Today I'm sharing a card that I made because it is perfect for the current challenge over at Festive Friday and uses the current Color Throwdown colours:

Using both watercolouring and with Parent's Day in mind (or at least two new parents in particular) and this soft and sweet colour palette, I created this card for some new parents:

Not much to say about my card today! I stamped my image on watercolour paper and then heat embossed it in silver, watercoloured it and added a stitched frame to finish. No product table for this card because it uses a whole bunch of retired bits and pieces: one of my favourite baby-themed retired stamp sets, Baby We've Grown, a retired colour in Pink Pirouette (a perfect baby pink) and some retired co-ordinating ribbon and foil doily. All of these were chosen deliberately though, as they are just perfect for the recipients: a Stampin' Up! demonstrator friend of mine and her husband have finally this week received their much longed-for adopted child, a baby girl, so their family of two has (almost overnight) grown to become three. This stamped image of three owls seemed just so appropriate to celebrate the arrival of Little Miss Wilson as she is affectionately known, and the oh-so girly pink complimented with the pale grey seemed like the perfect palette.

Enjoy your evening; I am typing this having spent the evening at the swimming pool watching the youngest of the James Juniors race with some great race times and a couple of wins, so it's nice to be sat in the cool again. I'll be back tomorrow with another project and this week's post over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing another card using our colours over at The Paper Players this week for the current challenge over at TGIF Challenges where they have a great sketch for inspiration:

 I needed more masculine birthday cards, this time for slightly older/teenage children, so I pulled out my Broadway Birthday set and set to work - take a look:

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

Take One Sketch - Often I am very literal with my interpretation of a sketch layout, but not so today! Whilst I didn't use the background florals suggested by the sketch or the banner sentiment, I did use my Balmy Blue ink to create a soft sponged background with a little tone-on-tone stamping then overlaid with my balloons, and used my large 'Wish' diecut as my large focal sentiment on the top layer. Sketches are my favourite starting point when designing a card but they are only a starting point; if you look at the TGIF design team cards or the others in the gallery, you will see that everyone interprets them in a slightly different way - great for inspiration!

Broadway Birthday - If you are only going to buy one birthday stamp set, then Broadway Birthday has to be it for universal appeal. It works in any colour, for male or female, young or old and with its fun balloons, candles and party hats will definitely go the creative distance.

Make A Wish - Better still, if you pair Broadway Birthday with the co-ordinating Broadway Lights Dies, you have even more creative possibilities. You can use the big words to make a feature of your card; I love the swirly fonts and the fact that the diecut pieces are nice and big; not too fiddly and so I don't loose them on my desk before I've stuck them down! This card was so easy to make I stamped and diecut a few at the same time so that I had a few made ready for my next few birthdays.  

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. 

Rebecca is home from Germany today and we are all feeling tired given her arrival in the early hours of the morning, so we will be taking it easy in between the laundry. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Broadway Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Broadway Lights Dies (£27.00)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)

Firstly an apology if you are here to see the masculine birthday card I promised - I mixed up my days, that one is coming tomorrow! Today I'm sharing a Christmas card for the current challenges over at As You See It and Just Add Ink:

That AYSI recipe took me a little while to work through but I got there in the end and since the JAI girls are looking for seasonal cards of any kind, it works for them too. I pulled out one of my favourite festive items in the annual catalogue that I think is rather overlooked to make today's card - the seasonal wreath embossing folder. Here's my finished card:

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

A Seasonal Wreath - This Seasonal Wreath embossing folder really is in my opinion one of the unsung heroes of the Stampin' Up! catalogue; in one run through the Big Shot, you have the basis for a card. I must confess that I have only ever used it on a Christmas card, although the seasonal challenge over at Just Add Ink did get me thinking I should create another three so that I have a wreath for all seasons - so watch this space! I think the detail of the texture is difficult to capture in a photo, but in real life it's beautiful.  

A New Merry Christmas - I've used this wreath before with the Merry Christmas dies from last year's seasonal catalogue (and still available in the current annual) but thought I would use the Merry Christmas words from the new Word Wishes die set, which are smaller in size and sit rather neatly across the middle of the wreath. I heat embossed the lower part of the diecuts with silver embossing powder for a little added interest and to tie in with my decoration, but you could just as easily leave it plain - you can't go wrong with red and green for a perfectly festive colour combo.

Stars and Stripes - I decided to decorate my wreath with some silver retired metallic stars that I found in my box (I have almost run out and wish I had stockpiled a few more of these!), along with some red berries (I punched out the eye on the Elephant Builder Punch) and added a piece of (also retired) Poppy Parade mini striped ribbon tied with some silver metallic thread to finish. There was very little stamping on this card - only the inserts with one of my favourite stamps for inside a Christmas card from Merry Christmas To All:

I went with a square design because I had a 12" x 12" pack of Garden Green and Poppy Parade cardstock left over from the last seasonal catalogue and liked this card so much I decided to cut up the whole pack and mass-produce an entire set of these to make a real dent in my Christmas stash! My husband did think I'd lost to plot when he saw me cutting and embossing not one but more than 20 Christmas cards whilst watching the Wimbledon tennis finals on Sunday, but actually this was a super-easy card to make en-mass from a pack of 12" x 12" (if you would like the measurements, the card base is 6" x 6", the red matt measures 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" (the offcuts were used for the word dies) and the central green square is 4" x 4"), especially as the only stamping was on the inside. I will need to get creative with my stars for the remaining cards - I will probably punch some out of silver glimmer paper, but I am thoroughly chuffed with my efforts!

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:

Seasonal Wreath 3D Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Regals 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock (£11.75)	Word Wishes Dies (£33.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)

I'm back with a second quick card to share with you today! I needed a quick card and used this week's sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches and am just squeezing in before the deadline:

An old university friend of mine landed awkwardly when running at the weekend and broke his ankle, so I wanted to make a quick card to send him some get well wishes and the new 'Back On your Feet' stamp set had just the right stamp  - take a look:

Isn't that sloth with his bandaged paw just the cutest?! I stamped him on a stitched oval and coloured him with my Stampin' Blends and added a simple 'ouch!' to the front of my card, completing the message inside with 'Hope you're back on your feet again soon' which in the circumstances seemed more than appropriate! I picked up the colour from the branch on my stamped image and used the leaf ribbon for the three vertical stripes of the sketch. I haven't used this before but it goes perfectly with this image.

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:

Back On Your Feet Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Leaf Ribbon (£7.50)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)

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

I really liked LeAnne's colour combo this week and I have a real shortage of male birthday cards in my box at the moment, especially for young boys (a whole bunch of Ben's friends have had birthdays lately with still more to come in the next couple of months), so that's where I decided to focus my efforts this week. I have two cards to share with you today, both featuring the Little Elephant set. They both use this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch; here's the first one:

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

I did some simple layering and inset my punched elephant carrying his balloons inside a circle aperture cut with my Layering Circle Dies, then overlayed a stacked diecut sentiment, cut with the Well Written Framelits, that I brushed with clear Wink of Stella for added sparkle. I also made a super clean and simple version that I am going to link up over at Less Is More for their theme of 'Celebrations' this week:

I switched the colours around and punched out the elephant's ear to ring the changes and for both cards I decorated the envelopes and the insides too. My Stamparatus made it easy to line up the balloon and the elephant's trunk - love that tool!

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. 

Having made these cards I decided they were maybe a little too youthful for my 'pre-teens' so I used this colour combo to make another masculine, more grown up card that I will share with you on Tuesday, so if you like this colour combo, be sure to pop back then and take a look.

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 glued to the TV this afternoon enjoying the Wimbledon Men's Final - the culmination of two fantastic weeks of grass court tennis and spending some quality time with my boys since we are still Rebecca-less, as she continues to experience the delights of life with a German family (only 3 more days t go!) I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Little Elephant Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)	Elephant Builder Punch (£17.00)	Layering Circles Dies (£33.00)	Well Written Dies (£37.00)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing another of the cards I designed for my Daisy Lane class earlier this week that is perfect for the current colour challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments where they have a pretty subtles colour palette for inspiration:

I wanted to remind my ladies of a technique that I demonstrated to them previously using a template to create a wreath or uniform pattern using their Stamparatus and the Daisy Lane set was perfect for this - take a look at my card:

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

A Layered Daisy - Today's card features more stamped and punched daisies - this time layered to create a full flower: two large stamped and punched daisies in Petal Pink, with two smaller stamped and punched daisies in Calypso Coral layered on top. Lots of petal curling with a bone folder adds dimension and the appearance of fullness.

A Starburst Fern And A Fun Stamparatus Technique - I wanted to use the fern on this card and it was the perfect size and shape to revise a fun technique using the Stamparatus. We had previously looked at how you can use a template to help you create a symmetrical wreath using leaves and small flowers; this time we used the same template, but instead used it to create an almost flower-shaped starburst of ferns to back our punched daisy. This was perfect for my daisy focal point and a neat way to ring the changes with a square card too.

A Touch of Sparkle - On this card, I finished my daisy with a clear faceted dot for a neutral touch of sparkle. 

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:

Daisy Lane Bundle (£32.25)	Daisy Punch (£17.00)	Subtles 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock Pack (£11.75)	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Timeless Label Punch (£17.00)	Clear Faceted Gems (£4.75)

No post yesterday as I had a class and one James Junior to get ready for her German student exchange trip with the other to swim training and I simply ran out of time! So I'm sharing my planned card today which is perfect for the current challenge over at Just Us Girls where the cue word is 'Smile':

My class yesterday featured the new Daisy Lane stamp set and Medium Daisy Punch and this is one of the cards we made - take a look:

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

There's A New Daisy In Town - Daisy Lane is a new Stampin' Up! stamp set that features that perennial favourite - the daisy. Definitely more wild flower than weed, today's card features two daisies from the new set, stamped in Smoky Slate with some So Saffron added to the centres with a sponge dauber before punching the larger one out with the existing Daisy Punch and then the smaller one with the Medium Daisy Punch and added to the stems that were stamped directly onto the card base.

Feeling Fuzzy - What makes these daisies stand out though, are the little fuzzy yellow centres. These Perennial Essence Floral Centres are part of the Perennial Essence Suite but they make great daisy centres too. They have little self-adhesive backs so are easy to attach to punched flowers to give them added interest. I can see me using lots more of these!

A Timeless Label - The 'smile' sentiment is also from the Daisy Lane set and to give it a little more emphasis I punched it out with the new Timeless Label Punch which is the perfect size for both the 'smile' and 'friend' sentiments in this set and lots more besides. This is another of those super-useful punch shapes that is a good basic for your crafting arsenal.

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:

Daisy Lane Bundle (£32.25)	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Sponge Daubers (£4.75)	Perennial Essence Floral Centers (£5.50)	Timeless Label Punch (£17.00)

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

I held a class featuring the 'Best Catch' stamp set a few months ago when it was in the Spring-Summer catalogue. Since this set carried over into the new annual catalogue, today's challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to share one of the fun folds we made - take a look:

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

Best Catch -  If you or someone you know is a fan of fishing, then the 'Best Catch' is perfect for you. When I think of watersports, I tend to think of swimming or scuba diving as they are the watersports that I love, yet angling is one of the most popular past-times globally, fly fishing in particular. There are some great images and sentiments in the set, and there is also a useful set of co-ordinating dies, 'Catch Of The Day', that make cutting out the shapes super quick and easy. My favourite image is the fish and he is definitely the star of this card; so many options to colour him, and when you use the framelits to cut him out you get a fun fin detail too that is great on a fancy fold card. I stamped my fisherman and fish on Shimmery White cardstock as this allowed me to watercolour them with inks and an aquapainter and gives the fish a nice sparkly sheen too - just like fish scales!

A Fancy Fold Bendi Card - A bendi-fold card seemed like a fun way to add extra dimension and interest to my fishing card. Using a standard sized A6 cardbase for my backpiece, I then added a narrow panel to each outside edge; one in brown the same colour as my card base, and the other in Pool Party to the other side. To made the bendi fold mechanism, I simply cut a small slit in the back panel approx. one third from the opposite edge and slid the edge of the brown panel into it, creating a bend, then repeated this on the other side with the blue panel, tucking it into the first brown fold (just under the bulrushes).

Making Waves - Aside from my fun fancy fold, I added some texture and interest to my 'river' by running my Pool Party section through my Big Shot with my (now retired) Seaside Embossing Folder. If you don't have this, the new High Seas 3D embossing folder could be used to create a similar effect. Along with some die cut bulrushes and a little stamping, this finished my scene.

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. 

So what do you think? Have you ever tried to make a bendi-card? What is your favourite type of fancy fold? Do let me know in the comments below - I love to read your thoughts.

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; we will be hoping the weather is slightly warmer than yesterday so that we can spend some time outside. I am also going to be busy getting the oldest of the James Juniors ready for her school exchange trip to Germany this week.  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Best Catch Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Catch Of The Day Dies (£26.00)	High Tide Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£9.25)

With a new Stampin' Up! catalogue, new in-colours always feature on a new wish list - why wouldn't they? The new 2019-21 In Colors will be with us for the next 2 years and this year's in-colours are very on-trend and co-ordinate beautifully with each other and the other colours in the Stampin' Up! colour families:

To help you spread the cost and gradually grow your new in-colour collection, for the first time I am offering an in-colour club (UK customers only). It begins this month and runs for the next 5 months, up to and including November. Each month, you will receive a collection of  products for one of the colours, with each month featuring a different colour.

Each month, you will receive: 

• 1/2 pack of A4 cardstock (12 sheets)
• 1/2 roll of Scalloped Linen Ribbon
• 1 ink pad
• 1 ink refill
• 1 Stampin' Write Marker
• 18 Faceted Dots
• Eight 6”X6” In-Color DSP sheets
• A hand stamped card featuring your in-colour of the month

Since all of the colours except Terracotta Tile are also available as Stampin' Blends, there is the option to add on a Stampin' Up! Blends Marker Combo Pack each month for an additional £8.50. 

For the month you receive the Terracotta Tile colour kit, you will receive 1/4 pack of Woven Threads DSP and Woven Threads Sequins in place of the Blends. Both of these products also feature all five in-colours.  

Details:

Basic Pack Cost: £25 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month July through November. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Enhanced Pack Cost: £33.50 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month July through November. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Payment can be made by bank transfer (or cash/cheque for local customers).

If you would like to join my new colour club this month, then you can email me to sign up here.

Today it's lesson time! I'm sharing a couple of cards that I promised you a while ago that are stepped up versions of an earlier clean and simple sympathy card that I made and since this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges is to make a sympathy card, this seemed an appropriate time to share with you:

It's never nice to have to create sympathy cards especially on the spur of the moment, so it's always handy to have one or two on hand for when they are needed. There are lots of great sets in the Stampin' Up! catalogue with just the right words for these sometimes difficult cards and Rooted In Nature is definitely on my 'go to' list. Here's my original card that I featured in this blog post here:

This is a great card for a beginner stamper - stamps, ink and white cardstock are all you need to create this card.

I decided that this was a good card to show how easily a card can be 'stepped up' with a few extra supplies. Here's my intermediate version - instead of a one layer white base, I used a coloured card base (retired Lemon Lime Twist, but you could use Granny Apple Green for a similar colour combo), a piece of designer series paper (retired 'Under The Mistletoe' pattern) along with a strip of Night of Navy cardstock, then popped my leaf stamped panel up on dimensionals and heat embossed my sentiment in silver on a strip of vellum and wrapped it around this layer:

A few additional cardstock and paper supplies and the addition of the heat embossing as another technique creates a slightly more stepped up card for the more casual crafter who wants something a little more. Finally I created a card for the avid crafter that features an even wider variety of products and techniques:

For this version, I retained the layout of my stepped up card, but this time stamped the leaves tone-on-tone onto the same coloured cardstock and cut them out using the co-ordinating Nature's Roots framelits, overlapping slightly on my white panel. I then added a double length of navy baker's twine across the middle before overlaying my heat-embossed vellum sentiment. I finished my card with one of the silver metallic leaf trinket embellishments tied with a navy twine bow. 

So what do you think? Which of these do you prefer? I think on balance I am somewhere between the first two cards - I love the simplicity of the outlined leaves on the white, but maybe with the addition of the heat embossed sentiment on the vellum. Decisions, decisions - the joy and freedom of creativity!

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; the sun is still shining here in the UK and I am off to sports day this afternoon, so looking forward to a fun afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£39.00)	Nature's Roots Dies (£36.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Leaves Trinkets (£7.50)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)