It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Lucy has asked that we create a slimline card with a central sentiment panel:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I decided to have another outing with the beautiful 'NOEL' stamps and dies from the 'Joy of Noel' bundle - take a look:

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

The slimline layout worked really well to keep the square design of the 'NOEL' letters, which I heat embossed in gold onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I added the 'Joyous' on vellum, so that it didn't obscure the letters and edged the central panel with some thin strips of gold foil. Here's a close up of that layered sentiment:

Above and below that I added a couple of panels of Shining Brightly designer series paper - the starry design is open enough to still work on an otherwise clean and simple card. I adore this paper and so do many of you, judging by the speed with which it comes into and out of stock in the online store! I was hoping that when I posted my card today I would be able to tell you it was back in stock again - but alas, the most recent stocks have once again been depleted. I placed more orders yesterday for customer who had been patiently waiting for it; additional supplies are still due in soon, so keep an eye on the online store if it's on your list.

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; we are having a week of breakdowns in the James household: so far the broadband, my steam iron and the central heating are all casualties! The latter means that I am spending as little time as possible at my desk, so a short post from me as I'm off for a romp through the countryside to keep warm! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JOY OF NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (45.75)	SHINING BRIGHTLY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Vicky is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

So many lovely seasonal elements on Vicky's board this week! I went down the first column with leaves, autumn colours and twine and used the beautiful autumnal colour palette over at TGIF Challenges to create a clean and simple card with a little 'something old, something new' this week - take a look:

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

Blended Autumn Colour - The TGIF colour palette so reminded me of autumn leaves and I thought this trio of colours would be perfect to create a simple blended ink background using the leafy stencil in the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks - so I'm also sharing my card with AAA Cards this week. I applied each of the colours across my stencil randomly, being careful to blend them to avoid any harsh lines. I love the finished effect! These stencils are such great value for money - with 4 different creative options in each pack, they really can be used in so many different ways.

Envelope Detail - I am no stranger to a decorated envelope; my regular readers will be familiar with lots of different ways that I've shared to easily spruce-up the outside of your envelopes so I just had to play along with the current Inkspirational challenge to decorate your envelope to co-ordinate with your card. For today's envelope, I simply repeated the background stencilled pattern across the outer flap of my envelope - you can see it beneath my card in the photo above. So simple and a lovely hint of the detail inside too.

A Seasonal Saying - I chose to make the centrepiece of my card this beautiful quote from the retired 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set - my 'something old' for today. This quote seemed to fit with the ombre blended background perfectly. I stamped it onto a label diecut with the largest of the rounded rectangles in the Nested Essential Dies set and added a twine bow and retired wooden leaf embellishment as a final decoration:

This card doesn't have as much 'white space' as I would like for a super-CAS card, but using a stencil is a great way to add a quick pop of colour to a card base. A larger sentiment panel might have allowed for a little extra white space, albeit resulting in me covering up some of that lovely ombre colour - you see my dilemma, 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; the unexpected warmth at the start of the week has reverted now to temperatures more typical of this time of year, along with lots of rain in recent days and I am definitely starting to see more autumnal colour on the foliage as I'm driving around and about. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ABUNDANT BEAUTY DECORATIVE MASKS (10.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PUMPKIN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
LINEN THREAD (4.75)	VERY VANILLA C6 ENVELOPES (8.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

Just a quick reminder that today is the final day to receive free shipping on orders of £60 or more - this offer is available online until 10.59pm tonight. You can place your order in the online store here. Happy shopping!

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

I say 'interesting' because I really like this week's colour combination - but I really struggled to make it work! I played around with a few different ideas and eventually decided to go with something clean and simple using a set that hasn't seen ink in a while, using Narelle's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week as the basis for my design. This is what I came up with: 

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

Colour Conundrum - Having discounted florals for today's card (sorry Narelle - I know you love them!) I decided that Copper Clay would be the perfect colour for some fox fur, so I grabbed my 'Playing in the Rain' stamp set and started to play. I then discovered that Copper Clay Blends were the only ones I didn't have in my collection (in short - a different colour ordered by mistake!) so I coloured the fox fur with my Stampin' Write marker and the Misty Moonlight clothes and umbrella with my Blends as usual. It gives less definition, but I figured it would be a good way to show that a) nobody's perfect and b) enable you to see the difference in both marker types on one project (well that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!) 

A Circle Trio - I knew my card would end up being clean and simple, because I didn't have many colours to play with. I decided that the three circular elements of the FMS sketch would work really well, enabling me to have my fox represent one element, then use the additional two circles to highlight both some stamped raindrops (I chose Smoky Slate as my neutral of choice) and some stamped puddles on the lower Misty Moonlight one. I layered my circles slightly different to the sketch in order to fit in my sentiment banner and to give balance. All I needed to complete my card was a trio of Misty Moonlight tinsel gems for a touch of raindrop-like sparkle.

