Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Eat What You Want Day' which is on 11th May - who knew?! Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used food, treat packaging, red, pastels and twine and this is what I came up with:

 What better for the end of the week but a Friday treat! Here's the low-down on today's treat box:

Sweet Little Boxes - OK first up is a confession: I didn't make the box from scratch! There was absolutely no need when the mini catalogue has the perfect solution - the Sweet Little Boxes! These little boxes are sweet indeed - and at 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 5/8", they are the perfect size for some chocolates or sweets and fit in your hand perfectly:

Playful Patterns - The boxes are flat packed, so it's super easy to customise them. I decided to use some Playful Patterns host reward striped paper for mine and simply used the box as a template, drew around it and cut out the paper and adhered it the box before putting the box together. This does mean that extra double-sided tape will be required in addition to the tape that is already on the box, but that's it - super easy. 

Brilliant Rainbows - I decorated my box with a large diecut rainbow cut using my Brilliant Rainbows Dies, pulling colours out of the paper. I added some stitched clouds courtesy of the Give It A Whirl Dies and and diecut and stamped a tag using the same bundle and tied it to my box using some (retired) Bermuda Bay and white striped baker's twine.

My box contains a packet of Skittles and has already made its way into the schoolbag of one of the James Juniors for a special break time surprise (don't worry, the other one has one 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James - that's me!

Enjoy your day - today is a two-post day so be sure to check today's other project too. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SWEET LITTLE BOXES (£9.25)	RAINBOW OF HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	GIVE IT A WHIRL DIES (£36.00)	PATTERN PARTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) HOST DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card using the sketch over at Fusion (rotated through 180 degrees):

No bookshelves though - as promised, I've another rainbow card for you - take a look:

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

I thought the sketch really lent itself to a rainbow peeking through the clouds, so I added some Pool party patterned 'Sunshine and Rainbows' Sale-A-Bration patterned paper to my card base, then added a split panel with diecut stitched cloud edges cut with the Basic Border Dies. A diecut rainbow coming through the clouds bridges the gap:

A gold heat embossed sentiment and a few enamel raindrops 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. 

I made this card when I made my Thursday make - here's a photo of both cards together:

I hope you've been enjoying my rainbows in their various guises this week! 

Enjoy your day; I'm off to hockey this afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

RAINBOW OF HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	BASIC BORDERS DIES (£27.00)	GIVE IT A WHIRL DIES (£36.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MANGO MELODY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	SILVER & CLEAR EPOXY ESSENTIALS (£4.38)

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

I went across the top row with rainbow/green/diecut as my 3 options and using this week's Try Stamping On Tuesday sketch (no punny sentiment I'm afraid!) set to work and this is what I came up with:

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

Sunshine and Rainbows - The colour scheme for today's rainbow card is taken from the (now retired) Sunshine and Rainbows designer paper that was free during Sale-A-Bration; I still have some left so don't be surprised to see it on my projects in the coming weeks/months - I'm hoping it will give you lots of inspiration as to how you can use the paper you earned free too! I love this colour mix; I also used the colours of the paper stripes for the die infills of my rainbow border too, mixing and matching as I went along.

Brilliant Rainbow Dies - I created a rainbow border across my card using the rainbow tag die in the Brilliant Rainbow Dies set; the actual rainbow border in the set was too small and didn't line up with the stripes of my paper, so instead I created my own, layering the tags across my card so that each rainbow covered four vertical stripes. I then added a plain white panel and stamped my sentiment at the very bottom, with a trio of pink hearts as an accent.

Ribbons of Colour - I decided to add a large and showy ribbon bow to my card, pulling colours from the rainbow paper and adding in some sparkly white too for an additional feminine touch. I also added some of the new iridescent rhinestones basic jewels from the mini catalogue. These are just so sparkly and pretty and I love the way they are faceted so take on some of the colour beneath them, which you can see closer on the photo below:

Since rainbows are very much a feature of today's card, I'm also linking up with the Paper Craft Crew (non-traditional colours) and over at Global Design Project #GDP355 where they also have rain/rainbows as their theme.

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 the rest of your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at As You See it. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

RAINBOW OF HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MANGO MELODY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	IRIDESCENT RHINESTONES BASIC JEWELS (£7.00)

This is my second card for today, again using the 'Driving By' stamp set that I made with a few challenges in mind:

It uses the current Color Throwdown colours and is most definitely a clean and simple take on the codeword at Addicted to CAS this week which is 'Hearts' - and it's another vehicle for the 'V is for Vehicle' challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge blog. I was inspired by a few clean and simple cards that one of the Stampin' Up! Artisans had posted on Instagram that used white ink on a kraft cardbase, so decided to take the fun open top sports car from 'Driving By' and replace the oval balloons with some heart-shaped ones - take a look:

The car and sentiment is stamped in white kraft ink and not heat-embossed, hence the paler appearance (in hindsight, I think I should maybe have used my Stamparatus to get a stronger image - I'll remember that next time!) I used the heart stamp from 'Here Together' and stamped the heats onto the ends of my freehand strings, adding highlights and some dots between the tiny stamped hearts with my chalk marker (these tiny hearts are from the 'Rainbow of Happiness' stamp set). I coloured my trio of hearts using my dry watercolour pencils in Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo and Flirty Flamingo to allow for some grainy shading: 

My sentiment is from the 'Happy & Heartfelt' stamp set and I finished with a freehand squiggly frame and some linen thread.

So what do you think? This was a bit of an experiment for me as I rarely use Crumb Cake as a base, but I do like the way it really highlights the three pink hearts. Besides, it's always fun to try something new - especially when the stamp was a freebie to boot! Yay for free products and Sale-A-Bration - you have until the end of the month to get your hands on yours!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

DRIVING BY CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	UNINKED STAMPIN’ PAD & WHISPER WHITE REFILL (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN' CHALK MARKER (£3.25)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)	WATERCOLOR PENCILS (£15.00)
WATERCOLOR PENCILS ASSORTMENT 2 (£11.75)	HAPPY & HEARTFELT CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	RAINBOW OF HAPPINESS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)

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

I love Jaydee's sketch this week and could have made a ton of different cards with it! Having seen the lovely Jaydee's card before I made mine, I noticed she had focused on the top portion with her design. I was naturally drawn to filling the bottom section, so decided to take my inspiration from Jaydee's interpretation of the sketch and instead focus on creating detail on the top portion of my card. This is what I came up with:

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

I decided to use a piece of the Sale-A-bration Sunshine & Rainbows designer paper to decorate the top portion of my card, and then the rainbow border die to edge my white panel below. I paper-pieced my rainbows across my border edge and then added a sentiment using the rainbow-topped diecut that also features in the Brilliant Rainbows Dies pack. In addition to paper-piecing a larger rainbow on the top of my sentiment tab, I added a sentiment from the 'Rainbow of Happiness' stamp set and added a trio of clouds and a tiny resin heart that I coloured pink using my Magenta Madness Blends marker:

I didn't set out to make a clean and simple card this week, but I really love the end result! I am linking my card up with the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges too as they are focusing on clean and simple cards for their current challenge.

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; we are having a quiet day and I'm hoping to squeeze in a little crafting so that I'll have something to share with you tomorrow. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

RAINBOW OF HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	SUNSHINE & RAINBOWS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Happy new year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year - I thoroughly enjoyed my festive break with my family and much-needed crafty down-time and today I am officially back to it with my first blog post of the new year. It's Sunday so I'm back with our first challenge of 2022 over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the amazing Ann to host this week and she has a theme challenge that is perfect for this time of year:

Add a little sparkle - what a great way to see the new year in! I chose glimmer paper as my sparkle of choice and also used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as the starting point for today's layout. My card has it all today: something current, something new, something retired and something free! Take a look and see if you can work out which is which:

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

Something Current - There are a couple of notable current products on today's card: my favourite rainbow glimmer paper that I used for my diecut rainbow, along with some of the yellow Ombre Glimmer Paper along with one of the Tasteful Labels Dies that I used to diecut my sun. I just love the shimmer and sparkle!

Something New - I made my glimmer rainbow using the new Brilliant Rainbow Dies that will debut in the upcoming January-June mini catalogue that launches next week. These are so fun! They also have a co-ordinating stamp set called 'Rainbow of Happiness' that I used for my sentiment and to add some extra detail to the inside of my card:

Something Retired - I used a retired Textured Clouds Embossing Folder to add some additional cloud detail to the panel behind my focal images - I haven't used this EF in ages but thought it worked quite well here for some added textural detail.

Something FREE - The final element to today's card is a sneak peek of some free product - the cloud at the end of my rainbow comes from the Sunshine and Rainbows Designer Series Paper - just one of the products that can be yours free with a purchase of £45 during the first Sale-A-Bration promotion of the year that also begins on 4th January. These papers are gorgeous and co-ordinate perfectly with the Rainbow of Happiness Bundle - and everyone loves free product, right?

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 - including the work of our three new guest designers for 2022, Cindy, Christy and Jennie:

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 spending the day at my mother-in-law's building flat-pack furniture today - wish me luck! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)

TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)

OMBRE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.25)

RICH RAZZLEBERRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)