I've had a busy day today, having spent the morning with a group of lovely ladies hosting my latest online class. That was all about pansies; the card I'm sharing here today though is all about seashells for the current Fusion challenge:

I used both the sketch and the jar of seashells as my inspiration and this is what I came up with:

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

This card really did evolve as I made it. The starting point for my card was the sand dollar-patterned DSP I used on my card base and I decided to use the same colours for my trio of shells. Rather than stamp them though, I fussy cut them from another of the sheets of Sand and Sea DSP as I wanted to use these shell designs but not ones that were as large as the stamped versions. I fussy cut my shells, embossed them with the Seashells 3D embossing folder, added some frosted white shimmer paint then added clear Crystal Effects to give them a glossy shine:

Having heat-embossed my sentiment in white, I added a shadow by stamping again in Early Espresso to make the words stand out a little better against the sandy background. A few opal rounds complete my card.

I really love the effect of those glossy shells - with the frosted shimmer inside and the embossed detail beneath the glossy exterior, they really are quite eye-catching in real life.

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: 

SAND & SEA 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	OPAL ROUNDS (£7.00)	FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£24.00)	SEASHELLS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Apologies that I'm a little later going live with my post this week - I'm blaming the sunshine! This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Shannon has asked that we use a trio of shapes to anchor a horizontal strip. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to go pink and create something that suits the 'Beach' challenge over at Addicted to CAS too - take a look:

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

Sketch Liberties - I did take a couple of liberties with Shannon's sketch this week: I decided to use 2 shells and a stitched circle for my trio of shapes and instead of using 3 shells and adding my sentiment to the horizontal panel, I stamped it onto my stitched circle. This was primarily because I wanted to use this specific sentiment and it fitted better on a circle! The basic elements of the sketch are all visible though and it's easy to see how it inspired my card. I used another of the sentiments from the 'Friends Are Like Seashells' stamp set on the inside of my card - this set has such lovely sayings:

A Question of CAS - I used a piece of Sand and Sea designer series paper for the horizontal panel of my card. There is a school of thought that says DSP shouldn't be used on a CAS card, however this patterned paper lover is of the view that it's ok if it's used sparingly, and there is still plenty of 'white space' on the remainder of the card and other general rules of clean and simple card making, such as minimal layers and embellishments are also adhered to. What do you think? Is there a place for DSP on a CAS card? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Monochromatic Pink - One of my favourite techniques to maintain a CAS feel to a card is to use a monochromatic colour scheme. Today's card used the Flirty Flamingo pink that features in my patterned paper. I stamped my sentiment in it and heat embossed my sand dollar and starfish in white onto Flirty Flamingo cardstock, adding varying degrees of sponged white kraft ink to mute it and create some subtle colour variation. A trio of tiny (retired) white and pink faceted gems complete my card:

I am also linking up today's card over at Less Is More where it's lucky dip week and they are asking us to feature our favourite CAS card technique - I think using a monochromatic colour scheme is a useful technique when creating a clean and simple card (I'm just hoping they think there's enough white space to justify that DSP - the LIM team have high CAS standards!)

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. 

Right - off to prepare the dinner prior to the school run, piano lessons and an extra hockey match on the schedule today - thank heavens for in-car air conditioning! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£24.00)

SAND & SEA 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

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:

So many options for today's sketch! The weather is slowly warming up as Spring approaches and whilst we may not be experiencing beach vacations for some time to come still, I decided to break out my Sand and Sea Suite and recreate that feeling with a card or two instead. So this is the first card I came up with:

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

Sand and Sea - So much to love about the Sand & Sea Suite! One of the most unique aspects is the way that the dies contain a whole joined sheet of shells and sea fronds that can be both stamped and embossed then either used as a single piece or the individual pieces can be cut away as I've done on my card. I stamped, embossed and diecut the panel in both pink, yellow and pearlescent cardstock and mixed the various elements on my card, with that large, pink circular shell as the centrepiece. I gave it a pearlescent finish by sponging with frost white shimmer paint before adding to my card - just check out the amazing texture and detail:

I added some pearls and braided trim to finish. This stamp really does have the most lovely sentiments too; one the front of my card I used the one that forms the basis of the name for this stamp set - here's a peek at the inside of my card with the second part of my greeting:

This card is headed to one of my oldest and most dear friends for her birthday - I know she will love it! I'm also linking it up with the team over at Time Out Challenges, who are also celebrating their 7th birthday this week and challenging us to make birthday cards too - way to go Time Out!

A Pearlescent Alternative - I had another piece of the Sand & Sea DSP left after making the above card, so I decided to flip it and make another card using the reverse pattern, with the same layout but changing out some of the elements and colours and going for a slightly softer look:

I actually had something of a happy accident with this pearlescent shell. I had intended to simply emboss it, but having embossed the pink shell on the card above first, I hadn't realised that some of the pink ink had rubbed off onto the embossing folder so when I removed my pearly shell from the embossing folder, it had traces of pink ink on the indents. I wiped some of it away but then decided to go with it and instead rubbed the raised areas with Blushing Bride ink to accentuate them. I decided I actually quite liked the detail so no harm done - what do you think?

So which of these cards do you prefer? This one: 

Or this one:

Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. I am using this suite for my next monthly online stamp class and am looking forward to creating more fabulous cards with it - get in touch if you'd like more information.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's main 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 has been unseasonally mild here this week, so I will be spending some time in the garden today and probably heading out on my bike for a long cycle ride with the other members of the James household to take advantage of the warmer temparatures in case winter decides to make a return! I will also be placing my last Sale-A-Bration order as the current Sale-A-Bration promotion ends today - last call for orders if you would like to earn one of the amazing free gifts that are available as part of the promotion. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	SEASHELLS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	SAND & SEA 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	SEASIDE SHELLS (£5.50)
PEARLESCENT SPECIALTY PAPER (£3.75)	BLUSHING BRIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	3/16" (4.8 MM) BRAIDED LINEN TRIM (£6.50)	BLUSHING BRIDE 3/8" (1 CM) METALLIC RIBBON (£5.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)
FROST WHITE SHIMMER PAINT (£7.50)