Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at As You See It -  so happy to see these fabulous ladies back up and running and thank you for choosing me for the Featured Artist spot last week with this card! 

My second colour challenge this week - a rare thing! I find with colours as my starting point it takes me longer to come up with an idea (so glad that AYSI is on a two week challenge schedule now, it gives my ideas time to percolate!) I had so much fun making my card for Nance's challenge over at The Paper Players a couple of weeks ago (you can see that card here) and received such a lot of interested comments about the technique that I used - hot glue embossing - I thought I would make another card using the same idea but this time inspired by the AYSI challenge photo, I created a moonscape over the water - take a look:

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

A Fun Technique - I used the same layout and technique as for my previous card here, but this time embossed my hot glue in silver with a moon in my pinky-purple twilight sky. I then blended the pink and purple with the Dapper Denim blue for the water and reflection below the horizon using my re-inkers and aquapainter. I added a liberal does of Clear Wink of Stella to the sea to finish - this adds a wonderful sparkle that is difficult to see in the photo, but trust me, it's there!

Love Sparkles - The colours of this card I thought lent themselves to a more romantic card, so I decided to use the sparkly 'Love' sentiment from the Love Sparkles stamp set and turn this into an anniversary card for my husband since it was our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday. I'm not sure my husband was as impressed with my handiwork, but then I think he sees so many of my cards theses days he just takes it all in his stride! 

All Heart - I added a tiny pink enamel heart shape to finish my card in keeping with my theme and also stamped the inside of the card and the envelope to co-ordinate.

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. 

So what do you think - does the card say 'romance' to you? I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts below.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love Sparkles Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Aqua Painters	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Watercolor Paper	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Silver Foil Sheets

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

So I have a slight confession: if you read my blog post on Friday you may have been expecting something else today! I had a moment of inspiration for a sentiment-based card on Friday and was so pleased with myself when it was finished. All was well until I came to load it up onto the Paper Players blog and I remembered this week was 'clean and simple' week and my card definitely wasn't! So I will share that card with you another day and in the meantime I took the opportunity to make another card using one of the great sentiment-based sets in the current Spring-Summer catalogue - take a look:

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

Cake Crazy - The Cake Crazy stamp set is a fun cake-building stamp set with lots of words. I made my cake stack entirely out of words, coloured to co-ordinate with my side strips of designer series paper for a fun, unisex birthday card.

Party With Balloons - I used some balloon-patterned Party Animal Designer Series Paper to border the edges of my central panel and tie in with my Emerald Envy baker's twine and fun balloon embellishment. After all, what's a party without balloons?

Add A Banner - I added a little stepped banner in Pacific Point to my card to top off my cake - whilst not designed to co-ordinate, the photopolymer stamp sits perfectly into the banner shape for easy co-ordination. 

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:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we have basketball this morning (riding high on last week's regional-qualifying tournament win!) and then a social lunch with the swim squad - should be fun. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Cake Crazy Photopolymer Stamp Set	Party Animal Designer Series Paper	Party Animal Embellishments	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Emerald Envy Solid Baker's Twine
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock
Duet Banner Punch	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-sweet and talented Nance to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I absolutely love Nance's colour combination this week - so unusual! I considered a variety of things to do with my card - mostly floral - but decided to be brave and try something different: hot glue embossing. I used this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as it had a perfect vertical panel for my design - take a look:

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

Hot glue embossing is a fun technique to combine with watercolouring. The idea is simply that you take your hot glue gun and 'draw' a pattern onto a piece of watercolour paper. Once set, you reheat the glue with your heat tool, sprinkle with embossing powder then reheat to set. I decided that I would draw a sunset with my glue gun, by creating the sun on the horizon and then some reflection and I heat embossed this with copper embossing powder.

I then used my aquapainter and Blushing Bride and Smoky Slate reinkers to colour my sky and water. I finished my card with a sentiment  from Flourishing Phrases, which I also heat embossed in copper. Finally I used a piece of copper foil to border my sentiment and watercoloured panel. 

This card is rather abstract for me, yet such fun to create and I think it makes a lovely sympathy card - I've been needing a few too many of these lately. So what do you think? Is this a technique you would like to try?

