Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

My card today started with the sentiment on the sketch, which immediately reminded me of the thank you sentiment in the 'Fabulous Four' stamp set. I decided to get an early start on my end of school year thank you cards - a long way off yet, but I will need lots of them this year so no time like the present! Here's my card:

The three key elements of today's card are as follows:

Fabulous Four stamp set - this is a stamp set with four large sentiments, three of which are two-line sentiments like the one on today's card. They are big, bold and fun and perfect if you want to make the sentiment the focal point of your card.

Owl Builder Punch - I haven't made an owl with my Owl Builder Punch for a while so I decided to take the flower element of the sketch and make it a scholarly owl, complete with spectacles, mortar board and shiny apple courtesy of a little Crystal Effects. I coloured him to co-ordinate with my chosen designer series paper - isn't he so cute?!

Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper - I used two of the papers from the Schoolhouse pack for my card today: the alphabet fitted in perfectly with my school theme and the stripes added some additional colour for the bottom portion of the card. I also added a piece of co-ordinating Tangelo Twist In-Colour Washi Tape beneath the sentiment as per the sketch; a small touch, but it does nicely emphasise the positioning of the owl.

Here's today's visual summary for easy reference:

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A quick post from me today as I've had a full-on busy day: each of the James Juniors has had a birthday party to attend today, followed by a swimming gala, the first for Ben at this venue. Both had great swims with some great personal best timings, so a god day had by all. Today's trio of cards are another entry for the Fab Friday challenge where in colours are the order of the day:

I wanted to create a card that use all five colours and decided to go with a simple design that showed off the fabulous new in-colour lace trim - take a look:

I used a card base of extra thick Whisper White cardstock, matted with an in colour (this one is Cucumber Crush), followed by a Whisper White panel embossed with the Large Dolka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing folder then a random colour pattern of dots using all of the in colours with the spot from the Work of Art stamp set. I finished with a co-ordinating piece of in colour lace trim, tied with a bow of white baker's twine. I wanted to make a couple of cards that were post-friendly and this lace trim is great for a non-bulky trim, however it also makes a beautiful bow - take a look at the Delightful Dijon bow below:

Isn't that just so pretty? I also made a post-friendly version in Watermelon Wonder: 

Since the outside is sentiment-free, I wanted to be sure to include one on the inside:

These are thank you cards destined for some of my customers so a big 'thank you' is definitely appropriate! Do you love this year's new in colours? Which one is your favourite? Do let me know in your comments below.

Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'! 

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	2015-2017 In Color A4 Cardstock & Classic Stampin' Pads Kit
Cucumber Crush 1" Dotted Lace Trim	Delightful Dijon 1" Dotted Lace Trim	Watermelon Wonder 1" Dotted Lace Trim	Whisper White Baker's Twine	Fabulous Four Clear-Mount Stamp Set

We are on the 'home run' towards the weekend and as it's Thursday that means time for a new challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary. This week we have a great sketch for you:

So many possibilities with this one! I decided to use up yet more of my hoarded DSP and showcase a whole host of retiring product on my card this week:

I've used both 'Back To Black' DSP along with a retiring in-colour, Strawberry Slush, and the Petal Potpourri stamp set and co-ordinating Flower Medallion punch, in colour sequins and Black chevron ribbon - all of which are either retiring or not carrying over into the new annual catalogue next week. Not so though for my sentiment stamp, which comes from the 'Fabulous Four' stamp set (I stamped it in black and coloured it in with my Strawberry Slush marker pen), the dazzling diamonds glimmer paper or the black bakers twine - these at least will still be available! 

I'm not generally a fan of black and white on a card in vast quantities, but when paired with a bright colour such as Strawberry Slush I think it really works - you could try this combo with lots of other colours and I am sure it would look great with some of the new in-colours!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you create with the sketch this week - do check out the cards made by the rest of the Design Team, there's a great variety as always!

I'm off to spend the day outdoors with friends today as we make the most of the milder weather that we've been experiencing this week; a picnic and some tree climbing is on the agenda - well, the latter for the youngsters at least!

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

Considering that today is Monday, I feel like I've lived half my week already! So a quick post from me to share one of the cards made in today's Blendabilties class.

We made a variety of cards with everyone using different colour pens so we ended up with a complete mix of finished pieces. This is one of the samples I made using the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities set - I think the yellows are my favourite! Here's my card:

All of the cards in this month's classes featured the Blended Bloom stamp and were quite simple in design, since the focus was on colouring the images and practising different blending techniques. For this card, we simply stamped the Blended Bloom flower onto an offset panel of Whisper White, coloured using Daffodil Delight and Skin tone (for the centre) Blendabilities and added the 'celebrate' sentiment from the Fabulous Four stamp set in Early Espresso and a taffeta ribbon bow in the same colour (this colour is now retired in this ribbon type but you could easily substitute with the new 1/4" cotton ribbon in the same colour). 

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Blended Bloom Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Fabulous Four Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Alcohol Marker Color Lifter	Early Espresso 1/4" Cotton Ribbon	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock