Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card using Jen B's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches that was also inspired by the colours of the festive photo over at Inspired By:

I loved Jen's sketch and combined with the red, green and brown of the Inspired By photo it was perfect for me to use two things in my crafting stash from the current mini catalogue that have yet to see ink - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Sweets & Treats - The minute I saw Jen's sketch I knew that it would be a great opportunity for me to ink up the Christmas pudding in the 'Sweets & Treats' stamp set. I bought this set for this very stamp! A Christmas or 'plum' pudding is a quintessentially British festive tradition dating back to medieval times; I coloured mine with my Stampin' Blends and fussy cut it and positioned it over a strip of Heartwarming Hugs DSP with a stitched scalloped edge. I used the same stamp set to add a festive cupcake to the inside of my card too:

A Merry Melody - The Merry Melody Embossing Folder was another of those items that made it into my pre-order basket but I have yet to use. I thought it would make a fun background for my Christmas pudding (I am hearing a chorus of 'So bring us some figgy pudding...' as I type!) - you can see the texture in more detail below - I blended some ink around the edges with a blender brush to accentuate the detail:

A fussy cut heat-embossed sentiment completes my card.

The Pudding Club - I decided I liked this card so much, I'd make another one in the same style but using Cinnamon Cider instead of Soft Suede for my background:

What do you think? Which card do you prefer? I think on balance I prefer my original version; do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts! You can see them next to each other further down this post for comparison. 

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:

SWEETS & TREATS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£16.00)	MERRY MELODY 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	BASIC BORDERS DIES (£27.00)	HEARTWARMING HUGS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SOFT SUEDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SOFT SUEDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CINNAMON CIDER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CINNAMON CIDER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CINNAMON CIDER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

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 you to work with:

I struggled a little to decide what to do about the split background layer on today's card; I eventually decided to use a single, bright patterned paper from the Painted Christmas pack - take a look:

There are some gorgeous patterns in the Painted Christmas pack, all with a loose watercoloured feel. I love this red and white pattern but it needed an otherwise uncluttered card to show it off to best advantage. So I split the panel into three as per the sketch, then added a red label with a white heat-embossed sentiment, accented with some holly and foliage stamped with the Christmas Season stamp set, some loops of sheer red ribbon and some red sparkly gems to finish:

This card was actually quite straightforward to put together, but I spent ages procrastinating about which paper or papers to feature so seemed to take forever to design!! I really like the pop of red against the white though, with just a little green foliage too. I used one of the sentiments from 'Merriest Moments' - this is most certainly my favourite sentiment set in the current catalogue.

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

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

I'm also linking today's card up over at Global Design Project #GDP319 where the theme is 'Christmas'.

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; we have had a freezing few days here in the UK so today I will most definitely be staying indoors, keeping warm and might even indulge in a spot of festive baking! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHRISTMAS SEASON BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£49.50)	MERRIEST MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	PAINTED CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	REAL RED 3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON (£6.50)	WONDERFUL GEMS (£7.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

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

I decided to use the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday for my layout, grabbed my retired Playful Pets Designer Series Paper and embraced TSOT'S optional theme of 'peek a boo' with today's birthday card. This is what my card looks like when closed:

I used a simple birthday greeting from the 'Peaceful Moments' set inside my circle, adding a cat fussy cut from the DSP that fitted the shape perfectly. When you open the card, the magic slider causes a second sentiment to be revealed:

This sentiment is from the 'Pampered Pets' set, which I masked and stamped in sections in order that it would fit in my circle. I also added another cat - this one looks more than a little scared of the mouse though! Here's a close up:

Here's a little video I made to show the peek-a-boo in action:

As fun folds go, these cards are so easy to make - what fun!

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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	PEACEFUL MOMENTS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	PAMPERED PETS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

This is my first post of a two-post Friday and I'm here with my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Christmas Jumper Day' which is on 10th December this year. 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. No jumpers for me this week; instead I used red, green, gold, plaid and glitter as my starting point and this is what I came up with:

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

Wrapped In Plaid - First up - I based my card today around a scrap of retired Wrapped in Plaid designer series paper that I found in my scraps box. I just loved the mix of colours and not only did it feature gold, red and green so use three items on the inspiration list straight off the bat, it is perfectly festive to ... 

Delivering Cheer - ... paper-piece onto the skirt of my 'Delivering Cheer' party girl. For the top half I used the armful of gifts, all coloured with my Stampin' Blends to coordinate with her skirt. This is such a fun stamp set with so many mix and match options. It reminds me of the paper dressing up dolls I had as a child! I added another scrap of plaid along with a sentiment from the same set to the inside of my card:

All That Glitters - I heat embossed my cover sentiment in gold, added a gold Wink of Stella bow to my parcel pile and added a trio of gold gilded gems, but the real glitter comes from the retired Be Dazzling paper that I used for my mat layer - I can't tell you what a fabulous sparkle this adds in real life:

I love the finished look of this card; this is how I imagine I look on Christmas Day, although I'm sure my family would disagree!

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

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

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

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans

Joanne James

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

DELIVERING CHEER PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)

Today I have a quick card for that resulted from a combination of me seeing the current Inkspirational inspiration photo and my recent rummage through the retired Christmas stamp set pile:

I love the effect of that gold-on-black chair in the inspiration photo and thought it would be perfect for a card using the retired stamp 'The Newborn King' - take a look:

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

The main scene in this stamp is so effective when stamped in Versamark and heat membossed in metallic gold onto Basic Black cardstock. I stamped the main image, then added the star above the stable and mounted my stamped panel onto gold foil and a Basic Black cardbase. 

I added a combination of sentiments from the same stamp set to the inside of my card, along with a star stamped in encore metallic gold ink:

All done! I like to have a number of religious Christmas cards to send out and I definitely have my favourites in my retired stamp set stash to make them with - they set I used today (and the one I used on yesterday's card) are two of my favourites.

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've added a link to the basic supplies below, but obviously this doesn't include the stamp set as this is retired. 

I'm also linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges where they are all about Christmas for their next 3 challenges, so you should definitely check them out for some festive inspiration.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another two projects as it's time for Two-Post Friday. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STAMPARATUS (£46.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing another card for the current challenges over at Less Is More and Time Out:

I still had my retired 'Joyful Nativity' stamp set out on my desk from having made my previous entry for these challenges (if you missed it, you can see that card here); I love the silhouette images in this set and couldn't resist making another card with it - take a look:

So this one has a little more detail on it: I used the same colour scheme of Night of Navy, gold and white, this time stamping the word 'JOY' in navy and stamping the silhouette of the holy family inside the 'O'. I used my Stamparatus to get the images lined up and to be able to reink several times to ensure full coverage as I didn't want a patchy silhouette to ruin the effect - the Stamparatus is invaluable for this! I then stamped a star in Versamark and heat embossed it in gold just inside the circle to complete my scene:

I originally made this as a one layer card, but decided to cut it down and add to a white base to allow a subtle white-on-white border for my central image. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set to the inside of my card and that was it - done! A little more technique involved than my last card, but still beautiful in its simplicity (even if I say so myself!)

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've added a link to the basic supplies below, but obviously this doesn't include the stamp set as this is retired. I have included the link to the Stamparatus too - if you don't own a stamping platform, the Stamparatus is in my view the best of its kind and definitely worth a look - it would make the ideal Christmas gift for a crafter at any level or experience. I hope today's card inspires you to create something, festive or otherwise, with a silhouette. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STAMPARATUS (£46.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and I designed the following sketch for us to work with:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. There are so many ways you can use a simple vertical panel; for my card today I decided to use the 'Amaryllis Abloom' stamp set, one of two host sets in the current mini catalogue, and use the vertical element to showcase a fabulous amaryllis bloom - take a look:

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

The 'Amaryllis Bloom' stamp set is a stamp set that is exclusively available to purchase using hostess rewards when you either host a Stampin' Up! party or place an order of £150 or more. It can be found on page 78 of the mini catalogue, along with the 'Seasons of Fun' stamp set, and is only available for the duration of this catalogue sales period, i.e. until 3rd January. The flowers in the 'Amaryllis Abloom' stamp set comprise a soft, almost watercoloured stamp element and a line drawn flower with leaves. It's not a two-step step stamp, in as much as the softer stamps don't fit the line drawn image to 'colour' it; each of the elements is a standalone. I decided to use the softer stamps from the bottom of my card upwards, and stamped both flowers and leaves, some of them stamped off directly onto my card base. I then stamped the lined image in Versamark onto vellum and heat embossed it with black embossing powder, then coloured the image on the reverse using my Stampin' Blends then fussy cut this piece and added this to the centre of my floral display. I heat embossed my sentiment, from the same set, and added a few clear sequins to complete my card.

Whilst my flower follows the contours of the vertical panel of the sketch, I stamped it directly onto my white card base and it extends beyond them; I used a double scored line to add additional detail without detracting from the flower - you can see them slightly better on the angled shot below:

This is quite an unusual style of card for me, but I quite like it - the vellum flower is so shiny in real life.

I have a real soft spot for amaryllis, especially at this time of year. My grandfather was an amazing gardener and he had a wonderful collection of amaryllis. I loved finding new varieties in unusual colours to gift him at Christmas time as he was always thrilled to have a new addition to his collection. My personal favourite is still a traditional bold red one though - whilst my grandfather is long gone, every time I see one of these flowers they bring back wonderful memories of him. 

I am also linking today's card up over at The Flower Challenge where they are asking for 'flowers with leaves' and at Global Design Project where the theme is 'Christmas'.

