Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

As crafters we are always adding to our crafty stash, so today's challenge is about pairing something that you recently bought with an old favourite. I have some beautiful new floral sets from the upcoming annual catalogue that I hadn't had the chance to play with yet, so today was the perfect opportunity to remedy that. I was inspired by the colours of those beautiful tulips in the top right corner of Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration photo and used the layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Pretty Florals - Today's card really is all about the florals - this card is choc-full of them! I used the new Pretty Florals Dies and diecut a trio of blooms and buds from Pretty In Pink cardstock and inked them with Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo and layered them into a floral cascade, interspersed with some bright green leaf foliage. I love the diecut detail and unusual layering of these large flowers (peonies, perhaps?) - so pretty! I also added some fine white and clear Wink of Stella ink splatters to my blooms and cardbase for a little extra detail.  

Sweet Blooms - The Florals in Bloom Suite contains two bundles: the Pretty Florals bundle that I used for the flowers, and the Sweet Blooms bundle, that is predominantly a sentiment-builder set based around two large sentiment dies - I used the 'bloom' one on today's card. I cut the uppermost layer out of co-ordinating glimmer paper for some extra sparkle and shine:

I also added some in-colour pink glimmer gems because, well, you can never have enough pink!

Brickwork Texture - The 'old favourite' item on my card is the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder that I used to add texture to my Smoky Slate card base. I'm not a big EF user, but this one is a keeper and definitely one of my favourites.

I love the mix of old and new products on this card and I'm really pleased with how my finished card turned out; I think I'll be getting a lot use from these new bundles.

CAS Take Two - I had some spare blossoms cut and coloured leftover from my card, so decided to use them up and make a quick card for the clean and simple colour challenge over at AAA Cards, since I had used 3 of their 4 colours:

I used the same sentiment but this time stamped it directly onto my white cardbase, next to my simple flower stem:

 The detail on these flowers really is something, don't you think?

 As you can see, the Pretty Florals and Sweet Blooms bundles are great for both super detailed and layered cards, and clean and simple ones too. here's a photo of both cards together:

Which one do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

And for the second card:

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; the weather has turned cooler again here in the UK so I think I might have the opportunity to indulge in a little crafting; I had lots more ideas for new projects when I was playing yesterday, so I'm keen to get them down on paper! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ GLIMMER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£10.25)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (£4.80)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£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)

Happy Tuesday everyone! First things first: the Clearance Rack has updated overnight in the online store and there are some fantastic bargains to be had, Especially on dies and kits - you can check out the reduced items here; if you are local to me I am placing an order today, so let me know if you'd like to add to it.

So that's the bargains on the retired stuff! Today I'm sharing a card that is all about the 'new' - the new 2024-26 In Colours in fact. I decided to play along with the current challenge over at Just Add Ink with the 'take two' of pots and leaves that also uses the sketch over at Global Design Project (albeit I did change the position of the bow; I do have a slightly more faithful take on this sketch for later in the week). 

I chose to use the 'Planted Paradise' stamp set which is on carryover for my card today as I thought it would be a perfect way to showcase those bright new in colours - take a look:

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

I kept my card base and background white, so as to allow my plant pots to take centre stage, adding a frame embossed with the Timeworn Brick embossing folder and a central label cut using the Everyday Details Dies. I then stamped a collection of pots and leaves and arranged them to fill the front of my card. So the new in colours are, left to right, Pretty in Pink, Petunia Pop and Peach Pie, on the plant pots, with leaves in Shy Shamrock and a couple of trailing leaves just below my twine bow in Summer Splash:

I finished with a sentiment from the retiring 'Love For You' and a few pearls to decorate one of my pots. So what do you think - is this a set of in colours you could get on board with? Do you have an emerging favourite? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

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:

PLANTED PARADISE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (21.00)	LOVE FOR YOU PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (7.60)	EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	EVERYDAY DETAILS DIES (32.00)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)
IRIDESCENT PEARL BASIC JEWELS (7.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)

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

I paired Jaydee's colours with the sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments and since I had a little more time this week decided I would have a little play with some new product - take a look:

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

Exposed Brick Texture - First up is a new-to-me product, the Exposed Brick 3D embossing folder that I used to emboss not only a piece of Pebble Path-coloured designer paper from the Fresh As A Daisy pack, but also the solid coloured trio of panels that sit on top of the base. I don't use a lot of embossing as a rule, but isn't that texture just something? It is great for adding detail to backgrounds and I really love the effect.

Abundant Beauty Sunflowers - It will be no surprise to my regular readers that the Abundant Beauty masks were one of the first things onto my pre-order shopping list - I do love a good stencil! This is a great pack with a herringbone design, autumn and snowflake panels and a layering stencil that includes a trio of sunflowers. These are the stencils I used today - I used my blending brushes to apply colour to my flower trio - I used Crushed Curry as my additional colour to 'brighten' my sunflowers and allow for more graduated colour - and some additional leaves, then fussy cut them out and pieced them onto my frame/panel background. Check out the texture and detailing on the close up below:

Charming Sentiments - To finish I added a simple sentiment from the 'Charming Sentiments' set and diecut it with the coordinating die. I love that this stamp set has such a great variety of phrases for each and every occasion, and they can be diecut perfectly with no need to fussy cut - bonus!

I'll be honest I did find Jaydee's colour palette a challenge this week and I wasn't sure about this card once finished but having let it sit a while, I've decided it looks just fine, even if those leaves are a slightly unorthodox choice! What do you think? How would you use these colours? What do you have to be grateful for today? Leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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; we are still in the grips of the late summer heatwave we've been experiencing here in the UK this week, so as much as I'd love to type more posts and share more things with you, my craft room is a veritable sauna, so I am spending as little time in it as possible - the garden and BBQ beckons! I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ABUNDANT BEAUTY DECORATIVE MASKS (10.00)	PEBBLED PATH A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	WILD WHEAT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	COPPER CLAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	WILD WHEAT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	FRESH AS A DAISY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	2023–2025 IN COLOR™ DOTS (7.50)	COPPER CLAY 3/8" (1 CM) TEXTURED RIBBON (7.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	CHARMING SENTIMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	SENTIMENT SILHOUETTES DIES (33.00)