I've had a busy week which has necessitated a few days off from blogging, however since today is Sunday it's 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 my favourite kind of challenge, a sketch, for us to work with:

I love this sketch - so many creative possibilities! I took the opportunity to combine with this week's colour challenge over at Global Design Project and create a Christmas card using one of my favourite Merry Little Christmas papers - take a look:

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

Merry Little Christmas - I love a gingham pattern, and this Merry Little Christmas paper pack has two gorgeous ones. This modern, festive black and olive combination was the starting point for my card today. I paired with a banner of retired black glimmer paper for some added understated festive sparkle.

Tags & Trimmings - I decided to make the sentiment the focal point of my simple layered panel, so that I could make the holly and bells embellishment really stand out. I stamped two of the holly leaves and added a simple line with a marker pen to the other two and embossed three berries in white onto Old Olive cardstock for some co-ordinating holly berries. 

Trim Your Stocking Jingle Bells - I cut out my stamped pieces along with two gold foil jingle bells with the Trim your Stocking Thinlits Dies. These are perfect for embellishing the stockings that you can make with the dies in this set, but are also useful as card embellishments too. Finally I added a little gold thread to finish my card.

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

You can see all of my 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 look forward to seeing your interpretations of our sketch in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are at the start of a week's half-term school holiday for both James Juniors so our weekend is an unusually restful one - bliss! I'll be back tomorrow with another project that also uses today's sketch; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Tags & Trimmings Clear-Mount Bundle	Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper	Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Gold Metallic Thread
Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy

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 talented Laurie, to host this week and she has a timely clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I haven't bought any new Halloween sets this year or any of the Spooky Night Designer Series Paper, so I had to get creative with existing (and a few retired) supplies coupled with a few stamps from some multi-occasion sets. I used the sketch over at Paper Craft Crew and the colours at Stamp Ink Paper and managed to create not one but two spooky Halloween-themed projects for you. The first one is my card - take a look:

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

Festive Phrases - I focused both of my projects today around the 'pick your potion' stamp in the Festive Phrases stamp set. I actually bought this set for the elf (who can resist him?!) however the other three stamps in this set will also get plenty of use for other festive occasions. It's difficult to se on my card, but having stamped the cauldron in black, I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder for a lovely added shine.

Add Colour - I used a couple of alcohol-based markers - one of my Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities and a! lime green Sharpie - to add colour to my project: I coloured the white dots green on my retired Halloween paper border, I coloured in the dots on the cauldron and then my favourite part on this card - I coloured a few White Perfect Accents with each colour and added them around my cauldron to look like potion bubbles. I love the shine that they have! I also stamped my sentiment again onto a piece of Lemon-Lime Twist cardstock and cut it with my banner punch add another pop of colour and finally a couple of diecut bats using the retired Halloween Scenes framelits for just the right amount of spooky!

Pick Your Potion - I decided that this card needed an accompanying treat that would fit with the 'pick your potion' theme, so whipped up a little test tube holder using a piece of cardstock and my Scalloped Tag Topper Punch to hold a pair of test tubes (love these!), one filled with a green potion and the other with an orange one. The Scalloped Tag Topper Punch was the perfect width and all I needed to do was punch a couple of 3/4" circle holes into the folded-over piece to slot my colourful potions into - here's my treat holder and card together:

I just love this pair of cute projects and they really didn't take long at all to put together; I'm definitely going to make a whole bunch of these in different colours ready for trick-or-treat 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:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we have been having unseasonably warm weather here in the UK these last couple of days - a good ten degrees warmer than usual. I'm sure it won't last so since we have a reasonably sport-free day, I'm hoping to get out and spend some time in the garden before the autumn chill returns. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Festive Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Treat Tubes
Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	White Perfect Accents	Lemon Lime Twist 1/2" Finely Woven Ribbon	Basic Black Baker's Twine	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I am your host this week and I have a colour challenge for us to work with:

I took the opportunity to make a fall-inspired thank you card this week that works for a few additional challenges too; I used the sketch over at Just Add Ink, the middle vertical column of the tictactoe board over at Paper Craft Crew and the theme challenge over at Global Design Project:

My starting point for today's card was this gorgeous patterned paper from the Painted Harvest designer series paper pack - take a look:

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

Even More Painted Autumn For Your Pennies - You all know how much I love designer series paper, and the Painted Autumn collection is definitely up there as one of this season's favourites. Bold, watercoloured images in beautiful autumnal colours what could be better? How about more for less? Yes, Painted Autumn is one of the designer series papers that is included in the 'Buy 3, get 1 free' sale that is running throughout October. You can read more about that here or purchase directly from my online store - I for one will be stocking up for sure. 

Give Thanks For Labels To Love - I used the sentiment and border stamp from the 'Labels To Love' stamp set on my card today. This set, on page 45 of the seasonal catalogue, is an additional set that coordinates with the Everyday Label Punch besides the 'Merry Little Labels' set that the punch is bundled with. There are some great sentiments in this set but I think this one is my favourite - we all have so much to be thankful for. I added a couple of the Touches of Nature wooden flowers that I heat embossed with some now-retired Crushed Curry embossing powder to my label, along with some vellum leaves and a leaf-embossed stitched circle behind to create a bit of a collage of my focal point. 

Not Just An Everyday Label - The Everyday Label Punch is proving a very popular choice for many of my customers and it's easy to see why: in addition to punching out the standard shape, there are a number of ways the punch can be used to make either shorter or longer labels, to create layers or even to create different shapes. By shortening my punched label I created more of a square shape for the sentiment on my card today. I love a punch that is versatile and has lots of alternative uses! 

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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; my niece is celebrating her 18th birthday this coming week so we are off for a family gathering of 'cake and cocktails' this evening to celebrate, which we are all looking forward to.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper	Labels To Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Touches Of Nature Elements	Leaf Punch	Everyday Label Punch
Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry Solid Baker’S Twine	Crushed Curry 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon	Vellum A4 Cardstock

Happy World Card Making Day everyone! I hope you all managed to get some time in your craft rooms to make a card or two today. I spent the morning running errands and working with a client to finalise the design of their wedding stationery (always exciting!) but did manage to get a couple of hours in my craft room this afternoon to make a couple of cards; here's one of them that I'm entering for this week's challenge over at Merry Monday where the challenge is to feature a Christmas tree on your card and at Stamps Ink Paper where it's card maker's choice:

I immediately knew where I was going with this one - I chose my favourite Christmas tree of the season and this is what I came up with:

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

Iconic Christmas - This Christmas tree from the Iconic Christmas set stands on its own and has so much interest and detail, it doesn't need much else. I stamped the tree once onto Whisper White then again onto Garden Green and cut out the second tree, so that the images beneath would show through. I heat embossed the sentiment in gold onto a strip of vellum so that it wouldn't obscure the tree and simply wrapped this around my central panel.

Make the Most of Minis - I cut out my green Christmas tree using the Ornamental Christmas Framelits and used a whole bunch of mini Stampin' dimensionals on the solid sections to pop up my tree for added dimension. These really are so useful and their smaller size compared to our standard dimensionals makes them perfect for getting into small spaces. Nice things come in small packages as the saying goes and these are a great example of that!

Festive Colour Combo - Whilst the teeny, tiny images can be coloured with marker pens, I decided to keep things simple on today's card and instead stamped the co-ordinating images (the ones that look very strange in the catalogue, because you can't see how they come together until you stamp all three layers!) each in Real Red and Garden Green in keeping with my festive colour combination. I coloured a couple of additional images with my Crumb Cake marker pen, added a panel of Quilted Christmas paper with the simple stitched Christmas tree design behind to complete my card. Here is my trio of festive colours - feel free to save it for your future inspiration:

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 I go, just a reminder that the World Card Making Day offers from Stampin' Up! have a few more days to run until the 10th of the month; get the full details here. I have an order going in tomorrow; if you are local to me and would like to add on to it to save P&P just give me a call. 

