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

Remember: this is clean and simple week. What do we mean by 'clean and simple' ? Create a card that has:

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, also known as 'white space'
• Is simple and uncluttered

There were lots of great options to choose from this week and in the end I decided to use this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout and the fun golfer in the new 'On To Adventure' set - take a look:

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

On To Adventure - As soon as I saw this set in the catalogue, I knew I would have to have it! My Dad is a keen golfer and so I knew this image would give me a lot of mileage. Many of the sentiments in this set are along the theme of retirement (which is also good for me, as I didn't have any retirement sets up to this point) but the images can easily be combined with other sentiments to be used in tons of different ways. I stamped my golfer above my hole-in-one sentiment then brayered in some Granny Apple Green grass to ground him before colouring him with my Stampin' Blends.

In Color Argyle - This card would look fine as a one layer card, however the sketch calls for some vertical stripes and since this month's #SimpleStamping challenge from stamping up is to use stamps, ink and paper along with some designer series paper on your card, I decided that this argyle pattern in the new DSP stack would work perfectly with my golfer - my Dad certainly has many golf sweaters with this pattern!

A Ribbon of Birthdays -  It's my Dad's birthday next month so I thought this would make a perfect 'Happy Birthday Grandpa' card from one of the James Juniors. With this in mind, I overlaid a 'ribbon' of happy birthday sentiments, courtesy of the 'Itty Bitty Birthdays' set and stamped repeatedly on a narrow strip of white cardstock, along my DSP border.

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:

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; we are on a belated spring-clean at home so will be spending a little time doing some more sorting out today. We have a movie to watch and hopefully I'll squeeze in a little crafty time too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

On To Adventure Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Itty Bitty Birthdays Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Night Of Navy Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	2019–2021 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Sponge Brayers (£7.50)

Just a quick creative post from me today following on from my earlier share about the 'Everything Is Rosy' limited edition product medley that is coming later in the week (you can read all about that here if you missed it). I'm sharing a quick card that I made at the weekend that was initially inspired by last week's CASology challenge theme of 'Africa' (now closed but you can check out their amazing gallery here) that inspired me to use up some of my epic stash of retired designer series papers with this rather intriguing sketch from the CAS Colours and Sketches team:

So here is my card: 

A selection of 'Go Wild' retired animal print papers, inset beneath a trio of apertures cut using my rectangle stitched framelits dies and a sentiment from the retiring 'A Little Wild' stamp set - that's all there is to it! It definitely felt good to use up some of those retired papers too.

I'm also linking up my clean and simple card with the team over at Addicted To CAS where their current theme is 'contrast' and I think my varied animal skin-inspired prints are definitely that!

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. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project and compared to today's you might need sunglasses for it - bright is the word! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

A Little Wild Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)

I'm not sure how Monday turned into Wednesday, but sometimes that's just how it goes! So a quick share today with my second paper-pieced card that I originally made for our challenge over at The Paper Players this week: clean an simple paper piecing. I am totally 'on the fence' about this card - it didn't look as good as it did in my mind, so I ended up making another one for the challenge, but thought I'd share with you as I'd love to hear what you think. So here is my card:

This card used the retiring Graceful Garden stamp set and features a rose that I more often have coloured rather than paper-pieced, but I wondered what it would look like in some rose-patterned paper. I used one of the beautiful pink rose designs from the Petal Promenade pack for the flower and some Floral Romance paper for the stem. A little background stamped detail, a few artisan pearls and a sentiment finish my card. So what do you think - does it work? I really would welcome your thoughts on this one!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Graceful Garden Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Floral Romance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	1-3/8" (3.5 Cm) Scallop Circle Punch (£15.00)	1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch (£15.00)	1" (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch (£12.00)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Share What You Love Artisan Pearls (£5.50)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! No hearts here today! The ladies over at Less Is More are celebrating the challenge's 8th birthday (wowsers!) and riding high on the delight at having been chosen as last month's LIM winner (you can see that card here if you missed it) I am blogging my entry for the current challenge which is a colour one:

 Navy and yellow is a classic colour combination for me so I went for something bright and CAS that is all about #SimpleStamping to really let the colours shine - take a look:

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

Just Take Two - Whilst I deliberated for ages on how I was going to use these two colours, the card I settled on will take you no time at all to recreate: just two ink pads, some yellow and white cardstock and a punch. You can add a yellow pearl before the sentiment if you really want to go all out!!

Vibrant Vases - My card features the Vibrant Vases stamp set, with each of the elements stamped in Night of Navy with the exception of the flower petals, which were stamped in Daffodil Delight. I stamped the vase on a spare piece of whisper white cardstock and punched it out using the Vases Builder Punch but you could make it even simpler by stamping the vase directly onto the cardfront and dispense with the punch altogether, although I like this added detail. I popped my cardfront up onto a Daffodil Delight cardbase for an added pop of yellow.

Don't Forget the Inside - I also stamped the inside with a sentiment and a one layer vase and flower combo. You don't need any other supplies for this and given how quick the front is to create, you can easily afford a minute more to add this final finishing detail.

Another great example of #SimpleStamping at its best! Again, this would work in lots of other colourways too. A card that could be made with no more than 5 products - 6 if you include the punch, which if you buy along with the stamp set in a bundle you can save 10%.

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:

Varied Vases Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Vases Builder Punch (£17.00)	Varied Vases Photopolymer Bundle (£36.75)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Share What You Love Artisan Pearls (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenges over at As You See It and Just Add Ink:

I also decided to combine it with this month's #SimpleStamping challenge set by Stampin' Up!, which was to create a birthday card with nothing more than stamps, ink, paper and a piece of DSP. So first up, here's my #SimpleStamping card: 

This really took just a minute to make - I even made a video to show you how I did it, and I haven't made one of those in ages! Here you go:

Beautiful You is a great set if you're starting out: 3 main images and a good variety of sentiments that work for birthdays, congratulations, a pick-me-up and more besides, this is a set that offers lots of creative possibilities. The images can be inked or coloured using Blends or watercolour pencils, or you can make your choice of DSP go further by paper-piecing the dress and accessories on each of the images.

My card for for As You See It and Just Add Ink was where I started out, pairing back to make my #SimpleStamping card, but I'm showing it as the second card in my post because it's a great example of how once you've mastered the art of a basic card, a few simple accessories and a little fussy cutting can easily step things up if you want to get more adventurous:

The addition of some striped ribbon and a few irridescent sequins, along with fussy cutting the main image and popping it up on dimensionals, adds a further layer of sophistication to this otherwise clean and simple birthday card. To really get the most from my supplies, I also stamped and coloured my envelope and the inside of my card:

Not a naked piece of paper in sight! By keeping things simple and using a basic monochromatic colour scheme, this is a card that can be easily mass-produced with limited supplies and would work well in pretty much any colour. 

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:

Beautiful You Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£26.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Poppy Parade 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Mini Striped Ribbon (£7.50)	Metallics Sequin Assortment (£4.75)

Yay - it's Friday, bring on the weekend! Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Less is More where I haven't played for a while:

I had a short window for a spot of crafting yesterday and thought I'd whip up another clean and simple card using a couple of new products that fits perfectly with their theme this week - take a look:

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

By The Bay - The seagulls paddling on the shoreline that feature on today's card are reminiscent of the ones that featured in the much loved and now retired Wetlands set (anyone else remember that set?) albeit with a little more definition, and they are one of three line-drawn images that feature with three sentiments in 'By The Bay', one of the stamp sets that can be yours free with a purchase of £45 or more during Sale-A-Bration. Perfect for colouring the images are large enough to stand alone but also not so big that they take a long time to colour. I really like this set and you can be sure I will be using it more before the promotion is over. 

Another Way To Frame - To frame my image, I used a new favourite of mine, the Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies, but this time to cute an aperture frame into my cardfront. I then adhered my watercoloured image behind this. I like the subtle added detail that this gives to a clean and simple card, without adding overt layers. 

Ways With Watercolour - I feel like I've been watercolouring a lot on my cards lately; I don't consider myself to be by any means an expert at watercolouring, but I think that's why I'm enjoying it so much; on watercolour paper, it's easy to build up colour without needing to be too precise in terms of the overall effect. It would take ages if I was to attempt to properly draw and paint the image to achieve omething like this, so I'm grateful that stamps, ink and an aquapainter enable me to produce something this good in a fraction of the time! I used a combination of blues, greys and sandy neutrals to colour my image.

If you like today's clean and simple card, by purchasing the key items used below, you can earn the By The Bay stamp set for free - perfect for creating your own watercoloured masterpieces.

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

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

Enjoy your day - I have a monster basket of ironing to wade through but I'm hoping if I focus I might squeeze in a little stamping time before my afternoon school run, so I'm on a mission! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Watercolor Paper (£4.75)

Aqua Painters (£16.00)

By The Bay Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I've decided to write a regular weekly slot dedicated to simple stamping and since today has been a busy one, I thought it was time for one such post! We all like quick and easy projects from time to time, either because you need something last-minute or you need a few of something and just want to run off some multiples. Equally, if you're new to crafting and don't have lots of supplies, simple stamping can be a way to stretch your supplies and focus on basic techniques whilst still producing something with a quality finish. I'll be using the hashtag #SimpleStamping - if you're a user of social media you should search under this hashtag from time to time for lots of papercrafting ideas that are easy to recreate, often using little more than basic supplies and stamps, ink and paper.

For this week's take on #SimpleStamping I have another couple of super simple thank you cards for you that could be whipped up in a jiffy:

I get through lots of thank you cards and sometimes I need to be able to turn out a lot in one go. I love a little colouring with my Blends markers too and sometimes, whilst relaxing, this can take a little while to do a good job. These little puppies are so quick to colour though you can honestly get each card finished in under a minute.  

These cards are also great examples of #SimpleStamping - a pack of notelets, a single stamped image courtesy of the 'Bella and Friends' stamp set in the annual catalogue, some Stampin' Blends and a little time for some colouring and done!

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bella & Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Sets (£19.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes (£6.00)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Poppy Parade Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Mango Melody Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)

We are still enjoying the tail end of the Christmas holidays for the youngest of the James Juniors so today we've been making the most of the fine and sunny day with a long walk and catching up with a movie that we've both wanted to see for some time - there will be time for crafting later in the week! Luckily I got a couple made at the weekend and am on a bit of an animal theme this week inspired by this week's challenge that we have over at The Paper Players and today I'm sharing a card using the sketch for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I went for a clean and simple card and a little watercolouring, with one of my favourite new stamp sets from the new Spring-Summer catalogue along with a new 'must have' staple  - take a look:

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

Let It Ride - The galloping horse on the front of today's card is courtesy of the new 'Let It Ride' set. You might be surprised that I like this set so much, as no-one in our family rides or owns horses (although Rebecca did have lessons for a while and made many requests for her own pony until she discovered hockey - phew!) I do have lots of friends that ride though and know I will get lots of use out of this set. I especially like the inspirational phrases that accompany these sketched images - I mean, 'Live life as if someone left the gate open' - what a great quote to live by!

Easy Watercolouring - I stamped my image onto watercolour paper and used my aquapainter to colour my horse, adding a little green to ground him. The sketchy nature of the images in this set really lend themselves to a watercoloured finish, without the need to be too precise. I layered the colour gradually until I was happy with the intensity, allowing each layer to dry briefly before adding more colour.

A New Craft Cupboard Staple - I cropped my main image with that perennial staple of my tool cupboard, my Stitched Circle Framelits.  My regular readers know how much I love these stitched shapes - they are great for adding an extra detail to a simple shape. Stitching generally is very on-trend in the craft world right now, and the new Spring-Summer catalogue debuts a new kid on the block though that is going to come a close second on my 'top 10 framelits' list I think: the new Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies set includes 13 dies, each of which feature stitching both inside and outside the frame and offer lots more ways to expand your creative options. I used them here to crop my sentiment panel, before heat-embossing my sentiment onto it. 

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 evening; tomorrow is the last day of the school holidays (finally!) and following my open house in the morning we will be spending the afternoon with friends. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Let It Ride Cling Stamp Set (£22.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad (£9.25)
Watercolor Paper (£4.75)	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£10.25)	Aqua Painters (£16.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Versamark Pad (£8.25)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)

I've been back in my craft room for a few hours today and yes, it felt good! I have some new makes to share with you this week as a result too. This evening I'm just popping in with a quick post to share a couple of super simple thank you cards that are perfect for the current challenge over at StampInkPaper:

Here's a close up of my card - I did a little basic ombre colouring on the lettering using two shades of the same colour Blend marker:

I made these with the James Juniors over the Christmas period - they make great thank you cards to send for gifts received. I encourage my children to keep up this polite tradition and they are not always that accommodating, however they had fun with this set and whilst they didn't write reams, it's the thought that counts and I'm sure the gesture will be appreciated.

These cards are also great examples of #SimpleStamping - a pack of notelets, a single stamped image courtesy of the 'Bee Thankful' stamp set in the annual catalogue and some Stampin' Blends and a little time for some colouring and done!

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. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project for the first challenge of the year over at The Paper Players - don't miss it! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bee Thankful Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£13.00)

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes (£6.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players - yay! It's the turn of my awesome friend LeAnne to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

Remember in addition to the theme of "sweet treats", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

I was totally inspired by the red and white stripes and the candy cane in our wonderful inspiration photo for my card this week - take a look:

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

Sweet Candy Canes - My card is all about candy canes - when it comes to sweet treats at this time of year, is there really anything sweeter? I reached for my favourite Santa's Workshop designer series papers again and paired them with a glittery candy cane embellishment from my Memories and More pack for a striped candy feast. 

Keep It Simple - My card really is super simple: a couple of well-chosen papers used sparingly, with a simple stitched circle and heat-embossed Christmas sentiment complete my card. Even the inside has a well-chosen but super simple sentiment detail:

A Delight in Red and White - Using just one colour with my white card base adds to the clean and simple feel of today's card. If you like this card, you might also want to check out this card that I posted earlier this week that used the same colour combination and products - and can also be made in under 10 minutes. Both of these cards are simple to create and would be great for mass production. Gotta love #SimpleStamping

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:

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. We had a busy day yesterday with a scrapbooking class and a swimming gala so today is officially homework day in the James household with hopefully a movie afternoon thrown in. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Santa's Workshop 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Santa's Workshop Memories & More Card Pack (£9.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)