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)

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 as it's the 5th Sunday of the month she has a fun tictactoe challenge for us to work with:

I  went across the top row and also down the middle column with diecut/twine/sentiment and twine/flowers/patterned paper and cut into more of my Lovely Blossoms papers for today's card - take a look:

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

I made this card at the same time as I made this one a couple of weeks ago, but for this one went with the pale pink/peach, blue and white colour scheme. I used a white cardbase and a mat of two white dicut circle panels, then created a montage of papers in two different sized squares, cut with the Stylish Shape Dies. I then added a stamped flower and some leaves, and a simple skinny block sentiment, all from the Lovely Arrangements bundle:

A twine bow and some enamel dots complete my card. This one feels cleaner than the last card I made with this set, but still showcases the pretty colours and patterns of those papers. I'm so glad I bought this suite!

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

I'm also playing along with the team over at Just Add Ink where their current challenge is to 'Just Add Wings' - I'm featuring a cute bookish ladybird on today's card :

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

Cute As A Bug - Given that I am really trying to ration my purchase of new papers, I didn't get this paper on my iniitial catalogue pre-order. Big mistake! My PP teamie Ann has been making fabulous cards with it and she convinced me I 'needed' it in my collection, only for me to have to settle in for a long wait, as it's been out of stock here in the UK for absolutely ages! I finally managed to get my hands on some, so I had to cut into it for Claire's sketch challenge today! 

I chose a bold toadstool pattern for the background and then diecut a circle out of another design, before fussy-cutting my cute book-reading ladybird to sit on top:

I allowed my diecut circle to overhang the left-hand side edge of my card, as I needed to allow space for my sentiment on the right and I didn't want to use a smaller circle and risk cropping out that ginormous todastool!

I paired my new paper with a bunch of retired bits and pieces - Layered Circles Framelits, Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing Folder and the Brilliant Rainbow Dies for the scalloped borders - and a sentiment from the current 'Nature's Symphony' stamp set, as it seemed to fit my sweet ladybird perfectly.

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'm out for a family brunch this morning and then will be enjoying a later dinner with the youngest of the James Juniors as he is home from university for a few days enjoying a weekend of back-to-back hockey, amongst other things! I'll be back later this week 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 lovely Jaydee to host this week and she has a great clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I had so many options this week, but wanted to use my new Flowers Fair background stamp again - it's perfect for clean and simple cards. Take a look at today's card:

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

Flowers Fair - The Flowers Fair background stamp really is versatile - you can use the whole or just part of the stamp and it lends itself to lots of colourways and techniques. Today I went for a simple, monochromatic look with no colouring required - great for a clean and simple look. I left some white space at the top of the panel - it is CAS week! - and I kept the body of my card to a single layer, the only additional layering being that of my sentiment.

Words of Beauty - I paired my background florals with a Words Of Beauty sentiment - this layers beautifully and I don't think I'll ever tire of it!

In addition to my sentiment, a sprinkle of sequins is the only other addition to my card.

Last Chance for 2024 In Colours - Today's card is stamped in Petunia Pop, one of the 2024-26 In Colours that will be retiring next month. This is your friendly reminder that if you need reinkers, cardstock or embellishments in any of these outgoing colours, you should get them ordered before stocks run out \9which may well be before the  catalogue end date). I will miss Pretty In Pink and Emerald Envy from this set - I have used both lots!

Since we're talking in-colours, would you like a sneak-peek of the new 2026-28 In Colours? Well, here you go:

We are going to be all about the pastels! Do you have an early favourite? I think mine might be the soft blue, Hydrangea Hue. The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot that the ink pad design is changing too; the new design will be phased in gradually over the next 12 months or so, starting with this year's In Colour collection.

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; since it's Mother's Day here in the UK I will be both entertaining my Mother-In-Law whilst also enjoying a leisurely day myself. The James Juniors are not going to be home - the youngest is back next weekend, but since I've already got cards and gifts waiting for me, I know that I haven't been forgotten! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FLOWERS FAIR PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£22.00)

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

PETUNIA POP CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

PETUNIA POP A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Firstly, apologies to anyone who has tried to visit my blog in the last week and found it offline. I have had a number of serious issues that meant it had to be taken down with no notice. As you can see, I am back currently but I'm not sure for how long. In the meantime, I am making a concerted effort to post on both my Instagram and Facebook pages, so if you come back and find my blog has disappeared again without warning, do head over to my socials and find me there!

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 I have a colour challenge for us to work with:

I chose the colours of the rainbow for our colour challenge this week! Actual rainbows are optional, but you need to show a rainbow of colours on your projects. I grabbed Karren's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and set to work to create a card that I have had in my mind for ages that I wanted to have a go at using the cute llama in the 'Long Time No See' stamp set - take a look:

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

I had the idea that I could create a flock of llamas with one that stood out amongst the others wearing his rainbow scarf, loud and proud. I created four llama masks, the proceeded to stamp an entire panel of llamas, each overlapping the next. I stamped them all in Grey Granite and added only a hint of rough colour to the majority, whilst colouring my focal llama in fully using my Stampin' Blends. I used a strip of Full Of Life DSP for the narrow panel on the sketch and mirrored the colours in the stripes of the llama's scarf. I then trimmed my llama panel to size and popped it up on dimensionals, using a white panel embossed with the Soft Waves embossing folder on the other side of the DSP strip. Check out my masked stamping in more detail below:

I finished off with a diecut tag stamped with a sentiment from a long-retired set called 'In your Words', which seemed appropriate for my image. I was really pleased how this card came out - it's always nice when an idea translates into something at the end of it!

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; Aquapaddle was cancelled last week due to high winds, so the hubby is aiming to be back out on the water today instead. I'm going along to take pictures, so no chance of me getting wet! 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 first of a new month - Happy St David's Day to my fellow patriots! - and the turn of the fabulous Christy to host this week. She has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

Mythical creatures - mermaids, dragons, unicorns and more! I had to dig into my retired stash for this one and had a lot of fun!! I'm also playing along with the CASE The Designer Challenge over at SUO Challenges with my card this week - take a look and I will explain all:

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

Myths and Magic - So I had a stash of retired Myths & Magic designer series paper that I had preserved and decided this was a good time to cut into some! I spent a good few evenings fussy cutting mermaids and the teeny-tiny seahorses you can see on today's card, but also unicorns, knights and dragons from the other sheets too. I paired my mermaid with a sentiment from the Magical Mermaids stamp set that is also retired:

 I also used the stamps in this set to add a little additional decoration to the inside of my card:

CASE The Designer - I had a lot of fun CASEing Tammy's card over at SUO Challenges this week! I chose a teal mythical underwater theme as opposed to a pink love hearts theme for my card, switched out the sentiment banner for a circle and used the tiny seahorses instead of the dimensional hearts on Tammy's card, but I retained the layout, the embossed-DSP-embossed background panel combination, albeit featuring the beautiful Soft Waves 3D embossing folder for an under the sea look and feel, combined with the sparkly column of bubbles. My card looks distinctly different to Tammy's, but it's clear to see where and how I CASEd her card as my inspiration.

You Slay Bonus Card - Given that today is St David's Day I had to take the opportunity to make a card with a dragon (or two!) as well, so I went a little 'left field' for my next creation. The slang term 'slay' is quite popular with young people; Wikipedia states that it is used to express admiration or success, so with this in mind, I thought that I would pair a custom sentiment using the Mini Alphabet Dies with some of the knights and dragons from the Myths & Magic paper for a tongue-in-cheek congratulations card, using the sketch layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments. Here's their layout:

And here's the bonus card that I made for today's challenge:

I absolutely love the sparkly detail on this paper!

Possibly not a card for everyone, but I know Ben will love it!

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; nothing remarkable happening chez James today. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend and I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)