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 fun theme challenge for you to work with:

Cards for friends are the best kind to make and I had a few different cards made that fitted this theme, but decided to share a special card that I made for one of my best friends who is celebrating a milestone birthday next month. This card is also perfect for the #SUOC222 celebratory theme over at SUO Challenges this week. My card is is bright, sparkly and features one of her favourite things - butterflies. First of all, here's the outside:

A selection of butterflies, loosely watercoloured in Melon Mambo and Lovely Lipstick and painted with Wink of Stella, along with the bokeh stamp from the Beauty Abounds stamp set, were flicked with ink and white shimmer paint, along with a liberal sprinkle of white metallic sequins form the basis for the background to my extra-large cardfront (it measure 15cm x 21cm) which provide a colourful background for my focal sentiment, which I accented with some layered diecut butterflies cut using pieces of the main large die in the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits set.

The Beauty Abounds stampset has such great sentiments for friendship cards; this one is completed on the inside of my card along with a fun pop-up surprise:

My simple pop-up includes the whole of the large butterfly thinlit, layered in black over Lovely Lipstick foil (ssaved from Sale-A-Bration). Difficult to photograph well, but it's really impressive in real life and I know my friend will love it! I added the second part of the sentiment; ours is indeed a friendship over many years, that started with the birth of our first babies but has grown in to something much more - it is not that one thing but a million little things that keep it going as the years go by.  I included some sparkly numbers (there comes a time when a milestone birthday is worth celebrating but does not necessarily need to be seen on the front of the card in my view!) along with a little more decoration and a birthday sentiment from the 'Beautiful Day' set that the watercoloured butterfly on the front also came from. 

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:

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; we had a busy day yesterday with sport and a quick shopping trip for new school shoes for the youngest of the James Juniors who seems to be having a major growth spurt this year, (no blog post as I got too engrossed in a movie about Ted Bundy that I was watching last night and struggled to multi-process) so are looking forward to a slightly quieter one today, which will culminate with the final episode of the current season of 'Line of Duty' on TV tonight; any of my UK readers also looking forward to this 'who dunnit?' finale? We are also lucky to have a public holiday here in the UK this weekend, so will be making the most of the extra day tomorrow even though the weather is no great shakes - it's cold and showery and we even had hail yesterday! I'll be back then with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle (£51.25)	Beautiful Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Metallics Sequin Assortment (£4.75)
Silver Metallic Thread (£3.25)	Watercolor Paper (£4.75)	Aqua Painters (£16.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my wonderful friend Claire's turn to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I love Claire's palette of bold, bright colours and took the opportunity to use some of my new pre-order products that have been bursting to get out of the box and create a card for a friend that uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch layout - take a look:

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

A Sentiment That Says It All - I chose to feature the largest sentiment in the new 'Lovely Friends' stamp set on the front of my card today. This is a stamp set choc-full of heartfelt sayings to put on a card to your very best friend (or friends - why stop at one?!) and this one is pretty much a card in itself. I incorporated the colours in a few added florals from the same set and the layering and banners behind, yet it is the sentiment that does all the work here. 

A Hidden Surprise - I could have stopped there; instead I chose to use the co-ordinating Lovely Laurel Thinlits Dies to create a fun pop-up inside my card. When you open this card, this is what you see:

Isn't that just such a fun surprise? These thinlits are really easy to use and make light work of creating this impressive pop-up feature. I love the flowing script of the banner font too and the subtle embossed detail on the banner itself.

There's Nothing Blue About This Card - Ok, well other than the card itself, of course! I chose to use Tempting Turquoise as my dominant colour of those in Claire's palette today and I think it really allows the red and orange to pop and the lovely green laurel wreath to shine. This is one of those truly uplifting cards that is guaranteed to raise a smile - or maybe even a 'wow' when opened up and the surprise inside is revealed. I think this card is cheeriness in an envelope!

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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Happy Mother's Day to my fellow team mates and all my lovely readers who are stateside and have had to wait until today to celebrate and be celebrated; Mother's Day in the UK is in March and already seems like so long ago. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I have a quiet few hours this afternoon so am going to get some things prepared to share with you next week in the hope that my normal blog schedule will be resumed. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Lovely Friends Photopolymer Bundle	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch

Today I'm sharing the third and final card from my second of this month's technique class featuring the very on-trend Jar of Love stamp set and co-ordinating Everyday Jars Framelits Dies. Each of the ladies received the bundle and as always I was on a mission to use as wide a variety as possible of the stamps in this set to showcase its versatility.

This card is a lovely freestanding pop-up card that was inspired by this card created by Lou Kitzelman. I loved it so much I had to have a go at making my own so here's my version:

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

Jar of Flowers - Here I've used the Jar of Love set to create a jam jar full of pretty flowers. I love the little flowers in this set and the co-ordinating Everyday Jar Framelits make light work of cutting them out. Each flower is done in a single colour, with the base flower stamped off once to give the contrast with the smaller piece. I chose a mix of purples, pink and orange for my little posy - feel free to hover and pin this colour combination if it's one that appeals to you too:

Kraft Hardwood Table - I used some retired pre-embossed kraft cardstock in my class, however by stamping the Hardwood stamp in Versamark and clear embossing on plain kraft cardstock you can achieve a similar woodgrained effect for your 'table' base.

Another Fun Fold - This freestanding pop-up card is easier to re-create than it looks. It is a great statement card that also folds completely flat for postage which is always a bonus. 

Here's a quick step-by-step tutorial should you wish to have a go:

Freestanding Pop-Up Jar of Love card - Metric Version

Using the diagram below as your guide:

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. 

The Jar of Love and Everyday Jars Framelits bundle is another of those that has just has so many creative possibilities! If you haven't bought yours yet, this month would be the perfect time to do so; if you purchase the bundle at £48.50 you will earn yourself a £4.50 money-off coupon any purchases next month too - bargain! Just click on the links below to hop on over to my online store to order yours today - and don't forget to add this month's hostess code 63RNATE3 to get a little thank you in the post from me too.

I'll be back tomorrow with the second of the cards from my Jar of Love class; come back then, you won't want to miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Jar Of Love Photopolymer Bundle	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp	Kraft 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock	Versamark Pad
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Tags & Labels Framelits Dies	Sweet Sugarplum 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon

I've had a busy day today with both my first Technique Class of the month and my monthly Project Life Memory Keeping Class. Today's card though is all about tomorrow; it's the card that we will be making at my Drop-in Coffee and Card morning at Bell of Northampton. This week we will be making a pop up card using the Party Pop-Up Thinlits - take a look:

I've featured a card front similar to this one on my blog previously (you can read the detail here) - for this one though the fun happens on the inside:

I used one of the fun Party Pop-Up Thinlits for a surprise inside greeting, cut out of Whisper White and coloured with my Stampin' Write markers to co-ordinate with the front of my card. Added gold Wink of Stella for the candle flames, of course!

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 would love you to join me at Bell's tomorrow between 10-12 (you can find a reminder of the full details here) - hope to see you there!

I will be back tomorrow with one of the cards from today's technique class featuring the Rose Wonder bundle and the new, final set of Weekly Deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Party With Cake Clear-Mount Bundle	It's My Party Enamel Dots	Gold Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	2015-2017 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Many Marvelous Markers
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Party Punch Pack

Today I'm sharing my Design team card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players. This week LeAnne is hosting and she has a clean and simple challenge to create a child's birthday card this week:

Those of you who follow LeAnne's blog, Wee Inklings, regularly will know that today young Miss Cassidy is celebrating her fourth birthday - hooray! having seen the other Design Team members cards this week, I can vouch for the fact that mine looks quite different to everyone else's! My cards today are not made with four year old girls in mind (nowhere near enough pink for that!) however as the mother of two young children, I make lots of children's cards. Whilst they are sometimes stamped, I am often asked to make something that reflects the current favourite game/toy/theme of the moment. Those of you who follow my blog will know I am partial to Lego and have created some great Lego punch art in the past (see my most recent one here), although this can be time-consuming and not all that clean and simple. Today though I am sharing two of my tried and tested punch art cards for young boys.

First I am sharing another of Ben's birthday cards from last week; this time, the one I made for him from his big sister. Now as is true for most young boys of his age, Minecraft is a game that provides hours of endless entertainment for him. I've made a few creeper cards that I haven't shared previously (creepers are the monsters that come out at night and take your life, so I'm told) - they really are so easy to make! - but I thought I'd share this one, as after a browse on Pinterest I saw this card and decided I wanted to make a creeper card with a difference. Here's the outside of my card:

A simple creeper face made from 1" punched squares, along with 2 pieces of 1" x 1 1/2", one cut in half lengthways, on a background of now retired Gumball Green (I think this is the best creeper colour, but you could substitute with Garden Green if you don't have any), then when you open the card, he really comes to life:

A simple pop-up - how fun is that?! This must be a record in terms of supplies, given that you can make one of these cards with some basic cardstock and not much else; it's also another 'no stamping' card - that's two in a week! Now I have to admit, as cards go it's not really my cup of tea, but then I'm not the target audience. The verdict? Rebecca thought it was awesome and Ben loved it, so if it ticks the box of the now seven year old, it's good enough for me!

I also wanted to share another clean and simple birthday card that I have made so many of, I can't quite believed I've never blogged before! All children seem to love shaped cards, and this cute Angry Bird is so easy to create using a few punches and a base made using the Circle Thinlits and the Big Shot:

A custom envelope from some co-ordinating Brights DSP made using the Envelope Punch Board and you are good to go. Two cards that are really clean and simple, quick and easy. Do pop over to The Paper Players to see what the other designers have come up with - I promise they will be quite different to mine!

It's Sunday and I'm off to town today to collect some frames for a private home décor class I'm teaching tomorrow along with a visit to the shoe shop for new trainers and school shoes for the children in readiness for the new school year. Still two more weeks to go, yet I'm sure it will fly by.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

1" Square Punch	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Sweetheart Punch	1 Inch Circle Punch	3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Chevron Border Punch
Real Red A4 Card Stock	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen