Today I'm sharing a card for the current CAS on Friday Challenge with the theme of 'New Home' that was inspired by the photo over at Inspired By that you can see below:

I was delighted that this card was chosen as the winner of the last Inspired By challenge and I just had to play along again this week. Aren't those stacking elephants cute?! Now you might be thinking how did the photo inspire today's card to welcome someone to their new home - with not an elephant in sight! Well take a look at my card and I'll explain all - here it is:

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

Ringed With Nature - The sweet little house from the 'Ringed With Nature' stamp set is perfect for a new home card, so I knew I wanted to make this my focal point. The neutral colours of the Inspired By photo were perfectly suited to my house and I liked the idea of blocks of colour. Whilst my blocks of colour are represented by the individual elements of my design - Very Vanilla card base, Basic Grey roof, Crumb Cake walls and Petal Pink heart - rather than elephants, the inspiration is there. In addition to a scored frame, I diecut my heart before adding to my house using one of the Give It A Whirl Dies for a little extra detail:

Sweet Songbirds and Home Life - Both of the sentiments on my set come from other sets, as there isn't one in 'Ringed With Nature' that's suitable. My tiny 'Welcome' is from 'Sweet Songbirds' and the greeting on the inside is from a long-retired set called Home Life (with the stamped heart from Ringed With Nature):

Songbirds Of A Different Kind - I have been having a conversation with one of my Paper Player teamies, the lovely LeAnne, this week about feathered friends of a different kind. LeAnne has many beautiful birds visit her garden feeders all year round (check out her blog here if you're interested - I've linked to Sunday's Paper Players post as it has some fab bird photos!) and I was sharing with her the latest developments on the blue tit family that hatched in one of my birdboxes last week. For any of my international readers who would like to know more about this very British bird, you can read about them here. I have two blue tit boxes on the side of my house that are fitted with cameras, so I am able to see everything that is going on inside them without disturbing the occupants. The current nest was home to 10 birds, although I am currently only counting 8 chicks (it's not unusual to lose one or two within the first few days, as the strongest babies win the battle for food). It's now a week since the eggs hatched and whilst the chicks are still tiny and quite ugly, their wings are starting to develop today and they are growing fast. As a treat for LeAnne, I thought I would upload a couple of short video clips of the activity today; in the clips below you can see both the male and female flying back and fore (the entry to the bird house is at the bottom of the screen), feeding and sitting on the nest. The second, shorter clip shows more of the colouring on the adult bird. Please bear in mind I recorded this video of the tv on my phone, so it's basic at best - the nest is right at the very back of the nesting box, so the video camera does lose a little of the detail at the top of the screen. That said - enjoy!

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 has felt a little short as my afternoon school run was brought forward, on account of the youngest of the James Juniors having had two exams today and as such finishing earlier. We are officially one subject down - just 9 more to go!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

RINGED WITH NATURE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	GIVE IT A WHIRL DIES (37.00)
SWEET SONGBIRDS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Betty is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I have needed a few 'new home' cards lately so I went down the middle column with flowers/free/embellishments to create a new home congratulations card with a difference - take a look:

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

A Golden Oldie - When I made my new home card for our challenge over at The Paper Players this week (you can see that card here if you missed it), I realised how few current stamps I have that work for a new home card. This had given me cause to rummage through the retired shelf and I came across the retired 'Home Life' stamp set with the co-ordinating Welcome Home Dies (also retired) so decided to use them for today's card. 

Fresh Florals - This is a 3 step layered photopolymer stamp and the layers can be used separately or together, as I've done here, to create a house packed with florals. I paired my retired stamps with Blushing Bride and two of the 2021-23 In colours, Polished Pink and Pale Papaya, for a fresh new look. I accented the centres of some of the larger pink flowers with some of last year's in-color jewels for a touch of sparkle too.

Shape It - The house die in the Welcome Home Dies set fits the front of a standard card perfectly, but I thought it would be fun to follow the contours of the die to create a card that was actually shaped like a house. It was really straightforward to do and just required a little extra measuring and slicing with my trimmer to achieve the desired result:

The card hinges on the left and opens conventionally and I simple added a shaped insert to the inside too. Do you ever create shaped cards? Leave me a comment below and let me know - I'd love you to share your favourite tips 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge.

Challenges: I'm also entering today's card over at Just Us Girls where it's trend week and they are looking for shaped cards and at The Card Concept where my clean and layered card was inspired by the flowers in the vase and the soft pink and peach tones of their colour palette this week. I'm also linking up over at Retro Rubber Challenge where the challenge is 'flowers' - my 'Home Life' stamp is definitely retro, dating back to 2017.

Enjoy your evening; I'll be back tomorrow with another project, this time for our new challenge over at As You See It - and it's recipe week. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

POLISHED PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)

POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

PALE PAPAYA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

BLUSHING BRIDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.75)