Happy Monday everyone! After a weekend out of action, I am feeling slightly better today and this morning had time to finish my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

I love Karren's sketch this week - wide open to interpretation. So much so, the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I used the same layout for my Paper Players card that I posted yesterday (you can see that card here if you missed it). I didn't link that one up as whilst I loved the end result I felt it wasn't really 'clean' enough to do Karren's sketch justice. Not the case for today's card though - take a look:

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

Slim Card Dies Trellis - The central panel of the sketch is perfect to showcase diecut detail; I used one of the Slim Card Dies in gold foil to create something that reminds me of a Moroccan trellis, cut down though to fit a standard sized card front. Just because the dies are made for slimline cards, doesn't mean they can't be used in this way too.  

Jewels of Colour - The colour scheme for today's card comes from the palette over at TGIF Challenges this week. This is not a trio of colours I would usually use together, but I thought they would make a rich blended backgound of graduated colour - the perfect backdrop for my trellis. As a bonus, I wanted to pick out elements of the trellis design with rhinestones or similar, and following a perusal of my collection found that the 2020-22 In Color Enamel Dots were perfect; two of the colours were spot on, and the Cinnamon Cider ones worked for the Soft Suede portion of my card where I only needed a couple because of my sentiment position (which I chose with this in mind). I think the addition of the enamel dots really makes a feature of the design:

Amazing Thanks - This is one of those rather rare no-stamping cards; I chose to use a layered 'thanks' diecut from the Amazing Thanks dies for my sentiment, layering gold foil onto Magenta madness layered with vellum to tone down the pink. These dies really are a keeper - so very useful! There will be some stamping on the inside of this card, but for the time being it's blank as I might use it for a specific type of thank you card. 

I really like this card and whilst this isn't a colour combo I would ordinarily have chosen (and in fact I originally made this card in an alternative colourway) I think it really makes it. I think it has a  very Aladdin and Arabian Nights vibe!

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 - I'm off to squeeze in a few jobs before heading out on the school run. Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SLIM CARD DIES (£55.00)	AMAZING THANKS DIES (ENGLISH) (£25.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SOFT SUEDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SOFT SUEDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge:

We have a great recipe for you this week and I can't wait to see what you cook up with it! I paired my ingredients with this week's colour palette over at Color Throwdown (gorgeous!) and the fabulous sketch over at Hand Stamped Sentiments (and thank you to these ladies for choosing my camper van card as one of their Artist's Picks for their last challenge; if you missed it you can see that card here). I decided to go with pretty florals and break open a set I've not had a chance to use yet - take a look:

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

Flowing Flowers - I decided to create some two-tone flowers using ink and sponge daubers to decorate my card. The 'Flowing Flowers' stamp set is perfect for stamping straight onto a card base, but I decided to stamp a few flowers and leaves and fussy cut them as I wanted to create a cluster that would accent my sentiment tag. I also curved them a little with my bone folder for added dimension. I also added an extra flower to pretty up the inside of my card:

I used a panel embossed with the painted texture embossing folder on the front of my card; I really like the look behind those blousy flowers:

Pastels - check. Embossing - check.

A Tailor Made Tag - The Tailor Made Tags Dies are great as gift tags; the smaller sizes made really neat sentiment tags on cards too and that's how I used mine today. And it enabled me to tick off another two recipe items: dies - check. Ribbon/twine - check (both!). 

And A Modern Day Sentiment - My tag also features the final item of this week's recipe - my sentiment. Whilst it doesn't overtly say 'thinking of you', I just love this sentiment from the 'Flowing Flowers' stamp set and is perfect to let someone know you are thinking of them in the old fashioned way, with something more meaningful than a text. I mean 'snail mail' is still a thing, right?! Thinking of you - check. Recipe complete! 

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

I love that one of my customers who I see fairly regularly still send me cards and such like in the post. I sometimes share them in my Facebook Group but she is not a Facebook user so doesn't get to see the lovely comments that get left. Here's a picture of one that I received this week, using the Floral Squares Dies that we both love:

Isn't that wonderful? It is always nice to receive something in the post; thank you Gill for this lovely card and to everyone else - if you're reading this and wondering when was the last time you sent a card instead of a text, make that your challenge the next time you pick up your phone. Any excuse for more crafting has to be good!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLOWING FLOWERS CLING STAMP SET (£24.00)	PAINTED TEXTURE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	TAILOR MADE TAGS DIES (£20.00)	FRESH FREESIA 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SOFT SUCCULENT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SOFT SEA FOAM CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)

This is my first post of a two-post Friday and I'm here with my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'World Kindness Day' which is on November 13th. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used flowers, pearls, embossing, heart, pastel colours and shimmer and this is what I came up with:

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

Floral Heart - I used my Floral Heart Die to cut my centrepiece out of Shimmery White cardstock and embellished it with some basic pearls that I coloured using my Fresh Freesia Blends to co-ordinate with my background.  

Parisian Shimmer - Alongside that fabulous detailed floral heart, there is even more shimmer to be had with a layer of Fresh Freesia shimmer vellum. I embossed it with my Parisian Flourish embossing folder - isn't that embossed detail amazing?! This isn't a folder I use often, but I thought it worked well with the design of today's card. I also added a open weave ribbon bow and some rhinestones and silver twine for added sparkle. 

A Sneak Peek - Finally, the sentiment I used on today's card is a 'sneak peek' from the new 'Eden's Garden' suite, an early release collection that will be available to order from the 2nd November, including some exclusive products that will only be available as part of the early release. I just love the words I used on the front of my card - they seem particularly appropriate to share on a card for World Kindness Day:

I hope you liked today's card - more details on the Eden's Garden Collection pre-release to follow.

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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team.

Ann Schach

Beth McCullough

Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Melanie Hungerford

Helen Jennings

Stephanie Lanzalotto

Melva Peters

Jaydee

Diane Evans

Joanne James

Enjoy your morning and I'll be back later with my project for the new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR SHIMMER VELLUM (£11.25)	FRESH FREESIA 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SHIMMERY WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)
RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)	FRESH FREESIA STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Felicita our fearless leader is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went with the first column with Friendship/Any Colour/Sentiment and decided to make a set of cards for my in-colour club using one of my favourite new bundles - take a look:

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

Sending Hugs - This is the second time I've used the Sending Hugs bundle - you can see my previous card here. Today's card is similar in layout, but today I went full-on monochrome, stamping the large floral cluster tone-on-tone before adding my diecut sentiment. This is a great way to use this stamp set if you don't want to do a lot of colouring of the individual elements. 

Layering Hugs Dies - The Layering Hugs Dies are so beautiful and really do all the work on this card to turn it into something special. I paired my 'HUGS' with a stamped 'sending you', this time cut with a little label die that also comes in the set - so useful! How pretty is the layering on this card?

In-Colour Club - Whilst Fresh Freesia is my personal favourite of the new 2021-23 In-Colours, I made this card in each of the new in-colours to include in last month's In-Colour Club packs. Here are some of the other colourways (minus Soft Succulent):

Do you have a favourite new in-colour? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SENDING HUGS BUNDLE (£41.25)

2021–2023 IN COLOR A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

2021–2023 IN COLOR CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£31.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

I've had a super busy day today but I managed to squeeze in a quick 30 minutes of crafting earlier to whip something up for Linda's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I've just time to quickly type this and link up under the wire:

I was intrigued by the wide open space and those small circles/dots and having spent best part of the last week mulling over my options this is what I eventually found time to make - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

 Whilst the sketch is a guide to be interpreted, I decided to 'stay small' with those dots and use them to showcase the pretty in colour Loose Flower Flourishes in the new catalogue. I paired them with some Fresh Freesia gingham from the Pansy Petals DSP pack and an oldie-but-goodie sentiment from 'Dressed to Impress', which I diecut with one of the new Scalloped Contours Dies and stamped in another of the new in-colours, Polished Pink. I also added a little ribbon behind and another pair of those flower embellishments - how pretty are they, right?! 

Since the front of my card was (relatively) understated, I went big with my sentiment on the inside and chose this one from 'Happiest of Birthdays':

This card was quite quick to put together, which was perfect since I was so strapped for time. It felt good to make just enough time to get it out of my head and onto paper - do you ever feel like 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. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOOSE FLOWER FLOURISHES (£7.00)	PANSY PETALS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	DRESSED TO IMPRESS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (£33.00)	POLISHED PINK 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fab Friday that celebrates Stampin' Up!'s new 2021-23 in colours: 

It also gave me the opportunity to play along over at TGIF Challenges this week as they are all about the Blends - love me some Blends!! I've been trying to find time to play along for over a week and had my idea ready, but life - and sunshine! - just got in the way! I couldn't resist going with the whole collection of colours on my card - take a look:

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

Sending Hugs - The 'Sending Hugs' bundle was one of the first on my new catalogue wishlist. With a variety of sentiment possibilities and everything from simple stamping to stepped-up card possibilities if you include the dies, along with some great colouring opportunities, this is the kind of set that appeals to me.  On today's card I used both the large 'hugs' stamp and the large die overlay and individual letters to create my card. Check out the lovely effect of the layering:

2021-23 In Colours - This year's in colour collection is a winner! Whether used individually or as a collective, these colours co-ordinate beautifully and alongside the existing Stampin' Up! colour families. This year's colour launch came with a fun quiz to determine which colour you most identified with; mine came out as 'Evening Evergreen' but on reading the descriptions I think I'm much more a 'Fresh Freesia'! If you would like to find out what colour you are, then hop on over to my Facebook page and have a go!

