I'm back with my second post today and my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a speed stamping challenge with a humorous twist:

Speedy wit - what a challenge! Here's my card:

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

I decided that I would go for some sideways humour and use the Halloween greeting from the 'Well Defined' stamp set. I stamped it in black and cut it out using one of the Hippo and Friends Dies, and paired it with some fun retired Halloween Motley Monsters designer series paper from my stash. I added a ribbon tab to my sentiment to finish 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. 

This really was a super speedy card, largely because the DSP does all the work. My finished time?

3 minutes and 41 seconds - I think this must be a personal speed stamping record! 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WELL DEFINED CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)

HIPPO & FRIENDS DIES (£33.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

I've had a few days break from the blog as I make the most of the last few days of the long summer holiday before the James Juniors head back to school next week. I'm back today though and I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a theme challenge:

I used the great sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout this week. So many options for that central panel but with our theme this week of 'up in the air' I decided to feature a festive feathered friend on mine - take a look:

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

Happy Holly Days - First up, I have a little story for you! I can't tell you how many UK Leadership training events I've attended over the years where I've been in meetings where we've brainstormed ideas for future catalogues, and if I had a penny for every time the request for a traditional Christmas robin has been made I would be rich by now! The cardinal gets featured frequently in the Stampin' Up! catalogue and whilst he is a common visitor for many in Stampin' Up!'s global markets, the robin is a particularly European bird and doesn't travel as far south as the USA. As such, our requests have often fallen on deaf ears - until now! This year's mini catalogue has a beautiful robin just waiting to be coloured, so I had to scoop him up and I'm so glad to give him his first outing on my card today.

I've seen some interesting colours applied to this bird as I've browsed the internet, but my robin is true to type! His tummy is maybe a little more red than a real-life bird, since they are actually more of an orange-red colour, but I wanted to emphasise the red so went with Poppy Parade Blends and made mine a full-on 'robin red breast'. As for this set, not only does it have this lovely robin and some holly to colour (more on that in a moment) but it has some lovely sentiments for both the outside and inside of your cards. I used a large 'Noel' on the front of my card, then continued on the inside with this one:

Shimmer With The Holly Border - In addition to the holly in the stamp set, which I coloured and fussy cut and adhered around the feet of my robin, the stamp set is bundled with a holly border punch. I didn't use the border pattern in my design today, instead I punched it out of some Evening Evergreen vellum and then adhered the leaves in between my stamped ones for some extra sparkly detail:

 I did wonder if I was a little over-enthusiastic about this, but I do like the little added shimmer it adds to the card. Once complete I also wished I'd splattered my white rectangular panel as I felt it was a little too 'clean' (if there can ever be such a thing!) but I didn't want to remake or deconstruct, so added a trio in in-colour gems to break up the space and add a little more sparkle instead. 

Painted Christmas - For my split background panel, I chose two patterns from the Painted Christmas DSP pack. There are some lovely foliage patterns in this pack and I had a hard time choosing just two. I covered the join with some lovely dark green chevron weaved ribbon 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. 

 So what do you think? I really love this robin and am on a mission to feature him on lots of cards this season, especially since he has been so longed-for in terms of stamp sets! In the meantime, what will you choose to feature for our 'up in the air' theme this week?

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

Enjoy your day; the James Juniors are off to get pre-school haircuts today and Ben for one needs it - the yeti currently has nothing on him!! Rebecca is actually going in for Sixth Form Induction day this afternoon and she is so excited! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HAPPY HOLLY-DAYS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£36.75)	PAINTED CHRISTMAS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
EVENING EVERGREEN (3/8" 1 CM) CHEVRON WEAVE RIBBON (£5.50)	2021–2023 IN COLOR SHIMMER VELLUM (£11.25)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUCCULENT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Hello everyone! A few blog-free days as I've been busy enjoying time with the James Juniors, cycling and activities with friends as we continue to enjoy the summer vacation. Today I'm back though and 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:

Heather came up with today's recipe and I really like it, although I did struggle with one element of it! Here's my card - can you tell which ingredient had me stumped?

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

I dry embossed my background panel with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder (tick) and then added a collection of strips of Harvest Meadow designer paper in Crumb Cake (tick) and Misty Moonlight, both of which feature wheat (tick) as does my sentiment from the 'Thinking Thanks and Peace' stamp set. I threaded my diamond weave ribbon with some linen twine (tick) and tied in a bow. Which just leaves gingham! I did struggle a little with this one, as I didn't have any gingham patterns that I could make work with the other recipe elements, so I resorted to some Crumb Cake monochrome plaid as my closest substitute and used it to back my sentiment, so there is just a thin border of it showing - it could pass for gingham, right?!

I really like the colour combo that I ended up using today; this background of strips is also great for using up those leftover scraps and offcuts and would work with lots of other patterned papers too.

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

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

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HARVEST MEADOW 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	THINKING THANKS & PEACE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	3/8" (1 CM) DIAMOND WEAVE RIBBON (£9.25)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

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

Favourite animal? That is an interesting one! I used the Sunday Stamps sketch layout and a Sale-A-Bration freebie to create a Christmas card featuring one of my favourites, that is actually going to be a big feature of the Stampin' Up! festive season - take a look:

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

P-P-P-Pick Up A Penguin - Yes, my favourite animal on today's card is definitely the penguin! He is the star of the show in the Penguin Playmates Designer Series Paper that is one of the Sale-A-Bration items that can be yours free with a £45 purchase during the promotion. I've used three of the designs on my card today: one for the background, another for the striped panels and lastly I fussy cut all three animals from a third design:

A simple stamped sentiment from 'Penguin Place' completed my card. This card was actually really quick to create, as I had a whole pile of animals I had already cut out of the DSP one evening as I sat watching TV so they were ready to go. Which is a good thing, as I've been decorating this week (the youngest of the juniors wore me down with his constant requests for a bedroom makeover) and it left me with neither the time nor energy to create from scratch! Fortunately I had been thinking about the design as I painted, so the whole thing came together easily.

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

I am almost finished with my painting - just woodwork to do today - so will be looking forward to a rest over the weekend, in readiness for a very big week next week (more on that to follow!) Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PENGUIN PLAYMATES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)

PENGUIN PLACE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)

FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

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

I was inspired not just by the colours but also the picture Jane chose for this week's challenge and decided these colours would be perfect for another sneak peek of new products from the upcoming mini catalogue - take a look:

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

Harvest Dies - These colours are perfect for some autumnal colour so I decided I would use them to sponge some rudbeckias that I cut out with my new Harvest Dies. If you like the Meadow Dies in the annual catalogue, then you'll definitely love these! Including grasses and flowers, these work well with the co-ordinating stamp set and stand alone too. I cut out some ears of corn in Crushed Curry cardstock, then cut two rudbeckias in white and used my sponges to add and build colour to them, finishing with a few dots to the centre added with a Stampin' Write marker. The leaves and petals also have a faint embossed detail, which I accentuated by adding colour with markers.

Ornate Layers Panel - I also used another die on my card today - the long panel piece was cut using my favourite in the Ornate Layers set from the annual catalogue. I love the subtle diecut and stitched detail it has.

Painted Texture - I used a piece of retired ombre paper that I had in my bits box for my panel, but you could easily recreate this with some Crushed Curry ink and a blending brush. Before adding to my card, I ran it through my Painted Texture Embossing Folder for a little extra texture. You can see that more closely here:

A sentiment from the Quiet Meadow stamp set and twine bow finish my card.

Don't worry I am not done with summer yet, but these warm colours were perfect for today's more autumnal project. A fun fact for you - rudbeckias, or cone flowers or black-eyed susans as they are sometimes called, are pioneer plants and some of the first to grow following a natural disaster, such as fire. In the language of flowers they also represent encouragement - I'm thinking I should have read up on these before I made my card, I might have to switch out that sentiment now! Maybe next time ...

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome.

It's forecast a little cooler here in the UK today with a chance of thunderstorms across the weekend. I had a new garden parasol delivered yesterday - I hope that wasn't me tempting fate! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE LAYERS DIES (£34.00)	PAINTED TEXTURE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	QUIET MEADOW CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)

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

I thought the layered rectangles of this sketch provided the perfect opportunity to showcase some designer series paper - especially since lots of those in the annual catalogue are currently available at 15% off - so I had a look through my collection and settled on something wild for you today - take a look:

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

In The Wild And A DSP Paper Sale - Between July 1st and August 2nd, a number of the designer series papers in the annual catalogue are available at 15% off. As a reminder, here's a snapshot of all those that are discounted:

Lots to choose from! I chose to feature the 'In The Wild' papers on my card today. I don't have any of the other products in this suite, but I think the papers are great for snipping. I used two different patterns for my rectangles and then fussy-cut a co-ordinating tiger for my feature shape - isn't he so majestic-looking? 

You Got This - I decided my brave tiger would make a good thinking of you/encouragement card, so paired it with the sentiment 'You can do this' from the stamp set 'Forever Fern'. I think it works. When perusing my stamp shelf, I found a few other stamps that would work well with the animals in this set too; you don't always need all of the items in a suite to complete a card, you just need to get creative!

A Paper Trick - I have one last trick to share with you on my card today: when fussy-cutting shapes from designer series paper, don't disgard any shapes that are incomplete. I used one of the tigers on the edge of my paper to decorate the inside of my card; his position looks just like I intended him to be 'off the page', whereas the reality was my tiger only had half a body in the first place!

This is a great #SimpleStamping card that uses stamps, ink, cardstock and makes a feature of the designer series paper in a number of creative ways. 

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 will you make with our sketch this week? Will you be stocking up on designer series paper whilst you can save - for those paper-addicts among us (yes, I'm one!) there's no better time than the present!

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a sketch challenge, you are welcome to rotate or flip a sketch. You can replace shapes used such as substituting a circle panel for a square panel. However, we must be able to still see the basis of the original sketch in your finished product.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

IN THE WILD 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£9.14)	CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SOFT SUCCULENT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EVENING EVERGREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
FOREVER FERN CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£22.00)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)

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

I usually have to spend a long time planning for a speed challenge, however my idea this week came together in a jiffy - take a look:

I went all-out for Christmas with my card today! Here's the low-down:

Festive Foliage - My favourite new background stamp in the new annual catalogue is the Festive Foliage stamp I've used on my card today - so perfect for festive Christmas backgrounds and featuring holly, pine, mistletoe and more. Using my Stamparatus, I stamped it tone-on-tone in Shaded Spruce on the same colour cardstock - this is one of my favourite Christmas greens. 

Playful Alphabet - I added the word 'NOEL' in gold foil and cut with my Playful Alphabet dies, raised on foam adhesive sheets, across my card front for a simple sentiment. I added a liberal sprinkling of (retired) gold glitter enamel dots in place of some of the dots in the stamped design.

Keep It Simple - The key to a speed challenge is always to 'keep it simple' and this card definitely does: the stamping took no time at all using my Stamparatus and I stamped it on a panel to make it easy to cut to an even size afterwards, a simple gold foil diecut sentiment and a liberal sprinkling of glittery enamel dots. My card was completed in 9 minutes 8 seconds - and most of that time was taken peeling and placing my enamel dots! They add a nice touch of sparkle amongst the green though, don't you think?

After I'd completed today's card, I went back to my Stamparatus and stamped another bunch of these green panels to make a few more stepped-up cards; I'll share those with you another day.

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FESTIVE FOLIAGE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	PLAYFUL ALPHABET DIES (£32.00)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)
FOAM ADHESIVE SHEETS (£7.50)

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

With Father's Day around the corner our masculine theme this week gave me the perfect opportunity to get organised and make my cards. It also allowed me to take some time out of my super-busy week to spend some time relaxing with my Stampin' Blends and indulge in a little colouring. I actually have two cards for you today, featuring each of the main images in the 'A Cut Above' stamp set. Take a look at the first one:

This is the card I made for my Dad and I coloured the hair, etc. accordingly - I love how you cam customise when you stamp your own card! And here's the second card I created:

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

A Cut Above - Both of my cards today feature images and sentiments from the 'A Cut Above' stamp set, a stand-alone stamp set that features in the January-June mini catalogue and will be retiring at the end of the month. Whilst I'll be sad to see this set go, as I think these images work for lots of recipients, so if this set is on your wish list, snap it up now before it's too late! These images are great to colour - I've listed all of the blends I used in my product table below. I don't profess to be an expert colourist, however I do find it wonderfully relaxing.

A Growing Garden - The layout for my card today was inspired by a TGIF Challenges sketch from a few weeks ago that I didn't play along with, but kept because I thought it would work well with my image panel. I added a strip of sky at the top of my panel, then below my image I added a number of strips of Granny Apple Green grass (cut with a retired Picnic Builders Die - you could also create something similar with fringe scissors or your paper snips if you don't have a grass die) that I had lightly sponged on the tips. Given that both of the images feature grass, I thought this was a fun way to add extra detail. I'm also linking up over at Global Design Project #GDP295 this week where their theme is 'Growing Garden' - I don't know about you, but of all the things in our garden, the grass is definitely the thing that grows the quickest, closely followed by the weeds! During the early summer months, our grass definitely resembles my card:

I know my husband will definitely see the funny side of this card - he spends many hours mowing the lawn!

