A quick post from me today! Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by the current challenge over at Inspired By:

I love those colourful bottle brush trees and decided I would do a spot of watercolouring to create my own ombre trio - take a look:

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

I diecut the trees from watercolour paper using the Majestic Mountain dies, watercoloured them and popped the middle one up on a foam adhesive sheet. I paired it with a heat-embossed sentiment from 'Itty Bitty Christmas' and embossed my white background panel with the Tasteful Texture embossing folder for some added texture.

Finally I added a sprinkling of clear and irridescent sequins to finish:

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:

TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	MAJESTIC MOUNTAIN DIES (£33.00)	ITTY BITTY CHRISTMAS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	SNOWFLAKE SEQUINS (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
FOAM ADHESIVE SHEETS (£7.50)	FLUID 100 WATERCOLOR PAPER (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Today I'm sharing a card using the current sketch over at Paper Craft Crew in a card that was inspired by the fabulous photo over at The Card Concept to create my clean and layered card:

I was inspired by the red and black buffalo check pillow, green ribbon-tied foliage and the white of the rocking chair of the Card Concept photo; this is what I came up with:

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

I used the foliage stamps in the 'Curvy Christmas' set to create my tied foliage and stamped this on a stitched scallop square; no curves on the front of the card, but I did use one of the curved stamps to decorate my envelope and the inside of my card:

I paired this with a panel of Real Red cardstock stamped in black with the Buffalo Check background, a banner of green gingham ribbon and some rhinestones and pearls to decorate, along with a sentiment snipped from one of the stamps in the 'Itty Bitty Christmas' stamp set.

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 absolutely love that inspiration photo and combined with the sketch am really pleased with how this card turned out.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CURVY CHRISTMAS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£27.00)	BUFFALO CHECK CLING STAMP SET (£14.40)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£7.43)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£6.30)	JUST JADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£6.30)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£7.65)	ITTY BITTY CHRISTMAS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)
REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£6.30)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.28)	PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.28)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£8.33)

As promised - my second post of the day! I've news of a special sale that is happening from 10.50pm tonight for 24 hours only! During the Merry and Bright Online Extravaganza nearly all 2020–2021 Annual Catalogue items are eligible for the 10% discount! There are a few exceptions which I've detailed for you below:

Otherwise, EVERYTHING ELSE IS 10% OFF for 24 hours only - including bundles and the latest 'Joy To The World' Paper Pumpkin kit! If you are placing your order via my online store, please remember to add this month's Reward Code 469YSGD2 to receive a thank you from me. Alternatively, if you are local get in touch and I will add the orders together to save on postage. 

This is also a good opportunity to remind you of the details of the other out-of-catalogue promotions that are currently running, which include the 'Joy To The World' Paper Pumpkin kit I mentioned above. I held a craft-along session using this kit this morning which is great for some easy Christmas cards (the kit itself has materials to make 8 cards with envelopes) and is also great for creating alternative ideas for both the festive season and beyond with the included stamp set. Here's a reminder of the details: 

And here's a link to the Stampin' Up! video with more details:

We also have the early release of the Quite Curvy bundle, which will debut in the upcoming Spring mini catalogue, along with the co-ordinating Curvy Christmas stamp set and Classic Christmas Designer Series Paper, which are exclusive to the Curvy Celebrations promotion and will not be available when the catalogue goes live on 4th January. More details below:

Right that's all from me - only one thing left to do - get making those lists to Santa ASAP! Back tomorrow with a creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Today it's Monday and the start of a new week! I've had a Paper Pumpkin craft along with some of my lovely customers, putting together our 'Joy To The World' kits already this morning and now it's time for today's creative post! I'm sharing a couple of cards for a couple of challenges. The first of these is a card using Narelle's cute sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the colours at CAS Colours and Sketches:

The CAS Colours & Sketches colours intrigued me and I made my card in a landscape format to accommodate my slightly longer sentiment and took a short break from creating Christmas cards to make a  quick birthday card - take a look:

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

I kept it simple and used block colours for my background squares and stamped a little hippo from the 'Hippo Happiness' stamp set in Basic Grey on the central one with a stamped flower that I fussy cut and added behind her ear. I then added a sentiment and finished my card with an equally punny sentiment inside:

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 second card uses the colours over at Color Throwdown and the current layout over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

After last Friday's post where I declared that I find myself avoiding Rich Razzleberry as a colour these days, I saw it was one of the trio in the Color Throwdown colours this week and loved the combination with aqua and vanilla, so reached for it to create another Christmas card - take a look:

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

A bold banner of purple and a rather snazzy hat and scarf combo to adorn my skating polar bear, but the real star of this card is the lovely snowflake-embossed Pool Party Panel that sits behind him and adds a lovely element of texture:

I fussy cut the polar bear to finish, but that is no real hardship - it's quite easy to do with some sharp paper snips.

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 again shortly with another post with notice of the 'Merry and Bright' 24 hour flash sale that starts at 10.50pm tonight, so check back for that - you won't want to miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used - Card 1:

HIPPO HAPPINESS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BLACKBERRY BLISS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PURPLE POSY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

WARM & TOASTY CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	WINTER SNOW EMBOSSING FOLDER (£7.00)	TRIPLE BANNER PUNCH (£21.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	POOL PARTY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

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

My card is all about the winter blues today - perfect for the Double D challenge (thanks for the heads up on this one LeAnne!) I really liked LeAnne's sketch layout this week and decided to use those panels to highlight one of the photographic images in the Feels Like Frost designer series paper pack - take a look:

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

I chose a lovely image of frosty seed heads against a blue background and cut out the panels using my Rectangle Stitched Dies before piecing back together to create the finished layout:

I brushed the frosty elements with my clear Wink of Stella brush which is difficult to see in the photo but give it a lovely subtle sparkle in real life. I added a sentiment from 'Snowflake Wishes' and a mat border of silver glimmer paper and finished off the inside with a sentiment from the same set:

The most tricky part of today's card was cutting the stitched rectangles and aligning them to the image. Otherwise, a pretty straightforward card!

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

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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; today is officially 'Stir up Sunday', an old tradition when home cooks spend the last Sunday before advent 'stirring up' their Christmas pudding and in modern times their Christmas cake and homemade mincemeat too.  The day gets its name from the beginning of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer, which begins with the words, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people". We had a day of preparation yesterday and made a batch of mincemeat and some mince pies; today we are making Christmas puddings and cake - yum! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FEELS LIKE FROST 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)

SNOWFLAKE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£24.00)

RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)

SEASIDE SPRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

WINK OF STELLA CLEAR GLITTER BRUSH (£7.50)

Thursday already - where does the week go?! Today I'm sharing a card that I meant to blog yesterday, but simply ran out of time! It uses this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout and the current Colour Inkspiration colour palette:

Firstly, I would like to say an big 'thank you' to the CAS(E) This Sketch team for choosing my entry last week as their winner - always an honour as the competition is stiff, with so many notable entries! If you missed it, you can see that card here. Now onto my card for this week! I thought long and hard about this sketch, especially because I couldn't come up with a design solely with words that I liked. I did come up with one non-Christmas idea that I am still playing around with, but as my challenge entry I decided to settle on creating the overall shape and mix some images in with my sentiments - after all, a sketch is for inspiration as a starting point, right? Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I used the various festive owls in the 'Have A Hoot' stamp set and created my pyramid of owls and sentiments to follow the sketch layout. I used my Stamparatus to help with positioning and stamped the whole thing onto my card (minus the mistletoe above the pair) and then stamped the owls again and diecut them, so that I could pop them up on dimensionals. This was largely because my card is otherwise one layer, and I didn't want my Blends to bleed through to the reverse. I added a few snowflake sequins, and my card was complete - a #simplestamping Christmas card, save for the diecutting of the owls!

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:

HAVE A HOOT BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	STAMP SET CLING HAVE A HOOT (ENGLISH) (£21.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	SNOWFLAKE SEQUINS (£5.50)
GRAY GRANITE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	JUST JADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at CASology where I haven't played in a while that also uses the sketch over at Paper Craft Crew:

  I loved the sketch over at PCC this week and knew it would be perfect for me to use up some fun reindeer paper clips that I had lurking in my embellishment drawer - take a look:

Cute, right?! Here's the low-down on today's card:

I loved these little reindeer clips when they came out a few years ago and must confess to having hoarded a few containers of them when they retired. The sketch was just perfect to add one to a square of Soft Suede and embellish with some gold twine, a strip of brushed metallic cardstock and some gold gilded gems - oh and an 'All The Trimmings' red enamel dot to make my stag a Rudolf ;-) I paired it with a simple block 'MERRY' sentiment from the super-useful 'Peace and Joy' stamp set for for an additional pop of festive colour:

I added some simple stamping to the inside using other words from the same stamp set: 

And I was done! Quite simple really but I think the reindeer paper clip makes a fun focal point in and of itself.

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.

When I'd finished my card, I liked it so much I made a couple more - I also used glitter enamel dots on one of them:

I'm now building my Christmas card stash at a pace - hoping to get them all in the post nice and early this year for a change, I figure we could all do with a little early festive cheer!

