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 theme challenge for us to work with:

It's Father's Day here in the UK in a few weeks time, so Stef's challenge provided the perfect opportunity for me to get my cards ready. I had a few to make, but thought I'd share the funniest one with you! Take a look at my card:

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

This card was a labour of love - in more ways than one! The James Junior had seen something similar on one of his socials (I'm afraid I was unable to trace it to give credit - but thank you, whoever you are!) and promptly screenshot it and asked me to make one for the hubs for Father's Day in a couple of week's time. It features a bunch of retired stamp sets: Skinny Mini Alphabet, Make A Difference and others and pretty much speaks for itself! I stamped the question first, followed by the house and present, then painstakingly created the phrases in between.

It was a bit of a squeeze (in truth, I wish I'd stamped the question a little higher to leave more of a gap in between, but there we are). Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and the fact that my son laughed like a drain when he saw it means that lining up all those alphabet stamps was indeed worthwhile! Good job his Dad has a sense of humour, that's all I can say!

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 soon 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 my turn to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month we have a bonus TicTacToe challenge board to work with:

I've chosen a board full of my favourite things so I'm looking forward to seeing which row or column you tackle. I went down the middle column with flowers/free/patterned paper for my card, but there are also some diecuts, yellow and layers in there too! I used the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for my layout - take a look at what I came up with:

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

I decided I wanted to make a yellow card, so went hunting for some yellow papers - the retired Floral Delight pack was perfect. I already had a couple of flowers fussy cut that worked perfectly with the layout, so all I had to do was choose some other papers in the pack for the strips and border, add in some additional sprigs of greenery courtesy of my trusty retired sprig punch, and add a diecut sentiment from my favourite Words of Beauty sentiment set:

A few enamel dots and a linen bow complete my card. There's something so cheerful about a yellow card - I love the bright gingham border on this one 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. 

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 spent yesterday afternoon watching the James Junior playing cricket in the soaring heat; no amount of ice lollies between runs seemed to cool anyone down! Today I am going to get up early and tackle my mountain of ironing (a necessary evil of having the boy home - but I wouldn't have it any other way!) before the heat of the day whilst the hubs is out on his paddleboard giving someone a lesson, then hopefully spend a relaxing afternoon pottering in the shade. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	VELLUM 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.50)	LINEN THREAD (£5.75)
BASIC WHITE 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 my favourite, a sketch challenge, for us to work with:

I really like this sketch - the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I used this layout for the speed stamping card I made on Friday (you can see that card here if you missed it)  and I have another card later this week that uses it too. On each of these cards, I've tried to use the panels in different ways. For today's card, I'm using some cute retired Cute As A Bug designer paper and one of my favourite dies for that rectangular panel - take a look:

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

I decided to add a piece of DSP featuring tiny flowers to the front of my card (this is one of the Cute As A Bug patterns); this allowed me to make a feature of the rectangular panel with the circles panel diecut from the Lovely Arrangements bundle. I added a stitched circle as the base for my fussy-cut insect carrying her flower and paired her with a sentiment from the Lovel Arrangements bundle too:

A heart and a couple of enamel flowers from my stash were the finishing touches for this otherwise quite simple card. I was enjoying fussy cutting whilst I had this pack of paper out on my desk, so took the opportunity to make a second card using it too - I'll share that one with you tomorrow. This really is a great sketch - I can't wait to see what you all make with is 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 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; it's a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and for once the sun is shining and it's glorious! I will be spending my day in the garden, reading and soaking up the beautiful weather whilst it lasts! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LOVELY ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MOSSY MEADOW 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 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'!

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 bright colour challenge for us to work with:

I love this bright colour combination! I know I've used it before, but mostly with florals. Today I thought it would be perfect to make something fun and summery with some new products (I'm using both stencils and dies for the challenge over at Just Add Ink) and that fab sketch from Sunday Stamps again - take a look:

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

Splash & Relax - I decided on a pool-themed card today, so stamped and diecut a rubber ring and a beach ball from the Splash & Relax bundle, available as part of the May Online Exclusives release. I found some Granny Apple Green glimmer paper in my stash, so used this to diecut a pair of sparkly sunglasses to complete my trio of things needed for a fun day at the pool:

Water Decorative Mask - I used Coastal Cabana for my swimming pool and created my stencilled watery panel using one of the 'hidden heroes' in the new annual catalogue: the Water & Dotted Lines Decorative Masks are buried in the tools section at the back of the catalogue, but this pair of stencils is going to be useful for so many things! They are large masks, measuring 12" x 12" so great for scrapbook pages too, but for the moment the water one pairs perfectly with the Splash & Relax stamps, so I'm using it most often. 

Finishing Touches - A sentiment from the same set, along with some retired sparkly enamel dots from my stash and some retired Gorgeous Grape paper to frame my central panel complete my card.

It's always fun to play with new products and I think the masks and this bundle are two of my new favourite things so be warned - you are likely to be seeing much more of them in the coming weeks!

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 am driving the James Junior back to uni for the week as opposed to him driving himself for a change and I'm actually looking forward to spending the day pretty much sitting down. Jason and I completed a 15km walk with some friends yesterday; the weather was glorious and we had a lovely day, but on top of a strenuous session at the gym on Friday my muscles were aching all over last night so a rest day is definitely needed today! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SPLASH & RELAX BUNDLE (£42.25)	WATER & DOTTED LINES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DECORATIVE MASKS (£20.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)

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

We are all about cards for the ladies this week! I toyed with going pink and delicate for my card, but instead decided to go with something bright and colourful using Jen M's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week - take a look:

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

I still had some of the Easter Time Mix & Match Ephemera left and wanted to use them up, so my starting point for today's card was the pretty watering can filled with flowers. For my layered panels, I used a piece of Daffodil Delight gingham from my stash and an Azure Afternoon panel cut with that Lovely Arrangements circle panel die (adjusted to make a bigger panel). I added a double twine bow and a simple sentiment from the same bundle:

A few enamel dots finish my super simple design. I love bright colours - not everything feminine has to be pink and delicate right? That said, I made two more cards whilst I was in my craft room making this one and they all have a floral, feminine theme so you have more inspiration on this theme to come 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 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; the youngest of the James Junior is home from uni this weekend and is playing cricket today, so we are hoping that the dry weather continues and rain doesn't stop play! We might even manage another BBQ this evening - fingers crossed! I'll be back in a couple of days with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LOVELY ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)	RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (£5.10)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£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 Stef to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for us to work with:

I was tempted to go down the designer paper route with this sketch, but in the end decided upon some stencilling and another entry over at Just Us Girls and a final farewell to all 5 of the 2024-26 In Colours for my entry to the current challenge over at Colour Inkspiration. - take a look:

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

2024-26 In Colo(u)rs - Now I could have chosen my favourite of this set of in-colours for my Colour Inkspiration entry (hands down it would have been Pretty In Pink and Friday's card was most definitely my homage to that), but instead I decided to create a card using all 5 colours. This doesn't always work with all 5 in colours, and options are often limited if there is no green (as in the 2025-27 set), however this collection works quite well together. If you haven't stocked up on inks, refills and cardstock by now this is your final reminder - some such as Petunia Pop are already discontinued here in the UK and they will all be gone for good by the end of this month!

Cheerful Flowers - My Kristina Werner Cheerful Flowers stencils by Concord & 9th were just what I needed for the main panel of my card, as they allowed me to use all 5 colours across the layers. I love the bold pattern of these stencils. I used a piece of Shy Shamrock for my border but decided to try something a little different for this card. I aligned the stencil to my stamped image, then used it with my embossing mat to emboss a continuation of the pattern onto the cardstock for some added visual interest:

It's quite difficult to see on the photographs, but it looks lovely in real life and I'm really please with how it came out.

Final Touches - A stacked sentiment from the Big Type Greetings dies, also my Christina Werner and Concord & 9th, along with a trio of matte enamel dots complete my card.

What will you create with this week's sketch? There really are so many possibilities!

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 am spending the morning in Milton Keynes for this month's Aqua Paddle with the hubby and his paddlers. Despite the lovely sunny weather of the last few days, I'm still not ready to venture out onto the water yet so am once again going to be the official event photographer. At least this month the paddlers shouldn't need their bobble hats like last month! Then I'm home to a late lunch and aiming to enjoy the rest of the day's sunshine. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	SHY SHAMROCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.20)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.65)	PEACH PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£6.80)	SHY SHAMROCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£6.80)	SUMMER SPLASH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£6.80)
BLENDING BRUSHES (£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 Christy to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Baby animals! I knew exactly where I was going with this one, so I grabbed the sketch over at Inkspirational and the colour palette at Just Add Ink and set to work - take a look at today's card:

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

Cutest Crew - I'm sure my regular readers would have guessed that the 'Cutest Crew' stamp set might make an appearance today - after all, those kitties and puppies are just too cute! I actually bought this set originally because of the dogs, but until now I've only used the birds and the cats - go figure. Today's card was the perfect opportunity to remedy that though, so puppies for the win! Instead of stamping the row intact, I stamped each puppy individually, masking off the others each time, so that I could then diecut 4 squares as per the sketch. I coloured them with my Stampin' Blends - you can see the detail more closely below:

Hydrangea Hue Blue - I made a card earlier in the week that used the Just Add Ink inspiration and I love their colour combo so much that I wanted to play again, this time featuring the browns too. I used the upcoming new in-colour, Hydrangea Hue, for my card base - I think this might be my new favourite blue! Think the retired Boho Blue, but with a slight purple hue - lovely!

Finishing Touches - As it's clean and simple week, I wanted to keep layers to a minimum, keep plenty of clean 'white' (or in my case blue) space with a few well-chosen embellishments. I used a small sentiment from the Lovely Arrangements stamp set, added some In Colour pearls and left the only other decoration to a simple stamped border inside my card: 

There you go - clean and simple and a cute crew indeed! This card is going into the pile that I keep to send to Ben when ever I'm sending care packages to him at uni. I like to send him little surprises in the post - although sometimes it's things he's forgotten too, such as cricket whites earlier this week! He certainly keeps me on my toes.

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. 

Which baby animals are you going to feature on your cards this week? Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you:

Enjoy your day; my niece and her partner recently bought their first home so Jason and I are going to visit for the grand tour today, then I am going to my sister-in-law's for afternoon tea, so I have a fun day planned! 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 Jan to host this week and she an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I say 'interesting' as I found this colour combo quite challenging - it kept making me think of bees! I perused my shelf and progressed from bees to animals of another kind - take a look:

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

I saw the layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments and thought it would be perfect for more of those Cute Crew kittens - and so today's card was born! I decided to use yellow for my base and add a quintet of black, white and grey kittens along with some yellow butterflies, to the central panel of my card. I stamped some pay prints onto Smoky Slate cardstock and then tore the edges to mirror the sketch, as well as adding a row of tone-on-tone butterflies stamped lightly onto the cardbase. You can see my sweet kitties in more detail below: 

A sentiment and some black baker's twine, along with a little heart charm from my stash, completes my card. I added additional rows of kitties both inside my card and on the envelope flap too for a little extra feline decoration. This will be heading to a member of my extended team who has an upcoming birthday and I know loves this set!

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; the James Junior is back to university today to start his final term of the year tomorrow - it seems hard to believe that's his first year done! I'll be back soonwith another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CUTEST CREW BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£42.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£6.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)

Happy Easter everyone! 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 and seasonal theme challenge for us to work with:

Spring showers - well April is certainly the month for those! I had to dig in to the retired box for supplies for today's card, but I knew I had just the thing. I used the layout over at Try A Sketch on Tuesday and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I focused on patterns including umbrellas from the Rain or Shine specialty designer series paper pack for my card today. I used two vertical panels of embossed umbrellas, then from a separate sheet fussy cut a dog with an umbrella and added him to a Stylish Squares diecut square, to which I added some blue ink and stamped raindrops and a couple of fussy cut rainclouds:

A simple sentiment from the retired 'Playing in The Rain' stamp set completes 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. 

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 hope you take the time to indulge in an Easter egg or two (well, it would be rude not to, right?!) I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)