Hurrah for the weekend! Today I'm sharing a couple of cards I made using the current sketch over at Fab Friday that are also perfect for the celebrations over at AsYouSeeIt where it's all about the twos as they celebrate their 200th challenge - woohoo!:

I needed an anniversary card so decided to make something using my Botanical Tags Thinlits as one of them features a pair of birds - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Botanical Tags - I bought this bundle because I fell in love with the detail on these tags, but I think this is the first time I've used them properly on a card and the detail is so pretty. I decided to go with a dark colour and back it with a handcut tag using a scrap of Wood Textures DSP left over from another project. I think this tag works well for a wedding or anniversary card - they could be love birds, right? 

Layers and Textures - My card feels quite busy for me: tags, twine, banners, an embossed background and a stitched rectangle sentiment and foliage branch - that's a lot going on in one place! Aside from the diecut tag, the shapes are all quite simple and my patterned papers are used in quite small quantities so as not to overwhelm and I quite like the effect.  

Take Two In Green - I liked my first card so much, I decided to create another one in a green Mint Macaron/Tranquil Tide colourway. I switched out the embossed background from Subtle to Layered Leaves which adds a little more detail, and the back piece of DSP comes from the Tranquil Textures DSP as opposed to Share What You Love, and I added a flower embellishment to my slightly larger sentiment piece, but otherwise the cards are the same:

The colour scheme for the first card was inspired by the piece of floral DSP I used for my banner, but I quite partial to greens, particularly in home decor. What do you think - which one do you prefer? 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Botanical Tags Thinlits Dies (£25.00)	Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper (£25.00)	Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Best Birds Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Linen Thread (£4.75)	Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Frosted Flower Embellishments (£6.50)
Faceted Dots (£5.50)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

This was a great week for a CAS challenge - I was short on time and the glorious weather we've been having here in the UK these last few days has meant that my south-facing craft room has been like a sauna and not conducive to extended periods of crafting. I needed something that was quick to create so I reached for my Best Birds stamp set and co-ordinating Birds and Blooms Framelits along with this week's sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches and this is what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Take One Stamp Set - My fellow Paper Player, the lovely LeAnne, has made so many fabulous cards with the Best Birds stamp set (you can see them via the link to her blog below), she finally convinced me that I had to add this set to my collection. This is the first time I've used this set and I'm not disappointed. A pair of birds, a branch, flowers, a great variety of sentiments and an interesting background stamp mean this set gives lots of options for layering and creating scenes, and all with a single stamp set. Thank you LeAnne for being such an enabler! I coloured my little bird to look like a blue tit with my inks and aquapainter - I love these birds!

Add Some Dimension - I stamped the hatched background stamp directly onto my card base then cut out the branch and my bird with the co-ordinating Birds and Blooms Thinlits Dies, adhering the branch directly to the base and popping my bird up on dimensionals for a little lift without too many layers so that it still feels CAS.

Texture Without Depth - I added a strip of the photographic Wood Textures Designer Series Paper to the edge of my card which give the illusion of texture and a trio of glitter enamel dots for a little sparkle and interest without compromising the overall clean and simple feel of my card.

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 look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. It's Father's Day here in the UK so we shall be spoiling Mr James today and hopefully continuing to enjoy the glorious sunshine we have been experiencing recently. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Best Birds Photopolymer Stamp Set	Birds & Blooms Thinlits Dies	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack	Glitter Enamel Dots	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Aqua Painters	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	White Stampin' Chalk Marker