Another Monday, another week - welcome lovely readers! I enjoyed a lovely day yesterday, with a family lunch, a long cycle ride, more planting of seedlings for the garden and yet more Easter chocolate (we are slowly getting through it!) Today's card is for this week's challenge over at Casology where the cue word is 'washi':

I was thrilled to have my weather cards last week chosen as Honourable Mentions (you can see those cards here and here) and couldn't resist playing along again this week as I try to hone my 'clean and simple' design skills. I'm also entering today's card into this week's challenge over at Simply Less Is More where this week's challenge is to use 'white space that isn't white'. Let me show you my card and then I'll explain a little more what that means:

The key features of today's project are as follows:

Washi Feather - I have lots of washi tape (I don't hoard it quite as badly as designer series paper, but close!) and rarely use it; I consulted with my 'Things to do with Washi Tape' Pinterest board where I have saved lots of ideas and thought it was about time I tried something a little different, so settled on creating the feather you see on today's card. I used some retired tape as I liked the subtle pattern on this one, but you could use any current tape for a similar effect. It's really easy to do: you just tape both sides of a piece of baker's twine or strand of jute ribbon as I did here, then use your paper snips to shape your feather. 

White Space That Isn't White - The creation of 'white space', that is an area of your card with no image, layer, pattern or embellishment, is one of the things that designers often find tricky with this kind of card. 'White space' doesn't refer to the colour of the base layer, although often a white base is used - rather it refers to leaving an large proportion of the card blank. I chose to use Pool Party as my colour of choice today and with the exception of my feather, trio of white Perfect Accents, sentiment and thin border frame, there is nothing else on my card front, meeting the 'white space' clean and simple brief.

Make A Statement - My clean and simple card needed a clean yet bold sentiment. My feather started me thinking about Red Indians (don't ask!) and Indian braves. I remembered this sentiment in the 'Enjoy The Little Things' stamp set; whilst designed to go with the kit of the same name, it stands alone and works well with my lone feather. I stamped it in Versamark and heat embossed in white I think this would be a great card to send to someone battling an illness or difficult circumstance, where a little encouragement is needed.

Here's the visual summary of the key supplies used to make this card for you to save for future 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. 

This is the second full week of the Easter holidays for the James juniors. I'm not sure what our week will have in store, but you can be sure it will include more fun activities that don't include school work!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Enjoy The Little Things Photopolymer Stamp Set	White Perfect Accents	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the talented Laurie to host our challenge this week and she has a theme for you to play along with:

This card was easier for me than I thought it would be. I have only one stamp set that has a western theme, so it was that or punch art! And in spite of that I ended up making two cards! I apologise now to my UK readers - both of today's cards feature the Stampin' Up! stamp set 'Yee Haw', a photopolymer set that has only ever been available in the USA (although I'm pretty sure it's no longer available there now either). I am fortunate enough to own this set, courtesy of my fellow Paper Player LeAnne (thank you again LeAnne!) - as soon as I saw it I just knew I would have to have it!

My first card this week though would be easy to replicate without this stamp set. I was inspired by a birthday cake I saw on Pinterest to create a card that is reminiscent of the most famous of modern cowboys - the loveable Woody from Disney's Toy story:

I've used a couple of 'vintage' items from my craft stash to create today's card: some Poppy Parade cardstock (it was the right shade of red!) and some Adventure Bound DSP for his jeans but otherwise everything else is current. You could substitute these with Real Red and Island Indigo cardstock if you didn't have them available. When I make this kind of card, I often get asked questions about the detail - so here are my top 3 pointers if you want to create something similar:

Necktie - Woody's necktie is a simple triangle, onto which I stamped the cross from the 'Friends and Flowers' stamp set in white repeatedly, then added extra detail with a white gel pen and my black Stampin' Write marker. 

Waistcoat - I created my waistcoat using one of the cloud patterns in the 'Balloon Celebration' set (the one on the second row from the bottom below). It makes a perfect cow print! I twisted some white and black baker's twine to create the edging to my waistcoat.

Balloon Celebration by Stampin' Up!

Sherriff badge - I stamped the sherriff badge from the 'Yee Haw' stamp set in Versamark onto gold foil and heat embossed it in gold before fussy cutting and adhering to my card.

I also decorated the inside of my card with other images from this set:

I just love this card - even without a face Woody's clothes are so iconic I think it's easy to tell it's him. I'm tempted to make a co-ordinating pair that looks like Buzz Lightyear - perhaps I'll save that one until we have a cosmic theme!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on this 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 also made a second card using the 'Yee Haw' stamp set, this time using the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the colours over at The Global Design Project that were perfect for a second cowboy card:

Here is the card I made:

A simple starry stamped background, a piece of embossed woodgrain, a lassooed sentiment and a bright orange cowboy hat with a paper-pieced band! I used a slightly different decoration for the inside of this card so thought I'd share that too:

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

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. We are off to basketball today but no hockey this week so a slightly more relaxed Sunday than usual.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

For the Toy Story Woody card: 

Balloon Celebration Photopolymer Stamp Set	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Gold Foil Sheets
Silver Basic Metal Buttons	Large Oval Punch	Punch Corner Project Life	Basic Black Baker's Twine	Whisper White Baker's Twine
Friends & Flowers Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad	White Signo Uni-Ball Gel Pen	Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Island Indigo A4 Cardstock

Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot

I've had a busy day today hence my late post - more time crafting and less time blogging, I'm afraid! Anyway, I just thought I would write a quick post to share a 'something old, something new' card that I made today using this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

My 'something new' is the 'Picture Perfect' stamp set that I had out on my desk preparing for May's technique class when we will be using that set. For today's card I paired it with some retired DSP from my hoard:

The details for today's card are as follows:

Something Old - This retired High Tide Designer Series Paper has lots of nautical and sealife patterns and I remembered this one featuring a coral starfish. The panels on this sketch lend themselves to co-ordinating DSP and I knew this card would give me the perfect opportunity to use up some of my old papers.

Something New - The starfish is the only image in the 'Picture Perfect' stamp set I've yet to use, so that was naturally my image of choice today. I stamped my starfish first in Blushing Bride, then overlaid the second image in Calypso Coral to tie it in with the coral starfish on my chosen DSP. I then cropped my image using my Circles Framelits.

Something Blue - Whilst I didn't borrow anything to make today's card, in keeping with the saying there is most definitely 'something blue': I used Pacific Point cardstock to give me a bright and solid base for my background to bring together my sentiment and patterned papers and ensure my card remained cohesive. 

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

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

Happy Friday everyone and April Fools Day! Sale-A-Bration is over for another year and the end of the week is here - although this week has been much more laid back than usual; I do love school holidays! Today I have a fun card for this week's challenge over at Less is More, where the theme is to include polka dots on your card. I immediately thought about my Zoo Babies stamps, as a number of these animals have polka dots in their patterns. Here is my card:

I wanted to make a fun birthday card rather than a baby congratulations card this week - so tied a polka dot balloon to him! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Seeing Spots - If you look closely, the horns of my cute rhino have a polka dot pattern. The giraffe in this set is much more spotty, but I could resist the rhino :-) To ensure that polka dots were a clear feature of my card, I used some stripped jute ribbon to tie a balloon punched from Real Red Brights Designer Series Paper and punched with my balloon punch to the back of my party animal.

Party Animal - No party is complete without a party hat, right? My rhino is sporting one that he borrowed from the dinosaurs in the 'No Bones About It' stamp set. The 'happy birthday' sentiment on the front of my card is from the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set and is paired on the inside of my card with another great sentiment from this set 'Party Animal' - my rhino totally knows how to celebrate!

Tip Top Colour Combo - I chose Tip Top Taupe for my rhino today - warmer than grey yet still a true colour for this fun fella. I paired it with Bermuda Bay and Real Red for a pop of colour on my CAS card - here's my colour combo for you to save to use too:

I hope you like it - this is one of those cards that make me smile and I've been desperate to share all week!

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'm also linking my card up today with the team over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is 'cute critters'. My rhino may not be warm and fluffy, but I think you'd have to agree he is definitely cute!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Zoo Babies Clear-Mount Stamp Set	No Bones About It Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Bouquet Punch	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

Ok - so I'll be honest upfront: I'm not a fan of Delightful Dijon! Actually, I'm sure I've declared this to my regular readers before and I can honestly say I've only used it once on a card where I really loved the output (funnily enough a previous CCMC colour challenge - you can see that card here). I have therefore mixed feelings about today's card - and it's really the presence of the mustard that's the reason! So, here is today's creation:

The details for today's card are as follows:

Helping Me Grow - This is a stamp set you haven't seen me use before and there is good reason for that - I don't own it! I actually bought it as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law, borrowed it back for an idea I had that I then didn't get to try out a few weeks ago but knew it would be just perfect for today's card. The large, over-size blooms in this set are perfect for a centre-piece of their very own; I stamped them in Lost Lagoon and used my Aquapainter to colour them in with the same colour for a soft, washed look. So thank you Kathy! 

Timeless Elegance - If you look really closely, you will see that there is a subtle pattern to the paper I used for my main stamped image. The Timeless Elegance designer series paper has Sahara Sand as one of its feature colours; it adds interest to my floral panel without overwhelming the stamped image and fits with the challenge colours.

The Perfect Label - The sentiment on my card is also from the 'Helping Me Grow' stamp set. There are some great sentiment combinations that can be made with this set; there are also a number of nice corner or border treatments, including the one I used on this card. What's more, the sentiment border is the perfect fit for the framelit in the Rose Garden Thinlits Dies set - bonus! 

So that's my card - not-so-Delightful Dijon and all!

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: not only a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals - today it's only 2 days until the end of Sale-A-Bration!

If you missed it or need a reminder, you can get the full low-down on Sale-A-Bration here; I've had lots of lovely ladies join my team during Sale-A-Bration and I've always room for more, so if you're undecided about whether or not Stampin' Up! is for you, give me a call - this is the best time to give it a try. 

It's also your last opportunity to benefit from extra Stampin' Rewards for orders over £200 and a free gift with every £45 spend; I will be placing my final order tomorrow at 6pm, so if you live local to me and would like to save postage, then call me or email me with the details. That is also when I will be ordering anything from this week's Weekly Deals.

If you want to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration or any of the weekly deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the new Hostess Code for April UD3KDWM4 if your order is under £150 and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

2014-2016 In Color Designer Washi Tape

Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack

Metallic Foil Doilies

Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

You can see today's creative project here; until tomorrow, happy shopping!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I've already posted today's weekly deals here; don't forget you also have only 48 hours to still take advantage of this year's Sale-A-Bration offers too. Today I have a fun card using this week's sketch over at the As You See It Challenge:

The challenge brief doesn't restrict us to feathers; anything can be used as long as the card front can fit five of them! I decided that peas in a pod were the way to go for a fun baby card - take a look:

Cute, right? Here's the low-down on today's card:

Friends and Flowers - My peas in a pod are one of the stamps in the 'Friends and Flowers' stamp set. This is a versatile set that includes a variety of stamps that co-ordinate with the Festive Flower Builder punch; I've used the stamp set on its own for today's card. I decided to watercolour my peas, which also made it easier for me to obscure the baby faces on all but one of my pea pods to make one stand out.

Sweet Sentiment - This fun sentiment is from my favourite sentiment set of the moment, 'Suite Sayings' and just perfect for a baby card, especially one with a pea peeking out of a pod.

A Touch of Pink - I finished my card with a sprinkle of pink sequins and some glittery pink enamel dots from the Love Blossoms embellishment kit. This kit is worth it for the enamel dots alone!

Here's the visual summary of the key supplies used to make today's card for you to save for future reference:

I will be back with another card tomorrow for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Friends & Flowers Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Love Blossoms Embellishment Kit	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock
Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Hexagon Punch

It's Tuesday and whatever the weather outside, today I have a colourful card for you! As promised yesterday, it's another one using this week's inspiration photo over at Just Add Ink, paired this time with the sketch challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches:

Having fathomed out my punch art umbrella for yesterday's card (if you missed it you can see that card here) I had originally contemplated a quintet of umbrellas for today's card. Needless to say, it ended up looking a rather jumbled mess, not at all the vision of CAS beauty I had in mind, so I went back to basics and instead created this altogether simpler card:

A white birthday card that really allows those umbrella colours to pop - read on for the low-down on today's card:

Whiter than white - Whilst I did promise colour today, it's the large expanses of white that preserve the clean lines of today's card. Stampin' Up!'s extra thick white cardstock is perfect for card bases and the white-on-white layering here creates a modern, almost graphic feel. Splitting the top layer and popping it up on dimensionals creates a great recess to highlight the feature colours too.

Blocks of colour - I used the colours of the inspiration photo to create bold blocks of colour and interpreted the sketch quite literally to support my clean design. I simply cut 5 pieces of cardstock of equal height and positioned them next to each other down the front of my card, cutting them slightly wider than my recess so that their edges were concealed. 

Multi-coloured sentiment - When choosing my sentiment, I remembered this stamp from the 'Amazing Birthday' stamp set. I coloured the horizontal lines of the sentiment with my Stampin' Write Markers to echo the pattern of my recessed blocks of colour then 'huffed' on my stamp to moisten it before stamping. The slightly wonky 'happy's' of the sentiment add a fun touch of whimsy to my otherwise perfectly aligned, sharp design.

Here is the visual summary of the key supplies used on today's card for you to pin for easy future reference:

I hope you like today's clean and simple unisex birthday card - it really is so easy to re-create, would work in lots of colourways and requires next to no supplies! A great way to use up lots of scraps of cardstock left over from other projects too.

I am doubly happy that I managed to make it to link up with the lovely ladies over at CAS Colours and Sketches this week; these ladies are a lovely bunch with great talent and for this last month they have also been featuring one of my Stampin' Up! team, the lovely Gail Townsend from Gail's Place as their Guest Designer. You can see Gail's card here and those of the rest of the Design Team on the main CAS Colours and Sketches challenge page. Do pop by and give them a visit - I'm sure they would love to hear from you as we all like a little blog lovin' from time to time :-).

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Amazing Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Stampin' Dimensionals	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers

I've been having fun playing along with the CASology challenges for the last couple of weeks, so today I have a couple of clean and simple cards for this week's challenge where the theme is weather:

My first card was a fair weather sunshine card which you can see here. My second card is altogether at the other end of the weather spectrum and was born out my attempts to make a punch art umbrella for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink where they have the most gorgeous inspiration photo:

Whilst I abandoned the card I had planned in my head for something infinitely more 'clean and simple', I am really pleased with my little punch art umbrella. Read on to find out how I did it:

Punch Art Umbrella - I actually used a combination of two circle punches, the 1 3'4" circle punch which I used to create a semi circle, then I took my 3/4" circle punch and punched it three times along the straight edge to create my umbrella shape. As if that wasn't neat enough, I then found the perfect umbrella handle - the candy cane framelit from the Snow Friends Framelits Dies! The dimensions are just right to complete my punch art creation. These framelits are still available as a carry-over item from the Winter seasonal catalogue if you would like to purchase them, along with the co-ordinating 'Snow Place' stamp set.

Pitter-Patter Raindrops - My raindrop background is from the 'Sparkle and Shine' stamp set. This set has some lovely patterns that work for small backgrounds or repeated patterns and the raindrops were just perfect for today's card. My sentiment is also from this set.

Neutrals That Pop - I deliberately keep my colour palette neutral with just one colour, Real Red, to maintain the CAS feel of my design. I also popped my umbrella canopy up on a couple of dimensionals to help it stand out. You can save my colour palette here:

Here's the visual summary of the key supplies used to make this card and my punch art umbrella tip for you to save for future reference:

This is the weather forecast here in the UK for the rest of this week, but I will be making the most of any fine weather and getting out and about. We also have a stash of craft kits to keep us busy when we aren't so lucky - and all of those chocolate eggs from yesterday to eat too! I have a date with my ironing basket this afternoon and then we are having an extended James family get-together this evening, which is always fun.

I will be back with another card tomorrow for the challenge over at Just Add Ink that this time focuses on the colours of those lovely umbrellas; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sparkle & Shine Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Snow Friends Framelits Dies	1-3/4" Circle Punch	3/4" Circle Punch	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Stampin' Dimensionals

I've been having fun playing along with the CASology challenges for the last couple of weeks, so today I have a couple of clean and simple cards for this week's challenge where the theme is weather:

My first card is a fair weather sunshine card using a freehand cut cloud (I stuck lots of different sized punched circles together and created a template to make this oversized cloud) and a sunburst cut using the Sunburst Thinlit and then punched with a 2 1/2 circle punch:

I can't believe I was 'on the fence' about buying this Sunburst Thinlit when I first saw it in the catalogue; it is so much easier than creating sunbursts by hand! I added a sentiment combination of a 'Hello You' diecut and a stamp from the 'Crazy About You' stamp set. A trio of rhinestones completes my fair weather card.

Here's the visual summary of the key supplies used to make this card for you to save for future reference:

Here too is the cheery summer colour combination I used - fee free to save it:

This is the weather I will be hoping for with the children home on school holidays this week; I'm rather thinking it might be a little more like my next card! I'll be along with my second card shortly; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunburst Thinlits Die	Hello You Thinlits Dies	Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	2-1/2" Circle Punch
Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock