Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has a rather seasonal colour challenge for you to work with:

It has turned unseasonably cold here in the UK this week and the falling temperatures, combined with Ann's warm colour palette immediately turned my thoughts to Autumn leaves and warm and cozy check blankets, both of which inspired my card today - take a look:

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

Autumn Plaid - I chose Crumb Cake as my neutral of choice (I didn't count the Very Vanilla since I took white or vanilla as a given!) and used it as the base to create a cosy strip of plaid to tie together the main colours on my card. I used the plaid stamp from the new 'Tiny Keepsakes' stamp set for my plaid; I could have used the 'Buffalo Check' background stamp but the plaid stamp in the 'Tiny keepsakes' set has a smaller check that worked better for my design. I stamped it in Merry Merlot, then added plaid lines with my Cajun Craze and Pretty Peacock Stampin' Write markers.

Seasonal Skeletal Leaves - For the focal decoration of my card, I cut three skeleton leaves using the Seasonal Layers Framelits in each of the main challenge colours, and tucked them in loosely behind my sentiment and swirl of burlap on a stitched rectangle of Very Vanilla. This die set is another perennial favourite of mine and I'm so glad it stayed in the annual catalogue this year - these framelits, along with the co-ordinating 'Colourful Seasons' stamp set, has served me well and I have used both many times, for all sorts of projects. 

Harvest Thanks - I took one of my favourite sentiments for this type of card, from the'Painted Harvest' stamp set, stamped it in Merry Merlot onto Very Vanilla and added this to a banner cut using the Lakeside Framelits, along with a couple of Pretty Peacock faceted dots to anchor it to my finished 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 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:

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 have no big plans today and am looking forward to continuing to enjoy my birthday weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Seasonal Layers Dies (£31.00)	Lakeside Dies (£25.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tiny Keepsakes Cling Stamp Set (En) (£19.00)
Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Cajun Craze A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	2019-2021 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon (£6.50)	2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots (£6.00)

Today it's Easter Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Anne-Marie to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

Remember: this is clean and simple week. What do we mean by 'clean and simple' ? Create a card that has:

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, also known as 'white space'
• Is simple and uncluttered

I struggled initially with Anne-Marie's challenge this week; I think not getting into my craft room all week hasn't helped! I had an idea for a card and then once I'd made it I really wasn't sure about it; I'll share that card tomorrow and would love you to come by and take a look and tell me what you think. Meanwhile, after a break and a change of stamp set, along with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout and the CAS Colours and Sketches colour palette, I created a second card and felt much happier about the whole thing! So here's that card:

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

Paper Piecing - Not to be confused with 'paper piercing', paper piecing is the technique of stamping an image and then stamping either the whole or partial image again on coloured or patterned paper and fussy cutting it to piece it together on the main base image. I used it for both the skirt that my teacher is wearing (Blueberry Bushel in-colour DSP) and the pile of books she is carrying (a mix of Wood Textures DSP and solid colour cardstock). This is a fun way to add pattern to areas of your stamped image and can be used with a wide variety of stamps - those with larger areas suitable for colouring, such as those in the Hand Delivered hostess set, are particularly good. 

Primary Brights - I love this colour combination; the trio of primary colours is very bright and also seemed appropriate for a teacher thankyou card. I added further interest to my books by using a couple of different scraps of Wood Textures DSP for additional subtle detail. 

A Teacher Thank You - The sentiments in the 'Hand Delivered' stamp set suggest that the pile of books is intended to make a graduate congratulations card, yet I think they are perfect for a teacher card too. There is a thank you sentiment in this set, but I opted to use the words from the 'Picked For You' set instead, so that I could use a teacher-specific greeting on my front banner (both of the banner elements come from the Lakeside framelits set) and continued this theme with the wording on the inside too:

This card is sure to brighten someone's teacher's day! Both of the James Juniors have male form tutors this year, but Ben has plenty of female subject teachers who are worthy of a little end-of-year gift, so I think it might be heading to one of those. Both of these stamp sets are so useful for teachers cards, and both are set to retire with the current annual catalogue so if they're on your wishlist make sure you put them in your shopping basket before it's too late.

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:

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; we will be having an Easter egg hunt, followed by a roast for lunch and then an afternoon in the garden making the most of the wonderfully warm weather we have been blessed with the last couple of days - we need to make the most of it as I'm sure it won't last! Wishing you a pleasant Easter bank holiday weekend however you choose to spend it. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Hand Delivered Photopolymer Stamp Set (£12.00)	In Color 2018–2020 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£10.25)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Picked For You Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Lakeside Framelits Dies (£25.00)