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 fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Before we go any further - If you are a regular reader, you will know that I’ve been having my fair share of blog and website problems this week. They still aren’t fixed completely, hence today’s late (re typed!) short post although I am at least back online for the time being. It could be a couple of weeks before things are properly back to normal, so please bear with me for the next little while.

Onto today’s card! I took Claire’s fruit theme and thought it was perfect to feature this little cutie in her apple dress-up from the retired Just Kiddin’ designer series papers. I used the current Try a Sketch on Tuesday sketch for my layout - take a look at what I came up with:

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

I fussy cut my focal image and added her to a die cut rectangle, with a trio of die cut stripes from the Friends For Life Dies in coordinating colours behind. I think this would make a fun card for a young child or equally suit a thank you card for a teacher - after all, an apple for the teacher is the perfect image, right?!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; all being well I'll be back on Tuesday 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 Jan to host this week and she has a fresh colour challenge for us to work with:

I thought these colours would be perfect for some clean and fresh florals, so I grabbed this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and a stamp set I haven't used in a while, and set to work - take a look:

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

I used my Cheerful Daisies Dies to create a trio of diecut layered daisies, and mounted each onto a stitched square of Lemon Lolly. I added Flirty Flamingo to the top petal layer with a sponge dauber, to soften the intensity of the colour. I added some additional detail to my centre flower, with a trio of pale lemon pearls in the centre and a simple white twine bow and added a heat-embossed sentiment beneath it:

I almost left the card base plain, but as a nod to our hostess this week, my lovely friend Jan, who does love an embossed card front, I instead embossed it using my Eyelet 3D embossing folder. I must say I really do love the result.

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:

Enjoy your day; we are celebrating the youngest of the James Juniors reaching the ripe old age of 17 today - finally able to begin driving lessons in earnest, hurrah! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CHEERFUL DAISIES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	CHEERFUL DAISIES DIES (32.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	EYELET 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (9.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (10.25)
LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	LEMON LOLLY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

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

Beach time! Well, I was tempted to go with another sunset like the one in the inspo photo, but I've made one using htese colours before so instead went with a daytime beach scene as I wanted to use the lifeguard hut image from the 'Beach Day' stamp set and dies that I haven't yet used on any of my beach-themed projects. I decided to use the layered sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout and the colours from the bright palette over at Color Dare (I went down the right hand column with Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana and (retired) Starry Sky as my equivalent colours, and a little Lemon Lime Twist from the top row too). I was faithful to the square shape of the sketch and had a lot of fun stamping and diecutting - take a look:

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

Perennial Postage - I decided to use my Perennial Postage Dies to cut out my layer shapes; for the larger square that I used for my beach scene, I simply used one of the larger rectangles and then ran through the die cutting machine a second time to cut the end off to make it square - easy peasy! The dies almost make this look like a postage stamp, don't you think?

Beach Day Layers - I worked on my beach scene first, layering all of the elements to create my scene. I masked off the edges and added an inked sky using a blending brush, then cut my sea, complete with foam, and my sand, onto which I stamped some shells for added interest. I used the diecuts only for my lifeguard hut as I wanted it to be completely white, and added a couple of stamped gulls to complete the scene. I added a sun for another of the sketch elements (diecut using the retired Hey Chuck Dies) and a trio of shells to another of the panels.

So Swirly - I decided to use (retired) Starry Sky cardstock for my cardbase as it really compliments the other elements and embossed my mat layer with the new So Swirly embossing folder. Oh my - I love this! I bought it to compliment my Latte Love bundle, but I thought it worked well to add a sense of watery movement to this card too. I think I'm going to get so much use from this EF - it comes in the new larger 6x8.5" size too, which is so useful. You can see the embossing and layering in more detail below:

I actually make this card with a birthday sentiment on the inside, but in hindsight I should perhaps have made it as a congratulations card for the youngest of the James Juniors who has spent the last week training to be a lifeguard (pool not beach as we live about the furthest from the sea that you can possibly get in the UK!) and passed his final tests and gained his qualification yesterday. Luckily I already had a card ready! I really love the Beach Day stamp set and dies and am so glad they carried over as I otherwise might not have added them to my collection and I'm getting so much use from them. I'm also linking today's card up over at Time Out Challenges where the quote to be inspired by is "It's always summer somewhere"; for me a visit to the beach is synonymous with summer - I would so love to leave near the beach all year round too, preferably a Caribbean one!!

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BEACH DAY DIES (32.00)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (31.00)	SO SWIRLY EMBOSSING FOLDER (10.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)
BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	COASTAL CABANA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

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 my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

Not only that, it's our 700th challenge too - what a milestone! I looked at this week's sketch and was tempted to go big on layers with those circles, but instead decided to try out a clean and simple idea that I had after browsing Pinterest a while ago that I wanted to try with the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set. I thought the soft palette of pinks and greens over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog would be perfect for it, so I grabbed my stencils as it's stencil week over at Just Us Girls and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

You may well have expected me to use the co-ordinating stencils since my card features the large outline image in the 'Layers of Beauty' stamp set, but you would be wrong; whilst I would absolutely recommend you buy the co-ordinating dies and stencils with this stamp set, there are so many ways the stamp can be used without them too. On today's card I used some circle stencils instead that I made by using some circle dies in various sizes to cut circles out of acetate sheets, and then positioned them over the large roses and lightly blended a combination of Lemon Lime Twist, Pretty In Pink and Flirty Flamingo through them directly onto my cardbase to highlight areas of the stamped image. I stencilled each in turn and allowed each circle to overlap slightly to give further depth of colour: 

I added a white-on-black heat embossed sentiment from the same set and popped this up on dimensionals, with a sprinkle of in-colour shimmer gems to complete my design. Using circle stencils is a fun way to spotlight an image on a clean and simple card. Finally, I'm also linking today's card up at CAS on Friday where their theme is 'circles' 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:

Enjoy your day; the youngest of the James Juniors is off with friends to watch the test match cricket at Edgbaston today, so the house will be a quiet one - I'm hoping there will be time for crafting! Probably some Olympics viewing too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

LAYERS OF BEAUTY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (8.00)	PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN PAD (8.50)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)

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

I chose birthdays - because everyone needs birthday cards, right? The important thing to remember though is that it's Clean and Simple (CAS) week and over at the Paper Players that means: 

• minimal layers and embellishments
• plenty of open space
• simple and uncluttered

I decided to make another card using my 'Sweet Peas' stamp set, this time featuring a row of partying happy peas - take a look:

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

I added a strip of Full Of Life square patterned designer paper featuring a range of greens, then stamped a row of single peas, complete with party hats and party blowers, and coloured them with various Stampin' Blends before popping the final one up on dimensionals and adding my birthday greeting:

I added a sprinkling of coloured rhinestones around my partying peas for a little sparkle, then finished the sentiment using stamps from the 'More Wishes' stamp set inside, along with a few more peas for good measure: 

I stamped one more pea pod on the front of my envelope to complete my card. I just love these peas - their comical expressions make me chuckle and I can't resist a good pun!

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:

Enjoy your day; I spent a couple of days visiting family in Wales at the end of last week, so today I'm catching up on a few jobs with nothing much else planned. Hope you are all looking forward to a restful Sunday too! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SWEET PEAS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	FULL OF LIFE 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	AZURE AFTERNOON STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
HIGHLAND HEATHER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)

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

I say interesting, because these colours almost threw me for a loop - nothing I tried using these colours seemed to work. Then I saw the sketch over at TGIF Challenges and I grabbed a new bundle and my card sort of fell into place - take a look:

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

I picked up the Friends For Life bundle during last month's bundle offer and hadn't yet used it. For today's card I created my own piece of patterned paper by repeat stamping the 'so excited for you' sentiment, the finished it off with a diecut 'friend' and an outline red heart:

I added a couple of solid red hearts for a pop of colour and a black diecut leaf stem to the opposing corner to complete my card. So what do you think - did I manage to do this colour palette justice? Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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:

Enjoy your day; today continues a weekend of sport, with both the men's Wimbledon final this afternoon followed by the Euros24 final this evening with England hoping to bring it home. I'll be cheering at both, although the tennis is more my thing! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS FOR LIFE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (50.25)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

SMOKY SLATE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Today is an exciting day for us since not only is it our first challenge in the month of July, but we are welcoming three new members to our permanent design team: Jan Clothier, Stef Perry and Eliz Stewart. We are thrilled that this talented trio is joining us and can't wait to share their creativity with you. It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

Summer fun - so many directions you could go in this week! For me summer fun usually involves a visit to the beach - with sandcastles, paddling, ice creams and fish and chips thrown in. I did a beach scene using the Beach Day stamps and dies on Friday, but still wanted to use this set again. Today's card has more of a tropical beach vibe than you might find in the UK, but I couldn't resist that inspiration photo on the Hand Stamped Sentiments mood board (the second one across on the top row), so armed with this and one of the 2019 sketches (I chose #589) over at Sketch Saturday I set to work - take a look:

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

 I used a series of floating stripes for the sunset sky on today's card. I've used this technique before, in fact on a very similar card to this one previously (you can see that card here) and it's really easy to do: all you need is to take your stripes in a variety of widths, adhere to a piece of window sheet acetate (the ones your stamps come on will work nicely) and cut out with a circle die or to your desired shape. I wanted an ombre effect using the colours in the HSS inspo photo, so in order to get additional shades, I used two strips of cardstock in a variety of colours, then coloured one of each with the darker and lighter shades of Stampin' Blends markers respectively. The colour change is subtle, but this is a great way to gain additional variety - you can see the detail more closely below:

I wanted the sunset to be the main focus on my card, so created my beach scene around it using black diecuts only to emphasise the sunset silhouette. The Beach Day Dies have lots of additional detail, so don't really need colour to create interest. I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it using some (retired) melon Mambo embossing powder. If, unlike me, you don't have any coloured embossing powder lurking in the back of your drawer, you can achieve the same effect by heat embossing in white and then colouring it using a Melon Mambo Stampin' Blends marker. A trio of glossy dots and a twine bow 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 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:

Enjoy your day; I am spending mine with some of my fellow UK Stampin' Up! leaders for a development day, so that should be fun. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEACH DAY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	BEACH DAY DIES (32.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BERRY BURST A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BERRY BURST STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)
MELON MAMBO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PUMPKIN PIE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (20.00)	GLOSSY DOTS ASSORTMENT (7.50)

Hello! Apologies for my unscheduled blog absence; things have been very busy in the James household lately and it has kept me out of my craft room. My regular readers will have noticed that I did not play along with my team mates over at The Paper Players on Sunday as usual; I finally managed to get into my craft room today so decided to make a card that worked with Anne Marie's fun tic-tac-toe board, that as it happens also allows me to squeak in a card for Just Us Girls this week where it's stencil week. I'm also linking up over at Inkspirational as they are featuring stencils too: 

I went across the top row of Anne Marie's tic-tac-toe board with stars/stripes (I chose stripes), bling (sequins) and blue and actually took some of my inspiration from this card by Carol over at JUGS for a summer-themed thank you card - take a look:

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

I used a retired stencil that I found in my stash to create what I am hoping looks like pool water splashes on my card base in (retired) Tahitian Tide ink, then using some stitched circle dies, created my lifesaver, decorated with some striped designer paper and twine rope detail. I had to get creative with my sentiment, as I didn't have a stamp to suit, so I used a combination of stamps from the 'Friends For Life' set and the word 'lifesaver' cut using the Mini Alphabet Dies:

A few sparkly blue sequins to catch the light complete my card. So what do you think - does the stencil effect work as water droplets? It's so much fun to rediscover old stencils or make your own to create fun cards.

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. 

You've still time to play along in this week's Paper Players challenge; why not check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your evening; I'll be back on Friday with another project and also a separate post with lots of new specials for the month of July . Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS FOR LIFE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (24.00)	MINI ALPHABET DIES (29.00)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (14.00)
STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses this week's sketch over at Just Add Ink and is super clean and simple and also plays to CAS on Friday's current nature theme:

I unfortunately need a sympathy card this week and as I still had the Frames & Flowers papers on my desk from making yesterday's card, it occurred to me that one of the partial wreath diecuts with its simple string of leaves would fit the sketch perfectly:

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

I added my sentiment from the Country Flowers stamp set in Pretty Peacock and added a trio of co-ordinating enamel dots to a Granny Apple Green cardbase:

The leaves in the wreath co-ordinate with a wide range of colours and I chose Granny Apple Green as opposed to Lost Lagoon which has been my 'go to' with these papers up to now, as I wanted something brighter and more uplifting and I really like the effect. The Frames & Flowers papers really do make light work of clean and simple card designs - I love them!

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:

COUNTRY FLOWERS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)

GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)

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

I wrestled with this sketch for a while, as I couldn't decide how best to make a feature of the frame - and then I remembered my Frames & Flowers designer papers, and problem solved - my card came together in no time! Take a look at what I came up with:

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

I did take a little liberty with Ann's sketch, in as much as I flipped the layers as I wanted my frame to be the top layer so that the diecut leaf detail was visible. I extended the mat layer and Old Olive strip beyond the frame, the placed my sentiment and diecut circle on top of that:

I went for a simple thank you sentiment from the 'Spotlight on Nature' stamp set onto a pretty circle cut using one of the co-ordinating dies. These circle dies are so useful and all of them have beautiful diecut border details. If you don't have this bundle, it's one well worth adding to your collection this month whilst there's an extra 10% off bundles. A few sequins and a twine bow 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 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:

Enjoy your day; I am taking the youngest of the James Juniors to Silverstone racetrack today for a driving course for young learners run by our local police force - should be fun! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE BUNDLE (44.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

NEUTRALS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.00)

OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)