Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm sharing a fun card that I cased from one I saw on Pinterest by Belinda Neil a while ago but haven't got around to sharing - take a look:

You can see Belinda's original card here. I thought this was such a fun card, especially for those of you out there with children who have read Eric Carle's classic 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' story book - probably, like me, many, many times!

This fun card is made using nothing more than inks, stamps and paper - specifically, the Balloon Builder stamp set. I made you a super simple, speedy video to show you how I created this card from start to finish:

Isn't that easy? Who would have thought that the Balloon Builder stamp set could be used to create something so fun? This is another one of those stamp sets that is retiring next week, so if you want to recreate this card, you'll need to click on the link below and hop over to the online store and put it into your basket!

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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I'm spending mine at Rebecca's Sports Day watching javelin-throwing and the 200m sprint amongst other things and hopefully enjoying a picnic lunch and the glorious weather we have been blessed with here in the UK this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

Happy Friday everyone and April Fools Day! Sale-A-Bration is over for another year and the end of the week is here - although this week has been much more laid back than usual; I do love school holidays! Today I have a fun card for this week's challenge over at Less is More, where the theme is to include polka dots on your card. I immediately thought about my Zoo Babies stamps, as a number of these animals have polka dots in their patterns. Here is my card:

I wanted to make a fun birthday card rather than a baby congratulations card this week - so tied a polka dot balloon to him! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Seeing Spots - If you look closely, the horns of my cute rhino have a polka dot pattern. The giraffe in this set is much more spotty, but I could resist the rhino :-) To ensure that polka dots were a clear feature of my card, I used some stripped jute ribbon to tie a balloon punched from Real Red Brights Designer Series Paper and punched with my balloon punch to the back of my party animal.

Party Animal - No party is complete without a party hat, right? My rhino is sporting one that he borrowed from the dinosaurs in the 'No Bones About It' stamp set. The 'happy birthday' sentiment on the front of my card is from the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set and is paired on the inside of my card with another great sentiment from this set 'Party Animal' - my rhino totally knows how to celebrate!

Tip Top Colour Combo - I chose Tip Top Taupe for my rhino today - warmer than grey yet still a true colour for this fun fella. I paired it with Bermuda Bay and Real Red for a pop of colour on my CAS card - here's my colour combo for you to save to use too:

I hope you like it - this is one of those cards that make me smile and I've been desperate to share all week!

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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm also linking my card up today with the team over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is 'cute critters'. My rhino may not be warm and fluffy, but I think you'd have to agree he is definitely cute!!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Zoo Babies Clear-Mount Stamp Set	No Bones About It Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Bouquet Punch	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host our challenge this week and I have a fun clean and simple challenge for you to play along with:

Up, up and away! Balloons are very on-trend currently, but you can use any airborne object on your card today - just keep it clean and simple. For my card this week I was inspired to use balloons and in contrast to yesterday's bright balloon card decided to feature a piece of the delicately patterned balloon paper from the Birthday Bouquet designer series paper set:

I used a base of Mint Macaron to which I adhered a strip of Pool Party 3/8" Glitter Ribbon before adding a piece of the balloon patterned paper. I added a simple sentiment from the 'Suite Sayings' stamp set, which I cut out with my Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits, and added a couple of balloons stamped with the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set to give the same muted effect as the paper. Finally, I created some tassels with some frayed Pool Party Glitter Ribbon and a few clear sequins to finish my card. On reflection, whilst my card has minimal layers it doesn't have much of the 'white space' that is traditionally typical of 'clean and simple' cards, but I love the soft feel if it and the glimmer from the ribbon and the balloon tassles so I had to share it with you! I'm also linking up again with the team over at The Global Design Project where their theme this week has been balloons - what can I say, we were obviously thinking along similar lines!

For those of you who like a visual summary, here's something new that I will be featuring in my blog posts - a labelled photograph of the key products required to make today's card: 

These images are perfect for pinning to give you a visual reference of the supplies needed to re-create this card which can be useful if you want to come back to it at a later date. I will be pinning these to my new 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Board on Pinterest too, which you can find here.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week, all of whom have created some fantastic examples of clean and simple cards:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery. We are off to basketball and back to hockey today and are planning a fun afternoon of board games and maybe a walk out along the canal if the weather stays dry for long enough. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Bouquet Punch	Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper	Pool Party 3/8" (1 Cm) Glitter Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock
Metallics Sequin Assortment

I have a quick second post today following on from my earlier Paper Players post, to share the 'Wylie Kyote' balloon animal that I created to grace my card using this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday:

My earlier post here explains how my balloon animal came to be; I had a quick 5 minutes this afternoon so decided to through caution to the wind and make him into a card. Whilst I'm still not convinced he looks like a dog, he definitely looks enough like a balloon animal to join this party:

I added some balloon designer series paper from the 'It's My Party' stack (just in case anyone needed some visual association for my stamped animal!!) and the fun sentiment that also features in the 'Balloon Builder' stamp set. In retrospect I think I should have used a patterned paper for my pink layer too as it's a little plain, but there we go - next time! It was fun to try out this little set though - I can't wait to see what other animals I can create.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack	It's My Party Cardstock Pack	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
1" Circle Punch

I've had a busy day today with housework and homework, but fortunately a little crafting time too! I made a clean and simple Valentine's card for the following challenges:

Global Design Project, TGIF Challenges and SUO Challenges all have a Love-Valentine's theme and this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch provided me with the perfect layout for what I had in mind:

Using a Pool Party base, I took a piece of Shimmery White cardstock and washed it lightly from top to bottom with my Aquapainter and some Pool Party ink. then stamped a cluster of heart-shaped balloons in Blushing Bride and Watermelon Wonder, with Smoky Slate strings, using the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set. I heat embossed my sentiment in White on a popped up banner of Watermelon Wonder. This card has a wonderful lustre and sparkle in real life as a result of the shimmery white cardstock that is difficult to see in the photo and I just love the soft, almost watercoloured stamp effect of the balloons. One stamp set, one card - what's not to love?!

That's my card for today; come back tomorrow for a new challenge over at The Paper Players when I will be sharing another new set for the first time with you. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)