Happy Monday everyone! I've had the first of my classes this year this morning (I'll share one of those cards with you tomorrow) but for today I have my last sneak peek for you, this time featuring some of the gorgeous new Birthday Bouquet designer series paper from the forthcoming Spring-Summer Stampin' Up! catalogue. This set has some beautiful patterns, featuring everything from confetti to ice creams, balloons to spots and stripes; my card today highlights one of the two flower patterns in the set:

I used some simple layers in Old Olive and Soft Sky to co-ordinate with the designer paper and stamped a sentiment from the co-ordinating 'Birthday Blooms' stamp set on a wide cross panel of Blushing Bride. I finished with a small Itty Bitty Accents punched flower and that's my card - done! I did add a little stamping on the inside but this card really was so quick I made two at the same time as it really didn't take twice as long. I love it when the paper does all the hard work for you!

So only one more sleep to go then it's here - the new 2016 Stampin' Up! Spring-Summer catalogue and the start of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion! The catalogues have all been mailed to my online customers and my local customers will receive theirs either at their classes this week or at my open house next week on Thursday 14th January 10am-2pm. If you live in or around Northampton and would like to attend, please get in touch for details.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Available 5th January:

140557 Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper

140658 Birthday Blooms Stamp Set (clear mount)

Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Neutrals Candy Dots

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's our first challenge of the new year and the first thing to do is welcome our three new guest designers that are joining us from today: Linda Callaghan, Hannelie Bester and Colleen Begley, we are so happy you are joining us and sharing your collective talents over the next 6 months.

This week it is my turn to host the first challenge of the new year and I have a fun theme for you to play along with:

It's all about numbers! You can use them in any way on your cards and can make a card with any theme - as long as it features at least one number. For my card this week I was inspired to use the layout over at Fusion and my new Large Numbers Framelits Dies to create a fun shaker card: 

I used my numbers to create a shaker card by backing them with a piece of window sheet in the negative space, through which you can see both the fun It's My Party balloon-festooned designer series paper behind and also the mix of metallics and brights sequins inside. My greeting is stamped from the co-ordinating 'Number of Years' set and a trio of balloons punched with my new Balloon Bouquet Punch and tied with two-tone baker's twine finish my card.

Here's a close up view of the shaker:

Rebecca and many of her friends will be turning 11 this year, hence my choice of number - her Christmas shaker cards proved very popular and now they are requesting birthday equivalents! I am loving the bright colours and patterns of the new It's My Party suite - only two more days to go until the Spring-Summer catalogue launches and I just know you are going to love it too!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. We are off to basketball today but no hockey for another week yet; then we are going to start taking the Christmas decorations down this afternoon and if we get everything finished we may even fit in a visit to the cinema - watch this space!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Available 5th January:

140811 - Number of Years & Large Numbers Framelits Dies Bundle

140609 - Balloon Punch

140552 - It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack

140718 - It's My Party Cardstock Pack

140555 - Baker's Twine Combo Pack 

Metallics Sequin Assortment	Brights Sequin Assortment	Window Sheets	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Today I have another 'sneak peek' card for you, featuring some beautiful new designer series paper and a most beautiful die. I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for the layout for today's card:

I'm also linking up with the team over at Stamps Ink Paper who are asking for anything so long as it's not Christmas! The 'Love Blossoms' suite on the new Spring-Summer catalogue includes a stamp set, papers, thinlit die, pink glimmer paper and an accessory kit and my card today uses each of the first three:

The thinlit die looks great in a single colour with or without the flowers highlighted, but for my card today I chose to cut out my heart in Garden Green, adding additional flowers in Rose Red and Blushing Bride that I cut with the other thinlits in the set and also paper-piecing some flowers into the negative spaces of the die. I highlighted the hearts in pink and added some tiny pearls to break up the green further. 

You can see the detail of the subtle layering and finish on the close-ups below: 

The die itself is so intricate, yet with another new tool available with the new catalogue, the Big Shot Die Brush, it is really easy to separate into its various parts - just look at the detail on the flowers themselves:

The sentiment is from the 'Bloomin' Love' set and the banner cut out with the co-ordinating framelit from the 'Large Numbers' framelits dies, also available in the new catalogue.

Whilst the Love Blossoms set and in particular the Bloomin' Heart thinlit die makes for beautiful Valentine's Day cards, it is versatile enough to be used for anniversaries, weddings, birthdays or even Mother's Day too. I paired my outer sentiment with one from another set, 'First Sight', on the inside of my card to make a very fitting tribute to a Mum - take a look:

A beautiful sentiment for the prettiest of cards!

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players. I am the hostess for our first challenge of the new year, so do pop back to see what I've chosen as the challenge this week. Until then, I have a few jobs to do today and we are back to the pool for our first swimming following the Christmas break. I'm almost envious that it's only the James Juniors getting in the water; I could do with losing a few post-Christmas pounds and this seems like it could be a good place to start! Happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Available 5th January:

140818 Bloom' Love Stamp Set and Bloomin' Hearts Thinlits Dies Bundle

140548 Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack

140685 First Sight (clear mount) 

140603 Big Shot Die Brush

Pearl Basic Jewels	Subtles 12" X 12" Cardstock	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Rose Red A4 Cardstock	Garden Green A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

A new card for a new year! I know I shared a new year card with you yesterday - well, I have another one for you today! As a rule I only send one happy new year card each year, to my mother-in-law for hosting our family New Year's gathering, however when I saw that the theme this week over at Global Design Project was CASE The Designer and set eyes on Bibi Cameron's gorgeous card, inspiration most definitely struck. Here is her original card:

Isn't it lovely? I was really attracted to the background and decided to have a go at another technique that my good friend Kim Fee over at Simply Fairies affectionately calls the 'smooshing technique' as the basis for my card. So here is my card:

You might wonder why I struggled with this background - looks simple enough, right? Well, having thrown away many a piece of ruined cardstock I would have to disagree - there is clearly an art to getting it right! The lovely Kim recently made a short video after much pleading by myself and other smoosh-challenged friends; you can watch it here and I seriously recommend you do if you want to try this technique as it contains some great hints and tips. 

I used extra-thick Whisper White cardstock for my base, then created my inked layer on a piece of shimmery white cardstock using Pacific Point, Island Indigo and Night of Navy inks. The cardstock gives the card a wonderful all over shimmer in real life. I then used the stars stamp from Holly Jolly Greetings (a carryover set, yay!) stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in gold for added interest, then used some gold glimmer numbers, diecut using the new Large Numbers Framelits Dies (love these!). My Hello is from the 'Crazy About You' stamp set, which I popped up on dimensionals and finished with a trio of gold metallics sequins.

I really love the randomness of this background, which is quite different from my usual style, even though the card still feels true to me. So thanks Bibi and Kim for the inspiration for today's card. I hope it inspires you too to create something a little different this week - the new year is full of new creative possibilities and I am so looking forward to sharing them with you!

Happy New Year wishes to you all, my customers, blog and social media followers and friends and the ladies over at SUO Challenges where I'm linking up my second New Year card. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Available January 5th:

140622 Large Numbers Framelits Dies

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool (Uk)	Big Shot	Holly Jolly Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Gold Glimmer Paper	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad