Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As You See It where it's time for a sweet colour challenge:

Don't those macarons look delicious? I love those sugary colours and thought they would look perfect combined with the photo inspiration over at Fusion this week! I don't have a mum & baby giraffe pair in my stash, but I do have...kangaroos! So I set to work and this is what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Kangaroo and Company - You've seen me use this set before for Valentine's, but it is perfect for cute cards for a range of occasions. There is a baby joey that fits in the mummy's pouch, but today I went in favour of the younger freestanding kangaroo who has just delivered his mum a beautiful big bunch of flowers, coloured in our challenge colours. 

Strong and Beautiful - Mother's Day has been and gone here in the UK, but I decided to choose a sentiment from the retiring 'Strong and Beautiful' stamp set (now available for the bargain price of £9.20!) that works for mums, or any special person, that you want to give a special thank you to. I love the sentiments in this set - they really are wonderful for celebrating special women in the broadest sense. I sat my young kangaroo on my sentiment strip so that he didn't look like he was floating in mid air, and I like that this makes him more central to the design than he would otherwise have been at floor level. 

A Hidden Message - Whilst my main sentiment is the one I talked about above, I couldn't resist adding another to the fun 'reveal' when you pull out the flowers from the pouch:

I know this feature has more appeal on cards for youngsters, but I think my Mum will find it fun too! It's so easy to do, as the Kangaroo Dies cut the slit in the pouch perfectly - no added effort required. I'm also linking today's card up with the ladies over at SUO Challenges where the theme is 'Animal Kingdom' and they are asking us to feature animals big and small on our cards.

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; my Fridays are always busy, so I'll keep this short and see you again tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

KANGAROO & COMPANY BUNDLE (£34.00)	STRONG & BEAUTIFUL CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£9.20)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MINT MACARON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMNGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SNAIL MAIL TWINE COMBO PACK (£6.50)

Today I'm sharing a card using Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sletches this week:

I absolutely love Kim's sketch today; the minute I saw it I cam up with a ton of ideas for it (love it when that happens!) so don't be surprised when you see this layout on my blog again in the coming weeks! Today I'm breaking out more new things to make a card with a fun interactive element - take a look:

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

Hearts and Stitching - I thought the horizontal lines on today's card would be perfect to highlight the little row of diecut hearts and stitching that is another of the dies in one of my current favourites, the Floral Hearts Dies. I made my card base Poppy Parade red and my heart diecuts white, so that the hearts would then peek through in red. I love the simple detailing this die adds to a card; as an added bonus, you get all the little diecut hearts for confetti or as a shaker filler too - bonus!

Kangaroo & Company - The star of today's card though is the fun adult kangaroo from the Kangaroo & Company stamp set. This set contains a Mum, and a baby and young joey, along with lots of fun accessories and things to carry in her pouch, along with a wide range of greetings for birthday, baby or 'just because' cards. 

Interactive Fun - The cutest part of this bundle though is that the die that cuts out the large kangaroo also cuts a slit into the mama's pouch, ready for a greeting to be hidden inside. Since my card today was for Valentine's Day, I stamped the main greeting on the front of my card in black and masked off the word 'Hi!', then completed my greeting with a message attached to my bunch of hearts and hidden inside the pouch:

Tell me that is not just the cutest?! I made this card for young Master James, who whilst he now maskerades as a too-cool-for-school teenager, I know will just love the fun of this cute hidden message card, especially from his Mum!

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. 

Today's card is also my second entry for the love-themed challenge over at SUO Challenges - some lovely cards on display over there this week!

Enjoy your day. It is a beautiful, clear, bright and sunny day here in the UK today - there is still plenty of snow on the ground following yesterday's snowfall and it took all the James Juniors' willpower to log on and start school on time today, when another day of playing outside building yet another snowman seemed much more appealing, especially since one of them has to do online assessments this week in lieu of formal GCSE mock exams. Never mind - I am reliably informed there will be more snow next weekend, so I'm sure there will be more opportunities for snow fun. I'll be back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

KANGAROO & COMPANY BUNDLE (£34.00)	FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£7.50)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)