Today I'm sharing a card that uses the sketch over at As You See It that I also created with the Global Design Project theme this week in mind:

I was intrigued by the sketch at AYSI and thought I'd go one step further than the lovely LeAnne's card and not only use up some of my retiring DSP, but use it to create a kind of relief pattern that added interest to my main image - take a look:

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

Petal Garden - I had some sheets of Petal Garden DSP left over and most of them had a single stem image like the one on my card. I thought this sketch would be an alternative way to add interest to the basic paper pattern by adding dimensional panels in the same design. I really like the finished effect - although it did challenge my mathematical skills to ensure that all of the pieces were the correct size and correctly spaced, whilst the image remained aligned. For a card with very little stamping, the mosaic element was rather time-consuming - a good thing that I like jigsaws!

A Note For You - This card is all about the paper, so a small sentiment was the order of the day. I chose the simple 'For You' from the Graceful Garden stamp set, masking each word so that they would sit one on top of the other and fit into my 3/4" punched circle. I added a little of the new velvet ribbon beneath it.

When Is A Scalloped Circle Not A Scalloped Circle? - My sentiment needed a border so that it didn't get lost on my card, but I didn't have anything small enough to fit. Then I remembered a trick I have used on a previous card - I used the outer framelit of the wreath in the Santa's Sleigh Thinlits, circled below:

A clever trick! It's always worth checking your framelits to see if they can be used for purposes other than those intended :-)

I needed a 'just because' card and this one fits the bill nicely; it's always good to have a few of this type of card on hand. 

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; I'm off to watch the cricket this afternoon so hoping that the sun continues to shine and it's a little less windy than last week! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack (£9.00)	Graceful Garden Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£17.00)	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Brights Enamel Shapes (£6.19)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Santa's Sleigh Dies Thinlits (£27.00)	3/4" (1.9 Cm) Circle Punch (£11.50)	Rich Razzleberry 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Velvet Ribbon (£7.50)

It's the week before Easter already and so today I'm sharing a couple of really simple 3D projects that I made with a group of wonderful ladies last month that are perfect for holding Easter treats and also fit with the challenge over at Global Design Project this week:

The first one is an super easy Easter basket made with one of my most favourite tools EVER, the Envelope Punch Board  - take a look:

I love the Envelope Punch Board - my Envelope Expert and Box Buster tools are testament to that! - but it's great for lots more fun projects besides. Here I made my basket out of one of the Delightful Daisy DSP papers, decorated with some stamped and punched daisies and some faceted gems - a rather grown-up Easter basket, if you will, given the absence of bunnies! These little baskets are so easy to make and will hold a small full size egg or a collection of smaller ones. Here are the instructions in case you would like to make one too: 

• Take a sheet of paper measuring 6” x 6”
• Punch and score using your Envelope Punch Board at 1 ½” on all four sides
• Turn over the sheet and repeat the step above on the reverse
• Cut the flaps on each side to the first score line
• Fold flaps either inside or outside to create your side panel and decorate with daisies or your chosen embellishment
• Trim centre ends if desired (as I've done here) or adhere to the outside of the basket
• Cut handle 15cm x 1.5cm and attach to sides

You can see more of these baskets in lots of other colours over on my Facebook page here, including some pictures of the ladies crafting 'in action'.

We also made some of the smaller egg carrier baskets, again using a piece of 6" x 6" paper and the Envelope Punch Board, this time using some of the Petal Garden DSP and some of the lovely free Sale-A-Bration Calypso Coral Shimmer Ribbon (only 4 more days to get your hands on this!) and a sweet Easter tag:

Instructions for this basket are as follows:

• Take a sheet of paper measuring 6” x 6”
• Punch and score using your Envelope Punch Board at 1¾” and 4” on the first side then use the score lines and guide to punch and score the remaining sides
• Use a 3/4" circle punch to create the handles on the inner pieces and bring these up on the inside, adhering your flaps on the outside of these 

I'm mindful the instructions are not the easiest to follow without a video - watch this space and I'll see if I can make a quick one later! 

I had such a fun evening with my hostess Jane and her family and friends making these projects, and, having placed their orders, enabling Jane to earn rewards and free product, further boosted by the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. Whilst Sale-A-Bration is coming to an end in 4 days time, I am still taking party bookings into April, May and beyond, so if you would like a fun evening in with friends, crafting fun projects and earning some free Stampin' Up! product into the bargain, do get in touch.

Here are the visual summaries of the key products used on today's projects 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 the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Envelope Punch Board (£18.00)

Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper (£10.00)

Daisy Delight Photopolymer Bundle (£27.75)

Gold Faceted Gems (£4.50)

Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)

Envelope Punch Board (£18.00)

Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack (£9.00)

3/4" (1.9 Cm) Circle Punch (£11.50)

Classic Label Punch (£16.00)

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)

3/8" (1 Cm) Shimmer Ribbon Pack (£0.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our wonderful team leader Nance to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

Whether you stay with the circle or use an alternative shape, this is a sketch with many possibilities. I decided to keep with the circle as it was perfect to showcase a new stamp I haven't used yet and have fun with a little colouring - take a look:

I've had a few friends that have either recently moved or are in the process of moving, so I needed to replenish my stock of 'new home' cards and the 'Flying Home' stamp set had the perfect image. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Flying Home - I was lucky enough to receive the 'Flying Home' stamp set at Onstage in November, but had yet to ink it up. This set is perfect for a new home card, or even a new baby card; in fact the whimsical line drawings work for lots of card types. The other great thing about this set is that it is made for colouring. I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my main image and I stamped the little bird twice so that I could fussy cut one and pop him up on a tiny piece of a dimensional for added lift.

A Petal Garden Colour Combo - I pulled the colours for my stamped image directly from the Petal Garden designer series paper that I used for my background panel and added a co-ordinating ribbon trim too. I love these fresh colours, perfect for spring - here's the colour palette for you to save if you'd like to use it for your future projects:

New Home Congratulations - The 'Flying Home' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I decided to go on the hunt through my other sets for a small sentiment that I could add to my horizontal Pool Party strip. I found the perfect stamp in 'At Home With You'  - and followed up inside my card with 'congratulations'.

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:

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'm hoping to fit in a little more crafty time today along with some precious family time. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Flying Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock
Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon	Calypso Coral 1/8" Sheer Ribbon	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Layering Circle Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I hope you have all enjoyed a restful Christmas and are ready to join us for some crafty fun. The super-talented Sandy is kicking off a new year of Paper Player challenges for us with a seasonal theme with a little humour too:

Now I love a good pun, yet I initially had a little panic when I saw Sandy's theme this week as I couldn't find a single 'punny Valentine' stamp on my shelf. I thought I was going to have to get really creative and 'think outside the box' when I was saved by my lovely downline Helen, who was coming over for a 'planning and play' session and brought with her the perfect stamp set for this week's theme  - take a look:

Hedgehugs - how cute is that?! I grabbed the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch and set to work. I inked up my prickly pair with my Stampin' Write markers, colouring the hedgehogs in Early Espresso (I added a little Crumb Cake with a blender pen afterwards) and the flower in a combination of Sweet Sugarplum and Old Olive, to compliment the florals of the strip of Petal Garden designer series paper that I used behind. I stamped my punny sentiment along with another flower and popped it up on a circle between my hedgehogs - this is one of those cards where if you can't see the sentiment, it kind-of doesn't make sense! A little floral tone-on-tone stamping on the bottom half of my card was added for extra interest. I'm also linking my card up with the team over at Inspired By All The Little Things, where this week's inspiration is all about wild animals. My inspiration was the hedgehog but I might have to have another go over there this week as there are so many little woodland cuties to choose from!

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 love a punny sentiment and this little hedgehog pair is super cute - thanks to Helen for helping me out too! If you'd like to see what else we got up to, check out this post on Helen's blog this week. As one of a special team of demonstrators at Stampin' Up!, I was fortunate to receive my much-anticipated Stamparatus this week and having shared a video with my team already, Helen was keen to have a play. I videoed Helen in action - you can see the full version and the card we made, along with lots of her other creations, over on her blog, Love-A-Duckie. 

Back to today's challenge! Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week, including the lovely Eliz Stewart of My Paper Sweetness who is joining our team of guest designers for the next six months for the first time today. Some of the team have created some truly inspiring and inspired cards with their stamps this week, so do check them out:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Hedgehugs Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock
Many Marvelous Markers	Blender Pens	1-1/2" (3.8 Cm) Circle Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing one of the cards that I made with the ladies in my technique class last week featuring the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set that is perfect for the current keyword theme over at The Challenge and features 4 out of 5 of the keywords:

Can you identify which four feature on today's card? Here it is:

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

Happy Birthday Gorgeous Floral Wreath - The minute I saw the 'Happy Birthday Gorgeous' stamp set, I knew that the combinations of flowers, leaves and seed heads would lend themselves to a floral wreath. I stamped a basic wreath shape with the leaf stem, then fussy cut a variety of individual leaves, flowers and seed heads to embellish my wreath. This took a little while, but I hope you'll agree it was so worth it - I just love this card! 

A Fancy Fold - The card base itself is a square double z joy fold card, measuring  5 1/2" square when folded. A fancy fold is a great way to add interest to a square card and is really easy to make. The card base measures 11" x 5 1/2", scored at 2 3/4" and 5 1/2" on the long side. The smaller z fold panel measures 9 1/4" x 3 3/4" and is also scored at 2 3/4" and 5 1/2". It also allows for a fancy ribbon bow - here I've used the lovely Fresh Fig finely woven ribbon.

Petal Garden - My colour scheme was inspired by my paper choice for the rear panel of my card, which I took from the Petal Garden designer series paper stack. There are some gorgeous patterns in this pack, along with an alternative Calypso Coral colourway too. Here the rambling roses of my chosen pattern provided the perfect backdrop to my floral wreath. 

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. 

So - flowers, bright, birthday and square were my four - check out the design team cards over at The Challenge to see how they were inspired by the keywords.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Birthday Gorgeous Photopolymer Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Fresh Fig A4 Cardstock	Fresh Fig Classic Stampin' Pad
Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Fresh Fig 1/2" Finely Woven Ribbon