The new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue goes live today and it's time to announce my new Product Shares!

You know that feeling - you want it all, but your budget just doesn't stretch that far? Well shares are the perfect answer! You get a little bit of everything, without having to purchase a full pack. A share can also act as a 'try before you buy' - you get to see papers, ribbons, buttons and accessories 'up close and personal' before deciding which ones you like the most and would like to purchase as a full pack.

Shares work really easily: you decide which shares and how many you would like to take part in. You place your order by emailing me at [email protected] and I will invoice you and arrange payment. Once the closing date for the first round of shares is reached, I collate the orders, place an order with Stampin' Up! for the product, then once I receive it, I package the papers and send them out to you. Simple!

So much to choose from! I am currently focusing on paper shares and have two different shares on offer:

New Annual Catalogue Designer Series Paper Share - all sheets measure 6" x 6" - £28.50 plus £3 P&P

• Beauty of the Earth – 12
• Bloom Where You're Planted – 12
• Expressions in Ink – 12
• Hand Penned - 12
• In The Wild – 12
• Pansy Petals – 12
• Simply Elegant – 12
• Sweet Symmetry – 12
• Tidings of Christmas – 12
• You're A Peach – 12

In all you'll receive 120  6"x 6" sheets of Designer Series Paper! You can check out the details of the papers in the online catalogue here.

New Colour Family Paper Share - all sheets measure 6" x 6" - £21.50 plus £3 P&P

• Brights – 20
• Neutrals – 20
• Regals – 20
• Subtles – 20 

In this share you will receive a total of 80 sheets of paper. 

Want It All? £50 - and you'll get shares of all the new Designer Series Papers and the new colour family Designer Series Paper Stacks, and that includes postage & packaging! If you choose this option, I will also include a sample of the new Pattern Party hostess papers for FREE!

If you would like double or more shares of any particular thing, then that's fine too. I will cut your paper shares into 6" x 12" sheets where possible to give you more crafting flexibility (for the DSP stacks you will simply get double the number of sheets since they are already pre-cut to 6" x 6").

All postage & packaging quoted is for UK only - if you would like a cost for shipping to Europe, then please email me for a separate quotation.

The deadline to sign up to the first round of shares is Friday 7th May at 9am GMT. 

If you live local to me and would like to save on postage and packaging costs, please email me with your requirements and I will happily place your order, to be ready for doorstep collection on delivery. If you have any questions, just email me at [email protected] or give me a call!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Samantha is hosting for the month of May and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

Samantha's chosen colours this week are very reminiscent of the 2021 Pantone Colour of the Year pairing of grey and yellow so are very contemporary and on point. I wanted the yellow to be my 'white space' on my card as I wanted to use white as part of my design, so I grabbed this week's Global Design Project sketch layout and set to work with my 'In Bloom' stamp set and co-ordinating Pierced Blooms Dies - take a look:

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

I used the label from the Pierced Blooms dieset for my sentiment which I stamped in Basic Grey, then added a cluster of diecut flowers and leaves in the challenge colours and white to mimic the circular shape of the sketch. In order to preserve a feeling of CAS and my all-important white (or yellow!) space, I resisted the urge to add any additional embellishments to my card:

I had a spare diecut flower leftover so I added that to the inside 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. I really love this dieset and am thrilled that it has carried over to the new annual catalogue too so will be with us beyond the end of June when the mini catalogue leaves us. I can see me getting lots more use from it!

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

IN BLOOM BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

As is customary these days, I'm here with a late and quick post on a Saturday evening with a card I made using Narelle's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink:

I loved Narelle's sketch, although the splatters made me nervous (mine are so subtle you can barely see them!) and the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink was just asking for a final farewell to the blousy flower in the 'To A Wild Rose' stamp set - take a look:

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

I paired my wild rose with a diecut from the Birds and More Dies to add interest to my circle element and stamped my flower in Daffodil Delight and So Saffron, with the leaves in Garden green and outlined in the new in-color, Evening Evergreen. I added some fine splatter with my So Saffron Stampin' Write marker, a heat embossed sentiment and a trio of white elegant faceted gems to finish:

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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project (or two!) for tomorrow's new challenge over at The Paper Players where I am the hostess this week. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BIRDS & MORE DIES (£32.00)	WILD ROSE DIES (£8.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SO SAFFRON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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

Don't those macarons look delicious? I love those sugary colours and thought they would look perfect combined with the photo inspiration over at Fusion this week! I don't have a mum & baby giraffe pair in my stash, but I do have...kangaroos! So I set to work and this is what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Kangaroo and Company - You've seen me use this set before for Valentine's, but it is perfect for cute cards for a range of occasions. There is a baby joey that fits in the mummy's pouch, but today I went in favour of the younger freestanding kangaroo who has just delivered his mum a beautiful big bunch of flowers, coloured in our challenge colours. 

Strong and Beautiful - Mother's Day has been and gone here in the UK, but I decided to choose a sentiment from the retiring 'Strong and Beautiful' stamp set (now available for the bargain price of £9.20!) that works for mums, or any special person, that you want to give a special thank you to. I love the sentiments in this set - they really are wonderful for celebrating special women in the broadest sense. I sat my young kangaroo on my sentiment strip so that he didn't look like he was floating in mid air, and I like that this makes him more central to the design than he would otherwise have been at floor level. 

A Hidden Message - Whilst my main sentiment is the one I talked about above, I couldn't resist adding another to the fun 'reveal' when you pull out the flowers from the pouch:

I know this feature has more appeal on cards for youngsters, but I think my Mum will find it fun too! It's so easy to do, as the Kangaroo Dies cut the slit in the pouch perfectly - no added effort required. I'm also linking today's card up with the ladies over at SUO Challenges where the theme is 'Animal Kingdom' and they are asking us to feature animals big and small on our 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 '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.
• In a colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.

Enjoy your day; my Fridays are always busy, so I'll keep this short and see you again tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

KANGAROO & COMPANY BUNDLE (£34.00)	STRONG & BEAUTIFUL CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£9.20)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MINT MACARON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMNGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SNAIL MAIL TWINE COMBO PACK (£6.50)

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 get creative with diagonals this week:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card - which I did this week! I looked at those diagonals and thought that if I rotated the base through 180 degrees, they would make a rainbow! Take a look to see what I mean:

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

I used a selection of 5mm wide offcuts from my scrapbox in a selection of rainbow colours (see below) and glue them across the diagonal of my Balmy Blue card base. I extended the Highland Heather piece across the card front, then took a piece of Basic White and cut an angled border with my clouds die from the retiring Happy Dies set for my top panel:

A simple sentiment from the also retiring 'Under My Umbrella' stamp set in Pacific Point finished my card - and not an umbrella in sight!

Our lovely DT member Vicky is also the hostess over at Addicted to CAS this week where she has chosen the code word 'sky' so I'm linking up there too - with sky, rainbow and clouds, my card today doesn't have anything else!!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
UNDER MY UMBRELLA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£15.00)

It's Monday and the start of a new week! Today was class day for me so I'm a little later with my blog post. Today's card is totally inspired by the inspiration photo over at Just Us Girls this week and also uses the Paper Craft Crew sketch:

I couldn't resist those green wellies and spring flowers! So I combined with some clouds and sunny yellow cardstock to create a cheery card using the retiring stamp set 'Under My Umbrella' that will be leaving us next week - take a look:

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

I went with a rather abstract interpretation using some of the elements in the photo, paper-piecing some dotty green wellies onto a stitched circle and filling them with some fussy cut, colourful spring blooms. I sponged some clouds onto my Whisper White card base using my trusty Happy Dies cloud stencil and some Balmy Blue ink and a blending brush, then added a layer of Daffodil Delight, which I bordered using one of the Curvy Dies (also retiring in June) and stamped my sentiment directly onto this layer, next to my popped-up circle - 'Hello Sunshine' seemed like the most appropriate sentiment from this set for today's card! Are those wellies not just so much fun? Who wouldn'y love to go romping in the great outdoors in those?!

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 seem to be having a run of clouds on my cards, having featured them on Saturday's card and they pop up on tomorrow's card too - as does the 'Under My Umbrella stamp set!

Do come back tomorrow to see what I created. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

UNDER MY UMBRELLA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£15.00)	CURVY DIES (£27.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

I've had a productive day of crafting today so have a quick card to share with you that uses the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I was intrigued by Karren's sketch and loved the idea of another slimline card, so perused my retiring stamp sets for something suitable and decided upon the row of birds from the 'Free As A Bird' set - take a look:

I turned the card through 90 degrees so that I could work across the width and sponged clouds using my blending brush and trusty cloud mask made from my Happy Dies for the longer element, overlapping with the row of birds, coloured with my Blends:

I decided to leave my card as a one layer card as I liked the simplicity of it. My dear friend Vicky is the hostess this week over at Addicted to CAS and has chosen the code word 'sky' for the new challenge there, so I'm linking my fluffy blended clouds there 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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FREE AS A BIRD CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for a couple of challenges:

Whilst I loved Laurel's floral bouquets in the Inspired By photo this week, it was the theme of World Laughter Day over at Festive Friday that really got me going - and my idea was just perfect for the Inspired By sketch so I still got to play there too! Today's card is all about punch art - take a look:

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

So today's card uses a ton of retired products I'm afraid: 2 1/2", 1", 3/4" and 1/2" Circle Punches, Classic Label Punch, along with the retired stamp sets '@SoSocial' and '#Hello', but when you need to create an emoji, punches are the absolute go-to and just because they've retired, these craft-room staples will never leave my collection! I decided to go with 'emoji, yellow, red, lips' from the Festive Friday inspo list and to recreate a 'party emoji' for a birthday card for a certain James Junior from his big sister - his birthday is not until August, but there's nothing like being prepared!! A quick Google gave me a layout and colour scheme to work from and so I set to work. In addition to my trusty circle punches, I've discovered the new Ice Cream Cone Builder Punch is also super useful for this type of card; I used the cone section for my emoji's party hat and the ice-cream scoop formed the basis of my lips (I punched a scoop then fashioned the lips from two of the three small 'bubble' shapes along the bottom edge):

A sprinkling of retired enamel candy dots for confetti (I wanted to go with sequins but didn't have the requisite bright colours) and my on-trend sentiments complete my card. What do you think? Would you recognise my punch art party emoji? Thanks to the Festive Friday team for a great source of inspiration this week - I'm not sure I would even have attempted this card without this challenge, yet I really quite like it and am sure it will tick the box with my social media-savvy son - who knows, he might even put it on Instagram for me!

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. 

Whilst I am fairly knowledgeable as far as basic emojis are concerned, I had my children in stitches recently as I was musing over the dinner table at why the local NHS Sexual Health Clinic advertising that I'd passed earlier that day used an aubergine - of all the vegetables that could be used, I didn't think this was the one that would have broadest appeal to the youth of today, and besides I was struggling to see the link to healthy eating. Once my children had stopped laughing, they pointed out that the aubergine had nothing to do with healthy eating and was really depicting another meaning that is often associated with that emoji; apparently the same applies to cherries, tomatoes and more! I am now fully clued-up and if you are wondering what I'm talking about too, a quick Google search of 'aubergine emoji' will fill you in! Meal times are never dull in the James household, that's for sure!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ICE CREAM CONE BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)	BRIGHTS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Wei is hosting this month and today we have a colour challenge: 

For my card today I took my inspiration from the vase of flowers on the table in the inspiration over at Time Out:

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

A super simple punched flower in a vase, courtesy of the retiring Vase Builder Punch, is the focal point for my card today. I popped the flower head and vase on dimensionals for a little extra lift: 

I paired my vase with a sentiment from the also retiring 'Butterfly Gala' stamp set and centred on a Stitched So Sweetly scalloped stitched rectangle with a Balmy Blue card base is all there is to it! I'm also entering my card over at Addicted to CAS where their code word this week is 'flower'. 

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

Enjoy your day; I have joined the ranks of the vaccinated population, having received my first jab this morning - one down, one more to go! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

VASES BUILDER PUNCH (£13.60)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	BUTTERFLY GALA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£12.00)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

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

So many ways I could have gone with this one! I loved the row of brightly coloured tulips across the bottom of the current inspiration photo over at HandStampedSentiments and the bright green backgrounds on the two pictures above so I thought I would create another card full of spring blooms with this week's sketch - take a look:

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

Artistry Blooms - I saw this background on a card by Tami Hewlett recently (you can see Tami's card here) and I loved the effect so was keen to re-create it. I've played around with reverse ombre before, using the Sale-A-Bration Oh So Ombre papers but as today's card shows, the Artistry Blooms paper in the annual catalogue also has some great ombre patterns that you can have some fun with too. I've featured some of the other colour combinations from this pack previously, but this yellow through green piece is the perfect backdrop for some spring flowers I think. 

Timeless Tulips - I chose to feature brightly coloured spring tulips on my card; I simply stamped and punched a whole bunch of them, along with leaves, and built them up behind the cross panel, where I chose to feature my sentiment:

 I had a couple of leaves and tulips left over so I added those the the inside of my card too:

Magnolia Memory Border - Aside from adding a sprinkling of dew-like faceted gems and some gold sparklies too, the final detail on my card is the Magnolia Memory border die that I used along the base of my inner rectangle for added interest and detail.

I know this card has an Easter sentiment and this occasion has already passed this year, but it was the perfect fit for my rectangle and I figure it's one off my list for next year - you can never be too organised!

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.
• In a sketch challenge, you are welcome to rotate or flip a sketch. You can replace shapes used such as substituting a circle panel for a square panel. However, we must be able to still see the basis of the original sketch in your finished product.

I am busy with laundry and household chores today. With one of the James Juniors back to school following the recent break, I have only one at home. Unfortunately today he is definitely behaving like 'Kevin the Teenager' from that infamous Harry Enfield sketch: as I move from room to room, he grunts then slopes off in search of peace elsewhere - he is clearly not in helpful mood today! So back to it - enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TIMELESS TULIPS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	TULIP BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)	MAGNOLIA MEMORY DIES (£29.70)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PUMPKIN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	ELEGANT FACETED GEMS (£7.00)
GILDED GEMS (£6.50)