Today I have something a little different for you! Do you remember this card from a couple of week's ago? Well, it won me the honour of being Featured Stamper for Challenge #459 over at The Color Throwdown and resulted in me being invited to be their Guest Star Stamper this week - woo hoo!

Here is the colour palette that has been chosen for this week's challenge:

I love these colours but wasn't sure I could make them work with anything other than a Halloween card and I haven't bought any new Halloween stamp sets this year (shock horror!); it's more about treat packaging and home decor here in the UK rather than cards, however I loved that gorgeous inspiration photo with its colourful autumn leaves and decided to use that as my starting point instead. This is what I came up with:

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

Colour Blocked Leaves - I decided to meet these colours head-on and go with bold blocks of colour to really make a statement. Using my Seasonal Layers thinlits I cut a whole bunch of brightly coloured leaves to create my repeat pattern and glued them to my purple card base. It's almost like faux-embossing, only with each of the leaves a different colour.

Touches of Copper - I knew I wanted a sentiment for this card, so decided to use one of my current favourites from the 'Painted Harvest' stamp set; so perfect for fall/autumn and the season of Thanksgiving. I heat embossed it in copper and backed my sentiment panel with gold foil too, so that along with my single detailed leaf outline it would add a little definition to my card and stand out against the bright colours.

A Watercolour Accent - I needed something else to accompany my sentiment that would work with my bold colours and patterns, so decided to create a layered leaf accent using the larger leaf dies from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits set. I used my green, yellow and orange re-inkers to watercolour a piece of watercolour paper using my aquapainter, then layered it with the skeleton leaf diecut out of copper foil. I love the contrast with the background blocks of colour and the interest and dimension this adds to my card.  

I'm also linking today's card up with the gals over at SUO Challenges where the theme is Autumn colours - my second one this week, it must be the season! 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. 

Thank you to all the ladies at The Color Throwdown for inviting me to guest with them this week - do check out their blogs to see how they interpreted this colour combination, there is lots of great inspiration there!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set	Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies	Copper Foil Sheets	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Elegant Eggplant A4 Cardstock
Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Tangerine Tango A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Aqua Painters	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Watercolor Paper

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a busy start to my week with some batch cooking but also managed some much-needed time in my craft room. I managed a few productive hours so I've lots to share with you this week! Today I'm sharing a quick card that I might just manage to squeeze in for this week's challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches: 

I've not managed to play along with these ladies for a few weeks and this sketch almost had me foxed, when I had a flash of inspiration this afternoon and came up with this fun - and quick! - one-layer card:

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

A Glass of Red (or 7!) - I decided to ink up my 'Half Full' stamp set for today's card. I loved this stamp set the moment I saw it and knew I would use it not only for Christmas cards but, as a wine drinker who enjoys a glass of red now and then, on lots of other occasions too. These stamps also make for easy tags to pretty up a bottle of wine for a party hostess - but more on that another day. 

A Touch Of Shine - To add a little shine to my wine glasses, I painted them with my fine tip glue pen so that they took on the appearance of glass. It's quite difficult to see on the photograph, but adds a lot to the finish in real life.

Can You See It? - Some may say I was a little loose in my interpretation of this week's sketch, but I can assure you it's there: three elements, getting wider as they extend down the card, with images above and below the central sentiment. I did exercise a little creative licence with the positioning of the first, larger glass, however I think it works well this way. What do you think - should sketches be interpreted literally or do they allow for a modicum of creative interpretation? 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Half Full Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Blender Pens	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad
Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my good friend, the awesome LeAnne, to host this week and she has a timely clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I'm also playing along with the team over at Stamp Ink Paper today as I'm just in time to link up with their CAS Fall challenge and the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges where the theme is Autumn colours.

When I think about harvest, I think about harvest loaves, vegetables from the garden ... and pumpkins! I love the photo inspiration that Nance found for this week's challenge and I decided I just had to have pumpkins on my card. I decided to go with something a little different - take a look:

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

Pumpkins Are For Harvest, Not Just For Halloween - Most of the pumpkin stamps I have in my set are ones with carved faces, all ready for Halloween. This stamp from the new seasonal catalogue is one of the few that I own that isn't - do you recognise which set it comes from? It's actually from the 'Seasonal Chums' set on page 47, but it's not the front of the face on the Halloween tag - it's the back piece of the same tag. I've circled it below so that you can see which one I mean:

This part of the stamp makes for a perfect pre-carved pumpkin - all I needed to do was mask off the front portion of the stamp and stamp just the back image. I also created a mask out of a post-it note to enable me to stamp my trio of pumpkins overlapping each other, to create depth and dimension.

