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

I went down the middle column with Florals, Free and Any Shape Die and used the current colours over at Less Is More for another outing with my Bloom and Grow stamp set - take a look:

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

Bloom And Grow - I stamped the same floral bough that I used on Tuesday's card, but this time just used the outline in Basic Grey and stamped it onto a piece of Rococco Rose ombre paper, having first masked off my heart shape with copy paper, as I wanted the flowers to edge my heart but the heat itself to remain uninked. 

A Subtles Ombre - Before adding my diecut heart or sentiment or adhering to my card base, I ran my sheet of stamped ombre paper through my Subtles embossing folder for a little added textural detail. I cannot believe this embossing folder is retiring - it's a real 'how will I ever live without you?' product for me! 

A Stitched Heart - I decided to make a feature of the gold element on my card. so went for a simple stitched heart outline die that sat in front of those masked florals, and I wove my sentiment strip under and over it. I added a trio of opal rounds for a little extra pink/gold sparkle to complete my card:

So what do you think? Another trio of items from my craft stash I will be sad to say goodbye to. Thank goodness there is a new Stampin' Up! catalogue on the way to soften the blow!

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 evening; I am about to join an online catalogue launch event for demonstrators - exciting stuff! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BLOOM & GROW PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£14.40)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
SUBTLE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	OPAL ROUNDS (£7.00)

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

For my card today I used the sketch layout over at Fusion along with our colours this week for some pretty florals and start the process of saying goodbye to one of my favourite floral sets in the annual catalogue - take a look:

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

Bloom And Grow - I love the floral boughs in the 'Bloom and Grow' stamp set that a perfect for a spot of colouring and chose a simple floral that allowed for all three challenge colours to be featured then die cut with the co-ordinating Budding Blooms Dies. 

In Stitches - There are also a few stitched elements to my card today: I placed my sentiment on a Stitched Shapes circle and added a stitched scalloped border from the 'Stitched Me Mine' Dies to my white panel. Both of these die sets are also retiring at the end of the month - so if you don't have them, grab them whilst you still can.

Balancing Black - Having considered stamping my sentiment black-on-white straight onto my panel, I eventually opted for the reverse and heat embossed my sentiment on black. It provided better contrast and really compliments the Bumblebee yellow I think, whilst not encroaching overly on my 'white space':

So what do you think? I'd love you to leave me a comment below with your thoughts! 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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BLOOM & GROW PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£14.40)	BUDDING BLOOMS DIES (£7.75)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	MOSSY MEADOW STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	MANY MARVELOUS MARKERS (£112.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As You See It where we have a rather interesting colour challenge:

These were definitely not colours for Christmas but were perfect for a congratulations card that I needed to make for a dear friend of mine - take a look:

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

Bloom And Grow - I adore the 'Bloom & Grow' stamp set - it's right up there as one of my favourite floral sets and is a cinch to cut out with the co-ordinating budding Blooms Dies. This particular floral bough that I've used today is a great one when you have only three colours to play with too. I used a piece of in-colour designer series paper (last year's design) to tone down the brightness of the Pineapple Punch card base and for the first time used the scalloped pieces in the dies set to create a channel either side of my stamped sentiment and tucked the florals in, similar to one of the samples on page 131 of the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue. 

Let's Celebrate Today - I love that larger than life ' you are simply wonderful' sentiment in this stamp set and combined it with another of the word stamps in this set 'let's celebrate you' on the inside of my card. This card is headed overseas to none other than my fabulous AYSI teamie Jan Clothier of Thinking Stamping fame; this week she was crowned as one of the Stampin' Up! Artisan designers for 2020 and I couldn't be more pleased for her - a definite cause for celebration! There's also reason for you, the reader, to celebrate today - if you don't already own the 'Bloom and Grow' bundle you might be please to know that it is available at a 15% discount as part of the current Online Extravaganza that ends tonight; so don't delay, pop your set into your shopping basket right away by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post! 

Just Choose Two - In addition to playing along at Time Out (I did not go for the optional extra of one layer on this occasion but may come back to this another time!) I am also playing along with the lovely peeps over at Just Add Ink where they have a great 'Just Take Two' challenge this week. My two were spots (on my DSP) and sparkle - this is unfortunately not as obvious in the photograph to see, but each of those yellow flowers is brushed liberally with clear Wink of Stella and the blue berries each have a coating of Shimmery Crystal Effects - trust me, in real life this card is so sparkly!!

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 off to the hospital for a second procedure to try and sort out my constantly aching and rather immobile frozen shoulder - wish me luck! Depending on my mobility I may or may not be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bloom & Grow Bundle (£47.03)	Pineapple Punch A4 Cardstock (£7.01)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	2018-2020 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)
Pineapple Punch Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	In Color 2018–2020 Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Shimmery Crystal Effects (£4.75)

Woohoo, it's Friday! I have another 'Bloom and Grow' card for you today, this time using both the sketch and inspiration photo over at Fusion:

Today's card is a little more 'stepped up' than my earlier clean and simple version (you can see that card here if you missed it) with a few more tools involved - take a look:

On today's card my sentiment is in the same place, however I have added a split top layer of Costal Cabana cardstock that I first embossed with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. I coloured my row of five flowers with my Stampin' Blends and cut them out using the co-ordinating Budding Blooms Dies before popping up with dimensionals across the edge of the mat layer. This card just shows how a few well chosen additional tools and accessories can create a completely different card with the same stamp set.

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 am really loving this stamp set at the moment; I made the cards for my in-colour club with it too. It makes such great feminine birthday cards and is really easy to work with.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bloom & Grow Bundle (£49.50)	Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Shaded Spruce Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fusion where both the sketch and inspiration photo got my creative juices flowing this week, so much so that I made two cards! Today I'm sharing a clean and simple one layer card inspired by the photo that is also perfect for the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS and I will be back with a stepped up card that uses the sketch too tomorrow.

My card also fits the bill over at SUO Challenges and this month's Stampin' Up! #SimpleStamping challenge since it is a simple combination of stamps, ink and paper to make a birthday card - take a look:

This card really was super simple to make: I positioned my sentiment and stamped it in Memento Black ink onto extra thick whisper white cardstock, then took one of the boughs of flowers from the 'Bloom and Grow' stamp set and stamped it both above and below if along the fold of the card, stamping off the edge to add interest. I coloured them with my Stampin' Blends and added a graduated aqua border to make the flowers stand out and mimic the colour of the inspiration photo.

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:

Bloom & Grow Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Shaded Spruce Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)
Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Bermuda Bay Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

I managed to get a few hours in my craft room yesterday and finished some cards for a few challenges that I wanted to play. The first was using the gorgeous purple-based colour palette over at CAS Colours and Sketches this week which I really couldn't resist; I also used the current CAS(E) This Sketch layout:

I love purples and couldn't resist creating some pretty florals using the Bloom and Grow bundle:

This card was actually super simple: I used my Subtles embossing folder to emboss my Highland Heather card base, then stamped my sentiment on a piece of Whisper White, backed with a piece of Gorgeous Grape that I added a scalloped border to using one of the dies in the Budding Blooms Dies set. I stamped one of the floral images onto Whisper White and coloured it using my Stampin' Blends and Stampin' Write Markers, adding a little clear Wink of Stella to the dark purple berries for a subtle sparkle and shine. A little decoration to the inside using the same set completes my card:

This is the first card I've made using the Bloom and Grow stamp set, but it's a great set for clean and simple cards and once I'd started I couldn't stop so I hope you like it as I have a few more to share this week, in between more Christmas card sneak peeks too!

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 the rest of your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bloom & Grow Bundle (£49.50)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Brights Stampin' Write Markers (£27.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)