Happy Monday everyone! I'm here with a nice early blog post - let's hope that the week continues in this vein! Today I have a card for this week's CASOLOGY challenge where the code word is 'spooky', that uses this week's TGIF Challenge sketch and the colours over at Colour Q:

I decided I had to ink up one of my Cookie Cutter Halloween stamps for today's card - take a look:

A spooky skeleton - how cute is he?! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Not Just For Christmas - What's better than a punch and a co-ordinating stamp set? Why, a punch and TWO co-ordinating stamp sets! The skeleton I used on my card today is from the Cookie Cutter Halloween stamp set. This is a second set that, like Cookie Cutter Christmas, also co-ordinates with the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch and has a number of fun Halloween characters, including a scarecrow that is also perfect for autumn cards. I stamped him in Archival Black onto Very Vanilla cardstock and punched him out.

Ways With Washi - I used some retired Halloween washi tape to create my striped panel behind my skeleton. The newsprint includes stories about Halloween and the skulls provided a contrast whilst still fitting in with my skeletal theme. 

He's All Heart - My spot of colour really is just that, in the form of a bright Real Red enamel heart shape. It adds just enough dimension and shine to really make the colour pop!

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 a day of appointments and errands today, so will be kept more than busy. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cookie Cutter Halloween Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Cookie Cutter Builder Punch	Spooky Fun Photopolymer Stamps	Brights Enamel Shapes	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has a great fall/Halloween-inspired colour palette for you to work with:

Having missed Claire's Halloween themed challenge last week, I decided to take Sandy's colours and use them for a fun Halloween card this week; take a look:

I also used this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew's Challenge for my layout. Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Halloween Scene - I used my Spooky Fun stamp set and co-ordinating Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies to create the spooky scene on my card. I used my Layered Circle Framelits to cut a Whisper White circle for my oversize moon, then used the spooky tree and witch framelits to give my scene structure. I just love that tree - it reminds me of the whomping willow in the Harry Potter books!

A Wicked Witch - I decided to use the green on my card for the sentiment banner and the witch - after all, aren't all wicked witches green?! I stamped it in black on to Wild Wasabi cardstock and then coloured in some of the detail with my black Stampin' Write marker.

Background Detail - I used the wash stamp in the Perpetual Calendar stamp set for the orange detail on my card base beneath my strip of Halloween Nights designer series paper and added in a couple of spooky fun bats, some sequins and silver metallic thread to complete my card.

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 this week's colours. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Halloween Scenes Edgelits Dies	Halloween Night Specialty Designer Series Paper	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set	Silver Metallic Thread	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Metallics Sequin Assortment	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Many Marvelous Markers	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad
Wild Wasabi A4 Cardstock

As promised today I have a card using another of the stamps in the lovely hostess set 'Six Sayings', this time using the Halloween stamp and this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for inspiration:

I'm also linking up with this week's challenge over at Addicted to CAS since my card has a definite 'spooky' feel to it today - take a look:

I used Tangelo Twist as my card base and stamped my sentiment onto Very Vanilla using my Stampin' Write markers, so that I could colour the main word in Basic Black and highlight the 'BOO' in Tangelo Twist. I cut out the sentiment on the diagonal and backed it with a mat of Basic Black, but before adhering to my card I added in a couple of pieces of Spider Web doilies top and bottom - I just love these for adding a spooky touch to projects and a pack seriously lasts for ages!! To add to the theme, I fussy cut one of the ghosts from a sheet of the Happy Hauntings Designer Series Paper and placed him as if he was floating out of the 'O' of the 'BOO' - cute and spooky at the same time, right?! A sprinkle of black sequins finishes my card.

Another winner from the 'Six Sayings' hostess set - don't forget this set will only be available until the seasonal catalogue end on 4th January, so if it's on your wishlist then contact me about hosting a party before it;s too late!

Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Six Sayings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Happy Haunting A4 Cardstock Pack	Spider Web Doilies	Metallics Sequin Assortment
Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers

Yay, it's the weekend! I've had a child-free day today as the James juniors are at Grannies for a couple of days, which has meant a whole day of crafting and lots of things made and ready to share with you for the forthcoming week.

