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

Laughter is the best medicine - so true! I had a rummage amongst my stamps for something funny and using Jen T's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week (it's a keeper!) for my layout I set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

I actually don't have that many stamps that are out-and-out funny, but plenty that can raise a smile and 'Hey Birthday Chick' is definitely one of them! I love that sentiment 'you're still a spring chicken' so I decided to pair it with the chicken in this set that always looks to me like she's dancing! I added some rainbow glimmer bunting and some stamped confetti, and having coloured my chicken decided to add a ribbon ruffle skirt by running a stitch through a piece of Polished Pink ribbon - doesn't it look as if she's doing the can-can?!

Very 'oo la la'!! What do you think - comical enough to raise a smile? It made me chuckle anyway :-) I added another chicken along with another sentiment from this set to decorate the inside of my card to finish:

'Hey Birthday Chick' and the co-ordinating Birthday Chick Dies are on the retired list, so if they tickle your funny bone and you'd like to add them to your collection, they are currently both available at 50% off - a real bargain! Rainbow glimmer paper is also on the retired list - I am so sad to see this go! Here's hoping there is more glimmer paper on the way in the new annual catalogue ... 

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 am mid-way through a 'Mum and son' weekend with the youngest of the James Juniors: we spent yesterday watching Manchester United play at home in Old Trafford, stayed overnight and today we are doing the stadium tour - so we are all about the football, for sure! A lovely way to start the Easter school break though. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

HEY BIRTHDAY CHICK CLING STAMP SET (£10.00)	BIRTHDAY CHICK DIES (ENGLISH) (£12.50)	RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£4.40)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	POLISHED PINK 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)
SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (£33.00)

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

I had so many great ideas for this sketch! I also loved the rainbow of purples, blues and greens on that fabulous bird on the Color Dare inspiration photo, so decided to pair them with the stamp in the Colours & Contours set for a stem of rainbow flowers - take a look:

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

Colours and Contours - I coloured the infill stamp of the main flower stem in the Colours & Contours stamp set using my sponge daubers and a trio of blue and purple inks, the cut it out with the co-ordinating die. I added it to a panel cut with one of the Scalloped Contours Dies (and narrowed slightly), having stamped the sentiment directly onto this panel. I added another sentiment and additional flower from the same set to the inside of my card:

Rainbow Glimmer - The rainbow of colours that I used enabled me to use some co-ordinating rainbow glimmer paper for my horizontal strips to compliment flowers. Whilst there's only a little of it visible, I love the addition of that sparkle and glimmer:

Pattern Party - In order to allow my glimmer paper to really stand out, I chose a piece of neutral black and white Pattern Party paper for my background. The Pattern Party paper pack is a hostess reward that you can earn with purchases of £150+ and is such great value with a great variety of patterns and designs too. 

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 will be spending mine cooking and having a lazy day with the family. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

COLOR & CONTOUR BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	PATTERN PARTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) HOST DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£17.00)	RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card inspired by that fabulous photo over at Fusion and using this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch by Amy:

I adore that rainbow unicorn outfit in the inspiration photo - what would be princess wouldn't like to dress up in that?! I had been contemplating Amy's panelled sketch and decided that I could combine the two to create the sparkly card of my dreams. If you're not a fan of the the glimmer and glitter, then you should look away now, as this card has it in spades! Ok, you have been warned!! This is what I came up with - take a look:

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

When Is A Hippo Not A Hippo? - When is a hippo not a hippo? Well, when it's a unicorn of course! My unicorn comes from the Hippo Happiness bundle, which in addition to the hippo, a butterfly, a sheep and a horse, there is of course a unicorn! I stamped mine in Smoky Slate with the second step stamp heat embosssed in silver, and gave her a gold sparkly unicorn horn. I think one of the things I love most about this stamp set is the sentiment I used on today's card - words to live by, right?! You can see the detail on my unicorn a little better below: 

Rainbow Glimmer - Having decided on a silver unicorn, I went all out to create my background panel from a complete piece of rainbow glimmer paper, spreading in colour from deep purple, through to pink, orange and yellow. I haven't used this for a while and was having definite withdrawal symptoms! I decided to leave my central clouds as one piece across the centre of my card; I tried it split with the rectangle, but preferred it as one piece. This also worked better for my sentiment, which sits nicely on the cloud.

Stitched Stars - Not satisfied with my rainbow glimmer alone, I decided to add a swirl of (retired) silver glimmer stars from the Stitched Stars die to the edge of my cloud to back my unicorn. I love this die and it's probably my most used in this set.

So what do you think - too much glimmer? I have to say I love it and I know a certain Miss James Junior who will love it too, teenager or not!! I spent the morning with a lovely bunch of my customers having our first proper online class of the year featuring florals and the Art Gallery bundle - a world away from all of this sparkle, although we did have a little play with gilded leafing - an altogether messier affair, albeit with very pretty results!

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 the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new sketch challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HIPPO HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.00)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	STITCHED STARS DIES (£35.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)
SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SILVER STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host and this week it's a special one - it's our 500th challenge! Can you believe it? 500 challenges! Paper Players has been one of my favourite challenges ever since I started blogging; it was the first challenge I ever entered - that card was for the sketch challenge PP164 and you can see my card here if you'd like a trip down memory lane. I've been designing with this fabulous team since challenge PP203 (you can see that card here) and they seriously are a special bunch!

It's clean and simple week and in light of our milestone we simply had to go with a celebratory theme:

I combined our theme with this week's colours over at The Spot and the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches and came up with a fun birthday card - take a look:

With that in mind, here's the low-down on today's card:

B Is For... - I used the new set 'Monogram Messages' to spell out my birthday greeting today and thought the colours over at The Spot were perfect for a bold and colourful birthday card for a discerning teenage girl - and I have lots of those to make cards for these days! I heat embossed my greeting in gold on black and layered my oval on a scalloped one of gold foil. I used a few layers on today's card but I kept my design clean with blocks of colour to maintain the CAS feel.

A Rainbow Glimmer Tip - I added a couple of glimmer balloons punched with my Balloon Bouquet punch, one in Magenta Madness and one in Pool Party - I just love the effect of all that sparkle! I have a little tip for you when punching glimmer paper: if you gently run a Stampin' Blend in a co-ordinating colour around the edge, it will colour any white fibres and blend the edge perfectly with the glitter on the front of the card. I added a couple of gold twine bows and threads too.

Don't Forget The Inside - I added a sentiment from 'Zany Zebras' to the inside of my card, along with a couple of stamped balloons with hand-drawn strings to continue the party feel:

I love this funky colour scheme and simple layout - perfect for a clean and simple yet special birthday 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 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; the weather is due to change and we are expecting rain here today, so we may be restricted to indoor activities although we have no special plans - sometimes that is the best kind of day. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STAMP SET CLING MONOGRAM MESSAGES (£19.00)	BALLOON BOUQUET PUNCH (£17.00)	LAYERING OVALS DIES (£33.00)	RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)	FOREVER GREENERY TRIM COMBO PACK (£8.25)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	2020–2022 IN COLOR ENAMEL DOTS (£7.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that is totally fitting for the current Color My Heart Color Dare colour combo - this challenge is celebrating it's 400th challenge, although this is a new-to-me challenge and this is only the second time I've played along (the first time was #399!)

My card is for a special celebration too - a certain member of the James household recently celebrated her 15th birthday and as anyone who has been reading my blog for a long time knows, she usually has some exacting requirements as far as her birthday card is concerned! Here is my finished card:

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

Rainbow Glimmer and Artistry Blooms - Like me, the minute Miss Rebecca saw the rainbow glimmer paper she fell in love with it - and wanted me to use the green, blue and purple hues for her card. I punched a whole bunch of balloons from this glittery paper, added an epoxy dot to highlight each one and tied each one with some silver thread tied with some retired two-tone ribbon to create my bunch. They really are so pretty and sparkly in real life! I paired them with a co-ordinating ombre paper from the Artistry Blooms pack for the perfect backdrop.Check out all that sparkle and dimension:

Everything Amazing - I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to combine my glimmer paper with; Master James came to the rescue with his '3 word' game. He suggested we choose 3 words that describe Rebecca that we should then try to incorporate into her card. One of his words was 'amazing' - which led me to the now retired 'Everything Amazing' stamp set. This set dates back to June 2019 and is now but is one I never got to use whilst it was current, so it was good to be able to give it an airing. It's also perfect for Retro Rubber this week since anything goes! I heat embossed the main sentiment in silver then infilled the words in Night of Navy.

And For The Inside - I created a customised inside with the super-useful Family Party set and perfect for special, personalised greetings:

I'm glad to report Rebecca loved her card so another successful birthday card challenge achieved!

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:

RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)	ARTISTRY BLOOMS DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BALLOON BOUQUET PUNCH (£17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	SILVER STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)
WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

I have another quick card to share today that I made last weekend for the challenge over at Less Is More that is actually closing this evening - I'm not sure where this week has gone! I also used the sketch over at Hand Stamped Sentiments (I flipped it vertically):

I have a complete love affair with the new rainbow glimmer paper from Stampin' Up! and couldn't resist using a couple of the Ornate Borders to add detail to my top white panel and cutting away the right border edge to reveal a panel of rainbow glimmer paper - take a look:

Isn't it gorgeous?! I just love the sparkle - check it out:

I added my words courtesy of the Ornate Thanks set to complete my card - here's the inside:

Five simple products are all that's needed to create this gorgeous rainbow-inspired 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE THANKS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)

RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)

COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' INK REFILL (£3.50)

Edited to Add: This card was Artist's Pick for the sketch challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments: