Good evening lovely blog readers! Christmas preparations are full steam ahead here in the James household and now that the Juniors have broken up from school for the holidays I'm sure there will be even less crafting time than usual; so tough when there is a huge big box of pre-order Spring-Summer seasonal goodies sitting in the corner of my office! Luckily for you I still have some Christmas cards and projects that I haven't shared with you. So today I'm sharing one of the cards from my all day Christmas stamp-a-stack back in September - this one features the Home for Christmas DSP and one of the stamps from the Cozy Christmas set and was a favourite for the ladies who attended:

The Pacific Point really makes the colours on this card pop and the addition of the gold corded trim and the red glimmer paper poinsettia cut out using the framelit from the Delicate Ornament Thinlit Dies set adds a lovely touch of sparkle to this card. If you are in need of some last minute Christmas cards, you could knock a few of these out in no time. This sentiment is one of my absolute favourites - it says everything that is good about the holidays for me.

That's all from me tonight; The Paper Players team and I are taking a couple of weeks break over the Christmas period but fear not - I will be back tomorrow with another festive project that I think you'll like. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cozy Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Gold Cording Trim	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Banner Triple Punch	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies
Red Glimmer Paper

I've had a few blog-free days this week - so much going on with the end of the school term and Christmas preparations, blogging has had to take a bit of a back seat - however today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary so I'm back with it and this week we have a great colour combination for you:

My card this week is all about the reindeer - take a look:

I decided to make a feature of the reindeer antler paper and vellum from the Winter Wonderland designer series paper, with a little gold glimmer paper, a few gold sequins, corded trim and one of my favourite reindeer paper clips to finish off my little layered tag. A little bit of layering but still easy enough to make for those last minute Christmas cards and a great way to use up that rather tricky heavily patterned paper.

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too! Due to the Christmas festivities, this challenge will run for two weeks instead of one, so lots of time for to squeeze in an entry!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

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 new Hostess Code for December 99Y3W6CF if your order is under £150 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:

And Many More Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Brights Sequin Assortment

Cherry On Top Cotton Paper Assortment

Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack

A fun stamp set and lots of colour today! 

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my good friend LeAnne to host and she has the following colour palette to get our creative juices flowing this week:

This is a special week for us as we say goodbye to our guest designers Jodi, Amy and Lisa. We are grateful that these lovely ladies have shared their considerable talent and creativity with us for the last 6 months and we wish them well on their respective journeys. We will miss you!

For my card this week I was inspired to use yet more of the lovely Home For Christmas paper and designed my card all around the holly. I also used the sketch over at The Global Design Project for my layout:

Really simple, allowing the holly patterned paper to do all the hard work on this one. The sentiment is from 'Oh What Fun' and the sentiment piece cut using the Tags and Labels Framelits. I added some Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and highlighted the berries on my holly with pearls coloured with my retired Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. I also created a second version of this card whilst I had everything out on my desk, using the same sketch but this time using the similar but slightly different colour palette over at Paper Pals Arts this week:

I used gold foil to make my sentiment banner stand out and fussy cut some holly from the dsp in place of the stamped sentiment and also added a flatter, more post-friendly bow with a scrap of ribbon I found in my stash:

Here's a close up of the label detail:

I really like how the gold gives a different effect.

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 colour combination this week. We are hoping to put our Christmas tree up today - it's time to really get our Christmas preparations underway!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Oh, What Fun Photopolymer Stamp Set	Big Shot	Tags & Labels Framelits Dies	Pearl Basic Jewels
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

I'm still making Christmas cards and wanted something quick and easy that packed a punch, so I decided to go with the only piece of Holiday Fancy Foil Vellum I haven't used - the Christmas trees - and the 'Your Presents' stamp set:

I layered my vellum over a base of Mint Macaron, then added a panel of Whisper White edged in silver glimmer paper with my popped up presents, stamped in Real Red and decorated with either the 1/8" striped ribbon or a bow from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits. I stamped my sentiment from the same set, punched this out with a 1 3/4" circle punch and popped it up on a dimensional so that it balanced out the gifts.

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

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 new Hostess Code for December 99Y3W6CF if your order is under £150 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:

Crushed Curry Baker's Twine

For The New Two Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Precision Base Plate

Stamp A Bag Photopolymer Stamp Set

The deal of the week this week has to be the Precision Base Plate - essential for all Big Shot users to get the best cut on those intricate dies and thinlits and reduced to only £16.50 for one week only -  the perfect Christmas present for the seasoned crafter. 

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Today's blog post is something of a public service announcement: with eighteen days until Christmas and just 6 days until you can place your Stampin' Up! orders in order to guarantee delivery in time for Christmas - last date for orders guaranteed to deliver before Christmas is Sunday 13th December - I wanted to share with you two of the most popular kits in the Stampin' Up! range that make the perfect Christmas present. 

The first is the Tin of Cards Project Kit that features on the front of the annual catalogue. Here's a picture of everything that's included:

The kit contains blanks and envelopes to create 16 cards and comes with a lovely card organiser storage tin and dividers to keep them in when you're done. Add a Tin of Cards stamp set, a couple of ink pads and some adhesive and you are good to go! Or if you're an existing crafter with supplies, you could use any ink pads and stamp set to achieve great results. Here's a picture I took of my finished set:

Those helpful people at the Stampin' Up! Home Office have even produced a little video showing you how easy this kit is to put together - you can see it here:

My favourite kit of all though has to be the Watercolour Wishes Card Kit. Whether a seasoned crafter or someone who has never stamped or even crafted before, this is a fabulous all-inclusive kit that contains everything you need to create 20 unique cards with pre-watercoloured designs. Check out the kit contents:

The kit has envelopes, card blanks, die cut pieces and flowers, sequins, dimensionals, wooden embellishments, a roll of washi tape and an acrylic block, two mini ink pads and a 12 piece stamp set - and it comes in a beautiful gift box all ready to gift. All this for £31.50; this kit really does make the perfect gift! There will be lots of embellishments left over and the ink pads and stamp set can be used for lots of other projects when the kit cards have been completed. 

Here's a photo of just some of my completed kit:

I love to sit and make up my kits with my good friend Barbara; they are so quick to make and have full colour instructions that are so easy to follow. It always makes for a pleasant couple of hours!

If you needed further convincing, then here's another video with more detail:

If you would like to order either of the above kits, please click on the links below  to order from my online store or if you live in or around Northampton, please email me or give me a call - I will even gift wrap for you if you wish!

Christmas shopping with Stampin' Up! is easy - and who wouldn't love to receive such a lovely gift in their Christmas stocking??!

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy shopping!

Links to my Stampin' Up! Store - Watercolour Wishes Kit:

Watercolor Wishes Card Kit

Multipurpose Liquid Glue

Links to my Stampin' Up! Store - Tin Of Cards Project Kit:

Tin Of Cards Project Kit	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set	Jet Black Stazon Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Multipurpose Liquid Glue

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my good friend Claire to host and she has a fun theme to get our creative juices flowing this week:

I had an idea brewing in my mind all week for this challenge, but I had rather less time to craft this week than I would have liked so ended up in the end going with something altogether more clean and simple! I was intrigued by this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and was sad to see that Hayley and Tara are winding up the Colour Me...! blog after this week's challenge. I had such a lovely time when I did my DT stint over there I just had to play along for this their final challenge (although I did take a little liberty by adding in silver to my monochromatic colour scheme - well ladies, it is Christmas!) I'm also linking with CAS-UAL Fridays, since my card today features snowflakes - take a look:

