It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Deborah has asked that we add a trio of images to the lower portion of our card, along with a sentiment. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I took my inspiration from those yummy-looking ring donuts in the Just Add Ink inspo photo this week, and focused on the colours of the white one at the front with the blue, pink, peach and pale yellow sprinkles. I used rings of a different kind though - take a look:

Today's card features three new products - can you spot them all? Here's the low-down on today's card:

Make A Splash - I chose inflatable rubber rings (as opposed to donuts) for the three circles of the sketch, courtesy of the new Online Exclusive set 'Splash & Relax' which will be available in May. There are some great sentiments in addition to a selection of rubber rings and beach balls in the stamp set, but the dies that coordinate are so much fun - they include a sun visor, smoothie cup and sunglasses amongst other things! I almost chose three separate die cut images, but decided to keep things simple with a trio of rubber rings. I chose the colours of the sprinkles for each one - this does make them look rather like Party Rings though! Do any of my overseas readers know what I'm talking about? Party Rings are a ring shaped biscuit (aka cookie) with pastel icing on the top that are beloved of UK children everywhere - or certainly the James Juniors and their friends when the were little.

Water, Water Everywhere - The watery detail that I used to add interest behind my rubber rings is courtesy of the new Water Decorative Mask stencil that will debut in the new April catalogue. It is paired with one that feature dotted lines and is a whopping 12" x 12", so perfect for all kind of projects large and small. You can see the detail on the close up below:

I Spy A New In-Colour - The final new item on today's card is the shade of blue that I used for the water - this is Hydrangea Hue, one of the upcoming new in-colours and it was a great match for the blue on the JAI palette above.

A sentiment from the Splash & Relax set completes 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 later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

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

Completing today's sentence was an easy one: besides Christmas, I definitely mail more thank you cards than any other. I always send thank you cards to customers who place Stampin' Up! orders with me and I love to show my appreciation of anyone who demonstrates thoughtfulness. Now I made a couple of thank you cards with today's challenge in mind - I'll share the first card I made tomorrow; today I'm sharing the 'happy accident' that was my second card that came about as I was rummaging through my stamp sets and found the perfect sentiment for that layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge this week - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Today's card is a celebration of old favourites - the sentiments in the retired 'Love You Sew' stamp set were the perfect shape for the panel in the sketch. I couldn't resist this punny thank you one, so I paired it with a variety of pinks and some Night of Navy of Navy so that I could play along over at Color Dare too. I used Strawberry Slush for my cardbase and added a diecut layer using the Dots & Spots Die (also retired). I stamped some lines in Bubble Bath to look like a notepad using one of the stamp from the retired 'Tap Tap Tap' stamp set, then rounded the corners and used a border punch across the top of the panel before adding my sentiment in Night of Navy and finishing with a bow-shaped paper clip for a touch of fun. That fun vertical element consists of a piece of Pretty In Pink cardstock cut with the Large Scallop Die, a piece of retired Melon Mambo Brights designer paper with a circle pattern and a piece of navy cardstock, tied with some Strawberry Slush baker's twine:

I wouldn't normally mix so many pinks on one card unless I was colour blending, but I think this kind of works and the navy is a great complimentary colour. Whilst this card won't be going to any of my customers - I like to send them cards made with current product for obvious reasons - I am sure I will have a use for this card before too long!

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, please complete the sentence and explain how it relates to your card.
• 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'!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. We are a (calendar not challenge) day early to keep you on your toes as Deborah is hosting for the month of April and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

I love this trio of bright colours that Deborah chose and Melon Mambo is one of my all-time favourite pinks - however I did struggle to know what to create today! So it seemed appropriate to make a card ... just because! Here's my card:

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

Do you ever make cards 'just because'? I never under-estimate the joy that an unexpected piece of 'happy mail' can bring and today's card is one of those that is perfect for such an occasion. Using a blending brush, I created a mix of the two greens on a piece of white cardstock then I took that beautiful textured leaf die from Nature's Symphony and cut out a variegated stem. This is such a fun technique as no two diecuts ever look the same. To that I added a simple bold Melon Mambo sentiment using my favourite Words of Beauty bundle:

I couldn't resist adding a trio of pink glossy dots from my stash 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. 

