I am needing to add to my Christmas card stash so today I'm sharing a selection of Christmas cards I made for a few different challenges using mostly retired products. My first card is for the 'gnome' theme challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and for the 'seasonal' challenge over at Inkspirational where my season is of course the festive season and Christmas:

I have lots of the retired Storybook Gnomes DSP hoarded, so this theme gave me the perfect opportunity to use up a little more of it:

I layered a panel of snowflake patterned paper for the background, then added a panel in retired Bermuda Bay and a diecut gnome into the aperture:

I love the way the diecut circle aperture picks up the subtle stitch detail on the gnome. A sentiment from the 'Kindest Gnomes' stamp set completes my card.

My second card uses the sketch layout over at Sunday Stamps - who can resist things in threes?

! I chose to feature a trio of penguins as the focal point of my card:

These were fussy cut from some DSP and layered onto a backdrop of pre-embossed paper from my stash for some subtle added detail and texture:

A trio of green gems for a little festive sparkle complete my card.

My final card is for the challenge over at AAA Cards:

They are looking for CAS cards with the option of creating something in grey monochrome. Not usually my first choice of colour, and in fact the first card I made for this challenge is one I'm going to share tomorrow, then I remembered I still had some of this Winter Meadow paper featuring the lone deer which makes for a beautiful CAS Christmas card in soft greys:

I added a silver foil diecut and embossed sentiment from the current Words of The Season bundle and a couple of white sequins to complete my card:

 So pretty! No visual summaries today as these cards mostly use product that's no longer available, but if it's items you still have in your stash too, I hope they provide you with some creative inspiration too!

Enjoy your evening - I'm off to watch the first instalment of this week's The Traitors - and I'll be back tomorrow with another couple of projects. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a seasonal clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Clean and simple foliage - perfect for this time of year. Today I have a sneak peek for you of a new set that will be released with the November drop of Online Exclusives products - take a look:

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

Those pretty little foliage dies are part of a larger set called Friendly Foliage that consists of both a stamp set and dies. I had intended to use the main stamp and die in this set, which is perfect for a clean and simple card, however when I saw the inspiration photo over at Inspired By this week, I thought I'd have a go at creating some little panels inspired by those in the photo - can you tell which ones I chose? I followed the sketch too, using 5 diecut swirly rectangles in Basic Beige as my base (cut with the retired Beautiful Shapes Dies), masking each one and adding ink with a blending brush where required. I then added my diecut foliage, having paper-pieced in the sections in a variety of different colours:

I'm not going to lie, for a clean and simple card this did take quite a while to create due to all of the diecutting and piecing involved, but I'm very pleased with the result! A thankful sentiment (from the retired 'Good Greetings' stamp set) in Night of Navy completes my card - and also means I am linking up with the team over at Addicted To CAS where their new codeword is 'thankful'. The Friendly Foliage stamp set and dies make for beautiful and simple designs and you can be sure you will be seeing more if them in the coming weeks.

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. 

This card is headed to one of the lovely ladies that took advantage of this month's great joining offer to welcome her as a member of my Stampin' Up! team - I am thankful for her and all the other lovely ladies that have chosen to share their Stampin' up! journeys with me. A reminder that you still have a couple more weeks to take advantage of this offer - click here for a reminder of the offer details here or here if you're ready to enjoy all of the benefits that joining Stampin' Up! has to offer.

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

Enjoy your day; I spent much of my day yesterday in the garden, preparing it for winter, so I'm hoping today once I've finished my ironing that I can squeeze in a little crafty time too! I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	BASIC BEIGE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Yay it's Friday - the end of the week is nigh! Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge, with the ingredients chosen by Deborah:

 Orange isn't a colour I use often when crafting, so I decided to focus on the 'shades of orange' ingredient of the recipe and my card grew from there - take a look:

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

Floral Charm - The watercolour-effect floral pattern featuring orange florals is the reverse side of one of the sheets in the Online Exclusives Floral Charm DSP pack. It has a lovely soft pattern in shades of Timid Tiger, so I thought I'd use a whole piece of it to show it off to full effect. I like that it's bright but without being too 'in your face'. This is such a lovely paper pack - the detailed florals are lovely, but the softer patterns on the reverse should certainly not be overlooked. I picked up the florals by adding a white diecut of co-ordinating flowers from the Charming Day Dies.