Today I have a fun Halloween card with some paper-pieced pumpkins, inspired by the inspiration over at The Challenge and Curtain Call, where the theme is patterned pumpkins, and The Friday Mashup where they are looking for projects with either a Halloween theme or featuring ribbon, or both (which I managed this week!):

I went with a sketch layout that you've seen me use previously on my reindeer Christmas card here as it was perfect for my paper-pieced pumpkins - take a look:

My card is something of a showcase of the Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper today: I created my base layer using the plaid pattern on a mat of Basic Black and a card base of Tangelo Twist, then for my centre square created a trio of paper-pieced pumpkins, each one featuring a different paper pattern, using my retired small oval punch and a stalk from a punched acorn top. My sentiment is from the 'A Little Something' set, stamped in Memento Black ink and the trio of little pumpkins coloured in with my tangelo Twist Stampin' Write marker. I adhered my central square to my card base using dimensionals, having first added a piece of spider's web doily and retired Tangelo Twist satin ribbon to my corner treatment.

The papers in the Happy Haunting pack are great and not just useful for Halloween - three of the four paper patterns I've used on today's card would work equally well on non-Halloween themed projects.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with a stunning Christmas creation (even if I say so myself!) for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Little Something Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Acorn Builder Punch	Spider Web Doilies	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers

A quick post today to share some fun little Halloween treats that I've been preparing for a fundraiser that I'm attending next week. A friend of mine is raising funds for the Outspan School in Uganda where she sponsors a student and she invited me along to do a little crafting with the children and raise a few pennies.

We will be making a selection of sweet treats and fun Halloween favours, some of which I've shared with you before, such as these fun Halloween chocolate characters, with their Merry Everything Note Tag punched tags:

Some broomstick pencils, made with fringe scissor toppers:

Along with some pumpkin lollipops, made with the oval punch and some bird punch leaves:

A fun selection of treats that I'm sure we will have lots of fun making.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Ornate Tag Topper Punch

Merry Everything Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Extra-Large Oval Punch

Bird Builder Punch

Fringe Scissors

Just time today to squeeze in a blog post using this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday; the talented Julee Tilman comes up with some of the best sketches and I love to play along here whenever I can. Here is this week's sketch:

The minute I saw this week's sketch I knew what I wanted to do with it and fortunately I managed to find some time this afternoon to bring my design to fruition. Here's my card:

I just knew I wanted to use one of my spider web doilies for the circular element, so my Halloween theme and everything else just came from there. A Tangelo Twist base and a piece of the large gingham-print Happy Hauntings DSP served as the background, with a panel of the fun ghostly pattern from the same set as my feature piece. I overlayed this with the spider web doily and a 'Boo' from the Cheer All Year set stamped in Tangelo Twist on Very Vanilla for my centre. I stamped my main sentiment in black on a piece of Tangelo Twist - also from Cheer All Year, although I masked it and stamped the 'happy' above the 'haunting' rather than alongside it. I was looking at my finished card and felt like it was missing a little something, so I fussy cut a spider from black glimmer paper and placed him on the spider's web (I did cut him freehand, so don't look too closely at his less-than-straight legs!). I'm also playing along with the team over at Fusion this week since my chosen theme fits with their photo inspiration a treat (right down to the lone spider!) 

I hope you like today's card; back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Spider Web Doilies	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Black Glimmer Paper	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Punch Corner Project Life	Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	1" Circle Punch

So today I thought we would have a change from cards and I would share with you the 3D project that I made on World Card Making Day. I know, topsy turvy, but since crafting with friends is in itself something to be celebrated, it seemed a great way to spend the day. So the project in question is the Witching Decor Project Kit in the seasonal catalogue. Normally this isn't the kind of project I would make, however the female James junior of the house, Rebecca, absolutely loved it and wore me down until I promised to buy it for her to create! 

So she invited her friend and fellow crafting enthusiast Nicholas over for the afternoon and we spent a pleasant few hours putting our respective hats together. Here is Rebecca's finished hat in all its glory:

Now if you've seen the photo in the catalogue, you will see a few differences between this one and that one. the first is the shape: the one in the catalogue looks crumpled and 'worn in' (a little like the sorting hat in the Harry Potter stories!). The trouble was, once put together Rebecca decided she wanted hers to have a perfect point, so since she still managed to tie on her bell and have it tinkle, she couldn't bring herself to crumple the end! It must be a girl thing - Nicholas had no such issues and his had a wonderfully worn in appearance! 

You might also notice the rather enthusiastically sponged edging to the 'Happy Halloween' label; the kit recommends using Soft Suede for a 'worn' look, yet having made one like this the children universally agreed that this didn't work for them at all and orange was most definitely needed! So we made another label - there are enough labels for 3 each of the stamp designs, in fact the whole kit is very generous in its contents; we made interchangeable labels and still had labels, flags, rhinestones and lots of leaves left over. All for just £20 and the co-ordinating 'Witches' Night' stamp set. I have a class scheduled to make this kit on 13th October - it would also make a great project for a girls' night in. I have a few calendar slots left in October so if this is something that interests you, please get in touch.

The leaves that are threaded around the edge of the hat are all pre-punched and can be used just as they are, as the children did on their hats (they just wanted to get them threaded and had no time for extra sponging!). They could also be sponged and distressed to add more texture and colour, or even stamped with the Vintage Leaves set to add more detail. 

We were so absorbed in our task, I didn't even take a photograph of us at work to share with you. Suffice to say, the children had a great time and I am loving the addition of the hat to our Halloween home decor. 

This is a great kit and very easy to construct - you might say child's play! It would be a great kit to make with children as part of the build up to your 'trick or treat' festivities. 

That's all from me today - back tomorrow with another project and some exciting children's news too! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies used:

Witching Décor Project Kit	Witches' Night Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Tear & Tape Adhesive
Multipurpose Liquid Glue

Did you have fun celebrating World Card Day yesterday? I sent the afternoon crafting, but making home decor rather than cards as Rebecca had a friend round and we spent a couple of hours putting together our Witching Decor Project kits. It did rather put me in the mood for today's new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it's my turn to host again and since it's the first Sunday in October I have a fun theme challenge for you:

Yes that's right - it's Halloween! I took the opportunity to have some fun with my Howl-o-ween Treat Stamp set and the co-ordinating Boo To You framelits and created something that's been on my general 'to do' list for ages - a matchbox style pop up card. Lots of photos today - here's my card from the outside:

My outer box sleeve is made from Tangelo Twist cardstock decorated with the fun ghost patterned paper from the Happy haunting DSP set - I've been wanting to use this pattern for ages! - and a tag punched with the Ornate Tag Topper punch attached with some Tangelo Twist satin ribbon available on the Clearance Rack currently while stocks last!) My tag is decorated with some bats courtesy of the Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 set and the Trick or Treat sentiment from the Howl-o-Ween treat set. The question is though, which will it be - trick or treat? Let's take a look inside the box:

 I made the drawer tray using Basic Black cardstock and my trusty Envelope Punch Board, and lined it with more Happy Haunting DSP. I used my framelits to cut a 'Boo!' out of black glimmer paper - so perfect for Halloween projects - and stamped a bright green owl, complete with pumpkin basket and spider hanging down from a piece of black baker's twine. Here's another view - oh and I backed my owl with a partial spider web doily too: 

I made my box quite large so that I could accommodate both my pop up owl and greeting and a little something behind. If you look closely in the photo above you can just catch a glimpse of what it is - it also determined the colour of my owl. Can you see what it is? How about a brightly coloured spider to scare your nearest and dearest:

This time more trick than treat (although I've a feeling there are plenty of little ones out there who may think otherwise, given the potential for the odd practical joke or two!), however you could always include a bar of chocolate instead. I hope you like my fun Halloween card - I think the bright orange spider is my favourite!

