A day late as I was out all day and evening yesterday - here are this week's new Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

If you want to take advantage of any of the 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 February UYGWGF4W 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:

Bear Hugs Framelits Dies	Confetti Stars Punch	Envelope Punch Board
Petite Petals Clear-Mount Bundle	Tags & Labels Framelits Dies

Some great offers on this week - the cute Bear Hugs framelits, as used by my good self to create the little Valentine's table favours at the weekend that I shared over on my Facebook page (you can see them here if you missed them - do give my page a 'like' if you'd like to keep up to date with all the fun over there too!) Very useful Tags and Labels framelits dies, along with the Petite Petals stamp set, as voted for by one of my customers last week as 'the best stamp set EVER!' (hello Jane!) and the product that always gets my vote for the top spot: The Envelope Punch Board. When used in conjunction with my Envelope Expert and Box Buster tools, a tool that offers limitless possibilities. Always a bargain in my view even at its full price of £18, but at £13.50 it's an absolute steal!!! If you haven't got one, what on earth are you waiting for???!!!

Don't forget that for every £45 you spend you are entitled to a free Sale-A-Bration item too - and this week there are three new ones added to the range too. In case you missed it, you can find full details here. 

Back later with today's creative project; until then, happy shopping!

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:

This colour combination is straight out of the Have A Cuppa Designer Series Paper Stack and whilst not one I would naturally be drawn to, I decided to create a colour-blocked card using a selection of the papers and the trio of cups stamp from the co-ordinating 'A Nice Cuppa' stamp set:

I selectively inked each of the cups in the trio in each of the challenge colours, then created a trio of panels featuring cups in each of the same colours to go behind each one and made a short technique video tutorial to show you how I did it, which you can see here:

I added a tiny teaspoon charm from the Have A Cuppa Embellishments set to a Bermuda Bay stitched ribbon bow and attached this to one of the cup handles as a finishing touch. Isn't that teaspoon just the cutest?! I think this cup stamp looks great stamped in a single colour, however inking in a variety of colours adds definition to the shape of the individual cups. The busy paper makes a good background too, as there isn't much of it on show so it doesn't overwhelm. 

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:

Hello everyone and a happy Tuesday to you! Today I have a card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch and Addicted To CAS:

I saw the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week and for a minute I was wondering where to start; then I remembered one of my favourite patterns in the Pretty petals stack and I just knew where I wanted to take it. Here's my card:

This lovely pattern includes the diagonals that are so like the sketch so I knew it had to be my starting point. Whilst I'll admit it did much of the hard work, I decided that this card needed two more things: a bold sentiment - I layered three 'thanks', cut with my Greetings Thinlits, then coated in Versarmark and heat embossed clear to give a glossy finish; the second thing was a sprig of flowers just like the ones in the pattern. I fussy cut the stems, punched three Pacific Point circles and added a trio of enamel dots that I coloured black with a Sharpie and off-centred slightly, some fussy cut stems and a couple of leaves made from ... left-over pieces from the wings of a butterfly cut with my Butterfly Thinlits! I just love the bright colours and pattern of this paper - and the addition of my bloom is the perfect accompaniment!

Other news today: whilst we say goodbye to the first set of limited time Sale-A-Bration offers, we say 'hello' to some new ones: there are two new stamp sets and some rather lovely glimmer tape that have just been added to the Sale-A-Bration free product offering - here are some samples made with the new product:

Like the other items in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, these items will be available free with each £45 spend from now until the end of the Sale-A-Bration period, 31st March. You can see full details for each of the new product on the new Sale-A-Bration flyer here.

Back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals and a new project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Greetings Thinlits Dies
White Perfect Accents	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Big Shot

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday with your loved ones - I certainly did. I shared some of the fun of my day over on my Facebook page - be sure to follow me there for more adhoc Crafty Owl fun! As well as today's card today, I have some important reminders for you: today is your last chance to purchase the limited time Sale-A-Bration gifts: Perfectly Artistic designer series paper and the 'Sky is the Limit' and 'Hello' stamp sets. Here are a few of my projects featuring these items to remind you - all of them have been very popular free gifts so far during the Sale-A-Bration promotion:

For my card today I am using my favourite of these sets, 'Hello', once again. This is my card for this week's colour challenge over at Pals Paper Arts; I also used this week's Retrosketches sketch:

The lovely Katy McGloin chose the colour palette over at Pals Paper Arts this week and whilst this isn't a colour palette I would have put together myself, I loved the design team cards so decided I should have a go! This is what I came up with: 

I chose to feature a piece of the Pretty Petals designer series paper for my main panel, stamping the 'Hello' stamp in Lost Lagoon with a Calypso Coral border on the top panel of Very Vanilla and layering this with a piece of Venetian crochet trim across the join. I heat embossed the 'birthday girl' portion of my sentiment onto a banner of Lost Lagoon and fussy cut some co-ordinating flowers and leaves from another of the papers in the Pretty Petals DSP stack, along with a few pearls, to embellish my card. As my regular readers will know, I'm not one for vintage or shabby chic generally, but I absolutely love the softness of this card that this colour palette gives - what a great combination! This stamp set is so very versatile - I just know it will be a 'keeper' for me. 

If you want to get your hands on this set, or one of the other limited time offer items, you will need to place an order for £45 or more today. If you miss this deadline the good news is there are three new limited sets arriving tomorrow; pop back then for more information!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Venetian Crochet Trim	Pearl Basic Jewels	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Hexagon Punch

I'm a little late sharing this week but here are this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals! These offers are valid for one week only. As always, a new collection of deals will be announced next Wednesday.

If you want to take advantage of any of the 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 February UYGWGF4W 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:

Banners Framelits Die	Gift Card Envelope & Trims Thinlits Dies	Silver 1/8" Ribbon
Simply Scored Metric Scoring Plate	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Some great bargains in there this week: the ever-popular Work of Art stamp set and my personal favourite, the Simply Scored Metric Scoring Plate down to just £8.25. I use mine for scoring card bases for card classes all the time!

These offers will be around for just a couple more days, so if you want to take advantage then you'll need to act fast.  

Back tomorrow with a new creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the queen of die-cuts, the lovely Laurie, to host and she has a colour challenge for you to play along with:

This week's colours are about as far from Valentines as you could possibly get, but this colour palette offers some great opportunities for bright cards on a cold Winter's day. For my card this week I was inspired to use my new Sunburst Thinlits to create a layered sunburst, paired with some patterned cloud paper:

To create my sunburst I cut two sunbursts, one in Daffodil Delight to fit my card panel and the other full size in Tangelo Twist. To get a perfect 'shadow' I cut the orange one into three pieces to give equal shadow lines on each ray, then trimmed the ends to fit flush with the yellow one. I mounted my sunburst onto a piece of Pool Party cloud paper, taken from the Sweet L'il Things designer series paper stack. I stamped my sentiment in Tangelo Twist onto Very Vanilla and layered the circles to create the centrepiece for my sun. Finally, I added a trio of orange Brights sequins to finish. Quite a simple card to look at, but consisting of nine layers in total, each of which adds to the finished look and feel of the card. I love the bright colours of this week's colour palette  -so cheery and sure to brighten everyone's day! 

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 colours. We have a restful day planned today, with a sport-free day as it's the start of the half-term holiday for the James Juniors. Pretty much a whole week of lie-ins - bliss!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunburst Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle	Sweet Li'l Things Designer Series Paper	1-1/4" Circle Punch	1-3/8" Circle Punch	1-3/4" Circle Punch
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Brights Sequin Assortment

Good evening lovely readers! It's the big day tomorrow so in anticipation I have one last Valentine card for you, and unlike many of my others, this one has a distinctly masculine feel. Today's card uses this week's sketch over at the Global Design Project and I am also linking up with The Friday Mashup (I chose Valentine, but not with candy!) and Just Add Ink where the challenge is something beginning with 'v':

I decided that this sketch was perfect for the globe in the 'Going Global' stamp set, paired with some of the map patterns in the 'Going Places' designer series paper stack. Take a look:

I layered my background and mats with Basic Black and Lost Lagoon, and used a piece of atlas patterned paper for the base layer and a piece of the street map paper for the top layer. Did you know that the papers in the Going Places stack are actual maps of real places? The street map here is of Brooklyn in New York, USA. I added a strip of Lost Lagoon embossed with the World Traveller embossing folder across the centre then for the focal point circle, I stamped the globe in Lost Lagoon onto Very Vanilla, having stamped off once so that it wouldn't overpower my over-stamped sentiment. I stamped the 'love' banner element again separately and fussy cut this and popped it up on dimensionals. I also punched a red heart from of Confetti Hearts Border punch and added over the stamped one and decided to create a mat for my circle element in red, to add a contrasting pop of colour and really draw you in - I know it's a masculine card, but it is Valentines, right? There are lots of layers on this card and I'm really pleased with how it came together.

