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

I made a board filled with the things I love to craft with, so there are plenty of creative combinations to choose from! I chose the middle column of flowers/free/word die and decided to make a colourful rainbow slimline card - take a look:

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

Floral Impressions - Whilst I've used both the stamps and dies from the Online Exclusives Impressions Abloom on previous projects, I had not yet been brave enough to cut into my Floral Impressions paper. As a DSP lover I had considered it several times, but it was just too pretty! In the end, I decided too pretty not to use so chose my favourite sheet, showcasing a rainbow of flowers, and got my paper trimmer ready! I may or may not have already purchased a second pack of this paper this month, as it's one of the ones that has 15% off during this month's in-color sale. Today is the last day when you are able to take advantage of the in-color sale promotion, so if you need a second pack of this paper too, or any of the other in-color products included in the promotion, here's your reminder to click on the link below and place your order!

CASE The Catalogue - The eagle-eyed amongst you might feel like there's something familiar about today's card - and you may well be right. Today's card is a CASE of one on page 41 of the current Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. To CASE - Copy And Share Everything - is a great way to take a project and use it to inspire something completely different, but where you can still see the source of the inspiration. An unwritten rule is that you should change at least 3 things for your card to be considered original and distinct from the project you are CASEing. So in my CASE, I retained the slimline layout, but I changed out my strips for a rainbow of flowers in a different paper pattern. I changed the stamped banner sentiment for one based around the Sweet Blooms 'Bloom' layered diecut (one of my favourites and the perfect encouraging sentiment to play over at Time Out this week) and whilst I retained the cluster of accent flowers, I incorporated more texture and detail (more on that below). If you compare the projects side by side, it's easy to see how the first card inspired the second one, even though my card today is my original work. 

Try Something New - In CASEing the card in the catalogue, it did cause me to try something new on today's card. The flower accent on the sample consisted of a mix of diecut florals and a flower fussy cut from the Florals In Bloom designer paper. Whilst I ordinarily wouldn't mix in this way, I decided to give it a go and in the end made an accent from a variety of diecuts and florals cut from another of the papers in the Floral Impressions pack, but also added in some large golden yellow enamel dots and a fuzzy flower middle from my stash that I thought worked well, having first coloured the edges of it with my Early Espresso marker pen to tone in with the diecut florals. It's difficult to pick up the detail in the main photograph, especially as the background strips are so busy - the close up below shows a little more of the detail:

This adds more texture and dimension and whilst this is something of a departure for me, I really like the effect - and I wouldn't have tried it if the catalogue sample hadn't inspired me to give it a go. What do you think? Do you ever CASE projects in this way? Leave me a comment below - I'd love to know where you find your inspiration.

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 hoping for sunshine here to round off this weekend's second cricket game, but I'm note sure we will be in luck. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FLORAL IMPRESSIONS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£9.99)

SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)

IMPRESSIONS ABLOOM DIES (£32.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

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

I loved the layering on Jan's sketch today and couldn't resist the opportunity to go big with colour and patterns this week. - take a look:

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

Florals In Bloom - I decided to use one of the bold floral patterns from the Florals In Bloom papers for my cardbase today and that then laid the foundations for everything that followed. I chose one featuring large soft pink and lilac flowers and used it to cover the whole of my cardbase - so pretty! I layered a patterned panel that is one of the reverse papers in this set on top of that; ordinarily I am more likely to use these patterns as a base or backing panel, but with the large florals as the base I needed something with less pattern that was more solid to give something for the other elements to sit that made them more visible as I didn't ant them to be lost against the base pattern.

Pretty Florals - I used a diecut flower from the Pretty Florals dies that echoes the shape of the flowers featured on the card base for my 'any shape' element, picking up the colours of the paper:

Sweet Blooms - For the remaining elements I decided to use a stamp and diecut sentiment from the Sweet Blooms bundle - I just love those word diecuts! A trio of pink sparkly enamel dots complete my card. 

I feel like the bold patterns makes this card slightly busier than my usual style, but I am not unhappy with the the result. It's nice to use a bold pattern once in a while!

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; unusually for a Sunday today is a sport-filled one: one of us is paddleboarding, another is playing cricket and I suspect we will all end the day watching to see if the Lionesses are successful in defending their title in the final of the European Cup this evening. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

PRETTY FLORALS bundle (£47.50)	SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	FLORALS IN BLOOM 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	STRAWBERRY SLUSH & PRETTY IN PINK GEMS (£8.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)
PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PRETTY IN PINK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	STRAWBERRY SLUSH A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PETUNIA POP A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	PETUNIA POP CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

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)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at SUO Challenges where they are all about creating with the new in colours:

I decided to create a wall of florals with a bold centre sentiment using all 5 in colours - take a look:

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

Impressions Abloom - I used two of the diecut flowers from the Impressions Abloom Dies and cut a whole bunch in white to create my flower wall background. I was inspired by those flower walls that you sometimes see at parties as a photo backdrop; I thought it would be a creative way to use florals, without using green.  

A Glossy Tip - I used a different in colour for the flower centres for each horizontal row and before diecutting, I added a tip of clear packing tape to my cardstock. This resulted in an easy glossy finish, with minimal mess - you can see the shine better on the close up below:

Sweet Blooms - I finished with a statement sentiment from the 'Sweet Blooms' stamp set in the two remaining in colours, heat embossing the secret Sea diecut for additional shine.

What do you think? Does the floral wall idea work? 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 '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:

IMPRESSIONS ABLOOM BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

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

SECRET SEA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Today I'm here with some exciting news! You know how much I like to play along over at Just Us Girls whenever I get the chance and I was delighted to be asked by the lovely Vicki to be their guest designer for the month of June. Our first challenge for the month of June is Die Week - with layers:

I decided to have a play with the new Pretty Florals Bundle stamps and dies and have a mammoth stamping session! I grabbed the coral and green colour palette over at Color Hues and used the themes of 'bold' and repeat' from the 'choose 2' theme over at Time Out. Here's the card that I came up with:

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

Layered Pretty Florals - I do love a good diecut and a layer or two, so this week's JUGS challenge was perfect for me! I decided to really go to town on this card and, somewhat inspired by the framed sample featured on page 47 of the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue, I decided to stamp duplicates of each of the flowers in the Pretty Florals stamp set and then create my layout. Each flower comes in two pieces - a flower head and a stem, with each stem suiting two different flowers. The flower heads are a two-step stamp, but they are super easy to line up. Once I had my images diecut and constructed, I layered them overlapping slightly onto my white cardbase and when I was happy with my layout, I glued them in place and cut off any excess overhanging the edges. 

Shades of Coral - I'm not really an orange person (although I do love the new In Colour, Timid Tiger) but there's something about Calypso Coral, a mid point between pink and orange that really appeals to me. In order to get shades of coral for my flowers, I stamped some of the flower bases in Petal Pink (this is much more of a pale coral than a true pink in my view), both stamped off and full strength, and some of the bases in Calypso Coral that I stamped off first, then stamped the second layer on all of the flowers in full-strength Calypso Coral. This gave a good variety and depth of colour, whilst maintaining the overall coral hue. I love the Coral and Garden Green pairing too for a bold and colourful card.

Postage Window Frame - The idea for my frame came from a similar idea I saw on Pinterest. The vellum softens the frame and still allows the edge-to-edge flowers to show through, whilst the postage frame, with a stitched rectangle cut out of the centre adds additional layering and interest. I added a sentiment from Sweet Florals (more layers!) and allowed the diecut portion to overhang the frame slightly:

A few random enamel gems complete my card. I really love this card - so much colour from only three inks and such a bold design! I think if I made it again, I would make a horizontal version rather than a vertical layout to better accommodate that diecut sentiment, but I had that thought after I glued down the base - so that's an idea to try another time! Also, both the Pretty Florals Bundle and Sweet Blooms Bundle are available in the current Stampin' Up! 50% off suite sale (read all about it here if you missed it) - if you buy one bundle, you could get the second half price - what a steal!

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. 

So what dies do you have in your collection that you could layer up and share with us over at Just Us Girls this week? The Design Team have made some amazing cards - why not dig out your dies and join us and play along? Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PRETTY FLORALS bundle (£47.50)	SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Laura who is hosting has asked that we create a square card with a quartered centrepiece:

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

For my card today I used the colours over at Color Throwdown and decided to create an Andy-Warhol inspired centrepiece, featuring a comical canine favourite - take a look:

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

Yes - it's the dog from the 'One More Year' stamp set - but not quite as you know it! For today's card, I stamped him four times onto white cardstock, coloured with Blends and fussy cut him out, minus his party hat. I backed each image with a square of retired spotty DSP in the challenge colours and mounted each onto a postage die base. I finished with a simple 'hello' sentiment from the new 'Sweet Blooms' stamp set, anchored with an enamel dot:

Super simple and a fun way to give this stamp a different look. This card is going in my stash to send to the youngest James Junior when he is living away at uni - I know this will make him smile!

