Today I'm sharing a card for the clean and simple challenge over at CAS On Friday which closes today where the theme is 'Friendship'. I also used the sketch over at Hand Stamped Sentiments for my layout:

I decided to use a set from the annual catalogue that I picked up ages ago on a stamp sale day, but still had yet to ink up: By My Side. This is the card that I came up with:

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

I love the innocent, child-like images in this set and it has some beautiful friendship sentiments that can be used for all kinds of occasions - thank you, congratulations, hello, thinking of you, birthday or simply to celebrate the friendship of someone you hold dear. I stamped the sweet little boy and his faithful puppy friend and coloured them both with my Stampin' Blends, adding in some ground and just a hint of colour applied with my blending brush and a cloud stencil above the first part of my sentiment. I added a second sentiment at the bottom of my card, masking off to stamp it in a straight line rather than two rows as per the set.

I was a little liberal with my interpretation of the HSS sketch, in that I used it in a horizontal rather than portrait format and didn't curve the top of my panel, as the straight lines suited my clean and simple design better. This layout is actually a really good one for CAS cards - the addition of the coloured strip behind the panel is a great way to add a little more colour and interest without cluttering that all important 'white space'. 

I have something different for you tomorrow, but if you like this card I've made another one featuring some of the other stamps in this set to share with you on Friday, so make sure you pop back then.

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; mine is going to be spent playing catch-up at my desk and trying to get organised for the crafting week ahead! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BY MY SIDE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (21.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS DEEP COMBO PACK (8.50)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM DEEP COMBO (8.50)
STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM LIGHT COMBO PACK (8.50)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS LIGHT COMBO PACK (8.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (4.25)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Galentine's Day' which is on 13th February. This celebration, falling the day before Valentine's Day, is all about celebrating female friendships. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I really went to town and used a friendship sentiment, hearts, pink, purple, twine and something shiny and this is what I came up with:

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

I wanted to use another of the comical felines in the 'Love Cats' stamp set for today's card and chose the one that paired best with the sentiment I wanted to use. I think 'I love hanging out with you' is the perfect sentiment to share some female love and let your bestie know how much you enjoy their company, don't you? 

I had a whole other layout originally planned for this card, until I saw the Try Stamping on Tuesday sketch layout - I rotated it through 90 degrees and thought the curve would be perfect for my acrobatic cat. In order to tuck the banner underneath the front of the cat to preserve the sense of perspective, I stamped the cat twice and carefully fussy cut the top half of one, so that I could adhere the banner and then add the upper portion of the cat over the top If you look closely you can see how I did this below:

I aligned the banner with the wire and stamped the sentiment in one straight line rather than as it is laid out on the original stamp as I wanted a long slim banner. It does make for a long banner, but I love the effect - and the long twine bow that ties my heart trinket follows the same contours, so I think it works. I found this little shiny heart in my retired embellishment stash and it was the exact same size as the stamped one, so was a perfect fit - serendipity indeed!

My colour scheme was inspired by the Dandy Designs designer paper I used on my car base - one of my favourite Sale-A-Bration free items this year - have you earned yours yet? You still have one more month to take advantage of the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. so don't miss out.

Finally, I'm also linking today's card up for a second entry over at Global Design Project #GDP379 where their theme this week is 'love'.

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge Design team:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOVE CATS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (20.00)

SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (33.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)

FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's colour challenge over at Just Add Ink:

I've not managed to play along with this lovely group for a couple of weeks but when I saw this week's fabulous bright colour palette I couldn't resist! I decided to go for a bold design to really make the most of all that colour and used my Butterfly Beauty Thinlits Dies for the very first time - take a look:

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

A Blended Background - I wanted something with lots of colour for my background but not too much detail so as to detract from the butterflies, so decided to use the two lightest colours and apply them using a sponge dauber in a circular motion until the colours were blended and covered the whole layer. I used Shimmery White cardstock for my base; I find this helps the colours blend better and I also love the subtle shimmer it adds to the card. 

Butterfly Beauties Indeed - I loved these butterflies the moment I saw them and I've had them for months, so I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get them out of the packet as they really are gorgeous and the star of the show for sure on today's card. I used both of the large dies and layered them together, with a smaller layered butterfly to anchor my sentiment; the set rally is choc-full of butterflies in all shapes and sizes though - lots of creative possibilities. I'm so glad these are carrying over into the main catalogue as it will give me lots more opportunities to play with them. Just a quick reminder that whilst both the Beauty Abounds stamp set and the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits Dies are carrying over, the 10% bundle discount price will not, so if you want to take advantage of that you need to order before the new catalogue goes live on 4th June.

Friendship Abounds - The dies in the Beauty Abounds bundle are rather spectacular, but the stamp set is rather special too: alongside some generic sentiments, it has two great pairs of sentiments that are just perfect for that special friend in you life. The one I used on my card today finishes on the inside with '...out of a whole world of people' (I forgot to take a photo so you'll have to take my word for it!!) How lovely is that?

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. I'm early posting for a change and mine is shaping up to be a busy one. and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle (£51.25)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Pineapple Punch A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pineapple Punch Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Sponge Daubers (£4.75)	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)