Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for an interesting 'fill in the blank' challenge from the lovely Heather H:

The colour I use least in my crafting - intriguing! I used the sketch over at Global Design Project #GDP442 for my layout this week and I made a card that features only two colours; can you guess which one I don't use very often?

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

Yes - it's Wild Wheat! I must confess I am not a fan of this one of last year's in-colours and actually don't use it very often at all so for today's card I decided that I would try something different and pair it with one of my most-used colours and all-time favourite, Night of Navy, to see if the colour combo would make Wild Wheat more appealing.

I used a Night of Navy card base and covered it with an entire panel of Wild Wheat - brave! I decided to add a diecut panel using the leaf die from the Gorgeous Garden Dies to the centre of my card. I've used these dies many times before and the eagle-eyed amongst you will realise that the whole die covers an entire card front, so you may be wondering how I managed to halve it to create my panel. It actually wasn't that tricky: I cut my Night of Navy Panel to size then aligned my die at the outside edge and partially diecut it towards the other end. I then removed the die and using a craft knife, I used a metal ruler and carefully cut away the edge of the loose pieces to create a narrow border on the other side of the panel. Yet another way to use these fabulous dies!

I added some Night of Navy twine and a simple gold heat-embossed sentiment from the 'Timeless Arrangements' stamp set, accented with a brass metallic dot to finish:

A piece of co-ordinating Wild Wheat in-colour DSP to decorate the flap of the envelope completes my card. Whilst I'm still not a fan of Wild Wheat, I must confess I do rather like this colour combo!

This is a great opportunity to remind you that the Gorgeous Garden bundle is just one of those featured in the monthly tutorials I create with my AYSI teamie, good friend and fellow demonstrator Jan Clothier. This tutorial contains lots more ideas and ways to use the Gorgeous Garden Dies and is yours for FREE when you purchase the Gorgeous Garden Dies from either Jan or myself. These dies are only available until the end of the month before they retire; they are currently almost half price at £24 for the pair - bargain! 

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GORGEOUS GARDEN DIES (24.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

WILD WHEAT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

TIMELESS ARRANGEMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

I have another card to share with you today, this time inspired by the challenges over at Festive Friday (I chose green, thread and interactive) and the butterfly inspiration over at TGIF Challenges:

I love Memories & More cards both for scrapbooking and card making and I've used lots of them previously to make quick clean and simple cards. Today I've something a little different though; whilst my card still focuses on the Sweet Thoughts Memories & More card pack and card base and envelopes, I've paired with the Hooray For Surprises bundle to make a fun interactive card - take a look:

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

Sweet Thoughts - The Sweet Thoughts Memories & More cards and card and envelope sets are perfect for quick cards. All of the main elements I used to decorate my printed card base came from the card pack - a large butterfly and two sentiments:

All of them are stickers so have self-adhesive backs, but you can easily add with dimensionals too if you'd prefer a little lift as I've done here. The only other thing I added was a twine bow using some coordinating retired thread that I had in my stash.

Hooray For Surprises - I could have stopped there, but I thought another of the cards in the Sweet Thoughts pack would make a fun 'reveal'. I spent a little time marking my card front where I needed to place my Hooray For Surprises long pull tab. The die is longer than I wanted, given the addition of my large butterfly, but this wasn't a problem; I simply used a partial diecutting technique to diecut each one in two stages, which allowed me to shorten it without issue. I stamped the word 'pull' onto the end of each tab, and added a flower sticker from the card pack to embellish each one:

The second M&M card that I used is placed underneath the top layer, being careful to adhere around the edges and leave the tabbed area free.

The Big Reveal - So what's underneath the tabs? I created a 'false top' template using some spare card so that you can see what you'll see when those tabs are pulled:

So not only is the recipient sweet - but beautiful, amazing, fabulous, lovely and wonderful too! The hooray For Surprises Dies are such a great way to add a fun interactive element to card. One last thing - you will notice that I needed to trim the second M&M card down so that the sentiment would appear where I wanted to. Don't discard the spare edge piece though - I added mine as a little extra decoration to the inside of my card. 

So what do you think? A fun way to combine these products, right? I will be sending this card to my lovely daughter who is at university - I'm sure she will love it. This is a great opportunity to remind you that the Hooray For Surprises bundle is just one of those featured in the monthly tutorials I create with my good friend and fellow demonstrator Jan Clothier. This tutorial contains lots more ideas and ways to use this bundle and is yours for FREE when you purchase the Hooray For Surprises bundle from either Jan or myself. So why not add it to your basket now - add some Memories & More cards and you can have a go at today's card 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 '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 on Friday with another project for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HOORAY FOR SURPRISES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (44.00)

SWEET THOUGHTS MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (6.65)

SWEET THOUGHTS MEMORIES & MORE CARDS & ENVELOPES (6.65)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)

CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

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 Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went down the right-hand column with red or green (I used both), patterned paper and diecut, and paired it with the fabulously festive colours over at Colour Inkspiration and made a card that is perfect for the 'add glitter' challenge over at Inkspirational - there's definitely plenty of that! I'm definitely in full-on Christmas mode still, so couldn't resist another Christmas card - or two! - take a look:

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

Gorgeous Garden - I decided to use a die that you possibly don't immediately consider as a Christmas one. The Gorgeous Garden Dies feature both a leaf coverplate and a floral coverplate die. The floral die reminds me of amarylllis flowers, that are often associated with the festive season, so I decided to create a card using red and green as my chosen colours to add to the Christmassy feel. 

All That Glitters - Whilst my card looks quite simple and straightforward, it actually showcases a neat technique. I covered a two-ply cardstock panel with an adhesive sheet, then placed the die on top and ran it through my diecutting machine so that the adhesive sheet was cut but the cardstock based remained intact. I then firstly removed the backing paper from the green sections, and having diecut another floral plate out of the mottled Shaded Spruce pattern in the Joy of Christmas designer series paper set, added the negative space green diecut pieces to the adhesive background. The pattern is subtle, but it adds just a little more interest than a plain green. Next, I removed the backing paper from the negative space of the flowers themselves, then sprinkled this with some Real Red glittered embossing powder that I found in my drawer. I heated it to set the powder, then finally removed the main piece of backing paper and add a double-layered diecut coverplate in Real Red. I just love the finished effect - check out the sparkle on the close up below:

 I also made a second version of this card, this time using pure fine red glitter. This wasn't Stampin' Up! branded glitter, so the colour is slightly deeper. I gives a slightly more textured finish - just as effective though:

The glitter just needs to be pressed firmly against the adhesive paper; any stray excess can be removed with the sticky end of your Take Your Pick tool. I know glitter is ecologically out-of-fashion right now (although there are eco-friendly versions available), but if you have old tubs of fine glitter hanging around like I do, this is a fun way to use it up. Here's another photo of both cards together so that you can see the subtle difference between the two:

Which one do you prefer? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Brightest Glow - Finally, the sentiment on the front of my card is from the oh-so-useful festive sentiment set in the annual catalogue called 'Brightest Glow', heat-embossed in white on Basic Black for a little more emphasis against that red and green background and added some black and white gingham ribbon too. I added another sentiment from the same set to the inside of my card:

So what do you think? I absolutely love these Gorgeous Garden Dies - I think they are one of the unsung heroes of the annual catalogue, since they are standalone dies. You will definitely be seeing more of them in the weeks and months to come - watch this space!

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. 

One last thing to mention: this will be my last challenge with the TicTacToe Challenge team. I have absolutely loved being a part of this team and will miss Felicita and everyone very much; moving into 2024 I will be reducing my design commitments to allow me to focus on other opportunities. 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GORGEOUS GARDEN DIES (40.00)	BRIGHTEST GLOW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	JOY OF CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
LABELS AGLOW DIES (31.00)	BLACK & WHITE 1/4" (6.4 MM) GINGHAM RIBBON (6.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)