The week is running away with me again - I can't believe it's Thursday already and I'm finally managing a blog post! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few challenges in an attempt to keep my 2020 Christmas cardmaking on track:

Armed with the codeword of 'Frosty' from the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS, along with the snowflakes, trees and pink sky in the inspiration photo at Hand Stamped Sentiments, I set to work and this is what I came up with:

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

This was another relatively quick and easy card to make: I used a 2 1/4" circle punch to make a mask and then sponged a combination of Melon Mambo and Blueberry Bushel inks on a Whisper White base to create my sky. I stamped a collection of trees from Rooted in Nature in Memento Black onto Whisper White and cut them out with my co-ordinating Nature's Roots Dies and popped them up on dimensionals in front of the sky. I added snow to the branches of my trees with a chalk marker then added a liberal application of glitter to the snowy branches and a few sequins to complete my frosty look:

How pretty is this? Given the crystalline appearance of all that glittery and frosty snow, I am also linking up with CASology for my take on the word 'Crystal'. I then stamped my sentiment (from the retired SU! stamp set 'Wonderland') in black onto vellum and wrapped this around the front of my card to finish. I do find it difficult to think about Christmas amongst all of the hearts and flowers that are prevalent at this time of year, so was grateful to the above challenges for some festive inspiration!

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. 

Enjoy your day; I am without electricity today, which since it was planned is no bad thing; I've enough laptop battery to write this post and access to a wifi hotspot, and no means to do any washing, ironing, cooking or vacuuming  - an afternoon of crafting it is then!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£39.00)	Nature's Roots Dies (£36.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)	Snowflake Sequins (£5.50)	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (£5.50)

Today it's lesson time! I'm sharing a couple of cards that I promised you a while ago that are stepped up versions of an earlier clean and simple sympathy card that I made and since this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges is to make a sympathy card, this seemed an appropriate time to share with you:

It's never nice to have to create sympathy cards especially on the spur of the moment, so it's always handy to have one or two on hand for when they are needed. There are lots of great sets in the Stampin' Up! catalogue with just the right words for these sometimes difficult cards and Rooted In Nature is definitely on my 'go to' list. Here's my original card that I featured in this blog post here:

This is a great card for a beginner stamper - stamps, ink and white cardstock are all you need to create this card.

I decided that this was a good card to show how easily a card can be 'stepped up' with a few extra supplies. Here's my intermediate version - instead of a one layer white base, I used a coloured card base (retired Lemon Lime Twist, but you could use Granny Apple Green for a similar colour combo), a piece of designer series paper (retired 'Under The Mistletoe' pattern) along with a strip of Night of Navy cardstock, then popped my leaf stamped panel up on dimensionals and heat embossed my sentiment in silver on a strip of vellum and wrapped it around this layer:

A few additional cardstock and paper supplies and the addition of the heat embossing as another technique creates a slightly more stepped up card for the more casual crafter who wants something a little more. Finally I created a card for the avid crafter that features an even wider variety of products and techniques:

For this version, I retained the layout of my stepped up card, but this time stamped the leaves tone-on-tone onto the same coloured cardstock and cut them out using the co-ordinating Nature's Roots framelits, overlapping slightly on my white panel. I then added a double length of navy baker's twine across the middle before overlaying my heat-embossed vellum sentiment. I finished my card with one of the silver metallic leaf trinket embellishments tied with a navy twine bow. 

So what do you think? Which of these do you prefer? I think on balance I am somewhere between the first two cards - I love the simplicity of the outlined leaves on the white, but maybe with the addition of the heat embossed sentiment on the vellum. Decisions, decisions - the joy and freedom of creativity!

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. 

Enjoy your day; the sun is still shining here in the UK and I am off to sports day this afternoon, so looking forward to a fun afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£39.00)	Nature's Roots Dies (£36.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Leaves Trinkets (£7.50)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)