Good morning everyone - it's Sunday and time for my Design Team card over at The Paper Players where Ann has a great sketch challenge for us this week:

Now I love a sketch challenge and often I follow a sketch completely to the letter. Today is something of the exception to the rule though - when I saw the 'any shape' piece, I really wanted to use one of the flowers from the Bloom with Hope hostess stamp set that I had coloured with my set of Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. As a consequence though, the layers didn't work for me - so I switched them about and offset them - I hope Ann doesn't mind! Take a look at this week's card to see what I mean:

I wanted my flower to take centre stage so went with a neutral Crumb Cake card base, with a Hardwood stamped mat. I really wanted to use a sentiment alongside my flower - this stamp set has a great selection of really useful ones, but to follow the sketch literally I would have needed to stamp my sentiment on one of the banner flags to be seen, but this didn't work as I wanted them to bring some additional colour to my card. So I decided to tuck my banners behind my central rectangle; this allowed me to both stamp my sentiment onto it and add some leaves, which I stamped in Mossy Meadow and coloured with my Old Olive Blendabilities (they work on coloured cardstock too!). Here's a picture of my fussy cut flower, coloured with Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities, in all its glory:

Isn't it just lovely? I'm still getting used to my alcohol markers and how they differ from water-based colouring. I am no expert (yet!) but I think this flower shows you can get great results without much experience - it looks much more 3D than with ordinary markers and a blender pen. I have a little tip for you too - when you fussy cut a coloured flower like this one, you invariably end up with some white that shows around the cut edge. If you run your marker around the edge of the flower, it takes that away and makes your flower look just a little more finished.

If you would like to know more about Blendabilities, do check back for more hints, tips, techniques and tricks as I learn what works best. Better still, if you live in Northampton and the surrounding area, get in touch about attending my August card class where we will be using Blendabilities, along with the lovely Blended Bloom stamp. Also, if the 'Bloom with Hope' set has caught your eye and you would like your own set, do get in touch to book to host a party or enquire about my new Stampers 6 Club that is beginning next month: for a monthly commitment of £25 a month for 6 months, you get to be the hostess one month and enjoy a minimum of £25 hostess credits to spend free on anything in the catalogue, including hostess sets. Party freebies without needing to actually invite your friends round!  There is one space left in this current club - get in touch if you'd like it to be yours!

Do pop on over to The Paper Players blog to see what everyone else did with this sketch - there are some great cards there this week! I'll be back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bloom With Hope Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Hardwood	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment
Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Old Olive Assortment	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

A late post from me today - I returned late yesterday evening from a family mini break and seem to have spent all day today washing and ironing, isn't that always the way?! That's not strictly true - I did manage to get some long overdue gardening done this afternoon and fit in a grocery shop; all in all a very productive day! I made this card earlier in the week for my brother-in-law's  birthday; it's not until next week, but as he doesn't read my blog I know I'm safe to share! I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge as the inspiration for my layout:

I've spent some time practising with my Blendabilities this week and thought today's card would be a great opportunity to show you just how great these fabulous markers are for achieiving a blended coloured image. Here is my card:

Since my Bro' is officially 'post 40' this year, this image and sentiment from the 'Giggle Greetings' set seemed rather appropriate. I coloured the candle and cheese with my Daffodil Delight and Coastal Cabana sets of markers and echoed these colours elsewhere in my card. I am loving these new pens - they allow for beautiful shading with seamless colour blending and are so easy to use - no previous expertise necessary, although if you're the type of person who liked to colour as a child, you may find them rather addictive! I also embossed the top layer of my card with the Large Polka Dot embossing folder - it kind of reminded me of the holes in the cheese, albeit a little too regular in design. Lastly, I went with thick baker's twine for my bow detail - as a true 'man's man', I'm not sure my brother-in-law would appreciate anything more fancy!

Back tomorrow with my design team card for the Paper Players this week when we have a great sketch challenge for you - and another card using my Blendabilities markers!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Giggle Greetings	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Scallop Edge Border Punch
Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment	Coastal Cabana Thick Baker's Twine	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock
Tempting Turquoise A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack

Yay it's Friday already! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's theme challenge over at Less is More where it's all about taking inspiration from the song 'Singing in the Rain'. Given the glorious weather we've been having in the UK of late, I'm just hoping today's card isn't tempting fate! Here it is:

I don't have many stamps that fit with the theme of rain, even less so singing in the rain, but I have been wanting to use this sheet of DSP from the Moonlight DSP stack on something to do with rain as the pattern says 'raindrops' to me, so this seemed like a good opportunity. I also found this cute little fox with an umbrella in one of the new hostess sets, Life's Adventure, so this gave me enough to get started.

I actually took much of my inspiration from Sarah's card this week, as she had a cute paper pieced duckling on her DT card and I decided to do a little paper piecing of my own. I stamped the fox onto the card layer, then again onto some spare white cardstock, onto a piece of Pumpkin Pie retired dotty paper and lastly the umbrella onto a piece of Rich Razzleberry. I then cut each out carefully with my paper snips and paper pieced them together - you can see the detail on the picture below, including the Crystal Effects that I added to the spots on the umbrella (I think they look more like raindrops!)

Cute, eh?! Whilst this card is all about the rain, I'm sure the bright colours would cheer someone up who was feeling a little down - I'll let you know when I eventually send it to someone, assuming I remember! Life's Adventure is an exclusive hostess stamp set, that you can only purchase if you either host a Stampin' Up! party or are a member of my Stampers 6 Club: for those of you that haven't heard of this before, this is where you commit to a minimum spend of £25 per month for 6 months and then in one month o the 6 you get to be the hostess, with a minimum of £25 of free hostess credits to spend. A virtual party, if you will, with none of the hassle of hosting or inviting your friends around if that's not your thing. I am starting a new Stampers 6 Club in August and currently have one space left - if you would like to participate, then get in touch. Once this last space has been filled, I will begin collating a waiting list for an additional Stampers 6 Club so either way you've nothing to lose.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack	Life's Adventure Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Crystal Effects	Stampin' Dimensionals

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

The minute I saw this sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it - I love it when that happens! I definitely had stars in my eyes with this one - have a look at my card and you'll see what I mean:

I decided to use one of my favourite products from the new annual catalogue, the star framelits, along with some of the images from the co-ordinating 'Be The Star' stamp set for this card. I simply stamped one of the stars in Pumpkin Pie onto Whisper White, then cut it out with the framelit of the same size. Using the framelit the next size up, I cut out another star from Crushed Curry cardstock and paper pierced this around the edge using my Eclectic piercing template. I finished the star with the 'be the star you are' sentiment stamped in Bermuda Bay and punched out with a 1" circle punch. Lastly, I used the small bundle of stars stamp in Coastal Cabana directly onto the base layer of cardstock.

All being well I'll be spending a family day at the beach today - buckets and spades at the ready! Hope you have a fun day however you choose to spend it.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Be The Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stars Framelits Die	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	3/4 Inch Circle Punch
Eclectic Paper-Piercing Pack	Paper-Piercing Tool	Stampin' Pierce Mat	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry

Yes folks it's Wednesday already and so it's time for my Design Team card for this week's challenge over at Colour Me...!, where we have a 'playful collection of colours for you this week:

Now it's time to confess - I found this a really tricky collection of colours this week! I love brights, but I found it tricky to combine this overall combination and produce something I was truly happy with. So several binned prototypes later, and with the help from the sketch above over at Fusion, here is this week's card:

I decided to use pink and black as my key colours, with highlights of yellow and gold. Using a base of Basic Black, I added a top panel of Melon Mambo, stamped with 'Born to be loved' from the 'Groovy Love' stamp set, then added a wide band of Champagne Glimmer Paper across the join (Stampin' Up! has just introduced pure gold coloured glimmer paper, which would look equally as nice - I just don't own any yet!) I then stamped the animal print heart from the same set in Versamark onto Daffodil Delight and heat embossed with black embossing powder to give a textured shine. I punched the heart out with the co-ordinating heart punch, and punched a second heart out of Basic Black cardstock and overlapped the two before adhering onto my card. Lastly, I stamped the 'love' stamp from the same set in Melon Mambo onto Whisper White and punched this out with my 3/4" circle punch and adhered using a dimensional to add height.

So what do you think? Check out the other Colour Me...! designers for their take on this colour combination. I for one will be stalking this week's gallery in earnest to see how you all make this colour combination work for you!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Groovy Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Sweetheart Punch	Champagne Glimmer Paper	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock
Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for July (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right). 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Brights Designer Buttons	Celebration Basics Kit	Crushed Curry 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Curly Label Punch
Little Labels Punch Pack	Pumpkin Pie 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Summer Happiness Kit - Digital Download

There are some great offers this week - punches and my favourite 3/4" Chevron Ribbon - I get through so much of the Crushed Curry one! - along with the Celebrations Basics Kit. I had one of these recently and used it for Rebecca's birthday party and it was so easy to put together and so effective - here's a photo of the young lady herself putting the finishing touches to her party decorations:

If you want to dress up your party in style, click on the item above and pop on over to the store to order your banner kit today!

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy shopping!

I haven't participated in the Pals Paper Arts challenge for a little while, but when I saw Margaret's sketch this week I knew it would be perfect for a special card that I wanted to make:

A friend of mine is moving to Australia - she is a native Australian, so for her it's just 'going home', but for her British husband and young children, it's emigrating to the other side of the world. So the move is a big deal and comes with mixed emotions on all sides. The great thing is though that they are taking the opportunity to spend a few months travelling the world on leaving Britain and before arriving in Australia, so rather than focus on the move I thought it would be fun to make a card to wish them all the very best for their travels. I knew I wanted to make a card using the 'Around the World' stamp set - here's what I came up with:

I used a Pool Party base and a mat of Real Red, along with a piece of the now retired 'I am Me' designer series paper (I am still awaiting the arrival of my new papers and besides, this one was perfect for my theme!) I added the cross-panel in Pool Party, then stamped three of the images from the Around the World stamp set in Real Red on Whisper White. I did take advantage of the 'any shape' instruction on the sketch and did a little 'mix and match', with two circles and a hexagon. The circles I cut out using my Circle Framelits and then mounted them onto some Real Red circles cut with my 1 1/4" circle punch; the hexagon I cut by hand so that I could mount it on a Real Red hexagon punched with my hexagon punch. I tied them all together by stamping the trail from the aeroplane stamp onto the Pool Party card behind them.

So a bright, fun card to wish my dear friend and her family the best of luck on their forthcoming travels.

Back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals and my Colour Me...! card for this week. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* I Am Me Designer Series Paper - retired

Around The World	Hexagon Punch	1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Pool Party A4 Card Stock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock

Another Monday, another week! Today I'm sharing a card that fits the bill for the theme over at Addicted to CAS it's 'Celebrate'. I also combined with black, white and all 5 colours over at Colour Q too for good measure:

I decided to create a fun congratulations card, using one of the stamps in my new 'Bravo' stamp set and some stencilling with my new stars mask - here's my card:

I used Coastal Cabana from my base with a mat of Calypso Coral, then randomly sponged the coloured stars in the challenge colours to create my background. I finished with the 'Congratulations' stamp in black and a punched star in So Saffron, which I popped on a dimensional, to finish. A truly CAS card that looks great in the challenge colours; this is the first time I've used my stencil, but it definitely won't be the last.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Dots & Stripes Decorative Masks	Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Good morning blog readers! Today I'm sharing my card for The Paper Players challenge, where Sandy has chosen monochromatic CAS as the theme this week:

I decided on yellow as the colour for my card this week, with a touch of gold for glamour - here's my card:

I often choose blues or greens for this type of card, simply because you need a few tonal shades of the same colour for an ombre pattern to be effective, but with the addition of Hello Honey to the Stampin' Up! colour palette, I thought I would have a go with yellows. Yellow is one of my favourite colours and I love how this card turned out. I used Crushed Curry for my card base, then simply cut a panel of Whisper White and stamped the stripe from 'Work of Art' in rows down the length of the panel, starting with So Saffron, then following with Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry and lastly Hello Honey. I finished with a simple 'Hooray for Today' sentiment stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in gold and popped this up on dimensionals, which are hidden from view under the letters and the strip of gold sequins that finishes this panel.

So there you have it - my clean and simple monochromatic card. I hope you like my card today and that it inspires you to hop on over to the Paper Players challenge blog to check out the other wonderful cards created by the talented design team and join in and upload your challenge creations. The Paper Player challenge takes place weekly, opening on a Sunday at 8am (PST) and closes at noon on Friday (PST). Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules: 

1.  Create a new paper project

2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the  post featuring your challenge submission.

3.  Please link your card to no more than three challenges, TOTAL.

4.  Have FUN!

We look forward to seeing your colourful creations! Right I'm off to team training for the day today - looking forward to a day of uninterrupted crafting with my team. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Geometrical	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Gold Sequin Trim	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	White Vellum A4 Card Stock	Project Life Corner Punch

Apologies for my blog absence yesterday - I spent most of the day icing biscuits for teacher thank you gifts as today is the last day of the academic year for my James Juniors. I promise my self I'll start earlier every year, but what always seems to happen is I squeeze in a few more commissions and then also a few extra names get surrepticiously added to the list of thank yous by the children which means even more baking and icing!

I've shared my teachers gifts on my blog previously - you can check them out here if you would like to be reminded - so today I thought I would share a matching card and gift box commission that I made for someone else to give to their teacher. So here is my card:

For my card I used the retired Gingham Garden DSP (this was requested - lucky I still have a pack!) however most of the other product is current and you could easily create this set in an alternative paper without the teacher tag as a thank you gift for someone special. The star of the show is definitely the 'Million and One' sentiment stamp - perfect to show your appreciation of someone special.

Here is the matching gift box - I love these kraft boxes, they are so useful and very sturdy, and at £2.75 for 4 represent great value. I'm doubly pleased that the Extra-Large Gift Boxes have returned and made it into the annual catalogue as a stock item - these are great for larger gifts. 

Right, I've a few more jobs to do before I go and pack a picnic - we're off to see an outdoor theatre production of Peter Pan and The Lost Boys this evening. I've seen this theatre company perform the Railway Children previously, so I'm expecting great things - I'll report back tomorrow! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Million & One	Decorative Label Punch	Kraft Gift Box (4)	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Stippled Blossoms Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	Melon Mambo 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon	Crushed Curry 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Card Stock