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

I just love this sketch and could have used it a hundred times over (thanks Jaydee!) and in fact I actually used it to make 6 cards in one sitting, two sets of three cards each, all featuring fabulous new products from the forthcoming Autumn-Winter catalogue and I'm going to share one of those sets with you today.

My cards focus on some of the fabulous products in one of my favourite new festive suites; here are the three cards I'm sharing with you today:

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

Joyous Noel - I decided that the sketch layers lent themselves to a showcase of both the designer series paper and co-ordinating glimmer paper in the Joyous Noel Suite. The papers feature classic festive seasonal designs with copper foil accents on one side of each sheet and take it from me, they are beautiful! I co-ordinated each of my chosen patterns with a background of glimmer paper - these papers come in Copper, Merry Merlot and Tranquil Tide as on the close up of the card below:

A Wooden Sentiment - Each of my cards feature a wooden sentiment element, from another of the suites in the catalogue - the Festive Farmhouse Suite. These wooden accents come with a light grey finish (I've coloured mine - more on that below!) and contain 3 separate sentiments, along with a collection of stars and Christmas trees. There are a total of 32 pieces for just £3.75, so they represent great value - I know I'll be using lots of these! Each of my cards features a different sentiment and detail - the second of my cards is the set features the word 'joy' and a  couple of stars:

Shades of Copper - As I mentioned above, the wooden elements are grey in colour straight out of the packet. Ordinarily I would have heat embossed them in copper embossing powder, but there is a new product in the seasonal catalogue that does a much better job: shimmer paint. Yes, for those of you die-hard Stampin' Up! fans that go back as far as I do, you will remember we used to stock champagne shimmer paint previously; the new catalogue includes shimmer paint in 4 colours: champagne, white, gold and the copper that I used here. Simply apply with a sponge dauber to add subtle and shine to your projects - so easy! Here's a close-up of the detail so you can appreciate just how pretty it is:

And here's the full final card in my set - this card really is all about the copper:

Don't you just love all that shimmer and sparkle? I am going to be getting through a lot of this paper during the festive season; it will also be featuring in the projects at my two day Creative Escape Luxury Weekend Craft Retreat in October. You can read all about that in yesterday's post here, along with details of a Bank Holiday offer for those who would like to join me and fill the last few remaining spots - I hope you can join me for some festive creative fun!

Oh and I almost forgot - I decorated the insides of each of my cards too! Here's a peek inside:

Not long now until the new seasonal catalogue launches and you can purchase these products for yourselves; meanwhile, 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. 

I will share my other set of three cards that I made with today's sketch later in the week. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Joyous Noel 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Joyous Noel 6" X 6" Glimmer Paper (£14.00)	Festive Farmhouse Elements (£3.75)	Bright Copper Shimmer Paint (£7.50)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Gray Granite A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Another week of school summer vacation in the James household this week! Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. It's the first challenge for our returning Paper Players designer, the lovely Anne-Marie Hile, this week so be sure to pop by her blog with a friendly 'hello'. It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Remember in addition to the theme of "fruits and vegetables", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

Having trawled through my collection of current stamps, it turns out I have very few with fruit (or veg!) for that matter, so a little creative stamping was called for. I actually found some fruit 'hidden' in the Fairy Celebration stamp set - take a look:

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

This little fairy happens to be hanging from a cherry tree, so a little watercolouring using my new watercolour pencils and an aquapainter (I am so happy that we have more of these now, the new colours in the second pack available exclusively this month extend the variety of colours and allow much greater flexibility - don't leave it too late to get yours!) was all I needed to create a focal point for my card. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the fairy wings and some fine tip glue to the cherries to give them a glossy finish - both of which are difficult to see from the photos, but add subtle detail in real life.

I decided to use the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week for my layout, and used a couple of pieces cut with my Stitched Labels Framelits then trimmed to add interest behind my main image. I have seen these Stitched Labels Framelits used on some fabulous cards elsewhere on the internet and hold my Paper Player team mate LeAnne responsible for me 'needing' to add them to my own collection (check out her blog for some great examples of how to use them!) so thought I would try something a little different with them. The two blocks of colour mirror the colouring on my cherries and leaves and add detail, without encroaching too much into my white space and maintaining my overall clean and simple feel.

And that's all there is to it: clean and simple - done!

