Another Monday, another week! Hope you all had lovely weekends -  did you spend them shopping for Black Friday deals? I did start my Christmas shopping at last - I'm suddenly feeling under pressure to start ticking things off that particular list. i can't quite believe that one month today will be Boxing Day!! Anyway, let's not dwell on that - today I'm sharing a card using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

The lovely Kim has a great sketch this week, with lots of creative possibilities. I decided my card was going to be all about the holly - take a look:

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

A Jolly Holly Christmas - I decided that holly was going to be the theme for my card today and used the square shape to feature a piece of the holly patterned paper from the Santa's Workshop designer series paper and tied my sentiment and holly embellishment (one of the self-adhesive pieces from the Santa's Workshop Memories & More card pack) into my theme. I even carried it over to the inside of my card and added a stamped sprig of holly alongside my sentiment from the super-useful Merry Christmas To All stamp set:

Christmas Traditions - I found the perfect holly-related sentiment for my card in the Christmas Traditions Punch Box that is featured on pages 2-3 of the Autumn/Winter catalogue: 

Just like the Darling Label Punch Box in the annual catalogue (which incidentally has 10% off in the current stamp and kit sale as part of today's Online Extravaganza - order yours here), this festive-themed tin is choc-full of crafting goodies for creating through the festive season: with a block, two ink spots, set of 6 stamps and a Christmas Traditions Punch, all you need is to add some cardstock and adhesives and you are all set for some festive fun! Perfect for tags, cards and embellishments for your home-baked goodies, this set would make a lovely seasonal gift for a crafter or someone who likes to add a personal touch to their packages during the festive season. 

Lots of Layers - I added some texture to my card base with the Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, but otherwise all of the detail and interest on today's card is focused around the square element. In order to really draw the eye to it, I stacked the base behind the holly DSP with 3 layers, made easy with the Layering Square Framelits, using the base colours of the paper and adding a piece of Poppy Parade ribbon for a pop of red - so festive!

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 hope you like today's card - tomorrow's card also features the Christmas traditions Punch Box, so be sure to come back and check it out. I have a few more errands before I get back into my painting and decorating - it's a long job! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Traditions Punch Box (£42.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	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)	Layering Squares Framelits Dies (£33.00)
Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine (£2.75)

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

I struggled a bit with Sandy's sketch this week - I've had a super busy week and not managed to get much time in my craft room; this is never good for the crafting mojo! Those panels were screaming out for some designer series paper and I was sorely tempted to break out my new Spring-Summer goodies, but as I'm still in need of Christmas cards I decided against it and instead challenged myself to use some of the paper that I had been hoarding - take a look:

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

All Is Bright - I love this piece of paper featuring a photographic image of lots of baubles in shades of gold that features in the All Is Bright designer series paper pack but had been waiting for the right card on which to use it. I decided that today was the day and I went all in, covering the front of my card with it. Even with the vertical panels and diecut bauble, this paper shines through - so pretty.

A Beautiful Bauble - I used the Beautiful Bauble Thinlits to diecut a bauble from gold glimmer paper and I backed it with a circle of DSP with a subtle bokeh print that is also from the All Is Bright DSP pack, as I didn't want to lose the intricate details against the panels. I added a retired sentiment ot my banner and a bow cut using the Pretty Pines Thinlits to finish it off.

Shades of Gold - My card features lots of gold today so I'm also linking up with the team over at CAS-ual Fridays as this ties in with their theme perfectly: the baubles in my chosen paper are lots of shades of gold, along with a gold foil panel embossed with the Swirls and Curls Embossing Folder and a second panel of retired acetate that is patterned with gold polka dots, in addition to my gold glimmer border and gold heat embossed sentiment banner. You would be forgiven for thinking that I used one of the gold foil-edged cards for my base card today, although as I only have silver ones in the house I employed a neat trick to create my own: I simply sponged the edge of my card with Versamark and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder to create a similar effect.

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. 

In addition, a reminder that today also heralds the start of the second of Stampin' Up's three online extravaganzas. Today and tomorrow it's the turn of stamps and kits - you can read all about it in last week's blog post here and shop directly for everything that is included in the sale via the dedicated page in my online store. if ordering online please be sure to include the current hostess code BPCXMYGW. If you are local and would like to reduce your P&P costs, please get your order to me by 8pm tomorrow evening and I will add them to a collective order.

Enjoy your day; we are minus one James Junior, as Rebecca is spending the weekend in Bath playing in a school hockey tournament (all yesterday's matches were wins or draws, so let's hope the team is similarly successful today); I will be spending the day doing homework with the other one and then attending the first of the season's Christmas parties - ice skating with our swimming club. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Detailed Baubles Thinlits Dies (£29.00)	All Is Bright 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Swirls & Curls Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Gold Foil Sheets (£3.37)	Gold Glimmer Paper (£4.27)	Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies (£24.00)	Bunch Of Banners Framelits Dies (£25.00)
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.27)

I've been busy decorating so just have time for a quick post today. I'm sharing a card that I made for the current Inspire.Create Challenge where they are looking for projects featuring the following colour palette:

My simple card uses one of my absolute favourite festive papers from the Joyous Noel Suite:

I liked it so much I created two more cards with the same basic design but featuring some of the other gorgeous papers in this paper pack:

Each one also features a different colour of glimmer paper behind it too. Here's the final one with the copper background glimmer:

 These papers really are so beautiful, it's a shame they are now sold out. The simple design would work with any other papers though and the Merry Christmas To All stamps and framelits bundle is still available, which is great news. Here's a shot of all 3 cards 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. 

Don't forget tomorrow marks the start of the first of the Stampin' Up' Online Extravaganza 48 hour sales - read all about it in yesterday's post here.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Joyous Noel 6" X 6" Glimmer Paper (£14.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Bundle (£45.75)	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)

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)