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

I knew if we were featuring 'critters' on our clean and simple cards this week I would be reaching for those Turtle-y Cute papers again, so I grabbed them and Verena's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and set to work - take a look:

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

It has been all about the celebrations here in the James household this week: following the youngest James Junior's birthday at the start of the week, we had A Level Results Day on Thursday (a university place is dependent on success, so these are important exams). I am delighted to share that Ben's hard work paid off and he got the grades he needed to confirm his place at his first choice university, so we are all thrilled.

I thought this cute trumpeting turtle would be perfect for another congratulations card and I dug into my retired stamp collection again for the perfect sentiment to go with it. I was intrigued by Verena's FMS sketch this week and found the perfect sentiment stamp in the 'Here's To Cheers' stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Garden Green, then stamped it again in Darling Ducking and fussy cut the word 'celebrate' so that it extended beyond the circle, as in the sketch. I added my sentiment circle in front of my turtle with dimensionals, having glued him directly to my cardbase, along with a few stamped music notes and sparkly enamel dots:

And that's it! Lots of white space, minimal layers and embellishments - clean and simple, done! This is a less-than-conventional take on the FMS sketch for me, putting the turtle behind the circle, but I think it works - what do you think? 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; we are out and about today; Ben is off to watch the cricket at Edgbaston and Jason is heading out to the water to go paddleboarding - I think I'm tagging along as official photographer! 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 (£9.99)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	LOW PROFILE SPARKLE DOTS (£7.65)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	DARLING DUCKLING CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.23)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

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

I haven't had any craft time this past week as I've been decorating (creativity of a different kind!) but had plenty of time to ponder what I was going to feature on my card today. I was initially thinking of rivers and lakes, but then I remembered the scene backgrounds in the Turtle-y Cute designer series paper pack and that one of them featured a beach scene - and today's card was born. I decided to use Linda's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches for my card (albeit I made it in a horizonal rather than portrait orientation as I couldn't bear to lose too much of the background) as it is perfect for this kind of design - take a look:

I added the background to my card then built my scene using images from other sheets in the DSP pack. I added an appropriate sentiment from the retired 'Friends Are Like Seashells' stamp set along with a red enamel heart to complete the outside of my card:

I cut my solid red borders straight so as not to detract from my scene. I also added a little additional decoration to the inside, continuing the beach theme:

That's all there is to it - lots of fussy cutting, many dimensionals and a cute card for someone special, where the paper really does do the heavy lifting. Today's card reminds me that my recent beach holiday already seems like too long ago; time to start browsing the holiday brochures and planning another vacation, I think!

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

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

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

Enjoy your day; I'll be back 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)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)

POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

STAMPIN’ DIMENSIONALS (£4.00)

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)

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

Circles! I originally chose this theme (Stef and I swapped weeks to accommodate each others vacation time) because I feature circles on so many of my cards and I think they are so versatile. Use them on their own, or as a base for flowers or other images - there really is no limit to their uses. The aim of this week's challenge is to really make circles a feature of your card, so I went all out to do just that - take a look:

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

2025-27 In Colours - I decided to make another card featuring all 5 of this year's new in colours - in fact, I didn't feature any white cardstock at all, which is very unusual and a contrast to the other card featuring these colours that I shared last week. If I remember, I'll also link this one up over at SUO Challenges for a second entry where they are all about the in colours this week!

Stylish Shapes Dies - I used my favourite Stylish Shapes Dies circles to diecut a trio of circles in three of the in colours, then cut them in half and layered them either side of my sentiment strip to cover the join.

Circles Everywhere - In keeping with the theme, I added some embossed circles with the (retired) Large Polka Dot embossing folder to my background, whilst also adding a couple of other subtle circles too - a flat in colour pearl and the round full stop of my sentiment - not chosen by accident:

That's it! Super simple, all 5 in colours and a design that could be used with any colours or sentiment 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

2025–2027 IN COLOR™ A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

SAYING HEY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£6.40)

SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

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

Happy Monday everyone! I have a couple of quick posts today - this is the second one. There are too many good sketch challenges around this week - I just had to get creative! This card is using Cecile's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and is also my entry over at The Flower Challenge this month where they are all about embossing (heat or dry):

 I do love the challenge of working with Cecile's layouts - she designs the most beautiful and inspiring clean and simple cards! When I saw this week's sketch, I knew exactly where I was going with it - take a look:

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

My dear crafty friend Elizabeth over at Paper Sweetness shared some beautiful Pinkfresh Studio washi tape designs with me a little while ago and whilst I've used most of them up, I still had this fabulous fuschia that I have been waiting for just the right opportunity to use. Cecile's sketch was perfect for it; I tucked it behind my central square and allowed it to hang over the front in all its glory, adding a smaller piece with a dimensional on the left - you can see that more clearly below:

I added my sentiment to the central square (from the retired set 'Hydrangea Haven') and picked up on the touches of gold with a thin gold border and some tiny gold pearls. I toyed with leaving the frame plain, but there were so many lovely examples by the FMS Design team that featured embossed backgrounds that I decided to emboss it with the exposed brick embossing folder and I must say I'm really pleased with the finished effect. I also added a small heat embossed birthday greeting; this card is for my Mum who has a significant birthday later this year and she loves fuschias, so I'm sure this card will make her happy! 

Enjoy your day: mine is going to be a busy one! I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of cards for tomorrow's new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Happy Monday everyone! I have a couple of quick posts today with cards I made last week and can't wait to share! The first is using the fab layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

 I still can't put that Celebratory Sips designer paper down!! Today's creation is still all about the purple tones too - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Another couple of fussy cut glasses, this time accompanied by two panels of another of the patterns in the pack. I used the back and front of the same sheet, and diecut them using one of the rectangular dies from the Nested Essentials Dies, cutting each one in three passes, with a partial diecut each time to enable me to keep the edge pattern and elongate the shape - this is a great way to get more out of a basic shape die. I finished my cardfront with a diecut 'celebrate' cut with one of the Wanted To Say Dies:

The Wanted To Say Dies are one the Last Chance page on the website and if you don't already have them, I can highly recommend them - they are so useful! I finished the inside of my card using a sentiment from a retired set called 'Sip Sip Hooray' which coordinates perfectly with these new papers:

I stamped my sentiment slightly wonky, so stamped it again onto a label cut with the die that I used to create those long panels on the front of my card and added that to the inside of my card (shh - don't tell!) Another fun card to add to my stash!

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. 

Back shortly with my second card in its own post; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CELEBRATORY SIPS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	WANTED TO SAY DIES (£11.10)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (£32.00)	PURPLE FINE SHIMMER GEMS (£7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)
GORGEOUS GRAPE 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 Heather H:

I started my card today having chosen dinosaurs as my animal (the 'Darling Dinos' stamp set is great for colouring too!) and armed with the layout over at Sketch Saturday and the bold, bright colours at Color Dare I set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Texture and Shine - Aside from my pair of cute, brightly coloured dinosaurs (the Blends colours I used are listed at the bottom of my post), I decided to go big on the texture/emboss element in this week's recipe. I added a background of heat-embossed footprints, layered in lots of boulders across the horizontal and added two panels of corrugated cardstock in highlighted colours behind each of my dinosaurs. I even added in some pebble-shaped enamels from my stash too! All of these combined add more texture and interest than my usual style and whilst this is something of a departure for me, I really like the effect. Maybe, sometimes more is more! 

Footprints in the ... Plants - Did you notice those oversize shiny, embossed footprints on my base panel? This stamp isn't from the 'Darling Dinos' stamp set; in fact, it's got nothing to do with dinosaurs at all! It's actually the reverse of one of the plant stamps in the 'Planted Paradise' set - I've highlighted it with a red circle below:

How clever is that?! I can't take the credit for this idea; the wonderfully talented Brian King made this card a while ago that got me looking at this set in a whole new light - I think I'll probably use this single stamp more than any of the others in this set now, so thank you Brian! Once you've seen it, you just can't unsee it - right? Here's a close up where you can really see the shine of my prints: 

And Finally - Just as I thought I was done, I did my finally recipe check - and realised I'd forgotten twine - aarggh!!! I found some that picked up the red and tied it around my panel; it's ok but I think I preferred the card without. Nonetheless, recipe finally complete - phew!