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:

ONE MORE YEAR CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	SWEET BLOOMS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£23.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	GRAY GRANITE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)
STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM LIGHT COMBO PACK (£10.25)

Happy Wednesday, stampers! Have you had the opportunity to browse your new annual catalogue yet? Today I'm sharing a card that showcases more of the lovely new products contained within, made with a few current challenges in mind:

It's Die Week over at Just Us Girls and they are wanting us to use flower dies. I couldn't resist using the flower I used for this card again; the blooms seemed perfect for the circle shapes in the current Sunday Stamps sketch and it gave me the perfect opportunity to embrace the yellow and blue challenge over at Color Hues too. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Sweet Blooms - This large layered flower from the Pretty Petals Dies is my hands-down favourite at the moment! For today's card, I actually cut the flowers and leaves in white (no green allowed!), with the thin outline layer in Lemon Lolly, as I wanted my roses to have a creamy, pale yellow colour and not be too 'yellow'; using a combination of ink blending and Blends markers on white cardstock enabled me to get the colouring I was aiming for. I overlaid my blooms with my larger-than-life diecut sentiment from the 'Sweet Blooms' set, this time paired with the word 'you' that was snipped from another sentiment in the bundle. I backed my diecut with a layer of vellum, to help it stand out from the rest of the card.  

Ombre Background - I decided to create a panel of blended ombre blue as the base for my creamy lemon yellow flowers. I used a trio of blues and blended light to dark, then added some splatters of water and white ink before allowing it to dry, although you can't really see the detail - I might need to be more vigorous next time! I cut my panel down to allow a wide white border - I think this makes more of a feature of the ombre panel.

Hidden Elements - I also added some script stamping behind each of my flowers, using the round text stamp in 'Elements of Text' for a little extra tone-on-tone background detail. It's subtle and easier to see on the close up below:

I quite like the extra detail. I almost dry-embossed this layer too, but in the end decided against it. I find the more layering that goes into a card, the easier I find it to add more things - and it is important to know when to stop!! A few sequins and gems and I called time. I really love this colour combo - thank you Color Hues!

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	PRETTY FLORALS DIES (£35.00)	ELEMENTS OF TEXT CLING STAMP SET (£25.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	LEMON LOLLY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
LEMON LOLLY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

As crafters we are always adding to our crafty stash, so today's challenge is about pairing something that you recently bought with an old favourite. I have some beautiful new floral sets from the upcoming annual catalogue that I hadn't had the chance to play with yet, so today was the perfect opportunity to remedy that. I was inspired by the colours of those beautiful tulips in the top right corner of Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration photo and used the layout over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

Pretty Florals - Today's card really is all about the florals - this card is choc-full of them! I used the new Pretty Florals Dies and diecut a trio of blooms and buds from Pretty In Pink cardstock and inked them with Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo and layered them into a floral cascade, interspersed with some bright green leaf foliage. I love the diecut detail and unusual layering of these large flowers (peonies, perhaps?) - so pretty! I also added some fine white and clear Wink of Stella ink splatters to my blooms and cardbase for a little extra detail.  

Sweet Blooms - The Florals in Bloom Suite contains two bundles: the Pretty Florals bundle that I used for the flowers, and the Sweet Blooms bundle, that is predominantly a sentiment-builder set based around two large sentiment dies - I used the 'bloom' one on today's card. I cut the uppermost layer out of co-ordinating glimmer paper for some extra sparkle and shine:

I also added some in-colour pink glimmer gems because, well, you can never have enough pink!

Brickwork Texture - The 'old favourite' item on my card is the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder that I used to add texture to my Smoky Slate card base. I'm not a big EF user, but this one is a keeper and definitely one of my favourites.

I love the mix of old and new products on this card and I'm really pleased with how my finished card turned out; I think I'll be getting a lot use from these new bundles.

CAS Take Two - I had some spare blossoms cut and coloured leftover from my card, so decided to use them up and make a quick card for the clean and simple colour challenge over at AAA Cards, since I had used 3 of their 4 colours:

I used the same sentiment but this time stamped it directly onto my white cardbase, next to my simple flower stem:

 The detail on these flowers really is something, don't you think?

 As you can see, the Pretty Florals and Sweet Blooms bundles are great for both super detailed and layered cards, and clean and simple ones too. here's a photo of both cards together:

Which one do you prefer? 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:

And for the second card:

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; the weather has turned cooler again here in the UK so I think I might have the opportunity to indulge in a little crafting; I had lots more ideas for new projects when I was playing yesterday, so I'm keen to get them down on paper! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)	SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£10.75)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ GLIMMER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£10.25)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (£4.80)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (£8.50)