No prizes for guessing the theme of our last challenge for 2025 - it's Christmas!  The Sweet Stampin' challenge will be open for the duration of the month, so there's plenty of time for you to enter your Christmas creations.

I opted for a Concord & 9th stamp and die combo, so that I could build a row of houses.  The house die has a tab on the right-hand side making it easy to attach more die cut houses.  There are plenty of choices when it comes to decoration, with both stamps and dies to create different looks for each house.

I used Concord & 9th and Spellbinders cardstock to cut out the shapes and used inks to stamp the bricks, wooden slats and the detailing on the doors.  For a tiny bit of sparkle I used Sakura glitter pens on the banner and fairy lights; I used ceramic dots to create the baubles on the trees.

We'd love you to share your Christmas cards, tags etc so do take a look at the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog. You'll find inspiration from the Sweeties plus the challenge details.

Hope to see what you've made!

xx

It's our birthday!

 Happy Birthday to us!  Sweet Stampin' has it's birthday this week and we'd love you to celebrate with us.

Our challenge theme, unsurprisingly, is Birthdays and we can't wait to see your birthday creations.  I have only relatively recently become a fan of the Greetery (Seven Hills Crafts has all of the Greetery goodness in their online shop) and I treated myself to this slightly older stamp and stencil set.

I chose a range of colours from an assortment of companies for my design - the possible colour combos for this set are endless, so I made a few in readiness for other cards.  As the stamped image is so busy I kept the rest of the card nice and simple, creating a thin black mat for the main image and echoing this in the sentiment panel.  A few gems from my stash completed the design.

We hope you can play along with us this fortnight and if nothing else it will give you a break from  your Christmas cards!

xxx

Red for Remembrance at Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog

 I've been dying to use this beautiful press plate/stencil set from Altenew and our Red for Remembrance challenge starting today seemed the perfect opportunity.

Did you know that you can use your press plates in our Sweet Stampin' challenges?  After all, they're essentially just another way of stamping.

I ran the plate through my Betterpress machine using gold ink from Lisa Horton (these inks are AMAZING btw).  Once the ink was thoroughly dry I attached my stencils and inked the different sections using Pink Fresh Studio inks in Coral Reef, Passion Fruit, Berrylicious and Candy Apple.

I cut a frame for the image from co-ordinating cardstock, allowing for a thin white border to make the image really stand out.  I adhered a couple of gems from my stash and the job was done.

I really hope you can play along with us this fortnight while we give our thanks to all of those who served so that we can be safe and free.  My heart goes out to all of those affected by the horrific wars going on today across the world.  When will people ever learn?

You'll find all of the challenge details, along with lots of lovely inspiration from the Sweeties, here.

Take care xx

Inspired by a book, song or film

 We have a new challenge starting over at Sweet Stampin' today.  This fortnight we'd like your project to reflect inspiration from either a book, a song or a film.

I'll be honest, I usually struggle to get started with these challenges and this one was no exception.  I tried quite a few ideas but wasn't happy with any of them.  Fortunately, when I was deliberating whether I could show the French film Intouchable to my third years, inspiration struck! The central character in the film is a big fan of Kool and the Gang, and I knew I had a press plate that would link to the song Celebration.

I decided that I would keep the design fairly simple so that the bold lettering could take centre stage.  The press plate set comprises two plates, giving you the option to layer the design.  I hot-foiled the letters in matte gold and then used the Betterpress to stamp the flowers over the top.  I was so pleased how this turned out!

I cut a gold mat to go behind the focal panel and adhered this to an A2 card base.  I added a few moonstone dew drops for some subtle embellishment and called it done.

I hope you can join in our Inspired by... challenge.  All the details, as well as inpiration from the Sweeties, are over on the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog.

Have a great weekend

xx

Use a die/die cuts - Sweet Stampin'

 While Sweet Stampin' is very much a stamping challenge blog, we also appreciate the role die cutting has to play in creating lovely cards, tags, gift boxes and layouts.  So, this fortnight, we're celebrating dies and die cut images for our challenge, although you must include some stamping as well!

Provided the pieces aren't too small, I love a bit of die-cut inlay, so that was my choice for my DT make

The die set is from Concord and 9th and I used mostly C&9th cardstock.  If you're into batch-creating, these cover dies are a dream to work with.  There are a few ways of doing this, but what works best for me is to cover my card base with a double-sided adhesive sheet (tape would also work).  I cut a few panels in co-ordinating cardstock and choose one of these as my base cardstock panel, popping out the pieces before adhering the panel to the card base.  After that it's just a question of choosing your colours and filling in the gaps.

The banner and sentiment are also from C&9th; the sentiment was heat embossed in gold and I popped up the banner using some foam squares.  I added a few sequins and dew drops from my stash to complete my design.

We'd love you to play along with us and you have two weeks to upload your creation over at the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog.

Have fun!

xxx

Animals!

 A new challenge starts today at Sweet Stampin'.  This time our theme is animals, wild or domestic!

I opted for man's best friend for my DT card and was inspired to try colour blocking after seeing this technique used so brilliantly by Yana Smakula.

I started by stamping, colouring and die cutting these cute pups using a set from MFT.  I used Copic markers as usual, adding a little bit of Sakura black gloss pen to the wee noses.

I cut squares of cardstock as individual mats for my images, using card from my scrap folder. I think the colours are Spellbinders Beeswax, Indigo and Barely Peach, plus Gina K Seaglass.  I cut a banner from Concord and 9th Lakefront and stamped the "thanks" sentiment from a mini stamp set by Altenew.  The banner was a saving grace as it goes some way towards hiding the fact that I had a hard time lining up the cardstock squares!

Do grab a cuppa and head along to the Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog to check out the inspiration makes created by the Sweeties.  You have just under 2 weeks to submit your entries.

Enjoy your weekend!

xxx

Sweet Stampin' - Use a Stencil

 It's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.  This fortnight we're asking you to use a stencil as part of your design (although you still need to include some stamping somewhere).

I treated myself to this Kristina Werner stencil from the last Concord & 9th release.  It's a fair old size, so you can crop out the portion you like best if you're making a smaller card.

I would recommend using Pixie spray on the first layer as the area masking the stems it liable to move about while you're applying your ink.  The other layers are less delicate and you wouldn't necessarily need to apply adhesive to them unless you really wanted to.

I used a number of different ink brands for my colours. The background is C&9th Pebble, applied with a very light hand using the first stencil.  The leaves and stems were done using Gina K inks (Key Lime and Fresh Asparagus, if I remember rightly) and the flower centres were created with Pink Fresh Studio inks from the orange ink cube set.  I wanted white flowers so I didn't use that stencil.

The inked panel was cropped down and matted onto cream and chocolate brown cardstock layers before applying to my card base.  I white heat-embossed the stamped sentiment onto the same chocolate cardstock, cut it out with a rectangle die and glued it to my image.

We'd love you to play along with us this fortnight, so grab a cuppa and head over to the Sweet Stampin' blog for the challenge details and some great inspiration from the Team Wends Sweeties.

Enjoy your weekend!

xx