It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Rachel is hosting for the month of September and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I paired these lovely summery colours with the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday and the 'choose 2' challenge over at Just Add Ink (I chose tearing and twine) to make a baby card for the challenge over at CAS on Friday:

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

My card is a pretty straightforward combination of elements and it was something of a happy accident that it worked for each of the challenges that I'm linking up with today. Let me explain! So I started with Rachel's summery colours and combined with the late return of summer sunshine here in the UK I was inspired to look through summery sets on my shelf. I happened upon my Sailboat Builder Punch, which has been neglected of late now that the co-ordinating stamp set has retired, so I pulled it off the shelf to give it some love. I am not a big one for tearing paper as my regular readers will know but when I saw Lou Kitzleman's card over at Just Add Ink this week I totally fell in love with it (you can see her fabulous card here) and whilst I will undoubtedly CASE her card another time for fun, I wanted to use the idea of the torn strips on my card today. In order to preserve my 'white space' I used the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday (love their layouts!) and created a corner detail of torn cardstock using some old Coastal Cabana coloured coredinations cardstock from my stash to give the feeling of waves. I punched out my sailboat using a scrap of Starry Sky cardstock and another of Lemon Lolly striped Bright & Beautiful designer series paper for the sails and finished with a sentiment from the 'Sweet Songbirds' stamp set. I added everything to my card and finished my sailboat with a twine bow:

I just love these bright colours for a slightly less traditional new baby card and I'm so pleased with how this card came 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

What will you make with this week's colours? As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! colour names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

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 a Clean and Simple challenge for us to work with:

I decided to whip up a quick card using the Let's Set Sail bundle for my project today - take a look:

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

I went super simple and having masked a circle aperture, used the long 'seascape' stamp to create an ombre effect, by repeat stamping in various shades of blue. I inked the reflection stamp in the same way, then  added some birds and a sentiment, and a sailboat courtesy of the Sailboat Builder Punch with bright red sails popped up on dimensionals to finish:

I liked this card so much i created another one in shades of aqua green, this time using a sailboat that was completely white:

This is a great set for a clean and simple nautical card - the pattern detail in the stamps adds interest and 'texture' without adding anything else:

I also added a stamped sailboat with ombre detail to the envelope for added detail. So which of these cards do you prefer? Here's a shot of both side by side to compare:

I think I'm still partial to the first one - I love the pop of red from the sails! - but the all-white of the second one definitely makes for a super clean and simple card. I'd love to know what you think - do leave me a comment below and share your thoughts.

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'll be back on Tuesday with my card for a new CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LET'S SET SAIL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£30.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.75)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)
NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

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

 I started out today's card not wanting to use anything other than Claire's trio of chosen colours, but also not wanting to create a patriotic Fourth of July card, since living in the UK we don't celebrate American Independence Day so I don't have much cause to send this kind of card. I did end up going a little rogue - take a look at my card below and you'll see what I mean:

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

All About The Background - I had seen a great Instagram post recently by the talented Melody Hyde where she used the Sailboat Builder punch to create a fun background (you can see that card here) so decided I would have a go at creating something similar. I punched a whole bunch of red, white and blue sails, then decided to create a pattern using the red and blue ones. How fun is that?!

Patriotism Of Sorts - Having laid out my background, it did look a little plain so I decided to experiment with some tone-on-tone stamping. I did end up using both stars and stripes, creating my patterns using a tiny star from the 'Penguin Place' stamp set (available again 1st July) and some stripes using an old retired set called 'Your Presents'. Now before the eagle-eyed amongst you point out that my stars and stripes are the wrong way around for the American flag: I know - I stamped a whole bunch of sails, with red stars, blue stars, red stripes and blue stripes and decided this was the pattern combo I liked best - and since I wasn't setting out to create a 4th July card, that was fine. When I came to write up my post though I did have second thoughts and I did wonder if I should have gone with blue stars and red stripes, for fear that my American readers might question my patriotic allegiance or flag knowledge - but I'm hoping my explanation is sufficient to prevent me from a barrage of patriotic fury! Or even a different pattern altogether!! Of course, if you wanted to use this idea to create a stars-and-stripes 4th July card, be my guest - and do share your version with me!

Anyway, back to the card - you can see the detail of my tone-on-tone stamping below; I really like the resulting effect:

Amazing Thanks - I finished my card with a simple 'you are amazing' die cut sentiment using the Amazing Thanks Dies - I can use this card as a card to celebrate any kind of achievement. The sentiment also works well if you do want to use a similar layout and idea for a truly patriotic card to celebrate the achievements of those who fought for the independence of the USA from the British Empire all those years ago - you just need to switch those stars and stripes!

So what do you think? I love the way the Sailboat Builder Punch is used in such an unexpected way to create a fun background. Do you have any other punches that you use in interesting ways? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to hear your ideas!

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 will be having some early birthday celebrations today, as the eldest of the James Juniors turns 17 this week but since it's a super busy school week, we are spreading out the celebrations and going with a 'little and often' rather than 'one and done' approach! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

AMAZING THANKS DIES (ENGLISH) (£25.00)	SAILBOAT BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)	PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.75)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Shannon has asked that we layer some shapes along a vertical panel. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I did just that - I turned the sketch through 90 degrees and went with a very fluid interpretation of Shannon's sketch using the Let's Set Sail bundle:

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

Let's Set Sail - The Let's Set Sail bundle is perfect for clean and simple cards and it works for everything from (masculine) birthdays and encouragement to baby cards. I added the sea directly to my white cardbase, along with my sentiment and some birds, then added my punched sailboat with dimensionals for a little extra lift. I love the sketchy appearance of the stamps in this set: 

Tuesday Tip - The Tuesday Tip that I'm sharing over in my Crafty Owl Creatives Facebook Group today is around the Sailboat Builder Punch - some clever stamping enables you to stamp and punch it out in one go:

This is such a time-saver and econimcal use of cardstock too. You can get the detail, see other Tuesday Tips and more by joining my Facebook Group here. 

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. 

Today's card was also inspired by a couple of other challenges: the team over at Color Hues are asking us to create cards using the colours blue and tan and over at Time Out where the theme is 'vacation':

As a keen scuba diver, I am more like to be found beneath the waves rather than in a sailboat, but each to their own (and I don't have a stamp featuring a scuba diver ;-) )

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LET'S SET SAIL BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£29.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)

SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.50)