It's Monday - what else is there to say?! Today's card was using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, although I am too late to link up today, although I can still join in with The Friday Mashup where the challenge is to use glitter on your card and/or combine with a 3D project (I just went with the glitter). Here's the sketch:

Lots of possibilities. I wanted to try out an idea I'd had buzzing around my head for a while - here's my card:

So my card today is very 'green' courtesy of Cucumber Crush - but with good reason! I wanted to create a card reminiscent of the musical 'Wicked' that would serve as a celebratory card, and use a combination of blacks for contrast. I stamped my witch's hat from Howl-O-Ween Treat in Archival Basic Black ink, then stamped my 'wicked' sentiment from the new Project Life 'Seasonal Snapshot 2015 set in Versamark and heat embossed it in black a couple of times to give it real profile and shine. I added the 'awesome' from Endless Birthday Wishes, some shiny black sequins from the metallics sequin assortment (another use for one of this week's Weekly Deals!) and some silver Dazzling Details to the stars and band on the hat. 

This is one of those cards that looks so much better in real life - it has real sparkle and shine that s difficult to capture on film. My daughter really loves it though, so this is one that will be heading her way in due course I think!

That's all from me today; I have a class tomorrow with a lovely group at a local residential care home along with some mass Christmas card production for an event later this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Howl-O-Ween Treat Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock
Endless Birthday Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! As you may well have already read on our home page, the lovely and so talented Ann Schach, one of our longest serving members, is stepping down; we will all miss her dreadfully but at the same time we wish her well for the future she both wants and deserves. Love you Ann!!

I am therefore hosting this week and I would like to share Ann's last great colour challenge with you:

I am loving the Lighthearted Leaves set and given the lovely comments I received on the card I made last week (if you missed it you can see it here), and inspired by the leaves on our badge this week, I thought I would use this set again for today's card:

I also used the sketch over at The Challenge (welcome back ladies!) for my layout. I used Tangelo Twist for my card base, and partially covered this with a piece of Into The Woods DSP with a bold leaf pattern - I've been longing to use this paper with the Lighthearted Leaves, the two seem made for each other, don't you think? I decided to use So Saffron for my main panel on a mat of Lost Lagoon. I stamped my sentiment in Lost Lagoon and stamped a zentangle-like border, also in Lost Lagoon, around the edge using one of the border stamps from the Tin Of Cards stamp set. I then stamped two if the leaf shapes in Versamark and heat embossed in white, onto one each of Lost Lagoon and Tangelo twist cardstock and using my Stampin' Write markers, I coloured in some of the pattern just to add a little more depth of colour before cutting them out with my Leaflets framelits. The orange leaf I adhered directly onto the top panel, and for my larger Lost Lagoon leaf I popped it up onto a double height of dimesionals, having tied a bow with some of the retired SAB thick baker's twine in Tangelo Twist and highlighting the spots with pearls (that's my nod to the lovely Ann this week :-))

This card took longer to come together in reality than it did in my head (does that ever happen to you?!) but now that it's finished I really rather like it. What do you think? 

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

I have a morning of sport to look forward to today followed by a family lunch in honour of my mother-in-law, who is celebrating her birthday this weekend. I look forward to seeing how you use my chosen challenge colours on your cards in the gallery this week.  

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lighthearted Leaves Photopolymer Stamp Set	Leaflets Framelits Dies	Into The Woods Designer Series Paper	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set	So Saffron A4 Cardstock
Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Pearl Basic Jewels

Today I have another Christmas card for you! I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch as my inspiration:

This is such a great sketch - I can see me using it for lots of cards. Today I combined it with the Merry Monday Challenge that I haven't played along with for a while - this week we are challenged to use holly on our card and I immediately reached for my favourite new Home For Christmas DSP. Holly is also the theme over at Happy Little Stampers, so I'm linking up there too. Here's my card:

I used Real Red for my base, with a piece of striped DSP across the horizontal. I then mounted a piece of the holly patterned DSP onto a mat of Mossy Meadow, then cut a striped banner with my Triple Banner Punch and popped it up on dimensionals in the centre of the holly panel. I then stamped my sentiment, from the super-useful sentiment set 'Oh What Fun', in Mossy Meadow on a piece of Very Vanilla, mounted this on a mat of Real Red and added some red berries (tiny pearls that I coloured red with a Sharpie) to add a little dimension. I rounded the corners of all my mats and panels using my Project Life corner rounder as per the sketch; this softens the sharp lines of the panels, which I rather like.

A rather simple layout, but a great way to use a combination of co-ordinating patterns and I love the added berry detail on the sentiment.

Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at The Paper Players; this week it's a colour challenge and I'm hosting, so come back then and check it out!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Oh, What Fun Photopolymer Stamp Set	Banner Triple Punch	Punch Corner Project Life	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels

Yay it's Friday! This has been a busy week, but a good one nonetheless. Today I'm sharing a card that I made earlier this week for this week's Less Is More challenge but am only just getting the opportunity to share - how does that happen?! Anyway, the LIM girls have a challenge this week to use the colours green and gold on your card (with lots of white space!) and I just couldn't resist. Here's my card:

I decided to use Cucumber Crush as my green as I think it has a real vibrancy with the gold and white for a Christmas card. I heat embossed the pattern on my tree using the Festival of Trees stamp set in gold and combined this with a piece of Cherry on Top check DSP, my sentiment which is a combination of a gold foil 'merry' cut using the new Christmas Greetings thinlits and the stamped 'Christmas' from the Holly Jolly Greetings on a white banner. I added a couple of loops of gold corded trim and a sprinkle of gold star sequins - on offer on weekly deals this week and so easy to adhere with my new fine tip glue pen! - and that's my card done. 

A super modern CAS Christmas card that would be easy to mass-produce and in tradition colours. Maybe this will make the 'shortlist for mass production' pile this holiday season!

That's all from me today; my week has worn me out! Back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Bundle	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Big Shot
Magnetic Platform	Heat Tool (Uk)	Banner Triple Punch	Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Gold Cording Trim	Fine-Tip Glue Pen

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

Delightful Dijon is probably the most under-utilised of my current in-colours, so today's card was a good opportunity to redress the balance a little. I thought these colours would work well for an Autumn/Fall card, so that's where I went with this combination. Here's my card: 

I am loving the new Lighthearted Leaves set, so perfect for colouring, and a doddle to cut out with the co-ordinating Leaflets Framelits! I was inspired to create a card with a rather geometric yet zentangle feel having been browsing on Pinterest (as you do ;-). For today's card, I used a Delightful Dijon base with a mat of Night of Navy then a further layer of So Saffron. I cut a strip of Delightful Dijon lengthways at half the width, then stamped three leaves in Night of Navy and cut them out using the Leaflets framelits. I coloured a couple of these with my blender pen and Night of Navy ink, then having positioned the negative die cut on top of the So Saffron layer, I stamped three additional leaves in Navy onto the So Saffron layer in the spaces. I coloured these leaves using a blender pen and my Night of Navy and Delightful Dijon markers. 

To complete the design, I adhered the negative die cut to my card base using dimensionals, then aligned two of the cut-out leaves to the right side top and bottom, again using dimensionals, then stamped the sentiment in navy directly onto the So Saffron layer in the centre of the card. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge colours; 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 September HJQSKSW6 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:

Eclectic Paper-Piercing Pack	Flower Medallion Punch	Label Bracket Punch
Metallic Foil Doilies	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Stars Framelits Dies

This is a great week of deals for items that will look great on Christmas cards: Stars framelits and piercing templates, metallic foil doilies and sequins and the medallion flower punch which co-ordinates with one of the snowflake stamps in the new Flurry Of Wishes stampset. This is the perfect opportunity to pick one up at a reduced price if you don't already have it.  

Back later with today's creative project, featuring one of this week's weekly deals, no less; until then, happy shopping!

I held the second of my monthly technique classes today so I thought I would share with you one of our class cards. We have been using the 'Reason For The Season' stamp set this month and this is the first of our cards, our 'warm up' card:

I created a lovely 'tone on tone' background, by stamping the petal flower image in Real Red onto Real Red cardstock. We then created a white panel to go across the front, where we stamped the complete flower in Real Red and Garden Green, including the outline. 'Reason For The Season' is a two-step stamp set, where you stamp the outline then infill the coloured areas with separate stamps for the petals, leaves and centres. This sounds much more difficult than it actually is, when the stamps are photopolymer like this one; because the stamps are transparent it makes aligning the images a breeze, with no stamp-a-ma-jig required. 

The outline and sentiment were stamped in the new Basic Black archival ink, which gives a lovely crisp image. To finish, I added a row of gold sequins either side of the panel and some decoration to the inside of the card. This is a great stamp set with so many creative possibilities. Best of all, it has a co-ordinating punch and is one of the many fantastic bundle offers in the seasonal catalogue - buy both items and save 15%, can't get better than that!

If you live in or around Northampton and would like to attend one of my classes, please do check out my class schedule or contact me for more details. They are a great way to learn new crafting techniques and enjoy a pleasant few hours creating with like-minded individuals.

Back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals and another creative project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Gold Sequin Trim	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock

Happy Monday everyone! Today is an especially happy one for me as it's my birthday - yay! There has been lots going on today: the James Juniors are back at school today, I had the first of this month's technique stamp classes and there were lots of presents, flowers and birthday cake! Anyway, onto today's card! We are using 'Reason For the Season' stamp set in my technique classes this month and whilst I was making up some samples last week, I decided to use the set to make a card using last week's Mojo Monday sketch, although I didn't get a chance to link up. Here's my card:

I used a piece of the 'Season of Cheer' poinsettia patterned paper for my background, picking out the Mossy Meadow for my mat and Soft Sky for my card base. I stamped three flowers in Cherry Cobbler and Hello Honey on Whisper White and fussy cut them out, mounting each on a double-mounted circle and linking them together with a piece of retired Mossy Meadow satin ribbon. I stamped the sentiment in Mossy Meadow and mounted this on a panel in the centre of my card.

I wasn't sure about the busy background paper, but this is one of those cards that has really grown on me the more I look at it and I actually quite like. The 'tall and skinny' 6"x4" layout also means that it is a little different from the norm.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Season Of Cheer Designer Series Paper	Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set	1-3/4" Circle Punch	2" Circle Punch	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the incredibly talented Sandy and she has a great theme challenge for you:

This is rather timely for me, as both of my Juniors are returning to school to begin a new academic year tomorrow following the long summer break, so it was a great opportunity for me to make a couple of cards to tuck into their schoolbags to wish them a good day. Here's my first card, using this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout:

I made this card for Rebecca - very pink and girly, but hopefully sufficiently grown up for a 10 year old about to embark on her last year of Junior School. This is a big year for her as she will be Head Girl too and whilst she was voted into this role by her peers and I know she will do a great job, she sometimes lacks confidence in herself so a card to remind her that she's amazing (to me at least!) will be just what she needs for day one.

I used a Whisper White notecard and covered the front with a piece of English Garden DSP, then stamped a little panel of flowers with some Old Olive ink and the Cottage Greetings stamp set and coloured them with my Stampin' Write markers. I stamped my sentiment banner in Mossy Meadow onto Pink Pirouette and finished with a baker's twine bow and punched Bitty Butterfly and a few pearls. I also stamped the inside (and remembered to take a photograph of it!):

I couldn't possibly make Rebecca a card without making one for Ben too, so here's my second card which uses the colours over at the Friday Mashup and the sketch over at As You See It:

For this card I used a Crumb Cake notecard base, and stamped the dino footprints from'No Bones About It' in Early Espresso, before adding my sentiment tag complete with an Into The Woods wooden leaf embellishment and a fussy cut Marina Mist triceratops, complete with googly eye. Wondering where the dinosaur's tail went? Well, it continues over the page - look:

Isn't that fun?! The sentiment is from the same set, although I selectively masked it to say 'day' instead of 'birthday' which is more appropriate for my card. The 'No Bones About It' set is just great for boys cards, with so many design possibilities. I love the idea of little surprise notes in the children's school bags and it's definitely something I don't do enough of, so this year I will defintitely be making more of an effort.

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 for Sandy's theme challenge in the gallery this week.  

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Card One: 

Cottage Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	English Garden Designer Series Paper	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes	Bitty Butterfly Punch	Hexagon Punch
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Rose Red A4 Cardstock	Old Olive Baker's Twine
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers	Pearl Basic Jewels

Card two: 

Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Crumb Cake Note Cards & Envelopes	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Cardstock	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso 1/4" Cotton Ribbon	No Bones About It Photopolymer Stamp Set	Note Tag Punch	Into The Woods Elements

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

I'm linking up with the talented peeps over at Stamps Ink Paper (I'm hoping they are going to allow Vanilla as my white!) and I decided to go with a Halloween theme today and as today's blog title suggests, if your arachnophobic you should look away now - there are lots of spiders! Here's my card:

This card is a total showcase of this fabby spiderweb patterned paper from the Happy Haunting designer series paper pack - like I said, not one for those that are not a fan of the creepy crawlies, but at least they are on paper and not in the bathtub!

I stamped s bunch of extra spiders from the Cheer All Year set and fussy cut them, before adhering beneath my sentiment banner. I like how they are mostly obscured, but look like they are crawling out from underneath! They took a while to cut out, but so worth it as they are quite realistic-looking I think. To add just a splash of colour to my rather monochromatic card, I stamped my sentiment in Rich Razzleberry onto a banner, having flagged the end with my hexagon punch. I added a fussy-cut bat also from the Cheer All Year set which I allowed to overhang my card and finished him with one of the lovely new Iced Rhinestone embellishments, the centre of which I coloured with a purple Sharpie to add another spot of colour.

I hope you like today's card. Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day; my Juniors are at Granny's house today, so you can be sure my day will be a jam-packed one, full of chores and errands. You know what they say - no rest for the wicked! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: