It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

Now I have a slight confession: I have been working hard to put the finishing touches to my weekend craft retreat that is being held next weekend, so I have been working a little more in advance than usual and sketching out my cards without always having my laptop to hand. I instantly knew what I wanted to do with Sandy's sketch and set to work colouring my central panel; it was only after I glued everything together I realised I hadn't re-checked the sketch and so my background layers are regular rectangles, rather than the longer, narrower central panel. I did not have time to remake my card so I'm sharing with you as is. I know that the lovely Sandy will forgive me though - besides, i'm hoping she will be so impressed with my colouring in she might not even notice ;-) 

Anyway - my card contains one of my most favourite spring blooms so is also perfect for the challenge over at Stamp Ink Paper this week. As someone who hails from the rolling hills of Wales I could not pass up this set from the seasonal catalogue, it really was love at first sight! Here's my card - take a look:

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

Daffodil Delights - I have longed for a daffodil stamp for ages so am delighted to have 'You're Inspired' to add to my stamp collection. With sentiments for Easter, Mother's Day, Birthday and a couple more besides, along with two beautiful line-drawn daffodil images, this is a great set for Spring and beyond. There are so many ways this image can be coloured and I will be sharing lots of cards that demonstrate the versatility of this set in coming weeks. For today's card I went for straight forward colouring with my Stampin' Blends Daffodil Delight and Old Olive markers on Whsiper White cardstock. 

Coffee Break Stripes - I paired my daffodil image with a background of white and old olive stripes from the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper pack. It has enough pattern to add interest but not so much to detract form the main image of those beautiful blooms. I added a Crushed Curry horizontal banner and finished it with some Old Olive ribbon to tie the elements of my design together.

Down Dales And Up Hills - ... rows and rows of daffodils! This is the first line of a poem I learned in primary school to recite on St David's Day some 40 years ago and I can still remember it all these years on. I was reminded of it when I saw the stamp featuring a row of daffodils; I decided to repeat this image and create a border of daffodils for the inside of my card, take a look:

I know I am going to get so much use out of this stamp set and it will definitely be a keeper for me. I can't wait to make lots more with it!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

You’Re Inspiring Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Coffee Break Designer Series Paper	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my fabulous friend LeAnne's turn to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

This week's challenge was indeed 'sew' much fun and I have not one but two super clean-and-simple cards to share with you this week! This is also something of a 'something old, something new' post for me and perfect for the current challenge over at As You See It where they are asking us to remember the first tool or stamp set we bought or the one that made us fall in love with stamping, so I have a story for you today! First things first though - here is card number one:

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

Take A Hoop - I've been wanting to use these cute little mini embroidery hoops in the seasonal catalogue and today gave me the perfect opportunity. Perfect for framing miniature works of art, they are just like the real thing. 

Cross Stitch With Hoop La La - The stamp set I've used today is an old set called 'Hoop La La'. It isn't the first stamp set I ever bought (that was called 'Sweetheart' I think and you could make treat cup cards with it - I still have it somewhere but couldn't find it anywhere when I looked this week!) but this was one of the first. I chose it because it combined two of my favourite hobbies: my love of cross stitch and my new passion for card making - I just had to have it and haven't been able to part with it since. On this card I used the house, coloured with my Stampin' Write markers in Pool Party and Bermuda Bay and added a red enamel heart. Another 'new home' card - I seem to be needing a lot of these lately! The stamp set includes a stamp of an embroidery hoop, but I love the dimension that the little wooden hoops give to the card.

Get Stitching - To continue the stitching theme, I used my stitched circle framelits to cut out my circle to sit inside the hoop (I popped it up on dimensionals). I also added a diecut needle from last season's Quilt Builder Framelits and threaded it with some Pool Party baker's twine. I also added a twine bow to the top of my hoop for decoration. 

Here's the second of my cards, this time using the smaller size embroidery hoop and adhering my stitched circle to the top of the frame for an alternative mount:

This one shows up a little better with the darker purple colour against the white - here is a close up of the hoop so that you can see the alternative mount on the smaller embroidery hoop:

I like this mix of old and new so much I think I'm going to have to get another pack of hoops and make up some more of these cards! 

Here is the visual summaries 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:

Don't forget the theme is clean and simple this week - so minimal layers and embellishments and lots of white space. I can't wait to see what you create 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: 

Mini Embroidery Hoops	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Brights Enamel Shapes	Pool Party Solid Baker’S Twine	Silver Foil Sheets
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

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

I debated about where to take these colours and when I saw the current inspiration photo over at Inspired By All The Little Things I decided another Valentine's card was in order. All those red and white hearts, the love and even the bicycle against the neutral background - take a look:

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

Heart Happiness - Today's card like last week's features hearts-a-plenty: I stamped a whole bunch of hearts from the 'Hearts Happiness' stamp set in Real Red onto Whisper White cardstock, diecut them with the Sweet & Sassy Framleits, along with a few additional red glimmer ones, and arranged them across my cardfront, along with a couple of doilies and some linen thread.

Love(ly Words) - Whilst I didn't use a bicycle on my card, I was inspired by the bike in the Inspired By photo to add my 'love' sentiment in black amongst my plethora of hearts. The thin frame of my love heart, like the thin frame of the bicycle, was made using the 'lovely' diecut from the Lovely Words framelits set - I snipped the sentiment between the 'e' and the 'ly' to make 'love' and tucked it in between my other hearts so that only 'love' was visible. 

A Custom Sentiment - Whilst this card could be used as a Valentine, it is also my wedding anniversary next week and so I actually made this card for my husband with that in mind. Inside I stamped two of the sentiments from the Petal Palette stamp set, but customised one of them with another stamp in the same set to change the meaning - take a look:

I altered the wording from 'you' to 'us' on the sentiment in the bottom right-hand corner  - a great way to make this sentiment appropriate for a partner rather than another couple; I used the 'US' from the sentiment I used in the centre of my card. Here are the stamps circled so you can see how they look before they were altered:

I hope you like my clever trick - yet another way to make the most of this fabulous set!

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 up today's card with the team over at CAS-ual Fridays - it is after all hearts, hearts and more hearts!

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. I'm off to the swimming pool today for the County Championships with one of my James Juniors - wish us luck! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Heart Happiness Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies	Lots To Love Box Framelits Dies	Lovely Words Thinlits Dies	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Linen Thread	Red Glimmer Paper
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Delicate White Doilies

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my lovely and talented friend Claire to host this week and she has a rather timely theme challenge for you to work with:

February at last and Valentine's is on the way! I have both a card and gift box to share with you this week and hearts were definitely on my mind when I started creating - take a look:

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

Painted With Love - Whilst I used this week's sketch over at As you See It as the inspiration for the layout for my card today, the Painted With Love papers are most certainly the inspiration for my colour scheme. I couldn't wait to use these colourful papers with their gold foil accents on my project, and carried through the shades of purple and pink to the rest of my card design. Here's my colour palette in case you would like to save it for your future inspiration:

Hearts A Plenty - Both the teams over at CAS-ual Fridays and SUO Challenges are looking for hearts, hearts and more hearts this week. I've used a combination of hearts in all different sizes stamped from the 'Heart Happiness' stamp set and some diecuts using the Sweet and Sassy Framelit Dies, along with a sprinkling of gold metallic heart shapes for my full heart quota.

Love You - My sentiment is a combination of a 'love' diecut from the Sunshine Wishes Framelits and 'YOU' from the Sale-A-Bration 'Celebrate You Thinlits' - I love being able to play around and take bits and pieces from my collection to create the perfect combination. I also added a little stamping to the inside - this lovely stamp from the 'Petal Passion' set: 

I also created a co-ordinating box with a heart fold flat closure in the same paper, perfect to enclose a Valentine's treat - here it is with my card: 

I may well do another blog post on the box - it's very pretty and turned out even better than I hoped it would! 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! Blogland has lots of challenges with love in mind so I think this could be something of a theme around here in coming days! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. We were out at a swimming gala yesterday and Ben has a basketball tournament today, so it's all go here. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper	Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies	Heart Happiness Photopolymer Stamp Set	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Powder Pink A4 Cardstock	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Powder Pink 1/2" Finely Woven Ribbon	Metallic Enamel Shapes	Gold Mini Sequin Trim	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets
Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set

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

Whether you stay with the circle or use an alternative shape, this is a sketch with many possibilities. I decided to keep with the circle as it was perfect to showcase a new stamp I haven't used yet and have fun with a little colouring - take a look:

I've had a few friends that have either recently moved or are in the process of moving, so I needed to replenish my stock of 'new home' cards and the 'Flying Home' stamp set had the perfect image. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Flying Home - I was lucky enough to receive the 'Flying Home' stamp set at Onstage in November, but had yet to ink it up. This set is perfect for a new home card, or even a new baby card; in fact the whimsical line drawings work for lots of card types. The other great thing about this set is that it is made for colouring. I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my main image and I stamped the little bird twice so that I could fussy cut one and pop him up on a tiny piece of a dimensional for added lift.

A Petal Garden Colour Combo - I pulled the colours for my stamped image directly from the Petal Garden designer series paper that I used for my background panel and added a co-ordinating ribbon trim too. I love these fresh colours, perfect for spring - here's the colour palette for you to save if you'd like to use it for your future projects:

New Home Congratulations - The 'Flying Home' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I decided to go on the hunt through my other sets for a small sentiment that I could add to my horizontal Pool Party strip. I found the perfect stamp in 'At Home With You'  - and followed up inside my card with 'congratulations'.

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. I'm hoping to fit in a little more crafty time today along with some precious family time. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Flying Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock
Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon	Calypso Coral 1/8" Sheer Ribbon	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Layering Circle Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker

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 topical clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

It's almost February and with Valentine's Day around the corner love is definitely in the air, so what better time to send a little love note or two to the one you love? I have a super clean-and-simple card to share with you this week that is also perfect for this week's challenge over at Less Is More - take a look:

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

Love You Panda - I couldn't resist using another of these cute little pandas on my card today - this time it had to be the one proudly holding his own little love note, perfect for my theme! I simply stamped him in black, coloured in the heart on his envelope and surrounded him with bright pink love hearts, from the Heart Happiness set. Inside I stamped my sentiment, also from the 'Party Pandas' stamp set, along with another spray of hearts:

And that's it - super simple, super cute!

The Perfect Note - I used one of the new Whisper White Narrow Note Cards for my one-layer love note today - they measure 6.4cm x 11.4cm, small and narrow and the perfect size for a note to tuck into a pocket, lunch box or gift package. 

Painted With Love Envelope Liners - My little note card was so quick and easy to put together, I decided to add another surprise pop of colour with an envelope liner on the flap of my envelopes. I simply punched a whole bunch of circles out of the Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper using my 2" circle punch and adhered them to the inner flap of my envelope. 

I love my little note card so much, I made a whole bunch of them - I used a selection of papers and stamped my pandas both horizontally and vertically, with hearts in each of the colours that feature in the Painted With Love paper - here's a shot of a bunch of them together:

These are perfect for me to slip into the James Juniors' blazer pockets for a surprise note at school; we are also going to make a whole bunch more for the children to share with their friends too - it's nice to let your besties know they are loved too! They really are so simple to make - it's taken me longer to write this blog post that to actually make all of these 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:

Don't forget the theme is clean and simple this week - so minimal layers and embellishments and lots of white space. I can't wait to see what you create 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: 

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White Narrow Note Cards & Envelopes	Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Heart Happiness Photopolymer Stamp Set

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players- what's more, it's the last one of 2017! It's the turn of my good friend, the lovely and talented Claire, to host this week and she has a bright colour challenge for us to end the year with:

This is a palette with lots of options - you could still craft for Christmas, or use these colours for a non-festive project, it's up to you. Our design team this week has done a little of both, so there's lots of inspiration for you. I took the opportunity to squeeze in another Christmas project, but went with a 3D gift box rather than a card today. In fact, a Christmas stocking - take a look:

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

Trim Your Stocking - These colours were perfect for a pink and girly Christmas stocking, complete with spotty heel, toe and cuff trim then finished off with a sprig of festive greenery. I've used the Trim Your Stocking Thinlits on this card previously but whatever your project, this set has an abundance of useful dies that are perfect for all kinds of embellishments. 

It's What's Inside That Counts - I love this sentiment! Whether it's a little chocolate - the content of choice of Rebecca - or money (most definitely the content of choice for my teenage niece!), the pillow box on the reverse of this stocking is just big enough for either. I haven't yet decided who this stocking will be heading for and for me how it looks on the outside is the most important thing, but one thing is for sure, for the recipient it's definitely what's inside that counts!

A Little Added Sparkle - I couldn't resist adding in a little sparkle to my festive stocking, with a silver foil bell, some mini sequin trim and a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella on the lime green pieces - I'm hoping Claire considers silver (almost) a neutral such that I can get away with it - I just couldn't resist, those jingle bell dies are my favourite! 

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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. As I mentioned above, this is our last challenge for 2017; we will be taking a two week break before returning with a fresh new set of challenges for 2018 starting on Sunday 7th January 2018. Thanks to everyone who plays along each week, to this year's guest designers, Crystal and Valentyna, Deanne, Jan and Annie, and everyone of you who visits our blogs and leaves us encouraging comments each week - it's great to know that you enjoy our creations! We will be announcing our new guest designers for the first half of 2018 this coming Wednesday, in my mid-week reminder post, so be sure to check back then to see who will be joining us to kick off the Paper Players fun at the start of 2018!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are hoping to put our Christmas tree up and decorate the house tomorrow - then it really will feel like Christmas! I'll be back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Tags & Trimmings Clear-Mount Bundle*	Powder Pink A4 Cardstock	Garden Green A4 Cardstock	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Silver Mini Sequin Trim	Silver Foil Sheets	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

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 kind of challenge, a sketch, for you all to work with:

My card today is all about the snowflakes and uses the Snowflake Sentiments bundle - take a look:

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

Snowflake Inspiration - I used the piece of snowflake patterned paper from the Christmas Round The World DSP pack as the starting point for my card today; the dark grey reminds me of a snowy sky and is the perfect backdrop for those pale blue and white snowflakes.

Swirly Snowflake Border - The paper pairs beautifully with the stamps and thinlits in the Snowflake Sentiments bundle. I used the Swirly Snowflake thinlits to create my layered border and snowflake embellishment. The detail on these delicate cuts makes for some really pretty pieces, especially when cut from Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper - the snowflakes are so sparkly against the Pool Party layer and the grey of the background paper. The thinlits are designed to cut with a straight edge to one side of the border, but I wanted them to be a mirror image so I snipped away the excess from the snowflakes and cut the background piece in the same way.

Open To Interpretation - I added a ribbon and bow to my sketch as I don't often add bows to the front of my card, yet when I came to make my card, I chose not to add a bow as I didn't want to obscure the detail of those pretty snowflakes, although I did add a strip of ribbon between the border layers. I also moved up the position of my snowflake embellishment to provide a better balance with the positioning of my sentiment. These changes don't make my card 'wrong' - they are just one way to interpret the sketch. I can't wait to see how it inspires 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. 

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

I look forward to seeing your interpretations of my sketch in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are ice-skating later with the swimming squad - our first Christmas party of the season! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Bundle	Christmas Around The World Designer Series Paper	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Pool Party 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-talented Sandy, to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I'm a little late with my post today - I am still struggling to keep up with everything as I am so very busy at the moment - but I couldn't miss the opportunity to join in with Sandy's clean and simple 'warm and cozy' challenge in this week's Global Design Project challenge colours - take a look:

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

Warm and Cozy - When I think of cold winter days, I think of mittens, gingerbread latte and woolly jumpers; so what better than a Christmas jumper to fit with the 'warm and cozy' theme? There are some fun sweaters in the 'Christmas Sweaters' stamp set; I decided to go with the simple striped one with a snowflake centrepiece for my clean and simple card. With a nod to the lovely Sandy who is such an expert colourer, I decided to get out my new Stampin' Blends to colour my sweater. I'm not sure I'm as good as Sandy when it comes to colouring, but it sure is fun and allowed me a peaceful 10 minutes in my otherwise hectic day!

Deck The Halls - I knew I wanted to use a few simple embellishments and I didn't want to add too many layers to my clean and simple card, so I decided to create a little patterned background with my sentiment to sit behind my sweater. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up my sentiment and just stamped it repeatedly in Cherry Cobbler ink. Keeping this detail to one area of the card allows me to preserve the 'white space' that is a key feature of a clean and simple card.

All Good Things Come In Threes - Along with the trio of festive colours that feature on my sweater, I have also used a trio of embellishments: a (retired) wooden snowflake, a Pool party twine bow and some Pool Party enamel shapes for some added fun detail. I tried to keep my embellishments to a minimum given this week's theme but couldn't resist these additional touches to complete my warm and cozy 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:

Don't forget the theme is clean and simple this week - so minimal layers and embellishments and lots of white space. I can't wait to see what you create 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 later with news of a fantastic week of promotions that will be starting tomorrow and hope to resume something like normal blogging service this week. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Sweaters Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Subtles Enamel Shapes	Pool Party Solid Baker’S Twine

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend LeAnne is the hostess this week and she has a seasonal theme for us to work with:

I was rather pressed for time this week and had been wanting to play along with the team over at Merry Monday with that fun inspiration photo so took the opportunity to use some of my hoarded retired Adventure Bound DSP along with my new 'Hug In A Mug' Stamp Set and combined the two to come up with this card - take a look:

My pines were in-situ and ready to go so I simply heat-embossed my sentiment in white, having already created a shadow in Early Espresso, to enable it to stand out against the wood effect DSP, fussing cut my little mug and added some puffy frosting to my hot chocolate having added white embossing powder to Tombo glue and heated it to create the puffy effect - I made a video tutorial on this technique previously that you can see here. I added a stamped striped candy cane and that was my card done - so easy to recreate.

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. 

This card is destined for a good friend of mine who recently emigrated to the USA; I miss our chats over coffee so I know this is one piece of happy mail that will surely brighten her day. 

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. 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: 

Hug In A Mug Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Enamel Shapes