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 seasonal theme challenge for you to work with:

At this time of year our thoughts often turn to giving thanks so I thought this would be a good theme for this week. I created not one but two cards this week, both using the colour combination over at TGIF Challenges. The first one uses this week's Fusion sketch (sketch only). I wanted to use the Country Home set for my cards today; it's one of my favourite sets for autumn thank you cards. For my first card I paired my milk churn of autumn foliage with some of the gorgeous patterned papers from the Woven Threads suite, along with some Grapefruit Grove coloured ribbon and pearls:

I tweaked my sentiment by replacing the stamped word 'happy' with a diecut from the Word Wishes Framelits set for added emphasis and finished my sentiment on the inside of my card:

My second card for Just Add Ink uses one of the other sentiments and foliage arrangements from the same set, this time with a piece of linen effect designer series paper from the Pressed Petals Specialty DSP that I embossed with my Tin Tile Embossing Folder for added texture:

You can see it more closely here, along with the detail on my cotton balls:

In Europe, due to ongoing customs issues we have been unable to obtain the Snowfall Accents Puff Paint on page 19 of the Autumn-Winter catalogue since the catalogue launch, which is a shame as it would be perfect to use on these. This week we learned that this product will not arrive before the catalogue end and as such has now been withdrawn from sale. Never fear though - I have a plan! I created exactly the same effect using some Tombo adhesive and white embossing powder using the same technique I used previously for an aeroplane smoke trail. I even made a video - here it is in case you aren't familiar with this technique and would like to see how it's done:

Give it a try and let me know how you get on and what you use it for - I'd love to see your projects!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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 busy with preparations for my upcoming luxury weekend crafting retreat so I will hopefully be spending some time in my craft room ticking a few more jobs off my list, in between the usual weekend homework and a birthday party run for one of the James Juniors tomorrow afternoon. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Woven Threads Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Pressed Petals Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Tin Tile 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)
Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Grapefruit Grove 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)	Pretty Peacock 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon (£7.50)	Linen Thread (£4.75)	Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
White 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 fifth Sunday of the month so my fellow Brit-turned Yank, the lovely Jaydee is host this week and she has a fun tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I always struggle with tic-tac-toe boards - almost too much choice! - so armed with this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the Hand Stamped Sentiments colour palette I set to work and this is what I came up with:

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

I liked this week's FMS sketch so much I ended up using it for a second time (which is weird, as I hardly ever use ovals on my cards - you can see tomorrow's card using the same sketch here). I thought that the HSS colours were perfect for an autumn-inspired card. I decided on a truck full of multi-coloured pumpkins and gourds, courtesy of the 'Holiday Haul' stamp set, one of the new sets exclusive to hostesses from the Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue. I inked some of the pumpkins in Grapefruit Grove and added some Terracotta Tile with a sponge dauber for shading, then stamped some of the others in Mint Macaron and Pretty Peacock and fussy cut those and added them in. I created a Pretty Peacock frame for my oval using my Stitched Shapes Framelits and adhered my oval to my layered cardfront. My central panel was stamped tone-on-tone in Terracotta Tile all over with a cluster of leaves from a retired stamp set called 'A Little Something'. I couldn't find an appropriate sentiment in my stamp stash, so decided to leave it blank.

After all my fretting about which line of the tic-tac-toe board to complete, I ended up completing column 1 (fall, orange, leaves), row 3 (leaves, CAS, pumpkin) and the diagonal top left to bottom right (fall, diecut, pumpkin) - go figure!

My card will make the perfect notelet to send to my British penpal friend who now lives in the USA; she loves the way Americans embrace the season and I know she will already have started her collection of pumpkins to decorate her doorstep. If you like this fun set, it could be yours free with qualifying Stampin' rewards when you host a Stampin' Up! party - contact me to arrange yours.

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 will be finishing our homework, having had a day of sport yesterday. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Holiday Haul Host Photopolymer Stamp Set (£9.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Terracotta Tile A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Grapefruit Grove A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Terracotta Tile Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

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

Tall and skinny - what fun! I love occasionally to change things up and give cards a completely different look by altering their size and shape. It didn't take me long to decide where to take Claire's sketch this week - take a look:

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

I took two of my favourite things - the navy and copper star patterned paper from the Brightly Gleaming set and my Stitched Stars Dies - along with some copper foil and star and foil elements, and created a layered star centrepiece. I heat embossed my sentiment from the 'So Many Stars' set in copper onto Night of Navy cardstock, fussy cut around it and popped it up on a stack of dimensionals to 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. 