That's all from me today I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players where I am the hostess. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Iconic Christmas Photopolymer Bundle	Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Vellum A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday, the start of a new month and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! The queen of beautiful florals, the talented Sandy, is the hostess this week and her passion is reflected in her chosen theme this week:

I had the best of intentions of producing a fabulously over-the-top floral to honour the lovely Sandy today, but the last minute preparations for my stand at the Crafting Live Exhibition at Stoneleigh Park this weekend meant that my time rather ran away with me this week and instead I've resorted to sharing much more of a clean and simple card that I already had 'in the bag' as it were. Today's card uses one the runaway success bundles from the current seasonal catalogue - Painted Harvest. Take a look:

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

Painted Harvest - What can I say other than I LOVE these sunflowers! The sentiments in this set are lovely but it's the sunflowers that get me: it is a two-step stamp set that gives a beautiful watercoloured effect and as they are photopolymer it's so easy to stamp. They are so forgiving - they look great however you line them up! If you're a first-time stamper, this would be a great set to cut your teeth on. 

Add A Leaf - The leaves in the stamp set also match up with the leaf punch which is the other item that can be bought in the Painted Harvest bundle for a saving of 10% - that's why we all love a bundle!

Autumnal Colour Combinations - These sunflowers can be stamped in both traditional and less traditional colours; here is my sample board showing how they look stamped in a number of autumnal coloured floral combinations:

Which one is your favourite? I also made a whole bunch of these cards, minus the twine, to send out to my customers with my seasonal catalogues and as thank you cards to be included with my open house orders - here are some of them up close so you can see the colour combinations in more detail. 

This one is a combination of Crushed Curry and Daffodil Delight:

This one is a combination of Crushed Curry and Peekaboo Peach:

This one is a combination of Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango:

This one is a combination of Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze:

Lastly my favourite of all, this one is a combination of Crushed Curry and Cherry Cobbler:

This is by no means an exhaustive set of colour combinations. Let me know in the comments below which ones are your favourites or what other combinations you've tried that you would like to share.  

Also, if you live local to me in or around Northampton, I have a class using this set scheduled for Monday 6th November - read more about it here or contact me to book your place! 

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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be spending a second day at the Crafting Live Show at Stoneleigh Park today - come and say hello to me on stand A10 if a visit is part of your weekend plans. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Bundle	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Cardstock
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Linen Thread	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Everyday Label Punch	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing a card that uses the sketch over at Fab Friday Challenge as my starting point:

I decided to go with sweet treats and created both a card and a co-ordinating mini pizza treat box, Here's my card:

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

Sweet Treats - My card today features another of those busy DSPs in the Christmas Around The World pack - perfect for the large expanse of card front today and just right with my sentiment. These papers are really growing on me - they work really well for clean cards as the pattern does much of the work. This one is covered in yummy treats - gingerbread, sweets and puddings - enough to make your mouth water!

It's The Little Things - The stamps in the 'It's The Little Things' set are designed to fit the lids of the Mini Pizza boxes; this one also works perfectly for this sketch. I stamped it in Early Espresso and then stamped again on scrap paper in Real Red and cut out the banner separately and popped it on a couple of dimensionals. I also added a little Real Red enamel heart to the sentiment - it fitted perfectly in place of the stamped one.

A Foodie Treat - I couldn't make a card with this sentiment and not pair it with a matching treat! I covered my box in co-ordinating paper and punched a window in the lid that I backed with clear acetate to allow the recipient to peek at the treats inside and added a Real Red scalloped circle to mimic the design of my card. Here are both items together:

These boxes are the perfect size for some homemade gingerbread or a baked brownie - I will be gifting so many treats in these boxes this year!

