Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fusion:

I went with both the sketch and photo inspiration for my card today - I loved the navy and white colour combination and the strong pattern influence in the inspiration photo:

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

Label Me Pretty - The focal point for my card is a layered label from the new Label Me Pretty set. I featured one of the other labels in this set in my Saturday post (if you missed it you can see it here); for today's card I punched out my main label using the new Pretty Label Punch and added some additional layering to the circles in the centre. 

Floral Boutique - I love the patterns in the Floral Boutique designer series paper pack and will be sorry to see this paper retire. Fear not though, there is a silver lining: 4 of the patterns in this pack are returning in the new In-Colour Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Pack, including the one I've used on my card today. Hooray - now I can re-create my card in the new in-colours too!

An Added Detail - In addition to some retired Sale-A-Bration metallic ribbon, I added one final detail to my card today; well actually, to the envelope! I took a co-ordinating piece of paper from the Floral Boutique stack and added it to my envelope flap for some pretty additional detail. This is a nice way to add a touch of colour to an otherwise plain envelope - after all, envelopes should never be naked!

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:

Label Me Pretty Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pretty Label Punch	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	1-3/8" (3.5 Cm) Circle Punch
1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

I saw this sketch and immediately saw ... snowmen! Take a look:

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

Snow Place Like The Front of a Christmas Card - Apologies for the pun, but these snowmen - and women - definitely deserve to be showcased on the front of a Christmas card. 'Snow Place' is such a fun stamp set with infinite dress up possibilities for the snowmen and penguin in the set. What's more, the co-ordinating Snow Friends Framelits Dies make cutting out the shapes easy-peasy.

Go Large - Bigger is not always better, granted, however to accommodate my snow family of five I needed more cardfront, so I decided to make my card A5 size (21cm x 14.9cm) instead of a more standard A6. This allowed me enough room for my mats and layers, without my family needing to jostle too much for a space on my card.

A Pattern Surprise - Do you recognise my patterned paper? Are you wondering where I found my seasonal snowfall? This paper isn't from one of the festive seasonal packs at all; it's actually one of the patterns in the Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper. As with many of our DSP packs, the reverse of the feature papers often has a more repetitive pattern with spots, stripes or solid colours. This gorgeous mix of navy and white papers hides this spotted pattern which makes perfect snow. The moral of the story? Always check both sides of your papers and don't assume that because a pack isn't designed with Christmas in mind, there won't be a hidden gem that is perfect for your 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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set	Snow Friends Framelits Dies	Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Chocolate Chip A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad

Happy Monday everyone! Apologies if you struggled to see my blog yesterday; my web hosting company was undertaking some account migration activity that was supposed to be 'behind the scenes', but resulted in some outages along the way. My website still isn't fully functioning but my blog is at least now back online - let's hope it stays that way!

I am starting the week off bright and early with a card for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges where the theme is to use the negative space left after making a die cut in a positive way:

This is a technique I love to use and can be very effective. Here's the card I made for my lovely Mother-In-Law's birthday last week that demonstrates it beautifully:

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

Large Letters Framelits - I used my Large Letter Framelits to create the negative die cut space on my card. I've said it before, but in case you were sleeping/skipped a bit/not paying attention or all of the above, these framelits, whilst pricey, are an investment item - they will see you through so many projects they are well worth the spend.

Floral Boutique - My negative space not only makes light work of some important personalisation here, but it also serves to showcase this gorgeous navy and white Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper. The hand-painted blooms are gorgeous and the negative space does a great job of focusing in on the paper, which would not stand out as much if the positive die cut letters had been used.

Finishing Touches - The 'happy birthday' from Birthday Basics completes my sentiment, along with a couple of rhinestones and some Night of Navy solid baker's twine tied in a bow. I used the Floral Phrases stamp set to decorate the envelope and inside of my card too.

This type of card is quite straightforward to make; the most important consideration is to ensure your letter dies are perfectly aligned. I am happy to report that my Mother-in-Law loved her birthday card, which co-ordinated with some Floral Boutique goodies as a birthday gift. Me - I loved this card so much, I created a masculine version for my Dad, who celebrates his birthday tomorrow; hopefully I'll share this one later 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any.   

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Large Letters Framelits Dies	Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper	Night Of Navy Solid Baker's Twine	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

For my card today I decided to go with a classically elegant wedding/anniversary card using the new Floral Phrases stamp set that is part of the Floral Boutique suite:

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

Hand Painted Florals - The stamps in the Floral Phrases set, just like the co-ordinating Floral Boutique designer papers, have the appearance of hand painted images when stamped, with gradations in colour for artistic effect. They also include a beautiful script and some heartfelt sentiments - I included the one in my card in the thumbnail above.

Not Quite Mirrored - I stamped the floral image then rotated it through 180 degrees and stamped it again to give me my focal point. The images are not a mirror image of each other, yet combining the two images in this way does create a seamless focal point, with the join covered by my sentiment banner. 

A Classic Colour Combination - Navy and white is a classic colour combination that features throughout the Floral Boutique suite. I wound some Night of Navy solid baker's twine around my card behind my banner and added a strip of gold sequins to add a little extra sparkle to my otherwise monochromatic card.

Today's card is a nice easy one to re-create and perfect for a summer wedding - why not have a go yourself?

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

We have a big day today: it's finally time for The Wizard of Oz and Rebecca's performance of the Dorothy. She has four performances today, so I'm wishing her well - I'll report back in full tomorrow! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: