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

These colours have a wintry/autumnal feel and for my card today I decided to try them on a Christmas card using a new set called 'Joyful Tidings' - take a look:

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

This stamp set contains two wreath images and some lovely sentiments - great for clean and simple Christmas cards. I stamped my wreath in Secret Sea, which might seem an odd choice, but some pines/firs have a distinctly blue tone, so I thought I'd give it a go! I coloured the pine cones in Pecan Pie, then used Mossy Meadow light and dark Blends markers for the remaining greenery and the citrus fruit - I used my colour lifter to create a much paler green, to give the impression of limes:

I added a few white dots to the berries with a white gel pen and added a couple of Mossy Meadow coloured brass enamel dots and simple sentiment to complete my card. 

This is not a colour combo I would ordinarily choose, and especially not for a Christmas card, but I actually like the finished effect - I guess that's why a challenge is just that, 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 later in the week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

JOYFUL TIDINGS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£21.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

SECRET SEA A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

MOSSY MEADOW STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)

PECAN PIE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO 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 fun sketch challenge:

I decided to have a play with some designer papers from the new mini catalogue for today's card and add another Christmas card to my stash - take a look:

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

Christmas Tags and More - The diecut strips of patterned paper on today's card are from the new Christmas Tags and More designer series paper pack. This is a 6"x6" pack that is exactly that: some great festive designs, with everything from the mistletoe pattern I used on today's card to plaid, some of which can be easily cut into tags, along with a few sheets of pre-diecut co-ordinating shapes. This is your go-to pack for speedy Christmas cards and packaging - I can see me using a lot of it!

Serene Greens - I used a Soft Sea Foam card base for today's card. This colour doesn't feature directly in the DSP, but it compliments the boldness of the Garden Green mistletoe perfectly.  I chose to feature three punched sprigs of mistletoe as the 'anchors' to my DSP panels. You can see them with their pearl berries better here:

In hindsight I might have added a little extra detail to those punched leaves with a gel pen, to help them stand out a little better. Regardless, I think they work!

A  Mix of Old and New - I paired my new papers with some existing - retired - items from my stash: the sprig punch I used for my mistletoe and the Tidings and Trimmings set for the 'Noel' and greeting on the inside of my card:

Now that I'm no longer running regular classes, this is something you should expect to see me do here on my blog more often. Whilst I am in the process of having a good clear out (expect to see a preloved sale here sometime in the near future!), and I will continue to showcase my favourite new products, there are lots of retired items that are firm favourites that co-ordinate too well with new things to not put them to good use! 

I'm linking today's card up over at Inspire.Create Challenges where their challenge is 'It's never too early for Christmas' - so true!

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.

Finally, my trusty laptop unexpectedly 'died' with no warning earlier this week, so there may be some gaps with product details and links to the online store in this and my next few posts that will be added at a later date, since I am posting on the fly at the moment! My laptop is with the PC doctor so fingers crossed he works out whether resuscitation or replacement is the order of the day in short order, as I currently feel as if I've lost a limb lol! Enjoy your day and I'll be back on Sunday with my Paper Players project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

IRIDESCENT PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£7.00)

CHRISTMAS TAGS & MORE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) MIX & MATCH SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

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

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. There are so many ways you can interpret this sketch - I decided to go with a busy bee and a sweet love note - take a look:

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

I stamped the flight path of my bee to represent the horizontal element of the sketch and added my chosen sentiment from the 'Bee My Valentine' stamp set, then for my shape added a stamped bee, punched out with my Bee Builder Punch. He is clutching a glimmer paper heart (punched with the same punch) and sporting some heat-embossed vellum wings:

Simple - and not just for Valentine's Day either ;-) I am also linking this card up over at CAS on Friday where the challenge is 'vellum' - this is the perfect medium for my sweet bee wings for sure and I'm so sad we no longer stock vellum; I am rationing my stock for sure!

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. 

This is a great sketch and one I know I'll use again. That's all from me today - I have a to-do list as long as my arm, and it seems to be growing exponentially by the minute! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEE MY VALENTINE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	BEE BUILDER PUNCH (£25.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ GLIMMER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£5.12)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)

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

Leaves - we've all got those in our stamp collection, right? I decided to go with a really simple two-colour card inspired by the combo over at Color Dare and featuring two leaves from one of my favourite current leafy stamp sets, Natural Botanicals - take a look:

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

Natural Botanicals - The leaves in the 'Natural Botanicals' stamp set can be used in so many ways! Today I used one of the larger leaves to stamp the bottom half of my white panel with Pretty Peacock coloured leaves to create my own patterned paper (I masked off a border first with masking paper, but you could forgo this and save a little extra time) then using the same colour, added ink with a blending brush to create a solid block of colour. I added this panel to my white card base, then a leftover strip of Flirty Flamingo cardstock, before stamping another of the leaves in the set in Flirty Flamingo onto white cardstock, and diecut this with one of my trusty Stylish Shapes Dies. 

Thankful Garden - Since Natural Botanicals is a sentiment-free set, I chose a thankful sentiment from another stamp set, 'Thankful Garden', and stamped this in Pretty Peacock directly onto my stamped pink leaf. The bold turquoise colour and large font is enough to stand out against the leaf beneath:

I added this to my card using dimensionals for a little lift, then added a trio of Pretty Peacock faceted enamel dots from my stash (having previously gone through my collection looking at all possible options before I started my timer, of course!) to complete my card.

Speed Stamping Addition - As always, the key to a speed stamping card is preparation: I had browsed my saved sketches to choose a layout before I started and gathered all possible supplies, opened my ink pads, mounted my stamps before starting the timer. So how long did my simple leaf card take? 

Just 6 minutes and 48 seconds - plenty of time leftover, so I stamped the flap of my envelope to coordinate and still finished inside of the 10 minute allowance. OK, so my pink leaf isn't perfect (next time I'd use my stamp platform) but otherwise, I'm pretty pleased with how this card turned out - thanks Jan for a fun 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.
• 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:

NATURAL BOTANICALS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£21.00)	THANKFUL GARDEN PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

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

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

For my card today I wanted to play with a new stamp set that I hadn't yet broken the seal on - Coneflower Celebrations. The challenge was really to keep things clean and simple - especially as I'm playing along over at Inkspirational too (with the optional twist of flowers)! Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Coneflower Celebrations - Coneflower Celebrations features some larger-than-life coneflower blooms, so in order to maintain a clean and simple feel, I dispensed with a stem on this occasion and simply stamped my flowerhead (I used Early Espresso as my neutral as I thought it was softer and toned in better than black) and coloured my bloom with Flirty Flamingo Blends markers, adding some Lost Lagoon leaves. 

Then There were Three - I only used two of the challenge colours for my bloom; the third colour, Pool Party, I added with a blending brush to the corner of my card, having first masked off an outer 'frame'. This allowed me to ground my flower, rather than it look like it was just floating. I added a trio of embellishments - Flirty Flamingo enamel dots - for a little sparkle - perfect for the challenge over at The Flower Challenge too:

Even on a clean and simple card a few well chosen embellishments can be enough to elevate a card from something plain to something special. 

Birthday Greetings - In addition to the beautiful floral stamps and dies, the Coneflower Celebrations bundle also contains some great sentiments. I used a simple 'Celebrating you!' on the front of my card - finishing with this one on the inside:

Yes, I needed a belated birthday card for a dear blogging friend whose birthday is today. This is the second of my friends whose birthday I've not remembered in a timely manner this month - I  am clearly distracted! This sentiment is lovely for sending belated birthday wishes though - I hope I'll be forgiven and it will raise a smile when my card finally arrives at its destination! I do love this new Coneflower Celebrations stamp set - so you can look forward to seeing lots more fabulous blooms where this one came from!

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:

CONEFLOWER CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	LOST LAGOON STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£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 seasonal theme challenge chosen by Heather H:

Having made this card for my paper Players DT card last Sunday, I knew that I was going to go a similar route for today's creation, given that there was an empty picnic scene in the Turtle-y Cute designer series paper pack that was just waiting to be filled - take a look:

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

These Turtle-y Cute papers are so fun, especially if you like fussy cutting! I simple added the scenic background to my card base, then decorated it with a whole bunch of fussy cut elements:

My turtles are enjoying a picnic of ice-cream and watermelon; even the birds are getting in on the action! I finished with a sentiment from the retired stamp set 'Picnic With You', which suited my scene perfectly. These little scenes are so fun to build, but I have used so many dimensionals this week - I am definitely going to need to add more to my next Stampin' Up! order! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TURTLE-Y CUTE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

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

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

You'll notice a theme to my cards this week - they all feature turtles! Take a look at today's card:

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

I elongated that oval and featured another of the turtles fussy cut from the Turtle-y Cute designer series paper, this time the gardener turtle, and paired her with a die cut sentiment from Sweet Blooms and a co-ordinating strip of designer paper from a retired pack that co-ordinated:

I stamped the remainder of my sentiment on the inside of my card, along with a little DSP accent and flower, to complete my card:

Simple! I'm also linking today's card up over at CAS On Friday where the current theme is 'animal', so my turtle definitely fits the bill.

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'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TURTLE-Y CUTE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

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

Lots of ingredients in this week's recipe! The black/white/gold colour combination was my starting point and I had a look through my retired paper stash as I knew I had some options featuring those colours. I happened a pack of Merry Little Christmas paper and immediately everything fell into place and yes, by complete coincidence, I have another Christmas card for this week's AYSI card - take a look:

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

A Retired Celebration - I happened upon this black and white starry night paper and thought it would make the perfect night sky for a layered scene created using my retired Bethlehem Edgelits dies (I added some gold borders using some other retired paper from my stash). I cut both pieces in white and added a gold glimmer star, along with some clear rhinestones to the centres of the stars on the paper - you can just about make them out if you look closely:

Night In Bethlehem - My heat-embossed sentiment is from the co-ordinating (retired) stamp set called 'Night In Bethlehem'. I used another of the sentiments and an image from the same set to add a verse and decoration to the inside of my card:

All in all, not too tricky to make up that recipe when I got going - and another Christmas card for my pile using one of my favourite religious Christmas sets to boot.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)

METALLICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)

RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (£5.75)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£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 fun 'fill in the blank' challenge chosen by me:

Shapes are the theme! But not just any shape - your favourite! If you could only choose one shape, which would you choose? The title of today's post gives me away, but I know that for me hands-down the answer is ... a circle. I shared my love of them in my post last Sunday and for today's card I thought I'd try another fun circular pattern, but this time as a background for some other bits and pieces. I challenged myself to work with the red and white colour combo over at Color Hues and ended up making a Christmas card - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Stylish Shape Circles - My circles are once again courtesy of the Stylish Shapes Dies. For me these dies are a go-to with the fab stitched edge detailing, with my favourite of course being the circles; they add so much to any project. 

Red and White - I thought the Color Hues challenge this week was a fun one! A red and white colour combo makes me immediately think either Valentine’s or Christmas so I went with the latter.  I really wanted to use a variety of reds, so chose to create my swirl of circles in a combination of Poppy Parade, Real Red and Cherry Cobbler. I almost left it there, but decided that this would make a fun backdrop for some candy canes, so I diecut some using my retired Sweetest Borders Dies, using red and white glimmer paper to add interest with both texture and sparkle check out the sparkle below:

Peppermints and Candy Canes - To continue the circle theme, I added in some additional round diecuts, sparkling gems and a liberal sprinkling of adhesive-backed peppermints and a suitable sentiment. I love that those peppermints are still available - they are so great for festive projects!

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 Fill In The Blank Challenge, be sure to complete the sentence and explain how your card illustrates 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 next week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	REAL RED & WHITE ADHESIVE-BACKED PEPPERMINTS (£8.00)
REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	NEUTRAL MATTE DOTS (£7.50)

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 featuring a sentiment and a single stem of some kind: 

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

For my card today I chose a single stem from the 'Natural Botanicals' stamp set - perfect for the 'botanical' challenge over at CAS on Friday too - and set to work to create a simple one layer card:

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

I stamped my leaf and sentiment (from 'Sweet Blooms') in Tuxedo Black onto thick white cardstock and added some colour to the leaf sections using three of the 2025-27 In Color Stampin' Write markers:

Stampin' Write markers are great for one layer cards as they don't bleed through and since the sections are so small, it's easy to get an even colour without the need for a Blend. A trio of Cloud Cover flat pearls complete my card. Unorthodox colours for a leaf, for sure, but that's the creator's prerogative, 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NATURAL BOTANICALS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£21.00)

SWEET BLOOMS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)

2025–2027 IN COLOR™ STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS (£17.00)

2025–2027 IN COLOR™ FLAT PEARLS (£8.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)