Happy Monday everyone! Well, we didn't manage to barbeque yesterday as it was the worst weather day of the week here in the UK, but no matter - this week is supposed to be a scorcher, despite the fact that it's the start of Wimbledon Tennis Fortnight (a sure recipe for rain!) so I'm sure there will be lots of opportunity. My week is shaping up to be a busy one - with only three weeks until the end of the school term, there is something on pretty much every other day between now and the end of term so forgive me if my blogging becomes brief! Anyway, a good start to the week as I've two cards to share today! This first is my card for this week's challenge over at Colour Q:

Don't you just love those flip flops?! The colours along with the butterflies prompted me to create a fun 'cutting edge' card that I am also linking up with the current challenge over at SUO Challenges where they are asking us to create a card that features a cut edge that is something other than a straight line. This is what I came up with:

I used Soft Sky for my card base, then diecut four butterflies in Night of Navy using the smallest butterfly in the new Bold Butterfly framelits and adhered them to the edge of my card, carefully cutting around them by hand to remove the edge of the card base and expose the back panel. I then cut another two butterflies each in Daffodil Delight and Marina Mist and paper-pieced the small pieces into the navy butterflies. I stamped the sentiment from Watercolour Wonder onto the front of my card in Night of Navy and stamped the spotty strip repeatedly along the back inside edge of the card in Soft Sky for some added detail behind the butterflies, although you can't see this in the above photo as it's not flat and only visible when closed (I need to take another picture which I will add to this post later - these type of cards are so tricky to photograph!). This card looks so pretty in real life - the fussy cut edge really lifts this card and makes it something special.

My second card today is using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches where the lovely Jen Mitchell has a great sketch that would work so well for so many layouts:

I flipped the sketch through 180 degrees (it's allowed!) to create a rather topical card that was inspired by a cupcake of all things that appeared in my Facebook feed over the weekend, commemorating the decision by the US Supreme Court over the weekend to legalise same sex marriage across all US states:

I used a rainbow of strips of cardstock, punching each with my Hearts Border punch before adhering to my base of extra-thick Whisper White cardstock (love this for card bases!) I then took the punched out hearts and adhered these individually in a row beneath the negative punched space on the strip above. My focal point is a couple of 2" circles, the first in Whisper White and stamped with one of the sentiments in the 'Groovy Love' stamp set, inked up with Pacific Point and Real Red Stampin' Write markers. The second circle was punched from Real Red cardstock, with a heart punched out of the centre using the Sweetheart punch so that the sentiment could show through the negative space and popped up over the first on Dimensionals for added depth. Very 'gay pride' with the hearts and rainbows, don't you agree? I am also entering this card into a demonstrator-only challenge that Stampin' Up! are currently running with the tagline #punchitup where we have to use a combination of two of four specific punches and as you can see, I went with hearts!

That's my creative post for today; I will be back tomorrow with another project and may be back in the meantime with other news, depending on how far I get through today's 'to do' list so do pop back later! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Card One:

Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Bold Butterfly Framelits Dies	Watercolor Wings Photopolymer Stamp Set	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Marina Mist A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad

Sweetheart Punch	Hearts Border Punch	2" Circle Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Brights Stampin' Write Markers
Real Red A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock
Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for our new challenge over at The Paper Players! I really enjoyed our gallery full of summer treats last week; this week should be easier on the waistline though, as the lovely Nance has a great sketch challenge for us:

My card features an altogether more healthy treat this week in the form of apples, on a tree created with the Sprinkles of Life stamp set and co-ordinating tree builder punch:

My card also features three of the five new in-colours: Tip Top Taupe, Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder so I am also linking up with the team over at Fab Friday as their challenge is all about the new in-colours this week. I used Tip Top Taupe for my card base, then adhered a piece of Whisper White to the card front. I embossed another piece of Taupe with my woodgrain textured embossing folder then using my Big Shot and Circles Framelits cut away a partial circle from one side before adhering this on top of the white layer. I stamped the tree trunk in Taupe onto the white panel, then stamped my leaves in Cucumber Crush and my apples in Watermelon Wonder onto Whisper White and punched them out with the co-ordinating tree builder punch. I wanted a full tree so punched three treetops and layered them to create my tree, adding the last one with a dimensional to create some lift. For my banners I used a strip of Watermelon Wonder and a piece of green patterned paper from the Cherry on Top DSP stack, tied with white baker's twine and flagged with the triple banner punch. I stamped my sentiment in white Stazon onto Basic Black and cropped it tightly. I finished with another punched apple, which I covered in Crystal Effects to make it nice and shiny, although it's hard to see in the photo above. The Sprinkles of Life Stamp stamp set is so versatile with so many creative options; not only that, every purchase benefits the Ronald McDonald House Charity too as £2 is donated for every stamp set purchased.

With only three more weeks until the end of the school year, I am needing to make more and more teacher thank you cards, so this one is definitely heading for the teacher pile. Well, an apple for the teacher as the saying goes - or in this case, six!

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

I love a good sketch challenge so I look forward to seeing what you make of this one in the gallery this week. If the weather holds we may manage to squeeze in another weekend BBQ - keep your fingers crossed for me!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sprinkles Of Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tree Builder Punch	Banner Triple Punch	Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Stampin' Dimensionals	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad
Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock
Whisper White Baker's Twine	Crystal Effects

It's the weekend and following a glorious day here in the UK, today I have a card to share for this week's Mojo Monday challenge where this week's sketch is all about the layers:

The minute I saw this sketch I knew exactly what I was going to do with the central circle; I bought the 'Hello Life' stamp set for the big feature sentiment but don't get to use it often on cards because it's quite large, so this layout gave me the perfect opportunity:

I stamped my sentiment in Watermelon Wonder onto Very Vanilla and decided to use another of the pieces of Designer Series Paper from the Sweet L'il Things pack as my background, then used the featured colours as bold blocks of colour for my rectangular layers and my banner. I love the patterns in this pack - whilst this does feature some cute animals, I think it is quite a fun pattern, that works for non-baby cards too. Truth is, as I was perusing I decided this paper makes me happy - so I went with it!

Short and sweet from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sweet Li'l Things Designer Series Paper	Banner Triple Punch	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad
Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Hello Honey A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	Stampin' Dimensionals

It's Thursday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary! This week we have a sketch challenge for you:

I decided to go with another card featuring the Pretty Petals DSP; this time, one of the really bold patterns in the stack:

I used Calypso Coral and Old Olive for my mat and base layer and the band across the front of the card, then used the bold patterned DSP to cover my card front. After adhering the band, I tied two lengths of Old Olive baker's twine around the front of my card before adhering my layered circle. Given how busy the pattern of the paper is, I decided to leave my focal point 'clean' and stamped the thank you sentiment from the 'Tin Of Cards' stamp set onto a circle of Very Vanilla. For my embellishment, I stamped the round stamp from the 'Awesomely Artistic' stamp set in Calypso Coral onto Very Vanilla and punched it out with my 1" circle punch. I added an antique brad (deliberately offset) before adhering to my card. 

This paper is quite different to the one I used on yesterday's card, but equally lovely I think. I can see me getting through this stack quite quickly!

That's all from me today; do check out the other DT member cards and we look forward to seeing you in the gallery this week. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Today I'm sharing my card based on this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch where they have this great sketch layout:

There are some amazing DT and gallery cards over there (check out this one by my fellow Paper Player Karren Johnson - love it!). I chose to stick with something fairly representative of the sketch with a few layers that would give me the opportunity to showcase the lovely new Pretty petals DSP stack paper and the Greetings Thinlits. Here is my card:

I took my colour palette directly from the paper and on a base of Pool Party, matted my three columns of Pretty Petals DSP onto Old Olive. I then overlaid my sentiment banner, having cut out my sentiment in Basic Black and mounted on Calypso Coral and Old Olive, popped up on a couple of dimensionals for added height. Super simple and not a stamp in sight on this one but rather effective, with the patterned paper and curvy sentiment taking centre stage.

I just love the papers in the Pretty Petals DSP stack; if you too are a fan and would like to see more of them, do pop back tomorrow when I will have my card for the new challenge this week over at Create With Connie and Mary, featuring another of the Pretty Petals designs. That's all from me today; I have a backlog of admin and paperwork that is calling my name so today is the day I am aiming to clear the decks - wish me luck!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Greetings Thinlits Dies	Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Stampin' Dimensionals	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform

It's Wednesday and you know what that means: a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced. 

As always, 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 Hostess Code for June UPCSWX2C 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:

Choose Happiness Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Flower Medallion Punch	Fun Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders	Fuse Fast Adhesive
Gift Card Envelope & Trims Thinlits Dies	Six-Sided Sampler Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Lots of lovely things this week, but my favourites are the stamp sets: three very versatile stamp sets with so many uses. I've used 'Work of Art' a couple of times on cards this last week and have another one to share with you using 'Choose Happiness' in the coming days. 

I'll be back shortly with today's creative post; meanwhile, what are you waiting for - off to the shop with you!

I'm late today so a quick blog post from me, but none the less an important one; I finally made a card for the TGIF Challenge Throwdown that doesn't break any rules! It's similar to my first attempt (you can read all about that one here) albeit using a different thinlit and no contraband product from my pantry! Here's a reminder of the basket and pantry items:

Once again I managed to use all of the basket items for my card, along with some of the pantry items - here's my card:

I went with a simple white card base, this time stamped with the smaller, squat Work of Art stamp three times across the middle, then die cut my 'hello' out of a top layer of Whisper White and used the negative space so that the colour swatches show through. I finished my sentiment with the 'you' from Work of Art, and added a larger than life, rather over the top gold thinlit butterfly to finish. 

I love using the negative space of thinlits as much as the positive and this sentiment combination reminds me of a particular friend of mine who always says this to me by way of greeting and it never fails to make me smile. The butterfly is such a statement against the clean lines of the rest of the card, yet it looks as if it has just flown in and landed there over the greeting.

Simple, yet not without considerable thought! If you would like to see lots of other ways to use the above product combinations, do pop over to the #TGIFCTD01 page and check out the work of both the design team and the other gallery entrants - there is some great inspiration to be had.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello You Thinlits Dies	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Butterflies Thinlits Dies	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Foil Sheets	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

Good morning everyone - it's Monday! I am saying that with more optimism than I feel, but as usual there is lots to achieve this week so I'd best get on! Today I'm here with a card that I made for the challenge over at TGIF Challenge! this week, however firstly a big thank you to James Weber and the TGIF Team for choosing me as their TGIF Fave for my Build a Birthday card last week:

If you missed it, you can see my winning card here. I am honoured to be a fave pick of this talented bunch of designers; I also got a shout out for my rule-breaking card for the TGIF Throwdown challenge; you can see my card here. There is still the rest of the month to enter this one, so watch this space for my bona fide entry which is still to come! Meanwhile onto today's card which is as mentioned for this week's TGIF Challenge where the theme is 'Togetherness', so weddings, anniversaries and the like; I also used this week's Colour Q colour palette and the sketch over at Pals Paper Arts as inspiration for my card:

Without further ado, let me get to today's card:

I saw the Colour Q colours this week and thought they would work really well for a wedding or engagement card and I was particularly inspired by the inspiration photo of those patterned straws, which immediately took me to my gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum. I used the new Whisper White Thick cardstock for my base (p. 149 of the catalogue with the speciality cardstocks in case you missed it) - did I tell you already how much I LOVE this cardstock? It makes such great card bases and is beautifully thick for one layer cards. I used a mat of Night of Navy and another of Blushing Bride, before adhering a layer of heart-embossed gold foil vellum over the top. This mutes the pink slightly and creates a real feeling of luxury, which I think is important for a wedding or celebratory card. I layered my banners, all punched with the new triple banner punch, again layering vellum over the navy ones, this time in gold stripes and leaving the bottoms visible for contrast. My cross panel is Night of Navy layered on a piece of Gold Foil Sheet, with two offset layered hearts - one gold foil, one Blushing Bride with one of the heart stamps from the 'Hello Life' set embossed in gold in the centre and some of the lovely new gold metallic thread wound in between. To finish, I added my sentiment which is the thing I probably love most on this card: it's one of the new Expressions Natural Elements wooden diecuts, which I decided to double heat-emboss in gold to tie in with the rest of my card. I love these in their natural wood finish, but they are fun to jazz up too!

This is one of those cards that I didn't have a clear idea about when I started work and it sort of evolved as I went along. I love it though - I just need someone to announce their engagement or get married so that I can send it now!

I hope you like today's card' I'll be back tomorrow with another project, so stay tuned. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Expressions Natural Elements	Banner Triple Punch	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Gold Fancy Designer Vellum Foil	Gold Foil Sheets	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock
Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Hello Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sweetheart Punch	Gold Metallic Thread

It's Sunday, my favourite day of the week and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players. Thank you to everyone who played along with Sandy's colour challenge last week - so many fabulous cards in the gallery. This week it is the turn of my talented good friend Claire who has a great clean and simple challenge for us:

Summer treats - yum! When I started thinking about my card, I was all set to go down the ice-cream route, as in our lovely badge this week. Then two things happened: I saw this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and I received my SU! order containing some new DSP. Let me show you my card and I will explain what I mean:

I was swooning over my new DSP purchases, determined to open and use more of it than ever before (hoarding is no longer allowed!) when I came across the strawberry pattern  - hidden away in the 'Sweet L'il Things' DSP. I say hidden away, because when I saw this pack I thought the papers would be very baby-themed, yet this really isn't the case - there are some lovely patterns in there that can be used on all kinds of cards. For me, strawberries and cream are a quintessential part of the British summer and with the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament just around the corner we will all be eating them in vast quantities! The sketch layout was perfect for a CAS card to showcase this paper - a simple Very Vanilla mat and a banner stamped with my sentiment, from the 'Bravo' stamp set (I stamped it in Watermelon Wonder on Very Vanilla then stamped it again in Versamark over the top and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder for added shine).

So that's my CAS take on a summer treat! 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 your summer treats in the gallery this week. I have a reasonably relaxing day planned today, which will make a nice change. Although today is Father's Day of course, so there will be a fair amount of pampering of the Dad in our household. Happy Father's Day to all the other Dads out there!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bravo Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sweet Li'l Things Designer Series Paper	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Banner Triple Punch

Hello lovely blog readers! Today I have a card to share that is for this week's Mojo Monday challenge. Before I share it though I wanted to give a congratulations shout out to Justin Krieger and Lori Tecler who were both recently selected to become members of the Mojo Monday Design Team. I admire both of their work and am so pleased they will be joining with the talented Julee and other DT members to provide Mojo inspiration. So here is this week's sketch:

I decided those circles would be great to try something I've had in mind ever since I saw the Cherry on Top DSP stack - take a look:

I've been wanting to pair that bowl of cherries image from the Giggle Greetings stamp set with the cheery DSP in the Cherry on Top DSP stack and this layout was a great way to try it out. I used Cucumber Crush for my base then cut a partial circle out of my Whisper White mat using my Circles Framelits and placed a piece of cherry DSP beneath it. I added the flags in Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder and stamped the sentiment in two parts, one on each, having masked off the rest of the stamp:

I added another circle of patterned paper from the Cheery on Top DSP stack and then lastly added the circle with the bowl of cherries, which I stamped in Memento Black onto Whisper White and coloured with a combination of my Blendabilities for the cherries and my Stampin' Write markers and mounted on a circle of Cucumber Crush.

I love this fresh colour combo and such a fun way to combine old and new product. That's all from me today; I'm off to catch a movie! Back tomorrow with a new challenge over at the Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Giggle Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock
Banner Triple Punch	2" Circle Punch	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Magnetic Platform	Big Shot	2015-2017 In Color Stampin' Write Markers