It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and I am our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went down the middle column with books/yellow/bird and using the sketch layout over at Sunday Stamps and the colours over at Color Dare (I went along the top row and used Toffee and Capri too) and created a good luck card for someone who is about to start the new school year at senior school - take a look:

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

The Sunday Stamps layout is a favourite of mine and one I've used previously in other ways. Today I thought that panel in the corner would make the perfect old-fashioned classroom chalkboard to ground my colourful bird from the 'Bird's Eye View' stamp set. I love the birds in this set - they are so quirky and comical and the addition of spectacles just adds to the sense of whimsy. I added some white swishes of chalk to my blackboard and stamped my Starry Sky base with some tone-on-tone books to add to the back-to-school feel and finished with a sentiment from 'Charming Sentiments':

Isn't that fun?! Good luck wishes to anyone embarking on new educational adventures in the coming weeks; this includes both of the James Juniors, one of whom will be starting Sixth Form and studying for A Levels having passed his GCSEs this summer and the other will be heading to the University of Birmingham to study Biochemistry, having achieved a fantastic set of A Level results. Exciting times!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Patricia is hosting this month and as we have a fifth Tuesday in this month we have an additional double colour and sketch challenge: 

For my card today I decided to make a simple thank you card using my Dainty Delight Dies to create an arch of flowers in the challenge colours:

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

I didn't have any of the old retired colours, so I substituted with Fresh Freesia, Moody Mauve and Mossy Meadow as my closest match (this is allowed within the terms of the challenge). I added a simple stamped sentiment from the co-ordinating Dainty Delight stamp set to complete my card. Check out the detail on the interwoven pieces that make up the floral arch - so pretty, right?

These dies cut delicate pieces with subtle embossed detail - beautiful in these muted purples, and just about any other colour combo 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. 

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'!

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 theme challenge chosen by Deborah:

At the beach - wouldn't I like to be there right now? I most definitely would, but instead a card will have to do! I decided to feature sun, sea and sand on today's card which is also a fancy fold - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Circle Sayings - Today's card is a Peek-A-Boo fancy fold: when closed you see one thing in the window, then as you open the card the panel slips aside to reveal a second image or message. The Circles Sayings stamp set is perfect for this style of fancy fold card - it has lots of co-ordinating stamp images and sentiments that can be mixed and matched to create fun combinations. I used the sea and sun image for my first image, along with a fussy-cut partial sentiment attached to the frame and I paired it with the 'warm hello' sentiment, along with shells and sand for the peek-a-boo reveal:

Rays of Light - I wanted to add some additional colour to the front of my card, but without distracting from my seaside image. I decided on some ton-on-tone stamped detail using the Rays of Light stamp set, radiating out from the stamped image and fading into the base. Because I wanted my rays to radiate from the image, they wouldn't reach to the opposite edge of my card, so I added an Azure Afternoon ribbon and bow to balance my design. You can see the detail on the stamped image below, including some snowflake puff paint that I added to the wave foam for some extra dimension:

Peek-A-Boo Fancy Fold - This fold is really not tricky to execute - you just need to ensure the circle aperture is positioned correctly on each layer to ensure they align and that each of the mechanism panels are cut to the correct size. Here's a video that shows the peek-a-boo action:

Isn't that fun?! You can see another example of a card I made with this design here. I'm linking this one up over at The Paper Craft Crew where 'fun folds' is their theme this week.

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:

CIRCLE SAYINGS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	RAYS OF LIGHT CLING STAMP SET (17.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	3/8" (1 CM) SHEER RIBBON COMBO PACK (11.75)

Today I'm sharing a card that is special in more ways than one! It contains a sneak peek of some new Christmas products from the upcoming mini catalogue but more importantly I am a guest with the lovely ladies over at Freshly Made Sketches where the team are celebrating their 600th challenge - wow! I love to play along with their sketches whenever I get the opportunity and I was thrilled to be asked to join them alongside a number of other esteemed guests to celebrate this momentous occasion! This is the sketch we are basing our designs on:

I decided I would create a wreath with the circular element - this is what I came up with:  

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

I diecut a couple of Country Wreaths Dies wreaths, one in brushed gold and one in gold foil, and layered them onto a panel of Shining Brightly specialty designer series paper on a Night of Navy card base. This is one of six single-sided foiled designs in Very Vanilla and Night of Navy in the pack - and they are all gorgeous! I heat-embossed my sentiment in gold onto navy cardstock - this is also from a new stamp set called 'Christmas Classics' - and added this to my card, along with a gold twine bow and trio of matt gold sequins:

I also added a little extra stamping from the same set to the inside of my card - check out the corner detail:

I just love the gold and navy colour combination of this card - expect to see lots more in this colourway in the upcoming festive season! 

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. 

Be sure to check out the designs from the Freshly Made Sketches Team and the other guest designers this week - there will be some fabulous inspiration there for sure. Thank you and a huge congratulations from me to the team for inviting me to take part in the celebrations - here's to the next 600 challenges!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back on Friday with this week's new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

COUNTRY WREATHS DIES (37.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)	PASTEL ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.50)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (7.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)

Another Monday, another week! I had a little time yesterday and I fancied a little colouring, so I decided to break out a new stamp set and create a couple of cards with Jen Mitchell's sketch layout over at Freshly Made Sketches this week. Here's her sketch:

Both my cards use the same layout: on the first one, I added the sentiment to the banner; on the second one I added my images to the banner and the sentiment on the panel. Both cards also feature the Merry Bold & Bright designer paper that will debut in the new mini catalogue - stripes on the first one, spots of the second one.

My first card I'm linking up over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where the theme is food - I thought this reindeer with his Christmas pudding would fit right in:

I made an extended banner for my sentiment using the Nested Essentials Dies and coloured the cute reindeer with my Blends markers for a smooth and streak-free finish:

My second card features a super colourful giraffe, decorating his tree for Christmas - take a look:

The sentiment is from the (retired) set 'Framed & Festive'. 

This is definitely the most colourful of the pair so I'm linking this one up over at TimeOut Challenges where their them is 'colourful' - I love the way the spots on the designer paper background mirror the spots on the giraffe too!

Nothing too fancy about these cards but they were definitely fun to make and great images to 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. 

The new Christmas products that you will see showcased on my blog this week will all be available to customers September 6th when the new mini catalogue goes live. I am currently packing up catalogues to send to my customers who have shopped with me in the last 12 months; if you aren't already on my mailing list and would like a copy of the new catalogue, do get in touch - I would be happy to help.

I have had a very productive start to the week - let's hope this continues! Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	COPPER CLAY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	BRONZE & IVORY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	BALMY BLUE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Betty is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went down the middle column with designer paper, free and birthday; I used the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout and thought I'd play along with the lovely ladies over at Just Us Girls this week where the word of the week is 'bee'. I took the opportunity to use up some old honeycomb designed paper and went for a punny sentiment on my card today - take a look:

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

I wanted a big, bold sentiment for those panels so decided on HAPPY BIRTHDAY from the stamp set 'Biggest Wish', but instead of stamping the HAPPY in its entirety, I masked off the PY and replaced with a bee punched from my ladybug builder punch for a punny sentiment. I punched the body in black, added some yellow stripes and a pair of vellum wings liberally coated with clear Wink of Stella - you can see the sparkle below:

I completed my card with a trio of hexagonal enamel dots to continue the honeycomb shape and bee theme. So what do you think? Does the punny sentiment work? I hope today's card makes you smile!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BIGGEST WISH PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (16.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	LADYBUG BUILDER PUNCH (21.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (7.50)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Sue has asked that we contain our design to one vertical half of our card:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. 

For my card today I decided to use a few more of the fruity Pink Fresh Studio washi diecuts that my friend Elizabeth shared with me and pair them with a gold foil diecut sentiment cut using the Wanted To Say Dies for a clean and simple get well soon card:

The gold detailing on the washi compliments the gold foil and since grapes are the traditional food gift when visiting someone who is under the weather these, along with the figs, were just right. I added a few glittery gold enamel dots to complete my card:

Clean and simple - I'm also linking up over at Just Add Ink where that just so happens to be their theme this week!

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:

WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (4.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (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 chosen by me:

I love yellow, am a big fan of designer paper and make more thank you cards than any other type of card so I created my recipe with these things in mind and can't wait to see what you come up with! I decided to use the sketch over at Try Stamping On Tuesday for my layout and am featuring spots alongside my daisy as my entry for the current theme over at The Flower Challenge - take a look:

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

I loved the TSOT layout this week and whilst I didn't go with the slimline option (I've been making a lot of those lately), I think it works as a standard card front too. Since the board contained so many of my favourite things, I thought I would challenge myself to use Crushed Curry as my main yellow; of all the yellows, this is probably the one I use the least and rarely use it outside of autumn/fall. I decided to keep my card monochromatic and use only shades of this colour. I used some of the Inked Botanicals designer series paper that features a spot design for the rear circle shape, then substituted the uppermost circle with a daisy stamped and diecut with the Cheerful Daisies bundle. After inking my flower petals, I used a blending brush on my stamp to remove some of the ink and soften the resulting stamped petals; you can see the contrast to the flower centre, which was stamped at full strength. I then used the same blending brush to add that excess ink to my mat layer behind the daisy, to allow my Very Vanilla leaves to standout from the base:

I stamped my sentiment in Early Espresso as it was less harsh than black and added a trio of (retired) enamel dots to complete my card. So what do you think? Is Crushed Curry a favourite yellow of yours or do you prefer others in the collection? I still prefer Lemon Lolly and Daffodil Delight, but at the same time I love how this card turned 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. 

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; we have birthday celebrations in the James household today so whilst the James Juniors are spending the morning paintballing with friends, I am baking a special birthday cake to enjoy at the celebrations later. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHEERFUL DAISIES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	INKED BOTANICALS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	VERY VANILLA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	CRUSHED CURRY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	CRUSHED CURRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	INKED & TILED CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (26.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Vicky is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went down the final column with ink blending/blues and greens/gems and had a go at creating a masked and blended background to highlight the foliage stamps in the Gorgeously Made bundle - take a look:

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

I've been working a lot with the Gorgeously Made bundle lately as I've been working through ideas to include in this month's Gorgeously Made Create With Joanne and Jan Tutorial Bundle and this is one the ideas that I was experimenting with that didn't make it into the tutorial itself. I was inspired by the sketch over at Sunday Stamps and whilst ordinarily I would have gone with a large diecut sentiment, I decided to turn the sketch on its head and go for something vertical that used one of the small sentiments in the set, but in a way that highlighted it in an unusual way. When using a bundle for the first time, I like to consider less obvious ways to use it and this card includes one of those. Instead of adding the sentiment to my card by stamping it onto white cardstock, diecutting and adding with dimensionals, I created four label pieces from diecut masking paper and positioned these down the middle of my white panel. I then blended my trio of blue and green inks and stamped my foliage on top of my blended background, going off the edge and over the masked areas - I recommend you use your Stamparatus for this so that you get a good strong black image. When complete, I removed the masking paper labels to leave four white apertures that I could then stamp my sentiment into:

I added a sprinkling of coloured gems that picked up the colours of my blended background, but if you don't have coloured gems that match you chosen background colours, you can custom colour clear rhinestones with Stampin' Blends in corresponding colours. So what do you think of today's card? This is a good way of minimising layers and a neat way to use label dies in a creative way and this style of card would work in other colourways too.

Remember if you would like more ideas of ways to use the Gorgeously Made bundle, if you purchase the bundle from either myself if you're in the UK and Europe (or Jan if you're based in New Zealand) during either August or September, you will receive a copy of our tutorial bundle with instructions for four projects and access to our exclusive customer Facebook Group - for more details read about it in yesterday's post here.

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; I'll be back tomorrow with another two projects; in addition to my fortnightly Festive Friday post, I am also the Guest Designer over at CAS On Friday. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GORGEOUSLY MADE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (47.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	BOHO BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)

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

For my card today I chose to make a clean and simple thank you card using the Gorgeously Made bundle:

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

The stamps in the Gorgeously Made stamp set are perfect for loose, collage-style stamping so I took three different ones including my sentiment and inked each in one of the challenge colours, then overlaid my stamped foliage with a pointed diecut one in Cajun Craze:

I used Very Vanilla for my card base as it seemed to compliment this trio of warm, naturalistic colours. And that's all there is to it - a quick and easy thank you 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. 

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:

GORGEOUSLY MADE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (47.50)

CAJUN CRAZE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

CAJUN CRAZE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

PECAN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

WILD WHEAT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)