Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my sweet friend Claire to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for you to work with:

It's the first Sunday in February and the month of Valentine's so love is definitely in the air! I combined our challenge this week with the colour palette over at Global Design Project and Julee's Mojo Monday sketch and am linking up with Just Us Girls where they are looking for bows. All of these elements came together for my love-filled card - take a look:

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

From My Heart - My card today features three of the patterns in the From The Heart specialty designer series paper. With playful patterns featuring red and pink foil accents on some designs, these papers are perfect for Valentine's Day cards and packaging. I used a pink and red random heart design for my largest panel and layered two of the foiled heart designs for the uppermost layer and focal point of my card. Check out the foil effect - so pretty:

Two Hearts Are Better Than One - I loved the layering of Julee's sketch and decided it would be a great way to showcase my favourite foiled heart pattern in the paper pack. I layered it on a pink heart from another of the designs, both of which I punched out using the punches in the Heart Punch pack: one has straight edges and the other scalloped and they nest together beautifully. I love it when you can punch shapes out of paper this easily - it makes card making a breeze! 

Add A Bow - I finished my card with a fancy glossy red satin ribbon bow. The foil detailing and the faceted gems make this card something special and a luxurious bow seemed like the perfect way 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; I will be crafting and getting ready for my technique class tomorrow and might even sneak in a movie this afternoon. To my fellow PP teamies and anyone else stateside who is watching the Super Bowl and hosting or attending a Super Bowl party - enjoy!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

From My Heart Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Heartfelt Bundle (English) (£43.00)	Real Red 3/8" (1 Cm) Double-Stitched Satin Ribbon (£7.00)	From My Heart Faceted Gems (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for the often-dreaded speed challenge:

Yes - create a card in under 10 minutes, this time using shades of brown! I would usually say that brown is quite an uninspiring starting point for me, however I actually had a couple of ideas right off the bat for a change! I worked up one of those and am quite pleased with the results - take a look:

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

A Kennel of Dogs - Today's card features a kennel of dogs, brown dogs to be precise, courtesy of some Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso cardstock and my Dog Builder Punch. As an aside, did you know that there are a number of collective nouns for dogs and in addition to the more commonly used 'pack', you can also refer to a group as a 'kennel of dogs'. I much prefer the latter when it concerns domestic pups so decided to go with that as my dogs are certainly not at all wolf-like, which is what always comes to my mind when I think of a pack! I simply punched a whole bunch of dog shapes and then positioned them somewhat randomly on my card to create a pattern, allowing some to overhang the edges before trimming to size.

Puppies and Pawprints - The sentiment and pawprints on the heart come from the 'Happy Tails' stamp set and are perfect if you need one of those tricky cards to send to someone mourning the loss of their four-legged friend. I stamped mine onto Whisper White and used a heart framelit from the retired Sweet and Sassy Framelits set to cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals; the sentiment does just about fit into the straight-edged heart punch from the new heart punch pack in the Spring Mini catalogue, but is a little more snug. Using the punch would save some time too but I knew the sentiment would fit the framelit and I had mine ready to go!

I Feel The Need For Speed - So the key to a speed stamping challenge has to be simplicity, right? My card has very little stamping, so how long did it take to complete? It actually took me 9 minutes and 8 seconds on the first attempt, because the time was taken up arranging my punched dog shapes and glueing them in place with Tombo. Once complete, I liked the card so much I decided to punch a bunch more dog shapes and used the same layout to create another two identical cards, and did both in less total time than it took me to make the first one! If I had used Snail adhesive, I probably could have saved even more time. So I challenge you - if you CASE my card, do let me know how long it takes you to complete - it is an easy one for under 10 minutes once you have the layout! I'm going to make a few more using different colours and using the Cat Punch.

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. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

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 #AYSI218 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 colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.
• Don't forget to tell us how long it took to create your speed-stamped creation!

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Dog Builder Punch (£17.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Happy Tails Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Heart Punch Pack (£32.00)	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

My sketch involves an element of repeating pattern, which can be any shape you like. Whilst I used my stitched circles as a background for my pattern repeat, today's card is all about the shoes - and some rather special shoes at that! Take a look:

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

Words To Live By - I love the sentiments in the 'Dressed to Impress' stamp set but my favourite is without doubt this one - I mean, has there ever been a truer word spoken?! I am one of those people who love shoes; I don't own as many pairs now as I once did and I've never owned a pair of floral high heels, but I would love to - so I would love to receive a birthday card like this! I used the florals in the stamp set to decorate the inside too, with a birthday sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set:

Best Dressed Shoes - This is one of those cards that looks pretty simple, but took a long time to execute! I stamped twelve shoes onto Whisper White cardstock and used my All Dressed Up Dies to cut them out, then added some colour to the Petal Pink and Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends to the inside contours of the shoes for a little contrast. Then I stamped twelve shoes (plus two for the envelope) onto a selection of the Best Dressed Designer Series papers, choosing a selection of the small floral patterns and making sure that the shoes were stamped in a similar orientation so that the designs would co-ordinate and the shoes would look like pairs, then I fussy cut the outsides of the shoes and paper-pieced them onto the white backgrounds. Time consuming yes, but I love the finished effect!

