Back today with a card that is inspired by the wintery woodland photo inspiration over at Just Add Ink and this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

I went with a clean and modern graphic interpretation of the JAI theme - take a look:

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

Wintery Woodland Inspiration - Inspiration comes in many ways and forms; I didn't have a suitable Christmas tree stamp to hand, so decided to take a different route and feature these snowy trees from the Santa's workshop Designer Series Paper that I still had out on my desk from making yesterday's card. I love the subtle green diagonal stripe pattern of this paper too, which looks almost textured in appearance. More of a graphical design, yet still inspired by the photo.

Christmas Traditions - Today's sentiment is another from the Christmas Traditions Punch Box that I used yesterday and is featured on pages 2-3 of the Autumn/Winter catalogue: 

This festive-themed tin is choc-full of crafting goodies for creating through the festive season: with a block, two ink spots, set of 6 stamps and a Christmas Traditions Punch, all you need is to add some cardstock and adhesives and you are all set for some festive fun! Perfect for tags, cards and embellishments for your home-baked goodies, this set would make a lovely seasonal gift for a crafter or someone who likes to add a personal touch to their packages during the festive season. I stamped the sentiment with the line of trees to echo my DSP pattern in Versamark and heat-embossed in white embossing powder.

Winter Colour Duo - My card features only two colours today: Garden Green and Whisper White. Garden Green is the major contributor however the white has more than a passing role to play: In addition to the trees,which are echoed in the heat embossed sentiment, its use to mat the DSP and the short banner behind the punched sentiment shape gives definition to those elements, which might otherwise be lost without it. I also added a strip of retired sparkly white ribbon for the vertical element in the sketch - for a little sparkle and texture. 

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. 

I hope you like today's card; I have another one featuring another of the stamps in the Christmas Traditions Punch Box in the coming week or so, so be sure to come back and check it out. I have a few more errands before I get back into my painting and decorating - it's a long job! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Traditions Punch Box (£42.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)

Another Monday, another week! Hope you all had lovely weekends -  did you spend them shopping for Black Friday deals? I did start my Christmas shopping at last - I'm suddenly feeling under pressure to start ticking things off that particular list. i can't quite believe that one month today will be Boxing Day!! Anyway, let's not dwell on that - today I'm sharing a card using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

The lovely Kim has a great sketch this week, with lots of creative possibilities. I decided my card was going to be all about the holly - take a look:

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

A Jolly Holly Christmas - I decided that holly was going to be the theme for my card today and used the square shape to feature a piece of the holly patterned paper from the Santa's Workshop designer series paper and tied my sentiment and holly embellishment (one of the self-adhesive pieces from the Santa's Workshop Memories & More card pack) into my theme. I even carried it over to the inside of my card and added a stamped sprig of holly alongside my sentiment from the super-useful Merry Christmas To All stamp set:

Christmas Traditions - I found the perfect holly-related sentiment for my card in the Christmas Traditions Punch Box that is featured on pages 2-3 of the Autumn/Winter catalogue: 

Just like the Darling Label Punch Box in the annual catalogue (which incidentally has 10% off in the current stamp and kit sale as part of today's Online Extravaganza - order yours here), this festive-themed tin is choc-full of crafting goodies for creating through the festive season: with a block, two ink spots, set of 6 stamps and a Christmas Traditions Punch, all you need is to add some cardstock and adhesives and you are all set for some festive fun! Perfect for tags, cards and embellishments for your home-baked goodies, this set would make a lovely seasonal gift for a crafter or someone who likes to add a personal touch to their packages during the festive season. 

Lots of Layers - I added some texture to my card base with the Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, but otherwise all of the detail and interest on today's card is focused around the square element. In order to really draw the eye to it, I stacked the base behind the holly DSP with 3 layers, made easy with the Layering Square Framelits, using the base colours of the paper and adding a piece of Poppy Parade ribbon for a pop of red - so festive!

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. 

