It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Cecile has asked that we make a square card with a focal sentiment and patterned background:

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

For my card today I chose monochromatic pinks with a touch of silver to create a simple stencilled background for a feminine birthday card for a discerning teenager - take a look:

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

I took my square card base and using some stencils I made with various circle punches and some window sheet, I added Melon Mambo and Bubble Bath ink using my blending brushes, varying the intensity to give some depth to the colour. I heat-embossed part of my sentiment in silver and used a diecut 'sending' in silver foil backed with vellum as my centrepiece:

A sprinkle of basic rhinestones added a final touch of sparkle. This is one of those cards that could work in lots of colours and is thoroughly inoffensive - so perfect for the discerning teenager! Since I went with pinks, I'm also playing along over at Addicted to CAS with my monochrome pinks and also celebrating with the team over at AAA Cards as they celebrate their 9th birthday with CAS pink birthday cards too - the balloons on the inspo board also inspired my bubbly 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Please excuse today's photos - I struggled with that foil diecut and the lighting and didn't have time to retake. I have a super-short day today as the youngest of teh James Juniors has 2 exams and is on early pick up, so just time for a speedy lunch then I'm back in the car for the school run! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SENDING SMILES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (21.00)	SENDING DIES (ENGLISH) (31.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BUBBLE BATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)	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 Felicita is our featured designer. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I was a little stuck for current sets that fit the bill so decided to dig into my recently retired stash and use up some of my designer series paper. I decided to go across the top row of the board with masculine, diecut and beer or drink and this is what I came up with, using the current sketch over at Sunday Stamps for my layout:

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

I used two panels of retired He's The Man designer series paper, rotating the pattern on the smaller one to follow the same diagonal lines as the base one (rather than the horizontal/vertical), added a banner of Mango Melody to pick up on the yellow in the diecut that I used as my focal point. This diecut was one on a pre-printed sheet in the paper pack, and I backed it with a scalloped diecut circle in Sahara Sand to neaten the edge:

I added a trio of Mango Melody resin dots to complete the front of my card and added the only stamping with a sentiment from the current 'Charming Sentiments' stamp set to the inside to finish my card:

No visual summary of the key products used on today's project or supplies list as almost everything I used on today's card - except for the Early Espresso ink and cardstock and the stamp set I used inside - is retired. I hope that it inspires you regardless to keep creating with your retired product or gives you an idea of how you can adapt it to work with the new.

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 am heading out to a champagne reception this evening to celebrate the eldest of the James Juniors final formal week of school - something of a milestone! I'll be back tomorrow with another project for the new challenge over at Festive Friday. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today I'm sharing a card for the current CAS on Friday Challenge with the theme of 'New Home' that was inspired by the photo over at Inspired By that you can see below:

I was delighted that this card was chosen as the winner of the last Inspired By challenge and I just had to play along again this week. Aren't those stacking elephants cute?! Now you might be thinking how did the photo inspire today's card to welcome someone to their new home - with not an elephant in sight! Well take a look at my card and I'll explain all - here it is:

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

Ringed With Nature - The sweet little house from the 'Ringed With Nature' stamp set is perfect for a new home card, so I knew I wanted to make this my focal point. The neutral colours of the Inspired By photo were perfectly suited to my house and I liked the idea of blocks of colour. Whilst my blocks of colour are represented by the individual elements of my design - Very Vanilla card base, Basic Grey roof, Crumb Cake walls and Petal Pink heart - rather than elephants, the inspiration is there. In addition to a scored frame, I diecut my heart before adding to my house using one of the Give It A Whirl Dies for a little extra detail:

Sweet Songbirds and Home Life - Both of the sentiments on my set come from other sets, as there isn't one in 'Ringed With Nature' that's suitable. My tiny 'Welcome' is from 'Sweet Songbirds' and the greeting on the inside is from a long-retired set called Home Life (with the stamped heart from Ringed With Nature):

Songbirds Of A Different Kind - I have been having a conversation with one of my Paper Player teamies, the lovely LeAnne, this week about feathered friends of a different kind. LeAnne has many beautiful birds visit her garden feeders all year round (check out her blog here if you're interested - I've linked to Sunday's Paper Players post as it has some fab bird photos!) and I was sharing with her the latest developments on the blue tit family that hatched in one of my birdboxes last week. For any of my international readers who would like to know more about this very British bird, you can read about them here. I have two blue tit boxes on the side of my house that are fitted with cameras, so I am able to see everything that is going on inside them without disturbing the occupants. The current nest was home to 10 birds, although I am currently only counting 8 chicks (it's not unusual to lose one or two within the first few days, as the strongest babies win the battle for food). It's now a week since the eggs hatched and whilst the chicks are still tiny and quite ugly, their wings are starting to develop today and they are growing fast. As a treat for LeAnne, I thought I would upload a couple of short video clips of the activity today; in the clips below you can see both the male and female flying back and fore (the entry to the bird house is at the bottom of the screen), feeding and sitting on the nest. The second, shorter clip shows more of the colouring on the adult bird. Please bear in mind I recorded this video of the tv on my phone, so it's basic at best - the nest is right at the very back of the nesting box, so the video camera does lose a little of the detail at the top of the screen. That said - enjoy!