An Inside Tip - I wanted to share with you a little tip for decorating the inside of your cards when you are colouring onto a white cardbase. As you know, if you colour with Stampin' Blends they do give the best finish but have the disadvantage of bleeding through and being seen on the reverse of your card. To combat this, I stamped another of the images in the set directly onto my cardbase and coloured the puddle with my Stampin' Write marker only. I then stamped the same image onto an additional piece of cardstock, coloured it with my Stampin' Blends, diecut it with my Playing In The Rain Dies, then pieced it into place onto the cardbase - problem solved! 

And yes, I know there's a hint of pink and a Calypso Coral jacket on my bunny, but since it's on the inside of my card I'm not breaking the rules ;-).

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.

Enjoy your day. I am meeting one of my oldest friends for lunch and it looks like it's turning into an unusually warm and sunny day, so that should be nice. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PLAYING IN THE RAIN CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (25.00)	PLAYING IN THE RAIN DIES (33.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	TINSEL GEMS THREE-PACK (7.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	COPPER CLAY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Lucy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

What a pretty trio of colours! For my card today I grabbed an old favourite, the 'Silly Goose' stamp set, along with the Just Add Ink sketch (which I love!) and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

I used pops of these colours to highlight the details of my birthday goose with my Stampin' Blends and picked out the Fresh Freesia with a strip of (retired) Dandy Designs designer paper for some extra detail to the other side of my twine bow:

I cut out my panel using the largest square in the Stylish Shapes Dies, making it a rectangle by extending it and running it through my die cutting machine a second 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SILLY GOOSE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	FRESH FREESIA STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (4.75)

It's the start of October and there's lots of news to share with you! A fantastic joining offer and two new Christmas-themed kits launch today. First up:

Stampin' Up! wants to celebrate our 35^th anniversary in style! From 3 to 31 October, anyone who joins our fun crafting community as a new demonstrator can choose either 35% OFF the cost of their Starter Kit or get 35% MORE product with their Starter Kit! What a deal! 

New demonstrators can choose one of the following options for their Starter Kit:

Option 1: Get 35% OFF the normal cost of a Stampin’ Up! Starter Kit. Those who select this option will receive £130 worth of product for only £64.35!

Option 2: Get 35% MORE product with their Starter Kit. Those who select this option will receive £175.50 worth of product by spending £99!

No matter which option new demonstrators choose for your Starter Kit, both provide you with free business supplies and free shipping on your Starter Kit—not to mention all the fun that comes with being part of Stampin’ Up!

If that wasn't enough - it gets better! Those who sign up for a Starter Kit during this offer will also be automatically registered for FREE to our virtual OnStage@Home event on 11 November—an event that has a £72 value! At this virtual, one-day event, we’ll celebrate our 35^th Stampin’ Up! anniversary, watch lots of presentations, and view new products in action from the January–April 2024 Mini Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration Brochure. In fact, attendees will be able to order brand new products for the Craft Along Experience where they’ll follow along and create crafts from the comfort of their own homes!

Joining offers like this one don't come along often, so whether you're looking for friendship, a hobby, a business or lots more besides, there really is no better time to consider joining Stampin' Up! If you would like more information or help in deciding which option suits you best, do get in touch with me - I would love to chat to you about the benefits of being a part of our stamping community. If you've read this far and have already decided you want to be a part of it - click here to join my awesome Stampin' Up! team.

In addition to this month's joining offer, there are also two new kits that are available from today in the online store:

Celebrate Christmas with everyone, everywhere with the Christmas Everywhere Kit by Stampin’ Up! It comes with everything you need to create 9 Christmas cards in 3 festive designs featuring trees from around the world. Get an early start on your Christmas crafting and send some festive cheer to friends and loved ones wherever they are! Here's a couple of additional images of the kit in more detail:

Here'a a link to the unboxing video for this kit:

The second kit released today is the Rustic Christmas Countdown Kit. This kit has all you need to make a rustic, 25 day paper advent calendar. What a great way to bring a classic, cosy Christmas feeling to your home this season! 

Here's a couple of additional images of the kit in more detail:

Here'a a link to the unboxing video too:

Aren't they just great?! Both of these kits are available right now by placing an order with me or in my online store by clicking on either of the links below - remember to add the current host code (see the box on the right hand side of my blog) for a thank you from me:

RUSTIC CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN KIT (18.00)

CHRISTMAS EVERYWHERE KIT (ENGLISH) (20.00)

Lots to think about in this post! Back later with today's creative project - until then, happy shopping - or maybe even joining! 

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

Our board has a distinctly Halloween feel this week, but since I don't have any current Halloween product and I wanted to use more of the lovely All About Autumn papers that I featured on yesterday's card (you can see that card here if you missed it), I went on the diagonal from top left with free/orange/embossing for a card that is still in keeping with the season - take a look:

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

Pumpkins! I thought this fabulous pumpkin-filled patterned paper would be perfect to play along with the 'pumpkin patch' theme over at TGIF Challenges this week. I'm not usually a big fan of photographic designs, but many of those in the All About Autumn pack are amazing! So much colour and texture - these papers are too good to cover up for sure. I decided to use the Try Stampin On Tuesday layout above so that much of my patterned paper remained visible, adding a contrasting horizontal piece and a pop of bright colour with the Pumpkin Pie banner and a simple copper-embossed thank you sentiment from the 'Something Fancy' stamp set to pick up on the copper tones in the paper:

A couple of brushed copper metallic dots complete my card. My own pumpkin patch doesn't have such a variety of pumpkins, but I can report that we managed to grow 5 bright orange pumpkins this year, 3 of which were rather decent in size too. They are already in storage in the garage, ready for carving. I have new young neighbours that were fascinated by my ever-expanding pumpkin patch this year, having never seen it before, and took great delight in checking on progress on a regular basis. They have challenged me to turn at least one of the pumpkins into Cinderella's coach for Halloween, so watch this space - I will share the results at the end of October!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at Festive Friday. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ALL ABOUT AUTUMN 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (14.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BRUSHED METALLIC ADHESIVE BACKED DOTS (8.50)	SOMETHING FANCY CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)
PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards - the first one is a quick clean and simple card for the current challenges over at CAS on Friday where the theme is 'SUNSHINE' and Inkspirational where they are all about clean and simple:

 The weather is decidedly autumnal here in the UK now, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to flirt with the last of the summer sun - take a look:

 I grabbed a retired What A Year Memories & More card for my base, then added a stamped and diecut sun and a couple of pink sequins to highlight my sentiment. Isn't this card just so, well, sunny?!

A couple of well-chosen embellishments are enough to elevate this CAS card without spoiling the clean feel. This card will be winging its way to my very own ray of sunshine, by daughter, who is very much enjoying her new university life. My second card, much more in keeping with the weather outside my window, was inspired by the nature photo over at Time Out:

So many interesting things in this photo; I took my inspiration from the tall trees with their autumn leaves reflecting the low autumn sun and decided to feature one of the beautiful photographic papers from the All About Autumn designer series paper pack:

I really wanted the trees to take centre stage, so added little more than a simple border (this is actually the reverse of the photographic image) and a little copper foil, along with one of my favourite sentiments for this kind of card, which is from the retired stamp set 'Lighthearted Leaves'. The sentiment is square but I stamped it on a diecut rectangle from the Nested Essentials Dies so that I could recreate the border detail from my main panel:

I think this adds to the cohesiveness of the design. And that's all there is to it!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on my second card 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, featuring another of the designs in the All About Autumn pack, so stay tuned! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ALL ABOUT AUTUMN 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (14.00)

NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)

VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

Today I'm squeaking in a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches that was also inspired by the lovely greens and nature theme over at Just Add Ink:

I couldn't resist the chance to rediscover my 'inner Cecile' (her style is so fabulous!) and decided to go uber-clean and simple with my Gorgeously Made Bundle - take a look:

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

I added a couple of swathes of green using the textured stamp (I masked it to shorten the stamped image and flipped it for the second colour to reverse the shape) then added my favourite leaf stem, which I diecut 3 times and stacked if for a chunky stem with depth:

A simple stamped 'hello' completes my card. I just love Cecile's style so it's always fun to use it as a jumping off point; the additions of the monochromatic greens gives the card a nice serene, peaceful quality too I think - and is also perfect for the 'M is for Monochromatic' challenge over at The Alphabet Challenge blog.

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; a short post from me as I'm off to brave the school run! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GORGEOUSLY MADE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (47.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a sketch challenge chosen by Heather H:

I love a good sketch and since I've been playing with my 'Joy of Noel' set this week putting the finishing touches to projects for next month's 'Create With Joanne & Jan' tutorial set, which I collaborate on with my AYSI teamie Jan Clothier, I thought this sketch lent itself to another Christmas card featuring this versatile bundle - take a look:

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

Shining Brightly - Instead of pairing the bundle with the papers in the suite, I decided to use one of the navy and gold patterns in the 'Shining Brightly' Specialty paper pack for the vertical panel. Along with the gold and vanilla patterns in the pack, these papers are truly stunning - and popular! They have been out of stock for a few weeks, but are due back in sometime next week. I will be ordering another pack for sure so if you are also wanting to add these papers to your collection, be sure to let me know so that I can notify you as soon as they come in -  I have a growing list!

Joyous Noel - I just love the sentiments in the 'Joy of Noel' set, especially the NOEL letters. Each one is individual, but since they stamp and diecut in this square pattern, I decided to use them backed with a square of gold foil for my next layer and overlay them with 'Joyous' for the last bit of my sentiment, which I fussy cut by hand. 

Going For Gold - I stamped and heat-embossed the letters in gold onto Night of Navy cardstock before diecutting them, to create a seamless look. This card is quite shiny but you can see the detailing on the stamped image below:

A trio of (retired) gold gems complete my card. This card is actually quite simple to recreate, although I did spend ages procrastinating first time around! I just love the simple elegance - this is most definitely a 'me' 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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a sketch challenge, you are welcome to rotate or flip a sketch. You can replace shapes used such as substituting a circle panel for a square panel. However, we must be able to still see the basis of the original sketch in your finished product.

Enjoy your day; I am hoping to get a little extra crafting done this weekend so will hopefully be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JOY OF NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (45.75)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	SHINING BRIGHTLY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)