Thursday already - the week is whizzing by! Today I'm sharing I card I made for this week's challenge over at Less Is More, where the challenge this week is one layer cards with a theme of 'new beginnings'. So many possibilities here, but I decided to go with the obvious 'new home' choice, as having never had any new home stamps I suddenly find myself spoilt for choice with three different ones, so I thought it time the newest one saw some ink. My card also uses the 'What's Up' punch to create the house shape, which you can find on Wednesday Weekly Deals this week. Here is my card:

Ok, so this is a beautiful 'clean' card in real life, but in order to add interest to my one layer card, having stamped the sentiment on the front I punched out my house shape from the front of the card, then stamped the house image through the hole onto the inside of the card. Therein lies the problem though - this kind of card is incredibly difficult to photograph! The photo above shows the sentiment and you can just about see the house through the hole; the photograph below has a more close-up shot of the house visible through the house shape, with the front of the card out of focus.

The house is stamped in Bermuda Bay and coloured with Bermuda Bay and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities, with the door frame in Crushed Curry. To finish, I wrapped a Bermuda Bay baker's twine bow around the top of my card. In hindsight, I'm thinking I should maybe have taped the card shut and photographed it completely flat - hopefully you can see enough to get the gist of things.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

What's Up Punch	You Brighten My Day Clear Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Bermuda Bay Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers
Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Regals Stampin' Write Markers

I haven't managed to blog the last couple of days as there's just been too much going on. Whilst I was intending to blog later today, I thought I would just share with you a card that I made with the ladies in my Technique Card Class this week, as it features two if the punches that are available on Wednesday Weekly Deals this week. My card was heavily inspired by this one by Inge Groot that a saw a couple of weeks ago. Here is my altered version, in the colourway that we made in our class:

The technique class featured the new Chalkboard paper and all the different ways in which you can use the lovely new chalk inks that are now available in the Spring-Summer catalogue. These inks have a fabulous soft chalk effect on the new Chalkboard paper; here we used it to stamp the tag from the 'You Brighten My Day' stamp set, yours free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration, and behind this added some black and white baker's twine, some of the Best Year Ever ribbon and buttons (another Sale-A-Bration freebie) and a strip of cardstock punched with the Hearts Border Punch. All of this was mounted on a feature mat in Pink Pirouette that we embossed with the new Happy Heart embossing folder. I also made two more cards to the same design, but in two alternative colourways. This one is Aquamarine chalk in on Coastal Cabana, with Crushed Curry accessories:

Lastly, Yellow Citrus chalk ink and So Saffron, with Calypso Coral accessories:

I like that these cards are quite subtle, despite the bright appearance of the chalk ink in the pad itself - it's quite deceiving. Both the Note Tag punch and the Hearts Border Punch are on offer this week as part of the Wednesday Weekly Deals, as is the What's Up punch that also co-ordinates with the house stamp in the 'You Brighten My Day' stamp set. If this stamp set appeals to you and you would like to be able to create today's card, the following product bundle costs £47.87, includes both punches and would enable you to acquire the key supplies and get the stamp set for free:

Hearts Border Punch	Note Tag Punch	Chalkboard Paper	Aquamarine Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad
Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Basic Black Baker's Twine	Stampin' Dimensionals	You Brighten My Day Clear Stamp Set

All you need to add is the cardstock in the colours of your choice, a button and some ribbon from your stash. For everyone that buys this bundle from my online store this week and uses the hostess code 44JKUBHY, I will send you a separate little thank you gift from me in the post. 

Back soon with another creative post; until then, happy stampin'!

I've had a fun day today, amongst other things transforming my kitchen table into a table tennis court and hosting a craft party for an enthusiastic group of ten year olds this afternoon. But enough about my day; I managed to make a quick card yesterday for the current challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

This is such a simple sketch layout with so many possibilities and it was perfect for a simple 'I love you' card featuring one of the stamps from Pictogram Punches:

I used a Whisper White card base and created my bottom panel from a piece of Real Red cardstock edged with the Hearts border punch and overlaid this with a piece of Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock that I first dry embossed with the new Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, coming shortly in a few days time with the new Spring-Summer catalogue (I fussy cut the edge following the line of the hearts). I stamped my sentiment in Crisp Cantaloupe above the layered section, then using Real Red ink I overlaid a new 'love' stamp onto the heart - this stamp is from an exclusive Sale-A-Bration set called 'You Brighten My Day', available free with every order of £45 or more between January 6th - March 31st. It fits perfectly and makes the heart 'pop' a little. To finish, I added a thick baker's twine bow. 

I hope you like today's card. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Happy Heart TIEF and You Brighten My Day Stamp set available 6th January.

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Hearts Border Punch	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Crisp Cantaloupe Thick Baker's Twine	Pictogram Punches Clear-Mount Stamp Set