I grabbed some old papers, but if you wanted to CASE my card, I would totally use one of the other patterns in this paper pack.

Memories & More - One of the other things I love about the Gingerbread & Peppermint Suite is that it features this season's Memories and More cards too. I will be using them to document my own festive bakes, but they are also great for cards too and on today's card, they really are the star of the show. So many of the elements that you see on my card come from the Gingerbread & Peppermint Memories and More pack: The spatula, oven glove, foil embossed snowflakes, that fabulous metal cooling rack and even the sentiment, which I fussy cut from one of the cards in the pack. So many great elements to play with:

Look No Stamping - Did you notice there isn't a single stamp on today's card? Not even on the inside, where I decided to use one of the memories and More stickers:

They really do make for easy cards, but with so many bits and pieces you can have a lot of creative fun with them too. I will be sending this card to a friend along with some of my famous gingerbread cookies during December; I might have to make a few more 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. 

Here's a summary of the As you See It challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a sketch challenge, you are welcome to rotate or flip a sketch. You can replace shapes used such as substituting a circle panel for a square panel. However, we must be able to still see the basis of the original sketch in your finished product.

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans 

Joanne James - that's me!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (£10.25)

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

BASIC BORDERS DIES (£27.00)

Today will be a two-post day as I have some news: I am joining the Festive Friday Challenge team! This is a fortnightly challenge that is inspired by a particular day of the year that I have played along with on a number of occasions. The fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project.

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Balloons Around The World Day' which is on 1st October. I often only use three or four elements when I play along, but when I saw this week's board I knew exactly what I wanted to create - and ended up using balloons, red, purple, clouds, sun, stripes, twine and paper-piecing!

This is the card I created:

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

I grabbed my 'Counting Sheep' and co-ordinating Sheep Dies, both freebies with the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and created a little scene. I used a (retired) stitched square for my scene and layered this onto a striped banner and then a stitched rectangle, to tie in with the stitched detail on the sun. The one thing you may be asking yourself is 'where is the paper-piecing?' It's subtle, but I assure you it's there: I paper-pieced my sheep's wool with the Snowy White Velvet Sheets - it gives the sheep's coat a fun, almost fuzzy felt, feel and you can see it better on the close-up below:

How cute is that?! And all the better for being made with free products too! If you'd like to get your hands on this bundle, you still have a couple of weeks to place your order before the Sale-A-Bration promotion ends. Bear in mind that products are only available whilst stocks last and as we near the end of the promotion, there is a chance that popular items will sell out, so don't leave it too late!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COUNTING SHEEP CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	SHEEP DIES (£0.00)	SNOWY WHITE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) VELVET SHEETS (£4.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)
HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)