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

There are lots of ways you can use these colours, although I did go with the rather predictable floral option! I'm also playing along over at CAS On Friday where they have a 'dies and stamped words only' challenge. For my card today I chose an old favourite - the Dainty Delight bundle:

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

I love the pretty arc of dainty flowers that the dies in this set creates and the subtle embossed detail on the leaves and flower centres add a subtle detail that is perfect for a clean and simple card. Since I also had the bundled stamp set of the same name out on the desk, I added a thank you greeting to complete my card:

Super simple today - doing my best to keep things CAS! What will you create with this week's colours?

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; I have a day of at home today catching up on my to-do list. I'll be back later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)

PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

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

I made a recipe including some of my favourite things, with no particular outcome in mind when I chose them ages ago. When it came to making my card though, I took my inspiration from one of the cards entered into our embossing folder challenge last week! Here's my card - take a look and I'll explain more below:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

The first entrant into our gallery for our last challenge, Hilary, had made a number of cards using her favourite embossing folders and a technique that involved embossing cardstock with a vellum overlay. You can see Hilary's cards on her blog 'Fiddling About' here if you missed them, but I was so intrigued by the technique, I decided I would take the opportunity to give it a go. And since yellow and flowers were 2 of my recipe ingredients, I decided to use my Sunflowers 3D embossing folder and see what happened. I tried it a few different ways as I wasn't sure how Hilary had attached her vellum and cardstock and found the most effective result to be when I attached a sheet of vellum to my cardstock using an adhesive sheet that covered the whole surface, before putting the combined layers into the embossing folder and running through my Big Shot. By using an adhesive sheet, you get the white detail of the embossed vellum, but you can still see a vibrant yellow beneath; without the whole adhesive sheet, the yellow was more muted and the relief was much whiter because of the vellum. The close up below gives a more detailed view of the finished embossed pattern:

I paired by yellow sunflowers with a bright yellow diecut sentiment, get well soon, from Kristina Werner's Big Type 2 Greetings Dies. I cut 3 of them and stacked them together for added depth and used a retired circle framelit to cut away the corner of the embossed layer and added my greeting to the Night of Navy mat layer below in the negative space created. That accounted for both a diecut and a large, bold sentiment. All that was left still to use from my recipe were some enamel dot embellishments, so I added two glossy yellow ones 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. 

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.
• 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; mine's a busy one with gym, laundry and lunch out and a music concert at a local stately home this evening. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SUNFLOWER 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£11.25)

DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

VELLUM 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. I am hosting this month and our first challenge is a sketch challenge, with a layered cluster of images in the opposing corner to the sentiment: 

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

For my card today I took my inspiration from the photo over at Inkspirational and raided my scraps box  for the bits and pieces I needed to make my card. Take a look:

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

I knew I wanted the drinks beaker from Splash & Relax as my focal point, but wanted to incorporate the lemons and florals too. Some snippets of Best Dressed and Tea Boutique DSP, along with a banner in yellow and a stamped lemon slice (ret. Cute Fruit) gave me my other elements, which I balanced with a trio of enamel dots and a sentiment from the retired Sweet Citrus stamp set:

It's fun to layer lots of small pieces together in this way and whilst there is more than I would usually include on a CAS card, all of the detail is concentrated in one area leaving lots of open white space to keep the clean and simple feel. It's also a great way to use up scraps and bits and pieces left over from other projects. Please excuse today's photos; I was struggling with the super bright sunshine when I took them and there are a few light spots I didn't see on first glance and I didn't have time to retake 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; I am actually driving to Oxford today to have lunch with my CAS Colours & Sketches teamie Rachel who is currently visiting the UK on vacation, so that will be fun! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SPLASH & RELAX BUNDLE (£42.25)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

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 fun 'fill in the blank' challenge chosen by LeAnne:

My favourite embossing folder - hmm! I have a large collection of embossing folders, but don't tend to use them all that much. I do have a few firm favourites though and one of my favourite Christmas ones is this retired one from the pair called 'Charming Landscapes - which I'm also sharing with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for their embossing folder challenge this week. Here's my card:

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

I love this cute row of quirky houses nestled amongst the snowy landscape and whilst it looks great in white, I also like to mask off the foreground, buildings and trees and add colour to the sky using ink and blending brushes. For today's card I used two of the new In Colours, Hydrangea Hue and Barely Blush, with a little retired Purple Posy in between: 

I painted in the embossed stars and snowflakes with a white gel pen and some clear Wink of Stella and added a few rhinestones, then grabbed a simple Merry Christmas sentiment from one of the sets on my shelf to complete my card. I use this embossing folder every year to add Christmas cards to my stash!

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 complete the sentence - and use a project that demonstrates this.
• 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:

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

2026–2028 IN COLOR™ CLASSIC STAMPIN' PADS (£63.00)

2026–2028 IN COLOR™ A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Suzy is hosting this challenge and we have a colour challenge for you: 

These colours made me think Autumn/Winter, and I am so not ready to go there yet! But then I saw those beautiful florals over at Just Us Girls, with the striking dark purple bloom to the right of the centre of the mood board, and I decided to settle for simple florals and revisiting a fun technique - take a look:

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

I thought the tiny floral stems from the Forever Florals bundle, along with a lovely swirly sentiment, would make a sweet clean and simple card and the flower heads themselves lend themselves nicely to the rock and roll technique: I inked my flower head stamp in Gorgeous Grape, then prior to stamping rolled the edges into my Blackberry Bliss ink pad. The result? Some pretty two-tone blossoms that really stand out against the white background:

I added a narrow strip of torn vellum to ground my stems and give my sentiment somewhere to 'sit' then added a simple twine bow to finish. I'm a lover of all things purple. so I particularly like the finished result on this 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; I am still ploughing through a mountain of post holiday washing and ironing, but it comes with the territory so I'm not complaining! and I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FOREVER FLORALS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£11.25)

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

The challenge graphic might be bright flowers, but I decided to go with another summer card with a pool/beach vibe - perfect for another entry over at Time Out Challenges with summer and water as my chosen words. Take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

I went with a tone-on-tone stencilled watery background (I am officially in love with the Water Decorative Mask!), then added an inflatable rubber ring and beach ball for some pool fun and some sunnies and a visor to keep the sun at bay whilst at play, all from the Splash & Relax bundle. I created another custom sentiment by using my Mini Alphabet Dies to accentuate the word ‘splash’:

Some sparkly enamel dots from my stash to give the illusion of sunlight bouncing off the water surface 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. 

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'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SPLASH & RELAX BUNDLE (£42.25)	WATER & DOTTED LINES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DECORATIVE MASKS (£20.00)	MINI ALPHABET DIES (£29.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£16.00)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
BERRY BURST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

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

She has asked that we use a simple tag shape with an overlaid sentiment on a square card base. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. 

For my card today I'm also playing along over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is 'critter' and I'm featuring a pair of them on today's card:

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

 I added this cute little bug from the Cute As A Bug designer series paper to my tag, grounding her with a little shading and added a sweet bee delivering a flower to her directly to my cardbase:

A simple sentiment from 'Meant To Bee' completes my card - cute as can bee, right?

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 and I'll be back tomorrow 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 my favourite, a sketch challenge, designed by Jan:

As soon as I looked at Jan's sketch layout, I imagined a balloon for that large circle - and then I couldn't unsee it, so I just went with it! Take a look at what I came up wtih:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

I used some retired Bright & Beautiful designer series paper to give the background to my card a fun party feel and pulled the colours out to use for my balloon and sentiment. Full disclosure: the new Balloon Festoon Dies were what got me thinking about large balloons but I don't own them (yet!) I realised I had a retired oval framelit that was the same size, so I used it to make my own balloon, tied with a twine string. I added a layered sentiment using the Words of Beauty bundle that fits with the birthday theme:

A couple of Berry Burst enamel dots complete my card. Balloons are perfect for birthdays - what would you do with that circle in the sketch? 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BALLOON FESTOON DIES (£33.00)	WORDS OF BEAUTY BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£11.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
BUBBLE BATH A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£10.25)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. The lovely Rachel is hosting this month and this week we have a colour challenge: 

For my card today I thought I'd hone in on the grey and use it to colour another collection of cute kitties from the Cutest Crew stamp set - take a loo:

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

This card really is super simple: I stamped and diecut the kitties, coloured them in Grey Granite and added Night of Navy butterflies with some highlighting in Balmy Blue:

A simple sentiment and a Balmy Blue enamel dot complete today's 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 and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CUTEST CREW BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£42.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

GRAY GRANITE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£11.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£11.25)

BALMY BLUE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£11.25)

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

I decided I would go with tulips as my flower bulb of choice and focus on using the stamps rather than the dies in the Sunshine & Tulips bundle for a change. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Simple Stamping For Speed - Given that this week is our speed stamping challenge week, where you have to make your card in under 10 minutes, I had to bear this in mind when I thought about the design for my card. I decided to keep the shapes simple and with the exception of the diecut circle, everything else was simply cut to size with a trimmer. I used the row of tulips stamp to create a panel of repeated tone-on-tone stamping which I stamped freehand for speed and then trimmed to size when I was happy with the length. I stamped the larger tulip onto my diecut circle, then finally overlaid this with a strip featuring my sentiment. Simple! 

A Trio of 2026-28 In Colo(u)rs - I thought I'd ring the changes with this set by featuring three of the new 2026-28 In Colours: Peaceful Pine, Crisp Cantaloupe and Barely Blush. I must say I wasn't a fan of Crisp Cantaloupe first time around some years ago, but I am liking it more this time around - it compliments the other In Colours nicely. 

If you like the new set of In Colors, remember you can receive them for FREE in addition to the usual free product you receive when you sign up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator during the month of May - why not give it a go? If you'd like to know more, please do get in touch as I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

A Timely Finish - So how long did my card take me to make? 8 minutes and 37 seconds:

Honestly, that's quite a long time for such a simple card, but the reason for this is that I had to stamp that focal point tulip a couple of times before I was happy (enough) with the result. I was struggling to get a sharp image - I clearly need more practice with the combination of photopolymer stamps and the new ink pads. As you can see above, the image still wasn't perfect but given the need for speed I think it can pass on this occasion.

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; it's predicted to be a scorcher this Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, so mine is starting with a session at the gym, followed by grocery shopping and a couple of appointments before heading out to the river to get on my paddleboard for the first time this year. Wish me luck! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

SUNSHINE & TULIPS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£43.00)

2026–2028 IN COLOR™ A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

2026–2028 IN COLOR™ CLASSIC STAMPIN' PADS (£63.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)