Well after an incredibly busy week I've finally managed to squeeze in another blog post! What's more, I also had a few hours at my desk this afternoon and instead of tidying up or sorting out retiring stock, I decided to get making - I've not put ink to a stamp in a whole week myself! I'm sat watching the annual music fest that is Eurovision as a type, so it seemed like a good day to share a couple of music-themed projects with you.

As my regular readers will know, we are something of a musical family: three pianists, a guitarist and we all like to sing (some of us better than others, it has to be said!) Rebecca recently sat her Grade 3 singing exam and subsequently wanted to make a little something for her vocal coach to say thank you for all her teaching and support. We don't have much in the way of musical stamp supplies, so armed with a suitable sentiment from the 'Watercolour Wishes' stamp set, some retired designer series paper and my Silhouette Cameo e-cutter, we set to work to create two projects. We created both a card and a boxed dimensional frame. Here is the frame, complete with layered treble clef:

Rebecca was so pleased with this, we then downloaded a second cut file and created this co-ordinating thank you card:

I love both of these projects and they definitely made me want to use my e-cutter more. Rebecca and I certainly had a lot of fun putting them together and her singing teacher loved them. Rebecca also got a merit for her exam performance too, so all in all a great result all round. Let's hope the United Kingdom Eurovision entry achieves similar success tonight!

I'll be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

The weekend is over and it's Monday again - where does the time go?! I'm finally finding the time today to share a card that I featured in part on my Facebook Page last week. This particular card was a commission for a client - a bride and groom with a romantic sunset of pinks and purples:

This card doesn't have a great deal of stamping, apart from the sentiment from the ever-popular 'Sassy Salutations' stamp set. The bride and groom were cut using my e-cutter having set them into a frame, but the real star of the show for this card I think is the beautiful brayered background. I masked the moon using a piece of post-it note punched with a 1 1/4" circle punch, then brayered the entire background using a combination of Perfect Plum, Rose Red, Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry. So very pretty!

I am entering today's card into this week's challenge over at Less Is More where this week the recipe is 'Silhouettes'. I was thrilled to be the LIM winner in December and so far I haven't managed an entry in January due to other commitments. This week I am going to make up for this though with not just one, but (at least!) two entries; I've been making samples for an all-day brayering technique class that I'm holding tomorrow so have lots of silhouettes to share! 

Back tomorrow with one of my basic brayer class cards that is perfect for the 'Less Is More' theme!

Until then, happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

1-1/4" Circle Punch	Brayer	Sassy Salutations Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock

It's Wednesday already? The week is zipping by! I'm sure that time moves quicker the nearer to Christmas we get! I have a great festive monochromatic Christmas card for you today: big on layers, easy to recreate - just what we like at this time of year! I made today's card with a couple of challenges in mind:

The sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week is a classic and I just love the inspiration photo at CanYouCaseIt - so much shine! I took my inspiration from the red and white elements and the shiny foil which I incorporated into the border frame for my card:

Isn't that striped Holiday vellum just gorgeous? I matted it on a piece of Whisper White cardstock before adhering to my Real Red base so that the red foil stripes would really stand out. For the focal point of my card, I used the sentiment from the 'Cheer All Year' stamp set - so versatile - and my little hot cocoa mugs are from the 'Project Life Hello December 2015' stamp set - another one of those sets that is useful for so much more than its designed purpose.

Are any of you out there joining in with the #decemberdaily project? I love to create a Project Life mini-album each December documenting the goings on in the James household during the festive season, so the above stamp set was a must for me to decorate this year's journalling, along with the Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection and Accessory Kit:

I'm mindful that I don't often share my Project Life documenting here on my blog - I just tend to get on with it! - but I'm trying to consciously change that, so throughout December I will be sharing some of the inspiration for my daily journalling and occasionally some of my completed pages in the hope that they will inspire you to get involved in active memory keeping too. Yesterday's page will feature the arrival of our Christmas Elf Charlie, who often gets up to mischief in the run up to Christmas and yesterday appeared with a fun piece of home decor I made to remind the James Juniors that good behaviour is important more now than ever since the elf will be reporting back to Santa on everything he sees and hears:

Isn't that fun? Surprisingly easy to create with the help of my e-cutter and some Stampin' Up! cardstock. Here's a picture of Charlie as he made his first appearance of the year:

This morning Ben was out of bed, up and dressed in record time and off on the hunt for Charlie to see what mischief he had got up to overnight; he eventually found him hiding in the basil pot amongst the herbs on the kitchen windowsill. Here's to more mayhem as the month progresses!

If you would like to join me in documenting your December, it's not too late to order the supplies to create your own album; just click on the links below to go to the online store or give me a call and I would be happy to place an order for you. More tips and Project Life #decemberdaily inspiration to come! Equally, if you would like to share your own #decemberdaily memories, feel free to upload them to my Facebook page here - I would love to feature them.

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with a festive card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Holidays Fancy Foil Designer Vellum	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Project Life #dailydecember Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set

Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection

Hello December 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack

Kraft 6" X 8" Project Life Album

Variety Pack 6" X 8" Project Life Photo Pocket Pages

Project Life Journaling Pens

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players and this week the queen of die cuts, the lovely Laurie, has a fun CAS challenge for us:

I started out thinking of frames in the more traditional sense, but having seen some of the other Design Team cards I decided to change direction and use today's challenge to make a card for a specific purpose - here's my card:

A simple black, white and purple combo that doesn't require a huge amount of explanation. The hair for the young man that features on my card is from the 'Calling All Heroes' photopolymer set that I used earlier this week (only available to US customers - thank you LeAnne ;-)) and the sentiment is stamped in Memento Black using the 'Back to Basics' alphabet with the addition of an Elegant Eggplant candy dot and some very cook 'geek' spectacles in purple cut with my e-cutter and adhered to the front of my card. 

This card is headed to my daughter's best friend Finley; he has recently joined the ranks of spectacle wearers, but is rather reluctant to wear his glasses at school, for fear of being labelled the 'class geek'. As a fellow specs wearer for over 30 years, I can empathise. Whilst his own specs aren't purple, it is his favourite colour and we are hoping this card will help him see that with his perfectly coiffed hair and charming good looks, he should wear his specs and be proud - geek, after all, is the new chic!

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

Whether you go with frames of the spectacles or picture variety, I look forward to seeing how you interpret Laurie's fun challenge in the gallery this week.As you read this I am on my way for a well-earned rest to sunnier climes with my family for a couple of weeks; rest assured there are lots of creative posts scheduled in my absence, so do continue to stop by as there will be plenty of paper crafting inspiration for you to see. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Back To Basics Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Elegant Eggplant A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Regals Candy Dots

Today I have something a little different for you! The current challenge over at SUO Challenges is 'Cards For Teens', sometimes a tricky group to create for. Most of the children's cards I create are for the under-10s so I wouldn't consider my self experienced in this field at all although having purchased an e-cutter recently and looking through My Digital Studio for inspiration, I discovered a stamp that is perfect for a birthday card for male teens that ultimately led me to make a few cards. Here's the first one:

Using Pacific Point as my base colour, I used the 'Extreme Skateboard' stamp image and converted it to a cut file which I then cut out of Basic Black cardstock using my e-cutter. Before adhering to my cardbase, I added some spatter and stripes in Memento Black ink and Encore Silver Metallic to create a grungy background. I also added a retired 'Awesome' stamp from the 'Cool Kid' set to this card.

For my second card, I used the negative space of the skateboarder to create a black card with a graduated rainbow sponged skateboarder behind and added some letters cut with my Little Letters thinlits to spell 'Cool' - something all teens think applies to them I think:

Finally, I used the cut skateboarder and adhered him to a sponged rainbow starburst background - I also stamped some black stars on top of this to add to the effect:

I love all of these cards, bit I think the bottom one is my favourite. It has an almost psychodelic feel. This is one of the projects that I submitted for the Convention Design Challenge in Brussels last November, although haven't shared until now. I gave the first card to my skateboard-mad 13 year old neighbour for his birthday and he pronounced it 'sick' - as I looked puzzled and slightly disappointed, he rushed to explain this was a good thing - apparently in teen-speak this is high praise! Clearly, what do I know!!!

If you struggle with teenage cards too, do check out the DT samples and the SUO gallery, where there's lots of teen inspiration.

Back tomorrow with a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals and another project. Until then, happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Extreme Skateboard Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download	Mds Download - Digital Download	Pacific Point A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Silver Metallic Encore Pad	Gorgeous Grunge	Be The Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Sponge Daubers	Brights Classic Stampin' Pads
Subtles Classic Stampin' Pads	Regals Classic Stampin' Pads	Little Letters Thinlits Die	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform

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It's Wednesday and time for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...! where we have a playful colour palette for you to work with this week:

For my card, I took my inspiration straight from this week's challenge badge and those lovely spooky mason jars and decided to create a similar effect with the aid of my Silhouette Cameo - take a look:

I couldn't find a suitable file in My Digital Studio to work with, so I downloaded this Halloween Graveyard scene from the Silhouette store and cut it out of Basic Black. For the background, I sponged a panel of Whisper White using each of the challenge colours, having first masked off a circle with a post-it note punched with a 1 3/4" circle punch for my moon. I'm surprised at just how well these three colours blend together to create the spooky scene - it's really quite atmospheric. I left the front of my card sentiment-free and added one to the inside, as I didn't want to interrupt my picture.

So what do you think? This card was surprisingly easy to create with my e-cutter. 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:

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad
Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Stamping Sponges	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch