It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

Now I have a slight confession: I have been working hard to put the finishing touches to my weekend craft retreat that is being held next weekend, so I have been working a little more in advance than usual and sketching out my cards without always having my laptop to hand. I instantly knew what I wanted to do with Sandy's sketch and set to work colouring my central panel; it was only after I glued everything together I realised I hadn't re-checked the sketch and so my background layers are regular rectangles, rather than the longer, narrower central panel. I did not have time to remake my card so I'm sharing with you as is. I know that the lovely Sandy will forgive me though - besides, i'm hoping she will be so impressed with my colouring in she might not even notice ;-) 

Anyway - my card contains one of my most favourite spring blooms so is also perfect for the challenge over at Stamp Ink Paper this week. As someone who hails from the rolling hills of Wales I could not pass up this set from the seasonal catalogue, it really was love at first sight! Here's my card - take a look:

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

Daffodil Delights - I have longed for a daffodil stamp for ages so am delighted to have 'You're Inspired' to add to my stamp collection. With sentiments for Easter, Mother's Day, Birthday and a couple more besides, along with two beautiful line-drawn daffodil images, this is a great set for Spring and beyond. There are so many ways this image can be coloured and I will be sharing lots of cards that demonstrate the versatility of this set in coming weeks. For today's card I went for straight forward colouring with my Stampin' Blends Daffodil Delight and Old Olive markers on Whsiper White cardstock. 

Coffee Break Stripes - I paired my daffodil image with a background of white and old olive stripes from the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper pack. It has enough pattern to add interest but not so much to detract form the main image of those beautiful blooms. I added a Crushed Curry horizontal banner and finished it with some Old Olive ribbon to tie the elements of my design together.

Down Dales And Up Hills - ... rows and rows of daffodils! This is the first line of a poem I learned in primary school to recite on St David's Day some 40 years ago and I can still remember it all these years on. I was reminded of it when I saw the stamp featuring a row of daffodils; I decided to repeat this image and create a border of daffodils for the inside of my card, take a look:

I know I am going to get so much use out of this stamp set and it will definitely be a keeper for me. I can't wait to make lots more with it!

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:

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! 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: 

You’Re Inspiring Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Coffee Break Designer Series Paper	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon

I've had a busy but hugely productive day today (love days like those!) and am popping in with a quick post from me with a card I made yesterday to squeeze in for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches: 

This is such a lovely little sketch from Jen, it seemed a shame not to use it (although I did flip it and use the mirror image so that my bird would be pointing towards my sentiment rather than away from it). I had so much fun with Saturday's Bird Banter card (you can see that card here if you missed it) that I thought I would use the set again this time featuring the colourful toucan - take a look:

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

Bird Banter - Today it's the turn of the toucan and his accompanying punny sentiment - these funnies just crack me up! I searched up some images of toucans online before deciding on my colours and then used my Blends to colour him, with the exception of his eye and the top of his beak - I used my Lemon-Lime Twist Stampin' Write marker for that as I wanted to get a real zing of green. I stamped him twice: once directly onto my banner, then again on some scrap cardstock and fussy cut this out. This way I was able to fussy cut out his body only and pop it up onto dimensionals aligned with the banner image, without needing to fussy cut his legs.

A Time-Saving Tip  - Now I love a bit of fussy cutting, but I know that it's not for everyone. Whilst I was happy to fussy cut my toucan and the larger flowers, the tiny ones were too fiddly. Instead I used a small circle punch (my circle punch from the retired Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack) and punched them out; much easier and I don't think it loses anything in terms of detail - what do you think?

A Tone-On-Tone Thankyou - I could have stopped there, but instead decided to add a little tone-on-tone stamping to my background panel by stamping the 'thank you so much' stamp from Thankful Thoughts repeatedly to create a customised background that reinforces the sentiment of my card. 

I remembered to stamp and colour my envelope (yay!) and that completes my card. I just love that this set really lends itself to bright colours and fun cards - another one for my stash!

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:

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pumpkin Pie Light Stampin' Blends Marker	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Brights Enamel Shapes	Regals Enamel Shapes

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our wonderful team leader Nance to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

Whether you stay with the circle or use an alternative shape, this is a sketch with many possibilities. I decided to keep with the circle as it was perfect to showcase a new stamp I haven't used yet and have fun with a little colouring - take a look:

I've had a few friends that have either recently moved or are in the process of moving, so I needed to replenish my stock of 'new home' cards and the 'Flying Home' stamp set had the perfect image. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Flying Home - I was lucky enough to receive the 'Flying Home' stamp set at Onstage in November, but had yet to ink it up. This set is perfect for a new home card, or even a new baby card; in fact the whimsical line drawings work for lots of card types. The other great thing about this set is that it is made for colouring. I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my main image and I stamped the little bird twice so that I could fussy cut one and pop him up on a tiny piece of a dimensional for added lift.

A Petal Garden Colour Combo - I pulled the colours for my stamped image directly from the Petal Garden designer series paper that I used for my background panel and added a co-ordinating ribbon trim too. I love these fresh colours, perfect for spring - here's the colour palette for you to save if you'd like to use it for your future projects:

New Home Congratulations - The 'Flying Home' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I decided to go on the hunt through my other sets for a small sentiment that I could add to my horizontal Pool Party strip. I found the perfect stamp in 'At Home With You'  - and followed up inside my card with 'congratulations'.

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:

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'm hoping to fit in a little more crafty time today along with some precious family time. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Flying Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock
Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon	Calypso Coral 1/8" Sheer Ribbon	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Layering Circle Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker

Today is a big news day: Alcohol markers are back! It's the first of November and as promised in an earlier post, today sees the official launch of Stampin' Blends to customers.  These high quality, dual-tip markers come in 12 exclusive Stampin' Up! colours; they each have a light and a dark shade for the ultimate blending experience. In addition, there are two further colours, bronze and ivory, and a colour lifter to give your blended images the finishing touch. 

Stampin' Blends are available in 2-marker combo packs, as single markers or as the whole collection. There are so many great stamp sets in the catalogue that are perfect for colouring; in addition to celebrate the launch of these fabulous new pens, Stampin' Up! have also released a new stamp set and card project kit designed to be use with Stampin' Blends:

Color Me Happy Project Kit (144069)

• You'll be coloured happy every time you create with this stamp set.
• The line-art images are perfect for colouring techniques.
• Quantity: 10 rubber stamps
• Suggested clear blocks (not included): b, c, g, h, i

Color Me Happy Project Kit (144609)
The Colour Me Happy Project Kit will be available while supplies last.

The kit includes:

• 16 card bases, 4 each of 4 designs
• 16 envelopes with printed design inside, 4 each of 4 designs
• Gold foil accents
• Die-cut cardstock background and accents
• Printed and gold foil die-cut accents
• White Baker's Twine
• Mini Pool Party tassels
• Circle and star sequins
• Gold foil tape

Coordinating colors: Basic Black, gold foil, Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry

If you're a fan of Stampin' Up! Bundles, than you'll love that these two coordinating products (project kit and stamp set) are available as a BUNDLE...save 10%. 

I am so excited about the arrival of these new pens and I can't wait to share some of my coloured creation with you. In the meantime, here's a little video from the nice people at the Home Office showing these pens in action: 

I'll be back soon with more news and another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stampin' Blends Markers Collection

Color Me Happy Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Color Me Happy Project Kit

Hello everyone! I've had a busy start to my week: barely recovered from my weekend of exhibiting at the Crafting Live Show in Stoneleigh Park at the weekend, then two days of classes and today a wisdom tooth removal. The latter has at least resulted in an enforced day of quiet today for a change as I am to take it easy - dentists orders!  

So I thought I would take the time to catch up and share with you some news of some fantastic promotions that Stampin' Up! has for this week and month. Firstly, for papercrafters everywhere, to celebrate World Card Making Day on 7th October we have a number of products that are available on offer from 1st-10th October:

Lots of great card making staples in there, including great deals on Fast Fuse and notelets and envelopes and some fabulous stamp sets. 

As if that wasn't enough, there is also an amazing 'buy three, get one free' offer on designer papers for the entire month of October:

This sale includes Designer Series Paper from both the annual catalogue and the recently released autumn/winter catalogue (not including Specialty Designer Series Paper or Designer Series Paper Stacks). Here is a close up of some of the paper collections that are included in this offer: 

You can already find lots of samples using these papers on my blog and I will continue to share lots more inspiration in the coming months. 

Before I go I have one last piece of exciting news to share with you: Stampin' Up! is getting ready to launch its new range of alcohol-based marker pens:

Stampin’ Blends as they will be known, are high-quality, dual-tip markers that come in twelve exclusive Stampin’ Up! colours. They each have a light and a dark shade, which will give you the utmost blending experience! The range also includes an ivory, bronze and colour lifter marker. These are currently only available to demonstrators until 15th October and the exact customer launch date is still to be confirmed. I have a great reason to be sharing them with you now though: if you, like me, love to colour and have been hotly anticipating the arrival of these markers, you might want to consider joining Stampin' up! as a demonstrator before the 15th October, as you are able to get the whole set as part of your starter kit, and still have room for a few other goodies too! If this is something you would like to chat with me about, then do get in touch for more information.

That's all from me; I'll be back tomorrow with a project to share with you. 

Until then, happy stampin'!