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 colour challenge for us to work with:

When I had my Charming Landscapes embossing folder out on my desk when I made this card a few weeks ago, I wondered if there was the opportunity to turn these little houses into gingerbread houses and create a different look with this embossing folder. The Christmas in July challenge over at Just Add Ink and Stef's colour palette gave me the perfect colour combination to do so - take a look:

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

The first thing I did was to emboss the panel in white, then mask off the foreground, houses and trees and using my blending brushes, I inked in the sky using a combination of Coastal Cabana and (retired) Bermuda Bay inks. I then embossed the deign onto both Crumb Cake and Real Red cardstocks, and fussy cut the houses and roofs, before piecing the together and gluing them in pace. I added a peppermint embellishment to the door of one of the houses in place of a wreath, coloured in the snowflakes with a white gel pen and added some white glossy enamel dots for a little extra snowy detail:

I wasn't sure what to do about a sentiment, but in the end I added one from a 'go to' retired set called 'Brightest Glow', adding some Real Red ribbon behind and tying with some peppermint-striped twine for a final festive flourish. This card did require a little effort over and above a simple embossed card front, but it was nice to use this embossing folder in a different way. And I've another Christmas card for my stash!

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; today is officially the start of the James Junior's birthday week; since his actual birthday falls midweek, today we are having family for lunch so birthday cake is the order of the day! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	REAL RED & WHITE ADHESIVE-BACKED PEPPERMINTS (£8.00)
BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)

Today I'm the Guest Designer for the new challenge over at CAS on Friday following my recent win with this card. The theme for the challenge this time around is 'Get Well' - take a look at the card that I created:

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

I decided to feature one of the large sentiment dies from the retired 'Wanted to Say' Dies as it is perfect for getting the message across and makes a great focal point for a clean and simple card. I cut the sentiment from Pretty Peacock and adhered two stacked diecuts together onto a thick white card base, then added a collection of punched flowers in Pool Party and Flirty Flamingo, with Pretty Peacock enamel dot centres:

Super simple and pretty - and no stamping too!

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 (£16.00)

PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.90)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.90)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£11.90)

ARRAY OF DOTS (£8.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches Suzy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a sketch challenge consisting of a panel with a slightly overlapping sentiment: 

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

For my card today I couldn't wait to use the new colour combo over at Color Hues along with some other new products for a clean and simple masculine birthday card - take a look:

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

I recently won a Uniko gift voucher in the challenge over at Time Out and I used it towards some new stencils and I thought I'd give one of them a try on my card today. I used the MOD Background Builder Stencil, masking off the cross section to give me a broadly rectangular shape, and stencilled it onto my card using one of my favourite teals, (retired) Bermuda Bay. I then added a stamped and diecut sentiment using my Big Day Birthday Dies from Kristina Werner and Concord & 9th, popping the diecut piece up on dimensionals:

A sprinkle of shimmery Night of Navy enamel dots to accent the stencilled pattern and the sentiment complete my clean and simple masculine birthday card. Super simple, but effective - just the way I like a CAS card to be! 

Enjoy your day; I've already done my session at the gym today and I have some desk-based bits and pieces to deal with today and will hopefully manage to squeeze in a little crafty time too - it's still to hot here for a lot else! All being well I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

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

Cards for little ones - babies and young children. I don't have many of those in my family these days, but this week's challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to make another card with my SilIy Old Bear suite, so we're all good! It's CASE A DT Week over at Just Us Girls and having checked out the Design Team cards, I decided I would CASE Carol's card for my card today. First up - take a look at my card:

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

Here's a picture of Carol's card that I decided to CASE: 

Like Carol's, my card is for a child and uses vintage papers, however mine features the beloved Winnie the Pooh and Piglet on a winter walk and features the Silly Old Bear Papers and the Sweet Words & Labels bundle. I switched my card to landscape, but used the same layout as Carol's card, with similar layering and sentiment position. I accented my aperture with some diecut acorns that are included in the set:

I think the sentiment on this card is one of my favourites in the set - what better than a message of unconditional love?

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'!

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

Summer days - for me that means sunshine, vacations, pools and the beach! I took my inspiration from Kim's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and used it to bring together the perfect collection of items for fun in the sun - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

I used my (retired) Soft Waves 3D embossing folder on Balmy Blue cardstock for my background, then added a collection of items - a rubber ring, flip flops, a drinks beaker, sun visor and sunglasses - from the Splash & Relax bundle to represent the circles. Since I didn't choose an identical object/image to represent the circles, I decided to colour them all in yellow and white to still give the collection of items a homogenous feel. I added a stamped sentiment from the set, then decided to snip it into two pieces and eventually I replace the 'hello' with this swirly diecut using hte retired Hello You Thinlits as I wanted something larger:

 Once again I customised my flip flops with some cute flowers - and that completes my card for today! So what do summer days mean to you? Link your card up to the gallery and share your inspiration.

