It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Nancy is hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

Nancy's colours are all from the Neutrals family and whilst I like each of them, I'll confess I struggled to know how to use them effectively together. So I decided the best thing to do was keep it simple - take a look:

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

I still had the Friends For Life bundle out on my desk having made Sunday's card, so decided to choose 3 elements - a sentiment and two diecuts - and created a simple layout making a feature of the structured leaf stem and added a trio of Blackberry Bliss enamel dots to complete my card:

Turns out I actually rather like the finished result - sometimes less really is more, 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. 

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! colour 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 news of the new mini catalogue. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIENDS FOR LIFE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

TRANSPARENT ADHESIVE-BACKED DOTS (7.50)

I took the week off from my last challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches as I was on vacation. So I decided to use the sketch and create a clean and simple card with t using the current colour challenge over at Color Dare, to use white, brown and one other colour. Deborah's sketch shows a trio of images in a column:

For my card I went super clean and simple: one layer, one stamp set and just two ink colours - I chose one of my favourite pinks, Melon Mambo, as my choice colour. This is what I came up with:

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

I stamped a trio of Latte Love coffee cups in Melon Mambo and added my sentiment and coffee swirls in Pecan Pie, changing out the coffee art on the central cup and nestling the sentiment in between:

 Done - #simplestamping, that's all there is to it! A quick and easy card to invite a friend on a long overdue coffee date because everyone loves a good catch up, right? If you want to play along with this sketch, you have one more day to get your entry in.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LATTE LOVE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)

MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

PECAN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Hello everyone - I'm back! It's never good when a vacation and blog migration issues combine, but I'm back, crossing my fingers and hoping that finally everything has been resolved and I have some quick and easy cards to share with you! 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 speed challenge chosen by Jane:

I don't have any current fruit in my stash, but thought this challenge would be a perfect opportunity to use up a glut of retired Tutti Frutti designer series paper. I grabbed a couple of retired fruit theme stamp sets too and started out with a bright, zesty card - take a look:

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

Speedy Tips - I decided on a super simple layout that would allow my DSP to do the heavy lifting and decided I would score a couple of lines directly onto the reverse of my card front to create 3 rectangles, then fill two of them with DSP and stamp a vertical sentiment onto the third. If you look closely you can see the scored detail on the image below:

A sentiment from 'Sweet Citrus' completes my simple yet fruity card.

Quick In Half The Time - Well, almost - my card took me just 5 minutes and 32 seconds to complete:

A Fruity Collection - since my challenge card really was so quick to make, I decided to use up a bunch of other papers in the pack and with a variety of other sentiments, created a whole bunch of cards with a fruity theme:

They really were so easy! Each patterned panel across the bottom is the reverse of the fruity panel, so with a few quick scorelines and slices of my trimmer, I'd manage to create a bunch of fun cards. Here they are in more detail:

And I used up a bunch of paper too - bonus!

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• For a Colour Challenge use all of the given colours and only those colours with these exceptions:
• White and Very Vanilla are free colours.
• In addition, you may use of ONE of these neutrals: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige.
• For a Speed Stamping Challenge you must tell us the time it took to make your project and it must be finished in under 10 min.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

It's August and there are some important promotions to bring to your attention! Firstly, we all love gorgeous Designer Series Paper, me especially, and during the month of August you can enjoy a 15% discount on select papers from the current annual catalogue. Now is a great time to stock up and save on some of our most popular paper designs! The papers included in the promotion are detailed below:

A reminder too that August is the month to redeem the Bonus Days coupons you earned in July:

The designer series paper sale is perfectly timed for redeeming those Bonus Days coupons earned; remember the must be redeemed before August 31st, so the sooner the better.

Also this month - we have two new great kit collections that have been released. The first of these is the Haunted Home Kit:

Get your Halloween crafting on with the Haunted Home Kit! This kit costs £17 and comes with all the paper pieces you need to assemble your very own haunted paper house. You’ll start with cardboard walls, pre-cut vellum, and other paper pieces for accessorising. Assemble the house following the instructions then add your own ghostly touch to it. It’s the perfect paper crafting activity for any gathering with fellow crafters, friends, and family during the spooky season!

The second kit is the Christmas Wishes Christmas card kit:

Keep your Christmas card crafting easy AND elegant with the Christmas Wishes Kit! This kit comes with 8 bright red card bases detailed with gold foil and coordinating gold, shimmer envelopes. Create your own Christmas cards using the pre-cut paper pieces, the stamp set, and Stampin’ Spot. Use the included address labels to send your cards to your recipients! This kit costs £22.

All of the above items can be found in my online store by clicking the links below. Happy shopping!

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	COUNTRYSIDE INN 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	COUNTRY LACE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	COUNTRY WOODS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	FULL OF LIFE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	LILY POND LANE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)
MEDITERRANEAN BLOOMS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	PERENNIAL LAVENDER 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	TAKE TO THE SKY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	THOUGHTFUL JOURNEY 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	TO MARKET 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	UNBOUNDED BEAUTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)
WILDLY FLOWERING 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	WINTER MEADOW 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.99)	HAUNTED HOME KIT (17.00)	CHRISTMAS WISHES KIT (ENGLISH) (22.00)

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 colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to make a card to send to my Paper Players teamie, the lovely Anne Marie Hile, who is currently recovering from some serious health issues. It's a while since I sent her some happy mail and whilst her regular Facebook updates are keeping us informed of her great progress, I thought these colours would be perfect for a cute hot air balloon to carry my best wishes across the miles to let her know I am thinking of her:

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

My card really is super simple! I diecut some clouds out of masking paper, then added a sky using Boho Blue ink and a blending brush to my card base, before removing the masked clouds. I stamped a balloon in Melon Mambo and added a decorative panel from Calypso Coral cardstock, before adding to my card using dimensionals:

I almost left it there, but decided to add a trio of Melon Mambo glossy dots for a little understated sparkle - a nod to the lovely Anne Marie herself! I initially struggled with this colour combo, even though it includes my favourite Melon Mambo, but when it came down to it they suited my card perfectly. I can't wait to see how you use these colours!

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! colour 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:

HOT AIR BALLOON PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	HOT AIR BALLOON DIES (28.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BOHO BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	GLOSSY DOTS ASSORTMENT (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 recipe challenge from Heather H:

I used the lovely layered sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout and set to work - take a look at how I incorporated my recipe elements:

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

Thoughtful Journey - Unlike the rest of the team, I didn't go exclusively with 'shades of green'; I used a sheet of the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper featuring some fir trees for my focal point. I used another piece of the same paper for my matting layer, to echo some of the other colours. For my embossed layer, I embossed a piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock with the (retired) Evergreen Forest 3D embossing folder and cut this panel into three, which echoes the trees on the paper.

Happy Birthday Wishes - I fussy cut my birthday greeting from the 'Unbounded Love' stamp set and tucked this into my scene, near my Mossy Meadow linen twine bow. I also added a trio of Wild Wheat enamel dots, to pick up on the colour of my card base. Not my favourite colour to be fair, but I find mixing it with other strong colours makes it more palatable! There are so many layers to this card - you can see the detail below:

Finishing Touches - In addition to another sentiment inside my card, I used a scrap of the same designer paper to add a border and bring the colour through to the inside of the card:

I also added a border to the edge of the front of my envelope too - you can see that in my main photo. I don't often decorate the front of my envelope in this way, but it is the perfect solution to using up a leftover scrap if you have a piece that is the correct size/orientation and gives a lovely hint as to what's inside for the recipient.

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 or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Recipe Challenge use all elements of the recipe - the possibilities within those parameters are endless.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THOUGHTFUL JOURNEY 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	UNBOUNDED LOVE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	MOSSY MEADOW A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	WILD WHEAT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

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

My favourite beach activity - well, I'm not one for lying on a sun lounger at the beach (I prefer to do that poolside!) so when I'm at the beach I like to be 'doing' and my favourite things to do include building sandcastles and paddling in the sea. So I knew I had to feature a sandcastle on today's card. I was inspired by this card that was my pick over at The Paper Players last week to try a similar technique and I ended up with not one, but two cards to share with you today. Here's the first one that I started with:

I used my retired Little Letters Thinlits Dies to cut my sentiment out a sheet of retired Serene Scenes paper with a beach scape, and infilled with the same letters cut from Basic White, and stamped a sandcastle using my Beach Day stamp set to which I added a little extra colour using my Stampin' Blends:

Having made this card, I decided that I would use the letters I'd cut out of my designer paper and make a second card:

This time I inset my letters into a white panel, that I popped up on a white card base which I had embossed with a retired waves embossing folder. Finally I added another sandcastle:

You still get a sense of the seaside from the letters, against all the white space. I decided I liked this card more than my first one, so that's the one that I used as my As You See it card, but I've shared both to explain the process. Here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer?

No visual summary of the key products today, as the key products are retired, but there are store links to the current products used below. I'm also linking today's first card up over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog where they are on 'H is for Holidays' and my second card for another play at Addicted to CAS where the current codeword is SUMMER.

So what's your favourite beach activity? Why not play along and share it with us over at As You See It.

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• For a Fill In The Blank Challenge you must tell us how you would finish the sentence.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a few current challenges that are all celebrating the delights of summer:

The team over at Just Us Girls are celebrating all things summertime, Addicted to CAS has the codeword of SUMMER and AAA Cards is looking for anything clean and simple, with the optional twist of summer.  

I have made a few cards using the 'Beach Day' set recently, mostly featuring the dies which I love. I wanted to try something more CAS that focused on the stamps alone - take a look at what I came up with:

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

This card really is super simple - I stamped a trio of images using my stamping platform for a crisp outline, added in some extra sand to extend the horizontal line and added a sentiment beneath. I coloured my images with my watercolour pencils, smoothing them with my blending pen:

This was my first experiment with the new neutral, Basic Beige, that I used for my card base. This really is a lovely neutral and makes a great soft, sand base for a beach-themed card. I haven't made a #simplestamping card like this one in ages, so it was fun to go back to basics. The Beach Day bundle is perfect for this kind of card, with so many images that can be combined to make fun little scenes. All we need here in the UK now is a little more sunshine - so far the summer has been rather damp!

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 am off to the hairdressers later, which is always a joy. A good natter and an uninterrupted cup of coffee that I can still drink whilst hot - bliss! I'll be back Friday with my project for As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)

BLENDER PENS (14.00)

WATERCOLOR PENCILS ASSORTMENT 1 (17.00)

BASIC BEIGE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Suzy has asked that we feature a frame and a trio of design elements. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

I decided to play along with the team over at Just Add Ink where they are all about adding a little party fun so for my card today I grabbed my 'Sweet Pea' stamp set and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

These partying peas crack me up; they are great for clean and simple cards and with party hats and streamers, these little guys are ready to party for sure! I flipped the sketch as my pea pod curved the wrong way to have my frame on the right hand side of my card and I chose three different stamped elements to adorn my frame. My frame is diecut with the Unbounded Love Dies; I actually cut two and snipped away one side, then joined them to make one larger frame, hiding the joins beneath my stamped elements:

A sprinkling of sequins and glimmer gems added to the party feel 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SWEET PEAS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	UNBOUNDED LOVE DIES (34.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (8.00)	SHY SHAMROCK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PETUNIA POP STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

We are already half way through July so today I have a quick reminder of what's new this month. First things first: BONUS DAYS ARE BACK! Do you remember this promotion from last year? It was so successful, Stampin' Up! have decided to repeat it this year.

For every £45.00 you spend between 3 July and 31 July (before delivery), you’ll get a £4.50 Bonus Days coupon that you can use between 1 and 31 August. Our new annual catalogue has been out for a couple of months now, so I'm sure you will still have some items on your wish list; this is a great opportunity to shop from it and make savings when you shop again in August with your coupons! 

There are some details in terms of small print that you need to take note of, as follows: 

• Promotion period: 3–31 July 2014
• Redemption period: 1–31 August 2024
• An email address is required to participate in this promotion; Bonus Days coupon codes can only be delivered via email.
• It is strongly recommended that you both save emails containing their Bonus Days coupon codes AND write down the coupon codes in a safe place. Codes cannot be resent if the email is lost, and lost codes cannot be recovered.
• Bonus Days coupon codes can be redeemed for any product, excluding Starter Kits.
• There is no limit to the number of coupons you can receive per order or throughout the duration of the promotion.
• There is no limit on the number of coupons you can use on an order during redemption.

There is also a new kit available this month called 'Garden of Thanks' - and it's beautiful! 

The cards in this kit really are beautiful - but don't just take my word for it, add one to your shopping basket today! Remember if you are placing an order online to also include this month's hostess code 3NR3FB9W to receive a free thank you gift from me too! 

If you have any questions on any of the above, then please do get in touch - I am always happy to help!

Back tomorrow with a creative post; until then, happy shopping!