It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our wonderful team leader Nance to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

Whether you stay with the circle or use an alternative shape, this is a sketch with many possibilities. I decided to keep with the circle as it was perfect to showcase a new stamp I haven't used yet and have fun with a little colouring - take a look:

I've had a few friends that have either recently moved or are in the process of moving, so I needed to replenish my stock of 'new home' cards and the 'Flying Home' stamp set had the perfect image. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Flying Home - I was lucky enough to receive the 'Flying Home' stamp set at Onstage in November, but had yet to ink it up. This set is perfect for a new home card, or even a new baby card; in fact the whimsical line drawings work for lots of card types. The other great thing about this set is that it is made for colouring. I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my main image and I stamped the little bird twice so that I could fussy cut one and pop him up on a tiny piece of a dimensional for added lift.

A Petal Garden Colour Combo - I pulled the colours for my stamped image directly from the Petal Garden designer series paper that I used for my background panel and added a co-ordinating ribbon trim too. I love these fresh colours, perfect for spring - here's the colour palette for you to save if you'd like to use it for your future projects:

New Home Congratulations - The 'Flying Home' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I decided to go on the hunt through my other sets for a small sentiment that I could add to my horizontal Pool Party strip. I found the perfect stamp in 'At Home With You'  - and followed up inside my card with 'congratulations'.

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. 

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

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'm hoping to fit in a little more crafty time today along with some precious family time. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Flying Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock
Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon	Calypso Coral 1/8" Sheer Ribbon	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Layering Circle Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker

Today is a big news day: Alcohol markers are back! It's the first of November and as promised in an earlier post, today sees the official launch of Stampin' Blends to customers.  These high quality, dual-tip markers come in 12 exclusive Stampin' Up! colours; they each have a light and a dark shade for the ultimate blending experience. In addition, there are two further colours, bronze and ivory, and a colour lifter to give your blended images the finishing touch. 

Stampin' Blends are available in 2-marker combo packs, as single markers or as the whole collection. There are so many great stamp sets in the catalogue that are perfect for colouring; in addition to celebrate the launch of these fabulous new pens, Stampin' Up! have also released a new stamp set and card project kit designed to be use with Stampin' Blends:

Color Me Happy Project Kit (144069)

• You'll be coloured happy every time you create with this stamp set.
• The line-art images are perfect for colouring techniques.
• Quantity: 10 rubber stamps
• Suggested clear blocks (not included): b, c, g, h, i

Color Me Happy Project Kit (144609)
The Colour Me Happy Project Kit will be available while supplies last.

The kit includes:

• 16 card bases, 4 each of 4 designs
• 16 envelopes with printed design inside, 4 each of 4 designs
• Gold foil accents
• Die-cut cardstock background and accents
• Printed and gold foil die-cut accents
• White Baker's Twine
• Mini Pool Party tassels
• Circle and star sequins
• Gold foil tape

Coordinating colors: Basic Black, gold foil, Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry

If you're a fan of Stampin' Up! Bundles, than you'll love that these two coordinating products (project kit and stamp set) are available as a BUNDLE...save 10%. 

I am so excited about the arrival of these new pens and I can't wait to share some of my coloured creation with you. In the meantime, here's a little video from the nice people at the Home Office showing these pens in action: 

I'll be back soon with more news and another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stampin' Blends Markers Collection

Color Me Happy Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Color Me Happy Project Kit