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 theme challenge for us to work with:

I wasn't quite sure where to go with Ann's theme this week, so I started with a browse of my stamp set shelf for inspiration. I saw this quote and that's where this week's project began - take a look:

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

Enjoy Life - The quote is featured in the retired 'Enjoy Life' stamp set and whilst not about romantic love per se, I thought that it would make a lovely centrepiece for a summer-inspired project. I stamped it onto white cardstock and diecut using my Nested Essentials Dies.

New Horizons - I leafed through my (extensive) designer series paper collection and found this lovely sunny landscape in the retired New Horizons pack that worked perfectly for my background.

It's In The Detail - Trying to decide how to bring my chosen quote and paper together, I happened upon the Inspired By Challenge inspiration this week and finally had the answer! Not the beachy theme, the colour scheme or the cookies - but the sketch layout. I decided to take some of the other stamps from the 'Enjoy Life' stamp set and stamp them in black onto an identical piece of designer paper to the one I was using for my background, cutting them out with my square Stylish Shapes Dies. I popped the diecut pieces up on dimensionals to add interest to the landscape and frame the quote in an interesting way:

I used the whole of the 6x6" sheet of DSP and decided I liked it so much that I would frame it and hang it on the wall of my craft room, which I recently painted in a sunny shade of yellow. Here's the finished piece in its frame:

Whilst my project does not embody romantic love, there is a definite nod to summer and a love of life, so I'm hoping Ann thinks I'm close enough to what she was looking for to meet the brief ;-).

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 will be enjoying a BBQ lunch in the summer sun and just pottering around the house today. I am still aching from Friday's strenuous gym session and paddleboarding excursion combined, so I need to rest in order to do it all again next week! We are forecast a third heatwave here this week, so I am trying to make the most of the reasonable temperatures before it's too hot to move. Besides, there will also be tennis at Wimbledon so if that's not an excuse to watch the TV, I'm not sure what is! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (£32.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

BASIC BLACK HYBRID STAMPIN' PAD (£11.25)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my wonderful and talented friend LeAnne to host this week and she has a gorgeous colour challenge for us to work with:

I fell in love with this trio of orange/yellows that LeAnne chose and whilst I was tempted to go floral, I decided instead to use the sketch inspiration over at Fusion for my layout and create a pretty sunrise and silhouette scene using the Enjoy Life stamp set - take a look:

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

A Million Dollar Stamp Set - I decided to use a combination of images from the 'Enjoy Life' stamp set on my card today. This stamp set, with its beautiful collection of silhouettes and inspirational sentiments, was designed by Connie Fitzgerald, one of Stampin' Up!'s Million Dollar Sales Achievers, as a celebration of this milestone achievement. I absolutely love this set and it was one of the first on my wishlist when the annual catalogue was launched - thank you Connie for such a great set!

Sunrise, Sunset Made Easy - I wanted to create a vertical panel with a sunrise that featured all three of the challenge colours, so I punched a 3/4" circle and masked off my sun and used a sponge brayer to build up a graduated sunrise, blending each of the colours in turn starting with the lightest colour at the top. Sponge brayers are so great for this; they make light work of the art of ink blending, and can be washed out when you're done. I also brayered the colours on the diagonal of the bottom corner of the inside panel too and added a little interior detail:

Blended Ombre Embossing - My card today is ultra-clean, with minimal layers and detail to allow my inked panel to really shine, but I'd also like to share another great tip with you; did you notice I created a blended ombre of colour on my sentiment that mimics my sunrise? Curious as to how I created it? With a Basic Black card base, I originally heat-embossed the sentiment in white, but this was too stark. I decided to use my Pumpkin Pie Blends to carefully colour the lettering and change its colour. Did you know you can use your Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in this way? This tones down the brightness of the white and adds a co-ordinating pop of colour that wouldn't have been possible with ink alone on such a dark background.

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:

I usually struggle with colour challenges, but this bright, monotone pallet really spoke to me - so many creative possibilities! I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Enjoy Life Photopolymer Stamp Set (£23.00)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Sponge Brayers (£7.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)