It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players and this week we have a colour challenge for you and I am the hostess! Stampin' Up!'s 2013-15 In Colours will soon retire on the 2nd June, to make way for five new In-Colours in the new annual catalogue. Whilst we still have them though, I thought this week we would showcase three of my personal favourites:

I'd like to take this opportunity to give a big shout-out to the fabulous Nance Leedy, who makes all of our challenge badges and does so much to ensure our weekly challenges run smoothly - Nance, you rock! - didn't she do a great job on my challenge badge this week? I used the sketch layout over at The Challenge for the layout of my card this week, and decided to go floral with my chosen colours - here's my card:

I have had the 'Hey There Buds' stamp set for edges and been dying to ink it up, so decided that today was the day! I used Coastal Cabana for my card base, then created a split mat panel of Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana, which I embossed with the large polka dot embossing folder. I matted my central panel of Whisper White on Coastal Cabana too (having rounded the corners of both pieces with my Project Life corner rounder), then on my piece of white I stamped the whole image in Pistachio Pudding, with the exception of the sentiment which I inked up separately with my Coastal Cabana Stampin' Write marker. I then stamped the whole image again on scrap cardstock in Strawberry Slush and fussy cut each of the blooms and stuck these onto the focal panel. I also stamped the central section of the open flower on a scrap of white in Coastal Cabana, and fussy cut around the spiky white section before adhering to the main image. I then added a blob of Crystal Effects to the blue flower centre for some extra dimension. I added a piece of Coastal Cabana ribbon (from the Sale-A-Bration Best Year Ever accessory set) and a white button tied with some split Strawberry Slush thick baker's twine to finish, before popping this panel onto the base using dimensionals.

So a little fussy cutting required, but it enabled me to get a more solid image than selectively colouring the image using markers and I think it was worth it. So before you reach for your paper and inks, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I hope you like today's project - I'm so looking forward to see what you create with my chosen colour palette - I look forward to seeing your cards and projects in our gallery this week.

I'm off on an all day team training day today, which promises to be fun. I then have two days of classes to look forward to. The James juniors are back to school on Tuesday after the Easter holiday and whilst I will be sorry to see them go, it should at least mean that normal blogging will resume shortly thereafter. This week the call of the warmer weather here in the UK was simply too much and we spent our week outdoors; with the exception of making the samples for next week's classes, my ink pads have remained firmly shut!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hey There Buds Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Project Life Corner Punch	Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine
Neutrals Designer Buttons	2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana
Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for March 4AHTZQVW and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Envelope Punch Board
Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper	Regals Designer Series Paper Stack	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock

My all-time favourite product in there, the Envelope Punch Board - an absolute bargain at only £13.46 - and also some great offers on paper. I used the Gold Soiree paper on the card I shared on Monday - see it here - and you can stock up on A4 cardstock in two of the soon-to-be-retiring 2013-15 In-colours. Cardstock, along with markers, ink pads and re-inkers in Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar are all set to leave us at the end of May and are usually the first things to run out when the list of retiring products from the current catalogue are announced, so if these colours are favourites of yours, stock up now before it's too late.  

This is the last opportunity you will have this year to place an order where your Weekly Deals purchases can go towards earning a free Sale-A-Bration product with a spend of £45. There are a whole host of catalogue and exclusive products that you can receive free with a £45 order - see them all on the links in the side bar on the right hand side.

Here is a card I made with one of the free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, called 'A Happy Thing':

This is a card I made a few weeks ago and haven't yet shared with you, which in addition to the lemon stamp also features one of the patterns in the Best Year Ever DSP pack, another exclusive Sale-A-Bration item. If these or any other Sale-A-Bration items are on your wish list, you have only 7 more days to acquire them. So what are you waiting for? I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Marie. Until then, happy shopping!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Happy Thing Clear Stamp Set	Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Blender Pens

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for January (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right) and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Basic Black Baker's Twine	Beach House Designer Washi Tape	Box Of Chocolates Kit - Digital Download
Chalk Talk Framelits Dies	Gold Basic Metal Buttons	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Skin Tone Assortment	Tangerine Tango Baker's Twine

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for December (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right) and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Banner Punch	Banners Framelits Dies	Jingle And Joy Kit - Digital Download
Mini Metallic Clothespins	Ticket Duo Punch	Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons	Window Frames Collection Framelits Dies

A great mixed bag of delights today - everything from In-Colour markers, to punches, framelits and embellishments. Race you to the store! Back shortly with today's creative post - until then, happy shopping!

Today I thought I would share with you the Christmas star wreath I made at my class yesterday. I used the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper for my version, which looks like this:

I layered a circle of Lost Lagoon flat stars, cut out with my Stars framelits, onto my wreath base, then cut 12 stars out of the All Is Calm Speciality DSP for the 3D stars. Each of these stars was scored from the point to the opposite side then pinched together to create the dimension and once glued to the wreath base, finished with a selction of Brights, Neutrals, Subtles and silver buttons:

To finish, a length of the luxurious In-Colour Lost Lagoon satin ribbon to create a bow and hanging loop:

You can see another example of this wreath made with the Under The Tree Speciality DSP over on my Facebook page - it looks lovely in the kraft and more traditional, red, greens and browns, so do check it out. I have another of these classes next week where the ladies will be making them using other papers of their choice.

I hope you like today's project; this is going to be my indoor wreath as it matches my dining room colours perfectly; I have another two wreaths to share with you in coming weeks, so if home decor is your thing, keep an eye out for the other versions!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Stars Framelits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform
Lost Lagoon 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Simply Scored	Mini Glue Dots	Basic Metal Buttons	Brights Designer Buttons
Subtles Designer Buttons	Neutrals Designer Buttons

I've had a fun day today with my monthly card class. Classes take a lot of thought and preparation, but I can honestly say I laugh so much with this fun bunch of ladies it so makes it all worthwhile! Today's class was all about getting to know new stamp sets, colours and tools from the new catalogue and I thought I would share one of the cards we made using the Work of Art stamp set and the new 2014-16 in-colours. Here is the card in question:

I based the design for my card on one I'd seen on Pinterest using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (I didn't pin it though and now can't find the link - apologies!) and  coupled the stripe and heart from the Work of Art set with one of my favourite vintage 'Happy Day' stamps (I have a new catalogue 'replacement' for this on order, but I'm not ready to part with this one yet!) Quite a simple design but tricky to line up and make everything look even without loosing the natural 'swiped' look; the main reason I'm sharing it though is because of all the cards we made today, this one not only raised a smile - it had us in stitches! I wish I had taken my camera as there were some lovely variations on the basic idea and everyone using a different colour of base card.

If you live in or around Northampton and would like to join my monthly classes, do get in touch. I am currently looking at expanding my class schedule further, so would love to hear from you if this is something that interests you.

Back tomorrow with this week's Colour Me...! design team card and the Wednesday Weekly Deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

A big day today and a special announcement for me here on my blog, although if you are a follower of Colour Me...! and read last Sunday's post you will know this already: Hayley and Tara, the lovely ladies over at Colour Me ...! Card Challenge, have asked me to join their design team for the next 6 months - how great is that?!

Along with Hayley, Tara, Claire, Julia and Sherrie I will be sharing a new card each week that showcases the colour theme to give you lots of ideas and inspiration of ways in which you can use Stampin' Up!'s exclusive colours. For my first week, we are using a monochromatic colour scheme, with possibly my favourite new in-colour this year, Blackberry Bliss, as the star of the show. Here is the challenge image:

Here is the card that I created:

I decided to go with a three panel design featuring the foliage stamp from the new 'Blooming with Hope' hostess stamp set, alternating between stamping the images in Blackberry Bliss on Whisper White cardstock and stamping in Versamark onto a panel of Blackberry Bliss cardstock and heat embossing with white embossing powder. There are some great hostess sets in the new annual catalogue - if you ever needed an incentive to host a party, real or virtual, this catalogue has plenty to tempt; do get in touch if you would like to host one and get your hands on this set too! Back to my card: I mounted the central stamped image on a slightly larger mat of Whisper White so that it would still stand out against the Blackerry Bliss card base and stamped the sentiment directly onto the card and heat embossed that in white too. I raised the central image panel using dimensional so that it would both stand out and to enable me to easily tie some of the gorgeous new Blackberry Bliss Satin Stitched Ribbon around it - LOVE this ribbon! Apart from adding a little extra colour to the berries on the stamped images using a Blackberry Bliss and a chalk marker respectively, I didn't do anything more to them. This kind of card could be used for all kinds of occasions and I decided to make it a sympathy card as it was neutral enough to be elegant yet understated and perfect when you need this type of card.

If you came to my blog via the Colour Me...! challenge blog page and are visiting for the first time a big 'welcome' to you; if you are one of my regular readers why not hop on over to the Colour Me...! page to see what delights the other ladies have in store this week and better still, have a go at entering your own monochromatic Blackberry Bliss card into our challenge this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Blackberry Bliss 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Bloom With Hope Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Another busy day of crafting today, with additional preparations for Monday's 2014-15 Stampin' Up! Catalogue launch party event - details here - I'm so excited and hope as many of you as possible will be able to join me! If you'd like some sneak peeks of what Monday has in store, do pop over to my Facebook Page and give me a 'like' - I am posting there daily to give you a flavour of the lovely things that you'll be able to see and do. In addition to next week's new annual catalogue launch, there are also 2 other important points of note:

• Monday is the last day that you will be able to order from the Spring-Summer annual catalogue
• Monday is the last day that you can join as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for the reduced 'sign and save' starter kit entry price of £50

If you've ever considered joining up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, whether to earn an extra income or simply to purchase discounted supplies to further your papercrafting hobby, this is a great time to do it: whatever your motivation, for just £50 you can give it a go - with the new products on the way, there's never been a better time to see what Stampin' Up! is all about.

There are so many things that I love about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, but one of the best things is definitely the people you meet along the way. I have met some great people and found some new friends through my role as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, both in the UK and abroad, and none more so than the members of my team. We are all different, but we share a common love - for all things crafty and Stampin' Up! - and today's card is one I received from one of the members of my team, Samantha, recently. It was one of those cards that was unexpected but left me feeling so touched and I wanted to share it with you - here is Samantha's card:

Samantha's card is a riot of 'sneak peek' items from the forthcoming catalogue: a new hostess set called 'I Like You', new in-Colours of Blackberry Bliss and Mossy Meadow - check out the gorgeous new satin ribbon! and her delicately stamped and blended paper-pieced flowers are just lovely. Samantha has been crafting forever, but has only recently started an online blog of her own called Stamp Delights - you can find it here if you would like to check it out, I'm sure she would love to see you.

I love managing a team of demonstrators and inspiring them creatively and supporting them in running their Stampin' Up! businesses in ways that suit them. I may never have met Samantha if it wasn't for Stampin' Up! and the same can be said for most of the other members of my team too - how great to be doing something that you love and making new friends at the same time too? If you are reading this and thinking 'that could be me', then give me a call or click here to join my team - I would love to hear from you!

Today I'm having another of those 'something old, something new' days, which is quite fitting given that my card is being entered for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players where they are celebrating their 200th challenge. I really enjoy participating in this challenge and try to make a card for it each week. I didn't manage it last week (life and birthdays got in the way!) but a quick thank you to Nance for the pick the week before for my Golden Anniversary wedding card (you can see it here if you missed it). This week, each of the designers has chosen a favourite previous challenge and designed a new card around it. I was tempted to go with LeAnne's sketch as I've loved all of the cards she has made with this layout but eventually I decided to use an existing stamp, the large Swallowtail butterfly, (although it's new to me) and combine it with the new in-colours and using Ann's challenge create a one layer card.

So without further ado, here is my card:

There isn't much you can do with this stamp that hasn't been done before, but I've seen so many lovely cards made with it I still wanted to add it to my collection. I used Shimmery White cardstock as my base layer for my card - it's thicker than Whisper White and whilst I didn't manage to get a photograph that captures the effect, it has a lovely subtle shimmer in real life that adds to the finished look. I inked my Swallowtail using the new 2014-15 in-colours, using sponge daubers to apply the ink to the stamp and working from the centre outwards. I started off with Mossy Meadow for the body and antenna, then in turn Tangelo Twist, Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and lastly Blackberry Bliss. I stamped the butterfly off the page and finished with a simple sentiment from the 'Happy Day' set. Here's a close up of the detail of the stamp:

For a single stamp it has some great detail. There was a time I would have run a mile at a one layer card, but I've overcome my fear now and sometimes it's quite nice to have the challenge of making your stamps work hard for you, which I think they have to when you only have one layer to work with. For my European readers, who are eagerly awaiting the launch of the new catalogue on 1st July and have yet to get their hands on the new colours, what do you think - do you have a favourite yet? I think mine is going to be Blackberry Bliss - I love this deep, rich purple. Don't worry if you haven't made your mind up - you'll be seeing lots more of them in coming weeks I assure you! I'm also linking today's card up with the challenge over at Less is More where they are looking for 'off the edge one layer cards'. Congratulations to everyone over at the Paper Players this week; I haven't been around to participate in even close to all 200 challenges, but I'm looking forward to participating in the next 200!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

*2014-16 In Colours available 1st July 2014 

Swallowtail Clear-Mount Stamp

Happy Day

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

Today's card is a last minute entry for this week's CAS Colours and Sketches colour challenge, which is to use the following colours:

I also used the above sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch as my starting point, although I would be the first to admit that my card isn't the most literal of interpretations; the card I've prepared for tomorrow's blog post is much better! Here is my card:

I decided to use the Morning Meadow hostess set for today's card - this set will only be available until the end of June, so if it's on your wishlist get in touch with me to book a party soon, otherwise you'll miss it. I inked the branch with my Basic Grey and Primrose Petals marker pens, then stamped the bird in Midnight Muse and fussy cut him and placed him on a dimensional, with a little rhinestone-centred punched flower for added interest. I allowed the tail of my bird to overhang the edge of the card - I think I'll join my card up to Addicted to CAS too, where the current challenge is 'off the edge'.

A quick post from me today; back tomorrow with another project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Morning Meadow	Midnight Muse Classic Stampin' Pad	Midnight Muse A4 Card Stock	Primrose Petals A4 Card Stock	2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents	Punch Pack	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Envelope Punch Board