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

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

I have another CAS card for you today - I'm still making lots of cards to send out so unfussy and quick to mass-produce is something of the order of the day. For this card I decided to go with the holly sprig from the Peaceful Wreath set:

I used a base of Cherry Cobbler and added a strip of In-Colour Mossy Meadow washi tape and a sliver of silver foil cardstock along the edge of my offset Whisper White top layer for  a little extra interest. On my front panel I stamped the holly sprig in Mossy Meadow and then used my aquapainter to roughly watercolour the leaves in the same colour and then added some Cherry Cobbler for my berries. I stamped the second part of my sentiment from the same set in Cherry Cobbler and decided to add a Christmas Greetings diecut silver glimmer 'peace' for a quick touch of festive sparkle to really draw the eye and ground my design. The washi tape I used is included in this week's Wednesday Deals, so now would be a good time to snap some up for the bargain price of £5.44!

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! I'm also linking up today's card with the lovely ladies over at Less Is More as I haven't played there for a few weeks and this week's theme is 'fruit' - and fortunately for me this includes holly berries and mistletoe too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

It's Wednesday already? The week is zipping by! I'm sure that time moves quicker the nearer to Christmas we get! I have a great festive monochromatic Christmas card for you today: big on layers, easy to recreate - just what we like at this time of year! I made today's card with a couple of challenges in mind:

The sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week is a classic and I just love the inspiration photo at CanYouCaseIt - so much shine! I took my inspiration from the red and white elements and the shiny foil which I incorporated into the border frame for my card:

Isn't that striped Holiday vellum just gorgeous? I matted it on a piece of Whisper White cardstock before adhering to my Real Red base so that the red foil stripes would really stand out. For the focal point of my card, I used the sentiment from the 'Cheer All Year' stamp set - so versatile - and my little hot cocoa mugs are from the 'Project Life Hello December 2015' stamp set - another one of those sets that is useful for so much more than its designed purpose.

Are any of you out there joining in with the #decemberdaily project? I love to create a Project Life mini-album each December documenting the goings on in the James household during the festive season, so the above stamp set was a must for me to decorate this year's journalling, along with the Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection and Accessory Kit:

I'm mindful that I don't often share my Project Life documenting here on my blog - I just tend to get on with it! - but I'm trying to consciously change that, so throughout December I will be sharing some of the inspiration for my daily journalling and occasionally some of my completed pages in the hope that they will inspire you to get involved in active memory keeping too. Yesterday's page will feature the arrival of our Christmas Elf Charlie, who often gets up to mischief in the run up to Christmas and yesterday appeared with a fun piece of home decor I made to remind the James Juniors that good behaviour is important more now than ever since the elf will be reporting back to Santa on everything he sees and hears:

Isn't that fun? Surprisingly easy to create with the help of my e-cutter and some Stampin' Up! cardstock. Here's a picture of Charlie as he made his first appearance of the year:

This morning Ben was out of bed, up and dressed in record time and off on the hunt for Charlie to see what mischief he had got up to overnight; he eventually found him hiding in the basil pot amongst the herbs on the kitchen windowsill. Here's to more mayhem as the month progresses!

If you would like to join me in documenting your December, it's not too late to order the supplies to create your own album; just click on the links below to go to the online store or give me a call and I would be happy to place an order for you. More tips and Project Life #decemberdaily inspiration to come! Equally, if you would like to share your own #decemberdaily memories, feel free to upload them to my Facebook page here - I would love to feature them.

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with a festive card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Holidays Fancy Foil Designer Vellum	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Project Life #dailydecember Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set

Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection

Hello December 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack

Kraft 6" X 8" Project Life Album

Variety Pack 6" X 8" Project Life Photo Pocket Pages

Project Life Journaling Pens

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:

2014-2016 In Color Designer Washi Tape

Fun Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders

Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack

Hearts Border Punch

I will be placing an order this evening, so if you live in or around Northampton and would like to save on postage, please get in touch and I will add your items on. I'll also be using this washi tape on my card tomorrow so pop back if you'd like to see how I use it.

