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 my very own tic-tac-toe board for you to play along with:

Tic Tac Toe - hmmm, so many possibilities! For my card this week I decided to go with the diagonal - yellow, die-cut, paper clip - and using this week's Pals Paper Arts sketch for my layout, this is what I came up with:

My card is a card from a special little girl to her precious Daddy - here's the low-down:

Bear Hugs - The front of my card features the baby bear from the Bear Hugs stamp set, cut out with the co-ordinating Bear Hugs framelits. I also fussy cut his nose and added a couple of pearls coloured black with my Sharpie for eyes. These little bears are so cute - I'm glad that these are being carried over to the new catalogue. I also carried this little sweetie over to the inside, where I paired her with her Daddy and finished the final part of the sentiment:

Bow Paper Clip - I added my oversize bow paper clip with a little white seam binding ribbon tied around the middle to the ear of my little bear for an obvious feminine touch. 

A Daffodil Delight - I added a piece of Daffodil Delight flower-patterned designer series paper from the Brights DSP Stack for the main panel of my card. I wanted my card to feel girly, even though the recipient was the world's best Dad - I think he'll appreciate it! I think the yellow really compliments the Soft Suede too; here's my colour combo should you wish to save it:

I'm also linking up with the team over at Just Add Ink where the challenge this week is to 'Just Add B' which in my case, is B for Bear.

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. 

Whilst I love the bright yellow and cute bear, I must confess the execution of today's card is lacking a little something. I played around with it lots and couldn't work out exactly what it was that wasn't working, so in the end time constraints meant I had to just go with it. Don't you just hate it when that happens?!

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 how many different combinations you make with my board this week. We are off to basketball today and are having a little James family get-together later, which should be fun. Otherwise the day will be spent clearing up the mess that was yesterday's flooded kitchen. We had such a busy day, that included shopping for Rebecca's new bike, a trip to the garden centre and a mow of the lawns, that when a pipe burst in the kitchen as we were cooking dinner we spent the rest of the evening filling bowls, waiting for emergency plumbers and mopping up. Hence no blog post yesterday - just too exhausted! Today I'm hoping will be the start of the restful Bank Holiday I was hoping for...

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bear Hugs Clear-Mount Bundle	Bow Paper Clips Embellishments	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

This colour combination left me stumped for a while, until I decided that Soft Suede would be a good colour for a bear - take a look:

The low-down on today's card is as follows:

Papa Bear - I stamped my Daddy Bear from the 'Bear Hugs' stamp set in Early Espresso on Soft Suede card stock and cut him out using my Big Shot and co-ordinating Bear Hugs Framelits, curving his arms in slightly so that he could 'hold' on to his fishing pole. 

Gone' Fishin' - The 'Bear Hugs' set comes with lots of fun embellishments; I decided to go with a fish on this card that I coloured in Mint Macaron and Lost Lagoon with my Aquapainter, then painted liberally with clear Wink of Stella to give him shimmery scales. I attached my fish to a piece of white baker's twine, which I in turn knotted to my cocktail stick fishing pole. How cute?!

Geometrical Forest - I decided I needed to conjure up some forest or at least a feeling of the outdoors behind my lake, but was somewhat at a loss as to how to do this with such a limited colour palette. I perused my designer series papers and bingo - this geometrical design, whilst not including trees of any kind, works as a background. I do think those triangles are evocative of trees (ok, I know it's a stretch, but if you have a better suggestion do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear it!) And where did I find it? In the 'It's My Party' Designer Series Paper stack of all places!

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

It's Wednesday and time for the last week of Wednesday Weekly Deals! As I mentioned last week, improvements in stock control at Stampin' Up! mean that this is the last week that they will be offered. They will be replaced with less frequent but better 'Specials' promotions on an adhoc basis - please make sure you're checking my blog regularly for details. So for the final week, there really are some great deals - as always, these offers are valid for one week only. 

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 new Hostess Code for April UD3KDWM4 if your order is under £150 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. If you are local, then give me a call to place your order if you'd like to save on P&P.

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:

1" Square Punch	Bear Hugs Framelits Dies	Brights Sequin Assortment	Calypso Coral Thick Baker’s Twine	Classy Designer Buttons
Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set	Essence De Rose Photopolymer Stamp Set (French)	Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Peaceful Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set
Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set	Rosenzauber Photopolymer Stamp Set (German)	Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Watercolor Words Photopolymer Stamp Set	White Perfect Accents

Some great bargains to be had this week: my favourite sentiment set of the moment, 'Suite Sayings', the always-useful 1" square punch, the Bear Hugs framelits (I will be using these on tomorrow's blog card so look out for that!) and the Rose Wonder stamp set which you can see on today's creative post. And last but certainly not least, the White Perfect Accents - I will be buying these up in bulk this week!

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy shopping!

A day late as I was out all day and evening yesterday - here are this week's new Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

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 new Hostess Code for February UYGWGF4W if your order is under £150 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:

Bear Hugs Framelits Dies	Confetti Stars Punch	Envelope Punch Board
Petite Petals Clear-Mount Bundle	Tags & Labels Framelits Dies

Some great offers on this week - the cute Bear Hugs framelits, as used by my good self to create the little Valentine's table favours at the weekend that I shared over on my Facebook page (you can see them here if you missed them - do give my page a 'like' if you'd like to keep up to date with all the fun over there too!) Very useful Tags and Labels framelits dies, along with the Petite Petals stamp set, as voted for by one of my customers last week as 'the best stamp set EVER!' (hello Jane!) and the product that always gets my vote for the top spot: The Envelope Punch Board. When used in conjunction with my Envelope Expert and Box Buster tools, a tool that offers limitless possibilities. Always a bargain in my view even at its full price of £18, but at £13.50 it's an absolute steal!!! If you haven't got one, what on earth are you waiting for???!!!

Don't forget that for every £45 you spend you are entitled to a free Sale-A-Bration item too - and this week there are three new ones added to the range too. In case you missed it, you can find full details here. 

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

These three colours feature in the Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack which made it an obvious choice to feature on my card today, but I also wanted to have a go at a fun card using the 'Bear Hugs' stamp set. The saying in this set 'I love you this much' was just asking for a bear with growing arms; it was on my 'to do' list when I saw this great example by Kirsteen Gill and knew that a double-slider card was the way forward. The mechanism in my card is the same as Kirsteen's, however I altered my measurements and dimensions to fit a standard A6 14.9cm x 10.5cm metric card. Here's my finished card:

A simple enough layout, using a base of Blushing Bride and a piece of Blushing Bride heart-patterned paper from the Love Blossoms pack too. I used the Rose Red for my border, sentiment and stamped heart but the real fun element of this card is what happens to my Crumb Cake bear when the little tab is pulled on the side of the card:

His arms expand to show just how much he loves you - isn't that just the cutest?!! Interactive cards are such fun, whatever the occasion - my daughter loved this one! 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: