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 fun theme challenge for us to work with:

I grabbed Jen B's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout today and some of my favourite retired plaid patterned paper for another Christmas card (or two!) - take a look:

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

Whilst I'm not always a fan of diagonal lines, Jen's FMS layout was perfect to highlight some festive plaid. I chose a strip of the retired Plaid Tidings DSP and since it had a gold foil in the pattern, I bordered my navy panels and the outlines of my paper-pieced poinsettia and berries in gold to tie in:

I added a simple foiled sentiment to complete m card and didn't even add any enamel dots as I really didn't want to distract from the floral and plaid. I really love this card in Night of Navy, which I chose for my base as it coordinated with one of my favourite plaids, but since I used the same Kristina Werner Poinsettia Inlay Dies for a previous FMS entry on a navy base, I decided to do a second version of this card, using a white base and another of the festive plaid patterns from the same pack, still with the gold detailing for my entry this week - so here's my 'take two':

 I love the clean lines of this card with the festive red, green and gold against the white and the poinsettia adds a fabulous pop of colour I think:

Here's both cards together; do you prefer one colourway over the other? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

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 am spending the morning in the kitchen and catching up on a few household chores, having had a super lazy day yesterday reading, sewing and generally relaxing, whilst the hubby is out on his paddleboard - it's too cold for me! Got to love a weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

MAGICAL CHRISTMAS HOT FOIL DIES (ENGLISH) (£37.00)	GOLD STAMPIN' HOT FOIL ROLLS (£11.25)	UK/IE STAMPIN' HOT FOIL SYSTEM & CRAFT CLASS (£149.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)
REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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

I decided to get out my Creative Celebrations paper and co-ordinating mix & match ephemera packs for today's card as they contain lots of options for that focal point  - take a look at which one I chose:

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

I used a Hydrangea Hue card base and a co-ordinating DSP that reminds me of a snowy sky, and embossed the edge of the white mat layer with the (retired) Snowflake Sky so that it was visible against the torn edge. I chose a diecut piece of a car stacked with gifts as my focal point. The strip of presents is also from the Creative Celebrations paper pack and was left over from a previous project and was perfect for the horizontal element:

A trio of of sparkly snowflakes and a silver opal foiled sentiment complete my 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:

Enjoy your day; I am staying indoors and avoiding the wind and rain that has been battering the UK all weekend. I am cooking pie for dinner and hoping to get more of my cross stitch project completed this afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. 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)

SILVER OPAL STAMPIN' HOT FOIL ROLLS (£11.25)

MAGICAL CHRISTMAS HOT FOIL DIES (ENGLISH) (£37.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£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! It's the turn of the fabulous Stef to host this week and she has a seasonal clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Autumn - the season of turning leaves, pumpkins, acorns and more! I decided to feature a pumpkin on my clean and simple card today and took my inspiration from a number of other challenges too (I think 4 including our own must be a record!) - take a look:

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

I thought those patterned pumpkins in the Inspired By photo were really pretty, so I searched through my vast collection of patterned papers and came up with this pretty pattern from the Petals & Paisley DSP and grabbed my Pick A Pumpkin Dies for a little paper piecing - perfect for the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week. Since this is Clean and Simple Week - minimal layers and embellishments, uncluttered design, lots of white space - I added nothing more than a tiny leaf and twine bow, and a simple diecut sentiment (Blessings Dies from My Favourite Things) to complete my card:

Since I chose to feature a pumpkin on my card, I'm also linking up over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'pumpkin'. No traditional orange for me, but these warm colours definitely remind me of autumn. 

Another card that features lots of retired bits and pieces from my collection - it is fun to revisit old favourites!

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 taking the Mother-In-Law out for the day so will be wrapping up warm - winter temperatures arrived yesterday with a vengenace! I got lots of crafting done yesterday though, so I'll be back tomorrow with another project - I've lots to share this week. 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 Jan to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I say 'interesting' ... I could not initially work out what to do with these colours! Then I decided they might work for a card I wanted to make to welcome a new puppy addition - take a look:

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

Puppy Love - My crafty friend Elizabeth is soon to welcome a new puppy: his name is Beau and he is adorable! He is already a couple of months old, but he won't be moving in with Elizabeth for another couple of months yet. I immediately wanted to include the puppies from 'Cutest Crew' on a card - Beau is almost white in colour and looks not unlike the first one in the row, so I coloured him accordingly. You can see that more closely on the image below.

What's In A Name? - I decided to include Beau's name on my card for a personalised welcome (the word 'welcome' is from the retired set 'Welcome Words') and diecut the letters in Azure Afternoon using the Party Alphabet Dies. I used a slimline design and overlaid the 'welcome' on top of the name (I might actually adjust this slightly as now I'm looking at the photo, I think it interferes with the 'B' of his name too much). I added the row of playful puppies to the bottom right hand corner of the card to balance the sentiment.

A Little Background Detail - I used a couple of layered panels in Azure Afternoon and Crumb Cake behind the main panel, but it looked a little bare so before I glued my letters in place I lightly stencilled the dot pattern in Crumb Cake using a decorative mask for a little extra detail. This mask comes in the set with the waves one, which I have used lots. I had actually forgotten about the dots one until Jan used it on a card last week and reminded me about it, and I really like the effect. You can see the detail more closely below, along with a close up of the colouring of the pupples:

On this closeup you can see the tiny amount of Granny Apple Green I've used on this card: just the flower leaves and the checked bandana that one of the pups is wearing. I often find one colour ends up being the 'poor relation' in a colour challenge, and this time it's green's turn!

It's not like me to be so organised to have a card ready long before I need to mail it, so I guess I have Jan and her unusual colour combo to thank for that. Now I just need to hope that Elizabeth doesn't read my blog post before she receives 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; the James Junior is home from university for the weekend, as it was his annual Cricket Club awards dinner yesterday evening. Te event was followed by much celebrating with the team for the various accolades individuals achieved this year and the team's promotion to the next league for the fourth year running, so he is enjoying a lie-in this morning. Me - I'm still working my way through his laundry and a massive ironing pile, so that everything is ready to go back with him tomorrow! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CUTEST CREW BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£42.25)	PARTY ALPHABET DIES (£93.00)	WATER & DOTTED LINES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DECORATIVE MASKS (£20.00)	BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)
AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£11.25)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£11.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£11.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)
BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous 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)

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

Bears! I knew immediately that I was going to feature Winnie The Pooh on my card today; take a look at what I came up with::

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

My challenge today was in keeping my card truly clean and simple: minimal layers and embellishments, lots of clean 'white' space. In the end I decided that this image of Pooh writing a letter would pair nicely with that favourite of sentiment bundles, Words of Beauty, for a sweet 'because' card. I diecut the word 'because', layering Golden Glow and Early Espresso cardstocks to echo the colouring of the bear, and separated out the 'you've been on my mind' into one long stamped sentiment to run beneath the diecut. I added my Pooh bear, fussy cut from the Silly Old Bear designer series paper, above this using dimensionals:

A couple of Golden Glow In Color enamel dots complete my card.

This was actually the third card I made for this week's challenge, but I ended up discounting the other too as not CAS enough. That does mean though that I have 2 more cards to share with you this week, both featuring this silly old bear :-) 

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 am out on a social walk with some friends from the gym this morning, then this afternoon I will be attempting to coral the James Junior into some sort of shape to take him back to university tomorrow for the start of the new academic year. He is in a rather fragile state, following his final cricket match yesterday. Not only did they win the game, but they came top of their league and will now promote for the fourth year in a row. This led to much celebrating late into the night!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	2026–2028 IN COLOR™ DOTS (£8.50)
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! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has a warm, seasonal colour challenge for us to work with:

Lots of my teamies chose to go with leafy fall creations this week and I'll be honest, I considered it ... but I had some new goodies that I had yet to play with that were not leafy in the slightest that I thought would be perfect for these colours, so I grabbed the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and set to work! Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Yes, today it's all about the pasta! I totally blame my fellow teamie Jaydee for today's card; she has made some fabulous cards with a whole bunch of pasta-themed sets from both Spellbinders and Concord & 9th in recent months and I finally decided that I just had to have them too - so into my shopping basket they went! Today I used everything from Spellbinders: the little animated pasta shapes in the Pasta Friends Dies are so cute but the star of the show is most definitely the Al Dente embossing folder that I used for my background - the dimension is amazing! I blended all three challenge colours onto my panel before embossing it - just look at all those pasta shapes:

The 'Stay Saucy' stamp set is full of hilarious punny, pasta-based sentiments - perfect for the 'J is for Just Kidding' challenge over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where I'm also linking up - and to align with the sketch, I added a (retired) thanks die (Amazing Thanks Dies) from Stampin' Up! to my sentiment for added impact. I'm not sure I've got the face on my pasta bow quite right (I think in hindsight the dots were cheeks and mouth instead of eyes and mouth) but this card just makes me smile - and those colours are perfect for a touch of saucy, cheesy pasta goodness!

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 am having a quiet weekend, trying to get over my jetlag, as I spent my birthday week in New York doing all things touristy and having a fab time. So much has changed since I was last there some 26 years ago so it was great to experience it all. This time I took James Junior with me as my travelling companion and we had a ball! Unfortunately the hubby was in China on business, so not able to join us. Today will be the first time we've all been together in over a week so it will be fun to swap stories on what we've all been up to! I'll be back in the next couple of days 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 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'!