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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are attending a basketball match this afternoon with Ben captaining his team (hopefully to victory!) I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Copper Foil Sheets	Watercolor Paper	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Ink Refill
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Ink Refill	Flourishing Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Happy Monday everyone! I've had a busy day today with the first of this month's classes. I'll share some of those projects later in the week, but for today I wanted to share a simple little lidded box that I made with my Envelope Punch Board to hold some cute little Valentine's love notes. Now I didn't do the best job of photographing this one - the lid edges get a little lost against the background:

Here's the box with one of the little notelets inside:

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

Sending Love Notes - Way back at Onstage last November we made three little notelets using the Sealed with Love Bundle. I modified mine slightly, cutting down the panels of Sending Love patterned paper and adding each one to a 3 1/2" Whisper White card base. I designed a few more using the other stamps in the set and made a bunch of co-ordinating envelopes and decided to make a little box to keep them all in. 

Love My Envelope Punch Board - Not only did I use my Envelope Punch Board to make my designer series paper envelopes (each made to fit a card of 3 1/2" square and requiring a 6" square piece of paper) but I also used my Box Buster tool to help me design a 4" square lidded box to hold them in. I love making lidded boxes usign the EPB rather than a scoreboard, as it makes them much more sturdy and rigid. It's really easy to do - you just need to make your lid 1/8" larger than your base for a snug fit.

Ribbon and Hearts - I continued the red and white theme of my project by adding a triple loop of Sending Love Ribbon with a double bow to adorn my sassy red Valentine-embossed heart to complete my box embellishment.

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. 

I will be using these little notes to hide in my children's school bags and pencil cases this month; they love to find a surprise note when they least expect it; I might even slip in a little chocolate treat too. I'm also linking up with the team over at SUO Challenges again where they are also celebrating Valentine's this week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Envelope Punch Board	Love Notes Framelits Dies	Sealed With Love Photopolymer Stamp Set	Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack	Sending Love Ribbon Combo Pack
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my sweet friend Claire to host this week and she has a timely theme challenge for us to work with:

I've been sharing lots of Valentine's-themed cards with you in recent weeks, almost all of which have featured the Sealed With Love bundle and Sending Love Designer Series Paper. For today though I wanted to go back to some products in the annual catalogue that would make a Valentine's card but are not designed specifically with that in mind. I had a few bits and pieces out on my desk, then when I saw this week's inspiration photo over at Fusion I knew exactly where I was headed - I even used the sketch layout too (turned through 90 degrees). Here's what I came up with:

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

A Quilt Of Love - I drew inspiration from a number of elements of the Fusion photo for my card: the border of pink flowers (courtesy of the Jar of Love stamp set), the cream textured panel (created with the Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder) and the red flower-entwined heart as a focal point. My colour scheme also came directly from the photo - here it is if it's one you would like to save to use too:

Have A Heart - I die cut the heart from the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits set and embellished this with flowers from the Jar of Love set and leaves from Swirly Bird too. 

A Gift Of A Sentiment - The sentiment on my pale pink banner comes from the exclusive hostess set 'A Gift of Love'. I love the soft script of the sentiments in this set and think this one is such a lovely way to let someone know how much they mean to you. 

I think this is a pretty Valentine's card that makes a softer alternative to the bright red and white colour schemes of my previous cards. I'm also linking up with the team over at SUO Challenges where they are also celebrating Valentine's 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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our fun theme this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we have a morning of sport and one of the James Juniors has a trampolining birthday party to attend this afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies	Jar Of Love Photopolymer Bundle	Swirly Bird Photopolymer Bundle	Gift Of Love Photopolymer Stamp Set	Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I am your hostess this week and I have a sketch for you to work with:

When I came up with my sketch I had an idea about what I was going to do with it, yet when I came to make my card ended up going in a completely different direction -go figure! I'm still loving those patterns in the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Pack and just had to feature another one on my card today  - take a look:

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

Sending Love - My sketch allowed me the opportunity to showcase another of these gorgeous red and white patterns in the Sending Love stack; the large panel is perfect for a bigger pattern, so I decided to go with the white hearts on a red background. This was the starting point for my card, my mat, base and embellishments followed from there. 

This Card Is All Heart - I decided to replicate the heart pattern in my embellishment shapes and represented each of the diamonds in my sketch with a layered heart. Having heat-embossed the white stamped heart onto red and layered this onto white to echo my mat border, I felt it still needed a little something; I decided to add in an additional background heart in red glimmer paper and bingo! I backed my tiny hearts with a red glimmer one too; all cut with the Sweet & Sassy framelit dies.