That's all from me today; I'm looking forward to an early Valentines dinner this evening and will be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack	Going Global Wood-Mount Stamp Set	World Traveler Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
2" Circle Punch	2-1/2" Circle Punch	Confetti Hearts Border Punch	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Yay it's Friday - the weekend is almost here! I'm looking forward to mine, especially as it heralds the start of half-term and a welcome break from the routine of school, even if for just one week. Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's challenge over at Less Is More - one of my favourite challenges and this week it is celebrating it's 5th Birthday - amazing! Chrissie and the rest of the Design Team really are the friendliest bunch and do a tremendous job inspiring the masses each week. As it happens I am too late to join in the celebrations, the theme of this week being 'white on white', however I wanted to share my card anyway. I decided to make a wedding card using the Rose Garden framelits and co-ordinating Rose Wonder stamp set for my sentiment. Here is my card:

When making a white-on-white card, you have to use either shades of white or texture to add interest and contrast. I decided that texture and sparkle was the way to go, so using a base of Shimmery White cardstock, I added a layer of white Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper, then another layer of Shimmery White onto which I added two diecut roses and leaves to opposing corners, allowing them to overhang the edge slightly. I added a simple sentiment, which I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in silver along with a lovely verse inside to finish my card. 

This is one of those cards that looks so very pretty in real life - all shimmer and sparkle. Tricky to photograph though, so I hope you get the idea! I love these thinlits  too and am really looking forward to making more projects with them. They are also going to be featured in one of my April technique classes, so if you live in or around Northampton and would be interested in attending, do get in touch for more details. I'm also linking today's card up with CAS Colours and Sketches as I used their sketch for my layout and Stamps Ink Paper where the theme is 'love' - a wedding definitely celebrates that!

So happy birthday Less is More - hope you continue to inspire for the next 5 years and beyond. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Precision Base Plate

I've an extra card for you today; my spot of crafting yesterday gave me just enough time to squeeze in this fun card for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

I also used the colour palette over at Fab Friday, which seemed rather appropriate given the sentiment on today's card - after all, as the saying goes 'Let's paint the town red' right?

I used the hostess set 'Love You Sew' for my card today. The paint brushes and swish of paint stamp made the perfect backdrop for my sentiment; I stamped each paint swish twice on my mat of Very Vanilla and overlapped them beneath my sentiment oval in order to extend their length. I cut out my sentiment using my Big Shot and Oval Framelits and popped it up on a couple of dimensionals. A few punched hearts and an epoxy sticker on the largest heart finished my card. 

This hostess set is a great set for crafters and non-crafters alike - I just love the fun sentiments and creative possibilities. Whilst this sentiment isn't a particular 'love' themed one, I think my card could be used as a fun invitation to a loved one or group of friends perhaps. 'Love You Sew' is exclusively available to customers who host a Stampin' Up! party or place a single order that qualifies for Stampin' Rewards. Sale-A-Bration is a great time to host a party with extra hostess rewards available for qualifying party sales. If you would like to host a party, do get in touch; I have a few slots left before the end of March if you would like to take advantage of these great offers. in addition, for all of my customers who host a party between now and the end of Sale-A-Bration, I will provide them with a free 'to go' tutorial to make a set of fun cards using the 'Love You Sew' hostess stamp set. So what are you waiting for? Make the call!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love You Sew Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Hearts Border Punch	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock
Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform

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

I decided to use the circles in the sketch to showcase the Love Blossoms paper and create a quilt-effect card - take a look:

I really can't decide which of the patterns in the stack I like the most, so I used one of each of the 12 patterns on the Love Blossoms DSP stack for my quilted circles, although you can't see the bottom row well in the photo because of the banner; I actually heat-embossed the sentiment in white onto vellum so that in reality they can be seen and are not wholly obscured - they really are too pretty to cover up! To create my pattern I punched 12 1" circles, one from each of the paper patterns, then scored each circle on parallel sides into a diamond (more difficult to explain but you can see from the card what I mean!) then adhered them so that each one touched at the point. I added a little Blushing Bride punched heart in each space, punched with my Hearts Border Punch, to add extra interest, along with a piece of Blushing Bride 1/4" cotton ribbon across the bottom to finish my sentiment banner with a bow.

I guess this card would work for Valentines, Mother's Day, Anniversary - lots of occasions. I actually made it as a birthday card for one of my very best friends; I think it works for a birthday too so I hope she agrees!

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; 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: