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 my favourite, a sketch, for you to work with:

I designed this sketch months ago so had nothing in particular in mind when I created it. I actually intended to go with a Christmas card until I saw those lovely autumn leaves and trees in the Color Dare inspiration photo, which prompted me to go in a completely different direction - take a look:

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

Beauty of The Earth - I decided to use a strip of the Beauty of the Earth designer paper for my border edge as it contained lots of lovely greens, reds, oranges and browns in a mottled leaf pattern that fitted my theme perfectly.

Stitched Leaves - I used the three squares of my sketch (you don't have to use squares - these can be any shape you like) to create a trio of diecut stitched leaves in co-ordinating colours, two of them offset within a couple of stitched squares and one tied with twine to accent my sentiment:

I added a trio of brushed metallic dots to my card front too - love these!

Love of Leaves - The only  stamping on the front of my card is the sentiment, from the 'Lots of Leaves' stamp set; I did add a little more to the inside of my card, including a sponged leaf with diecut detail for decoration:

You may be wondering why my card base appears Garden Green in this photo, yet is Old Olive on the front; in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I started out with a Garden Green base, but it just wasn't working for me. I fiddled about with various card front colours, in the end settling on Old Olive - but instead of cutting a new card base just added a panel to the front of my card. I also experimented with texture and additional detail on the panel, but in the end decided to leave it plain. So there you have 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week - they created some fabulous designs inspired by this week's sketch:

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; no big plans here other than some cooking and collection of the youngest of the James Juniors following a weekend of hiking and camping as he completed his Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition. Here's hoping for minimal blisters, a shower and an early night!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LOVE OF LEAVES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	STITCHED LEAVES DIES (£33.00)	BEAUTY OF THE EARTH 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MERRY MERLOT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BRUSHED METALLIC ADHESIVE BACKED DOTS (£8.25)

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

Lots of options on the board this week and I was tempted to create something fall-inspired, but in the end decided to go across the middle with masculine/free/patterned paper and create a Christmas card - take a look:

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

Peaceful Prints - The current challenge over at CAS Christmas Card Challenge is to use plaid on a Christmas card, so the Peaceful Prints designer papers, free with an order of £45 during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion, were the perfect starting point. I'm trying to share as many of these fabulous free gifts with you as possible before the promotion ends next week on 30th September- just one more week to go so time to get those orders in!

Plaid Christmas - When considering plaid options for my card, I reached for that 'oldie but goodie' Christmas set from the annual catalogue called 'Plaid Christmas'. I ended up not using it on the front of my card at all - my small, block sentiment is courtesy of the 'Tidings and Trimmings' set - but I did use it to add a plaid Christmas tree to the inside of my card:

Pine Tree Punch - I love a good sketch and the current Sunday Stamps one is a keeper - so many ways to use this layout! I couldn't wait to play along and decided to keep things simple and used the central vertical panel to showcase the negative space of my punched Christmas tree so that you could see the lovely red and black plaid below. I added a simple scored border to my rectangle for added interest. 

No fuss or frills - this is both clean and simple and masculine, after all. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

PEACEFUL PRINTS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)	PINE TREE PUNCH (£17.00)	TIDINGS & TRIMMINGS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today I'm sneaking in a card that I should have shared yesterday but got to the end of my day and was simply too tired to blog! Check out this cute card I made inspired by this week's theme over at TGIF Challenges:

So many lovely free items available during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and I chose one of my favourites for my card  - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card: 

I have lots of little characters from the Penguin Playmates designer series paper - free with a £45 purchase - that I fussy cut whilst sat watching TV one evening, so I wanted to use some of them on my card today. I added a panel of stripes, also from the paper set, and a sentiment and strategically placed my animals and snowman around it:

The best bit? A number of these characters are incomplete and were cut from the edge of the paper; you should never throw these away though as designs like this one, where they peek around the sentiment panel are the perfect way to use them without anyone being any the wiser. Well, obviously you all know because I told you, but you get where I'm coming from, right?! 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 later with another project, this time for our new challenge over at TicTacToe. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PENGUIN PLAYMATES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)

STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)

MERRIEST MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week Jenny has a great colour challenge for us: 

I love Jenny's fresh colour palette this week! For my card today I decided to dig out one of my rather neglected annual catalogue sets to make an anniversary card for a friend's upcoming celebration:

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

I added some Coastal Cabana ink to my cardbase and then added the circular diecut from the Birds and More dies to create an aperture to go over the top. I threaded through a diecut branch in Granny Apple Green and a pair of Misty Moonlight birds popped up on dimensionals, with black matt dots added for eyes. A simple sentiment from the (retired) Itty Bitty Greetings set completes the front of my card:

I used the negative aperture of the branch die to sponge some green ink onto the inside of my card, along with another Itty Bitty Greeting:

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BIRDS & MORE DIES (£32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MATTE BLACK DOTS (£6.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

Another Monday, another week! Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that I made using this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout that I'm also linking up over at Addicted to CAS where the codeword is 'leaf':

This week's FMS sketch is courtesy of Cecile Ribon. If you are not a regular follower of Freshly Made Sketches, you should make a point of checking out her cards; I am in awe of her beautifully clean, elegant designs! I didn't get a chance to make a card to play along until today, but couldn't resist the opportunity to channel my 'inner Cecile' and have a go - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Painted Christmas - I decided to use designer paper for the trio of squares on the sketch and chose a selection of soft watercoloured patterns from the painted Christmas papers. I went mostly with patterns in greens and white with small designs, with one square that had red in too, which I picked up in my simple 'Joy' sentiment from the 'Merriest moments' stamp set. These papers are so pretty but not too overpowering - perfect in small amount for a clean and simple card.

White Holly - I chose to accent my card with a sprig of diecut holly in white; this was a deliberate move, albeit an unusual one for me. I used the (retired) Sweetest Borders Dies as I wanted to have something that was the right size with a little diecut detail, but there are plenty of current dies that could be adapted to achieve the same effect:

I was aiming for a single leaf for my Addicted to CAS entry, but because I used holly ended up with two; is it just me, but do you ever see holly leaves in ones? I only ever place them in pairs!

Finishing Touches - I added a trio of clear faceted gems and a silver twine bow to my white foliage for some simple finishing touches, along with a simple sentiment on the inside:

I liked this card and sketch so much, I made a second one too, this one with the centre square being the uppermost and popped up on dimensionals, rather than overlapped as per Cecile's original sketch:

I chose a couple of other prints too, with a little more pale green in the print pattern:

So what do you think? I love both of these cards and loved trying to channel my 'inner Cecile' to create my FMS entry this week!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

My day has been a topsy-turvy one, with plans upended and rejigged due to changes in school activities such that the restful day of crafting I had planned didn't quite materialise. No matter though - sometimes you have to roll with it and tomorrow may bring less upheaval; here's hoping! Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PAINTED CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

MERRIEST MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

ELEGANT FACETED GEMS (£7.00)

SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)

BASIC 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 the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a timely Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

I love our challenge badge this week and decided to embrace the fun of our challenge photo and go with a card that is all about playing with leaves - take a look:

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

I stamped this super-cute image of this little chap playing in a big pile of leaves with his kitty from the 'Seasons of Fun' current seasonal hostess set onto a panel cut with the Whimsy Dies (the swirly border reminded me of a breeze!) and coloured with my Stampin' Blends markers: 

That's all there is to it - super clean and really simple to achieve!

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'm linking today's card up for another entry over at The Alphabet Challenge where they are on 'L is for Leaves' and over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is 'people'. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SEASONS OF FUN HOST CLING STAMP SET (£11.00)	STITCHED WITH WHIMSY DIES (£27.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today I'm sharing a card with the current challenge over at Global Design Project  #GDP309:

This is another of my cards using the Festive Foliage stamp as my background, this time paired with the robin from the Happy Holly-Days stamp set - take a look:

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

I kept to a black and white colour scheme for my background and sentiment label, with a pop of Real Red for my third choice - the perfect way to emphasise my lovely robin red breast and bring in a flash of festive colour:

I added some red sheer ribbon and rhinestone jewels to 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	HAPPY HOLLY-DAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)
BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	RED RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£6.50)	REAL RED 3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON (£6.50)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

I'm back with my second post today and my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a speed stamping challenge with a humorous twist:

Speedy wit - what a challenge! Here's my card:

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

I decided that I would go for some sideways humour and use the Halloween greeting from the 'Well Defined' stamp set. I stamped it in black and cut it out using one of the Hippo and Friends Dies, and paired it with some fun retired Halloween Motley Monsters designer series paper from my stash. I added a ribbon tab to my sentiment to finish 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 really was a super speedy card, largely because the DSP does all the work. My finished time?

3 minutes and 41 seconds - I think this must be a personal speed stamping record! 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WELL DEFINED CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

HIPPO & FRIENDS DIES (£33.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today will be a two-post day as I have some news: I am joining the Festive Friday Challenge team! This is a fortnightly challenge that is inspired by a particular day of the year that I have played along with on a number of occasions. The fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project.

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Balloons Around The World Day' which is on 1st October. I often only use three or four elements when I play along, but when I saw this week's board I knew exactly what I wanted to create - and ended up using balloons, red, purple, clouds, sun, stripes, twine and paper-piecing!

This is the card I created:

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

I grabbed my 'Counting Sheep' and co-ordinating Sheep Dies, both freebies with the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and created a little scene. I used a (retired) stitched square for my scene and layered this onto a striped banner and then a stitched rectangle, to tie in with the stitched detail on the sun. The one thing you may be asking yourself is 'where is the paper-piecing?' It's subtle, but I assure you it's there: I paper-pieced my sheep's wool with the Snowy White Velvet Sheets - it gives the sheep's coat a fun, almost fuzzy felt, feel and you can see it better on the close-up below:

How cute is that?! And all the better for being made with free products too! If you'd like to get your hands on this bundle, you still have a couple of weeks to place your order before the Sale-A-Bration promotion ends. Bear in mind that products are only available whilst stocks last and as we near the end of the promotion, there is a chance that popular items will sell out, so don't leave it too late!

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COUNTING SHEEP CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	SHEEP DIES (£0.00)	SNOWY WHITE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) VELVET SHEETS (£4.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)
HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's Inspired By challenge - I went with the holiday option as I couldn't resist the white and turquoise of the inspiration photo:

I've been making lots of samples using my Festive Foliage background stamp for my online technique class that I held earlier this week and these colours were perfect to demonstrate heat embossing and the use of less traditional colours for a foliage-rich card - take a look:

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

Festive Foliage - I heat embossed the 'Festive Foliage' background stamp in white onto Bermuda Bay cardstock and added a simple white mat border to accentuate it. Background stamps are a great way to cover a cardfront, but they don't need always need to be coloured. I did brush over the leaf details with some clear Wink of Stella; it's quite difficulty to see in the photos, but it adds a lovely subtle shimmer in real life.

Winter Wishes - I decided to add a 'Winter' sentiment to the front of my card using some retired Bermuda Bay ombre paper from Sale-A-Bration earlier in the year, popped up on a label and backed with a couple of co-ordinating ribbons. 

Well Defined - There was a reason why I chose 'Winter' as the greeting on the front of my card; I wanted it to follow through to my sentiment from 'Well Defined that I used on the inside:

Whilst this card would work for the holiday season, I thought it would be perfect for seasonal greetings or even to send to someone who celebrates a birthday during the winter months.

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:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	PLAYFUL ALPHABET DIES (£32.00)	OPAL ROUNDS (£7.00)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)