I hope you like today's card - tomorrow's card also features the Christmas traditions Punch Box, so be sure to come back and check it out. I have a few more errands before I get back into my painting and decorating - it's a long job! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Traditions Punch Box (£42.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Poppy Parade 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon (£7.00)	Layering Squares Framelits Dies (£33.00)
Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine (£2.75)

I've been busy decorating today so I'm a little later with my post again. Hopefully it's worth the wait though: I'm sharing another of the pillow gifts that the lucky ladies received on my Creative Escapes Craft Retreat a few weeks ago, and a co-ordinating card that I made to go with it since I decided I liked the box design so much! Firstly, here is the pillow gift box:

I liked the box so much when I got home I made another one and decided to make a card using same design to co-ordinate with it:

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

Luscious Layers - There's so much I love about this card! My most favourite thing is the layering of the diecuts to create the focal point. I used a Stitched Label, the jumping deer from the Detailed Deer Thinlits and a 'merry' in copper foil from the Merry Christmas Thinlits dies. Gorgeous, even if I say so myself!

And More Joyous Noel - The paper I used that inspired my centrepiece is from the gorgeous copper-foiled Joyous Noel paper pack. This paper is now sold out across the globe, so I hope you already have a stash as it's my favourite this season and I still have projects using it to share with you.  

Merry Christmas In Many Ways - The Merry Christmas To All bundle allows you to create many different festive sentiment combinations for the holiday season with a combination of stamps and dies. I used two different combinations for my card and box to give you a flavour of the flexibility it offers. the diecuts are quite large and perfect if a statement sentiment is the order of the day. 

I'm linking my card up with the current challenges over at Just Add Ink where they are looking for big bold sentiments and Fusion where the sketch inspired the layout for today's Christmas card (I flipped it and used the mirror image).

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. 

Finally here is a photograph of both of my projects together:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Bundle (£45.75)	Detailed Deer Thinlits Dies (£32.00)	Stitched Labels Framelits Dies (£31.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Copper Foil Sheets (£3.75)	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Gray Granite A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

I had the opportunity to get out the 'Illuminated Christmas' stamp set last week and created a variety of cards with it, one of which uses the current sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew: 

This is one of those sets I bought because I loved it, but I haven't had the opportunity to use it in a class and just haven't had the time to play with it. This sketch gave me the perfect opportunity to use it and pair it with a classic background stamp from the annual catalogue too - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Illuminated Christmas - The Illuminated Christmas stamp set has a number of traditional festive images that are perfect for colouring; I decided to use my favourite, the angel, on my card today. I stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, and did the same with the banner sentiment, which is also from the same set. I coloured the angel with my daffodil Delight and Pool Party Stampin' Blends and I also used the set to finish the inside of my card:

Sheet Music - We often think of angels singing at Christmas time, so for me the sheet music background stamp seemed like the obvious choice for the base of my card. I've no idea what the tune on the stamp is (I will have to sit at the piano and try it out and let you know!), but I like to think it's a carol for the purposes of my card today anyway!

All is Gold, All Is Bright  - I used lots of gold on my card today to add a real contrast to the otherwise largely white card, with gold embossing, glimmer paper, gold metallic pearls and last but not least one of the All Is Bright gold star paperclips. I love these and it was the perfect accent for my sweet angel on today's 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Illuminated Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Sheet Music Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£14.00)	All Is Bright Paper Clips (£6.50)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Gold Glimmer Paper (£4.75)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Metallic Pearls (£6.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at As you See It where they have something fun going on:

Speed stamping in shades of red! Now making a card in under 10 minutes is a challenge, however luckily all of your thinking time and preparation is outside of that window so I thought it worth a shot. Following the advice of the design team I decided to 'Keep It Simple' and this is what I came up with:

At first glance my card might appear to have a lot going on, but following one practice run (even with thinking time I still changed things on my first attempt and went over the time - oops!) I managed to turn this beauty out in under 10 minutes by following a few simple rules. Here's the low-down on today's card:

It's All About The Candy - My card today has a clear theme: candy canes (in case you were still in any doubt!) The designer series paper pattern from the Santa's Workshop papers takes centre stage and does most of the work, with everything else tying in to this. This made it easy to narrow down supplies and the things I could use on my card. 

Shades of Red - I went with one shade of red on my card: Poppy Parade. This warm red is full of festive brightness and again made co-ordination really straightforward.

Keeping It Simple - For me to create a card in under 10 minutes, it either needs no layers and some simple stamping, or very little stamping at all, which is the route I chose for this card. My card base is a standard A5 blank, and the mat layers are sizes I use all of the time (my whisper White layer measures 9.5cm x 13.9cm and my DSP measures 9.1cm x 13.5cm) so were quick to cut and position. I decided to add a sparkly candy cane from the Santa's Workshop Memories and More pack to draw the eye to my sentiment - so easy, just peel and stick - no stamping or cutting required and chose my sentiment from the Christmas Pines set to reflect this. I embellished with a few enamel shapes and a piece of co-ordinating ribbon and even had time left to add a scalloped border to my white mat layer courtesy of my Decorative Ribbon Border Punch. I also did a little stamping on the inside, using my retired Candy Cane Christmas set: 

And how long did this take me to complete? Well, my stopwatch finished at 8 minutes and 24 seconds - not bad at all for someone who can often spend hours procrastinating over a card!!! Thank you ladies for a fun challenge this week.

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:

Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Poppy Parade 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon (£7.00)	Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes (£6.50)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Santa's Workshop Memories & More Card Pack (£9.25)

I've had a busy start to my week with two days of classes, so it's nice to be able to sit for a while and share a card for the current challenge over at Just Add Ink where they have a beautiful bright and vibrant colour combination: 

I love these bold and bright colours and thought they would be perfect for a Christmas card in non-traditional colours and this is what I came up with:

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

Go Long With Beautiful Baubles - I decided to 'go long' with today's card, and repeatedly stamp the collection of baubles in Versamark onto watercolour paper along the length of my extra-long card. The stamp set is photopolymer and I didn't even use my Stamparatus - it was really easy to see where the next set needed to go.

A Watercolour Wonder - I heat-embossed my baubles in silver and used my aquapainter to 'decorate' my baubles in the three challenge colours. I'm something of a traditional girl when it comes to Christmas decorations, however there is a part of me that loves the idea of a bright, unconventionally-coloured tree in blue, berry and lime!

Bows and Borders - I added a lime decorative ribbon punched border either side of my watecoloured panel and a silver-edged Berry Burst ribbon and bow, before adding to my Blueberry Bushel card base, onto which I stamped and heat-embossed my sentiment to finish 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your evening (I have a hot date with a mountainous ironing pile!) and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beautiful Baubles Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)
Berry Burst 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic-Edge Ribbon (£6.50)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Watercolor Paper (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing an extra card that uses Linda's oh-so simple sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (you can see my earlier Paper Players post here if you missed it):

The circle could be used in so many ways and I decided to use it to try out a fun new-to-me colouring technique - take a look:

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

Glimmer Stained Glass - I decided the circular aperture would be perfect for a stained glass window using the Stained Glass Thinlits and a technique I've seen previously where you stamp and/or colour onto acetate and back this with silver glimmer paper for a sparkly coloured effect. I cut two semi-circular windows and mirrored them, inset into the circle cut out of my mat layer and backed this with a piece of acetate window sheet. I then flipped it over and coloured the reverse with my Stampin' Blends, using the borders of the diecuts to define my changes in colour, before adding a piece of silver glimmer paper for a sparkly shine. This is such a fun technique and really very pretty in real life. 

