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 a CAS challenge for you to work with:

A one layer wonder for clean and simple week - yay! So a reminder: what do we mean by 'clean and simple' ? Create a card that has:

• Minimal layers and embellishments - this week that means ONE LAYER ONLY
• Plenty of open space, also known as 'white space'
• Is simple and uncluttered

My clean and simple cards are often one layer and for today's card I knew exactly which set I was going to use - take a look:

I have been looking forward to using the large floral image in the 'All That You Are' stamp set so decided today to stamp the image in Versamark onto thick Whisper White and heat emboss in black for added definition, then colour using my Stampin' Blends in the colours currently in scope over at SUO Challenges: Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Pool Party and the bonus colour of Mango Melody. In case you are wondering where the Pool Party features, look closely; I added a line around the outer edge of my stamped image and blended it, to give the image a little lift from the white background. And that's it - stamped, heat embossed and coloured - one layer wonder - done! 

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; we have a few things going on but I'm hoping to get a little more time in my craft room finishing off some projects that I started yesterday ready to share with you later this week. I'll be back tomorrow - until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All That You Are Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)
Lovely Lipstick Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Mango Melody Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

Today I'm sneaking in with another card that I made earlier with some leftover pieces from another project that I'm going to share with you on Tuesday - they were perfect for the current sketch over at Inspire.Create Challenge that finishes tomorrow:

This is a great card layout that would work with lots of papers and stamp sets. I had some offcuts of Animal Expedition designer series paper so used them to make a simple notecard - take a look:

I diecut my rhino and birdie pair from a piece of my leftover paper and added to a sentiment on some layered circles and my card was done!

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 my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Animal Friends Thinlits Dies (£27.00)	2-1/4" (5.7 Cm) Circle Punch (£17.00)	Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Berry Burst A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for the new challenge over at Less Is More where following my success in January over at LIM as their January winner, I have the honour of being guest designer this week.

For the challenge that runs for the next two weeks, the challenge is a recipe challenge and here is the badge:

Just Take Three - three images, three colours, three patterns. What fun! Here's my take on the theme:

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

Take Three Bunnies - I so enjoyed making this clean and simple bunny card the other day, I decided that the only thing better than one bunny would be three - perfect for the Less Is More challenge theme! At the time of writing the Bunny Builder Punch is still available to order so if the Bunny Builder Punch is on your wish list, and you haven't yet ordered, don't delay and get your order in sooner rather than later. 

Gingham Gala Trio - I also used three different colours of Gingham Gala designer series paper on my card for my punched bunny silhouettes, this time adding white punched tails to keep a cleaner feel. 

Keeping It Simple - Keeping the paper pattern design the same and leaving plenty of white space around my bunnies, adding only a small sentiment to ground them, allows me to maintain a clean and simple feel. A super simple card with only five key material ingredients - a great card for beginners with very little stamping required.

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 weekend; I am off to watch one of the James Juniors play hockey this afternoon and I'll be back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bunny Builder Punch (£17.00)

Gingham Gala 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)

You’re Inspiring Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS where they have a great code word currently:

Clouds, puppy dogs, sheep - so many possibilities! For me though there was only one thing that sums up 'fluffy' and that's a bunny's tail - take a look:

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

Get Your Bunny Builder Now Whilst You Still Can - I made this card to share with you today, before finding out late yesterday evening that the Bunny Builder Punch is in short supply and about to move to unorderable status at some point in the near future. Unlike two of the Sale-A-Bration Co-ordination items that went the same way within just a few days of ordering and with no notice - the Hop Around Framelits Dies and the Call Me Cupcake Thinlits Dies - we have at least been given a quick heads-up on this one, so if the Bunny Builder Punch is on your wish list, don't delay and get your order in now; it's unclear at this stage whether or not the punch will carry over to the new annual catalogue, so this may be your last chance to snap up this useful little tool, especially with Easter around the corner. 

Gingham Gala - Rather than stamp a bunny, I decided to punch a bunny silhouette out of the Gingham Gala designer series paper. In fresh colours, these papers are perfect for Easter and spring. For me 'fluffy' makes me think of bunny tails, but a punched paper one just wouldn't do - I removed a white pompom from some retired trim and added in to my bunny's bottom - adorable!

Keeping It Simple - A single colour, simple frame and bunny silhouette rather than stamped image keep my card design simple, clean and uncluttered. 

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:

Bunny Builder Punch (£17.00)	Gingham Gala 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	You’re Inspiring Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

I've had two days of back-to-back classes so things have been fairly busy here!  A quick post from me today to share the card that I mentioned in my Paper Players post on Sunday. Our theme this week is 'colours of the rainbow' so I couldn't resist creating one with the cupcake die in the Detailed Birthday Edgelit Die set too - take a look:

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

A Rainbow Of Cupcakes - Just like Sunday's card - you can see it here if you missed it - I wanted to utilise all of the colours of the rainbow on my card. I played around with the edgelits on this card too in order to accommodate this, cutting two sets of three cupcakes from one piece of Whisper White cardstock to give me a total of six cupcakes. I used my seventh and final rainbow colour, violet, or in this case Highland Heather, as the background for my card and to highlight the detail on the cupcake cases.

 A Little Paper Piecing - The pieces for the cupcake details are larger and easier to manipulate than for the presents die, so on today's card I used the edgelits to cut a set of cupcakes in each colour and used the pieces from the frosting to inlay them into my white die surround.

Go Long - As a result of using two diecuts joined at the centre, my cardfront is long and narrow as opposed to the standard A6 size that I usually make. This is a nice way to ring the changes with a card and with my BoxBuster tool and trusty Envelope Punch Board on hand to make a custom envelope, need not be an issue when it comes to needing to mail it.

There's very little stamping on today's card - just a heat-embossed sentiment on the front and a greeting with cupcake decoration inside:

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'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Birthday Cheer Cling Bundle (£42.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Brights A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)

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Happy Monday everyone! Today is the start of my class week, so it will b a busy one Chez James! Today's card is one I made that uses the current sketch layout over at Just Add Ink and the colour palette at Color Throwdown:

I thought these colours would be perfect for a birthday card featuring one of the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lovely Lattice - There is lots you can do with this stamped image - many ways to colour it, and lots of options to cut it out and build layers and dimension with the flowers too - but I like it because the main image is one of those that can fill the card and there isn't much else required. I heat embossed my image in white onto Crumb Cake cardstock which really does show the detail of the lattice behind the flowers beautifully. For a free stamp set, this one really is rather pretty - and still available if you'd like to get your hands on it with a spend of £45 or more. Who doesn't love FREE product?!

Colour on Kraft - I decided to colour the image using my watercolour pencils, but dry with no added water for blending, as I wanted to see the pencil strokes; I used a combination of Gorgeous Grape, white and Basic Grey pencils, with a tiny spot of Crushed Curry for the flower stamens. 

Birthday Wishes - The 'Lovely Lattice' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I reached for one of my favourites from the current Spring-Summer catalogue that you haven't seen me use much here on my blog but rest assured they will be a keeper for me, regardless of whether or not they carry over to this year's new annual catalogue: the Well Said bundle. The' Well Said' stamp set combined with the Well Written Framelits dies really are the perfect pair and allow you to create endless sentiment combinations. I added a piece of Gorgeous Grape mini striped ribbon behind my layered sentiment and a sprinkling of pearls to 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 Lattice Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Well Said Cling Bundle (£71.00)	Gorgeous Grape 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Mini Striped Ribbon (£7.50)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pearl Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)

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

Colours of the rainbow - I love it! I decided a rainbow collection of birthday presents were the order of the day - take a look:

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

I Can Sing A Rainbow - However you remember it (my personal favourite mnemonic is 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain'), the perfect rainbow has seven colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet and I was determined to feature them all on my card! In addition to using cardstock in each of the rainbow colours to back my presents die (a great way to use up your scraps), I also created a background consisting of a vertical strip of each to tie in with the rainbow theme.  

Seven Present Solution - The focal point of my card is definitely the rainbow presents, courtesy of the fabulous Detailed Birthday Edgelit Dies. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the actual die has only five presents, not seven. To create my row of seven gifts, I placed the die and white cardstock in my Bigshot and rolled through once, without going to the very end of the die, then moved the die along and rolled it again, to create a longer length of presents that I then trimmed to fit. Job done!

Birthday Cheer Inside and Out - There's very little stamping on this card - just a greeting on the front and a little more on the inside, courtesy of the co-ordinating 'Birthday Cheer' stamp set:

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. 

I just love this set and card - the fun colours make it suitable for any person,  boy or girl, young or old - and this will definitely be a staple in my card box. Well, this one and the one that I will feature in another post later this week with a similar rainbow theme!

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; ours was a busy one yesterday at the swimming pool so I'm hoping today will be a little more relaxing. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Birthday Cheer Cling Bundle (£42.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Brights A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Good morning lovely readers! An apology is in order for the lack of blog posts this week. I have been fairly tired following another successful Creative Escapes Weekend Craft Retreat last weekend and whilst I've spent my days catching up on household chores and preparing for next week's card classes, when it comes to the evenings I've been good for nothing; I've fallen asleep in the chair for three nights in a row way before bedtime, much to the amusement of the James Juniors! So today I thought I would make time to blog early so that you didn't miss out!

I'm sharing a card for a couple of challenges this week: The team over at Global Design Project are all about the candy and the folks at Stamps Ink Paper are asking for cards featuring gingham, plaid or stripes:

Not only does my card feature lots of sweet treats and some fetching candy pink stripes, it's a shaker too - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

How Sweet It Is -  If you have a sweet tooth, the 'How Sweet It Is' Suite is for you! Bright and fun, with bold patterns of sweets and traditional sweet jars, it's great for cards and packaging alike. The papers, which feature bold stripes and spots in addition to candy-inspired patterns, really are good enough to eat. I used a pink stripe for the front of my shaker and a sweetie print for the inside at the back of my window, I also used the Jar of Sweets Framelits to cut out one of the sweet jars directly from the designer series paper to decorate the front of my card - I love it when dies and paper co-ordinate like this!

Jar Of Sweets - I used another of the Jar of Sweets Framelits to cut out the aperture for the window of my shaker, stamping the same image onto Whisper White and fussy cutting the jar lid to adhere to the top of my window section. I filled my shaker with a selection of sequins and some diecut sweets in bright, co-ordinating colours; you can see from the extras that I added to the front of my card these dies emboss a pattern onto the diecut sweet shape too which adds an interesting textural detail. There's very little stamping on today's card, save the sentiment and jar lid. A little extra stamping on the inside of my card courtesy of the 'Sweetest Thing' stamp set too:

Sweeter Than Candy - The 'How Suite It Is' Suite also includes some fun treat cups, that are perfect for dressing up to contain some sweet treats for your loved ones. I managed to snag these shots with my phone of some of the decorated sweet cups that filled with a selection of jelly beans and gummy bear for the lucky ladies on my retreat as one of their little gifts - I do love to spoil the whilst they are with me! 

I covered the cups with designer series paper and stamped a simple label for each of them decorated with a sweet jar cut from the DSP, and tied the tags to the cups with some of the very yummy Coastal Cabana/Granny Apple Green 3/8" reversible ribbon:

So cute and easy to decorate and I know from the feedback that my ladies loved them!

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:

How Sweet It Is 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Sweetest Thing Photopolymer Bundle (£43.00)	Jar Of Sweets Framelits Dies (£28.00)	How Sweet It Is A4 Cardstock Pack (£8.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)
Foam Adhesive Strips (£7.25)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Sweet Cups (£8.00)	Coastal Cabana/Granny Apple Green 3/8" (1 Cm) Reversible Ribbon (£6.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

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

I was in part inspired by yet another fabulous badge created by the lovely Nance for us this week to create a pretty Spring day background for my Easter bunny - take a look:

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

Best Bunny - The Best Bunny stamp set is super cute and just perfect for my Easter bunny. I stamped my bunny onto Soft Suede cardstock and paper-pieced his features then layered him on some ovals. I also used the carrot decoration to add a little detail to the inside:

Spring Is in The Air - I created my spring background with a touch of brayering using a sponge brayer and Balmy Blue ink. Then I stamped some grass and added a couple of tiny butterflies from the 'Enjoy Life' stamp set. My zingy Lemon-Lime Twist Gingham Gala paper and orange accents add a fresh vibrancy to this fun Easter card.

Easter Wishes From More Than Words - My larger-than-life sentiment comes from the new 'More Than Words' stamp set that is available exclusively during March as part of the Sale-A-Bration co-ordination product launch. A great set with lost of sentiments, that also compliments greetings in a number of first stage Sale-A-Bration release stamp sets.

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 am on day 2 of my weekend Creative Escapes Craft Retreat so mine will be a busy one. Day one was a lot of fun so I'm expecting day 2 to be much the same! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Best Bunny Photopolymer Bundle (£28.75)	Gingham Gala 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	More Than Words Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Sponge Brayers (£7.50)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Be Mine Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Inspire.Create Challenges where they have a beautiful Spring colour palette this week:

With the unseasonably warm weather we have been having here in the UK this past week or so, I am definitely feeling like Spring is around the corner. The flowers in the garden are waiting to burst into bloom so I just had to use these fresh colours for another dry embossed card using one of my current favourites from the second Sale-A-Bration release that went live on 15th February, the new Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder: 

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

Country Floral - I couldn't resist the opportunity to create another card using the new Country Floral dynamic embossing folder. This time I tried something else new that is the reverse of this card that I shared with you the other day - I embossed a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then used my Blends markers in the challenge colours to colour the individual flowers. A little quicker than my previous card and a great way to include all of these lovely spring colours. 

A Perennial Birthday - I used a sentiment from the Perennial Birthday set in the annual catalogue on my card - the script compliments the embossing folder I think. I stamped mine using Pool Party ink on Whisper White and punched it out using the Everyday Label Punch and trimmed it slightly so that it could be matted with a Daffodil Delight base. 

Sale-A-Bration New Releases - My card today does use some of the Sale-A-Bration organdy ribbon that sold out some weeks ago. I don't like to tempt you with something you can no longer get your hands on, but it was the perfect finishing touch for my card. There is good news though - as of March 1st there are even more FREE product choices for the remainder of Sale-A-Bration (you can read all about them in my earlier post here if you missed it) so there is lots more to choose from!

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 busy hosting my first residential crafting retreat of the year this weekend so I have a whole day of crafting fun ahead with some fabulous ladies. I will have more to share with you about it later this week, but in the meantime, if this is the kind of thing that appeals to you, why not check out the details for my next one in October here. It's open for booking and I would love to welcome you!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with this week's project for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£0.00)	Everyday Label Punch (£17.00)	Perennial Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)