Today we are back to florals! I'm sharing a card that I made featuring the fresh colours over at Colour Dare (I used all 4) that is also for the current use two or more sentiments over at Inkspirational:

I created a clean and simple card using one of my favourite Online Exclusive bundles, Thankful Garden - take a look:

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

Today's card uses both the Thankful Garden stamp set and dies and a stencil - but not the one that comes in the bundle. I stamped my first sentiment onto the bottom corner of my card then diecut the primrose flower out of the card front (tip: if you stamp the flower first, you can keep the diecut and use on another project) then use the aperture as a guide to align the stamp and stamp onto the inside of the card. I created a stencil from window sheet using the same die and used this to add Lemon Lolly ink with a blending brush to the stamped image.

I cut three narrow strips in Lemon Lolly, Bubble Bath and Soft Sea Foam, glued them across the diagonal to the front of my card and then diecut the central section again, allowing the florals to remain visible. I then added a fourth strip in Garden Green, onto which I heat embossed my second sentiment. I positioned the strip across the pastel diagonals and this time allowed it to overhang the open aperture:

A trio of pink enamel dots complete my card. I wouldn't normally add one black inked sentiment with the other heat-embossed in white, but I think it works, given the contrasting base colours. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THANKFUL GARDEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (62.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)
LEMON LOLLY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (8.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a colour challenge chosen by Jan:

I love purples, but the addition of the Peach Pie almost threw me for a loop this week. So when in doubt and there's green in the palette - go floral! That's what I did with this week's colour palette. I'm also playing along with Team O over at TicTactoe Challenge and going down the middle column of their board with enamel dots/free/diecut. Take a look at what I created:

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

Thankful Garden - I know I shared a few sneak peeks of the Thankful Garden bundle when it was still on preorder; the latest drop of Online Exclusives went live earlier this week so this is your reminder that this fabulous bundle is now yours for the taking! My previous cards have used one or other of the florals in this set, but for today's card I used both - and extra diecut greenery that's also in the set too. I used the stencils to colour, blending the purples for my hydrangea and then I coloured two versions of the other flower: one in shades of Peach Pie, and a second in shades of purple, then I fussy cut the centres on the purple one and glued the to the peach one, to create my two-tone flower. I'm not sure what kind of flower these are supposed to be (primrose maybe?) but today's version reminds me of pansies. Either way they're pretty, right? 

Layers and Texture - Today's card is rather atypical for me; in addition to my florals and greenery, I also added a brick-embossed base and diecut an Everyday Arch from the Country Woods designer series paper - you can just see it peeking out beneath the flowers below:

With co-ordinating gems and a fussy cut sentiment, this card is choc full of detail - sometimes 'more is more', I think!

Insider Detail - I kept the inside fairly simple, just adding an off-the-edge stamped hydrangea, with an additional sentiment stamped on top; sometimes I like to stamp my inside sentiment in the corner instead of the traditional middle, as it gives more space for uninterrupted writing - do you ever do this?

Whilst this card is a little busier than my usual style, I love the finished effect - a lovely way to showcase the colours 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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Colour Challenge use all of the given colours and only those colours with these exceptions:
• White and Very Vanilla are free colours.
• In addition, you may use of ONE of these neutrals: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THANKFUL GARDEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (62.00)	EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (14.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PEACH PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)
EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)	COUNTRY WOODS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (4.80)

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 my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

Full disclosure - I LOVE this sketch - there are so many creative possibilities! So much so, I have not one but three cards to share with you that all have it as the starting point. So first up, my challenge card! I had another idea that I wanted to try with the Thankful Garden stamp set, so I decided to use the blue/mauve colour combination over at Color Dare and set to work - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Thankful Garden - I've made no secret of how much I love this bundle, that will launch with the new wave of Online Exclusives on 4th March. For today's card, I put the stencils to one side and used my Stampin' Write markers to outline colour the flower head and stem:

If you're not a fan of detailed colouring, this is a great way to use your Stampin' Write markers. You can currently receive not one but TWO colour family sets of Stampin' Write markers in addition to £130 of product for £99 when you join Stampin' Up! during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. That's also the only way you can receive the Thankful Garden bundle before the 4th March launch date - by adding it to your starter kit. Now there's two reasons to sign up before the promotion ends on Friday :-) I added a couple of white diecut leaves and embossed a panel of Fresh As A Daisy DSP with the (retired) Painted Texture Embossing Folder behind my blossom, a few gems and a sentiment I fussy cut from the Greetings For All Ephemera pack to complete my card. I debated whether or not to use up some ribbon and add a bow and really couldn't decide:

I decided on balance I preferred it without, but what do you think? Do leave me a comment and let me know!

Goodbye Boho Blue - Boho Blue and Moody Mauve are the featured blue and purple on today's card; both are 2023-25 In Colours that are due to retire at the end of April. I will be featuring these and the other in-colours in this set in the next couple of months, but take this as your first reminder: now is a great time to stock up on re-inkers and any other 2023-25 in-colour supplies. They often run out before the end of the catalogue sales period, so don't leave it too late. Besides, if you add them to your basket and spend £55 or more before the end of the month, you can add a free product to your basket too - win-win!

Take Two and Three - As I mentioned above, I think this sketch is a keeper and so versatile. Whilst I used the flower as my shape for my PP card, I created two more cards that were more faithful to the circle. The first one was an Easter card using the Frames and Flowers DSP and one of the diecut wreaths, along with a sentiment from one of my favourite retired Easter sets, 'Easter Promise':

This paper pack really is the pack that just keeps on giving, I've made so many cards using it. 

My third card was the the current challenge over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'W for Wings' and this time I used a full panel of Lily Pond Lane DSP, overlaid with a panel out of which I diecut a circle to frame and highlight the mama and her brood of ducklings:

Aren't they just so cute?! This card is actually for one of my team, to celebrate the addition of the new 'ducklings' that she has welcomed to her Stampin' Up! team during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - she loves ducks! I could have kept going with this sketch - I'm so looking forward to see what everyone else does with it in the PP gallery this week!

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; I am making banoffee pie today - yum! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GREETINGS FOR ALL MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (6.75)

2023–2025 IN COLOR STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS (17.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

BOHO BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

MOODY MAUVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

I've been playing more with my Thankful Garden bundle and since The Flower Challenge are asking for pink florals this month, I went pink to create a clean and simple card for the current 'friends' challenge over at Addicted to CAS too:

I'm also linking up for a second time over at Just Us Girls since 'friend' is also their word of the week and at Festive Friday where I chose pink, glossy dots, ink blending and words of encouragement/kindness from the inspo list. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I kept things simple, this time stamping my flower directly onto my cardbase before stencilling to colour. I paired one of the sentiments in the set with a layered diecut 'friend' from the Friends for Life bundle to change it up a little: 

 A trio of enamel dots complete my card. I really like this card - these stencils really are great!

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 on Friday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDS FOR LIFE DIES (ENGLISH) (32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

Another Monday, another week! For me it's a week that's commute-free, as the youngest of the James Juniors is on his half-term break - yay! We have no big plans - next week is A-Level Exam mock week, so it's mostly an opportunity for revision - and possibly some extra crafting! I did escape the rain on Saturday and spent some time playing with some new goodies, so I have a couple of projects to share with you today. The first of these uses Jen T's fabulous layout over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I toyed with a simple, silhouette-style diecut against an ink-blended background, but I had a new bundle that had just arrived and when I saw the mood board over at Inkspirational I knew I'd need to go in a completely different direction - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Those lilac hyacinths on the mood board led me to create a lilac hydrangea head using my new 'Thankful Garden' bundle: this is a stamp and die bundle that includes stencils and will be available in a couple of week's time with the March release of Online Exclusives - a range of out-of-catalogue products that will only be available online. I stencilled mine using Highland Heather for each layer of the stencilled bloom and added it to a diecut circle with some border detail, again picking up inspiration from the moodboard. There was only one colour choice for my card base: it had to be Coastal Cabana, it's so vibrant in the inspo photo and provides a fresh backdrop for the single flower head:

A simple stamped sentiment that celebrates gratitude for good friends - so I'm also linking up over at Just Us Girls where that's their theme this week - along with a trio of enamel dots, complete by card.

The Thankful Garden Suite will be available to customers to order the week after next; I have a few more projects to share between now and then and I think it's going to be a firm favourite!

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 great inspiration to start the week! Enjoy your day and I'll be back shortly with my second project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (33.00)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)