The weather has been frightful today here in the UK so I escaped the rains and winds and had a day full of crafting in the warmth of my office. I have been making lots of treats that I am looking forward to sharing with the ladies that are booked to attend my Creative Escapes weekend craft retreat this forthcoming weekend. Before I finished up this evening, I had time to made a quick card that had been percolating all day for a few current challenges:

I thought the CAS Colours & Sketches sketch would be perfect for a card using the 'From Our House to Yours' set (with my 'H' for Just Add Ink being 'House/Home') and I decided to make them rainbow-coloured for Less Is More - take a look:

Some simple stamping on Whisper White, with the sentiment finished inside:

This is a great set with lots of little bits and pieces. I am sending this card to an old neighbour of mine who now lives a long way away and who I miss having around; we chat on the phone but I like to send her some 'happy mail' every now and again, so this one is for her.

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:

From Our House To Yours Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our queen of dies, the lovely Laurie, to host this week and she has a seasonal colour challenge for you to work with:

Laurie's Halloween-inspired colours were tough for me this week - I rarely make Halloween cards as they aren't a big thing here in the UK and I don't have many seasonal stamps that would work with all four of these colours. So I decided to go in a completely different direction and armed with Jacquie's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches went for something more reminiscent of sunnier climes - take a look:

I used my Tropical Chic stamp set and dies to create a vibrant thank you card with a layered base, framing the diecut panel with a thin frame of Gorgeous Grape and adding a trio of blooms stamped in Pumpkin Pie and edged in Gorgeous Grape with a sponge dauber. A pair of dramatic black fern leaves and a glittery enamel dot complete my card.

So what do you think - does it work? This is one of those card that I think will pass, but I'm not sure I love it! Good job the rest of the team have some great cards to inspire you 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:

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; I am hoping to get some crafting done with more preparations for my retreat next weekend and maybe a catch a movie whilst I battle through an enormous pile of ironing - joy! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Tropical Chic Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tropical Dies (£25.00)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)

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I can't believe it's Thursday already - as usual the week is flying by! Tonight I have a super quick post with an even quicker card that I made for the current challenge over at Just Us Girls:

Once I saw that the word of the week was Designer Paper how could this self-confessed designer series paper addict not play along?! Here's my super-simple Christmas card featuring the Feels Like Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper:

I mounted my DSP onto a Night of Navy mat and an extra-thick Whisper White cardbase, having first stamped my sentiment from the Frosted Foliage stamp set directly onto my DSP. And that's it! So simple. I made a version of this card in my technique class earlier this week; we were featuring the Feels Like Frost Suite and this card was voted the unanimous favourite - it just goes to show that sometimes stamps, ink and paper (of the patterned kind!) is all you need! A great example of #SimpleStamping.

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 lunchtime with my card for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Feels Like Frost Specialty 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£13.00)

Frosted Foliage Cling Stamp Set (En) (£19.00)

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)

Today I'm squeezing in my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge that I intended to blog on Saturday, but, well, the day was just too busy!

I made my card on Saturday afternoon as I was enjoying some World Card Making Day craftiness and indulged in two of my favourite past-times, colouring and fussy cutting to create this festive card - take a look:

My card features this fun Christmas elf from the #Elfie stamp set, inspired by Million Sales Achiever Karen Duke and I just love him! I fussy cut each of my three stamped images and mounted them on white stitched squares as I liked the added definition, then added my heat-embossed sentiment. A little stamping to the inside completed my card:

Easy as that! On reflection I'm wondering whether on this occasion I should have snipped away the bauble from the bottom image on the front of my card just to give a better balance - what do you think? 

Either way, I still love this cute little chap!

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've started the week with my monthly technique class this morning which was a lot of fun (I'll share some of those cards later in the week) and some of the usual cooking and cleaning that seems an ongoing task in the James household. As is the ironing - that's where I'm headed next, wish me luck! Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

#Elfie Cling Stamp Set (En) (£20.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	In Color 2018–2020 Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)
Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a seasonal theme challenge for you to work with:

At this time of year our thoughts often turn to giving thanks so I thought this would be a good theme for this week. I created not one but two cards this week, both using the colour combination over at TGIF Challenges. The first one uses this week's Fusion sketch (sketch only). I wanted to use the Country Home set for my cards today; it's one of my favourite sets for autumn thank you cards. For my first card I paired my milk churn of autumn foliage with some of the gorgeous patterned papers from the Woven Threads suite, along with some Grapefruit Grove coloured ribbon and pearls:

I tweaked my sentiment by replacing the stamped word 'happy' with a diecut from the Word Wishes Framelits set for added emphasis and finished my sentiment on the inside of my card:

My second card for Just Add Ink uses one of the other sentiments and foliage arrangements from the same set, this time with a piece of linen effect designer series paper from the Pressed Petals Specialty DSP that I embossed with my Tin Tile Embossing Folder for added texture:

You can see it more closely here, along with the detail on my cotton balls:

In Europe, due to ongoing customs issues we have been unable to obtain the Snowfall Accents Puff Paint on page 19 of the Autumn-Winter catalogue since the catalogue launch, which is a shame as it would be perfect to use on these. This week we learned that this product will not arrive before the catalogue end and as such has now been withdrawn from sale. Never fear though - I have a plan! I created exactly the same effect using some Tombo adhesive and white embossing powder using the same technique I used previously for an aeroplane smoke trail. I even made a video - here it is in case you aren't familiar with this technique and would like to see how it's done:

Give it a try and let me know how you get on and what you use it for - I'd love to see your projects!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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; I am busy with preparations for my upcoming luxury weekend crafting retreat so I will hopefully be spending some time in my craft room ticking a few more jobs off my list, in between the usual weekend homework and a birthday party run for one of the James Juniors tomorrow afternoon. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Woven Threads Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Pressed Petals Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Tin Tile 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)
Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Grapefruit Grove 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Pretty Peacock 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon (£7.50)	Linen Thread (£4.75)	Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

Friday already? Where did that week go?! I am just popping in with another Christmas card that I made for my stash inspired by the following challenges over at Sunday Stamps and Christmas Kickstart:

I couldn't resist using the sketch to showcase some fabulous festive designer series paper - take a look:

Since Christmas Kickstart is all about the presents, I decided that this gift-filled paper from the Night Before Christmas DSP pack would make a perfect centrepiece. This card is all about #SimpleStamping - the only stamping on the front of the card is my sentiment, which I thought it would be fun to make it look like a tag from the man in red himself - well, everyone knows that's who really brings the gifts at Christmas time, right?

I did do a little more stamping inside my card, using a sentiment from the 'Greatest Part of Christmas' stamp set, an exclusive hostess set available in the current Autumn-Winter catalogue that can be yours if you host a party before the end of the year, along with a few more gifts:

Isn't that a great sentiment for a loved-one at Christmas time?

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:

Night Before Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Greatest Part Of Christmas Host Cling Stamp Set (En) (£12.00)	Holly Jolly Christmas Cling Stamp Set (En) (£20.00)

No post from me yesterday I'm afraid as I was out hosting a Stampin' Up! party at the lovely Jane's house for her and all her friends and I didn't get a chance to post before I left. We had a fun evening of Christmas crafting, with delicious cake thrown in (the refreshments at Jane's always make the visit worthwhile!) I'm back to it today and just have time to squeeze in an entry for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink: 

I loved this week's inspiration photo and it led me to create a card with a rather modern twist - take a look:

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

A Word About Inspiration - As my regular readers know, sketches are often my 'go to' starting point when I make a card, however sometimes inspiration comes from other areas. When it's a photo such as the one that inspired today's card, it can be interpreted in so many different ways. I knew I wanted to use florals, ideally tulips, and bright colours. It struck me that the photo had clearly defined lines of tulips within the borders and I decided it might be fun to use this idea on my card too. So I chose to create three distinct rows of flowers in each of the colours on the photo (I stamped them tone-on-tone then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder; difficult to see on the photo, but gives a lovely texture and shine) and backed them with a pale green Soft Sea Foam panel and a white card base. Using the cardstock in each of the colours, rather than stamping the flowers onto white and/or colouring them gives a strong, graphic feel to my card. Check out the JAI gallery to see how the DT team and other participants interpreted this week's inspiration! 

Not Just For Grandmas - My flower borders are made up by repeat-stamping the stamp featuring a trio of flowers (one is a tulip!) from the 'Grandma's House' stamp set. Whilst this set is all about the love of and for Grandmas, both this flower stamp and the house stamp in the set open up other creative possibilities - general birthdays, new home or pretty much anything that a flower can be used for! It's worth taking a second look at this kind of set, as they are often more versatile than they first appear.

The Perfect Pair - I finished my card with a diecut sentiment using the 'Well Written' framelits, paired with the super useful 'Well Said' stamp set. Together they can be used to create a ton of different sentiments for a wide variety of occasions - here's a peek at the inside of my card where you can see how I used it to finish my card: 

So what do you think - does this design work or would you have preferred a more traditional take on the photo inspiration? Do leave me a comment below - I would 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; mine's a busy one. The youngest of the James Juniors is captaining his school rugby team this afternoon, hopefully to victory. Either way, I'm sure he will have a great time and one things for sure - there will be a fair amount of muddy kit heading my way this evening! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Grandma's House Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Well Written Dies (£37.00)	Well Said Cling Stamp Set (£42.00)	Pineapple Punch Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pineapple Punch A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

Happy Monday everyone! I am starting the week with a card for the current challenge over at Festive Friday that is also my second using this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch: 

I chose friendship, blue and orange as my 3 items from the Festive Friday inspo list and made this sweet card using one of my favourite sets in the annual catalogue, 'We'll Walrus Be Friends':

I stamped my main image on a Whisper White stitched oval, popping my goldfish up on dimensionals, and coloured it with my Blends and a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella on the iceberg. I popped this onto a base embossed with the High Seas embossing folder. Both the iceberg sparkle and embossed waves are difficult to see on my photo, but they add so much to this card in real life. I love this card - I am going to send it to one of the James Juniors in their school bag one day when they need a little cheering up!

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:

We'll Walrus Be Friends Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	High Seas 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the fifth Sunday of the month so my fellow Brit-turned Yank, the lovely Jaydee is host this week and she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I always struggle with tic-tac-toe boards - almost too much choice! - so armed with this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the Hand Stamped Sentiments colour palette I set to work and this is what I came up with:

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

I liked this week's FMS sketch so much I ended up using it for a second time (which is weird, as I hardly ever use ovals on my cards - you can see tomorrow's card using the same sketch here). I thought that the HSS colours were perfect for an autumn-inspired card. I decided on a truck full of multi-coloured pumpkins and gourds, courtesy of the 'Holiday Haul' stamp set, one of the new sets exclusive to hostesses from the Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue. I inked some of the pumpkins in Grapefruit Grove and added some Terracotta Tile with a sponge dauber for shading, then stamped some of the others in Mint Macaron and Pretty Peacock and fussy cut those and added them in. I created a Pretty Peacock frame for my oval using my Stitched Shapes Framelits and adhered my oval to my layered cardfront. My central panel was stamped tone-on-tone in Terracotta Tile all over with a cluster of leaves from a retired stamp set called 'A Little Something'. I couldn't find an appropriate sentiment in my stamp stash, so decided to leave it blank.

After all my fretting about which line of the tic-tac-toe board to complete, I ended up completing column 1 (fall, orange, leaves), row 3 (leaves, CAS, pumpkin) and the diagonal top left to bottom right (fall, diecut, pumpkin) - go figure!

My card will make the perfect notelet to send to my British penpal friend who now lives in the USA; she loves the way Americans embrace the season and I know she will already have started her collection of pumpkins to decorate her doorstep. If you like this fun set, it could be yours free with qualifying Stampin' rewards when you host a Stampin' Up! party - contact me to arrange yours.

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 finishing our homework, having had a day of sport yesterday. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Holiday Haul Host Photopolymer Stamp Set (£9.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Terracotta Tile A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Grapefruit Grove A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Terracotta Tile Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

I've been a busy bee this week with not much opportunity for blogging, but never fear! Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge:

I went around the houses on this one for a while before I managed to come up with an idea that incorporated each of the elements, however I got there eventually with the help of the troubled giraffe from the 'Back On Your Feet' set - take a look:

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

Back On Your Feet - I decided to feature the knotty giraffe from the 'Back On Your Feet' set on my card today. Perfect for a get well card, or even someone who's having a rough time of it, this comical giraffe and punny sentiment is sure to raise a smile. A simple stamp and colour with my Stampin' Blends and he was complete. The one thing that I was struggling to incorporate on this week's card was a diecut then I had a lightbulb moment (yes, sometimes it does happen!!) I used one of the dies from the Animal Friends Thinlits to create a giraffe-patterned background to tie in with my tag. Sorted!  

A Delightful Tag - I used the new Delightful Tag Topper Punch to create the tag that features my giraffe today. My trusty Scalloped Tag Topper Punch is one of my most-used punches - great for gift wrapping, customer bag tags and cards alike. Don't worry, this punch hasn't been replaced - I just added to it with another, slightly more fancy-topped one. If you don't have a tag punch, you should really consider investing in one - they will make creating your Christmas tags super quick and easy.

And The Rest Makes Three - Some stamped and punched leaves, Crumb Cake Nature's Twine and my punny sentiment (one the inside of my card it says "Hope things get better soon.") cropped with a rectangle stitched shape finish off this week's recipe board - and my card!

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 do love giraffes and learned lots about them when I visited South Africa on safari many years ago. Did you know you can tell whether they are a girl or a boy by the amount of hair on the end of their horns? Females usually still have hair, whereas males' horns are usually bare from wrestling with each other for the affections of said females. I wonder if this is also the reason for premature balding in males?! 

On that quizzical note I look forward to seeing what you make with this week's recipe challenge when I visit your blogs. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Back On Your Feet Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Animal Friends Dies (£27.00)	Delightful Tag Topper Punch (£22.00)	Nature's Twine (£8.25)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Leaf Punch (£15.00)
Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)