Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Anne Marie to host this week and she has a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I love a good sketch and had a few ideas as to how I was going to work with this one, but in the end I kept things pretty simple. I thought I would run with the theme over at Time Out of the changing weather so typical of March days, courtesy of the Dickens quote on their challenge badge  - take a look:

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

I used two patterns from the Rain and Shine Specialty designer series paper pack for my two vertical panels - one featuring grey skies and driving rain (it's difficult to see in the photos, but this sheet has a fabulous clear embossed rain detail) and the other featuring a sunny spring day and accented my card with a sweet flower-bearing turtle also fussy cut from another sheet in this pack:

I stamped my sentiment, from the retired set 'Special Moments' onto a layered banner cut with the Stylish Shapes Dies. That's all there is to it - pretty straightforward but hopefully the perfect mix of sunshine and showers to brighten someone's day.

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:

Enjoy your day; hopefully if you're in the UK you remembered to turn the clocks forward last night - another sign that lighter evenings are on the way! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

RAIN OR SHINE SPECIALTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (14.00)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)

MANGO MELODY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has a bright and cheery colour challenge for you to work with:

I used Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week for my layout and decided to create something fresh with a hint of spring - take a look:

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

Special Moments - I love Kim's sketch this week and will most definitely be CASing her card using my favourite Floral Squares Dies. I decided to use the square to feature my sentiment and the circle for my floral decoration. I love this sentiment from the current Sale-A-Bration set 'Special Moments' - it is a paired sentiment that finishes like this on the inside of my card:

Isn't that so sweet? Perfect to let a friend know how much they mean to you. I layered my sentiment square and added a strip of Sunshine and Rainbows designer paper behind - another Sale-A-Bration freebie!

Pierced Blooms and Stitched Greenery - In addition to my sentiment, my card is all about stitched detailing. I used the Pierced Blooms Dies to create my trio of flowers and leaf stems in the challenge colours to add to the corner of my sentiment square and diecut the background with the Stitched Greenery Dies.

Brass Butterflies - As a finishing touch, I added a couple of teeny tiny brass butterfly embellishments to my sentiment square; these are in the mini catalogue - aren't they sweet?

I really like LeAnne's colour choices this week - they are just the thing to bring a breath of fresh air and spring colour on a cold winter's day!

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:

Enjoy your day; we have no plans so will be spending it enjoying the start of the half-term break. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SPECIAL MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	SUNSHINE & RAINBOWS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)	STITCHED GREENERY DIE (£30.00)	PIERCED BLOOMS DIES (£34.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BRUSHED BRASS BUTTERFLIES (£9.25)

Today 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 since it is the fifth Sunday of the month I have a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I designed this board with lots of things that I wanted to use so that when it came to making my card, I was spoilt for choice! In my excitement I duplicated the 'birthday' square and didn't notice until my dear teamie Nance had already made the challenge graphic, so I decided to go with it - we all need lots of excuses for birthday cards, right?! That said, I ended up going in a completely different direction! I used the layout from Jen M's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week (I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the left and flipped it on the vertical edge for a mirror image) and went across the top row of my board with rainbow/sparkle/diecut and made a fun rainbow shaker card - take a look:

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

A Brilliant Rainbow - Having firstly used some Pool Party ink and a blending brush to create a cloudy sky background, I used the largest of the Brilliant Rainbow Dies to cut the windows for my half rainbow. I backed these with a piece of window sheet, ready to create my shaker. 

Frosted Shaker - I chose the four colours for my rainbow stripes, then selected some co-ordinating beads from the frosted beads assortment in the mini catalogue for my shaker element. For added sparkle, I brushed the coloured back panels with clear Wink of Stella. The rainbow shaker effect is so pretty - here's a close-up to show it in more detail:

I used the foam adhesive strips to create four individual shaker elements so that I could keep the colours separate. It's worth noting that because of the size of the frosted beads, the shaker does need a double thickness of foam strips to allow your beads to shake freely. This does made the card quite thick, but I think it's worth it!

All Things Stitched - I used my Basic Borders Dies to create a border of white clouds and to make a stencil for my background, with a combination of a stitched circle and four layered stitched triangles behind for my sunshine. The sentiment is from the free Sale-A-Bration set 'Special Moments' and I paired it with another from the same set on the inside, with some faintly stencilled clouds behind:

I think this will make a nice special card to show appreciation for someone who went the extra mile, don't you?

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BRILLIANT RAINBOW DIES (£29.00)	FROSTED BEADS ASSORTMENT (£7.00)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£7.50)	SPECIAL MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	BASIC BORDERS DIES (£27.00)	FOAM ADHESIVE STRIPS (£7.25)
WINDOW SHEETS (£4.75)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
STITCHED TRIANGLES DIES (£33.00)	PICTURE THIS DIES (£32.00)	BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)

Edit: Jen B chose my card as one of the princesses for FMS520 - yay!