Good evening everyone! I have had a busy few days with last-minute Christmas preparations so blogging has had to wait awhile, but I've managed to squeeze in some time this evening to share a card I made a few weeks ago following my 'Dove of Hope' online class that features a fun technique. The sentiment and non-traditional colour scheme also make it perfect for the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge and the challenge over at Colour Dare too:

I used the Detailed Dove Dies to create my fabulous dove and teamed it with a sentiment from the Peace and Joy bundle, along with an inked background I created using the salt technique - take a look:

Have you ever created a background using the salt technique? It's really easy: all you need to do is take a piece of watercolour paper and give it a wash in your chosen colour(s), then whilst still wet, sprinkle with salt crystals in varying sizes, some coarse and some fine, then ideally leave your background to dry naturally. When it's dry you can brush off any excess salt and you will be left with a background where the salt has created an interesting textural pattern. I added a fine spray of Frosted White Shimmer Paint too for a little added extra sparkle, before adding my layered sentiment and diecut dove.

I adore this dove die and have a few more cards with it that I've yet to share, so I'll try and add a couple more later this week if time permits. 

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 evening and 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 amazing Ann to host this week and she has a timely Clean and Simple challenge for you to work with:

Our theme this week is 'Hooray For The Holidays'. With Christmas just around the corner I decided to go with another card to add to my growing pile, but you could choose Thanksgiving or any holiday you like - as long as your card is clean and simple.  So what do we mean by Clean and Simple?

I decided to use the Sounds of the Season jingle bells again on my card this week, this week changing from silver to gold and pairing with red for the challenge over at Less Is More. I also used the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches which gave me the perfect opportunity to use a die from the Dove of Hope Dies that I haven't been able to find a good use for until now - take a look:

 The die was just perfect to create a couple of lengths of holes to show the gold foil below, to compliment my diecut bells and gold heat embossed sentiment. You can see the detail a little better on the angled shot below - the weather has been so poor here in the UK that I've struggled to photograph the foil without artificial light, which is never as clear as daylight:

 

 

 

A quick clean and simple check:

• Minimal layers and embellishments with one main focal point - yes
• Lots of open 'white' (or in my case red!) space - yes
• Simple and uncluttered - yes

I'd call that a result! 

 

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; my day will definitely be spent indoors today, so I'm thinking cooking, crafting and a movie could be the order of the day! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SOUNDS OF THE SEASON DIES (£20.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	RED & GREEN FOIL SHEETS (£9.25)	DETAILED DOVE DIES (£31.00)	POINSETTIA PETALS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£25.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)