Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great colour challenge for you:

I used the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as the basis for my card today - a largely one layered card, except for the banners and it also showcases a fun new technique:

I used extra thick Whisper White cardstock for my base and stamped two of the three trees from the White Christmas stamp set onto the bottom corner of my card in Memento Black. I coloured the trees in with my Smoky Slate Stampin' Write marker and added a couple of cardinals, coloured in Real Red for a little colour. Now for the fun technique! This was shown to me recently by the lovely Monica Gale who used it on a card stamped with the Wonderland set. for the snow on my trees and on the ground, I added a thin line of Tombo glue, then sprinkled this with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and then white embossing powder, then heated it gently with my heat tool. This causes the glue to puff up and produce wonderfully textured and sparkling snow - such a neat effect. To finish my card, I cut a reverse banner using my Triple Banner Punch - I simply fed the paper in from the underside of the punch and used the piece which normally you would throw away - from a scrap of Merry Moments designer series paper that has Real Red and Smoky Slate stripes. Finally to add a little extra sparkle, I added a thin banner of red glimmer paper - I just love this stuff!

I spent ages working up different cards for this week's colours and eventually settled on this one. It's very pretty in real life and has lots of texture for a predominantly white card, but it was incredibly difficult to photograph and I'm not sure that the picture really does it justice. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Wednesday everyone! This is my second post today - click here if you would like to see this week's Weekly Deals post. For today's creative project, I have another Christmas card to share with you featuring another of the adorable characters from the Christmas Cuties stamp set and this week's sketch over at Retrosketches:

I also paired my Christmas Cuties with one of my under-used papers with the Home for Christmas designer series paper pack - take a look:

I stamped my image in Archival Black onto Extra Thick Whisper White and coloured it with my inks and aquapainter, then stamped the snow stamp around it in Pool Party. I mounted my stamped image panel onto a piece of Real Red that I had cut out with my scalloped circle framelit, the largest one in the Circles Framelits set. Behind this I used my piece of patterned paper, matted onto Mossy Meadow and a card base of Pool Party. I cut out my sentiment with my retired Word Bubble framelits and popped it up on dimensionals for a little lift.

This is one of those super cute cards that is very satisfying to produce - all that theraputic colouring! I'm happy to have found a layout that makes the most of that lovely background paper too. 

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Cuties Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Aqua Painters
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Delightful Dijion Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

If you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the new Hostess Code for November SHRENCSC if your order is under £150 and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Boughs & Berries Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Flower Medallion Punch
Real Red Envelope Paper

Four things on offer this week - and a couple of Christmas products to boot, along with the flower medallion punch that co-ordinates with the large snowflake in the Flurry of Wishes stamp set. 

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Today is a special day - I received my badge and pass for Stampin' Up's Onstage Live Event in the post today and I am SOOO excited; only 8 more sleeps to go! I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with some of my teamies, getting a sneak peek at lots of new SU! product and attending my first Centre Stage Live.

Today's card is another on the theme of thankfulness, but with something of a twist! I was documenting some Project Life at the weekend and decided to use one of my cards from the 2015 Project Life Seasonal Snapshot kit to make a card. This is something I do rarely, as I usually want to use everything in my PL documenting, but decided it was a good idea so that you can see  the sheer versatility of the Project Life product range. So here is my card:

I'd like to say this card took me ages, but that would be so untrue! It uses a PL card for the cardfront, with one of the wooden embellishments from the Seasonal Snapshot accessory kit adhered to the front with glue dots, and the words and letters and little leaves are all self-adhesive elements from the accessory pack that I adhered directly to my base, popping the 'thankful' up on a couple of dimensionals for a little lift. I added a black candy dot and some SAB Tangelo Twist thick baker's twine from my stash and my card was complete! So easy and yet so effective - I love the rich colours of the plaid and the negative space leaf really draws you in. The leaf itself made it into my Project Life folder with my photos  - bonus! Project Life sets are great for cardmakers too - if you can bear to part with them of course! 

It's remix week over at TGIF Challenges so I decided to use their theme - thankful - and sketch for my card, which I am also linking up to SUO Challenges as it fits with their theme too and the inspiration over at Curtain Call where my background looks just like their rug! 

I am thankful for many things, but today I am mostly thankful that the carbon monoxide detector that set off its alarm this morning is nothing serious and that our relatively new gas boiler has not sprung an unexplained leak. The National Grid engineer that came out on the emergency call determined it was simply a blip - at least we know the alarm is working!

I'm off to get some jobs done before heading out on the school run and then to take one of my little pianists for a piano exam - wish Rebecca luck! Back tomorrow with another project - Christmas this time! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Project Life Card Collection

Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

Neutrals Candy Dots

Good morning everyone - happy Monday to you! This morning I have a Christmas card using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

Now I looked at this sketch and loved the layout and almost went with it 'as is' using the square as my shape - such a classic layout - but decided since Cindy was ok with 'any shape' I would actually go with a much less literal interpretation. So without further ado, here's my card:

I used Crumb Cake for my base, then stamped the shepherds and wise men from the 'All Ye Faithful' stamp set onto a strip of Early Espresso cardstock and heat embossed them in gold and matted this panel with gold foil cardstock before adhering to my card base. I then did the same to my holy family onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and coloured it with my inks and a blender pen before cutting out with the smallest of the Ovals Framelits and my Big Shot. I then popped this up on dimensionals between the stamped images on the Early Espresso piece. To finish, I stamped my sentiment in Early Espresso directly onto the Crumb Cake base layer. 

So as you can see, a less than literal interpretation of the sketch but each of the key elements is present. I adore this stamp set and these images are beautiful whether used individually or as a set.

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Ye Faithful Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Heat Tool (Uk)	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock
Gold Foil Sheets

Another quick post from me today! I managed to get a little time yesterday to create a clean and simple wedding card for a couple of challenges today:

I was fortunate enough to be a winner over at The Challenge last week (you can see that card here -thank you ladies!) and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to join in again this week. The Challenge have a theme of weddings this week and CASology have a cue card of 'heart'; I thought I would make a card in warm Winter reds with a touch of gold using my 'Hello Life' stamp set and hearts border punch:

I used a card base of Cherry Cobbler with a split top panel of Very Vanilla, stamped with two overlaying hearts and heat embossed in gold with my 'love' sentiment and joined with a piece of gold foil cardstock punched with the hearts border punch to allow the red to show through the negative space. 

Super simple but rather pretty and perfect for a winter wedding when regal colours often feature.

That's all from me; back tomorrow with a festive project once more. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Hearts Border Punch	Gold Foil Sheets

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my good friend Claire to host and she has a seasonal theme to get our creative juices flowing this week:

For today's challenge I just had to use the fabulous scrolled 'Thankful' in the hostess set 'Six Sayings'. That's where I started out - here's where I finished up:

I also used the sketch over at The Friday Mashup and used leaves, so completed both elements of their challenge this week. Isn't that sentiment just fabulous? I decided that I would get a flavour of fall with the patterned leaf paper from the 'Into The Woods' designer series paper, layered on some Early Espresso and a base of Daffodil Delight. This allowed my gold embossed sentiment to really stand out against the Early Espresso banner. I also added a trio of Into The Woods Elements and some gold cord trim: I stamped the leaves in Versamark then heat embossed them in gold and coloured an acorn in with my Early Espresso Stampin' Write marker and stamped the acorn cap in Versamark and heat embossed that with some retired Early Espresso to give a little shine. 

This is such a colourful card and I love the Thankful sentiment - I for one have much to be thankful for and what better time to let others know how much they are appreciated. I'm also linking up with SUO challenges where their current theme is thank you cards.

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 thankful fall-themed creations this week. We are having a sport-free weekend for a change, with a lie-in following our trick-or-treat exploits yesterday and a quiet day before returning to school tomorrow. Amen to that!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Six Sayings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Into The Woods Designer Series Paper	Into The Woods Elements	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Gold Cording Trim	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock

A late post from me today - too much trick-or-treat fun earlier on this evening! Anyway without further ado, today I made a couple of cards using the sketch from Mojo Monday this week, the second of which is also for this week's challenge over at Merry Monday:

Both my cards feature papers from the Season of Cheer designer series paper, along with the Christmas Greetings Thinlits with the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set - one of the great bundle offers in the current seasonal catalogue. Here's the first card I made in traditional festive colours with the holly paper:

I went with a simple base layer of Real Red, then for the panel layered the holly paper with some Mossy Meadow and added a banner of red glimmer paper before adding my layered circles featuring my sentiment, a combination of stamped elements from the 'Holly Jolly Greetings' stamp set and a glimmer die cut using the Christmas Greetings Thinlits. I really liked this card, so decided to make a second one with a slightly different sentiment combination from the same sets, this time featuring the Christmas lights paper from the same DSP pack and a slightly less traditional colour scheme. Here it is:

I just love the glimmer paper on both of these cards; I'm not a fan of loose glitter, but glimmer paper is the best! So which one do you prefer - traditional or contemporary colour scheme? They are both great, although I think I'm veering towards the holly - I'm a sucker for red and green at Christmas time! I'd love to hear your thoughts - do leave me a comment below.

Back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Bundle	Season Of Cheer Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform
Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Punch Corner Project Life	2-1/2" Circle Punch	Red Glimmer Paper	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Silver Glimmer Paper	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock

Today I have a change from Christmas cards; I wanted to use this week's sketch over at Less is More and I am also playing along with the challenge over at The Card Concept:

I decided that the colours over at The Card Concept would make a pretty thank you card so here's my card for today:

I've been seeing some wonderful autumnal cards made with the Sheltering Tree stamp set so I thought I would use it on this card, although I think my card looks more Spring-like than autumnal! I used a base of Pink Pirouette with a mat of Early Espresso, and stamped my tree off the edge of the panel in Early Espresso onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I overstamped the blossom in Pink Pirouette with a little Cherry Cobbler, then for my sentiment used a combination of my 'thanks' Greeting thinlits die for the negative die cut in my Cherry Cobbler banner, with 'For Being You' stamped in Early Espresso using the 'Crazy About You' stamp set. 

Clean and simple with a hint of cherry blossom - a nice change from the autumnal, Halloween and Christmas cards of late!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set	Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Greetings Thinlits Dies	Big Shot
Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch challenge for you:

I saw this sketch layout and immediately thought 'snowflakes' so dug out my 'Festive Flurry' stamp set and some Lost Lagoon cardstock, a colour that I haven't used much this season. Here's my card:

I decided to go with a square card today and worked directly onto my card base, as I wanted my snowflakes to add the layers. I stamped my first snowflake in Lost Lagoon directly onto my card base and centred it with an iced rhinestone , then stamped my sentiment in Versamark overlapping this and heat embossed it in white. Before adding my punched snowflakes, I also stamped the splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in Versamark onto the background and heat embossed this in Iridescent Ice; it looks quite dark in the photo but is actually really sparkly. For the remaining circular elements of the sketch, I stamped one of the smaller snowflakes in Lost Lagoon on Whisper White, added a rhinestone to the centre and punched it out using the co-ordinating punch, then for the remaining circle I used one of the natural snowflake elements that I stamped in versamark and heat embossed in white, then stamped it again in versamark and heat embossed it in Iridescent Ice so that it is super-sparkly. lastly, I added some silver cord trim to the folded edge.

I just love this card - so very sparkly and Christmassy, all rolled into one! I love the combination of snowflakes to add a little flavour of collage to my card today.

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: