Today I have another double-post Sunday as I'm delighted to be guesting with the team over at AAA Cards again for their new 1+1 challenge:

I chose 'animals' to go with my 'on the farm' central circle and I decided to revisit an old favourite, Peekaboo Farm, which is perfect for this challenge. Take a look at what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

 My card features a cow and horse as my chosen farm animals, peeking over the drystone wall. I stamped the wall first in two stages onto a piece of white cardstock, then added the animals into the gaps and coloured with my Blends. I decided to pop this section up for a little added dimension, so after cutting it out (without leaving a border as I usually do because I wanted it to blend into the scene) I positioned it onto my base (without gluing) and stamped the clouds and sentiment in place. I then masked the clouds and used my blending brush that I use for light blue to lightly colour the bottom portion of the background to add a little colour to the sky, then I removed the masks and added on the panel with dimensionals:

With all those neutrals there isn't much in the way of colour on this card and you do have to suspend reality a little as far as the cow's pose is concerned (I've seen horses rear up, but never cows, although happy to be corrected if anyone out there has!), but otherwise, this makes for a cute CAS card. 

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 Claire to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge with a seasonal theme for us to work with:

We have just had our fifth heatwave of the summer here in the UK and whilst the extreme heat has been challenging to deal with, especially in the absence of air conditioning, I'm still not ready to welcome fall just yet. It certainly felt strange playing with autumn colours and leaf sets whilst the outside temperature was 38 degrees centigrade and rising and my craft room felt double that, but in the spirit of the challenge, I grabbed Jen B's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout and some leafy favourites and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I decided to use a base of Golden Glow for my card today; I really love the warm tone of this yellow and I think this will be a new go-to fall colour for me. I used a strip of Very Vanilla and stencilled it with a leaf pattern using my blending brush and some Golden Glow ink and a Pretty Pink Posh leaves background stencil that I was recently gifted by my crafty friend Elizabeth as the centre of my diagonal, and bordered it with Timid Tiger and Pecan Pie, which are the other two colours I used for my diecut stitched leaves that form my centrepiece:

A sentiment from the retired 'Lighthearted Leaves', stamped in Early Espresso for a slightly softer look than black, and a trio of Pecan Pie enamel dots complete my card. I also used a leftover strip of stencilling and a spare diecut leaf to decorate the inside of my card: 

I'm not generally a big fan of diagonals on a card, but I'm pleased with how this one turned out although I feel I'm pushing the boundaries of clean and simple here with the layering. Plenty of open 'white' space and minimal embellishments though, so I'm taking it!

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 are on a two day cricket weekend, so after a family brunch with my brother and sister-in-law this morning I will be back at the cricket pitch for the second time this weekend. The hubby came along last weekend and managed to get some great photos, so I thought I'd leave you today with my not-so-James Junior in action:

You can see how little rain we've had - even the cricket pitches are turning yellow!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

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

When I had my Charming Landscapes embossing folder out on my desk when I made this card a few weeks ago, I wondered if there was the opportunity to turn these little houses into gingerbread houses and create a different look with this embossing folder. The Christmas in July challenge over at Just Add Ink and Stef's colour palette gave me the perfect colour combination to do so - take a look:

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

The first thing I did was to emboss the panel in white, then mask off the foreground, houses and trees and using my blending brushes, I inked in the sky using a combination of Coastal Cabana and (retired) Bermuda Bay inks. I then embossed the deign onto both Crumb Cake and Real Red cardstocks, and fussy cut the houses and roofs, before piecing the together and gluing them in pace. I added a peppermint embellishment to the door of one of the houses in place of a wreath, coloured in the snowflakes with a white gel pen and added some white glossy enamel dots for a little extra snowy detail:

I wasn't sure what to do about a sentiment, but in the end I added one from a 'go to' retired set called 'Brightest Glow', adding some Real Red ribbon behind and tying with some peppermint-striped twine for a final festive flourish. This card did require a little effort over and above a simple embossed card front, but it was nice to use this embossing folder in a different way. And I've another Christmas card for my stash!

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; today is officially the start of the James Junior's birthday week; since his actual birthday falls midweek, today we are having family for lunch so birthday cake is the order of the day! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	REAL RED & WHITE ADHESIVE-BACKED PEPPERMINTS (£8.00)
BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)

Today I'm the Guest Designer for the new challenge over at CAS on Friday following my recent win with this card. The theme for the challenge this time around is 'Get Well' - take a look at the card that I created:

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

I decided to feature one of the large sentiment dies from the retired 'Wanted to Say' Dies as it is perfect for getting the message across and makes a great focal point for a clean and simple card. I cut the sentiment from Pretty Peacock and adhered two stacked diecuts together onto a thick white card base, then added a collection of punched flowers in Pool Party and Flirty Flamingo, with Pretty Peacock enamel dot centres:

Super simple and pretty - and no stamping too!

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:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.90)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.90)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.90)

ARRAY OF DOTS (£8.00)

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

Cards for little ones - babies and young children. I don't have many of those in my family these days, but this week's challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to make another card with my SilIy Old Bear suite, so we're all good! It's CASE A DT Week over at Just Us Girls and having checked out the Design Team cards, I decided I would CASE Carol's card for my card today. First up - take a look at my card:

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

Here's a picture of Carol's card that I decided to CASE: 

Like Carol's, my card is for a child and uses vintage papers, however mine features the beloved Winnie the Pooh and Piglet on a winter walk and features the Silly Old Bear Papers and the Sweet Words & Labels bundle. I switched my card to landscape, but used the same layout as Carol's card, with similar layering and sentiment position. I accented my aperture with some diecut acorns that are included in the set:

I think the sentiment on this card is one of my favourites in the set - what better than a message of unconditional love?

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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today I have an extra post with a card I was intending to share yesterday but the day just ran away with me! It was inspired by a number of current challenges:

I used the layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge along with the stencil and/or die challenge at Just Add Ink (I used both) and it's Anything Goes Stencil Week over at Just Us Girls. I recently added another new stencil set to my collection - the Big Birthday Stencils by Kristina Werner at Concord & 9th - and treated myself to the co-ordinating stamp and die set bundle too and this was the perfect opportunity to take it out for its first test run. Here's my card:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

The first thing I did was stencil a panel using my chosen colours: Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Summer Splash (ret.), Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime twist and Parakeet Party (ret.) My colour scheme was inspired by a pack of retired sparkly enamel dots that I had in my box and I thought these colours would work well for a bright, masculine card; this one is headed to my brother-in-law whose birthday it is this week. I stayed faithful to the sketch and used my Perennial Postage Dies to diecut the shapes for the four quarters, then trimmed my stencilled panel accordingly. I made this card larger than usual - its finished size is A5) as I wanted to leave the stencilled panels as large as possible so that you could still make out the detail. 

I added a stamped and diecut sentiment and a few sparkly enamel dots in coordinating colours to complete my card:

As with all of the KW stencils, this one is huge, so I had a couple of decent leftover pieces that I will undoubtedly use on other projects at some point. Here's one so that you can see more of the uninterrupted stencil detail:

I was concerned that the detail of the stencil might not be visible once cut down, but I'm pleased that you can still make out balloons, bunting gifts and birthday cakes - all essential elements for a good birthday celebration! 

I really like these stencils and the co-ordinating bundle and I can't wait to try this again in different colourways too.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)
HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

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

I love things in threes so this sketch is right up my street! I also knew immediately what I was going to do with it - take a look:

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

The 'Capturing Smiles' Online Exclusives stamp and die set bundle has a little film strip with three images that worked perfectly for the sketch so that's what I used. I coloured the snapshots and glued them behind the film reel, then added a sentiment and a little camera accent:

I continued the design to the inside of my card, with a partial image of the larger camera and the last piece of my sentiment, tucked in the bottom corner:

Although it's not clean and simple week, this sketch definitely lends itself to clean and simple cards. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I used this sketch for the layout of my beachy CAS card last week too. Thank you Christy for a great sketch. :-)

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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CAPTURING SMILES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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

Going to the beach - how fun! Given that the beach is all about sand and sea, I knew today's card was going to have to feature both. How to keep this clean and simple though? I decided that a three square layout was the answer. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Using a Crumb Cake base, I layered on some Azure Afternoon waves and white sea foam using the Rolling Waves Dies, then used a square Stylish Shapes Dies to diecut three squares from it, just to add interest to the layout and design. A simple sentiment from 'Splash & Relax' anchored by a pair of pink dotty flip flops complete my clean and simple card:

Lots of 'white' space and minimal layers and embellishments - clean and simple, done! I'm also linking today's card up over at Time Out where the current challenge theme is 'water'.

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 are going to enjoy a BBQ lunch and I'm hoping to fit in a little baking too, but otherwise taking things easy. I'll be back shortly with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ROLLING WAVES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	SPLASH & RELAX BUNDLE (£42.25)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

It's Sunday and I have a second post for you as I'm delighted to be guesting over at AAA Cards following my recent win there with this card. Their new challenge is a colour challenge featuring four bright colours that really appeal to me:

This colour palette screams summer and has a real tropical vibe, don't you think? I decided the colours would be perfect to use a new die that my dear friend Elizabeth gifted me when I visited her recently - take a look:

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

This rather comical flamingo is cut using a Tim Holtz flamingo die and was perfect for the two shades of pink, along with a yellow beak. I was considering how best to include the orange too; I considered some ink blending or maybe sun rays behind, but decided I wanted to keep my background super clean and simple, so opted to add a tiny orange punched flower with an enamel dot centre to my flamingo - now she is truly ready to party!

A simple 'hello' sentiment from my stash completes my card which is sure to brighten someone's day!

What will you create with these colours? So many possibilities - just remember to keep it clean and simple!

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

Today is a special day! Following my recent win over at Color Hues with the Pink and Turquoise colour combo (you can see that card here if you missed it), I am Guest Designer for their new challenge starting today and there is a striking colour combo to play with: 

Black and red - lots of possibilities with this combo, right? When I cleared out my craft room a few months ago I discovered a pack of Peaceful Poppies Elements collage pieces from an absolute age ago that was unopened - so today's challenge gave me an opportunity to remedy that. Take a look at what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Poppies always make me think of remembrance, so they are the perfect image for a sympathy or thinking of you card. I created a frame using some Real Red cardstock and a square Stylish Shapes Die, and filled it with some heat-embossed vellum poppies that I colour red with my Stampin' Blends markers and a watercolour poppy element, then added another poppy accent to my stamped sentiment and added some black thread, sequins and an offcut of black and white paper for a little added decoration:

Some simple layering of a few well-chosen bits and pieces bring together my black and red card. Do pop by the Color Hues blog and check out what the rest of the design team have created with this colour combo; how does this colour combo inspire you?

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)