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 your Halloween-themed cards this week. I'm off for a morning of basketball and then home for birthday lunch - today it's my husband who's celebrating; I'll share his birthday cards with you later this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Howl-O-Ween Treat Clear-Mount Bundle	Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper	Spider Web Doilies	Black Glimmer Paper	Envelope Punch Board
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Basic Black Baker's Twine	Ornate Tag Topper Punch	Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tangelo Twist 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon

It's Monday - what else is there to say?! Today's card was using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, although I am too late to link up today, although I can still join in with The Friday Mashup where the challenge is to use glitter on your card and/or combine with a 3D project (I just went with the glitter). Here's the sketch:

Lots of possibilities. I wanted to try out an idea I'd had buzzing around my head for a while - here's my card:

So my card today is very 'green' courtesy of Cucumber Crush - but with good reason! I wanted to create a card reminiscent of the musical 'Wicked' that would serve as a celebratory card, and use a combination of blacks for contrast. I stamped my witch's hat from Howl-O-Ween Treat in Archival Basic Black ink, then stamped my 'wicked' sentiment from the new Project Life 'Seasonal Snapshot 2015 set in Versamark and heat embossed it in black a couple of times to give it real profile and shine. I added the 'awesome' from Endless Birthday Wishes, some shiny black sequins from the metallics sequin assortment (another use for one of this week's Weekly Deals!) and some silver Dazzling Details to the stars and band on the hat. 

This is one of those cards that looks so much better in real life - it has real sparkle and shine that s difficult to capture on film. My daughter really loves it though, so this is one that will be heading her way in due course I think!

That's all from me today; I have a class tomorrow with a lovely group at a local residential care home along with some mass Christmas card production for an event later this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Howl-O-Ween Treat Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock
Endless Birthday Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is my turn to host and I have my very first sketch challenge for you:

You know how much I love a sketch challenge - it's so exciting to have designed my first one for you to play along with this week! I am still pre-occupied with my pre-order goodies, so I decided to use this week's Color Throwdown colours to create not something floral as per the inspiration photo, rather a decidedly spooky Halloween treat for you. Here's my card:

So many lovely things to share on my card this week! The background paper is a piece of the new Halloween DSP pack 'Happy Haunting' - there are some great patterns in this pack. For the large circle on my sketch, I used one of the new Spider Web doilies - I think these may be my actual most favourite Halloween product in the new catalogue! They are so dramatic and such great value, at just £4.25 for a pack of 24. I will be using these everywhere! for the smaller circle, I just had to use the owl from the Howl-o-ween Treat set - isn't he adorable?! The stamp set comes with a co-ordinating set of 'Boo To You' framelits dies and what's more they are available as a bundle too - great news! The framelits are a must as they make cutting out the shapes, such as the wand, the pumpkin basket and the hat, so easy. This card is choc full of texture too: I accented the eyes with a couple of round Itty Bitty Epoxy Sticker Accents and stamped the hat in Versamark and heat embossed it in black to add a lovely shine against the Cucumber Crush cardstock of the hat - you can see it better here in this close-up photo:

I also used the awesome new black glimmer paper for my sentiment, again cut out using my Big Shot and the 'Boo To You' framelits. Just look at how sparkly it is: 

Lastly, I added a Cucumber Crush banner punched with my Triple Banner Punch and the Confetti Stars Border Punch and I infilled the star shapes by paper-piecing with black glimmer paper stars for added sparkle. I also decorated the inside of my card and what's more, remembered to take a photo of it:

How cute is that?! I hope you like today's Halloween card and that it has you even more excited for the fun things still to come in the new seasonal catalogue. 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 how you choose to interpret my sketch on your cards in the gallery this week. I'll be spending today in the garden; yesterday's BBQ and vegetarian menu was a huge success, so today we are following that with another lunch of vegetables from our garden - with sausages too though, of the meat variety! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Howl-o-ween treat - available September 1st

* Boo To You Framelits - available September 1st

* Spider Web Doilies - available September 1st

* Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

* Black Glimmer Paper - available September 1st

Banner Triple Punch	Confetti Stars Punch	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets	Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers