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:

As I'm still excited to be working may way through my box of seasonal preorder goodies, I have another Christmas card to share with you today using the All Ye Faithful stamp set and Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Sseries Paper and washi tape. Here's my card: 

My colour scheme today was inspired by the Winter Wonderland product suite - a mix of black, white and gold, with foil accents and real sparkle. Using Basic Black for my base with a mat of gold foil, then used a piece of Winter Wonderland DSP with a crackle-glaze pattern for the front of my card. I edged a piece of Whisper White with gold striped washi tape, then stamped my sentiment in Memento Black on the right hand edge. This sentiment does actually come on one line, so in order to make it work for my card and the sketch I carefully masked off parts of it to enable me to stamp it in three separate sections. For the oval, I stamped Mary and Joseph in Versamark onto Basic Black card and heat embossed it in gold. I backed this with an oval that was cut to the same size using my Big Shot and Ovals Framelits, then cut in half vertically; this then creates a frame that enables the oval to stand out, but isn't too wide, as it would have been if I'd used the next size framelit up. To finish, I added a trio of flags punched using my Tripe Banner Punch, featuring more of the patterns in the Winter Wonderland DSP suite. 

Whilst this isn't a colourway I would necessarily have been drawn to of my own accord, it is very on-trend and I do love the way the entire suite of products make co-ordination so easy - good old Stampin' Up! I love the All Ye Faithful stamp set too - one of my favourite religious sets in the new catalogue, it comes with two other feature stamps and a verse sentiment too that I used on the inside of my card:

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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another sneak-peek project, one for Halloween this time. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

 * All Ye Faithful - available September 1st

* Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

*Winter Wonderland Washi Tape - available September 1st

As promised, today I have another sneak-peek Christmas card for you using another of the Sleigh Ride Edgelits, using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout for inspiration:

As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew it would work perfectly with the new Sleigh Ride Edgelits. Here's my interpretation with today's card:

I went again with my favourite festive colour combination of navy, whisper white and silver and this time used the negative cut of the edgelit to look like a snowy sky, again embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, having first stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy along from the houses. These edgelits offer so many different ways to use them to achieve different looks, depending on whether you use the positive or negative cut out - I just love them! A loop of silver corded trim completes my card.

Clean and simple, yet rather effective. This card came together quickly and would look great in a wide range of colour combinations.

Back tomorrow with another card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Sleigh Ride Edgelits - available September 1st

* Softly Falling TIEF - available September 1st

Big Shot

Magnetic Platform

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing the second card I made this week using the sketch over at Mojo Monday. You can see the other card here and as I mentioned in my original blog post, I didn't enter this one which was the first one I created as when I went to upload and perused the gallery there was another card that was very similar - you can see the card in question, designed by Lisa Pretto, here. That hasn't happened to me before when entering a challenge, but what can I say other than great creative minds think alike! Here is my card using probably my most favourite product from the new seasonal catalogue, the Sleigh Ride Edgelits:

Oh there is so much I love about this card! It uses probably my favourite festive colour combo - navy, white and silver - but check out the fab new products that are coming your way on September 1st:

The Sleigh Ride Edgelits - these come as a set of three, featuring a sleigh, houses and trees, and co-ordinate with a stamp stamp called 'Jingle all the Way'. These can be used in so many ways to create beautiful cards; in fact I have another card for you tomorrow using one of the other Edgelits in the set and the co-ordinating stamp set, so stay tuned!

Making Spirits Bright - this is from a versatile set called 'Among The Branches'. I used the spooky Halloween stamp from this set on my LIM card last week (see it here) and it also includes an Autumn set, along with lots of fun embellishments that co-ordinate with the new Woodland TIEF. I love a set that transcends the seasons and this is definitely that kind of set.

Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - there are some great new embossing folders in the new seasonal catalogue, but I think the Softly Falling TIEF will be my favourite; proper falling snow adding a delightful delicate texture to cards.

Winter Wonderland Embellishments - Did you spot the cute little snowflake embellishment? Big enough to add some sparkle (sometimes foil and glimmer paper is just not enough!) yet small enough to not add too much bulk, these adorable little embellishments come in a pot of 20 - plenty for all your festive card making, but wouldn't look out of place on something less festive either.

I hope you like today's card; quite different to my earlier interpretation of this sketch and very 'me'. Which one do you prefer? Do let me know in the comments section below - I love hearing what you think!

Right, I'm back to squeeze in some more work before the James Juniors return exhilerated from this morning's basketball camp exertions. Back tomorrow with another festive sneak-peek and news of this week's Wednesday Deals - don't miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Sleigh Ride Edgelits - available September 1st

* Among The Branches - available September 1st

* Softly Falling TIEF - available September 1st

* Winter Wonderland Snowflake Embellishments -  available September 1st

Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets
2-1/2" Circle Punch	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Silver Glimmer Paper

Happy Monday everyone! Today I have a card for a couple of challenges: Freshly Made Sketches and Colour Q:

I love the Colour Q colours this week and I was inspired by the pattern in the inspiration photo and since this week's Freshly Made Sketch can be interpreted in so many ways, I decided to marry the two together with my Autumn-inspired cards. Yes, not one but two cards today - both similar but different and showcasing one of my favourite non-Christmas sets from the new seasonal catalogue - Lighthearted Leaves. Here is my first card:

So time for a confession: I have been mourning the loss of my Blendabilities for months now and as a result haven't done much colouring. However, this set made me decide I needed to snap out of it and revisit my Stampin' Write markers properly and get down to some serious colouring. I spent a pleasant few hours on Saturday just colouring in and was pleasantly reminded of just how relaxing it can be to just sit and colour.

Colouring in is a proven and recommended activity to de-stress (you can read an interesting article about the benefits of colouring as a method of relaxation here) and with our dual-tipped, refillable Stampin' Write markers, in a rainbow of 48 colours to choose from, it's not tricky to get amazing results! For the card above, I used a base of Early Espresso with a mat of Pumpkin Pie, followed by a mat of Very Vanilla which I background stamped with one of the small leaf designs from the set. The new permanent Basic Black and Basic Grey archival inks that are arriving with the seasonal catalogue are perfect for stamping images to colour in (especially if you want to watercolour - more on those another day!), however to tone in with my card I stamped the large maple leaf in Early Espresso on a separate piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and cut it out with my Big Shot and the co-ordinating Leaflets Framelits (gotta love co-ordinating framelits!) and coloured this leaf in each of the challenge colours. After adhering a panel of Early Espresso along the bottom of the panel, and my sentiment stamped onto a banner flag of Pumpkin Pie, I adhered my maple leaf with dimensionals to the front of my card.

I also created another card using the same set but with an alternative sentiment and a background created with one of the other leaves in the set:

This was actually the first card I created and is slightly more inspired by the Colour Q photo, but I decided I wanted a background that was more neutral to allow my multi-coloured leaf to stand out more.  I so enjoyed myself, I even stamped and coloured the inserts and co-ordinating Very Vanilla envelopes for both cards - how about that?! Opinion in my house is divided though as to which one is preferred, with the card above proving slightly more popular than the one I'm entering for the challenges today. So what do you think? Which one is your favourite? Do let me know today in your comments below.

I am enjoying a week of child-free mornings this week, as both James Juniors are taking part in Basketball Camp each day, so hopefully this will mean nice early blog posts and that I can get ahead of myself a little for once. I'm making the most of a few hours of me-time each day - a rare thing during the summer holiday season!

Back tomorrow with another card and a sneak-peek of some great new Christmas products. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Lighthearted Leaves - available September 1st

Many Marvelous Markers	Leaflets Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Banner Triple Punch
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock
Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad

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 my good friend the super-talented LeAnne to host and she has a great clean and simple challenge for you:

With the arrival of my Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue pre-order goodies last week I have been catapulted forwards into the festive season and this card was a challenge, especially since the weather in the UK has been anything but summery this week! In an effort to bring me back to summer, I got to thinking about what the beach means to me: on the one hand it conjures up memories of warm Carribean seas and scuba diving on coral reefs, but on the other hand where my children are concerned, it's all about paddling in the waves, sandcastles, stripy deckchairs and beach huts, so often found along UK beaches. So whilst my card doesn't feature sun, sand or sea this week, it does feature a couple of beach huts and some stripy paper reminiscent of old fashioned deck chairs. Here's my card, using the challenge sketch over at Fab Friday for my layout:

I used Pacific Point for my base, and used a piece of Schoolhouse DSP for my stripy layer (this so reminds me of deckchairs!) I followed this with a panel of Pool Party on which I placed my punch art paper-pieced beach huts: I punched two huts using the now-retired Arrows Punch (you could just as easily cut freehand though or combine square and triangle punch shapes) from the whitewashed woodgrain pattern in the Farmers Market DSP then added brightly coloured roofs and doors. A simple sentiment banner edged with some retired Epic Day washi tape and finished with a Daffodil Delight button and grey baker's twine finishes my card. My card does have a few more layers than I would like for a truly CAS card, but I kept my design simple with minimal embellishments, so I'm hoping I've more or less managed to meet the brief! 

