Today I'm sharing a card and co-ordinating chocolate slider gift package that I actually made for last week's challenge over at Just Add Ink  but didn't get to photograph in time to play along;luckily for me, it is perfect for this week's Just Add Ink challenge too - if you take a look at the challenge badges, you will see what I mean: 

I absolutely loved the JAI colour palette last week and I couldn't resist breaking out some of my new products to create a card and matching gift packaging - luckily there's plenty of texture in there too! Firstly, here's the card I created:

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

Country Home - From the Country Lane Suite in the new Autumn-Winter catalogue, the Country Home stamp set is all about country living, with some great thanks sentiments and it's perfect for colouring too. I used my Blends to add colour to my Fall florals and fussy cut them out ready to layer onto my card. I also stamped a border using the tiled stamp in the set for some 'faux texture' with some Bermuda Bay tone-on-tone stamping, tucked under my sentiment.

Tin Tile Metallics - The background panel of my card is a piece of silver foil cardstock that has been embossed with the new Tin Tile Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and given a slightly aged/distressed look by sponging with some Soft Suede ink. I just love the embossed pattern of this folder; it's so pretty. I know I'm going to use it lots!

Thankful For ... Chocolate - I loved my card so much, I thought I would create a matching slider gift package using exactly the same layout and design to make a slider wrap for one of my favourite bars of chocolate, ready to gift to someone; it's always nice to be able to share a sweet treat, especially when beautifully packaged I think - I love going to the trouble to make something quite ordinary appear to be rather special: 

These wraps are very straightforward - and when you pull the ribbon bow and tag, the chocolate bar slides outwards:

Finally, here's a shot of both items 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I think this set will be heading for my local postmaster as a thank you for his help with my Autumn-Winter catalogue mailings this week (yes, if you're one of my customers the catalogues are in the post!) He is used to me appearing with bags full of catalogues to be mailed at this time of year and we have a great system going now, which makes the process efficient and keeps ongoing queues to a minimum! I like to give him a bar of chocolate as a thank you for his help and to keep him sweet :-) On the subject of Autumn-Winter catalogues: if you don't have a demonstrator and would like me to add you to my list, then do get in touch and I can pop one in the post to you too. The electronic version of the catalogue will be available here online tomorrow when it launches.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tin Tile Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Silver Foil Sheets (£3.75)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Heat Tool (Uk) (£28.00)	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (£22.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)

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

This week is back-to-school week here in the UK and so it's the time that I start thinking about little notes to put in the lunchboxes and pencil cases of my James Juniors to let them know I'm thinking of them during the school day, hence my chosen theme this week.

When I think about lunchbox love note cards, I like to create something that is slightly smaller than usual that can be slipped into a pocket or pencil case (or lunchbox!) and 'discovered' during the day. One of the sets I couldn't wait to get my hands on when the new annual catalogue went live was 'Treehouse Adventure' - so perfect for these types of cards! So I decided to create a little trio of cards using this set for the challenge this week - take a look:

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

Take A Simple Notecard - If I am making lunchbox notes, I generally like them to be quick and easy to create and tend to make them smaller than a standard card as they are easier to slip into a lunchbox, blazer pocket or pencil case. At 5 1/4" x 3", Stampin' Up!'s notecards and envelopes are just perfect for this. I took a trio of notecards and stamped three simple designs, mostly one layer apart from the smallest amount of fussy cutting (the signs, flags and tyre swing) and some punched sentiments. Easy peasy!

Here are each of my cards individually:

I just love this card - what a great sentiment! This next one is a perfect uplifting phrase for the start of a new school year: 

And this final one is perfect for the start of a new year and all the changes that this brings:

Treehouse Adventure Colour Combo - I chose a bright and cheery colour combo for my child-friendly notecards - here it is if you would like to save it to use on your projects:

A Little Treat Too - In addition to my notecard trio, I decided to make a quick and easy co-ordinating treat too. I wrapped a small chocolate bar in a piece of Brights DSP and stuck it top and bottom and added a simple ribbon and tag - you can see the wrapped and an unwrapped version below:

These cards will be for Ben and I often bring him a little treat on a Friday afternoon to celebrate the end of the school week and give him a little pick-me-up before his Friday evening swimming lesson. We often play a game of '10 questions', where he has 10 questions to try and guess what the treat inside the packaging is, by asking questions that can have only 'yes' or 'no' answers. If he guesses within the 10 questions, he gets his treat - I don't think he's never not managed it, but it has enabled him to develop some astute questioning skills, not to mention his knowledge of sweet treats, brands and packaging! It is one of the little games we play to make our car journey pass quickly - I can highly recommend 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I am also linking today's notecards up with the challenge over at SUO Challenges where the theme is 'Babies and Kids' this week. And just in case you think my older James Junior is missing out, not so - I made some slightly more sophisticated notes for her which were inspired by a rather unlikely object which I will share with you later this week!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week - the lovely Ann Schach is back with us too as a permanent design team member again following an extended break, so be sure to pop by her blog and say hi:

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:  

Treehouse Adventure Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes (£6.00)	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Poppy Parade 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon (£7.00)

Before I get into my creative post today, I just wanted to remind you that we are nearing the end of the month so today is the final day to take advantage of this month's offers: a free bonus coupon for every £45 spend, redeemable against next month's purchases, and also the limited time Blended Seasons bundle and the second colour assortment pack of watercolor pencils. You can read more about both of these offers here and here.

Don't forget to check out my Creative Escapes Luxury Weekend Creative Retreats post as well - the Bank Holiday booking offer ends today too!

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Less Is More where they have a great sketch challenge: 

I haven't managed to play along with these ladies for ages (even though they are now running fortnightly challenges which does make it easier - thank you ladies!) but I had a great clean and simple idea for a Christmas card using this sketch - take a look:

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

Four Stitched Squares - There are lots of ways that you could interpret the squares in the sketch; they could be quarters of a whole, or individual entities. I decided that they would be four individual stitched squares, to form a base for my main decoration. 

Take A Paperclip ... or 4 - Another new Autumn-Winter catalogue product are the All is Bright Paper Clips - a collection of gold star and tree-shaped paper clips to accent your festive cards and packaging. I used them as the main decoration on my card today - so simple! I must confess I have a ton of shaped paper clips in my collection - I think I might be making a few more of these cards in different colourways to use some of my paperclip stash up!

Keeping it CAS - I stamped my sentiment and heat embossed it in gold directly onto the base of my card and decided to keep my card base and stitched squares all the same colour to maintain a clean and simple feel. My 'white space' today is of course green - Call Me Clover, the new in-colour green, to be precise. A nice Christmas Tree green and the gold and green combo is a winning festive double act in my book!

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. 

Following a visit to a maze yesterday and some overnight camping, we are off to enjoy some watersports and crazy golf today since we are forecast a fine and sunny day. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Heat Tool (Uk) (£28.00)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Call Me Clover A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	All Is Bright Paper Clips (£6.50)	Feather & Frost Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)

Before I get into my creative post today, I just wanted to remind you that we are nearing the end of the month so you have just two more days to take advantage of this month's offers: a free bonus coupon for every £45 spend, redeemable against next month's purchases, and also the limited time Blended Seasons bundle and the second colour assortment pack of watercolor pencils. You can read more about both of these offers here and here.

Check out this post with details on my Creative Escapes Luxury Weekend Retreats too - you have until the end of the week to take advantage of my Bank Holiday booking offer for my next weekend in October!

A day off yesterday as we had a family day out at the Black Country Museum (a fun visit if you're in the UK and never been - lots of fun interactive history) and I needed to give the first episode of the Great British Bake Off my undivided attention yesterday evening (more on that later!) but I'm back with you today and I'm sharing a card using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch and the current bright colour palette over at Inspire.Create for a fun Christmas card:

This another of those great sketches that can be used in lots of different ways with the sentiment diecuts that I love - although I did need to rotate my card base through 90 degrees and go 'long and thin' to fit everything in! Take a look:

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

Merry Christmas Thinlits - Today is the turn of the 'Christmas' thinlit to feature, stamped with a 'merry' for good measure; these dies are going to get a full work out this season, I think they are just great! I love that with the co-ordinating bundled stamp set, there are so many sentiment combinations you can make; this is absolutely a 'go-to' set for me this Christmas.

Spirited Snowman - I liked the 'object' at the end of the sentiment on the sketch and thought the little skating snowman from the new Spirited Snowmen set would fit perfectly and look as if he was almost skating the sentiment into the ice. I decided to heat emboss the snowman and an array of snowflakes from the same set across the top of my card, so that the white elements, i.e. the snow, would be white against my sponged background. I must confess whilst this looks great in white in real life, especially with the sparkle of the Wink of Stella on the snowman, the snowman loses some of his definition in white when photographed. In hindsight silver might have been a better choice - or maybe a little added definition to the body of the snowman with my Blends; something to play around with on version 2!

Unconventional Brights For Christmas - You could have looked at the Inspire.Create colour challenge colours this week and be forgiven for thinking that a Christmas card would not come immediately to mind with these bright colours; I actually thought they would be perfect for a sponge-brayered sky and his bright woollen scarf and hat combo. Once I'd stamped the snowman onto my cardfront, I stamped him again onto a post-it note and cut it out to create a mask so that I could brayer my Bermuda Bay sky, whilst keeping my snowman white. I then coloured the rest of my Snowman with my Blends/Blendabilities/Stampin' Write Markers. I did stick to the colour palette along with a smidge of black and grey neutrals, save one exception - I used orange for the snowman's carrot nose. I'm not sure any other colour would do so I hope I'll be forgiven this departure! Lastly, I painted my snowman liberally with Clear Wink of Stella; difficult to see on the photo, but so pretty in real life.

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. 

So what do you think - do these unconventional brights work on today's Christmas card? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to hear your thoughts.

Enjoy the rest of your day; the James Juniors are currently in the kitchen baking homemade wagon wheel biscuits, having been inspired by the technical challenge on last night's Great British Bake Off - I'll let you know tomorrow how they turned out when I'll be back with another project! Until then, happy stampin'!

I typed this post up last night but am finally going live this morning - I will share the wagon wheels tomorrow! 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Spirited Snowmen Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Bundle (£45.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Heat Tool (Uk) (£28.00)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Sponge Brayers (£7.50)
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Brights Stampin' Write Markers (£27.50)	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)

Well, the last of the summer Bank Holiday Mondays here in the UK today and as is often the way, it has been wet, grey and gloomy here and decidedly chilly too! So lots of cooking, board games and even a little crafting here in the James household today as a result.

I have a quick card for you this evening that uses this week's colours over at The Color Throwdown:

I was inspired not only by the colours, but by the duvet cover in the inspiration photo too - take a look:

I used the largest veined leaf in the Rooted In Nature set to stamp a leaf in each of the challenge colours onto an extra thick Whisper White card base, slightly overlapping each other, and added a simple sentiment beneath it. That's it - nothing more than stamps, ink and paper - an absolute 'back to basics' card, easy to execute with minimal supplies needed. 

I actually created two additional cards at the same time, a stepped-up version and a 'bells and whistles' version for the avid crafter and will share both of these with you in another post - of all three though, I think the simplicity of this one makes it my favourite.

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. 

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rooted In Nature Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£39.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

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

I just love this sketch and could have used it a hundred times over (thanks Jaydee!) and in fact I actually used it to make 6 cards in one sitting, two sets of three cards each, all featuring fabulous new products from the forthcoming Autumn-Winter catalogue and I'm going to share one of those sets with you today.

