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

She has asked that we use a simple tag shape with an overlaid sentiment on a square card base. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. 

For my card today I'm also playing along over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'critter' and I'm featuring a pair of them on today's card:

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

 I added this cute little bug from the Cute As A Bug designer series paper to my tag, grounding her with a little shading and added a sweet bee delivering a flower to her directly to my cardbase:

A simple sentiment from 'Meant To Bee' completes my card - cute as can bee, right?

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'!

Today I have a quick card to share  that I made using Jen B's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I love this layout - especially the way Verena used the die I used on yesterday's card on her DT card - but I didn't want to copy and as I was making yesterday's card, I realised that I still had some of the scenes in the retired Cute As A Bug paper pack that I hadn't used, so chose one for the central panel and used the reverse pattern to frame it   - take a look:

I actually had two of the same scene, so fussy cut the saxaphone-playing butterfly and the grasshopper harpist and added them with dimensionals for added lift and interest:

I did take a couple of liberties with the sketch: I rotated it through 90 degrees and altered the position of the sentiment slightly so that it didn't obscure my musical creature but the layout is still there to see. This card is a little larger than usual, A5 instead of A6 as I didn't want to cut down the central scene. I'm also linking today's card up for a second outing over at Time Out since my bug orchestra is definitely making music of sorts!

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 have to scoot to get this linked up over at FMS before the close; I went to the gym first thing then spent an hour or so paddleboarding along the river this morning, and despite my best intentions the heat properly overwhelmed me this afternoon and I fell asleep! I now need to make up for lost time and catch up on a few of the other things I was hoping to do today - at 35 degrees plus it's a record-breaking Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK temperature wise, but I'm definitely not complaining! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

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 my favourite, a sketch challenge, for us to work with:

I really like this sketch - the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I used this layout for the speed stamping card I made on Friday (you can see that card here if you missed it)  and I have another card later this week that uses it too. On each of these cards, I've tried to use the panels in different ways. For today's card, I'm using some cute retired Cute As A Bug designer paper and one of my favourite dies for that rectangular panel - take a look:

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

I decided to add a piece of DSP featuring tiny flowers to the front of my card (this is one of the Cute As A Bug patterns); this allowed me to make a feature of the rectangular panel with the circles panel diecut from the Lovely Arrangements bundle. I added a stitched circle as the base for my fussy-cut insect carrying her flower and paired her with a sentiment from the Lovel Arrangements bundle too:

A heart and a couple of enamel flowers from my stash were the finishing touches for this otherwise quite simple card. I was enjoying fussy cutting whilst I had this pack of paper out on my desk, so took the opportunity to make a second card using it too - I'll share that one with you tomorrow. This really is a great sketch - I can't wait to see what you all make with is 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 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; it's a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and for once the sun is shining and it's glorious! I will be spending my day in the garden, reading and soaking up the beautiful weather whilst it lasts! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LOVELY ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I'm also playing along with the team over at Just Add Ink where their current challenge is to 'Just Add Wings' - I'm featuring a cute bookish ladybird on today's card :

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

Cute As A Bug - Given that I am really trying to ration my purchase of new papers, I didn't get this paper on my iniitial catalogue pre-order. Big mistake! My PP teamie Ann has been making fabulous cards with it and she convinced me I 'needed' it in my collection, only for me to have to settle in for a long wait, as it's been out of stock here in the UK for absolutely ages! I finally managed to get my hands on some, so I had to cut into it for Claire's sketch challenge today! 

I chose a bold toadstool pattern for the background and then diecut a circle out of another design, before fussy-cutting my cute book-reading ladybird to sit on top:

I allowed my diecut circle to overhang the left-hand side edge of my card, as I needed to allow space for my sentiment on the right and I didn't want to use a smaller circle and risk cropping out that ginormous todastool!

I paired my new paper with a bunch of retired bits and pieces - Layered Circles Framelits, Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing Folder and the Brilliant Rainbow Dies for the scalloped borders - and a sentiment from the current 'Nature's Symphony' stamp set, as it seemed to fit my sweet ladybird perfectly.

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 out for a family brunch this morning and then will be enjoying a later dinner with the youngest of the James Juniors as he is home from university for a few days enjoying a weekend of back-to-back hockey, amongst other things! I'll be back later this week with another project; until then, happy stampin'!