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:

AMARYLLIS ABLOOM HOST PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£9.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SUBTLE SHIMMER SEQUINS (£6.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

I have a late post today, having spent the day catching up with an old friend who I haven't seen in too long - we had such a lovely day! Today I'm sharing a card that uses both the sketch and photo inspiration over at Fusion:

I love the red/white/grey colour palette in the inspiration photo and decided that I would use the sketch to create a card that highlights one of the Delicate Baubles Dies that I've yet to share with you here on my blog - take a look at what I created:

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

I added a piece of Peaceful Place designer paper with a subtle pattern to the edge of my card, then added a trio of offset baubles, with my 'joy' layered bauble cut with the Delicate Baubles Dies as my centrepiece. The two red diecut baubles were using retired baubles dies as I wanted them to be smaller in size. I added a silver twine bow and some red rhinestone berries to the holly on my 'joy' bauble and finished my sentiment with a sentiment from the retired set 'Peace and Joy':

Once I'd figured out how to size and balance the baubles in a way that I was happy with, the card came together pretty quickly. I do seem to be on a bit of a grey/white/black/red thing lately - this is my second card with this colour combo in two days!

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:

DELICATE BAUBLES DIES (£33.00)	PEACEFUL PLACE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)
RED RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£6.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Laurie to host this week and she has a fun Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

I couldn't resist another crack at Kim's fabulous layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and paired with the colours over at Color Dare (I added Cherry Cobbler red as my fourth colour) for today's card - take a look:

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

I started out planning today's card with some trepidation; whilst I still have my retired 'Gnome for the Holidays' stamp set, I have no other current gnome stamp sets. I decided though that I would rise to the challenge and embark on trying to create one using some current supplies to fashion some gnome punch art. A quick perusal of Pinterest, I chose a cute cuddly gnome to base my design on, grabbed some current supplies and tools and set to work! I used the largest of the skinny Christmas trees from the Christmas Tree Dies and my Strawberry Builder Punch to make my gnome. I used some offcuts of Peaceful Place designer paper for my gnome body and the top horizontal strip above my sentiment, along with some Snowy White Velvet Paper for his beard and moustache for some subtle texture and a matt dot for his nose. A piece of snowflake behind and a tiny one on his hat, along with a sentiment from 'Penguin Place' complete my clean and simple gnome card:

I created a basic crib sheet so that you can see the main elements of my gnome and how I trimmed them, in case you fancy having a go at making one yourself - feel free to save this for future use:

I based the design of my punch art gnome on one of the ones in the retired 'Gnome For The Holidays' stamp set, which I stamped on the inside of my card for added decoration:

 As you can see, I decided I liked this card so much I made another - I think these little gnomes are rather cute, even if I say so myself!

I think I did a pretty good job of meeting the 'clean and simple' brief too - remember in addition to featuring a gnome (or elf, or fairy!) on your card it should also be clean and simple:

• minimal layers
• little/no embellishments
• lots of clean white space (no pattern)

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; mine is shaping up to be a rather uneventful one - here's hoping anyway! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHRISTMAS TREES DIES (£33.00)	STRAWBERRY BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)	PEACEFUL PLACE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	DECORATIVE MATTE DOTS (£7.50)	SNOWY WHITE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) VELVET SHEETS (£4.75)	PENGUIN PLACE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)
WONDERFUL SNOWFLAKES (£5.50)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

A very late post from me today but I wanted to share a couple of cards with you that I made with a few challenges in mind. My first card was inspired by the following:

It is unusual for me to get my inspiration from so many sources, but I couldn't resist those colours at Color Throwdown - navy, gold and white is one of my favourite colour combinations. I had already decided that navy would be perfect for a silhouette for Less Is More this week and I found the perfect image that enabled me to fulfil the brief over at AAA Cards of 'One Inchie' - take a look:

My silhouette angel from the retired 'Joyful Nativity' stamp set was perfect to fit into a slightly less than one inch square, just enough to allow for a gold foil scalloped square mat beneath it:

I left the whole of the remainder of my white cardbase blank - as the da Vinci quote over at Time Out states, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophisitcation' - hence my link up there too. So what do you think? Is my simple inchie silhouette too simple or seriously sophisticated? Do let me know in the comments below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I had a little extra time this morning and made another card that was totally inspired by Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and the wonderful photo at The Card Concept:

I took my inspiration in the photo from the deep red and vanilla gingham chair, the large rustic snowflake in the background and overall country feel for my clean and layered card:

I used some retired Farmhouse Christmas designer paper for the base and the sentiment strip and added some Cherry Cobbler twine and a wooden snowflake embellishment to finish:

This card came together really easily and I love the rustic feel. I also love Kim's sketch - I've another card using this layout to share tomorrow.

No supplies list as I was on a 'use it up' day - hope they still inspire you to create something similar with your supplies, old or new. I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!