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

It's Tuesday and I'm a little later with my post today as I've had the first of my December technique classes this morning - more on those projects another day. Today I have a card for this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge. Before we get to it though, I would like to say thank you to the designers over there for choosing this card as a PPA Pick last week - challenges are fun and it's always nice to have your work recognised so thank you PPA Peeps! This week's sketch was intriguing:

I immediately saw this sketch rotated through 90 degrees as the two elements looked like a signpost to me; my card didn't finish up quite where I started out - here it is:

I decided to go with a sign of sorts using this fun sentiment from the 'Cup of Cheer' stamp set and a wide ribbon banner behind for some added texture - and of course I couldn't resist adding a fussy cut santa from the 'Home for Christmas' designer series paper to finish. This card uses surprisingly few supplies but has a real festive feel I think.

As today is the 1st of December, I want to remind you all that if you haven't already registered your Stampin' Up! Wishlist with me, you still have time to do so. It's the best way to ensure that you get the Christmas gifts that your heart desires - and still have a surprise on Christmas Day! The last date for orders to be received in time for Christmas is 13th December, so don't leave it too late to place your yours. Please give me a call on 07773 421446 or email me for more details - I will even gift wrap for you!

A quick visit from me today; off shortly on the school run and then piano lessons - it's all go here! Back tomorrow with another festive project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Very Vanilla 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Subtle Stripes Satin Ribbon	Cup Of Cheer Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

As promised - here is my second card of the day, this time for this week's challenge over at The Color Throwdown:

I saw the colours and those adorable snowman treats and knew that I had the perfect idea for a card to play along! The feedback on this card last Thursday where I used my Snow Friends framelits to create a 'negative space' graphic snowman was well received with lots of positive comments, so today I went one step further - and added in a carrot nose! Take a look:

The best thing of all - I used one of my Snow Friends framelits to create it! Are you wondering which one? Yes, it was the ice cream cone - I simply trimmed away the icecream and it left a perfect carrot nose shape. I love it when you can multi-purpose things!! I also added in some twig arms on this card, because the colours worked so well. I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory - check out the layered die cut 'snow' too, cut using the die in the Seasonal Frame Thinlits set and adhered with ease using the fine tip glue pen - perfect for narrow elements like this! Any other questions, leave me a comment below - I read then all and will be sure to post you an answer if you have any queries on this or any of my cards!

Right, off to nurse the poorly one and hopefully fit in an hour or two at my desk before doing the school run. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Snow Friends Framelits Dies	Sparkly Seasons Photopolymer Bundle	Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Marina Mist A4 Cardstock	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Chocolate Chip A4 Cardstock

Happy Monday everyone! Happier for some than others - I'm working from home with one James Junior off school today fighting the seasonal lurgy - but for everyone reading this, your day is about to get better! I have a double post for you today (to make up for Saturday's lack of post!) with cards for a couple of challenges. The first is my card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where they have a great sketch - I combined with the theme inspiration of 'Blue Christmas' over at Fusion:

I love the simplicity of Jen T's sketch this week, although by the time I finished my card I wondered if I'd got just a little bit carried away - take a look:

I made a cute 'faux shaker' card using the snowman image from the 'Sparkly Season' stamp set, stamping him in Memento Black and colouring him in with my Pool Party and Bermuda Bay markers, with Pumpkin Pie for his nose, then used my two-way glue pen to adhere some Dazzling Diamonds to the snow mound that the snowman is sat on. I then stamped the snowfall stamp in Versamark to my window sheet and applied Heat & Stick and Iridescent Ice to give it a lovely sparkle, before adhering behind the hole that I'd cut in my Pool Party top layer. On this layer I stamped a few clusters of snowflakes in Pool Party using the snowflake stamp in the Snow Place stamp set and highlighted these with some silver sequins along with a few retired snowflake sequins from last year's stash. To finish, I added a layered banner that contains a little of everything: white glitter ribbon, Bermuda Bay sequins and a dash of silver glimmer paper to boot! I just love the sparkle and shine of this card and the shades of blue - so very pretty!

Back shortly with another quick and easy card for today; I must be on a roll! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sparkly Seasons Photopolymer Bundle	Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set	Gold & White 3/8" (1 Cm) Glitter Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool (Uk)	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Many Marvelous Markers	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Heat & Stick Powder	Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder	2-Way Glue Pen	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim
Silver Glimmer Paper	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch	Window Sheets