Time for today's creative post and I have a fun masculine card, using this week's layout over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the current challenge over at Less Is More, where the task is to combine any 3 previous challenges:

I haven't managed to play along with the lovely ladies over at Less is More for a few weeks, so today's card was a great opportunity to combine some of their previous challenges for my card - I chose:

• Week 7 - theme - masculine
• Week 121 - recipe - humour
• Week 127 - colour - 50 shades of grey

Here's the card I came up with:

I decided the sketch was perfect to use a small piece of DSP, something I don't often use on my LIM cards, but this card has sufficient 'white space' that I can get away with it. I love the natural patterned papers in the 'Adventure Bound' DSP stack and having seen so many with a fun 'play on words' with those pebbles, I thought it was about time I shared my version. My card really is quite simple: a base of Smoky Slate and an aperture cut using my Big Shot and the Squares Framelits - on offer as one of this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals for just £17.21, bargain! - and backed with a piece of the pebble-patterned paper (there must be at least 50 shades of grey in there!) and a simple sentiment consisting of an '@' stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in Pewter embossing powder, punched out with a 2" circle punch and popped up on some dimensionals and paired with the '#birthdaysrock' sentiment from the same #Hello stamp set, also heat embossed in pewter. 

A simple yet fun card, perfect for a man with a sense of humour!

Back tomorrow with this week's card for the new Thursday Challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	(Hashtag) Hello Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	2" Circle Punch

It's Wednesday so 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 April DBJFM4DG 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:

Blushing Bride 1/4" Cotton Ribbon	Extra-Large Gift Box	File Tabs Edgelits Die	Gift Box Punch Board
Hearts A Flutter Framelits Dies	Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Word Bubbles Framelits Dies

You may be disappointed that Sale-A-Bration has ended, but today's weeky deals have something of a silver lining for sure: framelit offers abound this week, along  with the gift box punch board and the fabulous extra large gift boxes and some Blushing Bride ribbon to tie them up in! This week's framelit offers include some of my most used framelits - come back later to see today's creative post, where I used the Square Framelits to create today's fun card.

Until then, happy shopping!

Well, what a Sale-A-Bration this has been! I have enjoyed it immensely - some of the best free products we've seen as part of this promotion and I would like to thank everyone who has shopped with me, hosted a party or joined my team during the last 3 months. Today I wanted to share some little packages I made last month for my recent Stampers Six Club customers and new recruits using the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies. I've had to make quite a few of these so I was glad to be able to make good use of some of the fabulous Best Year Ever paper I earned free during Sale-A-Bration:

These treat bags are so easy to make and come with a range of fun thinlit pieces that can be used to decorate them or embellish cards or other projects. I kept these quite simple, with a layered panel on the front in co-ordinating cardstock and added some Calypso Coral pompom trim to the decoration with a mini peg to hold the bags shut - here's a close-up:

Whilst the paper may no longer be available, the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies are in the seasonal catalogue and still available until 2nd June and there are a whole bunch of other DSPs available that would look just as good. These bags really are so cute and it's easy to make lots of these in no time at all; they would make great party bag favours too. 

That's me done for today; back tomorrow with a fun card and news of a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies	Calypso Coral Pompom Trim `	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Mini Metallic Clothespins	Fuse Fast Adhesive
Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana

It's Monday 30th March and that means only one thing - only 2 days left to go until the end of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion! With this in mind, today's cards features one of the additional products introduced as a free gift when you spend £45 - sheer perfection vellum. I am entering today's card into both the Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown challenges:

 I love this sheer vellum - it is printed with a variety of different patterns that are great for colouring with Stampin' Write markers. The sheet with the butterflies is a favourite, but today I chose one of the floral patterns - here is my card:

I used So Saffron for my base and then used a mat of Pear Pizzazz and a piece of Whisper White beneath my piece of vellum so that my colouring would be true. I coloured the flowers on my vellum piece with So Saffron and highlighted some areas with Daffodil Delight, then coloured the leaves with my Pear Pizzazz Stampin' Write marker. Before adhering my vellum to my base layer, I turned it over and rubbed over the reverse wide with my stylus to create a slightly raised effect when viewed from the front. It's quite difficult to see in the photograph, but adds a nice texture in real life. I finished my card with a banner, stamped in Basic Grey with the sentiment from another Sale-A-Bration free stamp set 'Simply Wonderful', and a layered butterfly, punched with my Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches and using a scrap of retired 'Riding Hood Red' cardstock for my pop of red. A few pearls to finish and done!

