Hooray it's Friday! This week feels like a long one and has finished with what feels like a day at the wheel of my Mum Taxi! I did manage to finish a card I started yesterday for this week's challenge over at Less is More although I am too late to link up - you should totally check out the DT and gallery cards though, they are gorgeous: 

I love the idea of 'mainly teal' for this week's colour challenge and I've had an idea for this card that has been with me all week, just waiting for some time in my craft room to execute it  - take a look:

I decided to go with a simple layered flower and leaves, cut with my Stylish Stems Framelits Dies, in Bermuda Bay and Pool Party cardstock and some of the gorgeous new Sale-A-Bration Glimmer Paper in Bermuda Bay for my flower outline and border edge. To create the same effect with the leaves, I used my Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker to colour some Dazzling Diamonds white glimmer paper to mimic this. A border of retired Cherries On Top DSP and a sentiment from Butterfly Basics finishes 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. 

This new Sale-A-Bration glimmer paper is gorgeous and I love the way that just a little sparkle adds to this otherwise clean and simple design.

A really quick post from me today - should be back with an earlier one tomorrow though! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Stylish Stems Framelits Dies	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party A4 Cardstock
Subtles Stampin' Write Markers	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Glitzerpapier-Set 6" X 6" (15,2 X 15,2 Cm)

Well today might be Father's Day, but in the James household there has been an apparently altogether more important celebration - the oldest of my James Juniors, Rebecca, turned 9 today. Her birthday always falls near to Father's Day, but as they actually clashed today she informed Daddy that every day is Father's Day and you'll only be 9 once - so one definitely trumps the other! My lack of blog post yesterday was due to my sheer exhaustion having held a day of party celebrations at home for Rebecca with a little group of friends - I'll tell you more about this another time as this is a Project Life page in the making! - so today I thought I would share the card I made for her.

I finally had a go at one of the 'card in a box' cards that are currently all the rage in the papercrafting world and decided that mine would feature my favourite DSP for birthday cards, Birthday Basics, and one of Rebecca's favoutie foodstuffs - cake! Well, cupcakes to be precise; here is my card, which is A5 size when folded flat:

I took the opportunity to use my 'Create a Cupcake' stamp set; it's on the retiring list, but the co-ordinating punch is staying and there is more cupcake loveliness just around the corner :-) Now I know this card does look rather on the crowded side with cakes popping out all over the place and nicely wobbly on their acetate supports, but when a card is for a 9 year old, excess is the name of the game - along with a little glimmer. A nice sparkly number 9 and a few sparkly stars complete the card. And Rebecca's verdict: "Perfect!"

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Create A Cupcake - Clear-Mount Stamp	Cupcake Punch	Label Love	Artisan Label Punch
Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad	Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Summer Starfruit Classic Stampin' Pad
Gumball Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Silver Glimmer Paper	Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die	Medium Window Sheets

A really quick post from me today as I have a very busy work day ahead, but a bonus project for you too today - read on! I made today's card a couple of weeks ago for one of Rebecca's friends who was celebrating her 9th birthday. It got me thinking - at 9 years old, suddenly some girls are less about cute and desperate to 'grow up', so I needed to make a card that was girly but not too 'cutesie' (I think that's a word!). Birthday Basics DSP is always my 'go to' paper for cards like this - here's my card:

I went for a 'fun fold' card featuring the Another Great Year stamp set. I stamped the main stamp onto Very Vanilla then stamped it again onto a sheet of Crisp Cantaloupe and coloured the words with markers before adhering to the vanilla layer. I then created a fun scalloped circle closure to hold the card shut, with a co-ordinating paper-pieced cupcake taking centre stage, which I adhered with a dimensional onto the panel featuring colourful birthday balloons:

Doesn't that cupcake look delicious? Below you can see how I created the card base from two pieces of cardstock, along with my stamped sentiment inside:

Another reason for my paper choice was that the gift was a gift voucher to spend at a local cycling store for accessories for a new bicycle, and the Birthday Basics paper has the perfect design for a themed gift card holder, made using my Envelope Punch Board:

I've made these gift voucher holders before (you can find instructions on a previous post here) - the colours mean that both items look great together. Today's card uses lots of retiring colours and products, so if you need to stock up on any you should hop over to my online store by clicking on the links below - the Itty Bitty Punches that I used to create the little flower on the gift card holder above have already sold out!! 

Right, must dash - I need to link today's post up with the current SUO Challenge of 'Something Yummy' - if I'm quick I might just make it! back tomorrow with another project, until then happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Another Great Year	Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe
1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/4 Inch Scallop Circle Punch	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Envelope Punch Board
Chalk Talk	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

So today I'm sharing a card I made to welcome the latest addition to the family for some friends of mine - their fourth daughter (hence the title of my blog post today!) I decided to steer clear of the pastel pinks that are traditional for baby girl cards and go brighter; after all, when it's your fourth baby girl it's nice to ring the changes, right?! So here's my card:

I used the 'Zoo Babies' stamp set to create my montage of animals and based my colour scheme on the checked DSP from the 'Birthday Basics' set. I used paper piecing to highlight some of the animals' features, as opposed to colouring with marker, so that they would stand out against the bold patterned paper. I smiled to myself as Rebecca came to give my card her seal of approval and said "Are you going to add 'another' with your Raspberry Ripple marker Mum?" As you can see, I resisted the temptation!!

I'm linking today's card up with Less is More where the challenge this week is 'New Baby', the sketch challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch! and Addicted to CAS, where the challenge is 'New' - well, this card is for a new baby and was created with a new (to me!) stamp set, so I think that qualifies!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Zoo Babies	A Dozen Thoughts	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe
Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
3/16 Inch Corner Punch

Well it's the weekend and in our house that can only mean one thing - even more Lego on the living room floor than during the week! This morning we even paid a visit to the Lego store to spend some of the money that James' juniors received at Christmas, so we've further added to the total brick count. I would share a picture of the living room floor, but to be honest I'm embarrassed at the state of it; at least I'm out at team training all day tomorrow, so I can pretend it's neat and tidy whilst I'm gone :-)

Anyway, today's card is my entry for this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge. This week it's a sketch by the very talented Margaret Moody:

This is something of a classic sketch, as it's a layout that can be used for all kinds of occasions. I decided I was in need of a bright card today, so went with this bold and cheerful birthday card:

I let the bold and bright 'Birthday Basics' DSP pattern take centre stage with its colourful party hats. Instead of leaving my vertical band straight, I decided to echo the scallop trim seen on some of the hats and create a layered strip that I cut with the Large Scallop Edgelit - it reminded me of party streamers too (I know, I have a vivid imagination!) I finished off with a sentiment from the 'Label Love' set stamped in Raspberry Ripple and punched with the Artisan Label Punch, then layered on another two pieces of punched cardstock in co-ordinating colours.

I really like this card, as it's as versatile as the layout and would suit either a boy or a girl. Don't forget to check out how the design team over at the Pals interpreted this week's sketch for lots more card making inspiration.

Back tomorrow with all the latest news from training and a picture of my swaps. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Label Love	Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay
Large Scallop Edgelits Die	Artisan Label Punch	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad

Another 40th birthday card today, this one showcasing lots of new products. This was the birthday card from my children to their uncle, so I wanted it to fauna fun design; this is what I came up with:

I used the Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper as the inspiration for the colour scheme for this card - that and the fact that I already had Bermuda Bay out on my desk (I love this new colour!) I built the sentiment from my Simply Sketched Alphabet stamps and added a fun element by replacing the 'OO' with a pair of spectacles and googly eyes. I stamped the spectacles by inking up one pair on my 'Spectacular' single stamp - I have been having lots of fun with this stamp (as a specs wearer it really appealed to me!); this, and the other single stamps, are still available to purchase until the end of the month. See the box on the right of my blog page for more details and make sure you contact me before the end of the month if you'd like to order one.

My children thought this card was really funny, although I'm not sure that I would have got away with it as far as my specs-wearing brother-in-law is concerned, were I not a specs wearer myself!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: ABC-123 Sketch Alphabet and Numbers, Spectacular

Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Bermuda Bay, Raspberry Ripple, Very Vanilla, Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper (SAB - retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Bermuda Bay, Raspberry Ripple

Tools: Simply Scored, Big Shot, Typeset Alphabet Die, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Finishing Touches: Googly eyes (non SU)