Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great colour challenge for you:

Here's my card: 

I am loving these cute little penguins (and the snowmen!) in the 'Snowplace' stamp set and the co-ordinating framelits make cutting them and their accessories out a cinch! For today's card, I used a Pool party base with a strip of Whisper White, onto which I stamped my penguins directly using the new Basic Black Archival ink. Each of them is peeking out of a hole punched with my 1 1/2" circle punch into a strip of School House DSP and their accessories stamped in a combination of Basic Black and Watermelon Wonder, which are popped up on dimensionals for a little added lift. I customised the sentiment as it wouldn't fit as per the stamp onto my card front; I continued the remainder inside, where I also added a few festive snowflakes to pretty things up a bit:

Isn't that fun? I have used this set so much already and I just know that I will get lots more use from it - it's already a favourite with my daughter!

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Snow Place - available September 1st

* Snow Friends Framelits - available September 1st

Good evening lovely blog readers! You may well have to bear with me this week; I am away spending some quality time with the James juniors before returning to school in a couple of weeks time, but our coastal location is virtually devoid of a mobile phone signal and even the local wifi is hit and miss, so even with pre-prepared blog posts communicating with the online world is proving something of a challenge! Likewise I am struggling with sending and receiving emails, so if you have emailed me in the last few days, bear with me - it may take a few days longer than usual for me to respond to you!

I did send out some good old snail mail before I left for our mini-vacation; my seasonal catalogues were shipped to all of my online mail order customers, and I know from the texts and emails that have managed to get through that you are liking what you are seeing! That's all great news - there is lots be excited about! If you are reading this and don't already have yourself a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and you would like a seasonal catalogue, do email me at joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk and I will pop one in the post to you. 

So along with the catalogue, I had to send out a little card showcasing some of my favourite 'sneak peek' Christmas product and I though you might like to see it today - here it is, featuring the adorable penguin from the 'Snow Place' stamp set:

I stamped the penguin and sentiment in the new Basic Black Archival ink onto an extra-thick Whisper White card base, then ran the card front through the new 'Gently Falling' Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - this is the perfect finish for falling snow, so pretty! Lastly, I added some earmuffs and a matching scarf in a variety of colours - the one above is Rich Razzleberry and the one below is Watermelon Wonder (beak and feet coloured with a Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write marker):

Here's a shot showing the rainbow of colours I used - how lovely are they?! The little earmuffs and scarfs were so easy to cut out using my Big Shot and the co-ordinating Snow Frames framelits - this is also one of the many great product bundle deals on offer in the new seasonal catalogue too, making them great value. 

So not Christmas already, but we are definitely well on the way! I can guarantee you'll be seeing lots more of this little fella, along with his snowman friends, throughout the festive season; in fact, he is also making an appearance tomorrow, so come back for another great sneak peek!

Until then, happy stampin'!

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! The same as last week there are more offers than usual, with increased reductions of up to 30% on Weekly Deals this month, although there are specific allocated quantities at the increased offer price; once they're gone, the price will revert to RRP, so don't delay in ordering if there is something on your wish list. Each week items are proving very popular and some are sold out within a couple of days of the offers being published. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

If you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the new Hostess Code for August SCFAMEG2 if your order is under £150 and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

2014-2016 In Color Designer Washi Tape	Chalk Talk Framelits Dies	Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Fast Fuse Adhesive Refill	Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Tiny Triangles Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Embossing folders are flavour of the week this week - personally I have my eye on that in-colour washi tape though, at just £5.44 for 5 rolls!

Back later with today's creative project. Until then, happy stampin'! 

Well it's Monday and whilst I'm off on my way to the beach today, I couldn't go without squeezing in an entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge - they are afterall celebrating their 200th sketch challenge, what an achievement! This is their sketch - so many possibilities:

I decided to use the line as the top of a brick wall, with a peeking penguin in the style of Kilroy/Chad graffiti of old (here's the Wikipedia link if you have no idea what I'm talking about!):

Using a base of thick Whisper White cardstock, I adhered a piece of Soft Suede cardstock embossed with the Brick Wall TIEF and some Dazzling Diamonds which I cut freehand as snow on top of the wall. I stamped my penguin and sentiment from the 'Snow Place' stamp set in the new Archival Black ink directly onto my card base, then stamped the penguin's ear muffs and scarf in Real Red and cut them out with the co-ordinating 'Snow Friends' framelits and pooped them up on dimensionals for a little extra lift. 

So what do you think of today's card? I am loving the little penguin in the new 'Snow Place' stamp set - you will be seeing lots more of him this week! You still have time to link up to FMS if you want to have a go at this week's challenge and you should certainly check out this week's gallery, it is absolutely amazing!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Snow Place - available September 1st

*Snow Friends - available September 1st 

*Archival Black ink - available September 1st

Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is my turn to host and I have my very first sketch challenge for you:

You know how much I love a sketch challenge - it's so exciting to have designed my first one for you to play along with this week! I am still pre-occupied with my pre-order goodies, so I decided to use this week's Color Throwdown colours to create not something floral as per the inspiration photo, rather a decidedly spooky Halloween treat for you. Here's my card:

So many lovely things to share on my card this week! The background paper is a piece of the new Halloween DSP pack 'Happy Haunting' - there are some great patterns in this pack. For the large circle on my sketch, I used one of the new Spider Web doilies - I think these may be my actual most favourite Halloween product in the new catalogue! They are so dramatic and such great value, at just £4.25 for a pack of 24. I will be using these everywhere! for the smaller circle, I just had to use the owl from the Howl-o-ween Treat set - isn't he adorable?! The stamp set comes with a co-ordinating set of 'Boo To You' framelits dies and what's more they are available as a bundle too - great news! The framelits are a must as they make cutting out the shapes, such as the wand, the pumpkin basket and the hat, so easy. This card is choc full of texture too: I accented the eyes with a couple of round Itty Bitty Epoxy Sticker Accents and stamped the hat in Versamark and heat embossed it in black to add a lovely shine against the Cucumber Crush cardstock of the hat - you can see it better here in this close-up photo:

I also used the awesome new black glimmer paper for my sentiment, again cut out using my Big Shot and the 'Boo To You' framelits. Just look at how sparkly it is: 

Lastly, I added a Cucumber Crush banner punched with my Triple Banner Punch and the Confetti Stars Border Punch and I infilled the star shapes by paper-piecing with black glimmer paper stars for added sparkle. I also decorated the inside of my card and what's more, remembered to take a photo of it:

How cute is that?! I hope you like today's Halloween card and that it has you even more excited for the fun things still to come in the new seasonal catalogue. 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 how you choose to interpret my sketch on your cards in the gallery this week. I'll be spending today in the garden; yesterday's BBQ and vegetarian menu was a huge success, so today we are following that with another lunch of vegetables from our garden - with sausages too though, of the meat variety! 

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Howl-o-ween treat - available September 1st

* Boo To You Framelits - available September 1st

* Spider Web Doilies - available September 1st

* Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

* Black Glimmer Paper - available September 1st

Banner Triple Punch	Confetti Stars Punch	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets	Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers

Well, it's the sunniest day that we've had all week here in the UK and here I am - with an Autumn card! I used the sketch layout over at Mojo Monday for my inspiration today:

More sneak peeks today, this time of some of the wonderful Autumn papers and accessories coming up in the new Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue that launches in a couple of weeks time. Here is today's card:

I used Old Olive for my base with a mat of Daffodil Delight and took the colours for my card today from the colour scheme of the new Into The Woods Designer Series paper; gorgeous browns, greens, yellow, orange with a pop of purple - I pulled this colour out and used the new Rich Razzleberry co-ordinating Into the Woods Cotton Ribbon for the diagonals on my card; this ribbon has great texture! I coloured my sentiment in using a variety of Stampin' Write markers - this is from a set called 'A Little Something', a great selection of stamps that also co-ordinate with the new Square Pillow Box Thinlits Dies. I finished with a trio of Into The Woods Wood Elements, etched with some lovely few acorn and leaf images. I just love the bright colours of this card, with plenty of white within the pattern to balance it.

Right - I'm off for a bike ride this afternoon with family and friends, followed by an entirely vegetarian BBQ. This is something of a rarity in the James household, but since I'm entertaining one of my dearest long-standing vegetarian friends who I once served a ham sandwich to (and she ate it because she was too polite to point out she was vegetarian!!!) I have been making up for it ever since. Not a piece of Quorn or tofu in sight - I'll let you know tomorrow what she thinks of the vegetarian feast we have planned! 

Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at The Paper Players. I am the hostess this week and I have a great sketch challenge for you, so you're going to want to come back and take a look! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Into The Woods Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

* Into the Woods Elements - available September 1st

* Into The Woods 3/8" Cotton Ribbon - available September 1st

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock

Old Olive A4 Cardstock

Many Marvelous Markers

Today I'm breaking from my run of Christmas cards, however never fear, I have another 'sneak peek' for you, this time of some of the new Halloween products that are on the way. I used this week's Retrosketches challenge for my layout:

I used the main stamp in the set 'Witches Night' set; this is the set that accompanies the Witching Decor Project Kit (more on that another time!) but the stamps in the set can be used on lots more projects besides. Here's my card: 

I used Tangelo Twist for my base, with a piece of Basic Black Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper on top raised on dimensionals. I tucked a spider web doily behind so that it peeked out across the orange, then stamped my main sentiment greeting on Memento Black onto Very Vanilla cardstock, and cut out with one of the Lots of Labels framelit dies. To finish, I stamped a spider from the new 'Cheer All year' set in Versamark onto Tangelo Twist and heat embossed in black to give it a lovely shine. I punched this out with a 1" circle punch and attached to the black panel with some of the retired SAB Tangelo Twist thick baker's twine. 

This card came together quite quickly - the large decorative sentiment certainly makes a statement!

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow another 'sneak peek', this time showcasing some of the lovely new Autumnal range. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Witches Night - available September 1st

*Cheer All Year - available September 1st

*Spider Web Doilies - available September 1st

Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	1" Circle Punch
Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch challenge for you:

As I'm still excited to be working may way through my box of seasonal preorder goodies, I have another Christmas card to share with you today using the All Ye Faithful stamp set and Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Sseries Paper and washi tape. Here's my card: 

My colour scheme today was inspired by the Winter Wonderland product suite - a mix of black, white and gold, with foil accents and real sparkle. Using Basic Black for my base with a mat of gold foil, then used a piece of Winter Wonderland DSP with a crackle-glaze pattern for the front of my card. I edged a piece of Whisper White with gold striped washi tape, then stamped my sentiment in Memento Black on the right hand edge. This sentiment does actually come on one line, so in order to make it work for my card and the sketch I carefully masked off parts of it to enable me to stamp it in three separate sections. For the oval, I stamped Mary and Joseph in Versamark onto Basic Black card and heat embossed it in gold. I backed this with an oval that was cut to the same size using my Big Shot and Ovals Framelits, then cut in half vertically; this then creates a frame that enables the oval to stand out, but isn't too wide, as it would have been if I'd used the next size framelit up. To finish, I added a trio of flags punched using my Tripe Banner Punch, featuring more of the patterns in the Winter Wonderland DSP suite. 

Whilst this isn't a colourway I would necessarily have been drawn to of my own accord, it is very on-trend and I do love the way the entire suite of products make co-ordination so easy - good old Stampin' Up! I love the All Ye Faithful stamp set too - one of my favourite religious sets in the new catalogue, it comes with two other feature stamps and a verse sentiment too that I used on the inside of my card:

I hope you like today's card. Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another sneak-peek project, one for Halloween this time. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

 * All Ye Faithful - available September 1st

* Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper - available September 1st

*Winter Wonderland Washi Tape - available September 1st

As promised, today I have another sneak-peek Christmas card for you using another of the Sleigh Ride Edgelits, using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout for inspiration:

As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew it would work perfectly with the new Sleigh Ride Edgelits. Here's my interpretation with today's card:

I went again with my favourite festive colour combination of navy, whisper white and silver and this time used the negative cut of the edgelit to look like a snowy sky, again embossed with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, having first stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy along from the houses. These edgelits offer so many different ways to use them to achieve different looks, depending on whether you use the positive or negative cut out - I just love them! A loop of silver corded trim completes my card.

Clean and simple, yet rather effective. This card came together quickly and would look great in a wide range of colour combinations.

Back tomorrow with another card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Sleigh Ride Edgelits - available September 1st

* Softly Falling TIEF - available September 1st

Big Shot

Magnetic Platform

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! The same as last week there are more offers than usual, with increased reductions of up to 30% on Weekly Deals this month, although there are specific allocated quantities at the increased offer price; once they're gone, the price will revert to RRP, so don't delay in ordering if there is something on your wish list. Each week items are proving very popular and some are sold out within a couple of days of the offers being published. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

If you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the new Hostess Code for August SCFAMEG2 if your order is under £150 and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

And Many More Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Banner Punch	Brights Sequin Assortment
Early Espresso 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Striped Scallop Thinlits Die	Zig Zag Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Some great deals this week: 'And Many More' is one of those ever useful sentiment stamp sets with something for every occasion, the banner punch is also great for making quick and easy cards and bunting embellishments and at only £8.63 would make a great stocking filler (yes, I am totally thinking Christmas already!) and the Brights Sequin Assortment is perfect for adding the finishing touch to your festive cards and Halloween projects - at £3.38 the best bargain this week!

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy shopping!