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:

The Little Things Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Mini Pizza Boxes	Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Window Sheets	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies
Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights Enamel Shapes	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing a card from one of my recent monthly technique classes featuring the At Home With You bundle. This class was also all about ways to incorporate texture into your projects and so is perfect to link up with the team over at Just Add Ink this week where the theme is 'Just Add Texture':

Each of the cards that we made used texture in different ways: one using embossing paste, another using stencilling and dry embossing and this Autumnal new home doorstep card which actually features three different ways to incorporate texture into your project - take a look:

Aside from the obvious texture created by layering my diecut pieces, there are also more subtle textures added to this card. Here's the low-down on how I did it:

Adding Texture 1: Use Patterned Paper - I used a piece of the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack for my front door - this is a quick and easy way to add texture to your project. I chose a piece of whitewashed wood pattern to stand out against my Bermuda Bay walls, however with each DSP stack containing 4 sheets each of 12 double-sided designs, you have 24 different wood effects to choose from - seriously spoilt for choice!

Adding Texture 2: Dry Embossing - To ground my door I added a strip of Crumb Cake cardstock across the lower part of my cardfront, but before I glued it in place I first embossed it with one of the hidden gem pieces in the Bike Ride Framelits set; did you know that this set, just like the Eclectic Layers Thinlits, includes a piece that embosses as opposed to diecuts? I've circled it so that you can see it in the set below:

This added a fun cobblestone-textured path outside my front door.

Adding Texture 3: Stamping - Lastly, I wanted my doormat to look like one of those rough, coir mats that are a traditional feature of a front doorstep. To achieve this look, I used one of the stamps in the 'Timeless Textures' stamp set and stamped it in Soft Suede onto Soft Suede cardstock, for a tone-on-tone textured look. I stamped off first so the effect is subtle, yet it adds a little detail that definitely contributes by adding further texture to my card.

There are lots of ways to add texture to your projects; I will have a few more to share in the other projects from this class and the gallery over at Just Add Ink also has lots of inspiration too.

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

At Home With You Photopolymer Bundle	Build A Bike Framelits Dies	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Many Marvelous Markers	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Monday and the start of a very busy week for me! Today I'm sharing a card that uses this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew:

This week is the week when the Macmillan cancer charity here in the UK are holding their 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning' here in the UK on Friday and I needed a card for a friend who is hosting an event. You can read all about the wonderful work this charity does here; meanwhile, here is my card: 

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

Happiness Is ... - I knew I wanted to use this sentiment from the 'Coffee Cafe' stamp set on my banner today, so as much as I loved the sketch in its original orientation, I rotated it through 90 degrees to make it work for me. All of the basic elements are there though and I'll definitely be using this sketch again. 

Time For A Coffee Break - Today's card features two of the fabulous papers in the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper set - can you spot both? Here's a picture of the full set of papers:

I used the large spots to border my card and the second piece of paper is actually the adorable little coffee cup embellishment, cut straight from the paper. Even better still, there is a tiny coffee cup framelit that co-ordinates perfectly and makes getting a neat finish easy. Once I'd cropped my cup, I did another one out of extra-thick whisper white and glued them together before adding to my banner tag, for extra stability.

A Textured Pair - I added a little textured coffee stain stamping to the background base of my card - inspired by one of the patterned papers in the above set, but in fact stamped with the coffee ring stamp in the Timeless Textures set, along with a few splatters for good measure.

Such a fun card and quick to produce and will be perfect for my friend to wish her well in hosting her event later this week. I like it so much I'm going to make a few more of these for my other coffee-loving friends too - who doesn't enjoy coffee with friends?!

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:

Coffee Café Photopolymer Stamp Set	Coffee Cups Framelits Dies	Coffee Café Photopolymer Bundle	Coffee Break Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Subtles Enamel Shapes	Linen Thread	Banner Triple Punch

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Our superstar leader the lovely Nance is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

I took the opportunity to make another Christmas card today, this time in a rather unusual colour scheme - take a look:

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

Iconic Christmas - I decided to feature the tree from the Iconic Christmas set on my card today. Now I think this set is a little like Marmite - you either love it or you hate it! With all those teeny tiny iconic festive images I loved it the moment I saw it; you can stamp just the outlines, or you can use one or both of the infill stamps and a little two-step stamping to colour them in. You also have the option to use the co-ordinating Ornamental Christmas Framelits Dies to cut out some of them so that you can see the detail on a second layer below, as I've done on my card today. I honestly think the biggest hurdle with this set is that it's difficult to see it's true potential in the catalogue - you need to play with it to see how it all comes together. The set itself is more versatile than it looks - I'll be back to share more makes with it in coming weeks I'm sure. I tweaked the base of Nance's sketch to a 6" x 6" square rather than a rectangle, as the tree is a little too large for this layout to work comfortably on a standard A6 card, but all of the main elements are there so it works.

A Quilted Christmas - I used a piece of the Quilted Christmas 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper for my background panel, making sure to cut the pattern so that it was even and centralised within the panel. I matted it in white - not something I do often, but it really helps define the edge of this patterned paper and makes it stand out from the Pool Party card base.

Unorthodox Christmas Colours - When I initially sat down to make today's card, I knew exactly how I was going to work with the sketch, however I hadn't decided which patterned paper I wanted to use for the right-hand panel. I flicked through my swatches and decided on this one from the Quilted Christmas set and it inspired my PoolParty base and Lemon-Lime Twist Christmas tree. Not the most traditional of Christmas colour combinations although I love the bright and zingy Christmas tree. Here's my swatch in case you would like to use it as inspiration for your festive projects:

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. 

So what do you think? Do these colours work or are they are little too non-traditional for the festive season? I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we had our usual day of sport yesterday so today is about finishing our homework and then we have a change of sport this afternoon, with Ben going sailing with friends. Let's hope it stays fine, although I guess he will get wet whatever the weather! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Iconic Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set	Ornamental Christmas Framelits Dies	Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock

Happy Friday everyone! I'm not sure where the time goes - I can't believe it's the end of the working week already - well, for some anyway! Today I'm sharing a another card along with a matching gift box from one of last month's monthly technique classes using the At Home With You bundle - take a look:

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

At Home With You At Christmas - The At Home With You bundle is so versatile and works for lots of different seasons. Today's card features the gorgeous holly bough around the door, along with the holly wreath and the ornamental trees either side of the front door. I coloured them with my Stampin' Write markers and they were easily cut out with the framelits. I even decorated the inside and envelope for complete co-ordination.

More Ways To Add Texture - As with the last card I shared featuring this set (you can see that card here if you missed it), today's card has another three ways in which you can incorporate texture into your projects:

Adding Texture 1: Stamping To add to the Christmas feel, I wanted a red front door; by stamping my Real Red cardstock with the Hardwood stamp in Real Red, before stamping with the door outline in black, to add some tone-on-tone interest and texture for added kerb appeal.

Adding Texture 2: Dry Embossing On both my card and box I embossed the Smoky Slate base cardstock with my Brick Wall textured embossing folder to create some textured walls as a backdrop for my festive entrance.

Adding Texture 3: Embellish Sometimes on a card it helps to minimise bulk especially if you need it to be post-friendly, however this is rarely the case with packaging and the addition of bulky embellishments is less of an issue. On my gift box, in addition to a tag and ribbon, I added a boxwood wreath to my front door - I love the extra texture this adds.

A Matching Gift Box - It's always nice to be able to create fancy packaging for gifts and no more so than at this time of year. I made my simple gift box using the Gift Bag Punch Board (I just didn't score the side indents to make the bag shape) and created a little triangle roof for a lid (it's a simple hinged closure that is held in place with washi tape) that I stencilled some tile on using some Basic Grey ink and my brick pattern Patterned Party Decorative Mask and added a tag punched with the super-useful Everyday Label Punch:

This box measures approx. and is a reasonable size, big enough to accommodate most small gifts. Here's a picture of both items together:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

At Home With You Photopolymer Bundle	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers	Boxwood Wreaths Embellishments	Pattern Party Decorative Masks
Gift Bag Punch Board	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Quilted Christmas 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Ribbon	Hearts Come Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Everyday Label Punch