It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my lovely and talented friend Claire to host this week and she has a rather timely theme challenge for you to work with:

February at last and Valentine's is on the way! I have both a card and gift box to share with you this week and hearts were definitely on my mind when I started creating - take a look:

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

Painted With Love - Whilst I used this week's sketch over at As you See It as the inspiration for the layout for my card today, the Painted With Love papers are most certainly the inspiration for my colour scheme. I couldn't wait to use these colourful papers with their gold foil accents on my project, and carried through the shades of purple and pink to the rest of my card design. Here's my colour palette in case you would like to save it for your future inspiration:

Hearts A Plenty - Both the teams over at CAS-ual Fridays and SUO Challenges are looking for hearts, hearts and more hearts this week. I've used a combination of hearts in all different sizes stamped from the 'Heart Happiness' stamp set and some diecuts using the Sweet and Sassy Framelit Dies, along with a sprinkling of gold metallic heart shapes for my full heart quota.

Love You - My sentiment is a combination of a 'love' diecut from the Sunshine Wishes Framelits and 'YOU' from the Sale-A-Bration 'Celebrate You Thinlits' - I love being able to play around and take bits and pieces from my collection to create the perfect combination. I also added a little stamping to the inside - this lovely stamp from the 'Petal Passion' set: 

I also created a co-ordinating box with a heart fold flat closure in the same paper, perfect to enclose a Valentine's treat - here it is with my card: 

I may well do another blog post on the box - it's very pretty and turned out even better than I hoped it would! 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:

I can't wait to see how you interpret this week's theme and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Blogland has lots of challenges with love in mind so I think this could be something of a theme around here in coming days! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. We were out at a swimming gala yesterday and Ben has a basketball tournament today, so it's all go here. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper	Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies	Heart Happiness Photopolymer Stamp Set	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Powder Pink A4 Cardstock	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Powder Pink 1/2" Finely Woven Ribbon	Metallic Enamel Shapes	Gold Mini Sequin Trim	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets
Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set

A late and quick post from me today as I managed to grab a little crafting time this afternoon and made a card for a friend of mine that I'm also entering for a couple of challenges:

I loved the sketch over at Fusion and those bright colours at Inspire.Create were perfect for what I had in mind. No coffee cup I'm afraid - my card is all about the apology and right on the money as far as this week's theme over at CASology is concerned - take a look:

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

Bird Banter - Please tell me I am not the only cardmaker who frequently forgets birthdays? I mean, my intentions are always good and I have loads of cards on hand, but more often than not one of two things happens: I either don't have the 'right' card for that person on hand and so in taking the time to make it I end up late for the date, or alternatively I simply forget. It's never intentional, I'm just always so busy and I have a dreadful memory for dates and numbers, so they just don't stick. So all that said, Bird Banter is the perfect set for me - specifically, the rather punny sentiments and this one in particular: 'A little birdie told me it was your birthday ... obviously it wasn't an early bird'. How fun is that?! I received this set for free at Onstage, but I have to say it's one I would buy for that sentiment alone - it was (unfortunately) made for me!

A Hint of Stripes - I kept my card bright, clean and simple; I tucked in a little piece of the thin-striped Sale-A-Bration Bubbles & Fizz designer series paper behind my image to add a little interest and pop of blue, to compliment my bright pink background and yellow sentiment banner. 

A Stampin' Blends Tip - I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my party parrot (the Melon Mambo ones were actually my old Blendabilties) and added a little clear Wink of Stella to his party hat and wing for a little sparkle. I fussy cut a second wing and tail piece and popped them on a dimensional so that I could overlap my sentiment banner slightly. My Stampin' Blends tip for you today is in relation to using them to colour a co-ordinating stamped image onto your envelope: before you begin colouring, place a piece of cardstock inside the envelope; this will prevent ink leaking through to the back of the envelope and spoiling its appearance.

I added one of the other birds along with the other part of the sentiment to the inside of my card - here he is:

Another handsome fella! One thing I do know - this card is on it's way to a friend, yes, whose birthday I forgot last 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my post for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a topical clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

It's almost February and with Valentine's Day around the corner love is definitely in the air, so what better time to send a little love note or two to the one you love? I have a super clean-and-simple card to share with you this week that is also perfect for this week's challenge over at Less Is More - take a look:

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

Love You Panda - I couldn't resist using another of these cute little pandas on my card today - this time it had to be the one proudly holding his own little love note, perfect for my theme! I simply stamped him in black, coloured in the heart on his envelope and surrounded him with bright pink love hearts, from the Heart Happiness set. Inside I stamped my sentiment, also from the 'Party Pandas' stamp set, along with another spray of hearts:

And that's it - super simple, super cute!

The Perfect Note - I used one of the new Whisper White Narrow Note Cards for my one-layer love note today - they measure 6.4cm x 11.4cm, small and narrow and the perfect size for a note to tuck into a pocket, lunch box or gift package. 

Painted With Love Envelope Liners - My little note card was so quick and easy to put together, I decided to add another surprise pop of colour with an envelope liner on the flap of my envelopes. I simply punched a whole bunch of circles out of the Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper using my 2" circle punch and adhered them to the inner flap of my envelope. 

I love my little note card so much, I made a whole bunch of them - I used a selection of papers and stamped my pandas both horizontally and vertically, with hearts in each of the colours that feature in the Painted With Love paper - here's a shot of a bunch of them together:

These are perfect for me to slip into the James Juniors' blazer pockets for a surprise note at school; we are also going to make a whole bunch more for the children to share with their friends too - it's nice to let your besties know they are loved too! They really are so simple to make - it's taken me longer to write this blog post that to actually make all of these cards!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White Narrow Note Cards & Envelopes	Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Heart Happiness Photopolymer Stamp Set

Another late one I'm afraid as I've been tied (figuratively, not literally!) to my desk all day pushing paperwork. Just time to share a card for the current challenge over at Fab Friday where they have a super-bright colour combo to work with:

I love brights so was really keen to play along with one of my favourite challenges. I figured the best way to use this trio of bold colours was to ensure that I also incorporated plenty of white. I decided to get out my Party Pandas Sale-A-Bration stamp set again and do something I haven't done in a while - take a look:

Yes, it's a fun spinner card - isn't that party panda just the cutest?! I made this card over a week ago but delayed sharing it with you as I made a video tutorial to go with it. I still need to finish editing so will post it here once complete but in the meantime I couldn't not share this cutie! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Get Spinning - Everyone loves the fun element created by adding a spinner - young and old alike! I've made my Sale-A-Bration Party Panda the spinning star of today's card, but this technique works with lots of other stamps too. The panda looks like he was meant to cartwheel though I think! To make the panda spin, you simply attach him to two penny coins (or a dime, or a washer - you get the idea) separated by a dimensional, with the pennies sitting either side of the track. If I've lost you already, come back when I upload the video - all will become clear! 

Creating The Track - I used the Classic Label Punch to create the track for my spinning panda, by repeatedly punching along my cardfront in order to get an extended gap. This is one of the easiest ways to create a spinner track. The key to getting a freely-spinning panda though is to use Stampin' Up!'s foam strips to adhere your front panel to your card base. This ensures the gap is deep enough for the panda to spin freely.

Let's Celebrate - I pulled my sentiment from another of my free Sale-A-Bration sets, Amazing You, and inked up the words in contrasting colours. Such a great sentiment that allows this card to work for all kinds of celebrations, not just birthdays. In fact, I am going to dedicate this one to one of the Fab Friday design team members, the awesome Brian King, who at the time of posting this challenge had announced the day before that he is also joining the design team over at CAS(E) this Sketch, another great challenge blog favourite of mine - way to go Brian! 

I love these bright colours, so perfect for this fun card. Do check out the design team cards over at Fab Friday and the gallery, where there are some amazing and varied entries that will provide great inspiration.

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Amazing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Classic Label Punch	Foam Adhesive Strips	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock
Berry Burst A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad
Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Tutti-Frutti Adhesive-Backed Sequins	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Stampin' Dimensionals

Today I'm sharing another card made using some of the items you can earn for free with a purchase of £45 or more during Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration promotion that I made with the ladies in my card class last week - take a look:

My card uses 3 of the currently available Sale-A-Bration items - can you spot them all? Here's the low-down on today's card:

An Epic Celebration - The trainers or 'sneakers' on my card today come from the Epic Celebration stamp set - perfect for discerning teens, both male and female. I stamped mine in Archival Grey ink and highlighted areas of my shoes and the sentiment with a chalk marker to accentuate some of the detail against the Bermuda Bay background. 

Bubbles and Fizz, Stars and Stripes - My background paper is another Sale-A-Bration freebie, the Bubbles and Fizz designer series paper. It has some great bottle patterns, but also great neutral patterns in bold, bright colours. I used one piece and cut a strip that I flipped over to give a fun 'stars and stripes' combination. 

Shimmer Ribbon - I covered the join of my two papers with some shiny satin Basic Grey ribbon - yes, my third free gift! This pack of three ribbons in different widths on page 9 of the Sale-A-Bration catalogue is easily overlooked, yet the gorgeous shimmer makes them worth a second glance, not to mention the fact that they co-ordinate so beautifully with the designer series paper! 

My card was inspired by this one made by Amy Koenders, with a few subtle differences - thanks for the inspiration Amy! 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:

Epic Celebrations Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	3/8" (1 Cm) Shimmer Ribbon Pack	White Stampin' Chalk Marker	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players This week it's the turn of the awesome Jaydee to host and she has a great colour challenge for us to work with:

Now as you know I sometimes find colour challenges perplexing, however Jaydee's palette this week got me all excited - so many creative possibilities! And what fourth colour to choose? I eventually settled on Tempting Turquoise, creating the perfect colour combination to ink up my Beautiful Peacock stamp with for the first time - take a look:

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

Eastern Palace Inspired - The first thing I do when I get a colour challenge is to look at what papers or accessories I have in my collection in those colours that I can work with. All three of Jaydee's chosen colours feature within the Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper so this was a natural starting point for me. 

A Beautiful Peacock - I knew I wanted to feature the denim and lime pattern that is on the right hand panel of my background; this pattern has always reminded me of peacock feathers - does it you? This led me straight to another of my free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Beautiful Peacock - such a gorgeous set and a perfect pairing. I decided to add in Tempting Turquoise as my fourth colour and use all four colours on my bird, with a Dapper Denim body and the remaining colours to create a graduation of colours across the tail feathers, punctuated with some retired Dapper Denim enamel dots.  You can see a close up of the detail on the photo below:

I then added some additional swirls and flowers to my panel behind. I really love this stamp - and even more so since it didn't cost me anything at all! 

A Touch Of Gold - I couldn't resist adding in a little sparkle to my project; I brushed some clear Wink of Stella onto the body of my peacock and added a trio of gold enamel shapes amongst the swirls to tie in with the gold stripes of my side strip of designer paper. 

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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are having a relatively quiet day, having spent yesterday out in the cold for both netball and football fixtures. One of the James Juniors has been out on a sleepover, so once he's been collected, I'm hoping for a nice lunch and maybe even an afternoon movie - that would be nice! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Beautiful Peacock Photopolymer Stamp Set	Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad
Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock	Metallic Enamel Shapes

Just popping in this evening with a quick and simple card that I made to go out with my catalogues using two of the great sets that you can get for free with a qualifying purchase during Sale-A-bration - take a look:

I needed a card that would be good for mass production so the key is to keep things simple - a panda from the 'Party Pandas' set that is free with a £45 purchase during Sale-A-Bration, with the balloon coloured in with my Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends markers to co-ordinate with the Celebrate diecut from the 'Celebrate You' Thinlit Dies set - it's a Stampin' Up! first to have these fabulous thinlits as a Sale-A-Bration item and these can be yours free with a £90 purchase. A sprinkle of rhinestones completes my card. I adore both of these items and am thrilled I managed to get them for free with my Stampin' Up! purchases - bonus! You can look forward to lots more projects featuring these items. They can be yours too - just follow the links below to place an online order or get in touch if you are local.

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

It's time to shake off the January blues, today is THE day - yes, the highlight of the Stampin' Up! calendar, Sale-A-Bration is here! No more sneak peeks - the catalogue is available, the shop is live and from now until 31st March the benefits are yours for the taking. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or click on the icon above or on the right to go directly to my online shop to place an order - we are LIVE!

So what is Sale-A-Bration? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host:

Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 3 January and 31 March. This year for the first time there is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £90 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! 

It’s the best time of year to join Stampin’ Up! During Sale-A-Bration, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £30 more of FREE products for your Starter Kit. Plus, the kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. In addition, you can choose two free stamp sets of your choice (except for bundles, kits or Sale-A-Bration items) - that could be worth as much as another £90 to you!

Earn an additional £20 in hostess credits when you host a party and have party sales of £200 or more (this also applies to individual orders). So for party sales of £200, that makes a whopping £40 of Stampin' Rewards - more freebies! What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a party, real or virtual, please do get in touch; my diary is filling up but there are still lots of slots available and I would love to share these great benefits with you. If you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

Here's a fun little video too that showcases some of the excitement that lies within:

If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back tomorrow with a project showcasing some of the products from the new catalogue. Until then, happy shopping!

Hello lovely readers - and a happy new year to you all! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for some friends with whom welcomed in the new year - I was still enjoying the 'morning after the night before' yesterday so from a blog perspective today heralds the beginning of the end of my festive blog break! I'm also linking up with a couple of challenges - the current challenge over at Global Design Project where the theme is all about celebrating at home and the lovely ladies over at As You See It who are all about the sparkle for their first challenge of the year:

My card was inspired by my 2017 new year card, minus the owl of course (you can see that card in a previous post here) and has a little 'something old ... and lots new' about it - take a look:

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

A Window Into 2018 - I used my much-loved Large Numbers Framelits to create fun shaker-card windows in the front of my card. This is so easy to do; you just need to remember to keep the middle of the 0 and 8 to complete the negative image. If you place the numbers that you've cut out over the window sheet without sticking them down, they will allow you to position the negative pieces in just the right position when you remove the numbers again. 

All That Glitters - My decision to create a shaker card was largely because I was looking for an opportunity to use these amazing gold glitter flakes from the new Spring-Summer catalogue that launches tomorrow. Check out the close-up below - aren't they gorgeous? So sparkly! 

Celebrate ... Amazing You - The main front panel of my card features a stamp from a new Sale-A-Bration set, Amazing You (stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in gold and silver) and the word 'celebrate' cut from silver glimmer paper using another of this year's Sale-A-Bration free items - a set of thinlits dies called 'Celebrate You' that co-ordinate with the stamp set and are available free with a £90 purchase. More news on Sale-A-Bration tomorrow, but I hope these sneak-peeks have got you all excited about the fabulous things that are to come!

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. 

I'll be back tomorrow with all of the news and information on the 2018 Sale-A-Bration promotion and the launch of the new Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Large Numbers Framelits Dies	Amazing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies	Gold Glitter Flakes	Silver Foil Sheets
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
Silver Glimmer Paper	Window Sheets	Foam Adhesive Strips