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! colour 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; it's supposed to be getting warmer here today with temperatures peaking at 17 degrees, which seems balmy compared to the chilly temperatures of late, however I can honestly say it's not looking that promising so far - I'll believe it when I feel it! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	NATURE'S SYMPHONY DIES (£31.00)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SUMMER SPLASH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SHY SHAMROCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

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

I love these pretty pastels that LeAnne chose this week! I decided to create another card using my Flowers Fair stamp, using Amy's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

For today's card I coloured the Flowers Fair stamped florals with my Stampin' Blends in each of the challenge colours, then cropped a portion of it and framed with my Impressions Abloom Dies (the closest thing I have to an oval). I do love the detail on the frame piece, it's subtle but there. I ran my horizontal strip of Pretty In Pink cardstock through my Big Shot with the mini corrugated embossing folder for a little added texture and added a sentiment from the January Product of the Month stamp set, Fabulous Sayings:

I felt like my card needed something more, so before I glued it all together I added a sheet of retired Subtles DSP to my card base. The pattern is very subtle in Soft Sea Foam, but was just what I needed. A trio of Pool Party sequins and some baker's twine complete my card - which is my 'just add 2' for the ladies over at Just Add Ink too.

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 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.
• 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'!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and I have a cutaway rectangle with a focal point in the space and an overlaid sentiment:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I wanted to use up one of the unicorns I fussy cut from the retired Myths & Magic designer series paper that I had leftover from my Paper Players card a couple of weeks ago - it was just the right size for my focal image:

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

I embossed my panel of Melon Mambo cardstock with the Soft Waves embossing folder for a sense of movement and added some clear Wink of Stella for a subtle unicorn trail. Check out that sparkly unicorn:

I added a sentiment from the 'Terrific Toadstools' stamp set and a few clear rhinestones 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:

TERRIFIC TOADSTOOLS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.00)

SOFT WAVES 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£9.50)

RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£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 sketch challenge designed by me:

When I designed this sketch, I had in mind one large central focal point, overlaid with a sentiment. When looking through my supplies, I decided on a fun birthday card- take a look:

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

Turtle-y Cute - The star of today's card is the larger-than-life turtle, complete with birthday cake. He is actually one of the stickers from the Turtle-y Cute sticker sheet, as are the balloons behind (I snipped these apart to create a layered effect). These are designed for scrapbook layouts, but they make great centrepieces for cards too. I popped mine up on dimensionals, and used a sheet of Turtle-y Cute designer series paper for my background and added a twine bow and some sequins for some celebratory sparkle:

Delightful Wishes - This card really didn't need much more other than a sentiment. I used a combination from the Delightful Wishes bundle that gave me a large sentiment that would stand out, without obscuring the detail of my birthday turtle behind.

These sticker sheets are greet for large elements that work for all kinds of projects - why not give then a go?

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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TURTLE-Y CUTE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER & STICKER SHEET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)	DELIGHTFUL WISHES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£19.00)	DELIGHTFUL WISHES DIES (ENGLISH) (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
POPPY PARADE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a colourful speed stamping challenge:

I love purple so this was a fun week for me! But it's speed stamping - so there are some very important considerations before we start to craft as we are against the clock!  I decided to use the sketch layout over at Sunday Stamps as it was perfect for what I had in mind. Take a look at my card and then I'll explain:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Thankful Garden - I had lots of floral options that would work well with purple and settled on Thankful Garden, which I haven't played with for a while and is now on the last-chance list. First I stamped my flower and sentiment using my stamping platform. 10 minutes wouldn't be long enough to colour my card with Blends, or complete the stencilling of each layer, so I decided to mask an area and blend a selection of purples in a vertical column. I actually masked two columns, for a unique take on Claire's Sunday Stamps layout (tweaking the width of each of her columns for more visual interest on my one layer card). A smattering of purple gems following the shades of purple to highlight the detail on the inked panels were the finishing touch to my card:

Keep It Simple - Keeping my design simple - minimal stamping/colouring and a straightforward layout meant I finished my card well within the 10 minute time limit:

Super speedy!

An Added Extra - Since I still had extra time, I took another minute to reposition the flower stamp and add a sentiment to the inside of my card, along with a little extra colour using my blending brush:

And that really is my card finished - and well under the 10 minute deadline - yay!

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 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 tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THANKFUL GARDEN PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£13.80)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	PURPLE FINE SHIMMER GEMS (£7.50)	FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Amanda has asked that we place two images/shapes on opposing sides, with a sentiment towards the bottom of the card.  Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I wanted to ink up a new-to-me set that a number of my crafty friends have been using to great effect - the Nature's Symphony bundle - so I grabbed the colour palette over at Colour Inkspiration where I haven't played along for a while (they had me with these colours!) and set to work. Here's my card:

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

Nature's Symphony is a great set for clean and simple cards, as well as for something more layered and detailed; but there was one thing in particular that attracted me to this bundle - yes, it is that beautiful diecut leaf stem! I actually snipped it into two here and used the respective pieces for my top and bottom detail, on top of some layered stamping in all three colours using the other stamps in the set (and a splatter stamp from Notes of Nature):

A simple sentiment anchored with a rainbow dot completes my card. Whilst there's some layering to the stamping, keeping it to a two discreet areas and leaving lots of white space retains the clean and simple feel of my card. I'm also linking today's card up over at CAS On Friday where the current theme is 'anything goes'.

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; today is Shrove Tuesday - will you be celebrating with pancakes? The hubby is entertaining clients this evening so it's just me for dinner. A pancake or two might be just the ticket! I actually saw a new recipe for Austrian pancakes from the lovely Martha Collinson on Instagram last week that I've never tried, so I might gives those a go - here's a link to it if you fancy taking a look too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NATURE'S SYMPHONY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
RAINBOW ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

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

I had to dig into the retired box for this one because whilst I had plenty of sentiment options, I didn't have any current product featuring candy. So a little mix of something old paired with something current this week - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

 I knew that I could make an appropriate sentiment for a candy-themed play on words with my Words of Beauty bundle, so I just needed to pair it with some suitably themed designer series paper. I actually had a couple of options and settled on this bright and cheery pattern that was one of my favourites in the retired How Sweet It Is designer series paper pack. I fussy cut one of the lollipops from the paper and added this for a little extra decoration, tied with a Gorgeous Grape twine bow:

A trio of purple enamel dots complete my card. A fun design that is perfect for a young sweetie fan or one who is young at heart! I'm more of a chocolate person rather than sweets, but am partial to the odd gummi bear :-) How about you? Do leave me a comment and let me know if you have a sweet tooth! I'm also linking today's card over at Time Out Challenges where I chose pink and twine from their list for the current 'choose 2' challenge.

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.
• 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; I am finally getting some time in my craft room today for the first time all week, so look forward to creating some projects to share with you in the next few days Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Amanda is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

I don't mind admitting, Amanda's colour palette properly threw me for a loop this week! I spent ages trying to work out how to use the combination of blue/greens. After much perusal of my stamp shelves, I decided on a retired stamp set that I don't think I've even used before (I know, shocker, right?!) Take a look:

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

'Oh Snap' is a stamp featuring this larger than life crocodile and has lots of funny sentiments with it. I wanted to make the crocodile the focal point, beut equally keep my card clean and simple, so I heat embossed the croc in white onto Pretty Peacock cardstock, and stamped him again in Pretty Peacock onto white so that I could fussy cut and paper piece his teeth (they look better than when I simply coloured them white, which I tried first). I popped him up on dimensionals and positioned his open jaws with a simple pond and unsuspecting frog in between, each stamped in the other two challenge colours (I stamped the frog first then added the water afterwards, as it was much easier to line up this way):

 My simple sentiment carried on to the inside of my card, where I added a rather nonchalant-looking bird for good measure:

Despite my initial lack of ideas, I really love how this fun card turned out and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes with this week's colour combination!

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! colour 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:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)
POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	SOFT SEA FOAM STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)