I used a base of Soft Sky then added some strips of silver glimmer paper, before adding my Whisper White panel. On this panel, I stamped the small snowflake from the Project Life Hello December set in Versamark and heat embossed it in silber. I then cut a stencil with my 1 1/4" circle punch and sponged around the snowflakes in Soft Sky ink. I then took my 'let it snow' sentiment from the Sparkly Season stamp set and having  curved it on my block, I stamped just the first two words in Versamark and heat embossed that in silver too. For my 'snow' to finish the sentiment, I used the coordinating die cut from the same set and cut three in extra-thick Whisper White and one in silver glimmer paper and layered them together to create my stacked sentiment. In retrospect I would change the placement of the 'let it' (it should be above the 'snow' rather than below it) but I was against the clock and didn't have time to make a second panel. That aside, I like the card -there is something soothing about the soft blue colour and the pattern is an interesting one. Oh and it's got silver glimmer paper, which I seem to be using everywhere lately!

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 your snowy creations this week. I'm off for a morning of basketball and then I've some final preparations for the last of my Christmas card classes tomorrow, hopefully time for a spot of crafting, then Ben is attending a birthday party in the afternoon. Oh and we are going to attempt to put the Christmas tree up - not much to be going on with then!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sparkly Seasons Photopolymer Bundle	Sponge Daubers	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Silver Glimmer Paper
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool (Uk)	1-1/4" Circle Punch

Another late post from me today! I have had a non-stop day with grocery shopping, homework and a spot of cardmaking this morning and then Winter Fayre at school this afternoon and a swimming gala this evening. I'm not complaining though: I won first prize in the raffle at school, I won another prize in the swimming gala raffle and my superstar swimmer Rebecca put in an amazing time on her 50m breaststroke and qualified for County trials. So all in all a fantastic day! 

Today's card is for a few challenges: I've had the Dove of Peace stamp for ages and not once inked it up, so when I saw the Merry Monday Challenge this week I knew it was time to remedy that. I also wanted to enter The Challenge, where this week Lesley and the team would like us to create a Christmas card in non-traditional colours.

Well, you can't get more non-traditional than this:

Pastel Pink Pirouette and Wisteria Wonder, inspired by two of the new Pantone colours announced for Spring 2016 (see the full palette and trend report here). I decided on simple blocks of colour and plenty of white space to allow my dove to really take centre stage. I stamped both my sentiment and dove in Versamark and heat embossed them in silver, then coloured the patterns on my dove using my Stampin' Write markers and fussy cut it (so easy with Stampin' Up!'s paper snips) before adding to my card and popping it up on dimensionals. I also added a wide band of silver glimmer paper for some festive sparkle. An unusual colour combination, granted, but I must say I really do quite like it and it still has a definite festive feel I think.

That's all from me today; I will be back tomorrow much earlier with my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players where we have a fun theme courtesy of the lovely Claire. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Dove Of Peace Wood-Mount Stamp	Silver Glimmer Paper	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers
Banner Triple Punch	Paper Snips

It's Friday and mine has been a busy one! I have another Christmas card for you today, this time using the sketch over at Mojo Monday where it's 'tall and skinny' week:

I'm also linking up with the peeps over at Stamps, Ink and Paper since my card today uses a stamp from my current favourite set - Sparkly Season. Take a look:

I used the striped Home for Christmas designer series paper as the inspiration for the colour scheme for my card and chose Pacific Point blue as the dominant colour; an unusual Christmas colour, but combining it with red and a touch of green definitely makes it worthy. I coloured my little scene with my Stampin' Write markers and finished my framed image with a cute bow cut using my Big Shot from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set. I heat embossed my minimalist sentiment in black on one of my two banners and added a Mossy Meadow enamel dot to finish. 

My finished card measures 4" x 8 1/4" so of course needed a custom envelope, easily achieved with a sheet of red envelope paper, my trusty Envelope Punch Board and my Envelope Expert tool - a winner every time! If you haven't yet tried it or my Box Buster tool you should check them out - custom envelopes and boxes with perfect results every time!

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sparkly Seasons Photopolymer Stamp Set	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock
Home For Christmas Enamel Dots	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers	Banner Triple Punch