Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I decided to focus on one stamp set and two colours, courtesy of Color Dare, and create a clean and simple card with something of a collage feel - take a look:

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

Stamped With Love - I used the largest Perennial postage die to cut my mat and I couldn't not use the 'Stamped With Love' stamp set this week - the postbox was just perfect for this week's theme! I heat-embossed the post box onto Real Red cardstock and paper-pieced the letter and separately stamped the letter and pen before adding my sentiment. 

Top Tip - I have a great tip when you are fussy-cutting images without a white border, as I've done today: if you run the edge of a Stampin' Write marker around the cut edge, it will give you a lovely solid black line and disguise any less than perfect cutting. you're welcome :-)

A Hint of Pink - To balance the red of my postbox and diecut heart, I stencilled a pale pink heart using a stencil I made using the Friends For Life dies and added a stamped heart to the back of the postbox letter. I finished the rather quirky sentiment on the inside of my card and added another couple of pink hearts to decorate:

This rather understated love note will be perfect for the youngest of the James Juniors, who will appreciate the sentiment. My layering may be stretching the bounds of clean and simple slightly this week, but I tried to balance my collage-style design with plenty of surrounding white space and no embellishments. What do you think of today's card? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STAMPED WITH LOVE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (31.00)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE DIES (ENGLISH) (32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BUBBLE BATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

Hurrah for the weekend! Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses the layout over at Atlantic Heart Sketches:

 It's also perfect for the 'Just Add Something New' challenge over at Just Add Ink as I'm using both a new stamp set and my favourite new Toadstool Gardens designer series paper - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Toadstool Gardens - I really wanted to feature the patterned toadstool garden paper - it's my favourite! - so I used this for the panels and used another of the sheets with a grey woodgrain pattern for my background. I added a panel of bright orange, wrapped with white baker's twine for interest, for my horizontal strip. I finished by stamping my sentiment onto one of the Greetings of the Season labels and adding to the centre:

Top Tip - I covered the hole on my diecut sentiment label with an enamel dot and need to add one in the same position on the opposite side. And so to my top tip today: the easiest way to position your enamel dot with the exact same spacing on the opposite side is take your diecut label, rotate it 180 degrees in the die and mark through the hole with a piercing tool - remove the label from the die then place your enamel dot directly on top. Perfect positioning! 

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:

TERRIFIC TOADSTOOLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)	GREETINGS OF THE SEASON DIES (30.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses the layout over at TGIF Challenges and is made with a teenage boy in mind (although it's fair to say that a remake in different colours could make this card feminine too):

I wanted to have a play with another new Sale-A-Bration set so grabbed my stamps, ink and paper and set to work - take a look at what I came up with:

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

First up - I love this sketch! So simple, yet so many creative possibilities! I actually decided to go super clean and simple and grabbed some bright colours and scraps of cardstock and set to work. The highlight of today's card is the background - I used two of the sentiments from the stamp set and the confetti stamp and randomly stamped all over my base to create a fun tone-on-tone design. I added my banners and heat-embossed a rosette and fussy cut it before adding to my sentiment banner as an accent: 

A trio of gold enamel gems was all I need to add a touch of subtle sparkle to my card - oh so easy to create! I added a little extra stamping to the inside too, using more confetti and the megaphone to 'shout' the remainder of my sentiment:

With the youngest of the James Juniors sitting A-Levels this year, I am going to need lots of congratulations cards, especially for boys, so I'm definitely going to get lots of use from this free set. How about you? Do you know someone sitting exams this year - does 'Day To Celebrate' make it onto your Sale-A-Bration shopping list? Do let me know; better still, hop on over to my Online store and pick up yours today!

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:

LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	LEMON LIME TWIST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

Today I've a quick post to share a card that I made for a friend of mine who is celebrating the arrival of her first grandchild - what a wonderful occasion! I used the sketch over at Try A Sketch on Tuesday for my layout and am also linking up over at Time Out where their theme is 'new beginnings':

My friend Deborah is welcoming the birth of a grandson, Xander, so there was only one set to use - the retired 'Treasures of Life stamp set. Take a look at my simple card:

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

The sentiments in this set are just perfect for a card to send to grandparents to celebrate a new grandchild, so I couldn't resist using two either side of the main image on my card. This did mean I had to square-off those shapes on the sketch in order to fit everything in, but I think it works. I did all my stamping in Basic Grey as it gives a softer edge - perfect for a new baby card. I also used a neutral grey base, so that I could highlight my Balmy Blue ribbon bow and my main image, which I coloured with my watercolour pencils. I was tempted to use my go-to Stampin' Blends markers, but decided that pencils would add to the softness and enable me to colour the woman's hair better. I don't have a photo to prove it, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but the slightly spooky thing about this image, is that it actually looks uncannily like my friend from behind - so I decided to colour it in her likeness.

My friend Deborah is a fellow crafter and a lover of all things clean and simple, so I hope she likes today's card.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WATERCOLOR PENCILS ASSORTMENT 2 (14.00)	BLENDER PENS (14.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)
BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Elizabeth to host this week and she has a bright colour challenge to welcome in the new year:

I love this trio of bright colours - the perfect antidote to a grey winter's day! These colours also appear in some of my new designer paper, so I decided to grab it and along with Karren's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I used my 'Terrific Toadstools' stamp set again to stamp a trio of toadstools in Melon Mambo pink and Pumpkin Pie orange, this time masking the stems before I stamped the caps so that I could cut them out seamlessly as one piece - you can see the ink effects below:

I added some greenery and iridescent dots, along with a sentiment, and adhered them to a diecut circle. For the background strips, I added a co-ordinating diecut strip, a thin piece of Pumpkin Pie and the main panel which is piece of striped Toadstool Gardens designer paper - one of the products that can be yours FREE with a £55 purchase during Sale-A-Bration. There are so many fun patterns in this paper pack and they co-ordinate beautifully with the Terrific Toadstools bundle. I added a co-ordinating flap to my envelope too because, well, you can never have too much designer series paper right, especially if it's FREE! So what do you think - does the Toadstool Gardens paper make it on to your Sale-A-Bration wishlist?

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

TERRIFIC TOADSTOOLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)	SUNNY DAY IRIDESCENT DOTS (7.50)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PUMPKIN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's our last Paper Players challenge of the year before we take a break for Christmas! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has a rich colour challenge for us to work with:

I knew that my starting point for this card would be the Season of Elegance Specialty designer series paper as it features all of Ann's chosen colours this week. I decided to pair it with the Sophisticated Sled bundle for a rich Christmas card and using the above layout from Sketch Saturday where they are asking us to choose a previous sketch (I took the optional twist and went with sketch #341 from 2014) and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I used the reverse of the Pretty Peacock Seasons of Elegance foiled paper for the base of my card, then added a panel of the foiled side, matted with gold foil, for the centre. I added my diecut skates and foliage from the Sophisticated Sled bundle, then picked out the Cherry Cobbler in my sentiment banner, skate laces and a rather over-the-top ribbon bow:

A few textured gold enamel dots and some gold twine complete my card. Talking a leaf out of my PP teamie Elizabeth's book, I made two cards at the same, adding a smaller, more post-friendly bow to the second card; you can see them both together below:

As you know I don't often use a lot of ribbon on my cards, but I really love the showy ribbon bow on today's card; totally impractical for posting, but beautiful! Worth the hand-delivery, I'm sure you will agree. The Seasons of Elegance papers are so beautiful too and the foiling really adds a touch of luxury to these cards.

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:

Enjoy your day; we are battling storm winds and rain here in the UK, so I will definitely be staying inside keeping warm. I am making Christmas crumble for dessert today - if I remember I'll take a picture to share in a future post. I am pretty much done with making Christmas cards now (although I still have a few more to share with you this week!) I am now in the throws of writing them, so that will be this afternoon's task. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SOPHISTICATED SLED BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)	SEASON OF ELEGANCE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	GOLD TEXTURED ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (7.50)	CHERRY COBBLER & GOLD 1/4" (6.4 MM) SATIN RIBBON (7.50)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

It's the weekend - yay! Today I'm here bright and early with you as further to my recent win over at AAA Cards (you can see that card here if you missed it), the lovely Maaike invited me to join them for their new challenge as a guest designer. Not only that, but it's my favourite - a sketch challenge! Here's the sketch that we are following:

I tried a few different things with this sketch, resisting the temptation to use snowflakes as per the sketch. In the end, my favourite one was using a retired favourite and a beautifully clean and simple abstract take on the sketch and a trio of blues from the Color Dare palette - take a look:

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

I started by stamping my treeline in Versamark and heat embossing them in white, then masking a rectangle in readiness for my ink blending, leaving the treeline overhanging the rectangle slightly on the right hand side, although this is difficult to see in the picture. I punched out a circle and masked the moon, before stamping my snowdrift in Balmy Blue, along with my deer and their shadows. Using my blending brush, I then added a touch of Balmy Blue ink to the edges of the bottom snow-covered portion of my scene, before blending my sky, starting with Balmy Blue then adding Azure Afternoon and (retired) Orchid Oasis working outwards from the moon to create my night sky. 

Having removed the mask, I added a touch of clear Wink of Stella to the bottom inside edge of the moon and to the heat-embossed trees, finishing with a fine splatter of white ink to give the look of snow in the air:

The serenity of this winter scene led me to search for the perfect sentiment which I found in another retired stamp set, 'All Is Calm'; I stamped it in Orchid Oasis and popped it up on dimensionals, overlaying my inked panel. That completes my card, which turned out just as planned - I love it when that happens! This is one of those sets I don't feel I used enough when it was current and it is so great for CAS cards. Do check out the Design Team cards over at AAA Cards - I'm sure they have some amazing interpretations of this layout 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:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (8.50)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

Now you don't have to make a Christmas card for this week's challenge - any card that features a deer is acceptable. I considered making another card using the same Reindeer Days papers that I featured on last week's PP card, but when I saw Linda's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches my mind went in a completely different direction! I paired the layout with the seasonal colours over at Sunday Stamps (I used gold, silver, (retired) Evening Evergreen and Very Vanilla) and ended up making two slightly different cards. Here's the first one that I made:

I added a trio of festive pines cut from glimmer paper using one of the (retired) Christmas Tree Dies to my card base (I mirrored Linda's sketch as I wanted my panels to rise left to right rather than drop left to right, as if fitted better with the shape of my deer) and overlaid this with a gold foil deer cut from my favourite deer set of all time: the (retired) Detailed Deer Thinlit Dies. I love this deer - it's so elegant! I added a simple silver twine bow and a gold heat-embossed sentiment from 'Greetings of the Season'. I loved the finished card and since I'd cut enough trees and deer for two cards, I decided to change up my second one slightly and emboss my card base with the Snowflake Sky 3D embossing folder. 

Here's the second one:

I wasn't sure if the embossing would be too much alongside the contrasting foil and glimmer paper texture, but the embossed detail really adds an extra dimension to this card - you can see it better on the close up below. Isn't it beautiful?

I decided this second card was my favourite, even though my first one is much more my true style. I'm also linking up over at TGIF Challenges where their theme is 'Winter Wonderland' this week - the addition of the snowflakes definitely adds to the wintery feel. Which one do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm really pleased with how these cards turned out; I have a few more Christmas cards to make and share, but need to think about writing and posting them soon!

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

Enjoy your day; today we are putting up the tree and decorating the James house for Christmas. This is earlier than we usually do, but Ben and I have been listening to Christmas songs whilst on the school run for over a week already, so are excited to be getting into the festive spirit! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

SNOWFLAKE SKY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

Today I'm sharing a super quick card that uses Jen M's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I struggled to get away from Karren's Santa suit when I saw this layout, but in the end decided to fill that centre square with a festive sentiment and surround it with some greenery - take a look:

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

I had my A Little bit Festive paper pack out on my desk and realised that there was another of the foliage squares that I hadn't used, so I made my custom sentiment using 'Greetings of the Season', framed it in Real Red and backed it with my foliage square. Inspired by DT Kim's card, I went with a pine-embossed white background, but added a band of festive red across the centre for a pop of festive colour:

A trio of peppermint swirl dots complete my card, which incidentally did start off square as per Jen's layout, but my central square detail seemed too small for a 6" square card so I trimmed it down - it looks much better as a standard A6 size. Another simple festive card to add to my stash - I'm almost ready to stop making and start writing!

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 longer-than-usual day today as the youngest of the James Juniors has a late stay at school as opposed to the usual extra early finish, so I am hoping to get lots done. The day didn't start too well with a water leak in the kitchen cupboard, but many soggy towels later that has now been dealt with so onwards and upwards! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GREETINGS OF THE SEASON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

REAL RED & WHITE ADHESIVE-BACKED PEPPERMINTS (8.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Steph to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

The open space of Steph's sketch allows for so many options. I thought I was going to go in a completely different direction, but I've been wanting to use this Reindeer Days paper and when I saw the inspiration of those two fluffy reindeer slipper in the bottom right corner of the Just Us Girls mood board I took it as a sign that today was the day - take a look:

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

I love the pattern on this Reindeer Days paper sheet, but as it's quite busy it doesn't work with all kinds of layout. That open space is just perfect though.  I made sure the design of the paper was centred, as this makes for a more harmonious design. I picked out the red for my festive diagonal stripe and part of my sentiment from 'Iconic Imagery' which I paired with a retired wooden diecut 'celebrate':

I added a few snowflake sprinkles for added decoration, but otherwise let the paper do all the work. Having made this card, I decided to make a second one using a smaller, cropped panel:

I paired this one with a heat-embossed 'celebrate' from Iconic Imagery and kept all other details the same. Whilst I like the smaller panel for bringing the reindeer more into focus, I prefer the sentiment placement on the first one. Here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer?

I love this paper - and a great sketch too - thank you Steph!

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

REINDEER DAYS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	ICONIC IMAGERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	WHITE LOOSE SNOWFLAKES (7.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)