Today I'm sharing a card that I made at the weekend still with a 'Christmas In July' theme going on (desperately trying to get into Christmas crafting!) that is for a few current challenges:

The lovely team at Less Is More are doing a one layer card Christmas in July theme and I chose one of my retired stamps, 'Dove Of Peace', which I thought would make a lovely image for Time Out's challenge to be 'Peaceful'. It also gave me an opportunity to get out my Stampin' Blends for a spot of colouring which is what the ladies over at SUO Challenges are all about this week:

I coloured the detail on my dove with a combination of Bermuda Bay, (retired) Coastal Cabana and Pool Party Blends. I then took a dry aquapainter (the new fine one is perfect for this) and painted the remainder of the body of the dove in white shimmer paint. This was quite time consuming, but so worth it; the photo really doesn't do it justice - it has such a soft shimmer in real life. I think I'll make a few more of these in alternative colourways - they will be great for sending to my overseas friends. 

This is one of my favourite retired Christmas stamps and great for one layer cards; do you have a favourite stamp for one layer creations? Do leave me a comment and let me know - I'd love to hear about your favourite Christmas sets, old or new.

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'!

Another late post from me today! I have had a non-stop day with grocery shopping, homework and a spot of cardmaking this morning and then Winter Fayre at school this afternoon and a swimming gala this evening. I'm not complaining though: I won first prize in the raffle at school, I won another prize in the swimming gala raffle and my superstar swimmer Rebecca put in an amazing time on her 50m breaststroke and qualified for County trials. So all in all a fantastic day! 

Today's card is for a few challenges: I've had the Dove of Peace stamp for ages and not once inked it up, so when I saw the Merry Monday Challenge this week I knew it was time to remedy that. I also wanted to enter The Challenge, where this week Lesley and the team would like us to create a Christmas card in non-traditional colours.

Well, you can't get more non-traditional than this:

Pastel Pink Pirouette and Wisteria Wonder, inspired by two of the new Pantone colours announced for Spring 2016 (see the full palette and trend report here). I decided on simple blocks of colour and plenty of white space to allow my dove to really take centre stage. I stamped both my sentiment and dove in Versamark and heat embossed them in silver, then coloured the patterns on my dove using my Stampin' Write markers and fussy cut it (so easy with Stampin' Up!'s paper snips) before adding to my card and popping it up on dimensionals. I also added a wide band of silver glimmer paper for some festive sparkle. An unusual colour combination, granted, but I must say I really do quite like it and it still has a definite festive feel I think.

That's all from me today; I will be back tomorrow much earlier with my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players where we have a fun theme courtesy of the lovely Claire. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Dove Of Peace Wood-Mount Stamp	Silver Glimmer Paper	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers
Banner Triple Punch	Paper Snips