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

Ann's colour palette this week is a wonderful palette of pinks and purples. I paired them with the current TGIF Challenges sketch layout and some of the most gorgeous papers from the seasonal catalogue - take a look:

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

I couldn't wait to use the Blackberry beauty papers for today's card as it features all of Ann's chosen colours. I added Cinnamon Cider as my colour of choice and chose the really busy pattern that features owls and leaves for my central panel, with a trio of strips of the pattern that features on the reverse added to my Rich Razzleberry card base. I stamped my sentiment from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set onto a label and added some gold shimmer ribbon and some gold enamel dots to finish:

The foil detailing on these papers really is beautiful. I also added some further decoration to the inside:

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEAUTY OF TOMORROW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	BLACKBERRY BEAUTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	GOLD 3/8" (1 CM) SHIMMER RIBBON (£7.50)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CINNAMON CIDER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

Hurrah - my new laptop has arrived - normal blogging can now resume! Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses Jen B's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week:

I'm also linking up over at Inkspirational and the Alphabet Challenge who are all about leaves, and autumn leaves in particular. I took Jen's layout and used that panel to feature one whole large sentiment, from the 'Beauty of Tomorrow' stamp set - take a look:

I covered my card front with some retired Nature's Poem designer series paper - I love those almost skeletal leaves in colours that change from green to rust. I added a piece of folded gingham ribbon tied with twine below my sentiment, along with a sponged embossed leaf trio as an accent:

I love the clean and fresh feel of this card, even though the colours are definitely reminiscent of cooler days and changing seasons.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEAUTY OF TOMORROW CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PALE PAPAYA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

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 she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

LeAnne's theme was a timely one for me this week since my 'better half' celebrates a milestone birthday early next month so this gave me the perfect opportunity to make his birthday card. I thought the colours over at Just Add Ink were perfect for a fresh, masculine card and I absolutely love Kim's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches so I used this for my layout (albeit I created my card in a landscape orientation in order to fit all the words in! So first up - take a look at my card:

Whilst browsing the internet for birthday inspiration, I saw a pin badge that had the above phrase on it and I thought it would be perfect for a milestone birthday card and I know Jason will appreciate this kind of sideways humour. I stamped the phrase in Night of Navy using my retired 'Sophisticated Serif' stamp set with the 'F' highlighted in Coastal Cabana, which I carried through to my '50', diecut using my retired Large Number Framelits, and used for contrast on my background panels in some retired Brights DSP in a masculine argyle pattern.

Kim's sketch also features a vertical sentiment banner, which was the perfect place to add a happy birthday greeting (stamped using my retired 'Milestone Moments' stamp set) which I heat-embossed in silver on vellum so that it wouldn't obscure the message on my central panel. This was also the perfect place to add an embellishment of a trio of retired co-ordinating ribbons tied with silver twine:

My card is otherwise very clean and uncluttered, but I figured it might be a masculine card but a milestone birthday needs a little pizzazz, right?!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

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; the forecast here is for a warmer day so we are hoping for one last BBQ before the James Juniors return to school and the summer well and truly leaves us for good. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

This card uses mostly retired products apart from the current colours so there is no supplies list today.

Happy Bank Holiday Monday to all my UK readers! It's the last holiday before Christmas so I hope you're going to make the most of it - maybe even squeeze in a little extra crafty time! Today I'm sharing another card featuring the Floral Squares Dies that I used on yesterday's card; this time using the sketch over at Fusion and colour inspiration from the fabulous photo over at Just Us Girls:

I love the Fusion sketch, which is a great layout for a wide variety of styles. I rotated the sketch through 90 degrees for my card and decided that I would focus on simple lines of block colour to draw the eye to just one of those gorgeous Floral Dies - take a look:

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

I added interest by tilting my diecut square and weaving my central stripe through the die and heat-embossed my sentiment from the 'Art Gallery' stamp set in white:

Super simple and another great way to feature those floral square dies!

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:

FLORAL SQUARES DIES (£25.00)	ART GALLERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and since it is the fifth Sunday of the month we have a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I was spoilt for choice this week! In the end I decided to follow the diagonal and go with florals/diecut/square card and use four of the colours on the Color Dare palette to create a card to showcase my favourite Floral Squares Dies from the annual catalogue - take a look:

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

Three of the colours in the Color Dare palette feature in one of my favourite plaid designs in the now retired Plaid Tidings DSP from this time last year, but I still have some left so decided it would make a great frame to surround a central square showcasing each of the Floral Squares Dies. I backed each of my squares in the corresponding solid colour and stamped a two-part sentiment in Cajun Craze that finishes inside my card:

My card also features the retired in-colour Pretty Peacock, but it looks so good with those autumnal browns and yellows I just couldn't resist:

This card could be easily recreated with other papers or colours though, so if you don't have these ones in your stash, get creative with what you have!

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:

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; we have a long weekend here in the UK so will be making the most of the last public holiday before Christmas. The forecast is good - it might even be BBQ weather! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ALL SQUARED AWAY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CINNAMON CIDER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses the sketch layout at Paper Craft Crew (I substituted the square with a circle) and this week's colours over at Colour Throwdown:

I love those bright primary colours and I couldn't resist the adorable inspiration photo! I decided to use some retired product and dug out my Harvest Hellos stamp set and Apple Builder Punch to create a teacher card for my stash - take a look:

A super simple design, I created a base of floating lines in blue and green and added my apple behind my heat-embossed sentiment:

No supplies list as the key items featured are retired, but if you have any specific queries, then pop a comment below and I will happily answer them.

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

Today will be a two post day! I will be back later with my TicTacToe inspiration for our new challenge, but first I'm sharing a card that I made for a very special occasion: the fabulous team over at Freshly Made Sketches are celebrating their 500th challenge and a decade of sketch inspiration - how amazing is that?! These wonderful ladies are a constant source of challenge and inspiration and I play along whenever I can and certainly couldn't miss out on the opportunity to play with Linda's fabulous sketch this week!

I decided to pair with the new mini catalogue inspiration over at TGIF Challenges, which I had been mulling over as I have been playing with a CASE of one of the cards in their inspiration photo. It wasn't really working for me so instead I decided to take that vertical panel of the FMS sketch and instead take my inspiration from the featured Whimsy & Wonder Suite - take a look at what I came up with:

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

All About The Layers - Linda's card has five layers, one for each of the decades the challenge team are celebrating. I wanted to feature the beautiful tree print in the Whimsy & Wonder specialty designer paper for my third layer, but didn't want to obscure it completely with layer 4, as I wanted the tree that is layer 5 to feel 'part' of it. So I used vellum to create my layer 4 panel, cut with one of the Ornate Layers Dies. It provides a distinct background for my focal point diecut tree, but ensures my background whilst softened can still be seen.

Trimming The Tree - I diecut the largest tree in the Christmas Tree Dies set in Mint Macaron, then added a garland cut from (retired) sparkly white glimmer paper and added tiny baubles cut from the silver holographic striped paper in the Whimsy & Wonder pack, to tie in with the holographic stars on the background paper design. I almost didn't add the baubles, but the tree definitely looks better with than without! 

Finishing Touches - I added a simple 'joy' sentiment and underpinned this with a piece of white glittered organdy ribbon tied with some silver twine. I love the addition of the subtle sparkle to complete the final element of my design.

This is my first outing with the Whimsy and Wonder Suite but I think I'll be using it again very soon!

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:

WHIMSICAL TREES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	WHIMSY & WONDER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	WHITE 3/8'' (1 CM) GLITTERED ORGANDY RIBBON (£8.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MINT MACARON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	ORNATE LAYERS DIES (£34.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses Lou's fabulous sketch over at Just Add Ink this week and is also my entry for the current challenge over at SUO Challenges titled 'plant life':

Before I show you my card, I need to say a big thank you to the team over at Just Add Ink for choosing my Dahlia card as their Top Pick last week - thank you ladies! If you missed that card, you can see it here. For this week's card, I was tempted to go with something clean and simple but instead decided that the ribbon divider on the sketch would give me the perfect focal point for a row of leafy plants - take a look:

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

I've been wanting to fussy cut some of the plants from the 'Bloom Where You're Planted' designer paper for ages, so added a brick wall bottom border edged with some (retired) green ribbon, then added a selection of fussy cut, leafy pot plants:

I added a simple thank you sentiment from the 'Art Gallery' stamp set to complete my card - you can never have enough thank you 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

We are shopping for new school shoes amongst other things today - that can only mean one thing, the start of term is drawing near! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

ART GALLERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our queen of diecuts, the lovely Laurie to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

I loved the layering of Laurie's sketch and decided it was a great layout to showcase some pretty designer series paper - and I've always got plenty of that! In addition to my patterned paper, I added layers (6 in total!) and a gingham ribbon bow for my three items from this week's Festive Friday inspo list to create my bright and cheery card - take a look:

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

In Symmetry - A big Calypso Coral flower with a double set of Night of Navy leaves make up the flower from the 'In Symmetry' stamp set that features on my angled panel today. I fussy cut the leaves and flower head and popped them up on dimensionals, adding a Bumblebee enamel dot and some Bumblebee gingham ribbon for a pop of yellow too. 

Envelope Detail - I added another of the flowers from the stamp set inside my card and added some extra stamped detail to the back of the co-ordinating envelope flap; no naked envelopes here! 

Sweet Symmetry Backdrop - The colours of my stamped flower were taken from the Sweet Symmetry designer series paper pattern that featured on the main background panel of my card. This is one of my favourite papers in this pack - I just love these bold, retro papers; they remind me of the patterns synonymous with the Irish fashion designer, Orla Kiely, don't you think?

I just love this card, even with the quirky angled panel which I thought I might struggle with, but it turns out not a bit!

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:

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; yesterday the weather was unexpectedly dire here, so if it brightens up today I will be looking forward to spending some time in the garden. I'm hoping to squeeze in a little crafting time too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

IN SYMMETRY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£16.00)	SWEET SYMMETRY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BUMBLEBEE 1/4" (6.4MM) GINGHAM RIBBON (£6.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)

A quick card from me this evening that was inspired by Jen Mitchell's great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and the festive inspiration at Inspired By:

I thought those corners would be great for some layered foliage to frame a festive sentiment - take a look at what I came up with:

Lots of foliage, holly, pine cones and berries stamped and cut using the 'Christmas Season' stamp set and dies, and layered to frame a sentiment from the 'Merriest Moments' stamp set:

I wanted to add in a couple of candy canes too, but do you think I could find my retired candy cane dies? Nope, not anywhere! Too many craft supplies and not enough office space, that's my issue!!

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 tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS SEASON BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£49.50)	MERRIEST MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
SOFT SUEDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SAHARA SAND CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)