Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for our final challenge of the year, a colour challenge set by our erstwhile teamie Jane:

I decided that I wanted to make a Christmas card featuring the Branching Out bundle that has been sat on my desk for ages, waiting to be used - and it's already on the Last Chance List! Take a look:

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

I had a layout in mind for my card, but when I saw a card using the Branching Out bundle by Jay Soriano, one of the UK Artisans, shared in our private demonstrator Facebook group earlier this week I changed my mind and decided to CASE his layout, but adding my own twist using our challenge colours. My base DSP was a piece of retired Brightly Gleaming specialty paper with a beautiful gold embossed design and you basically cut a slit into it before gluing to the base, so that you can slide the labels into it before gluing down. A slit is also added to the uppermost layer of the label above the stamped sentiment - this slit is the home for the various pieces of diecut greenery, berries and pinecones:

I added sparkly gold enamel dots for my berries for a touch of festive sparkle, along with some retired gold ribbon tied with Night of navy twine. I always cut more greenery than I need when making this type of card - perfect to decorate the inside:

I really like this layout and can see me using it with other sets too. I have finally posted all of my Christmas cards for the year, but I can't promise that I'm done with making them; it's always good to get a head start on next year, right?

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

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

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Colour Challenge use all of the given colours and only those colours with these exceptions:
• White and Very Vanilla are free colours.
• In addition, you may use of ONE of these neutrals: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige.
• For a Speed Stamping Challenge you must tell us the time it took to make your project and it must be finished in under 10 min.
• 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.

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BRANCHING OUT BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	PECAN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PECAN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	OPAL ROUNDS ASSORTMENT (£8.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)

From 10-12 December, there will be free shipping on all orders of £60 or more! Details as follows:

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Due to the time difference, this promotion will start on 9 December at 11:00 p.m., for Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Click here to go straight to the online store - happy shopping!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Rachel is hosting this month and it's our final challenge of the year: 

For this week's challenge you can choose any of our 2025 sketches or colour combos - just make them festive!  

For my card today I actually used our last sketch CCS574; as I continue sorting through my stamping supplies, I rediscovered a favourite festive stamp set and co-ordinating edgelits that were perfect for a second festive take on Deborah's sketch - take a look:

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

A Night of Navy card base was all I needed to highlight my white diecut from the Sleigh Ride Edgelits set. A simple stamped sentiment from the co-ordinating stamp set, Jingle All The Way, and a wooden star from my stash completed my super simple card:

 My card was so simple to make, I made two - a quick way to boost my festive card supplies:

Thank heavens for simple CAS designs at this time of year!

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. 

We hope you can join us for our last challenge of the year!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a sketch challenge designed by Jan:

As a lover of layers, I thought this sketch would be right up my alley, but I must confess I struggled a bit this week! I wanted to play with my Online Exclusives Friendly Foliage bundle; take a look at what I came up with:

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

Friendly Foliage - I have had my Friendly Foliage bundle out on my desk, waiting for an opportunity to showcase the main foliage stamp, so decided I'd try it with this sketch. This is a stamp that doesn't disappoint: the image is crisp and clean and the dies in this set are just fabulous, with the die for this main stamp set cutting out both the outline and the internal pieces too, which makes it great for layering. There are some great sentiments in this stamp set too. 

Timeless Plaid - Designer paper was an obvious choice for all those layers, however finding something with three different patterns that coordinated but didn't take away from my stamped image was tricky. In the end I settled on the Timeless Plaid papers, using two contrasting plaids for the bottom layers and taking my colour cues from the multi-coloured plaid. It makes for a rather unusual colour combo - (retired) Wild Wheat, Calypso Coral and Cherry Cobbler, but I think it looks OK. I don't love it (that's probably because it includes Wild Wheat!) but it's OK. 

Let's Talk About The Sketch - So I was a little economical with the sketch when I made my card. I did use all of the layers, but the third layer (the circle on the sketch) is the solid Calypso Coral panel behind my stamped image, and my sentiment piece is a much smaller horizontal. This worked better for me and since sketches are open to interpretation, that's fine. You can see the detail of the layering in the close-up below:

What do you think of this card? I love the stamp set, but I'm note sure I've done the sketch justice. I think a trio of DSPs and an alternative focal point might have been a better option, but there we go. The trials of a cardmaker lol!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDLY FOLIAGE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£36.75)

TIMELESS PLAID 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BASIC BEIGE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Deborah has asked that we incorporate a wavy line with a sentiment:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I used a sheet of my most favourite paper in the Christmas Tags & More Mix & Match Specialty designer series paper pack, featuring a bough of festive Christmas greenery:

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

I fussy cut the outer edge of the bough and adhered the designer series paper to a Real Red card base to highlight the red of the berries. The only other addition to my card was one of the pre-diecut gold embossed sentiments from the Greetings For You pack:

Super simple - just snip, stick and done!

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 later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS TAGS & MORE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

GREETINGS FOR YOU MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (£8.00)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonal speed challenge chosen by Heather H:

My options were somewhat limited with only one apple in my arsenal of current stamps. So I grabbed that little apple from the 'Choose Happy' stamp set and some Stampin' Blends, set my stopwatch and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I needed to keep my design simple from today's card, especially as I had an image that required colouring, so the first thing I did was cut my panel, card base and stamp my sentiment (from the retired 'Biggest Wish' set). I then randomly stamped my white panel with apples, and used just three markers to colour them - no time for shading or blending on this card! I approached my colouring differently for this card, given that I was against the clock: once I'd coloured all of the partial apples that went over the edge, I adhered my panel to the base before I coloured in the remaining apples. Why? This meant I could quickly colour my apples, leaving the ones that were in the bottom right hand corner until last.

I decided if I was running close to the wire, I would forgo colouring any that would sit beneath my sentiment label to save time. As it was, I managed to colour in all my apples with no time to spare - yes, I used my full 10 minutes today! Are they perfectly coloured? Well, with more time I would do better, but they are ok for a speed stamping card, right? 

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

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

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Speed Stamping Challenge you must tell us the time it took to make your project and it must be finished in under 10 min.
• 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 off to the hairdressers for some TLC but I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHOOSE HAPPY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	PECAN PIE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

I'm late, I'm late - for this week's new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. I inadvertently made my card for the next challenge, as opposed to the this challenge, when I was working ahead and then because of Operation Craft Room I could not find the co-ordinating bits and pieces to make a card! It's taken me a few days, but I got there eventually! Deborah is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I used Kim's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches last week for my inspiration, and went with a simple embossed wreath - take a look:

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

I used the retired Seasonal Wreath Embossing Folder to partially emboss a wreath onto my white card base, then added a trio of stamped green holly leaves (courtesy of the retired stamp set 'Merriest Wishes') and cluster of Real Red sparkling faceted enamel dots as berries. I added some super-thin gold thread for a simple bow detail and a diecut sentiment from the Greetings For All Ephemera pack:

Super simple - when you can lay your hands on everything you need, obviously!

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! colour 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:

GREETINGS FOR YOU MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (£8.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonal theme challenge:

This week's theme of 'harvest' left me musing when it came to making my card, as I seem to have an abundance of floral stamp sets at the moment but not much else - so it was time to get creative! Today's card was where I ended up - take a look:

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

When I think about harvest at this time of year, to me that generally means bucketfuls of fruit picked from the trees in my garden, or gathering fruit from the hedgerows, or pumpkins as in our inspiration photo. But when browsing through my supplies, I saw the bee keeper on the Turtle-y Cute designer paper - and I started thinking about bees harvesting nectar, and in turn the bee keeper harvesting honey from his hives. Grabbing Linda's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week for my layout (I had been wondering how to use this sketch then suddenly it occurred to me that it could form the basis for a landscape, and that trio of circles could be my hives!), I created my little scene by cutting my background piece into layers, then adding my fussy cut hives and bee keeper with dimensionals to add depth. I even fussy cut some teeny tiny bees and added them to my scene: 

I added a sentiment from 'Bee My Valentine' to complete my card. This card will be perfect for my nephew's birthday next month; beekeeping is one of his hobbies and he has recently expanded the number of hives in his garden. This has been a bumper year for his honey harvest too - so this card is completely on point.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TURTLE-Y CUTE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

I'm a little late with today's post (I'm blaming the clocks going back!) Anyway, it's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Suzanne has asked that we add a large banner and a focal point - remember to add a sentiment too! Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I went super clean and simple with a fun Christmas card that took only minutes to make, perfect for a second entry over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week too where they are all about quick cards.  take a look:

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

For my banner, I used a piece of the retired Night Before Christmas designer papers from my stash as I thought they would pair well with one of my new dies - ho ho ho from the Christmas Greetings Dies by Concorde & 9th. These are layering dies; I cut both pieces to coordinate with the colours of the santa hats on the banner, and popped the sentiment up on dimensionals and actually used the sentiment itself as my focal point:

I added a simple sentiment to the inside using another retired set to complete my card:

This was so quick to make, I used the leftover piece of DSP to create a second card too! I love the use of bold Pretty Peacock as the base for this card - sometimes it's fun to ring the changes with colourful 'white space'. 

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 will be spending mine ticking things off my 'to do' list with a vengeance! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)