Today I have another clean and simple card for you, the second one this week using the sketch challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch. As I mentioned yesterday, I love playing along with their sketches, which can sometimes leave me lost at first glance but then often take me in an unexpected direction. This week's sketch is definitely one of those! Here is the sketch:

I spent considerable time thinking about how I was going to interpret this sketch; the Design Team have some great takes on this sketch and I was fascinated by Michelle's Design Team card in particular and the way she created the channel for her airplane. In a similar vein I created my second card:

How cute is this?!! Here's the low-down on today's card:

See Ya Later Alligator - My alligator is from the 'Zoo Babies' stamp set. Super cute on a baby card but also works for a fun 'hello' style card too. His open jaws were just crying out to be used with this sketch! I added a tiny punched heart from the Confetti Hearts Border Punch for a little pop of colour too.

Chomp Chomp - What to use to create the teeth marks I needed for my alligator's bite? I used the scalloped thinlit in the Cutie Pie Thinlit set; this enabled me to create a mirrored border to reveal my sentiment beneath, which is from the 'Greatest Greetings' set. Don't all alligators look like they are smiling - before they open their mouths at least?!

'White' Space - Like Monday's card, today's features plenty of true 'white space' - or in this case 'green' space! You can read all about white space and its function of clean and simple cards here. Today is another example that fits with this week's challenge over at Less is More, so I will be linking up for the second time this week.

This is one of those cards that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside - I just love 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

What's more, two of the products I've used on today's card - The Confetti Hearts Border Punch and Greatest Greetings set - are available at a knock-down bargain price on Weekly Deals today - get the full details here. 

Back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Zoo Babies Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Greatest Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Baker's Box Thinlits Dies	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Confetti Hearts Border Punch

Happy Friday everyone and April Fools Day! Sale-A-Bration is over for another year and the end of the week is here - although this week has been much more laid back than usual; I do love school holidays! Today I have a fun card for this week's challenge over at Less is More, where the theme is to include polka dots on your card. I immediately thought about my Zoo Babies stamps, as a number of these animals have polka dots in their patterns. Here is my card:

I wanted to make a fun birthday card rather than a baby congratulations card this week - so tied a polka dot balloon to him! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Seeing Spots - If you look closely, the horns of my cute rhino have a polka dot pattern. The giraffe in this set is much more spotty, but I could resist the rhino :-) To ensure that polka dots were a clear feature of my card, I used some stripped jute ribbon to tie a balloon punched from Real Red Brights Designer Series Paper and punched with my balloon punch to the back of my party animal.

Party Animal - No party is complete without a party hat, right? My rhino is sporting one that he borrowed from the dinosaurs in the 'No Bones About It' stamp set. The 'happy birthday' sentiment on the front of my card is from the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set and is paired on the inside of my card with another great sentiment from this set 'Party Animal' - my rhino totally knows how to celebrate!

Tip Top Colour Combo - I chose Tip Top Taupe for my rhino today - warmer than grey yet still a true colour for this fun fella. I paired it with Bermuda Bay and Real Red for a pop of colour on my CAS card - here's my colour combo for you to save to use too:

I hope you like it - this is one of those cards that make me smile and I've been desperate to share all 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm also linking my card up today with the team over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is 'cute critters'. My rhino may not be warm and fluffy, but I think you'd have to agree he is definitely cute!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Zoo Babies Clear-Mount Stamp Set	No Bones About It Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Bouquet Punch	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon

A quick card today just in time for this week's sketch over at TGIF Challenge and also using the fun challenge over at Can You Case It? this week where you have to use black, white and one other colour:

I really like this sketch and haven't used a tag on a card in ages and when I saw the CYCI challenge I thought this would give me a great opportunity to break open my new 'Go Wild' DSP stack - here's my card:

I used Melon Mambo as my feature colour for the mat to frame the amazing zebra print paper, for my die cut sentiment and a pop of colour with the circle, cotton ribbon and the hearts (courtesy of my owl punch) floating up from my stamped zebra from the 'Zoo Babies' set. I used the ornate tag topper punch for my tag, cutting twice and layering one white on black for emphasis. I designed this card as a modern 'new baby' card, and was going to finish my 'hello' with 'sweet baby' stamped inside, but this was vetoed by everyone else in my household, all of whom liked the card but did not consider it suitable to welcome a baby - so a funky hello card it is then!

Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Ornate Tag Topper Punch	Greetings Thinlits Dies	Big Shot	Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack	Zoo Babies Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo 1/4" Cotton Ribbon	Owl Builder Punch
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Good morning blog readers - it's Wednesday so today I am definitely prepared and 'on the ball'! Today I'm sharing my Design Team card for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...!, where this week's colour palette is Subtles, featuring Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate and Island Indigo:

I decided these colours would make a nice baby card, as they are quite masculine and a change from traditional powder blue and got to work with my Zoo Babies stamp set and the above sketch layout from Seize the Sketch:

I used Smoky Slate for my card base and having stamped my animals on Whisper White in each of the challenge colours (I love how you can build little towers with them!) I mounted my animal panel on Island Indigo and for my offset layer I used a piece of Lost Lagoon cardstock which I embossed with the Alphabet Press embossing folder. Lastly, I stamped 'congratulations' from the Zoo Babies stamp set in island Indigo onto Whisper White and created a layered banner flag, finished off with a Basic Metal Buttton tied with retired Island Indigo baker's twine.

So that's what I chose to do with the colours. Why not pop over to the Colour Me...! blog for more colour inspiration and see what Hayley, Tara, Sherrie, Claire, Julia and Anja have done with these colours.

Back later with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Zoo Babies	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Alphabet Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Basic Metal Buttons
Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad
Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Good morning everyone! When I came to make my card for this week's Paper Players challenge, I decided that Anne Marie's colour challenge this week would be perfect for a baby boy card, so using this week's CAS(E) this Sketch layout, I set to work:

After much experimentation, I decided to keep it clean and simple - this is what I came up with:

I stamped the giraffe from the Zoo Babies set in Crushed Curry, then inked up the little toucan bird with my Stampin' Write markers and lined him up with my Stamp-a-ma-jig to look as if he was sitting on the back of the giraffe. I then added a little 'vintage' taffeta ribbon bow in Marina Mist to the giraffe and rounded one corner of the panel for interest. I stamped my sentiment in Marina Mist on a second panel in the same colour and used Smoky Slate as my base. I love this grey; it's so soft and subtle and for this card worked much better than the blue or yellow, which looked too overpowering. I then simply added a few scored lines towards the bottom of the card and rounded the corner to echo the shape of the Whisper White panel.

I made so many variations of this card, with various embossed elements and fancy tags, but in the end I didn't like any as much as this one - why is it sometimes the simplest designs are the most difficult to create? This card is destined for Ben's teacher at school, who has just finished teaching to begin her maternity leave. We don't know what she's expecting, so at some point I need to make a baby girl card too just in case, although Ben is convinced that she is bound to give birth to a boy - the testosterone levels of a class of 21 boys and one girl will have influenced from beyond the womb, he's convinced!

Do check out the challenge pages above for more design inspiration - there are some great examples from both the design teams and in the galleries. I am also linking my card up with Addicted to CAS where the challenge this week is 'Baby' - I'm hoping to find lots of ideas for my 'baby girl' alternative there!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Zoo Babies	A Dozen Thoughts	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Marina Mist A4 Card Stock
Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Envelope Punch Board	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad
Marina Mist Stampin Write Marker	Simply Scored

So today I'm sharing a card I made to welcome the latest addition to the family for some friends of mine - their fourth daughter (hence the title of my blog post today!) I decided to steer clear of the pastel pinks that are traditional for baby girl cards and go brighter; after all, when it's your fourth baby girl it's nice to ring the changes, right?! So here's my card:

I used the 'Zoo Babies' stamp set to create my montage of animals and based my colour scheme on the checked DSP from the 'Birthday Basics' set. I used paper piecing to highlight some of the animals' features, as opposed to colouring with marker, so that they would stand out against the bold patterned paper. I smiled to myself as Rebecca came to give my card her seal of approval and said "Are you going to add 'another' with your Raspberry Ripple marker Mum?" As you can see, I resisted the temptation!!

I'm linking today's card up with Less is More where the challenge this week is 'New Baby', the sketch challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch! and Addicted to CAS, where the challenge is 'New' - well, this card is for a new baby and was created with a new (to me!) stamp set, so I think that qualifies!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Zoo Babies	A Dozen Thoughts	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe
Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
3/16 Inch Corner Punch