This week I've managed to combine both my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday and my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It and also used the idea I had brewing for my entry  over at AAA Cards too:

The challenge that we are celebrating this week at Festive Friday is 'New Year's Day' which is on 1st January and at As You See it we are ending the year on a timely speed stamping challenge with the theme of 'snowflakes'. Remember 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. I don't usually send cards to celebrate New Year; this week I used sparkle, rhinestones and diecuts from the FF inspo list and this is what I came up with:

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

Giving Gifts Of Snowflakes - If you read Wednesday's blog post (if you didn't, you can see it here) you will recognise the snowflake border on my card. This was actually the first card in this pair that I made - clever positioning of these dies makes it easier to create this fun snowflake border detail. In keeping with the clean and simple feel of my card, I added a simple sentiment from the 'Snowflake Wishes' stamp set in Night of Navy and positioned it in the centre of my panel. I also had time for some quick stamping on the inside of my card too:

Blue Ombre Sparkle - I am having something of a love affair with the Night of Navy blue ombre glimmer paper at the moment - I could do with a whole pack of this colour on its own! I think it works really well when balanced against lots of white for a touch of festive sparkle, especially when paired with snowflakes (you can see another example of that here) so I couldn't resist using it for the inset panel behind my snowflakes. Check out the sparkle:

The Need For Speed - This card was super quick to put together: I finished at 6 minutes and 5 seconds and was feeling pretty pleased with my self in meeting my AYSI brief. It was at this point that I realised that having used diecuts and sparkle, I only needed one more thing from the Festive Friday inspo list and I would meet both briefs and save myself even more time, so I spent another 20 seconds adding some blue faceted gems (aka blue rhinestones!) to my snowflake centres and managed at 6 minutes 25 seconds to meet the AYSI speed brief using three things from the FF inspo list whilst still meeting the AAA Cards CAS brief, and with the option of snow too! Just 6 products, 3 challenges and less that 10 minutes - I'd say that's a result at this super-busy time of year!

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. 

We all need to save a little time at this time of year, so I hope you are inspired to create something speedy today - or maybe even get a head start on your New Year cards too!

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

And 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 speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

Enjoy your day; I am interrupting my usual day of Friday chores with a coffee with a friend I haven't seen in a super long time and my pre-Christmas haircut, so it's all happening here!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNOWFLAKE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£24.00)

OMBRE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.25)

BLUE ADHESIVE-BACKED GEMS (£7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

Happy Wednesday everyone! First things first - remember today is FREE SHIPPING at Stampin' Up! so the perfect time to pick up those last few Christmas gifts! You have until 11pm this evening UK time, so don't delay!

Now onto today's card, which was inspired by the current sketch over at Just Add Ink and is also perfect for the festive rainbow challenge over at - where else but The Rainbow Challenge:

I can't resist a good sketch and this one gave me the perfect opportunity to go all-out with a clean and simple yet unconventionally coloured Christmas card - take a look:

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

Giving Gifts Dies - I used the snowflake die in the Giving Gifts Die set to create my negative aperture border on today's card by cutting one end, then turning the die through 180 degrees and lining up the edges then cutting a second time, to give the single snowflake border panel. This is a great way to use this die on something other than a tag - it's always handy to be able to extend the use of an item. Unfortunately since I wrote today's post the dies are now no longer available in the UK; the lists are changing daily though and there are some things where stock of retiring items is still on route to the warehouse, so if you like them keep checking back.

Wonderful Snowflakes - I balanced my snowflake border with one of the Wonderful Snowflakes pre-diecut pieces that I trimmed to mirror the shape of the sketch element and added a simple 'Let It Snow' sentiment to tie both elements together. I used the snippet of snowflake I cut off to decorate the inside of my card:

Rainbow Ombre - My unconventional colour scheme today is taken from the rainbow ombre glimmer paper I used beneath the negative space of my snowflake border. I picked out the Bermuda Bay for my card base; I love the way the deep turquoise highlights the iridescent shine of the diecut snowflake and white embossed sentiment. I also picked out some of the white iridescent faceted gems from the From My Heart Faceted Gems pot to highlight the centres of the snowflakes in my border and used a (retired) sparkly blue one to centre my white snowflake.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WONDERFUL SNOWFLAKES (£5.50)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)	SNOWMAN SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£17.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)
FROM MY HEART FACETED GEMS (£5.50)

STOP PRESS for an important announcement: For 24 hours only, starting at 11pm UK time this evening, Stampin' Up! are offering FREE shipping on orders of £35 or more.

The key information is as follows:

• Free shipping applies after the qualifying order amount has been met.
• The minimum qualifying amount to receive free shipping is £35 or more.
• Free shipping only applies during the 24-hour period the promotion is live in each market; this means that the order must be opened and closed between 7 December 2021, at 11p.m. and 8 December 2021, at 11:00 p.m (UK).

This is a great time to stock up on last-chance items, to pick up one of our all-inclusive papercrafting kits or to treat yourself to a bargain or some stocking fillers from the clearance rack. So start making those lists and head off to the online Stampin' Up! store or message me with your order.

Happy shopping!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Patricia is our host for the month of December and our first challenge this month is a colour challenge: 

I decided these colours would perfectly suit a Christmas festive poinsettia, so stamped and cut one from the Merriest Moments stamp set along with some festive holly and used it to frame my simple sentiment that I inset using one of my Layered Circle Dies:

I added a sentiment and little extra stamping using the same set to the inside of my card:

 A trio of Cherry Cobbler matte dots for an extra pop of red complete my clean and simple card:

 I'm not sure this is a combination I would have chosen, but I really like the deep red against the fresh Mint Macaron base, with just the tiniest amount of yellow for good measure.

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'm also linking today's card up over at The Alphabet Challenge where the current theme is 'R if for Red' - I think my poinsettia qualifies on that front!

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

MERRIEST MOMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	DECORATIVE MATTE DOTS (£5.25)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MINT MACARON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
SO SAFFRON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Betty is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

Betty made a fabulous board this week and I really was spoiled for choice! Having finally taken receipt of my Wintry 3D embossing folder this week after a very protracted wait, I knew I would have to use it on today's card. I went down the middle column of the grid with snowflakes/free/winter and used both the sketch layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday and the sparkly snowflake in this week's Inspired By photo for a wintry card that is choc full of snowflakes and sparkle in equal measure - take a look:

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

A Wintry Ombre - I embossed two panels of basic white cardstock and another of ombre glimmer paper with the snowflake Wintry 3D embossing folder for some textured panels - I love how the snowflakes appear to swirl with the design. On the ombre glimmer paper, which is in hues of Night of Navy, I lightly sanded the embossed areas to highlight the texture and detail - you can see it more closely on the photo below:

The ombre glimmer paper is gorgeous and embosses beautifully - I just love the effect!

Tag-tastic - I used one of my Tailored Tag Dies to cut my tag as per the sketch, and stamped it with snowflakes and swirls, adding a sentiment heat-embossed onto a stitched label. I added an over-the-top bow using some sparkly ribbons and accented my tag with some glimmer paper snowflakes in white and navy. I cut these with my Stitched Snowflakes Dies; if you've had your eye on these and not yet ordered, I'm afraid you will be disappointed as they were one of the first things to fly off yesterday's 'Last Chance Products' retiring items list. If you missed that post, check it out here.

Merry Snowflakes Inside - I used the 'Snowflake Wishes' stamp for the details and sentiment on the front of my card, but added decoration and a further sentiment from the 'Merry Snowflakes' set to decorate the inside:

I know I made today's card as a seasonal thank you, but I think it's still ok to have a Christmassy sentiment on the inside too, don't you think? 

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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with another project, but no promises - the Christmas rush is getting the better of me! Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SNOWFLAKE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£24.00)	MERRY SNOWFLAKES CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£10.00)	WINTRY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDERS (£9.25)	TAILOR MADE TAGS DIES (£20.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)
BLUE ADHESIVE-BACKED GEMS (£7.50)	OMBRE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.25)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. I am your host for the month of November and as we near the end of the month this will be my last challenge as hostess. There are 5 Tuesdays in November so we are ending the month with the double: one of our previous sketches and a retired colour combination. For my final challenge I chose the following:  

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch. 

For my card today I did turn the sketch through 180 degrees and used one of the Giving Gifts Dies featuring Santa and his reindeer as my focal point along with the Tailor Made Tags Dies to create a tag for my card - take a look:

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

I found some starry retired designer series paper in Delightful Dijon to use for my panel and it seemed more appropriate to have this running across the top rather than the bottom. I then cut my layered tag out of the remaining colours. I added a tiny diecut bow and rhinestone, along with a small sentiment from the retired ‘Itty Bitty Christmas’ stamp set stamped in Midnight Muse to complete my card:

I chose these colours because I thought they could be used for festive or non-festive cards and could also be substituted with similar current colours if you didn't have them.  To that end, and since I love these tag dies, I  decided to create a slight stepped up version of the same card that uses similar colours and current product. This time I also followed my sketch to the letter! I used a Very Vanilla base and added a panel of Simply Elegant Specialty Designer Series Paper, then added a ribbon bow using gold-trimmed Cherry Cobbler ribbon, along with my layered tag, along with a gold foil moon and stars and allowing more depth to the tag itself. 

You can see the layering of the tag more clearly in the picture below: 

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GIVING GIFTS DIES (£29.00)	TAILOR MADE TAGS DIES (£20.00)	CHERRY COBBLER & GOLD 1/2'' (1.3 CM) METALLIC RIBBON (£7.50)	SIMPLY ELEGANT 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a theme challenge:

I decided to use the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday for my layout, grabbed my retired Playful Pets Designer Series Paper and embraced TSOT'S optional theme of 'peek a boo' with today's birthday card. This is what my card looks like when closed:

I used a simple birthday greeting from the 'Peaceful Moments' set inside my circle, adding a cat fussy cut from the DSP that fitted the shape perfectly. When you open the card, the magic slider causes a second sentiment to be revealed:

This sentiment is from the 'Pampered Pets' set, which I masked and stamped in sections in order that it would fit in my circle. I also added another cat - this one looks more than a little scared of the mouse though! Here's a close up:

Here's a little video I made to show the peek-a-boo in action:

As fun folds go, these cards are so easy to make - what fun!

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 our 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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	PEACEFUL MOMENTS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	PAMPERED PETS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and I designed the following sketch for us to work with:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. There are so many ways you can use a simple vertical panel; for my card today I decided to use the 'Amaryllis Abloom' stamp set, one of two host sets in the current mini catalogue, and use the vertical element to showcase a fabulous amaryllis bloom - take a look:

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

The 'Amaryllis Bloom' stamp set is a stamp set that is exclusively available to purchase using hostess rewards when you either host a Stampin' Up! party or place an order of £150 or more. It can be found on page 78 of the mini catalogue, along with the 'Seasons of Fun' stamp set, and is only available for the duration of this catalogue sales period, i.e. until 3rd January. The flowers in the 'Amaryllis Abloom' stamp set comprise a soft, almost watercoloured stamp element and a line drawn flower with leaves. It's not a two-step step stamp, in as much as the softer stamps don't fit the line drawn image to 'colour' it; each of the elements is a standalone. I decided to use the softer stamps from the bottom of my card upwards, and stamped both flowers and leaves, some of them stamped off directly onto my card base. I then stamped the lined image in Versamark onto vellum and heat embossed it with black embossing powder, then coloured the image on the reverse using my Stampin' Blends then fussy cut this piece and added this to the centre of my floral display. I heat embossed my sentiment, from the same set, and added a few clear sequins to complete my card.

Whilst my flower follows the contours of the vertical panel of the sketch, I stamped it directly onto my white card base and it extends beyond them; I used a double scored line to add additional detail without detracting from the flower - you can see them slightly better on the angled shot below:

This is quite an unusual style of card for me, but I quite like it - the vellum flower is so shiny in real life.

I have a real soft spot for amaryllis, especially at this time of year. My grandfather was an amazing gardener and he had a wonderful collection of amaryllis. I loved finding new varieties in unusual colours to gift him at Christmas time as he was always thrilled to have a new addition to his collection. My personal favourite is still a traditional bold red one though - whilst my grandfather is long gone, every time I see one of these flowers they bring back wonderful memories of him. 

I am also linking today's card up over at The Flower Challenge where they are asking for 'flowers with leaves' and at Global Design Project where the theme is 'Christmas'.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

AMARYLLIS ABLOOM HOST PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£9.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SUBTLE SHIMMER SEQUINS (£6.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

A very late post from me today but I wanted to share a couple of cards with you that I made with a few challenges in mind. My first card was inspired by the following:

It is unusual for me to get my inspiration from so many sources, but I couldn't resist those colours at Color Throwdown - navy, gold and white is one of my favourite colour combinations. I had already decided that navy would be perfect for a silhouette for Less Is More this week and I found the perfect image that enabled me to fulfil the brief over at AAA Cards of 'One Inchie' - take a look:

My silhouette angel from the retired 'Joyful Nativity' stamp set was perfect to fit into a slightly less than one inch square, just enough to allow for a gold foil scalloped square mat beneath it:

I left the whole of the remainder of my white cardbase blank - as the da Vinci quote over at Time Out states, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophisitcation' - hence my link up there too. So what do you think? Is my simple inchie silhouette too simple or seriously sophisticated? Do let me know in the comments below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I had a little extra time this morning and made another card that was totally inspired by Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and the wonderful photo at The Card Concept:

I took my inspiration in the photo from the deep red and vanilla gingham chair, the large rustic snowflake in the background and overall country feel for my clean and layered card:

I used some retired Farmhouse Christmas designer paper for the base and the sentiment strip and added some Cherry Cobbler twine and a wooden snowflake embellishment to finish:

This card came together really easily and I love the rustic feel. I also love Kim's sketch - I've another card using this layout to share tomorrow.

No supplies list as I was on a 'use it up' day - hope they still inspire you to create something similar with your supplies, old or new. I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!