Today I'm sharing my design team card for our first challenge of the new year over at As you See It. We have a fresh new look thanks to Heather and Amy and I am the hostess for this week, starting us off this year with a Speed Stamping challenge. I always find myself getting distracted by the process of tidying my craft room in the new year (well, I have to make room for all of the new things Santa brought me!) so I thought this would be a good opportunity to rummage through the scrap bin and use up some of those crafty leftovers and put them to good use:

So the idea of the speed challenge is that you create a card in under 10 minutes. Thankfully this doesn't include the time to plan out your ideas; the clock only begins the minute you start to construct. Now for today's challenge I am more thankful for free planning time than ever; why? This was my scrap box before I started this challenge:

Yes, out of control in epic proportions! I haven't been through it in some time!! So first things first: I sorted through the box, made piles of things that co-ordinated in terms of colour/style/theme and created a number of piles, so that I could take each in turn and create something with it:

I ended up making a whole bunch of cards and managed to time and photograph a few of them to share with you in today's post. So here's my first card, which uses some flowers from Beautiful Friendship and Fabulous Florals stamp sets, along with a sentiment from Free As A Bird, some diecuts and an offcut of Terracotta Tile scalloped linen ribbon:

Every single one of these pieces was already cut and stamped in my box, so all I needed to do was cut a card base, layer and arrange in place, which took a record 3 minutes 19 seconds:

This card was so quick, I also pulled together a few more from the other bundles of mostly retired bits and pieces. Here's one of my favourites in Very Vanilla and Rich Razzleberry/Blackberry Bliss, with touches of gold:

This one took a little longer at 8 minutes 10 seconds, but still within a 10 minute window. Here's another:

The brick-embossed cardbase was already in my box so this was a super quick make too, at just 2 minutes and 21 seconds. The quickest card was this one though, at just 2 minutes and 21 seconds:

This one uses a foil-striped diecut and a heat embossed sentiment that is easier to see at an angle:

And finally I made a gift tag with another pile of scraps:

I've since completed another 5 cards too with the other bits and pieces. My scrap box is much depeleted and I've gained additional space on my desk - bonus!

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 speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used (main card only):

BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	FREE AS A BIRD CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	ALL THINGS FABULOUS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	TERRACOTTA TILE 1/2" (1.3 CM) SCALLOPED LINEN RIBBON (£7.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made with this week's colour challenge over at TGIF Challenges in mind:

I had a piece of black and white True love Designer Series Paper out on my desk after making this card, so decided instead if tidying it away to use it up and this black and white challenge seemed like a great opportunity. This is what I came up with:

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

I used lots of the same elements as my previous card, including those gorgeous Always Dies. This time I diecut my 'Love' 3 times and stacked it to create a dimension diecut and combined it with a reverse white-on-black 'with'. There are lots of ways you can combine sentiments using these dies and they don't all have to be with weddings/anniversaries/Valentines in mind; the sentiment on my card is sufficiently generic that it could be used for anything. Again I added some of those matt dots, along with some twine to jazz up my scalloped rectangle. I offset this layer slightly to show a wider piece of the DSP behind, as the pattern got a little lost when it was centred and I really like the effect. And that's all there was to it!

If you love working with black and white as a combo, you should definitely check out the TGIF DT cards and the gallery this week - there are some great examples to feast your eyes on!

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:

FOREVER AND ALWAYS BUNDLE (£43.00)	TRUE LOVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MATTE BLACK DOTS (£6.50)	PLAYFUL PETS TRIM COMBO PACK (£7.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

Apologies everyone - this post was scheduled to go live yesterday but didn't publish (operator error, I'm afraid!) so here it is today!

We may be in a tier 5 national lockdown here in the UK, but that does mean at least lots of time for crafting! So what better time to announce that the first of this year's Sale-A-Bration 2021 promotions is here! Yes, this year times are a-changing and instead of just one 3 month long Sale-A-Bration at the start of the year, there will instead be two, slightly shorter promotions. The second one will be in July to coincide with the launch of the new annual catalogue, but the first one is happening now and runs from 5th January until 28th February. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page or below to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or click on the icon above or on the right to go directly to my online shopto place an order - we are LIVE!

So how does Sale-A-Bration work? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host. You can earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 5 January and 28 February. There is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £90 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! 

It’s also one of the best times of the year to join Stampin’ Up! There is a fabulous joining option during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion: as usual, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £130 of FREE products for your Starter Kit. In addition to an extra £31 worth of product in your starter kit, exclusive to Sale-A-Bration, you will also receive a free stack of our Regals, Subtles, Neutrals, Brights, and 2020—2022 In Color Designer Series Paper along with your Starter Kit! There couldn’t be a better time to join the Stampin’ Up! family. Plus, the whole kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. 

Hosting is also even more rewarding during Sale-A-Bration. When you host a party and reach a certain amount in sales (see the Stampin’ Rewards chart in the Sale-A-Bration brochure for more information), you can earn a free stamp set! Even if you reaches the qualifying amount on your own outside of a party, you can earn the same free stamp set too, both in person and when shopping in my online store. What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a virtual party, please do get in touch. Equally if you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new January-June 2021 mini catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator; paper copies have been sent to my regular customers. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back soon with lots of projects showcasing products from the new catalogue. Until then, happy shopping!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This is my first proper post as a full-time design team member and am thrilled to be joining these lovely ladies! Jeanne is hosting this month and our first challenge of the new year is a colour challenge: 

 For my card today I decided to break into one of my favourite sets from the new January-June mini catalogue and create a fun card that is also perfect for the current theme word challenge over at Just Us Girls this week - take a look:

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

Snail Mail - I love the collection of cute snails that feature in the Snail Mail Suite and couldn't wait to stamp and colour one with my Blends for my card today - cute, right?! And with a friendly 'hello' speech bubble, the perfect way to send someone a little 'happy mail' and let them know you are thinking of them.

All Hearts  - I created a two-tone base for my card front and used the tiny hearts border die from the Floral Hearts Dies set to create a border edge in my Pool Party layer that reveals the Cherry Cobbler hearts from the main card base, to pick up on the heart that features on the snail's happy mail envelope. I love to find co-ordination details like this across the products in my collection.

It's In The Detail - I used the same die to add a top and bottom border to my insert and another of the stamp sets to decorate the back of my envelope to complete my card:

I left the remainder of my card insert blank as I want to use this card to send a long-overdue note to a friend of mine who now lives in the USA, so need plenty of space to write. Whilst we do share photos and such like via social media, we make an effort to keep in touch with each other the old fashioned pen-and-paper way, so I know she will appreciate the sentiment of this little snail and the preview decoration on the back of the envelope 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. 

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! color 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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNAILED IT BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BERMUDA BAY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for the first challenge of the new year over at The Paper Players! We have a new trio of guest designers to welcome - hello to Debbie, Amanda and Nancy, and it's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she the perfect theme challenge for you to work with:

Something new - what a great theme to get our craft on into the new year! I have so many lovely new things that can't wait to share with you - I was truly spoilt for choice! I decided to use the current layout over at The Spot and use new papers, foils dies and stamps on today's card  - take a look:

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

Floral Heart Centrepiece - Today's card features a number of new items from the Love You Always suite, which includes two stamp set and die bundles. On today's card I used the fancy floral heart as my centrepiece, cut from Rococco Rose foil to compliment the foiled specialty paper that I used for my panel piece and decorated it with some additional flowers and foliage cut from other dies in the set. Isn't it just so pretty?!

Love You Always Foils - There are both solid foils and specialty foiled paper in the suite. It's always difficult to show foil to full effect on a photograph, so you'll have to take my word for it how beautiful and shiny it is! Here's another view that hopefully captures some of it for you:

Always In My Heart - The Floral Heart Dies alone are fabulous, but it also had a lovely stamp set too. I decided to go with a white heart for the front of my card, stamped in Merry Merlot (I think this red compliments Rococco Rose beautifully) given that I had used Merry Merlot for my card base and finished with a little extra stamping on the inside of my card:

It is my wedding anniversary in February, so I might save this one and use it for my dear hubby - if that's not too organised of me! So what do you think? Is the 'Love You Always' Suite one you can see yourself falling in love with? Do leave me a comment below - I will be sharing more projects using new products from this suite in the coming weeks.

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:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. No links to the online store today as these products are not available to purchase until 5th January; only another couple of days to wait though!

Enjoy your day; we will be taking our Christmas decorations down today as Jason is back to work tomorrow and this is definitely a two-person job. The Juniors have another week of Christmas vacation but if they had their way, we would have Christmas decorations up until April, so they can't be relied upon to help in a constructive way so it's not a job that can be left until Twelfth Night!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ALWAYS IN MY HEART BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)	LOVE YOU ALWAYS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	LOVE YOU ALWAYS FOIL SHEETS (£9.25)	MERRY MERLOT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MERRY MERLOT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	ROCOCO ROSE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Happy new year lovely readers! I hope you have all enjoyed a restful Christmas and peaceful new year with your nearest and dearest. I have enjoyed a craft-free break over the festive period, instead spending some quality time with my family and indulging in some of my other passions, such as Lego building, board games and book reading. I am slowly getting back to crafting; I have lots of new goodies to play with so am looking forward to sharing some of those with you.Today I'm sharing a card I made for the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I love this sketch by Jennifer T and decided to create a layered sentiment and start cutting in to my new pack of True Love black and white designer series paper for my card - take a look:

I diecut the larger of my 'always' outlines out of the patterned paper and after adding some colour to the blooms on the paper with my Flirty Flamingo Blends, I popped this panel up on dimensionals. I cut the narrower 'always' out of Basic Black that I first adhered to a foam sheet and then inset this into the aperture onto the background layer and added a stamped 'forever &' to complete my sentiment, with a trio of black mat dots to finish. I also added some coloured DSP to the flap of my envelope too for a co-ordinated finishing touch.

You can see the dimension of the sentiment and the colour detail better here:

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. No online store links as these products are not available to purchase until 5th January.

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with my first challenge post for The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FOREVER AND ALWAYS BUNDLE (£43.00)	TRUE LOVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMNGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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 across the middle row with house-snow-tree and created a trio of festive notecards for you today - take a look:

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

I made a set of notelets similar to these in a case as one of the projects at my Creative Escapes Craft Retreat back in October, and I still had some papers left so I thought I would make a few more. I used a combination of Trimming The Town designer paper, white cardstock, Stitched Shapes Dies and Home Together Dies to create my cards, each one with a snowy tree background, a white snowscape piece and trees and houses in various combinations diecut from the paper to create my little scenes, with each one finished with a sentiment cut from the paper too. Here's each of the cards individually:

A red and green chalet style house:

And lastly a palatial home on a landscape card, complete with porch entrance:

This last card shows lots of detail and layering - check it out:

I just love these cards - and not a stamp in sight! No supplies link today, as these items are no longer available, but I still wanted to share as I had paper to use up and for those of you in a similar position, I hope they give you some creative inspiration! I'm also linking up with the current challenge #GDP271 over at Global Design Project, where their theme is Winter/Holiday.

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'!

Today I'm sharing a card for the new challenge over at CASology where I have been invited by the lovely Melissa to be the guest designer, following my 'stag' card being chosen as a winner for challenge 378 - if you missed it, you can see that card here. 

Today's cue card is a festive one and perfect for some last-minute card making for the Christmas season:

 I decided to create a cute snowman using negative space for my card today - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman - Apologies if you now have THAT song stuck in your head, but that was exactly what I decided to do today, on my card at least! Whilst I used my Snowman Builder Punch for the hat and arms, it wouldn't work for the body but this was easily remedied by using some (retired) circle punches (3/4", 1" and 1 1/4"). I added a felt scarf left over from one of last year's accessory kits for a little added texture, a simple sentiment from the 'Snowman Season' stamp set and my falling snow was courtesy of my much-loved retired Softly Falling embossing folder - it's still a favourite of mine:

This was the stamping on the inside of my card:

Design Defined - One of the things I love about the CASology challenge is that they encourage us to consider what makes our card 'clean and simple'. In addition to the basic guidelines, the design team offer some great tips in terms of their cards. Often when I play along I do the same, and if you check out my previous CASology-related blog posts, you will see lots of similar tips in relation to the cards that I created. For today's card, I defined my card design as 'Use negative space to create a focal point' which is a great way to add interest to a CAS design. 

An Unconventional Take - I actually made a second card using the same design, that was as a result of seeing this week's Inspired By inspiration photo:

I loved the holly against the bright pink for an unconventional take on Christmas colour, so decided I would use this idea to create a second version of the above card. My holly is small and I swapped out my scarf colour for more green, but this card is very much about the pink:

So what do you think? I actually still prefer the original one myself, however it was fun to change out the colour for an alternative effect. Here are both cards together for comparison:

Which one do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below - I would 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. Thank you to the team at CASology for having me as their Guest Designer this week - do check out the team designs and I'm sure they would love you to play along with this challenge too.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNOWMAN BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)

WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

SNOWMAN SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£17.00)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

MELON MAMBO CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's our last challenge of 2020 and the turn of the amazing Claire to host this week. She has a colour challenge for you to work with:

I've been super busy this week so have not been a frequent blogger I'm afraid. To make amends, I have two cards for you today! I'm still making Christmas cards and wanted to play along with challenge over at The Card Concept because I loved the textures in the inspiration photo so I decided to make two cards, both using the Fab Friday sketch layout: a silver, black and white one for my Paper Players card and then a gold, black and white version for The Card Concept. So first up - here's my Paper Players card:

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

Both cards feature a pair of ornaments from the Christmas Gleaming set, one heat embossed on Whisper White card and the other onto Basic Black, along with piece of foil embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder and wiped with black ink for a slightly more aged look, black and silver/gold glimmer paper, tassels, gem embellishments and mesh ribbon and twine bows. Just check out the texture and detail:

I switched out the background embossing folder and one or two other small details to recreate a gold, black and white version:

I'm going for a 'classy and elegant' look with my cards today: the polished, shiny finish, layered textures and sparkly embellishments are a definite change from my normal 'clean and layered' style, but I quite like them. I think the sparkle and shine balances all the black and the textures are just lovely:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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:

This is our last challenge of the year before we take a short break over Christmas. It is time to say thank you and goodbye to Stef, Allisa and Mary, our fabulous guest designers this year. They have all been fabulous and we will miss them lots! 

Enjoy your day; I am going to try and finish writing my Christmas cards today, whilst also squeezing in some festive baking and maybe just a little crafting too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHRISTMAS GLEAMING CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£14.00)	PARISIAN FLOURISH 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	SILVER FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	SILVER STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)
RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)	SUBTLE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

CHRISTMAS GLEAMING CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£14.00)	PARISIAN FLOURISH 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)

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 timely theme challenge for you to work with:

19 days to go and yes - it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, so that is my theme this week! You can share your gifts, cards, packaging - we would love to see your festive makes! I love to make co-ordinating cards and gift packaging at this time of year so I have one such set to share with you today. My post is photo-heavy as I'm going to share both a Christmas card and a rather fancy matching gift box using products from the Snowflake Splendor Suite. I even have a video tutorial for you!

First up - here's my Christmas card, with the hexagonal aperture cut using the So Many Snowflake dies:

I added some diecut snowflakes painted with Frosted White shimmer paint and finished with those pretty Balmy Blue adhesive-backed gems and a pretty Pool Party sheer ribbon bow, with a simple sentiment and snowflake decoration on the inside of my card:

 Check out the effect of those faceted gems - so sparkly!

This card was a variation on one I made in my monthly card class featuring the Snowflake Wishes bundle a few months ago. I liked the card so much, I decided to make a matching box, using the same hexagonal aperture and the Stitched Nested Label Dies from the annual catalogue. I made a simple birthday gift box using these dies previously (you can see that box here if you missed it) and have been wanting to make a video tutorial to show how it was done, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Here is my finished box closed:

And this is what it looks like open - the lid and base extend beyond the sides of the box and the top slides off to reveal the inside:

I wanted to step up my box so instead of simply creating an open aperture on the lid, I added some acetate and created a shaker, filled with snowflake sequins and glitter - check out  this out - it's not only the sentiment that's full of sparkle:

I added some Snowflake Splendor designer paper to the sides of my box lid and wrapped and tied it with more of the Pool Party sheer ribbon, to tie it in with the detail on my card - you can see that better below:

Rather than detail exactly how I made this project in words, I thought I would make a video tutorial should you wish to have a go at making one yourself - so here it is:

I am just in love with this set; the box isn't huge, but will hold small gifts such as chocolates, jewellery, a scented candle - lots of options! Here's a final photo of my projects together:

I would love to know what you thought of my video tutorial too; was it useful? Would you like to see more of this type of content. Do let me know - I would 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

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 started writing Christmas cards whilst at hockey yesterday and am hoping to crack on with those this afternoon to get them in the post tomorrow, which will be a huge achievement! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SNOWFLAKE WISHES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£51.25)	STITCHED NESTED LABELS DIES (£33.00)	SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BLUE ADHESIVE-BACKED GEMS (£7.50)	SNOWFLAKE SEQUINS (£5.50)
POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	FROST WHITE SHIMMER PAINT (£7.50)
POOL PARTY 3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON (£5.50)	FOAM ADHESIVE STRIPS (£7.25)	WINDOW SHEETS (£4.75)