This Sheer Perfection Vellum really is lovely; it's such a shame that it's only available for two more days! You still have until 10pm tomorrow night to place an order for £45 and get yours for free - if you shop online with me and use the current code 4AHTZQVW, you will also receive an extra gift from me to say thank you (shipped separately) - so now there's two reasons to shop!

Right - I'm off to make a whole bunch of thank you cards and bag tags for this month's local customer orders - I'm using another Sale-A-Bration freebie this time, the 'For Being You' stamp set - getting inky is always fun and with free product, it's even better!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sheer Perfection Designer Vellum Stack	So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers
Simply Wonderful Clear Stamp Set	Elegant Butterfly Punch	Bitty Butterfly Punch	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Gray A4 Card Stock
Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

Good evening blog readers - I am sneaking in an extra post today - you can see my earlier Paper Players post here - to make up for my lack of one yesterday. I had my card ready and had fully intended to write up my post last night, when I got back from taking both James juniors to their swimming gala, however the swim meet was really busy and we didn't get home until much later than usual and I was beyond writing anything other than gibberish at that point! 

So this card is for a couple of challenges: I used the sketch only over at Fusion and the colours from Colour Q this week:

I love this week's Colour Q palette, so perfect for an Easter card, which I still need a few more of. This card is something I've been playing around with for a while. My daughter had a colouring book for Christmas that was full of animals, made from patterns, and I wondered if I could make an abstract bunny using floral images. I've had a few attempts, and this is my favourite so far:

I used Wisteria Wonder for my base and mat layer, embossing this with the large polka dot embossing folder, then cut an oval using my Big Shot and Oval Framelits, having partially cut the ears with the leaf shapes from the Flower Fair framelits first and allowed them to overhang. I then stamped the various flower stamps from the Flower Patch set to make an abstract face, with ears, eyes and nose.

So, opinion in our house is divided over this card: both James juniors recognised it as a rabbit immediately; my abstract art is however lost on my husband, who thinks this is just a bunch of random flower patterns! Either way, with the addition of some Wisteria Wonder chevron ribbon and a bow, I like it! Do leave me a comment and let me know what you think to my unusual creation.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Flower Fair Framelits Die	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Wisteria Wonder 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Wisteria Wonder A4 Card Stock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players and this week my good friend and talented papercrafter Claire has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us:

I decided to go with the first vertical line - yellow, die-cut and flowers (or in my case, flower!) - and this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts:

I am still in need of a few Easter cards, so I thought those five circles on the sketch would make some cute Easter chicks, bright yellow and chirpy. I decided on the chick trio from the 'For Peep's Sake' stamp set but I needed five chicks, not three. My solution? I stamped the first two chicks on the right, then masked the outer chicks and just masked the central one, lining up with my stamp-a-ma-jig, then lastly stamped the two chicks on the left, masking off the one I didn't need. I stamped the chicks again a few times on some scrap cardstock, twice in Melon mambo and once in Bermuda Bay, and fussy cut out the eggshells and adhered them on top of the ones on my card. I punched a Bermuda Bay flower using the flower punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and added a Melon Mambo candy dot for the centre. lastly, I added my die cut 'hello'; this might seem a little odd in the context of an Easter card, but it is destined for the mail and someone I don't get to see in person, so combined with the inside greeting works just fine. 

I hope you like my card today.  There are some great cards from the Design Team this week - so many different ways of combining the elements of the grid. Do pop by their blogs and take a look:

I look forward to seeing your tic-tac-toe combinations in our gallery this week. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

For Peeps' Sake Clear Stamp Set	Crazy About You Photopolymer Bundle	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay
Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights Candy Dots

A quick card from me to share another four leaf clover card, this time for the 'green' challenge over at Addicted to CAS:

Here's my card:

I actually made this card a couple of weeks ago and realised as I was sifting through my photos today that I had forgotten to blog and upload it, so here it is! A simple white background, with a couple of rows of three-leaf clovers, made by punching out some shapes out of Garden Green cardstock using the flower punch in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and cutting away one of the four petals. For my lucky four leaf clover, I stamped my flower image in green on green and punched it out, leaving all four petals intact and adding a stem and a rhinestone for added sparkle. My 'lucky' is stamped in Garden Green and is one of those ever-useful stamps in the Project Life 'Remember This' stamp set - yes, Project Life is for all your crafting, not just for memory-keeping!

That's all from me today; I've been busy catching up on paperwork and emails all day and I'm itching to get some 'real' crafting done! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Remember This Photopolymer Stamp Set	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack
Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Today we have a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we are working with the following colour combination:

I decided these colours were perfect for another entry into this week's challenge over at The Card Concept, this time using the current CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout:

This week's colours all feature in the inspiration photo above, and I wanted to create a card with some whitewashed painted wood like the table in the photo - this is what I came up with:

I stamped the Hardwood stamp in Sahara Sand onto a piece of Soft Sky, then 'aged' it by sponging over some Whisper White kraft ink and I really like the look. The combination of sentiments really work for me here too; this is the first time I've used the 'smile' from the 'So You' stamp set and I love it, especially paired with the cupcake one. I have something of a love-hate relationship with doilies (my regular followers will know I don't use them often and even then I'm not sure about them!) but here I felt one would be the perfect background for my cupcake, again, echoing the lace doily in the inspiration photo.

I hope you like today's card and that it inspires you to create something with this colour palette. Do check out the other Design Team member cards - we look forward to seeing you in the Create With Connie and Mary gallery this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

It's Wednesday so 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 March 4AHTZQVW 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:

Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Envelope Punch Board
Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper	Regals Designer Series Paper Stack	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock

My all-time favourite product in there, the Envelope Punch Board - an absolute bargain at only £13.46 - and also some great offers on paper. I used the Gold Soiree paper on the card I shared on Monday - see it here - and you can stock up on A4 cardstock in two of the soon-to-be-retiring 2013-15 In-colours. Cardstock, along with markers, ink pads and re-inkers in Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar are all set to leave us at the end of May and are usually the first things to run out when the list of retiring products from the current catalogue are announced, so if these colours are favourites of yours, stock up now before it's too late.  

This is the last opportunity you will have this year to place an order where your Weekly Deals purchases can go towards earning a free Sale-A-Bration product with a spend of £45. There are a whole host of catalogue and exclusive products that you can receive free with a £45 order - see them all on the links in the side bar on the right hand side.

Here is a card I made with one of the free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, called 'A Happy Thing':

This is a card I made a few weeks ago and haven't yet shared with you, which in addition to the lemon stamp also features one of the patterns in the Best Year Ever DSP pack, another exclusive Sale-A-Bration item. If these or any other Sale-A-Bration items are on your wish list, you have only 7 more days to acquire them. So what are you waiting for? I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Marie. Until then, happy shopping!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Happy Thing Clear Stamp Set	Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Blender Pens

I have a quick card to share with you today that I made using the birthday stamp from the 'Oh My Goodies' stamp set:

I used last week's Pals Paper Arts sketch for my layout and took the opportunity to use up some retired Quatrefancy Specialty DSP and my Mosaic embossing folder to echo the pattern on the stamped panel. I cut out the stamped panel and a background layer using the Deco Label framelits, which co-ordinate perfectly with this stamp set. I also stamped the sentiment again in Pumpkin Pie and cut it out and adhered it across the centre, placing a same colour circle behind to add definition.

This is a great birthday card that would work for a male or female and will make a useful addition to my birthday card stash.

Back tomorrow with this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals and another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Oh My Goodies Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies	Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad
Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Pool Party A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock