Another Monday, another week! Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that I made using this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout that I'm also linking up over at Addicted to CAS where the codeword is 'leaf':

This week's FMS sketch is courtesy of Cecile Ribon. If you are not a regular follower of Freshly Made Sketches, you should make a point of checking out her cards; I am in awe of her beautifully clean, elegant designs! I didn't get a chance to make a card to play along until today, but couldn't resist the opportunity to channel my 'inner Cecile' and have a go - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Painted Christmas - I decided to use designer paper for the trio of squares on the sketch and chose a selection of soft watercoloured patterns from the painted Christmas papers. I went mostly with patterns in greens and white with small designs, with one square that had red in too, which I picked up in my simple 'Joy' sentiment from the 'Merriest moments' stamp set. These papers are so pretty but not too overpowering - perfect in small amount for a clean and simple card.

White Holly - I chose to accent my card with a sprig of diecut holly in white; this was a deliberate move, albeit an unusual one for me. I used the (retired) Sweetest Borders Dies as I wanted to have something that was the right size with a little diecut detail, but there are plenty of current dies that could be adapted to achieve the same effect:

I was aiming for a single leaf for my Addicted to CAS entry, but because I used holly ended up with two; is it just me, but do you ever see holly leaves in ones? I only ever place them in pairs!

Finishing Touches - I added a trio of clear faceted gems and a silver twine bow to my white foliage for some simple finishing touches, along with a simple sentiment on the inside:

I liked this card and sketch so much, I made a second one too, this one with the centre square being the uppermost and popped up on dimensionals, rather than overlapped as per Cecile's original sketch:

I chose a couple of other prints too, with a little more pale green in the print pattern:

So what do you think? I love both of these cards and loved trying to channel my 'inner Cecile' to create my FMS entry 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

My day has been a topsy-turvy one, with plans upended and rejigged due to changes in school activities such that the restful day of crafting I had planned didn't quite materialise. No matter though - sometimes you have to roll with it and tomorrow may bring less upheaval; here's hoping! Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PAINTED CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

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

ELEGANT FACETED GEMS (£7.00)

SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

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

I love our challenge badge this week and decided to embrace the fun of our challenge photo and go with a card that is all about playing with leaves - take a look:

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

I stamped this super-cute image of this little chap playing in a big pile of leaves with his kitty from the 'Seasons of Fun' current seasonal hostess set onto a panel cut with the Whimsy Dies (the swirly border reminded me of a breeze!) and coloured with my Stampin' Blends markers: 

That's all there is to it - super clean and really simple to achieve!

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. 

I'm linking today's card up for another entry over at The Alphabet Challenge where they are on 'L is for Leaves' and over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is 'people'. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	STITCHED WITH WHIMSY DIES (£27.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today will be a two-post day as I have some news: I am joining the Festive Friday Challenge team! This is a fortnightly challenge that is inspired by a particular day of the year that I have played along with on a number of occasions. 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.

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Balloons Around The World Day' which is on 1st October. I often only use three or four elements when I play along, but when I saw this week's board I knew exactly what I wanted to create - and ended up using balloons, red, purple, clouds, sun, stripes, twine and paper-piecing!

This is the card I created:

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

I grabbed my 'Counting Sheep' and co-ordinating Sheep Dies, both freebies with the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and created a little scene. I used a (retired) stitched square for my scene and layered this onto a striped banner and then a stitched rectangle, to tie in with the stitched detail on the sun. The one thing you may be asking yourself is 'where is the paper-piecing?' It's subtle, but I assure you it's there: I paper-pieced my sheep's wool with the Snowy White Velvet Sheets - it gives the sheep's coat a fun, almost fuzzy felt, feel and you can see it better on the close-up below:

How cute is that?! And all the better for being made with free products too! If you'd like to get your hands on this bundle, you still have a couple of weeks to place your order before the Sale-A-Bration promotion ends. Bear in mind that products are only available whilst stocks last and as we near the end of the promotion, there is a chance that popular items will sell out, so don't leave it too late!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! 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

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COUNTING SHEEP CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	SHEEP DIES (£0.00)	SNOWY WHITE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) VELVET SHEETS (£4.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)
HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

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

Ann's colour palette this week is a wonderful palette of pinks and purples. I paired them with the current TGIF Challenges sketch layout and some of the most gorgeous papers from the seasonal catalogue - take a look:

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

I couldn't wait to use the Blackberry beauty papers for today's card as it features all of Ann's chosen colours. I added Cinnamon Cider as my colour of choice and chose the really busy pattern that features owls and leaves for my central panel, with a trio of strips of the pattern that features on the reverse added to my Rich Razzleberry card base. I stamped my sentiment from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set onto a label and added some gold shimmer ribbon and some gold enamel dots to finish:

The foil detailing on these papers really is beautiful. I also added some further decoration to the inside:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEAUTY OF TOMORROW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	BLACKBERRY BEAUTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	GOLD 3/8" (1 CM) SHIMMER RIBBON (£7.50)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CINNAMON CIDER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

Hurrah - my new laptop has arrived - normal blogging can now resume! Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses Jen B's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I'm also linking up over at Inkspirational and the Alphabet Challenge who are all about leaves, and autumn leaves in particular. I took Jen's layout and used that panel to feature one whole large sentiment, from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set - take a look:

I covered my card front with some retired Nature's Poem designer series paper - I love those almost skeletal leaves in colours that change from green to rust. I added a piece of folded gingham ribbon tied with twine below my sentiment, along with a sponged embossed leaf trio as an accent:

I love the clean and fresh feel of this card, even though the colours are definitely reminiscent of cooler days and changing seasons.

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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with my project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEAUTY OF TOMORROW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PALE PAPAYA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

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 she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

LeAnne's theme was a timely one for me this week since my 'better half' celebrates a milestone birthday early next month so this gave me the perfect opportunity to make his birthday card. I thought the colours over at Just Add Ink were perfect for a fresh, masculine card and I absolutely love Kim's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches so I used this for my layout (albeit I created my card in a landscape orientation in order to fit all the words in! So first up - take a look at my card:

Whilst browsing the internet for birthday inspiration, I saw a pin badge that had the above phrase on it and I thought it would be perfect for a milestone birthday card and I know Jason will appreciate this kind of sideways humour. I stamped the phrase in Night of Navy using my retired 'Sophisticated Serif' stamp set with the 'F' highlighted in Coastal Cabana, which I carried through to my '50', diecut using my retired Large Number Framelits, and used for contrast on my background panels in some retired Brights DSP in a masculine argyle pattern.

Kim's sketch also features a vertical sentiment banner, which was the perfect place to add a happy birthday greeting (stamped using my retired 'Milestone Moments' stamp set) which I heat-embossed in silver on vellum so that it wouldn't obscure the message on my central panel. This was also the perfect place to add an embellishment of a trio of retired co-ordinating ribbons tied with silver twine:

My card is otherwise very clean and uncluttered, but I figured it might be a masculine card but a milestone birthday needs a little pizzazz, right?!

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; the forecast here is for a warmer day so we are hoping for one last BBQ before the James Juniors return to school and the summer well and truly leaves us for good. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

This card uses mostly retired products apart from the current colours so there is no supplies list today.

Happy Bank Holiday Monday to all my UK readers! It's the last holiday before Christmas so I hope you're going to make the most of it - maybe even squeeze in a little extra crafty time! Today I'm sharing another card featuring the Floral Squares Dies that I used on yesterday's card; this time using the sketch over at Fusion and colour inspiration from the fabulous photo over at Just Us Girls:

I love the Fusion sketch, which is a great layout for a wide variety of styles. I rotated the sketch through 90 degrees for my card and decided that I would focus on simple lines of block colour to draw the eye to just one of those gorgeous Floral Dies - take a look:

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

I added interest by tilting my diecut square and weaving my central stripe through the die and heat-embossed my sentiment from the 'Art Gallery' stamp set in white:

Super simple and another great way to feature those floral square dies!

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:

FLORAL SQUARES DIES (£25.00)	ART GALLERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and since it is the fifth Sunday of the month we have a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I was spoilt for choice this week! In the end I decided to follow the diagonal and go with florals/diecut/square card and use four of the colours on the Color Dare palette to create a card to showcase my favourite Floral Squares Dies from the annual catalogue - take a look:

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

Three of the colours in the Color Dare palette feature in one of my favourite plaid designs in the now retired Plaid Tidings DSP from this time last year, but I still have some left so decided it would make a great frame to surround a central square showcasing each of the Floral Squares Dies. I backed each of my squares in the corresponding solid colour and stamped a two-part sentiment in Cajun Craze that finishes inside my card:

My card also features the retired in-colour Pretty Peacock, but it looks so good with those autumnal browns and yellows I just couldn't resist:

This card could be easily recreated with other papers or colours though, so if you don't have these ones in your stash, get creative with what you have!

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 have a long weekend here in the UK so will be making the most of the last public holiday before Christmas. The forecast is good - it might even be BBQ weather! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ALL SQUARED AWAY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CINNAMON CIDER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses the sketch layout at Paper Craft Crew (I substituted the square with a circle) and this week's colours over at Colour Throwdown:

I love those bright primary colours and I couldn't resist the adorable inspiration photo! I decided to use some retired product and dug out my Harvest Hellos stamp set and Apple Builder Punch to create a teacher card for my stash - take a look:

A super simple design, I created a base of floating lines in blue and green and added my apple behind my heat-embossed sentiment:

No supplies list as the key items featured are retired, but if you have any specific queries, then pop a comment below and I will happily answer them.

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

Today will be a two post day! I will be back later with my TicTacToe inspiration for our new challenge, but first I'm sharing a card that I made for a very special occasion: the fabulous team over at Freshly Made Sketches are celebrating their 500th challenge and a decade of sketch inspiration - how amazing is that?! These wonderful ladies are a constant source of challenge and inspiration and I play along whenever I can and certainly couldn't miss out on the opportunity to play with Linda's fabulous sketch this week!

I decided to pair with the new mini catalogue inspiration over at TGIF Challenges, which I had been mulling over as I have been playing with a CASE of one of the cards in their inspiration photo. It wasn't really working for me so instead I decided to take that vertical panel of the FMS sketch and instead take my inspiration from the featured Whimsy & Wonder Suite - take a look at what I came up with:

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

All About The Layers - Linda's card has five layers, one for each of the decades the challenge team are celebrating. I wanted to feature the beautiful tree print in the Whimsy & Wonder specialty designer paper for my third layer, but didn't want to obscure it completely with layer 4, as I wanted the tree that is layer 5 to feel 'part' of it. So I used vellum to create my layer 4 panel, cut with one of the Ornate Layers Dies. It provides a distinct background for my focal point diecut tree, but ensures my background whilst softened can still be seen.

Trimming The Tree - I diecut the largest tree in the Christmas Tree Dies set in Mint Macaron, then added a garland cut from (retired) sparkly white glimmer paper and added tiny baubles cut from the silver holographic striped paper in the Whimsy & Wonder pack, to tie in with the holographic stars on the background paper design. I almost didn't add the baubles, but the tree definitely looks better with than without! 

Finishing Touches - I added a simple 'joy' sentiment and underpinned this with a piece of white glittered organdy ribbon tied with some silver twine. I love the addition of the subtle sparkle to complete the final element of my design.

This is my first outing with the Whimsy and Wonder Suite but I think I'll be using it again very soon!

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:

WHIMSICAL TREES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	WHIMSY & WONDER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MINT MACARON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	ORNATE LAYERS DIES (£34.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)