Another Monday, another week! I'm starting mine by sharing a card I made for this week's challenge over at CASology:

There are lots of great 'house' card options in the new Stampin' up! catalogue, not all great for clean and simple cards though. I decided that the 'At Home With You' set would fit the bill - take a look:

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

Welcome Home - 'At Home With You' is the perfect set for new home cards and so much more besides. A large front door with all manner of pots, wreaths and accessories to fancy up your house for many different occasions. What's more, it is also available in a discounted bundle with the At Home Framelits Dies, which negate the need for lots of fussy cutting of the accessories and also allow you to create opening doors that can house a message or surprise behind the door - how fun! I used the framelits on today's card to cut out my pots with ease and popped them up on some dimensionals for added depth.

Keeping It CAS - At first glance, this set with it's large door and many added details might not be your first choice for a clean and simple or CAS card. In order to preserve the balance of white space on my card, I decided to only stamp part of the door image and use the welcome door mat as my focal point, with the addition of the dimensional pots to draw the eye towards it. It's quite clear that this is a front door, without needing the whole image - a great way to keep the design CAS but still be in keeping with the challenge theme. 

Who Lives In A House Like This? - I did a quick internet search on most popular front door colours and read an interesting article about what colour should you paint your front door. Many of us settle for the more traditional and popular black, white, grey, wood, blue, red or yellow, but there are equally many who use their front door as the place to express their inner craving for colour, with a bright turquoise, yellow or pink like this one:

  (Image: Getty)

I decided to use this hot pink door with cool aqua walls as the inspiration for my colourful card today - here's my colour combination if you'd like to save it to Pinterest for future inspiration:

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 day. I'm off to catch up with a friend for lunch and then back to tackle my mountain of ironing - once I've replaced my iron that is, as mine gave up the ghost yesterday. A great excuse to not have to continue battling the basket, but the pile won't iron itself so a new one is needed! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

At Home With You Photopolymer Bundle	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Aqua Painters	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Our amazing leader Nance is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

I love a good sketch and this one has lots of creative possibilities. I couldn't resist trying out another technique with my embossing paste, this time adding colour to it and creating a brick wall  - take a look:

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

Add Colour To The Texture - I am having fun with my embossing paste and for my card today I decided to add a little Smoky Slate re-inker to my paste before spreading it across my brick Pattern Party Decorative Mask, to create my brickwork background. This paste is so easy to colour - just add a few drops of re-inker and mix with a palette knife and it's good to go.

Grown With Love - I was inspired to use the 'Grown With Love' stamp set, with my bright yellow flowers and copper-embossed watering can, by the recent challenge picture over at Just Add Ink. This is challenge is from a couple of weeks ago but the photo stayed with me and I was keen to create something with this source of inspiration and Nance's sketch offered the perfect fit. I've included the picture here so that you can see what I mean:

I loved the combination of copper, brick and wood, along with the white and yellow flowers and the dark green foliage - you can see how I've incorporated them on my card. I added a Tranquil Tide In-Color Bitty Bow to my jug in lieu of the horizontal banner on Nance's sketch. Normally I would have used this for a sentiment, however as the sentiment is in the centre of the flowers I thought a bow would make a nice alternative, if less literal, interpretation.

Another Border, Another Wood Texture - As with last week's card, I decided to use another strip of the Wood Textures designer series paper for the border edge, this time in a grey wood to tone in with my bricks. Whilst I love these papers, I wasn't sure how I was going to use them on my projects, so I'm enjoying experimenting with the patterns in small quantities to add texture and pattern to my 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 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 look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Grown With Love Clear-Mount Bundle	Pattern Party Decorative Masks	Embossing Paste	Palette Knives	Glitter Enamel Dots
2017-2019 In Color Bitty Bows	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock
Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Versamark Pad	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely Jaydee to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

This was a great week for a CAS challenge - I was short on time and the glorious weather we've been having here in the UK these last few days has meant that my south-facing craft room has been like a sauna and not conducive to extended periods of crafting. I needed something that was quick to create so I reached for my Best Birds stamp set and co-ordinating Birds and Blooms Framelits along with this week's sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches and this is what I came up with:

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

Take One Stamp Set - My fellow Paper Player, the lovely LeAnne, has made so many fabulous cards with the Best Birds stamp set (you can see them via the link to her blog below), she finally convinced me that I had to add this set to my collection. This is the first time I've used this set and I'm not disappointed. A pair of birds, a branch, flowers, a great variety of sentiments and an interesting background stamp mean this set gives lots of options for layering and creating scenes, and all with a single stamp set. Thank you LeAnne for being such an enabler! I coloured my little bird to look like a blue tit with my inks and aquapainter - I love these birds!

Add Some Dimension - I stamped the hatched background stamp directly onto my card base then cut out the branch and my bird with the co-ordinating Birds and Blooms Thinlits Dies, adhering the branch directly to the base and popping my bird up on dimensionals for a little lift without too many layers so that it still feels CAS.

Texture Without Depth - I added a strip of the photographic Wood Textures Designer Series Paper to the edge of my card which give the illusion of texture and a trio of glitter enamel dots for a little sparkle and interest without compromising the overall clean and simple feel of my card.

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 look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. It's Father's Day here in the UK so we shall be spoiling Mr James today and hopefully continuing to enjoy the glorious sunshine we have been experiencing recently. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Best Birds Photopolymer Stamp Set	Birds & Blooms Thinlits Dies	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack	Glitter Enamel Dots	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Aqua Painters	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	White Stampin' Chalk Marker

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my wonderful friend LeAnne's turn to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I love these summery colours this week! I almost went with something 'beachy' but instead cased a layout from page 18 of the new annual catalogue for my card and used the Pretty Label bundle - take a look:

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

Label Me Pretty - The detailed florals on my Label Me Pretty label were perfect for today's colour scheme; mostly bright yellows and greens, with a single stem of bluebells to tie in with my card base. i also inked the floral sections of my stamp with my Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker and stamped them directly onto my card base for a little tone-on-tone interest. 

Pretty Label Punch Trick - Did you know the Pretty Label Punch can also be used to create mat layers for your label? Here I punched a second label in Lemon Lime Twist cardstock, cut it in half horizontally and added it to the base edges of your label to give a mat border edge. Neat, right?

Ribbons and Pearls - I added lots of 'pretties' to my card today and couldn't resist a twist of new bright yellow double stitched ribbon; the Daffodil Delight seems to tone down the brightness of the Lemon Lime Twist on this card 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 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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are all out and about today, with one of the James Juniors singing in a choir performance all day and the other headed to his school summer fete, complete with classic car show and bouncy castles and hopefully time for a cream tea!

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Label Me Pretty Clear-Mount Bundle	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad
Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Blender Pens	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon
Daffodil Delight 1/4" Double-Stitched Ribbon	Delicate White Doilies	Pearl Basic Jewels	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock

I'm a little later posting today as I had the first of this month's technique classes this morning and I wasn't quite organised enough to post beforehand. Anyway, I'm here now with a bright and colourful card to cheer your day! I have another birthday card for you - this time one that uses the current sketch over at the Fab Friday Challenge:

This circle could be so many things, but I really felt it needed words - in fact, two big ones! Take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Happy Birthday - It's big, it's bold and says it all right there: the Happy Birthday Thinlits Die really does make a big impact! Whether you pair it with flowers or balloons (the bundled stamp set 'Happy Birthday Gorgeous' has both), this die makes a statement when used on a card front or birthday packaging. Here I've layered it and offset both diecuts, for added impact. This is one die that is going to get lots of use, for sure.

Reversing Birthday Memories - The paper I've used on my card today is from the Birthday Memories designer series paper from the product suite of the same name. You will no doubt like me swoon over this fabulous paper and it's adorable hand painted colourful children's illustrations, however the reverse side should also not be overlooked - it includes some great repeat patterns, along with a wonderful rainbow striped pattern and the dotty pattern that I've used on my card today. 

Blue With A Touch Of Citrus - My choice of patterned paper inspired my colour choices today, although I switched out the Soft Sky for Pool Party as I wanted a warmer blue to balance my zingy citrus colours of Lemon-Lime Twist and Pumpkin Pie. Here's today's colour combination for you to save to inspire your future creations 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 day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Birthday Gorgeous Photopolymer Bundle	Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Brights Enamel Shapes	Balloon Bouquet Punch

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the Jaydee's turn to host this week and she has a fun theme for us to work with:

So many possibilities! I actually made several birthday cards with Jaydee's challenge in mind and couldn't decide which one to share; I loved the colour combo over at The Colour Throwdown and since Jaydee is also guest designer over at CTD this week that decided it! I also used the Paper Craft Crew Sketch and my Rose Garden Thinlits to come up with my card today - take a look:

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

There's not much to say about today's card; I stencilled some roses onto my panel with some powder pink ink and a sponge brayer, then added layers of gold foil, acetate and ribbon before finishing with my layered pink and gold foil-edged rose. A sentiment in navy and a few metallic enamel shapes complete my card. Whilst simple I think the gold elements make this seem more fancy than usual. One thing's for sure - I love 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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. I have more birthday cards to share with you this week, so be sure to pop buy for more birthday inspiration using some of my new catalogue products. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are hoping for another day of sunshine before the kiddies return to school tomorrow for the final half-term of this academic school year. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Rose Garden Thinlits Dies	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sponge Brayers	Gold Foil Sheets	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Natural Trim
Powder Pink A4 Cardstock	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Metallic Enamel Shapes	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate

Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying your weekend; I had a 'day off' yesterday and went cycling with the rest of the James clan and have spent today creating more samples for my open house catalogue launch on Thursday - here's a reminder of those details:

I would love to see you there! One of the cards I made today uses this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday:

I've been having fun with my new goodies and have used three on my card today:

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

Colour Theory - I decided to go monochrome today with the new Berry Burst in-colour balanced with white to create definition in my layers. My card features two of the contrasting crackle-glaze patterned papers from the Colour Theory DSP stack too - they add good visual interest without texture.

Lovely Words - The Lovely Words Thinlits dies set that the 'friend' centrepiece on my card comes from were one of the first things that made it into my pre-order basket. What can I say - I'm a sucker for word dies and I love that these can be used with or without the shape that they are set in and offer lots of creative possibilities for layering and using the negative space too. Expect to see lots more of these!

A Little Repetition - The Lovely Words Thinlits are available in a discounted bundle with the Lovely Inside & Out stamp set too. This is a fun set with some basic background pattern stamps along with large and small font greetings, that can be mixed and matched and used with or without the thinlits. I've used one of the sentiments to create a background panel, using my stamp-a-ma-jig to align the words to create my own DSP. It took a little time, but it was worth it for this fun effect.

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 for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lovely Inside & Out Clear-Mount Bundle	Berry Burst A4 Cardstock	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad	Color Theory Designer Series Paper Stack	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! The awesomely talented Laurie is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

I love a good sketch and this one was perfect for me to open a new stamp set that I won at Onstage in April but hadn't inked up yet - take a look:

Isn't that little piggy cute?! Here's the low-down on today's card:

This Little Piggy - This fun set of animated pigs in a variety of poses is set to be hugely popular if the 'oohs' and 'aahs' that accompanied Charlotte Harding's demonstration at Onstage are anything to go by. Who doesn't love a pig or know someone who does? The excitement in the room when this set was offered up as a prize patrol was palpable, but that was nothing compared to how I reacted when I won it - I think it's fair to say I gave a piggy squeal of delight! I've used the 'serious' pig on my card today, that can be paired with one of two sentiments. I stamped the image and sentiment separately on my card and completed the sentence inside my card, complete with kisses:

Isn't that sweet? A perfectly fun anniversary card for this week's challenge over at As You See It too - this card is perfect for my hubby!

Lots Of Layers - I took the opportunity to add some layers to my focal image with a mix of stitched shapes and layered squares. On this card I punched my sentiment out with the classic label punch, rather than stamp it directly onto the patterned paper layer as I did on the card below.

Paper Pick 'n' Mix - I'm taking the opportunity to use up my retiring papers so this card features some polka dots from the Brights stack as well as some Pop of Pink DSP for the horizontal band. I also created a second card using the Playful Palette DSP stack papers with an alternative sentiment pairing - take a look:

And here's the inside:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

Here's the details for my second card:

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 look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Do leave me a comment and let me know which of these little pigs you prefer and if they are on your wishlist too! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - we have a Bank Holiday on Monday so an extra long one, which is great. I am hoping for a continuation of this lovely weather and another BBQ, possibly followed by a bike ride. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Playful Palette Designer Series Paper Stack	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Layering Squares Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Classic Label Punch
Brights Enamel Shapes

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fusion:

I went with both the sketch and photo inspiration for my card today - I loved the navy and white colour combination and the strong pattern influence in the inspiration photo:

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

Label Me Pretty - The focal point for my card is a layered label from the new Label Me Pretty set. I featured one of the other labels in this set in my Saturday post (if you missed it you can see it here); for today's card I punched out my main label using the new Pretty Label Punch and added some additional layering to the circles in the centre. 

Floral Boutique - I love the patterns in the Floral Boutique designer series paper pack and will be sorry to see this paper retire. Fear not though, there is a silver lining: 4 of the patterns in this pack are returning in the new In-Colour Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Pack, including the one I've used on my card today. Hooray - now I can re-create my card in the new in-colours too!

An Added Detail - In addition to some retired Sale-A-Bration metallic ribbon, I added one final detail to my card today; well actually, to the envelope! I took a co-ordinating piece of paper from the Floral Boutique stack and added it to my envelope flap for some pretty additional detail. This is a nice way to add a touch of colour to an otherwise plain envelope - after all, envelopes should never be naked!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Label Me Pretty Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pretty Label Punch	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	1-3/8" (3.5 Cm) Circle Punch
1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch

Happy Monday everyone! Lots to achieve this week so I'm trying to be organised with this week's blog posts. Today I'm just in time to share a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

So many possibilities here for this sketch and that object/shape! I eventually decided on a 'something old, something new' for a birthday card - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

I thought the easel from the 'Painter's Palette' stamp set would look great paired with the new 'Pick A Pattern' designer series paper, so I stamped it twice so that I could add a little dimension between the easel and the canvas, added some paint splatters to the canvas in some of the colours that feature in the paper, paired with a bright Emerald Envy card base and that was my card done. An artistic start to the week! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Painter's Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pick A Pattern Designer Series Paper	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Sahara Sand A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock