Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by one of the beautiful images in the current Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration photo:

I love so many of the photos in this inspiration picture, but today's card was totally inspired by that blueish foliage and those petal pink roses of the central photo on the top row - take a look:

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

Layers of Beauty - I adore the Layers of Beauty bundle, not least because it has a fantastic set of layering stencils with it too. Just three ink allow for so much detail and dimension - look at this close up to see what I mean:

The pink-peach tones of these roses are gorgeous, aren't they? I'm also linking up with the ladies over at Just Us Girls this week as it's stencil week; I've used these stencils for this challenge previously, but their versatility means that my card is completely different to my previous efforts - yay!

Diecut Fancy Fold - I have made such a wide variety of cards using this bundle (just search Layers of Beauty on my blog to see what I mean!) and each time I reach for it, I challenge myself to create something different. Today I thought I'd create a fancy fold using the large diecut florals. I stamped, stencilled and diecut two of the main images, then aligned them so that they crossed my card front and met in the middle, then scored them vertically and glued the outer edges to the back of my card. To open the card, the diecuts are opened left and right, to reveal the inner cardfront onto which I stamped my greeting:

 This card front can then be opened upwards to reveal the inside of the card:

I'm not sure if this kind of design has a special name - I'm just calling it 'diecut fancy fold' but if anyone believes it to have a specific name, do let me know!

Finishing Touches - I stamped and stencilled both the inside panel and the envelope at the same time as I made my card; if you stencil each layer as you go along, it doesn't take much longer to add these finishing touches. 

I love this card; I considered adding a butterfly - that's the only thing missing from the inspo photo - but I only have the Paper Butterfly Accents as current supplies and they didn't look right, and whilst I undoubtedly have something more appropriate on the retired boxes, they were proving elusive to say the least! I still love this card even without it, so I hope the HSS team will forgive this oversight ;-)

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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LAYERS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (54.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LOST LAGOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	LOW-PROFILE DOTS (7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card using Narelle's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches along with this week's Color Throwdown colours:

I decided to use Narelle's rectangles to experiment with another technique using my Layers of Beauty stamp set - take a look:

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

I used my Perennial Postage Dies to create three 'postage stamps' in various colours, each featuring the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set. I stamped and heat-embossed in white the main floral image once each onto my chosen colours of cardstock, then selected various portions of the images and cut them out. My top tip to get your sizing right on this is once you've cut your white mats, use the same dies to cut out the coloured layer too and simply trim off the decorative edge. I placed each of my stamps onto a background embossed with the hatched 3D Basics embossing folder and decorated with some diecut leaves and some flowers from the Country Flowers Dies, finished with pearl centres. Using just a portion of the main image is another way to showcase the detail of the main Layers of Beauty stamped image:

I was tempted to overlay my design with a large diecut sentiment, but instead fussy cut a sentiment from the stamp set and added it the corner of the card to allow those colourful stamps to take centre stage. 

I so love the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set - it really is so versatile.

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; it's the start of the half term break so I am looking forward to a quieter week getting some things done at home and driving a few less miles! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LAYERS OF BEAUTY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BASICS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDERS (28.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (31.00)	COUNTRY FLOWERS DIES (33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	IRIDESCENT PEARL BASIC JEWELS (7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my dear friend, the fabulous Jan, to host this week and she has a theme challenge for us to work with:

I wanted to try something else new with my Layers of Beauty set, so decided to use the soft colour palette at Colour Inkspiration which I thought would work nicely for an anniversary card and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

I cut a whole bunch of strips 5mm wide in each of the challenge colours, including strips in a variety of designer paper and glimmer paper that coordinated, and glued them diagonally to a panel and added to the front of my card. I heat embossed the main image in the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set in white on vellum and added it to my striped panel and secured it beneath the vertical panel on the left hand edge, onto which I stamped my sentiment. The vellum layer softens the colours and detail of the stripes whilst highlighting the embossed detail:

I added a sprinkle of purple faceted gems to complete my card. I love the interest that the stripes add and I think this is a great alternative method of adding colour to the Layers of Beauty stamp. A brief interlude between autumn and Christmas projects with these fresh, mostly pastel colours 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; I have been having a rare child-free weekend as the youngest of the James Juniors has been away on a school field trip to study sand dunes amongst other things. Its amazing how many things you get done without a Saturday sports fixture, especially when the day stays dry for once! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LAYERS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (54.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
PURPLE FINE SHIMMER GEMS (7.50)	PERENNIAL LAVENDER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	COUNTRY WOODS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

It's Fri-yay! Today I'm sharing a card that I made earlier in the week with a few challenges in mind:

The team over at The Flower Challenge want us to include a stamped flower, so I grabbed my Layers of Beauty stamp set and stencils and using the layout over at Tuesday Morning Sketches set to work - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Layers of Beauty - I love the single large floral spray stamp in the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set and with a stamping platform, it's so easy to use - just ink and stamp! I used my coordinating stencils to colour it in using three shades of lilac/pink, one for each layer - the effect adds so much dimension:

The team over at Inkspirational have been asking us for coloured images using any medium - so this is my entry. I added a few shiny pearls for a little extra decoration.

Eyelet Embossing - The main stamped image takes up all of my layer, but I wanted to add a hint of something to my base beneath. I embossed it with the Eyelet 3D embossing folder for a little extra texture, and rolled the corner of my stamped panel to reveal a little more of it.

Scraps For Tags - I stamped and coloured my image twice, as I wanted to fussy cut a single rose to anchor my sentiment banner (I could have used one of the dies to cut this out, but I didn't want the white border). This did then leave me with a lot of the image left over; rather than waste it, I cut a couple of tags from it and added a sentiment:

Waste not, want not as they saying goes!

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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LAYERS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (54.00)	EYELET 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (9.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	PETUNIA POP A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BUBBLE BATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PETUNIA POP CLASSIC STAMPIN PAD (8.50)	BERRY BURST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	ADHESIVE-BACKED PEARL TRIO (7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

Not only that, it's our 700th challenge too - what a milestone! I looked at this week's sketch and was tempted to go big on layers with those circles, but instead decided to try out a clean and simple idea that I had after browsing Pinterest a while ago that I wanted to try with the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set. I thought the soft palette of pinks and greens over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog would be perfect for it, so I grabbed my stencils as it's stencil week over at Just Us Girls and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

You may well have expected me to use the co-ordinating stencils since my card features the large outline image in the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set, but you would be wrong; whilst I would absolutely recommend you buy the co-ordinating dies and stencils with this stamp set, there are so many ways the stamp can be used without them too. On today's card I used some circle stencils instead that I made by using some circle dies in various sizes to cut circles out of acetate sheets, and then positioned them over the large roses and lightly blended a combination of Lemon Lime Twist, Pretty In Pink and Flirty Flamingo through them directly onto my cardbase to highlight areas of the stamped image. I stencilled each in turn and allowed each circle to overlap slightly to give further depth of colour: 

I added a white-on-black heat embossed sentiment from the same set and popped this up on dimensionals, with a sprinkle of in-colour shimmer gems to complete my design. Using circle stencils is a fun way to spotlight an image on a clean and simple card. Finally, I'm also linking today's card up at CAS on Friday where their theme is 'circles' 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. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; the youngest of the James Juniors is off with friends to watch the test match cricket at Edgbaston today, so the house will be a quiet one - I'm hoping there will be time for crafting! Probably some Olympics viewing too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LAYERS OF BEAUTY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (8.00)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN PAD (8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where Jane has a theme challenge for us:

It's that time of year when lots of people are getting married so Jane's choice of theme is a timely one. I decided to use one of my new stamp set and stencil sets to revisit an 'oldie but goodie' technique for my wedding card - take a look:

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

Layers of Beauty - The stamp set I featured on today's card is called 'Layers of Beauty' and comes with a set of co-ordinating dies and layering stencils and I think it's going to be a new favourite! The main stamp is a large floral arrangement of roses and can be used in so many ways. I stamped it in black onto my Basic White card base and left it uncoloured, then stamped it again on another sheet of cardstock to create my spotlight. 

Stencilled Spotlight - With my second image, I used my stencils to colour the flowers in Real Red and the leaves in Garden Green. The stencils are amazing - with only 2 colours, it's possible to create flowers that are full of depth. I chose these colours from the Color Dare challenge because red roses are the language of love and romance and whilst I wouldn't normally go so bold on a wedding card, I think it suits a demonstration of this technique. Once coloured using my inks and blending brushes, I used a Stylish Shapes Circle Dies to cut out a circle, then carefully pieced it onto my black and white design, using dimensionals for a little lift:

I was reminded of the spotlight technique with Inkspirational's current challenge; I haven't made a card using it in ages so it was a fun one to revisit.

Sentiment Creativity - I didn't have any current sentiments for a wedding card, so I went on a rummage through my retired stash to see what I could find. Interestingly I couldn't find anything that said 'wedding' specifically, although I'm sure I must have some somewhere. There were lots of congratulations and celebrate sentiments though and in the end I settled with a combination of 'celebrate together' from the retired 'Create With Friends' stamp set. I trio of white sequins complete my card.

I really love this set and can't wait to use it more. I'm also linking today's card up over at Just Us Girls where it's 'anything goes stencil week'; so happy to have added this one to my collection!

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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LAYERS OF BEAUTY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	LAYERS OF BEAUTY DECORATIVE MASKS (13.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS TRIO (7.50)