Enjoy the rest of your day; I'm off to watch the Great British Bake Off semi-final tonight, so looking forward to drooling over their makes and bakes, especially as it's patisserie week! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	ALL THE TRIMMINGS EMBELLISHMENTS (£7.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SOFT SUEDE CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)	PEACE & JOY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£17.00)
POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)	WONDER OF THE SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£8.25)	BRUSHED METALLIC CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

A lockdown weekend with pouring rain gave me extra crafting time today so I thought I'd squeeze in a second post with a thanksgiving card that I made for a friend of mine, that was inspired by a number of challenges:

I used Julee's fabulous-as-always Mojo Monday sketch and the Card Concept inspiration photo with its rich oranges and browns and pumpkins galore inspired me to use the gold-embossed pumpkin paper from the Gilded Autumn paper pack for my clean and layered card. I decided to pair it with one of my favourite sentiments from 'Country Home' for a Cajun Craze monochromatic card - take a look:

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

My Gilded Autumn embossed paper was the starting point for today's card. I just love it! I added a stitched gold foil border and a layered pumpkin, made from one of my retired Patterned Pumpkin Dies and then with the pumpkin coloured with Cajun Craze Blends and splattered with gold shimmer paint, before adding some die cut leaves and vines:

I finished my sentiment banner with a double bow of Cajun Craze metallic ribbon and gold twine for some extra shine. So what do you think? I don't use Cajun Craze that often and there's a lot of it on this card, but I think the gold really takes things up a notch and compliments it beautifully. This almost feels like a Cinderella-esque rags to riches card, metaphorically speaking! I'm also linking this card up over at SUO Challenges where the theme is thanksgiving.

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:

GILDED AUTUMN SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	COUNTRY HOME PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)
GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	BASKET WEAVE & METALLIC RIBBON COMBO PACK (£7.50)	WONDER OF THE SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

A busy couple of days but 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 Ashwini is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I decided to go down the centre column with blue, holiday and sparkle/shine and am sharing a clean and layered snowflake card with you today - take a look:

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

True Blue - The main blue that I chose to feature on my card today is Pacific Point - one of the first three ink pads I ever purchased when I started stamping (along with Real Red and Old Olive, in case you're interested!) and whilst, like my other initial purchases, this is a colour that is still going strong, it's also one I don't use as frequently in my general crafting. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I saw it feature as one of the colours in the Snowflake Splendor patterned paper - I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to give it some love!

Snowflake Splendor - There are so many beautiful patterns in the Snowflake Splendor papers it's difficult to choose just two, but choose I did! I went with a couple of complimentary patterns, both of which feature Pacific Point, to bring out the bold blue colour. I used white mats on my project, which is something I don't often do but is a great way to showcase a stronger colour such as Pacific Point. 

Glimmer and Sparkle - Pacific Point is not the only blue that I showcase on today's card though; the Balmy Blue glimmer paper is so full of sparkle I couldn't resist adding some to my festive snowflake showcase and I think it compliments the other elements beautifully. I also added a sprinkling of sequins for a little more shimmer; along with my sparkle-filled sentiment I think this card is perfect for the current Time Out challenge too, where the challenge word is 'festivals' with the option of added shimmer/glitter - yes please!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SNOWFLAKE SPLENDOR DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BALMY BLUE GLIMMER PAPER (£4.75)	SNOWFLAKE WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£24.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SNOWFLAKE SEQUINS (£5.50)

So here it is - the card that I actually intended to blog today! This card was inspired by a number of challenges: the colours over at CAS Colours and Sketches, along with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout. It's also a great example of #SimpleStamping as it uses nothing more than stamps ink and paper which also just happens to be the theme of the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week:

What's more, this card is a sneak peek of a brand new Stampin' Up! stamp set that will debut in the 2021 Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue - take a look:

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

For those of you that follow me on social media, you will know that I attended the bi-annual Stampin' Up! Onstage event this past weekend, which because of Covid, was held virtually online, with some of my team #OnstageAtHome2020. We had a great time and as always it was still exciting to get a first view of the new catalogue and play with some of the new products. I received a new stamp set called 'Enjoy The Moment' in my Onstage swag bag and whilst I don't usually blog cards with new sets this far in advance of catalogue launch (I don't like to be too much of a tease!) I really like this stamp set and I thought it was perfect for the above challenges. I simply watercoloured 4 ovals using the challenge colours onto some Fluid 100 watercolour paper and then using my Stamparatus, I stamped four of the seed pods over the top of each one, stamping a few times to get them nice and black. I stamped my sentiment in black onto a strip of Bumblebee cardstock and added it to my card with dimensionals to finish. A great example of #SimpleStamping - sometimes stamps, ink and paper is all you need!

So what do you think? Have I wet your appetite for the new catalogue?! There are still a couple of months before it launches, so rest assured won't be tempting you too much at this stage. The only way you can get it sooner is to join my team - do get in touch if you really can't wait! Either way, I will be firmly back to Christmas cards tomorrow!

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. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLUID 100 WATERCOLOR PAPER (£8.25)	BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
PEAR PIZZAZZ CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	JET BLACK STAZON PAD (£9.25)