Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Ann to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I had a few ideas for Ann's layout, but having finally received my new annual catalogue preorder I decided to have a play with just some of the new goodies in my box - take a look at what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Every single thing that I used on my card today is brand new!!

New Papers: I used the new Fresh As A Daisy designer paper as my starting point and used a bold, pink daisy pattern for my main panel and the reverse for the semi-circle.

New Colours: I used a base of the new pale pink, Bubble Bath, a mat of Copper Clay and ink in Copper Clay and one of the new in-colours, Moody Mauve.

New Stamps and Dies: The bundle that is included in the Fresh as a Daisy Suite is called 'Cheerful Daisies'; the stamp set contains both solid and outline daisy images and a range of sentiments and there are dies that cut out the stamped images and those that create standalone layered flowers along with a great label die.

New Accessories: I used both the Adhesive-backed Solid Gems in Copper Clay and the new 3/8" Textured Ribbon in Moody Mauve on my card too (I split the ribbon in half lengthways for my bow, tied with twine).

You can see the layering more closely here - so much to love, right?!

I added an offcut of paper and another sentiment from the set to the inside of my card to finish:

So what do you think? Are you excited to see more of the Cheerful Daisies and lots of other items from the annual catalogue? It launches May 2nd so not long to wait! I have catalogues ready to send to everyone who has shopped with me in the past 6 months. If you don't have a demonstrator and would like to receive a catalogue, do get in touch.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing my fourth card for my Guest Designer spot over at Just Us Girls. This week it's Clean and Simple week - always a favourite!

The theme is food and beverages - I couldn't resist another outing with my 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set before it retires! I used the layout over at Try Stamping on Tuesday and the bright colour palette over at Color Throwdown to make a colourful cocktail reminiscent of summer vacations - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I stamped my cocktail in yellow and decided to accent with a blue umbrella and slice of lime, then diecut it and backed it with a circle of vellum and carried my accent colours through to my strips of ombre glimmer paper and my two-tone sentiment: 

I stamped another glass on the front of my envelope and on the inside of my card for added colour:

If you stamp them all at the same time, it really takes very little extra time and it's a nice way of adding a little extra 'pretty'. I will miss this set soooo much when it retires - the stamps and dies have done double-duty in my craft room and then some; I love them and will never part with them! Be sure to check out what the Just Us Girls Design Team have made for Clean and Simple Week - I'm sure they will have some amazing projects to share!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I'd like to tell you that my plan for today was to consume cocktails, but alas no such luck! I will be stood at the side of the hockey pitch, as usual - cocktails will have to wait for antoher day! I'll be back tomorrow with my card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NOTHING'S BETTER THAN PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (14.70)	LOVE YOU MORE THAN DIES (25.20)	2022–2024 IN COLOR 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) GLIMMER PAPER (9.00)	PARAKEET PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)
WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (7.50)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a vibrant colour challenge chosen by Jane:

I love this colour combo, but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it work on a card. I need not have worried though; once I'd pulled out a couple of retiring stamp sets and the sketch layout over at Atlantic Hearts I knew exactly where I was headed. Take a look at what I came up with:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

I knew I wanted to make a few more cards featuring the cuties in the 'By My Side' stamp set before it retires, so I decided to go with this young lady following her butterfly friend for my focal point. I coloured her with my Stampin' Blends in the challenge colours and instead of pairing her with the sentiments in the set, I chose a larger one from the retiring 'Stepping Stones' set. A great set including a selection of famous motivational quotes, I chose 'Follow Your Own Star' and stamped it in Gorgeous Grape ink. I decided to go with a bold background of stripes in each of the challenge colours (doubling up with Coastal Cabana) and used a retired  butterfly embossing folder across the whole panel to add interest and create a unifying design:

It also picked up the stamped butterfly on the focal image. It's almost a shame the sentiment doesn't say 'Follow your own butterfly', as the young lady featured seems to be dreamily following her winged friend!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)	BY MY SIDE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (21.00)	STEPPING STONES CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (14.70)	PARAKEET PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	PARAKEET PARTY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)
COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	HIGHLAND HEATHER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (6.12)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)
STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM LIGHT COMBO PACK (8.50)

Just a quick post to let you know that the latest addition to the Kits Collection by Stampin’ Up! can now be found in the online store:

 The Forever Friends Kit has all you need to create beautiful floral cards with green foil accents to share with all your friends! This kit retails at £20 and includes:

• Enough supplies to create 8 cards—4 each of 2 designs
• 8 coordinating envelopes
• One Forever Friends photopolymer stamp set
• One Night of Navy Ink Spot
• Printed card bases, printed foil envelopes, foil die cuts, adhesive, twine, and a clear block
• Finished card size: 5-1/4" x 4-1/4" (13.3 x 10.8 cm)
• Coordinating colours: Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Old Olive, Petal Pink

 You can order yours in the online store by clicking here and here's a link to the unboxing video if you'd like a closer look:

Pretty, right? 

That's all from me for today! Remember if you are shopping with me in the online store, remember to use the host code for April in order to receive a little thank you from me in the post.

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

Today I'm sharing a card that I made last week when I had my 'Begin With A Dream' stamp set out on my desk making this card. 

Today's card uses the layout above from Try Stamping on Tuesday and embraces the inspiration of 'rainbow' too - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Fairly straightforward here - a diecut rainbow using the retired Rainbow Dies for the curved element and a panel of the repeating image of people holding hands, coloured with my Stampin' Blends and finished with a heat-embossed sentiment: 

I had intended to stick with the colours of my diecut arches but did get a little carried away with colouring the people - there is so much colour on this card it is truly a rainbow! I still love the fun, colourful feel though and I think it would be a great card for someone who needs a little mood boost (a teacher, maybe?) The 'Begin With A Dream' stamp set is really useful for this kind of card - it also features a really useful globe stamp that I've yet to feature on a card (so many stamps, so little time!)

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I am in the middle of a serious office clear-out so my day will be a busy one; I need to make progress before I can reward myself with some time crafting with my new annual catalogue preorder goodies that finally arrived yesterday! I'll definitely be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEGIN WITH A DREAM HOST CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (12.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
MANGO MELODY A4 CARDSTOCK (6.12)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	STARRY SKY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

Stampin' Blends: Various

I've a late post today but as promised I'm sharing a card that uses the same layout as yesterday's, this time using a trio of colours from the current Sunday Stamps palette:

I chose the two pinks and Starry Sky as my co-ordinating dark blue for a bright slimline birthday card - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

The card has a few more layers than yesterday and is all about the colour! I used the fabulous large floral die as my focal point then overlaid with the other diecut sentiment in the Amazing Thanks set, having combined this with a stamped sentiment from the Art Gallery set for a colourful birthday card:

This card is still easy to pull together and impactful with the hot pink! I thought this card might work with the addition of a sparkly diecut number as I have lots of friends and family celebrating milestone birthdays in the next few months. I need a card for an 18th birthday, so consulted with the James Juniors for their thoughts and was told in no uncertain terms that this was a card more suitable to older (much older!!) ladies! Oh well - clearly I might be the mother of two teenagers, but what do I know?! Back to the drawing board on that one!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

AMAZING THANKS DIES (ENGLISH) (10.40)	ART GALLERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (8.40)	ARTISTIC DIES (33.00)	STARRY SKY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	STARRY SKY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	SLIMLINE ENVELOPES (5.70)

An important second post today! For 24 hours only, starting at 11pm UK time this evening, Stampin' Up! are offering FREE shipping on orders of £60 or more.

The key information is as follows:

• Free shipping applies after the qualifying order amount has been met.
• The minimum qualifying amount to receive free shipping is £60 or more.
• Free shipping only applies during the 24-hour period the promotion is live in each market; this means that the order must be opened and closed between 18th April 2023, at 11 p.m. and 19 April 2023, at 11:00 p.m (UK).

This is a great time to stock up on retiring in-colours or stamps, pick up a bundle that you've had your eye on and more! So start making those lists and head off to my online Stampin' Up! store after 11pm - remember to add the current hostess reward code 6CFWAKVR at check out - or message me with your order.

Happy shopping!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Valerie has asked that we create a slimline card with a square feature and overlapping sentiment:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card but remember to make it a slimline if you'd like to be considered for the winner's spot for this challenge. 

For my card today I ended up making two cards; I'll share the first one tomorrow as it was a little less clean and simple than I'd have liked. This is the card I settled on to share with you today:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

This is actually a no-stamping card. I used a piece of the retiring black and white Perfectly Penciled designer series paper and coloured the negative space around the florals using my Mint Macaron Blends, before cutting it out using one of my square Stylish Shapes Dies. I added this to a base of thick Basix White cardstock, and then added a layered thanks sentiment cut with the Amazing Thanks Dies on dimensionals to complete my card:

The Perfectly Penciled papers are great for colouring with your Stampin' Blends markers and this 'reverse colouring' really allows the black and white design to stand out. This paper, along with Mint Macaron and all its accessories and those fabulous Amazing Thanks Dies are all retiring at the end of this month - add them to your shopping basket whilst you still can - or maybe wait until 11pm this evening when the 24 hour free shipping promotion starts - you can read more about the free shipping promotion here!

I'm also linking today's card to the black, white and one colour challenge over at Color Dare and the current 'anything goes' challenge at Less Is More.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

AMAZING THANKS DIES (ENGLISH) (10.40)

PERFECTLY PENCILED 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (7.87)

MINT MACARON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (7.65)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few current challenges:

I'm using Cecile's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and the colour combination over at Colour Inkspirational (I chose my retiring in-colour as Polished Pink - love this pink!) and am also linking up over at Inkspirational where the theme is clean and simple. I'm also using a retiring stamp set - for the first time! Take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

When I saw Cecile's sketch, I was initially tempted to go with the 'clean and layered' look, however I decided I'd challenge myself to embrace my 'inner Cecile' and create something altogether more clean and simple. I already had the 'Cottage Rose' stamp set out on my desk as I wanted to give it at least one use before it goes away, so I decided I would use that for my focal point, masking and stamping in an extra set of leaves too, in black onto Very Vanilla cardstock.

If you too are a fan of Cecile's work, you will know she is the queen of clean and simple cards and lots to add colour to line stamped designs using a paintbrush and watercolours - her current Design Team cards both at FMS and at CAS Colours & Sketches are good examples of this. I wasn't sure I could pull this off though, so instead I decide to go for a more bokeh effect and using both a blending brush and sponge dauber to achieve different depths of colour, I added Polished Pink and (retired) Encore Gold ink using stencils made with a variety of circle punches and some leftover window sheet to the main flower. A simple gold-on-black heat embossed sentiment completes my card:

I added the same floral detail both inside the card and on the front and flap of my coordinating envelope to complete the look. I resisted the urge to add some enamel dots and just allowed the flower to take centre stage. What do you think? Have you ever tried this kind of technique before? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to hear your thoughts. I don't mind saying I just love this card!! A mix of traditional floral and modern, abstract colouring - so fun! Thank you Cecile for a fabulous sketch and design inspiration this week!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COTTAGE ROSE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.20)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (6.00)	SPONGE DAUBERS (4.75)	BLENDING BRUSHES (11.75)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the lovely LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Use a craft image on your card - hmm, this should be an easy one right? Turns out I had nothing in my current product stash that fitted the bill and due to the sorting out of stamp sets I couldn't find any stamps in my retired stash either (even though I know I have some somewhere!!) Then I remembered that I has a retired Memories and More pack called 'What a Year' that had some quirky images in - and today's no-stamping card was born! Here it is:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

A few of the cards in this pack feature scissors, so I chose one of them, added a background of (retired) Mango Melody Dandy Designs paper left over from Sale-A-Bration, and one of the sentiment stickers from the Memories & More pack too. The only extra I added was a diecut circle and banner behind:

And that was it - done! A little light on 'white space', but no stamping, minimal layers and embellishments and it took barely 10 minutes to put together - clean and simple at its best!

No visual summary of the key products used on today's project or supplies list, as apart from the Stylish Shapes Dies and basic cardstock I used, everything else is retired. I think this makes a fun and colourful notecard for a crafty friend - I'd love a fancy pair of scissors like the ones on this card too, wouldn't you?

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

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!