It's been all busy here at the James' today: I have had the first of my Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue Launch Open House sessions and enjoyed welcoming lots of guests to share in the delights of the new catalogue. More on that later in the week, meanwhile for all you lovely blog readers I have a card that I made for a few challenges today: CAS(E) This Sketch, CAS-ual Fridays who are calling for use of tan, white and one bright colour and Less Is More, where they are looking for two legs or four:

So with all that in mind and Fathers Day just around the corner, here is today's card:

I thought the sketch was an interesting one and whilst my choice of two legs might not seem altogether adventurous, this is the only stamp in my Guy Greetings stamp set that I haven't inked up to date since as much as I love the set, I'm not sure about this fella! I did all my stamping in Soft Suede, stamping the man again on Tangerine Tango cardstock and fussy cutting out his trousers and paper piecing them onto my card base. The arrows I used with my sentiment are from an old photopolymer set (can't remember the name) and I popped the 'DAD' onto a small punched oval over some Tangerine Tango baker's twine for a little more added colour and emphasis. 

That's all from me for today; I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary using a brand new stamp set, so do pop back as you're not going to want to miss it. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Guy Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set

Tangerine Tango A4 Cardstock

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

Soft Suede A4 Cardstock

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

The wait is over - it's June 2nd and the new 2015-16 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is here! I have updated my links on the right hand side of my blog and you will find a permanent link to the new catalogue there, but for today you need look no further than the picture below which will take you straight to the new catalogue:

This is a day when you really can have it all though:

• Today is the last day to order from the 2015 Spring-Summer Occasions Catalogue. There are lots of great products in the 2015 Occasions Catalogue that are going away after June 2.  Read my previous blog post here for the detail.
• Today is the last day to order from the 2014-2015 Annual Catalogue.  Everything in that catalogue that isn’t carrying over to the 2015-2016 Annual Catalogue is to be found on the Retiring Lists and are available WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - today is the last day to order those items. Many of these items are discounted; there are still some bargains to be had. Check out the remaining retiring items here.
• Today is the first day that you can order from the 2015-2016 Annual Catalogue. The new catalogue is posted above and will be permanently linked via my blog if you don’t have a paper copy. If you have your paper copy and just want to go straight to the shop to place your order, click here. Don't forget to add the hostess code for June UPCSWX2C if your order is less than £150 and ensure you are set to 'contactable' to receive a thank you in the post from me.
• Earn Hostess Rewards under the “Old Plan”.  You may have noticed in the new catalogue that Stampin’ Up! has changed the customer rewards plan for purchases over £150.  In the new plan, now called Stampin’ Rewards, customers and hostesses can still earn free product for these larger orders.  While the total reward has decreased at each level (for example, the free product reward on a £150 order decreases from £25 to £15), the rewards are on a sliding scale that allow you to continue to earn for every £ you spend over and above £150. The aim is to make things more straight forward, but as the new plan doesn't take effect until June 3rd for today there is no change. An added benefit of Stampin' Rewards is that they can be used towards a starter kit if you choose to join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator - making the starter kit even better value! Which brings me on to the last 'big news' item for today:
• Earn Free Stamps in June’s Promotion for New SU! Joiners.  June 2 also kicks off a new promotion for customers to become demonstrators.  As a demonstrator on my team, you will belong to a friendly team where you get to be the first to see and order products from upcoming catalogues. You also get to earn a discount on the products you already love – with no risks or penalties if you don't meet your quarterly minimum.  Starting today when you join, you also earn two free stamp sets of your choice (they’ll be added to your starter kit). These can be any stamps at all from the new catalogue - so if you choose wisely (think alphabets and large sentiment sets!) these two stamp sets alone could be worth £60 or more. The Starter Kit is £99 for £130 of free product of your choice. My team is a mix of both hobby stampers and business demonstrators and I love and appreciate them all.  If you would like to take to me about becoming a demonstrator and joining us, please do get in touch for a no obligation chat about the benefits or call in at either of my open house events this week. Alternatively if you know this is the deal for you, don't delay and click here to join today!

That's a lot of information for one post; if I were you I would put the kettle on, put your feet up and get comfy and settle down with your new catalogue for a browse and start creating that all-important wish list!

Back tomorrow with a new project; until then, happy shopping!

Happy Monday everyone! I have a busy week ahead so I'm starting it with a quick post for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge that also features the current colours over at Fab Friday:

The FMS sketch has been designed by the super-talented Karren Johnson, currently guesting with us over at The Paper Players, so I just had to play along. I decided to make a little 'encouragement' card today - with a fun shaker twist too:

I used Marina Mist for the base of my card and created a frame of Night of Navy using my big Shot and Square Framelits, which I backed with a piece of acetate window sheet. I wanted a 'flat' shaker for this card, so having punched some stars in each of the challenge colours and some gold glimmer paper using my Confetti Stars Border Punch, I stamped my 'be the star' sentiment in navy onto Whisper White, laid the stars on top, then attached this to the back of the window. To finish, I added a trio of stars in Hello Honey, two stamped in Hello Honey and the larger one stamped in Night of Navy, from the 'Be The Star' stamp set, attaching the larger one with dimensionals for added lift and adding some gold glimmer stars to the star centres.

I chose to feature the blues primarily on my card, as Hello Honey is not a favourite of mine and is not a colour I am immediately drawn to, however I think the Fab Friday crew settled upon a great colour combo here as the yellow looks really quite nice with the blue; I may well use this colour combo again!

That's all from me today; I'm off to prepare more goodies for my Open House sessions later this week (you can read full details here). Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Be The Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Confetti Stars Punch	Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Stars Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Medium Window Sheets	Gold Glimmer Paper	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Hello Honey A4 Cardstock
Marina Mist A4 Card Stock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players. You totally rocked Anne-Marie's sketch last week; this week it's the turn of the lovely Laurie, who has a tic-tac-toe challenge to stretch our creative brains:

I normally struggle with these, yet I seem to be on a real creative roll this week as I had a ton of different ideas and combinations for today's grid. I settled on combining my card with this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts and challenging myself to use something that I have lots of but sometimes use for little more than decorating an envelope: washi tape. I decided the sketch was perfect for showcasing some of the new Bohemian washi tape that I received with my pre-order goodies - here's my card:

I used a base of Delightful Dijon and a mat of Island Indigo, then cut a piece of Very Vanilla to the shape of the zig zag on the sketch. Starting at the zig zag end, I then covered my whole piece in strips of washi tape, creating an open herringbone effect and alternating between each of the three designs. Once I had covered the entire piece of cardstock, I adhered it to the card base using dimensionals. For my sentiment panel, I cut a rectangle of Very Vanilla and rounded the corners using my Project Life corner rounder and stamped it with the 'Hip Hip Hooray' greeting from the 'Bravo' stamp set in Island Indigo. I added a scattering of Bermuda Bay sequins to finish before popping this up on dimensionals too. I'm sure you've worked it out, but just in case I was following the top line of the tic tac toe board: washi tape, any shade of blue and sequins. I really quite like this card - it seemed almost a shame to cover my lovely pattern with the sentiment panel!

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

I look forward to seeing how many different combinations of the grid we see in the gallery this week. I'm off to prepare lunch as we have some friends visiting today and then I have to get two of the other three members of the James household ready for trips away this week - a busy, yet fun day ahead!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A4 Delightful Dijon -available 2nd June

Bohemian washi tape - available 2nd June

Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Project Life Corner Punch
Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim

Today I'm sharing a card I made for this week's Mojo Monday challenge using a stamp I've yet to use even though it is about to retire (oops!) Here is this week's sketch:

This week is 'tall and skinny' week so my card is taller than usual - my actual dimensions are 7" x 4" - and has a distinctly nautical theme:

I am continuing my quest to use more DSP on my cards and this one features the retiring Maritime papers, one of my favourites. I used a base of Real Red and a mat of Night of Navy, then covered the front of the card with a piece of DSP. I cut a banner out of a co-ordinating piece of Maritime DSP and a double-ended one from Coastal Cabana cardstock, both of which were made using my new Triple Banner Punch. I then added a piece of Night of Navy cardstock, slightly wider than my card, and tied with a sailor's knot in Coastal Cabana thick baker's twine. The main focal point of my card is the round sailor stamp from the stamp set 'Adventure Awaits', which I stamped twice, once in Night of Navy on Whisper White and once in Real Red, and fussy cut the words from the centre of the red one and overlaid them onto the navy one. My friend LeAnne did this on a card a while ago and I loved the effect, so was keen to include it here. You can see LeAnne's original card here. I can't believe we are three days before the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue ends and I'm only just using this stamp! 

