It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, 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 Hostess Code for September (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right). 

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:

Apothecary Accents Framelits Dies	Eclectic Paper-Piercing Pack	Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack	Faces I Love Swatchbook Template - Digital Download
Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack	On Film Framelits Dies	Window Frames Collection Framelits Dies

This week's offers are a feast for framelit-lovers and paper piercers everywhere,  with three popular framelit sets (the Window Frames collection is incredibly useful and versatile and the On Film Framelits are great for scrapbookers and Project-Life lovers!) and a host of paper piercing templates - piercing is a great way to add a little something extra to your cards and is so easy to do.

Back with today's creative post later, but until then, happy shopping!

Hello everyone! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Craft Crew, for which I also used the current colour palette over at The Card Concept:

I thought the sketch layout with the word bubbles and the leafy inspiration photo would combine to create the perfect opportunity to showcase the sentiments in the 'Gratitude For Days' stamp set - a rather unsung hero from the current seasonal catalogue I think, but a set that I have used lots and lots. Here is my card:

I used a combination of Real Red, Crushed Curry and Wild Wasabi for my card and inked the outlines of the Just Sayin' stamped word bubbles using my markers then stamped the insides with various 'gratitude' stamps in contrasting colours. I used some little leaves cut with my Fall Fest framelits as the embellishment for the word bubbles, and gradually layered them over a Gorgeous Grunge background to achieve my finished design. I think this still qualifies as 'clean and layered' as far as The Card Concept is concerned (if you've ever wondered about the definitions of the various cardmaking styles, you should check out their site - it gives some great guidelines), maybe bordering on 'freestyle collage', although probably not random enough to truly be a collage!

Hope you like my card; I'll pop back later with another quick make today for this week's challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary, so stay posted. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gratitude For Days Photopolymer Stamp Set	Fun Fall Framelits Dies	Just Sayin'	Word Bubbles Framelits Dies	Crushed Curry Baker's Twine
Gorgeous Grunge	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Many Marvelous Markers

Happy Monday everyone! I enjoyed a restful Sunday yesterday and can honestly say I feel like I am starting the week on the front foot again for the first time in a few weeks! Today I'm sharing a cute clean and simple Halloween card that I made with this week's colours over at Colour Q and the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch:

Despite the adorable wellie boots in the inspiration picture, when I saw this week's Colour Q colours I couldn't help but wonder if I could make them work for a Halloween card. This is what I came up with:

I stamped the Frankenstein stamp from 'Freaky Friends' in Blackberry Bliss onto some retired Summer Starfruit cardstock and fussy cut him out. I used a piece of film strip made using Calypso Coral cardstock and the On Film framelit, modified to make it smaller and placed the film strip behind my layered sentiment banner and then my figure on top. Lastly, I finished with some Blackberry Bliss bats to add to the Halloween theme.

I hope you like today's clean and simple Halloween card. I'm off to move mountains (of the craft and ironing pile variety!) Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Freaky Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Ghoulish Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	On Film Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday so I'm here with my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players, where Jaydee has the following clean and simple challenge for us:

I also used the above sketch from Freshly Made Sketches again for my card this week and this week's card is a lot more 'clean' than last weeks - here is my card:

My card is really simple, with a piece of the numbered Typeset paper mounted on Basic Black as the central panel of my card, with a couple of strips of Flashback DSP behind to add some colour and the focal point word bubble 'You're How Old?' stamped in Real Red. I finished my card with the sentiment 'happy birthday Grandpa' (stamped with my vintage 'For My Family' stamp set - a keeper!) and a punched star.

Yesterday was my Dad's 70th birthday and I made this card for him from the children - they think 70 is positively ancient, so the word bubble was entirely appropriate! - however it occurred to me as I typed up my post that not only could you change out the sentiment to just say 'happy birthday' or include the role of any family member (dad, brother, uncle, etc.) this might also work as a fun tongue-in-cheek card with the sentiment as is. So beware any male that feels he's 'over the hill', because one of these cards could be heading your way Grandpa!

Do check out the other design team cards this week; as always, there is some great inspiration and I look forward to seeing your challenge entries in the gallery. Right, I'm off to prepare for Sunday lunch and hopefully enjoy a restful family day before the onset of a new week. Enjoy your weekends everyone!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Word Bubbles Framelits Dies	Just Sayin'	Flashback Designer Series Paper	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock
Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Regals Candy Dots	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky
Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack

Here at last with today's post! A busy day today - homework, grocery shopping, we had friends round to make cake pops this afternoon (always fun!) and then a swimming gala this evening - so finally I'm sitting down for long enough to share today's card with you! Today's card is for this week's Merry Monday Christmas Challenge, where the theme from Karren this week is to let your sentiment take centre stage:

I was tempted to go with a few obvious choices for my card using some of the fabulous new sentiments in the current seasonal catalogue, but decided to take the opportunity to try something different that I've had in mind for a while. I made a sentiment all of my very own - take a look:

I decided to make a long, thin card and used the 'What's Your Type?' stamp set to stamp the word 'snow' using the various patterns and shapes in the set. I love this unusual graphic style type and it is great for making the sentiment the feature of your card. I stamped the various letters in a combination of Smoky Slate, Soft Sky and Lost Lagoon and finished the 'O' with one of the new snowflake embellishments and some silver ribbon. I mounted this section with dimensionals on a base of Soft Sky with a couple of strips of silver washi tape running along it. To complete my sentiment, I used my Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker to write 'let it' in my own handwriting on a little handcut banner and adhered to the top of the sentiment panel. A rather modern take on 'let it snow', granted, but I think it works and it's very different.

That's all from me; back tomorrow with this week's Design Team card for The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

What's Your Type? Photopolymer Stamp Set	All Is Calm Designer Washi Tape	All Is Calm Snowflake Embellishment	Silver 1/8" Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker

Yay - it's Friday! I've had a productive craft day today, even if no housework managed to get done (ah well, there's always tomorrow for that!) and am finally finding time to write today's blog post. I used this week's sketch over at Retrosketches to make today's Christmas card and broke out my Festival of Trees stamp set for the first time. Here's the sketch I based my card on:

A great layered layout - and here's what I did with it:

I based my card around the graphic Christmas tree design paper from the Trim The Tree DSP stack - these are so great for making cards! - and having layered this piece onto my Early Espresso card base and a mat of Whisper White, I embossed a piece of gold foil with the On Point embossing folder, which looks like little Christmas tree shapes, then followed this with a smaller piece of Whisper White mounted on Early Espresso and stamped with the first part of the sentiment that comes with the Festival of Trees stamp set. I then added my Christmas tree, which I stamped in Early Espresso on Whisper White, then stamped the baubles in Versamark and heat embossed them in gold - in real life they are really shiny and contrast beautiful with the dark brown of the tree. Oh and did I mention how easy it was to punch out with my co-ordinating tree punch? No? Well, it's a doddle!

An unconventional colour scheme for a Christmas card maybe, but I like it! Before I forget - I'm also joining up with the lovely Darnell's NBUS challenge - pretty much everything other than ink and solid colour cardstock that I used today was officially 'Never Before Used Stuff!'

Right - I'm off to catch up on some of the jobs that I should have been doing at home today. Back tomorrow with another Christmas card in an altogether more conventional colour scheme -until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Bundle	On Point Textured Impressions Embossing Folders	Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Gold Foil Sheets

Well we're on the back end of the week already - yay! Thank you to all the new visitors to my blog yesterday who came to see my guest stamper card for The Color Throwdown and to those of you who left lovely comments on my blog - it's always nice to hear from my readers! I look forward to you becoming regular visitors.

Today's card is for this week's challenge over at 'Less is More' where the theme this week is 'beverages' and it's a one layer challenge. I pulled out one of my favourite Christmas retired sets, Scentsational Season, to make today's card; I thought a winter-warming hot chocolate should be the order of the day for my card, even if not outdoors as we are still enjoying a mild September (and long may it continue!). Here's my card:

I used a Crumb Cake base and stamped my mug in Real Red, colouring the hot chocolate section of the mug separately with my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker. I added my two-tone sentiment from the 'Endless Wishes' set, then using my Chalk Marker, I carefully coloured in the snowflake on the mug and randomly doodled a flurry of snowflakes around the edge of my card. I'm a tea drinker myself (in large quantities, usually about 10 cups a day!) but there's something really appealing about hot chocolate in the Winter time - I think it's the smell of cocoa and sugar which just cuts through cold air like nothing else!

Check out the gallery for more beverage inspiration - there are lots of fun cards there this week, and a whole range of beverages are featured including some altogether more alcoholic tipples too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set	White Stampin Chalk Marker	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Wednesday and a busy day on my blog today! This is the second of today's posts featuring this week's Colour Me...! Design Team card (please click here for my earlier Colour Throwdown post). This week we have a Subtle colour palette for you to work with:

I decided that this week's colour palette would be perfect not only for a baby card, but specifically for a box/stair step card, as whenever I see one of those they remind me of baby blocks all stacked up. So here is my card:

Nicely gender-neutral, with a Whisper White card base and background. I used the Little Letters framelits to cut out the letters for the word 'Baby' and rather than use the actual letters, I used the squares and the negative space to add more colour to my card. The letters didn't go to waste though, as I used them to decorate the envelope. For the remaining two squares, I used the Baby's First Framelits to create the duck and bib shapes, and stamped the co-ordinating stamps on the white layer below. I added some thick Pool Party baker's twine (retired - Sale-A-Bration item from earlier this year) but didn't add anything else as I wanted it to be able to remain post-friendly - despite its dimension, this card folds flat and fits into a standard C6 envelope.

That's my Colour Me...! card for this week - why not visit the other Colour Me...! designers and check out their takes on this week's colour combination:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Little Letters Thinlits Die	Baby's First Framelits Die	Something For Baby Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform
Subtles Stampin' Write Markers	Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride	So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Pool Party A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

This is the first of a number of blog posts today - so get comfy, lovely readers!

This is a bonus post for you today - following my card being chosen as the 'Featured Stamper' card at The Color Throwdown last week - you can see that card here - I was asked by the lovely Tammy Hershberger to be their Guest Star stamper this week for challenge number 310. So if you are reading my blog for the first time having popped over from CTD - welcome! Here is the colour palette and inspiration photo for this week's challenge:

I took the inspiration for my card from the colours and the photo and decided to go with something floral, featuring buttons and also some typeset designer series paper, albeit as the background for my flowers. Here is my card:

I used the leaves from the 'Kinda Eclectic' stamp set to stamp onto my typeset paper, then stamped a trio of flowers - Beautiful Bunch, Flower Shoppe and Petite Petals - in the challenge colours and created some nicely layered blooms with a variety of button centres to finish them off. I decided to finish off with something of a fussy bow using Vanilla seam binding ribbon tied with linen thread and the birthday sentiment from the Flower Patch stamp set. A bit of a departure from my usual style, and quite a product-heavy card too I'm afraid, but that's not always a bad thing!

Check out The Color Throwdown challenge page to see how the other designers have interpreted this week's challenge.

As for me, I have some work to do then a very important match to attend to this afternoon: my youngest is playing in his first rugby match at school so I'm off to cheer him along and remind him to wear his gumshield!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beautiful Bunch Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Fun Flower Punch	Flower Shop	Pansy Punch	Petite Petals
Petite Petals Punch	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay
Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Brights Designer Buttons
Subtles Designer Buttons	Very Vanilla 1/2 Inch Seam Binding Ribbon	Linen Thread	Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Kinda Eclectic Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Apologies firstly for anyone who saw a partial post within the last 10 hours - my blog appears to have published one version of tomorrow's post whilst also saving a draft; not sure what's happened there, but as it wasn't complete anyway it won't have made much sense. Come back tomorrow to see the completed post, with card! I think the moral of the story is don't spend too much time late at night preparing blog posts.

Anyway - today I'm sharing a Christmas card that I made for this week's challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary, where we have been challenged to use the following colour palette:

Whilst today's card took less than 10 minutes to make, I could have made six in the time it took me to decide upon my final design! I started out with my 'All Is Calm' Christmas Designer Series Paper as I knew it featured these colours, but then was overwhelmed by all of the possibilities and options and couldn't decide where to start. Here's my finished card:

I eventually decided to use the paper you can see on the edge of this card; I had been unsure how I was going to use this pattern as I don't have any of the stamp sets that obviously co-ordinate with it and it's quite a bold pattern. Eventually I thought it would make the perfect background for my Endless Wishes stamp set - SOOO glad SU! put this in the catalogue this year for us Europeans to enjoy too! - so I bordered my Lost Lagoon base card with it, then adhered my stamped top panel using dimensionals after tying a loop of Old Olive baker's twine around it. I know this is a bit of a cheat to the colour palette, but there's so little of it in the twine it could be mistaken for Pear Pizzazz at a distance (or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I love the simplicity of this card and think I will actually make a few more of these to add to my stock of Christmas cards. Back tomorrow with a double post for you: my usual Design Team card for Colour Me...! and a special post as the Guest Star Stamper over at The Color Throwdown as I was their Featured Stamper with this card last week! Oh, and not forgetting the new Wednesday Weekly Deals! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Baker's Twine	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stampin' Dimensionals