Pick of The Pastels - I decided to mount each of my pairs of shoes on a stitched circle and used a selection of pastels inspired by the Best Dressed DSP (although I used Pool Party Instead of Mint Macaron as the latter was too dark). My sentiment was stamped in Blackberry Bliss on a shortened Stitched Rectangle 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs this week and taking a look at your interpretation of this week's sketch.

Enjoy your day; we did all our sport Friday and yesterday, so today it's a quiet day with homework, ironing and maybe a movie. Enjoy the rest of your weekends and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Dressed To Impress Bundle (English) (£45.00)	Dressed To Impress Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£17.00)	Best Dressed 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Purple Posy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Laurie to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I knew immediately where I was going with today's card and using the current layout over at CAS Colours & Sketches ended up making not one but two cards!  Laurie's theme gave me the perfect excuse to break out my new 'Dressed To Impress' stamp set and co-ordinating Best Dressed designer series papers to create a couple of clean and simple cards perfect for a fashionista. Here's the first one, featuring the lipstick:

I coloured my image with my Stampin' Blends and added just a small piece of designer paper behind to preserve the all-important white space. Finally I stamped the scrolled word in a contrasting colour and popped it up over my black sentiment for added interest.

I liked this card so much I made another, this time featuring the shoe:

On each of my cards, I stamped my lipstick/shoe image on a post-it note and masked my main image to stamp a second one. My first lipstick looked lonely and as for the shoes, it had to be a pair - I mean, who buys a single shoe?! 

And here's another picture of both cards together:

So which one do you prefer? I liked the solid pink lipstick DSP on the first one ... until I used the shoes DSP which whilst it has larger images, is on a white background so feels a little 'cleaner'. So now I'm not so sure - as always, I welcome your thoughts! Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

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; we have a family lunch planned and a day of homework for the Juniors and ironing for me! Hope you have an enjoyable rest of your weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Dressed To Impress Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£17.00)	Best Dressed 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Lovely Lipstick Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

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

I used the current Freshly Made Sketches layout for my card and despite Heather's beautiful rustic heart image on today's badge, I chose to go full on red for today's love theme - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Card That Is All Heart - When I saw the new Detailed Hearts Die in the Stampin' Up! Spring-Summer mini catalogue, I knew I would have to have it! This is such a versatile die for layering and works not only for Valentine's Day but lots of other occasion cards too. It's also great for making multiple cards at a time: by running it through the die cutting machine with a few different colours of co-ordinating cardstock, you can switch out and mix up the hearts and have a few cards made with relatively little extra effort - and I'm all for saving time! Here I paired mine with some retired Real Red Glimmer paper left over from my Christmas crafting and switched out some of the hearts and left others empty for the white mat layer to show through. I like the added texture this gives whilst retaining the monochromatic look. 

A Crafty Curveball - Whilst I love the Detailed Hearts Die 'as it comes', I feel obliged to point out that I didn't use it that way on today's card! I saw Jacquie's sketch over at FMS this week and paled at that vertical curve, knowing that I didn't have any dies that would work. Whilst considering my options (one of which was sponging - check out Amy O'Neill's card on the FMS challenge page (link above) to see a great example of this) I suddenly had a brainwave! The Detailed Hearts Die has an irregular edge to it anyway, but I carefully strategically snipped away some of the hearts along the right hand side to create a more defined curve. I also stuck some of the hearts that I'd removed elsewhere to my base in some of the gaps, to further emphasise it. Clever, right? Well, I thought so ;-) You can see the actual pattern of the die in the product table link below, so be sure to check that out.

You Are Loved - I wanted my hearts to be the star of today's card, so kept my sentiment simple. I didn't want to use this card as a Valentine's card, so by using the 'You are loved' sentiment from the 'Forever Lovely' stamp set, I can use it anytime to let someone know how much they mean to me. This card will probably make it's way to Rebecca in her school bag at some point - even as a teenager, she still has a soft spot for anything with sequins, sparkle and glitter!

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. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
• 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 colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.
• 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.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

Enjoy your day; I'm still wading through paperwork, but will be taking a break to visit the hairdressers for my monthly trim - my one luxury that I look forward to each month! Not only does it keep my hair looking good, it's a great opportunity for a natter - I've known my hairdresser for 20 years and now consider her a good friend! We often joke that she could cut my hair with her eyes closed, although thankfully she's never tried it! Anyone else out there have a hairdresser who they wouldn't want to give up? If mine ever shut up shop, I'd be beside myself! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Detailed Hearts Die (£27.00)	Forever Lovely Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Anne Marie to host this week and she has what I'm sure will be a popular colour challenge for you to work with:

The reason I think Anne Marie's colour palette will be popular this week is that all of her key colours feature in the new Peaceful Poppies designer series paper from Stampin' Up! and try as I might to go in a different direction, I couldn't help but cut into my pack for today's card. With the help of Judy's great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week, I was able to let the paper do all the talking - take a look:

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

Peaceful Poppies - Peaceful Poppies is one of the headline suites of the new Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue and it appears on the front cover. Beautiful line-art images accented by watercolour effects, all inspired by a field of poppies, the suite contains not one, but two bundles along with a range of co-ordinating accessories. My regular readers will know that I am a lover of designer series paper and I think the Peaceful Poppies paper is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. One of the designs looks just like a painting and is perfect for card fronts and I cut a piece of this, featuring both Poppy Parade and Rich Razzleberry coloured poppies.

Neutral Black - My paper choice was so pretty, I couldn't bring myself to add much more to the front of my card. I used a Poppy Parade card base and added a double mount to frame my patterned paper, in Old Olive and Basic Black. I also decided to heat emboss my sentiment in white on black, as opposed to stamping the other way around - using black to 'frame' my picture and sentiment ties in to the black line-drawn design of the paper, so whilst used sparingly my neutral choice plays an important role.

Beautiful Inside And Out - Having done very little stamping on the front of my card, I decided a little interior decoration along with my split/masked sentiment was needed to redress the balance:

I added a poppy to the front of my envelope too - no naked envelopes here 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

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; we had a day of sport yesterday so today should be a quieter one. I spent yesterday making final preparations for my class tomorrow, however if I'm lucky I might squeeze in a little extra crafting today - here's hoping! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Peaceful Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) (£20.00)	Painted Poppies Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for our first challenge of 2020 over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

Our theme is 'something new' - a new year, a new season, new job, new baby - so many possibilities! I took some new product to make a card to welcome the arrival of a new baby, using Brian's layout over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week as my starting point and this is what I came up with - take a look:

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

Welcome Witty-cisms - The sweet pram stamp I used on today's card sis from a new stamp set called 'Witty-cisms', inspired by one of Stampin' Up!'s Million Dollar Sales Achievers, Lisa Fast. A collection of fun stamps with witty sayings and cute hand-drawn illustrations, they are perfect for lots of different occasions and also for a spot of quick colouring if that's your thing. These images are great for quick and simple cards and can also be dressed up with a few layers and embellishments into something more detailed as I've done here.

Baby Blue - I chose to go monochromatic with today's colours and feature Coastal Cabana on my card as I had all the right bits and pieces in my collection (I used some retired Brights DSP but the current gingham would look lovely too). I stamped my image in Basic Grey as opposed to black to soften the image, which is something I often do on a baby card. I love cards like this - it would be just as easy to make in pink or a neutral too.

A Simple Embellishment Trio - I used some of the new white crinkle ribbon for a soft bow and a silver 'made with love' charm and felt border from the Follow Your Art Embellishment Kit to add the finishing touches to my card - I think that little heart charm is a neat play on words for a new arrival.

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week - including our fabulous new trio of guest designers, Allisa, Stef and Mary:

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; we are looking forward to a leisurely family lunch today before we are all back to school and work at various points next week. I have a card prepared though so will be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Witty-Cisms Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Follow Your Art Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Whisper White 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Layering Ovals Dies (£33.00)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

This is my second post today - if you missed it, you can read my earlier post about Sale-A-Bration and the new Spring-Summer mini catalogue here. In this post I'm sharing my design team card for our first challenge of the new year over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonally-themed recipe challenge:

I used Amy's versatile layout over at Freshly Made Sketches for the design of my card, then grabbed my recipe ingredients and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

A Hint of Hammered Metal - Today's card uses some unusually wintery product, considering it is the launch day for the Spring-Summer mini catalogue, but whilst lots of the items used are from the Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue, it's still all available (kind of!). Firstly the hammered metal embossing folder that I used for my silver foil background layer is a carryover product and continues to be available to purchase. You can't see much of the effect on today's card, but it does look great on a larger panel, adding lots of great texture and detail. 

Au Revoir Feels Like Frost - I decided to use a piece of foiled snowflake Feels Like Frost DSP for the main rectangle on the front of my card. Whilst we have bid farewell to this popular paper, it is for the first time an 'au revoir' rather than a goodbye forever - it is one of the favourite items that will return again with the launch of the 2020 Autumn-Winter mini catalogue - yay! So if you don't have a stash of this paper already, you've only another 7 months to wait until you can buy some more!!

New Year Inspiration - The sentiment on today's card is taken from a brand new set, called 'Beautifully Braided'. I had this set out on my desk as it features in my January technique card class and couldn't resist using these uplifting words on my card today. As the Headmaster at Ben's school often says to the children, "If you can be only one thing, be kind" - words to live by, in 2020 and beyond I think. Finally, a sprinkling of rhinestones 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
• 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.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Hammered Metal 3D Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Silver Foil Sheets (£4.75)
Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Beautifully Braided Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£16.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

Hello everyone - it's time to shake off the January blues, today is THE day - yes, the highlight of the Stampin' Up! calendar, Sale-A-Bration 2020 is here! No more sneak peeks - the catalogue is available, the shop is live and from now until 31st March the benefits are yours for the taking. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page or below to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or click on the icon above or on the right to go directly to my online shopto place an order - we are LIVE!

So what is Sale-A-Bration? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host:

Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 3 January and 31 March. There is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £90 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! 

It’s also the best time of year to join Stampin’ Up! There is a fabulous joining option during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion: as usual, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £130 of FREE products for your Starter Kit. In addition to an extra £31 worth of product in your starter kit, exclusive to Sale-A-Bration, you will also get the following items FREE:

• A new Mini Paper Cutter
• A 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper Sampler pack
• Your choice of any stamp set offered in current catalogues (host sets and Sale-A-Bration sets excluded)

Isn't that just great?! Plus, the whole kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. 

It's also a great time to host a Stampin' Up! party. When you host a party and have party sales of £275 or more (this also applies to individual orders), you will earn the exclusive Little Ladybug stamp set for FREE in addition to your usual Stampin' Rewards. Party sales of £400 or more also earn one 50% off item. What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a party, real or virtual, please do get in touch; my diary is filling up but there are still lots of slots available and I would love to share these great benefits with you. Equally if you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator; paper copies have been sent to my regular customers. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back soon with lots of projects showcasing products from the new catalogue. Until then, happy shopping!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and for our last challenge of the year she has a colour challenge for you to work with:

I used Karren's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (turned through 90 degrees) for my layout this week and decided to use this fun stamp 'Christmas Crowd' again but in a somewhat less traditional way - take a look:

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

I stamped the image in Versamark then heat embossed it in silver and coloured with my Stampin' Blends, adding either clear Wink of Stella or Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the white areas for added sparkle. I heat embossed my silver sentiment onto vellum so that it wouldn't overwhelm the main image too much and added both a strip of Mercury Glass acetate over the Seaside Spray border edge of my card, with a strip of Seaside Spray scalloped edge linen ribbon to border my piece of Whisper White. A sprinkle of snowflake sequins completes my card.

Normally I wouldn't dream of colouring this image in anything but traditionally festive colours such as red and green (I mean, a blue Santa?!) yet I thought it would be a good opportunity to show how even a large image can be successfully coloured with only a few colours and supplies and whilst a break from the norm, I quite like the finished result. What do you think? Do you ever dress Santa in anything other than red or is that an absolute no-go?

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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

We understand that you are super busy in the run up to Christmas however we hope you can find a few minutes to craft along with us this week! Since it's our last challenge of 2019 before we take a break for Christmas, it's also time for us to say goodbye to our wonderful trio of 2019 guest designers: Su Mohr, Wanda Cullen and Windy Ellard. All three of them have proved worthy guest designers and share some fabulous creations with us this year. We will be sad to see them leave us and would like to thank each of them for their efforts. We look forward to welcoming in a new team of guest designers in the new year - more about that in a later PP post!

Enjoy your day; I have a busy day with a quick Christmas shopping trip, followed by the Christmas swim squad outing to the Snow Dome for some winter sledging and then an evening of tree decorating and Christmas card writing. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Crowd Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Seaside Spray Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Seaside Spray 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon (£7.50)	Seaside Spray A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Mercury Glass Designer Acetate (£10.75)	Snowflake Sequins (£5.50)	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (£5.50)	Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)