Painted Glass Sympathy - I originally set out to create a Christmas card (what can I say - I'm on a roll!), but having completed my window I didn't think it looked particularly Christmassy and since I didn't want to add anything else to it and detract from the window, I decided to change purpose and used the appropriate sentiment from the Painted Glass stamp set to create a sympathy card instead. I don't believe that sympathy cards should be devoid of colour and there is something quite tranquil about sunlight shining through a coloured stained window in a church so thought it would work perfectly with this in mind. I added one of my favourite sentiments from Flourishing Phrases to the inside of my card:

A Word About Colour - I used a variety of brightly-coloured Stampin' Blends to bring my stained glass window to life and I think it would work with pretty much any colour combination. I think it's the use of black though that defines this card - in the definition of the layers, the inlaid detail of the window itself and my heat-embossed Gothic-style sentiment. Black shouldn't be reserved just for outlines and sentiments - be brave in your use of black as a colour in its own right.

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stained Glass Thinlits Dies (£27.00)	Painted Glass Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£17.00)	Painted Glass Clear-Mount Bundle (£39.50)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Silver Glimmer Paper (£4.75)
Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Poppy Parade Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Highland Heather Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Call Me Clover Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Blackberry Bliss Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)
Mango Melody Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)

Today I'm sharing a card using last week's sketch over at the Paper Craft Crew:

I have a technique class featuring the Beautiful Blizzard Bundle next week and having designed the cards for my class I wanted to create another card in a similar colourway to demonstrate the versatility of this set and this sketch was perfect - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Beautiful Blizzard - This is such a pretty stamp set; the splodges, spots and wisps make it easy to create lots of texture in detail with minimal layering. I stamped the background behind my sentiment oval in a combination of Balmy Blue and Night of Navy, stamping some of the images full strength and stamping some off first to create depth. I also added a little touch of snow to the inside too:

Frosted Shimmer Snowflakes - I used a couple of the snowflakes cut with my Blizzard Thinlits Die to embellish my sentiment oval, liberally sponging each with Frosted White Shimmer Paint for a wonderful soft shimmery finish.

A Snowflake Trinket - To finish my card, I added one of the new snowflake trinkets too - because you can never have too many snowflakes!

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've a busy day in my craft room today catching up following a busy day yesterday. One big thing achieved though - finally got the last bits in the kitchen finished so I'm all set to decorate the week after next then I'll be able to share some pictures! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Beautiful Blizzard Clear-Mount Bundle (£42.25)	Beautiful Blizzard Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£21.00)	Blizzard Thinlits Die (£26.00)	Frost White Shimmer Paint (£7.50)
Snowflake Trinkets (£7.50)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (£8.25)

Today I've another post for you and I'm sharing not one but three cards - all variations on a theme for this week's challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches:

Now normally I would run a mile at the thought of a colour and sketch combo. but I saw this one and immediately loved it! I no longer have those three retired Stampin' Up! ink colours, so I substituted with a current trio of similar colours:

I used my three colours to create the same card in three colourways - here's the basic design:

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

Detailed Baubles - The multiple bauble stamp in the 'Beautiful Baubles' stamp set was perfect to accompany my sentiment on the portrait feature panel on my card. I stamped it in the same colour as my card base, then used one of the other three colours to mat this layer and tie with a co-ordinating ribbon. I stamped the baubles again on a piece of spare cardstock and used my In-Colour Stampin' Write Markers to add selective colour to a few of my baubles, before cutting out with the Detailed Baubles Thinlits and popping some of the baubles up with mini-dimensionals to add interest. 

Tone on Tone Backgrounds - I initially left my base layer blank, but it seemed a little too plain. I tried stamping a tone-on-tone background all over with the large bauble stamp in this set and decided I quite like it - so repeated in the other colourways too. 

Mix and Match - This card was easy to replicate and achieve a different look simply by switching the colours of the bases and layers around. I ended up creating six cards in one go, two in each colourway. A nice dent on my Christmas card pile and with the focus on three in-colours too, it meant that I didn't need a ton of supplies either - bonus! Here's a picture showing all three colourways:

And I stamped the inside 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:

Beautiful Baubles Photopolymer Bundle (£40.50)	In Color 2018–2020 A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Lovely Lipstick 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Call Me Clover 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Blueberry Bushel 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	In Color 2018–2020 Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)