My cards focus on some of the fabulous products in one of my favourite new festive suites; here are the three cards I'm sharing with you today:

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

Joyous Noel - I decided that the sketch layers lent themselves to a showcase of both the designer series paper and co-ordinating glimmer paper in the Joyous Noel Suite. The papers feature classic festive seasonal designs with copper foil accents on one side of each sheet and take it from me, they are beautiful! I co-ordinated each of my chosen patterns with a background of glimmer paper - these papers come in Copper, Merry Merlot and Tranquil Tide as on the close up of the card below:

A Wooden Sentiment - Each of my cards feature a wooden sentiment element, from another of the suites in the catalogue - the Festive Farmhouse Suite. These wooden accents come with a light grey finish (I've coloured mine - more on that below!) and contain 3 separate sentiments, along with a collection of stars and Christmas trees. There are a total of 32 pieces for just £3.75, so they represent great value - I know I'll be using lots of these! Each of my cards features a different sentiment and detail - the second of my cards is the set features the word 'joy' and a  couple of stars:

Shades of Copper - As I mentioned above, the wooden elements are grey in colour straight out of the packet. Ordinarily I would have heat embossed them in copper embossing powder, but there is a new product in the seasonal catalogue that does a much better job: shimmer paint. Yes, for those of you die-hard Stampin' Up! fans that go back as far as I do, you will remember we used to stock champagne shimmer paint previously; the new catalogue includes shimmer paint in 4 colours: champagne, white, gold and the copper that I used here. Simply apply with a sponge dauber to add subtle and shine to your projects - so easy! Here's a close-up of the detail so you can appreciate just how pretty it is:

And here's the full final card in my set - this card really is all about the copper:

Don't you just love all that shimmer and sparkle? I am going to be getting through a lot of this paper during the festive season; it will also be featuring in the projects at my two day Creative Escape Luxury Weekend Craft Retreat in October. You can read all about that in yesterday's post here, along with details of a Bank Holiday offer for those who would like to join me and fill the last few remaining spots - I hope you can join me for some festive creative fun!

Oh and I almost forgot - I decorated the insides of each of my cards too! Here's a peek inside:

Not long now until the new seasonal catalogue launches and you can purchase these products for yourselves; meanwhile, 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. 

I will share my other set of three cards that I made with today's sketch later in the week. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Joyous Noel 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Joyous Noel 6" X 6" Glimmer Paper (£14.00)	Festive Farmhouse Elements (£3.75)	Bright Copper Shimmer Paint (£7.50)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Gray Granite A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Happy Bank Holiday weekend to my UK readers and I hope the rest of you are finding fun (and maybe even crafty!) things to do this weekend. I have managed to squeeze in a little craft time this week so do have lots of new projects to share with you (especially using the items in my Autumn-Winter preorder box, I can't stop creating with them!) but firstly today I want to talk about creative escapes of a different kind!

Further to the successful weekend retreat I held earlier this year with my friend and fellow demonstrator Louise Sims, I have another two sole ventures planned. The same venue, more great projects and most importantly a weekend away, full of crafting and good company. If getting away from everyone and everything and having some ME time appeals, then a luxury weekend of crafting and a Creative Escape with The Crafty Owl sounds just the thing for you.

Where is the retreat held?

The venue for the Craft Retreat is the gorgeous 4 star Macdonald Ansty Hall Hotel, conveniently located just off the M6/M69, near Coventry, Warwickshire.

Set in beautiful grounds it is the perfect destination for a getaway; gorgeous surroundings, good food and your own stylish bedroom for the night.

Its central Midlands location just off junction 2 of the M6 motorway means it has easy access from all parts of the country – making it a perfect destination break for you and your friends from afar.

What is included?

The Creative Escape package includes an overnight stay and all food for the weekend, lunches, snacks, evening meal and breakfast together with unlimited tea and coffee. You have 2 full days of crafting with your own table for the whole weekend – no need to tidy away! Bliss!

A goody bag of Stampin’ Up! crafting supplies is also part of the package and will be more than £100 in value. The supplies will enable you to complete the projects for the classes run throughout the weekend and you'll have lots left over to take home too!

The Classes

The classes offered during the weekend are optional. The weekend is yours, so you can choose to keep with class pace or do your own thing. There is no requirement to complete everything, you can do exactly what you want – chat, craft, chill … the choice is yours. Choose to craft at every possible moment, or take a break for a walk or a drink in the lounge – it’s all up to you. Classes are suitable for both beginner and experienced crafters alike - there really is something for everyone.

2018-19 Craft Retreat Dates

Booking is currently open for the following dates:

Saturday 20th October - Sunday 21st October 2018​   **LIMITED AVAILABILITY** LAST FEW SPACES REMAINING
Saturday 2nd March – Sunday 3rd March 2019

Fully inclusive price for 1 nights accommodation,  with lunch and a 3 course dinner on Saturday, followed by breakfast and buffet lunch on Sunday. It also includes unlimited tea, coffee or hot chocolate & snacks, 4 crafting classes and a goody bag worth more than £100 full of Stampin’ Up! products.

The price of a Creative Escape With The Crafty Owl is as follows:

Single occupancy is £325 per person or
Double occupancy is £305 per person

Early booking discounts for all Creative Escapes apply (£292 pp and £272 pp respectively).

Spaces are limited with booking brisk for next March and only a few spots remaining for this October. I am keen to fill the last few spaces for the October weekend so with this in mind I have a Bank Holiday weekend booking incentive for you: 

Bank Holiday Creative Escapes Booking Offer:

** Book and pay in full for your October Creative Escape before 31st August 2018 and you will receive both a free ink pad and early booking rates for next March too. **

Once you've done one, you won't want to miss the next one!

The October Creative Escape will have a distinctly Christmas theme so why not come along and give yourself a head start on your creative makes for the festive season? 

How do I book?

Sounds like your kind of fun? Email to joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk and I will contact you to confirm payment details. If you would like to book a place on the March Creative Escape, you are still able to join my payment plan so you can split the cost into monthly payments. Full terms and conditions are available on the Creative Escape Crafting Retreats page on my website.

If you have any further questions or queries, please do get in touch - I would love you to join me!

I'll be back soon with my next creative project; until then, happy stampin'!

It's Tuesday and I have my third post of the week! Today I'm sharing another of the cards that I made in one of my recent technique classes featuring the Garden Impressions Product Suite that is perfect for the current floral challenge over at Inspire.Create:

I made a pocket card featuring one of my favourite Garden Impressions paper designs with an over-the-top diecut embellishment - take a look: 

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

Impressionist Inspiration - You now what a fan of designer series paper I am and the Garden Impressions paper is no exception; I just love these bold bright colours and the Impressionistic style of the patterns and florals in this pack. I like each and every pattern in this pack and this is already my most-used papers. Here I used it to decorate the flaps of my pocket card, which I made from co-ordinating Pacific Point cardstock using my trusty Envelope Punch Board and Envelope Expert tool (my finished card measures 10.5cm x 15cm).

Paper-Pieced Springtime Impressions - Not content with the florals on my basic pocket card sleeve, I decided to add the fabulous corner diecut from the Springtime impressions Thinlits set. I diecut a base in Shaded Spruce, then cut the whole thing again in Melon Mambo and Calypso Coral and snipped out some of the flowers and paper-pieced them onto my base piece. This may seem extravagant, but if you keep the offcuts you can use them to create another one in an alternative colourway, so there is very little waste really. I finished the whole thing with a Mango Melody butterfly. Bold? yes. Bright? Absolutely. Yet I love it! 

Abstract Florals - I added my sentiment to a banner tag on the front of my pocket, so that the whole of my inside card is blank for my message. I couldn't leave this piece 'naked' though, so I added a row of bright pink flowers courtesy of the Abstract Impressions stamp set across the bottom. I love this stamp set - so easy to use as it really is easy to line up the images for the two-step stamping required.