No Line Watercolouring -  I decided to use a little no-line watercolouring to give my pumpkins a natural look. I love this effect and it's so easy to achieve: simply stamp your chosen image in a pale colour such as Sahara Sand onto watercolour paper, then use your chosen inks and an aquapainter to colour your stamped images normally, making the lines 'disappear'. 

Colours of Fall - Warm yellows, oranges, reds, browns and olive greens are the colours I associate with autumn and I chose to focus on orange and brown on my card today. Here's my colour palette should you wish to save it as inspiration for your fall projects:

To finish my card I added a little lace and ribbon embellishment (retired bits and pieces); not something I usually do with a CAS card, but I felt my card needed a little something just to balance it visually. I love this 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 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:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; mine is sports-filled, with hockey, swimming and ice hockey yesterday and basketball and more hockey today! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Seasonal Chums Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where Amy has this great sketch for us:

I had lots of thoughts on how I could use this sketch but in the end it was a chance conversation with the ladies in my technique class this week that resulted in today's card:

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

Take A Square Of Paper - The Christmas Around The World designer series paper has lots of great patterns in it, with some fabulous plaids but also some rather bold repeating patterns that can be difficult to use. This was the basis of the discussion I was having with my class ladies, who were struggling to imagine how they would use the busy patterns in this set: the wreaths, transport paper, sweet things and this pattern featuring the nutcrackers. I reflected on this conversation and decided that this sketch is a great way to demonstrate how such busy patterns can be used to great effect: use a large piece of paper and make it the focus of the card, with very little else to distract or clash with it. 

A Single Sentiment - To this end, I added nothing more to the front of the card than a couple of coloured background pieces behind my sentiment banner. I decided to heat emboss my sentiment from the 'Sugarplum Dreams' set in gold onto Basic Black cardstock for dramatic effect - I really like the finish.  

Don't Forget The Inside - The sentiment is the only stamping on the front of my card - I did however stamp the other word stamp from the 'Sugarplum Dreams' stamp set and a nutcracker, which I coloured with marker pens, onto the inside of my card. Whilst I didn't forget to stamp it, I did forget to photograph it to share with you - oops! I will do that tomorrow and come back and add the picture here for you to see - now edited to add:

And that's it - actually quite a simple card to make, I think I might make a few more of the same design with the remains of my 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:

Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Sugarplum Dreams Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Brights Best 12" X 12" Cardstock Pack	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock

Following yesterday's clean and simple embossed snowflake, I'm following up today as promised with a 'stepped up' version of that card, along with a co-ordinating mini pizza gift box. Let's take a look at today's card:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Step It Up - If you have a bit more time and are feeling more adventurous, using a few extra tools and embellishments will allow you to 'step up' your card and create something with a little more depth and detail, whilst still relatively easy to make. Here I added a centrepiece of a stamped and silver embossed snowflake from the gorgeous new Snowflake Sentiments set, backed with a punched circle of silver glimmer paper, some metallic edged ribbon and a foil snowflake for some Christmas sparkle. 

Mini Pizza Anyone? - Have you noticed these fabulous little Mini Pizza Boxes on page 44 of the seasonal catalogue? These sturdy white boxes come flat packed for easy storage and are a great size for a few chocolates, notecards or even a cookie - they're foodsafe with a greaseproof lining and perfect for small gifts - and mini pizzas too! I decorated mine with the same embellishments as my card, along with a base of Year Of Cheer Specialty Designer Series Paper:

I also added a little tag made from the useful thinlit in the Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies set, decorated with a diecut snowflake.

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:

Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set	Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Bundle	Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Swirly Snowflakes Thinlits Dies	Foil Snowflakes
Year Of Cheer Specialty Designer Series Paper	Silver 3/8" Metallic-Edge Ribbon	Silver Glimmer Paper

Wednesday already - where does the week go?! I had a technique class yesterday and was out on the rugby touchline for the first game of the season today (a narrow 8-7 defeat, but well-played all round) and have lots of makes to share so thought it was about time I squeezed in a quick blog post! Today I'm sharing a super quick and easy Christmas card that would be perfect for mass production - take a look:

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

Winter Wonder - It's that snowflake again! Yes, the Winter Wonder Embossing Folder produces such great texture and dimension, it really is a centrepiece in itself. 

A White Christmas - A simple design in all-white can be really effective; here I've layered my embossed snowflake panel onto an extra-thick whisper white cardbase for a seamless design. 

A Simple Sentiment Banner - To finish, I added a simple sentiment banner, heat embossed in silver. This could just as easily be stamped in a colour of your choice. Equally, I used a sentiment from the 'Christmas Pines' stamp set, but this could be switched out for any similar one-line stamp. I stepped my banner, but it still pushes flat for posting - great for friends and family mailings in the run up to Christmas. A trio of rhinestones for a little festive sparkle complete 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. 

This card would be great if you want to make a whole bunch of cards in one go, so if you need to make a big dent on your Christmas card making, this could be the card for you!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project that also uses the snowflake embossing folder, but is a stepped up version with a matching gift box too. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
Banner Triple Punch	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my fellow Brit turned Yankee teamie, the lovely Jaydee, to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

Before I get into my post today, you will notice that our esteemed team leader, the fabulous Nance Leedy, is off this week; she is currently battling with the effects of Hurricane Irma; we love you Nance and our thoughts and prayers are with you that you and your family are safe! The same goes for anyone else reading this who is impacted either directly or indirectly by the devastating effects of the hurricanes moving through the Caribbean and USA currently.

Back to my card. Whilst these colours made me think 'floral', I struggled to incorporate the silver into my floral design so decided instead to create an unconventionally-coloured Christmas card with my Card Front Builder Thinlits Dies - take a look:

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

Card Front Builder Dies - With the exception of a one-word stamped sentiment, today's card focuses on the Card Front Thinlit Builder Dies. I used a trio of trees to edge my shaker window and the teeny tiny deer to create a simple wintry scene.

Softly Falling Snow - Today I've used another embossing folder - my all-time favourite, the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing folder. It provides great texture for my top card layer and my winter scene.

Shake, Shake, Shake - I continued my softly falling snow by creating a shaker card window as a focal point for my winter scene and filled it with white mica flakes. These were in last year's seasonal catalogue however you can currently snap them up on the clearance rack; they make a great alternative to sequins for a softer look and feel.

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. 

These may be unusual colours for a Christmas card, but I think they work. What do you think? Are there any unusual colour combinations you like to try on your Christmas cards? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Silver Glimmer Paper
Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Window Sheets	Card Front Builder Thinlits Dies	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock
Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock	Christmas Quilt Photopolymer Stamp Set	Subtles Enamel Shapes	Mica Flakes Trio Pack

Yay, it's the weekend! I've had a busy week and didn't manage to squeeze in yesterday's blog post following my open house event to celebrate the launch of the new Autumn-Winter catalogue - a big thank you to all the lovely ladies who attended - so I'm back today with the Christmas card I promised for this week's challenge over at Merry Monday - I need to get cracking on building my festive stash:

I had a marathon session this week creating cards using the new snowflake embossing folder and knew that this would be perfect for the challenge - take a look:

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

Year Of Cheer - My card was inspired by the wonderful display of projects on page 36 of the seasonal catalogue featuring the Year Of Cheer Suite - the combination of whites and metallics and intricate foiled papers are perfect for seasonal wintry projects. I particularly love the papers in this suite - the foil patterns are gorgeous and work for lots of occasions, not just Christmas, The snowflake foiled pattern was just the right base for my wintry Christmas card.

A Winter Wonder - I'm generally not big into embossing folders, but there are a few in my collection that are absolute keepers and at this time of year are much loved and used. Two of my long-time favourites are the Woodland TIEF and my all-time favourite Softly Falling however I am pleased to report that the Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder will be completing my trio of festive favourites. This huge single snowflake measures 4" square and makes a real statement on a Christmas card, for sure.

JOY - The 'Cheers to the Year' stamp set that is part of the Year Of Cheer Suite includes the word 'Joy' - although as I don't have this stamp set I substituted with a little more retro rubber today and used a very similar stamp from last year's retired 'Holly Jolly Greetings' stamp set, heat embossed in silver on my folded banner. 

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'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Year Of Cheer Specialty Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder

Good evening lovely readers! So today was the day that saw my precious James Juniors return to school - I got lots of work done, but boy was the house quiet! So we are about to return to our school routines and something close to normal working will resume. I've been busy making lots of Christmas samples in readiness for my open house on Friday however September is also a big birthday month for us, with several family members and friends celebrating birthdays (my good self included!) So today I'm sharing a card that I made for my Dad's birthday that fits perfectly with the theme over at the Global Design Project this week:

I decided to make a slightly larger card than usual as I wanted to be able to personalise it - take a look:

I decided to use the High Tide stamp set for my card - such a great set for masculine cards and one that you can use to make quite colourful masculine cards (they don't always have to be brown :-) ) I stamped my beach scene off to the left as I wanted it to act as something of a background for my sentiment, then paired the Happy Birthday from the 'Butterfly Basics' stamp set with my stamped and diecut 'DAD' - you know how much I love these letters and co-ordinating framelits! I'm not generally one for frills, especially on a masculine card, so pretty ribbon was a no-no for me, however I did add some burlap beneath my diecut letters for a little extra touch - I think it fits nicely with the beachy theme too.

If you like the High Tide set and live local to me, you might like to know that this is the set we will be using in one of my October Monthly Technique Classes - get in touch if you would like more information.

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 hope you enjoyed today's quick post; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

High Tide Photopolymer Stamp Set	Letters For You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Large Letters Framelits Dies	Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon
Sahara Sand A4 Cardstock	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My dear friend Claire is the hostess this week and she has a fun and timely theme for us to work with:

I know some of my readers in other countries have already seen a return to school, but for us this week Wednesday is the day, so this week's challenge is a timely one. Is it me or do all Mums especially get just a little excited at the prospect of the start of a new academic year and a return to school after the long summer break? Don't get me wrong, I love having my two Juniors at home and am thankful for the break from the sometimes relentless activities that comprise the school routine, however all good things must come to an end and so it is that we are getting ready to begin a new school year, with the excitement, opportunities and challenges that this will undoubtedly bring.

I've double projects for you today as I needed some gift packaging for a teacher gift this week, so took the opportunity to create a fun gift box and co-ordinating card - take a look:

The gift box is rather large (approx. 18 inches long) so was something of a challenge to photograph but hopefully the detail below will enable you to see how I made it. Here's the low-down on today's projects:

A Window Turned Pencil Box - Having made an elongated box with my Window Box previously with the ladies in one of my technique classes earlier this year, I knew that I could use the same idea to create my pencil-shaped box. I cut one piece of the window box without cutting straight through and elongated this for the length of my sheet of A4 Crushed Curry cardstock. I then cut another piece that was the same length and the width of three sides, for the opposite 3 sides of my pencil, but without a bottom/lid. Instead I used some Maths to create a template for my pencil point in Crumb Cake, and adhered this inside the end of the tube to create my pencil point:

Here's a shot showing you how the main body of the pencil box opens to accommodate the main gift:

In addition to the main box, I also made a complete box using my Window Box Thinlits in Blushing Bride for my eraser and adhered this to the top of my pencil, which also opens separately - just big enough to add a little treat or two inside to accompany my main gift:

Finally I added a sleeve created from silver foil, to hold the pencil box closed securely - it just slides off to create access to the main box. A banner tag decorated with an apple - every teacher project has to have one, right? - finished my box. 

Pieces And Patterns For A Co-ordinating Card - I wanted a card to co-ordinate with my gift box, so decided to replicate the pencil design on a simple card using the pencil stamp from the Pieces and Patterns set. I masked a square and created my own repeating pattern - thank heavens for a stamp-a-ma-jig! - and then added a banner sentiment from the same set, again anchored with an apple (made using an old die I have in my stash):

Back To School Colours - My back-to-school pencil and apple colours fit perfectly with the colour palette and photo inspiration over at The Color Throwdown this week (I hope I'll be allowed my pink eraser and a few neutrals (the pencil really wouldn't be complete without it). I'm also linking my card up with the challenge over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'apples' and both of my projects fit the bill over at Paper Craft Crew where they have extended their 'back to school' challenge for another 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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Window Box Thinlits Dies	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock
Real Red A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Pieces & Patterns Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad