It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the Jaydee's turn to host this week and she has a fun theme for us to work with:

So many possibilities! I actually made several birthday cards with Jaydee's challenge in mind and couldn't decide which one to share; I loved the colour combo over at The Colour Throwdown and since Jaydee is also guest designer over at CTD this week that decided it! I also used the Paper Craft Crew Sketch and my Rose Garden Thinlits to come up with my card today - take a look:

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

There's not much to say about today's card; I stencilled some roses onto my panel with some powder pink ink and a sponge brayer, then added layers of gold foil, acetate and ribbon before finishing with my layered pink and gold foil-edged rose. A sentiment in navy and a few metallic enamel shapes complete my card. Whilst simple I think the gold elements make this seem more fancy than usual. One thing's for sure - I love it!

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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. I have more birthday cards to share with you this week, so be sure to pop buy for more birthday inspiration using some of my new catalogue products. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are hoping for another day of sunshine before the kiddies return to school tomorrow for the final half-term of this academic school year. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Rose Garden Thinlits Dies	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sponge Brayers	Gold Foil Sheets	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Natural Trim
Powder Pink A4 Cardstock	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Metallic Enamel Shapes	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

For my card today I decided on a bold injection of colour and went for a kraft and Watermelon Wonder colour combination - take a look:

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

Shine On - This Shine On Specialty Designer Series Paper is great for boxes and bags as it's so sturdy but also works really well on cards. I love the way that one side is foiled and the other side features bold patterns in bright colours, like the Watermelon Wonder pattern that I chose to feature for the horizontal panels on my card today. The colour really 'pops' against the kraft cardstock and looks even more vibrant than usual and is accentuated by a thin mat in the same colour. 

Rose Garden Thinlit Flower - I stayed true to the sketch and added a flower using the thinlits from the Rose Garden set. This little flower head can be overshadowed by the larger rose thinlits in this set, but is equally attractive and works well when offset slightly with the leaf stem and popped up on some dimensionals.

Rose Wonder Sentiment - This is almost a no-stamping card today - save for my thank you sentiment, from the co-ordinating Rose Wonder stamp set, which has some lovely scripts and wording. Whilst the stamp set and thinlits are carrying over to the new catalogue, the current 15% off bundle price isn't. So if this set is on your wish list, you have until the end of May to take full advantage of the additional saving.

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

I have a day of housework and chores planned today; not exciting but necessary! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Well what a busy few days I've had! All the excitement of the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue launch at the UK event in Telford, followed by the release of the list of products that will be retiring at the end of May. Many of you may, like me, have experienced technical issues with the online store last night; I am pleased to report that these have now been fixed and you should experience no problems at all shopping online. Clearly many of you have managed to do so successfully already, given that some items have already sold out and others are showing low inventory. If you still have items on your wishlist that you want to buy, remember that items on the retiring list are available only whilst stocks last and may not be available until the 31 May. Also, if you are purchasing from my online store, don't forget to use the current hostess code UD3KDWM4 to receive a thank you gift from me at the end of the month.  

Today I'm sharing another of the cards from my recent technique class featuring the Rose Wonder stamp set and co-ordinating Rose Garden thinlits dies:

This card is beautifully elegant and not that tricky to create - here's the lowdown:

Clean and White - a cardbase of Extra Thick Whisper White cardstock was used for my card and I cut out the window using my trimmer, cutting a 1cm frame in from each side (you could use your Square Framelits for this too). I used the piece I had cut out to cut an outline of the large flower and leaves with the Rose garden thinlits, with the edges hanging off the edge. This rose then aligns perfectly within the frame with no overhang - like an inlaid die cut.

A Window - I could have simply diecut my flower and adhered it to the edge of the frame, but since I chose to inlay it I needed something to attach it to; I simply backed the frame with a piece of acetate and use this to adhere my rose to. I stamped my simple sentiment, used my hexagon punch to flag the end, then adhered this to the outer edge of the card's frame. The acetate makes the card more robust and offers a nice reflective quality.

Perfectly Artistic - I backed the inside panel of my card with some of the now retired Sale-A-Bration paper 'Perfectly Artistic'. I knew lots of my ladies had this paper and would appreciate some ideas on how to use it and the watercoloured wash provided just the right amount of subtle colour needed. If you don't have any of this paper, you could just as easily watercolour a background using your aquapainter or substitute with other decorative patterned paper.

This card proved very popular with the ladies in my class - I'm expecting to see lots more of these with different colours behind once they've had the chance to experiment at home!

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'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

Window Sheets

Hexagon Punch

Today I'm sharing one of the cards that I made in my Technique card class yesterday - a lovely card with a stamped panel that slides out of an envelope-type wrapper. I saw this gorgeous card by Lou Kitzelman in a blog hop a while ago and was inspired to create my own version, changing up the colours and embellishments.

This is what the card looks like with both pieces together:

The card consists of an inner panel of Basic Black cardstock (cut 3mm narrower than the back piece of the sleeve), onto which a piece of Shimmery White cardstock is added that has the large rose image stamped on it in Archival Black that has been watercoloured with Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush inks and an aquapainter. You need to make sure that you stamp the rose overhanging each of the sides and bottom of the panel, so that there is room for the diecut of the sleeve to wrap around it and attach to the back panel of the sleeve. A panel of Whisper White was also adhered to the reverse of the card on which to write a personal message. 

Some wide Watermelon Wonder satin ribbon is threaded through the top of this insert and tied with some black and white baker's twine, and a sentiment added. I cut the sentiment out with the cordinating framelit in the set then fussy cut around the edge to make it slightly smaller. I then cut another blank label in black and used this as a base for the sentiment piece and attached it to the card over some folded ribbon with dimensionals. 

To create the sleeve, I cut a flower and leaves with the co-ordinating thinlit in Basic Black, then having place the stamped insert panel onto the sleeve base, aligned the diecut to the stamped image and wrapped the ends of the diecut piece around the insert and back panel and glued the overhanging elements only to the reverse of the sleeve. 

The Rose Wonder stamp set and co-ordinating Rose Garden thinlit dies are such a versatile set and I really love that they match up completely, which makes this kind of card work really well. It is so very pretty in real life - the Shimmery White cardstock adds a wonderful lustre and the colours are so vibrant.

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'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Watermelon Wonder 1" Stitched Satin Ribbon
Basic Black Baker's Twine	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Aqua Painters	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

It's Wednesday and time for the last week of Wednesday Weekly Deals! As I mentioned last week, improvements in stock control at Stampin' Up! mean that this is the last week that they will be offered. They will be replaced with less frequent but better 'Specials' promotions on an adhoc basis - please make sure you're checking my blog regularly for details. So for the final week, there really are some great deals - as always, these offers are valid for one week only. 

If you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the new Hostess Code for April UD3KDWM4 if your order is under £150 and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. If you are local, then give me a call to place your order if you'd like to save on P&P.

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

1" Square Punch	Bear Hugs Framelits Dies	Brights Sequin Assortment	Calypso Coral Thick Baker’s Twine	Classy Designer Buttons
Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set	Essence De Rose Photopolymer Stamp Set (French)	Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Peaceful Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set
Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set	Rosenzauber Photopolymer Stamp Set (German)	Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Watercolor Words Photopolymer Stamp Set	White Perfect Accents

Some great bargains to be had this week: my favourite sentiment set of the moment, 'Suite Sayings', the always-useful 1" square punch, the Bear Hugs framelits (I will be using these on tomorrow's blog card so look out for that!) and the Rose Wonder stamp set which you can see on today's creative post. And last but certainly not least, the White Perfect Accents - I will be buying these up in bulk this week!

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy shopping!

Today the lovely Kylie Bertucci, an Australian Stampin' Up! demonstrator, is hosting an international blog highlight with the theme of 'love'. I am delighted to be taking part and since I have been working with the Rose Wonder stamp set and Rose Garden Thinlits a lot lately as they feature in one of my April Stamp technique Classes, I decided to use them to create a special wedding card to share with you today:

Whilst the photograph is lovely, I can't tell you just how pretty and sparkly this card is in real life! Every part of it shines. So here's the low down on today's card:

A White Wedding - Whilst white cards can be tricky to photograph, there is nothing more stunning for a special wedding card. I used shimmery white cardstock which has a wonderful subtle sparkle and lustre and is perfect for a special card. I also kept my roses white in colour, using Dazzling Diamonds glitter in its 'raw' state to add to the purity of my card. 

Roses, Roses - My regular blog followers will know that my style generally is very clean and layered and today's card is very typical of that. I decided to create an inset panel of roses using my Rose Garden Thinlits, cutting them to fit into a frame that I'd cut out using my Big Shot and Square Framelits. As an alternative to paper-piecing the outlines and centres, I decided to try something different: I backed my frame with acetate, turned it over and painted inside the rose outlines with Crystal Effects, then sprinkled it liberally with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and left it to dry. I then flipped it over again before adhering to my card. This creates a sparkle that will even outshine glimmer paper, but has the benefit of being contained within the frame so no worries about glitter shedding from the completed card. Bonus!

A Touch of Silver - The only colour other than white that I used on my card was silver, with silver foil for my background mat layer and for my heat embossed sentiment. Just enough to frame my card and enable my sentiment to stand out - well, you can't really read white-on-white can you?!  I did toy with adding some silver satin ribbon, but decided against it as it detracted from the clean lines of my frame. 

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. 

Do check out the other cards in the blog hop for inspiration; I would love it if you could pop over and vote on my card in the gallery by clicking here - the designers of the cards with the most votes will get to participate in one of Kylie's monthly international blog hops, so your votes all count!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets	Window Sheets	Crystal Effects
Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

Yay it's Friday - the weekend is almost here! I'm looking forward to mine, especially as it heralds the start of half-term and a welcome break from the routine of school, even if for just one week. Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's challenge over at Less Is More - one of my favourite challenges and this week it is celebrating it's 5th Birthday - amazing! Chrissie and the rest of the Design Team really are the friendliest bunch and do a tremendous job inspiring the masses each week. As it happens I am too late to join in the celebrations, the theme of this week being 'white on white', however I wanted to share my card anyway. I decided to make a wedding card using the Rose Garden framelits and co-ordinating Rose Wonder stamp set for my sentiment. Here is my card:

When making a white-on-white card, you have to use either shades of white or texture to add interest and contrast. I decided that texture and sparkle was the way to go, so using a base of Shimmery White cardstock, I added a layer of white Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper, then another layer of Shimmery White onto which I added two diecut roses and leaves to opposing corners, allowing them to overhang the edge slightly. I added a simple sentiment, which I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in silver along with a lovely verse inside to finish my card. 

This is one of those cards that looks so very pretty in real life - all shimmer and sparkle. Tricky to photograph though, so I hope you get the idea! I love these thinlits  too and am really looking forward to making more projects with them. They are also going to be featured in one of my April technique classes, so if you live in or around Northampton and would be interested in attending, do get in touch for more details. I'm also linking today's card up with CAS Colours and Sketches as I used their sketch for my layout and Stamps Ink Paper where the theme is 'love' - a wedding definitely celebrates that!

So happy birthday Less is More - hope you continue to inspire for the next 5 years and beyond. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Precision Base Plate

Good morning everyone! Today I'm sharing a card for this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts - I can't resist a good sketch! 

I decided to use the Rose Garden Thinlits for the focal point on my card today, but having used lots of pink on my cards lately I decided to veer away from Valentines and make a card for one of my January birthdays whilst trying something a little different - take a look:

I lightly sponged a piece of the rose-patterned Timeless Elegance designer series paper in So Saffron and Daffodil Delight, then in addition to my panel, I took one rose and ran it through the Big Shot with my Rose Garden Thinlits Die and paper-pieced the negative pieces into an outline die cut in Basic Black, having first adhered this to a piece of cardstock to hold everything in place. I then cut the outline out by hand. I stamped my birthday sentiment from the accompanying Rose Wonder set onto Very Vanilla to complete my card. I had originally intended to make a sympathy card, but decided that the paper made this card a little too 'flowery' for the intended male recipient, so instead switched to birthday at the last minute. I think the paper-pieced rose works quite well - whilst the petals don't line up, I think it adds an interesting depth and illusion of texture to this otherwise post-friendly card. What do you think? One thing is for sure, this framelit set is gorgeous and I can see me using it lots more this season for all kinds of cards!

That's all from me today; I'm off to work through more annual accounts (my least favourite job!) and do more preparation for my open house event later this week. Back tomorrow with Wednesday Weekly Deals and a new project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle	Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Sponge Daubers
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad