Happy Easter everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely day and that the Easter bunny left you lots of yummy chocolate eggs. We've had a lovely day, with our traditional Easter egg hunt around the garden and then a family roast for lunch. Not even the rain this afternoon could dampen our spirits.  I made this really quick card this morning as an absolute last-minute Easter card - I needed one more opportunity to use an Easter stamp! I wasn't intending to share it on my blog, then this afternoon I saw that the Paper Players challenge this week is to create a CAS card with washi tape, so thought I would link up;

Here is my super-quick card:

I must confess that I am something of a hoarder of washi tape - I love to buy it, then struggle to use it! One thing it's great for though is adding detail to really quick cards, like this one: I simply took a plain piece of Melon mambo for my card base, added two strips of Gingham Garden washi tape and then stamped the 'Eggstra Spectacular' stamp in pink, coloured with marker pens then popped up on a couple of dimensionals. As easy as that! I cut my washi tape with scissors as I wanted a straight edge, but it tears really easily and looks great with a torn edge too. I don't know why, but having come to edit my photo the pink washi tape doesn't look straight, but I can assure you it is - next time I'll go with something more random!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Eggstra Spectacular	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock	Brights Stampin' Write Markers
Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape	Stampin' Dimensionals

Good evening everyone! I hope you are all making the most of the long Easter weekend. I've been busy decorating and making new wall art for Ben's Lego-themed bedroom today. I also got to spend a couple of hours in my craft room, but unfortunately tidying and re-organising rather than creating today. So a quick post from me this evening to share a scrapbook page I made at our team training event last week.

The page was designed by the lovely Bekka Prideaux and is in the style of a Project Life page - i.e. divided into regular sized sections with space for journaling and photos, just like those designed by Becky Higgins, the creator of the hugely successful modern day scrapbooking phenomenon that is Project Life. Here is my page, finished with photos from the Dads, Lads & Lasses camping trip that was held at school last September:

This style of scrapbooking appeals to busy mums like me; I take lots of photographs and need a quick and easy method of presenting them and recording my memories, so I'm thrilled that Stampin' Up! has joined forces with Becky Higgins to produce our very own line of Project Life-themed accessories in the new Annual Catalogue, out in July - read all about it in my earlier post here. As a demonstrator, one of my perks is that I'll be able to get my hands on this and other new and exciting offerings ahead of customers and I can assure you I'll be first in line for this one!

If you'd like to be one of the first to get your hands on Stampin' Up's new range of Project Life accessories, now is a great time to join my team of Stampin' Up! demonstrators. If you're interested, please do get in touch - I would love to share with you the benefits that being a part of my Stampin' Up! team of demonstrators brings.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Around The World	Hardwood	Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack	Perfect Pennants Clear-Mount Bundle	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Bitty Butterfly Punch
Hexagon Punch	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform

Yay, it's Friday - where did that week go?! Today I'm sharing my entry for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players, where Ann has laid down the following colour challenge: 

I really wanted to enter this week's challenge as I missed last week's, however this colour combination filled me with some dread: I use Coastal Cabana a lot, I use Calypso Coral less so; as for Always Artichoke - I've only used this colour ONCE before - EVER!! The design team provided such great and varied inspiration this week though that I thought I should endeavour to rise to the challenge and have a go. It took a long while, but eventually this is what I came up with - that I'm prepared to share with the world, anyway :-):

After much (unsuccessful) experimentation with a variety of designer series paper, I decided that simple was the way to go and I reached for my 'Oh, Hello' stamp set which I haven't used in a while. I stamped the oval chevron background in Coastal Cabana on the same colour base and paper pierced the outline for added interest. Then I split the sentiment, stamping part of it directly onto the card base and part of it onto a layered vellum banner that I popped up on some dimensionals. I then decorated this with a flower that I stamped twice, once on Calypso Coral Cardstock and once onto Always Artichoke, then carefully cut both out with my paper snips and paper-pieced them together.

Not an overly complicated card, but one of those that took way longer to execute than anticipated! Always nice to move outside of one's comfort zone though, and I like the result even though this is a colour combination I would never ordinarily choose.

Right - I'm off for some serious painting today - the preparation has been done, so today the nursery walls of Ben's bedroom will be officially transformed into a Lego-lovers paradise!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Oh, Hello Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock
Always Artichoke Classic Stampin' Pad	Always Artichoke A4 Card Stock	White Vellum A4 Card Stock	Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack	Paper-Piercing Tool
Stampin' Pierce Mat	Paper Snips

As promised, today I have the second of the cards I made for this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch - I saw this layout and couldn't resist another interpretation. This time I also combined it with the colour challenge over at Dynamic Duos:

This card is altogether more fun than yesterday's - take a look and you'll see what I mean:

I had the idea that if the squares were circles, the little mouse from the 'Life in the Forest' stamp set could play 'peek a boo' as if he was in a block of Swiss cheese (something of a graphic interpretation, given that the circles are identically sized and placed, but hopefully you can see what I mean!) I stamped the mice onto Whisper White and simply punched out with my 1" circle punch so that only parts of them were showing, and I mounted these onto circles of Wisteria Wonder only slightly larger that I cut with my Circle Framelits. I coloured the mice with my Wisteria Wonder and So Saffron inks and a blender pen and finished the card with the sentiment 'smile' - well, I didn't have one that says 'chuckle', which is what I was doing as I coloured these little fellas so this was the next best thing :-)

I hope you like my fun take-two on the sketch; back tomorrow with my entry for this week's Paper Players challenge (and yes, it was a challenge indeed!) Until then, I'm off to the theatre with Ben this morning whilst Rebecca is on a swimming course and my dear husband is having to monitor the bathroom fitter who is replacing a floor tile that has been booked to do the job for some 14 months - hopefully today is (finally) the day!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Life In The Forest	Happy Day	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Blender Pens	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform
Circles Collection Framelits Dies	1 Inch Circle Punch	3/16 Inch Corner Punch

It's Wednesday and they're here: week 2 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.

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:

Afternoon Picnic Designer Series Paper	Crisp Cantaloupe 3/8" Ruffle Stretch Trim	Fancy Flower Punch	Floral District Photobook Template - Digital Download	Polka Stampin' Around Builder Wheel
Silver Glimmer Paper	This And That Epic Day Designer Series Paper

Good evening blog readers! I hope you are enjoying weather as glorious as we have had here in the UK the last few days - it feels long overdue and long may it continue. We went out on another bike ride today, just for fun - our bike ride earlier in the week involved our first attempt at geocaching, but since we didn't manage to find a single box the novelty of this wore off rather quickly! It's just so nice to be outdoors. Today's card is one of two entries that I have for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge - I love this week's layout, so many possibilities:

For my first card, I decided to stay with the layout of squares, and created a pattern with an ombre effect:

I used one of the square stamps from the 'You're Lovely' stamp set which is great for a repeat pattern, and stamped each row in a slightly darker shade of aqua blue-green, to give the graduated ombre effect. I used a piece of Core-d'inations card in Coastal Cabana for my base, as this card has a lovely textured finish when unsanded. Because of this texture, it is quite difficult to get an evenly inked stamp on it, so I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder to provide a more even and vibrant finish.

Come back tomorrow to see my alternative and altogether more humorous take on this sketch; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Lovely	2013-2015 In Color Core'dinations	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy
Heat Tool - Uk Plug

We've had a lovely family day out today at one of our favourite places locally, Twycross Zoo - a lovely little zoo for monkeys (of the Junior and primate variety!) and whilst I haven't had time to take any photos in my studio today - I might share two creative projects tomorrow to make up for it, so watch this space - I do have some very exciting Stampin' Up! news to share with you today: Stampin' Up! are partnering with Becky Higgins, the creator of Project Life, to bring Project Life products in a range of exclusive and co-ordinating Stampin' Up! colours and designs.

If you're not familiar with Project Life, it's a really simple, affordable way to get your photographs into albums; it's a pocket-based scrapbooking system, that allows you to file your photos and journaling cards easily so that you spend more time making making memories and less time scrapbooking them - sounds good to me!

There will be a complete Project Life product line on offer in the new annual catalogue that launches here in the UK on 1st July, but in the meantime, here's a short introduction from Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Up! CEO and Becky Higgins herself to tell you more:

As a mother of young children who takes hundreds of photographs each year, most of which never go beyond my computer's hard drive, this is a system that really appeals to me and I'm excited that Stampin' Up! are getting involved with Project Life. 

 I'll be sure to bring you more news as it emerges; I'm sure this is just one of the new things that Stampin' Up! will be introducing with the new annual catalogue - exciting times!

One last thing - today is the last day for this week's weekly deals, so if there's anything on the list that you fancy, then get in quick and place your online order in my shop now. Full details of this week's offers can be found here. A new collection of weekly deals will be announced tomorrow!

Back tomorrow with a project (or two!) and details of the new weekly deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing a card I made using the poppy in the Happy Watercolour set. I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my simple layout and was inspired by the colours over at Create with Connie and Mary this week:

I decided to go with quite a simple design - here's my card:

I used a Daffodil Delight card base and stamped my poppy stem only in Versamark and stamped it onto my base card and heat embossed in gold, then did the same again with the flowerhead on a separate piece of cardstock, coloured it with Daffodil Delight and my aquapainter and cut it out, then popped it onto my card on a dimensional. I know poppies are traditionally red, but they come in all kinds of different colours, including yellow - which also give the card a bright feel.

Here's a close up of the flowerhead:

For my horizontal cross-section panel beneath the poppy, I used a piece of Watercolour Wonder DSP that features all of the challenge colours above. This is the only place where the green and orange features on my card, yet the colour works really well in breaking up what would otherwise be a rather monochromatic card. I added a few gold sequins to finish, and done.

If you'd like more ideas on how to use these colours, check out the design team inspiration - lots of great work on show, as always.

I'm off to take my juniors tenpin bowling with some friends today and then go and purchase some paint tester pots for Ben's bedroom redecoration - I love the Easter holidays!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Watercolor	Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper	Gold Sequin Trim	Aqua Painter	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Embossing Buddy	Heat Tool - Uk Plug

I've had a lovely day today with members of my team at our quarterly training day; it's always such fun to get together with some of the wider team and meet up with friends I don't see all that often. Today I'm sharing a birthday card that I made for one of my downline who celebrated her birthday this week. I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch and the colours and photo over at Colour Q for the inspiration for my design:

I love the bright and bold colours over at Colour Q this week and the pattern on the sundress had me reaching for my Simple Stems set again to try and capture those bright flowers. Here is my finished card:

I used a piece of spotty Coastal Cabana DSP from the Fresh Prints paper stack as my angled background, then layered three flowers as the anchor for my birthday flag. I stamped the largest flower twice in Tangerine Tango and once in Pumpkin Pie, and having cut one of the flowers using my Secret Garden framlits, fussy-cut the remaining two flowers into sections, then layered them with a Tangerine Tango base, Pumpkin Pie middle layer and Tangerine Tango flower centre. I then popped them up on dimensionals to give a real 3D effect to this flower. I stamped the remaining two flowers in Bermuda Bay, then overlapped all three flowers - this photo shows the layering really well:

I used a piece of retired Tangerine Tango ribbon for my bow - I was tempted to use white, but decided my card needed another pop of orange amongst the lovely turquoise blues, so there you have it.

That's all for today; back tomorrow with another card, until then happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Simple Stems	Magnetic Platform	Secret Garden Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad
Simply Sketched

I've had a lovely day today finishing off my swaps in readiness for our quarterly team training tomorrow. Our swaps always have a theme and this quarter it's 'technique'; I've based my swaps on a card I made for the challenge over at Seize The Sketch this week, which has this great layout:

Here is my card - can you tell what technique I'm showcasing?

I know Father's Day is still a few months away, but I love the sentiment on this stamp and have been keen to use it for the first time. I decided that I would showcase the 'acrylic block & markers' technique on my card: this is where you colour an acrylic block with markers (I used a variety of greens and browns) and then spritz with water (I add a few drops of alcohol to mine so that it dries quicker) then stamp the block onto the paper.

I thought this technique would make a lovely background to the tree stamp and would add a little more interest than just colouring the image with markers directly. Here's a close-up of the stamped background:

Whilst all of my swap cards look the same, each has a slightly different central panel as each time you stamp using a block it comes out differently, making them all unique.

Sticking with the wood theme, I added a panel of Chocolate Chip embossed with the Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and stamped the layer of Crumb Cake beneath this with the Hardwood background stamp. To finish, I added a couple of chevrons as an accent - wooden of course, coloured with my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker pen:

I also incorporated some Old Olive into the mat layers just to give the card a lift and so that it wouldn't appear too 'brown'.

I'm quite pleased with the overall end result - let's hope my team like their swaps tomorrow too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hardwood	Look Up To Father	Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Essentials Wooden Elements
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Chocolate Chip A4 Card Stock	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers
Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker	Pear Pizzazz Stampin' Write Marker	Clear Block D