I'm very late posting today - eek! - having had a fun day with the James juniors, amongst other things shopping for the contents for our annual Samaritan's Purse Shoeboxes. This is something we really enjoy and is a great way to encourage the children to think of others less fortunate than themselves as we are about to embark on one of the most commercial seasons of the year and to be grateful for all they have.

With gratefulness in mind, I thought I would share a little pumpkin that I made using the Curvy Keepsake Thinlit Die - this would make a perfect Thanksgiving table favour for my American readers and equally with an alternative tag would be suitable for Halloween too. There are tons of variations on pumpkins made with the thinlit die out there in blogland, but this is my version:

So simple to make: just cut two pieces of Pumpkin Pie cardstock with the thinlit, stamp the inner sections of the box with one of the stamps from the Work of Art set, then finish with some Old Olive leaves cut using the Fun Fall Framelits, some twisted tendrils, a couple of my favourite Autumn Wooden Embellishments and a tag from the Merry Everything set, all tied on with linen thread. I love this die and have made so many gorgeous boxes with it; I am hoping to be able to share some of them with you later this week.

Meanwhile, today I'm going to leave you with a fun photo that is destined for this year's Halloween Project Life page for sure - whilst out shopping today, we treated ourselves to some Halloween 'trick or treat' donuts at Krispy Kreme; sure enough, we had one of each filling:

The oozing green filling was actually quite nice, but the appearance was definitely a surprise!

Back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Deals and my Design Team post for Colour Me...! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Dies	Merry Everything Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Note Tag Punch	Fun Fall Framelits Dies
Autumn Wooden Elements	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Linen Thread
Fuse Fast Adhesive

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a fun day today: made today's blog card first thing, caught up with a friend who's been away for a while, then spent the afternoon with the lovely ladies that attend my monthly card class - there can't be a better way to start my week! I tell you, those ladies are an absolute hoot and there are some real artists amongst them for sure (yes Chris, the reindeer was inspired!!) Pictures to follow on my Facebook page!

We used the Endless Wishes stamp set in my class today, but today's blog card is back on the theme of Halloween - I need to get the use out of my Halloween sets before they get retired for another year! I took my inspiration from the photo over at Fusion, but didn't double up and use their sketch too (I might have another go at this later in the week) - instead I used the rather interesting layout over at Pals Paper Arts:

I knew I wanted to use orange with a touch of black and definitely needed to incorporate the pumpkin in the photo - this is what I came up with:

I used Sahara Sand for my card base, and used a piece of the Motely Monsters DSP that is covered with happy smiling pumpkins as my first angular layer. For my top piece, I used a piece of Tangerine Tango cardstock and cut out a pumpkin shape using my Fall Fest framelits, so that the DSP beneath would show through. I then stamped another smaller pumpkin is Crushed Curry onto Whisper White, stamped a face in Memento Black, cut this out with a framelit, tied it with a piece of linen thread and adhered to the edge of the open aperture. I popped this whole section onto dimensionals to give a little extra lift and depth. To finish, I stamped my sentiment from 'Good Greetings' in Memento Black onto the base of my card.

I hope you like today's card; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fall Fest Photopolymer Bundle	Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Linen Thread
Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

Happy Saturday everyone! I am back into the challenge swing of things and today I have a card for this week's Merry Monday challenge where the aim is to create a card using non-traditional colours and I also took a little inspiration from the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I decided to make a card using the Nutcracker stamp as it really lends itself to cards using non-traditional colours and I've been wanting to make a purple card with him for some time; here's my card: 

I used Blackberry Bliss for my base and Hello Honey for the mat and the striped DSP which is from the Midnight DSP stack. I coloured my nutcracker using a combination of Stampin' Write markers and the skin tone, Smoky Slate and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities (I sued the middle and darkest one only as these are closer to Hello Honey) and added a popped-up moustache cut out using my Big Shot and the moustache framelit. To finish, I stamped my sentiment directly onto the DSP layer. I love the Nutcracker in these colours - I think he looks very regal!

That's me done for today; I have some class prep later for next week's class and then we are meeting up with some friends later for dinner, which should be fun.

