As promised, I have another quick card that use this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout:

It's a little more open to interpretation and uses a ton of retired product: Carried Away Sale-A-Bration designer series paper from last year and my Sunburst Thinlits Dies for the sun itself, but is a great sketch to make a fun card that showcases the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits and co-ordinating Sunshine Sayings stamp set that will soon be leaving us to make a cheery card to brighten someone's day:

I'm loving this colour combo and will definitely be using it again. Here it is if you would like to save if for future use too:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

I love those Sunshine Wishes Thinlits and will be holding on to mine long after they've left the catalogue. Sometimes it's just nice to make a card because you can - and it was definitely good to use us some of my retired paper collection! Enjoy your evening - I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies (£25.00)	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£21.00)	Mango Melody A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Good evening lovely readers! I was tempted to share a Christmas card today but as it's my birthday I thought a birthday card was in order. Not one to me though - instead one that I made for Ben from Rebecca for his birthday recently - another masculine card to fit with the theme over at the Global Design Project this week which also happens to use this week's Color Throwdown colour palette too:

I decided to make another slightly larger card than usual as I wanted to be able to personalise it - take a look:

Here's the lowdown on today's card:

Recipe For Success - Every time I make a card with someone in particular in mind, I try to choose something personal or meaningful to that individual; after all, that has to be the biggest benefit of crafting your own. That is no more so than when it's a card for your nearest and dearest, and Rebecca was clear this card needed some key things: the number 10, the word 'brother', some form of birthday greeting and both a football and the colour red - the colour of Ben's beloved Manchester United football team. Armed with such clear requirements, it made the job of designing this card super easy.

Numbers and Letters - I used both my large letters and numbers today. My letters were stamped using 'Letters For You' again like yesterday's card and cut out with the Large Letters Framelits. I used my numbers to create a tone-on-tone repeating background pattern of the number 10; a good way to include it without having it front and centre. I also used the banner die from the Large Numbers Framelits for my happy birthday banner.

Retro Rubber - I substituted the 'O' in 'BROTHER' with a football, courtesy of a little 'retro rubber' from the long-retired stamp set, 'Great Sport'. I'm so glad I held on to this set - I have used the football and basketball in this set sooo many times!! A true blast from the past - so one for a link up with SUO Challenges too this week as this is their theme, how appropriate!

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 kinds of stamps have you held on to and would never part with? Do leave me a comment below - Id love to know!

I hope you enjoyed today's post; I'll be back tomorrow with another project - definitely for Christmas and with a little more retro rubber thrown in! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Letters For You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Large Letters Framelits Dies	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set	Large Numbers Framelits Dies	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

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 clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

Time for some colouring fun! I love to colour, whether it's stamped images or pre-printed paper, with pencils, inks or marker pens, I find it so theraputic and a great stress-reliever. I took the opportunity to make a card using Jen's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and the colour palette at The Color Throwdown - take a look:

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

Today's card has barely any stamping; I used a piece of the Just Add Color Speciality Designer Series Paper for the base of my card today. Open designs printed on heavyweight paper, these papers have everything from feathers to houses, a complete underwater scene and lots more in between. I used my Stampin' Write markers to colour in my pretty design of watering cans and florals. I finished my card with the angled panel and a stamped and die cut sentiment.  

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. I also have another coloured creation to share with you today - Rebecca decided that she wanted to get in on the colouring action too as I made my card for today's post and made her own card at the same time, which she was adamant I shared with you too! So here it is:

Pretty, right? And all her own work too! Colouring is definitely something for everyone from the ages of 2 to 102!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Just Add Color Specialty Designer Series Paper	Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Many Marvelous Markers	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers

A quick post with my second card today; you can see my card for this week's Paper Players Challenge here - this card is my second entry this week for the challenge over at Global Design Project and also happens to use this week's Paper Players sketch:

Whilst I loved my earlier entry for this week's Global Design Project challenge - you can see it here in case you missed it - I wanted to have another go with much more obvious sparkle and bling and this is what I came up with:

A little Falling In Love designer series paper, a Falling Petals embossed vellum overlay and not one but two glimmer papers: Blushing Bride for my Sunshine Wishes heart and Gold for my sentiment diecut from the same set and border. A gold metallic enamel heart shape, some gold thread and a little gold heat embossing finish my card. Very blingy for me and much more in keeping with the GDP challenge this week!

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. 

It's the last day of the Easter school holidays here tomorrow; I'll be back on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle	Falling Petals Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Blushing Bride Glimmer Paper	Gold Glimmer Paper	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock
Vellum A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy

It's Sunday and time for the first challenge of 2017 over at The Paper Players! Did you spot our new look? Our fearless leader, the lovely Nance, has given us a refresh and makeover over the Christmas break and we are returning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and raring to go! Our new guest designers are joining us too; a warm PP welcome to Crystal, Valentyna and Deanne - we are so happy to have you join us for the first part of 2017! 

To kick off the new year, it's the turn of my good friend LeAnne to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for us to work with:

If your house is anything like mine, the festive season has generated much packaging waste and many opportunities for recycling. So this week's challenge is perfect! I took the opportunity to recycle a Christmas gift on my card today and used the sketch over at Fab Friday for my layout. Recycling Christmas gifts already?! It's not quite as bad as it sounds - take a look:

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

Join The Colouring Craze - One of my Christmas gifts was a page-a-day colouring calendar. Well, to be truthful I bought one for Rebecca and loved it so much I treated myself to one! The calendar comes in a pretty box that can be used to display our coloured pieces once completed. I decided that by recycling my pages, I could easily use them to create a birthday card. Here's my day one finished page before I trimmed it to fit my card:

Effortless Blending - I coloured my page using Stampin' Up!'s new watercolour pencils and used a blender pen to seamlessly blend the colours and give a smooth finish as the paper was too thin to blend using an aquapainter. I also adhered my coloured piece to a piece of extra thick Whisper White for extra rigidity. I love that these pencils can be used in a number of different ways and am looking forward to trying other techniques with them too.

A Fiesta of Colour - I chose to inject some bright summer colour into my card today, using a card base of Daffodil Delight and a selection of papers from the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper set for my layers behind the coloured-in panel. I love these clashing brights - here are my main colours in case you would like to save them for future project inspiration 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I hope you like today's card; you could create the same effect using the new 'Inside The Lines' Designer Series Paper Sale-A-Bration gift (free with a purchase of £45 or more) - I will have a fun project for you using this paper later this week, so be sure to pop by and check it out.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our fun theme this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Watercolor Pencils	Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Brights Enamel Shapes	Blender Pens

Another Monday, another week my lovely readers! Today I have a card that ties in with CASology's current cue card and uses this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout:

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month; most of us know someone whose life has been affected by this terrible disease so today's card was designed to send a little love and support to someone whose life has been touched in this way. Here's my card:

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

A Pop of Pink - I used the Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Paper for the inset panel on my card today and its colours inspired my 'monochrome with a pop of pink' colour scheme.

A Card That's All Heart - There are lots of lovely patterns in the Pop of Pink paper set, but for a card that's all about sending love and hope I had to go with the itty bitty heart pattern. I used my Sunshine Wishes heart thinlit for the scribbly heart that bridges the inset panel in bright Melon Mambo pink for a single image to compliment my sentiment.

Words of Support - My sentiment is a combination of the diecut 'hope' which is also from the Sunshine Wishes thinlits die set and the co-ordinating Sunshine Sayings stamp set (available as a bundle with 10% off when purchased together), stamped onto my extra-thick Whisper White card base in Archival Black ink.

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. 

I have the first of this month's technique classes this morning - this one featuring the Star of Light set. Followed by a double school run and an evening at the swimming pool as Rebecca finishes her Competitive Starts qualification (shallow racing dives to the uninititated!) I'll share some of my class cards later in the week. Meanwhile, enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project.

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pop Of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

For my card today I decided on one of my personal must-have sets from the new catalogue - the Sunshine Sayings stamp set and co-ordinating Sunshine Wishes Thinlit Dies - take a look:

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

Sunshine Sayings & Wishes - This is a stamp set and thinlit combination that so appeals to me: easy to use florals, lots of good sentiment combinations and thinlit greetings - my favourite! I stamped the flower in Soft Sky for my background, and overlaid it with a diecut flower in Bermuda Bay and greeting, which I cut out of Whisper White and gave a graduated wash of Melon Mambo with my aquapainter. I also added some Melon Mambo ribbon behind and a trio of enamel dots for additional pops of pink.

Inspired Colour Combo - The colour combination for my card today was inspired by the 'Penned and Painted' samples on page 143 of the annual catalogue. I loved the fresh colours with a pop of pink - feel free to pin it if it's one that appeals to you too:

Playful Backgrounds - For the diagonal lines in the sketch, I used one of the stamps in the 'Playful Backgrounds' stamp set. This set was our all-attendee giveaway at Onstage in April and it is useful for this kind of background stamp detail - a fresh take on 'Gorgeous Grunge', if you will.

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Don't forget you've only a few more days to take advantage of the Bonus Days money-off coupon offer - for full details click here.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: