It's Sunday and today I'm sharing my weekly card designed for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players, where I'm a Guest Designer for the next few months. This week we LeAnne is hosting and she has a colour challenge for us using the following colour palette:

I also used the sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew this week for the layout of my card. I chose to make the new In-Colours of Blackberry Bliss and Lost Lagoon the focus of my card, but the other two colours also feature - take a look:

I used two pieces of DSP for the background of my card - the honeycomb from the Midnight DSP stack and the tiny blue flowers from the All Abloom DSP stack and I used a piece of the lovely Lost Lagoon satin ribbon to cover the join and create a statement bow. As these papers both have quite busy patterns, I decided to go with a fairly simple stamped focal point, with a sentiment from the 'Perfect Pennants' alongside a simple floral circle using Summer Silhouettes in Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss and Wisteria Wonder. Lastly, I fussy cut one of the Wisteria Wonder flowers and mounted it onto a dimensional for extra interest.

I hope you like my card today and that it inspires you to hop on over to the Paper Players challenge blog to join in and upload your challenge creations. The Paper Player challenge takes place weekly, opening on a Sunday at 8am (PST) and closes at noon on Friday (PST). Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules: 

1.  Create a new paper project

2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the  post featuring your challenge submission.

3.  Please link your card to no more than three challenges, TOTAL.

4.  Have FUN!

We look forward to seeing your colourful creations! Right I'm off to a ballet exam today (chauffeur not dancer, of course!). Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Perfect Pennants	Summer Silhouettes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack	All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad
Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Lost Lagoon 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

Well what a day! The highlight has definitely been Ben's birthday party with his class mates at Bugtopia, an insect and reptile centre near here. He had the most amazing time, holding everything from stick insects and tarantulas to chameleons and crickets! I will share some photos with you when I've had a chance to download them from my camera, but for today thought I would share the cards I made for Ben's two fellow 'birthday boys' with whom he shares his special day and some of the sweet treats that made it into the party bags. So first up, one of Ben's frineds is currently dinosaur mad, so I made a card using the new retired 'Dinoraur' stamp set (with a soon to be 7 year old son, I couldn't possibly part with my set, retired or otherwise!). I decided to create a fun card with a removable dinosaur bookmark made with the Scalloped tag Topper punch. Here is the card with the bookmark in its little pocket:

And here is the bookmark when removed, showing Triceratops on the bottom too:

This card was such fun to make and perfect for a would-be palaeontologist. I have a bonus share for you today too: given the theme of our party, I used the Goodie Gear Simply Created Treat Kit for some suitably themed sweet treats - take a look:

I bought a box of jelly frogs and tied them into the kit bags, decorated the labels and made a little stamped frog button (this is also from the retired 'Spring Sampler' stamp set). I thought I would share these with you as these bag kits are currently available on the Clearance Rack for just £1.79, and the Pumpkin Pie versions too - bargain or what?! Go and snap up a few to add a little 'wow' factor to your party treats! We also gave each child their very own butterfly garden to enable them to hatch their own caterpillar eggs into Painted Lady butterflies - a perfect project for the forthcoming long school summer holidays!

I'll be back tomorrow nice and early with my Paper Players post for the week; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon	Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red Goodie Gear Simply Created Kit

Well what a day! The highlight has definitely been Ben's birthday party with his class mates at Bugtopia, an insect and reptile centre near here. He had the most amazing time, holding everything from stick insects and tarantulas to chameleons and crickets! I will share some photos with you when I've had a chance to download them from my camera, but for today thought I would share the cards I made for Ben's two fellow 'birthday boys' with whom he shares his special day and some of the sweet treats that made it into the party bags. So first up, one of Ben's frineds is currently dinosaur mad, so I made a card using the new retired 'Dinoraur' stamp set (with a soon to be 7 year old son, I couldn't possibly part with my set, retired or otherwise!). I decided to create a fun card with a removable dinosaur bookmark made with the Scalloped tag Topper punch. Here is the card with the bookmark in its little pocket:

And here is the bookmark when removed, showing Triceratops on the bottom too:

This card was such fun to make and perfect for a would-be palaeontologist. I have a bonus share for you today too: given the theme of our party, I used the Goodie Gear Simply Created Treat Kit for some suitably themed sweet treats - take a look:

I bought a box of jelly frogs and tied them into the kit bags, decorated the labels and made a little stamped frog button (this is also from the retired 'Spring Sampler' stamp set). I thought I would share these with you as these bag kits are currently available on the Clearance Rack for just £1.79, and the Pumpkin Pie versions too - bargain or what?! Go and snap up a few to add a little 'wow' factor to your party treats! We also gave each child their very own butterfly garden to enable them to hatch their own caterpillar eggs into Painted Lady butterflies - a perfect project for the forthcoming long school summer holidays!

I'll be back tomorrow nice and early with my Paper Players post for the week; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon	Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Real Red Goodie Gear Simply Created Kit

I've had another busy week and whilst it's great that it's Friday, boy do I have a busy weekend ahead of me! But before I get into my weekend, check out this card I made today for this week's Mojo Monday challenge; I haven't participated in this challenge for a while, but I really liked this week's sketch so thought I would use it for today's card. Here is the sketch:

 And here's my card, featuring some of the scrummy new paper in the All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack:

I followed the sketch but I have been a little liberal with the relative dimensions of the various elements, as I wanted to use this particular sentiment from the 'Feel Goods' set and show off as much of the bold paper pattern as possible. Taking the inspiration for my colour scheme from the DSP, I matted a piece of Mossy Meadow onto a Daffodil Delight card base, then positioned the DSP on the left and bordered the right hand side with a strip of Strawberry Slush edged in Pistachio Pudding, cut with the large scallop edgelit. I stamped my sentiment in Mossy Meadow and matted it on a piece of the same colour cardstock, with a small partial mat of Pistachio Pudding as I didn't want to obscure too much of the pattern. I finished with a simple circular flower, to echo those in the paper design, punched out with a couple of circle punches and finished with a candy dot.

I made this card with a friend of mine in mind and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Above all, I'm loving this new paper stack - the patterns in it are lovely and I can guarantee you'll be seeing lots more of this!

So that's me for today. And so to the weekend: tomorrow Rebecca has an extra ballet lesson before her exam on Sunday, we are holding Ben's birthday party for his school classmates tomorrow afternoon (more on that tomorrow!) and we are also hoping to squeeze in a visit to our local fire station open day and drop in on a church fete that a friend of mine has been working very hard to prepare for to show our support. That is all in addition to the usual homework and swim squad sessions - wish me luck!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Feel Goods Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Large Scallop Edgelits Die	1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock
Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Candy Dots
Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Another busy day for me today - for those who follow me on Facebook, you will have seen photographs of a class I ran a few weeks ago with a super bunch of ladies making 3D wall art using folded hearts so that they would each have a unique gift for their little girls. Well it just so happens that the same group of ladies also each have one or more sons, so in order that they wouldn't feel left out they wanted to make a similar project with boys in mind. Never one to resist a challenge, I already had an idea in mind using the new Stars Framelits - here it is:

Using a combination of the two smallest star framelits and the mini star punch from the new Itty Bitty punches pack, I cut lots of stars and then having scored them down the middle, adhered them to each other on one half in groups of three and arranged them in a star shape. This close-up shot gives a better explanation of this:

I used a combination of Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red patterned papers from the Brights Designer Paper Stack for my wall art as these colours will look great in Ben's Lego-inspired bedroom, however the ladies in my class used different colour combinations and even created some stunning monochrome designs. The dimensional stars really make this wall art stand out, especially in bold, bright colours. The wall art made in the class will be on my Facebook page in the morning if you would like to pop over and take a look, when I will also be updating the product links for today's post. If you live local to me in Northampton or the surrounding area and you would like to attend a class to make one of these lovely frames, then do get in touch.

This really is a quick post from me as I have a few more jobs to do before I turn in for the night, having been running a class today, sorting my school and after-school club runs and then a pleasant (if brief!) couple of hours with some of my lovely team this evening for one of our regular catch up sessions.

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 July (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:

Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum	Retro Fresh This And That Designer Washi Tape	Retro Fresh This And That Journal	Silver Baker's Twine
Smoky Slate 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Sweet Shop Kit - Digital Download	Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons

More shine this week with gold vellum and silver baker's twine making an appearance, along with the sparkly cut vintage faceted buttons. A bargain on washi tape too - there really is something for everyone!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy shopping! 

Happy Wednesday everyone! Double delights today: new weekly Wednesday Deals - I'll be back with the details on those later  -and more importantly for me my second Colour Me...! Card Challenge Design Team post! This week we are using the striking colour combination of Elegant Eggplant and Soft Sky:

This is an unusual colour combination for me, but I had a clear idea of how I was going to use these contrasting colours - here's the card I came up with this week: 

I decided to use Elegant Eggplant for my base card and then stamped the large Swallowtail stamp in Elegant Eggplant onto Soft Sky cardstock. I then took a rectangular piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock and punched a circular hole out of the centre and rounded alternating corners with my Project Life corner rounder. I then strategically placed this over my butterfly to include its head and adhered it to my card using dimensionals, having first coloured the portion of the butterfly visible through the circular hole using Elegant Eggplant ink and a blender pen. The top layer is used to create a 'spotlight' onto the butterfly and almost magnify its detail. I finished with a small birthday sentiment from Petite Pairs as I didn't want anything that would overshadow my butterfly, and stamped the inside of the card and the envelope too with the smaller swallowtail from the coordinating Papillion Potpourri stamp set.

I hope you like today's card - please do pop along to the 'Colour Me...!' challenge page this week to check out the work from the other talented designers that I'm working with and to upload your own creations.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Swallowtail Clear-Mount Stamp	Petite Pairs - Clear-Mount Stamp	Papillon Potpourri Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock
Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Project Life Corner Punch	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Blender Pens	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

I've had a fun day today with my monthly card class. Classes take a lot of thought and preparation, but I can honestly say I laugh so much with this fun bunch of ladies it so makes it all worthwhile! Today's class was all about getting to know new stamp sets, colours and tools from the new catalogue and I thought I would share one of the cards we made using the Work of Art stamp set and the new 2014-16 in-colours. Here is the card in question:

I based the design for my card on one I'd seen on Pinterest using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (I didn't pin it though and now can't find the link - apologies!) and  coupled the stripe and heart from the Work of Art set with one of my favourite vintage 'Happy Day' stamps (I have a new catalogue 'replacement' for this on order, but I'm not ready to part with this one yet!) Quite a simple design but tricky to line up and make everything look even without loosing the natural 'swiped' look; the main reason I'm sharing it though is because of all the cards we made today, this one not only raised a smile - it had us in stitches! I wish I had taken my camera as there were some lovely variations on the basic idea and everyone using a different colour of base card.

If you live in or around Northampton and would like to join my monthly classes, do get in touch. I am currently looking at expanding my class schedule further, so would love to hear from you if this is something that interests you.

Back tomorrow with this week's Colour Me...! design team card and the Wednesday Weekly Deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

It's Monday and the start of a busy week for me, beginning with sports day for both James juniors today. So a nice early post is in order and today I'm sharing a card inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown this week:

I thought these colour would make a fun baby card, but which way to go - girl or boy? In the end I decided to have some fun and use a little of both - take a look and see what I mean:

I decided to create a fun 'gender reveal' card that could be handed out to guests at a baby shower or similar, when the baby's gender has been kept a secret but it's time for the big reveal. I used Very Vanilla as my card base and created mats in Tempting Turquoise, Strawberry Slush and Very Vanilla, then punched 4 squares using my retired 1 1/4" square punch (you could cut these by hand), 2 blue and 2 pink, and attached one of the cute images from the 'Something for Baby' set, stamped in alternating pink and blue, and cut out with the co-ordinating framelits and mounted on dimensionals on the coloured squares. I then took one of the baby sentiments from the 'A Dozen Thoughts' stamp sets and partially inked it up so that the start of the sentiment was on the front, with the final 'reveal' on the inside. So what did I choose for my card - well, here's the inside where the truth is out:

I made mine for a little girl, adding in the leading dots and the exclamation mark with my Strawberry Slush marker pen. You could just as easily create a similar card with alternate wording for a boy - cute, eh?!

We are making a card similar to this one in my monthly card class which is being held this week, which is featuring lots of products from the new Stampin' Up! 2014-15 Annual Catalogue. If you live in Northampton and are interested in attending card, home decor or Project Life classes, do get in touch - new faces are always welcome!

Right, I'm off to avoid being attacked by a javelin or alternative sporting object! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Something For Baby Clear-Mount Bundle	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise A4 Card Stock
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	A Dozen Thoughts

Today is a very exciting day - my first official post as a Guest Designer with The Paper Players! I am very pleased to be joining this talented group of ladies for the next three months, along with the other amazing guest designers: Claire Broadwater, Yapha Mason, Andrea Whisman and Mike Funke - I'm really looking forward to working with you all. So today's challenge is from Nance and requires projects with a beach theme:

When I think 'beach' I immediately am drawn to the bold and bright colours of the Caribbean, where, as a keen scuba diver I've spent some of my best beach holidays. However, for today's card I decided to opt for something that shows a more traditional British beach scene and took the opportunity to use one of the new in-colours, Lost Lagoon. I also used this week's Freshly Make Sketches layout (turned through 90 degrees) for my card - take a look:

I took out the seagulls from my recently acquired 'Wetlands' set and with a Sahara Sand card base, stamped them in Basic Grey on a circle of Whisper White cut out with my Big Shot and circles framelits and sponged in the background using Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand and a little So Saffron masking the sun using a little punched circle of spare cardstock. I mounted this circle slightly offset onto a larger circle cut from Lost Lagoon and used a piece off paper from the new Moonlight Designer Series paper stack as a partial background - this paper so reminds me of waves! The pattern actually runs across the short side of the stack, so to make it extend along the whole of the long side of my card I simply matched the pattern and created a join, that is hidden behind the circular focal point - clever, eh? I then finished with a strip of Basic Grey cardstock wrapped with a piece of Lost Lagoon stitched satin ribbon, my sentiment stamped on a narrow flag and a basic metal button tied with linen thread to add to the natural feel.

I love the circular elements on this card and the muted colour scheme - it takes me back to my childhood when I lived quite near to some of the best of the British coastline and would often spend warm sunny days building sandcastles and paddling in the sea. I currently live right in the centre of 'middle England' and couldn't be further from any stretch of coastline than anywhere else in the country; I'll have to make do with watching the barges and moorhens on the local canals instead!

I hope you like my card today and that it inspires you to hop on over to the Paper Players challenge blog to join in and upload your challenge creations. The Paper Player challenge takes place weekly, opening on a Sunday at 8am (PST) and closes at noon on Friday (PST). Here's a quick recap of our challenge rules: 

1.  Create a new paper project

2.  Upload your creation to your blog with a link back to us and provide a direct link to the  post featuring your challenge submission.

3.  Please link your card to no more than three challenges, TOTAL.

4.  Have FUN!

We look forward to seeing your seaside-themed creations! We are having a restful family day today, having had a busy day yesterday with a theatre visit and swimming gala and the next two weeks choc full of things going on as the end of the school term draws near. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Wetlands	Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	Basic Gray A4 Card Stock
Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	A Dozen Thoughts	Linen Thread
Basic Metal Buttons	Lost Lagoon 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon