It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend LeAnne is the hostess this week and she has a seasonal theme for us to work with:

I was rather pressed for time this week and had been wanting to play along with the team over at Merry Monday with that fun inspiration photo so took the opportunity to use some of my hoarded retired Adventure Bound DSP along with my new 'Hug In A Mug' Stamp Set and combined the two to come up with this card - take a look:

My pines were in-situ and ready to go so I simply heat-embossed my sentiment in white, having already created a shadow in Early Espresso, to enable it to stand out against the wood effect DSP, fussing cut my little mug and added some puffy frosting to my hot chocolate having added white embossing powder to Tombo glue and heated it to create the puffy effect - I made a video tutorial on this technique previously that you can see here. I added a stamped striped candy cane and that was my card done - so easy to recreate.

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 destined for a good friend of mine who recently emigrated to the USA; I miss our chats over coffee so I know this is one piece of happy mail that will surely brighten her day. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Hug In A Mug Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Enamel Shapes

I have had a busier than usual schedule this week which has necessitated a few blog-free days - I hope you will all bear with me, whilst I like to think I'm organised clearly I'm not organised enough! So much to share and so little time really is my motto at the moment.

Anyway, today I am back with it and I have something a little different for you - this week the team over at Global Design Project have a family theme and CAS-ual Fridays are challenging us to make anything but a card - so I thought I would share one of my recent scrapbooking layouts:

Here is my layout featuring the Color Theory Memories and More card pack:

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

A Traditional Layout - Whilst I don't often share my layouts with you here on my blog, I'm a real fan of the pocket-style memory keeping that we introduced with the Project Life range and subsequently with Memories and More. The pocket cards make it so easy to put pages together quickly and I love that I can organise my pages with minimal supplies and 'pretty' them up as I go or add extra detail later. Here I've used the Memories and More cards in a traditional 12" x 12" scrapbook layout as I wanted to show how these cards can be used in a variety of different ways. The pre-printed sentiment cards mean that whatever type of layout you use, Memories and More cards make it easy to create a colourful layout with no stamping required.

Color Theory For All Seasons - This layout is one of four that I created using the Color Theory Memories and More card pack, as I created one for each season. I will share the other layouts in a future blog post; as you can see this page is my Winter layout featuring the rest of the James family on our annual ice skating trip. This is something we love to do every year and make a point of doing together, just the four of us - it has become a tradition and is generally accompanied by different novelty hats each year - in the photo above Rebecca is sporting a Christmas tree whilst Ben's has elf ears! In addition to the Memories and More cards, I used some coloured embossing paste with my Pattern Party Decorative Masks to add some texture and interest to my background, along with some diecut snowflakes courtesy of the Seasonal Layers Thinlits, a little glimmer paper and some glitter enamel dots to add some festive sparkle. I added stickers from the Color theory card pack for additional sentiments and accents.

Hidden Thoughts - My layout features space for journaling on the card above my photograph, but it also features a 'hidden journaling' card concealed beneath the photograph and revealed by pulling the tab on the left hand side attached to the card that says 'Details'. The circle tab punch is great for adding tabs to your journaling cards in this way.

I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Color Theory Card Pack	Whisper White 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock	Embossing Paste	Pattern Party Decorative Masks	Palette Knives
Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Circle Tab Punch	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Glitter Enamel Dots	Marina Mist A4 Cardstock
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies	Silver 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Ribbon

Today is a big news day: Alcohol markers are back! It's the first of November and as promised in an earlier post, today sees the official launch of Stampin' Blends to customers.  These high quality, dual-tip markers come in 12 exclusive Stampin' Up! colours; they each have a light and a dark shade for the ultimate blending experience. In addition, there are two further colours, bronze and ivory, and a colour lifter to give your blended images the finishing touch. 

