I have another Christmas card to share today, using this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and some scrummy new product as my inspiration:

Here's my card:

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

Candy Cane Lane - The new Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper was the inspiration for my card today. This pack has some great festive patterns in red, white, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso, with everything from candy canes to gingerbread. I used one of the designs for my main DSP panel and fussy cut a trio of the shapes and popped them on dimensionals for the triangle elements of the sketch.

A Sweet Season - My sentiment comes from the co-ordinating 'Candy Cane Christmas' stamp set, which contains a few sentiments and is great for tags and treat packaging. I stamped it in Versamark and heat embossed it in white onto my Real Red card base.

Candy Cane Twine - To finish, I added some candy cane baker's twine - this twine is white with a red metallic twist - and tied in a sweet bow.

More festive loveliness and a great sketch - the paper does all the hard work on this one!

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. 

The sun is shining here in the UK - we are off to the park for the day with a picnic. Back tomorrow with this week's challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper	Candy Cane Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Candy Cane Lane Baker's Twine	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock
Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's Christmas in the house today and I have another festive 'sneak peek' for you from the forthcoming Autumn-Winter catalogue using this week's sketch over at Just Add Ink:

Before I share my card, I'd just like to give the lovely ladies over at Just Add Ink a quick shout out for choosing my light-up firefly card as their top pick a couple of weeks ago (you can see that card here if you missed it) - thank you ladies! This week they have a sketch - and you all know how much I love a good sketch! I took this one fairly literally - take a look:

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

Star of Light - The stamps used on today's card all come from the Star of Light set in the forthcoming autumn-winter catalogue. This is a set full of stars and some beautiful sentiments and sayings and the detail lends itself beautifully to a heat embossed finish. Just check out the intricate pattern on that large die cut star! I chose a simple colour combination of copper and Island Indigo for today's card - the two colours compliment each other beautifully.

Copper Foil - There's another new product on this card: the gorgeous new copper foil that I used to die cut a couple of stars from to compliment my larger stamped one. I used the co-ordinating Starlight Thinlit Dies and my Big Shot to cut out all of the stars on today's card; they are part of a 'bundle and save' offer with the Star of Light stamp set - bonus!

Textured Border - I could have used more of the copper foil for my mat layer, but instead decided I wanted more texture. I simply sponged the edge of my cardstock with Versamark and then heat embossed using copper embossing powder to give a textured finish, and did the same to the piece that backs my sentiment banner.

Isn't it lovely? All copper and sparkly!

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 have a class scheduled featuring this set on 10th October; if you live in or around Northampton and would like to join me, please get in touch to book your place.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another Christmas card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Star Of Light Photopolymer Bundle	Island Indigo A4 Cardstock	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Copper Foil Sheets	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a long day of school uniform shopping today but just have time to squeeze in another cupcake card, altogether more clean and simple to yesterday's; I had some leftover bits and pieces and wanted to use the colour scheme over at CAS Colours and Sketches which is almost identical:

Here's my card:

I went with a layered border so that I could leave lots of all-important 'white space' on the centre of my card and stamped my cupcake base directly onto the vanilla mat (using a couple of other neutrals for my case), then cut out the frosting top with my framelits and just popped it on a few dimensionals.

A super-simple card, although for me the funniest thing about this card is the sentiment: if there are any Lethal Weapon movie fans out there, every time I read it I think of the scene where Delores is hunting down Sergeant Murtaugh and says "Well you tell him he's the jam in my jelly roll!" You're the icing on my cupcake just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it!

Back with a Christmas card for you tomorrow - a seasonal 'sneak peek' :-) Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sweet Cupcake Photopolymer Bundle	Playful Palette A4 Cardstock	Chocolate Chip A4 Cardstock	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad
Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the super-talented Sandy's turn to host this week and she has a fun theme for you to work with:

I also used this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout. Ok, so first up - a confession! I was so excited to have some child-free craft time to make my card earlier this week, that I did go a little crazy with my layering and so my card is not maybe as CAS as it should be. That said, I love it too much not to share :-) So - here's my card:

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

A Sweet Cupcake - What's sweeter than a cupcake? This delicious triple-time stamped number is so easy to create with the Sweet Cupcake stamp set. The photopolymer stamps make lining up the images a piece of cake (yes, pun intended!) and having mounted my card on a couple of layered circles I used the 'sweet' from the co-ordinating Cupcake Cutouts Framelits to finish my sentiment, which I brushed with clear Wink of Stella for a little shimmer.

Sugar Frosting - Those of you who attended Onstage in April or follow the Facebook page of the Stampin' Up! CEO, Sara Douglas, will have seen her demonstrate this set and finish with some textured frosting. I decided to get creative with my cupcake and give it a go! It was really easy to make - I've included the recipe on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' image below - an adds an interesting texture and dimension to the third layer of frosting. I went one step further and whilst wet sprinkled my frosting with Dazzling Diamonds to create a really sparkling sugary finish - yum! The photo below shows the dimension of the frosting in more detail:

Almost good enough to eat! Thank you Sara for this fun suggestion to step up our cupcake creations!

Playful Palette-inspired Colour Combo - I used one of the patterns in the Playful Palette designer series paper stack as the starting point for my card today and paired my Sweet Sugarplum, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla combo with Chocolate Chip - feel free to save this colour combination if it's one that appeals to you:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project - including the recipe to create your own frosting - 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. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sweet Cupcake Photopolymer Bundle	Playful Palette Designer Series Paper Stack	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Playful Palette A4 Cardstock	Chocolate Chip A4 Cardstock
Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter

I hope you are enjoying the weekend! I managed to squeeze in a little crafting time this afternoon and made a card for this week's challenge over at Mojo Monday:

I had been sorting through some Project Life and was struck by the lovely natural florals and phrases in my Hello Lovely card box so decided to use one of them as the focal point for my card today. Take a look:

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

Hello Lovely Project Life - The Hello Lovely Project Life set has some great sentiments to illustrate your Project Life pages and record those special times with loved ones. They can also work as the focal point for a card too: I've used one of the 3" x 4" cards that I cropped to focus on the sentiment. 

Mix It Up - I am always torn when it comes to using PL cards for something other than memory-keeping; I love to use them in my recording too much! I wanted to use the leaf pattern and black and white watercolour striped cards for the circle and background elements of my card, but they both had designs on the reverse that I wanted to use for memory-keeping. How did I solve my dilemma? I found some very similar patterned papers in the retired English Garden and Go Wild designer series papers that I could use instead - crisis averted!

Pool Party Blue - Black and white are the dominant colours on my card, but the hint of green and the blue Pool Party base picked out from flowers on the PL card, belly band, twine and sequin embellishment play a key role in lightening and brightening this otherwise monochromatic colour scheme. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Lovely Project Life Card Collection

Hello Lovely Project Life Accessory Pack

Pool Party A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my dear friend Claire's turn to host this week and she has a great palette of primary colours for you to work with:

These colours are perfect for a back to school project. I actually used these colours for a quick card that I made for this week's sketch challenge over at the As You See It Challenge earlier this week but couldn't link it up as their site is down, so I thought I would instead share it today (edited to add: subsequently back on line now so I've linked):

There is so much you could do with the AYSI sketch, but I found myself constantly returning to the idea that it had all the makings of a Mondrian painting - so I decided to create a clean and simple card in that style. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Mondrian Blocks of Colour - Piet Mondrian is a Dutch painter famous for his modern art using bold blocks of primary colours and white, delineated with black lines. My card is a super-simple card in this style; my fellow PP designer, Hannelie Bester, has also made a card with a Mondrian influence this week that is much more intricate and detailed and if you're a fan of this style of art you should definitely check it out.

Suite Words of Success - This message of success comes from the 'Suite Sayings' sentiment set. I've not used this set in a while, but I've used it many times earlier this year and it's one I was so pleased to see carried over from the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue into the annual. This modern font was the perfect fit for my card today.

Perpetual Stars - Rather than leave my sentiment just black on white, I did break with my colour blocking slightly to add a burst of bright yellow stars to add to the celebratory feel. I used the star stamp from the Perpetual Calendar stamp set for this - such a useful set with lots of small stamps that are perfect for small details. 

I know lots of students expecting GCSE exam results this year, so I thought this would make a great exam success card. Maybe one that would work for a boy too - not too 'pretty'!

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. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with our colours this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad
Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

I've had a busy couple of days but I wanted to pop by with a quick card that I made for this week's sketch challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

Did you know that the new Project Life accessory packs now include a set of photopolymer stamps? I used the ones in the All Year Long pack to create a little notelet - take a look:

I stamped each of the little seasonal stamps and heat embossed the sentiment in gold, added a gold frame and mounted on a Crumb Cake base. Super simple, super quick!

I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Year Long Project Life Accessory Pack	Gold Foil Sheets	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I have the first of this month's technique classes featuring the 'Touches of Texture' stamp set and I'm sharing one of the cards that we will be making, that is based on this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch:

Here is my card:

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

Touches of Texture - Touches of Texture is one of a number of stamp sets in the annual catalogue that are all about artistic expression. The stamp set features three outline florals, a bee, a dragonfly and then a number of textured stamps that can be used in lots of creative ways. It's a great stamp set for a beginner, as there are no real rights or wrongs; no need to align the stamps precisely and you can achieve a different look each time. For this card I used the large flower head and infilled it with Cajun Craze, having added a little Early Espresso to the flower centre with a sponge dauber before stamping. I used the fine splatter behind the flower on my punched circle in Delightful Dijon, the more dense splatter in Emerald Envy on my card base for some tone-on-tone texture and lastly the dragonfly, which I fussy cut and added a little clear Wink of Stella to its wings. 

A Touch of Morocco - The ladies that attended my Moroccan Nights class last month really enjoyed using the papers and colours of the product suite and rediscovering the use of washi tape in their cardmaking, so I've continued the theme this month with similar colours and using some of the Moroccan Designer Series Paper behind my flower and some of the co-ordinating washi tape for the vertical stripe and to decorate the inside of my card and the envelope. 

Thoughtful Banners - I make more thank you cards than any other and today's card features the sweet thank you from the Thoughtful Banners stamp set, set inside a stamped banner and punched out with the co-ordinating Duet Banner punch. Another of the great bundled pairs to be found in the annual catalogue, with a saving of 10% if you buy both items together - yay!

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'm off to the cinema with the James Juniors this afternoon to watch the BFG; enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Touches Of Texture Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Moroccan Designer Series Paper	Moroccan A4 Cardstock	Moroccan Designer Washi Tape	Layering Circle Framelits Dies
Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Bundle	Delightful Dijion Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad
Emerald Envy 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon	Blender Pens	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme for you to play along with:

I decided to choose something really open-ended with my 'you light up my life' theme - from sunshine to light bulbs and everything in between, so long as your card includes a source of light, real or artificial, it will fit the bill for my challenge this week! I decided to try something that I've been wanting to have a go at for a while - an actual light-up card! Take a look:

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

A Jar of Light and Love - I decided to watercolour a little scene for my card, stamping my large Jar of Love as the temporary home for my fireflies. I did all my stamping in Archival Black ink onto watercolour paper, then coloured my image using my inks and an aquapainter. I didn't worry about being too precise with my watercolouring as I wanted that fluid, loose feel. I also added a few tiny dots representing more fireflies in the distance with my white gel pen and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to my firefly wings with my fine tip glue pen. 

A Fire Fly Glow - Mr James is passionate about electronics and the James Juniors are really into circuits and creating things and, amongst other things, they have made cute light-up houses with their circuit pens previously; I have been wanting to have a go at 'drawing' my own circuit and using it to incorporate lights into my card for a while so for today's card, I raided hubby's electronics supply of LEDs, circuit pens, copper tape and batteries to create my very own circuit and give my fireflies a bright glow. The circuit sits behind the image panel and when you press on the sentiment tab it completes the circuit and the fireflies light up like this:

Isn't that just so much fun?! It really wasn't that tricky to do and does create a fun element to your card, although it can work out expensive if you need to purchase lots of electronics supplies, so this is definitely a card to send to someone special.

Meadow Grass - To create the grassy ground for my jar to sit on, I used the flower stems stamp and grass from the 'In the Meadow' stamp set. The loose, sketchy style of this set fitted perfectly with my jar and watercoloured scene. I stamped the flower stamp twice, masking the stamp the second time I stamped it so that my grasses would taper away across my card.

I'm linking today's card up with the team over at Just Add Ink where the theme is 'Just Add F' or things beginning with F - in my case, fireflies.

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. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with my theme this week. I am spending the day at home today, taking it easy; the James Juniors had a friend each over to camp in the garden last night so a late night and early morning will undoubtedly have been had by all! Daddy was on camp out too, so he will have fared the worst; I suspect much of today will be spent surviving until we can all have an early bedtime, but this kind of fun is most definitely what summer holidays should be about!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Jar Of Love Photopolymer Stamp Set	In The Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper
Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad
Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Fine-Tip Glue Pen

Today I'm excited to be sharing another card I've made using the new Thoughtful Branches bundle, an exclusive set that will be available for a limited time only 2-31 August. As I mentioned earlier in the week, having been on vacation for most of July I had to wait patiently to come home and play with my pre-order set. I have tons of ideas for this set (you can see my card and home decor frame that I made earlier in the week here and here if you missed them) and for me the apple tree alone is enough to sell it - this will be my new 'go to' set for teacher's cards for sure - however the card that I want to share today isn't one I designed - it is a CASE of the one that the super-talented Brian King submitted to our challenge over at The Paper Players a couple of weeks ago.

So what is a CASE? Well, it can mean a couple of things: 'Copy And Share Everything', where you literally make a copy of the card that you see, or 'Copy And Selectively Edit', where you take the things from the card that inspires you and create something that has some foundation in the original card but the end result can look quite different. My card today uses the first definition - I've changed the colours and stamp choice, but my card is virtually identical to Brian's. Here's the link to Brian's original blog post that gives the detail on how he made his card and here is a photograph of it, reproduced with kind permission from Brian:

I just love this card and so wanted to create my own version in an alternative colourway - here's my card:

So what is about Brian's card that I love so much? I guess if I had to choose just three things they would be:

Perfect Layering - Brian is the King (no pun intended!) of Layers and often uses them to great effect on his cards and this one is no exception. The smaller layered panel behind the large bloom adds a bold block of colour that further accentuates the detail of the diecut.

Interesting Details - Brian chose a number of different ways to add interest to his bloom, using texture, lift and shine. He could have just diecut the bloom and left it 'naked' - but he is far too considered for that! The details added are what takes this bloom from 'pretty' to 'pretty spectacular' in my book! I inked my bloom with the stamp from the set as opposed to the textured stamp that Brian used, but did use the additional diecuts for lift and a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella for shine.

Vertical Sentiment - Whilst this wasn't Brian's original intention, I think the size and script of the font really lend themselves to a vertical orientation. Sometimes a 'happy accident' is all it takes to create design genius!

I chose to use Dapper Denim for my hydrangea, coupled with Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla and Tip Taupe Taupe, the same colour combination I used recently for this card here. Feel free to save this combination if it's one that appeals to you 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. 

Thank you Brian for allowing me to share your card today and create my own CASE'd version - this was a worthy 'top pick' for sure and if Sandy hadn't got there before me it would most certainly have been mine!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Thoughtful Branches Photopolymer Bundle	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush