Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and since it's the fifth Sunday of the month she has a bonus tic-tac-toe board challenge for us to work with:

I went across the middle of the board with patterned paper/diecut/enamel dots and used the layout over at Sketch Saturday to showcase another of the beautiful autumn leaf papers in the All About Autumn paper pack - take a look:

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

I cut a slanted banner of the design featuring autumnal horse chestnut leaves and added it to my Cajun Craze card base. I used a sentiment from the retired stamp set 'Lighthearted Leaves', an old favourite of mine, as it seemed to fit the theme of my card perfectly:

I added a couple of narrow strips of copper foil and a vellum leaf accent (cut using my retired Stitched Leaves Dies) for a little added texture and a trio of copper enamel dots to complete my card. 

All in all pretty simple, but a lovely celebration of autumn leaves - so I'm sharing with the ladies over at TGIF Challenges 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 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 hope you all enjoyed the extra hour in bed - I will be using my extra time today to do some gardening! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. 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)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

BRUSHED METALLIC ADHESIVE BACKED DOTS (8.50)

VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

Today I've a quick card for a couple of challenges:

I couldn't resist the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts and decided to pair it with the word prompt over at Inkspirational - take a look:

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

When I first saw the sketch I was so tempted to reach for my Shining Brightly DSP, but since by blog friend LeAnne beat me to it(you can see her fabulous card in the Atlantic Hearts gallery) I decided that I would use one of the frosty, snowy paper designs from the Winter Meadow pack and pair it with the perfect 'cold' sentiment from the retired stamp set 'Well Defined':

I added some ribbon to the border edge and used some silver twine to tie a snowflake embellishment for a finishing frosty touch. 

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 my Paper Players project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WINTER MEADOW 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

SILVER & WHITE 1/2" (1.3 CM) SHEER RIBBON (8.50)

SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (7.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Remembrance Day/Veterans Day' which is on November 11th. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used red, black, poppies and sympathy and this is what I came up with:

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

I don't have any current product featuring poppies, so I had a rummage in the retired box and decided that the Sunday Stamps sketch layout would be perfect to showcase some of the beautiful Peaceful Poppies designer paper that I have been hoarding. I used one sheet using the reverse for my background and then a fabulous poppy print for the central panel. A simple sentiment from a retired Sale-A-Bration set called 'Heal Your Heart' completed the front of my card:

Isn't that paper gorgeous? I used another stamp from the same set on the inside, along with some stamped poppies from the retired 'Painted Poppies' stamp set:

I also added this stamp to the front of my envelope and decorated the flap with more of that pretty paper. Too good to hoard and as the flower of remembrance these poppies are fitting for a sympathy card.

No visual summary of the key products used on today's project as they are all retired except for the basic cardstock. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

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

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 Betty is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went on the diagonal from top left with metallics/free/leaves-foliage and took inspiration from the dried leaves and purple tones of the book in the Card Concept inspiration photo for my clean and layered card - take a look:

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

I am loving the photo prints in the All About Autumn paper pack - they truly are so evocative of the season. For today's card I chose a pattern of dried leaves which co-ordinates with Moody Mauve perfectly. I heat-embossed my sentiment and edged it with a snippet of copper foil and to incorporate a little more of the copper metallic once I'd diecut my panel of designer paper using the largest rectangle in the Nested Essentials Dies set, I cut an extra piece of the pattern that is actually on the reverse of the leaf image as it features a distressed copper embossed design - you can see the shine a little more closely below:

I added a background panel that I'd run through my diecutting machine with the (retired) Stitched Greenery Die for a little added interest and detail. Quite a simple card, with lovely warm autumnal tones of mauve, brown and copper - time to wrap up warm and go romping through the autumn leaves methinks!

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)

SENDING SMILES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (21.00)

MOODY MAUVE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

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

I decided to use one of my Beary Christmas Memories & More cards with a pre-printed sentiment for the front layered panel of my card and the rest of the design evolved from there. Take a look at my finished card:

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

I cut down one of the large Memories & More cards and used the colours of the card to create my card base and layers. Although I used the co-ordinating envelope from the co-ordinating pack, I didn't use the card base. Instead I added a Very Vanilla layer that I added some soft stencilling to using one of the retired Butterflies and Flowers Layering Decorative Masks, adding some red rhinestones to pick out the pattern centres. I also added some Real Red baker's twine to the card and a wooden snowflake element from my stash:

These Memories & More cards are great to use for quick and easy Christmas cards; they are easy to step up too with the addition of a few additional bits and pieces. I think this card has something of a Scandinavian feel to it - what do you think? Leave me a comment below - 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 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; we are having a relaxing weekend as it is the start of the half-term break. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEARY CHRISTMAS MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (9.50)	BEARY CHRISTMAS MEMORIES & MORE CARDS & ENVELOPES (9.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)

Today I'm sharing a card that's a little more involved so perfect for a spot of weekend crafting! I used the fabulous sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout:

I've made quite a few cards with my 'Joy of Noel' bundle and wanted to try something a little different with this slimline layout - take a look:

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

Joy Of Christmas - The colour scheme for today's card was inspired by the beautiful piece of Joy of Christmas Designer Series Paper I used for the first layer on my card. A white background covered in red berries and festive holly and pine foliage, this paper is perfect for a traditional Christmas card. Whilst much of this panel is covered by the other layers of the card, enough of it can be seen to tie in the other elements. 

Joy of Noel - Most if not all of my other cards using the NOEL 'Joy of Noel' stamps and dies have positioned the letters in a square. This slimline format allowed for me to use the letters in a column (still broken with 'joyous') - this works really well. I originally stamped my letters in Real Red onto Basic White, but they didn't have enough impact. I swapped them for Real Red cardstock embossed with silver and liked this much better. The silver picks up on the grey outlines of the base DSP and the silver and red combo stands out much better and the red ties in with both the red frame I used for the sentiment panel and the two strips of Real Red cotton ribbon I used on the base DSP layer.  

Christmas Classics - For the square layers of the sketch, I used a couple of diecuts of the Christmas Classics foliage border square die. I originally used a sild colour of green for this layer, but it was too stark. Eventually I cut the layers out of a piece of (retired) Garden Green check paper that resulted in a softer, more interesting variegated look. I added some extra detail with a green Blends marker, along with a few red rhinestones for a little extra red berry detail:

This card has seven layers, but I think each of them serves a purpose and makes a valuable contribution to the overall design, which I love. What do you think - does this celebration of festive foliage remind you of a traditional Christmas? Do leave me a comment below - 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 my card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS DIES (35.00)	JOY OF NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (45.75)	JOY OF CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)
REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

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 'fill in the blank' challenge from Heather C:

Vellum - so many creative things you can do with it and the Design Team will be sharing lots of them for this challenge. One of my favourite things to do with vellum is ... to dry emboss it! I made a Christmas card using the colours over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week that showcases embossed vellum in all its glory - take a look:

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

For my card today, I created a faux bookbinding card. I embossed a whole sheet of vellum using the Christmas Tidings embossing folder and attached it along the edge beneath my binding edge - this is a useful way to avoid visible adhesive, which is something you need to think about when working with vellum. This embossing folder has lots of festive words and images and I chose to highlight the gingerbread man (you can see him near the bind) and add a couple of stamped gingerbread men to my card. I stamped them in Pecan Pie using a long-retired set, 'Scentsational Season', and added bows from 'Cookie Cutter Christmas' (also retired). I've included the link to a current set with a cute gingerbread man in below, in case you don't have one in your collection. You can see mine more closely below - they provide a nice contrast to the fabulous dimension and texture of the embossed vellum:

I added another gingerbread man and a sentiment from 'Joy to You' to the inside of my card too:

You might also notice on the photo above that I embossed the envelope flap too for a co-ordinated look. I love to decorate envelopes in this way - it's super simple and so effective.

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 Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS TIDINGS EMBOSSING FOLDER (8.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PECAN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SENDING CHEER BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)
JOY TO YOU CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)

I was feeling a little under the weather today, so I retreated to my craft room to play along with a couple of challenges that enabled me to use up some of my retired bits and pieces!

First up a pink Christmas card to play along with the ladies over at Jingle Belles that uses the current Try Stampin' On Tuesday layout:

The retired Whimsy and Wonder designer paper was perfect for a pink Christmas card and a couple of stitched snowflakes and sentiment from the 'Merry Snowflakes' stamp set, which I heat embossed in silver - you can see that a bit better on the photo below:

My second card is a 'dies only' card for the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS that uses three of the four colours on the Color Dare board (all except Glacier) that is also for the 'Anything Spooky' theme over at AA Cards:

I made my ghost using the retired Boo To You and Fall Fun Framelits; it's for my daughter, hence the pink card base and I added the 'Boo!' with foam for a little added depth:

I added googly eyes and a flower for a feminine touch, although I think this makes my ghost rather more sweet than spooky!

A couple of cards that used up some of my retired stash, so no supplies list today. It is really dark and stormy here today too with the arrival of Storm Babet, so it made photographs a little trickier too - hopefully still a few creative ideas for you though! 

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

Card 1:    

Card 2:       

Today I have an additional late post to share a card I made for the following challenges:

I had been mulling over the lovely colour palette at Just Add Ink for a few days and when I saw the new sketch over at Hand Stamped Sentiments today I had an idea! Since the Great British Bake Off was replaced by World Cup Rugby on the TV schedules this evening, I took the opportunity to grab some extra craft time and make my idea a reality - take a look:

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

I thought these colours would make a slightly unconventional Christmas card and I had the 'Christmas Classics' bundle out on my desk, looking for an opportunity to use the fabulous label and foliage dies. I decided to use the foliage-embellished label for the diagonal element, extending it from a label to stretch across the width of my cardfront. I cut the label again out of Berry Burst and paper-pieced the berries to the Pretty Peacock base. To add a little extra interest, I diecut a couple of holly leaves out of some variegated Bright & Beautiful DSP and added these behind a circle of distressed gold paper:

I finished my card with a few Fresh Freesia Tinsel Gems. I like this unusual Christmas colour scheme; what are your favourite unconventional colour combinations? Do leave me a comment below - 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 soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (49.50)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	DISTRESSED GOLD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (4.75)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	TINSEL GEMS THREE-PACK (7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)

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)