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 clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Food, glorious food! I don't have anything current that fits the bill for this one, so I reached for an old favourite, Taco Fiesta, for my card today. I grabbed Verena's fab sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week (it's a keeper!) for my layout and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

The retired Festive Birthday designer series paper gave me the colour scheme for today's card. I don't think I've ever paired it with Taco Fiesta, yet the bright Mexican patterns make it a great fit. I chose one of the busier patterns, covered in maracas, pinatas, guitars, sombreros and tiny chillies for my main piece and a strip with coordinating stripes to border it. I stamped my sentiment in the central circle and framed it above and below with a collection of guacamole-related images from the stamp set that I stamped and coloured with my Stampin' Blends:

With a nod to our challenge badge this week, I gave my avocado and cactus cute faces - there's something about food with faces that makes me smile! I added a little extra decoration, including a smiling taco, to the inside of my card too: 

I really love the bright colours and fun feel of this birthday card, although I'm probably pushing my own boundaries in terms of clean and simple - but the paper was so fun and I couldn't resist creating the little foodie clusters! So take this as your reminder - if you're playing along this week, we are looking for clean and simple cards featuring food: minimal layers, uncluttered with minimal embellishments too and lots of 'white' space. We are looking forward to your food-themed creations!

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; a quiet day here in the James household today I think - nothing much planned. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Happy World Card making Day everyone! Today I've a quick post to share a birthday card that I made for a couple of challenges - I used the layout over at Try Stampin On Tuesday (including the option to feature patterned paper - no surprise there!) and this week's colour palette over at The Color Throwdown:

Each of the CTD challenge colours appear in a piece of designer paper from the Les Shoppes pack that I had yet to use so that was the starting point for today's card. I thought it had a vaguely Mexican feel too, so I paired it with the pinata image in the 'Taco Fiesta' stamp set for a fun birthday card - take a look:

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

This card was actually really simple: a little Blends colouring and blocks of solid colour to highlight the elements and really allow that fabulous patterned paper to shine!

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; the boys are out at hockey today and I shall be taking advantage of the fact that it's World Card Making Day and indulging in my hobby! Remember Stampin' Up! is running a virtual event today that you are all welcome to attend, even if you haven't registered - read all about it here.

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TACO FIESTA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	LES SHOPPES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	CALYPSO CORAL STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BALMY BLUE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)

Tomorrow is the 16th birthday for the youngest of the James Juniors, so I thought I'd squeak in a quick post to share one of the cards I made to celebrate his big day! I used the sketch over at Sketch Saturday (but had difficulty linking up so am not playing along) and this week's Color Throwdown colours:

I've had the 'Taco Fiesta' stampset for ages and until now it's sat uninked on the shelf. t was perfect with these colours and the fun circular sketch layout - take a look:

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

I did some basic stamping on my base mat that followed the outer contours of the circles, then added some tone-on-tone stamping to each of the circles with some of the stamps in the set. I then topped each of the circles with a larger image that I stamped on white and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends. You can see the detail a little more closely below:

A simple twine bow, heat embossed sentiment and trio of mat dots 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:

TACO FIESTA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	CLASSIC MATTE DOTS (6.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)