Today it's Sunday and it's also the first of March - happy St David's Day to all my fellow Welsh men and women! It's time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the wonderful Anne Marie to host this week and she has a theme challenge for you to work with:

 I am in a bit of a clean and simple card making groove of late - and today I have another CAS creation for you. I decided to take this week's sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches and make another Easter card - take a look:

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

Turn Up The Heat - Do you remember the first time you practised heat embossing? It's one of those techniques that is always a real 'wow' as you turn on your heat gun and see the powder turn into molten metallic magic on your stamped image. It adds such a great shine to projects and a raised edge that makes it easy to colour inside too. If you look at the close up photo below you can see the dimension and shine that it adds:

My top tip for a neat effect and minimal splatter when heat embossing is to always rub your cardstock with an embossing buddy before you stamp your image in Versamark and sprinkle with your embossing powder; this will keep the powder where you want it and not cause it to stick in areas where it isn't required.

Crocus Colours - The colour scheme on today's card is inspired by the most common traditional crocus colours: a warm honey yellow, bright purple and pale yellow. I used a Highland Heather base - I embossed the front using my Subtles Embossing Folder - and coloured my flowers using Highland Heather, Mango Melody and So Saffron Stampin' Blends markers to compliment my gold heat embossing.

Easter Promise - The stamp set I used today is called 'Easter Promise' and has both sentiments and these gorgeous crocus flowers that are perfect for celebrating Easter. I heat embossed the trio of crocus and then used my largest Stitched Circle Die to create a partial diecut around them (that's the 'hat' shape on the sketch!) and I then heat embossed my sentiment and fussy cut it so that I could position it where I wanted it. I also decorated the envelope front and back and the inside of my card and continued with the heat embossing and colouring theme:

For a CAS card it took a little while with all of the heat embossing and colouring, but it was so worth it - this card is so, so pretty! 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 will be spending the day at home escaping the winds and rain and hoping to get some quality time in my craft room in between catching up on household chores and making sure the youngest of the James Juniors is prepared for this week's mock Common Entrance examinations - not much then!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Easter Promise Cling Stamp Set (English) (£18.00)	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mango Melody Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Granny Apple Green Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at TGIF Challenges where they have an interesting challenge this week:

 All on black - now this was a challenge! After much thought, I decided to use a new stamp set and the (now retired) 2018-20 In Color Embossing powders for a pop of bright colour and ended up creating not one but two cards! Here's my favourite - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Modern Heart - This stamp set was one that I picked up because my daughter loves it, so it seemed only fair I made a card with her in mind. This card would work as an engagement card I guess, but I made it with congratulations in mind; she works so hard both at school and in her extra-curricular sports and music activities and I know it won't be long before we have another exam pass or success of some kind to celebrate and she will appreciate the sparkle and grown-up feel of this clean and graphic design.

Double Heat Embossing - In order to achieve my gold and Lovely Lipstick design, I stamped and heat embossed in two stages: first I stamped and heat embossed the gold heart, then I added the red hearts later. For the sentiment, I stamped in one go, the dipped the ends in gold first then carefully masked the ends off to add the coloured embossing powder to the word 'happy' before heat embossing both together.

Touches of Gold - To finish my card, I added some gold metallic pearls and gold sequins, along with a touch of gold glimmer paper and some (retired) gold thread for some texture and to add a little sparkle. I also added a few Lovely Lipstick enamel dots to 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. 

I so liked the effect of the bright colours against the black, I also made a second card using the Accented Blooms stamp set and some Pineapple Punch embossing powder, ribbon and DSP for another super bright card:

When the James Juniors wandered into my craft room to see what I'd been making, they declared the heart much nicer and the one that I should share here, but I thought I'd share this one too as I rather like it and if you have some coloured embossing powders in the back of your craft drawer, you may like to try it too!

Having braved the sports shop for rugby boots and hockey shoes yesterday, today we ventured further afield and braved the shops for new school shoes, trousers and other items of uniform needed in readiness for the return to school in a couple of weeks time. Thankfully we didnt need much and our trip was successful. We are rewarding ourselves tomorrow with a trip to the cinema! Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Modern Heart Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Lovely Lipstick A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Metallic Pearls (£6.50)	Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots (£6.50)	Gold Glimmer Paper (£4.75)

This is already my second post today - if you missed my earlier post about the updated clearance rack then you can read all about it here. Now for today's creative post and I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at CASology where the code word is 'heal':

The cue word can be interpreted in a number of ways; the most obvious one perhaps as 'get well soon', however I decided to go with the theme of forgiveness and healing a relationship rift - take a look:

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

I'm Sorry - Ok, so we all make mistakes - no-one is perfect. They aren't intentional otherwise they wouldn't be a mistake, right? The important thing is though, to say sorry. Sometimes we don't even realise the impact our actions have had on the feelings of others until the damage has been done. Apologising is an important part of the cycle of forgiveness that allows a relationship to heal and move forward and the 'Sorry For Everything' stamp set from Stampin' Up! is just perfect for putting it down on paper - this set really does cover everything from get well wishes, to a thinking of you on divorce or relationship breakdown, on the loss of a loved one or pet, job farewell or retirement, a missed birthday or even just a plain old-fashioned 'sorry for that thing I did'. I use it a lot for missed birthdays (yes, i might make a lot of cards but I'm often late at posting!) but like that it offers lots of other options too. 

Embossed Colour - I was chatting with one of my customers recently who was really taken with the new in-colour embossing powders that feature on page 202 of the annual catalogue but had asked me for some ideas on how she could use them - here's a picture of them in case you're wondering what I'm talking about:

I don't have these new colours but did have some old coloured embossing powders in my drawer, so thought I'd make a couple of cards to give her a few ideas. I used two different shades of pink to create a two-tone 'sorry', allowing them to mix where they meet, whilst embossing my hedgehog in Early Espresso powder onto Crumb Cake cardstock. You could of course create a similar effect by stamping your images in the respective ink colours and then heat embossing them with clear embossing powder to create a textured shine.

Who Can Resist A Hedgehug? - The front of this clean and simple card is only part of the sentiment - inside I stamped the second part along with another hedgehog:

Isn't this just the perfect pairing of stamp sets - who could resist a hedgehug from this little chap with his floral peace offering?

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 am off to my craft room - lots to achieve this week! - and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sorry For Everything Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)	Hedgehugs Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)