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

The weather here has become much more autumnal this week, so I found myself feeling inspired by the beautiful autumn wreath that is bottom left of the Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration photo and decided to recreate it with the Color Dare colours above (I used my closest colours for all 6) for a pretty autumnal card - take a look:

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

I chose a striped pattern from the Countryside Inn designer series paper pack to accentuate the lines of the horizontal panels of the sketch as my starting point, then added my leafy wreath that I diecut using the Country Wreath Dies, with some pumpkins in Smoky Slate and Very Vanilla added from the retired Seasonal Swirls die set:

A fussy cut sentiment from 'Season of Chic', a linen thread bow and a trio of speckled dots complete my card. I had a few leftover bits and pieces so used them to add a little additional decoration to the inside of my card:

I love the softness of the Very Vanilla with the mix of browns and I think they compliment the blues nicely too.

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:

Enjoy your day; I'm planning on spending my day baking an gardening in equal measure! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

COUNTRY WREATHS DIES (37.00)	COUNTRYSIDE INN 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	SEASON OF CHIC PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (26.00)	BOHO BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
PECAN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	LINEN THREAD (4.75)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	ADHESIVE-BACKED SPECKLED DOTS (7.50)

I managed to get lots of crafting done today so am well on my way to getting back into the swing of things! I've a quick post to share a card inspired by this week's Case The Designer challenge over at Global Design  Project:

I love the layering of Wilma's original card so this was the starting point for my card - take a look:

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

My card features one of the brightly coloured pages from the Masterfully Made designer series paper pack and I took the colours for my base, foliage and stamping from there. I used my favourite leaf stem from the Gorgeously Made Dies for my foliage stems, adding one in Berry Burst and another in Melon Mambo, and softened the Crushed Curry stamping on my white panel with an additional layer of vellum. A couple of Pretty Peacock sequins complete my card:

My card is a riot of clashing colour and whilst you can't see much of the designer paper layer, it does a great job of bringing all of the colours together. I love it! 

If you are also in love with the Gorgeously Made bundle, remember if you purchase it before the end of September you will receive the 'Create With Jan and Joanne' tutorial bundle containing 4 projects designed by myself and my crafty friend Jan Clothier featuring this versatile suite.

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 my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GORGEOUSLY MADE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (47.50)	MASTERFULLY MADE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS TRIO (7.50)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a sketch challenge chosen by Heather H:

I love a good sketch and since I've been playing with my 'Joy of Noel' set this week putting the finishing touches to projects for next month's 'Create With Joanne & Jan' tutorial set, which I collaborate on with my AYSI teamie Jan Clothier, I thought this sketch lent itself to another Christmas card featuring this versatile bundle - take a look:

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

Shining Brightly - Instead of pairing the bundle with the papers in the suite, I decided to use one of the navy and gold patterns in the 'Shining Brightly' Specialty paper pack for the vertical panel. Along with the gold and vanilla patterns in the pack, these papers are truly stunning - and popular! They have been out of stock for a few weeks, but are due back in sometime next week. I will be ordering another pack for sure so if you are also wanting to add these papers to your collection, be sure to let me know so that I can notify you as soon as they come in -  I have a growing list!

Joyous Noel - I just love the sentiments in the 'Joy of Noel' set, especially the NOEL letters. Each one is individual, but since they stamp and diecut in this square pattern, I decided to use them backed with a square of gold foil for my next layer and overlay them with 'Joyous' for the last bit of my sentiment, which I fussy cut by hand. 

Going For Gold - I stamped and heat-embossed the letters in gold onto Night of Navy cardstock before diecutting them, to create a seamless look. This card is quite shiny but you can see the detailing on the stamped image below:

A trio of (retired) gold gems complete my card. This card is actually quite simple to recreate, although I did spend ages procrastinating first time around! I just love the simple elegance - this is most definitely a 'me' 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. 

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 sketch challenge, you are welcome to rotate or flip a sketch. You can replace shapes used such as substituting a circle panel for a square panel. However, we must be able to still see the basis of the original sketch in your finished product.

Enjoy your day; I am hoping to get a little extra crafting done this weekend so will hopefully be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JOY OF NOEL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (45.75)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	SHINING BRIGHTLY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Have you missed me? I have been rather absent from my blog in recent weeks - with the eldest of the James Juniors having left to begin university life, it hasn't left much time or opportunity for crafting. This week should see normal blog service resume, starting with this post! This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Rachel has asked that we add three connected shapes and a sentiment:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I did just that - take a look:

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

Ordinarily this is the kind of sketch that would lead me to use three uniform shapes and probably a little designer paper too, but coming to my desk fresh for the first time in a couple of weeks, I went in a completely different direction! I decided to rotate the sketch through 90 degrees and use the vertical as a flower/grass stem, which I stencilled using a stencil made using one of the Meadow Dies onto a loose column of ombre colour that I created first using inks and blending brushes. I then added a simple stamped sentiment from the 'Season of Chic' stamp set and a trio of diecut butterflies that I diecut from Basic Black cardstock and popped up on dimensionals:

Before adding my butterflies, I used a dry brush to add a fine splatter of white frost shimmer paint to my ombre panel; it adds a subtle shimmer, albeit one that is difficult to see in the photographs. 

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! color 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.

Today's card was inspired by the challenge to create a silhouette over at SUO Challenges and the beautiful ombre night sky above the houses on the left of the Inkspirational inspo photo and I'm also linking up over at Just Add Ink where they are asking us to 'just add wildlife' - I think my butterflies qualify.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

MEADOW DIES (36.00)	SEASON OF CHIC PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (26.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BERRY BURST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'World Card Making Day' which is on 7 October. Remember 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. This week I used bright colours, sequins and layers and this is what I came up with:

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

World Card Making Day - This week's challenge celebrates World Card Making Day. This day is celebrated on the first Saturday in October each year, which this year falls on 7th October. As a crafter and committed card maker, this is definitely a day to celebrate! I always try to make sure I do some crafting for fun on that day but if you would like something more organised, you can join with me and the team at Stampin' Up! who are hosting a free event for this day:

This is a virtual event that will run from 1-4pm UK time and during this time we will be using a trio of different supplies to make three different cards. You can download the supplies list here and you've plenty of time to order anything you need in advance of the session (you can of course substitute other supplies if you don't have those detailed to hand). There is also a handy measurements guide for you to use in preparation and to refer to during the session. The session is FREE to attend; you can register here ahead of time, but if you haven't registered and happen to be free simply come along! I hope to see you there!

Just My Type - My card to celebrate this day is a simple 'hello' card featuring the 'Just My Type' stamp set and the Delightfully Eclectic designer series paper. The flowers in the paper co-ordinate beautifully with those in the stamp set that I featured behind my typewriter. I picked out the colours in the paper for my 'hello' sentiment and added a few hearts and sequins and a fold of ribbon to complete my card. I stamped the typewriter in Night of Navy onto Fresh Freesia cardstock for a different look - what do you think?

I really like this card - the pops of colour against the darker blues make me happy :-)

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 Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

Enjoy your day; I'll be back Sunday with my Paper Players project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JUST MY TYPE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	DELIGHTFULLY ECLECTIC 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (28.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BUBBLE BATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	PASTEL ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I paired Jaydee's colours with the sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments and since I had a little more time this week decided I would have a little play with some new product - take a look:

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

Exposed Brick Texture - First up is a new-to-me product, the Exposed Brick 3D embossing folder that I used to emboss not only a piece of Pebble Path-coloured designer paper from the Fresh As A Daisy pack, but also the solid coloured trio of panels that sit on top of the base. I don't use a lot of embossing as a rule, but isn't that texture just something? It is great for adding detail to backgrounds and I really love the effect.

Abundant Beauty Sunflowers - It will be no surprise to my regular readers that the Abundant Beauty masks were one of the first things onto my pre-order shopping list - I do love a good stencil! This is a great pack with a herringbone design, autumn and snowflake panels and a layering stencil that includes a trio of sunflowers. These are the stencils I used today - I used my blending brushes to apply colour to my flower trio - I used Crushed Curry as my additional colour to 'brighten' my sunflowers and allow for more graduated colour - and some additional leaves, then fussy cut them out and pieced them onto my frame/panel background. Check out the texture and detailing on the close up below:

Charming Sentiments - To finish I added a simple sentiment from the 'Charming Sentiments' set and diecut it with the coordinating die. I love that this stamp set has such a great variety of phrases for each and every occasion, and they can be diecut perfectly with no need to fussy cut - bonus!

I'll be honest I did find Jaydee's colour palette a challenge this week and I wasn't sure about this card once finished but having let it sit a while, I've decided it looks just fine, even if those leaves are a slightly unorthodox choice! What do you think? How would you use these colours? What do you have to be grateful for today? 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 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:

Enjoy your day; we are still in the grips of the late summer heatwave we've been experiencing here in the UK this week, so as much as I'd love to type more posts and share more things with you, my craft room is a veritable sauna, so I am spending as little time in it as possible - the garden and BBQ beckons! I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ABUNDANT BEAUTY DECORATIVE MASKS (10.00)	PEBBLED PATH A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	WILD WHEAT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	COPPER CLAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	WILD WHEAT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	FRESH AS A DAISY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	2023–2025 IN COLOR™ DOTS (7.50)	COPPER CLAY 3/8" (1 CM) TEXTURED RIBBON (7.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	CHARMING SENTIMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	SENTIMENT SILHOUETTES DIES (33.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a fun speed challenge chosen by Heather C:

Hobbies - what a fun theme this week and so many options, even when working against the clock! My hobbies include running, playing piano, cross stitch and stamp collecting (the postal kind although my rubber stamp collection is extensive too!) to name but a few, but I'm sure that my choice of crafting for my card today won't surprise you at all!  - Since we are against the clock with no more than 10 minutes at our disposal, quick cards are the order of the day! I ended up making two cards during my crafting session and each came in well within the time limit, so I thought I'd share both since each uses a different approach to saving time! Both cards feature the 'Crafting With You' bundle and the first card I created uses the sketch layout over at SUO Challenges - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Preparation Is Key - The key to a quick card is preparation. You can gather your materials before you start the clock, so knowing exactly what I was going to create I gathered my Bubble Bath card base, offcuts of white and Crumb Cake cardstock, mounted the stamps I was going to use onto blocks and placed them in front of the open ink pads in the correct colours, selected the dies I needed, the necessary tools and gathered together any other supplies such as ribbon and sequins that I had in Bubble Bath in case I wanted to add some final embellishments. Then I pressed start on my stopwatch!

Monochrome Makes Easy - This first card sticks to a simple monochrome pink colour scheme, with just a little grey for the sentiment and outline. This is another good way to save time when you need to make a quick card - keeping colours to a minimum requires much less co-ordination. I stamped and fussy cut the sentiment, stamped the balls of wool and coloured them, then diecut them along with the basket and the stitched frame (I don't know why, but this frame always reminds me of unravelled wool so I thought it would work well with my knitting theme) in one pass through the diecutting machine to save time. I added all of the elements to my card base, then added some tone-on-tone stamped hearts and a trio of self-adhesive sequins to complete my card:

Time taken? Just 6 minutes and 29 seconds!

I even surprised myself at how quickly this came together, especially as one of the biggest time savers - no diecutting - is something I often struggle with. This card just shows though that so long as you are smart about it and at least minimise it or run as much through in one go as possible, you can make it work. I'm also linking this card up over at Less Is More where the current challenge is 'anything goes' - as long as it's clean and simple!

The Ultimate Speed Hack - Having cleaned my stamps and cleared away the debris from my first card, I thought I'd have a go at a second version, this time using the current sketch layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, for a second card using my favourite speed hack of all: designer series paper! Designer paper is a great way to maximise pattern and detail with minimal time and effort and I knew I had some of this fabulous, albeit retired, Follow Your Art designer series paper in my stash and I have been itching to pair it with the current 'Crafting With You' bundle, so this was the perfect opportunity. This was the card that I created:

Still simple in design: the vertical panel of DSP does much of the work, with a simple banner sentiment that I decorated with a piece of (retired) Calypso Coral ribbon and 4 cotton reels that I diecut using some co-ordinating scraps of cardstock:

This card took slightly longer at 7 minutes and 16 seconds (no photo I'm afraid, I accidentally reset my stopwatch before I could grab a photo so you'll just have to take my word for it!) - whilst those cotton reels were all cut in a single pass, as there are 4 dies in the set, they are small and fiddly to glue. I also had OCD on those banner ends for the cardstock and ribbon, so allowed myself time to get them even. I think this card is my favourite of the two - hence me using it as my ASYI card. I hope you found my tips and tricks useful for creating cards in a hurry - why not make a card celebrating one of your hobbies and join us for our current challenge?

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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. 

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 your day. We are expecting another day of glorious sunshine here so I will be making the most of it! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CRAFTING WITH YOU BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (51.25)	STITCHED WITH WHIMSY DIES (27.00)	PASTEL ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.50)	BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BUBBLE BATH STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Rachel is hosting for the month of September and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I paired these lovely summery colours with the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday and the 'choose 2' challenge over at Just Add Ink (I chose tearing and twine) to make a baby card for the challenge over at CAS on Friday:

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

My card is a pretty straightforward combination of elements and it was something of a happy accident that it worked for each of the challenges that I'm linking up with today. Let me explain! So I started with Rachel's summery colours and combined with the late return of summer sunshine here in the UK I was inspired to look through summery sets on my shelf. I happened upon my Sailboat Builder Punch, which has been neglected of late now that the co-ordinating stamp set has retired, so I pulled it off the shelf to give it some love. I am not a big one for tearing paper as my regular readers will know but when I saw Lou Kitzleman's card over at Just Add Ink this week I totally fell in love with it (you can see her fabulous card here) and whilst I will undoubtedly CASE her card another time for fun, I wanted to use the idea of the torn strips on my card today. In order to preserve my 'white space' I used the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday (love their layouts!) and created a corner detail of torn cardstock using some old Coastal Cabana coloured coredinations cardstock from my stash to give the feeling of waves. I punched out my sailboat using a scrap of Starry Sky cardstock and another of Lemon Lolly striped Bright & Beautiful designer series paper for the sails and finished with a sentiment from the 'Sweet Songbirds' stamp set. I added everything to my card and finished my sailboat with a twine bow:

I just love these bright colours for a slightly less traditional new baby card and I'm so pleased with how this card came together.

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. 

What will you make with this week's colours? 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'!

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 a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

I feel like I need to start today's post with a confession! I am hosting this week - and for a variety of reasons I have been super busy with family commitments and not had a moment to craft all week! So when it came to making my card with limited time to spare, I remembered I had the cutest family of four-legged friends that would enable me to make a super-quick card - take a look:

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

Yes - the Beary Christmas Memories & More Cards to the rescue! For this week's card, I used not only one of the printed cards but also a pre-printed card base with co-ordinating envelope; all I needed was to add a little ribbon loop detail and pop the card up on dimensionals and I was done. By using the pre-printed bases, this card was even quicker to pull together than last week. And isn't this cute family of polar bears just the cutest?

The Memories & More cards are perfect for crafting when time is of the essence - and this set of four legged friends is just adorable! They are making me sleepy just looking at them - so contented.

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:

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

Today I have my project for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'World Gratitude Day' which is on September 21st. Remember 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. This week I did embrace the challenge theme wholeheartedly and used ribbon, gift packaging, die cuts, flowers and thank you and this is what I came up with:

I created both some gift packaging and a co-ordinating card using the lovely autumnal colour palette over at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. Here's the low-down on today's projects:

Gift Packaging Made Easy - For my gift box, I created a decorative belly band for one of the Envelope Treat Boxes that can be found on page 126 of the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue. Have you seen them? They are white, stampable boxes that measure 2 1/4" x 3 1/2" x 1" when folded and are perfect for packaging little treats. I made my wrap using the Glorious Gingham designer paper in Pecan Pie, then added a label that I decorated with foliage and stamped and coloured flowers and a trio of solid gems:

Here's a picture with the belly band removed, so that you can see how the box opens (gold foil stickers are also included with the boxes to seal them, although they are principally decorative - the box will hold itself closed):

Here's a close up showing the stamping on my label and my coloured flowers - I just love the warm tones of this trio of colours together:

A Co-ordinating Thank You - I decided to create a co-ordinating card to give with my gift; I used elements of my packaging design and carried them into my card, using the simple layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday as the basis for my design:

On my card I only added foliage to the bottom portion of the sentiment strip, to mimic the sketch; I also added a thin, solid strip of cardstock to highlight the simple thank you sentiment:

The layering of the foliage diecuts in the Timeless Arrangements bundle adds so much detail to this otherwise clean card and I love the blend of this trio of warm, almost autumnal colours. It's been so chilly here in the UK these past few days, this set fits right in!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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 Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

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