It's official - today is the first of December, the countdown to Christmas has begun! Day one of the advent calendar has been opened, Charlie the Elf has made his return (pictures on my Facebook page later!) and the start of two of the busiest weeks in the school calendar before the end of term. Before I get to today's card, I just wanted to remind you of the current Stampin' Up! joining offer that ends tomorrow morning - you can read the full details here, but in a nutshell you can sign up for £74.25 and receive £130 worth of products of your choice and 5% cashback on all orders placed during December, not to mention the additional benefits of joining my wonderful team! Why not treat yourself to a bundle of Stampin' Up! goodness as an early Christmas present? Call me if you would like to chat more or better still, click here to sign up today!

Onto today's card - this one uses this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, where the simple sketch from Jen offers so many creative possibilities:

I decided to go with crisp subtles today - here is my card:

I used Soft Sky for my base and image panel, and matted the panel onto a piece of Whisper White. I stamped a little scene in Memento Black using my 'White Christmas' stamp set, being careful to only partially stamp the horizon line so that I could overlay my snowman in the same layer. By using Soft Sky as my base, I could use my white chalk marker to colour my snowman and add detail to my scene on the trees and ground. With the exception of some Pumpkin Pie marker for the snowman's nose and some detail added to his scarf and hat with my silver marker pen, there is no other colour introduced to my scene. I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it in silver and added a thin silver ribbon and bow trim with a snowflake embellishment to finish. This is such a simple card, yet the silver elements add a subtle shimmer in real life that make it quite pretty.

That's all from me today - I have lots of jobs to do so need to get cracking! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	All Is Calm Snowflake Embellishment	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker
White Stampin Chalk Marker	Silver Stampin' Dazzle Marker	White Baker's Twine	Silver 1/8" Ribbon

It's time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players today and this week the lovely Jaydee has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us:

I'm linking up today's card with Merry Monday where the challenge is to use red, green and white on a Christmas card, and Create with Connie and Mary where they have the following sketch layout:

When considering Jaydee's grid I was drawn to the top horizontal line - tree, transport and white - although I ended up completing two more lines too (see if you can work out which ones!). One of the reasons I purchased the 'White Christmas' stamp set was for that cute little car and this is the first time I've used it! Here is my card:

I took some artistic licence with the sketch and turned it upside down and made it into a side stepped card - I think you can see all the elements though. I used Smoky Slate for my card base and having made my folds, I began to customise it. For the main panel, I added a Whisper White snow drift and a road for my car to travel along, then stamped my car, complete with Christmas tree, in Memento Black onto Whisper White, coloured with my Blendabilities and Stampin' Write markers and fussy cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals:

For my stepped side, I added a snow drift of dazzling diamonds glimmer paper at the front, along with a bold satin bow. The house that is the destination for the travelling Christmas tree is on the layer behind, again coloured with Blendabilities and decorated with a mini wreath and some glimmer snow, and a few fir trees. The layer at the rear has a couple more trees and two more houses, this time in Smoky Slate and stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in white, as these houses are in the background of the scene. Here are a couple of additional views from this side of the card:

Here's a close up of the houses:

This was a fun card to create and the Holiday Home houses and co-ordinating framelits work really well on a stepped card. This week's tic tac toe challenge offers lots of opportunities to be creative, so be sure to share your creation with us at The Paper Players!  Check out what the other designers did as well:

• Andrea
• Ann
• Claire
• Jaydee
• LeAnne
• Laurie
• Nance
• Sandy
• Yapha

Back tomorrow with another other project; until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set	Holiday Home Photopolymer Bundle	Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Alcohol Marker Color Lifter
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen

A nice early post from me today as I have a busy day ahead. I'm just in time to squeeze in a link up with the lovely designers over at SUO Challenges, where the latest challenge is to make a project using any kind of Stampin' Up! markers. I use my Stampin' Write markers frequently, but wanted to showcase a card using one of my most favourite new(ish) Stampin' Up! products - Blendabilities. I made a version of this card in my September card class, but didn't blog it so wanted to share today as it not only uses Blendabilities but a really fun technique too. Here is my card:

My card features the 'Partridges & Pears' stamp set. I stamped the main image in Versamark on Basic Black cardstock and heat embossed in white embossing powder, then used my Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Skin tone, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities to colour the heat-enbossed image. I kept the layout of my card quite simple, matting the central panel on a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock before adhering to my black card base and finishing with a wide flagged piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock, with the sentiment stamped across it in Memento Black ink. This card was difficult to photograph and does look more vibrant in real life - the image really stands out against the black. This is another great way to use your Blendabilities markers, in addition to straightforward blended colouring. 

That's all from me today; we have homework to do, a spot of housework, school Christmas Fayre, swimming lessons and dinner with friends to fit in today - wish me luck! Back tomorrow with this week's design team card for The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Old Olive Assortment
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment

It's Friday and the end of the working week - hurrah! Today's card is a triple challenge card; it's not often that happens! I'm using the sketch over at Retrosketches, with this week's Color Throwdown colour palette and the tag and snowman mean it also fits with the challenge over at The Card Concept (clean and layered):

I didn't intentionally set out to create a tag card, but as I was working with the sketch and colour palette, I thought a tag would look quite cute. Here is my card:

I used Coastal Cabana for my base, stamped one of the Gorgeous Grunge stamps in the same colour across the front and edged this with some red Beach House washi tape. I then layered a couple of pieces of now-retired DSP stack (the colours were perfect for this card and although this was a Spring/Summer paper stack, this pattern has always reminded me of snowflakes), some silver glimmer paper and then my tag. I punched my tag using the angle tag topper punch from Coastal Cabana cardstock, stamped the tree from the 'White Christmas' stamp set onto the tag then stamped it again onto a piece of Whisper White and paper-pieced the snowscape and snowman onto it. I coloured the tree with my Crumb Cake Stampin' Write marker and added some snow with my chalk pen, then added some detail to the snowman with my markers and stamped some snow across the rest of the tag with white kraft ink. I finished my tag with some Crumb Cake seam-binding ribbon and Real Red cotton ribbon tied in a bow, and stamped my Holidays' sentiment in Real Red onto Crumb Cake cardstock and adhered this to my tag, along with a silver glimmer star. 

Hope you like today's card; I have a busy weekend of fun and frolics planned, so an early night in store for me!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set	Watercolor Winter Too Photopolymer Stamp Set	White Stampin Chalk Marker	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad	Angled Tag Topper Punch
Many Marvelous Markers	Silver Glimmer Paper	Real Red 1/4" Cotton Ribbon	Crumb Cake 1/2 Inch Seam Binding Ribbon	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Yesterday evening I was at a Stampin' Up! event where demonstrators got a 'sneak peek' of what's in store for Sale-A-Bration; all I'm going to say at this point is boy do you all have something to look forward to, and I highly recommend you consider asking for a Stampin' Up! gift voucher from your nearest and dearest for Christmas (contact me for details!) and hold back some of your January Sales budget to take advantage, as you are not going to miss it!!

Today though I am back onto Christmas cards with another to share with you, having had a few days break. Well, it is now officially 'the season' I think! I used this week's sketch over at Addicted to CAS for my card today where the team are celebrating their second birthday - congratulations! - and which was designed with the theme over at Less is More in mind.

Now the theme this week is 'Jingle All the Way' and you would think that this card from earlier in the week might be a more appropriate fit, but the lovely ladies over at Less is More went on to say "we would like to see some reference to any of these things.... bells, reindeer, Santa, elves, stockings, presents, decorations, Christmas songs/music/instruments... in fact anything Christmassy!" and I immediately took this as the opportunity to bring my Dasher stamp out of retirement to create a card with a reindeer on it. Well, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas unless he made at least one appearance on a card this season, after all it's almost tradition! So here is my card:

I used Cherry Cobbler for my base and stamped my reindeer in Versamark on a piece of Baked Brown Sugar and heat embossed it in Early Espresso embossing powder to give it a lovely rich sheen. I matted this piece on a base of last year's Season of Style DSP stack, which I cut into pieces and mounted with mitred corners as the pattern was actually a chevron, but I wanted it to be diagonals going around the frame (I hope that makes sense when you look at the photograph, it just seems difficult to explain!)I then popped this piece onto my base using dimensionals, so that I could run a couple of loops of Baked Brown Sugar thick baker's twine around the base beneath it. I used my tiny hole punch to put a couple of semi-circle grooves in each side so that the twine would rest in them and stay in position - a useful tip if you're creating this type of card. To finish, I added my sentiment stamped from 'Endless Wishes' and a trio of candy dots to balance the main image.

I hope you like today's card and before I go would like to give a big shout out to Chrissie, Sarah and Anne over at Less is More, both for recognising this card in their top 3 of the recent one layer challenge but also for their tireless dedication to commenting on the cards in the LIM gallery and for their general helpfulness and constructiveness; I think my CAS style has improved a lot with their input, so I for one am grateful!

That's all from me today; I'm off out for lunch with a friend (a rare treat!) and then back to finish some work before the school run! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Baked Brown Sugar Thick Baker's Twine	Brights Candy Dots	Regals Candy Dots	Neutrals Candy Dots	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Stampin' Emboss Powder Early Espresso

Today's card is for this week's Colour Me...! card challenge where we have are working with a playful palette of pinks and purples with a spot of Coastal Cabana:

I took the opportunity to ink up my Amazing Birthday stamp set for the first time. This was one of the sets I received free at Stampin' Up! Convention in Brussels this year and it was really tough not to buy it before I went, as I think it's a really versatile stamp that will get lots of use. Here's today's card:

I used Elegant Eggplant for my card base, then mounted a panel of Perfect Plum that I had dry embossed with the large polka dot embossing folder. I tied some thick Coastal Cabana baker's twine around the embossed panel before adhering to my card base. I stamped the main image in Elegant Eggplant on Whisper White, but also stamped it separately in Rose Red and Costal Cabana and fussy cut a couple of panels and overlaid them onto my main panel to add a pop of colour. To finish, I added a couple of rhinestones to my main panel which I first coloured wit my Coastal Cabana Blendabilities and a trio of Rose Red candy dots to the embossed panel. 

This card could be made in lots of different colourways and would make a great 'storecupboard standby' that works for both male and female. As someone who is a big fan of purple though, this colour combination really works for me. I might have to go and make a few more! 

Feel free to leave a comment on today's card, before hopping over to check out the amazing cards by the rest of the Colour Me...! team:

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Amazing Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Elegant Eggplant A4 Card Stock
Perfect Plum A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Regals Candy Dots	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad
Coastal Cabana Thick Baker's Twine	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Today's card is for another couple of challenges: I'm having a second entry over at The Challenge, this time using the sketch, and also this week's colour challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary, where this palette of rich autumnal colours was just too good to pass up:

This weekend my American friends will be celebrating Thanksgiving; whilst it's not something we celebrate in the UK, we all have something to be thankful for and today's sketch and colours gave me the perfect opportunity to have a little go at something I've been wanting to do for a while and since I know I have lots of American and overseas blog readers, this one is for you! Here is today's card:

A punch art turkey - how cute is he?! I've seen lots of different punch art turkeys on Pinterest and wanted to have a go at creating one using the Four Feathers stamp set and co-ordinating framelits for the tail. The sketch layout is perfect for my card, as with such a detailed turkey there really isn't room for a lot else! I used Tangelo Twist for my card base with a mat of Blackberry Bliss, then followed this with a layer of Sahara Sand as my neutral, to really allow my turkey centre stage. I stamped a number of the small feathers in each of the challenge colours onto the same colour cardstock for a tone-on-tone look, and fanned them out in two layers for the turkey's tail. The turkey's body is the body of the owl punch, in Early Espresso with the ears and feet removed, and his jowls are a punched heart, cut in half and overlaid on top of each other. I placed a piece of burlap behind my turkey to add a little rustic texture then stamped my sentiment directly onto the card base. I'm hoping Lesley will forgive me the centralised sentiment; I spent so long fussing over my turkey, i didn't revisit the sketch before I stamped and centralised my sentiment rather than set it off to the side, as suggested. Note to self - make a final check before you stamp!

I hope you like today's card - please do visit both challenge sites for more design inspiration from some very talented designers.

Back tomorrow with a triple bill: two creative posts and a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals! 

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Four Feathers Clear-Mount Bundle	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Owl Punch	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad
Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Hello Honey A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had lovely weekends; mine was busy as always, with a Stampin' Up! party on Friday night, followed by the usual weekend of sport and a morning stood out in the driving rain watching my first rugby match yesterday (hockey is definitely a cleaner game!) Other highlights of my weekend included reaching the bottom of my ironing basket (to be celebrated!) and the addition of a new pet to the James household - Olivia the goldfish has joined Goldie, who was feeling lonely following the recent departure of Fishy.

So, onto today's card! Today I have a clean and simple card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches, where Cindy has another great sketch for us:

I took inspiration from another of the designs in the Nordic Noel DSP pack and paired it with the sentiment stamp from Cheerful Christmas for my card today:

I used Soft Sky as my base and a piece of the Nordic Noel DSP featuring the acorns and pine sprigs for the left panel of my card. I stamped my feature sentiment in Garden Green on Whisper White and matted this onto a piece of Garden Green cardstock, rounding the corners on the right-hand side of both pieces. I used some Soft Sky and Calypso Coral Candy Dots to add a little colour to the main panel. Lastly, I added a strip of Garden Green and finished with a double loop of Baked Brown Sugar baker's twine. I love this thick twine - it's great for packaging but also works as a substitute for ribbon and ties a lovely bow. 

I love the fresh look of this card; the Garden Green is definitely a festive colour, but pairing it with Soft Sky, Baked Brown Sugar and Calypso Coral and Whisper White adds a real crispness to it I think. That's all from me - I'm off to get ready for today's class featuring the Many Merry Stars kit; click here to order yours if you haven't already, before they're all gone. 

Back tomorrow with another project and news of a fantastic one-week only demonstrator sign up offer - come back and check it out, you are not going to want to miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cheerful Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Project Life Corner Punch	Subtles Candy Dots	Baked Brown Sugar Thick Baker's Twine

It's Sunday and time for another challenge over at The Paper Players where this week LeAnne has a great sketch for us: 

Sketch challenges are my absolute favourite and I had tons of ideas for this one; you may see some of the others later this week, but for today I'm sharing this Christmas card featuring some of my favourite Nordic Noel designer series paper:

I kept my layout really simple as the paper is quite busy, but used lots of layers to incorprate the colours in the DSP. I added a piece of white seam binding ribbon tied with some baker's twine and a Nordic Noel button and to the bottom opposing corner a co-ordinating ornament in Garden Green that I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in white, with a trio of pearls coloured with my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities for effect. A sentiment from 'Good Greetings' finishes off my card.

I'm off to hockey and then have a date with an overflowing basket of ironing this afternoon. If you have something altogether more fun lined up and have time for a spot of crafting, then check out the cards by the other Paper Players designers this week for some great inspiration and then see what you can come up with? We would love to see you in the gallery this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cheerful Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper	Nordic Designer Buttons	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	White Baker's Twine	Whisper White 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Scallop Edge Border Punch
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

It's the weekend - yay! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's challenge over at the Merry Monday Card Challenge, where Sue has the following challenge for us this week:

Hmmm - bells! These designers are really keeping me on my toes this week, as this is another one of those where investigation of my extensive supplies led me to conclude not a single bell image, die cut or embellishment of any kind! Not to be beaten, I decided it was time to think laterally; the obvious choice was to run to my e-cutter, but instead I thought I would try and create some jingle bells using punches. Here is my finished card:

I had the urge to create something really glitzy today, so chose a plain background of Garden Green and decided on gold glimmer paper for my bells. They were surprisingly easy to make: I punched a 1" circle, then punched a star out of the top half. I punched two small circles with my crop-a-dile on the bottom half and used my paper snips to create the openings. Lastly, I punched a round edge using my 1 3/4" circle punch, adhered it to the centre of my bell and trimmed the ends. I also created a couple of gold bell hooks, but you can't really see these beneath the ribbon. I layered these onto my card base, popping one on a dimensional for a little lift, then finished with a rather extravagant bow. This red satin ribbon curls so beautifully I couldn't resist - even though this card is SOOO impractical for mailing!

My sentiment is a combination of the die cut using my Little Letters thinlits to spell 'jingle' and backed with Real Red cardstock, and the 'all the way' from the Mingle All The Way stamp set, which I selectively coloured with my Garden Green marker. 

I'm also entering this card for the challenge over at Less is More where the theme this week is aptly 'Jingle All The Way', although I have another card planned with a slightly different slant for later in the week and it didn't occur to me that this one probably fits the theme slightly better!

I'm really pleased with my shiny jingle bells - what do you think? I'm off for my usual Saturday of sport today; back tomorrow with my Design Team card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Mingle All The Way Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Little Letters Thinlits Die	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Gold Glimmer Paper
Real Red A4 Card Stock	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Regals Stampin' Write Markers	1 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch
Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon