It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and I have a cutaway rectangle with a focal point in the space and an overlaid sentiment:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I wanted to use up one of the unicorns I fussy cut from the retired Myths & Magic designer series paper that I had leftover from my Paper Players card a couple of weeks ago - it was just the right size for my focal image:

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

I embossed my panel of Melon Mambo cardstock with the Soft Waves embossing folder for a sense of movement and added some clear Wink of Stella for a subtle unicorn trail. Check out that sparkly unicorn:

I added a sentiment from the 'Terrific Toadstools' stamp set and a few clear rhinestones to 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TERRIFIC TOADSTOOLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)

SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£9.50)

RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£5.75)

Firstly, apologies to anyone who has tried to visit my blog in the last week and found it offline. I have had a number of serious issues that meant it had to be taken down with no notice. As you can see, I am back currently but I'm not sure for how long. In the meantime, I am making a concerted effort to post on both my Instagram and Facebook pages, so if you come back and find my blog has disappeared again without warning, do head over to my socials and find me there!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a colour challenge for us to work with:

I chose the colours of the rainbow for our colour challenge this week! Actual rainbows are optional, but you need to show a rainbow of colours on your projects. I grabbed Karren's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and set to work to create a card that I have had in my mind for ages that I wanted to have a go at using the cute llama in the 'Long Time No See' stamp set - take a look:

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

I had the idea that I could create a flock of llamas with one that stood out amongst the others wearing his rainbow scarf, loud and proud. I created four llama masks, the proceeded to stamp an entire panel of llamas, each overlapping the next. I stamped them all in Grey Granite and added only a hint of rough colour to the majority, whilst colouring my focal llama in fully using my Stampin' Blends. I used a strip of Full Of Life DSP for the narrow panel on the sketch and mirrored the colours in the stripes of the llama's scarf. I then trimmed my llama panel to size and popped it up on dimensionals, using a white panel embossed with the Soft Waves embossing folder on the other side of the DSP strip. Check out my masked stamping in more detail below:

I finished off with a diecut tag stamped with a sentiment from a long-retired set called 'In your Words', which seemed appropriate for my image. I was really pleased how this card came out - it's always nice when an idea translates into something at the end of 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:

Enjoy your day; Aquapaddle was cancelled last week due to high winds, so the hubby is aiming to be back out on the water today instead. I'm going along to take pictures, so no chance of me getting wet! 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 first of a new month - Happy St David's Day to my fellow patriots! - and the turn of the fabulous Christy to host this week. She has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

Mythical creatures - mermaids, dragons, unicorns and more! I had to dig into my retired stash for this one and had a lot of fun!! I'm also playing along with the CASE The Designer Challenge over at SUO Challenges with my card this week - take a look and I will explain all:

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

Myths and Magic - So I had a stash of retired Myths & Magic designer series paper that I had preserved and decided this was a good time to cut into some! I spent a good few evenings fussy cutting mermaids and the teeny-tiny seahorses you can see on today's card, but also unicorns, knights and dragons from the other sheets too. I paired my mermaid with a sentiment from the Magical Mermaids stamp set that is also retired:

 I also used the stamps in this set to add a little additional decoration to the inside of my card:

CASE The Designer - I had a lot of fun CASEing Tammy's card over at SUO Challenges this week! I chose a teal mythical underwater theme as opposed to a pink love hearts theme for my card, switched out the sentiment banner for a circle and used the tiny seahorses instead of the dimensional hearts on Tammy's card, but I retained the layout, the embossed-DSP-embossed background panel combination, albeit featuring the beautiful Soft Waves 3D embossing folder for an under the sea look and feel, combined with the sparkly column of bubbles. My card looks distinctly different to Tammy's, but it's clear to see where and how I CASEd her card as my inspiration.

You Slay Bonus Card - Given that today is St David's Day I had to take the opportunity to make a card with a dragon (or two!) as well, so I went a little 'left field' for my next creation. The slang term 'slay' is quite popular with young people; Wikipedia states that it is used to express admiration or success, so with this in mind, I thought that I would pair a custom sentiment using the Mini Alphabet Dies with some of the knights and dragons from the Myths & Magic paper for a tongue-in-cheek congratulations card, using the sketch layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments. Here's their layout:

And here's the bonus card that I made for today's challenge:

I absolutely love the sparkly detail on this paper!

Possibly not a card for everyone, but I know Ben will love it!

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:

Enjoy your day; nothing remarkable happening chez James today. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend and I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Today I managed to get into my craft room for the first time in over a week and in addition to prepping my upcoming design team cards ready to share with you, I managed to make a card for fun for the current Summer Vibes inspiration challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments (since I kept my card CAS I'm also squeaking in an entry over at AAA Cards with Summer+Holiday):

I was inspired by that refreshing yellow cocktail, complete with umbrella, in the bottom left hand corner. I considered making that the focal point of my card, but decided that I wanted to incorporate the other elements too, such as the sea/beach and palm tree in the background - and so I set about creating my own scene - take a look:

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

I had already fussy cut this fun sunbathing turtle from one of the sheets in my Turtle-y Cute designer series paper packs and decided that she would be the perfect focal point - complete with cocktail in hand! I created a background using a piece of embossed cardstock for the sea and a sandy beach in front of that and added a diecut palm tree along with a sentiment from this an old retired set 'Stitched All Around', which seemed to compliment my body-beautiful turtle perfectly!

Some lightly stencilled clouds completed my clean and simple beach scene.

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:

TURTLE-Y CUTE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
PECAN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	STAMPIN’ DIMENSIONALS (£4.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jan to host this week and she has an interesting theme challenge for us to work with:

I was so tempted to make a scrapbook page this week, especially since it's ages since I shared one, but alas I couldn't find a suitable photo, and ultimately ran out of time, so decided to make a card. I finally booked my summer vacation last week, so I have beaches on my mind; along with the colours over at Colour Inkspiration this is what I came up with:

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

Beach Day - I have gotten so much use out of the Beach day stamp and dies, so it's no surprise that they are making another appearance on today's card. I am sad to see them appear on the last chance list as retiring items this week, however this is one bundle that I won't part with - the elements in it are so useful and many of the dies work without the stamped images too. I actually bought this bundle to scrapbook with, yet here I am sharing another card! I usually use the diecut-only lifeguard hut, but today I thought I'd go with the stamped version. I left it mostly white, with little pops of red, green and blue in the challenge colours.

Soft Waves - I wanted to create a little beach scene on today's card, but also to use my Soft Waves embossing folder, so I decided to use a whole background panel of Azure Afternoon, embossed with waves, to sit behind my beach scene. This is my biggest splash of colour; in addition to the details on the beach house, I added a little of the same colour behind my beach hut for some sky and some Daffodil Delight blended across the bottom of my feature panel for the sand, stamping some shells here and there along with some Mossy Meadow sea grass to ground it. It makes for an abstract scene, but I think it works!

Wishing To A Wish - I used that traditional postcard greeting of 'wish you were here' on my card, that I fashioned out of the stamps and dies in the Delightful Wishes bundle. The die actually spells 'wishing', but it was easy to snip down to make the word 'wish':

I am going to save this card to send to the youngest of the James Juniors when us Seniors take our first child-free holiday, which won't be that far away now! Something that comes with mixed emotions for sure, but I'm looking forward to how much more economical it will be, so definitely a silver lining too! I'm also linking this card up over at Just Us Girls (thank you for last week's shout out!) where it's Die Week - no flowers; there have been a lot of florals of late, so today's card is ringing the changes.

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 have been enjoying some lovely spring weather here in the UK this past week, so I am finally able to get outside and spend more time in the garden getting it ready for summer. Looking forward to doing a little more of that this afternoon, along with baking a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake for lunch - yum! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (11.40)	BEACH DAY DIES (12.80)	SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	DELIGHTFUL WISHES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (46.75)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)