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:

Garden Impressions 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Abstract Impressions Photopolymer Bundle (£45.75)	Envelope Punch Board (£19.00)	Circle Tab Punch (£17.00)	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Pacific Point A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Mango Melody A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Happy Monday everyone! It's a new week and I've a few things ready to share with you this week, including a card today for a couple of challenges that is choc-full of sneak peeks:

Yes, it's still summer and I'm crafting for Christmas again, but having received my pre-order of goodies from the forthcoming Stampin' Up! Autumn-Winter Seasonal catalogue, I couldn't resist getting stuck in. Take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

An Embossed Seasonal Wreath - I loved the idea of the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week, which is to choose 2 different types of embossing on your card. It gave me the perfect opportunity to use a new-to-me embossing folder that is actually to be found in the annual catalogue, so available right away! The Seasonal Wreath TIEF attracted my attention as soon as I saw it; great for non-seasonal projects too, this wreath makes a great centrepiece on a card and I can see it being a staple of my Christmas crafting stash. It results in a subtle embossed finish (a little difficult to see the detail on my photo, but I can assure you it's there and it's gorgeous!) The wreath fits on a standard A6 card, but here I decided to make a 6" x 6" square one.

A Merry Christmas - For my second type of embossing, I went with the partial heat embossing of my Merry Merlot diecuts courtesy of the new Merry Christmas Thinlits - LOVE these! I simply sponged the lower portion of the diecut letters with Versamark and heat embossed with copper embossing powder. I took my colour combo for today's project from one of the new designer series paper packs - Joyous Noel - that features in the new catalogue. Whilst it doesn't feature on my card, the combination of Tranquil Tide, Merry Merlot and copper are inspired from these beautiful papers.

The Extra Details - There are a couple of additional 'sneak peeks' on today's card: the copper glimmer paper, the gorgeous Merry Merlot and Copper Reversible Ribbon and the sentiment on the inside of my card, courtesy of the Merry Christmas To All stamp set:

Are you keen to get your hands on some of these new products too? You will have to wait until 5th September to order them, but if you aren't already a customer of mine, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like a copy of the new catalogue, then just get in touch with me by email with your address details or call me to reserve your copy.

Lastly, the sketch over at Paper Craft Crew inspired the layout for today's card; definitely one I'll use 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 day and I'll be back tomorrow with another, slightly less festive, project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Seasonal Wreath Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Merry Christmas Thinlits Dies (£26.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Joyous Noel 6" X 6" Glimmer Paper (£14.00)	Merry Merlot & Copper 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Reversible Ribbon (£7.00)
2017-2019 In Color 12" X 12" Cardstock (£11.25)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Copper Metallic Thread (£3.25)
Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Another week of school summer vacation in the James household this week! Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. It's the first challenge for our returning Paper Players designer, the lovely Anne-Marie Hile, this week so be sure to pop by her blog with a friendly 'hello'. It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Remember in addition to the theme of "fruits and vegetables", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

Having trawled through my collection of current stamps, it turns out I have very few with fruit (or veg!) for that matter, so a little creative stamping was called for. I actually found some fruit 'hidden' in the Fairy Celebration stamp set - take a look:

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

This little fairy happens to be hanging from a cherry tree, so a little watercolouring using my new watercolour pencils and an aquapainter (I am so happy that we have more of these now, the new colours in the second pack available exclusively this month extend the variety of colours and allow much greater flexibility - don't leave it too late to get yours!) was all I needed to create a focal point for my card. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the fairy wings and some fine tip glue to the cherries to give them a glossy finish - both of which are difficult to see from the photos, but add subtle detail in real life.

I decided to use the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week for my layout, and used a couple of pieces cut with my Stitched Labels Framelits then trimmed to add interest behind my main image. I have seen these Stitched Labels Framelits used on some fabulous cards elsewhere on the internet and hold my Paper Player team mate LeAnne responsible for me 'needing' to add them to my own collection (check out her blog for some great examples of how to use them!) so thought I would try something a little different with them. The two blocks of colour mirror the colouring on my cherries and leaves and add detail, without encroaching too much into my white space and maintaining my overall clean and simple feel.

And that's all there is to it: clean and simple - done!

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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another project: a Christmas card featuring some sneak peeks of some great new products from the forthcoming seasonal catalogue. Do come back then, you won't want to miss it. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Fairy Celebration Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Stitched Labels Framelits Dies (£31.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad (£9.25)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)
Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2 (£11.75)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Aqua Painters (£16.00)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)
Fine-Tip Glue Pen (£6.50)