Two posts from me today as whilst I did squeeze in a little crafting yesterday morning, I was too busy enjoying the sunshine the rest of the day to blog - so I'm sharing today! I loved Linda's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and chose to use green, congratulations sentiment embossing folder from the Festive Friday inspo list:

So many ways to interpret the sketch, but in the end I decided to use up more of those fussy cut Mosaic Mood designer papers and pair some border strips with a gorgeous glossy hummingbird and a sentiment from Praiseworthy Prose:

Praiseworthy Prose is another of those sets that hasn’t seem much (any!) ink so I stamped my sentiment in Soft Suede onto a Very Vanilla stitched rectangle and used my hummingbird to accent it. Some subtle embossing to my mat layer completes my card.

I really like this finished card and its one of those that could be used for men or women, which is great as I didn’t have anyone in mind to send it to when I started creating. 

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:

Mosaic Mood Specialty Designer Series Paper	Praiseworthy Prose Cling Stamp Set	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder	Stitched Rectangle Dies	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

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

I pondered Laurie's sketch this week and resisted the urge to go clean and simple and instead went for lots of layers and details. I'm on a mission to use up some of my designer series paper (well, I need to justify buying the new designs when the new catalogue arrives!) so decided I would make one the focus of my card - take a look:

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

Mosaic Mood - I received a free pack of Mosaic Mood paper at Onstage when the current catalogue was launched and I have to confess it wasn't a pattern that I was immediately drawn to. I didn't like the accompanying stamp set and left to my own devices I probably would not have purchased it at all. Truth is, this paper has surprised me - I have had lots of fun with it, cutting out the patterns and stripes and have made lots of projects with it. It was a good choice for my card today - I chose a background pattern and then a floral for the framed centre and decorated my frame with a fussy cut rose and leaves. Funny how things work out, right?

Heirloom Frames - I used one of the embossed Heirloom Frames to separate my two designs. The texture adds interest and detail to the layers on my card.

A Well Written Sentiment - The team over at TGIF Challenges are featuring diecut sentiments on their projects for the current challenge and that was just what I needed for my sentiment still to have impact and be seen. I chose to use the 'birthday' from the Well Written Framelits - they are perfect paired with the 'Well Said' stamp set, both of which are carrying over into the new catalogue I am pleased to say - these are keepers!

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 spent the morning crafting yesterday so have lots to share with you this week! Yesterday turned into a glorious day of sunshine so we enjoyed time outside and an evening BBQ, with a welcome break from online lessons. Hopefully today will allow for more of the same! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Woven Heirlooms Bundle	Mosaic Mood Specialty Designer Series Paper	Well Written Dies	Well Said Cling Stamp Set	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla 3/8" (1 Cm) Scalloped Lace Trim	Iridescent Sequin Assortment

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I am hosting this week on behalf of the lovely Jaydee who had a fall a few weeks ago and is taking a few weeks off from crafting to recuperate. Jaydee has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for us to work with this week:

My regular readers will know how much I love a good sketch and this is one that can be used time and again. I liked it so much I made not one, not two but three cards with it to share with you this week (I'm making up for my lack of blog posts in recent days!) This is the first card I came up with using one of the Bird Ballad papers that I had yet to use:

A simple card with an inset panel of DSP; the neat feature on this card is that I cut off the shaped end and extended one of the nested stitched labels for the sentiment and then added a bird I fussy cut from the paper itself.

My second card uses the reverse of this bird patterned DSP for a soft floral card that is delicate and pretty:

I used a basic nested stitched label for my sentiment this time but added a ruffle of ribbon (retired but I've linked below to a current one that would make a great substitute) and a fussy-cut flower and leaves with a few sparkly self-adhesive sequins. This one is much more girly and pretty!

My third and final card uses both a border and fussy cut hummingbird from the Mosaic Mood paper set and highlights a new in-colour - Terracotta Tile:

I am on a mission to use these papers as the main feature of my cards by simply co-ordinating with a variety of different sentiments. I used the same sentiment on this card from the 'Free As A Bird' stamp set that I used on the previous cards above, but this time punched it out of Very Vanilla cardstock using the new Timeless Label Punch. This is going to be a really useful punch for sentiments - the longer length makes it very versatile. I also picked up the green colour from my hummingbird and added a contrasting edge border to my top layer using the straight stitched die that can be found in the Stitched Nested Labels Die Set. We have a Facebook Group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators that has had lots of discussion as to how you would use this particular die, so I thought I would give you another example!

So which of today's cards is your favourite? I think I'm leaning towards the pretty pink florals with the ruffle of ribbon, which was inspired by this week's TGIF Challenge (badge at bottom of post). I buy lots of ribbon but often don't use it enough on my cards so I'm hoping to find the time to have another go at their challenge this week with something that features ribbon as the main focus, so do pop back later in the week for another idea. I'd love to know which one gets your vote - as always, feel free to leave me a comment below.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects for you to pin for easy reference:

Card Number 1:

Card Number 2:

 Card Number 3:

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; finally the sun is shining here in the UK for the second day in a row, so I will be spending mine enjoying a BBQ lunch and pottering in the garden. I might even take my laptop outside and prep some of this week's blog posts! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Free As A Bird Bundle (£47.50)	Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Petal Pink 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Organdy Striped Ribbon (£7.50)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins (£6.50)
Mosaic Mood Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Timeless Label Punch (£17.00)

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

I decided today that I'd make a card with something old (my stamp set is the retiring 'Eastern Beauty') but mostly something new and share a sneak peek of some of the specialty designer series paper that will be coming along in the new annual catalogue - take a look:

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

So today's card really is all about the paper! Due to ongoing EU Customs issues, European demonstrators who attended Stampin' Up!'s recent Onstage event were unable to place an early pre-order, so our only new goodies to play with were the products we came come with. One of those was a pack of the new Mosaic Mood Specialty Designer Series Paper though, which is perfect for backgrounds, borders and more! It has some gorgeous printed pages with roses, butterflies and hummingbirds that can be fussy cut to add as embellishments too and what's more they have some amazing UV detail that gives a great glossy, soft sheen - check it out on the rose below:

This detail really makes this paper shine! Since I featured my sentiment on the circle element of my sketch, I used a butterfly from the paper in place of the sentiment on the sketch to keep the whole thing balanced. I liked this card so much that I cut into a few more sheets and changed my base colour to create another card using the sketch that features a hummingbird that I cut from a different sheet of paper:

Again, here's a close-up of that gorgeous glossy detailing, this time on the whole of the bird:

The colours are not as visible as the glossy finish is reflecting the light, but take my word for it this really makes these papers something special. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects for you to pin for easy reference:

And my second card:

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; one of the James Juniors has a birthday party to attend today, but otherwise we have a sport-free day so are looking forward to lunch and an afternoon indoors escaping the storm-force gales we have experienced the last couple of days! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)