Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card inspired by that fabulous photo over at Fusion and using this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch by Amy:

I adore that rainbow unicorn outfit in the inspiration photo - what would be princess wouldn't like to dress up in that?! I had been contemplating Amy's panelled sketch and decided that I could combine the two to create the sparkly card of my dreams. If you're not a fan of the the glimmer and glitter, then you should look away now, as this card has it in spades! Ok, you have been warned!! This is what I came up with - take a look:

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

When Is A Hippo Not A Hippo? - When is a hippo not a hippo? Well, when it's a unicorn of course! My unicorn comes from the Hippo Happiness bundle, which in addition to the hippo, a butterfly, a sheep and a horse, there is of course a unicorn! I stamped mine in Smoky Slate with the second step stamp heat embosssed in silver, and gave her a gold sparkly unicorn horn. I think one of the things I love most about this stamp set is the sentiment I used on today's card - words to live by, right?! You can see the detail on my unicorn a little better below: 

Rainbow Glimmer - Having decided on a silver unicorn, I went all out to create my background panel from a complete piece of rainbow glimmer paper, spreading in colour from deep purple, through to pink, orange and yellow. I haven't used this for a while and was having definite withdrawal symptoms! I decided to leave my central clouds as one piece across the centre of my card; I tried it split with the rectangle, but preferred it as one piece. This also worked better for my sentiment, which sits nicely on the cloud.

Stitched Stars - Not satisfied with my rainbow glimmer alone, I decided to add a swirl of (retired) silver glimmer stars from the Stitched Stars die to the edge of my cloud to back my unicorn. I love this die and it's probably my most used in this set.

So what do you think - too much glimmer? I have to say I love it and I know a certain Miss James Junior who will love it too, teenager or not!! I spent the morning with a lovely bunch of my customers having our first proper online class of the year featuring florals and the Art Gallery bundle - a world away from all of this sparkle, although we did have a little play with gilded leafing - an altogether messier affair, albeit with very pretty results!

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 the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new sketch challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HIPPO HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.00)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	STITCHED STARS DIES (£35.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)
SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SILVER STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's Nance's turn to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I decided to take Nance's challenge literally and have a clean-and-simple rainbow card to share with you this week - take a look:

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

Build A Rainbow The Easy Way - Today's card features a fun rainbow made using the Rainbow Builder Framelits Dies - these really do make building a rainbow super quick and easy. I ran all 7 pieces through the Big Shot at the same time and held them together with some washi tape across the back.

Myths and Magic - I don't usually use designer paper on a clean and simple card, but I couldn't resist a background of clouds and sky courtesy of this fun pattern fro the Myths and Magic Specialty DSP Pack. It makes the perfect backdrop for my bright rainbow and layered clouds.

Sunshine and Rainbows -  My card is mostly made up of diecuts and has very little stamping - just the sunshine and the sentiment. I decided to continue the rainbow theme into my sentiment stamp and coloured it with the colours of my rainbow using sponge daubers for a fun variegated effect.

Whilst my card is a little more layered than I usually go with for clean and simple, this card is really straightforward and super quick to put together and I love the pop of bright colour that the rainbow gives. 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:

Don't forget the theme is clean and simple this week - so minimal layers and embellishments and lots of white space. I can't wait to see what you create and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'm meeting an old school friend today and we are going on a course to brush up on our Copperplate Calligraphy skills, assuming the snow we are expecting here in the UK (again!) doesn't scupper our plans.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Sunshine & Rainbows Photopolymer Bundle	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango A4 Cardstock
Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad
Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Elegant Eggplant A4 Cardstock	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Perfect Plum A4 Cardstock
Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Myths & Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper