Today I'm sharing a card using the layout over at Try A Sketch on Tuesday:

I liked this layout and decided to dig out some tiny (retired) Christmas dies that I could use to accent the vertical panels - take a look at what I came up with:

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

I decided to add a selection of coloured strips that co-ordinated with my diecut images and then using a selection of Christmas shapes from the retired Ornamental Christmas Dies, I cut one each out of an arch cut with my Everyday Arches Dies and placed them over the coloured panels, so that the colour shows through the negative space. I then accented each one with a co-ordinating enamel shape:

Some twine and a festive sentiment complete my card. My card is slightly wider than a standard A6 card as I used the width of the arches to determine it, so will require a slightly longer envelope than usual to accommodate. 

I like the idea behind this sketch; it would work for all kinds of occasions that you have small dies for - seasons, Halloween, birthdays - time to go and dig through the die collection!

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

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

Nature's landscapes - these can take so many forms, the possibilities really are endless! I was tempted to go with some photographic papers, as I do have some with lovely autumn and winter landscapes, but in the end I decided to grab the sketch over at SUO Challenges and use that large square to create my own - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Winter Dreams - My colour scheme is the same as the one I used for last week's Paper Players card (you can see that here if you missed it) as I used another of the patterns in the Winter Dreams specialty designer series paper pack on my card today. This time I went for the falling snow for my sky - perfect for my snowy landscape. The snowflakes are graduated across the sheet of paper and I have used the 'busy' end on my card so it is looking a little blizzard-like, but that's OK - I do like the texture of this paper.

Welcome Noel - My landscape is made using the Welcome Noel bundle. There are rows of trees and houses, as well as a selection of standalone houses, trees and a deer. I've used a combination of all of them to build up the layers of my snowy landscape, using different papers, textures (I used white flocked velvet paper for the tree line and white glimmer paper for the foreground) to add even more texture and interest.

All The Layers - There are nine layers on today's card, each one adding more depth and detail than the next. I have taken some liberties: I added the run of houses in Secret Sea for contrast, whereas if it was a real landscape they would be white, given the falling snow. I also added the smaller diecut house on top of the larger one, whereas for a true sense of perspective it should sit behind the larger one, but that's creative licence, right? The photo below shows more of the detail of those layers and textures:

 I added a larger sentiment from the retired Framed & Festive stamp set to finish my card; I initially went with a skinny 'Merry Christmas' that was more in keeping with the sketch, but it just got lost amongst all the other detail, so I switched it out for something bigger. 

I really like this combination of dark blue and white for a snowy scene; those Welcome Noel dies would look great in lots of other colour combinations 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; it is the hubby's birthday today, so we will be paddleboarding this morning and then returning home for a late lunch of homemade Italian ragu and a restful afternoon - bliss! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WELCOME NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)	WINTER DREAMS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£13.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SECRET SEA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	CLOUD COVER A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£6.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Rachel has asked that we overlay a trio of shapes and add a sentiment. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I grabbed my Season of Celebration and Happiest Tags Mix & Match Ephemera packs and had a look through the diecuts to see what might work in place of those circles - take a look at what I came up with:

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

I used a circular sticker with a green chequered pattern, coupled with a diecut featuring a large poinsettia and foliage and a second one with a smaller pink flower that included a pre-printed sentiment too. These three elements came together so quickly, I couldn't just leave it there - I had to add a trio of gold pearls and some loops of gold twine for a little festive sparkle, even if it is pushing the CAS boundaries a little:

These Mix & Match Ephemera Packs make light work of quick and easy cards and add lots of detail to those three elements. They are great to have for making lots of cards, especially in the run up to Christmas. No stamping needed!

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

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

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SEASON OF CELEBRATION MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (£7.50)

HAPPIEST SEASON TAGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (£6.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

As promised I do have a quick second post today to share a card that uses the colour combo over at Color Hues that is my first of two entries for the 'anything goes' Stencil Week over at Just Us Girls: 

So today's card is a first outing for some new product that I finally got to play with at the weekend - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

I recently treated myself to Altenew's Winterberry Poinsettias Embossing Folder and co-ordinating layered stencil set. I know, I know - I'm not big on embossing folders, but this one is just lovely and the addition of the stencils mean that colouring it is much easier than without. For my first outing I couldn't resist the purple and mossy green combo over at Color Hues - I considered a non-floral Halloween card, but I don't really send many of those so I succumbed to florals. Yes, I know poinsettias are not traditionally purple, but I am personally partial to a bit of purple and I decided to exercise some creative licence! I used a base of (retired) Wisteria Wonder cardstock and inked the flowers in Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape, with the dark berries in Blackberry Bliss and the larger ones in white shimmer paint. Once I'd finished stencilling, I splattered the image with white craft ink and added a stacked Christmas diecut sentiment in silver foil (these are the retired Merry Christmas Thinlits Dies from Stampin' Up!). You can see the detail onthe image below, although my photos really don't do the embossing justice: 

I added a large diecut sentiment because I had used a 6" square card base, but next time I'm going to try it on a standard cardfront and go with something smaller I think. I think I can improve on my stencilling technique with this set, so I'm looking forward to trying it out in alternative colourways. Not bad for a first attempt though!

Enjoy your day; I need to crack on with a few other jobs, including a few outdoors as it's a lovely day today but the fine weather isn't forecast to last so time is of the essence. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Happy Monday everyone! It's a new week and today I'm sharing a second card that uses Donna's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I still kept with the idea of a tree for the triangular shape, but for this card I was actually more inspired by the horizontal element - take a look:

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

I've had the Welcome Noel bundle since I placed my preorder, but not broken the seal on it, having been too preoccupied with other things! When I saw Donna's layout, it occurred to me that the horizontal element would be perfect for the row of houses in this set - and the large tree would work as the triangular shape. With that much decided, I set to work, although my card did evolve before I was sufficiently happy with it. I chose a small sentiment from the (retired) 'Joyful Tidings' and I had originally envisaged this card with a simple white base, but with only the three main elements it looked rather sparse and 'unfinished'. My first addition was to emboss the panel onto which I had stamped the houses with the (retired) Softly Falling embossing folder for a little added texture and interest; I then cut down the panel and mounted it onto a Popp Parade base with a Peaceful Pine mat for an additional pop of festive colour. Finally with the snow falling I thought the tree looked a little 'solid', so I added some tiny silver pearls to break up the green:

There - much better!  I didn't get around to making up my third idea using Donna's layout - so many ideas, so little time! I don't know why this sketch inspired me so much and in such different ways, but thank you Donna - a definite keeper for me!

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; I may well be back later with another post to share one of my weekend makes, but for now I am off to my Pilates class. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WELCOME NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

PEACEFUL PINE CLASSIC STAMPIN PAD (£14.00)

PECAN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

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

I saw those two panels and my mind immediately thought 'designer series paper' (I know, you're not surprised!) They actually gave me the opportunity to use a paper that I hadn't broken the seal on to make a couple of Christmas cards - take a look:

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

Winter Dreams - The paper in question is called 'Winter Dreams' and is one of the September Online Exclusives products. I think this paper is highly under-rated - I say that, as I haven't seem anyone else use it anywhere in the blogosphere and it really is lovely! It's difficult to see, but the snowflakes are actually textured; they have the appearance of embroidery but are almost dry-embossed into the paper - so pretty in real life! The white is really sharp against the dark Secret Sea background and there are three patterns in the paper pack: this one featuring snowflakes, another featuring dots, i.e. falling snow and the third is a knitted pattern. For the panel that is peeking out behind, I used a piece of in-colour DSP to compliment the monochrome colour scheme. 

Texture All The Way - In addition to those snowflakes, I decided to use another snowflake as the focal point and I cut this out of white velvet paper. It's difficult to see in the photo, but this gives both the snowflake and the white bar behind a lovely, fuzzy feel:

The snowflake itself was diecut using the Stitched Snowflake Dies and the heat-embossed sentiment is from the 'Merry Snowflakes' stamp set; both retired, but they compliment the paper perfectly and give a fun mix of old and new. A couple of sparkly white sequins and an opal gem in the snowflake centre complete my card.

Inside Story - I used another sentiment from 'Merry Snowflakes' for the inside of my card:

That's another two Christmas cards for my stash!

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; my Sunday is shaping up to be a quiet one; I may well go on a bit of a hunt for winter flowers at the garden centre, as we've had lovely weather this week and now that the end-of-summer tidying up is complete, I feel like I'm ready to get in gear for the winter months. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WINTER DREAMS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£13.00)	2025–2027 IN COLOR™ 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	SECRET SEA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)
ADHESIVE-BACKED SPARKLE SEQUINS (£8.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a fun 'fill in the blank' challenge chosen by me:

We are at the end of September and with three months to go, thoughts naturally turn towards Christmas and the festive season. As crafters, we often tell ourselves at the start of the year we will build our stash of Christmas cards throughout the year, but how many do we actually make? I thought today's challenge would be a great time to find out, so whether this is your first Christmas card of the year or your fiftieth, do play along this week and let me know! I had a card made for today's challenge, but when I saw Donna's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week I had not one but three ideas with it, so I saved my original card for another day and had to get one of those ideas out of my head and into paper! Take a look at what I came up with and read on to see how I filled in our blank:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

So this is the 23rd Christmas card I've made this year so far! It's the 18th one I've shared here on my blog (the other five are for upcoming design team challenges that I will share in due course). I was actually surprised that I hadn't made more - so expect me to be doing more Christmas creating in the coming months. Donna's layout includes a Christmas tree-shaped triangle, although she points out that the shape can be anything - it doesn't have to be a tree. For today's card I went for something of a halfway house: I chose to use a tag from the Happiest Season Mix & Match Tag Pack for the main shape, but one that featured a diecut Christmas tree that I popped out to use the negative. I added a snippet of paper from the co-ordinating Creative Celebrations DSP Pack that I've been creating with lots lately that featured the same soft blue with a delicate snowflake pattern and added some silver twine and a trio of rhinestones, along with one of the new white felted stars, before finishing with a simple silver heat-embossed sentiment (from the retired 'Merriest Wishes'):

The tag and paper is a very pale shade of Hydrangea Hue, but the cardstock is much darker than this and was too bold for my mat. A rummage in the retired cardstock box resulted in a mat of Seaside Spray, which proved a better fit. This is such a simple card, yet it has an elegance to it I think. It's one of those cards where I feel like I've managed to channel my 'inner Celine', an homage to the fabulous designer over at Freshly Made Sketches, Cecile Ribon, who makes such fabulous clean and elegant cards - check out her fabulous feline this week here. I'm also linking today's card up over at Inspire.Create Challenge where their current challenge is 'clean and simple'. I really like this card and you could use the layout with any of the tag shapes in the Creative Celebrations pack.

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

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

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Fill In The Blank challenge, please tell us in your post how you completed the sentence.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

Enjoy your day; I'm hoping to escape to my craft room this afternoon and try out another of my ideas using Donna's fabulous layout. If I get there I'll be back tomorrow with another project - fingers crossed. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HAPPIEST SEASON TAGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (£6.75)

CREATIVE CELEBRATIONS MIX & MATCH 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£13.00)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)

METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

It's my birthday tomorrow and that's what inspired my choice of theme this week. You can't have a birthday cake without at least one candle, right? You are not restricted to birthday candles for your cards though - Christmas candles, menorah or any kind of seasonal candles are fine - just include at least one on your card. I was leafing through my new Creative Celebrations Mix & Match Designer Paper and realised there were two different festive candle designs, so I decided to choose one as the focal point for today's card. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

This pretty festive candle is on an arch-shaped tag, so I carefully fussy cut three of them from the Creative Celebrations paper (because everything looks better in threes!) and mounted them onto three split-colour arches cut with my Everyday Arches Dies. I used another pattern in the pack for the top half of my background (the lower portion is from another retired Christmas pack) and added in some diecut bows, foliage and snowflakes along with a sentiment from my stash:

Lots of layers on this one, but actually the paper has enough detail to stand alone - even without my additions the paper is perfect for both quick and more detailed Christmas cards. So what kind of candles will you feature on your cards? 

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

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

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

Enjoy your day; I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CREATIVE CELEBRATIONS MIX & MATCH 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£13.00)

EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (£27.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

PEACEFUL PINE CLASSIC STAMPIN PAD (£14.00)

2026–2028 IN COLOR™ A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Firstly a big thank you to everyone who joined us for our milestone 800th challenge last week; the gallery was amazing! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month we have a tictactoe board for you to work with:

I decided to go across the top row with patterned paper/things that fly/layers for a Christmas card (or two!) featuring more of those Creative Celebrations designer series paper patterns and a new Online Exclusives Christmas stamp set called 'Woodland Wishes' - take a look:

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

Woodland Wishes includes a whole range of outline animals, with a main stamp including a pyramid of animals in the shape of a Christmas tree, that are great for colouring individually or alternatively simply stamping as is. For my card I layered a piece of Hydrangea Hue patterned paper onto a white mat and Hydrangea Hue base, then heat embossed the main tree of woodland animals stamp from 'Woodland Wishes' in white onto another panel of Hydrangea Hue and die cut this with a Perennial Postage DIe. I added a ribbon tab in the same colour and a trio of white sparkling sequins, then added it to my prepared base with dimensionals. Can you see all of the things that fly in the image? I counted a bird (maybe a robin), an owl and two doves: 

A simple heat-embossed sentiment on a banner below completes my card. I really like this card, so I made a few more using other patterns of DSP in the Creative Celebrations pack. Here's a green one, stamped in Peaceful Pine onto Soft Succulent:

On this one the image is heat-embossed in gold onto Real Red cardstock:

 The final one is stamped in Real Red onto white cardstock, with a colourful plaid background:

I made a few more of these stamping in red or green onto white too - here's a shot of all of the different designs together:

With a stamping platform, this card was a great one to make multiples of. I sent a whole bunch of these out to customers with their new September Stampin' Up! catalogues and had a bunch left over to add to my Christmas stash too. The blue car is my favourite, although I am quite partial to the one with the plaid background too. Do you have a favourite? Do let me know in the comments below.

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; it's a long Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and es you've guessed it that can only mean one thing: rain! There was no cricket yesterday as it poured down all day, so I stayed inside and spent the day cooking instead. If today's cricket proves a wash out too, I will get more time to craft so may well have a few extra projects to share with you this week! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host and we have a special challenge for you this week to celebrate our 800th challenge! As it's sketch week, we are going to revisit the very first sketch we used here at The Paper Players when we started:

Ann was one of the original team members, so it's only fitting she should be our host this week.My own blog doesn't go back that far so I know I didn't play along with this sketch the first time around; Challenge 169 was the first challenge I played along with and I joined the design team as a guest then a permanent member on Challenge 203 - so I'm nearer my personal 600th anniversary post, but I digress! You know how much I love a good sketch, so revisiting number 1 was fun - and I broke open some of my new pre-order product from the new September Stampin' Up! catalogue to make a Christmas card to share with you today - take a look:

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

There's a mix of old and new on today's card: I used one of the patterns in the new Creative Celebrations Mix & Match designer series paper pack with a printed wreath as the centre of my focal layer, cutting it out with an Everyday Arches Die to follow the shape of the wreath. I used a base of (retired) Soft Succulent cardstock and covered the top portion with a piece of (retired) Tidings of Christmas patterned paper - the colour, including the retired Evening Evergreen, coordinates really well with these new papers.

For my accent image I used a deer, complete with winter scarf.  The deer is a pre-cut diecut piece that is also included in the Creative Celebrations DSP pack - it contains a mixture of patterned sheets, split sheets, tag designs and a few sheets of precut pieces that are great for quick and easy cards. The designs also co-ordinate perfectly with the Season of Celebration Mix & Match Ephemera Pack and the Happiest Season Tags Mix & Match Ephemera Pack - both of which you can expect to see on future cards. I fussy cut the diecut deer's border a little closer and decided to add some clear rhinestones to my wreath and a Hydrangea Hue bow behind my dear for a couple of extra festive touches:

A banner of Evening Evergreen cardstock and a simple 'Noel' greeting from the (retired) 'Peaceful Noel' stamp set complete 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 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:

It would be lovely to see as many of you as possible join us for our milestone anniversary challenge this week. Enjoy your day; I don't have anything special planned today, so I'm hoping it will be a relaxing one. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (£27.00)

2026–2028 IN COLOR™ A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£6.75)