I had a super crafty day yesterday so I have a quick extra post with a couple of cards I made using some sketch challenges that are closing today:

The first is a Christmas card that uses the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches and is a no-stamping-at-all card - take a look:

I used a diecut wreath from the A LIttle Bit Festive speciality paper pack (I used the offcut to decorate the envelope) and a foiled diecut sentiment from the Joyful Sayings pack. A few metallic gems and a simple gold twine bow were the finishing touches that complete my card:

My second card is for the challenge over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge; I haven't managed to play along there in a while but since they are celebrating their 600th challenge sketch I had to play along. Not only that, the sketch was perfect for another zentangled circle creation featuring the Full Of Life designer series paper - take a look:

I added a panel of paper and a birthday sentiment from the 'Friends For Life' stamp set, separating the two with a black and white gingham ribbon bow:

A few black enamel dots complete my card. This card is heading to my nephew for his upcoming birthday - I think he will appreciate the modern design (the bow maybe less so!)

Here are the visual summaries of the key products used on today's projects 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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A LITTLE BIT FESTIVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.50)	JOYFUL SAYINGS MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (9.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	ADHESIVE-BACKED METALLIC GEMS (8.50)
FULL OF LIFE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

Today I'm sharing another card using one of the current Sale-A-Bration free products that I've been using but haven't shared a project that features it in a while - what can I say, so many goodies, so little time! So today it's the turn of the Trusty Toolbox designer series paper - take a look:

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

No Co-ordinating Product? No Problem! - The Trusty Toolbox designer series paper co-ordinates with the Trusty Tools bundle that can be found on page 56 of the mini catalogue, but you don't need the bundle to have a lot of fun with these papers! They are great for creating layered cards with lots of fun patterns and the tools themselves are so easy to fussy cut as I've done on today's card. 

Biggest Wish - I went with a diagonal design to give me the opportunity to fit in lots of lovely tools and paired my design with a birthday greeting from the 'Biggest Wish' stamp set - a great sentiment-only set:

And Another Thing - If you look closely at my card, you will see that none of the tools are shown in their entirety; I actually used a bunch of tools cut from the edges of the paper and used my diagonal to 'hide' their incomplete portions - waste not, want not, right? I also used a few more to decorate the inside of my card:

A few enamel dots were all that I needed to complete this fun masculine card that makes the most of these free papers!

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 this card up for a second entry over at TGIF Challenges where the theme this week is Sale-A-Bration.

Enjoy your day; it's still raining cats and dogs here in the UK so I will most definitely be spending the day indoors - I'm not sure that the ground can take any more! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Lucy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

What a pretty trio of colours! For my card today I grabbed an old favourite, the 'Silly Goose' stamp set, along with the Just Add Ink sketch (which I love!) and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

I used pops of these colours to highlight the details of my birthday goose with my Stampin' Blends and picked out the Fresh Freesia with a strip of (retired) Dandy Designs designer paper for some extra detail to the other side of my twine bow:

I cut out my panel using the largest square in the Stylish Shapes Dies, making it a rectangle by extending it and running it through my die cutting machine a second time.

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SILLY GOOSE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	FRESH FREESIA STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (4.75)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Betty is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went down the middle column with designer paper, free and birthday; I used the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout and thought I'd play along with the lovely ladies over at Just Us Girls this week where the word of the week is 'bee'. I took the opportunity to use up some old honeycomb designed paper and went for a punny sentiment on my card today - take a look:

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

I wanted a big, bold sentiment for those panels so decided on HAPPY BIRTHDAY from the stamp set 'Biggest Wish', but instead of stamping the HAPPY in its entirety, I masked off the PY and replaced with a bee punched from my ladybug builder punch for a punny sentiment. I punched the body in black, added some yellow stripes and a pair of vellum wings liberally coated with clear Wink of Stella - you can see the sparkle below:

I completed my card with a trio of hexagonal enamel dots to continue the honeycomb shape and bee theme. So what do you think? Does the punny sentiment work? I hope today's card makes you smile!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BIGGEST WISH PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (16.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	LADYBUG BUILDER PUNCH (21.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (7.50)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

Tomorrow is the 16th birthday for the youngest of the James Juniors, so I thought I'd squeak in a quick post to share one of the cards I made to celebrate his big day! I used the sketch over at Sketch Saturday (but had difficulty linking up so am not playing along) and this week's Color Throwdown colours:

I've had the 'Taco Fiesta' stampset for ages and until now it's sat uninked on the shelf. t was perfect with these colours and the fun circular sketch layout - take a look:

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

I did some basic stamping on my base mat that followed the outer contours of the circles, then added some tone-on-tone stamping to each of the circles with some of the stamps in the set. I then topped each of the circles with a larger image that I stamped on white and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends. You can see the detail a little more closely below:

A simple twine bow, heat embossed sentiment and trio of mat dots complete 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 '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:

TACO FIESTA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	CLASSIC MATTE DOTS (6.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us to work with:

I had chosen a collection of products that would enable me to meet a number of the boxes on Jaydee's grid; by the time I'd finished my card I actually covered the whole of the grid with the exception of 'masculine'! Atlantic Hearts have a great slimline sketch this week so I combined it with this week's Color Throwdown colours and decided to make a special birthday card - take a look:

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

I have been spending time experimenting with the various combinations of pieces in the Paper Florist Dies recently so I decided I would put my time to good use and create a cascade of using the 'Best Family Ever' stamp set.  flowers in my favourite new Bubble Bath and Lemon Lolly colours, with bright green leaves, clustered around a central sentiment label, onto which I heat embossed a customised sentiment:

This stamp set is perfect to create all kinds of special sentiments; the set doesn't actually include the word 'NANNA', so I created it by combining letters from other names in the set. I also added some stencilling to the card base using a retired decorative mask and some Azure Afternoon ink, blending out from the centre and fading into the white of the base. Stencilling is a great way to add extra detail to the background, without distracting from the detail of the flowers themselves. I'm also linking today's card up over at Inkspirational where they are asking us to use stencils this week too. A couple of loops of Bubble Bath ribbon and a trio of pink pearls complete my card. This card is for the James Juniors to send to their Nanna for her birthday; it's still a few months away, but hey it can't hurt to be organised!

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:

Enjoy your day; I'm off to Nottingham for more hockey today, so cross your fingers for a fine day! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEST FAMILY EVER PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	PAPER FLORIST DIES (35.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON COMBO PACK (11.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	PARAKEET PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. We have five Tuesdays in the month of May so this week it is time for our double challenge, featuring a previous sketch and retired colour combination:

For my card I went with a colourful clean and simple birthday card - take a look:

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

For my card today I actually took my inspiration from a card which recently appeared in my Pinterest feed that I couldn't actually find a source for; I thought it was a great way to use up leftover cardstock strips and a neat way to include this trio of bold colours whilst preserving my 'white space' so I adapted it to suit this layout. I used my Wanted To Say Dies for my greeting, this time featuring the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment. I cut the outer sentiment from the white panel, then adhered the inner piece to a foam sheet before diecutting the main sentiment detail, so that I could inset it into the negative space in the main panel:

A trio of orange dots complete 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible. For this challenge, I didn't have any of the retired colours so I used my closest current matches: Daffodil Delight, Tahitian Tide and Pumpkin Pie.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)

DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

TAHITIAN TIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has a bold and bright colour challenge for us to work with:

I used the sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout and thought LeAnne's colours were perfect for a fun birthday card featuring one of the birds in the 'Silly Goose' stamp set - take a look:

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

I used some in-colour designer paper for my base, then stamped my partying goose onto a stitched rectangle and coloured it with my Stampin' Blends in the challenge colours. This is such a fun stamp set, with some great sentiments. I could have made this a straightforward birthday card, but instead decided to add this sentiment inside to send belated birthday wishes:

Fun, right?! I finished my card but decided that since I'd only used Granny Apple Green on my goose's party hat, I need to add a little extra, so I hunted through my stash and found these sparkly Granny Apple Green enamel dots so added these for a little extra celebratory sparkle:

That's all there is to it! 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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SILLY GOOSE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	2022–2024 IN COLOR™ 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)	TAHITIAN TIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	TAHITIAN TIDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (4.25)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Cake Day' which is on 26th November. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used birthday sentiment, candle and patterned paper and using the current sketch layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge this is what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Charming Sentiments - For today's card I used both a sentiment and dies from the Charming Sentiments bundle. This is a great sentiment set with dies that cut out each of the sentiments exactly; but did you also know that the dieset has a number of very useful extras, including stars and candles for example? That's where I got the candles from that feature on my card today - so useful, everything you need in one bundle! 

Celebrate Everything - I took the colour scheme for my card today from the stripes in the paper that I featured on the bottom half of my card front, that comes from the 'Celebrate Everything' DSP pack - you know how much I love these papers, right?! I did take a little liberty with the sketch, as my stripes are diagonal rather than straight - but it's clear where the inspiration has come from:

A Surprise Inside - This is a birthday card that's something of a two-in-one - I added a pocket to the inside to hold some money too:

A little extra paper to the envelope flap completes this colourful card that is winging its way to my nephew whose birthday it is next 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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHARMING SENTIMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (49.50)	CELEBRATE EVERYTHING 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.50)	PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)	CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	POLISHED PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Anne Marie to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month she has a bonus Tic Tac Toe challenge for us to work with:

I used Jen T's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout and went across the bottom of the grid with yellow, birthday and stitching for a fresh and vibrant birthday card this week - take a look:

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

Hues of Happiness - The Hues of Happiness designer series paper made light work of the decoration for today's card! I diecut a trio of flowers and some leaves and used them to accent a stitched circle that I had also partially diecut with one of the Blossoming Happiness Dies. 

Sending Birthday Wishes - I used the Sending Smiles Bundle to create my sentiment, layering my diecut 'sending' with a vellum base so that it doesn't obscure too much of the detail beneath:

I used Early Espresso for my sentiment as it picked up the brown tones in the flowers and was less harsh than black. 

Don't forget the inside - I added a sentiment from 'Happiness Abounds' and a little extra detail to finish off the inside 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:

Enjoy your day; we will be catching up on tales from the USA today as the prodigal daughter returned from her trip to SanFranciso last night. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

HUES OF HAPPINESS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.25)	HAPPINESS ABOUNDS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (46.75)	SENDING SMILES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (46.75)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	BRIGHTS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.25)
GLOSSY DOTS ASSORTMENT (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)