Just a quick creative post from me today following on from my earlier share about the 'Everything Is Rosy' limited edition product medley that is coming later in the week (you can read all about that here if you missed it). I'm sharing a quick card that I made at the weekend that was initially inspired by last week's CASology challenge theme of 'Africa' (now closed but you can check out their amazing gallery here) that inspired me to use up some of my epic stash of retired designer series papers with this rather intriguing sketch from the CAS Colours and Sketches team:

So here is my card: 

A selection of 'Go Wild' retired animal print papers, inset beneath a trio of apertures cut using my rectangle stitched framelits dies and a sentiment from the retiring 'A Little Wild' stamp set - that's all there is to it! It definitely felt good to use up some of those retired papers too.

I'm also linking up my clean and simple card with the team over at Addicted To CAS where their current theme is 'contrast' and I think my varied animal skin-inspired prints are definitely that!

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'll be back tomorrow with another project and compared to today's you might need sunglasses for it - bright is the word! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

A Little Wild Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)

With the birth of a Royal baby yesterday, a second son and third child for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, it seemed only fitting today to share a card to welcome the arrival of a baby boy to the world that fits perfectly for the following challenges: 

I used both the sketch and photo inspiration over at Fusion and coloured my sweet baby elephant with my Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends for the challenge over at StampInkPaper - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Little Wild Elephant - The little animals in the 'A Little Wild' stamp set are just the cutest and so perfect for a card to welcome a new arrival. Today's card just had to feature the elephant, given the Fusion photo inspiration; I also used a strip of retired designer series paper (from the A Little Foxy DSP stack) for my horizontal strip as it was perfect to tie my colours in together. 

It's All In The Curve - I decided to curve my sentiment to follow the line of my layered circle, so chose to use the 'congratulations' stamp from the Beautiful Bouquet set. It's photopolymer which means that even though it is a straight stamp, it is flexible enough to be moulded to an alternative shape.  

Fun On The Inside - One of the cute features of the 'A Little Wild' animal stamps is that as they are designed to work as a gift tag, they include both front and back of the animals. This doesn't preclude them from being used on cards - in fact, it's a fun way to decorate both the front and back of your envelope and the inside of your card. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set, a strip of left over DSP and a cute enamel heart  - and for once, I remembered to take a photograph to share it with you! Here it is:

How sweet is that?! The blues could easily be switched out for pinks to make a girl card with the same details - an idea for another day, perhaps!

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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Little Wild Clear-Mount Bundle (£38.50)	A Little Wild Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)	Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£32.00)	2-1/4" (5.7 Cm) Circle Punch (£16.00)	Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Subtles Enamel Shapes (£8.25)	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

It's Sunday, I'm back after my two week vacation and excited to be back with my lovely team over at The Paper Players! This week we are all about team here at The Paper Players: the lovely Laurie was due to host this week but has unfortunately had to deal with a family bereavement and needed some time out so I am lending a helping hand. Laurie has done all the hard work and has designed a fun tic-tac-toe board to challenge us all as it's the fifth week of the month; I am picking up with the comments and visits to your blogs and get the honour of choosing this week's top pick. So, without further ado, here is this week's challenge board:

When considering my make for today, I just knew I would have to include the option of 'diecut' since I consider Laurie to be the absolute queen when it comes to diecutting, her creativity knows no bounds. I decided to go down the first vertical column and took the opportunity to make a baby card using the current sketch over at Fab Friday - it turns out I also fulfilled the bottom horizontal row too - take a look:

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

A Little Wild - So how adorable is that little elephant?! I know - he is off the cuteness scale, for sure! He comes from the stamp set 'A Little Wild' and is part of a trio that includes a sweet bear and a lion too that is perfect for baby makes. The best part though? He is actually double-sided; each animal comes with a front and back and the co-ordinating Little Loves Framelits Dies will cut both pieces out as one, enabling them to be used as a gift tag too. I actually cut my elephant away here as I just wanted to the front, but I couldn't resist adding the reverse to the inside of my card:

Blue For A Boy - I decided to use a piece of the Bundle of Love Specialty Designer Series Paper for the blue for my card; it was tough not to use the gorgeous gold embossed foil pattern on the reverse, however I did use the Soft Sky/Very Vanilla/Gold colour combination to bring the elements of my card together. I added some subtle Soft Sky shading to my elephant using ink and a blender pen just to give him a little more depth and dimension.

Touches Of Gold - I wanted to add a touch of luxury to my card, the birth of a baby is a special occasion after all, and inspired by the designer series paper, added in a few gold elements - a die cut, layered scalloped circle, gold natural trim ribbon, some gold heat embossing and metallic enamel dots - to finish. 

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. 

I just love this card and can't wait to make a pink one for a girl and some co-ordinating packaging adorned with little elephant tags too!

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 our board this week. All of the Design Team love it when your return our visits and leave a friendly blog comment or two, however this week more than most it would be great if you could pop by Laurie's blog at Stampin' Up North and leave her a little Paper Players love - I know she would appreciate it. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend; I have some trampolining to attend to (watching not bouncing thankfully!) and some preparation for the first of this month's technique classes on Tuesday.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Little Wild Clear-Mount Bundle	Bundle Of Love Specialty Designer Series Paper	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Natural Trim
Metallic Enamel Shapes	Gold Foil Sheets	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Blender Pens