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

I have lots of birthdays this month and one of those is my Dad's. I made his card from me earlier this week (you can see that card here if you missed it) but I needed to make another one for the James Juniors to send to Grandpa, so Jaydee's theme is perfect timing! I used Julee's Mojo Monday sketch for my layout and set to work - take a look:

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

Way To Goat - I decided to make a fun and colourful card using the 'Way To Goat' stamp set, so paired my serious-looking stamped goat with some retired party-themed papers (I especially like the partially eaten doughnut, given the sentiment!) for some birthday wishes.

Another Way To Personalise - There are lots of layers on this card and I wanted the main sentiment to be the humorous one highlighted in the circle about the cake-eating goat. I wanted to be able to reference Grandpa too though (the stamp is from the retired set 'For My Family'), so decided to use some tone-on-tone stamping onto one of my layers. You can't see the whole word anywhere, but it's stamped enough times that you get the gist.

Crossing A Line? - I have been having lots of debates with the ladies attending my weekly Zoom sessions about this stamp set and how old you have to be for this stamp set to be funny - or equally, for it to be seen to be crossing a line. It's not the sentiment that I used on the front of my card that's up for the debate - rather the one that I used on the inside:

Personally, I think this set is hilarious - and I may or may not have been teasing my mother-in-law (who also has her birthday this month and is the same age as my Dad!) that I am going to use it to make a card for her birthday too, much to her dismay! My Dad has absolutely no interest in stamping so he won't have seen this set, so the children and I are looking forward to seeing his reaction when he opens his card! What do you think - funny or too close to the mark? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

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:

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; we will be enjoying our final day of the long summer holiday for one of the James Juniors, who returns to school on Monday (Junior Number 2 isn't back until Wednesday) and doing things such as polishing shoes and packing school bags, for the first time complete with face masks. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WAY TO GOAT CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	STAMPIN BLENDS SMOKY SLATE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS BERMUDA BAY COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today I have a quick post to share a card I made that was inspired by the following challenges:

I was totally inspired by the CASE The Designer Challenge over at Global Design Project this week and actually CASEd Kayla's card twice (I'll hopefully share the second one with you tomorrow); for this card I used the Colour Dare's red, white and blue colour palette and combined another of those cute Gnomes from the 'Gnome For The Holidays' set with one of the little houses from the Home Together Dies to create my faux embossed background - take a look:

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

I thought these houses would make a cute background to compliment the 'no place like gnome' sentiment, especially with the little heart cut outs. I paired these with a label from the Hippo and Friends Dies and a variety of red, white and blue ribbons and twine to decorate my card. The little hearts from the centres didn't go to waste - I used some of them to add to the inside of my card for a little extra border decoration:

Creating a faux embossed background using diecuts is a fun alternative way to use your dies. I'm also linking today's card up with the team over at SUO Challenges where they are all about dies and punches 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 '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'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GNOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)	HOME TOGETHER DIES (£32.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS NIGHT OF NAVY COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS BRONZE & IVORY COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN BLENDS SMOKY SLATE COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	3/8" (1 CM) DENIM RIBBON (£6.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT 2020–2022 IN COLOR RIBBON (£5.50)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)
WHITE STAMPIN' CHALK MARKER (£3.25)	HIPPO & FRIENDS DIES (£33.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Shannon is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went on the diagonal down from the top left square with stripes, colouring and gnome for a cute Christmas card - take a look:

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

Gnome For The Holidays - I stamped and coloured one of the cute gnomes from the 'Gnome For The Holidays' stamp set as the centrepiece for my card today. Gnomes are so on trend at the moment, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this set - they are so adorable and make for a cute card for the festive season! 

Heartwarming Stripes - My gnome has a stripy hat and stripy socks and I also added a strip of Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper to my card and used this as the basis for my colour scheme.

Don't Forget The Inside - I did a little extra colouring on the inside of my card too, with this cute little gnome home for some extra decoration:

I'm linking today's card over at Time Out Challenges, where the theme is 'season', with the optional twist of colouring.

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GNOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)	HEARTWARMING HUGS DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BANNERS PICK A PUNCH (£21.00)	RED RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£6.50)
REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS MOSSY MEADOW COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN BLENDS SMOKY SLATE COMBO PACK (£8.50)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

This is my second post today; click here to catch up on the important news of the day! For my creative post I'm sharing a card for a couple of challenges:

September is the month of birthdays in the James family (mine included!) so I have lots of cards to make. My Dad's birthday isn't until later this month, but I thought I'd get a headstart since the team at Just Add Ink are encouraging us to make 'Cards for Guys' this week and the sketch at Fusion gave me the perfect layout (I am using the sketch there this week and taking a fairly liberal interpretation at that, although I was somewhat inspired by the soft greens of the photo too) - take a look:

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

Garden Shed - For as long as I can remember my Dad has been a keen gardener - of vegetables, rather than flowers though! He has a greenhouse and a kitchen garden at home and a large allotment with a shed where he spends much of his time each day now that he has retired and more recently given up golfing too. He can while away hours pottering away, whilst taking shelter in his shed if it rains or sitting out front watching the world go by as he drinks his morning coffee with his fellow allotmenteers. As such the Garden Shed stamp set is perfect for his birthday card; whilst his doesn't have a straw hat adorning the outside and the exterior is more brown in colour than the one I coloured with my Stampin' Blends, the inside is full of paintings and pottery made by his grandchildren and is certainly filled with green-fingered creativity. 

Family Party - I used a slimline card format for my card today, as I knew I would need a larger, customised sentiment and wanted to give my shed plenty of space to shine without being obscured. If you need a special sentiment for a relative, the Family Party stamp set is perfect - I used four different stamps to make my greeting and it fits just right on my card.  

On The Inside - No more embellishments on the outside of my card (it is for a guy, after all!) but I did add a little extra colouring along with a custom greeting to the inside of my card:

I'm sure he will love it; I just need to make a Grandpa card too now and then that order is complete!

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:

GARDEN SHED CLING STAMP SET (£21.00)	FAMILY PARTY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS MINT MACARON COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS NIGHT OF NAVY COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STAMPIN BLENDS SMOKY SLATE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS MOSSY MEADOW COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STAMPIN' BLENDS GRANNY APPLE GREEN COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the fifth week of the month and the turn of the amazing Ann to host this week with a fun TicTaToe challenge board for you to work with:

My cards today feature lots of products from the Snowflake Splendor Suite in the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue. Take a look:

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

TicTacToe - I love a tic tac toe board - they offer such a wealth of creative possibility and always result in an interesting gallery. I went along the diagonal bottom left to top right - diecut, embossing and patterned paper - for my card today, but realised afterwards it also works for the middle horizontal row of ribbon, embossing and gems - check out the sparkly blue faceted gem I used to centre my diecut layered snowflake:

CASEing The Catalogue - Does the layout I chose for today's card look familiar? The team over at SUO Challenges are challenging us to CASE (Copy And Share Everything or Copy And Selectively Edit, you choose) either of the cards featuring the 'Whale Done' Suite on page 94 of the catalogue:

I often use my Stampin' Up! catalogue for inspiration in terms of colours or layouts and this was a fun challenge to show how you can take inspiration from the catalogue to create something fresh and new. I actually made both of the cards I'm sharing today live in a Zoom demonstration with the ladies in my Online Classes Facebook Group during last week's session, as I wanted to explain my process and encourage them not to discount pages that featured products that might not be of interest to them, but instead look to see what other inspiration they could take. My card uses the same layout as the one on page 94 and includes all of the same elements: patterned paper, a central banner with contrasting stamping, a feature diecut image, diecut vellum pieces behind the banner and an embossed sentiment backed with ribbon - yet my card looks quite different to the one on page 94 as it uses a completely different product suite.

Snowflake Splendor Times Two - Having made this card, I then went on to CASE the second card on this page, that highlights an inked embossing folder technique:

I used the Winter Snow embossing folder and instead of a stamped panel, used a couple of pieces of contrasting designer series paper for the feature panel, embellished with some rhinestones and Whale of a Time sequins, along with a sentiment created from stamping two of the greetings from the 'Peace And Joy' stamp set next to each other to create a single one; this one is slightly different in layout to the catalogue sample, yet the similarities in layout still make it recognisable. 

Here's both of my CASEd cards together: 

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. Do you ever use layouts from the catalogue as a starting point for your card making? Do let me know in the comments below - I'd love to hear what inspires you to create! Equally, if you would like to watch the video of me making both of these cards, do get in touch for more details on how to join my Online Classes group - I would love to have you join me.

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

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; my day today will be a busy one, for a Sunday. Rebecca is back to hockey for the first time in 6 months for pre-season training so is very excited about that and I have hours of content to catch up on from Stampin' Up!'s Leader Summit this past few days, much of which I didn't do live because we were otherwise engaged as a family celebrating young Master James' finishing of prep school. Thank heavens for online recordings and catch-up - where would we be without it?! I also have a mound of raspberries to make into jams, jellies and more - the weather here these last few days has been positively autumnal so I have some very soft and squishy fruit that has been rather battered by the high winds! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	SNOWFLAKE WISHES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£51.25)	WINTER SNOW EMBOSSING FOLDER (£7.00)	BLUE ADHESIVE-BACKED GEMS (£7.50)	SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR 1/4" (6.4 MM) RIBBON (£6.50)
VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	UNINKED STAMPIN’ PAD & WHISPER WHITE REFILL (£8.75)
WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	PEACE & JOY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£17.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a 'fill in the blank' challenge:

There are lots of colour combinations that I love, but must confess that one of my current favourites is Balmy Blue and Highland Heather. I have always been a fan of purple, but the beautiful papers featuring this combo in the Snowflake Splendor Suite have me creating a lot with this colour combo at the moment. For today's card I decided to share one of the cards that I created on one of my live Zoom demonstration sessions with my lovely customers last week that showed them how to step up their shaker cards with embossing folders - take a look:

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

Snowflake Splendor - I've mentioned previously how much I love this suite; having started creating with it for my class last month, I am quite hooked and have been using it for lots of projects lately, some of which I've shared here already. I love the papers, that give the patterns a hand-painted feel, with wonderful watercoloured patterns too.  

A Fresh Winter Colour Combo - I love the way the colours combine in the Snowflake Splendor papers and I think the addition of Highland Heather amongst the blues really rings the changes and freshens up this wintery colour scheme. For my shaker, I paired a watercolour design frame with a background printed with white snowflakes, and added a fussy cut snowflake stamped in my colour duo (in the interests of full disclosure, I did also add a little Pacific Point to this particular snowflake), along with some diecut snowflakes in Balmy Blue glimmer paper for added sparkle:

A Winter Snow Shaker - Before mounting my shaker window, I ran my window sheet through the Winter Snow Embossing folder. This was a tip I saw recently shared by one of Stampin' Up!'s artisan designers, Stesha Bloodhart, using the Seabed 3D embossing folder, and couldn't wait to try it with the snowflakes. If you look carefully at the photo below you can see the snowflake impressions:

I think this is such a great way to step up a shaker card as it adds lovely texture and detail.

If you'd like to see a little video clip of my shaker in action, in all its snowflake shaker glory, you can see that on my Facebook page here.

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging   project that fits the challenge.
• Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

Enjoy your day. Mine is going to be a rather special one, as young Master James finally gets to attend his Year 8 Prize Giving Ceremony today. For him and the other year 8 pupils, this year has not been full of the post-Common Entrance Examination rewards that might have been in different times, but today we will have a special year 8 only socially-distanced Speech Day, with Prize Giving and picnic lunch, followed by family cricket (weather permitting) and then the children will be having a disco and hog roast in the evening, in lieu of their Leaver's Ball. They are all very much looking forward to it and it will be a wonderful way to end this special period of his educational journey before moving to his new school and the next chapter.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	WINTER SNOW EMBOSSING FOLDER (£7.00)	SNOWFLAKE WISHES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£51.25)	BALMY BLUE GLIMMER PAPER (£4.75)	WINDOW SHEETS (£4.75)
VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLES DIES (£33.00)	HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	SNOWFLAKE SEQUINS (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's Inspired By challenge where it's all about the punny sentiment:

I love a good punny sentiment and a quick perusal of current stamp sets and I knew exactly where I was headed. I used the sketch layout this week too - take a look:

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

Have A Hoot - Yes, this adorable pair of loved-up owls and that festive punny sentiment 'owl I want for Christmas is you!' were a perfect fit for the challenge! I coloured my little scene with Blends and diecut my feathered friends and popped them up on dimensionals for a little lift, within their framed circle. I also added a little simple stamped detail inside my card:

Plaid Tidings - The colour scheme for my card was inspired by one of the many lovely patterns in the Plaid Tidings set, with a combination of Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White. I used each of the colours in my layers, finishing with the Cherry Cobbler top panel for a festive touch. 

It's All In The Details - I added a sprig of mistletoe, complete with pearl berries and tied with some retired baker's twine, to the top of my window, perfectly positioned above my owls, and I also added some small rhinestones to the snowflakes for a little festive sparkle:

I'm also sharing today's card over at Christmas Kickstart where the challenge is 'Christmas Birds' - in truth, I'm not sure whether an owl constitutes a Christmas bird but these two are definitely set for Christmas so hopefully the ladies over there will appreciate it!

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'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HAVE A HOOT BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	PLAID TIDINGS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED RECTANGLES DIES (£33.00)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)
WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SHADED SPRUCE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS BALMY BLUE COMBO PACK (£8.50)
PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)

Another Monday, another week! Lots happening this week so I need to be even more organised that usual! Today I'm sharing a card (or 3!) using this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew:

Remember when I cut up that 12" x 12" sheet of scene DSP from the Trimming The Town pack I cut up to make 4 slimline cards here? I showed you the other 3 smaller pieces of DSP I had leftover and this week's sketch was perfect for me to use these to complete my set of cards. Here is each of my cards in turn:

Card 2:

Card 3 - I flipped the sketch on the vertical for this one as the sentiment worked better on the left side of my framed scene:

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

Each of my cards uses a Misty Moonlight card base, with a panel of snowflake paper followed by a piece of the scene, which is framed in a Poppy Parade border cut with the scallop-edged Layered Squares dies. The sentiments have also been cut from the Trimming The Town DSP and popped up on dimensionals, along with a fussy cut tree and also a small ribbon bow on one of my cards:

I did a little stamping on the inside of my card, but the outside was all about snipping with my scissors and some diecut frames - nice and straightforward and I've used my whole sheet of DSP.

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'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TRIMMING THE TOWN DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

ALL THE TRIMMINGS RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)

MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

LAYERING SQUARES DIES (£33.00)

Today I'm sharing another card that uses this week's Global Design Project sketch and this time the inspiration photo over at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

The #GDP254 sketch has so many possibilities and I couldn't resist those autumnal colours, leaves and acorns on the HSS photo. This is the original card I made with the sketch (if you missed it I shared another one yesterday here), along with my first outing with the fabulous Gilded Autumn Suite of products - take a look:

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

Gilded Autumn - The catalogue describes the Gilded Autumn Suite as 'nature-inspired imagery, with gold and copper foiling to give autumn an infusion of elegance' - this totally sums up the beauty of the products in this suite, especially the papers. I used a piece of gold-foiled Cajun Craze paper for my card base, then added a layer of brushed gold cardstock before adding a Stitched Rectangle with the reverse of my base pattern, featuring a variety of coloured autumn leaves. 

Leaves and Acorns - I used a trio of gold heat-embossed leaves and acorns to decorate my sentiment label, each of which was easily punched out using the autumn punch pack punches. These punches are quite a decent size; I thought they would be small, like the itty bitty punches we've had previously, but they are more like the size of the small bloom punch. They also co-ordinate with some of the paper patterns - bonus! They are two-step stamps, with an outline and infill and are easy to align - I even used them to decorate the inside of my card: 

Gold, Gold and More Gold - I couldn't resist adding more touches of gold to my card: the designer paper, the heat embossed sentiment and punched leaves, along with the brushed gold cardstock border and a tiny gold twine bow on my acorn give the whole thing a wonderful warm glow:

I think I've fallen in love with the foil detailing on these papers and all of the lovely coordinating products in this suite. Looking forward to creating more with them!

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:

BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)	GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	BRUSHED METALLIC CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BASKETWEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLES DIES (£33.00)	PAINTED LABELS DIES (£33.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went with the right hand column balloon/any shape die/free, but my card also works for the diagonal balloon/celebration/any colour ink. I needed some birthday cards for my stash so took this opportunity to break out my So Much Happy Bundle for a bold and bright card - take a look:

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

That fabulous HAPPY Die is the starting point for my card, set at a jaunty angle. I then added the rest of my sentiment using the coordinating 'So Much Happy' stamp set and stamped a whole bunch of balloons in a variety of sizes and patterns, some of which I diecut and added strings to also, before adding to my card.

I popped a few up on dimensionals to add to the effect - you can see that more closely here:

And finally I added a little extra stamping inside my card to finish:

The dies really make this card a step-up from what is otherwise a collection of stamps, ink and paper - and easy to create in so many different colourways! What colours would you use to recreate this card? Do leave me a comment - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SO MUCH HAPPY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)