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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another project: a Christmas card featuring some sneak peeks of some great new products from the forthcoming seasonal catalogue. Do come back then, you won't want to miss it. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Fairy Celebration Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Stitched Labels Framelits Dies (£31.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad (£9.25)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)
Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2 (£11.75)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Aqua Painters (£16.00)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)
Fine-Tip Glue Pen (£6.50)

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

I fell in love with this trio of orange/yellows that LeAnne chose and whilst I was tempted to go floral, I decided instead to use the sketch inspiration over at Fusion for my layout and create a pretty sunrise and silhouette scene using the Enjoy Life stamp set - take a look:

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

A Million Dollar Stamp Set - I decided to use a combination of images from the 'Enjoy Life' stamp set on my card today. This stamp set, with its beautiful collection of silhouettes and inspirational sentiments, was designed by Connie Fitzgerald, one of Stampin' Up!'s Million Dollar Sales Achievers, as a celebration of this milestone achievement. I absolutely love this set and it was one of the first on my wishlist when the annual catalogue was launched - thank you Connie for such a great set!

Sunrise, Sunset Made Easy - I wanted to create a vertical panel with a sunrise that featured all three of the challenge colours, so I punched a 3/4" circle and masked off my sun and used a sponge brayer to build up a graduated sunrise, blending each of the colours in turn starting with the lightest colour at the top. Sponge brayers are so great for this; they make light work of the art of ink blending, and can be washed out when you're done. I also brayered the colours on the diagonal of the bottom corner of the inside panel too and added a little interior detail:

Blended Ombre Embossing - My card today is ultra-clean, with minimal layers and detail to allow my inked panel to really shine, but I'd also like to share another great tip with you; did you notice I created a blended ombre of colour on my sentiment that mimics my sunrise? Curious as to how I created it? With a Basic Black card base, I originally heat-embossed the sentiment in white, but this was too stark. I decided to use my Pumpkin Pie Blends to carefully colour the lettering and change its colour. Did you know you can use your Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in this way? This tones down the brightness of the white and adds a co-ordinating pop of colour that wouldn't have been possible with ink alone on such a dark background.

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 usually struggle with colour challenges, but this bright, monotone pallet really spoke to me - so many creative possibilities! I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Enjoy Life Photopolymer Stamp Set (£23.00)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Sponge Brayers (£7.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! 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 decided to use this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout and by complete coincidence have another card for you using the Half Full stamp set I featured last week, although this week's is decidedly more festive - take a look:

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

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas -  When I came to make my card for today's challenge, I realised I actually don't own that many overtly funny stamp sets - clearly something to be rectified another time! However the principle reason that I purchased the Half Full stamp set that I used on last week's card was for the sentiment that I used on today's card - what a fun play on words! Along with some fussy cut holly it makes for the perfect festive tipple.

Humour on the Inside - The real humour in this set comes when this sentiment on the front of the card is combined with the one I used on the inside. I actually made two of these cards at the same time (I wanted to make a dent in my Christmas card stash!) which made it easy to photograph both the inside and outside at the same time to get the full effect:

I just love that - makes me chuckle very time I read it! So perfect for my wine-loving besties, who I know will appreciate the sentiment too.

Under The Mistletoe Plaid - I wanted to add some festive colour to my card and settled on this warming plaid from the Under The Mistletoe designer series paper set. The warm colours were just what I was looking for to go with my glass of wine - here's the colour combination if you would like to save it for a future project:

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'm off for a day at the waterpark with a bunch of 11 year old boys to begin the birthday celebrations of the youngest of the James Juniors. To be followed by a BBQ, football and Nerf wars, so a fairly full-on day - wish me luck!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Half Full Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Under The Mistletoe Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)	Pool Party Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)

Another busy week in the James household with little time for crafting - too busy having holiday fun with the Juniors and putting everything back into my fabulous new kitchen which is pretty much finished at last! I Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my awesome friend Claire to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

A card with a tag - I haven't made one of those in a while! I decided that the sketch layers lent themselves to a card using the Half Full stamp set which I haven't yet used for a non-Christmas card, along with a little DSP too - take a look:

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

Half Full And An Old Faithful - My starting point for today's card was the tag and I decided to use the ready-to-stamp one that comes with the half Full stamp set. This makes the tag element really easy to create, with the sentiment, decoration and border all laid out. Not only that, it perfectly co-ordinates with one of my most-used punches, the fabulous Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, which makes tag creation a breeze. I fussy-cut the bunch of grapes for extra interest and also used the single glass and bottle stamps to create a tone-on-tone background panel and to decorate the inside of my card and the envelope, whilst I stamped the row of glasses in white kraft ink to create a contrasting border too. I am quite partial to a glass of red (or white!) so this set is perfect for cards for my wine-loving friends and also to quickly dress-up a bottle to say thank you to a party hostess, for example.

Tranquil Textures Colour Combo - I often use colour combinations straight from Stampin' Up!'s designer series papers as the basis for my cards and today as I looked for something with a non-descript pattern that would compliment my various stamped layers and tag I decided upon this Night of Navy, Whisper White and Fresh Fig combination from the Tranquil Textures pack. Here is the colour combo for you to save should you wish to use it as inspiration for your future projects too:

Whilst this pack is designed to co-ordinate with the Tranquil Textures Suite, which has an under-the-sea theme, I wasn't constrained by this. The pack has lots of interesting textured designs that can be used in many other ways too. This is my 'twist' for the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week, although it is a little more tenuous than some of those that the JAI design team have come up with - check them out to see which items they have used in a different way on their projects. Don't forget these papers are available for just 3 more days as part of the current 'buy 3, get 1 free' DSP offer that is running this month; if you missed the details, you can read all about it here.

A Trellis Textured Border - The final element to my card was some actual texture, courtesy of the Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder on the navy border panel. It creates just enough interest to differentiate and separate the layers, without detracting from the stamped images.

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 will be spending mine in London at the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup with the rest of the James family, as we have tickets to watch the India v USA and England v Ireland matches that are taking place this afternoon. I'm hoping we will escape the thunderstorms and it will stay dry for us and the players, although I'm sure they will appreciate the slightly cooler temps that we have been having this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Half Full Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tranquil Textures Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Garden Trellis Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£7.00)	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (£22.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Fresh Fig 1/8" Sheer Ribbon (£5.50)	Night Of Navy Medium Baker's Twine (£2.75)	Blender Pens (£11.25)	Fresh Fig Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Fresh Fig A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Uninked Stampin’ Craft Pad & Whisper White Refill (£8.75)

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

Remember in addition to the theme of "negative space", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

Now I love to use negative space on a card - if you browse my blog you will find tons of examples. Today though I have a card that is super quick and easy to recreate using a thinlit I haven't used before, that also showcases a glimpse of one of the fabulous designer series papers that is on offer as part of this month's 'buy 3, get 1 free' paper promotion - take a look:

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

Negative Space - I am a big fan of using dies to create 'negative space' as I think it creates real interest on a clean and simple card. Today I chose to use the largest die in my Support Ribbon Framelits. This die cuts a ribbon shape and in order to retain this shape when you are using the negative, you need to remember to retain and add in the extra piece that forms the centre of the loop. This will be loose once you've made your diecut - the easiest way to ensure you get it in the right place is to place the positive diecut back into the gap to align the centre piece and stick it in place, before the removing the positive diecut once more. 

Impressionist Pinks - I decided to add interest to my ribbon by using designer series paper in my negative space, and chose this gorgeous impressionist pattern of pinks from the Garden Impressions DSP set. I think this is my current favourite paper; good job it's in the 'buy 3, get 1 free' set so that I can stock up and save at the same time! Patterned paper should be used sparingly with lots of white (or in my case pink!) space surrounding it, to ensure a 'CAS' feel is retained.

Hope and Courage - I overlaid my negative space with a stacked diecut of the word 'hope' from the Sunshine Wishes thinlits set, which I felt fitted with the theme of my card. Cancer is such a vicious disease, hope is essential for those diagnosed with it. It also tied in perfectly with the stamped inside of my card (the only stamping on today's card!), courtesy of the Ribbon of Courage stamp set:

I hope this card will be uplifting for the recipient and brighten their day.

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:

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Support Ribbon Framelits Dies (£21.00)	Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies (£25.00)	Ribbon Of Courage Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Garden Impressions 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Powder Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who joined in with our 400th anniversary celebration theme challenge these past two weeks - what an amazing gallery! You made it very difficult for us to choose our 'cut aboves' and the headliner this week for sure. We will be announcing the results of our random.org draw and the winners of all those amazing prizes donated by our generous sponsors on Wednesday; meanwhile, it's my turn to host this week and I have a bold and vibrant colour challenge for you to work with:

I've had the Serene Garden stamp set and Garden Scene Framelits out on my desk preparing for my next technique class, so decided to use them for my card today, which also uses this week's Global Design Project sketch for my layout:

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

A Peek of Granny Apple Green - I've been getting to grips with the new inks in my collection following the recent colour revamp by Stampin' Up! and I chose three of my new favourite bold and bright colours for my challenge this week. That said, my card today features a lot of white in order to balance these colours and keep my card feeling light and bright and not too garish. I've stamped each of the elements of my design - leaves, flowers and butterfly - in one of the challenge colours. The colour that features most is the fresh Granny Apple Green, since I stamped the leafy corner on a mat in the same shade and then used the Garden Scene Framelits to cut out the leaf sections, to reveal the tone-on-tone image below. I toyed with stamping the flowers and butterfly tone-on-tone too, but when I put it together I decided I preferred the colours on white with a little more added with a blender pen - an altogether more subtle affair.

Words of Courage - The Serene Garden stamp set is sentiment-free, so I rooted through my stamp collection and decided these words from the Ribbon of Courage stamp set fit perfectly with my layout and immediately gave me an intended recipient too, which is always nice. The swirly font fits nicely with this stamp set, although I'm sure there will be many others that work well with it too.

Polka Dots and an Embellishment Cheat - When it came to embellishing my card, I added a strip of Lovely Lipstick cardstock with a couple of notches punched out with my 1/2" circle punch to hold my pretty white polka dot tuille. I also added a trio of one of my favourite new embellishments, the glitter enamel dots, around my sentiment and yes, here's the cheat: they are actually Gorgeous Grape and Melon Mambo in colour. They tone in beautifully with the colour scheme though,so I went with it (I know my secret is safe with you!)

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 love this colour combo and know it's one I will use again; the tuille bow is a little fussy for my generally clean style, but I do love how easy it is to work with and adds a real touch of pretty to the finished card.

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

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. Today I will be waving off the eldest of my James Juniors for a 2 week sports tour of South Africa to play hockey and netball and experience all of the tourist delights this fascinating country has to offer. As for me, I will be at home braving week 2 of the summer vacation with the youngest of the James Juniors and continuing to monitor progress on the kitchen renovation project - I know where I would rather be, for sure! I have at least managed to get a little making done over the last few days so I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Serene Garden Photopolymer Bundle (£39.50)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Ribbon Of Courage Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Lovely Lipstick A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)	Whisper White 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon (£7.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	1/2" (1.3 Cm) Circle Punch (£5.50)

It's Sunday and time for a reminder that we are still celebrating over at The Paper Players! It's our 400th birthday and our theme challenge is running for two weeks in total, to give you all plenty of time to play along. Some of us are back with some additional mid-theme inspiration for you, where we continue to be all about celebration:

Before I get to my card, a reminder of all of the fabulous prizes you can win - so many prizes!! 40 in fact, from our many generous sponsors across the crafting community - check out our post for more details but here is the full list to whet your appetite:

Listed in alphabetical order:

1. Altenew - $30 gift card
2. Atenew Academy - $20 gift card  - compliments of Jaydee
3. Avery Elle - $20 store credit
4. Butterfly Reflections - Breathe Rainbows Stamp Set (US only)
5. CAS-ual Fridays - $25 store credit
6. Cheery Lynn - $20 gift card  
7. Cheery Lynn - $20 gift card - compliments of Laurie
8. Concord & 9th - $25 gift card
9. Craftin Desert Diva's - $10 store cedit
10. Dies R Us - $15 gift card
11. Ellen Hutson -  20 gift cards - compliments of Annie 
12. Ellen Hutson $20 gift card - compliments of Eliz
13. Happy Little Stampers - $20 store credit
14. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Sets (exclusive - not available for purchase)
15. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
16. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
17. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
18. Lawn Fawn - $25 gift card
19. My Favorite Things - $25 store credit
20. Neat & Tangled - $15 store credit 
21. Newton's Nook - $20 store credit
22. Pink & Main - $20 store credit
23. Power Poppy - $10 store credit
24. Stampendous - $20 rewards cards (US only)
25. Stampendous - $20 reward card (US only)
26. Stampendous - $20 reward card (US only)
27. Stamplorations - $20 gift certificate
28. Stampin' Up - $20 gift certificates compliments of Nance (US only)
29. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of LeAnne (US only)
30. Stampin' Up! £20 gift certificate - compliments of Joanne (UK only)
31. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of Claire (US only)
32. Stampin' Up $20 gift certificate - compliments of Jan (NZ only)
33. Technique Tuesday - $20 gift card
34. The Foiled Fox - $25 store credit
35. Trinity Stamps - Let it Grow and Lady Liberty Stamp Sets
36. Tutti Designs - $15 gift card
37. Uniko - any in-stock stamp set of winner's choice
38. Verve Stamps - stamp & accessory bundle - compliments of Sandy (US only)
39. Verve Stamps - stamp & accessory bundle - compliments of Sandy (US only)
40. Waffle Flower - $15 gift card

Isn't that fantastic?! All prizes will be awarded randomly between challenge participants - so if you enter, you are in with a chance of winning!

I was fairly short on time this week, having had a class, a bunch of end of term activities for one James Junior and a wedding to attend this weekend, so clean and simple was most definitely the order of the day. Unintentionally I ended up with another card with balloons too - take a look:

How cute is that little elephant?! 

I reached for my new Little Elephant stamp set and along with my co-ordinating Elephant Builder punch and a few favourite colours, I set to work. I punched out the elephant and his ear for added dimension and added some balloons punched with my now retired tiny balloon punch, added some clear Wink of Stella and then done! This is one of those great quick cards that is a simple combination of stamps, ink and paper and can be put together in a jiffy - great when you are short on time!

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:

There are already some fabulous cards in the gallery but there's still more time for you to enter. Whatever you're celebrating, share it with us! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - I'll be returning from the wedding and spending the day painting before the kitchen fitting begins this week. I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Little Elephant Clear-Mount Bundle (£31.50)	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Grapefruit Grove A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)

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 we have something very special in store for you as The Paper Players is celebrating our 400th birthday - how awesome is that?! It is only right therefore that our theme challenge FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS - yes, we are running our challenge for two weeks in total, is all about celebration:

First and foremost, we are celebrating all of the lovely people who play along with The Paper Players challenge each week for 50 weeks of the year - it is for you and because of you that we are still going strong! It is without doubt the best team I have ever worked with - these gals are simply THE BEST! For our special celebration challenge this week, we are also joined by two of the original members of the Paper Players team: Ann Schach and Anne Marie Hile. And there are PRIZES this week - so many prizes!! 40 in fact, from our many generous sponsors across the crafting community - check out our post for more details but here is the full list to whet your appetite:

Listed in alphabetical order:

1. Altenew - $30 gift card
2. Atenew Academy - $20 gift card  - compliments of Jaydee
3. Avery Elle - $20 store credit
4. Butterfly Reflections - Breathe Rainbows Stamp Set (US only)
5. CAS-ual Fridays - $25 store credit
6. Cheery Lynn - $20 gift card  
7. Cheery Lynn - $20 gift card - compliments of Laurie
8. Concord & 9th - $25 gift card
9. Craftin Desert Diva's - $10 store cedit
10. Dies R Us - $15 gift card
11. Ellen Hutson -  20 gift cards - compliments of Annie 
12. Ellen Hutson $20 gift card - compliments of Eliz
13. Happy Little Stampers - $20 store credit
14. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Sets (exclusive - not available for purchase)
15. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
16. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
17. Heffy Doodle - Sticky Friends Stamp Set (exclusive - not available for purchase)
18. Lawn Fawn - $25 gift card
19. My Favorite Things - $25 store credit
20. Neat & Tangled - $15 store credit 
21. Newton's Nook - $20 store credit
22. Pink & Main - $20 store credit
23. Power Poppy - $10 store credit
24. Stampendous - $20 rewards cards (US only)
25. Stampendous - $20 reward card (US only)
26. Stampendous - $20 reward card (US only)
27. Stamplorations - $20 gift certificate
28. Stampin' Up - $20 gift certificates compliments of Nance (US only)
29. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of LeAnne (US only)
30. Stampin' Up! £20 gift certificate - compliments of Joanne (UK only)
31. Stampin' Up! $20 gift certificate - compliments of Claire (US only)
32. Stampin' Up $20 gift certificate - compliments of Jan (NZ only)
33. Technique Tuesday - $20 gift card
34. The Foiled Fox - $25 store credit
35. Trinity Stamps - Let it Grow and Lady Liberty Stamp Sets
36. Tutti Designs - $15 gift card
37. Uniko - any in-stock stamp set of winner's choice
38. Verve Stamps - stamp & accessory bundle - compliments of Sandy (US only)
39. Verve Stamps - stamp & accessory bundle - compliments of Sandy (US only)
40. Waffle Flower - $15 gift card

Isn't that fantastic?! All prizes will be awarded randomly between challenge participants - so if you enter, you are in with a chance of winning!

Whilst balloons are not mandatory for this challenge, I couldn't help but be inspired by the wonderful badge Nance created for us this week, so I pulled out my Hand Delivered hostess set and set to work on a fun fold for you - take a look:

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

Hand Delivered - I used my favourite of the new hostess sets, Hand Delivered, for my card today. I love the way the pieces of this set mix and match; I've used the balloons again on today's card, but unlike my previous versions, this birthday girl is wearing the flowered skirt - so pretty! This is a great set with lots of variety - I used the birthday sentiments from this set on my card too, as you can see in the picture below. It's worth hosting a Stampin' Up! party just to get your hands on this set, so if you would like to talk to me about hosting one so that you can get your hands on exclusive hostess sets like this one, then do get in touch.

Pop-Up Slider Fancy Fold Card - I decided I would mimic the 'hidden' nature of the young lady behind her balloon with a pop-up slider card. I haven't made one of these cards in ages, but I loved the idea of a hidden message too. When the card is 'closed' it lies flat as in the picture above; when you pull the ribbons upwards, the girl moves into a vertical position and the hidden messages are revealed:

Isn't that fun?! And space still available to write a personalised message too.

New In Colours - I really love the palette of 2018-20 in colours; so much so, since I still can't decide which ones I like best I used them all! They work really well together and the bright colours definitely appeal to me. I used Lovely Lipstick for my cardbase, then used a combination of all 5 colours to colour the lady with my aquapainter. I also used ribbon in all 5 colours to create my pull tassel. Lastly, a liberal coat of Wink of Stella finished my balloons. I'm also linking up my card with the team over at Fab Friday, since they are featuring the new in colours 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 can't wait to see how you interpret this week's theme and look forward to visiting your blogs this week and next! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - I'll be hoping to have a slightly more restful one than of late, catching up on a few chores and hopefully enjoying some of the lovely sunshine we've been having here in the UK these past few weeks. I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Hand Delivered Photopolymer Stamp Set (£12.00)	Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment In Color 2018-2020 (£31.50)	Lovely Lipstick A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lovely Lipstick 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Grapefruit Grove 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)
Pineapple Punch 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Call Me Clover 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Blueberry Bushel 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Watercolor Paper (£4.75)	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad (£9.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)

Another busy week in the James household with little time for crafting - boohoo! I did have a great technique class earlier this week where we made cards using the 'Share What You Love' Suite and have had the opportunity to chat with lots of my lovely customers this week as they have been collecting their new catalogue orders, so it's not all bad. And today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of our very own queen of diecuts, the lovely Laurie, to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

I decided that the sketch layers lent themselves to featuring some new designer series paper and having just taken delivery of the Animal Expedition papers I had to start cutting them up for my card this week - take a look:

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

Animal Antics - My card today contains very little stamping - it really is all about the paper. Oh and how I love designer series paper! I used two different designs from the Animal Expedition DSP on my card: a background panel featuring a selection of cute animals, including the animals to be found in the co-ordinating 'Animal Outing' stamp set along with a few extras too, including crocodiles and a sloth. For my circle element, I used one of the other paper designs featuring larger versions of the same animals and cut out a sloth with a circle framelit, allowing the fussy cut edges to overhang the border of my mount - isn't he just the cutest?

Wild About ... My Everyday Label - The only stamped element on my card is the sentiment. I punched this out using my Everyday label punch by feeding the cardstock into the punch from the back in order to create the longer rectangle, then snipped off the circular elements top and bottom in order to create a uniform shape that was easier to mount. 

A Bright Colour Combo - I chose to use Lemon Lime Twist for my card base and label, to provide a bright contrast to my busy patterned paper. I mounted all of my panels on Rich Razzleberry, pulling the colour from the little purple bird that is chatting to the sloth. I also added a thin border of Old Olive to frame my sloth. Feel free to save this colour combination for your future projects:

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

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. We have the last bits of the kitchen to pack away before major building work starts tomorrow on the new one, along with another school project - last week it was Eid cards, this time a map of the Tour de France route - to assist in the completion of. Thank heavens for Stampin' Up! and a ready stash of onhand craft supplies! I'm hoping to get some crafting done this week in between making copious cups of builders tea so will be back soon with more projects sharing some new makes.

Either way, you are definitely going to want to pop by next Sunday for the next Paper Players challenge; we will be celebrating our 400th anniversary and have a ton of fun in store for you! Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Animal Outing Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Everyday Label Punch (£17.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£33.00)