Branching Out - I used a floating frame in white to bring the other elements of my design together, cut with the Branching Out Dies. I wasn't sure if I 'needed' these dies, but they have a lovely corner element and stitched detail and my lovely teamie Jan made one too many fabulous cards using the Branching Out bundle, so I caved and added it to my shopping basket - and so far it does not disappoint! 

Thoughtful Moments - The final ingredient in the recipe to tick off was a 'happy sentiment'; having perused my collection, I decided to use the embossed diecut from the Thoughtful Moments bundle. Having used my Stampin' Write marker to highlight the embossed edge prior to embossing, I then added an ombre of orange using three shades of orange Stampin' Blends to colour the word 'happy':

A trio of bright orange enamel dots complete my card. Whilst I'm not generally a big fan of orange, I do think that it can be quite striking and when balanced with lots of white it looks ok - and not at all 'Halloweeny' either!

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLORAL CHARM 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	CHARMING DAY DIES (£33.00)	BRANCHING OUT DIES (£27.00)	THOUGHTFUL MOMENTS HYBRID EMBOSSING FOLDER (ENGLISH) (£36.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)
TIMID TIGER STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	PEACH PIE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)

Today I'm sharing an alternative Halloween card inspired by the challenges over at Inspired By and Just Us Girls this week:

I love the idea of those pastel, spotted pumpkins and the 'BOO' greeting of the Inspired By photo, so I thought I'd take those elements and use them for a fun play on words - take a look:

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

I diecut a large letter B using my Party Alphabet Dies, but instead of two OOs I I stamped and punched a couple of pumpkins (from the retired 'Harvest Hellos' stamp set) that I stencilled with Petal Pink spots. I overlaid the rest of my sentiment so that it reads 'BOO - guess who loves you?'

A trio of sparkly gems and a little extra decoration on the inside completes my card:

You can see what I mean about an alternative Halloween card, right? But a fun card for a little girl I think - and not a ghost or spider in sight!

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'm typing this post as I'm watching this week's episode of The Great British Bake Off. It's Meringue Week; personally I'm not a meringue fan, but the showstoppers are truly amazing!! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PARTY ALPHABET DIES (£93.00)

BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

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

There are so many ways you could use these warm colours; for me they were the perfect opportunity to break out a new set that I had yet to ink up - take a look:

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

The 'Prairie Grass' stamp set is one of the last round of Online Exclusives and it's been sat in the box calling my name, desperate to get inked up! The set has a collection of grassy stamps that are perfect for a silhouette. I masked off a rectangle and a moon shape with a circle of masking paper, then using my blending brushes created a blended panel using all three of the challenge colours to create my sunset, before overlaying my grasses:

I added a couple of birds from another retired set and finished with a sentiment from 'Prairie Grass' - this set has some lovely uplifting words of comfort and I love the script/font too. That's my card complete - a simple one layer of stamps, ink and paper!

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:

PRAIRIE GRASS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£25.00)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	TIMID TIGER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)
VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

I managed to sneak in some crafty time yesterday so I have a few cards to share with you over the coming week. First up is a card for this week's challenge over at SUO Challenges, that uses the sketch layout over at TGIF Challenges:

I love the Christmas mix and match products, so I was keen to have the opportunity to really get into it and make a card. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Whilst I kept with the products from the collection and in particular the green plaid card card base, I changed up my layout using the sketch over at TGIF Challenges and layered a central panel of my most favourite design in the pack:

I added a piece of retired red DSP from an old pack, along with a gold twine bow and some gold pearls to finish off my card. I love that the envelope flaps in the card pack have a plaid pattern too; I also added some ephemera like the samples on page 14 for a festive finishing touch:

No stamping on this card; just a fun time mixing and matching the pieces in the packs. Lots more to play with leftover 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:

CHRISTMAS TAGS & MORE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY CARDS & ENVELOPES (£11.25)

GREETINGS FOR YOU MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (£8.00)

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

Whilst these colours are great for Halloween, I don't have much call for Halloween cards so I decided to tone down the green and pair them with Judy's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and make a feature of some purple flowers - perfect for the current theme over at The Flower Challenge too. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Perennial Lavender - I decided that not only should the flowers on my card today be purple coloured, but they should actually be a purple flower - so I went with one of my favourites, lavender. The Perennial Lavender papers were perfect for the coordinated sections of the card's background - the real challenge was to decide which ones to feature. I decided on a floral pattern combined with the mottled purple to really emphasise the colour.

Painted Lavender - I added some sprigs of greenery along with some (retired) diecut lavender stems to decorate my sentiment circle, that I sponged with a variety of inks to add a little texture to them and tied them with a double linen thread bow:

The Right Words - I finished my card with a sentiment from 'The Right Words' - a great set for sentiments inside and out and a trio of sparkly gems. 

Purple is one off my favourite colours and I love the purple and green combo of this week's challenge.

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

THE RIGHT WORDS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£25.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	PERENNIAL LAVENDER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	PURPLE FINE SHIMMER GEMS (£7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

Today I have a quick post to share a card I made last week using the sketch layout over at Sunday Stamps:

I went with a collection of festive images for a cute Christmas card - take a look:

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

I saw those little squares and immediately knew that they would give me the opportunity to have a play with a new stencil that my dear crafty friend Elizabeth recently gifted me: the Christmas Bauhaus stencil from Uniko. I absolutely love it and can assure you that you will be seeing more of it in its entirety in the future (I added a sample of that in the photo at the bottom of the post), however on today's card I snipped the images apart and mounted a selection of them on Postage Die bases, finishing with the Santa uppermost so that I could add a cute red button nose:

A simple sentiment from the new Greetings For You pack and some gold pearls complete my card.

Did I say how much I love this stencil?! The  modern, whimsical images are so cute.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GREETINGS FOR YOU MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (£8.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	DELIGHTFUL DECORATIVE DOTS (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)

There's so much happening during the month of October! I decided that I would do a catch-all post with all the details for you - so here's a breakdown of everything that you need to know.

Firstly a reminder that the Sept-Dec 2025 Mini Catalogue is live - the link is on the right and included below if you click on the image too - there's never been a better time to get into your festive crafting:

Secondly, you can currently save up to 30% on Kits Collection sets; this 3 day sale finishes at 11pm this evening, so if you're quick you've still time to grab some - and remember they make great Christmas gifts.

There are also 3 new kits that have been added to the online collection for October too: the Nutcracker Tags Kits, the Remembering Christmas Memory Keeping Kit and the Calm & Bright Card Kit. For more details and to purchase, you can check out these kits via the links to these products in the online store that you will find at the bottom of this post.

Lots to look at here and discounts today too! Check out my online store for more details.

Stampin' Up! has also produced a 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar for the first time this year:

It includes 12 days of crafting surprises, including 12 never-before seen exclusive Stampin' Up! items and the All Occasion stamp set. This calendar is only available whilst stocks last, so why not treat yourself or a friend (or both!) to some festive fun and order yours today!

Registration is also open for a Stampin' Up! Virtual Craft Class featuring the Traditions of Christmas Suite:

The class will be held on Facebook on October 23rd at 9pm UK time; Stampin' Up! instructors will guide you through making 3 cards and 1 home decor item.

Purchase the class here along with the Traditions of Christmas Suite here which you will also need to complete the projects.

Finally, I'm saving the best news until last - October has not one, but TWO incredible joining offers! If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator (even just for a short while to try it out) or simply receive an ongoing discount on your Stampin' Up! craft supplies, this is a great time to find out. There are two options:

OPTION 1: Select £130 worth of products of your choice for just £35!!

OPTION 2: Select £194 worth of products of your choice for just £99.

We have not had an offer like this for a VERY long time - it really is a great opportunity!

Both of these offers run until October 31st, so if you'd like to know more, get in touch - or simply sign up here. 

Finally, the Last Chance Products category also updated at the start of this month; there are still lots of bargains available, so do these out too.

Back soon with a creative project; until then, happy stampin'!

NUTCRACKER TAGS KIT (£12.60)

CALM & BRIGHT KIT (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS KIT (£18.90)

12 DAYS OF CRAFTING ADVENT CALENDAR (ENGLISH) (£94.00)

TRADITIONS OF CHRISTMAS SUITE COLLECTION (ENGLISH) (£131.25)

TRADITIONS OF CHRISTMAS CRAFT CLASS (£28.00)