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

Full disclosure - I LOVE this sketch - there are so many creative possibilities! So much so, I have not one but three cards to share with you that all have it as the starting point. So first up, my challenge card! I had another idea that I wanted to try with the Thankful Garden stamp set, so I decided to use the blue/mauve colour combination over at Color Dare and set to work - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Thankful Garden - I've made no secret of how much I love this bundle, that will launch with the new wave of Online Exclusives on 4th March. For today's card, I put the stencils to one side and used my Stampin' Write markers to outline colour the flower head and stem:

If you're not a fan of detailed colouring, this is a great way to use your Stampin' Write markers. You can currently receive not one but TWO colour family sets of Stampin' Write markers in addition to £130 of product for £99 when you join Stampin' Up! during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. That's also the only way you can receive the Thankful Garden bundle before the 4th March launch date - by adding it to your starter kit. Now there's two reasons to sign up before the promotion ends on Friday :-) I added a couple of white diecut leaves and embossed a panel of Fresh As A Daisy DSP with the (retired) Painted Texture Embossing Folder behind my blossom, a few gems and a sentiment I fussy cut from the Greetings For All Ephemera pack to complete my card. I debated whether or not to use up some ribbon and add a bow and really couldn't decide:

I decided on balance I preferred it without, but what do you think? Do leave me a comment and let me know!

Goodbye Boho Blue - Boho Blue and Moody Mauve are the featured blue and purple on today's card; both are 2023-25 In Colours that are due to retire at the end of April. I will be featuring these and the other in-colours in this set in the next couple of months, but take this as your first reminder: now is a great time to stock up on re-inkers and any other 2023-25 in-colour supplies. They often run out before the end of the catalogue sales period, so don't leave it too late. Besides, if you add them to your basket and spend £55 or more before the end of the month, you can add a free product to your basket too - win-win!

Take Two and Three - As I mentioned above, I think this sketch is a keeper and so versatile. Whilst I used the flower as my shape for my PP card, I created two more cards that were more faithful to the circle. The first one was an Easter card using the Frames and Flowers DSP and one of the diecut wreaths, along with a sentiment from one of my favourite retired Easter sets, 'Easter Promise':

This paper pack really is the pack that just keeps on giving, I've made so many cards using it. 

My third card was the the current challenge over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'W for Wings' and this time I used a full panel of Lily Pond Lane DSP, overlaid with a panel out of which I diecut a circle to frame and highlight the mama and her brood of ducklings:

Aren't they just so cute?! This card is actually for one of my team, to celebrate the addition of the new 'ducklings' that she has welcomed to her Stampin' Up! team during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - she loves ducks! I could have kept going with this sketch - I'm so looking forward to see what everyone else does with it in the PP gallery this week!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's main 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 making banoffee pie today - yum! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GREETINGS FOR ALL MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (6.75)

2023–2025 IN COLOR STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS (17.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

BOHO BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

MOODY MAUVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a theme challenge chosen by Jane:

I don't have many current sets featuring birds, but I still have lots of ideas for those fun Sale-A-Bration seagulls so they were an obvious choice for my card today - take a look:

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

Friendly Seagulls - Friendly Seagulls - I love these quirky birds! I stamped a whole sheet of these gulls and coloured them in, then fussy cut them so that I had a pile of them ready to decorate my projects as and when. For this card, I chose three that I could position around my sentiment and popped them up on dimensionals. 

Mini Alphabet - Many of you will recognise my sentiment as a line from the famous Disney movie 'Finding Nemo' - I love that movie! I used my Mini Alphabet Dies to create my custom sentiment, cutting the alphabet several times in black and adhering to some white cardstock, cutting around this allowing for a border, to for the base:

 If you're someone that has a habit of losing or misplacing letters in your alphabet die sets, the Mini Alphabet Dies might be a great solution for you! All of the letters are attached and you can diecut the whole alphabet (including duplicates of commonly used letters) in one go. Any letters you don't need you can set aside for future projects. 

Two For One - Having completed my card, I used my leftover negative alphabet diecuts to make a second card: I simply cut each letter into a rectangle using my paper snips, and again adhered to a piece of white cardstock, this time with the white cardstock forming the letters courtesy of the negative diecuts:

This is a great tip I picked up from Melody Hyde of @hammondandpenny on Instagram who uses this technique a lot - what a great way to achieve 2 cards with one set of cuts, thanks Melody! You can see the detail more closely below:

Finally, I used my retired Seaside Impressions Embossing Folder to create my seascape background as I didn't have the new Soft Waves folder when I made this card (it is now in its way ;-) ) but I've added the shop link for it below, as this would be the product of choice if you want to recreate these cards.

Here are 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 '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:

MINI ALPHABET DIES (29.00)	SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)

I've been playing more with my Thankful Garden bundle and since The Flower Challenge are asking for pink florals this month, I went pink to create a clean and simple card for the current 'friends' challenge over at Addicted to CAS too:

I'm also linking up for a second time over at Just Us Girls since 'friend' is also their word of the week and at Festive Friday where I chose pink, glossy dots, ink blending and words of encouragement/kindness from the inspo list. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I kept things simple, this time stamping my flower directly onto my cardbase before stencilling to colour. I paired one of the sentiments in the set with a layered diecut 'friend' from the Friends for Life bundle to change it up a little: 

 A trio of enamel dots complete my card. I really like this card - these stencils really are great!

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 on Friday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDS FOR LIFE DIES (ENGLISH) (32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Suzy has asked that we layer a couple of shapes with the sentiment behind:

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

For my card today I decided to create a simple birthday card using the Birthday Celebration stamp set and Wildflower Celebration papers - take a look:

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

This card was so simple to make: I stamped my sentiment onto a stitched circle and for my accent added a cupcake, complete with candle, that I fussy cut from one of the mixed sheets in the Wildflower Celebration paper pack:

A few party dots complete the front of my card. I used a combination of the other sentiments in the Birthday Celebration stamp set to create this oversize greeting inside my card too:

Easy as that - the Birthday Celebration Suite is perfect for quick and easy birthday 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 '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:

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (39.50)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
PARTY DOTS (7.50)

As promised, I've another quick post to share one of my weekend crafty endeavours that I made for a couple of challenges:

CAS on Friday have the theme of 'Valentine' and my old team mates, Team X over at TicTacToe (waves enthusiastically!) also have something of a love-themed board (I went along the diagonal with heart/dicut/love sentiment). With only a couple more weeks left of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion, I wanted to have a play with one of my free Sale-A-Bration bundles that I had yet to break the seal on - take a look:

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

The Heart Shaped Bundle is one of only two that are available for FREE during the Sale-A-Bration promotion with a £110 purchase (as opposed to £55 purchase; the other is the Corner In Bloom stamp set). Containing stamps and dies, it's perfect for a clean and simple card to someone you love - the sentiments in this set are just lovely, in addition to the simple leaves and flowers. I stamped the heart in pink, then overlaid with a diecut heart and some flowers cut from some ombre coloured paper that I'd inked up with a variety of pink Blends markers:

A touch of white glimmer foliage and some sparky pink enamel dots complete my card. Isn't that sentiment just lovely? This card is heading to my husband for our wedding anniversary later this week - he likes clean and simple, so hopefully this will tick his box! If it ticks yours too, you still have a couple of weeks to pick up the Heart shaped bundle for FREE during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - time to get shopping!

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:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (8.00)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
PRETTY IN PINK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BUBBLE BATH STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)

Another Monday, another week! For me it's a week that's commute-free, as the youngest of the James Juniors is on his half-term break - yay! We have no big plans - next week is A-Level Exam mock week, so it's mostly an opportunity for revision - and possibly some extra crafting! I did escape the rain on Saturday and spent some time playing with some new goodies, so I have a couple of projects to share with you today. The first of these uses Jen T's fabulous layout over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I toyed with a simple, silhouette-style diecut against an ink-blended background, but I had a new bundle that had just arrived and when I saw the mood board over at Inkspirational I knew I'd need to go in a completely different direction - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Those lilac hyacinths on the mood board led me to create a lilac hydrangea head using my new 'Thankful Garden' bundle: this is a stamp and die bundle that includes stencils and will be available in a couple of week's time with the March release of Online Exclusives - a range of out-of-catalogue products that will only be available online. I stencilled mine using Highland Heather for each layer of the stencilled bloom and added it to a diecut circle with some border detail, again picking up inspiration from the moodboard. There was only one colour choice for my card base: it had to be Coastal Cabana, it's so vibrant in the inspo photo and provides a fresh backdrop for the single flower head:

A simple stamped sentiment that celebrates gratitude for good friends - so I'm also linking up over at Just Us Girls where that's their theme this week - along with a trio of enamel dots, complete by card.

The Thankful Garden Suite will be available to customers to order the week after next; I have a few more projects to share between now and then and I think it's going to be a firm 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

What great inspiration to start the week! Enjoy your day and I'll be back shortly with my second project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (33.00)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)

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

I love a clean and simple card and although this week's theme is masculine and I definitely made my card with that in mind, it could also work for females too - take a look:

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

I went with another masculine congratulations card; as my regular readers will know, this is a big exam year in the James household as the youngest of the James Juniors is sitting his A Levels, and with lots of male friends too I'm expecting there to be lots of congratulations cards in order, so I'm getting ahead now! Following my previous card here featuring the word DADDY, I had another idea using the letters from the word DAY in the Sale-A-Bration 'Documenting The Day' stamp set. Selective stamping also makes the word YAY, perfect for a congratulations card so that was the starting point for my card. My graphic 3D style lettering was inspired by a photo that I saw a few weeks ago over at Inspired By featuring these colourful cushions - can you spot the one that inspired my card in the photo below?