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; mine has felt a little short as my afternoon school run was brought forward, on account of the youngest of the James Juniors having had two exams today and as such finishing earlier. We are officially one subject down - just 9 more to go!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

RINGED WITH NATURE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	GIVE IT A WHIRL DIES (37.00)
SWEET SONGBIRDS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (18.00)

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

It's always fun to be able to play with new craft goodies so this week's challenge gives everyone the chance to do just that! With the launch of the Stampin' up! 2023 Annual Catalogue this week, I have lots of new goodies; I chose to play with my Cheerful Daisies bundle and the new 2023-25 In Colours for my card today - take a look:

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

I still had my Alphabet A La Mode Dies out on my desk still from the cards I made last week so I decided to play with one of my favourite sentiments in the Cheerful Daisies bundle and combine the two. I added a panel of in colour designer paper and diecut the letters to the word 'daisy' and fussy cut 'Oops-a-' from the stamped one and mashed them together, decorating with a stamped and diecut daisy, some foliage and a trio of in colour gems to finish:

I finished the inside with one of the other stamps in the set and another masked sentiment:

The card above features the new in colour Wild Wheat, but I also made one in each of the other in colours too - Pecan Pie, Boho Blue, Moody Mauve and Pebbled Path:

What do you think? Do you have a favourite of the in colours yet? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I'm linking today's card collection up with the team over at The Paper Craft Crew who are featuring the new 2023-25 in colours 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.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHEERFUL DAISIES BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)	2023–2025 IN COLOR A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	2023–2025 IN COLOR CLASSIC STAMPIN' PADS (38.25)	2023–2025 IN COLOR 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	2023–2025 IN COLOR™ DOTS (7.50)	ALPHABET À LA MODE DIES (40.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

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

I love Cecile's colour choices this week and since today is the official launch of the new annual catalogue, it seemed only right that my card features some new product! I took some inspiration from the sketch over at Inspired By (flipped as I need the boxes to be the other way around to suit my sentiment) and the idea of decorated boxes - although instead of white flowers on coloured boxes, I used my 'boxes' to house my sentiments and accented with coloured foliage - take a look:

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

My card features a new bundle called 'Timeless Arrangements' - a lovely set that allows you to build sentiments in one, two or three phrases and decorate them. The die set is truly fabulous - a set of labels with a pretty stitched detail and a selection of dies that both cut out some of the stamped images, and also contain some foliage on horizontal bands, that act as a guide to enable you to align them both with each other for layering and behind the sentiment label perfectly:

I used two sentiments on the front of my card and carried the detail to the inside of my card with a third sentiment and a little extra background stamping too:

This card is for all of you reading this that continue to support my Stampin' Up! business by shopping with me in person and in my online store and comment both here and elsewhere on my social media channels. It means a lot, so a big thank you to you all from the bottom of my heart!

I really love this bundle and know I am going to get so much use out of it, so be prepared to see lots more it over the next 12 months!

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 later this week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TIMELESS ARRANGEMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (51.25)

FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

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 Elizabeth is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went from top left down the diagonal with flowers, yellow and gems and used the layout over at Sketch Saturday to create a pretty, summery birthday card with some pretty retiring product - take a look:

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

I had lots of these lovely Daffodil Delight and Mango Melody flowers that I'd previously diecut from the Hues of Happiness designer series paper, so i thought that this would be a good opportunity to put them to good use! I went with a white slimline card as I need the length to fit them all in, added a half panel of So Saffron cardstock which I diecut across the top with one of the Blossoming Happiness edgelit dies ( I also used these dies to cut out the flowers) and added notches to both sides and would it with some white baker's twine, before adding my flowers. A simple birthday sentiment and some sparkly gems finish the outside of my card: 

 I added a little more stamping using the 'Happiness Abounds' stamp set to the inside of my card:

I do love a yellow card - so cheery and sunny and I will miss the Happiness Abounds Suite so much! Both the stamp set and dies are discounted as part of the last chance product promotion - the dies are 50% off, an absolute bargain!

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: 

HUES OF HAPPINESS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.25)	BLOSSOMING HAPPINESS DIES (15.00)	HAPPINESS ABOUNDS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (13.20)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (6.12)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)
BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	SLIMLINE ENVELOPES (5.70)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a vibrant colour challenge chosen by Jane:

I love this colour combo, but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it work on a card. I need not have worried though; once I'd pulled out a couple of retiring stamp sets and the sketch layout over at Atlantic Hearts I knew exactly where I was headed. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I knew I wanted to make a few more cards featuring the cuties in the 'By My Side' stamp set before it retires, so I decided to go with this young lady following her butterfly friend for my focal point. I coloured her with my Stampin' Blends in the challenge colours and instead of pairing her with the sentiments in the set, I chose a larger one from the retiring 'Stepping Stones' set. A great set including a selection of famous motivational quotes, I chose 'Follow Your Own Star' and stamped it in Gorgeous Grape ink. I decided to go with a bold background of stripes in each of the challenge colours (doubling up with Coastal Cabana) and used a retired  butterfly embossing folder across the whole panel to add interest and create a unifying design:

It also picked up the stamped butterfly on the focal image. It's almost a shame the sentiment doesn't say 'Follow your own butterfly', as the young lady featured seems to be dreamily following her winged friend!

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.
• 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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (5.75)	BY MY SIDE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (21.00)	STEPPING STONES CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (14.70)	PARAKEET PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	PARAKEET PARTY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)
COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	HIGHLAND HEATHER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (6.12)	SO SAFFRON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (8.50)
STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM LIGHT COMBO PACK (8.50)

An important second post today! For 24 hours only, starting at 11pm UK time this evening, Stampin' Up! are offering FREE shipping on orders of £60 or more.

The key information is as follows:

• Free shipping applies after the qualifying order amount has been met.
• The minimum qualifying amount to receive free shipping is £60 or more.
• Free shipping only applies during the 24-hour period the promotion is live in each market; this means that the order must be opened and closed between 18th April 2023, at 11 p.m. and 19 April 2023, at 11:00 p.m (UK).

This is a great time to stock up on retiring in-colours or stamps, pick up a bundle that you've had your eye on and more! So start making those lists and head off to my online Stampin' Up! store after 11pm - remember to add the current hostess reward code 6CFWAKVR at check out - or message me with your order.

Happy shopping!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Valerie has asked that we create a slimline card with a square feature and overlapping sentiment:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card but remember to make it a slimline if you'd like to be considered for the winner's spot for this challenge. 

For my card today I ended up making two cards; I'll share the first one tomorrow as it was a little less clean and simple than I'd have liked. This is the card I settled on to share with you today:

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

This is actually a no-stamping card. I used a piece of the retiring black and white Perfectly Penciled designer series paper and coloured the negative space around the florals using my Mint Macaron Blends, before cutting it out using one of my square Stylish Shapes Dies. I added this to a base of thick Basix White cardstock, and then added a layered thanks sentiment cut with the Amazing Thanks Dies on dimensionals to complete my card:

The Perfectly Penciled papers are great for colouring with your Stampin' Blends markers and this 'reverse colouring' really allows the black and white design to stand out. This paper, along with Mint Macaron and all its accessories and those fabulous Amazing Thanks Dies are all retiring at the end of this month - add them to your shopping basket whilst you still can - or maybe wait until 11pm this evening when the 24 hour free shipping promotion starts - you can read more about the free shipping promotion here!

I'm also linking today's card to the black, white and one colour challenge over at Color Dare and the current 'anything goes' challenge at Less Is More.

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:

AMAZING THANKS DIES (ENGLISH) (10.40)

PERFECTLY PENCILED 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (7.87)

MINT MACARON STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (7.65)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.25)

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 the featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went across the bottom with floral, embossing and stitching and took the opportunity to work with the current Color Hues palette of peach and kraft and decided to try out a fun technique that I saw on Instagram recently - take a look:

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

Graffiti Art - I saw a reel on Instagram recently by the New Zealand demonstrator, Jacque Williams, where she created a fun graffiti art-style card and I really wanted to give it a go! It's actually not that tricky to do: you choose your background wall colour (I used Crumb Cake) then ink one side of your Bricks and Mortar embossing folder before inserting your card and running it through your Big Shot machine. This gives you your inked 'cement' lines and the base onto which you then stamp the rest of your design. Simple! This embossing folder is great for this technique and makes a great background too. I can't believe it's retiring - if you don't have one, I'd seriously consider adding to your collection whilst you still can!

Floral Art Gallery - I chose to add some bold florals for my wall art, using the large bloom from the Art Gallery stamp set, with a Pale Papaya base and top layer of Calypso Coral for some pretty peachy florals, and I stamped the stems in a neutral brown. I also added some splatters in Crumb Cake randomly across my wall to add to the artsy feel.

Art Gallery is another stamp set I haven't used in ages but is leaving us with the current outgoing annual catalogue. I'll be keeping mine though - these florals are a no-brainer and the simple block sentiments are so useful with all kinds of cards, not to mention the large diecut sentiment in the set too. Pale Papaya is leaving too - so get yours now whilst you still can!

Tailormade Tag - I finished my card with some Crumb Cake baker's twine and a tiny tailor made tag with a simple thank you sentiment. I am sending this card to a dear customer of mine who loves a messy card - mixed media and grunge are totally her thing, so I know she will appreciate my attempt at getting even close to her signature style!!

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. You should definitely check out the design team's cards this week too - they are amazing!

Enjoy your day; I'm hoping to get a few cards made today in between errands and laundry. I'm hopeful to be able to use the washing line today, as right now it's a lovely bright and breezy day. Not sure I'll be still in luck by the time the washing machine cycle has finished - we are experiencing proper April showers here in the UK at the moment. The constant to and fro the washing line is definitely keeping me fit though! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BRICK & MORTAR 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (9.50)	ART GALLERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (8.40)	TAILOR MADE TAGS DIES (21.00)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)	PALE PAPAYA A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)
CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (8.75)	PALE PAPAYA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (6.75)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	CRUMB CAKE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.75)