Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Laurie to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I thought I was going to run a mile when I saw Laurie's colour palette for this week, but a happy accident meant that I actually had my card made well ahead of time for a change! Take a look at my card then I'll explain:

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

Pampered and Playful Pets - I decided that today's colours would work perfectly for a pet sympathy card featuring the 'Pampered Pets' stamp set. I heat embossed the outline of one of the dogs in black onto basic grey cardstock and made him the centrepiece of my card. I did use some of the recently retired Playful Pets DSP for my background panel for some black and red detail and added a big red heart behind my puppy for an added pop too. 

For Your Loss - I added one of the sentiments from the set to my scalloped square beneath my focal image - I think this sentiment is just perfect to let someone know you are thinking of them when they have lost a furry friend:

A Step Up - The reason today's card came to quickly to me was that I had all of these elements out on my desk when I needed to make this card; I needed something much more clean and simple for my original card, but since I had the bits and pieces out on my desk, I decided to make a stepped up version - and that turned out to be perfect for today's challenge. Here are both of my recent sympathy cards with this set together:

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; happy Mother's Day to all of my overseas readers who are celebrating today - I hope you are well and truly spoiled! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PETS DIES (£21.00)	PAMPERED PETS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and YoonYoung has asked that we create something with a crescent shape as the main feature on our card:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.  

For my card today I was tempted to go with a spray of florals or even dig out a retired baby stamp that would be perfect for this card (in fact, if you'd like to check out this old post you will see two cards that I made for this very challenge using the exact set that I had in mind!), but in the end decided to go with something a little more obtuse that ended up ultra-CAS - take a look:

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

I decided to go with the dog from 'Pampered Pets' for today's card - you can see the distinct curved shape of my pooch, right?!

I heat embossed my dog in white onto Basic Black cardstock for a change and used the Pets Dies to diecut out the shape with ease. The angle of the dog fitted around the sentiment perfectly and all I needed to do was add a red resin heart for a pop of colour on my otherwise monochromatic pet sympathy card. I actually started with a card that had a lot more going on (I actually turned that card into something else so will share another time) but for a variety of different reasons evolved beyond the sketch, so I decided to pare things right back and go ultra CAS. I debated with adding twine or even some sponging behind my pooch, but decided to go with the 'less is more' look after the positive comments I received on the one layer floral I created for last week's challenge. Besides, when it comes to the loss of a beloved pet, I'm not sure that any amount of frills or card details take away from the sense of loss that an owner feels. 

I am also linking today's card up over at Addicted to CAS where their codeword is 'Animal' and I'm hoping they will appreciate my CAS efforts. The simplicity of today's card rely does not reflect the thought and effort that went into it - I find that's often the way where 'clean and simple' is concerned!

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. 

I am 'home alone' today for the first time in months as both James Juniors are now officially Covid-free and back at school. So I shall be playing the radio at full blast and making tea whenever I like, without fear of remonstration! Sometimes one must delight in the simple pleasures of life!! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PAMPERED PETS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£36.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	RESIN HEARTS EMBELLISHMENTS (£6.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Festive Friday where they are celebrating National Dog Day which i'm also linking up over at The Card Concept where they have a cute inspiration photo featuring a dog front and centre: 

I have been looking for an opportunity to break into the products in my Pampered Pets suite and this challenge gave me the perfect reason - take a look:

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

Pampered Pets - A collection featuring cute cats and dogs, the Pampered Pets Suite is perfect for cards for animal lovers. I decided to make a birthday card for a dog-mad friend of one of the James Juniors. She loved it! Today's card is definitely all about the layers - there are 11 in total!

Pets Dies - The dies in the suite not only cut out the images in the stamp set, but also fit some of the dogs on the DSP and since I was featuring several of the paper designs on my card today, I also die cut one of the cute dogs too. Check out another neat die trick - did you notice that the horizontal die piece that features pawprints? Don't throw away the inside pieces if you are going to use the negative space diecut - the 'paws' also make cute hearts when turned the other way up - I used mine in front of my dog. You're welcome ;-)

Suite Treats - The Pampered Pets Suite has a ton of cute elements that can be used to decorate your creations, including ribbon, twine and these cute heart and bone trinket embellishments, one of which I added to my dog's collar:

I know I only needed three items from the inspo list on my card today, but I couldn't resist going to town on this card: I included red, black, baker's twine, heart, paw print, dog, bone and embossing (heat-embossed sentiment). I think stripes and a love/loyalty sentiment are the only two things I didn't include!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PETS DIES (£21.00)	PLAYFUL PETS DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	ITTY BITTY BIRTHDAYS CLING STAMP SET (£21.00)	PLAYFUL PETS TRINKETS (£8.00)	PLAYFUL PETS TRIM COMBO PACK (£7.00)
STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)