Good morning and welcome to another week! Mine is going to be a busy one so without further ado I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

These ladies have some great sketches and this one from Jen M is no exception - I love the layering of the panels. I went bright today - take a look:

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

Get A Vase of Flowers For Hosting A Stampin' Up! Party - Yes, that's right - today's card features the vase of flowers from the hostess set in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue, 'Thankful Life', a set available to purchase exclusively to customers who host a Stampin' Up! party or place a single order of £150 or more. Extra Stampin' Rewards during Sale-A-Bration make this an excellent time to host, although stamp sets like this one make it worth hosting a party all year round. The stamps are photopolymer and so easy to line up to create a vase of colourful blooms that will last so much longer than fresh ones! This set will be available to hostesses until the Spring-Summer catalogue ends on 31st May, so if it's a set you would like to own, do get in touch with me to arrange a night for your crafty night in with friends. 

You Brighten My Day - The 'Thankful Life' hostess set does come with two sentiments of its own, however both were too too big for the embellishment 'button' that I wanted to create. I opted instead for this one from 'Sunshine Sayings' that seemed particularly appropriate given my colour choices for today's card.  

A Fiesta Of Colour - I took the inspiration for my colour combination straight from the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper that I used for my background panel - as a brights girl these colours really appeal to me and I just love the mix of patterns they contain: 

Here is the colour combination if you would like to save it to use on your projects too:

What a great combination of bold and bright colours - guaranteed to cheer!

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:

Thankful Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Sunburst Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set

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

I love green, especially bright greens - Cucumber Crush is one of my all time favourites! - but for today's challenge I decided to go with an altogether more subtle green in Mint Macaron - take a look:

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

Succulent Garden - I chose to use a 'tricky' piece of designer series paper on my card today from the Succulent Garden pack. I have been at a loss as to how I should use some of the papers and patterns in this pack and I felt that this sheet in particular lent itself to a monochromatic card in green and white, so used is to cover my entire card front.

A Bold Sentiment - With such a busy paper pattern, I needed a simple, bold sentiment so I chose this bold thank you from the 'Thankful Thoughts' stamp set. I stamped in Mint Macaron onto Whisper White and I used my Stitched Shape Framelits to add a little interest to my otherwise plain circle. With the exception of my row of stamped cacti inside my card and on the front of my co-ordinating envelope, this is all the stamping to feature on my card.

Triple Banners That Sparkle - I added a trio of banners to anchor my sentiment circle, one each in green and white and the third in Mint Macaron glimmer paper, the latest in the Sale-A-Bration free product offering. The sparkle and texture of the glimmer paper introduces another element yet is still in keeping with the overall monochromatic feel of my card.

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. 

So a super simple card today, but one with a very calming colour scheme that I hope Jaydee will appreciate.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Banner Triple Punch
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Glitzerpapier-Set 6" X 6" (15,2 X 15,2 Cm)

I've had a busy week so far but it's about time I squeezed in a quick blog post! I realise I haven't shared the card that I sent out to my lovely customers with my Spring-Summer catalogues and Sale-A-Bration catalogues at the beginning of January and since it's super clean and simple (well, I had a lot of them to make!) this is a great time to share it - take a look:

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

Design Your Tee FOR FREE - Each of my cards features a cute t-shirt featuring one of the stamps from the Sale-A-Bration Designer Tee set, stamped onto Whisper White cardstock and cut out using one of the T-Shirt Builder Framelit Dies in the Spring-Summer catalogue. A number of this year's SAB products co-ordinate with bundles in the Spring-Summer catalogue, which is such a plus; this Designer Tee stamp set extends the creative possibilities of the Customer Tee Bundle even further and I thought the stamp on my t-shirt was just perfect to send to a bunch of people who share my love of all things Stampin' Up! Better still, if you buy the Custom Tee bundle you are well on your way to receiving the Designer Tee stamp set - or any other SAB promotional item - for FREE! We are in the third and final month of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion - if you haven't yet reaped the benefits, there's still time!

Itty Bitty Flower - I added a punched flower to my t-shirts, finished with a rhinestone for a little girly bling. So many of you lament the retiring of the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, but did you know that the Tree Builder Punch has this tiny flower that is very similar and just as useful? What's more it's a current product and is still available to purchase.

Perpetual Birthday Flowers - I wanted to add a little background to my cards, so I went to one of my 'go to' stamp sets for a little background pattern - Perpetual Birthday. I love the little motifs in this set, so useful for backgrounds, creating your own designer paper and seasonal projects. I guess you could say this set is my personal 'Gorgeous Grunge', a set that I know is a stamp room staple for many of my customers - a little more gorgeous and a little less grunge!

When I'm mass-producing cards in this volume, I also like to make the same card in a rainbow of colours (it stops me from getting bored!) and I often reach for my favourite brights - here's a little shot showing the colours I used:

If you received one of these, which colour did you get? Feel free to leave a comment below or better still upload a picture of you and your card on my Facebook page - I would love to see! If you didn't receive one, it will be because you're not on my customer list; if you don't already have a demonstrator and would like to receive a catalogue, just get in touch and I can pop one in the post to you.

Lastly, check out this video from the Stampin' Up! Home Office Team that shows you lots of other cool things you can do with this stamp set:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Designer Tee Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set	T-Shirt Builder Framelits Dies	Tree Builder Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Brights Classic Stampin' Pads	Brights A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you've had a good day. I've had a busy start to the week with preparation for next week's classes followed by a pleasant hour watching Rebecca swim in a school swimming gala (she won all her races and the team won overall, so smiles all round.) Rebecca came second in her competition race yesterday too and had a new personal best time, so all good. Anyway, to today's cards - yes, two! I've made a couple of cards on the same theme using the same colours for a couple of different challenges:

I decided I needed to get cracking (excuse the pun!) with my Easter makes, so today it's all about the Basket Bunch bundle  - take a look:

Paper Craft Crew have a great sketch this week and I really love the CAS Colours & Sketches colour combination - I will be so sad to see Cucumber Crush leave us in June! - and thought it was perfect for a little Easter egg hunt through the grass. I stamped and die cut a selection of eggs and interspersed them between my strip of grass. I layered it onto a piece of basket weave patterned paper from the Sale-A-Bration Carried Away Designer Series Paper and finished with this fun sentiment from the Basket Bunch stamp set, cut out with my Layering Ovals. May all your chocolate be solid - I love it!

Having completed this card, I thought it was probably a little too layered to qualify as truly 'clean and simple' for the lovely ladies over at CAS Colours and Sketches, so I die cut a few more pieces and created something a little more in keeping: 

Clean and simple with an alternative sentiment, yet no less colourful!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects for you to pin for easy reference:

And for my second card:

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:

Basket Bunch Photopolymer Bundle	Basket Builder Framelits Dies	Basket Bunch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock	Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad
Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Layering Ovals Framelits Dies	Playful Palette Designer Washi Tape	Cucumber Crush Thick Baker's Twine

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend LeAnne is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

Now you know me - I love a good sketch and this one is a keeper! I had a couple of ideas for this sketch and made two quite different cards. The one I'm sharing today is very much in keeping with my style (maybe that's why it won the James family vote 2 to 1 when I conducted a quick poll!) I went with my signature 'clean and layered' style and took the opportunity to make another card using my 'Perfect Mix' stamp set - take a look:

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

It's In The Detail - My card today is my usual clean and layered style. I toyed with adding some additional background pattern or even designer series paper, however the size of my circle elements would have made this too busy. Instead I opted to create detail in other ways: I used my circle Stitched Shape Framelits to cut out my stamped images and layered these onto some punched circles to add a thin border of colour. I also used the partial die cutting technique to add interest by allowing part of the image to overhang the circle. The mixer I inked using my Stampin' Write marker so that I could omit the sentiment that goes with it. I also stamped my oven glove onto coloured cardstock and fussy cut it before popping up on a dimensional for added colour and impact.

Rule of Threes - It is a known principle that things that come in threes are somehow more satisfying or more effective than other numbers. LeAnne's sketch uses three circular elements; I also added a trio of enamel shapes to echo my layered circles and continue the harmony of my card.

A Perfectly Purple Colour Combination - I love purple but it's not a colour I use often on a card, so I chose to use a combination of purples and neutrals today for a change - here it is if you'd like to try it too:

This is such a great stamp set! I love the punny sentiments but if you, like me, are a baker then you will find so many uses for these images.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

 **To be updated - Stampin' Up! Website currently unavailable due to overrunning maintenance work. Online ordering currently offline.**

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 our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'm off to spend the day at the swimming pool as Rebecca is racing in her rescheduled Counties Competition. I don't know which I'd rather - the gale-force icy winds I experienced as I stood outside watching her play in her netball match yesterday morning or the sauna-like temperatures of the swimming pool today! The things us mothers do for love!. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

To be updated - Stampin' Up! Website currently unavailable due to overrunning maintenance work.

Yay it's Friday! Today I'm sharing a card that I made last week following my half-term visit to the movies with the James Juniors - take a look:

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

Movie Inspiration - We had been to the movies to see the fun computer-animated comedy movie 'Sing' (you can read all about that here if you're interested) and with this week's Paper Players challenge in mind (use a sentiment as the focal point on your card) I decided to create something using the movie title image as my inspiration:

With a daughter who sings and often participates in public performances and examinations, I knew that this would make a great encouragement card for her - I'm sure you can see the similarities.

Love Those Letters - I know I say it every time I use them, but the Large Letters Framelits are so worth the investment - I love them! Buying them during Sale-A-Bration leaves you only £1 away from two free gifts too, what a great time to invest! Here I layered them, cutting one set in red and then tracing the inner line of the framelit with a pencil and fussy-cutting them by hand in order to leave a thin border visible. I also used my Labeler Alphabet for the 'loud' part of my sentiment - a great 'mix and match'. 

Fake Illumination - I used a liberal dose of gold metallic enamel shapes  to create my illuminated letters and heat embossed the starburst from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set to give the illusion of bright lights shining in the background along with a strip of gold glimmer for extra sparkle. The layering and lettering detail made this card less than 'clean and simple', hence the reason why I decided not to use it as my Paper Players card.

I love this card though - just shows that sometimes inspiration can strike in the strangest places. What things inspire you? 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 '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:

Gold Glimmer Paper	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Large Letters Framelits Dies
Labeler Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set	Kinda Eclectic Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Metallic Enamel Shapes	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock
Real Red A4 Cardstock

Today I'm sharing a congratulations card that I made for one of the hard-working members of my team who has been achieving great things during Sale-A-Bration - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Sparkly Celebration - I took the 'Celebrate' stamp in the 'Love Sparkles' stamp set and decided to create a multi-coloured embossed background to echo the idea of sparklers and fireworks. I used a selection of (retired) coloured embossing powders - Melon Mambo,Blushing Bride and Crushed Curry - but you could equally ink your stamp with the same colour inks and a sponge dauber, then heat emboss with clear embossing powder. 

Going For Gold - I added a stacked gold glimmer 'you', diecut with my Hello You Thinlits, a couple of strips of gold glimmer top and bottom and a starburst of gold glitter stars to add to the celebratory feel.

Be A Hoot Too - My team of demonstrators, known as The Hoots, range from happy hobbyists to full-time business builders - everyone is welcome and they are all united by a love of crafting and more specifically, a love of crafting with Stampin' Up! products. If you have ever considered joining Stampin' Up!, whether to get a discount on your hobby supplies or because you want to run your own successful direct sales company (or somewhere in between), Sale-A-Bration is one of the best times of the year to do so. During Sale-A-Bration, your starter kit is extra special as not only do you get your choice of £130/175 Euros worth of product for £99/129 Euros, but you get to choose an additional 2 stamp sets FOR FREE - that could be worth as much as an extra £93/126 Euros. There are so many ways in which you can benefit from being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - please do give me a call on 07773 421446 or email me if you'd like to discuss further.

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. 

Congratulations Helen and I hope you liked your colourful card! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love Sparkles Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Hello You Thinlits Dies	Gold Glimmer Paper	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat & Stick Powder	Gold Stampin' Glitter

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I decided to break out one of my new sponge brayers and some Irresistibly Floral embossed paper for my card today - take a look:

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

Easy Embossing - I decided to brayer the circle shape onto a piece of Irresistibly Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper using a sponge brayer. This is the first time I've brayered with one of these and I must confess I'm rather impressed - they make it so easy to get a smooth graduated finish and are great for this kind of ink technique, really bringing out the pattern of the paper. I created a simple circle stencil using a spare piece of cardstock and my Circle Framelits and brayered from bottom left to top right of my circle as I wanted to try and emulate the less-than-perfect circle of the sketch. As for the paper - this patterned clear-embossed white paper is great for colouring and sponging - a great embossed finish without any for of Versamark or heat tool required. Cheating? No! Easy? Most definitely!!

Co-ordinating Florals - I stamped a flower from the Falling Flowers stamp set and diecut it and a couple of leaves from the co-ordinating May Flowers Framelits to ground my simple diecut sentiment (cut from the now retired Greetings Thinlits - still one of my go-to sets!) This bundle which you can see on page 127 of the annual catalogue also co-ordinates with the patterns on the Irresistibly Floral embossed paper - and makes designing easy!

Fresh Colour Combination - I chose a fresh, spring colour combination of pink and green to compliment my contrasting black and white background and sentiment today - here it is if you would like to save it for future inspiration 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Falling Flowers Clear-Mount Bundle	Irresistibly Floral Designer Series Specialty Paper	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Cardstock
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	White Perfect Accents	Sponge Brayers

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at As You See It -  so happy to see these fabulous ladies back up and running and thank you for choosing me for the Featured Artist spot last week with this card! 

My second colour challenge this week - a rare thing! I find with colours as my starting point it takes me longer to come up with an idea (so glad that AYSI is on a two week challenge schedule now, it gives my ideas time to percolate!) I had so much fun making my card for Nance's challenge over at The Paper Players a couple of weeks ago (you can see that card here) and received such a lot of interested comments about the technique that I used - hot glue embossing - I thought I would make another card using the same idea but this time inspired by the AYSI challenge photo, I created a moonscape over the water - take a look:

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

A Fun Technique - I used the same layout and technique as for my previous card here, but this time embossed my hot glue in silver with a moon in my pinky-purple twilight sky. I then blended the pink and purple with the Dapper Denim blue for the water and reflection below the horizon using my re-inkers and aquapainter. I added a liberal does of Clear Wink of Stella to the sea to finish - this adds a wonderful sparkle that is difficult to see in the photo, but trust me, it's there!

Love Sparkles - The colours of this card I thought lent themselves to a more romantic card, so I decided to use the sparkly 'Love' sentiment from the Love Sparkles stamp set and turn this into an anniversary card for my husband since it was our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday. I'm not sure my husband was as impressed with my handiwork, but then I think he sees so many of my cards theses days he just takes it all in his stride! 

All Heart - I added a tiny pink enamel heart shape to finish my card in keeping with my theme and also stamped the inside of the card and the envelope to co-ordinate.

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. 

So what do you think - does the card say 'romance' to you? I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts below.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love Sparkles Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Aqua Painters	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Watercolor Paper	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Silver Foil Sheets