Today I have a fun card made with this week's TGIF Challenge in mind:

The theme is 'travel' and I didn't have to go far as I mused 'trains, planes and automobiles ...' to myself when considering my options for today's card; I knew right away it was time to break out the new products and try something fun - a spinner card! Take a look: 

How much fun is that?! If you'd like to see a little video clip of my fun paper plane in action, click here to see the video I uploaded to my Facebook page. Forgive the wobble, I had the card in one hand and camera in the other!

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

Time To Take Flight - The new Sliding Star Framelits Dies are just fantastic for making quick and easy spinner cards. They include two tracks (I've used the circular one here; the set includes a curved one too) that with the aid of a couple of washers or coins and some of the new thick adhesive foam strips, allow construction of a spinner card in no time at all. The framelits also include dies to cut out each of the shapes in the Shooting Star stamp set that make the spinners themselves (except for the globe, which co-ordinates with the 1 1/4" circle punch) so my paper aeroplane was ready to go in no time.

A Sprinkle of Clouds - To add subtle interest to my background, I added a little tone-on-tone stamping in Soft Sky using the cloud stamp from last year's RMHC stamp set 'Sprinkles of Life' that is still in the current catalogue. I stamped the panel before cutting the track so that my clouds align. 

Celebrate Exam Success - In addition to the aeroplane and globe (coloured with my Stampin' Write markers), the 'Shooting Star' stamp set also comes with a handful of punny sentiments that co-ordinate with the shapes for a suitably-themed card. I decided to go with 'The sky's the limit!' as I thought this would be a perfect card to send to someone celebrating exam success and I know lots of people sitting GCSE exams this year so will be needing a few of these. I punched it with my now-retired word window punch, but the new Classic Label Punch would be a great alternative. I finished the ends with a couple of silver mini brads (also retired!).

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. 

Lastly, here's a video from those lovely people at the Stampin' Up! Home Office to show you just how easy it is to create spinners using this versatile set:

The sun is shining and for once it looks like it might stay that way, for today at least! My youngest James Junior is spending a 'moving up' day at his new school followed by an appointment for fitting of a whole new uniform ready for September. I have lots of work to do today but am also looking forward to unpacking the rather large boxes that my UPS man delivered as I was typing this, containing my customer orders from my new catalogue open house - so an exciting day all round!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Shooting Star Clear-Mount Bundle	1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch	Sprinkles Of Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	2016-2018 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

I have a couple of fun punch art cards to share with you today (to make up for no post yesterday)! I was all ready to link up with the ladies at SUO Challenges but it would appear that our clocks are not coinciding this week - never mind! Check them out if you're a punch art fan as that's their theme this week. Both of these were made for my lovely husband, who celebrated his birthday this week. You will notice there is something of a common theme to my cards - here's the first one:

My husband has recently taken up learning to play the guitar; I think living in a household with three pianists and a singer, he was feeling somewhat left out! So I decided for my card to go with a simple black and white combo, using my circle framelits for the holes and my word window punch and decorative label punches for the fretboard and strings. The strings themselves are made using the new silver corded trim - perfect for my six-string - and I added an actual re guitar pick 'borrowed' from my husband's collection to add a pop of red to my card.

My second card was made from my children and includes both a punched star and a rather clever guitar made with ... the owl punch! Take a look:

I used some retired music print paper for my background and the same 'Rock Star' greeting from the 'Be The Star' stamp set, this time stamped in Pacific Point on Very Vanilla then punched out with my star punch. I also added the word 'DAD' cut with my little Letter Thinlits for further personalisation. A silver glimmer star then formed the background to highlight my punch art guitar: an owl punch body (minus the feet!) in Pacific Point, a small punched circle and a piece of Smoky Slate wound in thin silver thread for the strings with a couple of the owl hearts attached to the end for the keys that tighten the strings. Not a bad replica of the blue electric guitar he is practising on - thank heavens for headphones that plug in to his amplifier, so we are not all having to witness his Eric Clapton impressions until he is more polished!!

Back later with some exciting news for you, so watch this space; meanwhile, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

to follow.

A quick post from me today as I am having the busiest of weeks! Today I'm sharing my entry for this week's challenge over at 'Less is More' where this week the challenge them is 'Let's face the music and dance' and the ladies are looking for cards with a music or dance theme. Now today's card is not overly original, in that I've seen many of them on Pinterest and the internet in general for a long time, but I needed a thank you card for someone who plays piano and as I've never made one of these cards before, I thought I'd create my version which just so happens to fit the bill for this week's LIM challenge. So here's my card:

Quite difficult to photograph, so bear with me! This the front, in Basic Black, with the edge cut shaped like the lid of a grand piano, and then piano keys punched from a Word Window punch in Very Vanilla and Basic Black. Behind the cutaway section you can see the sheet music that is adhered to the inside of the card, which you can see more clearly below:

The sheet music is a piece of retired 'Modern Medley' DSP (I must confess to having hoarded the sheet music pages, I love them!), with space below for the sentiment and your message.

So a fun and simple piano card, where the 'white space' today is entirely black! Check out the other LIM entries this week for plenty of music and dance inspiration - I personally am loving the ballerinas on display!

One other thing - the Stampin' Up! UK Clearance rack updated last night - lots of new bargains at up to 80%, including 12 x 12" papers, washi tape and last season's Halloween papers and kits. You can check out all the bargains at my online store by clicking here - go and grab yourself a bargain!

Lastly, on the subject of THE Piano Man, Mr Billy Joel himself, if you're a fan and have never seen him play live, I can highly recommend it; I saw him in concert for the first time last year and can honestly say it was the best concert performance I have ever attended.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lots Of Thanks	Word Window Punch	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Modern Medley Overlays Kit - Digital Download

Good evening lovely blog readers! I've had a busy day today with lots of household chores and last minute preparations for an all day class that I'm running tomorrow with some of my favourite crafting ladies. Today I thought I would share with you one of the projects that we are making at our class tomorrow - a cute little tote made using the Envelope Punch Board:

This project was designed by Monica Gale and is one that I made at our last team quarterly training day. It's made using the papers from the Fresh Prints DSP stack and decorated with a tag stamped from the 'Hello Lovely' stamp set. I just love the colours and patterns in this paper stack and as a card maker these papers offer such great value for money at just £6.25 for 48 sheets. We are also making a set of thank you notelets to go inside - this would make such a nice little gift for someone. I'm looking forward to making this and lots of other projects with my ladies tomorrow; if you live in or around Northampton and would be interested in attending any of my cardmaking or project classes, you can find my current class schedule here or just contact me for more information.

That's all from me; back tomorrow with another project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Envelope Punch Board	Hardwood	Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack	Hello Lovely
Lots Of Thanks	1-3/4 Inch Scallop Circle Punch	Pansy Punch	1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch	Decorative Label Punch
Real Red 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon	Basics Glimmer Brads	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Word Window Punch
Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad