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

Trees offer us so many options and feature on so many different types of cards. I am still making Christmas cards and found the perfect answer to a quick card - take a look:

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

A Little Bit Festive - It will no surprise to my regular readers that the time-saving hack for today's card was found in the A Little Bit Festive paper pack. The Christmas tree that is the focal point for today's card is a pre-printed panel that was ready to go - I just pushed it out of the paper sheet and done! I couldn't leave it there though! I picked out the red and green colours in the design and added a couple of panels behind to add a little more interest and robustness to my card.

Joyful Sayings - My Christmas tree has a gold foiled star and that led me to one of the pre-diecut sentiments in the Joyful Sayings Ephemera pack for an impactful overlaid sentiment. I added it to my card with some snippets of dimensionals for a little lift and completed my sentiment with the only stamping (apart from the inside) to feature on today's card with the word 'happy' from the 'Greetings of the Season' stamp set:

I considered adding some gems to my finished card, but decided it against it, not on the grounds of time but more that I didn't want to clutter my clean design.

Christmas on Speed - The festive season is always a great time to have some quick and easy card making ideas to hand - so this week's challenge is definitely a timely one. How long did my card take today?

Six minutes exactly - woohoo! There are lots of other panels in the A Little Bit Festive paper pack that can be used for similar quick and easy 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 '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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)
GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

Today I'm sharing a super-quick card that I made for the current sketch challenge over at AAA Cards:

This card is a real 'scraps off the desk' card; I had lots of animals cut from retired Penguin Playmates designer paper in my scraps box and I thought they would make a fun trio peeking out of those diecut aperture windows:

I added a sentiment from the retired 'Penguin Place' stamp set that is also in triplicate and - job done!

This card is going into my box of cards ready to send to Ben when he hopefully heads off to uni next year - I think it makes for a fun, seasonal 'hello' card.

Enjoy your day; I'm catching up with a friend and I'll be back here tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Happy hump day everyone! Yes it's midweek and freezing cold here in the UK, so I'm hiding away on the warmth of my craft room and have another Christmas make for you! I couldn't resist those deep, jewelled tones over at Colour Inkspiration which totally got me thinking about Christmas baubles! So I went hunting through my extensive stash of retired tree decorations and happened to find one that allowed me to play along with the team over at Just Us Girls where the code word is JOY:

I decided to use the sketch over at Sunday Stamps for a second go (this is such a great layout!) and set to work - take a look at where I ended up:

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

I was so tempted to use my favourite JOY stamp from 'Joyful Nativity' for the Just US Girls Challenge, but when I rediscovered this bauble in the Delicate Baubles Dies set, I decided to use this instead. I added a strip of metallic gold vellum and a subtle splatter of gold Wink of Stella to my Pretty Peacock card base, then added my gold and blue ornament, picking out the berries with some Melon Mambo enamel dots - be warned, you need a lot!

I finished the sentiment by heat embossing some words from another retired stamp set, 'Peaceful Wreath', onto the card base and added a few gold gems to complete my card. Actually quite a straightforward card - I love these rich colours 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 '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:

PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Patricia has asked that we add a horizontal sentiment with a couple of areas of detail top and bottom:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I decided to create another Christmas card using my Golden Greenery bundle and coordinating products - take a look:

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

NOEL - The Noel sentiment that I've used on today's card is a diecut straight from the Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera pack. I added it to a piece of gold foil and cut around the diecut to add a shadow layer, to help my sentiment stand out from the strip of designer series paper. The Joyful Sayings diecuts are so useful for adding quick sentiments to cards - a great standby during the festive season.

Season of Green & Gold - I used a piece of Old Olive and Very Vanilla gingham from the Season of Green & Gold designer paper as the base to highlight my sentiment and bordered it with a thin gold foil border to tie in with my overall design. I love gingham; it works on all types of card.

Golden Greenery - For the other elements of the sketch, I added some greenery and foliage from the 'Golden Greenery' stamp set, just adding the tips of the foliage so that it appears to be 'peeking out' from beneath the sentiment strip:

A few gold faceted gems complete my card. I'm also linking today's card up over at Inspire.Create where the theme is 'Christmas'.

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 GREEN & GOLD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	GOLDEN GREENERY BUNDLE (54.00)	JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)	ADHESIVE-BACKED METALLIC GEMS (8.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

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 a seasonal clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

With only 37 days to go until the big day, it certainly should be feeling a lot like Christmas about now! I used the sketch over at Sunday Stamps for the layout of my card this week and grabbed my A Little Bit Festive paper pack and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I added a Night of Navy panel to my white cardbase, then added a strip of navy and white gingham and a co-ordinating diecut wreath. A diecut sentiment from the Joyful Sayings pack and a few gold enamel dots and a gold twine bow to pick up on the gold splatters on the wreath complete my card:

Adding a colourful wreath to my front door is one of the first things I do at the start of the festive season and I think this card captures the spirit of the season perfectly. No stamping on today's card either, apart from the sentiment inside my card. Clean and simple, quick and easy - so I'm linking up over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'Q for Quick and Easy' 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'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

ADHESIVE-BACKED METALLIC GEMS (8.50)

I have a quick post to share I card I made to day to play along with a few challenges using a stamp set that I have yet to break the seal on. I used Jen T's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches the colours at Hand Stamped Sentiments. I'm also playing along over at Addicted To CAS where the codeword is SNOW:

I've had the Yuletide Village stamp a little while but not had the opportunity to use it until now. I thought it would be perfect for this challenge - take a look:

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

I stamped the tree at the front, then masked it and stamped my brick wall, before then masking both and stamping my church. I then masked the church too and added a hint of Balmy Blue sky using ink and a blending brush, before adding just a hint of colour elsewhere with my Stampin' Blends. I added a few snowflakes to the sky with a white gel pen and covered the snowy areas with a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella:

This is quite difficult to see in the photos, but is SO sparkly in real life! I added a thin Cherry Cobbler border and a two-tone sentiment from 'Sophisticated Sled' to complete my card. I had so much fun creating this card and can't wait to make a whole village next time! 

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; I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

YULETIDE VILLAGE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (18.00)	SOPHISTICATED SLED PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (8.50)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BALMY BLUE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	GRAY GRANITE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GRAY GRANITE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)

Today I have another Christmas card to share with you but firstly I need to remind you that the seasonal sale that I told you about yesterday is now LIVE:

• 20% OFF ALL STAMP BUNDLES AND DESIGNER SERIES PAPERS
• 10% OFF SELECT INKS AND CARDSTOCK (including Blends and ink refills)

I'll do a post tomorrow with some cards I've shared previously that highlight some of the great bargains to be had. Meanwhile, today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few challenges that caught my eye:

Color Hues are featuring red and black as their current colour combo, so I grabbed the sketch over at TGIF Challenges (which is a keeper - super versatile!) and added in some twine so that I could play along over at Festive Friday too and got nostalgic with an old favourite - take a look:

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

I decided that a red and black colour combo was made for Santa Claus - so I went into my retired box to find this cutie from the 'Signs of Santa' stamp set, coloured him with my Stampin' Blends and added a piece of  textured striped Santa's Workshop paper for him to sit on. I tied this with some white baker's twine and added a trio of white loose snowflakes from the current mini - love these!

Whilst I had the set out on my desk, I also made a second card, this time featuring Mrs Claus:

This card was more faithful to the sketch as I omitted the twine and added two separate DSP strips, along with a little extra colour for the holly in her hair. Here's both cards together - Santa is still my favourite of the pair -how about you?

It was fun to delve into the retired box for this pair of fun cards and pair them with something new to give a fresh look. Do you have a favourite retired Christmas set that you can't resist pulling out year after year? 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 '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:

WHITE LOOSE SNOWFLAKES (7.50)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)

Happy Monday! I had a little extra crafting time between Onstage presentations on Saturday so had a little play with Jacqui's current layout over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I made a couple of cards with the sketch, each featuring some of the current Christmas papers with some additional retired product. Here's the first one:

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

I wanted to use this 'dancing deer' paper from the Reindeer Days paper pack so used that for the main panel. This type of pattern really needs a big space to work and I didn't want to mix it with any other pattern, so added some coordinating solid colour blocks for the other three elements. It looked a little plain though and I couldn't decided where best to add my sentiment. I played with a few ideas and finally settled on some of the large wooden diecut words from last year's Santa Express Memories & More card pack:

I decided to have another go using one of my favourite patterns from the Winter Meadow designer series paper packs. This paper is a carryover from last year's mini catalogue and still available online. This time I mirrored the sketch as I wanted to position the deer in the outer corner for a more balanced design:

This time I did leave my border square and rectangles plain, picking out shades of grey from the image, and I added a stamped and fussy-cut sentiment to the cross point:

I also added some silver twine and a few rhinestones for a little festive sparkle to complete my card. I'm also linking this card up over at Inspire.Create Challenge where their current challenge is 'many shades of grey'; I'm not sure there are 50 shades on this one, but it is a Christmas card after all!

I wasn't feeling in a particularly creative mood so struggled a little with the FMS sketch this week, but it was nice to have a play - sometimes you need to just have a little crafty fun, right?

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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:

REINDEER DAYS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	WINTER MEADOW 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)

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 she has a fabulous bright colour challenge for us to work with:

Bright colours may not be considered traditional for a Christmas card, but I am on a roll and so that is my starting point for everything currently! I decided the best way to highlight each of these was to balance it with lots of white and a touch of festive silver - take a look:

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

I've chosen to feature the ice skates and wreath from the Sophisticated Sled bundle - one of my favourite Online Exclusives bundle for the festive season. I love both the sled and the ice skates in this set - both items that I've never owned in my craft collection previously. I've used the sled on a couple of cards previously (you can see those cards here and here) but for today's card I wanted to feature the ice skates.

These skates are so cute; they have separate diecuts for the blades and boots and a neat slit into which you can insert the separate diecut laces - so clever. I decided to add four pairs of skates, each with a different coloured pair of laces. In order to accommodate 4 pairs, I decided to use a slimline design. I created a mat layer comprising a panel of each of the 4 colours, then added a white panel embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder (you can see this detail more clearly on the photo below). Whilst this is a narrow embossing folder, it's easy to emboss one half of the panel then move the cardstock along and emboss the other half to achieve a continuous background.

I hung each pair of skates from a silver-on-white heat-embossed wreath, decorated with clear basic rhinestones for a little added sparkle. I finished each wreath with a large co-ordinating bow (this is from the retired Pierced Blooms Dies). You can see the detail of the individual elements that make up the wreath and skates in the close-up below:

I added a simple sentiment, also from the 'Sophisticated Sled' stamp set to the bottom corner of my card base, to complete my card. The diecutting on this card took a little while, but I love the finished card - it was worth 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 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 spending mine attending more of the virtual #Stampin' Up! Backstage@Home2024 event - a training event for leaders with lots to be learned. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SOPHISTICATED SLED BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)	SNOWFLAKE SKY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)
SILVER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

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 chosen by Heather H:

I had limited options this week as I don't have much current product featuring seeds or acorns, but this actually made the challenge easy as there was only one way to go - take a look:

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

The Iconic Celebrations designer series paper has patterns suitable for lots of different occasions and fortunately it has a lovely repeating acorn pattern. I paired a panel of it with a couple of labels cut using the Iconic Imagery Dies and paired it with a sentiment from the co-ordinating stamp set, along with a couple of stamped and diecut leaves and some twine for a little extra embellishment: 

I used Basic Beige for my base and main label - I think it gives a nice natural tone when paired with Mossy Meadow and Pecan Pie - what do you think? The perfect seasonal card to let someone know how thankful you are for all they do. 

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:

ICONIC CELEBRATIONS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	ICONIC IMAGERY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (36.75)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PECAN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC BEIGE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	LINEN THREAD (4.75)