This is my second post for today - if you missed the first one, be sure to go back and read that one here! It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Bhavya is hosting this month, we have a new guest designer and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to use a new set that has yet to make it out of the box: What's Cookin'. I used the sketch layout over at Paper Craft Crew as my starting point and created a fun mix of utensils for my card - take a look:

I backed my utensils with a square of Rich Razzleberry for impact and fussy cut my sentiment and added a trio of enamel dots to finish:

I love to cook so this is a fun set for me, although I do find it mildly amusing that the saucepans are so small relate to the size of the bowl and knife, for example - creative license I guess!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WHAT'S COOKIN' CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Holly is hosting this month and our final challenge this month is a sketch challenge featuring stripes: 

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I was also inspired by the photo inspiration over at Just Us Girls and the similar nautical theme over at Festive Friday (I chose blue, red and twine) to create another clean and simple congratulations card using my whale builder punch - take a look:

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

I flipped the colours in the bottom-right JUGS inspiration photo and added a simple navy blue punched whale to a set of red and white cardstock stripes. with a sentiment from the 'Whale Done' stamp set and this time adding a cute mortar board to my whale since once again exam congratulations are in order. To create my mortar board, I handcut a diamond shape from black cardstock and added it to a small rectangle then threaded some basic black twine through it and secured at the back before unravelling it to create my tassel

The tassel was the fussiest part of today's card, which otherwise is super clean and simple. Great for a masculine congratulations card I'm thinking - nothing too fussy!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

Enjoy your day; I'll be dodging the thunderstorms! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WHALE PUNCH (£17.00)	WHALE DONE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Holly is hosting this month and our this week's challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to use the sketch over at Fusion for my layout, but instead of going with graphic blues, I chose ombre greens for a 'get well soon' card featuring an out-of-sorts tortoise - take a look:

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

I used some retired paper that featured the challenge colours to create a background frame to compliment my tortoise, leaving the central panel clear with nothing other than my one word sentiment to leave all the focus on my sweet upside-down tortoise that I coloured with a combination of Stampin' Write Markers and Blends in the appropriate colours: 

I love the fun expression on this tortoise's face, and it pairs perfectly with the remainder of the sentiment that I stamped on the inside of my card: 

I made this card for a dear friend of mine who was out walking her sweet terrier dog when she was literally bowled over by an over-enthusiastic labrador that resulted in her falling to the ground to the sound of a loud 'crack' and a broken leg. Following surgery she is now confined to a wheelchair for at least the next 6 weeks, so this card seemed quite fitting and will hopefully raise a smile through the frustration she is most certainly feeling  at the moment.

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BACK ON YOUR FEET CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	PEAR PIZZAZZ A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	2020–2022 IN COLOR STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS (£13.75)	REGALS STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS (£27.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Holly has asked that we include a diamond shape on the front of our card:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

Holly's layout was perfect for the idea I had for my Card Concept card for their summer challenge too - check out that gorgeous inspiration photo! I was particularly taken with that tricolour whale in the inspiration photo but was also inspired by the white starfish and sand dollars, and the wavy design and texture of the white cushion in the background to create my clean and layered card today - take a look:

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

I stamped my whale in Night of Navy onto both Basic White and Balmy Blue, then used my whale punch to punch out the various pieces and then pieced them together to create my fun whale. I positioned it on a square of (retired) Whale of a Time designer series paper featuring ombre waves and added some punched water from the same paper above the whale's blowhole.

I layerered this square onto a white square embossed with the (retired) Seabed embossing folder; you can't see much of this detail, but it has lots of little starfish, coral, seaplants and such on it and it adds a nice additional detail. I added another piece of the whale paper to create an ombre border between my base layers and finished with a 'whale done!' sentiment from the stamp set of the same name. 

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. 

