Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Chinese New Year' which is on 22nd January. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used red, gold, rabbit, envelopes, heat embossing and new year sentiment and decided I would stick with our theme this week and create a card for Chinese new year - this is what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Year of the Rabbit - Since this Chinese new year is the Year of the Rabbit, my new Easter Rabbit punch came in handy! I used a punched rabbit for the centrepiece of my card; whilst my whole card was in red and gold, I wanted it to stand out a little more without adding in another colour, so I swiped my Poppy Parade cardstock with my ink pad in the same colour for a deeper shade - the photo below shows the difference:

Brightest Glow - I used a new year sentiment from the 'Brightest Glow' stamp set and another of the co-ordinating diecuts from the Labels Aglow Dies to reveal the gold foil of my mat layer to 'frame' the rabbit:

Red Envelopes - I completed my card with a few envelopes snipped from the 'Full of Love' stamp set that I heat embossed in gold on red. Did you know that red envelopes, often with gold detailing and containing money or gift cards, are traditionally given to children to celebrate Chinese new year and are considered to bring good luck, health and prosperity?

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm also linking today's card up over at Global Design Project where their theme is 'party'.

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

Enjoy your day; mine will be a busy one, as I'm going into Birmingham for some shopping and a trip to the theatre this evening - exciting! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

EASTER BUNNY PUNCH (18.00)	FULL OF LOVE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (20.00)	BRIGHTEST GLOW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	LABELS AGLOW DIES (31.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)
GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

For today's creative post I'm sharing a couple of versions of the same card. Since it's the first day of the new mini catalogue, it's the perfect time to showcase a new punch bundle - take a look at the first of today's cards:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Country Bouquet - Both of today's card feature a stamped and punched flower courtesy of the Country Bouquet bundle. Punch bundles are always great for quick and easy card making and I love that this bundle, whilst heart-shaped and does contain Valentine sentiments, has a much broader appeal with lots of other useful phrases and floral elements too. The heart pairs with the leaves and males a sweet flower that can be used in lots of ways. Both of the hearts are on one stamp and both of the leaves on another, and the punch punches all four elements in one go. My top tip for using this kind of stamp/punch combo is to create a punch mask using a piece of window sheet. You can then use this when stamping to position your stamps and ensure that when you come to punch out, all four stamped elements align perfectly. Better still, if you position your mask in your Stamparatus, you can easily run off lots in one go - and potentially punch your blanks before stamping.

Thanks and Hello - I paired my heart-shaped flower with an embossed panel, courtesy of the Thanks and Hello embossing folders. I love the added texture this gives - hopefully you can see it better in the photo below:

A Perfect Pair - Having made a few thank you cards to send to customers who purchased with me at the end of December, I decided to replicate my card using the 'Hello' embossing folder as the card to include with my Mini Catalogue mailing - a great way to combine products from the existing and new range too:

The texture of the embossed panel really makes it, don't you think?

Here's both cards together:

Here's another shot of lots of my cards together before they went into the mailbags:

Creating these cards is always a labour of love as mass production on this scale takes a lot of time, however it's so worth it when I get a message from a customer to say how much they liked their card - it makes it all worthwhile!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I am linking today's thank you card up over at The Alphabet Challenge where they are on 'T is for Thank you' and my Hello card over at Inspire.Create where their theme is 'New To You' - both my punch bundle and embossing folders are new to me and I you can be sure you'll be seeing plenty more of them too in future weeks! It's been fun creating with lots of new product and I can't wait to share more of it with you.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COUNTRY BOUQUET BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (36.00)	THANKS & HELLO EMBOSSING FOLDERS (7.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	ORCHID OASIS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)

It's Tuesday and time for our first challenge of the new year over at CAS Colours & Sketches. We are changing things up in 2023: we are welcoming a new trio of designers to our permanent team - waves to Lucy, Rachel and Sue - and whilst we will keep our format of colour, sketch and double challenges, our challenges are moving from a weekly to a fortnightly schedule, so even more time for you to participate! The super-talented Michal is hosting the month of January and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to leave behind the excesses of the festive season and start the year with some fresh fruit - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

This week's colours reminded me of morello cherries, so I grabbed my 'Sweetest Cherries' stamp set from the annual catalogue and stamped a pair of juicy fruits, blending my colours on the stamp with a sponge dauber before stamping, then fussy cut them, along with the word 'sweet' which I stamped in Blackberry Bliss, and added these with dimensionals to a white card base trimmed with a piece of Cherry Cobbler designer paper from the Regals pack.

I stamped the first part of the sentiment directly onto the card base, and finished the sentiment on the inside with another cherry to decorate:

A great #simplestamping project to get you started with your new year crafting - and one of your '5 a day' too! I'm also linking today's project up over at TGIF Challenges where they are 'keeping it simple'.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SWEETEST CHERRIES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (17.00)

REGALS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)

GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made with the leftovers of this card that I just haven't gotten around to sharing yet - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

This is a smaller, cleaner version of my original card, that uses the same holly label and leaves and berries cut from the piece of ink blended cardstock I made for my original project. I added some silver twine too to balance my design:

And of course I could resist some variegated holly on the inside and outside of the envelope too:

I really love the Leaves of Holly bundle and I'm so sad that it isn't carrying over; I will be holding on to my set for sure. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I have made and sent all my Christmas cards for this year and yesterday took receipt of my first pre-order from the new Stampin' Up! January -April catalogue. I can't promise this means an end to festive shares here, but I am excited to be crafting with new things! Today sees the first of the James Juniors to finish school for the Christmas break, with the second one finishing tomorrow, so I will be entering a slightly more 'relaxed' period of blogging over the next couple of weeks. Rest assured though there will be plenty going on and I have some very exciting things planned for 2023. I will be back soon with more to share; meanwhile, enjoy your day and until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LEAVES OF HOLLY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (48.50)	REAL RED & WHITE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) GLIMMER PAPER (4.75)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (7.00)	SILVER FOIL 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PACK (9.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (11.75)	STARRY SKY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
STARRY SKY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. It's not only our final challenge of the year before we all take a break for Chrstiams but we are also celebrating a milestone - our 500th challenge! There are prizes to be one for those participating this week, so we would love you to join us. We are ending the year on a high - for our final challenge, Patricia would like you to take and one of our 2022 challenges, sketch, colour or double, and make a seasonal card with it:  

No surprises that I went with the sketch option! I chose sketch number 478 from back in July. You can see the original card I made with it here; for today's card, I went with an altogether more sparkly affair with the Lights Aglow Suite - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I used a piece of sparkly gold Very Vanilla Lights Aglow designer paper on my base, and overlaid this with a piece of Very Vanilla which I cut using my Basic Borders Dies to which I'd added a (retired) gold heat-embossed sentiment. For my focal point, I added a diecut snowflake, again with detail heat embossed in gold - I just love the delicate detail of the snowflake image:

So simple yet so sparkly!!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

I'm also linking today's card up with the team over at CAS on Friday where their challenge is embossing (I've used heat embossing on my card), at Alphabet Challenge where the current letter is 'R for reduce' (CAS) and at Inkspirational where the challenge theme prompt is 'GOLD'.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC BORDERS DIES (27.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)

Today I've a quick post to share a card for the current challenges over at Time Out where the theme is 'Winter/Holiday Season' and at SUO Challenges where the theme is Christmas:

I love to make an all-white card and I hadn't made any this year, so I decided that the theme of 'Winter' along with the sub-zero temperatures here in the UK  - and waking to snow on the ground this morning were the perfect inspiration - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I used some retiring favourites for today's card: Snowy White velvet sheets and the Merriest Moments stamp set and hybrid embossing folder. I went with some simple layers: First I ran a piece of velvet paper through with the embossing folder, then added this to my card front. Then I used the embossing folder with the embossing die to cut the large base foliage design out of white glimmer paper and adhered it to my cardbase. I then added another diecut and embossed foliage layer, this time using the smaller detailed foliage die and Snowy White velvet paper. I cut a rectangle of white glimmer paper and used this to back a diecut stitched rectangle of white cardstock, onto which I heat-embossed my sentiment in silver: 

I added a trio of opal rounds to complete my design. This is a card of many layers and wonderful texture, but was actually quick and easy to execute. I will miss Merriest Moments for sure!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has a festive colour challenge for you to work with:

