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)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for the current Inkspiration Colour Challenge that uses the current Atlantic Hearts sketch layout:  

I'm also playing along over at TicTacToe Challenge (I went across the first row with friendship theme/gems/layers) and decided to use this fresh colour combo to give my 'Spotlight on nature' stamp set a good workout - take a look:

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

I stamped the flower stem at opposing ends of a scalloped rectangle cut using my (retired) Scalloped Contours Dies, with the sentiment in between and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends. The most interesting part of today's card though is the butterflies: I stamped one directly from the set, them stamped another in it's mirror image and a third one that combined the two - you can see that one more closely below:

Have you ever done mirror stamping? The easiest way to do it is to use a stamping platform and a silicone mat; you simply stamp the image you want to reverse directly onto the silicone mat, carefully lay your cardstock over the silicone mat and then stamp the image again. The pressure of this stamp transfers the ink from the silicone mat onto the reverse of the cardstock and hey presto - a reversed image! To avoid having 4 antenna, you need to just remove the ink from one of each pair each time you stamp, but otherwise that's it. I brushed my butterflies liberally with clear Wink of Stella before fussy cutting and adding to my rectangle along with a trio of sparkly in-colour gems in Pretty In Pink. I added this to a Pretty In Pink card base, onto which I'd added a strip of black and white striped retired designer paper - very Audrey Hepburn-inspired! I love the line detail on the 'Spotlight On Nature' stamps and I can't wait to experiment more with 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day - I'm off outside to enjoy the sunshine! - and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (13.00)	SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	2024–2026 IN COLOR™ SHIMMER GEMS (8.00)	PRETTY IN PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PRETTY IN PINK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	BASIC BLACK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (5.25)

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 a clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Yay - clean and simple week! I decided to go with encouragement, as opposed to sympathy, for my card today - take a look:

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

The 'Unbounded Love' stamp set has a great selection of sentiments and that's where I found the ideal sentiment for my encouragement card:

I covered the whole of my card front with a piece of the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper; whilst this does leave me with less 'white space' than I would usually feature on a clean and simple card, it made light work of my card design. I added my sentiment label decorated with a tab of (retired) Misty moonlight ribbon, and a few tinsel dots to complete my card. I added an offcut of paper inside my card and another sentiment from 'Unbounded Love', along with a trio of hearts from 'Bee Mine':

Super simple and with minimal layers and embellishments - and an encouraging sentiment that is sure to inspire. The Unbounded Love bundle is one of the bundles that is available with an additional 10% off during the month of June, so if you purchase it this month it represents even better value. I'm also playing along over at Festive Friday with today's card; I used purple, blue, clean and simple and ribbon from their inspo list. 

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 on Tuesday with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

THOUGHTFUL JOURNEY 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)

UNBOUNDED LOVE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (46.25)

TINSEL GEMS THREE-PACK (7.00)

BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

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 pretty colour challenge for us to work with:

When I chose these colours, I didn't have anything in particular in mind - I just love the combination of blue and yellow. That said, when it came down to it I had no idea how to use them - go figure! After playing around with a few ideas, I finally settled on some slightly unconventionally coloured florals using the Country Flowers bundle. I loved Amy's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week so I used that for my layout and set to work. This is what I came up with:

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

Eyelet Embossing - I decided to use a Lemon Lolly card base and embossed the whole of the card front using the new Eyelet 3D embossing folder. I love the design of this folder and I love the texture and detail it adds to a project.

Countryside Inn - I used a small panel of Countryside Inn designer series paper in Night of Navy for one of the rectangle elements of the sketch. Did you realise that the Countryside Inn paper is still available? It's one of a few that carried over from last year's annual catalogue. The pattern is subtle and doesn't look out of place with the embossed background detail.

Country Flowers - The focal point for today's card is my bucket of flowers from the 'Country Flowers' stamp set. I used the three challenge colours for my unconventional floral bouquet, along with some additional diecut white leaves and flowers, and used Smoky Slate as my fourth colour for my metal bucket that they are standing in - check out the detail below:

I finished my card with a sentiment from the same set, wrapped with a little Boho Blue thread pulled from a ribbon to anchor it.

The Country Flowers bundle is one of those that is discounted by a further 10% until the end of June - that's in addition to the usual 10% bundle discount, so a whopping 20% off. There's never been a better time to add a bundle to your shopping basket!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

COUNTRY FLOWERS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (44.75)	EYELET 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (9.50)	COUNTRYSIDE INN 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	LEMON LOLLY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	LEMON LOLLY STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
BOHO BLUE STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	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 our intrepid traveller, the lovely Jaydee, to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

I knew when I saw Jaydee's theme for this week it would be the perfect opportunity for me to ink up a set that is long retired, but that I have never broken the seal on - oops! It's called 'Thanks for The Laughs' and has some of the funniest sentiments for cards that are perfect to share with special friends - take a look at one of my favourites:

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

We all have those kinds of friends, right?! I added my sentiment to a Nested Label diecut, and created a fun background using lots of leftover strips of retired designer series paper, mostly from the Delightfully Eclectic pack plus a couple of others. I decorated my label with a trio of flowers diecut using the Thoughtful Wishes Dies (I thought these were similar to the flowers on the Misty Moonlight DSP strips):

The sentiment continues inside the card and I also added another couple of diecut flowers to decorate:

This card was so fun to make! My background was inspired by the sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and it was a great way to use up leftover strips of patterned paper. I simply chose about half a dozen patterns, that worked together (similar colours and patterns) and started laying the onto a piece of Basic White cardstock. Once the whole front was covered, I simply trimmed away any excess - easy. I still had a few strips left over once I'd made my card, so I decided to use the to decorate my envelope flap in a similar style for a co-ordinated finish. Whilst I've used a retired stamp set and papers on my card, you could easily use the same design with current product

This card will be headed to one of my long-time friends and partners-in-crime to let her know how much I appreciate her - there's nothing like true friends!

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'm hoping to fit in a little crafting today - it was so cold watching Ben play cricket yesterday I feel like I've gone into hibernation mode - and it's June!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)

THOUGHTFUL WISHES DIES (35.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)