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

I went down the first column with Friendship/Blue/Heart and decided to get my ombre on for the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS - take a look:

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

Blue Ombre - Keeping with my theme of 'hearts are for all year long, not just for Valentines' I have another 'Lots of Heart' card for you today and once again deliberately not in a pink/red colour theme. The large solid heart stamp with the swirl pattern is perfect for an ombre colourway; I used a trio of Balmy Blue, Pacific Point and Night of Navy, going from light to dark to light on my heart and using a sponge dauber to blend the colours. I also used the line of hearts stamp to create an ombre border on the inside of my notecard:

The White Details - I love the way the swirl of the heart stamp echoes the line of the horizontal heart diecut, so used this to anchor my heart (I also added a white outline heart die to give my heart a more finished look). I decided to add a bird too - for no reason other than he is also in the same die set and I thought he would add additional interest without making my card too fussy.

A Neat Trick - I stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy onto my Balmy Blue card base, but the sentiment is designed to be centred. The right side followed the curve of my heart, so in order to level up the left side and ensure good alignment, I added a tiny white resin heart embellishment. This both ties in with the heart theme and improves the symmetry and lines if my card - perfect, even if I say so myself!

I'm also linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges where they are looking for favourite retired/retiring/current stamp set; I'm including today's card because this is a set that I 'discovered' rather late in the current January-June mini catalogue, and it's not carrying over so will retire at the end of the month. I really like it and am finding so many ways to use it outside of the valentines/love/pink genre of card that I think it may end up being a keeper for me. If you like it too, now is the time to snap it up! What's more, both stamp set and dies have 50% off in the retiring sale so if you buy individually you can save big time - a stamp set for £8? Now that is a bargain! 

I have an extra offer for anyone else buying the 'Lots of Hearts' stamp set and co-ordinating Many Hearts Dies from me this month: if you buy both items, I will send you a written tutorial for 3 cards using this bundle for FREE. What's more, if you buy the items in the Lots of Heart bundle and spend £50 or more in my online store during June, I'll throw in the materials to make the cards too - a complete FREE card class in the post! Tutorial/materials will be sent out separately to your order at the start of July.

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. 

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; it's cooler here today so has been a good day to get some household chores done. I'm hoping the sun returns tomorrow when I'll be back with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LOTS OF HEART PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£8.00)	MANY HEARTS DIES (£16.50)	RESIN HEARTS EMBELLISHMENTS (£3.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Samantha is hosting this month and this week we have a colour challenge: 

For my card today I also chose to use the sketch and thank you theme over at Fusion and made another card with my Lots of Hearts bundle that was out on my desk when I made Sunday's card - take a look:

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

Lots of Heart - Today's card features a scalloped heart overlaid with the floral heart die that also comes in the Many Hearts Dies set. I picked up this set long after Valentine's, but I like how although it features hearts it is a great 'all year round' set and has some lovely sentiments too.

A Colour Conundrum - As I often find when I'm faced with a trio of colours, two become dominant and the third takes something of a back seat. That absolutely played out on today's card: I used some Soft See Foam and Highland Heather DSP to compliment the colours of the diecut flowers and leaves, and given the muted tones of my pastels, I was struggling to incorporate either Blushing Bride ink or cardstock without it overpowering the other elements of my card. I solved my problem by using it really sparingly - I found some retired Blushing Bride enamel dots in my stash and used them to accent the centre of my open flowers - problem solved!

You're All Heart - As I mentioned above, there are some great generic sentiments in the 'Lots of Heart' set; to accompany the 'thank you' on the outside of my card, I stamped this one on the inside of my card, complete with a stamped-off Blushing Bride pink heart:

I actually really like this card and think the soft pastels are really pretty - so looking forward to seeing what you make of these colours this week!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOTS OF HEART BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)	HYDRANGEA HILL 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	SUBTLES 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£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 Anne Marie to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

This week's challenge is all about polka dots - how fun! Remember it's clean and simple week too, which means:

• Minimal layers
• Little to no embelllishments
• Lots of clean, white space (no pattern)

I was considering my options as far as polka dots are concerned and actually made a couple of cards for you today: the first one uses the 'Lots of Hearts' bundle from the current mini catalogue - take a look:

These hearts are just perfect for today's challenge as they have both a stamped polka dot and a die that creates a heart shape from diecut polka dots. I paired these with an outline heart and used the sketch over at Inspired By this week for my layout, along with coral, peach and lemon yellow as my three neighbouring colours from the Color Dare challenge wheel (see badges above). With some polka dot DSP behind, there are lots of dots on my card, whilst still retaining a CAS feel:

I also added a few more inside, with a continuation of my sentiment in the corner to allow lots of space for uninterrupted writing:

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. 

I did create a second card for today's challenge, using the sketch layout over at Fab Friday:

When I think 'polka dots', I immediately think Minnie Mouse (no apologies from this Disney fan!) so I couldn't resist another card with some punch art featuring the second most famous mouse of all time:

I went unashamedly pink with this card, using the Stitched with Whimsy dies to outline my rectangle and added a fussy cut sentiment from the 'Happiest of Birthdays' set to finish:

This is my favourite of the cards that I created this week - so simple, but super cute!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOTS OF HEART BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PALE PAPAYA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	STITCHED WITH WHIMSY DIES (£27.00)	HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)