It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and I am our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went along the bottom left to top right diagonal with gold metallic/holly/vanilla and using the fab layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday (no optional plaid I'm afraid) I made a festive Christmas card that also has a direct nod to the Global Design Project #GDP419 theme this week - take a look:

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

I just love the Shining Brightly speciality designer paper - the vanilla and navy colour scheme with embossed gold is so luxurious and perfect for fancy Christmas cards and packaging - and this paper did kind of inspire my TTT board this week, so I couldn't not feature it on my card. I used a panel of the foliage pattern on the lower portion of my card, then added a simple gold border to neaten the join of my paper to my layered foliage cut using the Christmas Classics Dies that I used to decorate the upper portion of my card. I used a combination of Very Vanilla, gold foil and distressed gold paper for texture and visual interest, finishing with some pearls and gold elegant twine trim:

My sentiment from the 'Christmas Classics' sentiment was my direct nod the #GDP419 board - 'Tis The Season had me instantly singing 'Deck The Halls With Boughs of Holly, 'Tis The Season To Be Jolly, Fa La La La La ...' (I hope that's not given you an earworm!) for my simple banner greeting. I love this gold and vanilla colour combo - so elegant. What is your favourite festive colour combo? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (49.50)	SHINING BRIGHTLY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	DISTRESSED GOLD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (4.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	IRIDESCENT PEARL BASIC JEWELS (7.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Nancy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

I thought these colours would work perfectly for a Christmas card, but feel free to use them any way you choose. Here's my card for today:

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

Those bright red 'NOEL' letters will by now be familiar to my regular readers - the 'Joy of Noel' stamp set is my number one stamp set this Christmas. I added them to foam adhesive sheets before diecutting with the co-ordinating die. For today's card I've paired them with the other die set in the suite, the Christmas Classics Dies, and added them to the holly decorative label that I cut from Mossy Meadow. I added a little Boho Blue ink to my Basic White card base with a blending brush and added some Real Red (retired) glittered enamel dot berries to the stems for a pop of festive colour. Check out the sparkle when they catch the light:

This is one of those cards that really is so quick and easy - I think the simple design is really effective though and the label really draws the eye to those fabulous letters.

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! 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 soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS DIES (35.00)	JOY OF NOEL PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BOHO BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)

Today I'm sharing a card using Jen T's fabulous layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

This is a sketch with so many possibilities! I decided to make a contemporary Christmas card using one of the Christmas tree designs in the Merry Bold & Bright designer series paper pack - take a look:

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

I'm also playing along with my friends at Just Us Girls again this week who have my favourite festive colour combo, red and green, as their inspiration this week. I would ordinarily go with something much more traditional, maybe Real Red and Shaded Spruce (my all-time favourite festive combo!) however the contemporary Christmas tree design in the Merry Bold and Bright designer series paper pack changes things up and pairs Lemon Lime Twist with Poppy Parade and a little white. My card was actually designed around the sentiment in the first instance, as I wanted something that would build across the three strips of the sketch and I love the way the text on the 'Joy to You' stamps gets bolder as it builds. I used both retired Stitched Stars Dies and Stitched Triangle Dies to create my accent trees; you could punch these but I like the addition of the stitched detail:

An unusual colour combination, but I actually rather like it; so much so I made two cards whilst I was at it! Here's a peek at the inside too where I added another of the stamps from the 'Joy To You' set and added a leftover strip of paper to decorate:

Perhaps this one needs a warning on the envelope to wear sunglasses on opening!!

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'm having a day of catching up with lots of little jobs today - the sun is shining, so I'm feeling motivated! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JOY TO YOU CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)

MERRY BOLD & BRIGHT 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)

LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)

POPPY PARADE 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 festive recipe challenge chosen by Jane:

So many lovely things to incorporate! I chose Christmas as my holiday and grabbed the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts for my layout (I flipped my sentiment/foliage panels) - take a look:

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

I added a split panel of Joy of Christmas designer series paper with a panel of white cardstock embossed with the Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder, adding a wrap of festive red satin ribbon to join them together. I used a sentiment from the 'Christmas Classics' stamp set featuring the beginning of the Christmas carol of the same name and backed this with the square foliage die from the Christmas Classics bundle cut out of retired platinum foil - it has a matt shine that picks out the subtle grey detailing in the designer paper:

Some diecut greenery and a wooden textural element, along with a red ribbon bow, complete my card. I love the texture and dimension on this card - definitely one for hand delivering rather than posting, but so many interesting elements. 

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

Enjoy your day; we are hoping to attend the annual fireworks display at school this evening, assuming it stops raining and we are spared from the worst of Storm Ciaran - keep your fingers crossed for me! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (49.50)	JOY OF CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	MERRY MELODY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	TEXTURAL ELEMENTS (7.50)	REAL RED & GARDEN GREEN 3/8" (1 CM) RIBBON COMBO PACK (7.00)

Today's post is a quick one to share a super clean and simple Christmas card for a few challenges that I wanted to play along with this week: at CAS on Friday we need to feature an animal and I also took the opportunity to play along with my friends over at Just Us Girls for what feels like the first time in ages (hello ladies!) as they are on 'CAS Week - use only the centre of your card' to make my annual card featuring the retired 'Have A Hoot' stamp set and this cute family of owls - take a look:

I stamped my image and added some blended Balmy Blue ink to the centre of my card base, then stamped the image a second time and coloured it with my Stampin' Blends. I then fussy cut the second image (I seem to have 'mislaid' my Peek A Hoot Dies since I last used them, which is rather unfortunate - I'm sure they must be here somewhere!) and popped it up on dimensionals:

Isn't that little owl on the end of the branch, jumping for joy, just the sweetest?! A few clear rhinestones added a touch of festive sparkle to complete my clean and simple card - not forgetting the inside too:

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

Today I'm sharing a card that's a little more involved so perfect for a spot of weekend crafting! I used the fabulous sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout:

I've made quite a few cards with my 'Joy of Noel' bundle and wanted to try something a little different with this slimline layout - take a look:

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

Joy Of Christmas - The colour scheme for today's card was inspired by the beautiful piece of Joy of Christmas Designer Series Paper I used for the first layer on my card. A white background covered in red berries and festive holly and pine foliage, this paper is perfect for a traditional Christmas card. Whilst much of this panel is covered by the other layers of the card, enough of it can be seen to tie in the other elements. 

Joy of Noel - Most if not all of my other cards using the NOEL 'Joy of Noel' stamps and dies have positioned the letters in a square. This slimline format allowed for me to use the letters in a column (still broken with 'joyous') - this works really well. I originally stamped my letters in Real Red onto Basic White, but they didn't have enough impact. I swapped them for Real Red cardstock embossed with silver and liked this much better. The silver picks up on the grey outlines of the base DSP and the silver and red combo stands out much better and the red ties in with both the red frame I used for the sentiment panel and the two strips of Real Red cotton ribbon I used on the base DSP layer.  

Christmas Classics - For the square layers of the sketch, I used a couple of diecuts of the Christmas Classics foliage border square die. I originally used a sild colour of green for this layer, but it was too stark. Eventually I cut the layers out of a piece of (retired) Garden Green check paper that resulted in a softer, more interesting variegated look. I added some extra detail with a green Blends marker, along with a few red rhinestones for a little extra red berry detail:

This card has seven layers, but I think each of them serves a purpose and makes a valuable contribution to the overall design, which I love. What do you think - does this celebration of festive foliage remind you of a traditional Christmas? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.  

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 my card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS DIES (35.00)	JOY OF NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (45.75)	JOY OF CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)
REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for an interesting 'fill in the blank' challenge from Heather C:

Vellum - so many creative things you can do with it and the Design Team will be sharing lots of them for this challenge. One of my favourite things to do with vellum is ... to dry emboss it! I made a Christmas card using the colours over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week that showcases embossed vellum in all its glory - take a look:

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

For my card today, I created a faux bookbinding card. I embossed a whole sheet of vellum using the Christmas Tidings embossing folder and attached it along the edge beneath my binding edge - this is a useful way to avoid visible adhesive, which is something you need to think about when working with vellum. This embossing folder has lots of festive words and images and I chose to highlight the gingerbread man (you can see him near the bind) and add a couple of stamped gingerbread men to my card. I stamped them in Pecan Pie using a long-retired set, 'Scentsational Season', and added bows from 'Cookie Cutter Christmas' (also retired). I've included the link to a current set with a cute gingerbread man in below, in case you don't have one in your collection. You can see mine more closely below - they provide a nice contrast to the fabulous dimension and texture of the embossed vellum:

I added another gingerbread man and a sentiment from 'Joy to You' to the inside of my card too:

You might also notice on the photo above that I embossed the envelope flap too for a co-ordinated look. I love to decorate envelopes in this way - it's super simple and so effective.

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS TIDINGS EMBOSSING FOLDER (8.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PECAN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SENDING CHEER BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)
JOY TO YOU CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)

I was feeling a little under the weather today, so I retreated to my craft room to play along with a couple of challenges that enabled me to use up some of my retired bits and pieces!

First up a pink Christmas card to play along with the ladies over at Jingle Belles that uses the current Try Stampin' On Tuesday layout:

The retired Whimsy and Wonder designer paper was perfect for a pink Christmas card and a couple of stitched snowflakes and sentiment from the 'Merry Snowflakes' stamp set, which I heat embossed in silver - you can see that a bit better on the photo below:

My second card is a 'dies only' card for the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS that uses three of the four colours on the Color Dare board (all except Glacier) that is also for the 'Anything Spooky' theme over at AA Cards:

I made my ghost using the retired Boo To You and Fall Fun Framelits; it's for my daughter, hence the pink card base and I added the 'Boo!' with foam for a little added depth:

I added googly eyes and a flower for a feminine touch, although I think this makes my ghost rather more sweet than spooky!

A couple of cards that used up some of my retired stash, so no supplies list today. It is really dark and stormy here today too with the arrival of Storm Babet, so it made photographs a little trickier too - hopefully still a few creative ideas for you though! 

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

Card 1:    

Card 2:       

Today I have an additional late post to share a card I made for the following challenges:

I had been mulling over the lovely colour palette at Just Add Ink for a few days and when I saw the new sketch over at Hand Stamped Sentiments today I had an idea! Since the Great British Bake Off was replaced by World Cup Rugby on the TV schedules this evening, I took the opportunity to grab some extra craft time and make my idea a reality - take a look:

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

I thought these colours would make a slightly unconventional Christmas card and I had the 'Christmas Classics' bundle out on my desk, looking for an opportunity to use the fabulous label and foliage dies. I decided to use the foliage-embellished label for the diagonal element, extending it from a label to stretch across the width of my cardfront. I cut the label again out of Berry Burst and paper-pieced the berries to the Pretty Peacock base. To add a little extra interest, I diecut a couple of holly leaves out of some variegated Bright & Beautiful DSP and added these behind a circle of distressed gold paper:

I finished my card with a few Fresh Freesia Tinsel Gems. I like this unusual Christmas colour scheme; what are your favourite unconventional colour combinations? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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 soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS CLASSICS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (49.50)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	DISTRESSED GOLD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (4.75)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	TINSEL GEMS THREE-PACK (7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Lucy has asked that we create a slimline card with a central sentiment panel:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I decided to have another outing with the beautiful 'NOEL' stamps and dies from the 'Joy of Noel' bundle - take a look:

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

The slimline layout worked really well to keep the square design of the 'NOEL' letters, which I heat embossed in gold onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I added the 'Joyous' on vellum, so that it didn't obscure the letters and edged the central panel with some thin strips of gold foil. Here's a close up of that layered sentiment:

Above and below that I added a couple of panels of Shining Brightly designer series paper - the starry design is open enough to still work on an otherwise clean and simple card. I adore this paper and so do many of you, judging by the speed with which it comes into and out of stock in the online store! I was hoping that when I posted my card today I would be able to tell you it was back in stock again - but alas, the most recent stocks have once again been depleted. I placed more orders yesterday for customer who had been patiently waiting for it; additional supplies are still due in soon, so keep an eye on the online store if it's on your list.

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; we are having a week of breakdowns in the James household: so far the broadband, my steam iron and the central heating are all casualties! The latter means that I am spending as little time as possible at my desk, so a short post from me as I'm off for a romp through the countryside to keep warm! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JOY OF NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (45.75)	SHINING BRIGHTLY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)