I've had a busy but hugely productive day today (love days like those!) and am popping in with a quick post from me with a card I made yesterday to squeeze in for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches: 

This is such a lovely little sketch from Jen, it seemed a shame not to use it (although I did flip it and use the mirror image so that my bird would be pointing towards my sentiment rather than away from it). I had so much fun with Saturday's Bird Banter card (you can see that card here if you missed it) that I thought I would use the set again this time featuring the colourful toucan - take a look:

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

Bird Banter - Today it's the turn of the toucan and his accompanying punny sentiment - these funnies just crack me up! I searched up some images of toucans online before deciding on my colours and then used my Blends to colour him, with the exception of his eye and the top of his beak - I used my Lemon-Lime Twist Stampin' Write marker for that as I wanted to get a real zing of green. I stamped him twice: once directly onto my banner, then again on some scrap cardstock and fussy cut this out. This way I was able to fussy cut out his body only and pop it up onto dimensionals aligned with the banner image, without needing to fussy cut his legs.

A Time-Saving Tip  - Now I love a bit of fussy cutting, but I know that it's not for everyone. Whilst I was happy to fussy cut my toucan and the larger flowers, the tiny ones were too fiddly. Instead I used a small circle punch (my circle punch from the retired Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack) and punched them out; much easier and I don't think it loses anything in terms of detail - what do you think?

A Tone-On-Tone Thankyou - I could have stopped there, but instead decided to add a little tone-on-tone stamping to my background panel by stamping the 'thank you so much' stamp from Thankful Thoughts repeatedly to create a customised background that reinforces the sentiment of my card. 

I remembered to stamp and colour my envelope (yay!) and that completes my card. I just love that this set really lends itself to bright colours and fun cards - another one 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pumpkin Pie Light Stampin' Blends Marker	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Brights Enamel Shapes	Regals Enamel Shapes

I have a card to share today but first things first - the list of products that will be retiring from this year's annual and Spring-Summer seasonal catalogues has been announced! You can read the full list by clicking here; there are some tremendous bargains to be had - I will have a review of the things I am going to miss most tomorrow, however if you want to stock up on any of the retiring in-colour items, especially re-inkers, I would urge you to do that sooner rather than later as they are always the first things to sell out. Click on the links below to take you directly to my online shop to purchase any of the in-colour items that are still in stock at time of posting:

Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock	2015-2017 In Color A4 Cardstock
Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

Today I'm sharing a card that uses these departing in-colours - take a look:

I used Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White notelets and a bold sentiment from the 'Thankful Thoughts' stamp set, cut out using my square Stitched Shape Framelits to create an elongated rectangular panel, along with a variety of combinations of the in-colour designer series paper stacks, along with some white ribbon for a finishing touch. I made a whole collection of them in each of the retiring colours and decorated the envelope flaps to co-ordinate too. Here's a glimpse of one in each colour:

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:

• Thankful Thoughts stamp set
• Whisper White Notelets and Envelopes

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

I love green, especially bright greens - Cucumber Crush is one of my all time favourites! - but for today's challenge I decided to go with an altogether more subtle green in Mint Macaron - take a look:

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

Succulent Garden - I chose to use a 'tricky' piece of designer series paper on my card today from the Succulent Garden pack. I have been at a loss as to how I should use some of the papers and patterns in this pack and I felt that this sheet in particular lent itself to a monochromatic card in green and white, so used is to cover my entire card front.

A Bold Sentiment - With such a busy paper pattern, I needed a simple, bold sentiment so I chose this bold thank you from the 'Thankful Thoughts' stamp set. I stamped in Mint Macaron onto Whisper White and I used my Stitched Shape Framelits to add a little interest to my otherwise plain circle. With the exception of my row of stamped cacti inside my card and on the front of my co-ordinating envelope, this is all the stamping to feature on my card.

Triple Banners That Sparkle - I added a trio of banners to anchor my sentiment circle, one each in green and white and the third in Mint Macaron glimmer paper, the latest in the Sale-A-Bration free product offering. The sparkle and texture of the glimmer paper introduces another element yet is still in keeping with the overall monochromatic feel of 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

So a super simple card today, but one with a very calming colour scheme that I hope Jaydee will appreciate.

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 this week's colour palette. 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: 

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Banner Triple Punch
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Glitzerpapier-Set 6" X 6" (15,2 X 15,2 Cm)