Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fab Friday where they have a great sketch:

You all know how much I love a good sketch, although if truth be told I almost didn't make it to using this one; all that open space I was spoilt for choice as to how to interpret it. In the end, as I was sorting out my retiring supplies inspiration struck and this is what I came up with:

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

A Fabulous Sentiment - A sI was clearing the shelves, it occurred to me that the sentiment on today's card, from the retiring 'Stitched All Around' stamp set, would compliment the Best Dressed designer series papers perfectly. So I stamped it on a banner flagged with that most useful of punches, the Triple Banner Punch, and off I went!

Best Dressed - I love the 'Best Dressed' papers; whilst the stamp set and dies in the Best Dressed Suite are on carryover, the other items, including these papers aren't, so if you love them too you need to stock up now.

Finishing Touches - A card for a fabulous person needs a rather fabulous bow to finish I think, so made a double bow combining some Lovely Lipstick ribbon with some white polka dot tulle ribbon. I also fussy cut a couple of perfume bottles from the leftover scraps of DSP to decorate the inside of my card - waste not, want not and all that:

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

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

Today sees the last of the Common Entrance exams for Master James this week. We then have another week of half-term revision before the final week of back to back exams the week after. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STITCHED ALL AROUND CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£18.00)	BEST DRESSED DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	TRIPLE BANNER PUNCH (£22.00)	LOVELY LIPSTICK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
WHISPER WHITE 5/8\ (£7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink where they are having a challenge inspired by our current circumstances of lockdown and social restrictions and are encouraging us to send a card to say 'hi' and remind someone we are thinking of them:

I decided to pair one of the sentiments from my #ShareSunshine digital download with a couple of giraffes with a knotty problem to create my fun card - take a look:

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

A Knotty Problem - My cute giraffes on today's card come from the 'Back on Your Feet' stamp set. A great card for get well soon messages, the images also work well paired with the #ShareSunshine download. 

Mirror, Mirror - If you have the 'Back On Your Feet' stamp set or have seen it in the catalogue, you may well be reading this and saying to yourself 'but there's only one giraffe in this set, not two?' And you'd be right of course. To create my socially distanced giraffes, I used my Stamparatus and a silicone mat to enable me to 'mirror' my second giraffe. I have been running a series of free short online demonstrations each week with my online class ladies in between our paid classes and last week we spent our sessions revisiting tools, tips and tricks that you could achieve with your Stamparatus and stamping mirror images was one of the things we covered. 

A Punched Heart - My tiny punched heart is courtesy of my Dog Builder Punch - super useful! and lastly a quick peek inside my card to see how my sentiment finishes up:

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.

spThat's all from me today; I am off to invigilate master James' second Common Entrance exam this week - Religion, Philosophy and Ethics - and then will be hopping online with my class ladies slightly later as a result. We are looking at 'Embossing with Dies' this morning! Enjoy your day 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)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SOFT SUEDE CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS DAFFODIL DELIGHT COMBO PACK (£8.50)	DARK SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	DOG BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)

Monday already - where does the week go?! I meant to blog this card last Friday and the end of the week simply ran away from me. Anyway, today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's Less Is More Challenge and the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS:

Yes, LIM wanted cards in cream and white and Addicted to CAS have the code word of flower. I have done all-white type cards before and these are always a challenge. I haven't managed to play along over at Less Is More in a while so thought this would be a good time to remedy that - take a look at what I created:

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

A Laser Cut Cheat - I used some retired Delightfully Detailed Lasercut Specialty Paper for my showcase floral flourish on today's card. It's white on one side and vanilla on the other. For today's card, I used the white side against a vanilla card base and snipped a piece to the size I wanted from a larger 12" x 12" sheet. This paper is still available on the Clearance Rack (just click on the link below) if you would like to recreate my card.

It's All About Texture - When using only shades of cream and white, I find texture plays an important role in creating interest, whilst maintaining a clean and simple feel. So in addition to my laser-cut floral flourish, I embossed my card base with the Subtles Embossing Folder and added a simple diecut sentiment from white sparkle glimmer paper for added interest. 

Inside Reversal - I added another piece of laser-cut paper inside my card, this showing the reversed side so that the vanilla shows up against the white lining. I stamped my sentiment in Sahara Sand to maintain the neutral feel: 

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. 

I do have another card to share today so I'll be back with that later! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SUBTLE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	DELIGHTFULLY DETAILED LASER-CUT SPECIALTY PAPER (£5.20)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SPARKLE GLIMMER PAPER (£4.75)	SWEET SILHOUETTES DIES (EN) (£33.00)
SAHARA SAND CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SILHOUETTE SCENES CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£21.00)

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

I was intrigued by Kim's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and armed with this and one of my personal favourite stamp sets for masculine cards I created my card - take a look:

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

I had already decided that I would use the 'A Good Man' stamp set for my card this week as it really lends itself to clean and simple cards. I stamped and coloured my image and created my woven cardstock trim as per Kim's sketch, having stamped my sentiment on the horizontal strip and I was done - minimal layers (virtually one layer), no embellishments and plenty of white space - yep, I met the clean and simple brief!

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:

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 spent yesterday finishing the last of my big garden cleaning jobs, with patios cleaned and garden furniture ready now for waxing. I'll be taking it easier today with some cooking and last-minute revision with the youngest James Junior in readiness for the first of this week's Common Entrance exam papers tomorrow - Geography and maybe a leisurely family bike ride too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

A GOOD MAN CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£22.00)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CALYPSO CORAL COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS NIGHT OF NAVY COMBO PACK (£8.50)	LIGHT BALMY BLUE STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and I am the featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I had another crack at Brian's CAS(E) This Sketch layout today and my card also uses the colours over at The Card Concept, and whilst I have stripes they aren't of the patriotic kind - take a look:

I chose the right-hand column of Punny Sentiment - Masculine - Punched Shape for my card today and this is how I achieved it:

Punny Sentiment - I love a punny sentiment and the 'Outdoor Barbeque' set in the current Spring-Summer catalogue has a few of them! I especially love this one with the picture of a steak - I mean, who puts a steak on a card, right?! This is perfect for the Dad of the James household - this is exactly how he likes his steak cooked and he is a rare breed indeed (read into that what you may!) I finished the sentiment inside my card with this stamp from the 'A Wish For Everything' set:

Masculine - I'm not sure many females would relish a juicy streak on the front of a card - I'm more a hearts and flowers girl myself! - so that definitely puts this card into male territory. Besides, our Dad is most definitely the king of the BBQ - a very masculine domain! That's where my blue striped paper comes in too; it's from the now retired Come Sail Away DSP but on my card serves as a nod to my husband's navy and white butcher-striped BBQ apron.

Punched Shape - Lastly, I used the Classic Label Punch to punch out the sentiment on the front of my card and pop it up on dimensionals; I cut a long thin strip of cardstock to stamp my sentiment on then fed it into each end of my punch in turn, as the punch was too short to get it in one go. 

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; my day today revolves around laundry, craft, CE revision - the usual! I am also expecting visit number 2 from the oven repair man (my oven is actually in bits on the kitchen floor as we speak - it seems no other Neff oven has experienced the same fault as mine, go figure!!) and a socially distanced interaction with one of my friends and neighbours, who excitedly called me yesterday to say she had managed to get her hands on some plain four and would be bringing some round for me - sometimes the little things are so exciting and this will undoubtedly be the highlight of my day today! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

OUTDOOR BARBECUE CLING STAMP SET (£18.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	A WISH FOR EVERYTHING CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£36.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
DARK CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	CAJUN CRAZE DARK STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	LIGHT SO SAFFRON STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CLASSIC LABEL PUNCH (£17.00)

Today I'm sharing a card inspired by both the photo and the sketch over at Inspired By and the colours over at Hand Stamped Sentiments, which compliment the Inspired By photo perfectly:

As soon as I saw the Inspired By photo, I thought of the 'Grace's Garden' stamp set which is all about country garden florals. Here's the low-down on today's card:

This card was fairly quick for me to create as I had a selection of flowers stamped and diecut in my snippets box that were leftover from a recent class, so I simply got them out and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends, and added them to my Subtles-embossed card base. I heat embossed my sentiment in white, from the 'Strong and Beautiful' stamp set, such a great set for female-related sentiments. This one is a lovely way to let that special friend know how much they mean to you - I think I will pair this one with a surprise treat for one of my besties who I haven't seen in ages just to let her know I'm thinking of her. On that note I'm also linking today's card up with the ladies over at SUO Challenges too where they are 'Celebrating Women' - something that is always worthwhile as far as I'm concerned.

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:

GRACE'S GARDEN BUNDLE (EN) (£45.00)	SUBTLE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	EMBOSSING BUDDY (£5.50)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	DARK MINT MACARON STAMPIN' BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS SEASIDE SPRAY COMBO PACK (£8.50)
STAMPIN’ BLENDS ROCOCO ROSE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STRONG & BEAUTIFUL CLING STAMP SET (£23.00)

Today I'm sharing a card using this week's soft colour combo over at Just Add Ink this week:

I thought these muted colours would make for a clean and simple(ish) birthday card using the retiring Layered With Kindness stamp set  - take a look:

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

Layered With Kindness - The Layered With Kindness stamp set is one of those that is great for quick cards, both one layer cards and used in conjunction with the co-ordinating punches as I have here to create something with a little more interest and dimension. The images are distinctive stamps so have the illusion of dimension which is great for adding depth. I layered the leaf stems and a few flowers in the challenge colours, before adding my labels. 

Label Me Lovely - and Fancy - Label punches are always useful and both the Label Me Lovely and the Label Me Fancy punches are great with this set which has sentiments designed to fit and can be layered, but also with a variety of other sets too. They are also great for tags for gift packaging, the Label Me Fancy punch in particular, which has a handy slit and hole on either side of the punch to enable you to add thread or ribbon easily. Whilst the stamp set will be leaving us at the end of the month, the punches are here to stay - great news for Christmas packaging! 

Finishing Touches - I added a sprinking of pink sequins, some split ribbon and used my Stampin' Write Rococo Rose marker to add a fine mist of pink splatters across my card front for a trio of finishing touches to my otherwise simple 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I am hoping to get some more crafting and class prep done today, including getting ready for tomorrow's demonstration session. We are revisiting Stamparatus techniques this week; yesterday was great and resulted in an afternoon of fabulous creations by the ladies on the call who left fired up and inspired - our group was a hive of activity all afternoon, which left me feeling thrilled that they enjoyed the session so much. I also have some ironing to finish and continue my hunt for an earring I lost on Sunday; I didn't leave the house all day so I know it's here somewhere, but so far no luck! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Layered With Kindness Cling Stamp Set (English)	Label Me Lovely Punch	Label Me Fancy Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Rococo Rose Classic Stampin’ Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad	Rococo Rose 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon	Woven Threads Sequin Assortment

Another Monday, the start of a new week! I had an online demonstration this morning and something of an admin afternoon, so I've just time for a quick post to share another card for the current Fusion challenge, this time using both the sketch and inspiration layout:

The sketch and inspo photo combined to make the perfect teacher thank you card - take a look:

My bright red apple is courtesy of the 'Harvest Hellos' stamp set and the Apple Builder punch, two of my favourite items for creating teacher thank you cards and on carryover to the new catalogue too - yay! I paired my apple with a retired stamped notepaper background on a Crumb Cake base and swirly thanks diecut, again courtesy of a retired die; the notepaper and die were perfect to replicate the biscuit in the photo though, so it had to be! I also finished the inside with some added decoration courtesy of 'Harvest Hellos': 

I made a few of these cards at the same time to add to my end of year stash; the youngest of my James Juniors is in a transition year at school so I will need a lot of teacher thank you cards come July, so I'm starting now!

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:

Harvest Hellos Cling Stamp Set	Apple Builder Punch	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock

Another Monday, the start of a new week! I had an online demonstration this morning and something of an admin afternoon, so I've just time for a quick post to share another card for the current Fusion challenge, this time using both the sketch and inspiration layout:

The sketch and inspo photo combined to make the perfect teacher thank you card - take a look:

My bright red apple is courtesy of the 'Harvest Hellos' stamp set and the Apple Builder punch, two of my favourite items for creating teacher thank you cards and on carryover to the new catalogue too - yay! I paired my apple with a retired stamped notepaper background on a Crumb Cake base and swirly thanks diecut, again courtesy of a retired die; the notepaper and die were perfect to replicate the biscuit in the photo though, so it had to be! I also finished the inside with some added decoration courtesy of 'Harvest Hellos': 

I made a few of these cards at the same time to add to my end of year stash; the youngest of my James Juniors is in a transition year at school so I will need a lot of teacher thank you cards come July, so I'm starting now!

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:

Harvest Hellos Cling Stamp Set	Apple Builder Punch	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock

Two posts from me today as whilst I did squeeze in a little crafting yesterday morning, I was too busy enjoying the sunshine the rest of the day to blog - so I'm sharing today! I loved Linda's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and chose to use green, congratulations sentiment embossing folder from the Festive Friday inspo list:

So many ways to interpret the sketch, but in the end I decided to use up more of those fussy cut Mosaic Mood designer papers and pair some border strips with a gorgeous glossy hummingbird and a sentiment from Praiseworthy Prose:

Praiseworthy Prose is another of those sets that hasn’t seem much (any!) ink so I stamped my sentiment in Soft Suede onto a Very Vanilla stitched rectangle and used my hummingbird to accent it. Some subtle embossing to my mat layer completes my card.

I really like this finished card and its one of those that could be used for men or women, which is great as I didn’t have anyone in mind to send it to when I started creating. 

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:

Mosaic Mood Specialty Designer Series Paper	Praiseworthy Prose Cling Stamp Set	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder	Stitched Rectangle Dies	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad