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

With all these lovely layers I decided Claire's sketch was perfect to showcase some designer series paper. Lots to choose from, but I eventually settled on the Flowers For Every Season paper again - I've been having so much fun with these floral designs. This is what I came up with:

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

Flowers For Every Season - I chose two co-ordinating patterns with a Misty Moonlight background for today's card - I love this blue and I've been itching to use this sunflower floral pattern. This paper contains four of the five new in-colours, so is also perfect for the current challenge over at Fab Friday, where the aim is to use one or more of these new colours. These papers really are the star of my card and I wanted them to be prominent; I used the Flowers For All Season twine to represent the vertical panel/column so that it wouldn't detract from or obscure the florals beneath.

A Wish For Everything - The sentiment on this card could be used for a number of different occasions and it is definitely one of my favourites in the 'A Wish For Everything' set.

Memories and More - I added a co-ordinating floral embellishment from the Flowers For Every Season Memories and More pack to my stitched rectangle sentiment panel, with a twist of Cinnamon Cider ribbon beneath it for added decoration. Here's a closer look: 

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; we have no big plans today, just a day of pottering around the house and some cooking - we have some new recipes that we would like to try out, so that should be fun.  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON MEMORIES & MORE CARD (£10.25)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED RECTANGLES DIES (£33.00)	A WISH FOR EVERYTHING CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£36.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
2020–2022 IN COLOR ENAMEL DOTS (£7.50)	CINNAMON CIDER 2020–2022 IN COLOR RIBBON (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON RIBBON COMBO PACK (£9.25)

Happy Monday everyone! Today is a special day - not one, but two, yes both of the James Juniors are back to school! There was much excitement in the James household this morning and whilst it's only for a couple of weeks, and for one it's only for a couple of days each week, the excitement at seeing friends and teachers face to face again was palpable! The house is now eerily silent, but it does mean that I am racing through my jobs today and am getting my blog post in early too! Today I'm sharing a card that I made inspired by the lovely Amy's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

A super versatile sketch I'm sure you'll agree and I decided to get snipping for my floral creation today - take a look:

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

Flowers For Every Season - Whilst flowers are by no means mandatory for this sketch, I initially reached for my Flowers For Every Season Memories and More cards as I wanted to incorporate the adhesive sentiments into my card. I couldn't find any flowers that worked for me though, so I reached for my co-ordinating papers and decided to get fussy cutting! I wanted to create some layering with my flowers, with some behind and some in front of my label, so separated the flowers to make this work. 

A Sweet Label - My sentiment label is from the Stitched So Sweetly Die set - such a great set for labels with a good variety of shapes and sizes. 

Textile Texture - I added some texture to the top layer of my Misty Moonlight cardstock using the new Textile Texture embossing folder which is lovely for a little extra detail.

This card was simple to put together once the fussy cutting was completed. I used another leftover edge piece of DSP to decorate the inside of my card too:

Waste not, want not and all that!

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 racing through my jobs before early school pick up. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	FLOWERS FOR EVERY SEASON MEMORIES & MORE CARD (£10.25)	TASTEFUL TEXTILE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

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 clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I always need lots of thank you cards and at this time of year as the academic year is coming to and end, even more so. A good clean and simple design that can be easily replicated can come in very handy. So a quick reminder for you - over at The Paper Players, what do we mean by Clean and Simple?

I decided to play along with a new-to-me-challenge Color My Heart Color Dare and go with a monochromatic yellow card to test run my new in-color Bumblebee ink with my Celebrate Sunflowers set - take a look:

I kept my card super-simple, with a white card base, a piece of in-colour DSP in Bumblebee and then added a white panel onto which I had stamped a partial sunflower in yellow and added a scored border detail. I offset this panel onto the DSP and added a trio of enamel dots and a white on yellow heat embossed sentiment, that I fussy cut and popped up on dimensionals.

I like the finished card so much I think I'll make a few more in the other in-colours and use these for the first of my in-colour club cards this month!

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; we are having bike rides today and one of the James Juniors is having a socially distanced picnic with a few of her girlfriends today to celebrate her birthday earlier this week.. The rest of the day will be spent getting ready for the big return to school as both James Juniors will be back this week!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CELEBRATE SUNFLOWERS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£22.00)	BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	2020–2022 IN COLOR 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	2020–2022 IN COLOR ENAMEL DOTS (£7.50)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

Today 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 an interesting colour challenge for you to work with:

First up, I have a confession to make: I couldn't find my Tranquil Tide ink pad so substituted with Garden Green. I have a few projects for you today; armed with Narelle's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches I decided to use some retired designer series papers in the challenge colours and my 'Harvest Hellos' stamp set to make a couple of teacher thank you cards and some cute gift packaging.  Here's the first of my cards:

Some simple layering of my DSP and a stamped and punched apple, along with a 'thanks' diecut courtesy of the Well Written Dies, completed my card. I actually made two - on the second one, I reversed the layering of the papers and had the letter paper in front as opposed to the numbers:

 I added some simple stamping to the inside of my card from the same set:

 Here are the two cards together - which one do you prefer?

I had picked up a couple of cute apple notepads that I thought would be perfect for some extra small teacher gifts so took the opportunity to create some co-ordinating boxes for my cards, complete with tags:

And here's another view:

And that cute apple notepad that is in the box? Here it is:

The apple folds flat but when clipped open it forms an apple shape, so I just had to create a lidded box that could present it whole for full effect - here are both projects 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; the weather was glorious here in the UK yesterday so I'm hoping that will continue today and I can spend some time in the garden. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

HARVEST HELLOS CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	APPLE BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)	WELL WRITTEN DIES (EN) (£37.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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

I used Julee's current Mojo Monday sketch for my layout and decided to use my 'Under My Umbrella' stamp set that really hasn't seen that much ink since I had it so I decided to remedy that - take a look:

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

I used some retired Sale-A-Bration raindrop patterned paper for my vertical panel, then created a rainbow from a series of narrow strips for the horizontal one. I then added some fussy cut wellies filled with punched flowers and a bright yellow umbrella, punched with my Umbrella Builder punch, along with my sentiment on a stitched square, to finish. This card was quite quick to complete once I'd decided what to do and is rather bright and cheery; in hindsight, all it's missing is some sunshine. What can I say - aren't we all!

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; we are making pizzas from scratch today and if the weather continues to be cold and wet me might embark on another game of Monopoly, since yesterday's game was terminated prematurely due to bedtime! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

UNDER MY UMBRELLA PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (EN) (£15.00)	UMBRELLA BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)	BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
POPPY PARADE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	GRANNY APPLE GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PACIFIC POINT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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 a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I decided to go across the top row with Flowers/Girly/Birthday and wanted to share with you a card I made using one of my most favourite stamp sets of all time, Beautiful Friendship - take a look:

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

I ADORE the 'Beautiful Friendship' stamp set and have made a ton of cards with it recently, having held an online class using this set. In between  my online classes, I have been running a whole host of online demonstration sessions either sharing different ideas using the class stamp set, revisiting previously learned techniques, or sometimes a combination of both. This card was a result of one of those sessions, where I held I refresher session showing how to use your Stamparatus to create wreaths. The single rose in the 'Beautiful Friendship' set is perfect to create a simple wreath, so armed with my favourite of the retiring in-colors, Lovely Lipstick, and ringing the changes with a 6" x 6" square card, this was what I came up with. 

Have you ever used your Stamparatus to create a floral wreath? Here's a short speeded-up clip of my demonstration (without sound) that shows how easy it is to do:

https://youtu.be/1LgZ-ttfvIE

I then added a heat-embossed fussy cut sentiment from the soon-to-be-retired 'Seriously The Best' stamp set and a simple twine bow to the front of my card and added a little decoration to the inside too:

Did you find the above speeded up video clip useful? If you would like to take part in one of my online classes or attend my online demonstration sessions, do check out my class schedule on the events section of my Facebook page or on the 'Classes' tab on my website, or just drop me a line for more information.

I'm linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges where the current theme is Designer's Choice - this one is definitely one of mine!

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 and out of my 'By One Get One Free' party over on my Facebook page as I clear out my retiring stamps to make way for the new, whilst sitting in the garden enjoying the warm sunshine!nI'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	SERIOUSLY THE BEST CLING STAMP SET (£7.20)	STAMPARATUS (£46.00)	2018–2020 IN COLOR 12\" X 12\" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (£11.75)	WHISPER WHITE 12\" X 12\" (30,5 X 30,5 CM) CARDSTOCK (£7.25)
GRANNY APPLE GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	WHISPER WHITE SOLID BAKER'S TWINE (£3.25)

With a new Stampin' Up! catalogue, new in-colours always feature on a new wish list - why wouldn't they? The new 2020-22 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 October. 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 15th of the month, and your in-color club invoice will need to be paid by the 29th 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 1/4" (6.4mm) In Color Ribbon
• 1 ink pad
• 1 ink refill
• 1 Stampin' Write Marker
• 20 Enamel Dots
• Eight 6”X6” In-Color DSP sheets
• A hand stamped card featuring your in-colour of the month

Since all of the colours except Bumble Bee 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. 

For the month you receive the BumbleBee colour kit, you will receive 1/2 pack of Flowers For Every Season Memories and More Cards & Envelopes and 1/2 pack of Flowers For Every Season Memories and More Card Pack in place of the Blends. Both of these products also feature all five in-colours.  

Details:

Basic Pack Cost: £24 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month June through October. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Enhanced Pack Cost: £32.50 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month June through October. 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 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 you to work with:

I struggled a little with this week's sketch - so many possibilities I was spolied for choice! In the end, I went super simple. I love the rich colours of the inspiration photo over at Just Add Ink this week and they reminded me of one of the patterns in the Perennial Essence DSP pack, so that's where I ended up - take a look:

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

I mounted a piece of Perennial Essence paper onto a white mat and Pretty Peacock base, and framed it with a double-stitched rectangle frame before adding my sentiment banner. I heat embossed my sentiment, from the 'To A Wild Rose' stamp set, in gold onto the front of my card and finished with 'to call you my friend' inside my card. I added a few gold glittery enamel dots and my card was complete - I didn't want to do anything else to detract from that beautiful paper! I actually made two of these cards, and with the scrap of paper I had left over I made a third card that I added a gold foil Heirloom embossed frame to but no sentiment, but thought I would share with you as I still think it's rather a lovely goodbye to these two products:

I'm calling this one my 'Faux Monet' - up close you can see the canvas-effect detail of the paper and it's gorgeous.

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 am hoping for warmer temperatures and much less wind today, as I have some flowers to plant out in the garden. Yesterday was so windy it was impossible to do anything constructive outside, especially with my overgrown lockdown hair blowing into my eyes! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

TO A WILD ROSE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (EN) (£24.00)	PERENNIAL ESSENCE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£8.60)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BLACKBERRY BLISS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
TRIPLE BANNER PUNCH (£22.00)	EMBOSSING BUDDY (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

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 a great clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I was intrigued by Kim's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and armed with this and one of my personal favourite stamp sets for masculine cards I created my card - take a look:

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

I had already decided that I would use the 'A Good Man' stamp set for my card this week as it really lends itself to clean and simple cards. I stamped and coloured my image and created my woven cardstock trim as per Kim's sketch, having stamped my sentiment on the horizontal strip and I was done - minimal layers (virtually one layer), no embellishments and plenty of white space - yep, I met the clean and simple brief!

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 spent yesterday finishing the last of my big garden cleaning jobs, with patios cleaned and garden furniture ready now for waxing. I'll be taking it easier today with some cooking and last-minute revision with the youngest James Junior in readiness for the first of this week's Common Entrance exam papers tomorrow - Geography and maybe a leisurely family bike ride too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

A GOOD MAN CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£22.00)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CALYPSO CORAL COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS NIGHT OF NAVY COMBO PACK (£8.50)	LIGHT BALMY BLUE STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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 colour challenge for you to work with:

I love Claire's bright colour palette this week! I have been planning my next online class so had the Birthday Jubilee bundle out on my desk and along with Brian's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week my card came together pretty quickly - take a look:

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

I cut two panels in Melon Mambo using one of the Jubilee Beauty Dies and used them to frame my sentiment, adding a couple of floral garlands coloured with my Stampin' Blends in each of the colours. I used my old retired Melon Mambo Blendabilities for the pink flowers; I've some good news for you if you're a Blends fan though - there is a new Melon Mambo Blends combo in the new annual catalogue - woohoo! A little extra stamping inside and decoration on the envelope flap complete my card:

The Birthday Jubilee bundle is retiring at the end of the month and the Jubilee Birthday dies are currently discounted to £16.80, so if you like them now is the time to pick up a bargain! My next online class is on Monday 25th May and features this bundle. You can see the full details here; if you would like to join us, then do message me to book on. I would love to see you there!

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 wishes to those overseas who are celebrating - I hope you are all spoiled rotten! The weather is supposed to turn here today with rain and much colder temps forecast, so I think my time sitting in the garden will be limited. I guess I might have to do some indoor jobs instead!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Jubilee Beauty Dies	Birthday Jubilee Cling Stamp Set	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Glitter Enamel Dots
2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch