It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Can you believe it was exactly one year ago today that the UK went into lockdown; my how times have changed in the last year - thank heavens for crafting! This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and YoonYoung has asked that we create something with three vertical elements and a central sentiment as our focal point:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. For my card today I decided to use a floral border die in shades of purple for my vertical elements - here's my card:

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

Ornate Borders - Whilst designed for use along the edge of a card as the name suggests, I thought that the simplest of the floral borders would also work when layered into my design to create the three vertical lines of interest in the sketch. I measure them carefully so that they were placed an equal distance apart; I like the way that the flowers show through the colour beneath to add further interest to each diecut. 

Shades of Purple - Purples are a favourite of mine and were perfect for today's card, where I decided I needed three complimentary shades of one colour, to maintain something of a CAS feel; I used the soon-to-be retiring Purple Posy, Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape. I am also playing along with a new-to-me challenge, The Flower Challenge, introduced to me by my blogging friend, the lovely Michele Ferguson of I Card Everyone who has just joined their team of designers, where they are looking for flowers in shades of purple too. Mine are diecut as opposed to stamped (I think that's still allowed!) and if you are a purple-lover too, you should check out their gallery - there are some fabulous purple stamped creations to peruse!

Inside Detail - I chose a super simple 'thanks' from the co-ordinating 'Ornate Thanks' stamp set in a stitched oval for the front of my card, in an effort to increase my proportion of 'white space' and maintain a clean and simple feel, and finished it on the inside of my card, adding a flower made up from the pieces leftover from the diecuts on the front:

So what do you think? Is purple friend or foe in your cardmaking and how will you interpret those verticals on our sketch this week? I'm looking forward to finding out!

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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE THANKS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	PURPLE POSY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

I have another quick card to share today that I made last weekend for the challenge over at Less Is More that is actually closing this evening - I'm not sure where this week has gone! I also used the sketch over at Hand Stamped Sentiments (I flipped it vertically):

I have a complete love affair with the new rainbow glimmer paper from Stampin' Up! and couldn't resist using a couple of the Ornate Borders to add detail to my top white panel and cutting away the right border edge to reveal a panel of rainbow glimmer paper - take a look:

Isn't it gorgeous?! I just love the sparkle - check it out:

I added my words courtesy of the Ornate Thanks set to complete my card - here's the inside:

Five simple products are all that's needed to create this gorgeous rainbow-inspired 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE THANKS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£44.00)

RAINBOW GLIMMER PAPER (£5.50)

COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' INK REFILL (£3.50)

Edited to Add: This card was Artist's Pick for the sketch challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

I have another post for you today! I was asked by the lovely Kelly Kent, of mypapercraftjourney.com and one of the talented design team members over at one of my favourite challenge sites, Just Add Ink (read more about that team in today's other post!) to be the guest designer on her Paper Adventures Team Monthly Blog Hop this month and I was delighted to say yes! This month they have a fun kit challenge! We were all asked to come up with a kit containing the following items and then to make a card from them:

I chose the following items from the Ornate Garden Suite for my kit:

• Ornate Garden Designer Series Paper
• Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder for dry embossing
• Old Olive Ribbon from the Ornate Garden Ribbon Combo Pack
• A flower trinket from the (retired) Bird Ballad embellishments

And using the sketch over at Inspire.Create as the basis for my card, this is what I made:

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

Ornate Garden - I decided to keep things simple and choose a few co-ordinating products for my kit card. I cut out a piece of the Ornate Garden DSP with my Stitched Shapes Dies and tied my Old Olive Ribbon around it in a bow making this a featur of my card, and chose some co-ordinating Mint Macaron cardstock for my card base.

An Embossing Dilemma - I debated between heat embossing my sentiment or dry embossing my background and in the end the dry embossing won - look at the lovely dimension the Ornate Floral 3D embossing folder adds to the base:

Just To Say ... - I love the numerous combinations of sentiment that can be made using the Ornate Thanks stamp set; I can see the 'just wanted to say' going with so many phrases even those not thanks-related; in this instance I stayed with thanks and used these other stamps to complete the inside of my card:

I added my retired Bird Ballard flower embellishment to the sentiment on the front 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. 

Now that you've had a chance to see what I made, why not click here to go to the next stop on the hop and see what the lovely Kelly has made with her kit supplies! Thank you so much to the Paper Adventures team for inviting me to participate in their hop today.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE GARDEN DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	ORNATE FLORAL 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	ORNATE GARDEN RIBBON COMBO PACK (£6.50)	ORNATE THANKS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (EN) (£17.00)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MINT MACARON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

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:

We are saying goodbye to a couple of in-colours  this week, however I used the current sketch layout over at The Paper Craft Crew (welcome back Pam and the team!) and having had my preorder unboxing with some of my excited customers this week I was inspired to crack open the contents and pair these colours with some new goodies - take a look:

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

Jar Of Flowers - First new item on today's card: the Jar of Flowers Bundle. Well, technically that's two items, as the bundle contains both a stamp set and a jar punch; yes, you heard correctly - a jar punch!! The stamps in the set include a flower collection for each season of the year and today I chose to feature the sunflowers on my card; this might well be meant for autumn, but the colours give my card a distinctly summery feel so that's what I'm going with. I stamped and punched my jar twice, the second time on vellum to give the opaque look of glass and fussy cut my flowers to allow them to pop against the yellow background:

Lovely Labels Pick A Punch - The second new and exciting item on my card is the Lovely Labels Pick a Punch that I used to make my Lovely Lipstick sentiment label. This punch is a winner - it cuts 6 different sizes and shapes of labels, but the layering combinations go way beyond this. I predict this punch will be as much of a staple as the Scallop Tag Topper or Triple Banner Punches - super useful.

Ornate Thanks - I paired my card with the 'Ornate Thanks' stamp set from the Ornate Garden Suite, also a stamp set that is new to the annual catalogue but already available to customers to order early this month. I finished the heat-embossed sentiment on the front of my card with a big bold thank you inside:

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. 

If you like my card, do check out the other Design Team members cards over on the challenge page - you will notice something of a distinct theme that stretches beyond our colour palette this week! Likewise, if you are not already a customer of mine but would like to receive a copy of the new annual 2020-21 Stampin' Up! catalogue when it launches on 3rd June, do click here to email me and request a copy.

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. 

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE THANKS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (EN) (£17.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	LOVELY LIPSTICK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CALL ME CLOVER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CALL ME CLOVER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	EMBOSSING BUDDY (£5.50)
VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	STAMPIN' BLENDS DAFFODIL DELIGHT COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS LOVELY LIPSTICK COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CALL ME CLOVER COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Happy Easter Sunday wishes everyone! As it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a beautiful colour challenge for us to work with:

I used Jacquie's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as the basis for my card today (I used a Layered Square Die instead of a diamond, turning it onto it's point) which showcases the main floral stamp from the Ornate Garden Suite pre-release - take a look:

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

Ornate Style - The Ornate Style stamp set is one of two that feature in the Ornate Garden Suite that is on early pre-release from the new 2020-21 Stampin' Up! catalogue; you can read more about the whole suite in my earlier post here if you missed it. I used the main floral stamp in the Ornate Style stamp set as the focal point for my card. I heat embossed the image in silver onto Whisper White cardstock and coloured it with my Seaside Spray, So Saffron and Smoky Slate Blends. I added the single flower stem from the same set to the inside of my card:

I haven't added a sentiment yet; I might turn this into a birthday card, as I have lots of them coming up, but for the time being I've left it black until I've decided.

Something Blue - I used Seaside Spray as the main colour on my card today: for my base, a layer of in-colour DSP inside my aperture and a trio of faceted enamel dots. I've used this same colour combination before on these projects, where I used So Saffron as the main colour. Which one do you prefer? Feel free to leave me a comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ornate Thanks - I finished my card with a heat embossed sentiment from another of the stamp sets in the Ornate Garden Suite, called Ornate Thanks. This is a great set with lots of sentiment combinations and I particularly like the style of the handwritten font.

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 will of course be hunting for Easter eggs today and spending much of the afternoon consuming large quantities of chocolate whilst making the most of our own company - again! Safe safe everyone! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Ornate Style Cling Stamp Set	Seaside Spray A4 Cardstock	2019–2021 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Seaside Spray Stampin' Blends Combo Pack	So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo Pack	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	White Stampin' Emboss Powder

Sale-A-Bration may be over for another year, but that's no reason for the excitement to end! From today you can get blooming with an exclusive early release from our new annual catalogue that is due to launch at the beginning of June - the Ornate Garden Suite.

This vintage, floral suite with beautiful spring theme contains two stamp and die bundles, a 3D embossing folder, ribbon combo pack, specialty designer series paper with gold foil detailing and gilded gems. Here are some pictures of the items within the suite:

And here are just some of the lovely samples provided by Stampin' Up! to show it's potential:

There is also a video that you might find useful too:

I will be sharing lots of samples using the suite in due course. In the meantime, head on over to my newly updated Stampin' Up! store that also launches today! 

Back tomorrow with a project (or two!) Until then, happy shopping!