Hugs And Kisses - I heat embossed my sentiment in white directly onto my card base. I love the delicate scripted font and it was perfect for the recipient of this card; my daughter has a love of all things sparkly so with the addition of the glimmer paper this has to be her valentine's card. I paired my 'hugs and kisses' with an 'I love you' on the inside - and finished with the flourish that is also featured in this set.

I've a second little project for you today - I can't give Miss Rebecca a Valentine's card without a chocolate treat , so here's a little something that took me just minutes to put together:

I took one of our clear boxes, filled it with chocolate hearts and added a belly band, some Sending Love red ribbon and a tag with some sweet Sending Love heart embellishments. I love that with just a few basic supplies I can turn a few chocolates into something special that I know my daughter will love. 

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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with my sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we have our usual morning of sport but have an unexpected free afternoon; both of the James Juniors have had sports fixture cancellations this weekend, so we will be able to enjoy some unexpected additional family time together - I'm looking forward to it already! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Sealed With Love Photopolymer Bundle	Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack	Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Red Glimmer Paper	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Sending Love Embellishments	Sending Love Ribbon Combo Pack	Clear Tiny Treat Boxes

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

I decided that for today's card I was going to try and come up with a CAS card that featured a single flower. I originally started out stamping and played around with lots of different combinations before settling on a card using the negative space created using the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies. Here's my final card:

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

Unorthodox Floral Colour Combination - I took my colour combination from this week's challenge over at Fab Friday. I love how the pale blue and warm vanilla tone down the Sweet Sugarplum, which I sometimes find a little stark when paired with stronger colours. For the original card I was making, it worked perfectly (I'll share that card with you tomorrow and explain more then!) It does look slightly unorthodox here granted, given the simplicity of the design - what flower has a blue stem?! - yet I decided that since I love the colour combination and the card has a clean and contemporary feel, I would go with it. Who knows, maybe I'll start a new trend!

Layered Negative Space - When I first saw the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies in the Spring-Summer catalogue, I thought - do I really need another set of flower framelits? The answer though on closer inspection was a definite 'yes'; I'm a big fan of using the negative space created when using framelits and dies this set is actually designed with that in mind; the flowers and stem can be used both to cut a positive shape, by layering the outline with the inside shape together, but the inner piece can be used alone to make the negative space itself the focal point. So many creative possibilities! Using the layers of this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch for inspiration, I cut through a single layer of Very Vanilla cardstock to reveal my Sweet Sugarplum flower, then cut the stem through both the Very Vanilla and Sweet Sugarplum layers to reveal the Soft Sky cardstock layer below. All that cutting makes this CAS card great for the challenge over at CASology this week too.

For A Good Friend - Lastly, I added a sentiment from the co-ordinating 'Special Reason' stamp set that is perfect for a special friend. My placement is not strictly as per the sketch, as I needed it to have more prominence so stamped it on the Very Vanilla top layer. My card is destined for one of my very best friends to say thank you for entertaining the James family for dinner yesterday evening.

A super-simple clean and simple card with minimal supplies - I just love this set!

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:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Special Reason Clear-Mount Bundle

Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock

Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad

Soft Sky A4 Cardstock

Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock

I've had my first classes of the new year this week and a team meeting today, so I'm finally getting back into the swing of things and it's been busy busy! I'll share some of my class cards another time, Today I have a card I made using one of the new Celebrations Duo Textured Impressions Embossing Folder - take a look:

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

Deboss Happy - For a great letterpress look, this embossing folder creates a great bold, debossed sentiment. Use with the swishes of the co-ordinating stampset or 'naked' as I have here for a sentiment that is subtle at the same time.

Vintage Bunting - The vintage bunting flags on the slim piece of Cupcakes and Carousels Designer Series Paper tucked behind my debossed sentiment are just enough to provide a flutter of colour without detracting from the overall clean feel of my card. 

A Happy Colour Combo - I took my colour inspiration from the Cupcakes and Carousels Paper and went with a subtle colour scheme with some pops of bright turquoise - here's the colour swatch if you would like to use it for future colour 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm linking up today's card with the current challenge over at SUO Challenges where they are looking for embossing - wet or dry - on your project.

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Cupcakes & Carousels Designer Series Paper Stack	Celebrations Duo Textured Impressions Embossing Folders	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Cardstock
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock