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 as it's the fifth Sunday of the month, she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us to work with:

I went across the top row with flowers(cake and sentiment decoration)/pink (cake and ribbon)/ribbon (behind the circle) and created a special birthday card - take a look:

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

A Deja Vu Moment - If you're looking at today's card and thinking there's something familiar about it - you'd be right! This is the other card that I mentioned in last Sunday's post that also uses Ann's sketch - although this one uses it in a different way. I still used the 'Celebrate' diecut element for the horizontal, but used the circle to extend my sentiment using a greeting from the Birthday Celebration bundle and instead of a shaker, I used the centre of my frame to house one of the panels of the Wildflower Celebration paper. In addition to whole patterned sheets and diecuts, there is also a sheet made up of pre-printed panels in varying sizes that feature birthday imagery too and the tiered fancy pink birthday cake was just what I needed for this special card.

Retired Favourites - I did use a few retired favourites on today's card: the white diecut frame was made using a couple of Stitched rectangle dies, the frame itself is Seaside Spray cardstock and I backed my 'Celebrate' diecut with vellum. I also used some retired glitter gold gems. All of these could be substituted with alternatives from your stash.

Age Is Just A Number - I finished my card with a diecut number '80', which I cut using the Birthday Celebration number dies. I created a blue drop shadow to make the standout and added them to the centre of my cake:

Here's the thing though - I am of the view that as we get older, milestone birthdays should be recognised and celebrated and as such, numbers on a card should make a return. I was discussing this with my mother-in-law over lunch last week, who recently turned 80 and has many friends of a similar age, but she felt strongly to the contrary - that as we age we don't wish to be reminded of the fact and it was a source of some dismay amongst her friendship group, so much so that they keep an informal of tally of number cards between them for precisely the opposite reason. So what do you think - are numbers on cards a 'yay or a 'nay'? Do leave me a comment below with your thoughts! 

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; today is Mothering Sunday here in the UK and whilst I won't see my own Mum in person today, I am looking forward to being spoiled by the youngest of the James Juniors, with a roast lamb lunch and something special for pudding too. Happy Mother's Day to anyone else reading this who is celebrating today; I'll be back on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (39.50)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK 3/8" (1 CM) BORDERED RIBBON (7.00)

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

I still had my Wildflower Birthday designer series papers out on my desk after making yesterday's card and I actually made a couple of cards using Ann's sketch. Both were quite different and I'll share the first one I made another time, but for today I wanted to share my favourite - take a look:

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

Everyday Arches Shaker - I decided to play with the layers of Ann's card, and create a central shaker element using the Everyday Arches Dies. I used a simple flat shaker, by filling an acetate bag with gold and teal covered sequins from my stash, along with a few gold birthday candles, and simply taped this to the reverse of my arch opening. This is a fun way to make a quick shaker and means you can keep any dimension for the other elements of your card.

Wildflower Birthday - The main focal point of my card is one of the delicious-looking over-the-top birthday cake diecuts from the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper pack. I just love these for a special birthday card! I used another of the paper designs for the frame to surround my shaker, widening the frame so that lots of the pattern is on show.

Wanted to Say - Today's card is a no-stamping card (other than the sentiment on the inside of my card). This wasn't by design - my first card that I made included a stamped sentiment - but as I put my card together, I liked the cleaner layers achieved by using bold diecuts and instead added a layered 'Celebrate' from the Wanted To Say Dies instead - this one pairs with the Birthday Celebration bundle perfectly:

This card is a non-standard size (it actually measures 15cm x 18.5cm) so will need a custom envelope. I think this is a good size to accommodate some of the larger diecut elements in the designer paper, but you could scale down and create something more compact if you prefer.

I'm linking today's card up with the ladies over at The Alphabet Challenge blog where they are at 'Y is for Yummy' - that birthday cake certainly does look delicious to me!

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; no specific plans here today, perhaps some time pottering in the garden if the weather holds. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)

WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where we have a sketch challenge designed by Deborah:

This is a great sketch with so many creative possibilities! I decided to use up some of the diecuts from my Wildflower Birthday designer series paper pack for my card today - take a look:

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

Wildflower Birthday - The Wildflower Birthday Specialty Designer Series Paper is so beautiful. In addition to the beautiful foiled patterns, there are two whole sheets of diecuts that are useful for so many cards. I used a trio of flower clusters for my card and used the colours to tie in the other elements.  

Perennial Postage - I added each of my floral clusters to a diecut square cut with the Perennial Postage Dies, to which I'd added a hint of coordinating ink with a blending brush to lift it from the base. You can see that hint of colour more closely below:

Party Dots - I finished my card with a scattering of coordinating party dots and a sentiment from the 'Friends For Life' stamp set and left the inside blank as I want to use this card to write a longer message.

This card came together pretty quickly once I'd decided on which diecuts to use. I spent longer switching out pieces and trying to decide, than I did making it - with so much to choose from in the Wildflower birthday pack, I was spoiled for choice, for sure!

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.
• 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:

WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (31.00)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	PARTY DOTS (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Suzy has asked that we layer a couple of shapes with the sentiment behind:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to create a simple birthday card using the Birthday Celebration stamp set and Wildflower Celebration papers - take a look:

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

This card was so simple to make: I stamped my sentiment onto a stitched circle and for my accent added a cupcake, complete with candle, that I fussy cut from one of the mixed sheets in the Wildflower Celebration paper pack:

A few party dots complete the front of my card. I used a combination of the other sentiments in the Birthday Celebration stamp set to create this oversize greeting inside my card too:

Easy as that - the Birthday Celebration Suite is perfect for quick and easy birthday cards.

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:

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (39.50)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
PARTY DOTS (7.50)

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

I decided that I could find solutions to much of Jan's recipe in the Birthday Celebration suite, so I used that as my starting point. I used the layout over at Sketch Saturday and decided to create a special birthday card that was definitely inspired by that fabulous birthday cake in the Hand Stamped Sentiments inspo photo - take a look:

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

Birthday Celebration - The sketch layout was perfect for framing a large sentiment, so I made a large card measuring 21cm x 14.9cm and created a custom birthday greeting using the new Birthday Celebration bundle. This bundle is perfect for creating special cards for milestone birthdays; I stamped and heat embossed the words and added a diecut 21 from gold foil.  

Wildflower Birthday - The real star of today's card is the tiered birthday cake - all decorated and ready to go, courtesy of the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper. In addition to the pretty patterned sheets, two of which I used to create my frame, there are two whole sheets of diecut cakes, flowers, balloons and more. Having used all of Jan's recipe ingredients apart from ribbon/twine, I decided to finish my card with a spray of Pretty in Pink and gold ribbons, each of which I frayed to create a fun confetti spray - it makes a change from a bow, don't you think?

A few gold sparkly enamel dots complete my card.

Not Just For The Girls - I loved the finished result of my first card, so on completion I decided to make a second card using the same products and layout, but this time with a more masculine feel: 

I used another of the pre-embossed papers in the pack for my frame, this time using the same pattern for each panel, switched out the numbers for an 18 and adding another of the diecut cakes in the pack, this time backed with some gold twine:

I stamped a couple of banners behind the sentiment and added a sprinkle of gold sequins to finish. The Birthday Celebration Suite is perfect for fancy cards with lots of impact - the paper really does do a lot of the work and the diecut numbers are a great way to personalise your cards for a special milestone birthday or anniversary.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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 Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• 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:

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (39.50)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	PRETTY IN PINK 3/8" (1 CM) BORDERED RIBBON (7.00)	NEUTRALS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
PEACH PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)