Welcome to the September Jems Blog Hop!  Our theme this month is items from the new holiday catalogue, which went live on Thursday.  It is jam packed full of gorgeous new products to kick start your Autumn, Halloween and Christmas crafting.

I really fancied doing some colouring, so I decided to use the Merry Mice stamp set, which is very cute and easy to colour in all sorts of mediums.  I chose to watercolour using inks and an aquapainter.

My colour combination of sweet sugarplum, pool party and silver was inspired by a new winter sequin mix, and whilst it's not a typical Christmas combo, I really like it!

I stamped the image onto watercolour paper with archival ink  and then coloured and cut it out with a nested circle die. I then added a line of fast fuse adhesive around the perimeter of the circle at the back, and created a gathered effect with the gorgeous new sparkly ribbon in sweet sugarplum.  I just gathered the ribbon as I went and smushed it into the adhesive (that is a technical term!)  The background of the card uses another little stamp from the mouse set, an adorable cluster of little stars, which I just stamped randomly on a whisper white card base.  Simple but effective, I think.

The sentimemt banner comes from a Hostess stamp set from the Annual catalogue, called Time of Year.

I hope you like my first Christmas card of the year!  If you would like a complimentary copy of the new holiday catalogue, please contact me and I'd be happy to send you one.  Not only is it full of gorgeous new products, but it is jam packed with ideas and inspiration too.

Thanks for dropping by!  Please click on the link below to go to the next blog in the hop, the lovely Sam.

First Jems Blog Hop!

Firstly, welcome to my new blog!  Please leave a comment to let me know you've been here (and show me I'm not talking to myself!)  I'd love to hear your thoughts on my projects.

I've chosen a very special event to mark the launch of Jolie Paperie - the inagural Jems Blog Hop.  The Jems are an amazing team of Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, headed up by the brilliant Julie Kettlewell.  Being part of this team is one of the best things I've ever done.  It's an honour to be part of such an inspirational group of women.

If you've come to me via my lovely Stampin' Up! "Mummy" Julie Kettlewell, welcome!  Isn't her project amazing? What an act to follow!

Our theme this month is Retired Products, and I've used the Birthday Bouquet papers from the Spring/Summer catalogue (probably my favourite papers EVER, I'm going to be so sad to see them go) and the Perfect Pennants stamp set from the Annual Catalogue, which is full of positive and uplifting sentiments.

I wanted to keep the beautiful papers as the focus, so I've chosen a very simple design with a delicate vellum banner, embossed in gold and stitched on with gold thread.  A sprinkling of gold sequins completes the look.

Here's a close up of the embossed sentiment and stitching.  I'll let you in on a secret - I don't have a sewing machine...I used my paper piercer to poke holes and then sewed it by hand (you don't want to see the back!)

Here's another example using the ice cream cone paper..

And another close up...

I liked the way the loose threads looked, so I pulled them through to the front.  But for those who like things neat, I did another sample with the threads tucked neatly away, and pierced two rows of holes so I could cross stitch.

Such a delicate, feminine looking project, I think.

And finally, all the cards together.

Thank you for visiting, hope you liked my projects and my new blog...I'd like to invite you to subscribe if you'd like to see more from me.  Next stop on the hop is the lovely Samantha Webster.  Enjoy!

Stay jolie,
Allie xx