Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Laurie to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I thought I was going to run a mile when I saw Laurie's colour palette for this week, but a happy accident meant that I actually had my card made well ahead of time for a change! Take a look at my card then I'll explain:

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

Pampered and Playful Pets - I decided that today's colours would work perfectly for a pet sympathy card featuring the 'Pampered Pets' stamp set. I heat embossed the outline of one of the dogs in black onto basic grey cardstock and made him the centrepiece of my card. I did use some of the recently retired Playful Pets DSP for my background panel for some black and red detail and added a big red heart behind my puppy for an added pop too. 

For Your Loss - I added one of the sentiments from the set to my scalloped square beneath my focal image - I think this sentiment is just perfect to let someone know you are thinking of them when they have lost a furry friend:

A Step Up - The reason today's card came to quickly to me was that I had all of these elements out on my desk when I needed to make this card; I needed something much more clean and simple for my original card, but since I had the bits and pieces out on my desk, I decided to make a stepped up version - and that turned out to be perfect for today's challenge. Here are both of my recent sympathy cards with this set together:

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; happy Mother's Day to all of my overseas readers who are celebrating today - I hope you are well and truly spoiled! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PETS DIES (£21.00)	PAMPERED PETS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

With a new Stampin' Up! catalogue, new in-colours always feature on a new wish list - why wouldn't they? The new 2021-23 In Colors will be with us for the next 2 years and this year's in-colours are very on-trend and co-ordinate beautifully with each other and the other colours in the Stampin' Up! colour families:

To help you spread the cost and gradually grow your new in-colour collection, I am offering an in-colour club (UK customers only). It begins this month and runs for the next 5 months, up to and including September. Each month, you will receive a collection of products for one of the colours, with each month featuring a different colour. You will be sent a reminder on the 1st of the month, and your in-color club invoice will need to be paid by the 15th of the month in order that items can be ordered in good time.

Each month, you will receive: 

• 1/2 pack of A4 cardstock (12 sheets)
• 1/2 roll of 3/8" (1cm) In Color Open Weave Ribbon
• 1 ink pad
• 1 ink refill
• 1 Stampin' Write Marker
• 20 In Color Jewels
• Eight 6”X6” In-Color DSP sheets
• Two 6"x6" pieces In-Color Shimmer Vellum
• 20 Loose Flower Flourishes 
• A hand stamped card featuring your in-colour of the month

Since all of the colours are also available as Stampin' Blends, there is the option to add on a Stampin' Up! Blends Marker Combo Pack each month for an additional £8.50.   

Details:

Basic Pack Cost: £27 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month May through September. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Enhanced Pack Cost: £35.50 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month May through September. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Payment can be made by Paypal or bank transfer (or cash/cheque for local customers).

If you would like to join my new colour club this month, then you can email me to sign up here.

Today I'm sharing a card using the colour palette over at Fab Friday:

I was intrigued by their colour combo for this challenge as it wasn't one that I would normally use, but I thought it would give me the opportunity to try a colouring technique that I've seen in blogland recently - take a look at my card and I'll explain:

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

I featured two more black and white patterns from the True Love designer paper pack on my card today - I just love these papers! I used a striped panel for my background and coloured some of the stripes in each of the challenge greens, and added a thin line of Terracotta Tile to the widest green stripe. I then added some simple panels and a sentiment on a stitched oval, that I embellished with some ribbon loops and a pair of flowers fussy cut from another piece of True Love DSP - and so to my experiment! I've seen some great examples of florals coloured with a 'flicking' technique, where after colouring the main blossom a contrasting colour is added with a thin pen. This paper was a great place to start as I simply followed the lines of the print:

This was also a good choice since I could use my Stampin' Write marker to add this detail, as this colour doesn't exist as a Stampin' Blend. The eagle-eyed amongst you might also recognise the layout I used for my card; this was the sketch for the previous Fab Friday challenge which I didn't manage to take part in, but I thought it would be perfect for my card today - so a double thank you, Fab Friday team for your inspiration!

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:

TRUE LOVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMNGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
SOFT SEA FOAM STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Happy Bank Holiday Monday everyone! As is typical it's raining here in the UK so it's a great day for crafting! Today I'm sharing a card that I made using this week's colours over at Color Throwdown for an ombre blended background for another crack at the challenge over at TGIF Challenges this week. I also used the sketch over at Inspired By:

Here's my card that also bids farewell to another retiring stamp set:

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

I created an ombre background using all three colours and my blending brushes, then over-stamped this with the floral stem from the 'Friend Like You', adding the flowers to my Pear Pizzazz stems in Calypso Coral and Blushing Bride. I added a pair of black dragonflies in place of the circle on the sketch, although in hindsight I wish I'd masked off a circle to give it more prominence. I added a black diecut for an additional silhouette of meadow flowers over the top and finished with a sentiment from the same set. I adhered the diecut at the base only, allowing the diecut piece to float freely:

So today's card is a final reminder that this evening is the last time you will be able to order those products that are retiring from the annual catalogue as a new one goes live tomorrow. Many items have sold out, but there are still bargains to be had - check them out in the online store here, but you have to be quick!

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; following a quick visit to the garden centre this morning in what felt like arctic winds, it has rained constantly all day. So I've put gardening on hold in favour of crafting! I'll be back tomorrow with another project for this week's new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches and of course the launch of the new Stampin' up! annual catalogue - I can't wait!  Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FRIEND LIKE YOU PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£12.00)	BLUSHING BRIDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PEAR PIZZAZZ CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

Are you familiar with the nursery rhyme: 'What are little boys made of?' It inspired my theme this week and the fabulous badge that our teamie Nance made illustrates it perfectly. So whether you choose to feature snails, puppy dogs, superheroes, or anything else that works for you, my theme this week is cards for boys. I'm making the most of the last couple of days of retiring favourites before the new annual catalogue arrives, so I chose to go with a zany zebra (or two!) for my card, using Julee's current Mojo Monday sketch layout which was great for some simple layering of retiring papers too - take a look:

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

I used a mix of Playing With Patterns DSP for my layers as I think these colours have a fun masculine feel and stamped one of the zebras from the 'Zany Zebras' stamp set in Night of Navy, adding some Wink of Stella to his mane, then fussy cut it before adding to my card. A sprinkle of resin dots finished my card front:

I added another of the zebras, this time with a party hat, to decorate the inside of my card:

I love these cute zebras and think they make fun a fun birthday card for a young boy. If you're a fan too, you have until tomorrow to get your hands on a set before they are gone forever! I will have another card for boys using them later this week - they might be retiring, but I'm not ready to part with mine just yet!

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. 

I actually made a second card for our challenge this week that was altogether more clean and simple. It is based on last week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch and uses another of my favourite retiring sets, Silhouette Scenes:

I masked off a column and created an ombre blended strip of sky using Balmy Blue, Pacific Point and Night of Navy inks and my blending brushes, and added the little boy with a toy aeroplane and a sentiment from the same set in Night of Navy, then added a simple 'Happy Birthday' sentiment to the inside using a stamp from 'Itty Bitty Greetings'. I love the simplicity of this card, and the way that the silhouette image overlays the ombre blended panel:

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. 

I love this card - so full of nostalgia! I'm linking this one up over at The Spot where the challenge is ink blending and TGIF Challenges where they are looking for ombre this week.

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 have a long weekend here in the UK this weekend so are planning on making the most of it by taking things easy, especially since Rebecca starts her final round of GCSE exam assessments this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

ZANY ZEBRAS CLING STAMP SET (£18.00)

PLAYING WITH PATTERNS RESIN DOTS (£7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

SILHOUETTE SCENES CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£18.90)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PACIFIC POINT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I embraced the layers of Claire's sketch this week and decided to play with some more new goodies from the forthcoming 2021 Annual Catalogue to bring you another 'sneak peek' - this time featuring the Pansy Petals Suite - take a look:

This is what I affectionately like to call a 'kitchen sink' card - because it uses pretty much everything but the kitchen sink! It features three new in-colours: Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen and Polished Pink, along with the Pansy Patch stamp set and co-ordinating Pansy Dies, two different patterns of Pansy Petals designer series paper, some Polished Pink open weave ribbon and even a little gold Bumblebee trinket:

I wanted to get to grips with the layering of the pansy dies so this card was a great way to do that. I did go to town with my new goodies this week - I just couldn't help myself!! I'm linking today's card up with the team over at SUO Challenges where the theme is designer series paper; I really should have used it as an opportunity to use up some of my retiring paper, but when I came to make my card the pansies won out! Are you excited for the arrival of the new annual catalogue? Just over a week to go until it's here - copies will be going out in the post to everyone who has shopped with me in the last 6 months this week. If you would like a copy and you aren't on my mailing list, please get in touch. Meanwhile, I will have more goodbyes to retiring products to share 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 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; I'll be spending mine in the garden enjoying the lovely weather that we've been lucky enough to experience here in the UK this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Laurie to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

I finally received my first pre-order from the new annual catalogue on Friday so couldn't wait to have a play! I decided to take the current Fusion sketch layout and this week's colours over at Just Us Girls to test drive one of my new stamp sets - take a look:

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

Party Puffins - Today's card features a trio of Party Puffins from the new stamp set of the same name. This is such a cute new set; for my card today I stamped and fussy cut two puffins and a birthday cake for the front of my card and popped them up on dimensionals. The third puffin? He was hiding out on the inside of my card:

Black and White ... - This week's theme is 'clean and simple', so a focus on white space, limited layers and little/no embellishments. With this in mind the Fusion sketch was perfect for constraining my design to no more than half of my card front. I used a strip of black-on-white geometric patterned paper from the True Love DSP pack to ground my design and tie in with the black and white of my puffins:

... And A Trio of Colour - I grounded each of my stamped elements on a stitched square in one of the JUGS challenge colours and used the same trio of Blends combos to add colour to my cake and the legs, beaks and party hat of my puffins:

Are these cheeky little chappies not the cutest?! I just love them! Not to long to go until they go on general sale; the new 2021-22 Stampin' Up! annual catalogue will be live on 4th May. I will be packaging mine this week to send out to those customers who have purchased from me in the last 6 months; if you are reading this and you're not on my mailing list and don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like a copy of the new catalogue, then do get in touch with your contact details and I will arrange to get one out to you 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 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. 

The weather has been much brighter here in the UK the last couple of days so I am hoping to get out on my bike today with the rest of the James family. No other fixed plans; whatever you are doing, I hope you are enjoying some nice weather and fresh air too! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TRUE LOVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CALYPSO CORAL STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMNGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card using this week's sketch over at The Spot that was inspired by the gorgeous inspiration photo over at The Card Concept this week:

I thought the sketch layout would be perfect for a slimline card and whilst I don't have any lavender stamps in my collection currently, I was totally inspired by the purple tones for my hydrangea - take a look:

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

The lavender purple tones were perfect for a hydrangea - I actually stamped my stem but diecut the flower head from a piece of the Hydrangea Hill DSP, adding a few extra pieces that I centred with some Gorgeous Grape coloured rhinestones for a little extra sparkle:

I mounted my hydrangea on a white panel diecut with one of the Ornate Layers Dies and used another piece of Hydrangea Hill DSP for the background that incorporated some blue tones, picking up on the blues from the gingham bow of the inspiration photo. I heat-embossed my sentiment onto a Misty Moonlight stitched banner and added a blue twine bow as per the sketch, with a piece of galvanised metal cardstock that I ran through a corrugated embossing folder beneath it - a nod to the lavender vase in the photo. I also added an outline hydrangea from the Suite Sampler hostess set to the inside of my card to finish:

And that, in summary, is how I created today's clean and layered 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:

HYDRANGEA HAVEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	HYDRANGEA HILL 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	ORNATE LAYERS DIES (£34.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

I used Julee's Mojo Monday sketch and another of my favourite retiring stamp sets to create some less-than-traditional florals - take a look:

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

Beautiful Friendship - I chose to create a cluster of florals as the centrepiece for today's card using the 'Beautiful Friendship' stamp set. I thought those large, loose-petalled roses would be perfect in Merry Merlot, with some grape hyacinths in Misty Moonlight, along with some Crumb Cake leaves. This is not only my most favourite floral stamp set in the retiring annual catalogue, it is I think one of my favourite floral stamp sets of all time (and a keeper for sure!) 

Well Written - I decided to add a diecut sentiment using the retiring Well-Written framelits to the front of my card, cutting the word 'friend' twice and offsetting it to give a shadow - you can see the detail closer in the image below:

A ribbon bow tied with twine finished the front of my card.

And Finally - In addition to the stitched scallop rectangle that I used on the front of my card, I stamped the greeting from the stamp set on a stitched rectangle and added it to the centre of the inside of my card, along with a stamped corner floral detail:

I thought I would struggle with this colour combination, but I actually really liked LeAnne's colour choices this week. I'm also linking today's card up over at Just Add Ink - my card features petals and leaves as my chosen 'two'. 

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; it's been really cold here these past few days so I'm thinking today will be spent indoors with a little more Lego building and family fun. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	WELL WRITTEN DIES (EN) (£37.00)	2020–2022 IN COLOR 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)
MISTY MOONLIGHT 2020–2022 IN COLOR RIBBON (£5.50)	LINEN THREAD (£4.75)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SOFT SUEDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MERRY MERLOT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MERRY MERLOT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

Happy Easter Monday one and all!  We have recently had a couple of new families move into our street and so I was in need of a couple of welcome cards, so I combined a few current challenges to help me out in my quest:

Kim has a great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and since I was using a long-retired stamp I combined with some cheery rainbow colours so that I could play along with the team over at Retro Rubber. My stripes are also perfect for this week's challenge over at Just Us Girls. So what did I come up with? Take a look:

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

I used an old retired set from 2016 called 'Welcome Words' for today's card, heat embossing the large 'Welcome' in retired Blueberry Bushel embossing powder onto a Balmy Blue card base, then stamping a selection of houses with the remainder of my greeting onto a stitched scalloped rectangle and colouring with a selection of Blends in rainbow colours. I also added a little red resin heart floating from the chimney of one house for an extra fun detail:

I decided to create a rainbow-striped vertical panel to connect my 'welcome' to my panel of houses and the remainder of my greeting. 'Welcome Words' was such a keeper for me - it's great for cards like this.

No visual summary of the key products used on today's project as the stamp set is retired and it's the kind of project you could make with pretty much any colours. 

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