It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. We are a (calendar not challenge) day early to keep you on your toes as Deborah is hosting for the month of April and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

I love this trio of bright colours that Deborah chose and Melon Mambo is one of my all-time favourite pinks - however I did struggle to know what to create today! So it seemed appropriate to make a card ... just because! Here's my card:

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

Do you ever make cards 'just because'? I never under-estimate the joy that an unexpected piece of 'happy mail' can bring and today's card is one of those that is perfect for such an occasion. Using a blending brush, I created a mix of the two greens on a piece of white cardstock then I took that beautiful textured leaf die from Nature's Symphony and cut out a variegated stem. This is such a fun technique as no two diecuts ever look the same. To that I added a simple bold Melon Mambo sentiment using my favourite Words of Beauty bundle:

I couldn't resist adding a trio of pink glossy dots from my stash to complete my 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 '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! colour 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; it's supposed to be getting warmer here today with temperatures peaking at 17 degrees, which seems balmy compared to the chilly temperatures of late, however I can honestly say it's not looking that promising so far - I'll believe it when I feel it! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	NATURE'S SYMPHONY DIES (£31.00)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SUMMER SPLASH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SHY SHAMROCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

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 us to work with:

I'm also playing along with the team over at Just Add Ink where their current challenge is to 'Just Add Wings' - I'm featuring a cute bookish ladybird on today's card :

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

Cute As A Bug - Given that I am really trying to ration my purchase of new papers, I didn't get this paper on my iniitial catalogue pre-order. Big mistake! My PP teamie Ann has been making fabulous cards with it and she convinced me I 'needed' it in my collection, only for me to have to settle in for a long wait, as it's been out of stock here in the UK for absolutely ages! I finally managed to get my hands on some, so I had to cut into it for Claire's sketch challenge today! 

I chose a bold toadstool pattern for the background and then diecut a circle out of another design, before fussy-cutting my cute book-reading ladybird to sit on top:

I allowed my diecut circle to overhang the left-hand side edge of my card, as I needed to allow space for my sentiment on the right and I didn't want to use a smaller circle and risk cropping out that ginormous todastool!

I paired my new paper with a bunch of retired bits and pieces - Layered Circles Framelits, Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing Folder and the Brilliant Rainbow Dies for the scalloped borders - and a sentiment from the current 'Nature's Symphony' stamp set, as it seemed to fit my sweet ladybird perfectly.

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'm out for a family brunch this morning and then will be enjoying a later dinner with the youngest of the James Juniors as he is home from university for a few days enjoying a weekend of back-to-back hockey, amongst other things! I'll be back later this week with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Amanda has asked that we place two images/shapes on opposing sides, with a sentiment towards the bottom of the card.  Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I wanted to ink up a new-to-me set that a number of my crafty friends have been using to great effect - the Nature's Symphony bundle - so I grabbed the colour palette over at Colour Inkspiration where I haven't played along for a while (they had me with these colours!) and set to work. Here's my card:

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

Nature's Symphony is a great set for clean and simple cards, as well as for something more layered and detailed; but there was one thing in particular that attracted me to this bundle - yes, it is that beautiful diecut leaf stem! I actually snipped it into two here and used the respective pieces for my top and bottom detail, on top of some layered stamping in all three colours using the other stamps in the set (and a splatter stamp from Notes of Nature):

A simple sentiment anchored with a rainbow dot completes my card. Whilst there's some layering to the stamping, keeping it to a two discreet areas and leaving lots of white space retains the clean and simple feel of my card. I'm also linking today's card up over at CAS On Friday where the current theme is 'anything 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; today is Shrove Tuesday - will you be celebrating with pancakes? The hubby is entertaining clients this evening so it's just me for dinner. A pancake or two might be just the ticket! I actually saw a new recipe for Austrian pancakes from the lovely Martha Collinson on Instagram last week that I've never tried, so I might gives those a go - here's a link to it if you fancy taking a look too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NATURE'S SYMPHONY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)