Back tomorrow with my Design Team card over at The Paper Players, where Nance has a fabulous sketch for us and there is lots more festive fun to be had!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Santa Stache Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Mustache Framelits Die	Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock
Hello Honey A4 Cardstock	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment

Another busy day today but I managed to shop, clean the house and catch up on some work, so a nicely productive one. Today's card is my entry for this week's challenge over at 'Less Is More' where the theme this week is 'Little Creatures' - I'm squeezing this one in right under the wire this evening, but as this is one of my favourite challenge blogs and I haven't done any challenges this week, it was worth the effort.

I decided to make a Christmas card, although my 'little creatures' didn't come from a festive set - take a look:

I thought the little bird in the 'Hello Love' hostess set would make a cute robin, so I decided to stamp a pair under the little sprig of mistletoe that features in the Project Life Holiday Cheer stamp set and then coloured them with my Cherry Cobbler and skin tone Blendabilities, highlighting with my Colour Lifter, and adding a little red bow to the hair of one to make her into the 'Mrs'. I stamped the mistletoe in Garden Green and wiped away the bow and re-drew it in Real Red, and added a few tiny pearls to look like the mistletoe berries. For my sentiment, I chose 'I love us' from the 'Good Greetings' hostess set; this set is still available until the end of the month if you host a party and have qualifying sales of £200 or more. This sentiment just seemed to suit my robins perfectly!

A simple one layer card (even though one layer isn't part of the challenge criteria this week!) which shows a useful way to adapt the 'Hello Love' set for a Christmas card.

Back tomorrow with another Christmas card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Alcohol Marker Color Lifter
Project Life Holiday Cheer Photopolymer Stamp Set	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad
Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set

A late post from me today as I've spent the day today in London with Jason and the children at the Tower of London on a family day out. We were keen to see the amazing artwork of the poppies in the moat at the Tower of London, laid to commemorate the centenary of World War One and boy we weren't disappointed - it really is an amazing sight. I'll share some pictures another day, but for now I wanted to show you my Halloween Frightful Wreath that is currently adorning my front door, in readiness for Halloween at the end of next week. This kit is so easy to put together - everything is included except for the ink and stamp for the banner and a hot glue gun to put it all together. The result is so impressive - here's my finished wreath:

Here's a close up of the centrepiece, a suspended rosette stamped with a 'Trick or Treat' sentiment - I used the co-ordinating stamp set, but you could use any similar set or even leave your wreath sentiment-free:

My favourite element of all is the beautiful purple and silver beaded spider that sits on the glimmer wreath - here's a close up:

How gorgeous is that?! A little more fiddly to put together than I'm used to, but so worth the effort - it's so eyecatching. Lastly, here is my finished wreath 'in situ' adorning my front door:

What a great project - and it took only about 90 minutes to put together. There's still time for you to get hold of one of these kits and put it together in time to add it to your Halloween home décor; just click on the links below to go straight to my online store to order yours!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Frightul Wreath Simply Created Kit	Frightful Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set	Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad
Silver Metallic Encore Pad

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for October (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right) and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Ampersand Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Basic Metal Buttons	Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Jumbo Sticky Rounds
Regals Designer Buttons	Spook Central Designer Ensemble - Digital Download	Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

This week is all about Textured Impressions Embossing Folders - there are three different ones to choose from! Along with buttons, this week's MDS ensemble and jumbo sticky rounds, useful for flowers!

As always, these offers will only be around for one week, so don't delay - get shopping!

DON'T FORGET: 2 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FREE PACK OF PAPER FOR 6 MONTHS SIGN UP DEAL ENDS - CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN MY STAMPIN' UP! TEAM TODAY!

It's Wednesday and time for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! where we have a playful colour palette for you to work with this week:

For my card, I took my inspiration straight from this week's challenge badge and those lovely spooky mason jars and decided to create a similar effect with the aid of my Silhouette Cameo - take a look:

I couldn't find a suitable file in My Digital Studio to work with, so I downloaded this Halloween Graveyard scene from the Silhouette store and cut it out of Basic Black. For the background, I sponged a panel of Whisper White using each of the challenge colours, having first masked off a circle with a post-it note punched with a 1 3/4" circle punch for my moon. I'm surprised at just how well these three colours blend together to create the spooky scene - it's really quite atmospheric. I left the front of my card sentiment-free and added one to the inside, as I didn't want to interrupt my picture.