Stampin' Blends are available in 2-marker combo packs, as single markers or as the whole collection. There are so many great stamp sets in the catalogue that are perfect for colouring; in addition to celebrate the launch of these fabulous new pens, Stampin' Up! have also released a new stamp set and card project kit designed to be use with Stampin' Blends:

Color Me Happy Project Kit (144069)

• You'll be coloured happy every time you create with this stamp set.
• The line-art images are perfect for colouring techniques.
• Quantity: 10 rubber stamps
• Suggested clear blocks (not included): b, c, g, h, i

Color Me Happy Project Kit (144609)
The Colour Me Happy Project Kit will be available while supplies last.

The kit includes:

• 16 card bases, 4 each of 4 designs
• 16 envelopes with printed design inside, 4 each of 4 designs
• Gold foil accents
• Die-cut cardstock background and accents
• Printed and gold foil die-cut accents
• White Baker's Twine
• Mini Pool Party tassels
• Circle and star sequins
• Gold foil tape

Coordinating colors: Basic Black, gold foil, Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry

If you're a fan of Stampin' Up! Bundles, than you'll love that these two coordinating products (project kit and stamp set) are available as a BUNDLE...save 10%. 

I am so excited about the arrival of these new pens and I can't wait to share some of my coloured creation with you. In the meantime, here's a little video from the nice people at the Home Office showing these pens in action: 

I'll be back soon with more news and another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stampin' Blends Markers Collection

Color Me Happy Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Color Me Happy Project Kit

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I decided to do something different with the Around The World designer series papers again - take a look:

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

A Trio Of Papers - I've used designer series paper from two packs on today's card, both of which are available in the 'Buy 3, Get 1 Free' designer series paper promotion. There are two more days for you to stock up on the papers on offer, so don't delay! There are three different patterns of designer series paper on today's card: the first is the red and white diagonal stripe from the Be Merry collection, and the second is one of two from the Around The World pack. The first of the Around the World papers is the Pool Party snowfall background; can you spot the second one? 

Look Who's Talking - The second of the Around The World papers on my card is the speech bubble - this is fussy cut directly from one of the sheets in the pack. The sheet in question features 29 sayings in a variety of languages - what fun! Perfect for a no-stamping card too. I backed my speech bubble with a piece of Basic Grey cardstock for additional stability and snipped it allowing a thin border all the way around to add more definition and help it standout on my card.

A Seasonal Colour Combo - I took the colours for my card today directly from the speech bubble - a festive combination of cool Pool Party Blue with warm Cherry Cobbler red, along with Whisper White and Basic Grey as neutrals. Here is my colour combination should you wish to save it for your creative inspiration:

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Be Merry Designer Series Paper	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock
White Perfect Accents

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! The clocks went back last night here in the UK so whilst this heralds the official arrival of winter, it also means an extra hour in bed - bliss! It's the fifth week of the month and the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host this week. She has a tic-tac-toe board to challenge our creative juices:

Tic-tac-toe week is always fun as the gallery is full of so many different creations as each of us work with a different combination of squares. For once I knew exactly where I was going with this one: straight across the middle. I took the opportunity to make another Christmas card, this time a larger 6" x 6" square card - take a look:

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

Leaf Punch Wreath - I used my leaf punch to create the oversize Christmas wreath on my card today. I stamped a whole bunch of leaves using each of the stamps in the 'Painted Harvest' stamp set in Garden Green onto Garden Green cardstock, then punched them out and layered them around my heat-embossed sentiment. Whilst this punch is part of the Painted Autumn Suite in the seasonal catalogue, today's card proves it will stretch beyond autumn into spring, summer and winter seasons too. 

Watercolor Christmas - The sentiment on my card is from the 'Watercolor Christmas' stamp set, that co-ordinates with the Christmas card kit of the same name. I love the big, bold scripted sentiments in this set! I know this set will be a 'keeper' for me, long after this catalogue is gone. I decided to heat emboss my sentiment in gold onto Basic Black cardstock, to tone in with the rich colours of my designer series paper border.

