I've had a busy Bank Holiday weekend and not managed to find much time for blogging but now it's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Laura is hosting this month and our second challenge is a colour challenge: 

I wasn't sure what to do with this week's colours, then I saw the challenge over at AAA Cards where they have a fun 'follow the leader' CASE challenge and I was inspired! I grabbed my new Party Alphabet Dies and set to work; this is what I came up with:

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

I retained the vertical design and went with a modern block sentiment to create a thank you card with a clean, masculine feel. I colour blocked the diecut letters with strips behind, then added a trio of thank you sentiments - a perfect card when you need something a little less feminine - and another great way to use those Party Alphabet Dies! Here's the card turned around so you can read the sentiment more easily:

I really like this design - I might have to have another play with those letter dies and the vertical element - so many creative possibilities!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PARTY ALPHABET DIES (£93.00)	SAYING HEY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£8.00)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£12.00)	THOUGHTFUL WISHES CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£12.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

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

I actually went really simple with my design this week, choosing to feature one of the designs in the new Beautiful Gallery designer paper pack - take a look:

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

The Beautiful Gallery paper pack has some beautiful painted designs and I decided to use this harbour design as the focal point for my card. I wanted to use as much of the sheet as possible, so I trimmed my DSP sheet to cover my entire cardfront then cut my three rectangles out of it using my paper trimmer, backing each one with Secret Sea cardstock before carefully gluing the panels back in place. This way I managed to use the panels to add interest without breaking the scene. 

I rotated the sketch through 180 degrees as the positioning for my sentiment banner obscured less of my image this way; I added a simple greeting using the 'Best Family Ever' stamp and added a twine bow and some sequins for just a little extra decoration to complete my card:

This is going to be my Father's Day card for my Dad. I know we are still a few weeks away from the day itself, but it feels good to be organised for once!

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; I am going to cheer along my husband who has entered into out local 10k race run this morning, then we will be enjoying a carb-rich lunch to celebrate on completion and are heading out to the cinema this afternoon to see the final Mission Impossible movie - any other Tom Cruise fans out there? I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEAUTIFUL GALLERY 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

BEST FAMILY EVER PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£11.50)

SECRET SEA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

CLOUD COVER A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

NEUTRALS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (£7.00)

I've had a quiet blogging week this week, but have got some makes ready to share over the next few days. I'm behind with my Christmas cards, so when I saw this week's challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, I couldn't resist digging out my favourite retired nativity set, Joyful Nativity, with a bunch of other retired bits and pieces to make a quick card to play along:

Here's my card:

I heat embossed my image in gold onto Very Vanilla cardstock, and paired it with a scrap of starry retired Christmas paper, and added a single gold gem to my star to finish:

No visual summary of the key products used on today's project or supply list, as all of the key elements are retired; this was simply for fun and to build up that Christmas card stash!

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

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host again this week as Stef and I had a swap around to accommodate our respective vacation plans. It's Clean and Simple Challenge Week and this one has a fun theme chosen by Stef too:

Things that fly! Lots of options here and whilst I don't have much in my current collection of stamp sets that fit the bill, I knew exactly where I was headed with this one and when I saw Kim's fabulous layout over at Freshly Made Sketches it was just perfect for me to put my ideas into action! Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Busy Bees - I chose a bee as my 'things that fly' for today's card - specifically, the little bee in the 'Choose Happy' stamp set. I stamped him all over a white panel and coloured in his yellow stripes with Daffodil Delight Blends markers, followed by a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella to add shine to their wings. Here's a close up of my full panel as I was constructing my card:

Play On Words With Party Alphabet Dies - Having decorated my panel with bees, I promptly covered much of it up! I diecut a letter 'B' from a panel of Basic Black using my new Party Alphabet Dies - have you seen these on page 86 of the new catalogue? These are larger than life and great for scrapbooking and card making alike and yes, I have lots of alphabets - now I have another one in my collection!! I used the negative space of the 'B' on my card, so that my buzzy friends could be seen through the aperture (remember to keep the two pieces from the inside of the letter too!):

How fun is that?! I paired my 'B' with the word 'happy' to make the sentiment 'B/Be/Bee Happy' - do you see what I did there, with my fun play on words?! This 'happy' was from the 'Friends for Life' stamp set and I chose that one because I liked the font, but you could use the 'happy' in the 'Choose Happy' stamp set too as an alternative.

A Philosophical Message - I finished the inside of my card with another simple, yet profound sentiment:

With everything going on in the world, it is easy to take a less than positive view; sometimes we need to be reminded that happiness is a choice and one that we, as humans with free will, can make for ourselves each and every day. Even though it can be hard, happiness is ours to cultivate through our thoughts and actions and when we cultivate it for ourselves, it is easier to spread joy and share those feelings with others too. On that note, here ends today's post!

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; I shall be spending mine with my nearest and dearest who make me happy - and hoping that the youngest of the James Juniors is not feeling too worse for wear following last night's hockey club dinner - especially since he has to sit his second A level Economics paper tomorrow! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

PARTY ALPHABET DIES (£93.00)	CHOOSE HAPPY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£9.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)	BLACK STAMPIN' DIMENSIONALS COMBO PACK (£6.00)	FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£12.00)

Firstly, apologies to anyone who struggled to link their project to our last challenge over at As You See It; we experienced some challenging IT issues that took a while to put right. All sorted now though and today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where Jan is hosting and it's time for a fun theme challenge:

Spots or stripes - how fun! I added flowers to my choice so that I can also play along in the current challenge over at The Flower Challenge and grabbed the pretty colours over at Hand Stamped Sentiments and the layout at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, along with some new goodies and set to work. Take a look at what i came up with:

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

Embossed Spots - I went with spots as opposed to stripes, and in a nod to Jan's love of all things embossed I decided that I would make a bold feature of mine by embossing my base layer with one of the (retired) 3D Basics Embossing Folders that has a raised spot design. This was the only EF in this trio I have never used, but I really don't know why as I really love the finished effect - especially in that vibrant Summer Splash colour. 

Impressions Abloom - I paired my embossed base with an aperture and flowers from the Impressions Abloom bundle - one of this month's Online Exclusives. The dies have a fabulous embossed diecut detail and I love that the aperture comes with a beautiful framed edge too; you can see both in more detail on the close up below:

I inked my flowers for added depth and added lots of tiny Fresh Freesia enamel dots to my sprays of white blossoms for a little added sparkle.

Finishing Touches - There isn't much in the way of stamping on today's card; just the sentiment on the front, which I paired with another in the set, along with a stamped flower, on the inside of my card:

The Impressions Abloom bundle, along with the rest of this month's release, is available now in my online store - definitely worth a second look. Click on the link on the table at the end of the post to go and take a closer look.

I wasn't sure about this colour combination when I first saw it, with two pastels and the bold aqua, but I love how it turned out! It really makes me want to use Summer Splash more - I just love the vibrancy of this colour. 

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

IMPRESSIONS ABLOOM BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)	SUMMER SPLASH A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SUMMER SPLASH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Laura who is hosting has asked that we create a square card with a quartered centrepiece:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I used the colours over at Color Throwdown and decided to create an Andy-Warhol inspired centrepiece, featuring a comical canine favourite - take a look:

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

Yes - it's the dog from the 'One More Year' stamp set - but not quite as you know it! For today's card, I stamped him four times onto white cardstock, coloured with Blends and fussy cut him out, minus his party hat. I backed each image with a square of retired spotty DSP in the challenge colours and mounted each onto a postage die base. I finished with a simple 'hello' sentiment from the new 'Sweet Blooms' stamp set, anchored with an enamel dot:

Super simple and a fun way to give this stamp a different look. This card is going in my stash to send to the youngest James Junior when he is living away at uni - I know this will make him smile!

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ONE MORE YEAR CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	SWEET BLOOMS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	GRAY GRANITE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)
STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM LIGHT COMBO PACK (£10.25)

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

I knew I was going to have to go floral with those pretty colours so pulled out an old favourite and set to work. Take a look:

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

Layers of Beauty - It's been a few weeks, but I still have so many more ideas and techniques that I want to share using the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set that I thought today would be another great opportunity - I just love those flowers and the stencils are awesome!

Floating Frame Technique - Today's card was somewhat born out of a 'happy accident'. When I made this card, the one I shared was actually the second one I made; I got a smudge on the panel of the first one, so made another. It seemed a shame to bin the first one, so I recut the diecuts and since they had scorelines down the middle, cut along the scorelines too. this gave me four pieces - perfect for a floating frame. Today's card uses the same technique, but with one of the other sentiments in the set, clustering in the flowers around the greeting:

I added a sprinkle of Berry Burst sequins to fill some of the gaps and add a little extra shimmer and shine.

Finishing Touches - At the same time that I stamped and stencilled the flowers for the outside of my card, I added another to both the inside and the envelope. It takes very little extra effort, but makes for a nice finishing touch:

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. 

In case you're wondering what the other card that I mentioned above looked like, here's a photo - call it a bonus!

This was such a fun technique to revisit and yet another example of the versatility of the Layers of Beauty set.

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

Enjoy your day; the youngest of the James Juniors is now officially on study leave, pending the start of his A Level examinations, so today is all about revision - his first paper is tomorrow and Economics is the subject of the day (rather him than me!) so the rest of us will be keeping a low profile in order that he can get his head down. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LAYERS OF BEAUTY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£19.00)	LAYERS OF BEAUTY DIES (£28.00)	LAYERS OF BEAUTY DECORATIVE MASKS (£14.00)	BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BUBBLE BATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BERRY BURST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
LOST LAGOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)	ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS TRIO (£3.75)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for fun at the weekend to play along with a couple of challenges:

I was intrigued by the colour combination over at TGIF Challenges (thanks for last week's shout-out ladies!) - I don't use Petunia Pop often, so thought I'd give it a try. I paired it with the sketch over at Try a Sketch on Tuesday (turning it through 180 degrees) for a fun birthday card - take a look:

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

Yes - I am using my now-retired 'One year Older' stamp set - although if you're quick, you can still pick it up on the Last Chance Products section of the online store. I'm focusing on the cake today, which I first stamped all over my Daffodil Delight cardbase for a tone-on-tone background detail. I stamped the first part of my sentiment in a label from the Nested Essentials Dies, and accented this with another cake, this time stamped and coloured with my Stampin' Blends markers. I added some Wink of Stella to give a little extra sparkle to the candle flames, and backed it with a swish of Petunia Pop ribbon and added a sprinkle of enamel dot gems in both Petunia Pop and Balmy Blue to add for the party feel:

 Given the sentiment on the front of my card, it seemed only right that I add a party-hat decorated canine friend to the inside of my card alongside the second part of my greeting:

A little snarky I know, but this card is headed to a dog-loving friend of mine who has a birthday later this month and I know will appreciate the sentiment. Now that we are ladies of a certain age, if you can't have a giggle about it, well ...!

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; mine's going to be a busy one! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ONE MORE YEAR CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (£32.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	BALMY BLUE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	PETUNIA POP STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	GRAY GRANITE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	PETUNIA POP 3/8" (1 CM) BORDERED RIBBON (£7.00)	2024-2026 IN COLOR™ RESIN DOTS (£5.25)

Happy Wednesday, stampers! Have you had the opportunity to browse your new annual catalogue yet? Today I'm sharing a card that showcases more of the lovely new products contained within, made with a few current challenges in mind:

It's Die Week over at Just Us Girls and they are wanting us to use flower dies. I couldn't resist using the flower I used for this card again; the blooms seemed perfect for the circle shapes in the current Sunday Stamps sketch and it gave me the perfect opportunity to embrace the yellow and blue challenge over at Color Hues too. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Sweet Blooms - This large layered flower from the Pretty Petals Dies is my hands-down favourite at the moment! For today's card, I actually cut the flowers and leaves in white (no green allowed!), with the thin outline layer in Lemon Lolly, as I wanted my roses to have a creamy, pale yellow colour and not be too 'yellow'; using a combination of ink blending and Blends markers on white cardstock enabled me to get the colouring I was aiming for. I overlaid my blooms with my larger-than-life diecut sentiment from the 'Sweet Blooms' set, this time paired with the word 'you' that was snipped from another sentiment in the bundle. I backed my diecut with a layer of vellum, to help it stand out from the rest of the card.  

Ombre Background - I decided to create a panel of blended ombre blue as the base for my creamy lemon yellow flowers. I used a trio of blues and blended light to dark, then added some splatters of water and white ink before allowing it to dry, although you can't really see the detail - I might need to be more vigorous next time! I cut my panel down to allow a wide white border - I think this makes more of a feature of the ombre panel.

Hidden Elements - I also added some script stamping behind each of my flowers, using the round text stamp in 'Elements of Text' for a little extra tone-on-tone background detail. It's subtle and easier to see on the close up below:

I quite like the extra detail. I almost dry-embossed this layer too, but in the end decided against it. I find the more layering that goes into a card, the easier I find it to add more things - and it is important to know when to stop!! A few sequins and gems and I called time. I really love this colour combo - thank you Color Hues!

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	PRETTY FLORALS DIES (£35.00)	ELEMENTS OF TEXT CLING STAMP SET (£25.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	LEMON LOLLY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
LEMON LOLLY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Buckle up - there's lots happening today! The wait is over - the new 2025-26 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is here! You will find a permanent link to the new catalogue on the right hand side of my blog but for today you need look no further than the picture below which will take you straight to the new catalogue: 

The new catalogue is fantastic, with so many great new products to choose from. I've sent paper copies to everyone who has shopped with me in the last 6 months; a digital copy of the new catalogue can be accessed via the image above and it will be permanently linked via my blog on the right hand side if you don’t have a paper copy and wish to browse. If you have your paper copy and just want to go straight to the shop to place your order, click here - and remember to opt in to take advantage of the new Stampin' Up! Rewards Programme! 

There is also a great joining promotion that goes live today to coincide with the launch of the new catalogue:

It’s always exciting to be able to invite people to join our community of crafters and creators. And right now it’s even more exciting because when you sign up between 6 and 31 May to become a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, you can choose £170 worth of products of your choice for only £99 + free business supplies + free shipping + all the fun being a part of Stampin’ Up! - that's an extra £40 more than the standard joining offer!

I would love to chat with you about the benefits of joining my team and being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator; as always, you can always find the link to join my team on the right hand side of my blog page; alternatively it's right here if you fancy jumping right in!

What would you put into your starter kit? There are all those lovely new annual catalogue products for you to choose from, but that's not all: today sees the launch of another wave of Online Exclusive products too! 

There are 2 new suites: the Celebratory Sips Suite and the Floral Impressions Suite, along with lots of other bundles and products too - you can check them out here.

Finally, there are two new kits that have been added to the Kit Collection. The first is the Share A Smile Kit:

This kit makes 8 different uplifting cards (no stamping required) and costs just £14.00. The second is the Beautiful Blues Kit:

This kit makes 9 cards in three different designs and are perfect for sharing messages of friendship, support and sympathy and costs £22 to purchase. You can see more details and order both of these kits in the online store here where you can also access the full range of additional kits available to purchase.

That's a lot of information for one post; if I were you I would put the kettle on, put your feet up and get comfy and settle down with your new catalogue for a browse and start creating that all-important wish list!

Back tomorrow with a creative post featuring some of those lovely new products; until then, happy shopping!