Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a speed stamping challenge:

I've been so short on time this week that a speed challenge was just what I needed! I grabbed some supplies in this week's Color Throwdown colours (what can I say - they chose my favourite - purple!) along with my 'Positive Thoughts' stamp set and this is what I came up with:

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

Positive Thoughts - Hmm, butterflies! I don't use them all that often but I have so many stamps and dies that feature them! I decided to go with 'Positive Thoughts', because I was persuaded to buy it having seen the wonderful makes of my As You See It teamie and Artisan friend, the lovely Jan Clothier, and yet I haven't used if much at all, but this is a great set for both simple and speedy stamping - with or without the co-ordinating Nature's Thoughts Dies. I love the slightly speckled nature of the stamps and as you would expect from the name, this set also has some wonderful uplifting sentiments - perfect for the current Time Out challenge too, who are all about cards with words of encouragement this week (I didn't go with the optional pink, but may come back for a second go to include this!)

Speedy Stamping - As always, the key to speedy stamping is keeping it simple. I had designed my card in my head and had everything out ready on my desk before I started the timer. Some quick cuts of my card and designer paper (from the 'Heartwarming Hugs' Christmas designer paper pack that is on offer this month - bargain!), only two colours to stamp and then one run through the diecutting machine to cut the edged panel and the butterfly and I was ready to start sticking together.

Time To Step Up -  As I had glued on everything but my sentiment, I glanced at my stopwatch - 5 minutes and 33 seconds - a personal record and almost finished! I decided to spend a few more minutes to step things up a little, so grabbed some Gorgeous Grape cardstock and added an offset strip behind my sentiment before attaching to my card. I added some clear Wink of Stella to my butterfly, to blur the lines and add a little sparkle, a linen bow and a few clear epoxy drops to finish my card. Final time: 7 minutes, 59 seconds - still something of a record for me, maybe I should work with butterflies more often!

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a speed stamping challenge, time yourself and tell us how long it took you to complete your card.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

POSITIVE THOUGHTS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	NATURE'S THOUGHTS DIES (£27.00)	HEARTWARMING HUGS DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£9.14)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	WINK OF STELLA CLEAR GLITTER BRUSH (£7.50)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went with the vertical column layers/friend/heat embossing this week! I had some of the panels of Pressed Petals designer series paper out on my desk leftover from the cards I shared with you last week and wanted to use them up and thought I would combine it with this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges (thanks for the pick last week ladies!) where they are looking for projects that are gold-dipped, something I've been wanting to try with my Heirloom Frames 3D embossing folders for a while. So I pulled out my Positive Thoughts stamp set for my sentiment and some background detail on my first card and this is what I came up with:

On this card I used a Night of Navy embossed frame. To achieve the antique-dipped effect, you simply rub the embossed frame with your Versamark pad then sprinkle with gold embossing powder and heat - in some places it sticks and in others the base colour is exposed. For my second card, I used a few more layers on my base instead of background stamping, and used an oval frame heat embossing gold onto Mossy Meadow:

I used the same sentiment and anchored with a Designer Element accent on each. And here's one last photo of both my cards together:

So what do you think? This style of card is quite different for me so whilst I like them, I'm not sure I love them - but it's always good to try something different once in a while! I would love your comments and if vintage is your thing and you think these cards can be improved in any way, I'd love to hear!

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; on Tuesday I finally took delivery of a new washing machine, having had mine break down completely 10 days ago - what great timing! I knew it was on its way out so I ordered a new one before it went completely, however with the whole country going into lockdown I was afraid that my new machine wouldn't arrive at all. Fortunately the lovely people at John Lewis made it happen and I have spent the last 2 days washing non-stop! I have another 4 loads to do today and then I should be caught up - just the ironing to get stuck into then! At least the weather has been fine enough for me to line dry and no school has meant that the Juniors could wear anything as we had run out of school uniform! It's probably a good job that none of us have had to leave the house though - our outfits were starting to look a little eclectic! I am hoping to get some crafting in today before tackling my ironing mountain (hubby has suggested since no-one can see us we should just go with the crumpled look, but I'm not sure if my standards will allow it!). 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

 To be updated.

I'm here today with a quick post to let you know about a new co-ordination product release that launches today and runs until the 31st March whilst stocks last. There is a collection of exclusive products that co-ordinate with Sale-A-Bration and the January-June mini catalogue items. Check them out:

One other thing to note is that Stampin' Up! has confirmed that the Nature's Thoughts Dies that co-ordinate with the Positive Thoughts stamp set and the Special Day Dies that co-ordinate with the Special Someone stamp set will both be carrying over into the new annual catalogue so will be available again to purchase from 4th June. 

There is no limit on how many items you can order, however they are only available for a limited time and whilst supplies last. Last year's co-ordination products sold out really quickly with some popular dies selling out within days, so don't leave it too long to get your hands on yours!

 My personal favourites are the Ladybugs Dies and the Happy Birrthday Dies, along with the Pleased as Punch paper - I can't resist a nice paper, especially one where you can punch out all the patterns!

You can find links to these items and the products they co-ordinate with in the online store are below - any questions, do get in touch. Happy shopping!

Nature's Thoughts Dies (£27.00)	Positive Thoughts Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)
Special Day Dies (£27.00)	Special Someone Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)
Ladybugs Dies (£27.00)	Little Ladybug Host Cling Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)
Sending Flowers Dies (£25.00)	Sending You Thoughts Cling Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)
Birthday Dies (£25.00)	Happy Birthday To You Cling Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)

Pleased As Punch Designer Series Paper (£10.75)

Small Bloom Punch (£0.00)

Heart Punch Pack (£32.00)

Umbrella Builder Punch (£17.00)

Tulip Builder Punch (£17.00)