It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Amanda has asked that we place two images/shapes on opposing sides, with a sentiment towards the bottom of the card.  Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I wanted to ink up a new-to-me set that a number of my crafty friends have been using to great effect - the Nature's Symphony bundle - so I grabbed the colour palette over at Colour Inkspiration where I haven't played along for a while (they had me with these colours!) and set to work. Here's my card:

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

Nature's Symphony is a great set for clean and simple cards, as well as for something more layered and detailed; but there was one thing in particular that attracted me to this bundle - yes, it is that beautiful diecut leaf stem! I actually snipped it into two here and used the respective pieces for my top and bottom detail, on top of some layered stamping in all three colours using the other stamps in the set (and a splatter stamp from Notes of Nature):

A simple sentiment anchored with a rainbow dot completes my card. Whilst there's some layering to the stamping, keeping it to a two discreet areas and leaving lots of white space retains the clean and simple feel of my card. I'm also linking today's card up over at CAS On Friday where the current theme is 'anything goes'.

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; today is Shrove Tuesday - will you be celebrating with pancakes? The hubby is entertaining clients this evening so it's just me for dinner. A pancake or two might be just the ticket! I actually saw a new recipe for Austrian pancakes from the lovely Martha Collinson on Instagram last week that I've never tried, so I might gives those a go - here's a link to it if you fancy taking a look too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NATURE'S SYMPHONY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

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

I was considering how to tackle Stef's challenge this week and had been perusing my shelves for balloon-themed supplies, then I saw Verena's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I knew exactly where I was headed - I love it when that happens! Another combination of old and new for you today with a simple balloon-filled birthday card - take a look:

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

I turned Verena's layout through 90 degrees and went for a large card (it measures 21cm x 14.9cm) to accommodate my diecut bunch of balloons that I found in my Wildflower Birthday designer series paper stash that works perfectly for the ellipse in the sketch. I added a panel of pink gingham check and another sentiment combination from Words of Beauty - this bundle is never off my desk at the moment! 

A thin strip of gold foil to join the panels and a trio of gold enamel dots to tie in with the gold detailing complete my card - with lots of white space to preserve the clean and simple 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 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'm out walking today, weather permitting, with an organised group - and I'm bringing along my vegan brownie that I was experimenting with last week - it was a great success!

Leave me a comment below if you'd like me to email you the recipe - anything with chocolate is a winner in my book but this one really did surprise me! Who knew baking without dairy could taste so good?! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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 Heather H:

I had to dig into the retired box for this one because whilst I had plenty of sentiment options, I didn't have any current product featuring candy. So a little mix of something old paired with something current this week - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

 I knew that I could make an appropriate sentiment for a candy-themed play on words with my Words of Beauty bundle, so I just needed to pair it with some suitably themed designer series paper. I actually had a couple of options and settled on this bright and cheery pattern that was one of my favourites in the retired How Sweet It Is designer series paper pack. I fussy cut one of the lollipops from the paper and added this for a little extra decoration, tied with a Gorgeous Grape twine bow:

A trio of purple enamel dots complete my card. A fun design that is perfect for a young sweetie fan or one who is young at heart! I'm more of a chocolate person rather than sweets, but am partial to the odd gummi bear :-) How about you? Do leave me a comment and let me know if you have a sweet tooth! I'm also linking today's card over at Time Out Challenges where I chose pink and twine from their list for the current 'choose 2' challenge.

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; I am finally getting some time in my craft room today for the first time all week, so look forward to creating some projects to share with you in the next few days Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GORGEOUS GRAPE 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 Ann to host this week and she has a pretty colour challenge for us to work with:

I decided Ann's colours were perfect for a first-time outing for a stencil I bought a while ago but hadn't yet had the opportunity to use and decided to have another go with Kim's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week, this time paying a little more attention and being more faithful to it - take a look:

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

The stencil is called Cheerful Flowers by Kristina Werner and Concord and 9th and made short work of incorporating Ann's chosen colour palette. I stencilled a whole panel then trimmed it down to fit my cardfront, adding some solid colour banners and a layered diecut sentiment along with some Lost Lagoon enamel dots to finish:

I liked this card so much, I wanted to use some of my stencilled offcuts too so made a second card using the layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge which was just perfect to highlight a stencilled panel:

And here's my card:

For this card I added my panel to a Lost Lagoon card base, added a banner of Calypso Coral and finished with one of my favourite Stampin' Up! Words of Beauty Dies, this time using all three layers: 

 I finished with an uplifting sentiment - perfect for the challenge over at Alphabet Challenge Blog where the current theme is 'U is for Uplifting' this week. So here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer? Do let me know in the comments below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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 experimenting today with vegan baking; not something I do often, but I need to take a vegan bake to an event in a few weeks time, so thought I'd best have a dry run first - wish me luck! I've found a brownie recipe that uses sweet potatoes and almond butter, so I'm going to give it a go! I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	LOST LAGOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

Another quick post to share my second card for this week's CASE A DT Week at Just Us Girls. 

This time I decided to CASE my dear friend Elizabeth's card - take a look at what I came up with:

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

I kept with the idea of using a coverplate die with inset colour; I retained Elizabeth's colour scheme, but instead used my Sunshine & Tulips Die. Since each flower was a single colour, I used Elizabeth's rainbow of colours to create an ombre effect as the rows descended the cardfront:

A simple diecut sentiment, similar to Elizabeth's (mine is another of those Kristina Werner Big Type Greetings Dies) and a trio of gold gems complete my card.

Quite simple with no stamping required - and chock-full of colour to brighten someone's day.

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. 

That's all from me; I'll be back on Friday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SUNSHINE & TULIPS DIES (£31.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
VELLUM 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.50)

Today I'm sharing a quick card for a couple of current challenges:

The challenge over at Color Hues is to use red and pink and at Just Us Girls it's CASE A DT Week. I decided to CASE Carol McFarland's card - take a look:

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

There are a great selection of cards over at JUGs this week - I honestly could have CASE'd most of them! I decided to play with Carol's card, retaining the layout and use of glimmer paper and diecut frames, but switching up the colours and using postage dies to create my frames and adding a heart instead of a bow for my focal point:

A simple sentiment and a trio of coloured gems (that are supposed to be Pretty In Pink like my glimmer paper, but seem to have taken on a rather Barbie-esque shade on photographing!) complete my card. This card looks much better in real life - the glimmer paper looks a little flat in the photos. A fun CASE though, nevertheless!

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've been busy in my craft room today so if I get time I'll have another quick post later. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)

BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Amanda is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

I don't mind admitting, Amanda's colour palette properly threw me for a loop this week! I spent ages trying to work out how to use the combination of blue/greens. After much perusal of my stamp shelves, I decided on a retired stamp set that I don't think I've even used before (I know, shocker, right?!) Take a look:

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

'Oh Snap' is a stamp featuring this larger than life crocodile and has lots of funny sentiments with it. I wanted to make the crocodile the focal point, beut equally keep my card clean and simple, so I heat embossed the croc in white onto Pretty Peacock cardstock, and stamped him again in Pretty Peacock onto white so that I could fussy cut and paper piece his teeth (they look better than when I simply coloured them white, which I tried first). I popped him up on dimensionals and positioned his open jaws with a simple pond and unsuspecting frog in between, each stamped in the other two challenge colours (I stamped the frog first then added the water afterwards, as it was much easier to line up this way):

 My simple sentiment carried on to the inside of my card, where I added a rather nonchalant-looking bird for good measure:

Despite my initial lack of ideas, I really love how this fun card turned out and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes with this week's colour combination!

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! colour 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:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)
POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SOFT SEA FOAM STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)

Yay it's the first of February - the January blues are behind us! Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for us to work with:

Our theme this week is perfect for Valentine's Day which is just around the corner, but your card doesn't have to be for Valentine's - any card celebrating your love for someone will fit the bill. I wanted to make a fun love note with my Party Alphabet Dies - take a look:

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

The size of my card today was totally dictated by my Party Alphabet Dies, so ended up being a mini slimline. I diecut my letters from some retired heart-patterned designer series paper (you could use the Made With Love DSP as a current equivalent) and backed them with Real Red cardstock, that I trimmed to size by hand. I added these to a Bubble Bath card base and replaced the 'O' with a diecut heart (I used the retired Sweet & Sassy Framelits for mine but the current Endless Love Dies would enable you to achieve the same effect), pierced with an arrow and overlaid with a 'you' diecut from last year's Love For You Dies:

I finished my greeting on the inside with some hearts and diecuts from the same set:

A super simple notelet to tuck in someone's lunch box perhaps to let them know how you feel and brighten their day!

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 have spent a wonderful week in Marrakech soaking up some winter sun and making memories with the youngest of the James Juniors, who is back to university to today ready to begin his next module tomorrow. I did all of the holiday laundry yesterday, so whilst I have a few things in my diary this week, I am hoping to get back in my craft room and get creating too. I'll be back on Tuesday with another project for our new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

PARTY ALPHABET DIES (£93.00)

BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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

I was tempted to try and create something for Chinese New Year when I saw this recipe, but I decided I didn't really have anything that was going to work for the Year of the Horse so I went with a Valentines theme instead!  I rooted around my retired box for some old favourites and this is what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Apart from the need to feature lots of red on today's card, I was struck by the inclusion of vellum - not something I use all that often. I spent a little time perusing Pinterest for inspiration, and saw some wedding invitations where vellum was used as the base for the actual card, rather than a layer. I'd never tried this before so thought I'd give it a go. I added a slanted piece of Real Red cardstock on both the front and back at the base of the panel, and heat embossed my sentiment from the retired stamp set 'Iconic Imagery' in gold, then decided to add a pair of diecut hearts in red glimmer paper overlapping the vellum panel. I used the retired 'Friend Like You' Dies and backed the more detailed heart with an adhesive sheet before diecutting so that it would add a little extra depth:

I added a few sparkly red faceted gems for a little extra sparkle and bling, then stamped a small sentiment detail onto the inside panel of my card to finish:

My main concern using vellum for the cardbase was that it wouldn't be sturdy enough to stand up, but it turns out I needn't have worried as it stands up just fine:

This card was actually fun to make for something a little different; I think I might give it to the hubby for our wedding anniversary next month. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• 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:

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)

METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)