Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

My sketch involves an element of repeating pattern, which can be any shape you like. Whilst I used my stitched circles as a background for my pattern repeat, today's card is all about the shoes - and some rather special shoes at that! Take a look:

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

Words To Live By - I love the sentiments in the 'Dressed to Impress' stamp set but my favourite is without doubt this one - I mean, has there ever been a truer word spoken?! I am one of those people who love shoes; I don't own as many pairs now as I once did and I've never owned a pair of floral high heels, but I would love to - so I would love to receive a birthday card like this! I used the florals in the stamp set to decorate the inside too, with a birthday sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set:

Best Dressed Shoes - This is one of those cards that looks pretty simple, but took a long time to execute! I stamped twelve shoes onto Whisper White cardstock and used my All Dressed Up Dies to cut them out, then added some colour to the Petal Pink and Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends to the inside contours of the shoes for a little contrast. Then I stamped twelve shoes (plus two for the envelope) onto a selection of the Best Dressed Designer Series papers, choosing a selection of the small floral patterns and making sure that the shoes were stamped in a similar orientation so that the designs would co-ordinate and the shoes would look like pairs, then I fussy cut the outsides of the shoes and paper-pieced them onto the white backgrounds. Time consuming yes, but I love the finished effect!

Pick of The Pastels - I decided to mount each of my pairs of shoes on a stitched circle and used a selection of pastels inspired by the Best Dressed DSP (although I used Pool Party Instead of Mint Macaron as the latter was too dark). My sentiment was stamped in Blackberry Bliss on a shortened Stitched Rectangle to complete 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'm looking forward to visiting your blogs this week and taking a look at your interpretation of this week's sketch.

Enjoy your day; we did all our sport Friday and yesterday, so today it's a quiet day with homework, ironing and maybe a movie. Enjoy the rest of your weekends and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Dressed To Impress Bundle (English) (£45.00)	Dressed To Impress Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£17.00)	Best Dressed 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Purple Posy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

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

I knew immediately where I was going with today's card and using the current layout over at CAS Colours & Sketches ended up making not one but two cards!  Laurie's theme gave me the perfect excuse to break out my new 'Dressed To Impress' stamp set and co-ordinating Best Dressed designer series papers to create a couple of clean and simple cards perfect for a fashionista. Here's the first one, featuring the lipstick:

I coloured my image with my Stampin' Blends and added just a small piece of designer paper behind to preserve the all-important white space. Finally I stamped the scrolled word in a contrasting colour and popped it up over my black sentiment for added interest.

I liked this card so much I made another, this time featuring the shoe:

On each of my cards, I stamped my lipstick/shoe image on a post-it note and masked my main image to stamp a second one. My first lipstick looked lonely and as for the shoes, it had to be a pair - I mean, who buys a single shoe?! 

And here's another picture of both cards together:

So which one do you prefer? I liked the solid pink lipstick DSP on the first one ... until I used the shoes DSP which whilst it has larger images, is on a white background so feels a little 'cleaner'. So now I'm not so sure - as always, I welcome your thoughts! Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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 family lunch planned and a day of homework for the Juniors and ironing for me! Hope you have an enjoyable rest of your weekend. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Dressed To Impress Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) (£17.00)	Best Dressed 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Lovely Lipstick Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Anne Marie to host this week and she has what I'm sure will be a popular colour challenge for you to work with:

The reason I think Anne Marie's colour palette will be popular this week is that all of her key colours feature in the new Peaceful Poppies designer series paper from Stampin' Up! and try as I might to go in a different direction, I couldn't help but cut into my pack for today's card. With the help of Judy's great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week, I was able to let the paper do all the talking - take a look:

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

Peaceful Poppies - Peaceful Poppies is one of the headline suites of the new Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue and it appears on the front cover. Beautiful line-art images accented by watercolour effects, all inspired by a field of poppies, the suite contains not one, but two bundles along with a range of co-ordinating accessories. My regular readers will know that I am a lover of designer series paper and I think the Peaceful Poppies paper is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. One of the designs looks just like a painting and is perfect for card fronts and I cut a piece of this, featuring both Poppy Parade and Rich Razzleberry coloured poppies.

Neutral Black - My paper choice was so pretty, I couldn't bring myself to add much more to the front of my card. I used a Poppy Parade card base and added a double mount to frame my patterned paper, in Old Olive and Basic Black. I also decided to heat emboss my sentiment in white on black, as opposed to stamping the other way around - using black to 'frame' my picture and sentiment ties in to the black line-drawn design of the paper, so whilst used sparingly my neutral choice plays an important role.

Beautiful Inside And Out - Having done very little stamping on the front of my card, I decided a little interior decoration along with my split/masked sentiment was needed to redress the balance:

I added a poppy to the front of my envelope too - no naked envelopes here this 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 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 had a day of sport yesterday so today should be a quieter one. I spent yesterday making final preparations for my class tomorrow, however if I'm lucky I might squeeze in a little extra crafting today - here's hoping! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Peaceful Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) (£20.00)	Painted Poppies Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for our first challenge of 2020 over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

Our theme is 'something new' - a new year, a new season, new job, new baby - so many possibilities! I took some new product to make a card to welcome the arrival of a new baby, using Brian's layout over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week as my starting point and this is what I came up with - take a look:

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

Welcome Witty-cisms - The sweet pram stamp I used on today's card sis from a new stamp set called 'Witty-cisms', inspired by one of Stampin' Up!'s Million Dollar Sales Achievers, Lisa Fast. A collection of fun stamps with witty sayings and cute hand-drawn illustrations, they are perfect for lots of different occasions and also for a spot of quick colouring if that's your thing. These images are great for quick and simple cards and can also be dressed up with a few layers and embellishments into something more detailed as I've done here.

Baby Blue - I chose to go monochromatic with today's colours and feature Coastal Cabana on my card as I had all the right bits and pieces in my collection (I used some retired Brights DSP but the current gingham would look lovely too). I stamped my image in Basic Grey as opposed to black to soften the image, which is something I often do on a baby card. I love cards like this - it would be just as easy to make in pink or a neutral too.

A Simple Embellishment Trio - I used some of the new white crinkle ribbon for a soft bow and a silver 'made with love' charm and felt border from the Follow Your Art Embellishment Kit to add the finishing touches to my card - I think that little heart charm is a neat play on words for a new arrival.

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 - including our fabulous new trio of guest designers, Allisa, Stef and Mary:

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 are looking forward to a leisurely family lunch today before we are all back to school and work at various points next week. I have a card prepared though so will be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Witty-Cisms Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Follow Your Art Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Whisper White 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Layering Ovals Dies (£33.00)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

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

I used Karren's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (turned through 90 degrees) for my layout this week and decided to use this fun stamp 'Christmas Crowd' again but in a somewhat less traditional way - take a look:

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

I stamped the image in Versamark then heat embossed it in silver and coloured with my Stampin' Blends, adding either clear Wink of Stella or Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the white areas for added sparkle. I heat embossed my silver sentiment onto vellum so that it wouldn't overwhelm the main image too much and added both a strip of Mercury Glass acetate over the Seaside Spray border edge of my card, with a strip of Seaside Spray scalloped edge linen ribbon to border my piece of Whisper White. A sprinkle of snowflake sequins completes my card.

Normally I wouldn't dream of colouring this image in anything but traditionally festive colours such as red and green (I mean, a blue Santa?!) yet I thought it would be a good opportunity to show how even a large image can be successfully coloured with only a few colours and supplies and whilst a break from the norm, I quite like the finished result. What do you think? Do you ever dress Santa in anything other than red or is that an absolute no-go?

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:

We understand that you are super busy in the run up to Christmas however we hope you can find a few minutes to craft along with us this week! Since it's our last challenge of 2019 before we take a break for Christmas, it's also time for us to say goodbye to our wonderful trio of 2019 guest designers: Su Mohr, Wanda Cullen and Windy Ellard. All three of them have proved worthy guest designers and share some fabulous creations with us this year. We will be sad to see them leave us and would like to thank each of them for their efforts. We look forward to welcoming in a new team of guest designers in the new year - more about that in a later PP post!

Enjoy your day; I have a busy day with a quick Christmas shopping trip, followed by the Christmas swim squad outing to the Snow Dome for some winter sledging and then an evening of tree decorating and Christmas card writing. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Crowd Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Seaside Spray Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Seaside Spray 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon (£7.50)	Seaside Spray A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Mercury Glass Designer Acetate (£10.75)	Snowflake Sequins (£5.50)	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (£5.50)	Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)

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

I have a fancy card to share with you today that is perfect to give someone special for the festive season - take a look:

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

A Card In A Box - Is it a gift? Is it a card? I guess it's a little of both! When closed it looks like a gift box, but undo the ribbon and the top and bottom of the box separate to reveal an accordion-style expanding card:

I made a holly-themed 'card in a box' project at my October Creative Escapes Craft Retreat using the Christmas Gleaming Stamp Set and made a few other versions to show the attendees how they could use the same concept using other papers and stamp sets - this is one of them. They are quite straightforward to make and rather addictive; I've had lots of photos from my retreat weekend attendees after the event showing me more examples of ones they've created too, so it must be catching! One of my top tips when making this type of card is to use temporary adhesive or a couple of glue dots to hold the last panel in place so that you can remove it to write your message to the recipient before gluing it in place; this is much easier than trying to write it when it's already in the box.

Let It Snow - I used the 'Let It Snow' papers for the accordion-fold of my card and the letters that spell out 'snow', which I diecut using the Hand-Lettered Prose dies and I used the adorable Let It Snow Embellishment Kit to dress up the snowman on the front of my box - how cute are those little felt accessories?!

Snowman Season - The sentiment on the front and inside my card are from the 'Snowman Season' stamp set. The 'Let It Snow' stamp was perfect for a partial stamp to then finish the sentiment with the diecut letter panels. I also used the snowflakes in the stamp set with some Stampin' Glitter to add some sparkle to each of the Coastal Cabana panels and a snowman on the first panel that I coloured with co-ordinating Stampin' Blends markers:

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. 

I'm also linking today's project up with the current fancy fold challenge over at Inspire Create.

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; as it's the first of December we are going to begin decorating the house for Christmas today, much to the children's delight! Especially as we have a couple of extra Christmas trees and some new rainbow baubles too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Let It Snow Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Snowman Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (En) (£17.00)	Snowman Builder Punch (£17.00)	Hand-Lettered Prose Dies (£35.00)	Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)
Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (£5.50)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Real Red 3/8" (1 Cm) Cotton Ribbon (£6.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have my favourite, a sketch challenge for you to work with:

Despite the fact that I chose the sketch, I struggled with it initially - too many possibilities I think and I almost couldn't decide what to choose as my focal point! In the end I made a couple of cards - I'll share the second one with you tomorrow, along with a co-ordinating gift box. For today I settled on this colourful little fella - take a look:

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

Night Before Christmas - I decided to use this bright and bold reindeer patterned paper from the Night Before Christmas paper pack as the starting point for my card. This bold pattern works really well for a background and the spots were one of my two for my second attempt at the 'Take Two' challenge over at Just Add Ink this week. The second part was the strip of (retired) copper glimmer paper that I used along the edge of my sentiment strip and the trio of Holiday Rhinestones I used for some added bling and sparkle.

A Majestic Deer - I used one of the deer stickers from the Night Before Christmas Memories and More Pack as my focal point. I backed him with a Mossy Meadow stitched circle and popped him up on dimensionals to make him stand out. He is slightly larger than the deer on the paper so works well to emphasise the design and bring it into focus. 

Itty Bitty Christmas - The sentiment on my card is from the 'Itty Bitty Christmas' stamp set. This is a great Christmas standard, with a ton of festive sentiments in a variety of shapes and sizes for both the inside and outside of 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:

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 had a day of sport yesterday with both hockey match and swimming competitions so today will hopefully be a slightly more restful one. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Night Before Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Night Before Christmas Memories & More Card Pack (£10.25)	Itty Bitty Christmas Cling Stamp Set (En) (£20.00)	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£5.50)

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

Since this challenge theme was the North Pole, I had to go with a Santa and his festive friends - take a look:

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

I used this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout and heat embossed my sentiment in white onto my Real Red card base before stamping my single stamp image from 'Christmas Crowd' in Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto my top layer of Whisper White and colouring with my Stampin' Blends. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the fur on Santa's suit and a sprinkling of snowflake sequins, before popping my panel up on dimensionals and attaching to the front of my card base. I also stamped the outline image on the inside of my card behind my sentiment:

Now I know not all of Santa's Christmas crowd can be normally found in the North Pole (cue the penguin!!) however I think for such a cute bunch we can make an exception and grant a little creative licence!

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 had a day packed with sport yesterday so today will be about homework and baking for tomorrow's school charity bake sale. I have a busy week ahead but I have managed to make and photograph some other projects, so I'll be back tomorrow with more Christmas goodness to share. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Crowd Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
So Saffron Light Stampin’ Blends Marker (£4.25)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Night Of Navy Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Basic Black Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)
Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Snowflake Sequins (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses a fun technique that is inspired by the theme and photo inspiration for the current FUSION challenge:

I love that fabulous colourful mermaid tail cupcake and took that as my inspiration rather than the sketch this week, as I also wanted to try out a fun technique inspired by a rather unusual household item. Here's my card:

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

A Magical Mermaid ... Or Two Or Three - I created a mermaid-patterned cardfront using the small solid mermaid image from the 'Magical Mermaid' stamp set; I stamped each image freehand as I wanted the spacing close than I could achieve with my stamp positioning tool. I haven't used this stamp in this set before - I usually use the large mermaid image - so it was a good opportunity to use the set in a different way. 

A Fun Technique - to achieve the multi-coloured effect, I revisited the 'oldie but goodie' baby wipe technique. I created two separate stamp pads using baby wipes and drops of three reinkers on each, then alternated stamping with each one to create my pattern. This is such a fun technique if you are trying to create variegated colour; no two stamped images are the same so it makes for colourful patterns. 

Unusual Inspiration - You may be wondering where I got my rather eclectic colour inspiration from this week; all is revealed in the photo below:

Yes, one of Rebecca's bedsets! She loves these brightly coloured mermaids and since my card is a little notecard that I slipped into her school bag as a surprise note as I sometimes do, I knew she would instantly recognise the inspiration. The thing I love most about the finished card is the watery effect of the blended colours, which seems fitting for my nautical mermaid. 

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. 

So as you can see, inspiration really can be found in the most unusual of places. What is your most unusual source of inspiration in your crafting? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to know.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Magical Mermaid Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes (£6.50)	Lovely Lipstick 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (£3.50)	Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (£3.50)	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (£3.50)
Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (£3.50)	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (£3.50)	Call Me Clover Classic Stampin' Ink Refill (£3.50)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

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

I decided I would make another Christmas card for my stash using this week's colours using the cute 'Birds of a Feather' stamp set - take a look:

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

I did some layering onto my card base with a piece of Bermuda Bay DSP (this is last year's design but a current one would work just as well), along with a strip of retired glimmer paper for a pop of sparkly green, before my stitched rectangle. I did take a liberty here and used a piece of Pool Party; my birds were originally stamped on Whisper White, but the finished result was too 'white' so I fussy cut my birds and then paper-pieced two of them into a couple of outlines stamped directly onto the Pool Party rectangle, which works much better. The last birdy I popped up on dimensionals between the other two. Each of them was coloured with my Stampin' Blends and whilst it's difficult to see in the photo, I gave the fur on their Santa hats a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella for some extra sparkle and shine. I added a couple of Granny Apple green glitter enamel dots and inked my partial sentiment with my Stampin' Write markers. I completed my sentiment by adding the last line inside my card, along with a trio of masked outlined birdies:

I was pleased with the finished card, until it occurred to me that there are four in the James 'flock' not three, and whilst I think odd numbers look better than even on a card front, it might make the recipient think we have reduced in numbers as the year has progressed! What to do? I think I need to add another birdie to the front of my envelope at least for the avoidance of doubt!! 

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 day of homework and housework and the arrival of the muddy kit as the boys return from their rugby tour to York. Thankfully the weather stayed dry when it counted and all matches were played without incident. Alas the same couldn't be said for the female counterparts of Year 8, who were on a hockey tour to Wales this weekend and had play stopped yesterday afternoon due to - heavy SNOW!! It looks like winter has well and truly arrived here in the UK this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Birds Of A Feather Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)