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

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

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SPLASH & RELAX BUNDLE (£42.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

Today I have an extra post with a card I was intending to share yesterday but the day just ran away with me! It was inspired by a number of current challenges:

I used the layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge along with the stencil and/or die challenge at Just Add Ink (I used both) and it's Anything Goes Stencil Week over at Just Us Girls. I recently added another new stencil set to my collection - the Big Birthday Stencils by Kristina Werner at Concord & 9th - and treated myself to the co-ordinating stamp and die set bundle too and this was the perfect opportunity to take it out for its first test run. Here's my card:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

The first thing I did was stencil a panel using my chosen colours: Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Summer Splash (ret.), Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime twist and Parakeet Party (ret.) My colour scheme was inspired by a pack of retired sparkly enamel dots that I had in my box and I thought these colours would work well for a bright, masculine card; this one is headed to my brother-in-law whose birthday it is this week. I stayed faithful to the sketch and used my Perennial Postage Dies to diecut the shapes for the four quarters, then trimmed my stencilled panel accordingly. I made this card larger than usual - its finished size is A5) as I wanted to leave the stencilled panels as large as possible so that you could still make out the detail. 

I added a stamped and diecut sentiment and a few sparkly enamel dots in coordinating colours to complete my card:

As with all of the KW stencils, this one is huge, so I had a couple of decent leftover pieces that I will undoubtedly use on other projects at some point. Here's one so that you can see more of the uninterrupted stencil detail:

I was concerned that the detail of the stencil might not be visible once cut down, but I'm pleased that you can still make out balloons, bunting gifts and birthday cakes - all essential elements for a good birthday celebration! 

I really like these stencils and the co-ordinating bundle and I can't wait to try this again in different colourways too.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)
HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

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

I love things in threes so this sketch is right up my street! I also knew immediately what I was going to do with it - take a look:

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

The 'Capturing Smiles' Online Exclusives stamp and die set bundle has a little film strip with three images that worked perfectly for the sketch so that's what I used. I coloured the snapshots and glued them behind the film reel, then added a sentiment and a little camera accent:

I continued the design to the inside of my card, with a partial image of the larger camera and the last piece of my sentiment, tucked in the bottom corner:

Although it's not clean and simple week, this sketch definitely lends itself to clean and simple cards. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I used this sketch for the layout of my beachy CAS card last week too. Thank you Christy for a great sketch. :-)

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: 

CAPTURING SMILES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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

There are lots of ways you can use these colours, although I did go with the rather predictable floral option! I'm also playing along over at CAS On Friday where they have a 'dies and stamped words only' challenge. For my card today I chose an old favourite - the Dainty Delight bundle:

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

I love the pretty arc of dainty flowers that the dies in this set creates and the subtle embossed detail on the leaves and flower centres add a subtle detail that is perfect for a clean and simple card. Since I also had the bundled stamp set of the same name out on the desk, I added a thank you greeting to complete my card:

Super simple today - doing my best to keep things CAS! What will you create with this week's colours?

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

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

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! 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; I have a day of at home today catching up on my to-do list. 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)

BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)

PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£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 LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun Clean And Simple challenge for us to work with:

Going to the beach - how fun! Given that the beach is all about sand and sea, I knew today's card was going to have to feature both. How to keep this clean and simple though? I decided that a three square layout was the answer. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Using a Crumb Cake base, I layered on some Azure Afternoon waves and white sea foam using the Rolling Waves Dies, then used a square Stylish Shapes Dies to diecut three squares from it, just to add interest to the layout and design. A simple sentiment from 'Splash & Relax' anchored by a pair of pink dotty flip flops complete my clean and simple card:

Lots of 'white' space and minimal layers and embellishments - clean and simple, done! I'm also linking today's card up over at Time Out where the current challenge theme is 'water'.

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 going to enjoy a BBQ lunch and I'm hoping to fit in a little baking too, but otherwise taking things easy. I'll be back shortly with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ROLLING WAVES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	SPLASH & RELAX BUNDLE (£42.25)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

It's Sunday and I have a second post for you as I'm delighted to be guesting over at AAA Cards following my recent win there with this card. Their new challenge is a colour challenge featuring four bright colours that really appeal to me:

This colour palette screams summer and has a real tropical vibe, don't you think? I decided the colours would be perfect to use a new die that my dear friend Elizabeth gifted me when I visited her recently - take a look:

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

This rather comical flamingo is cut using a Tim Holtz flamingo die and was perfect for the two shades of pink, along with a yellow beak. I was considering how best to include the orange too; I considered some ink blending or maybe sun rays behind, but decided I wanted to keep my background super clean and simple, so opted to add a tiny orange punched flower with an enamel dot centre to my flamingo - now she is truly ready to party!

A simple 'hello' sentiment from my stash completes my card which is sure to brighten someone's day!

What will you create with these colours? So many possibilities - just remember to keep it clean and simple!

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