This card is headed to a friend who will hopefully appreciate the sentiment and those quirky little details.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

DARLING DINOS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£38.50)	MINI CORRUGATED 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	PLANTED PARADISE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£18.90)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)
PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	AZURE AFTERNOON STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month, she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for us to work with:

I went across the top row with flowers(cake and sentiment decoration)/pink (cake and ribbon)/ribbon (behind the circle) and created a special birthday card - take a look:

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

A Deja Vu Moment - If you're looking at today's card and thinking there's something familiar about it - you'd be right! This is the other card that I mentioned in last Sunday's post that also uses Ann's sketch - although this one uses it in a different way. I still used the 'Celebrate' diecut element for the horizontal, but used the circle to extend my sentiment using a greeting from the Birthday Celebration bundle and instead of a shaker, I used the centre of my frame to house one of the panels of the Wildflower Celebration paper. In addition to whole patterned sheets and diecuts, there is also a sheet made up of pre-printed panels in varying sizes that feature birthday imagery too and the tiered fancy pink birthday cake was just what I needed for this special card.

Retired Favourites - I did use a few retired favourites on today's card: the white diecut frame was made using a couple of Stitched rectangle dies, the frame itself is Seaside Spray cardstock and I backed my 'Celebrate' diecut with vellum. I also used some retired glitter gold gems. All of these could be substituted with alternatives from your stash.

Age Is Just A Number - I finished my card with a diecut number '80', which I cut using the Birthday Celebration number dies. I created a blue drop shadow to make the standout and added them to the centre of my cake:

Here's the thing though - I am of the view that as we get older, milestone birthdays should be recognised and celebrated and as such, numbers on a card should make a return. I was discussing this with my mother-in-law over lunch last week, who recently turned 80 and has many friends of a similar age, but she felt strongly to the contrary - that as we age we don't wish to be reminded of the fact and it was a source of some dismay amongst her friendship group, so much so that they keep an informal of tally of number cards between them for precisely the opposite reason. So what do you think - are numbers on cards a 'yay or a 'nay'? Do leave me a comment below with 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 is Mothering Sunday here in the UK and whilst I won't see my own Mum in person today, I am looking forward to being spoiled by the youngest of the James Juniors, with a roast lamb lunch and something special for pudding too. Happy Mother's Day to anyone else reading this who is celebrating today; I'll be back on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (39.50)	WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (16.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK 3/8" (1 CM) BORDERED RIBBON (7.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for the oft-dreaded speed challenge:

This one was chosen by me: you have to create a card using a punch or punches, in under 10 minutes! I didn't have anything in mind when I chose this challenge, other than I wanted to use my Bee Builder Punch - but not necessarily to punch a bee! Thanks to a great sketch over at Sunday Stamps and the green and white colour combo over at Color Hues - perfect for the St Patricks Day inspired board at Festive Friday too ( I chose green, clover leaf and rainbow from the board) - the idea for my card came together pretty quickly too! Take a look at the card I created then read on for the detail:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Gather Your Supplies - The key to a speed stamping challenge is preparation - and this can be done before the stopwatch starts! I had my Bee Builder Punch and decided that the heart shape that forms the bee's wings would also be perfect for the basis of a lucky four-leaf clover. I wanted to keep things simple, so focused everything around one main green - Shaded Spruce. I grabbed that ink pad and some green cardstock, trawled through my (extensive!) designer paper collection for three papers I could use for those background layers that all featured Shaded Spruce as the primary colour (all 3 are retired) and grabbed those, grabbed a precut white card base and diecut circle - I keep a box of pre-cut white cardbases on my desk as these are the ones I use most, and a box of precut shapes for those I use the most and went on the hunt for a current stamp set with a 'lucky' sentiment - I settled on 'Country Flowers'. Here are my supplies, all ready to go:

I also had my embellishment box to hand, with any green or white ones at the front in case I wanted to add them at the end. Then I set my stopwatch - go, go, go!

Bee Builder Punch - My card is fairly straightforward: three overlapping panels of DSP, my Stylish Shapes diecut circle and the focal point: my four leaf clover, this is where my Bee Builder punch comes in! I punched 5 hearts from Shaded Spruce cardstock, overlapped four of them and cut a curved stem from the fifth one and glued them to the circle to create my lucky clover:

I added some green tinsel gems to cover the join and add some sparkle and used the 'best friend' sentiment for the front of my card, adding the 'lucky' one to the insde of my card:

I think it's fun to see what else you can use punches for, other than their main purpose. This isn't the first time I've used a punch or die to create a four leaf clover either - if you do a search on my blog, you will find many examples over the years!

The Result - So how long did my card take? An impressive 7 minutes and 51 seconds, even if I say so myself! 

The key is in the preparation - and keeping it simple, with minimal stamping. So what are your favourite ways to use your punches for a speedy card? Do leave me a comment below and better still, play along with our challenge this week!

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

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

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:

BEE BUILDER PUNCH (23.00)	COUNTRY FLOWERS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
TINSEL GEMS FOUR-PACK (7.50)

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

Full disclosure - I LOVE this sketch - there are so many creative possibilities! So much so, I have not one but three cards to share with you that all have it as the starting point. So first up, my challenge card! I had another idea that I wanted to try with the Thankful Garden stamp set, so I decided to use the blue/mauve colour combination over at Color Dare and set to work - take a look at what I came up with:

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

Thankful Garden - I've made no secret of how much I love this bundle, that will launch with the new wave of Online Exclusives on 4th March. For today's card, I put the stencils to one side and used my Stampin' Write markers to outline colour the flower head and stem:

If you're not a fan of detailed colouring, this is a great way to use your Stampin' Write markers. You can currently receive not one but TWO colour family sets of Stampin' Write markers in addition to £130 of product for £99 when you join Stampin' Up! during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. That's also the only way you can receive the Thankful Garden bundle before the 4th March launch date - by adding it to your starter kit. Now there's two reasons to sign up before the promotion ends on Friday :-) I added a couple of white diecut leaves and embossed a panel of Fresh As A Daisy DSP with the (retired) Painted Texture Embossing Folder behind my blossom, a few gems and a sentiment I fussy cut from the Greetings For All Ephemera pack to complete my card. I debated whether or not to use up some ribbon and add a bow and really couldn't decide:

I decided on balance I preferred it without, but what do you think? Do leave me a comment and let me know!

Goodbye Boho Blue - Boho Blue and Moody Mauve are the featured blue and purple on today's card; both are 2023-25 In Colours that are due to retire at the end of April. I will be featuring these and the other in-colours in this set in the next couple of months, but take this as your first reminder: now is a great time to stock up on re-inkers and any other 2023-25 in-colour supplies. They often run out before the end of the catalogue sales period, so don't leave it too late. Besides, if you add them to your basket and spend £55 or more before the end of the month, you can add a free product to your basket too - win-win!

Take Two and Three - As I mentioned above, I think this sketch is a keeper and so versatile. Whilst I used the flower as my shape for my PP card, I created two more cards that were more faithful to the circle. The first one was an Easter card using the Frames and Flowers DSP and one of the diecut wreaths, along with a sentiment from one of my favourite retired Easter sets, 'Easter Promise':

This paper pack really is the pack that just keeps on giving, I've made so many cards using it. 

My third card was the the current challenge over at The Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'W for Wings' and this time I used a full panel of Lily Pond Lane DSP, overlaid with a panel out of which I diecut a circle to frame and highlight the mama and her brood of ducklings:

Aren't they just so cute?! This card is actually for one of my team, to celebrate the addition of the new 'ducklings' that she has welcomed to her Stampin' Up! team during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - she loves ducks! I could have kept going with this sketch - I'm so looking forward to see what everyone else does with it in the PP gallery this week!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's main 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 making banoffee pie today - yum! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GREETINGS FOR ALL MIX & MATCH EPHEMERA PACK (ENGLISH) (6.75)

2023–2025 IN COLOR STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS (17.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

BOHO BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

MOODY MAUVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)