I've been busy decorating today so I'm a little later with my post again. Hopefully it's worth the wait though: I'm sharing another of the pillow gifts that the lucky ladies received on my Creative Escapes Craft Retreat a few weeks ago, and a co-ordinating card that I made to go with it since I decided I liked the box design so much! Firstly, here is the pillow gift box:

I liked the box so much when I got home I made another one and decided to make a card using same design to co-ordinate with it:

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

Luscious Layers - There's so much I love about this card! My most favourite thing is the layering of the diecuts to create the focal point. I used a Stitched Label, the jumping deer from the Detailed Deer Thinlits and a 'merry' in copper foil from the Merry Christmas Thinlits dies. Gorgeous, even if I say so myself!

And More Joyous Noel - The paper I used that inspired my centrepiece is from the gorgeous copper-foiled Joyous Noel paper pack. This paper is now sold out across the globe, so I hope you already have a stash as it's my favourite this season and I still have projects using it to share with you.  

Merry Christmas In Many Ways - The Merry Christmas To All bundle allows you to create many different festive sentiment combinations for the holiday season with a combination of stamps and dies. I used two different combinations for my card and box to give you a flavour of the flexibility it offers. the diecuts are quite large and perfect if a statement sentiment is the order of the day. 

I'm linking my card up with the current challenges over at Just Add Ink where they are looking for big bold sentiments and Fusion where the sketch inspired the layout for today's Christmas card (I flipped it and used the mirror image).

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. 

Finally here is a photograph of both of my projects together:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Bundle (£45.75)	Detailed Deer Thinlits Dies (£32.00)	Stitched Labels Framelits Dies (£31.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Copper Foil Sheets (£3.75)	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Gray Granite A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

I had the opportunity to get out the 'Illuminated Christmas' stamp set last week and created a variety of cards with it, one of which uses the current sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew: 

This is one of those sets I bought because I loved it, but I haven't had the opportunity to use it in a class and just haven't had the time to play with it. This sketch gave me the perfect opportunity to use it and pair it with a classic background stamp from the annual catalogue too - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Illuminated Christmas - The Illuminated Christmas stamp set has a number of traditional festive images that are perfect for colouring; I decided to use my favourite, the angel, on my card today. I stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, and did the same with the banner sentiment, which is also from the same set. I coloured the angel with my daffodil Delight and Pool Party Stampin' Blends and I also used the set to finish the inside of my card:

Sheet Music - We often think of angels singing at Christmas time, so for me the sheet music background stamp seemed like the obvious choice for the base of my card. I've no idea what the tune on the stamp is (I will have to sit at the piano and try it out and let you know!), but I like to think it's a carol for the purposes of my card today anyway!

All is Gold, All Is Bright  - I used lots of gold on my card today to add a real contrast to the otherwise largely white card, with gold embossing, glimmer paper, gold metallic pearls and last but not least one of the All Is Bright gold star paperclips. I love these and it was the perfect accent for my sweet angel on today's card.

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Illuminated Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Sheet Music Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£14.00)	All Is Bright Paper Clips (£6.50)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Gold Glimmer Paper (£4.75)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Metallic Pearls (£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 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)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at As you See It where they have something fun going on:

Speed stamping in shades of red! Now making a card in under 10 minutes is a challenge, however luckily all of your thinking time and preparation is outside of that window so I thought it worth a shot. Following the advice of the design team I decided to 'Keep It Simple' and this is what I came up with:

At first glance my card might appear to have a lot going on, but following one practice run (even with thinking time I still changed things on my first attempt and went over the time - oops!) I managed to turn this beauty out in under 10 minutes by following a few simple rules. Here's the low-down on today's card:

It's All About The Candy - My card today has a clear theme: candy canes (in case you were still in any doubt!) The designer series paper pattern from the Santa's Workshop papers takes centre stage and does most of the work, with everything else tying in to this. This made it easy to narrow down supplies and the things I could use on my card. 

Shades of Red - I went with one shade of red on my card: Poppy Parade. This warm red is full of festive brightness and again made co-ordination really straightforward.

Keeping It Simple - For me to create a card in under 10 minutes, it either needs no layers and some simple stamping, or very little stamping at all, which is the route I chose for this card. My card base is a standard A5 blank, and the mat layers are sizes I use all of the time (my whisper White layer measures 9.5cm x 13.9cm and my DSP measures 9.1cm x 13.5cm) so were quick to cut and position. I decided to add a sparkly candy cane from the Santa's Workshop Memories and More pack to draw the eye to my sentiment - so easy, just peel and stick - no stamping or cutting required and chose my sentiment from the Christmas Pines set to reflect this. I embellished with a few enamel shapes and a piece of co-ordinating ribbon and even had time left to add a scalloped border to my white mat layer courtesy of my Decorative Ribbon Border Punch. I also did a little stamping on the inside, using my retired Candy Cane Christmas set: 

And how long did this take me to complete? Well, my stopwatch finished at 8 minutes and 24 seconds - not bad at all for someone who can often spend hours procrastinating over a card!!! Thank you ladies for a fun challenge 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. 

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)	Poppy Parade 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon (£7.00)	Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes (£6.50)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Santa's Workshop Memories & More Card Pack (£9.25)

I've had a busy start to my week with two days of classes, so it's nice to be able to sit for a while and share a card for the current challenge over at Just Add Ink where they have a beautiful bright and vibrant colour combination: 

I love these bold and bright colours and thought they would be perfect for a Christmas card in non-traditional colours and this is what I came up with:

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

Go Long With Beautiful Baubles - I decided to 'go long' with today's card, and repeatedly stamp the collection of baubles in Versamark onto watercolour paper along the length of my extra-long card. The stamp set is photopolymer and I didn't even use my Stamparatus - it was really easy to see where the next set needed to go.

A Watercolour Wonder - I heat-embossed my baubles in silver and used my aquapainter to 'decorate' my baubles in the three challenge colours. I'm something of a traditional girl when it comes to Christmas decorations, however there is a part of me that loves the idea of a bright, unconventionally-coloured tree in blue, berry and lime!

Bows and Borders - I added a lime decorative ribbon punched border either side of my watecoloured panel and a silver-edged Berry Burst ribbon and bow, before adding to my Blueberry Bushel card base, onto which I stamped and heat-embossed my sentiment to finish my card. 

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

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

Enjoy your evening (I have a hot date with a mountainous ironing pile!) and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beautiful Baubles Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)
Berry Burst 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic-Edge Ribbon (£6.50)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Watercolor Paper (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing an extra card that uses Linda's oh-so simple sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (you can see my earlier Paper Players post here if you missed it):

The circle could be used in so many ways and I decided to use it to try out a fun new-to-me colouring technique - take a look:

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

Glimmer Stained Glass - I decided the circular aperture would be perfect for a stained glass window using the Stained Glass Thinlits and a technique I've seen previously where you stamp and/or colour onto acetate and back this with silver glimmer paper for a sparkly coloured effect. I cut two semi-circular windows and mirrored them, inset into the circle cut out of my mat layer and backed this with a piece of acetate window sheet. I then flipped it over and coloured the reverse with my Stampin' Blends, using the borders of the diecuts to define my changes in colour, before adding a piece of silver glimmer paper for a sparkly shine. This is such a fun technique and really very pretty in real life. 

Painted Glass Sympathy - I originally set out to create a Christmas card (what can I say - I'm on a roll!), but having completed my window I didn't think it looked particularly Christmassy and since I didn't want to add anything else to it and detract from the window, I decided to change purpose and used the appropriate sentiment from the Painted Glass stamp set to create a sympathy card instead. I don't believe that sympathy cards should be devoid of colour and there is something quite tranquil about sunlight shining through a coloured stained window in a church so thought it would work perfectly with this in mind. I added one of my favourite sentiments from Flourishing Phrases to the inside of my card:

A Word About Colour - I used a variety of brightly-coloured Stampin' Blends to bring my stained glass window to life and I think it would work with pretty much any colour combination. I think it's the use of black though that defines this card - in the definition of the layers, the inlaid detail of the window itself and my heat-embossed Gothic-style sentiment. Black shouldn't be reserved just for outlines and sentiments - be brave in your use of black as a colour in its own right.

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stained Glass Thinlits Dies (£27.00)	Painted Glass Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£17.00)	Painted Glass Clear-Mount Bundle (£39.50)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Silver Glimmer Paper (£4.75)
Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Poppy Parade Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Highland Heather Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Call Me Clover Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Blackberry Bliss Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)
Mango Melody Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)

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 I'm sharing a card using last week's sketch over at the Paper Craft Crew:

I have a technique class featuring the Beautiful Blizzard Bundle next week and having designed the cards for my class I wanted to create another card in a similar colourway to demonstrate the versatility of this set and this sketch was perfect - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Beautiful Blizzard - This is such a pretty stamp set; the splodges, spots and wisps make it easy to create lots of texture in detail with minimal layering. I stamped the background behind my sentiment oval in a combination of Balmy Blue and Night of Navy, stamping some of the images full strength and stamping some off first to create depth. I also added a little touch of snow to the inside too:

Frosted Shimmer Snowflakes - I used a couple of the snowflakes cut with my Blizzard Thinlits Die to embellish my sentiment oval, liberally sponging each with Frosted White Shimmer Paint for a wonderful soft shimmery finish.

A Snowflake Trinket - To finish my card, I added one of the new snowflake trinkets too - because you can never have too many snowflakes!

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; I've a busy day in my craft room today catching up following a busy day yesterday. One big thing achieved though - finally got the last bits in the kitchen finished so I'm all set to decorate the week after next then I'll be able to share some pictures! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Beautiful Blizzard Clear-Mount Bundle (£42.25)	Beautiful Blizzard Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£21.00)	Blizzard Thinlits Die (£26.00)	Frost White Shimmer Paint (£7.50)
Snowflake Trinkets (£7.50)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (£8.25)

Today I've another post for you and I'm sharing not one but three cards - all variations on a theme for this week's challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches:

Now normally I would run a mile at the thought of a colour and sketch combo. but I saw this one and immediately loved it! I no longer have those three retired Stampin' Up! ink colours, so I substituted with a current trio of similar colours:

I used my three colours to create the same card in three colourways - here's the basic design:

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

Detailed Baubles - The multiple bauble stamp in the 'Beautiful Baubles' stamp set was perfect to accompany my sentiment on the portrait feature panel on my card. I stamped it in the same colour as my card base, then used one of the other three colours to mat this layer and tie with a co-ordinating ribbon. I stamped the baubles again on a piece of spare cardstock and used my In-Colour Stampin' Write Markers to add selective colour to a few of my baubles, before cutting out with the Detailed Baubles Thinlits and popping some of the baubles up with mini-dimensionals to add interest. 

Tone on Tone Backgrounds - I initially left my base layer blank, but it seemed a little too plain. I tried stamping a tone-on-tone background all over with the large bauble stamp in this set and decided I quite like it - so repeated in the other colourways too. 

Mix and Match - This card was easy to replicate and achieve a different look simply by switching the colours of the bases and layers around. I ended up creating six cards in one go, two in each colourway. A nice dent on my Christmas card pile and with the focus on three in-colours too, it meant that I didn't need a ton of supplies either - bonus! Here's a picture showing all three colourways:

And I stamped the inside 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:

Beautiful Baubles Photopolymer Bundle (£40.50)	In Color 2018–2020 A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Lovely Lipstick 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Call Me Clover 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Blueberry Bushel 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	In Color 2018–2020 Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where they have the following sketch to work with:

This layout was perfect for me to make another snowflake card using the exclusive limited offer Snowflake Showcase products that I shared with you last week - take a look:

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

Softly Falling - I reached for my perennial favourite embossing folder, Softly Falling, for the perfect snowy backdrop  for my Snowflake Christmas tree. The texture adds just enough interest and detail without detracting from my snowflakes and trees and ties in with my wintry theme beautifully. 

Snow is Glistening - I decided to feature the snowflake Christmas tree on my card today. This is such a versatile stamp - with the aid of the Stamparatus or a Stampamajig, the image can be stamped in a row to create a border too as well as this fabulous snowy tree. I heat embossed my sentiment in white onto a strip of Bermuda Bay for an extra pop of colour against my pastel card. I also used another of the border stamps in the set for some falling snow on the inside too:

Snowflake Swirls - I couldn't resist using the snowflake swirls die cut from the Snowfall Thinlits set for the horizontal element on today's card (I had to trim the end slightly to fit), although it seemed a shame to hide it behind the portrait upright panel - I had to cut this into the tree shape to show off as much of the swirl as possible. I just love 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 '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:

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Snow Is Glistening Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Snowfall Thinlits Dies (£36.00)	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)