I'm linking my card up with SUOChallenges where they currently have a Designer's Choice challenge. I love this card - so much so, I made a second one straight afterwards! I just need to use my trusty BoxBuster tool to make a couple of bespoke envelopes now ready to send them!

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 singing with my choir in a harvest festival service this morning, then will be home to assist in finishing homework and the like in the afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements (£6.50)	Star Designer Elements (£8.25)	So Many Stars Bundle (En) (£53.00)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Copper Foil Sheets (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Copper 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 Anne Marie to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I couldn't resist going all-out copper for my metallic and created a super clean and simple Christmas card featuring a heat embossed tree from the 'Perfectly Plaid' stamp set - take a 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. I loved this CAS challenge; I created another card for this theme too which I will hopefully share with you later in the week!

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 hoping to make the most of what is turning out to be a pleasantly warm weekend with possibly the last BBQ of the year, along with homework and more cooking of our gluts of home-grown produce. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Perfectly Plaid Photopolymer Stamp Set (En) (£16.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Copper Foil Sheets (£4.75)	Star Designer Elements (£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 Ann to host this week and she has a rather seasonal colour challenge for you to work with:

It has turned unseasonably cold here in the UK this week and the falling temperatures, combined with Ann's warm colour palette immediately turned my thoughts to Autumn leaves and warm and cozy check blankets, both of which inspired my card today - take a look:

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

Autumn Plaid - I chose Crumb Cake as my neutral of choice (I didn't count the Very Vanilla since I took white or vanilla as a given!) and used it as the base to create a cosy strip of plaid to tie together the main colours on my card. I used the plaid stamp from the new 'Tiny Keepsakes' stamp set for my plaid; I could have used the 'Buffalo Check' background stamp but the plaid stamp in the 'Tiny keepsakes' set has a smaller check that worked better for my design. I stamped it in Merry Merlot, then added plaid lines with my Cajun Craze and Pretty Peacock Stampin' Write markers.

Seasonal Skeletal Leaves - For the focal decoration of my card, I cut three skeleton leaves using the Seasonal Layers Framelits in each of the main challenge colours, and tucked them in loosely behind my sentiment and swirl of burlap on a stitched rectangle of Very Vanilla. This die set is another perennial favourite of mine and I'm so glad it stayed in the annual catalogue this year - these framelits, along with the co-ordinating 'Colourful Seasons' stamp set, has served me well and I have used both many times, for all sorts of projects. 

Harvest Thanks - I took one of my favourite sentiments for this type of card, from the'Painted Harvest' stamp set, stamped it in Merry Merlot onto Very Vanilla and added this to a banner cut using the Lakeside Framelits, along with a couple of Pretty Peacock faceted dots to anchor it to my finished 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:

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 have no big plans today and am looking forward to continuing to enjoy my birthday weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Seasonal Layers Dies (£31.00)	Lakeside Dies (£25.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tiny Keepsakes Cling Stamp Set (En) (£19.00)
Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Cajun Craze A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	2019-2021 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (£13.75)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon (£6.50)	2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots (£6.00)

Today it's Sunday and the first of September; where is the year disappearing?! It's time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players and it's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has a fun theme challenge for you to work with:

I had limited options for today's theme: cows, pigs or ducks! Limits are often helpful though as they really help focus the mind. I was so tempted to use my current farmyard favourite, those funny cows from the 'Over The Moon' set, however I decided to give some love to one of my other farmyard friends that has been a little neglected of late and took the opportunity to play along with the fourth week of the Freshly Made Sketches celebrations too - take a look:

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

This Little Piggy - Whilst pigs are often to be found down on the farm, I'm not sure you'd see many of the flying variety! I do love this flying porcine creature though and I decided that on today's card she really needed wings to be proud of, so I created a stand-out pair in white glimmer paper and paper-pieced them - how cool are they?!

Artistic Touches - I used some of the patterned paper and felt accessories from the Follow Your Art Suite on my card today, heat embossing some clouds in white across my designer paper for added detail, along with a white twine bow. 

Frame It - I did a creative interpretation of the FMS sketch today and created a continuous scene, using a frame created from a pair of square Stitched Shape Framelits to draw the eye to my pig and sentiment and keep true to the sketch, rather than create my scene on a central square. 

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 enjoying the last few days of the summer holiday before the James Juniors begin a new school year later this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

This Little Piggy Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)	Follow Your Art Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Follow Your Art Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine (£3.25)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Sparkle Glimmer Paper (£4.75)
Iridescent Sequin Assortment (£4.75)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£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 Laurie to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

This is a great sketch with so many creative possibilities! I've finally found time to start playing with my pre-order goodies and I know how much you all like a 'sneak peek' so I have a few of those in store for you this week. My first one comes today is the form of new stamps, papers and a punch to make this brightly coloured Christmas card: 

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

A Night Before Christmas - This sheet of bauble-patterned paper inspired the colour scheme for my Christmas card today. It is part of the 'A Night Before Christmas' paper pack which is actually part of the suite of the same name and is full of traditional Christmas imagery. The jewel colours of red, yellow, green, blue and silver against the navy background are echoed throughout my card and the circle of Laurie's sketch was the perfect place to showcase this bold patterned paper.

Christmas Gleaming - I wanted to add a little something to make my card a little more fancy, so firstly I created a tone-on-tone background panel by stamping the small bauble from the 'Christmas Gleaming' stamp set in Night of Navy in a pattern on my mat layer. Although it's from an entirely different suite it co-ordinates with my chosen DSP perfectly. For my shape I chose a bauble from the same set. I stamped it in Cherry Cobbler on Very Vanilla cardstock and coloured in part of the design with my Dark Poppy Parade marker, before punching out with the co-ordinating punch. To decorate my bauble,  I took inspiration from my wonderful PP teamie the talented Ann Schach, lover of pearls in all shapes and sizes (although I don't think she's used any on her card this week!), and added a whole bunch of silver metallic pearls to my ornament pattern, finishing with a bow in some retired silver twine. I love the added detail this gives.

A Simple Joy - My sentiment today comes from the new set 'So Many Stars', which also has some lovely mini verses that are perfect for the inside of your card:

So what do you think? Is today's sneak peek of new Christmas products making you excited for the arrival of the Autumn-Winter catalogue? It is still another couple of weeks before it will be available to customers for ordering on September 4th, however if you really can't wait then it's worth considering taking advantage of the current joining offer: for anyone joining Stampin' Up! before the end of August, for £99 you will receive an extra £25 of product, so £155 for £99, in addition to an £8 bonus coupon to use next month and all of the other ongoing benefits that being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator offers. If this is something that interests you and you would like to know more, then do read all about it here or get in touch - I'd love to help you decide if this is something that could work for you.

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 enjoying a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and so far the weather has been glorious. We have been enjoying a weekend of BBQs and fun with friends and so are hoping for more of the same as the weekend continues. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Christmas Gleaming Bundle (En) (£46.75)	Night Before Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	So Many Stars Photopolymer Stamp Set (En) (£24.00)	Metallic Pearls (£6.50)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Poppy Parade Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)

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 it's c'lean and simple' week, with the added theme of 'cards for kids'. Your cards can be for any occasion - birthday, back to school, encouragement, congratulations, get well soon - but they must be aimed at children and they must be in a 'clean and simple' style. What do we mean by 'clean and simple'? We would like you to create a card that has:

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, also known as 'white space'
• Is simple and uncluttered

I had so many ways I could go with this as I make lots of cards for both of the James Juniors and their friends, but I just couldn't resist creating with those cute cows from the 'Over The Moon' set - take a look:

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

A Sketch Confession - Having had little time for crafting or blogging this past couple of weeks (the curse of the long school summer holiday!), I was disappointed to not get a card made for last week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where they are celebrating their 400th anniversary - way to go ladies!! I was therefore delighted to see their super simple sketch this week that would be perfect for me to use for my clean and simple Paper Players card so that I could celebrate along with the FMS team for week 2 of the celebrations. With my card made, imagine my surprise when I then caught up with my blog reading yesterday and saw that the sketch for another of my favourite challenges, As You See It, is very similar - a horizontal mirror image - and the placement of my cow and sentiment matches the sketch exactly! In an ideal world, I'd have made another card for FMS, but I have house guests this weekend and that is not going to happen so instead I am linking to both and will aim to make another for AYSI that is exactly as is (it's in my head already, I just need the time to get into my craft room - don't you hate it when that happens?!)

Party Til The Cows Come Home - I had to use this fun cow from the 'Over The Moon' set for my card today. This set is comical, so works well for young and old alike and whilst this cow could be dreaming, without his dream bubble I also think he looks like he's enjoyed a night out on the town - a real party animal! I stamped him in Memento Black, coloured him with my Blends and then fussy cut him and popped him up on dimensionals balanced on the horizontal line of the sketch, which grounds him perfectly.

His And Hers Colours - Since my cow is black and white, I needed to introduce some colour and decided to use my favourite in-color gingham DSP. I made one in Rococco Rose and liked it so much I made a second one in Pretty Peacock - a his and hers colour combo! Here's my second card:

Here they are together - which one do you prefer? They were both easy to create and came together in no time, with just a few key supplies; another clean and simple #SimpleStamping too!

Finally, 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 have house guests for the weekend so am on entertainment duty. It is the balloon festival here in Northampton this weekend, so we may go along to watch the balloons later and maybe even chase a few. All being well I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Over The Moon Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	2019–2021 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	2019-2021 In Color A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Basic Black Light Stampin' Blends (£4.25)	Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Daffodil Delight Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Flirty Flamingo Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
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 Jaydee to host this week and she has an interesting colour challenge for you to work with:

I had an idea of I wanted to do with this week's colour palette and the sketch from TGIF Challenges was just what I needed to turn my idea into a reality (although I made my base horizontal rather than vertical and used an extra-large card base) - take a look:

Today is a special day in the James household: the youngest of the James Juniors celebrates his 12th birthday. I'm not sure where those years have gone, but I did need as a result need a couple of special birthday cards to celebrate. Today's card is the card I made for Ben from Rebecca and features Blueberry Bushel as my featured additional colour. Here's the low-down on today's card:

When Is An Adventure Not An Adventure? - The two figures on today's card from the Silhouette Scenes stamp set so remind me of Ben and Rebecca. I can honestly say they truly are each others best friends and always have been. Even as they approach their teens, they still enjoy each others company more than anyone else's - and I love that about them! So it seemed only right to feature them together on my card. I could have stamped the sentiment 'as is', however I wanted to feature the 'adventure' diecut to tie in with the sketch - but I needed it in the plural. Luckily for me, the Sweet Silhouettes dies also incude the word 'inspire' - so I diecut this too, snipped away the letter 's' and paper-pieced it seamlessly to my 'adventure'. Clever, right? :-) I diecut both twice, once in Blueberry Bushel and again in Basic Black and offset this one behind; this allows the diecut to stand out from the background a little better.

A Starry Sky - Since I only had one colour to pair with my black and white, a sponged or brayered sky wasn't really an option. The starry stamp in the 'Bokeh Dots' set came to the rescue; the distinktive nature of this stamp meant that even with one colour, there would be enough variation to create interest. 

Sisterly Love - Lastly, not content with my tinkering of sentiments, I did the same on the inside. Do you recognise this sentiment from an existing stamp set? I'll give you a clue - it's in the 'A Wish For Everything' stamp set, but it doesn't look quite like this:

Did you spot it? I took the stamp that reads 'First my Mother...forever my friend' and masked out the 'Mo' of Mother and replaced it with the 'Br' from another stamp in this set that reads 'Hope this new year is filled with promises of many bright tomorrow's':

It took a little while to ink and mask with my Stampin' Write marker, but I'm really pleased with the result. Do you look for opportunities to create your own customised sentiments out of your stamp collection when you don't have the perfect fit? Do share any that you've created - I'd love to know what other combinations there are.

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 will be celebrating with cake, an escape room outing and a best friend sleepover - wish me luck! I have my monthly technique class tomorrow but I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Silhouette Scenes Bundle (£48.50)	Bokeh Dots Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£14.00)	A Wish For Everything Cling Stamp Set (£36.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Blueberry Bushel A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Today 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 you to work with:

Many schools in the USA have returned or are about to return to school already. Here in the UK we have another 4 weeks of summer vacation, however this week's challenge is ensuring I stay organised and on schedule so my back to school cards will be completed in good time! I paired this week's theme with the colours from Color Throwdown which I thought were perfect for a school theme and used a new stamp set - check it out (literally!): 

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

Check You Out - I couldn't wait to snap up the 'Check You Out' stamp set as I knew this set would be perfect for teacher thank yous, back to school cards and lots more besides - and it has an owl, yay! My card uses just this one stamp set and each of the images has been stamped and fussy cut (except for the Crumb Cake library card wallet, which is stamped on the base layer) and then paper-pieced together to create my fun little combo. 

An Apple For The Teacher - I can't make a school-related card or teacher thank you without including an apple at least somewhere on my card. Today I created one using a 1" circle punch, that I cut a notch out of top and bottom and added some leaves courtesy of my leaf punch and a handcut stem. I stamped my sentiment onto it as it was a great way to highlight it on this fun back-to-school card.

#SimpleStamping - Today's card is a great example of #SimpleStamping: just one stamp set and inks and paper. Search the Stampin' Up! hashtag #SimpleStamping for lots of other examples that use minimal products that are great for quick and easy creative makes that are aimed at beginner and experienced crafters alike.

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; mine will be a lazy one pottering round the garden and trying to get a few outdoor jobs done before the weather turns this week. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Check You Out Photopolymer Stamp Set (£15.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Call Me Clover A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Call Me Clover Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	1" (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch (£12.00)
Leaf Punch (£15.00)	Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots (£6.50)