Beautiful Blends - I love a spot of colouring and this stamp is great for those who like to colour but don't consider themselves particularly skilled in the art. With lots of small areas, you don't have to be an expert at blending to get a good result. It works in loads of colourways and I am especially pleased that all of this year's new in colours have a Blends combo too!

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. 

If you're a fan of these in-colours and would like to add them to your collection, then my In-Colour Club may be of interest to you. You can read all about it here and I do still have one spot remaining in one of my clubs so if you would like to join, then do get in touch.

I like this card so much I have adapted it for the cards that will go out with my in-colour club this month - I will share those with you another time.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back later with another project - this week's card for our new challenge over at TicTacToe. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SENDING HUGS BUNDLE (£41.25)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	FRESH FREESIA STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
POLISHED PINK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	EVENING EVERGREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUCCULENT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PALE PAPAYA STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

With a new Stampin' Up! catalogue, new in-colours always feature on a new wish list - why wouldn't they? The new 2021-23 In Colors will be with us for the next 2 years and this year's in-colours are very on-trend and co-ordinate beautifully with each other and the other colours in the Stampin' Up! colour families:

To help you spread the cost and gradually grow your new in-colour collection, I am offering an in-colour club (UK customers only). It begins this month and runs for the next 5 months, up to and including September. Each month, you will receive a collection of products for one of the colours, with each month featuring a different colour. You will be sent a reminder on the 1st of the month, and your in-color club invoice will need to be paid by the 15th of the month in order that items can be ordered in good time.

Each month, you will receive: 

• 1/2 pack of A4 cardstock (12 sheets)
• 1/2 roll of 3/8" (1cm) In Color Open Weave Ribbon
• 1 ink pad
• 1 ink refill
• 1 Stampin' Write Marker
• 20 In Color Jewels
• Eight 6”X6” In-Color DSP sheets
• Two 6"x6" pieces In-Color Shimmer Vellum
• 20 Loose Flower Flourishes 
• A hand stamped card featuring your in-colour of the month

Since all of the colours are also available as Stampin' Blends, there is the option to add on a Stampin' Up! Blends Marker Combo Pack each month for an additional £8.50.   

Details:

Basic Pack Cost: £27 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month May through September. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Enhanced Pack Cost: £35.50 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month May through September. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Payment can be made by Paypal or bank transfer (or cash/cheque for local customers).

If you would like to join my new colour club this month, then you can email me to sign up here.

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I embraced the layers of Claire's sketch this week and decided to play with some more new goodies from the forthcoming 2021 Annual Catalogue to bring you another 'sneak peek' - this time featuring the Pansy Petals Suite - take a look:

This is what I affectionately like to call a 'kitchen sink' card - because it uses pretty much everything but the kitchen sink! It features three new in-colours: Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen and Polished Pink, along with the Pansy Patch stamp set and co-ordinating Pansy Dies, two different patterns of Pansy Petals designer series paper, some Polished Pink open weave ribbon and even a little gold Bumblebee trinket:

I wanted to get to grips with the layering of the pansy dies so this card was a great way to do that. I did go to town with my new goodies this week - I just couldn't help myself!! I'm linking today's card up with the team over at SUO Challenges where the theme is designer series paper; I really should have used it as an opportunity to use up some of my retiring paper, but when I came to make my card the pansies won out! Are you excited for the arrival of the new annual catalogue? Just over a week to go until it's here - copies will be going out in the post to everyone who has shopped with me in the last 6 months this week. If you would like a copy and you aren't on my mailing list, please get in touch. Meanwhile, I will have more goodbyes to retiring products to share this 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 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; I'll be spending mine in the garden enjoying the lovely weather that we've been lucky enough to experience here in the UK this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Wei has asked that we create something with the following layout:

 Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I wanted to showcase one of my most favourite retiring circles of all time, one of the circles from the Stitched Shapes Dies (unfortunately already out of stock and discontinued by the time you read this):

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

I chose to feature Magenta Madness as the colour with my black and white colour combo today for the current challenge over at Color Dare, but this card would work paired with any colour. I cut a partial circle from the front of my card and infilled it with a piece of window sheet, and added a stitched circle to the acetate panel. I added a sheet of In-Colour DSP with a circle pattern to the inside of my card so that a small portion of it could be seen through my cardfront. Whilst the outside of my card has plenty of white space, inside there's not so much! Wondering what I did with the piece of cardstock I removed to accommodate my window sheet? I flipped it and adhered it to the inside of my card to write my greeting:

 Waste not, want not and all that! I added a stacked birthday diecut from the retiring Well Written dies along with a stamped greeting from 'A Wish For Everything' to complete the front of my card:

Super simple but I really like it! What do you think? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to hear your thoughts!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WELL WRITTEN DIES (EN) (£37.00)	2020–2022 IN COLOR 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)
WINDOW SHEETS (£4.75)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	A WISH FOR EVERYTHING CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£36.00)