It's time for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players and Sandy has a theme challenge for us this week that's all about buttons:

You can use any kind of buttons - real, embossed, paper - so for my card I decided to take Sandy's theme quite literally and create a 'Cute as a button' card suitable for a baby girl and featuring a clay button made with Simply Pressed Clay in one of Stampin' Up!'s silicone moulds - here is my card:

I used a Pink Pirouette card base and matted my Whisper White panel with a piece of Strawberry Slush DSP from the In-Colour stack in the chevron design, although with just enough showing so that it looks like a simple diagonal to echo the lines of the text. On my white panel, I stamped 'cute as a <3' using the new Epic Alphabet set. This set is photopolymer, which makes aligning the letters accurately so easy - with no stamp-a-ma-jig required! I moulded my clay button in the Simply Pressed Clay Mould and allowed it to dry before colouring it with my Pink Pirouette Stampin' Write marker - you can colour your clay before you mould it with reinker or afterwards with ink/markers, it's really up to you. The colour differs slightly depending on the method; personally I like to mould my buttons and embellishments in uncoloured clay a few at a time, then keep the dried pieces in a box to be coloured as required depending on the project. Here's a close up of my button:

To finish, I pierced two holes in the button with my paper piercer and threaded some Strawberry Slush baker's twine through the holes and tied in a bow and added a scattering of In-Colour heart sequins.

I really love how my card turned out - but I couldn't stop there! I thought it would be fun to create a button gift box to go with it, using my Big Shot and Circles Framelits - here it is:

 I used Strawberry Slush cardstock and the second largest of the circle framelits for my box, which measure 9.3cm in diameter and 7cm tall. I lined my box with Pink Pirouette cardstock for rigidity and to allow for an edge-to-edge closure. This box is just big enough to fit in a cute onesie, some bibs or a pair of booties - here's a photo of the inside:

Lastly, I threaded some retired Pink Pirouette ribbon through the button holes and tied in a bow. So there you go - two cute as a button projects, I hope you'll agree! Do pop over to The Paper Players and see what the other talented designers have for you today and I very much hope you'll join us in creating something for this week's challenge.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Epic Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine	Pink Pirouette A4 Card Stock	2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack
Simply Pressed Clay	Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds	2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

Good morning lovely blog readers - so much to be excited about today: it's Friday (always cause for celebration!), I placed my pre-order for Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue products in the early hours of this morning (woohoo!) and today Stampin' Up! has announced a fantastic Big Shot bundle offer available for the month of August only!!

That's right - from 1st-31st August inclusive, if you purchase a Big Shot, you can receive one of five exclusive stamp set and framelit bundles ABSOLUTELY FREE - that's up to £55 worth of free products!! With the new seasonal catalogue just around the corner, which includes lots of Big Shot accessories, there's never been a better time to get your hands on one.

If you already own a Big Shot, don't worry there's a great offer for you too - you can purchase any of the exclusive bundles at a discount of 15% off. So now for the detail - these are the amazing one-time only bundles on offer:

Bundle	Stamp Set	Framelits	Discounted Price
Sumthin' With Bubbly Words Wood-Mount Bundle	Sumthin' Sumthin'	Word Bubbles	£28.50
Sumthin' With Bubbly Words Clear-Mount Bundle	Sumthin' Sumthin'	Word Bubbles	£26.95
Decorative Goodies Wood-Mount Bundle	Oh My Goodies	Deco Labels	£36.25
Decorative Goodies Clear-Mount Bundle	Oh My Goodies	Deco Labels	£31.25
Celebrating Chalk Talk Wood-Mount Bundle	Day Of Celebration	Chalk Talk	£37.25
Celebrating Chalk Talk Clear-Mount Bundle	Day of Celebration	Chalk Talk	£31.95
Flowery Daydream Wood-Mount Bundle	Daydream Medallions	Floral Collection	£47.50
Flowery Daydream Clear-Mount Bundle	Daydream Medallions	Floral Collection	£41.50
Bright & Beautiful Stars Wood-Mount Bundle	Bright and Beautiful	Star	£44.95
Bright & Beautiful Stars Clear-Mount Bundle	Bright and Beautiful	Star	£37.25

You will even notice that one of the stamp sets in the above bundles - Bright & Beautiful - is a 'sneak peek' set that will be appearing in the new Autumn-Winter Seasonal Catalogue due to go live on 28th August.

The Big Shot is an amazing multi-tasking tool that has so many uses: it can be used to dry emboss, cut cardstock using framelits, edgelits or Sizzlits and allows you to cut a range of additional materials - wood, metal, fabric - using our extensive range of dies. If you don't own a Big Shot and need convincing, you might find this short video from Stampin' Up! a useful introduction:

For everyone that purchases a Big Shot from me, I will follow up with a one-to-one session that ensures you understand exactly how your Big Shot works with the various accessories in order that you can get the most from your purchase. This is one tool you will wonder how you ever managed without!

There is no limit to the number of Big Shots or stamp/framelit bundles that you can purchase from the above list during the month of August; the only restriction is where a Big Shot is purchased using Hostess Credits or using a 50% item discount - for these purchases the above offer does not apply.

So what are you waiting for? If you have any additional questions, do give me a call - otherwise, get ready to make the most of this amazing offer!

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

Hello there - this card is for you all! I used the latest sketch at Create With Connie and Mary this week, as I liked the unusual layout:

I'm too late to link up with the challenge, but wanted to share the card with you as it is a little different for me - here's my card:

I'm not sure I've ever used so much Strawberry Slush on one card! I thought the All Abloom papers would be perfect for this kind of paper-piecing and I loved the way that Mary Brown used thick bakers twine across the joins on her design team card here so I decided to do the same on my card. I also added some of the retired ruffle trim in the same colour to edge the patterned panel. Lastly I finished with one of the sentiments from the 'Hello There' hostess set, having first inked the outline with Strawberry Slush and Mossy Meadow markers to frame it and added a simple twine bow.

I really like the combination of Strawberry Slush and Mossy Meadow on this card; the green seems to really balance the vibrancy of the pink, and along with the vanilla and Blushing Bride cardstock makes for a very feminine card, without being too 'pink'.

I hope you like today's card - I'm off to prepare a picnic for an afternoon at the park, do enjoy your day, however you choose to spend it.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello There Clear-Mount Stamp Set	All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine	1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/8 Inch 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 July or August (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right). 

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:

Cupcake Punch	Delight In The Day Photobook Template - Digital Download	Finishing Touches Edgelits Dies	Gift Bow Bigz L Die
Hexagon Hive Thinlits Die	Little Book Of Coupons Designer Swatchbook Template - Digital Download	Stampin' Emboss Powder Early Espresso	Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape

So what else are you waiting for? Hop on over to my online store quick pronto and snap one up! Alternatively, if you live local to me and would like to save on postage, get in touch by 8pm tomorrow and I will add to the order that I am placing Friday morning!

Back later with another creative post - until then, happy stampin'!

Good morning everyone - today I have my Design Team card for our challenge this week over at Colour Me...! where we are having a creative week where you get to choose your colour palette and which team you would like to play along with:

I am on 'Team Tara' this week so I'm working with Night of Navy, Soft Sky, Garden Green and a neutral (in my case, Whisper White). Here's my card:

I decided to use Soft Sky for my base and flowers, stamped and fussy-cut from the Summer Silhouettes stamp set, with Garden Green for the foliage and Night of Navy as my accent colour and for my statement 'hello' greeting - this is from the 'Hi There' stamp set - I think it's going to be a new favourite of mine. A smattering of pearls and a piece of retired grosgrain ribbon (you could substitute this with the new seam binding ribbon in the same colour) finish my card.

To see what the rest of the team have created in each of the colour schemes, stop by their blogs for inspiration and do play along with us at Colour Me this week!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Summer Silhouettes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Hi There Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

The sun is shining here in the UK today and I have a similarly bright and beautiful card for you - no snowflakes today, I promise! Today's card uses the sketch over at Pals Paper Arts as its starting point:

I love a good sketch and there are lots of them out there in blog land this week; I liked the squares on this one, so many possibilities! I took the opportunity to use mine to showcase another of the gorgeous patterns in the All Abloom Designer Series Paper stack - here's my card:

My base card is Daffodil Delight with a mat of Island Indigo, followed by a sheet of yellow polka dots from the Brights DSP collection - these colours echo those of my chosen feature DSP. I matted my patterned squares on Island Indigo too and did the same for my central square, which I chose to include my sentiment. Lastly, I finished with a layered flower made with my 'vintage' Floral Fusion Sizzlits centred with a candy dot. I know this is now retired, but it made the perfect flower to echo the pattern in my chosen paper.

That's all from me today - I have a few more jobs to do before rewarding myself with a bike ride, so must get on! Back tomorrow with my card for this week's Colour Me...! design team card and the Wednesday Weekly Deals.

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Perfect Pennants	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Brights Candy Dots	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

I know, I know - we re experiencing some of the hottest weather we've had in the UK for ages and I'm making Christmas cards with snowflakes on!!! My new seasonal catalogue arrived with the postman on Saturday (it doesn't go live until the beginning of September, but as a demonstrator we receive them early so that we can pre-order items to plan classes and make samples to share with you (one of the many perks of being a demonstrator) and so for the last couple of days I have well and truly had Christmas on the brain! When I saw this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches I decided festive was the order of the day - here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I changed the orientation of my card as I wanted to use two of the embossed layered snowflakes stamped with the Festive Flurry stamp set and cut out with the coordinating framelits and needed it to be wider rather than taller. I cut my banners out of silver foil sheet and a scrap of last year's Winter Frost DSP that I found in my box, along with a retired snowflake embellishment. I added a few of the current in-colour sequins in Coastal Cabana to add a little more sparkle and finished with a vintage sentiment (from the 'Sweet Essentials' set).

You still have another month and a bit to wait until the launch of the new seasonal catalogue, however if you're the kind of person who likes to get organised and wants to start making Christmas cards now, the Festive Flurry stamps and Framelits are on the Holiday Carryover List and, along with a number of other seasonal items, are still available to purchase until 27th August. You can find the full list of items in the 'Holiday Carryover' section on the right hand side of my blog page, or by clicking here.

That's all from me today - no more Christmas cards I promise - well, at least not this week. Once my pre-order arrives next week, I might not be able to stop myself from sharing a few 'sneak peeks' of festive loveliness!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Festive Flurry Clear-Mount Bundle	Silver Foil Sheets	2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy	Heat Tool - Uk Plug
Pool Party Stampin' Emboss Powder	White Stampin' Emboss Powder

Good morning everyone - it's Sunday and time for my Design Team card over at The Paper Players where Ann has a great sketch challenge for us this week:

Now I love a sketch challenge and often I follow a sketch completely to the letter. Today is something of the exception to the rule though - when I saw the 'any shape' piece, I really wanted to use one of the flowers from the Bloom with Hope hostess stamp set that I had coloured with my set of Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. As a consequence though, the layers didn't work for me - so I switched them about and offset them - I hope Ann doesn't mind! Take a look at this week's card to see what I mean:

I wanted my flower to take centre stage so went with a neutral Crumb Cake card base, with a Hardwood stamped mat. I really wanted to use a sentiment alongside my flower - this stamp set has a great selection of really useful ones, but to follow the sketch literally I would have needed to stamp my sentiment on one of the banner flags to be seen, but this didn't work as I wanted them to bring some additional colour to my card. So I decided to tuck my banners behind my central rectangle; this allowed me to both stamp my sentiment onto it and add some leaves, which I stamped in Mossy Meadow and coloured with my Old Olive Blendabilities (they work on coloured cardstock too!). Here's a picture of my fussy cut flower, coloured with Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight Blendabilities, in all its glory:

Isn't it just lovely? I'm still getting used to my alcohol markers and how they differ from water-based colouring. I am no expert (yet!) but I think this flower shows you can get great results without much experience - it looks much more 3D than with ordinary markers and a blender pen. I have a little tip for you too - when you fussy cut a coloured flower like this one, you invariably end up with some white that shows around the cut edge. If you run your marker around the edge of the flower, it takes that away and makes your flower look just a little more finished.

If you would like to know more about Blendabilities, do check back for more hints, tips, techniques and tricks as I learn what works best. Better still, if you live in Northampton and the surrounding area, get in touch about attending my August card class where we will be using Blendabilities, along with the lovely Blended Bloom stamp. Also, if the 'Bloom with Hope' set has caught your eye and you would like your own set, do get in touch to book to host a party or enquire about my new Stampers 6 Club that is beginning next month: for a monthly commitment of £25 a month for 6 months, you get to be the hostess one month and enjoy a minimum of £25 hostess credits to spend free on anything in the catalogue, including hostess sets. Party freebies without needing to actually invite your friends round!  There is one space left in this current club - get in touch if you'd like it to be yours!

Do pop on over to The Paper Players blog to see what everyone else did with this sketch - there are some great cards there this week! I'll be back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bloom With Hope Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Hardwood	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment
Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Old Olive Assortment	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

A late post from me today - I returned late yesterday evening from a family mini break and seem to have spent all day today washing and ironing, isn't that always the way?! That's not strictly true - I did manage to get some long overdue gardening done this afternoon and fit in a grocery shop; all in all a very productive day! I made this card earlier in the week for my brother-in-law's  birthday; it's not until next week, but as he doesn't read my blog I know I'm safe to share! I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge as the inspiration for my layout:

I've spent some time practising with my Blendabilities this week and thought today's card would be a great opportunity to show you just how great these fabulous markers are for achieiving a blended coloured image. Here is my card:

Since my Bro' is officially 'post 40' this year, this image and sentiment from the 'Giggle Greetings' set seemed rather appropriate. I coloured the candle and cheese with my Daffodil Delight and Coastal Cabana sets of markers and echoed these colours elsewhere in my card. I am loving these new pens - they allow for beautiful shading with seamless colour blending and are so easy to use - no previous expertise necessary, although if you're the type of person who liked to colour as a child, you may find them rather addictive! I also embossed the top layer of my card with the Large Polka Dot embossing folder - it kind of reminded me of the holes in the cheese, albeit a little too regular in design. Lastly, I went with thick baker's twine for my bow detail - as a true 'man's man', I'm not sure my brother-in-law would appreciate anything more fancy!

Back tomorrow with my design team card for the Paper Players this week when we have a great sketch challenge for you - and another card using my Blendabilities markers!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Giggle Greetings	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Scallop Edge Border Punch
Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilitiesâ„¢ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment	Coastal Cabana Thick Baker's Twine	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock
Tempting Turquoise A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack

Yay it's Friday already! Today I'm sharing my card for this week's theme challenge over at Less is More where it's all about taking inspiration from the song 'Singing in the Rain'. Given the glorious weather we've been having in the UK of late, I'm just hoping today's card isn't tempting fate! Here it is:

I don't have many stamps that fit with the theme of rain, even less so singing in the rain, but I have been wanting to use this sheet of DSP from the Moonlight DSP stack on something to do with rain as the pattern says 'raindrops' to me, so this seemed like a good opportunity. I also found this cute little fox with an umbrella in one of the new hostess sets, Life's Adventure, so this gave me enough to get started.

I actually took much of my inspiration from Sarah's card this week, as she had a cute paper pieced duckling on her DT card and I decided to do a little paper piecing of my own. I stamped the fox onto the card layer, then again onto some spare white cardstock, onto a piece of Pumpkin Pie retired dotty paper and lastly the umbrella onto a piece of Rich Razzleberry. I then cut each out carefully with my paper snips and paper pieced them together - you can see the detail on the picture below, including the Crystal Effects that I added to the spots on the umbrella (I think they look more like raindrops!)

Cute, eh?! Whilst this card is all about the rain, I'm sure the bright colours would cheer someone up who was feeling a little down - I'll let you know when I eventually send it to someone, assuming I remember! Life's Adventure is an exclusive hostess stamp set, that you can only purchase if you either host a Stampin' Up! party or are a member of my Stampers 6 Club: for those of you that haven't heard of this before, this is where you commit to a minimum spend of £25 per month for 6 months and then in one month o the 6 you get to be the hostess, with a minimum of £25 of free hostess credits to spend. A virtual party, if you will, with none of the hassle of hosting or inviting your friends around if that's not your thing. I am starting a new Stampers 6 Club in August and currently have one space left - if you would like to participate, then get in touch. Once this last space has been filled, I will begin collating a waiting list for an additional Stampers 6 Club so either way you've nothing to lose.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack	Life's Adventure Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Crystal Effects	Stampin' Dimensionals