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 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)

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

I decided to use Claire's layout today to create a fancy fold card, specifically a star explosion pop up card featuring the Frames & Flowers specialty designer series paper. My finished card measures 5" x 7" and when closed, it follows Claire's layout and looks rather inconspicuous:

The central wreath is on a belly band that when removed, allows the card to open and the fancy fold element is revealed: 

 The outside panels are layered on Soft Sea Foam, and the inside panels layered with Petal Pink and Pretty Peacock. The inside scored layer lays flat when the card is folded closed, then when opened the central panel pops up and stands away from the card adding a little extra dimension and detail. 

The Frames & Flowers papers are really pretty and this is a new kind of paper pack that contains three sheets of double-sided paper and three sheets of pre-cut die cut pieces. I used a couple of the flowers to decorate and one of the foliage squares for the centrepiece of my card, along with a sentiment from the 'Something Fancy' stamp set:

The wreath that decorates the belly band is another of the diecut pieces, to which I added a bow using some retired Lost Lagoon velvet ribbon finished with a faceted gem and a few Petal Pink gems. The diecuts make for great quick and easy cards, or equally take all the hard work out of decorating, leaving more time to create a fancy base, as I've done here. 

I'm linking today's card up with the team over at SUO Challenges where they are asking us to use multiple patterns - I've definitely used a selection today!

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 the rain stays away long enough to get out into the garden today, however the forecast doesn't look good and since it's a long Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, I guess I shouldn't be surprised! I'll be back with another project using these papers this week. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SOMETHING FANCY CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
FACETED GEMS TRIO PACK (7.00)

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

You know how I can't resist a sketch by the lovely Cecile over at Freshly Made Sketches, so since this is her week I had to grab her layout and use it for the basis of my clean and simple punny birthday card using a new stamp that I also couldn't resist that is perfect to celebrate all things birthday over at AAA Cards too - take a look:

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

HapPea Birthday - what punny fun is that?! The 'Sweet Peas' stamp set is found in the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue and is choc-full of cute images and punny sentiments for lots of occasions. For today's card I chose the birthday peas, bursting out of their pod and stamped it onto a panel cut with an (elongated) Nested Essentials Die and coloured with three of the new In Colour Stampin' Blends: Shy Shamrock, Peach Pie and Petunia Pop (and a little Shaded Spruce and retired Call Me Clover for good measure). I could have finished there, but decided to create a loose 'frame' behind my panel using one of the long pea shoot stems in the set, adding just a little outline colour and fussy cutting them to allow for some overlap and lift for interest:

Don't you just love those grinning peas?! I added another pea along with a 'let's celebrate' sentiment from the (retired) 'Simply Fabulous stamp set to the inside of my card and repeated this on the envelope flap for a little co-ordinated decoration. Shy Shamrock is such a fresh and vibrant green - I know I'm going to use it a lot. Do you love these new in-colours too? Remember in May you can receive a fabulous bundle of new in-colour products for free when you sign up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - you can find the details on this amazing offer here. This stamp set makes me hap-pea (pun intended!) and I just love this clean and simple birthday card. I have lots of birthdays in May and June, and this card will be headed to a dear friend who will I know appreciate the sentiment!

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 don't have anything special planned today, so will be hoping for fine weather and some time in the garden. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SWEET PEAS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (19.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)	SHADED SPRUCE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)
SHY SHAMROCK STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PETUNIA POP STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (10.25)	PEACH PIE 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 Ann to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I originally made the card that I shared yesterday with today's challenge in mind, but decided that the designer paper added too much in the way of additional colours, so I made another card and decided to create something really clean and simple that would allow Ann's colour choices to shine - take a look:

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

A simple cluster of diecut lavender and foliage in each of the challenge colours, with an additional stem in Gorgeous Grape for my extra colour. I used a neat technique that I'd seen another demonstrator, Michelle Last, use on a card, where she cut a couple of lines either either side of a stamped sentiment (mine is from the retired set 'Perennial Postage') and the posy of flowers is tucked in between the slits:

A trio of Fresh Freesia enamel dots complete my card. I used the sentiment on today's card as I thought it would be perfect for Mother's Day (a shoutout to all my overseas friends celebrating today), or in fact to celebrate Mums on any day. We've already celebrated Mother's Day here in the UK this year, but this card is perfect to send to my Mum at any time, to remind her low much she is appreciated. I'm playing along with a few additional challenges too: I'm linking my card up over at CAS on Friday and at Addicted To CAS where the theme is 'flower(s)' and over at SUO Challenges where the team are celebrating Mums.

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 will be making the most of the sunshine and enjoying our second BBQ of the year before the rain returns later in the week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

PAINTED LAVENDER DIES (30.00)

FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

HIGHLAND HEATHER A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)

LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (10.50)