It's Friday - the end of the week already! Today's card uses the offcuts from the card I made earlier in the week for my Colour Me...! design card (you can see that card here). Having cut out the leaf with my Sihouette Cameo, I was left with a perfect outline to make a stencil and since that's the theme over at Addicted to CAS this week, I thought I'd have a go.

Here's my clean and simple card with a real Autumn feel: 

I used a combination of Hello Honey, Crushed Curry, Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Tangelo Twist and Pumpkin Pie and sponged the colours into the stencil to create my autumn leaf. I stamped on to Naturals Ivory cardstock - this card has some lovely flecks in it and a real natural feel that suited my card. I finished my card simply with a sentiment from Good Greetings stamped in Cajun Craze and some Autumn Wooden Elements that I sponged in Chocolate Chip and tied with some linen thread.

Another clean and simple card - I'm also linking up to this week's challenge over at Less Is More where the theme is the colours of 'Autumn's Bounty'; I think my sponged leaf and acorn embellishment have a definite fall feel.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Autumn Wooden Elements	Linen Thread
Sponge Daubers	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad

Here's today's creative post - my Design Team card for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! where we have the striking colour combination of Cherry Cobbler and Hello Honey to work with this week:

These are great autumnal colours and I like Claire was inspired by this week's photo and those lovely leaves surrounding the bowl. I also used this week's Deconstructed Sketch layout as the basis for my design. So you want to see my card? Here it is:

Another 6" square card - my second this week - and lots of layers, so pay attention!

I decided today's card would be a perfect opportunity to try out a technique that I've seen a lot in blogland recently - the alcohol marker marbling technique, where you colour a piece of plastic with your Stampin' Up! Blendabilities, spritz with alcohol and then lay your glossy cardstock on top. I watched this tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers to get an idea of how to get the effect, although I decided to use gold foil in place of glossy white cardstock as I wanted to really emphasise the richness of the autumnal colours. I cut out my leaf using my Silhouette Cameo, but you could use the Autumn Accents Bigz Die if you have it. In keeping with the challenge, I used the darkest of the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities and the darkest of my Daffodil Delight Blendabilities (much more like Hello Honey) to create my marbled leaf. Depending on how much alcohol you add, depends on the effect you achieve. I used very little for the leaf that I used on my card as I wanted to colours to remain quite vibrant, but I also made some that were much more subtle. When you are using this technique on gold foil cardstock, you need to be careful that you don't rub the card too much or otherwise some silver from the layer beneath will show through. You can see this in places on my leaf, but I like it that way - I think it just adds more to the finish of the leaf. Here's a 'work in progress' picture that shows the difference in the subtle effect you can achieve:

I tied my leaf with some linen thread then mounted it on a piece of Cherry Cobbler cut out with a Window Frame framelit, and backed this with a square of kraft cardstock. I crossed some Hello Honey cardstock and some textured Cherry Cobbler cardsock (retired) beneath this, along with a little label of Hello Honey that is stamped with my 'give thanks' sentiment in Cherry Cobbler, on top of a mat of kraft cardstock, stamped with the En Francais (retired) background stamp in Baked Brown Sugar ink. Another mat of textured Cherry Cobbler cardstock to finish before the kraft cardstock base.

So what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment on today's card, before hopping over to check out the amazing cards by the rest of the Colour Me...! team:

Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock	Gold Foil Sheets	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment	Hello Honey A4 Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Window Frames Collection Framelits Dies
Linen Thread	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing another autumn-inspired card using this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts and this week's colours at Colour Q as my inspiration:

I love this colour palette and resisted the urge to recreate that check shirt, which is adorable! Instead I decided to use my Fall Fest framelits to recereate the layout of the sketch and make a bright Autumnal card - here it is:

I used Kraft cardstock for the body of my card, which has a lovely texture and thickness to it. I matted a square panel of Night of Navy onto the base, then stamped some leaves in orange and yellow onto Whisper White cardstock and overlaid this with another piece of kraft attached with dimensionals with the same leaf shapes cut out so that you can see the stamped leaves beneath. The leaves are edged in white, which just helps add to their definition. In space of the fourth square, I didn't cut out - instead I tied an acorn and leaf wooden embellishment together with a piece of Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon and some linen thread and attached them to my card. A little bulky for mailing, but a nice statement for a hand delivered card.

I added the sentiment to a banner on the bottom, using another of the stamps from the Good Greetings set (available as a hostess exclusive until the end of October) and mounted this on a piece of Night of navy wrapped with linen thread.

That's all for today; I have a Christmas card class to look forward to later using Festival of Trees, which should be fun! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Fall Fest Photopolymer Bundle	Autumn Wooden Elements	Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock	Linen Thread
Daffodil Delight 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Card Stock

It's Sunday which means one thing - it's time for our weekly challenge over at The Paper Players! This week Sandy has a great sketch for us:

Sketches are my absolute favourite challenges - so many possibilities, and this sketch is no exception! So much so, I actually made two cards using this sketch already which I thought I would share with you today. If you've come from The Paper Players blog, this is the card that you will have seen there:

My first take on the sketch was this fall-inspired card, where I layered a combination of 1" punched circles and little leaves cut out using the Big Shot and the Fall Fest framelits, in Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow and Tangelo Twist on a base of Baked Brown Sugar, and finished with a simple knotted bow of Hello Honey satin ribbon and a sentiment from the 'Good Greetings' hostess set. I haven't used this colour combination before but thought it would make a nice fall colour scheme; I prefer these colours in cardstock rather than stamped on Whisper White, as I find the inks too intense somehow. I am linking this card up with the challenge over at SUO Challenges this week as they are looking for cards using autumnal colours, so this totally fits the bill.

