Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where for this fortnight we have a fun recipe challenge for you:

I often struggle with this kind of recipe challenge, but must confess that along with Julee's Mojo Monday sketch for my layout (sketch 3) today's card came together quite easily - take a look:

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

Flowering Foils - I decided to use the Flowering Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper as the basis for today's card. This is one of the second-release items that can be yours FREE with a purchase of £45 or more during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion and has been super popular with my customers, so I was keen to show them how they could use it. I used a rose-gold hatch patterned piece along with a piece of silver foil cut using my Stitched Rectangle Framelits for two of my layers, then fussy cut one of the flowers from another sheet to form the centrepiece of my card. I backed my flower with a stitched vellum circle to preserve the shape of the sketch but not detract from the detail of the bloom itself. These papers are so, so pretty and the photographs in today's post really don't do them justice - it is so difficult to photograph foil!  

Sparkle, Sparkle - To compliment the foiled papers, I decided to add lots of sparkle and shine. I used some white ribbon with a silver metallic edge for my bow, along with some silver twine behind my flower and a sprinkling of champagne rhinestone jewels and clear epoxy droplets for extra sparkle. I even added a silver (retired) tassle - then had to stop myself before I went really overboard!! 

Label Me Bold - Whilst this card would make a lovely wedding card, I have no need for one so decided instead that it would work equally well as a special birthday card. I inked up my 'Label Me Bold' stamp set for the first time to add a simple silver heat-embossed sentiment to my card. You can see that better on the photo below:

This sentiment stamp set was one of the first I bought from the new seasonal catalogue as I've been wanting a set like this for ages, but this is the first time I've inked it up. I love the clean, block font which is perfect to cut through the detail on a card like this.

So what do you think? Do you love these Flowering Foils as much as me?

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. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

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.

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:

Flowering Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper (£0.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Silver Foil Sheets (£4.75)	Silver Metallic Thread (£3.25)
Silver 3/8" Metallic-Edge Ribbon (£6.50)	Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets (£8.25)	Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£5.50)	Label Me Bold Cling Stamp Set (English) (£16.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a 'fill in the blank' challenge designed by me:

As a cardmaker I like to send all kinds of cards but my favourite type of card to send is a birthday card - I love to let people know I'm thinking of them on their special day. Here's one I made recently for a sweet friend of mine:

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

Celebrate with Sale-A-Bration - I used a single stamp set on today's card - the 'Happy Birthday To You' stamp set is one of the sets that can be yours free with a £45 purchase during Sale-A-Bration and is perfect for celebratory cards, including birthdays. It includes this gorgeous floral cake and a few sentiments and makes a great one-layer card - perfect for #SimpleStamping. I heat embossed my cake and sentiment in silver and coloured with my Blends markers in So Saffron and Seaside Spray - a little fussy cutting and some mats and layers in my feature colours, along with a few rhinestones for extra sparkle add a touch of glamour to this #SimpleStamping card and help to make it a real standout, yet it really is just stamps, ink and paper. 

Not Into Fussy Cutting? - I fussy cut the flowers and sentiment on my card today and it really was quite straight forward, but if fussy cutting isn't your thing, there is a set of co-ordinating Birthday Dies available as part of the Co-ordination Product Release (you can read more about that in my earlier post here)  that are useful for cutting out the cake and flowers. The dies would be especially useful if you wanted to make a batch in one go and save yourself some valuable time. 

Stampin' Up! Gift Vouchers - The Perfect Gift - My card was actually the second thing I created to share with you today. I designed it to co-ordinate with a gift voucher wallet, which is a replica of one I made recently for one of my lovely customers who was celebrating a milestone birthday. Did you know that I provide Stampin' Up! gift vouchers (for any amount) that you can purchase for yourself or a friend or loved one - there's nothing nicer to give a stamper as a gift!! When I have a request for gift vouchers, I love to create a fancy wallet for them - after all, they are a gift in themselves. The one below is a pared-down version of the one that I designed for the lovely Jane, as hers included big silver glimmer numbers too. I liked it so much I thought I would make another one - I find myself using gift wallets more and more, especially for my growing niece and nephew who appreciate money above most other things these days and it's nice to at least be able to make it look more like a gift than to just tuck a few bank notes into a card. For my gift wallet I fussy cut the cake too, and added the whole thing to a belly band of Seaside Spray DSP covered in some (retired) silver polka dot acetate and decorated with a ribbon bow, this time putting the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment front and centre:

So pretty, even if I say so myself! Here's a photo of both the card and co-ordinating gift voucher together:

I, for one, would be thrilled to receive this little combo for my birthday - or Mother's Day ... or pretty much any day really!! I'm also linking today's card up with the peeps over at Time Out Challenges who are celebrating their 6th birthday - congratulations! - since my project is for birthdays and includes the option of fussy cutting. 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. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
• 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 Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

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

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project and an update reading last weekend's successful craft retreat now that I'm (almost!) recovered! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Birthday To You Cling Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Seaside Spray A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Seaside Spray Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Mango Melody Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)	Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Seaside Spray 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Metallic Ribbon (£6.50)

As promised, today I have Sale-A-Bration news for you! I know how much you've all been enjoying the benefits of the Sale-A-Bration promotion; as if it couldn't get any better I just wanted to let you know that from today there are some new items being added to the selection of products that can be earned free, both with a £45 order and two stamp sets that can be yours with a purchase of £90 or more. You can click on the image below to download the flyer:

So what's new? There is the silver and rose-gold foiled Flowering Foils Specialty papers - you can check them out in this video here from the Stampin' Up! Home Office:

 Aren't they gorgeous? These papers are sure to be popular!

 There is a great masculine stamp set called 'Well Dressed', perfect for easy masculine projects:

There is some coloured and embossed vellum 'So Very Vellum' that is perfect for dressing up your projects:

Each of the above products can be yours FREE with a £45 product purchase.

In addition, there are two stamp sets that are available with a £90 spend. The first is a stamp that coordinates with the Label Me Fancy and Label Me Lovely punches called 'Tags in Bloom':

Finally, there is the 'Rise and Shine' stamp set that co-ordinates with the carryover Cup of Cheer Dies:

As with the other items in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue (with the exception of the Kerchief Card Kit which is now sold out), these items will be available from now until the end of the Sale-A-Bration period, 31st March whilst stocks last. You can see full details for each of the new product on the new Sale-A-Bration flyer via the link above and there will be more samples made with each of them over on my Facebook page today.

If you would like more information or to place an order, either go here to purchase from my online store (don't forget to add this month's hostess code C3HMK9CP) or click on the links below. Alternatively or you can email me or telephone me if you would prefer. Back shortly with a new creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Links to the new Sale-A-Bration items in the online store: 

Flowering Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper (£0.00)

Rise & Shine Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)

Well Dressed Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)

So Very Vellum Specialty Designer Series Paper (£0.00)

Tags In Bloom Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)

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 a fun colour challenge for you to work with:

Ann's colours this week are perfect for Valentine's however armed with the 'blank slate' over at InspireCreate this week I decided to use a little of something old with a little of something new to create my card today - take a look:

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

Power of Hope - So first to my something new! The pagoda and sentiment on today's card are from one of the free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, called 'Power of Hope'. This set has some lovely oriental images, including a chinese lantern and geisha girl. I used the pagoda and one of the uplifting sentiments in the set.

Embossed Stone - The Power of Hope stamp set is combined with the Stone 3D embossing folder as one of the bundles of items that you can receive free with a £90 (as opposed to £45) Sale-A-Bration purchase. I used it emboss my card base and create a textured frame for my stamped area although I think it will prove useful on other projects too.

Seasonal Layers - For my 'something old', I used my perennial favourite, the Seasonal Layers Thinlits to add a diecut cherry blossom branch to the front of my card. I added colour to the centres of the flowers using my Stampin' Blends markers and the co-ordinating Colourful Seasons stamp set, which I also used to add a touch of decoration to the inside of my card:

Whilst I haven't used them for a while, this stamp set and dies are one of the most used bundles in my collection. They really are so useful on so many projects, whatever the season. As for the Japan-influenced Power of Hope bundle, whilst I wouldn't ordinarily choose this style of stamp set, it's different to anything else I own and will I'm sure have its uses. Bottom line is it was free, so I'm most certainly not complaining! 

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; one of the James Juniors is off to a paintballing party today (rather him than me!). The rest of us will be battoning down the hatches and staying indoors away from the stormy winds that are expected in the UK today. I'll be back tomorrow with another project (or two!). Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Power Of Hope Bundle (£0.00)	Seasonal Layers Dies (£31.00)	Colorful Seasons Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

I have some exciting news - the TicTacToe Challenge is being refreshed and relaunched and I am going to be one of the new designers! This is a fun weekly challenge that features a different TicTacToe board each week. There are two teams, team X and Team O, and each team will host alternate weeks with one of the team members being the featured designer each week. I will be part of Team X and we will be posting alternate weeks, with the intention to play along in between when my Team O teamies are hosting. 

It's the turn of Team X to kick things off this week and the lovely Shannon Jamarillo is our featured designer with a spring-inspired board to get things rolling. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I used the current colour palette over at Fab Friday and took the top left to bottom right diagonal of flower-spring-twine to create a long and narrow card using some of the items I received free with the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - take a look:

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

Thoughtful Blooms - Thoughtful Blooms is one of those stamp sets that is great to have on hand for quick and easy cards and actually offers lots of creative options if florals are your thing; it also has a few useful sentiments too. You can easily build trailing flowers as I have or create single stemmed blooms and add leaves and decoration as desired. It's a great set for a beginner stamper as it's really easy to build patterns with and there is also the opportunity for a little two-step stamping of both petals and leaves, which is an easy way to add extra detail. I used this technique for my punched blooms, stamping first with the solid stamp in Melon mambo (I stamped off first to achieve a lighter pink) and then I then over-stamped with the petal outline stamp in Merry Merlot. I really like this colour combination together and isn't one I would have ordinarily tried, so thank you to the team at Fab Friday for encouraging me to change things up here! I added Melon Mambo glittered enamel dots to the centre of my flowers, because, well, why not? I love these for a quick pop of sparkle:

Another Freebie Too - The Small Bloom Punch is another Sale-A-Bration freebie and co-ordinates perfectly with those sweet little blooms, and makes it oh-so-easy to cut out those images and create a little extra dimension on your card. 

A Question of Colour - So to finish today, I thought I would ask for your views on a very important question! I originally planned to work with the bottom row of the tictactoe board, punch-blue-twine, and thought I had achieved this perfectly until I had a visit from one of the James Juniors as I had photographed and was admiring today's creation, who declared I had of course failed in my quest - Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay could most definitely NOT be considered blue, they were of course green! A lengthy debate ensued about where do shades of aqua or turquoise sit on the colour spectrum, with us all agreeing to disagree; so, what do you think - Bermuda Bay, blue or green? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to hear 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. 

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; I have an epic ever-growing to-do list so need to tick off some chores but will hopefully get to achieve some crafty things too and I might even make it to choir tonight - I definitely need the practice! I'll be back tomorrow in fine voice and with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Thoughtful Blooms Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£0.00)	Small Bloom Punch (£0.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine (£3.25)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)

I've had a super busy day today but I did manage to finally find time this evening to photograph a card I made last week for the current challenge over at Fusion so wanted to share that with you:

I took my inspiration from the sketch and the photo - albeit minus the cute critter! - with my green and yellow floral combination - take a look:

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

Lovely Lily Pad - I thought a couple of yellow lilies would be a fun way to incorporate both a yellow flower and the sketch, so I stamped them in Mango Melody onto Daffodil Delight cardstock and placed them to mirror each other behind the sentiment. All the better for being a FREE stamp set too - one that can be yours with any Stampin' Up! purchase of £45.

Lily Pad Dies - This card has lots of layers courtesy of the Lily Pad Dies, another Sale-A-Bration product that you can earn FREE, this time with a £90 purchase. So worth it though - check out the dimension on those layered petals and the lovely border die too:

A Silhouette Sentiment - I finished my card with a sentiment diecut from the Sweet Silhouettes Die set, in black for a contrast. I really like this sunny card; I made it especially to send to someone who inspires me every day so the sentiment really does say it all.

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:

Lovely Lily Pad Photopolymer Stamp Set (£0.00)	Lily Pad Dies (£0.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Sweet Silhouettes Dies (£33.00)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mango Melody A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper (£10.75)

Today I'm sharing a second card (get me!) that uses the current sketch over at Inspire.Create and I'm squeezing in a link up:

I'm not that organised; I intended to blog this yesterday, but clearing away the Christmas decorations and a pre-season hockey get-together in the evening meant I ran out of time :-) Anyway, I digress! I used a trio of fun Sale-A-Bration items to create a Monet-inspired waterlily shaker card - take a look:

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

Lily Impressions - With so many lovely free products to choose from, Sale-A-Bration is always a special time and today my card features three of the items you can obtain FREE with a £45 Stampin' Up! purchase. Whilst the sketch was the starting point for my card, the design is inspired by the lovely Lily Impressions Designer Series Paper. The impressionistic images and rich colours of these papers make elegant, bold backgrounds and I chose one of the waterlily patterns for my cardfront. I love the loose Monet-like brushstroke effect and if you look closely you can see the paper has the appearance of canvas, just like an oil painting. 

Lovely Lily - I didn't do a huge amount of stamping on this card. Aside from the sentiment (from the 'Botanical Bliss' stamp set) I stamped the large outlined waterlily in Melon Mambo on the inside on my shaker. I added a little one to my envelope and inside too, this time using both sides of the stamp to both outline and colour - yes, this set is reversible so will do both simply by reversing the stamp. 

Lilypad Dies - The third lily item in the Sale-A-Bration is the Lilypad Dies. A collection of outline and more detailed dies of both waterlily blooms, leaves and lilypads, along with an interesting diecut/border piece too. The dies are free with a £90 purchase, whereas the stamps and papers can be yours with two £45 purchases respectively. I used the largest outline to create the window for my shaker element and added some retired Melon Mambo sequins for the interactive element for a little co-ordinated sparkle.

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:

Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Foam Adhesive Strips (£7.25)	Botanical Bliss Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Lovely Lily Pad Photopolymer Stamp Set (£0.00)	Lily Pad Dies (£0.00)
Lily Impressions Designer Series Paper (£0.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Metallic Baker’S Twine & Sequins Combo Pack (£0.00)

Hello everyone - it's time to shake off the January blues, today is THE day - yes, the highlight of the Stampin' Up! calendar, Sale-A-Bration 2020 is here! No more sneak peeks - the catalogue is available, the shop is live and from now until 31st March the benefits are yours for the taking. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page or below to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or click on the icon above or on the right to go directly to my online shopto place an order - we are LIVE!

So what is Sale-A-Bration? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host:

Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 3 January and 31 March. There is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £90 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! 

It’s also the best time of year to join Stampin’ Up! There is a fabulous joining option during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion: as usual, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £130 of FREE products for your Starter Kit. In addition to an extra £31 worth of product in your starter kit, exclusive to Sale-A-Bration, you will also get the following items FREE:

• A new Mini Paper Cutter
• A 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper Sampler pack
• Your choice of any stamp set offered in current catalogues (host sets and Sale-A-Bration sets excluded)

Isn't that just great?! Plus, the whole kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. 

It's also a great time to host a Stampin' Up! party. When you host a party and have party sales of £275 or more (this also applies to individual orders), you will earn the exclusive Little Ladybug stamp set for FREE in addition to your usual Stampin' Rewards. Party sales of £400 or more also earn one 50% off item. What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a party, real or virtual, please do get in touch; my diary is filling up but there are still lots of slots available and I would love to share these great benefits with you. Equally if you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator; paper copies have been sent to my regular customers. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back soon with lots of projects showcasing products from the new catalogue. Until then, happy shopping!