It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and I've designed my layout with a narrow vertical border and sentiment across the wide panel. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to make a card that showcased the greenery diecut in the Mixed Florals bundle - the one that was hidden by all the flowers on Sunday's card (you can see that card here if you missed it):

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

There are three things that each have a significant role to play on today's card:

The Mixed Florals Diecut - The detail of this diecut deserves to showcased in all its glory once in a while - and today's card is it!

The Oxidised Copper Designer Paper - This paper, with its beautiful copper foil highlights, is really lovely and works best when it is allowed to take centre stage; so a border and the diecut itself allows it to stand out against the Pretty Peacock cardbase, whist still retaining a clean and simple feel.

Thinking Of You Sentiment - This sentiment comes from one of my favourite sentiment sets, 'Friends For Life'. I love the combination of typeface and the shine of the embossed copper and it's just the right size to balance the diecut:

Just the sentiment for this week's 'YOU' word challenge over at Just Us Girls this week too; I can't quite believe I've managed to join in with each of their challenges for the last three weeks - I must be on a roll!

The only other thing to mention is that I used one of the Everyday Arches Dies to diecut my sentiment label; this is the first time I've used one as a label rather than an arch, but it just goes to show how useful these are. A few copper sequins complete my card. 

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:

MIXED FLORALS BUNDLE (54.00)	NEUTRALS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.00)	OXIDIZED COPPER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (7.50)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (12.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)
PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)

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

I love Stef's bright colour palette this week - it's totally in my wheelhouse! I wanted to give one of my current favourite online-exclusive florals another outing, so I took the 2 prompts of 'floral' and 'arch' over at Time Out Challenges and went across the bottom row of the Tic Tac Toe Challenge board with flower/ink blending/embellishments and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Double Mixed Florals and A Colouring Tip - I love these colours together! I decided to use Coastal Cabana for my card base, and added a diecut arch in some (retired) geometric paper in the same colour for my base, then used the remaining colours for my florals. I decided to use both of the large floral images in the Mixed Florals bundle together on my card and also included the foliage diecut behind although you can hardly see that because of all the lovely flowers! I used my Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green to colour my florals, adding in a darker purple to give more of a Gorgeous Grape feel with a rogue Sharpie from my collection (feel free to join me in my campaign for Gorgeous Grape Blends markers any time!). Did you notice how seemlessly the florals blend with the background? That's because once I'd coloured my flowers, I also coloured all of the remaining white space with my (retired) Coastal Cabana Blendabilities markers (I'm campaigning to have this colour in Blends too!!) This takes a little time, but is well worth it I think - I much prefer this effect to white edges for this kind of card.

Saying Hey - Bold florals require a bold sentiment, so on today's card I added 'hey' from the 'Saying Hey' stamp set. This is another of those sets that is on the Last Chance List this week; this is my favourite sentiment in this set - it can be paired with anything on the inside and is great for a bold statement on the front of a card.

Tiny Bees - A loop of (retired) Gorgeous Grape ribbon and a trio of Tiny Bee Trinkets are the only additional elements on today's card; you can see those tiny bees on the close-up below:

They would be easy to miss amongst those bright colours and bold florals, but they are great for a fun, postal-friendly embellishment - so cute!

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 haven't crafted in over a week - the weather in the UK has been so glorious, I've been spending all my time in the garden, getting everything tidied up and looking a little more inviting. The weather is due to turn today though, with showers returning. Since my new catalogue pre-order arrived on Friday, this timing might have worked out quite well - it's time to play! I do need to have a good craft room clear-out first though, so it's probably a good job I have a few projects already made to share with you. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

MIXED FLORALS BUNDLE (54.00)	SAYING HEY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (8.00)	EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (14.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	TINY BEE TRINKETS (8.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a colour challenge chosen by Jan:

I love purples, but the addition of the Peach Pie almost threw me for a loop this week. So when in doubt and there's green in the palette - go floral! That's what I did with this week's colour palette. I'm also playing along with Team O over at TicTactoe Challenge and going down the middle column of their board with enamel dots/free/diecut. Take a look at what I created:

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

Thankful Garden - I know I shared a few sneak peeks of the Thankful Garden bundle when it was still on preorder; the latest drop of Online Exclusives went live earlier this week so this is your reminder that this fabulous bundle is now yours for the taking! My previous cards have used one or other of the florals in this set, but for today's card I used both - and extra diecut greenery that's also in the set too. I used the stencils to colour, blending the purples for my hydrangea and then I coloured two versions of the other flower: one in shades of Peach Pie, and a second in shades of purple, then I fussy cut the centres on the purple one and glued the to the peach one, to create my two-tone flower. I'm not sure what kind of flower these are supposed to be (primrose maybe?) but today's version reminds me of pansies. Either way they're pretty, right? 

Layers and Texture - Today's card is rather atypical for me; in addition to my florals and greenery, I also added a brick-embossed base and diecut an Everyday Arch from the Country Woods designer series paper - you can just see it peeking out beneath the flowers below:

With co-ordinating gems and a fussy cut sentiment, this card is choc full of detail - sometimes 'more is more', I think!

Insider Detail - I kept the inside fairly simple, just adding an off-the-edge stamped hydrangea, with an additional sentiment stamped on top; sometimes I like to stamp my inside sentiment in the corner instead of the traditional middle, as it gives more space for uninterrupted writing - do you ever do this?

Whilst this card is a little busier than my usual style, I love the finished effect - a lovely way to showcase the colours 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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Colour Challenge use all of the given colours and only those colours with these exceptions:
• White and Very Vanilla are free colours.
• In addition, you may use of ONE of these neutrals: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THANKFUL GARDEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (62.00)	EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (14.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PEACH PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)
EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)	COUNTRY WOODS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (4.80)

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

I still had my Wildflower Birthday designer series papers out on my desk after making yesterday's card and I actually made a couple of cards using Ann's sketch. Both were quite different and I'll share the first one I made another time, but for today I wanted to share my favourite - take a look:

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

Everyday Arches Shaker - I decided to play with the layers of Ann's card, and create a central shaker element using the Everyday Arches Dies. I used a simple flat shaker, by filling an acetate bag with gold and teal covered sequins from my stash, along with a few gold birthday candles, and simply taped this to the reverse of my arch opening. This is a fun way to make a quick shaker and means you can keep any dimension for the other elements of your card.

Wildflower Birthday - The main focal point of my card is one of the delicious-looking over-the-top birthday cake diecuts from the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper pack. I just love these for a special birthday card! I used another of the paper designs for the frame to surround my shaker, widening the frame so that lots of the pattern is on show.

Wanted to Say - Today's card is a no-stamping card (other than the sentiment on the inside of my card). This wasn't by design - my first card that I made included a stamped sentiment - but as I put my card together, I liked the cleaner layers achieved by using bold diecuts and instead added a layered 'Celebrate' from the Wanted To Say Dies instead - this one pairs with the Birthday Celebration bundle perfectly:

This card is a non-standard size (it actually measures 15cm x 18.5cm) so will need a custom envelope. I think this is a good size to accommodate some of the larger diecut elements in the designer paper, but you could scale down and create something more compact if you prefer.

I'm linking today's card up with the ladies over at The Alphabet Challenge blog where they are at 'Y is for Yummy' - that birthday cake certainly does look delicious to me!

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; no specific plans here today, perhaps some time pottering in the garden if the weather holds. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)

WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

At last - March has arrived! 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 a seasonal theme challenge for us to work with:

Spring flowers - I am so ready for spring! It has been beautifully crisp and sunny here in the UK for the last few days and finally there are signs of spring. Snowdrops and crocuses are blossoming, and daffodils are starting to bloom, with tulips not far behind. I knew that for today's card I wanted to create something bright and colourful using the tulips stamp in the Mixed Florals stamp set - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Full Of Life - My colour scheme for today's card was inspired by the piece of pink and orange ombre paper from the Full of Life pack. Like me, Claire is a fan of bright colours and I thought this injection of brights is just what was needed to propel us into spring! 

Mixed Florals - I used the large image featuring tulips on the front of my card - along with daffodils, tulips are the flower that most represents spring to me. I used lots of colours to get the blend of colours for my florals; I added some brass butterflies along with a Lemon-Lime Twist diecut piece behind, but really wanted the coloured florals to take centre stage:

I finished the front of my card with a diecut sentiment from the Greetings For All pack - I needed a bold sentiment to balance out the design.

Everyday Arches - I used one of the Everyday Arches Dies to frame my ombre designer paper on the front of my card, then used the insert to back another and create a simple pop-up design on the inside of my card for extra interest, and added another floral stem to decorate:

This kind of pop-up/out is so easy to use (you just need to score a strip of paper and create a four-sided 'box' to sit between the base and the panel you want to pop) and is a great way to do something a little different to add interest. 

Yay for brights and spring flowers - I can't wait to see what you create for this week's challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

MIXED FLORALS BUNDLE (54.00)	EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)	GREETINGS FOR ALL MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (6.75)	FULL OF LIFE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	BRUSHED BRASS BUTTERFLIES (9.50)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PEACH PIE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	LEMON LIME TWIST STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)