This card is so fresh and fun and would be great to send to a friend who needed a little motivation and encouragement. That's all from me today; back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Adventure Awaits Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

Yay it's Friday! Clearly we have seen the best of the weather here in the UK this week as it is pouring down with rain here in the UK as I type. Never mind - I am tucked up indoors and want to share more widely the details of next week's Open House to celebrate the launch of the new 2015-16 Annual Catalogue, details below:

Please call me on 07773 421446 or email me with your RSVP so that I can ensure that there are enough 'make and take' packs. This event will be held at my home in Northampton - address details on RSVP. I do hope you will be able to join me!

For my lovely readers who live further afield, never fear - there will be plenty more inspiration right here in the coming days, weeks and months, so stay tuned!

We are on the 'home run' towards the weekend and as it's Thursday that means time for a new challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary. This week we have a great sketch for you:

So many possibilities with this one! I decided to use up yet more of my hoarded DSP and showcase a whole host of retiring product on my card this week:

I've used both 'Back To Black' DSP along with a retiring in-colour, Strawberry Slush, and the Petal Potpourri stamp set and co-ordinating Flower Medallion punch, in colour sequins and Black chevron ribbon - all of which are either retiring or not carrying over into the new annual catalogue next week. Not so though for my sentiment stamp, which comes from the 'Fabulous Four' stamp set (I stamped it in black and coloured it in with my Strawberry Slush marker pen), the dazzling diamonds glimmer paper or the black bakers twine - these at least will still be available! 

I'm not generally a fan of black and white on a card in vast quantities, but when paired with a bright colour such as Strawberry Slush I think it really works - you could try this combo with lots of other colours and I am sure it would look great with some of the new in-colours!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you create with the sketch this week - do check out the cards made by the rest of the Design Team, there's a great variety as always!

I'm off to spend the day outdoors with friends today as we make the most of the milder weather that we've been experiencing this week; a picnic and some tree climbing is on the agenda - well, the latter for the youngsters at least!

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

So I'm back with the second of my cards for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

As the end of the school year will be upon us soon enough, I decided to combine this card with this week's theme over at The Challenge and get ahead and make a teacher thank you card:

I used a base of Pear Pizzazz and a mat of real Red - apple colours! - and having cut a stencil of the word 'Thank' using my Silhouette e-cutter, I stamped the word Thanks from the 'Another Thank You' stamp set repeatedly in Memento Black into the space and sponged over the whole space in Pear Pizzazz to give the letters more definition. To complete the sentiment, I die cut the word 'you' using my Big Shot and 'Hello You' thinlits three times out of Real Red cardstock and stuck them together to create a raised piece, then painted it in Crystal Effects to give a glossy finish. I used a snippet of chalkboard paper and stamped the word 'teacher' in white kraft ink to give a chalkboard effect (the stamp is from the retired set 'for my family' - it's a keeper!) and added both to my card, along with a cardboard apple embellishment from my Project Life Playground accessory kit and also a 'vintage' wire paper clip. This final addition also enables me to link up to 'Less is More' this week, where the recipe is to add metal to your card. 

I really love the way this card turned out; I like the collage feel it has, yet still retaining my clean and simple style - here's a close up of the stamping and stencilling detail: 

It's a little more embellished than my usual LIM cards, so I'm hoping it will still be permissible although I know the lovely ladies over there will give me some pointers if I've strayed too far from the brief :-) This is however much more what I had in mind for the sketch, so I hope the CAS(E) This Sketch team like it! The James Juniors are already arguing about which of their teachers will be receiving it - I think I might have to make a few copies before the end of term approaches!

Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello You Thinlits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Another Thank You Photopolymer Stamp Set
Real Red A4 Card Stock	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad
Chalkboard Paper	Playground Project Life Accessory Pack

A quick card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch where they have this rather cool sketch to play with this week:

I thought the sketch would be a great opportunity to create a montage of the new 2015-17 in-colours - take a look:

This is my first, rather literal, take on the sketch. I cut a stencil of the word 'Hi' using my Silhouette E-Cutter and then used the 'Hello' portion of the 'Hello Life' stamp in the set of the same name to fill the stencil by repeatedly stamping in each of the new in-colours: Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder, Tip Top Taupe and Cucumber Crush. Once I'd filled in the whole area, I stamped one of the Perfect Pennants stamps in Watermelon Wonder and popped this on a dimensional. I think this is my favourite of the new in-colours, although I'm rather taken with the greens too! Which one is your favourite? I'd love you to leave a comment letting me know which one appeals to you.

Come back later for my second, altogether different take on this sketch! Until then, happy stampin'!

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced. 

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for May FZZMG3JY and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Birthday Bash Specialty Designer Series Paper	Spring Flowers Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Calypso Coral Pompom Trim `
Rose Coral Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad	Yellow Citrus Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad	Aquamarine Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad
Chalkboard Paper	Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack	Stacked With Love Designer Washi Tape

Please note - these items are still showing at full price on the Weekly Deals page at the time of uploading, but when you click on a specific product the reduced price is displayed: for example, chalk ink reduced from £4.95 to £3.71 each, and so on. 

Don't forget we also have only one more week left of the retiring list until these items are gone for good. many items have sold out but equally there are still plenty of bargains to be had. There is also only one week left to purchase from the current Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue; a number of items are carrying over into the new 2015-16 annual catalogue, but there are also a number that aren't - they are all listed below with links to the store in case they are on your wishlist:

You Plus Me Wood Stamp Set	You Plus Me Clear Stamp Set	Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack	Stacked With Love Designer Washi Tape	Wood You Be Mine Photopolymer Stamp Set	Hey, Valentine Wood Stamp Set
Hey, Valentine Clear Stamp Set	Birthday Bash Designer Washi Sheets	Birthday Bash Specialty Designer Series Paper	Balloon Bash Photopolymer Stamp Set	Cheerful Critters Photopolymer Stamp Set	From The Herd Wood Stamp Set
From The Herd Clear Stamp Set	From The Herd Photopolymer Stamp Set	Hooray It's Your Day Card Kit	Hooray It's Your Day Photopolymer Stamp Set	Painted Petals Wood Stamp Set	Spring Flowers Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper	From The Garden Photopolymer Stamp Set	Moon Lake Wood Stamp Set	Moon Lake Clear Stamp Set	Petal Potpourri Wood Stamp Set	Petal Potpourri Clear Stamp Set
Flower Medallion Punch	Big On You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Aquamarine Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad	Aquamarine Colorbox Chalk Ink Refill	Rose Coral Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad	Rose Coral Colorbox Chalk Ink Refill
Yellow Citrus Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad	Yellow Citrus Colorbox Chalk Ink Refill	One Tag Fits All Wood Stamp Set	One Tag Fits All Clear Stamp Set	Build A Bouquet Project Kit	Build A Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set
Love Is Kindness Wood Stamp	For Peeps' Sake Wood Stamp Set	For Peeps' Sake Clear Stamp Set	Indescribable Gift Wood Stamp Set	Indescribable Gift Clear Stamp Set	Happy Easter Bunny Wood Stamp
Sweet Laughter Wood Stamp Set	Sweet Laughter Clear Stamp Set	Mum's Love Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sweet Dreams Designer Series Paper	Sweet Dreams Designer Washi Tape	Little Sunshine Wood Stamp Set
Little Sunshine Clear Stamp Set	Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack	Adventure Awaits Photopolymer Stamp Set	Something Borrowed Designer Series Paper	Your Perfect Day Wood Stamp Set	Your Perfect Day Clear Stamp Set
Your Perfect Day Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sophisticated Serifs Photopolymer Stamp Set	Class Of 2015 Wood Stamp	So You Photopolymer Stamp Set