Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that I Made for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges where they have a product challenge focusing on alphabet dies this week:

I have been lax in keeping up with my Christmas card making, so inspired by a couple of my blog friends who made Christmas cards in the past week, I though I should remedy the situation. It's a great opportunity to play along over at Inkspirational too, where the theme is seasonal - I suspect there will be more sunshine than snow in their gallery, but I'm not going to let that stop me! What's more, using my Mini Alphabet Die gave me the opportunity to make two at the same time with hardly any extra effort - take a look at the first one:

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

Mini Alphabet - As with this card here, I used my Mini Alphabet Dies to create my custom sentiment, cutting the alphabet several times in black and adhering to some white cardstock, cutting around this allowing for a border, to for the base:

If you're someone that has a habit of losing or misplacing letters in your alphabet die sets, the Mini Alphabet Dies might be a great solution for you! All of the letters are attached and you can diecut the whole alphabet (including duplicates of commonly used letters) in one go. Any letters you don't need you can set aside for future projects. 

Two For One - Having completed my card, I used my leftover negative alphabet diecuts to make a second card:

I simply cut each letter into a rectangle using my paper snips, and again adhered to a piece of white cardstock, this time with the white cardstock forming the letters courtesy of the negative diecuts:

This is a great way to make two cards in one, with very little extra effort. You might want to keep the little pieces that create the letter infills (such as the A and O on my card). I chose not to use them on this occasion and I think it looks fine without - but it's entirely up to you. 

I added a simple background using some retired festive DSP from my stash and added some diecut holly as an embellishment to complete my cards.

Here's a photo of both cards together:

You can use the same principle with other alphabets too. Is this a technique that you ever use? Do let me know in the comments below!

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; yes, I must be crazy sharing Christmas cards on what is predicted to be the hottest day of the year here in the UK, but I can assure you I am loving the sunshine! I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

MINI ALPHABET DIES (£29.00)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)

OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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

I knew I wanted to play with my Floral Delights papers today; the Delightful Wishes Suite was my first choice from the mini catalogue - I do love yellow! - yet it hasn't seen anywhere near enough love, so today is a step towards changing that - take a look:

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

Floral Delights - I decided I would stick with the basic round shape in the sketch and use this as the basis for my collection of fussy cut flowers, taken straight from the Floral Delights papers. I wanted to create an arch of flowers to frame my sentiment, so just layered them up until I was happy with the arrangement.

Delightful Wishes - The 'wishing' die is my favourite element of the Delightful Wishes bundle - along with the other sentiments in the set, so many bespoke greetings can be created. Today I went for 'Wishing You Well' - this would work as a get well soon card, but also as a farewell or even good luck wishes for the future. I stamped part of the sentiment onto my diecut circle, then overlaid my 'wishing' diecut onto the cluster of flowers added previously. The white border of the diecut, along with the white border of my fussy cut flowers and the mat layer all tie in to give a neat, uniform appearance. 

Just Two Colours - I was originally intending to use some yellow gingham plaid for my base, but my ribbon got rather lost amongst the pattern. When I spied this faux-textured Old Olive paper, I immediately switched - it works so much better. Almost without trying, I ended up using only two colours on today's card: yellow and green (with white as a neutral). I'm so pleased with the finished effect - and I hope the ladies over at Color Dare will like it too, since they are also looking for two-colour combos including yellow this week. 

I'm pleased that the Delightful Wishes bundle is on carryover; the Floral Delights paper though is not, so if you have it in your sights, it's your last chance to snap it up. The link to it in the online store is below - you're welcome ;-)

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; the hubby and I went to the theatre yesterday evening to watch 'War Horse', the dramatisation of Michael Morpurgo's famous book of the same name. It was amazing - the life-size mechanical horse puppets really were a sight to behold. Back down to earth today! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FLORAL DELIGHT 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	DELIGHTFUL WISHES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT 1/8" (3.2 MM) SATIN RIBBON (£7.50)	SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)
OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)

I had a little crafty time yesterday so pulled together a clean and simple card for a few current challenges:

There is a great layout over at AAA Cards and at Colour Inkspiration they are celebrating the retiring 2023-25 In Colours. I actually managed to use all 5 on my card - take a look:

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

The 2023-25 In Colours are a tricky bunch to use together I think; I have some favourites in the mix - Boho Blue - and some that I won't be so sorry to see leave us (I'm talking to you, Wild Wheat!), so on perusing the  shelves of stamps that are retiring too, I settled on A Bird's Eye View and set to work. I added a couple of birds to my leafy branch and coloured them using my Stampin' Blends, then masked off a circle and stencilled in some clouds using a stencil and blending brush (perfect for the stencil challenge over at CAS on Friday this week too):

Finally, I'm also linking today's card up over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'A is for Alphabet' and we can choose a letter and theme of our choice - I am of course choosing 'B for Birds'.

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. 

Would you believe in the time it took me to make my card and write this post, 'A Bird's Eye View' is out of stock and has been discontinued here in the UK. This serves as a timely reminder that for those things on the Last Chance List are only available whilst stocks last. Enjoy your evening and I'll be back Sunday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BOHO BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.65)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	COPPER CLAY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.20)	WILD WHEAT STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£9.22)	MOODY MAUVE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£10.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Just Us Girls, where my friend Elizabeth has a fabulous mood board to inspire us:

So many cute things on that board! ! I was drawn to the balloon rainbow in the top right hand corner - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Everyday Arches - So when are the Everyday Arches not arches? Well, when they're a rainbow, that's when! I had this idea that if I cut the arches in a nested pattern (and elongated the inner arches), I could create a rainbow; what do you think? I kept to the four main colours of the balloon arch in the inspo photo, rather than use traditional colours, and cut two arches in each colour as I wanted the extra stitch detail, but you could just cut with every other die and create four wider arches.  

Easiest Ever Tri-Fold - I decided to make my card into a tri-fold design, with the rainbow on the right panel and some clouds on the left panel, opening to the ink-blended sky inside. This is how it opens up:

Then the second flap opens to reveal space for your message inside:

The tri-fold design was created from a single sheet of A4 cardstock; a piece of cardstock was cut at 15cm on the short side, and this piece was divided into three panels by scoring at 10cm and 20cm on the long side. I used one of the (retired) Basics Borders Dies to diecut my cloudy edge on the left panel, and used the largest of the arch dies to draw the outline of the arch shape onto the right hand panel, before cutting freehand up to the scoreline. I then simple cut away the top portions of each of the side panels as shown in the photo above to create my shaped design. I added some ink blended clouds to the top of the inner panel and the outer arched panel, then cut my diecut arches and glued them into place. I added a diecut sun (cut using my retired Hey Chuck Dies) and I used my sentiment - one of the precut elements from the Greetings For All ephemera pack - as the cloure for my card: the clouds simply tuck underneath to hold the card closed.

Finishing Touches - My card was all but finished, when I decided to some glittery enamel dots from my stash in the colours of the rainbow randomly across the layers for a little added sparkle and to bring in the round shapes of the balloons in the inspo photo - I think these added sparkles are my favourite element of the 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; following a wet bank holiday yesterday (typical - but it allowed for more reading time and I finished another book, so there's always an upside!), the sun is once again shining today. Why does the day always seem both literally and figuratively brighter when the sun shines? I hope you have a lovely day and I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (£27.00)	GREETINGS FOR ALL MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (£6.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£10.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)

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

Since it's Easter Sunday, I had to go with another Easter bunny on my card today - take a look:

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

I used the cute little bunny from the 'Choose Happy' stamp set for my bunny, coloured him with pink Stampin' Blends and added him to a tag that I made using one of the Something Fancy Dies:

The colours were taken from the strip of Wildflower Birthday designer series paper that I used behind, and a sentiment along with a few enamel dots and sequins were all I needed to finish my super simple card. Having made my card, I also took the opportunity to make some quick co-ordinating Easter bunny treats:

I was inspired by these bunnies here, but adapted the measurements to fit a smaller Lindt chocolate ball. They really are so simple - all you need is a 10.5" x 2" strip of designer paper, folded in half lengthways then score at 1", 2.75", 4", 5.25", 6", 6.5", 7", 7.75" and 9.5" intervals, using a bone folder to round the body and ear sections to create the bunny shape:

They are so easy you could make the basic shape in a few minutes - if you're quick, you might still have time to get them done to add to your Easter table!

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 hope it's filled with more chocolate eggs than are strictly good for you! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHOOSE HAPPY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	SOMETHING FANCY DIES (£10.80)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£16.00)	PRETTY IN PINK 3/8" (1 CM) BORDERED RIBBON (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£10.50)	PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)
PRETTY IN PINK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

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

I love Stef's bright colour palette this week - it's totally in my wheelhouse! I wanted to give one of my current favourite online-exclusive florals another outing, so I took the 2 prompts of 'floral' and 'arch' over at Time Out Challenges and went across the bottom row of the Tic Tac Toe Challenge board with flower/ink blending/embellishments and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Double Mixed Florals and A Colouring Tip - I love these colours together! I decided to use Coastal Cabana for my card base, and added a diecut arch in some (retired) geometric paper in the same colour for my base, then used the remaining colours for my florals. I decided to use both of the large floral images in the Mixed Florals bundle together on my card and also included the foliage diecut behind although you can hardly see that because of all the lovely flowers! I used my Stampin' Blends in Highland Heather, Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green to colour my florals, adding in a darker purple to give more of a Gorgeous Grape feel with a rogue Sharpie from my collection (feel free to join me in my campaign for Gorgeous Grape Blends markers any time!). Did you notice how seemlessly the florals blend with the background? That's because once I'd coloured my flowers, I also coloured all of the remaining white space with my (retired) Coastal Cabana Blendabilities markers (I'm campaigning to have this colour in Blends too!!) This takes a little time, but is well worth it I think - I much prefer this effect to white edges for this kind of card.

Saying Hey - Bold florals require a bold sentiment, so on today's card I added 'hey' from the 'Saying Hey' stamp set. This is another of those sets that is on the Last Chance List this week; this is my favourite sentiment in this set - it can be paired with anything on the inside and is great for a bold statement on the front of a card.

Tiny Bees - A loop of (retired) Gorgeous Grape ribbon and a trio of Tiny Bee Trinkets are the only additional elements on today's card; you can see those tiny bees on the close-up below:

They would be easy to miss amongst those bright colours and bold florals, but they are great for a fun, postal-friendly embellishment - so cute!

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 haven't crafted in over a week - the weather in the UK has been so glorious, I've been spending all my time in the garden, getting everything tidied up and looking a little more inviting. The weather is due to turn today though, with showers returning. Since my new catalogue pre-order arrived on Friday, this timing might have worked out quite well - it's time to play! I do need to have a good craft room clear-out first though, so it's probably a good job I have a few projects already made to share with you. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

MIXED FLORALS BUNDLE (54.00)	SAYING HEY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (8.00)	EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (27.00)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (14.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	TINY BEE TRINKETS (8.50)

Today we are back to florals! I'm sharing a card that I made featuring the fresh colours over at Colour Dare (I used all 4) that is also for the current use two or more sentiments over at Inkspirational:

I created a clean and simple card using one of my favourite Online Exclusive bundles, Thankful Garden - take a look:

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

Today's card uses both the Thankful Garden stamp set and dies and a stencil - but not the one that comes in the bundle. I stamped my first sentiment onto the bottom corner of my card then diecut the primrose flower out of the card front (tip: if you stamp the flower first, you can keep the diecut and use on another project) then use the aperture as a guide to align the stamp and stamp onto the inside of the card. I created a stencil from window sheet using the same die and used this to add Lemon Lolly ink with a blending brush to the stamped image.

I cut three narrow strips in Lemon Lolly, Bubble Bath and Soft Sea Foam, glued them across the diagonal to the front of my card and then diecut the central section again, allowing the florals to remain visible. I then added a fourth strip in Garden Green, onto which I heat embossed my second sentiment. I positioned the strip across the pastel diagonals and this time allowed it to overhang the open aperture:

A trio of pink enamel dots complete my card. I wouldn't normally add one black inked sentiment with the other heat-embossed in white, but I think it works, given the contrasting base colours. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THANKFUL GARDEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (62.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)
LEMON LOLLY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jan to host this week and she has an interesting theme challenge for us to work with:

I was so tempted to make a scrapbook page this week, especially since it's ages since I shared one, but alas I couldn't find a suitable photo, and ultimately ran out of time, so decided to make a card. I finally booked my summer vacation last week, so I have beaches on my mind; along with the colours over at Colour Inkspiration this is what I came up with:

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

Beach Day - I have gotten so much use out of the Beach day stamp and dies, so it's no surprise that they are making another appearance on today's card. I am sad to see them appear on the last chance list as retiring items this week, however this is one bundle that I won't part with - the elements in it are so useful and many of the dies work without the stamped images too. I actually bought this bundle to scrapbook with, yet here I am sharing another card! I usually use the diecut-only lifeguard hut, but today I thought I'd go with the stamped version. I left it mostly white, with little pops of red, green and blue in the challenge colours.

Soft Waves - I wanted to create a little beach scene on today's card, but also to use my Soft Waves embossing folder, so I decided to use a whole background panel of Azure Afternoon, embossed with waves, to sit behind my beach scene. This is my biggest splash of colour; in addition to the details on the beach house, I added a little of the same colour behind my beach hut for some sky and some Daffodil Delight blended across the bottom of my feature panel for the sand, stamping some shells here and there along with some Mossy Meadow sea grass to ground it. It makes for an abstract scene, but I think it works!

Wishing To A Wish - I used that traditional postcard greeting of 'wish you were here' on my card, that I fashioned out of the stamps and dies in the Delightful Wishes bundle. The die actually spells 'wishing', but it was easy to snip down to make the word 'wish':

I am going to save this card to send to the youngest of the James Juniors when us Seniors take our first child-free holiday, which won't be that far away now! Something that comes with mixed emotions for sure, but I'm looking forward to how much more economical it will be, so definitely a silver lining too! I'm also linking this card up over at Just Us Girls (thank you for last week's shout out!) where it's Die Week - no flowers; there have been a lot of florals of late, so today's card is ringing the changes.

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 been enjoying some lovely spring weather here in the UK this past week, so I am finally able to get outside and spend more time in the garden getting it ready for summer. Looking forward to doing a little more of that this afternoon, along with baking a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake for lunch - yum! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (11.40)	BEACH DAY DIES (12.80)	SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	DELIGHTFUL WISHES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (46.75)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

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 as it's the fifth Sunday of the month, she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us to work with:

I went across the top row with flowers(cake and sentiment decoration)/pink (cake and ribbon)/ribbon (behind the circle) and created a special birthday card - take a look:

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

A Deja Vu Moment - If you're looking at today's card and thinking there's something familiar about it - you'd be right! This is the other card that I mentioned in last Sunday's post that also uses Ann's sketch - although this one uses it in a different way. I still used the 'Celebrate' diecut element for the horizontal, but used the circle to extend my sentiment using a greeting from the Birthday Celebration bundle and instead of a shaker, I used the centre of my frame to house one of the panels of the Wildflower Celebration paper. In addition to whole patterned sheets and diecuts, there is also a sheet made up of pre-printed panels in varying sizes that feature birthday imagery too and the tiered fancy pink birthday cake was just what I needed for this special card.

Retired Favourites - I did use a few retired favourites on today's card: the white diecut frame was made using a couple of Stitched rectangle dies, the frame itself is Seaside Spray cardstock and I backed my 'Celebrate' diecut with vellum. I also used some retired glitter gold gems. All of these could be substituted with alternatives from your stash.

Age Is Just A Number - I finished my card with a diecut number '80', which I cut using the Birthday Celebration number dies. I created a blue drop shadow to make the standout and added them to the centre of my cake:

Here's the thing though - I am of the view that as we get older, milestone birthdays should be recognised and celebrated and as such, numbers on a card should make a return. I was discussing this with my mother-in-law over lunch last week, who recently turned 80 and has many friends of a similar age, but she felt strongly to the contrary - that as we age we don't wish to be reminded of the fact and it was a source of some dismay amongst her friendship group, so much so that they keep an informal of tally of number cards between them for precisely the opposite reason. So what do you think - are numbers on cards a 'yay or a 'nay'? Do leave me a comment below with your thoughts! 

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; today is Mothering Sunday here in the UK and whilst I won't see my own Mum in person today, I am looking forward to being spoiled by the youngest of the James Juniors, with a roast lamb lunch and something special for pudding too. Happy Mother's Day to anyone else reading this who is celebrating today; I'll be back on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (39.50)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK 3/8" (1 CM) BORDERED RIBBON (7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by one of the beautiful images in the current Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration photo:

I love so many of the photos in this inspiration picture, but today's card was totally inspired by that blueish foliage and those petal pink roses of the central photo on the top row - take a look:

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

Layers of Beauty - I adore the Layers of Beauty bundle, not least because it has a fantastic set of layering stencils with it too. Just three ink allow for so much detail and dimension - look at this close up to see what I mean:

The pink-peach tones of these roses are gorgeous, aren't they? I'm also linking up with the ladies over at Just Us Girls this week as it's stencil week; I've used these stencils for this challenge previously, but their versatility means that my card is completely different to my previous efforts - yay!

Diecut Fancy Fold - I have made such a wide variety of cards using this bundle (just search Layers of Beauty on my blog to see what I mean!) and each time I reach for it, I challenge myself to create something different. Today I thought I'd create a fancy fold using the large diecut florals. I stamped, stencilled and diecut two of the main images, then aligned them so that they crossed my card front and met in the middle, then scored them vertically and glued the outer edges to the back of my card. To open the card, the diecuts are opened left and right, to reveal the inner cardfront onto which I stamped my greeting:

 This card front can then be opened upwards to reveal the inside of the card:

I'm not sure if this kind of design has a special name - I'm just calling it 'diecut fancy fold' but if anyone believes it to have a specific name, do let me know!

Finishing Touches - I stamped and stencilled both the inside panel and the envelope at the same time as I made my card; if you stencil each layer as you go along, it doesn't take much longer to add these finishing touches. 

I love this card; I considered adding a butterfly - that's the only thing missing from the inspo photo - but I only have the Paper Butterfly Accents as current supplies and they didn't look right, and whilst I undoubtedly have something more appropriate on the retired boxes, they were proving elusive to say the least! I still love this card even without it, so I hope the HSS team will forgive this oversight ;-)

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:

LAYERS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (54.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LOST LAGOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	LOW-PROFILE DOTS (7.00)