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 Vicky is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I used the sketch over at TGIF Challenges for my layout today - I thought that circle would be the perfect spot for a festive wreath to frame my colourful robin - and went across our tictactoe grid with layers/wreath/bird for my card today. Take a look:

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

I used one of my favourite patterns from the Painted Christmas paper pack for the base of my card, added a couple of diecut wreaths, along with a few extra pieces of diecut holly leaves, a bow of glittered organdy ribbon and my sentiment, which I anchored with a robin from the Happy Holly Days stamp set, stamped and coloured with my Stampin' Blends. I added a few garden gems for a little extra sparkle to finish my card:

When it comes to colouring, I'm no expert but I do love it - so theraputic! A little extra stamping on the inside completes 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 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; a slightly earlier post from me today as I'm going to watch one of the James Juniors play hockey at school this afternoon; not something I get the opportunity to do often, but definitely a benefit of working for yourself that you can flex your hours to enjoy life's simple pleasures! Then the other of my charges is on a late pickup, as he has swim squad training after school. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

HAPPY HOLLY-DAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	SEASONAL SWIRLS DIES (£32.00)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)	PAINTED CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.10)	EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£7.42)
GARDEN GEMS (£6.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. I am your host for the month of November and this week I have another colour challenge for you: 

 I am also playing along with Sue's challenge over at Addicted To CAS where the code word is 'circle' as I've used circles on my card today as part of my layout and design - take a look:

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

The colour scheme for my challenge this week was taken straight from the oh-so-pretty Whimsy and Wonder designer paper. Mossy Meadow and Polished Pink is not a colour combination that shouts 'festive' particularly, but I do rather like it - especially with the addition of metallic silver. I chose one of the non-foiled patterns that has a tiny holly pattern on it and diecut a bunch of circles and added them in a vertically aligned column on my cardfront. I used a solid colour card base as I wanted them to blend in more than stand out against a brighter white, then overlaid them with a contrasting pink banner with my silver heat embossed sentiment, that I anchored with a piece of holly that I stamped, heat embossed, coloured and diecut with a stamp that is rather overlooked in the Whimsical Trees bundle I think:

I also added a simple silver twine bow (maybe a bit too blingy for a CAS card but it's Christmas - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!), before finishing off the inside of my card with a sentiment greeting from the same set and a leftover partial circle- waste not, want not and all that!

I rather like this simple card and I think these colours work surprisingly well together. What do you think? I'd love you to leave me a comment below with your thoughts, or better still play along - I can't wait to see what you create!  

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. I have one of the James Juniors home poorly today, so am juggling jobs with nurse duty. Not sure whether I'll manae a creative post tomorrow but will be back for sure on tursday with my TicTacToe post and a reminder that it will be the last day to save in the seasonal sale. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WHIMSY & WONDER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	WHIMSICAL TREES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£26.40)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£7.42)	POLISHED PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£7.42)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.10)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	MOSSY MEADOW STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	POLISHED PINK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)

I'm here with a quick post this evening with news of this year's Seasonal Sale that begins this evening at 11pm! During the Seasonal Sale, you can stock up and save 10% on cardstock, 15% on ink pads, and 20% on dies. Build up your collection of crafting basics—and prepare for another year of top-tier projects—with a steal of a deal on paper-crafting products!

 

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

I used Linda's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week for my card layout and went for a really clean design for my card today - take a look:

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

Layering Hugs - The Layering Hugs Dies are perfect for the central one word sentiment on the front of my card today. I cut the background floral diecut in white and then added the individual letters of the word HUGS in Crumb Cake in the same colour as the base. Neutrals? Check. Diecut? Check. One Word Sentiment? Check.

A Subtle Texture - I used the Tasteful Texture Embossing Folder to add texture to my card base layer; the detail is subtle but with the focus on neutrals, it adds an element of interest to this otherwise very clean and uncluttered card. You can see the detail slightly better on the photo below:

Embossing folder? Check.

Finishing Touches - The last element I needed to incorporate into today's design was ribbon or twine. I debated adding a bow, but eventually decided that I would add a simple trio of linen thread and white baker's twine across the centre of my card instead. It emphasises the horizontal sentiment, which is more faithful to Linda's sketch since I stretched my sentiment focal point beyond the skinny visual. I hope she likes it! Ribbon or Twine? Check. That's my recipe complete!

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 HUGS DIES (£26.00)

TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)

CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses the current sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday that I designed with Nancy's word prompt at Just Us Girls in mind:

I had the perfect focal point to encompass Nancy's 'merry' theme - take a look:

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

Delicate Baubles Dies - You know how much I love the Christmas tree die in this set; I thought it was time to show you one of the two dies that featured a sentiment (the other is 'Joy' - I'll share that another time). I cut out the 'Merry and Bright' detailed layer in gold foil and backed it with a piece of Evening Evergreen shimmer vellum for some subtle festive shimmer and sparkle.

Ever Eden - I added a panel of foiled green Ever Eden specialty designer series paper to my card base and bordered it with some gold foil stitched scalloped edging cut with one of the Hand Penned Dies. And since 'P is for Patterned Paper' I'm also linking today's card up with the team over at The Alphabet Challenge.

Finishing Touches - Some gold gilded gems and an in-colour gem was all that was needed to complete today's card. 

I love the soothing greens of the Eden's Garden Suite; I love how the foil and the addition of some shimmer makes them perfectively festive too.

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've had a full-on day today, culminating in Parents' Evening for one of the James Juniors. It's amazing how focused teachers can be when each appointment lasts only 5 minutes! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

DELICATE BAUBLES DIES (£33.00)	PENNED FLOWERS DIES (£28.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	EVER EDEN 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR SHIMMER VELLUM (£11.25)
EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)

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:

I designed the sketch to have a layer beneath a single focal point, with an overlapping sentiment. Whilst the focal point on the sketch is a circle, you can use any shape you like. Also feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

I have been trying (and failing!) to find the time to play along with the lovely ladies over at Inspired By for several weeks, but when I saw this week's inspiration photo of that welcoming Christmas wreath, I couldn't resist! The fact that I could combine with my sketch was a bonus! Both of their inspiration photos this week feature wreaths, and having had an aborted attempt using wheatgrasses for the first one, I decided to give that up as a bad job and work with this oh-so-pretty Christmas wreath as my inspiration. I actually went on to create two cards, one being slightly less clean and simple than the other. Here's my first clean and simple one:

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

I used the leaf wreath in the Seasonal Swirls Dies set for my wreath base, snipping off the leaves to leaves just the twigs. I used the retired Pretty Pines Thinlits for my sprigs of greenery and berries, adding some sponged white ink to my Soft Succulent greenery and some large retired candy dots for berries. I finished with a gingham DSP bow and added a heat-embossed sentiment from the retired 'Arrange A Wreath' stamp set onto a little stitched rectangle of wood-effect paper which seemed to fit the photo. I backed my wreath with a scrap of white wood effect paper, reminiscent of the shiplap in the photo: 

 And that was that - card complete! I decided to make another one, identical save for one additional detail: I switched out the DSP bow for an actual one, tied with gingham ribbon that I had coloured from its original black and white to black and red with the aid of my Stampin' Blends markers:

 That showy, double-looped bow definitely crosses a CAS boundary, hence not adding it to my original card; I do love it though! Here's a close-up: 

So two cards for the price of one today! Which one gets your vote? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SEASONAL SWIRLS DIES (£32.00)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	DECORATIVE MATTE DOTS (£7.50)	SOFT SUCCULENT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)
BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BLACK & WHITE 1/4" (6.4 MM) GINGHAM RIBBON (£6.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Happy Monday everyone! An early and super-quick post from me today as I take a trip down memory lane with a clean and simple card inspired by a few challenges that caught my eye this week:

I couldn't resist that pink typewriter in the Fusion photo and delved into the retired stamp box to find my 'TapTapTap' stamp set that had the perfect image - take a look:

Do you remember this stamp set? The typewriter meant it was always going to be a keeper for me; for today's card I stamped it in Memento Black and coloured it with my Polished Pink Blends markers. Whilst I love the Fusion sketch too, I decided instead to use the sketch over at AAA Cards and stamped my alphabet of typed letters behind for the horizontal element. I'm also linking up over at CASology where the cue word is 'type' so today's card is right on point.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that I used a typed 'thank you' sentiment on the paper in my typewriter and if you own(ed) this stamp set, will also know that this isn't a sentiment that it includes. Some clever masking and use of my Stamparatus made it easy to create this custom sentiment using other elements of the set - for a more complete explanation, check out this older post.

No visual summary or supplies list today - today's card is simply for your viewing pleasure. I would so love to own a pink retro typewriter just like this one! Enjoy your day; I will be getting together with a bunch of lovely ladies for a class this morning, where we will be making Christmas packaging - fun! Then more class planning and blog posts to follow before I head out on my afternoon school run  - the life of a busy Mum and part-time Stampin' Up! demonstrator is always a full one!

I'll be back tomorrow with another project - my second week hosting our challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

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 Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I also used Jen M's great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week for my layout, the colours over at Color Dare and my final entry over at Just Us Girls this week where Bobby's wild card is 'leaves'. I went across the middle of this week's Tic Tac Toe board with Autumn/Free/Wreath for my card today, but it also works for the middle column of thankful sentiment/free/any colour too. when I saw the Color Dare inspo photo of Holly Hobby this week I was taken right back to my childhood - and more recently, to my retired designer series paper pile! I had some old Comfort Cafe paper that I thought would be perfect for the challenge as it featured bluesm yellows and browns and would also provide a suitable background for my wooden, leafy wreath - take a look:

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

Seasonal Swirls - I went for a simple layered wreath of twigs and leaves today, as I didn't want to do too much to detract from the pretty background paper. I added a trio of Cajun Craze flowers, cut using my Floral Squares dies, that echo the detail on the paper, and centred each with a pearl, along with a linen thread bow and backed it with a very vanilla circle stamped with a simple sentiment from the 'Sparkle of the Season' set.

Added Texture - I love how the patterned paper has a faux-texture for added detail and interest. Having decided to add a Pool Party band to the front of my card, it looked a little too stark, so in a further nod to the paper, I added a layer of vellum over the top that I had embossed with my (retired) Subtles embossing folder. This was just enough to take the vibrancy out of the colour whilst also adding another level of detail; you can see the detail of it more closely below:

I really like this card - the paper is great for autumn and it's good to be using up more of my paper stash. If you're not a paper hoarder like me, you could easily recreate this card using the current Harvest Meadow papers, for example. A shoutout to Jen too for the perfect sketch to showcase a wreath - I think I might have to use it again this week!!

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 the rest of your evening; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SPARKLE OF THE SEASON BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
SOFT SUEDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. The lovely Vicky has handed over the reins and I am your host for the month of November. Our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

This trio of colours is one of my favourite festive colour combinations and they compliment white beautifully. I am in full Christmas card making mode right now, so I am looking forward to seeing what you make with these colours. For my card today I went with two simple clusters of Christmas Season foliage to accent a central sentiment label:

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

The 'Christmas Season' stamp set is perfect for festive foliage in these colours (it also contains some lovely pinecones, although I've not used them on today's card) and I stamped a sentiment from 'Delivering Cheer' on a label cut with the Seasonal Labels dies, which includes dies that also cut out the foliage. Another sentiment on the inside of my card from the same set and a little extra corner detail complete today's card:

I love the Real Red card base for a Christmas card - I also added a trio of rhinestones for some festive sparkle:

This is one of those cards that can be easily mass produced - just stamp a bunch of foliage pieces and sentiment labels and then have fun arranging the pieces. Kind of like flower arranging without the mess!

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 having another entry into Just Us Girls challenge this week with their wild card theme of 'leaves' - yesterday autumn, today winter!

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! colour 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. What will you make with my colours this week? I can't wait to find out and look forward to visiting your blogs in due course.

One last reminder: the Eden's Garden Collection pre-release is now available to order! Read all about it and order yours in this post here.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS SEASON BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£49.50)	DELIVERING CHEER PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£17.00)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PEAR PIZZAZZ CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)

Happy Monday everyone! I have a busy week as I am playing catch up again now that the James Juniors are back at school following their half term break, so this is a quick post from me today. I'm sharing a card that uses Jen T's great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, this week's Color Throwdown colours and the theme over at Just Us Girls where they are playing with leaves:

I was intrigued by Jen's sketch this week and loved the idea of three squares on a slimline card. When you look at my card you will think I made it in super-quick time - and I did, but only after an exponential amount of crafty procrastination and numerous failed attempts! Here's what I ended up with:

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

Yes - a simple trio of my favourite stitched leaves, inset into a trio of stitched squares and switched about for some mix-and-match autumn colour, with a sentiment from the 'Sparkle of the Season' stamp set. Why so difficult? Well, I couldn't decided between leaves, snowflakes, trees ... the list goes on! Then I decided I wanted to use the larger sycamore-style leaf, but try as I might I couldn't use three and create a slimline that would fit in an envelope for posting. I also fiddled with my Stitched Greenery Die - and failed to successfully adapt it for a long slimline card so gave that up as a bad job. the moral of the story? If in doubt, simple is best! Sometimes trying to complicate things just doesn't pay. Then to top it all, I struggled to get my card to lie flat for photographing - so if you're looking at it and can see a slight distortion, I'm afraid that's why. I also added a little stamping to the inside of my card:

I hope you like today's card and have enjoyed my tale of the trials of creating it! I love the finished result those - sometimes stitched dies really are all you need!

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'm off to grab a quick sandwich before I head back out on my second school run of today. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SPARKLE OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)	STITCHED LEAVES DIES (£33.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)