It's Sunday and time for another challenge over at The Paper Players! There was some great inspiration using LeAnne's colour palette last week and this week it is the turn of the lovely Jaydee, who has a great CAS-themed challenge to get us creating this week:

Girly thanks - I immediately thought 'flowers' for this one and wanted to use some of the lovely 'Gold Soiree' specialty DSP. It's rather busy for a clean-and-simple card though, so I toned it down with a vellum overlay - take a look:

I matted a piece of DSP on some Garden Green with a base of Pistachio Pudding, then on a piece of vellum stamped my thank you sentiment from the 'Big on You' stamp set in Calypso Coral and Garden Green inks and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder to give it a lovely textured shine (although this is difficult to see in the photograph). I wrapped the vellum with a piece of Pistachio Pudding thick baker's twine and finished with single Calypso Coral flower stamped in the same colour using the 'Flower Shoppe' stamp set and punched out with the co-ordinating Pansy punch (the Garden Green leaves were a couple of wings punched with the Bird Punch) and a cluster of pearls. Here's a close-up of the flower, which echoes the pattern on the paper beneath the vellum overlay:

I then adhered the vellum overlay to the base using dimensionals, attached behind the flower and the stamped sentiment, so that they aren't visible on the top layer. I love these big, bold sentiment stamps and the floral DSP - both of which will be retiring at the end of the month, so if they're on your wishlist you should snap them up now before it's too late!

So that's my clean and simple floral thanks today - I'm also linking my card up over at SUO Challenges, where the current theme is 'fun flowers'. Before you reach for your inks and thank you stamps, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your CAS creations this week. I'm looking forward to a quiet family day today as I recover from the yesterday's Stampin' Up! UK Regional Event.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Big On You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper
Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Bird Punch
Pansy Punch	White Vellum A4 Card Stock	Flower Shop	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

This is the first of a number of blog posts today - so get comfy, lovely readers!

This is a bonus post for you today - following my card being chosen as the 'Featured Stamper' card at The Color Throwdown last week - you can see that card here - I was asked by the lovely Tammy Hershberger to be their Guest Star stamper this week for challenge number 310. So if you are reading my blog for the first time having popped over from CTD - welcome! Here is the colour palette and inspiration photo for this week's challenge:

I took the inspiration for my card from the colours and the photo and decided to go with something floral, featuring buttons and also some typeset designer series paper, albeit as the background for my flowers. Here is my card:

I used the leaves from the 'Kinda Eclectic' stamp set to stamp onto my typeset paper, then stamped a trio of flowers - Beautiful Bunch, Flower Shoppe and Petite Petals - in the challenge colours and created some nicely layered blooms with a variety of button centres to finish them off. I decided to finish off with something of a fussy bow using Vanilla seam binding ribbon tied with linen thread and the birthday sentiment from the Flower Patch stamp set. A bit of a departure from my usual style, and quite a product-heavy card too I'm afraid, but that's not always a bad thing!

Check out The Color Throwdown challenge page to see how the other designers have interpreted this week's challenge.

As for me, I have some work to do then a very important match to attend to this afternoon: my youngest is playing in his first rugby match at school so I'm off to cheer him along and remind him to wear his gumshield!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beautiful Bunch Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Fun Flower Punch	Flower Shop	Pansy Punch	Petite Petals
Petite Petals Punch	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay
Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Brights Designer Buttons
Subtles Designer Buttons	Very Vanilla 1/2 Inch Seam Binding Ribbon	Linen Thread	Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Kinda Eclectic Clear-Mount Stamp Set

After all the news-related posts of the day, I thought I would share a quick creative post of a card I made using some of the new products that feature in the Stampin' Up! Spring-Summer catalogue released today. Today's card is my entry for this week's sketch challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; last week I was delighted to be chosen as one of the 'Top 3 Picks' for the colour challenge with the card I featured here. This week's challenge is to design a card using the following sketch layout:

Here is my finished card:

So if you were expecting spring pastels, I'm afraid you're already disappointed!! This card is something of a departure for me - I don't often use black as a card base, but I was inspired recently by this card created by Justin Krieger (check out his blog here - I love his style.) and decided that black would provide the perfect backdrop to showcase lots of the new gold products that feature in the new seasonal catalogue.

I stayed quite faithful to the sketch and edged my oval in gold foil and embellished with a layered flower using the Flower Shop and Mixed Bunch stamp sets. I embossed the bottom flower in black on Very Vanilla and the top layer in gold on black to give it a luxurious feel - the photo at the bottom of this post really shows the detail. I finished with a vintage button threaded with the new gold baker's twine and some gold foil leaves punched from my two step bird punch. The background banner is made from one of the gold vellum sheets, another new product; each pack contains 3 designs (it also includes a spot and a heart pattern) and I love them! I finished by adding my floating dots of gold sequins, which I removed from the thread so that I could use them individually. Oh and I almost forgot - the 'Live happy' sentiment is one of those included in the Sale-A-Bration stamp set, 'You're Lovely'.

I hope you like my card; if you would like to see what the designers and other participants did with this sketch, pop over to the CCMC page for more design inspiration.

Back tomorrow with a video tutorial for you and an exciting make using a new stamp set from the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

You're Lovely Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Flower Shop	Mixed Bunch - Clear-Mount Stamp	Gold Baker's Twine	Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum
Gold Foil Sheets	Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape	Gold Sequin Trim	Very Vintage Designer Buttons	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies
Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform	Bird Punch	Versamark Pad	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Heat Tool - Uk Plug

Well, what can I say - a seven day absence from my blog - unheard of!! I know this is a busy time of year and I've certainly no shortage of lovely things to share with you, but my real issue has been keeping up, both with the photography (lots of makes are leaving the house before being photographed!) and blog writing itself. The James juniors have finished school for the Christmas holidays already, and in addition to all of the usual pre-Christmas preparations, I have been having so much fun with them I've had little time for anything else this past week.

No festive project to share today - instead the alternative trio of cards made following the same layout used in my December Christmas card class (you can see the Christmas versions here) but with distinctly non-Christmas card designs. So here they are:

This one uses some of the Print Poetry paper stack that is currently available to buy on the clearance rack, whilst stocks last. The second one:

This one has quite a retro feel, with the colour scheme inspired by the retired Sycamore Street SAB paper - my customers love this paper, so are still looking for ideas and ways to use it. Lastly, the third card featuring a bow made with the Gift Bow Bigz Die:

This card actually uses a couple of the things we used to make the Christmas card version - the Seasons of Style paper stack paper and the 'Wishing You' stamp set and proves that these things can be used for non-Christmas as well as Christmas cards if you use alternative colours.

I liked the way all three of these cards turned out and the fact that they gave me a few cards to add to my stash ready for the year ahead. This really is a quick post from me, but before I go I thought I'd share one festive picture of the masterpiece created by my super-creative children today - our very first gingerbread house, from scratch! We made the house yesterday and they built and decorated it today. I'm pleased to say it's all their own work - I for one, think it's rather impressive:

Complete with gingerbread boy and girl and Christmas tree in the garden and following a considerable 'snowfall', of course! Tomorrow I have a day of present wrapping in store, so with Christmas music and tape in hand will be a woman on a mission!

I will hopefully not leave it so long before my next post; until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Standard Cutting Pads	Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Sticky Strip	Mini Glue Dots
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Wishing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies	Feel Goods Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Express Yourself	Brights Candy Dots	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad
Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Gumball Green A4 Card Stock	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder A4 Card Stock
Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

An early post from me today (or a late one from yesterday, depending on your perspective!) as I'm off to London; not to see the Queen, but to meet the nice people at DK Books to talk about all things crafty - should be fun! For today's post, I've another project made at our recent quarterly team training session, this time a Pocket Book designed by Bekka Prideaux and made using the Tag A Bag Gift Bags as pockets in a book. Here's a picture of the finished mini-album, with one of the Tag A Bag Accessory Kit Gift Tags making a nice cover label:

This is another project that makes use of the Crushed Curry/Bermuda Bay colour combination and features the Flower Shop stamp set, both on the cover and inserts and punched to make the flower embellishment on the front of the card. This is what the book looks like inside:

The bags are decorated with alternating colour stamps and each small section has a section of card in the corresponding colour. This little pocket book could be used in a variety of ways; you can write on the bag pages and card inserts, fill the bags with small items and seal using the other items in the accessory kit (twine, mini pegs, tags and tape) or use to mount photos or clip notes to. The whole thing fastens neatly with chevron ribbon. One last picture to show you a close up of the lovely embellishment on the front cover:

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Flower Shop

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry

Tools: Simply Scored, Pansy Punch

Finishing Touches: Tag A Bag Gift Bags, Tag A Bag Accessory Kit, Crushed Curry 3/4" Chevron Ribbon, Coastal Cabana In Colour Boutique Details

Today's card is one I made at my recent quarterly team training and features lots of new items from the 2013-14 annual catalogue: new colours, a new stamp set, new embellishments. Take a look a the finished card:

It features three of the lovely flower stamps from the Flower Shop stamp set, including one that has been punched out with the co-ordinating punch. This is one of the many great value bundles available in this year's catalogue: there are a number of items which when purchased together, such as the Flower Shop stamp set and co-ordinating Pansy Punch, will receive a 15% discount.  The main card is in the new in-colour Coastal Cabana, and the punched flower is finished with one of the new in-colour embellishments in Baked Brown Sugar, which is echoed in the border edging. The rich yellow is the new Regal Crushed Curry, which is also the colour of the chevron ribbon bow - the star of the show as far as this card is concerned; I LOVE this ribbon!

This ribbon was one of my 'must haves' from the new catalogue; my only dilemma was exactly which colour I should purchase first! If you've now had a chance to look at the new annual catalogue and you too have a long wishlist of products you would like, why not get together with some friends and host a party? This is a great way to earn free products and you could make a version of the above card and have an evening of fun into the bargain. If you would like to host a party, please contact me today to book a date in the diary.

Back tomorrow with another project - a very special birthday card for a very special little boy. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Flower Shop, Perfectly Penned

Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Baked Brown Sugar

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Pansy Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Finishing Touches: Crushed Curry 3/4" Chevron Ribbon, Baked Brown Sugar In Colour Boutique Details