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 a colour challenge for you to work with:

I love a bright colour palette and my choices today were inspired by a one sheet wonder I made a little while ago. I loved the colours together so much I decided to see what you would make of my colour combination. For today's card I used the current Inspire.Create Challenge sketch for my layout and decided these colour would be perfect for a balloon-carrying hippo - take a look:

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

I used the 'Hippo Happiness' stamp set and co-ordinating Hippo & Friends Dies to stamp and cut out my cute hippo and balloons and mounted him on a stitched shaped panel that is also found in the Hippo & Friends die set. I mounted this on a stitched rectangle of Pool Party cardstock and added this to a Melon Mambo base, to which I'd added a Tasteful Textile embossed panel and strip of co-ordinating Brights DSP. I couldn't resist adding some co-ordinating decoration to the inside of my card along with the second part of my punny sentiment too:

The stamping for today's card was pretty straightforward, however I do have one top tip for you with regard to stamping the hippo: he is a two-step stamped image and I found it much easier to align the stamps if I stamped the uppermost stamp (i.e. the navy one on my card) first, with the full body (i.e. the one I stamped in Pool Party) second.

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

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

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

Enjoy your day; we enjoyed spending the day with friends yesterday, basking in the glorious weather we have been enjoying here in the UK. Today we shall be spending time in the garden and enjoying another BBQ before the weather breaks later this week!  I'll be back later with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

HIPPO HAPPINESS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.00)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLES DIES (£33.00)	BRIGHTS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	MELON MAMBO CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)
POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MANGO MELODY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

A quick post from me this evening - it's too hot to be at the PC! I'm sharing a card for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge where they have this great layout:

I decided instead of a floral that I would decorate my label with a goat. Yes, you did read that correctly - take a look:

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

I am in the process of finishing up my teacher thank you cards, and whilst a little unconventional, I thought this goat and sentiment from the new 'Way To Goat' stamp set would be perfect for a teacher with a sense of humour! I coloured him with my Grey Granite Stampin' Blends and used a label from the Wild Rose Dies. I kept my cardbase simple with a textured panel and used Shaded Spruce as a nod to the school colour. Simple and guaranteed to raise a smile from the recipient! 

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. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WAY TO GOAT CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WILD ROSE DIES (£32.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS GRAY GRANITE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS SO SAFFRON COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Happy Monday everyone! Today is a special day - not one, but two, yes both of the James Juniors are back to school! There was much excitement in the James household this morning and whilst it's only for a couple of weeks, and for one it's only for a couple of days each week, the excitement at seeing friends and teachers face to face again was palpable! The house is now eerily silent, but it does mean that I am racing through my jobs today and am getting my blog post in early too! Today I'm sharing a card that I made inspired by the lovely Amy's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

A super versatile sketch I'm sure you'll agree and I decided to get snipping for my floral creation today - take a look:

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

Flowers For Every Season - Whilst flowers are by no means mandatory for this sketch, I initially reached for my Flowers For Every Season Memories and More cards as I wanted to incorporate the adhesive sentiments into my card. I couldn't find any flowers that worked for me though, so I reached for my co-ordinating papers and decided to get fussy cutting! I wanted to create some layering with my flowers, with some behind and some in front of my label, so separated the flowers to make this work. 

A Sweet Label - My sentiment label is from the Stitched So Sweetly Die set - such a great set for labels with a good variety of shapes and sizes. 

Textile Texture - I added some texture to the top layer of my Misty Moonlight cardstock using the new Textile Texture embossing folder which is lovely for a little extra detail.

This card was simple to put together once the fussy cutting was completed. I used another leftover edge piece of DSP to decorate the inside of my card too:

Waste not, want not and all that!

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

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

Enjoy your day. I'm racing through my jobs before early school pick up. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON MEMORIES & MORE CARD (£10.25)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)