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 Vicky is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I used the sketch layout over at TGIF Challenges and went across the top row of our board with Clean And Simple (CAS), Bright Colours and Butterfly - take a look:

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

I still had the Butterfly Kisses papers, the Build A Butterfly Dies and 'Simply Fabulous' stamp set out on my desk having made this card so thought I would change things up in terms of colour scheme with a pop of bright blue Starry Sky cardstock for my card base, a larger-than-life sentiment and a super-bright Parakeet Party butterfly:

I also added a couple of (retired) in colour flower embellishments to pick up the Fresh Freesia colour. Easy as that!

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 am enjoying the slightly cooler weather today and making the most of it before things really hot up from tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow with another pair of projects for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BUILD A BUTTERFLY DIES (£29.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	BUTTERFLY KISSES 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.25)	SIMPLY FABULOUS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	STARRY SKY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)	STARRY SKY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)
PARAKEET PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Patricia has asked us to create something with the layout below. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to go for a clean and simple birthday card with a pop of bright colour courtesy of the Butterfly Kisses designer paper - take a look:

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

I added a piece of Butterfly Kisses designer paper to my card base, then overlaid the front section with a piece of Basic White cardstock that I cut with one of my Basic Borders Dies to give it the curve of the sketch. To this I added a butterfly cut with one of the Build A  Butterfly Dies and a sentiment from the 'Simply Fabulous' stamp set. I did add my sentiment to the lower portion of my card rather than where it was suggested on the sketch as I wanted it to stand out better and not get lost in the pattern of the paper. I also added a greeting and small decoration from the same stamp set to the inside of my card: 

I chose two of the colours that feature in the paper for my sentiment and butterfly respectively to give the whole thing a sense of cohesiveness. One of those cards that is simple and yet so effective I think:

A great sketch too with loads of creative possibilities. Looking forward to see what's in the gallery this 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BUILD A BUTTERFLY DIES (£29.00)

BUTTERFLY KISSES 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.25)

BASIC BORDERS DIES (£27.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)

CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Stamps Ink Paper where they are all about winged things this week:

After I made this card for our challenge over at The Paper Players on Sunday, the frugal crafter in me couldn't bear to throw away the rectangle of foil that I cut my butterflies for the pop-up out of, so I save it, along with the inset pieces, and diecut more black butterflies using the large die in the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits set and created a second card by piecing together my offcuts - take a look:

Once I'd pieced the whole thing together, I added some ribbon and sequins beneath my sentiment banner then decorated the inside of my card with the co-ordinating Beauty Abounds stamp set:

The paper-piecing here was something of a labour of love, but that Lovely Lipstick foil is just too pretty to allow any of it to go to waste!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle (£51.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Black 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Satin Ribbon (£6.50)
Lovely Lipstick 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Silver Mini Sequin Trim (£5.50)	Lovely Lipstick Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£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 Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

Cards for friends are the best kind to make and I had a few different cards made that fitted this theme, but decided to share a special card that I made for one of my best friends who is celebrating a milestone birthday next month. This card is also perfect for the #SUOC222 celebratory theme over at SUO Challenges this week. My card is is bright, sparkly and features one of her favourite things - butterflies. First of all, here's the outside:

A selection of butterflies, loosely watercoloured in Melon Mambo and Lovely Lipstick and painted with Wink of Stella, along with the bokeh stamp from the Beauty Abounds stamp set, were flicked with ink and white shimmer paint, along with a liberal sprinkle of white metallic sequins form the basis for the background to my extra-large cardfront (it measure 15cm x 21cm) which provide a colourful background for my focal sentiment, which I accented with some layered diecut butterflies cut using pieces of the main large die in the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits set.

The Beauty Abounds stampset has such great sentiments for friendship cards; this one is completed on the inside of my card along with a fun pop-up surprise:

My simple pop-up includes the whole of the large butterfly thinlit, layered in black over Lovely Lipstick foil (ssaved from Sale-A-Bration). Difficult to photograph well, but it's really impressive in real life and I know my friend will love it! I added the second part of the sentiment; ours is indeed a friendship over many years, that started with the birth of our first babies but has grown in to something much more - it is not that one thing but a million little things that keep it going as the years go by.  I included some sparkly numbers (there comes a time when a milestone birthday is worth celebrating but does not necessarily need to be seen on the front of the card in my view!) along with a little more decoration and a birthday sentiment from the 'Beautiful Day' set that the watercoloured butterfly on the front also came from. 

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:

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; we had a busy day yesterday with sport and a quick shopping trip for new school shoes for the youngest of the James Juniors who seems to be having a major growth spurt this year, (no blog post as I got too engrossed in a movie about Ted Bundy that I was watching last night and struggled to multi-process) so are looking forward to a slightly quieter one today, which will culminate with the final episode of the current season of 'Line of Duty' on TV tonight; any of my UK readers also looking forward to this 'who dunnit?' finale? We are also lucky to have a public holiday here in the UK this weekend, so will be making the most of the extra day tomorrow even though the weather is no great shakes - it's cold and showery and we even had hail yesterday! I'll be back then with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle (£51.25)	Beautiful Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Metallics Sequin Assortment (£4.75)
Silver Metallic Thread (£3.25)	Watercolor Paper (£4.75)	Aqua Painters (£16.00)

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the lovely Sandy's turn to host our challenge this week and she has a great clean and simple challenge for you to play along with:

I was a little pressed for time this week in getting ready for Stampin' Up! Onstage at Telford (also the reason for a lack of blog posts over the last two days) so a clean and simple challenge couldn't have come as a better time! I used this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday for my layout and decided to go with punched rather than stamped butterflies for both impact and speed:

As you can see, today's card really is clean and simple. Here's the low down:

Pretty Petals - I reached for this paper pack to use as the starting point for my card and settled on this rather bold pattern, as I knew I needed only a small amount so wanted it to be impactful. My Pretty Petals paper set the colour combination for my card and provided the perfect backdrop to my sentiment from 'Tin of Cards'.

Can You Keep A Secret? - The DSP has a small amount of Calypso Coral around the flower heads, which I substituted with Watermelon Wonder as I wanted to use the wide satin ribbon in this colour for my banner. Sssh, don't tell - although honestly I think it's impossible to see the difference even up close. Here is the colour palette I used on my card:

A Trio of Punched Butterflies - I used a trio of solid colour butterflies to complete my card, punched using the Bitty Butterfly and Elegant Butterfly punches. I layered one of them and finished them all with pearls as a simple embellishment.

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. 

So as you can see, a clean and simple card for this week's butterfly challenge. I'm also linking up with the lovely team over at the Global Design Project where their theme this week is 'nature' and a butterfly definitely qualifies for that!

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 cards this week. We are off to basketball today and back to hockey today ...

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bitty Butterfly Punch	Elegant Butterfly Punch	Pearl Basic Jewels	Punch Corner Project Life
Watermelon Wonder 1" Stitched Satin Ribbon

Another Monday, another week! I have a busy week in store and am looking forward to it already! Firstly, to all those celebrating a leap year birthday today - a very happy birthday to you! Today I am sharing a card using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the colours over at Pals Paper Arts:

I knew immediately how I wanted today's card to look and had a clear picture in my mind. My card did turn out as I hoped, save for the need to flip the sketch to its mirror image - take a look:

I turned to my 'Butterfly Basics' stamp set for my card today. I haven't used this set in ages and it's so easy to forget the great sets in the current annual catalogue when we have Sale-A-Bration and the current seasonal catalogue to keep us busy. I just knew that the long stemmed flower was going to be perfect for that long panel though. I stamped the image in Night Of Navy and coloured the flower with Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz inks and my blender pen. I matted this image on pink and navy, the reversed this matting for my sentiment, which I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in white. I stamped my butterfly in Night of Navy on both sides of a piece of vellum and punched it out with my Itty Bitty Butterfly punch and adhered it to my sentiment panel. I also covered my butterfly liberally in Wink of Stella, which adds such a lovely sparkle in real life. I had to mirror-image the sketch because of the way the leaves fall on the stem - I'm hoping Jen isn't going to be too upset by this! Lastly, to finish I added a trio of Blushing Bride enamel dots from the Love Blossoms Embellishment kit. I just love these - they are so sparkly! This is one of those cards that makes great use of colour to accentuate the layers and by stamping the flower in Night of Navy instead of grey or black the whole thing really co-ordinates well. 

Here is today's visual summary for easy reference:

I have my piano lesson this morning then am off to London today for an appointment before returning in time for the school run. So a busy day in store! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Butterfly Basics Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Papillon Potpourri Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Love Blossoms Embellishment Kit	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Blender Pens	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Vellum A4 Cardstock

Today is a busy day for me: I have my monthly technique class this morning and this afternoon I'm heading to Ikea to stock up on picture frames for a party at the weekend. This month's technique class features the 'Butterfly Basics' stamp set and co-ordinating Butterfly Thinlit Dies, so I have been using them to make lots of samples recently. Today's card is one of the ones I made to show the ladies that are attending my class and works wonderfully with the palette over at Colour Q this week:

The butterflies can be used in a number of ways to incorporate colour into them - having seen some interesting samples using vellum and also colouring with Blendabilites, I decided to have a go at paper-piecing a solid butterfly image. Here is my card:

Whilst this card looks deceptively simple, with its inlaid black butterfly outline and coloured wings, I can assure you it isn't altogether quick to put together! Keeping track of all the tiny pieces from the insides of the four coloured butterflies I cut was something of a challenge, but was well worth it - I love the effect of the solid, brightly coloured paper-pieced butterfly. Here's a close up of the detail:

In addition, I also have the four coloured butterflies to use for other projects - bonus!

That's all from me today. check out my Facebook page if you would like to see the fun that the ladies are getting up to in my class and what this week's cakes look like! Better still, get in touch with me and join me for next month's technique class on 9th March, when we will be using Blendabilities and the lovely Easter stamp set, 'Indescribable Gift'. You can find more details on my class schedule here.  Back tomorrow with another project; until then happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Pretty In Pink cardstock - retired

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Bundle	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock	Real Red A4 Card Stock
Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock

Happy Wednesday everybody! Today is a good day - the sun is shining again, my Autumn-Winter pre-order has arrived so I have lots of Halloween and Christmas goodies to play with, there's a new bunch of weekly deals (see earlier post here) and it's time for this week's Colour Me...! Challenge, where we have a monochromatic colour challenge this week using Pistachio Pudding and a neutral:

I thought this challenge would be trickier than it actually was. I used the latest sketch from the Deconstructed Sketch for my layout and inked up my new Kinda Eclectic stamp set which I have been keen to get working with - here's my card: 

For my card I used a base of Pistachio Pudding, then layered one of the die-cut pieces from the now retired Simply Sent card kit in last year's annual catalogue. I added some Pistachio Pudding polka dot paper from the All Abloom DSP stack, then stamped the sunburst from Kinda Eclectic in Pistachio Pudding onto Whisper White and cut out using my Big Shot and Circles Framelits and cut the bottom third off the circle. For the central banner, I stamped the spots in Pistachio Pudding on the cardstock of the same colour, then stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in White embossing powder over the top to add additional dimension. Lastly, I replaced the flags in the sketch with the butterflies from Kinda Eclectic, stamped in Pistachio Pudding onto Whisper White cardstock and punched out using the co-ordinating punches. I think the key to a single colour card where you are using one single colour plus a neutral, and don't have then benefit of tonal shades of the same colour, is to add layers, patterns and shapes for extra interest. If you're based in the UK and Europe, the Pistachio Pudding ink pad is on this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals List too and can be yours for just £3.71 instead of the usual £4.95 this week, so if you needed an incentive to have a go at this week's challenge, this is it!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the gallery this week - meanwhile, check out what the other designers have in store for you over at Colour Me and our new featured guest designer for the month of August.

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad	Kinda Eclectic Clear-Mount Stamp Set	All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding
Elegant Butterfly Punch	Bitty Butterfly Punch	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder

A really quick post from me today as I am having a busy one! Today's card uses this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and is an example of something that I don't do very often: it uses a long-ago retired vintage stamp set, Flight of the Butterfly. Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

I loved the sentiments that come with this stamp set and I needed a card specifically using the sentiment above, so I combined it with some naturals ivory cardstock and some colours that I had out on my desk for another project that I've been working on this week and decided that this set would work perfectly with the above sketch to create a clean and simple butterfly card. I stamped the butterflies in Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Baked Brown Sugar and punched the main one of and just shaped with my bone folder before adhering to my card. I added some linen thread to the spine to add to the natural feel of the card, but couldn't resist a sprinkling of gold sequins too. If you don't have this stamp set, you could easily re-create it with a current set, such as Papillion Potpourri and the Elegant Butterfly punch.

I hope you like today's card; don't forget the retiring list is published tomorrow so do pop back to see all of the things that we will be saying goodbye to at the end of June. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Linen Thread	Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock
Gold Sequin Trim

Good morning blog readers! It's Monday and the start of another busy week. Today I'm sharing my card for this week's Pals Paper Art challenge. I was thrilled to be a Top 3 winner over at PPA last week with my flowerpot card (if you missed it, you can see it here). This week the Pals have a great sketch by the talented Margaret Moody:

I was initially tempted to use a feature piece of DSP for panel 2, however I had some punched butterflies left over from preparing my weekend Spring banner class and decided instead to use them to create my card. Here it is:

I used a Soft Sky base, then layered a Whisper White panel on Daffodil Delight and carefully aligned my punched butterflies. I finished by stamping the 'Smile' sentiment in Versamark and heat embossing with clear embossing powder onto a panel of So Saffron, which I raised on dimensionals. A simple layout that worked for me and saved my excess butterflies from the scrap box; who else hoards bits and pieces then never goes back to use them on a card, instead punching the shape from a fresh piece of cardstock? Go on, admit it - we've all done it ;-). I loved the mix of brights and subtles on this card and the feeling of spring that it conjures up. 

I'm off to do some work before meeting some friends I haven't seen in a while for lunch. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Bitty Butterfly Punch	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	Happy Day	Embossing Buddy	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder
Versamark Pad	Heat Tool - Uk Plug