This is my second post of today - if you missed the first one about the new Stitched Shapes Framelits you are going to want to check that out here. No blog post yesterday as I still have one of the James Juniors on half term this week and then my evening was spent trick or treating. Today I've had full day with back to back classes, one of which was my first technique class of the month featuring the Christmas/Pretty Pines bundle. I've made lots of projects with this bundle, although I've yet to blog them all (so many projects, so little time!) Click here to see one of the cards that I've shared previously using this set, that was also one of our makes in our class. 

Today I want to share a card that I CASE'd from the lovely Amanda Bates over at The Craft Spa, who is for me the queen of fancy folds. She has made lots of versions of her Large Square Double Display Card but this one using the Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Paper and the Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies really caught my eye and I just had to have a go at re-creating it. Here's my card:

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

Presents & Pinecones - What can I say, the Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper is definitely the star of this card. Four of the twelve designs in this pack are showcased here, such a great layout to really let these papers shine. What's more, they are the perfect pairing for the Christmas/Pretty Pines stamp set thinlits combo. The colours are traditional yet fresh and modern, with the addition of the mint and white to the red and Emerald Envy green.

Christmas Pines - Whilst it's rare that I advocate buying a stamp set or thinlit set without its counterpart when it's available as a bundle (and this is most definitely not one of those times!), it is easy to focus on the detail of the thinlits with this set and rather overlook the stamp set. This would be such a mistake though, as it's a set choc full of great scripted sentiments in a variety of sizes, along with some useful border stamps, a fancy frame and a snowy background stamp that will have tons of uses on so many Christmas cards. This card showcases two of the sentiments and the snowflake background stamp, which adds subtle interest and detail to the panels on the front and inside. This set is definitely worthy of a place on your shelf!

The 'How' - I made a few tweaks to Amanda's tutorial when I made this card, so thought I would share the details with measurements below. This card is measured in cm and is a metric template for standard A4 cardstock; if you would like to make one in inches or using 12" x 12" cardstock, do check out Amanda's blog via the above link where she has lots of useful tutorials to follow. Here goes:

To make this A4 metric large square double display card, you will need:

I just love this card - a little time and effort but well worth it for the end result. Thank you Amanda for the 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Bundle	Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Hurrah for the weekend and what's more, the start of the half term holiday for the James juniors! They each have at least a week off (one has two!) so we are looking forward to a rest from our full-on daily routine. I managed to get some time this afternoon to make a card for this week's sketch challenge over at The Global Design Project:

I decided to add another Christmas card to my stash - here's my card:

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

Presents and Pinecones - For my background I used a piece of the Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Papers, another of the packs that is available with the 'Buy 3, get 1 free' offer this month - you can read all about it here. This is a great sketch to really make a feature of a piece of designer series paper; check out the Global Design Team's creations for some inspiring examples of this.

It's That Time of Year - I used the large sentiment from 'Time of Year', one of the sets exclusively available to hostesses from the annual catalogue, for my focal point, stamped using the Emerald Envy ombre ink pad to co-ordinate with the lovely greens of the DSP. I also stamped the holly from this set on a piece of Whisper White and fussy cut it before adding to the edge of the rectangle to balance my sentiment and banner. This is such a great set with options to create a number of sentiment combinations for different occasions and great if you want your sentiment to make a statement on a card.

All That Glitters -  I decided to use a piece of red glimmer paper for the panel behind the sentiment to add a little sparkle to my project. I then cut a few different banners, but was struggling with the fact that they were masking out too much of the lower portion of my main sentiment. I decided to stamp onto acetate to allow for some transparency to the sentiment below and decide to use some red glitter embossing powder for a final glittery pizzazz - job done!

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. 

That's all from me; I'll be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper	Emerald Envy Ombre Stampin' Pad	Time Of Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Red Glimmer Paper	Real Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Window Sheets	Bunch Of Banners Framelits Dies	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I spent some time deciding what to use on my card and eventually decided another Christmas card was the order of the day - take a look:

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

Pretty Pinecones - The Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies were the starting point for my card today. I have been wanting to use these gorgeous detailed dies to create a festive pine embellishment and today's layout was perfect for this. I used two different pinecones - the uppermost one has the pieces that can be pushed out, but I kept mine in place as I liked the effect (they can be held in place with a little tape behind).

Presents and Pinecones - I love the fresh reds and greens of the Presents and Pinecones designer series paper and knew they would be the perfect background to my embellishment. I actually cut one length from my DSP and used one side - the stripes - for the first panel, then the reverse - the pinecones - for the uppermost panel. The best of both worlds!

And Christmas Pines Makes Three - I used a sentiment from the bundled stamp set 'Christmas Pines' in Cherry Cobbler 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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Bundle	Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper	Presents & Pinecones A4 Cardstock Pack	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Banner Triple Punch	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

I'm popping my today with a quick card I made for this week's Mojo Monday challenge:

It's 'tall and skinny' week and I had the perfect idea for this week's layout - here's my card:

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

Santa's Sleigh Tree - The long, skinny panel on the front of this card is perfect to showcase the Christmas tree in the Santa's Sleigh stamp set - a modern take on a traditional Nordic fir. I stamped mine as a simple outline in Emerald Envy onto extra thick Whisper White cardstock, and added my partially stamped sentiment from the same set, heat embossed in white onto Real Red cardstock, across the bottom.

Presents and Pinecones - I used a small panel of the new Presents and Pinecones designer series paper behind the tree, to tie the colours and panels of my cards together. It adds just enough interest to my otherwise clean and layered card.

Touches of Red - I used Real Red as the accent colour on my card today: the background banner, the sentiment strip, the berries on the DSP and the enamel star on top of my tree. I think it really adds to the festive feel. What's more, the enamel shapes are one of this week's special offers - so a great time to stock up!

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Presents & Pinecones A4 Cardstock Pack	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper	Banner Triple Punch	Santa's Sleigh Photopolymer Stamp Set
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Brights Enamel Shapes