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

For my international readers who may never have seen beach huts along the UK coast before, here's an old photo of mine at the seaside when my daughter was small - you can see the colourful little beach huts along the edge of the beach in the background:

Happy days! So what images does the beach conjure up for you? I look forward to seeing your clean and simple beach-themed creations in the gallery this week. I'm having a relaxing day at home today with the family. I'll be back tomorrow with another card (or two!). Until then, happy stampin'! 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Dozen Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Farmers Market Designer Series Paper	Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock
Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Punch Corner Project Life	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock

Here's today's post - a little later than planned due to the activities of the day! - with a Christmas card I made for this week's Mojo Monday challenge:

Having unpacked my new seasonal pre-order goodies (demonstrator perks - let me know if you would like to know more!!), I have been keen to use some of new supplies. There's nothing like some new goodies to get you in the crafting mood! Here is my card, featuring the gorgeous holly pattern from the 'Home For Christmas' DSP and one of the stamps in the new 'Cup Of Cheer' stamp set:

I matted my paper with Mossy Meadow on a Real Red card base and in addition to a thin circle of Real Red cut with my Circle Framelits, I used my framelits to cut another circle of Mossy Meadow which I used to mat my focal sentiment - this gorgeous stamp from the 'Cup of Cheer' stamp set. I stamped this sentiment in two stages, firstly masking off the outer wreath and stamping the centre with Versamark, then removing the mask and colouring the outer wreath in Mossy Meadow using my Stampin' Write marker. I then heat embossed the centre using gold embossing powder and added a few tiny pearl berries that I coloured with my red copic marker to finish, before punching out with my 2 1/2" circle punch. This card looks so lovely in real life - the sentiment is so shiny and the wreath has a dusting of gold too where the green ink was also slightly wet still prior to embossing. The photo really doesn't do it justice! Did you notice my bow too? This is some of the new Gold Cording Trim (it comes in silver too!) - love this!

This is actually the second card I made using this sketch; having made the first one, when I went to upload it to the gallery I saw one that was very similar to it, so I decided to go back to the drawing board to come up with something different. I love my first card though - rest assured I will be sharing it with you later this week!

Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at The Paper Players - and not a Christmas card in sight! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

*Cup Of Cheer - available September 1st

*Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

*Cording Trim - available September 1st

Banner Triple Punch	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	2-1/2" Circle Punch	Pearl Basic Jewels
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

Today I'm sharing the birthday card I made for Ben to celebrate his 8th birthday. Basketball and football are his two sporting passions and lately he has been football mad. He also has a belief that pop-up cards are the best; whilst this isn't quite a pop-up, it does have a fun flip element with the Circle Thinlit card base - here's my card:

I used Soft Sky for my base and built my football out of a 2 1/2" circle punch and black and white hexagons and decorated my card with some grass cut with my fringe scissors and a bunting banner and greeting from Celebrate today, complete with personalisation using the Epic Alphabet set.

This card actually came together surprisingly quickly and Ben loved it - I'd forgotten quite how much fun a circle thinlit card could be! Here is a picture of the birthday boy blowing out the candles on his amazing birthday cake, made by one of my extended family, the super-talented Helen Vowles:

Ben declared his basketball cake the best ever and was mighty impressed. If you live in Northampton I would urge you to check out Helen's Facebook page here - she really does make the most amazing cakes! Here's another photograph of him in the garden trying out his new goalie gloves (don't look too closely at my lawn, it really doesn't appreciate being used as a football pitch!):

8 years old - my, where did those years go??!

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project - a Christmas card, no less! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Circle Card Thinlits Dies	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Fringe Scissors	Hexagon Punch
2-1/2" Circle Punch	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Epic Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set
Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set

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:

I actually have two cards for you today. I saw this colour combination and immediately thought of cacti and deserts - yes, really! Here's the first card - can you guess what stamp I used to create my cactus plant?

To create my cacti I used a neat little trick that I saw on Becky Cowley's blog here - using one of the Watercolour Wings butterflies to stamp the cactus shape - isn't that clever?!

I placed my cactus in a flowerpot cut out of kraft cardstock with the Handpicked Framelits and topped it with flowers punched from the Itty Bitty Accents punch, with candy dot centres. To finish my card, I added some Tangerine Tango bakers twine that I had leftover from an old Tag-a-Bag accessory kit (you could use white as an alternative). I'm not sure my cactus on this card is quite as convincing as Becky's version, but I love the idea all the same. It's great when a stamp set offers the flexibility to do more with it than intended - and this one certainly does! 

This colour combination appealed to me more than I first thought it would, so having created the above card I then created another - still with my cactus theme, although this card uses the cactus from the 'Yee Haw' set which I understand is now sold out (boo hoo - I love this set!):

I used Cucumber Crush for my base and two of the co-ordinating DSP patterns in the Cherry on Top stack on my card - one for the mat and the other for my paper-pieced cactus, which is stamped using the 'Yee Haw' stamp set. My sky is stamped using 'Work of Art' in Pacific Point, with the sand in Tangerine Tango using one of the stamps in the Sheltering Tree set. To finish I fussy-cut my bright orange sun from the lovely hostess set, Silhouettes and Script, and popped it up on dimensionals.

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:

Today is Ben's 8th birthday and after my technique class this morning, we will be celebrating for the rest of the day. I will share Ben's birthday card with you tomorrow; I didn't have much time for crafting yesterday, but having received my seasonal pre-order goodies the urge to play with new toys was strong, so I did manage to squeeze in a quick card for this week's one layer challenge over at Less Is More where they have a fun theme of 'the eyes have it' - here's my card:

My 'white space' today is Crushed Curry yellow as I really wanted the negative space for the eyes on my 'spooky' Halloween stamp from the new 'Among The Branches' stamp set to look like something fearsome - did it work?! I stamped my image on the inside of the card in Memento Black ink, then used my circle framelits and Big Shot to cut a hole in the front of my card, which I also embossed with the new Woodland textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I just love this embossing folder - this is one of those versatile items that I'm going to get lots of use from. I resisted the urge to add some ribbon or twine - I know how those lovely LIM ladies like their space - less, is after all more!

My box of pre-order goodies is just fantastic and has so many fabulous sets, for Autumn, Halloween and Christmas - I can hardly wait to get creating so that I can share more with you! I will be packaging my catalogues to be sent out to my local and online customers before the end of the month; if you don't already have a demonstrator and would like me to send you a seasonal catalogue get in touch with your contact details and I will add you to my mailing list.

Back tomorrow with Ben's birthday card and a peek at his birthday cake; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

*Among The Branches - available September 1st

*Woodland TIEF - available September 1st

Big Shot

Circles Collection Framelits Dies

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock

Happy Monday everyone! I am starting my week with a fun birth congratulations card for the challenges over at Freshly Made Sketches and Pals Paper Arts this week:

I love the sketch but was initially perplexed when I saw the PPA colours this week as I wasn't sure I could make the Mint Macaron and Pool Party work together; I loved the colour combo though so thought I'd give it a bit more consideration and this is what I came up with:

With both Pool Party and Tip Top Taupe featuring in the Sweet L'il Things Designer Series paper pack, I decided to go with a new baby card - a boy of course! I just love the cloud pattern on the DSP sheet (it comes in the alternate colourway of Pool Party cloud outlines on Very Vanilla too) and whilst this is by no means only of use for a baby card, it provided the perfect backdrop for my little panel of 'zzzzz's' and my Very Vanilla panel with cute Pool Party babygro cut using my Baby's First Framelits. I paper-pierced the babygro to add interest and added a 3/4" Very Vanilla circle with a Mint Macaron punched heart, that I covered with one of the heart-shaped Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers - this looks so lovely in real life! The heart and banner were just enough Mint Macaron I think with the other two colours and I'm so pleased with my final card. It also made me realise just how much I love Tip Top Taupe - this isn't a colour I've used much at all to date, yet its soft tones work so well with pastels and paler colours, I must try and use it more often.

That's all from me; I am expecting a visit from my parents today, which is making Ben very excited since with his birthday tomorrow he is virtually assured of presents! - and I'm also expecting the arrival of my pre-order of SU! goodies from the new seasonal catalogue. I am beyond excited!!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Baby's First Framelits Dies	Eclectic Paper-Piercing Pack	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Big Shot	Sweet Li'l Things Designer Series Paper
Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers	Banner Triple Punch	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock
Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	3/4" Circle Punch	A Dozen Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set