A friend's daughter just graduated from university with a First in Psychology, so this card will be making it's way to her with our congratulations - I know she will appreciate the punny sentiment! With my own daughter and her friends having sat GCSEs and a few more friends having sat A-Levels this year, I'm going to be needing a few more congratulations cards in the coming weeks, so I think I need to get cracking!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WHALE DONE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)

WHALE PUNCH (£17.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. It's a new month and Holly is hosting and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

These colours made me think of autumn so for my card today I pulled out an old favourite and set to work - take a look:

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

Celebrate Sunflowers - These colours really reminded me of sunflowers so I pulled my 'Celebrate Sunflowers' set from the shelf and set to work. I didn't want to have any leaves on my flower, so I decided to focus on the large image and stamp it in a neutral Early Espresso. I couldn't decide whether to go with white or a more natural Crumb Cake for my base, so I made one of each.  I love the detail on this large bloom and also added a partial stamp in Crushed Curry to decorate the inside of my card too: 

Colour Blocking - I used a technique called 'colour blocking' on my card today. I stamped the sunflower once onto cardstock in each of the three challenge colours, then using my rectangle stitched framelits I cut each image into three identical rectangles and then mixed the pieces to create three, pieced images using one piece of each of the three blocks of colour, hence the name. This is a great technique for clean and simple cards. 

Added Texture - Since I had three more pieces, I created a third card, this time using a Crumb Cake base and this time I added some dry embossing using my Tasteful Textile embossing folder to the base of my card - you can hopefully see the subtle added detail below:

Here's a photo of all three versions together - which one is your favourite?

I'm also linking my cards up over at Inspire.Create today where they are looking for thank you cards. I will be sending these cards out in the post to my Stampin' Up! customers - so if you'd like to receive one, head on over to my Stampin' Up! store by clicking on the links below!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CELEBRATE SUNFLOWERS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£22.00)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. It's Shannon's last challenge this month and since it's the fifth Tuesday of the month we have a double - a trio of retired colours and an old sketch to be used together:

I was struggling to work out what to do with this trio of colours this week, then I had a brainwave - and ended up making not one but two cards! Both of which feature some cute party puffins - here's the first one: 

I substituted Peekaboo Peach for Peach Parfait, as I don't have this colour. I used the peach for my base and added Tangerine Tango banners on both cards, then stamped my puffin and cake onto a scalloped edge diecut piece, incorporating the pink into the icing on my cake and added a heat-embossed sentiment:

I chose another of the puffin images for my second card:

How cute is that little goldfish present he's holding?!

I also added a little detail to the inside of both cards:

So which one of these is your favourite? Here's a photo of them together:

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

I'm a little late posting today; I have spent the last couple of days recovering form my second Covid jab, which truly knocked me for six. I'm thankfully feeling much better today and am now fully vaccinated, so it was worth it! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PARTY PUFFINS CLING STAMP SET (£19.00)

SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (£33.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Shannon has asked that we add three similar shapes to a panel across the centre of our card. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to go pastel with pale blue and yellow which is the current colour challenge over at Less Is More and I created a pretty row of punched flowers backed with gingham - take a look:

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

The flowers on today's card are courtesy of the new 'Flowers of Friendship' stamp set. I stamped them in Basic Grey onto So Saffron cardstock and added a little extra tone-on-tone shading with my So Saffron Blends. I punched the two different-sized flowers with the co-ordinating Flowers & Leaves Punch and layered a row of three against a simple stitched rectangle of Balmy Blue gingham, finishing the centre of each with pale blue pearls. I added a sentiment from the same set to complete my card.

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLOWERS OF FRIENDSHIP BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£33.25)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	PASTEL PEARLS (£6.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Shannon is hosting this month and this week we have another colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to highlight a stamp set that will soon be leaving us, but you might not have even noticed in the January-June mini catalogue. Do you recognise this flower?

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

Suite Sampler - The flower stem on today's card looks like the flowers in the Art Gallery stamp set that is part of the Fine Art Florals Suite, and don't worry - those stamps have been carried over to the annual catalogue so they're not leaving anytime soon! - but it actually comes from the exclusive host set, Suite Sampler. This stamp set has a selection of images, each of which co-ordinates with one or other of the suites that feature in the mini catalogue. I really like this double-blossomed stem; not only does it give more mileage to my Art Gallery set, but it is also great for clean and simple cards. This set will retire at the end of the month, so if you like it you still have time to put in a big order or gather some orders between friends and earn the hostess rewards needed to be able to add it to your shopping basket. 

Ink Blending - I loved Shannon's colour choices this week and I thought the Mango Melody and Polished pink would make a lovely two-tone flower, so I used a combination of ink, Stampin' Write markers direct to stamp and a sponge dauber to gently apply the ink and blend the colour. I loved the effect so much, I cleaned my stamp and repeated the stamping, both on my envelope and the inside of my card:

Just To Say - I paired my flower with a negative 'just to say' cut using the large single die in the Floral Gallery Dies set. I will pair it with a stamped sentiment on the inside of my card from the Art Gallery set but for the time being I have left it blank so that I can stamp it to suit when my card is needed. Don't you just love that Polished Pink peeking through?

I really like the simplicity of this card - if I can find the time I'm going to make a few more in alternative colours. It's a great one to have on standby so that the greeting can be adapted as needed.

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SUITE SAMPLER CLING STAMP SET (£12.00)	FLORAL GALLERY DIES (£32.00)	POLISHED PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
MANGO MELODY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Apologies that I'm a little later going live with my post this week - I'm blaming the sunshine! This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Shannon has asked that we use a trio of shapes to anchor a horizontal strip. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to go pink and create something that suits the 'Beach' challenge over at Addicted to CAS too - take a look:

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

Sketch Liberties - I did take a couple of liberties with Shannon's sketch this week: I decided to use 2 shells and a stitched circle for my trio of shapes and instead of using 3 shells and adding my sentiment to the horizontal panel, I stamped it onto my stitched circle. This was primarily because I wanted to use this specific sentiment and it fitted better on a circle! The basic elements of the sketch are all visible though and it's easy to see how it inspired my card. I used another of the sentiments from the 'Friends Are Like Seashells' stamp set on the inside of my card - this set has such lovely sayings:

A Question of CAS - I used a piece of Sand and Sea designer series paper for the horizontal panel of my card. There is a school of thought that says DSP shouldn't be used on a CAS card, however this patterned paper lover is of the view that it's ok if it's used sparingly, and there is still plenty of 'white space' on the remainder of the card and other general rules of clean and simple card making, such as minimal layers and embellishments are also adhered to. What do you think? Is there a place for DSP on a CAS card? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Monochromatic Pink - One of my favourite techniques to maintain a CAS feel to a card is to use a monochromatic colour scheme. Today's card used the Flirty Flamingo pink that features in my patterned paper. I stamped my sentiment in it and heat embossed my sand dollar and starfish in white onto Flirty Flamingo cardstock, adding varying degrees of sponged white kraft ink to mute it and create some subtle colour variation. A trio of tiny (retired) white and pink faceted gems complete my card:

I am also linking up today's card over at Less Is More where it's lucky dip week and they are asking us to feature our favourite CAS card technique - I think using a monochromatic colour scheme is a useful technique when creating a clean and simple card (I'm just hoping they think there's enough white space to justify that DSP - the LIM team have high CAS standards!)

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. 

Right - off to prepare the dinner prior to the school run, piano lessons and an extra hockey match on the schedule today - thank heavens for in-car air conditioning! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£24.00)

SAND & SEA 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Shannon is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided these colours would be perfect to re-create those beautiful lilacs in the Inspired By challenge photo ... but I have no lilac stamps! So what to do? I decided to get creative - take a look:

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

When Is A Hydrangea Not A Hydrangea? - When it's a lilac, of course! I decided that the die with the row of four-petal flowers in the Hydrangea Dies set would be perfect to create some lilac blossom too. I diecut a whole bunch of them in Fresh Freesia cardstock and added a little Fresh Freesia ink to the edges of some with a sponge dauber and added some Gorgeous Grape ink to others, along with a dot in the centre of each. 

A Stem Trick - The main thing that distinguishes a lilac blossom is its triangular shape. In order to get the shape I wanted, I used the berry die from the Poinsettia dies set and stuck two together to create a triangle shape, then added my petals to the berries. I love the way there is a hint of green peeking through between the petals, as it would with an actual lilac blossom in real life. I added a couple of Pierced Blooms leaves for some added extra greenery.

A Foray Into Stencils - I've seen so many wonderful examples of stencilling on cards recently I decided to dig out mine that I haven't used for ages and used an old one to create a background that mimics the shape of the Inspired By sketch to add some pale green dots, fading out from the bottom corner of my card. I finished with a sentiment from the Hydrangea Haven stamp set in Gorgeous Grape. Check out the detail on those blossoms - so pretty!

So what do you think? Did my hydrangea turned lilac tick the creative box? Do you ever look at your dies and see a different purpose for them?

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Edited to add: I was the winner over at Inspired By with this card!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HYDRANGEA HAVEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	PIERCED BLOOMS DIES (£34.00)	POINSETTIA DIES (£33.00)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SOFT SUCCULENT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SOFT SUCCULENT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)