So what do you think? This card was surprisingly easy to create with my e-cutter. 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:

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad
Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Stamping Sponges	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch

DON'T FORGET: 4 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FREE PACK OF PAPER FOR 6 MONTHS SIGN UP DEAL ENDS - CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN MY STAMPIN' UP! TEAM TODAY!

I'm back from Convention and will have more news on that tomorrow. Today has been all about catching up with my family, but I wanted to write a quick post to let you know that today Stampin' Up! has launched a new supplement to the Autumn-Winter Seasonal catalogue with a handful of new products that are guaranteed to get you in the mood for the festive season: 

If you click on the above image, it will take you to the full supplement. There are two main great products that I would really like to highlight to you:

The Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit - everything you need to create 26 stars that can be used as home décor or boxes for festive packaging and the largest of which measures a whopping 38 cm in diameter and would make a lovely alternative to a wreath with the addition of some wide ribbon. Check out the picture below showing just some of what's included, as demonstrated by Pam Morgan at the European Convention in Brussels this past weekend:

There is a also the 'Hello December' Project Life kit - perfect if you like to keep a 'daily December' record during the festive season.

I will be offering classes using both of the above products - I already have a Many merry Stars class scheduled for 24th November so if you'd like to attend call or email me for more details, more details on additional classes to follow - but meanwhile, do take a look at the supplement as all the items contained within it are only available WHILE STOCKS LAST - if you want to get you hands on them, I suggest you hop on over to the online store or give me a call as soon as possible to add your order to the one I'm placing tomorrow.

Back tomorrow with more creativity and fun; until then, happy stampin'!

Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit	Hello December Project Life Card Collection	Hello December Project Life Accessory Pack	Project Life December Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set
Many Merry Stars Photopolymer Stamp Set	12 Days Of Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set

DON'T FORGET: 9 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FREE PACK OF PAPER FOR 6 MONTHS SIGN UP DEAL ENDS - CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN MY STAMPIN' UP! TEAM TODAY!

It's Wednesday and time for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! where we have a subtle colour palette for you to work with this week:

This colour palette presented me with the perfect opportunity for a card using the 'colour blocking' technique that I've had in my head for a while. Take a look at my card and then I'll explain:

Colour blocking is the technique of using large blocks of colour to create a solid background and works really well as a background for silhouette shapes in black or white or where you have one large image that you can reverse-block on top, as I've done here with the babygro onesie. I created my colour block background out of three equal pieces of cardstock in the challenge colours running horizontally across my card. I stamped my sentiment in the darkest colour, Island Indigo, onto the lightest one, Crisp Cantaloupe, and then picked out each of the colours in the embellishments: a Soft Sky button, some Island indigo baker's twine and a trio of Crisp Cantaloupe hearts.

Deceptively easy but rather effective I think and a technique that could work with lots of different colour combinations. So what do you think? 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:

Baby's First Framelits Die	Baby, We've Grown	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe
Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment	Subtles Designer Buttons
Whisper White A4 Card Stock

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for October (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right) and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Cannery Set Framelits Dies	Circle card Thinlits Die	Floral Frames Framelits Dies	Label Card Thinlits Die
Spooky Treats Designer Template - Digital Download	Tag A Bag Gift Bags	Truly Grateful

Lots of framelits this week - the retired cannery set, but also the lovely circle and label thinlit flip card dies - great for making cards that are a little different. The Floral Frames thinlits are on offer too! There's also the Truly Grateful stampset for some last minute Thanksgiving/harvest cards, an MDS download for Spooky Treats but the real bargain of the week has to be the Tag a Bag Gift Bags - just £2.81 for a pack of 10 food-safe bags, perfect for festive treats!

So what are you waiting for? Click on the links and head off to the shop! Back later with today's creative post. Until then, happy shopping!