A Die Comparison - The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I used two different stitched scalloped rectangles on my cards. The card above uses one of the stitched rectangles in the Stitched So Sweetly Dies set; the card below uses one of the new stitched rectangles from the Scalloped Contours Dies. You will notice that the scallop detail is much larger on the card below; in addition to this detail, some of the other dies in this new set have cut outs or alternative stitched patterning, in addition to the overall sizes being larger. I wanted to show you the difference on two similar cards so that you can see how the new dies differ:

Here's both cards together - which one do you prefer? I like them both but would love to hear your thoughts, so do leave me a comment below.

The lovely team over at SUO Challenges are asking us to create projects created using markers, so I'll also be linking up over there too.

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

 And my second card:

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

Enjoy your day; mine is set to be filled with housework, laundry and all that to the background of my piano being tuned - wish me luck! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A CUT ABOVE CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (£33.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SOFT SUEDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
BERMUDA BAY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BALMY BLUE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	SMOKEY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£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:

I'm afraid I couldn't resist dipping into my Expressions in Ink Suite again for the third time this week to find my ingredients to meet the recipe criteria for this challenge - take a look:

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

Expressions In Ink - Today's card uses another of the beautiful alcohol-ink inspired backgrounds that feature in the Expressions in Ink designer series paper. This one features a loose floral pattern that I deliberately chose for today's card because it is a great match for the large floral die. 

All About The Die - Today's card really is all about showcasing the gorgeous large floral die. I cut it out of (retired) gold glimmer paper as I wanted it to make a real focal point on my card; can you see how the pattern of the florals behind align with the florals on the diecut? I'm not sure if this is by design, but I was rather pleased when I discovered it:

The Remaining Ingredients - So that is DSP and diecut sorted; I heat embossed my birthday sentiment in gold onto a Tasteful Label banner and added a simple gold twine bow so as not to detract from the diecut to complete the other elements of our recipe this week.

I am truly in love with this suite - so very pretty and easy to use. I can promise you haven't seen the last of this yet!

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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

EXPRESSIONS IN INK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	ARTISTIC DIES (£33.00)	PEACEFUL MOMENTS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	GOLD & ROSE GOLD 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) METALLIC SPECIALTY PAPER (£4.75)

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

Jane chose our theme this week and whilst ordinarily daffodils, followed by tulips, are most definitely the flowers I most look forward to the arrival of in Spring, the first flower of spring in my garden is always the pansy; they are one of the few flowers that I ever manage to over-winter and are a most welcome sight before the bulbs flower, so I couldn't resist another card with my new pansy suite - take a look:

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

Pansies For The Avid Crafter - The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that this card uses the same layout as the clean and simple 'hello' pansy card that I shared with you earlier this week. I liked the idea of the mini-slimline card so much that I thought I would take the opportunity to create another card using the same layout, this time a birthday card (so I'm also linking up over at Global Design Project #GDP291) and stepping things up to create a card for the avid crafter. I chose to showcase another new in colour, Fresh Freesia on today's card and still diecut my pansies from the Pansy Petals designer paper, but this time I added leaves too. I also added some ink splatter using my Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Write marker to my scalloped rectangle background along with some loops of the new Fresh Freesia open weave ribbon that I had split lengthways, along with a sprinkle of the new in-colour jewels - these are so pretty!

The Inside Detail - I added a stamped pansy to the inside of my card, along with another of the sentiments from the Pansy Patch set; there are a great mix and size/style of sentiment in this set:

Casual or Avid? - I thought you might like to see both Tuesday's clean and simple card and today's stepped-up version alongside it so that you could see both the similarities and differences. Which one do you prefer?

I really like both but am quite partial to today's card as it features one of my favourite colours - purple. I am also really liking this min-slimline design too - sometimes even just changing the style of a card freshens things up 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 '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 project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

In other news: Fridays are always busy in the James household and today is no exception. The weather has been so wet here in the UK this week that the tumble dryer has also been brought back into full service, since the washing line outside is once again a lost cause and I am playing Widow Twanky (a classic pantomime reference for my overseas readers!) On the bright side though, Friday is also Food & Nutrition day for young Master James, and today he is making fresh coleslaw and spicy potato wedges in class to accompany hot dogs or burgers. There may be no opportunity to cook those on the BBQ given the forecast but I am thankful that dinner has been taken care of by someone other than me, so no complaints here! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PANSY PATCH BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£47.50)	PANSY PETALS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BLACKBERRY BLISS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	FRESH FREESIA 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)