Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my awesome friend LeAnne to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

Remember in addition to the theme of "sweet treats", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

I was totally inspired by the red and white stripes and the candy cane in our wonderful inspiration photo for my card this week - take a look:

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

Sweet Candy Canes - My card is all about candy canes - when it comes to sweet treats at this time of year, is there really anything sweeter? I reached for my favourite Santa's Workshop designer series papers again and paired them with a glittery candy cane embellishment from my Memories and More pack for a striped candy feast. 

Keep It Simple - My card really is super simple: a couple of well-chosen papers used sparingly, with a simple stitched circle and heat-embossed Christmas sentiment complete my card. Even the inside has a well-chosen but super simple sentiment detail:

A Delight in Red and White - Using just one colour with my white card base adds to the clean and simple feel of today's card. If you like this card, you might also want to check out this card that I posted earlier this week that used the same colour combination and products - and can also be made in under 10 minutes. Both of these cards are simple to create and would be great for mass production. Gotta love #SimpleStamping

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 busy day yesterday with a scrapbooking class and a swimming gala so today is officially homework day in the James household with hopefully a movie afternoon thrown in. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Santa's Workshop Memories & More Card Pack (£9.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)

I've had a busy couple of days with some of my team at Stampin' Up!'s Onstage event in Birmingham to celebrate the launch of the upcoming Spring Summer catalogue. More about that in my later post though as for now it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the queen of diecuts, the lovely Laurie, to host this week and she has an unusual colour challenge for you to work with:

When I first saw this colour combination I almost ran a mile and it did have me stumped initially, although a sudden flash of inspiration led to me not only creating with but loving this trio that I used to create another Christmas card to share with you this week  - take a look:

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

Love Never Melts - What could be sweeter than this pair of snowmen, all wrapped up in their winter woollies and hats? I coloured their accessories using a combination of my Stampin' Write markers and Stampin' Blends and added a Smoky Slate outline to the snowy areas for a touch of extra definition. I'm hoping Laurie will forgive me the liberty of adding a touch of green to my holly leaves, but I'm afraid it just had to be done! The sentiments in this stamp set are so sweet - the one on today's card is perfect to send festives wishes to your bestie and continues onto the inside of the card:

Another Custom Plaid - When considering what paper to pair with my snowmen, I drew a blank. Instead, I decided to create another custom plaid design using my Buffalo Check stamp set in Smoky Slate and using the thick and thin ends of my Stampin' Write markers in Poppy Parade and So Saffron respectively to customise my pattern. I love the Buffalo Check stamp on its own, yet love how you can create such fun and unique patterns with this stamp. What colour combinations and patterns would you try?

Subtle Sparkle and Shine - Although difficult to see on my photos, all of the snowy areas on my image are brushed with clear Wink of Stella and the red heart the snowmen are holding has been painted using a fine tipped glue pen to give a wonderful glossy shine when dry. The shimmer and gloss are subtle, but they are there and add so much to this clean and simple 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 can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Spirited Snowmen Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Buffalo Check Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£14.00)	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)
Fine-Tip Glue Pen (£6.50)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my wonderful friend Claire to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for you to work with that I know she would love you to play along with:

I know that Claire loves Thanksgiving and whilst it isn't something we celebrate here in the UK, the underlying theme of being grateful and thankfulness is one we should all celebrate. I used both the sketch layout and photo inspiration over at Fusion and CASual Fridays as starting points for today's card: warm autumn leaves and wood textures feature heavily on my card this week - take a look:

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

Textured Layers -  I wanted to create texture on my card and did something quite unusual for me: used not one, but two embossing folders on my background panels. To recreate the grey weatherboard effect, I used my Simple Stripes embossing folder on a panel of Smoky Slate. For my feature panel, I used a piece of Wood Textures Designer Series Paper and added further texture by running this through my Pinewood Planks embossing folder. I love the effect this gives - it adds so much interest and detail.

A Wreath of Twigs and Leaves - I stamped the wreath from the Wishing You Well stamp set in Early Espresso onto a stitched circle of Very Vanilla and punched out the middle using my 1 1/4"  circle punch, so that more of the textured wood panel could be seen. I coloured a selection of pearls in various sizes with my Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Cajun Craze Blends markers to suggest leaves and then added a trio of actual leaves cut with my Seasonal Layers Thinlits to frame my sentiment (I sponged the edges of the leaves to add depth).

Something For The Thanksgiving Table - When I started my card, I wanted to create a wreath like the one in the Fusion inspiration photo. I made a wreath in autumnal colours using my sprig punch that I really loved, but when it came to adding it to my card, it was a little too bulky so I went back to the drawing board. I didn't want my punched wreath to go to waste though, so instead I attached it to a band of Very Vanilla stamped with my Buffalo Check stamp in Crushed Curry, added a banner sentiment and a braided linen twine bow and made a napkin ring - perfect for the Thanksgiving table. Here's a photo of my finished napkin ring:

I'm linking my napkin ring up with the ladies over at SUO Challenges where they are looking for home decor items for the Thanksgiving table. This was so easy to make yet really effective - you could make a while bunch of these to decorate the Thanksgiving table in a relatively short space of time. 

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; it is the last day of the James Juniors' half term and there is hockey to be played along with a little down time before the return to school tomorrow. I'll be back here tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used - For the card: 

Wishing You Well Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Simple Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)
Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£10.25)	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies (£31.00)	1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch (£15.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Cajun Craze A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pearl Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Linen Thread (£4.75)	Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Pumpkin Pie Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used - For the napkin ring: 

Sprig Punch (£17.00)	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£10.25)
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Cajun Craze A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Bunch Of Banners Framelits Dies (£25.00)	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim (£6.50)

I so enjoyed making my cards for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players that I shared with you yesterday, that I just had to make more with those fabulous little elves. As such today I'm sharing another card that I made using products from the Santa's Workshop Suite, along with a gift voucher holder made using the Envelope Punch Board. Both of these use the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as the basis for my layout:

First up is my card - full of busy elves! Take a look:

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

More Santa's Workshop - I'm loving this elf patterned paper and whilst it's busy, it seemed the perfect background to accompany my sweet elf and his accompanying pile of Christmas presents. I love how the sentiment is in two halves and carries over neatly to the inside of my card:

Stitched Shapes and Layered Ovals - With all those elves, I wanted to keep the rest of my card fairly simple, so used a large stitched oval to create some additional white space around my sentiment, layered on a scallop-edged oval in Poppy Parade for definition. Whilst I don't often use ovals, preferring circles or squares generally, sometimes an oval is the shape that works best for balance. One thing I do use lots though are my Stitched Shapes Framelits - these are on my Top 5 Framelits Of All Time list (I must publish that list one of these days!) - a must have for adding subtle detail to your frames.

Envelope Punch Board Gift Card Holder - having made my card, I still had a couple of elves with flocked hats left that I had diecut from the Santa's Workshop DSP and decided that I would use the same basic layout but in a landscape orientation to get a headstart on my Christmas Gift Voucher holders. I created a simple wallet using my trusty Envelope Punch Board to create the closure; this is similar to ones I've created previously, only I decided to 'go large' this time and create a wallet large enough to hold £10 notes - I have growing nieces and nephews and these days, only cash will do so I am finding I need to come up with ever more creative ways to gift it! This wallet measures 6" x 6" square and again uses the sketch for the front layout (the stamp I used is from last year's retired Merry Little Labels set):

The wallet opens to reveal a sliding pocket insert, where the money sits in the pocket flap which opens to reveal Christmas wishes and with enough space above to include a personalised message: 

I love this style of wallet and make them often. If you would like the dimensions, then just leave a comment below - I'm thinking this might be worth another blog post in itself! 

This wallet would also be great to fill with Stampin' Up! gift vouchers for a crafty friend or even to treat yourself - if you would like to order Stampin' Up! gift vouchers for Christmas and receive them beautifully packaged in a wallet like this, then do get in touch and place your order.

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:

Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Santa's Signpost Framelits Dies (£30.00)	Signs Of Santa Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Signs Of Santa Photopolymer Bundle (£45.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Anne Marie to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

I decided that the sketch layers were perfect to showcase some designer series paper and since I am back creating for Christmas I knew exactly where to start - with a personal favourite this season. I ended up making not one, but two cards. Here's the first one: 

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

Santa's Workshop - The Santa's Workshop Suite is my favourite in this year's seasonal  Stampin' Up! catalogue: with Santa, elves and Mrs Claus - what's not to love? The Santa's Workshop Specialty Designer Series Paper is the star of the suite - not only choc-full of cute designs, but four of the twelve sheets have a fabulous white flocking detail which adds great texture - it reminds me of the Fuzzy Felt of my childhood! I used three different sheets on my card: two for the panels (one with the diagonal flocked stripes, the other with Santa's elves diligently delivering everything on Santa's list) and a third for my Santa himself, complete with list.

Fun With Framelits - With the exception of the sentiment, there is no other stamping on the front of my card. Even the jolly Santa is cut from the designer paper; yes, this pack is another that has designs that can be cut with the Santa's Signpost Framelits that co-ordinate with the Signs of Santa stamp set. I could have stamped the Santa and coloured him, but then I wouldn't have had the flocking adorning his bobble hat and I just couldn't pass that up! 

A Little Colouring Too - I did a little stamping and colouring both inside my card and on the front of my envelope to complete my project; you can see the envelope on the main photos above and below; here's a peek at the inside:

How sweet is Mrs. Claus?! I actually liked this card I decided to create another one with the same design - this time, making more of the diagonal striped paper to really show off the flocking:

So which of these do you prefer? I think I actually like the second one better, but I suspect that is because it's a little less busy in terms of pattern and I just love the red and white with the felt flocked detail. Do leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Santa's Signpost Framelits Dies (£30.00)	Signs Of Santa Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Signs Of Santa Photopolymer Bundle (£45.00)	Poppy Parade 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon (£7.00)
Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)

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

Remember in addition to including an apple on your card, this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

I decided that for my card this week I was going to pair a little of something old with something new and create a bunch of thank you cards - take a look:

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

A Basket Of Apples - My little basket of apples comes from the Bike Ride set and is cut out with the Build A Bike framelits. This little image works in its own right - not a bike in sight on today's card! It is super quick and easy to stamp as the leaves and apples and basket all have solid images to be stamped to fill in the colour quickly and easily - great for clean and simple cards.

Thanks A Bunch - I layered my basket on a set of layered ovals, with a sentiment from the Beautiful Bouquet stamp set. Ok, so this stamp was designed to work with flowers, but I think it works for apples too!

Buffalo Check Background Made Easy - I know I'm using it again this week, but can you tell I'm loving the new Buffalo Check background stamp? I went with a straightforward single colour stamped image in Granny Apple Green to contrast with the apples - it reminds me of a picnic table cloth!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

Having completed my full-size card for today, I decided to run off a whole bunch of these using the same design, in both a red and green colourway, to use as my customer thank you cards this month - here are two of my finished cards:

I actually think I prefer the balance of the size/shape of the oval on the lightly smaller card - what do you think? Either way, I like this design so much I think I'll run off a set of co-ordinating bag tags 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 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 will be spending mine with a lovely group of ladies on the second day of our weekend residential craft retreat - more about that in tomorrow's post! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Buffalo Check Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£14.00)	Bike Ride Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Build A Bike Framelits Dies (£25.00)	Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies (£33.00)
Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes (£6.00)

Did you miss me? A whole week since I last blogged: having been nurse to the men of the James household the week before, they thoughtfully shared their bugs with the girls and for the latter part of this week Rebecca and I have been suffering and feeling decidedly under the weather with streaming colds. Combined with trying to make the final preparations for my residential craft weekend next week, it's left no time for blogging. Luckily for you it's Sunday, so I've put my box of Kleenex to one side and squeezed in a little creative time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the wonderful Jaydee to host this week and she has an autumnal colour challenge for you to work with:

I immediately thought of sunflowers when I saw Jaydee's colour palette and decided to combine with the challenge over at The Card Concept and use the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches and got my paper snips out to do a little fussy cutting - take a look:

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

Painted Harvest Sunflower - Painted Harvest has been sat on my shelf and not been used for a long while, so today's card sets out to make amends. I used the mix of Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Mossy Meadow to create my layered bloom and double-stamped leaves and then fussy cut my flower to add dimension and interest, whilst using my leaf punch to make easy work of the leaves, adding some braided linen trim to finish. 

Customised Buffalo Check - This is my first outing for the fabulous Buffalo Check background stamp that I used for my features panel on the right, which I decided to customise from the off and having stamped it in Cajun Craze on Very Vanilla, I added a line of Mossy Meadow and a line of Crushed Curry either side of this with my Stampin' Write markers to create a more colourful plaid. I can see that this is a stamp that is going to get a lot of use - so many creative possibilities!

So Subtle Texture - After stamping on my sentiment, I ran my Crushed Curry card base through the Big Shot with my Subtles Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for added texture. It is subtle, for sure, but I am loving the additional detail that this embossing folder gives to otherwise plain backgrounds. I also stamped this sentiment from the Painted Harvest set on the inside 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 can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. We will be focusing all our efforts on beating the lurgy that has descended upon us in the hope that next week is a slightly more productive one! I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Leaf Punch (£15.00)	Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Cajun Craze A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)	Buffalo Check Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£14.00)	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim (£6.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players- yay! It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for you to work with:

Trees and leaves - perfect for autumn and fall, with so many colours at this time of year. I'm on a festive roll though, so decided to go for a Christmas card - still with leaves though as opposed to a tree or trees, as you might expect. I have another Feathers and Frost card for you, but this time using the leaves only - take a look:

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

No Feathers ... - The Feathers and Frost stamp set features a pair of robins and poinsettia flower as centre pieces for this leaf pattern, but I decided on this card that I wanted the leaves themselves to take centre stage. Don't get me wrong, I love the pair of robins (and have another project that features them lined up for another day) and have featured the flower on this card previously, but for today it's all about the leaves!

A Leaf Triptych - I decided to create a repeating pattern with a triptych of leaves, creating a longer than usual card (my card measures 21cm in length and is 11cm wide) and joining 3 of the leafy squares into a seamless row. I stamped them in my favourite festive green, Shaded Spruce, onto watercolour paper and used an aquapainter to pull some of the outline colour in and give a light wash over each leaf. When this had dried, I them went back in with some extra ink and my aquapainter and added an additional swipe of colour on each leaf. This is a rather labour-intensive way of colouring, but I think it really adds to the loose brushstroke effect of the stamp set.

... But Plenty of Frost - Whilst there's an absence of feathers, my card has plenty of frost - of the sparkly gold kind at least! I used my retired gold Wink of Stella pen to colour the berries in between my green leaves (you could use the new Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint to achieve the same effect) and flicked some across the surface of my card, along with a sprinkling of gold sequins, some loops of gold thread, gold glimmer paper border and finally my sentiment, which I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in gold on a vellum strip and wrapped it around the centre of my card. Vellum is a great base to add a sentiment to a card where you don't want it to overly obscure the pattern or stamping beneath. It also enables me to link up with the lovely ladies over at Just Add Ink who are challenging us to use vellum on our cards this week - do check them out, they've some great ideas and suggestions on other ways you can use it in your cardmaking too.

 I also did a little co-ordinated stamping on the inside of my card (and remembered to photograph it!):

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. 

So what do you think? Can you use leaves as the main focus and decoration on a Christmas card to good effect? I'd be interested to here your thoughts - do leave me a comment below. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Feather & Frost Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Vegas Gold Shimmer Paint (£7.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Gold Metallic Thread (£3.25)	Metallics Sequin Assortment (£4.75)	Watercolor Paper (£4.75)	Gold Glimmer Paper (£4.75)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Vellum A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my sweet friend, the lovely LeAnne, to host this week and since it is the fifth week of the month she has a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

The fun thing about tic-tac-toe are the many creative possibilities the board offers and as you will see from the design team cards this week, there is a wealth of inspiration to choose from. 

I decided that I would go down the centre for my card this week - patterned paper, pumpkin, orange/rust (although by coincidence my card fulfils one of the diagonals of diecut, pumpkin, green too) for my card this week - take a look:

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

Inspired By Country Lane - My card today was inspired by the bold repeating pattern on my sheet of Country Home Designer Series Paper. I used the Mint Macaron green to frame my card and colour my milk churn, and paired it with a small panel of Whisper White that has been embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder too; it's a little difficult to see in the photo but I wanted to keep the balance of colour light and the panel not too busy.

Blended Country Home - I stamped and partially diecut my filled milk churn using my Stitched Shapes circle thinlit, courtesy of the country Home stamp set, then coloured it with similar shades to the milk churns on the DSP using my Stampin' Blends. I'm really pleased that the seasonal catalogue includes additional shades of these marker pens; they give such a smooth finish. I added a small bow of braided linen trim to finish.

Pick A Pair of Pumpkins - To complete the picture, I added a pair of pumpkins from the retired 'Pick A Pumpkin' stamp set. I heat embossed them both in white onto Basic Grey cardstock, and coloured one of them with my Cajun Craze Blends markers - along with the berries in my milk churn and the thankful sentiment, these are my rust/orange contributions to the tic-tac-toe board.

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 hope you like my Fall themed card today; I'm also linking up with the team over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is Nature/Fall. 

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; having spent yesterday dividing my time between hockey, a swimming gala and a fairly hefty jam making session (raspberry jam and chilli jam, in case you're wondering!) to use up the last of my own garden harvest, I'm hoping today will be slightly less hectic! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Country Lane 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim (£6.50)	Blackberry Bliss Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Cajun Craze Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)
Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulously creative Jaydee to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

I decided to continue getting a headstart on my Christmas card making preparations (so my projects are perfect for the challenge over at TGIF Challenges too this week) and spent a few hours making a more involved boxed Christmas card with a matching gift box too. First things first - here's my card:

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

Diagonal Swirly Snowflake Border - Whilst I love a good sketch, I often struggle with the concept of a diagonal. I decided to alter the dimensions of Jaydee's sketch and create a horizontal fold out card as I wanted to use my Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies to create a layered diagonal edge and I needed the extra width to balance my card and fit the entire border in (I'm sure she will allow me this liberty ;-) ). I snipped away the straight edge of my copper foil snowflakes and added a sentiment embossed in white, before adding my embellishment (more on that below). My card opens from the right to reveal a complete panel of my favourite copper-embossed Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper, then the left hand side lifts to reveal the sentiment inside, embellished with a narrow strip of copper washi tape:

Christmas Copper Snowflakes - I created a layered embellishment on the front of my card, using one of the copper snowflake wire elements as the centrepiece. I layered this with a Shimmery White diecut from the Eastern Medallions Thinlits set, with a centre of a clear epoxy droplet on a copper sequin, all layered up on a fancy double bow in the gorgeous Merry Merlot and Copper Reversible Ribbon. This showy embellishment adds a lot of dimension to the front of my card, so much so that it wouldn't fit in a standard envelope. Instead, I made a box with a co-ordinating belly band closure:

A Gift Box To Match - This kind of card takes a little while to make and is destined for someone who I know will appreciate the effort and time taken to create it. Whilst I was fully 'in the zone', I decided to create a co-ordinating gift box with a magnetic closure. The box measures approx. 15cm x 6cm x 5cm, so not huge but large enough for a small gift to accompany my card. I created a triangular box with a decorative flap created using the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits for the border detail, based on this one I'd seen on Pinterest. I decorated the front panel of my box with more of that gorgeous Joyous Noel DSP too: 

And here's one last photo of all three of my project elements together - I hope you will agree, a lovely Christmas set in rich, festive colours:

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. 

Thank you Jaydee for a great sketch - who would have thought that it would have resulted in 3 projects in one go!

Enjoy your day; the weather has been dreadful here the past couple of days so I'm hoping I get the longer straw and get to stay home and craft whilst hubby takes the James Juniors to hockey trials this afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies (£28.00)	Joyous Noel 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Snowflakes & Stars Wire Elements (£7.00)	Merry Merlot & Copper 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Reversible Ribbon (£7.00)
Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (£8.25)	Metallics Sequin Assortment (£4.75)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Copper Foil Sheets (£3.75)	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies (£31.00)