I still had my Lights Aglow designer paper out on my desk having made yesterday's cards, so I grabbed another of the patterns in the set and this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and set to work. This is what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I used a Cherry Cobbler card base, then adhered a sheet of Lights Aglow designer paper patterned with Very Vanilla stars to my card base. I then added a central panel of gold glimmer paper, and allowing for a thin vertical border, adhered another piece of paper from the pack, strewn with festive garlands, to which I'd added some diecut banners using one of the Twinkling Lights dies so that the gold glimmer paper showed through from below:

I did cut the piece of DSP that I used for the central section from the centre of the sheet, as I wanted the curves of the garlands to be centred, which is a little frivolous, but I know I will use the remnants on other projects as there is a beautiful gold embossed snowflake design on the reverse too.

I added a final panel of Cherry Cobbler with a sentiment heat embossed in gold to the bottom of the panel to complete the front of my card. To finish I added an extra sentiment from the 'Brightest Glow' stamp set to the inside of my card:

This is a great card that didn't take too long to create, which was especially good as I have been rather pushed for creative time this week.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Enjoy your day; today is the day that we will be decorating the James household inside and out for Christmas, so we are all looking forward to that. I am also going to be doing some crafting of a different kind, as I have a festive-themed fancy dress outfit to make for Rebecca to wear this week - a Sixth Form festive tradition, more on that later in the week! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BRIGHTEST GLOW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday - our last challenge of the year! 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' which celebrates the nativity of Jesus and begins on 25th December and runs until 5th January. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used square, Christmas, gold and red and this is what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Keeping things Simple - In the run up to Christmas as things start to get busier, I like to have a simple yet elegant card design that can be produced in multiples and today's card definitely fits the bill. A simple sentiment on a diecut shape, a designer paper frame and gold foil mat, all on a Cherry Cobbler square card base:

That's all there is to it - with a little extra stamping on the inside:

The 'Brightest Glow' stamp set is perfect for sentiments both inside and out.

Lights Aglow Four-In-One - The product hero of today's card is most definitely the Lights Aglow Specialty Designer Series Paper. There a several sheets that feature four of these starry, gold foil embossed 'frames' - so it's easy to take the design and make four cards in only a little more time than one. Here's all four of my cards from one sheet of designer paper:

A Green Alternative - In addition to the Cherry Cobbler frame sheets, there is a Soft Succulent one too. I made four more cards using the green version, stepping them up slightly to include a background of DSP for three of the four cards too - take a look:

Here are both designs together - which one do you prefer?

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BRIGHTEST GLOW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	REGALS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (13.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (13.00)	CHERRY COBBLER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)
STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments where they have an inspiration challenge:

It's pretty obvious to see where my inspiration came from! I loved that nativity silhouette in blues in the bottom left corner and I wanted to recreate it using one of my favourite retired sets, Joyful Nativity, and ring the changes with some new blue colours. This is what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I took a stitched circle in Orchid Oasis, then using a mask of torn paper, added ink in both Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky to create a faux-layered background. I added white splatters before stamping my holy family and stable in Orchid Oasis, using my Stamparatus to get a good, densely inked image:

I added a couple of wooden stars and a 'peace' sentiment, courtesy of the Santa Express Memories and More pack and left them bare as I like the resulting contrast against the blues. A little extra stamping on the inside completes my card:

So what do you think? I like to have a few religious cards to send out at Christmas time so I was glad to have the opportunity to bring out this set again.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STARRY SKY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

ORCHID OASIS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)

STARRY SKY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

ORCHID OASIS A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

I thought today it was time to update you about the new kits have been added to Stampin' Up!'s line of all-inclusive craft kits recently and highlight a few other recent additions that may have passed you by.

For anyone not familiar with the Kits Collection, they are designed to be the perfect introduction to paper-crafting. They are great for the beginner crafter or the seasoned crafter on the go. Whatever your skill or experience, the kits are designed for you, the customer, to be in control and choose the kit experience that is most comfortable for you. Kits are all-inclusive, pre-cut, and ready to use with complete step-by-step instructions. The following kits have been added this month and are now available in the online store: 

Christmas Gifting Tags Kit

You’ll love the ease of gift gifting this year with the Christmas Gifting Kit! This tag and gift card holder kit is a simple way to enhance the Christmas gifting experience for you and your loved ones. Create gorgeous gift tags with attached gift cards holders so you can give your friends and family gift cards to the places they love while adding a handmade touch.

Cozy And Bright Christmas Card Kit

Celebrate the season with a card kit that has everything you need to make 12 festive cards. Wish those you love a merry Christmas and a joyous New Year with classic pine, cinnamon, and orange designs that will warm any heart. And the gold foil details add that special something to these seasonal designs. Don’t let the Christmas time overwhelm you–get your all-inclusive kit and make quick multiples everyone will love! 

These kits are perfect for a spot of Christmas crafting and a great way to add a personal touch to festive mail. In addition, the following non-seasonal card kits have also been added recently and are worth a look:

 The Best Remedy Card Kit

We all know that sometimes life stinks. When it does, there's a simple solution: The Best Remedy Kit! Make one of the adorable, under-the-weather animals the focal point of your card. Then customise your project with the stamp set and embellishments. The stamp set includes cute images and fun phrases that are sure to deliver a smile. When someone you love needs a pick-me-up, this kit offers the perfect remedy!

A Million Thanks Card Kit

Say “thank you” in style and dazzle with layers of dimensions with the versatile A Million Thanks Kit! This kit has everything you need to create beautiful, all-occasion cards to express your gratitude. Mix and match card bases, sentiments, pre-cut die pieces, and embellishments to create expertly crafted cards with ease. It’s never been so easy to show how seriously grateful you are!

There are also some new non-card/no stamping kits that are great for gift giving:

Birthday Card Organiser Kit

Get ready to party all year long with the Birthday Card Organizer Kit! This kit comes with everything you need to help you get organised and never miss out on a birthday celebration. It comes with the supplies to make 12 birthday cards with matching envelopes that you can easily customise. This kit is filled with pre-cut floral and background pieces to really make your crafts unique. And don’t forget the 8" x 10" (20.3 x 25.4 cm) yearly birthday organiser with sticker sentiments in multiple language options for perfect (and practical) personalisation! You can keep track of all your loved one’s birthdays, then make and save a card for them in the cardholder for each month. No matter who you are celebrating, you can give them something great!

Love This Memory Notebook Kit

Relive your favourite memories with this blast from the past! The Love This Memory Notebook Kit is the perfect way to preserve amazing moments from your life in a fun and colourful way. Gather up photos and paste them into the included notebook and decorate!

Celebrate Today Magnet Board Kit

The Celebrate Today Magnet Board Kit includes supplies to create a magnet board designed to organise aspects of your daily life in a beautiful way. With interchangeable messages, backgrounds, and envelopes, you can decorate your magnet board to best suit your style and needs!

Kit includes:
*Pre-designed projects
*Step-by-step instructions
*Pre-cut pieces (No prep work! Get right to crafting)
* Makes 1 framed magnet board
*Enough adhesive to complete projects
* Includes 6 magnet clips
* Includes 2 image sticker sheets and 4 sentiment sticker sheets (1 each for the following languages: Dutch, English, French, and German)
* Includes 24 double-sided 4" x 3" (10.2 x 7.6 cm) cards
* Includes 2 sheets of 12" x 12" (30.5 x 30.5 cm) paper
*A 9-7/8" x 6-1/2" x 2-3/4" (25.1 x 16.5 x 7 cm) printed designer box for storage or crafting on the go
* Coordinating colors: Basic Black, Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Mint Macaron, Smoky Slate

Stampin' Up! kits offer great value for money and with Christmas on the horizon, they would make great gifts. So whether you are looking for something for a new crafter, a busy crafter or just someone who likes quick and easy projects, these kits are the perfect solution. Links to all of these and lots more available in the online store can be found below - happy shopping! 

CHRISTMAS GIFTING KIT (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	COZY & BRIGHT KIT (ENGLISH) (£22.00)	THE BEST REMEDY KIT (ENGLISH) (£22.00)	A MILLION THANKS KIT (ENGLISH) (£20.00)
BIRTHDAY CARD ORGANIZER KIT (£24.00)	LOVE THIS MEMORY NOTEBOOK KIT (ENGLISH) (£24.00)	CELEBRATE TODAY MAGNET BOARD KIT (£24.00)