Today I'm actually combining my design team card for both our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a sketch challenge and the new challenge over at Festive Friday:

It just so happened my card fulfilled both briefs, so I thought I would go with it as I've been time-pressed this week (nothing new there then!) At As You See It we have a sketch challenge and at Festive Friday we are celebrating World Apple Day - but if you check out my card, you'll see there's not an apple in sight! Take a look at my card and you'll see what I mean:

My card today is for a baker - and a Christmas baker at that! The fun thing is that 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. This week I used red, green, baking and gingham on today's creation.

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

Gingerbread and Peppermint - One of my many passions in life is to bake, and at Christmas time I am known for my gingerbread cookies, so the Gingerbread and Peppermint Suite from Stampin' Up! immediately appealed to my inner baker. I love the papers in particular, as they are perfect for fussy cutting and that's where I took my trio of gingerbread cookies from that are on my card today. If you're not a fan of fussy-cutting, the Gingerbread Dies fit some of the shapes on the designer series paper, but honestly they are super easy to kit by hand too. The gingham banner on my card is some old retired paper, as there isn't a pattern that is technically gingham in this paper pack. There are lots of check and plaid patterns, but since I was being a purist I grabbed some old papers, but if you wanted to CASE my card, I would totally use one of the other patterns in this paper pack.

Memories & More - One of the other things I love about the Gingerbread & Peppermint Suite is that it features this season's Memories and More cards too. I will be using them to document my own festive bakes, but they are also great for cards too and on today's card, they really are the star of the show. So many of the elements that you see on my card come from the Gingerbread & Peppermint Memories and More pack: The spatula, oven glove, foil embossed snowflakes, that fabulous metal cooling rack and even the sentiment, which I fussy cut from one of the cards in the pack. So many great elements to play with:

Look No Stamping - Did you notice there isn't a single stamp on today's card? Not even on the inside, where I decided to use one of the memories and More stickers:

They really do make for easy cards, but with so many bits and pieces you can have a lot of creative fun with them too. I will be sending this card to a friend along with some of my famous gingerbread cookies during December; I might have to make a few more 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. 

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 sketch challenge, you are welcome to rotate or flip a sketch. You can replace shapes used such as substituting a circle panel for a square panel. However, we must be able to still see the basis of the original sketch in your finished product.

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans 

Joanne James - that's me!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (£10.25)

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

BASIC BORDERS DIES (£27.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Jenny's final challenge this month is a sketch challenge: 

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to feature some designer series paper and went on the hunt for a pattern that lent itself to being split across three panels and accommodating a sentiment. This is where I ended up:

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

This design in the Blackberry Beauty specialty designer series paper pack is one of my favourite designs and since all of the pattern is along the outer edges of the paper, it was perfect to cut down for a blank piece behind my sentiment and then two rectangles with pattern below. This paper has beautiful foil detailing, so I decided to add some gold foil mats to my rectangles and behind my sentiment. My 'thanks' is from the Word Wishes die for 'Thanksgiving' where I cut the 'giving' off the end. The dies aren't layered, so I created a gold mat for my diecut by gluing the Early Espresso diecut to gold foil, then carefully trimming around it with my paper snips to leave a layered border: 

The front of my card is stamp-free, so I added some stamping to the inside of my card to remedy that:

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:

BLACKBERRY BEAUTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)

WORD WISHES DIES (EN) (£33.00)

BEAUTY OF TOMORROW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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: 

Lots of options on the board this week and I was tempted to create something fall-inspired, but in the end decided to go across the middle with masculine/free/patterned paper and create a Christmas card - take a look:

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

Peaceful Prints - The current challenge over at CAS Christmas Card Challenge is to use plaid on a Christmas card, so the Peaceful Prints designer papers, free with an order of £45 during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion, were the perfect starting point. I'm trying to share as many of these fabulous free gifts with you as possible before the promotion ends next week on 30th September- just one more week to go so time to get those orders in!

Plaid Christmas - When considering plaid options for my card, I reached for that 'oldie but goodie' Christmas set from the annual catalogue called 'Plaid Christmas'. I ended up not using it on the front of my card at all - my small, block sentiment is courtesy of the 'Tidings and Trimmings' set - but I did use it to add a plaid Christmas tree to the inside of my card:

Pine Tree Punch - I love a good sketch and the current Sunday Stamps one is a keeper - so many ways to use this layout! I couldn't wait to play along and decided to keep things simple and used the central vertical panel to showcase the negative space of my punched Christmas tree so that you could see the lovely red and black plaid below. I added a simple scored border to my rectangle for added interest. 

No fuss or frills - this is both clean and simple and masculine, after all. 

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 be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

PEACEFUL PRINTS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)	PINE TREE PUNCH (£17.00)	TIDINGS & TRIMMINGS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today I'm sneaking in a card that I should have shared yesterday but got to the end of my day and was simply too tired to blog! Check out this cute card I made inspired by this week's theme over at TGIF Challenges:

So many lovely free items available during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and I chose one of my favourites for my card  - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card: 

I have lots of little characters from the Penguin Playmates designer series paper - free with a £45 purchase - that I fussy cut whilst sat watching TV one evening, so I wanted to use some of them on my card today. I added a panel of stripes, also from the paper set, and a sentiment and strategically placed my animals and snowman around it:

The best bit? A number of these characters are incomplete and were cut from the edge of the paper; you should never throw these away though as designs like this one, where they peek around the sentiment panel are the perfect way to use them without anyone being any the wiser. Well, obviously you all know because I told you, but you get where I'm coming from, right?! 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 later with another project, this time for our new challenge over at TicTacToe. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PENGUIN PLAYMATES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)

STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)

MERRIEST MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week Jenny has a great colour challenge for us: 

I love Jenny's fresh colour palette this week! For my card today I decided to dig out one of my rather neglected annual catalogue sets to make an anniversary card for a friend's upcoming celebration:

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

I added some Coastal Cabana ink to my cardbase and then added the circular diecut from the Birds and More dies to create an aperture to go over the top. I threaded through a diecut branch in Granny Apple Green and a pair of Misty Moonlight birds popped up on dimensionals, with black matt dots added for eyes. A simple sentiment from the (retired) Itty Bitty Greetings set completes the front of my card:

I used the negative aperture of the branch die to sponge some green ink onto the inside of my card, along with another Itty Bitty Greeting:

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! 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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BIRDS & MORE DIES (£32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MATTE BLACK DOTS (£6.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

I'm back with my second post today and my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a speed stamping challenge with a humorous twist:

Speedy wit - what a challenge! Here's my card:

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

I decided that I would go for some sideways humour and use the Halloween greeting from the 'Well Defined' stamp set. I stamped it in black and cut it out using one of the Hippo and Friends Dies, and paired it with some fun retired Halloween Motley Monsters designer series paper from my stash. I added a ribbon tab to my sentiment to finish 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. 

This really was a super speedy card, largely because the DSP does all the work. My finished time?

3 minutes and 41 seconds - I think this must be a personal speed stamping record! 

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WELL DEFINED CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

HIPPO & FRIENDS DIES (£33.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's Inspired By challenge - I went with the holiday option as I couldn't resist the white and turquoise of the inspiration photo:

I've been making lots of samples using my Festive Foliage background stamp for my online technique class that I held earlier this week and these colours were perfect to demonstrate heat embossing and the use of less traditional colours for a foliage-rich card - take a look:

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

Festive Foliage - I heat embossed the 'Festive Foliage' background stamp in white onto Bermuda Bay cardstock and added a simple white mat border to accentuate it. Background stamps are a great way to cover a cardfront, but they don't need always need to be coloured. I did brush over the leaf details with some clear Wink of Stella; it's quite difficulty to see in the photos, but it adds a lovely subtle shimmer in real life.

Winter Wishes - I decided to add a 'Winter' sentiment to the front of my card using some retired Bermuda Bay ombre paper from Sale-A-Bration earlier in the year, popped up on a label and backed with a couple of co-ordinating ribbons. 

Well Defined - There was a reason why I chose 'Winter' as the greeting on the front of my card; I wanted it to follow through to my sentiment from 'Well Defined that I used on the inside:

Whilst this card would work for the holiday season, I thought it would be perfect for seasonal greetings or even to send to someone who celebrates a birthday during the winter months.

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:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	PLAYFUL ALPHABET DIES (£32.00)	OPAL ROUNDS (£7.00)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Jenny has asked that we create a slimline card, with a rectangular element behind a single focal image:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I created a mini slimline card and took the opportunity to combine with my entry for the current Less Is More challenge for a clean and simple card that is all about the sparkle - take a look:

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

Stitched Snowflakes - I recently picked up the new Stitched Snowflakes dies (I blame my blog friend, the lovely LeAnne Pugliese lol!) having been convinced I can never own too many snowflake dies and these ones also have a lovely stitched detail - bonus! I thought a single diecut snowflake would make a great focal point, and used one of the other dies that cuts a swirl of snowflakes into a flat panel for my rectangular element. 

Be Dazzling - The challenge over at Less Is More currently is 'sparkle' so I just had to cut my snowflake out of Be Dazzling sparkly paper - the ultimate in sparkle and free with a purchase of £45 during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion to boot! I also added a sparkly border between my mat white layers - I mean, you can never have too much sparkle, right?! Well, so long as it's balanced with lots of 'white' space to keep that clean and simple feel ;-) If you would like to get your hands on some 'Be Dazzling' paper, you have until the end of this month or whilst supplies last (whichever comes sooner) to grab some: just hop on over to my online store or give me a call to place an order.

Sparkle of a Different Kind - My sentiment comes from the 'Sparkle of the Season' wreath set - it seemed just right to pair with my sparkling snowflake on today's 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. 

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.

That's all from me for now; I have lots to do following yesterday's monthly Stampin' Up! class; on the upside, the forecast is rain all day today so at least I won't be tempted to go out into the garden! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STITCHED SNOWFLAKES DIES (£32.00)

SPARKLE OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)

BE DAZZLING 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£0.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

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

I went across the centre of the board this week with Diecuts/Leaves/CAS and paired with the gorgeous autumnal colours over at TGIF Challenges for a simple leafy thank you  - take a look:

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

I used my Stitched Greenery Die to add interest to my background, then added a trio of autumnal leaves in the TGIF Challenge colours cut using my Stitched Leaves Dies - a worthy annual catalogue carryover from last year’s seasonal catalogue and I was delighted to get these back out again for this card. I tied them with a linen thread bow and added a simple ’thank you’ sentiment that is actually from the ’Sweet Ice Cream’ stamp set, but is great for a fussy cut greeting - just the right size:

As you can see, today’s card is definitely all about the stitching - and not a needle and thread in sight!

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; so my laptop has officially died and is beyond recovery, hence no blog post yesterday and there probably won’t be one tomorrow either. Whilst I’ve still got an iPad and phone at my disposal, I really need the keyboard and software on my laptop to work efficiently, as well as screen real estate - my eyesight cannot cope with these teeny, tiny screens for any length of time! A new laptop is on its way though so I’m hoping to be back by the weekend with another project. Less tech time does mean more craft time though - the ladies that are signed up for my Background Stamps Class next week will have their work cut out when they see my samples! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STITCHED LEAVES DIES (£33.00)	STITCHED GREENERY DIE (£30.00)	SWEET ICE CREAM PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CINNAMON CIDER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. The lovely Jenny is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to pair a couple of cute turtle friends for a sweet clean and simple card - take a look:

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

I thought the two greens would make great turtle colours and the pink a bright accent, so I stamped a little turtle onto my panel, having first run the bottom edge of the panel through my dots embossing folder, added some grass and hearts and a little bird directly to the base before adding a larger turtle which I coloured and punched out and popped on some dimensionals for added lift:

A super simple little scene with a sweet sentiment that makes this a fun school snack box love note for one of the James Juniors as they are headed back to school this week (obviously with the pink toenails this one is headed to Rebecca - definitely wouldn’t suit Ben’s cool kid status to have pink varnished toenails!!)

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. Today it’s my birthday so I will be taking it easy (ish!) And definitely partaking in a Colin the Caterpillar birthday cake at tea time - it’s tradition! I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with another project but my laptop is currently with the IT doctor so it might be Thursday until service is temporarily restored (that post is already written and schedule). Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TURTLE FRIENDS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£28.75)	CHECKS & DOTS EMBOSSING FOLDERS (£7.50)	POLISHED PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	POLISHED PINK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	EVENING EVERGREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUCCULENT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)