I liked this sketch so much, I couldn't stop at one card though; the card below is the very first thing that came to me when I looked at the sketch and it was so simple I just had to make it and share it with you:

I stamped the 3 pairs of eyes from 'Freaky Friends' twice each in Versamark onto Basic Black cardstock and heat embossed in Crushed Curry, then did the same with the sentiment and heat embossed that in white. I then matted this panel onto a panel of Crushed Curry and a Basic Black card base. Simple, but so effective in real life - the eyes have a real shine as if they are looking out of the card at you!

I had to stop there for today, but I know I will use this sketch again - it is a keeper! Do pop by The Paper Players site and check out the blogs of the rest of the design team - there are some awesome cards this week, as always!

Right, we have a morning of sport in the James household today - Rebecca and I are going to explore a new hockey club and the boys are off to check out a rugby club, before reconvening for lunch and hopefully a restful afternoon.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fun Fall Framelits Dies	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Hello Honey 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar
Hello Honey A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	1 Inch Circle Punch	Freaky Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Basic Black A4 Card Stock

As promised, here's my second post today as I wanted to share with you the card I made for this week's sketch challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary:

I love a sketch challenge and was intrigued by this unusual layout, which was crying out for the use of some washi tape with those bold stripes, something that is quite under-utilised within my craft stash at times. Anyways this was one of those cards that the minute I saw the sketch I knew what I wanted to do with it, so it took me next to no time to pull this card together. Here's my card:

I used a base of Sahara Sand for my card as this is the colour of the ghost DSP from the Motley Monster set, but as it's quite neutral used lots of splashes of Tangerine Tango to really bring this card together and prevent it from looking washed out. By the way, check out the faces on the ghosts on the paper - how cute are they?! In addition to the mat, I added a strip of Tangerine Tango Retro Fresh washi tape for the vertical band (I love how you can see the ghosts through it - adds to the spooky I think!) and then used a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock for the horizontal band, onto which I stamped my 'boo to you!' greeting. I bordered this with a piece of thick orange and white two-tone trim (I frayed the ends before adhering to the back of my panel so that it wouldn't have too much bulk). Lastly, I finished with a lovely Dazzling Diamonds sparkly ghost (thank you Mary Brown for the inspiration on a previous card of yours - love it!) I wanted my ghost to look towards the sentiment so cut the paper on the reverse using my framelit so that I could turn him over (hope that makes sense). I used one of the eyelits from the 'Chalk Talk' framelits to create the eyes and punched his mouth using my Crop-a-dile and adhered a piece of Basic Black cardstock to the reverse for definition, before adhering with dimensionsals.

The greeting I used on this card is from the 'Good Greetings' set that is currently available free with qualifying party sales of £200 or more for parties held between now and 31st October. This is such a versatile set - whilst this card has a definite Halloween feel to it, I think the 'boo to you' greeting means it would work as a nice 'Hello' card for this time of year. If you would like to earn this greetings set for free, I do still have a couple of slots available for parties in October so if you'd like one, do get in touch as soon as possible!

If you like this sketch, you should check out the other cards over at Create with Connie and Mary - there are some great interpretations and ideas of how to use it.

Back tomorrow with this week's Design Team sketch for the new challenge over at Colour Me...! and this week's Weekly Wednesday Deals!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fun Fall Framelits Dies	Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper	White & Tangerine Tango Two-Tone Trim	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	Retro Fresh This And That Designer Washi Tape
Chalk Talk Framelits Dies

No blog post yesterday I'm afraid, as I was busy with family activities and just couldn't find the time. Today though it's Sunday and time for my Design Team card for The Paper Players, where this week Nance has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us:

I had such fun trying to decide which boxes of the grid to use - in the end I went for the diagonal of 'patterned paper, embossing, buttons' and made my first Christmas card using the 'Cheerful Christmas' stamp set - I took the inspiration for my layout from this week's sketch over at Fab Friday: 

This stamp set appealed to me the moment I saw it - I love the Scandanavian-inspired patterns that look so great in traditional Christmas reds and greens, along with white and kraft. For this card, I matted my Real Red base with Garden Green, then adhered a piece of Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper to the top of the card; this DSP carries on the Nordic theme and lots of the papers in this set co-ordinate with these stamps - I love it! I stamped the main flower stamp in the set in Versamark on Real Red and heat embossed in white, then adhered this to my card using dimensionals. Lastly, I added a flag of Calypso Coral and stamped my sentiment, from the new hostess set 'Good Greetings' in Garden Green, onto a flag of Whisper White and tucked it beneath my flower square. Lastly, I finished by wrapping around some white baker's twine and adhering one of the red and white Nordic Designer Buttons to finish.

I even took the time to decorate the inside of my card and the envelope - I thought I'd make the most of it now, as by the time I get to the last minute rush these little acts of prettiness will be all but out the window! Pop over to the rest of the team to see what they did with this week's challenge - there's a huge variety in there this week and as always some great designs.

In the James household, swimming lessons resume today before the new term starts and then I will be doing the final preparations for my first monthly card class featuring Christmas cards tomorrow - yippee! Hope you enjoy your Sunday, however you are spending it.

Lastly, in case you needed a reminder - today is the last day of the Big Shot offer - see here for details.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cheerful Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	Nordic Designer Buttons	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Garden Green A4 Card Stock
Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	White Baker's Twine