Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

I decided that the Smoky Slate of today's colour combo was perfect for a card using one of my favourite single stamps in the annual catalogue, Kind Koala, that is retiring at the end of May:

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

Kind Koala - This cute koala image is a great single stamp - image and sentiment all in one, with a flower that can be dressed up in so many ways. I coloured my koala in Smoky Slate and shaded in some Night of Navy on the word 'you'. For the flower, I stamped it again on Calypso Coral cardstock, fussy cut it out and paper-pieced it onto my card, adding a tiny Very Vanilla punched flower from my scraps box and finished with a navy candy dot.

A Border of Stripes - Do you recognise my patterned paper? It's one from my favourite Pretty Petal Designer Series Paper Stack. The Calypso Coral stripes were the perfect compliment to my Calypso Coral card base and koala image, which I stamped on Very Vanilla to tie in with the Very Vanilla stripes of the paper.

There's Always Room For A Bow - The clean and simple design and layout of today's card allows for a rather over-the-top double bow and button combo, to highlight more of the challenge colours. The Night of navy seam binding ribbon ties a beautiful bow - this card will definitely need a box rather than an envelope to keep it looking pristine though!

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'll be sorry to see this sweet little stamp retire - on the upside, there will be lots of great stamps to take its place!

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Well, it's Monday and the start of a new week! I managed to survive the shoe shop outing yesterday (took 3 hours and 20 minutes just in the shoe shop!!) On the bright side, new school shoes and trainers, times two, and football boots, have been purchased - yay! This afternoon's 3D Home Décor class was a lot of fun - got to catch up with a couple of ladies I haven't seen in a while, so that was an added bonus. I'm later than I would have liked posting today's card: I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches last week although am too late to link up. I am however linking today's card up with Less is More where the challenge this week is to include an animal on your card. When I saw this I knew immediately which one I was going to feature - I've been itching to get out my new Smoky Slate Blendabilities and colour the cute koala bear on the Kind Koala stamp since they arrived - so here is my card:

I used a Night of Navy card base with a So Saffron mat and a couple of offset strips of Flowerpot DSP, followed by the stamp (minus the stamped flowerhead) on a piece of Whisper White cardstock that I matted on Night of Navy. This little koala is so cute and I love the grey Blendies! Instead of stamping the flower, I replaced it with one punched from the Petite Petals punch, with a tiny circle and candy dot centre in colours that co-ordinate with the one of the flowers on the DSP. I also shaded the lettering on 'You' with my Tangerine Tango marker pen.

I really love this card - I think I will send it to my Aussie friend who is moving back to Australia to live once she's arrived to let her know I'm still thinking of her.

That's me done for today; back tomorrow with another project, so until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Kind Koala Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Flower Pot Designer Series Paper	Petite Petals Punch
Regals Candy Dots	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Brights Stampin' Write Markers	Whisper White A4 Card Stock