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)

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

A slimline card design with four shapes and a sentiment. As you know, I love a good sketch and I must say this one took on a life of its own! I have been really enjoying using my Lovely Arrangements suite of products and new that the flowers in the set would be perfect for those four focal points. I set to work and a considerable time later, I came up with this:

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

Lovely Arrangements - I  wanted the florals to be the centrepiece of each focal point, so echoing the colours in the panel of Lovely blossoms DSP I used for the background, I inked them in Cloud Cover then added some Secret Sea to the stamens with a sponge dauber before stamping. I backed each flower with a couple of diecut layered circles, having first run the top one through the dicutting machine with the background die to allow some of the colour behind to show through. I then added in some diecut leaves from the set, along with some additional ones cut using the Friendly Foliage Dies to add interest to the clusters:

There's a lot going on in each of these clusters, but I really like the full effect.

A Border To Die For? - Continuing in my exploration of different ways in which to use the rectangle-of-circles die in the Lovely Arrangements set, I cut several and used them to create an additional layered panel behind my DSP - did you spot it? It looks like a large scallop border - another great way to use this super-versatile die.

Words Of Beauty -  There's so much going on with this card, I thought it needed a big, bold sentiment - cue those Words of Beauty Dies, i just love them! This was the perfect sentiment for a special card to send to a friend who has been struggling recently and because of health issues, has needed to spend a lot of time isolating. I hope this will go some way to brightening her 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 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 have been enjoying the company of the youngest of the James Juniors this weekend, as he has been at home since he has a module break at university this week so decided to come home. We are not allowing ourselves to be consumed by the inevitable January blues though, and have booked a last-minute mini-break in search of some winter sunshine - so tomorrow we are off to Morocco! We feel a little guilty at leaving the hubby holding the fort since he can't join us due to work commitments (but not so guilty that we aren't going to go!!) I'll be back here on Friday with another project for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LOVELY ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)	LOVELY BLOSSOMS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	FRIENDLY FOLIAGE DIES (£23.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (£33.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	CLOUD COVER A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SECRET SEA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	IRIDESCENT PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£7.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Nancy has asked that we add some corner detail along with a focal point and overlapping sentiment. 

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I've made another card using the Lovely Arrangements bundle - take a look:

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

I decided that I wanted to create a monochrome card and needed a bold, bright colour to really shine against all of the white, so when I saw the new colour combination over at Color Hues (thank you ladies for the shout out you gave my card for the previous red & grey challenge) it had to be Azure Afternoon. I'm also linking up over at Inkspirational where they too are looking for 'shades of blue'. I stamped and layered my flower and whilst initially I considered simply scoring in those diagonal lines (a signature feature of the lovely Nancy's cards), I was somewhat inspired by the tiled effect of the Inkspirational photo prompt and instead decided to use the rectangular die in the Lovely Arrangements die set, set at an angle to create them and trimmed away the excess. This is an interesting way to use this die but I think it works. It's tricky to see the detail on the main photo, but you can see it more clearly below:

A simple sentiment, also in blue, along with a couple of enamel dots, complete my card. This is one of those cards that is actually quite easy to make but the monochromatic colour scheme packs a real punch. 

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 soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOVELY ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (£8.50)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm starting the week with a card using Judy's current layout over at Freshly Made Sketches:

This is one of those classic layouts that is super-versatile and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to do with it. Yes, I was itching to chop up more of those Lovely Blossoms papers - take a look at what I came up with:

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

There are two interesting things about today's card that I wanted to share with you: the first concerns my floral focal image. This is one of the printed panels that is perfect for a standalone cardfront, but the shape of the blue on the white also meant it would be a good focal point for Judy's sketch. I set to work with my paper snips, but I felt that the image was a little flat and really needed a frame. I don't have any dies that are that exact shape and size, so I had to get creative! I actually managed to create a thin frame using the Everyday Arches dies, partially diecutting and inverting to create this rounded shape. I made it slightly smaller than the printed shape, so that I could fussy cut into the leaves and allow them to overhang the frame and I'm really pleased with the effect:

The second thing concerns the background: did you notice that my background panel and my horizontal panel, whilst different colours, share the same pattern? Both patterns feature in the Lovely Blossoms pack and in aligning the patterns it allows the band to stand out yet also homogenise with the background - a fortunate serendipity! 

A fussy cut overlaid sentiment and trio of white enamel dots complete my 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOVELY BLOSSOMS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

LOVELY ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

MOODY PALETTE GLOSSY DOTS (£7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

EVERYDAY ARCHES DIES (£27.00)