Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonal 'fill in the blank' challenge from Heather:

My favourite beach activity - well, I'm not one for lying on a sun lounger at the beach (I prefer to do that poolside!) so when I'm at the beach I like to be 'doing' and my favourite things to do include building sandcastles and paddling in the sea. So I knew I had to feature a sandcastle on today's card. I was inspired by this card that was my pick over at The Paper Players last week to try a similar technique and I ended up with not one, but two cards to share with you today. Here's the first one that I started with:

I used my retired Little Letters Thinlits Dies to cut my sentiment out a sheet of retired Serene Scenes paper with a beach scape, and infilled with the same letters cut from Basic White, and stamped a sandcastle using my Beach Day stamp set to which I added a little extra colour using my Stampin' Blends:

Having made this card, I decided that I would use the letters I'd cut out of my designer paper and make a second card:

This time I inset my letters into a white panel, that I popped up on a white card base which I had embossed with a retired waves embossing folder. Finally I added another sandcastle:

You still get a sense of the seaside from the letters, against all the white space. I decided I liked this card more than my first one, so that's the one that I used as my As You See it card, but I've shared both to explain the process. Here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer?

No visual summary of the key products today, as the key products are retired, but there are store links to the current products used below. I'm also linking today's first card up over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'H is for Holidays' and my second card for another play at Addicted to CAS where the current codeword is SUMMER.

So what's your favourite beach activity? Why not play along and share it with us over at As You See It.

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Fill In The Blank Challenge you must tell us how you would finish the sentence.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few current challenges that are all celebrating the delights of summer:

The team over at Just Us Girls are celebrating all things summertime, Addicted to CAS has the codeword of SUMMER and AAA Cards is looking for anything clean and simple, with the optional twist of summer.  

I have made a few cards using the 'Beach Day' set recently, mostly featuring the dies which I love. I wanted to try something more CAS that focused on the stamps alone - take a look at what I came up with:

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

This card really is super simple - I stamped a trio of images using my stamping platform for a crisp outline, added in some extra sand to extend the horizontal line and added a sentiment beneath. I coloured my images with my watercolour pencils, smoothing them with my blending pen:

This was my first experiment with the new neutral, Basic Beige, that I used for my card base. This really is a lovely neutral and makes a great soft, sand base for a beach-themed card. I haven't made a #simplestamping card like this one in ages, so it was fun to go back to basics. The Beach Day bundle is perfect for this kind of card, with so many images that can be combined to make fun little scenes. All we need here in the UK now is a little more sunshine - so far the summer has been rather damp!

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 off to the hairdressers later, which is always a joy. A good natter and an uninterrupted cup of coffee that I can still drink whilst hot - bliss! I'll be back Friday with my project for As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

BLENDER PENS (14.00)

WATERCOLOR PENCILS ASSORTMENT 1 (17.00)

BASIC BEIGE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Suzy has asked that we feature a frame and a trio of design elements. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

I decided to play along with the team over at Just Add Ink where they are all about adding a little party fun so for my card today I grabbed my 'Sweet Pea' stamp set and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

These partying peas crack me up; they are great for clean and simple cards and with party hats and streamers, these little guys are ready to party for sure! I flipped the sketch as my pea pod curved the wrong way to have my frame on the right hand side of my card and I chose three different stamped elements to adorn my frame. My frame is diecut with the Unbounded Love Dies; I actually cut two and snipped away one side, then joined them to make one larger frame, hiding the joins beneath my stamped elements:

A sprinkling of sequins and glimmer gems added to the party feel to complete my card.

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:

SWEET PEAS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	UNBOUNDED LOVE DIES (34.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (8.00)	SHY SHAMROCK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PETUNIA POP STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

We are already half way through July so today I have a quick reminder of what's new this month. First things first: BONUS DAYS ARE BACK! Do you remember this promotion from last year? It was so successful, Stampin' Up! have decided to repeat it this year.

For every £45.00 you spend between 3 July and 31 July (before delivery), you’ll get a £4.50 Bonus Days coupon that you can use between 1 and 31 August. Our new annual catalogue has been out for a couple of months now, so I'm sure you will still have some items on your wish list; this is a great opportunity to shop from it and make savings when you shop again in August with your coupons! 

There are some details in terms of small print that you need to take note of, as follows: 

• Promotion period: 3–31 July 2014
• Redemption period: 1–31 August 2024
• An email address is required to participate in this promotion; Bonus Days coupon codes can only be delivered via email.
• It is strongly recommended that you both save emails containing their Bonus Days coupon codes AND write down the coupon codes in a safe place. Codes cannot be resent if the email is lost, and lost codes cannot be recovered.
• Bonus Days coupon codes can be redeemed for any product, excluding Starter Kits.
• There is no limit to the number of coupons you can receive per order or throughout the duration of the promotion.
• There is no limit on the number of coupons you can use on an order during redemption.

There is also a new kit available this month called 'Garden of Thanks' - and it's beautiful! 

The cards in this kit really are beautiful - but don't just take my word for it, add one to your shopping basket today! Remember if you are placing an order online to also include this month's hostess code 3NR3FB9W to receive a free thank you gift from me too! 

If you have any questions on any of the above, then please do get in touch - I am always happy to help!

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

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I say interesting, because these colours almost threw me for a loop - nothing I tried using these colours seemed to work. Then I saw the sketch over at TGIF Challenges and I grabbed a new bundle and my card sort of fell into place - take a look:

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

I picked up the Friends For Life bundle during last month's bundle offer and hadn't yet used it. For today's card I created my own piece of patterned paper by repeat stamping the 'so excited for you' sentiment, the finished it off with a diecut 'friend' and an outline red heart:

I added a couple of solid red hearts for a pop of colour and a black diecut leaf stem to the opposing corner to complete my card. So what do you think - did I manage to do this colour palette justice? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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; today continues a weekend of sport, with both the men's Wimbledon final this afternoon followed by the Euros24 final this evening with England hoping to bring it home. I'll be cheering at both, although the tennis is more my thing! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS FOR LIFE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Today is an exciting day for us since not only is it our first challenge in the month of July, but we are welcoming three new members to our permanent design team: Jan Clothier, Stef Perry and Eliz Stewart. We are thrilled that this talented trio is joining us and can't wait to share their creativity with you. It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

Summer fun - so many directions you could go in this week! For me summer fun usually involves a visit to the beach - with sandcastles, paddling, ice creams and fish and chips thrown in. I did a beach scene using the Beach Day stamps and dies on Friday, but still wanted to use this set again. Today's card has more of a tropical beach vibe than you might find in the UK, but I couldn't resist that inspiration photo on the Hand Stamped Sentiments mood board (the second one across on the top row), so armed with this and one of the 2019 sketches (I chose #589) over at Sketch Saturday I set to work - take a look:

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

 I used a series of floating stripes for the sunset sky on today's card. I've used this technique before, in fact on a very similar card to this one previously (you can see that card here) and it's really easy to do: all you need is to take your stripes in a variety of widths, adhere to a piece of window sheet acetate (the ones your stamps come on will work nicely) and cut out with a circle die or to your desired shape. I wanted an ombre effect using the colours in the HSS inspo photo, so in order to get additional shades, I used two strips of cardstock in a variety of colours, then coloured one of each with the darker and lighter shades of Stampin' Blends markers respectively. The colour change is subtle, but this is a great way to gain additional variety - you can see the detail more closely below:

I wanted the sunset to be the main focus on my card, so created my beach scene around it using black diecuts only to emphasise the sunset silhouette. The Beach Day Dies have lots of additional detail, so don't really need colour to create interest. I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it using some (retired) melon Mambo embossing powder. If, unlike me, you don't have any coloured embossing powder lurking in the back of your drawer, you can achieve the same effect by heat embossing in white and then colouring it using a Melon Mambo Stampin' Blends marker. A trio of glossy dots and a twine bow complete my card. 

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 am spending mine with some of my fellow UK Stampin' Up! leaders for a development day, so that should be fun. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BEACH DAY DIES (32.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BERRY BURST STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	GLOSSY DOTS ASSORTMENT (7.50)

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

I chose this inspiration picture ages ago so didn't have anything in mind at the time, but when it came to create my card today I really felt like these colours would suit something bright and summery, so I grabbed my Beach Day stamp set and dies and set to work. I used the fab sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout (I mirrored it on the long side, because I wanted my palm trees to follow the line of the circle) and set about creating a fun beach scene. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I grabbed a piece of (retired) striped in-colour designer paper for my background, then diecut a circle and built my beach scene. This is mostly a collection of dicuts - the only stamping is the sentiment and the grains and shells stamped on the Crumb Cake 'sand' - and I threaded my lifesaver with a scrap of yellow sparkly twine I found in my scraps box for an extra little detail:

I added a birthday sentiment to the inside and am planning on using this for a masculine birthday that I have coming up soon, as I think it works without being stereotypically manly (if you know what I mean!). I'm also linking today's card up at Inspire.Create where the theme is 'summer'.

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• For a Colour Challenge use all of the given colours and only those colours with these exceptions:
• White and Very Vanilla are free colours.
• In addition, you may use of ONE of these neutrals: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige.
• For a Speed Stamping Challenge you must tell us the time it took to make your project and it must be finished in under 10 min.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BEACH DAY DIES (32.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Hello! Apologies for my unscheduled blog absence; things have been very busy in the James household lately and it has kept me out of my craft room. My regular readers will have noticed that I did not play along with my team mates over at The Paper Players on Sunday as usual; I finally managed to get into my craft room today so decided to make a card that worked with Anne Marie's fun tic-tac-toe board, that as it happens also allows me to squeak in a card for Just Us Girls this week where it's stencil week. I'm also linking up over at Inkspirational as they are featuring stencils too: 

I went across the top row of Anne Marie's tic-tac-toe board with stars/stripes (I chose stripes), bling (sequins) and blue and actually took some of my inspiration from this card by Carol over at JUGS for a summer-themed thank you card - take a look:

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

I used a retired stencil that I found in my stash to create what I am hoping looks like pool water splashes on my card base in (retired) Tahitian Tide ink, then using some stitched circle dies, created my lifesaver, decorated with some striped designer paper and twine rope detail. I had to get creative with my sentiment, as I didn't have a stamp to suit, so I used a combination of stamps from the 'Friends For Life' set and the word 'lifesaver' cut using the Mini Alphabet Dies:

A few sparkly blue sequins to catch the light complete my card. So what do you think - does the stencil effect work as water droplets? It's so much fun to rediscover old stencils or make your own to create fun cards.

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. 

You've still time to play along in this week's Paper Players challenge; why not check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your evening; I'll be back on Friday with another project and also a separate post with lots of new specials for the month of July . Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	MINI ALPHABET DIES (29.00)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)
STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses this week's sketch over at Just Add Ink and is super clean and simple and also plays to CAS on Friday's current nature theme:

I unfortunately need a sympathy card this week and as I still had the Frames & Flowers papers on my desk from making yesterday's card, it occurred to me that one of the partial wreath diecuts with its simple string of leaves would fit the sketch perfectly:

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

I added my sentiment from the Country Flowers stamp set in Pretty Peacock and added a trio of co-ordinating enamel dots to a Granny Apple Green cardbase:

The leaves in the wreath co-ordinate with a wide range of colours and I chose Granny Apple Green as opposed to Lost Lagoon which has been my 'go to' with these papers up to now, as I wanted something brighter and more uplifting and I really like the effect. The Frames & Flowers papers really do make light work of clean and simple card designs - I love them!

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:

COUNTRY FLOWERS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)

GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

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 wrestled with this sketch for a while, as I couldn't decide how best to make a feature of the frame - and then I remembered my Frames & Flowers designer papers, and problem solved - my card came together in no time! Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I did take a little liberty with Ann's sketch, in as much as I flipped the layers as I wanted my frame to be the top layer so that the diecut leaf detail was visible. I extended the mat layer and Old Olive strip beyond the frame, the placed my sentiment and diecut circle on top of that:

I went for a simple thank you sentiment from the 'Spotlight on Nature' stamp set onto a pretty circle cut using one of the co-ordinating dies. These circle dies are so useful and all of them have beautiful diecut border details. If you don't have this bundle, it's one well worth adding to your collection this month whilst there's an extra 10% off bundles. A few sequins and a twine bow complete my card. 

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 am taking the youngest of the James Juniors to Silverstone racetrack today for a driving course for young learners run by our local police force - should be fun! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE BUNDLE (44.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

NEUTRALS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.00)

OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)