Well it's Monday and whilst I'm off on my way to the beach today, I couldn't go without squeezing in an entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge - they are afterall celebrating their 200th sketch challenge, what an achievement! This is their sketch - so many possibilities:

I decided to use the line as the top of a brick wall, with a peeking penguin in the style of Kilroy/Chad graffiti of old (here's the Wikipedia link if you have no idea what I'm talking about!):

Using a base of thick Whisper White cardstock, I adhered a piece of Soft Suede cardstock embossed with the Brick Wall TIEF and some Dazzling Diamonds which I cut freehand as snow on top of the wall. I stamped my penguin and sentiment from the 'Snow Place' stamp set in the new Archival Black ink directly onto my card base, then stamped the penguin's ear muffs and scarf in Real Red and cut them out with the co-ordinating 'Snow Friends' framelits and pooped them up on dimensionals for a little extra lift. 

So what do you think of today's card? I am loving the little penguin in the new 'Snow Place' stamp set - you will be seeing lots more of him this week! You still have time to link up to FMS if you want to have a go at this week's challenge and you should certainly check out this week's gallery, it is absolutely amazing!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Snow Place - available September 1st

*Snow Friends - available September 1st 

*Archival Black ink - available September 1st

Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch challenge for you:

As I'm still excited to be working may way through my box of seasonal preorder goodies, I have another Christmas card to share with you today using the All Ye Faithful stamp set and Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Sseries Paper and washi tape. Here's my card: 

My colour scheme today was inspired by the Winter Wonderland product suite - a mix of black, white and gold, with foil accents and real sparkle. Using Basic Black for my base with a mat of gold foil, then used a piece of Winter Wonderland DSP with a crackle-glaze pattern for the front of my card. I edged a piece of Whisper White with gold striped washi tape, then stamped my sentiment in Memento Black on the right hand edge. This sentiment does actually come on one line, so in order to make it work for my card and the sketch I carefully masked off parts of it to enable me to stamp it in three separate sections. For the oval, I stamped Mary and Joseph in Versamark onto Basic Black card and heat embossed it in gold. I backed this with an oval that was cut to the same size using my Big Shot and Ovals Framelits, then cut in half vertically; this then creates a frame that enables the oval to stand out, but isn't too wide, as it would have been if I'd used the next size framelit up. To finish, I added a trio of flags punched using my Tripe Banner Punch, featuring more of the patterns in the Winter Wonderland DSP suite. 

Whilst this isn't a colourway I would necessarily have been drawn to of my own accord, it is very on-trend and I do love the way the entire suite of products make co-ordination so easy - good old Stampin' Up! I love the All Ye Faithful stamp set too - one of my favourite religious sets in the new catalogue, it comes with two other feature stamps and a verse sentiment too that I used on the inside of my card:

I hope you like today's card. Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another sneak-peek project, one for Halloween this time. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

 * All Ye Faithful - available September 1st

* Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

*Winter Wonderland Washi Tape - available September 1st

As promised, today I have another sneak-peek Christmas card for you using another of the Sleigh Ride Edgelits, using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout for inspiration:

As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew it would work perfectly with the new Sleigh Ride Edgelits. Here's my interpretation with today's card:

I went again with my favourite festive colour combination of navy, whisper white and silver and this time used the negative cut of the edgelit to look like a snowy sky, again embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, having first stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy along from the houses. These edgelits offer so many different ways to use them to achieve different looks, depending on whether you use the positive or negative cut out - I just love them! A loop of silver corded trim completes my card.

Clean and simple, yet rather effective. This card came together quickly and would look great in a wide range of colour combinations.

Back tomorrow with another card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Sleigh Ride Edgelits - available September 1st

* Softly Falling TIEF - available September 1st

Big Shot

Magnetic Platform

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing the second card I made this week using the sketch over at Mojo Monday. You can see the other card here and as I mentioned in my original blog post, I didn't enter this one which was the first one I created as when I went to upload and perused the gallery there was another card that was very similar - you can see the card in question, designed by Lisa Pretto, here. That hasn't happened to me before when entering a challenge, but what can I say other than great creative minds think alike! Here is my card using probably my most favourite product from the new seasonal catalogue, the Sleigh Ride Edgelits:

Oh there is so much I love about this card! It uses probably my favourite festive colour combo - navy, white and silver - but check out the fab new products that are coming your way on September 1st:

The Sleigh Ride Edgelits - these come as a set of three, featuring a sleigh, houses and trees, and co-ordinate with a stamp stamp called 'Jingle all the Way'. These can be used in so many ways to create beautiful cards; in fact I have another card for you tomorrow using one of the other Edgelits in the set and the co-ordinating stamp set, so stay tuned!

Making Spirits Bright - this is from a versatile set called 'Among The Branches'. I used the spooky Halloween stamp from this set on my LIM card last week (see it here) and it also includes an Autumn set, along with lots of fun embellishments that co-ordinate with the new Woodland TIEF. I love a set that transcends the seasons and this is definitely that kind of set.

Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - there are some great new embossing folders in the new seasonal catalogue, but I think the Softly Falling TIEF will be my favourite; proper falling snow adding a delightful delicate texture to cards.

Winter Wonderland Embellishments - Did you spot the cute little snowflake embellishment? Big enough to add some sparkle (sometimes foil and glimmer paper is just not enough!) yet small enough to not add too much bulk, these adorable little embellishments come in a pot of 20 - plenty for all your festive card making, but wouldn't look out of place on something less festive either.

I hope you like today's card; quite different to my earlier interpretation of this sketch and very 'me'. Which one do you prefer? Do let me know in the comments section below - I love hearing what you think!

Right, I'm back to squeeze in some more work before the James Juniors return exhilerated from this morning's basketball camp exertions. Back tomorrow with another festive sneak-peek and news of this week's Wednesday Deals - don't miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Sleigh Ride Edgelits - available September 1st

* Among The Branches - available September 1st

* Softly Falling TIEF - available September 1st

* Winter Wonderland Snowflake Embellishments -  available September 1st

Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets
2-1/2" Circle Punch	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Silver Glimmer Paper

Here's today's post - a little later than planned due to the activities of the day! - with a Christmas card I made for this week's Mojo Monday challenge:

Having unpacked my new seasonal pre-order goodies (demonstrator perks - let me know if you would like to know more!!), I have been keen to use some of new supplies. There's nothing like some new goodies to get you in the crafting mood! Here is my card, featuring the gorgeous holly pattern from the 'Home For Christmas' DSP and one of the stamps in the new 'Cup Of Cheer' stamp set:

I matted my paper with Mossy Meadow on a Real Red card base and in addition to a thin circle of Real Red cut with my Circle Framelits, I used my framelits to cut another circle of Mossy Meadow which I used to mat my focal sentiment - this gorgeous stamp from the 'Cup of Cheer' stamp set. I stamped this sentiment in two stages, firstly masking off the outer wreath and stamping the centre with Versamark, then removing the mask and colouring the outer wreath in Mossy Meadow using my Stampin' Write marker. I then heat embossed the centre using gold embossing powder and added a few tiny pearl berries that I coloured with my red copic marker to finish, before punching out with my 2 1/2" circle punch. This card looks so lovely in real life - the sentiment is so shiny and the wreath has a dusting of gold too where the green ink was also slightly wet still prior to embossing. The photo really doesn't do it justice! Did you notice my bow too? This is some of the new Gold Cording Trim (it comes in silver too!) - love this!

This is actually the second card I made using this sketch; having made the first one, when I went to upload it to the gallery I saw one that was very similar to it, so I decided to go back to the drawing board to come up with something different. I love my first card though - rest assured I will be sharing it with you later this week!

Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at The Paper Players - and not a Christmas card in sight! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

*Cup Of Cheer - available September 1st

*Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

*Cording Trim - available September 1st

Banner Triple Punch	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	2-1/2" Circle Punch	Pearl Basic Jewels
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

I'm here with a quick post featuring the next Christmas card I promised featuring the Lots of Joy stamp set that can be found in the annual catalogue. I used this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew as my starting point for this card:

Again I combined the stamp set with some of the Merry Moments DSP, this time choosing the lovely plaid pattern that echoes the pattern of the tree:

I used the fun postage stamp-style stamp for two of my three squares down the side, so easily punched out with the 1" square punch, with the final one featuring the second part of my sentiment - I selectively inked the sentiment twice and then banner-cut the other piece and layered it underneath. Lovely traditional Christmas colours on this card and I think the plaid gives it quite a modern feel.

That's all from me today - come back tomorrow when we will have a new challenge over at The Paper Players and the lovely Claire will be the hostess. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Lots Of Joy Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Merry Moments Designer Series Paper	1" Square Punch
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Candy Dots	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

So as I type this sat in blisteringly hot temperatures (I'm not complaining - the sun is heavenly!) I can't quite believe that today I'm going to share a Christmas card with you. Yes, that's right - a Christmas card!! Today I've been able to get my first look at the new Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue that will be available to customers September 1st - and all I can say is, my wish list is long!!! I will be sharing more on that in coming weeks once our pre-order period starts, however right now if you can't wait for your copy, then get in touch with me and lets chat about becoming a demonstrator - I would love you to join the 'ooos' and 'aaahs' that I'm having with my current team members as we drool over the catalogue sneak-peek together!

Meanwhile, you may have noticed that Stampin' Up! has reintroduced a permanent line of Christmas stamps and papers in our annual catalogue too - great news for those of us who like to prepare for Christmas all year round! - and some of the stamps included are some favourites from last Christmas, such as the one that features on today's card: Wondrous Wreath. I made this card at our recent team quarterly training session, which was all about making use of what is already avialable to get a jump start on preparing for the festive season. Here's my card:

This card was designed by Monica Gale and is similar in concept to one I designed last season which you can see here. This one is easier to recreate and uses the Woodgrain embossing folder to create the wooden effect on the door. It also features some other products that can now be found in the annual catalogue that are perfect for festive projects: the Bow Builder Punch, the Merry Moments DSP and my favourite Expressions Natural Elements.

That's all the festive fun I have for today - I'm off to get a cooling glass of Sangria after all that typing! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Wondrous Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set	Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Expressions Natural Elements	Gold 5/8" Satin Ribbon	Merry Moments Designer Series Paper	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Bow Builder Punch	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock

Today I wanted to share with you a fun punch art card that I made for a special little girl for Christmas featuring the adorable snowman Olaf from the Disney movie 'Frozen'. I've made a few of these but never blogged one - so here's the most recent one that I made:

I most certainly can't take the credit for the Olaf punch art itself; to create mine, I always follow the excellent instructions by Michelle Suit - you can watch her video tutorial on how to create your own Olaf here. He is actually rather straight forward - the real key is using the Gift Bow Bigz die to get the right shape for his head. If you are a fan of Disney and like to create punch art every once in a while, I recommend you check out Michelle's blog Suitably Stamped - she really is a whizz!

On this occasion, I kept the design of my card really simple and used a piece of Nordic Noel DSP for the snowflake background and just added a pile of snowballs and a retired sentiment, which I stamped in Island Indigo directly onto the DSP. I have more of these to make this month, as I am the official party planner for a special birthday girl later this month who is having a Frozen-themed celebration; there is clearly no sign of the Frozen phenomena dying down any time soon! 

And now to my special announcement! As my regular readers will know, I was asked to join the lovely ladies over at The Paper Players challenge blog back last July for a 3 month guest designer stint. This was then extended to a 6 month stay, which I completed with the last challenge of the year earlier this month. This has always been one of my favourite challenges to play along with and I was delighted to be asked to guest with this talented and creative bunch and equally sad to leave them. So imagine my delight when I got a call asking if I would like to return - as a permanent member of their design team!! Woohoo! I am thrilled that these ladies think so much of me that they would want me to join them on a permanent basis and I am so looking forward to creating with them through 2015 and beyond. Our first post of 2015 will be next Sunday, so do pop back then to join us for some fresh design inspiration!

As for me, I am hoping to be back with you tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch
2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch	Small Oval Punch	Large Oval Punch	Owl Punch	Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen
Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Soft Suede A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky

Sunday already?! Where are the days going??! I have been busy with my Christmas preparations and my focus has been on gift packaging these last few days, along with a few special Christmas cards. Most are going out of the door before they are even photographed though! Today I wanted to do a quick post to share a snowflake paper wreath that I made recently for a friend of mine:

It uses a whole bunch of retired product - the paper is from a couple of years ago (I can't even remember what it was called) and is decorated with snowflakes made from stamping Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green on Very Vanilla carstock using the Festive Flurry stamp set, that I then cut out using the Big Shot and co-ordinating framelits and finished with a paper bow made using my Gift Bow Bigz Die. 

My friend specifically wanted this paper pattern as she wanted her wreath to co-ordinate with other festive pieces she had - as such I had to include a few pieces of solid colour cardstock just to enable me to get all the way around the wreath base; I am now officially out of this DSP pattern! I am going to make another of these wreath types at some point as I think it's really effective, although will probably choose a more traditional blue/silver colour scheme with my snowflakes. It was also quite easy to achieve: about 22 strips of DSP measuring 12" x 1 1/4", adhered to a styrofoam wreath and then the ends flagged.

That's all from me today - back soon with another project when time allows. Until then, happy stampin!

It's Wednesday and time for my last challenge as a designer over at Colour Me...! It has been a great 6 months working with these lovely ladies and the various colour palettes week on week and I would like to say a big 'thank you' to Tara and Hayley for the opportunity and to my fellow designers, Claire Broadwater, Julia Altermann and Sherrie Mannion and the various monthly guest designers for their collective inspiration. So we are ending the year with a playful colour palette with a distinctive festive feel:

I used this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday as the inspiration for the layout of my card and decided to stick with the festive feel of our inspiration photo to make another Christmas card:

I used Baked Brown Sugar for my base with a mat of Real Red, then a split panel of Very Vanilla and Always Artichoke, the bottom layer of which I embossed with the Stylish Stripes TIEF. I stamped my Good Greetings sentiment onto the vanilla layer in red (this set is now available on the Year End Closeouts Clearance Rack if you want to pick up a bargain!). I stamped a piece of Baked Brown Sugar with the Hardwood stamp to create the background for my wreath, then stamped my wreath in Always Artichoke with red berries and cut it out with my wreath framelits and popped it up on a couple of dimensionals. To finish, I added a ribbon and bow in Real Red Cotton Ribbon. 

Feel free to leave a comment on today's card, before hopping over to check out the amazing cards by the rest of the Colour Me...! team:

Wonderous Wreath Photopolymer Bundle	Real Red 1/4" Cotton Ribbon	Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Good Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad	Always Artichoke A4 Card Stock
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Hardwood Wood-Mount Stamp Set