I liked the one with the dimensional word FUN so set about recreating it with my DAY stamp. I simply stamped the letters A and Y onto post-it notes, then once I'd stamped the word YAY, I masked each letter and stamped it again, offsetting the stamp to achieve the shadow effect using a different colour each time:

I popped the finished stamped panel onto a bright blue card base with a yellow frame to complete my card. Creative use of a stamp, ink and paper - simple! If you dismissed the 'Documenting The Day' stamp set as only useful for scrapbooking, then think again - there are lots of creative card options too! Sale-A-Bration runs until 28th February, so you can still get your hands on this set whilst supplies last!

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 are still celebrating Valentine's this weekend and I am being treated to a day out with the men in my life - dinner and a double-cinema date is on the cards, oh to be loved!! I'll be back on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SUMMER SPLASH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PEACH PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

I was having a play with the 'Grateful Blessing' stamp set, an annual catalogue stamp set that's been sat on my shelf uninked for some time, trying different things with it and ended up making a clean and simple card using the muted colour palette over at AAA Cards: 

Here's the card I came up with:

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

I heat embossed my sentiment and image in white, then added white and mossy green detail to my flower using a combination of white craft ink and my watercolour pencils:

A simple scored border completes my card. I think it looks a little like a lily of the blossom flower in this colourway, don't you? This is quite a different set for me, but I love the outline flower image and the sentiments in this set too. I'll share some of the other cards I made using it another time - watch this space. 

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. 

Short and sweet from me today; enjoy your day and I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GRATEFUL BLESSING PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	WATERCOLOR PENCILS ASSORTMENT 1 (17.00)	BLENDER PENS (14.00)
UNINKED STAMPIN’ PAD & WHITE CRAFT REFILL (10.00)

Today I'm sharing a cute Valentine's card that was inspired by a number of challenges:

Pink and red are the perfect colours for a Valentine's Day card and Color Hues and Inkspirational are jointly featuring these colours. Lisa is is looking for hearts for die week over at Just Us Girls and Sunday Stamps had the perfect layout (I used it with my card in landscape mode). Take a look at what I came up with:

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

 I had the idea that the cute brontosaurus-like dinosaur in the 'Darling Dinos' stamp set would frame a large heart perfectly with a mirror-image mate, so I grabbed my stamping platform and silicone mat, stamped my chosen dinosaur onto my mat using black ink, then placed my cardstock carefully on top and stamped again so that the pressure of the stamp transfers the ink from the mat to the underside of the cardstock, thereby creating a mirror image. I coloured my dinosaurs in coordinating red and pink and positioned them either side of a large diecut heart which I stamped with my sentiment from the set:

To add interest for the horizontal element, I used one of my favourite retired heart-shaped dies from the Be Mine Stitched Framelits; I diecut the border piece twice and infilled the pink outline with the red hearts. So what do think? Cute, right?! I think this might be my card for my hubby - I mean hearts and dinosaurs, what's not to love, right?!

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. 

It's so, so cold here in the UK at the moment; I just want to stay inside, keep warm and craft! Enjoy your day and I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

DARLING DINOS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (38.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BUBBLE BATH STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

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 a fresh colour challenge for us to work with:

I decided to break out a new set that I haven't yet used and armed with the layout over at Try A Sketch On Tuesday, set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Natural Botanicals Three Ways - I decided the large botanical images in the 'Natural Botanicals' stamp set would be a great way to showcase LeAnne's bright colour palette this week and I used the stamps in three different ways: as layered images on my diecut circle (the yellow flower is the reverse of the daisy), heat embossed in white onto Flirty Flamingo cardstock for my fussy cut daisy and finally stamped the smaller images tone-on-tone onto cardstock strips in the challenge colours to create my background panel. I overlaid my stripes with a piece of vellum to tone the colours down slightly, but you can still see the detail of the stamping beneath:

Greetings For All - My simple 'hello' greeting is from the Greetings For All Mix & Match Ephemera pack in the mini catalogue. With 6 sheets of black and white pre-diecut greetings, you'll never be lost for a suitable sentiment to finish your card - and no stamping required.

Want Natural Botanicals For FREE? - I purchased 'Natural Botanicals' from the mini catalogue and it is still available to buy, however it can also be yours FREE with a £55 product purchase as part of the second month of our current Sale-A-Bration promotion - how good is that?! You can read about the other new products that have been added in my Sale-A-Bration post earlier this week - here's the link if you missed 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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

NATURAL BOTANICALS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (21.00)	SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (33.00)	GREETINGS FOR ALL MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (6.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	SUMMER SPLASH A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	SUMMER SPLASH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)
TINSEL GEMS FOUR-PACK (7.50)