Grab Some Tartan -  The tartan border on my card uses one of my favourite patterns in the Around the World Designer Series Paper pack. This is one of the packs of paper that is included in the 'Buy 3, Get 1 Free' designer series paper promotional offer. This offer runs until the end of October so you have three more days to take advantage of this offer - why not stock up today? Just click on the links in the table below to go straight to my online store.

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 really isn't post-friendly because of the depth and fragile nature of the wreath and bow, however will be perfect to hand-deliver to someone special - it really is very pretty in real life and makes a great statement card.

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with our board 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:

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Bundle	Watercolor Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Real Red 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Solid Ribbon	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Hearts & Stars Elements	Brights Best 12" X 12" Cardstock Pack	Garden Green A4 Cardstock
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Leaf Punch	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set

It's the weekend - hurrah! It's always nice when the weekend rolls around, although I must confess this week has been a little easier than usual in terms of my usual activity schedule, with both James Juniors being on their half term holiday break. We have been enjoying time with friends, indoor climbing and outdoor play, making the most of the mild autumnal weather. I need to make the most of this weekend as that is all-change again come Monday with one of them at least back to school.

So, today I have a change from Christmas! I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink where the challenge is all about cake:

 My card features cake two ways - take a look:

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

A Neat Trick With Birthday Friends - The little girl holding the cupcake on my card has come straight from the Birthday Memories designer series paper (currently available as part of the 'buy3, get 1 free' paper promotion) but I didn't have to fussy-cut her; one of the framelits in the Birthday Friends Framelits set fits her shape perfectly. I simply lined them up on the big Shot, ran them through and voila - one little girl, complete with cupcake, and not a paper snip in sight!  

A Co-ordinated Background - I wanted to add some detail to my background without detracting from my sentiment or sweet little girl, so decided to continue the 'cake' theme with some tone-on-tone stamping in Blushing Bride using the cupcake in the 'Sweet Cupcake' stamp set to create a subtle background wallpaper.

From My Kitchen - I think the little girl has a slightly mischievious look about her and certainly looks like she is peeking around the side of something. I decided to make a feature of the sentiment and this one from the 'Label Me Pretty' stamp set is the perfect fit. 

All in all a sweet card - all I need now is a home-baked cupcake to go with 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. 

So tomorrow it will be back to Christmas with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players, however in the meantime I would really like to hear your thoughts: I'm mindful that I have been sharing a lot of Christmas projects lately as it is often what I'm making at this time of year, but as my readers how do you feel about this? Are you happy to get as much Christmas inspiration as possible, or would you prefer a mix of projects? Do leave me a comment below - I'd really love to hear your thoughts on this. 

Until tomorrow - happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sweet Cupcake Photopolymer Stamp Set	Label Me Pretty Clear-Mount Bundle	Birthday Friends Framelits Dies	Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock

I've been busy hosting a few Stampin' Up! parties this month - the current hostess promotion to earn the Merry Patterns stamp set means that it's a great time to gather with friends for an evening of creative fun. Today I'm sharing a couple of the cards that my hostesses and friends have had the opportunity to make:

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

Labels To Love - The Merry Little Labels stamp set and Everyday Punch bundle have been very popular with my customers and I wanted to share the other stamp set in the catalogue that also co-ordinates with the Everyday Label Punch: Labels To Love. There are sentiments for a variety of occasions in this set, not just Christmas, and each of them fits the Everyday Label Punch - that makes for a winner in my book! We used a couple of the Christmas sentiments and paired it with the festive Quilted Christmas papers. I even decorated the envelope flaps with a piece of co-ordinating paper in the alternating colourway. Here's one of them - you can see the second one at the bottom of this post:

Add Sparkle With Tinsel - The Mini Tinsel Trim is great for decorating your Christmas packages but is also great for adding a touch of sparkle to your cards. here we tied knots in each end and created a loop behind the label for a quick touch of glitz. 

A Quick Card Solution - These cards are a slightly smaller than a standard card size, measuring 12.7cm x 8.9cm, as we used Stampin' Up!'s white notecards and envelopes for speed. They arrive pre-scored and with envelopes included and are great if you are mass-producing or want to make some quick and easy cards, for Christmas or any time. They are also great for children's cards - both the James Juniors go through a pack of these when making up their Christmas cards for classmates.

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've had lots of fun making these cards with some of my party groups; check out my Facebook page if you'd like to see some of the action. Equally if you would like to get together with friends for an evening of crafty fun in the run up to Christmas, do get in touch - I would love to share Stampin' Up! with you.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Labels To Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Everyday Label Punch
Mini Tinsel Trim Combo Pack	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes

I've had a busy day with the last of this month's technique classes - I'll share these cards later this week - and a couple of hours of garden tidying ready for the winter. Today I'm sharing another card using our sketch this week over at The Paper Players. Here's a reminder of the sketch:

You can see my original card here; I liked this sketch so much I made a second card too - take a look:

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

Quilted Christmas - I used two of the Quilted Christmas patterned papers on today's card. The festive papers and colours in this pack make co-ordination easy and I love this traditional red and green colour combination. 

Add A Banner - The simple banner on my card is 2" wide and was punched with the Triple Banner Punch. This is one of my most useful and most used punches and whilst it gets lots of love I don't often give it a shout-out in my blog write-ups as it's one of those punches that I almost take for granted and there always seems to be something more exciting to talk about. Well, not today - three cheers for the Triple Banner Punch!

All About The Stitching - There is a common thread (pardon the pun!) running through today's card design and that is 'stitching'. From the patterns of my paper, to the stitched border that I used for my sentiment panel, along with the baker's twine bow and that pretty stitched felt star embellishment, stitching links them all and results in a clean and simple card with a seamless design. 

A simpler version of Sunday's card using the same layout, yet I love it - might have to knock a few more of these out to boost my Christmas card stocks! 

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:

Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Banner Triple Punch	Stitched Felt Embellishments	Christmas Quilt Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine

I've had a busy week which has necessitated a few days off from blogging, however since today is Sunday it's time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my sweet friend Claire to host this week and she has my favourite kind of challenge, a sketch, for us to work with:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

It's Monday again - doesn't a new week roll around quickly? Today I'm sharing a Christmas card that I made using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I decided to go monochromatic with this one using a bunch of co-ordinating products from the Be Merry Suite - take a look:

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

Be Merry - I decided to feature the charming reindeer from the 'Merry Mistletoe' stamp set front and centre on my card today. This was one of the sets that was available at a discount during the World Card Making Day promotions, so I'm sure lots of you will have snapped it up! I am also featuring this set, along with the Be Merry designer series papers - still available until the end of the month as part of the current 'Buy 3, get one free' promotion on designer series paper - at my November Christmas Stamp-A-Stack Event on Tuesday 7th November. This is an all-day event that will enable you to make 40, yes 40 Christmas cards and envelopes in one go! you can see more details on my Facebook Events page here - if you live in or around Northampton do get in touch if you'd like to join me in person for this event. This class can also be provided as a 'class to go' in the mail, so if you're further afield and this is something that interests you, do get in touch to order yours. 

Mask It - The observant amongst you will notice that the sentiment I used on my card today is also from the 'Merry Mistletoe' stamp set, but not as designed. On the stamp the words are one on top of the other, but I wanted them to run one after the other to fit across the banner on my card. I am not one to cut up my stamps (absolute sacrilege in my book!); luckily there was no need for such drastic measures. I simply used some low-tack tape to mask off the bottom word before inking my stamp, removed the tape and stamped 'Christmas' then did the same in reverse and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to add 'Wishes' alongside it.

Is It A Sprig? - I needed an embellishment to finish my card and immediately reached for the metal pieces in the Year of Cheer embellishments pot. The little stars speak for themselves, but the other design, the one that I used on my card today I'm not really sure what it is supposed to be - is it a foliage sprig perhaps? I think they look a little like a reindeer antler - hence my choosing it for my card today. What do you think - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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:

Merry Mistletoe Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Be Merry Designer Series Paper	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Year Of Cheer Embellishments	Silver Metallic Thread