Hello everyone - yes, it's Friday at last! And a three day weekend here in the UK too, so bonus! I've been busy working on wedding cards for commissions today so will share those another time. Today I'm sharing one of the cards I made with my ladies in my card class this month. The cards we made all featured the Happy Watercolour stamp set - today's card is a simple card stamped with the poppy stamp:

We punched three squares out of the front of the card (I used a retired square punch for this but you could use the Squares framelits as an alternative), then using the stamp-a-ma-jig to align the images on the inside of the card, we stamped the poppies in black so that they could be seen through the punched 'windows'. Each of the poppies was then overstamped with the large watercolour 'splodge' stamp (I think that is a genuine technical term!) like so:

A simple thank you sentiment on the front of this card provides the finishing touch. This card was as much about getting my ladies used to using a stamp-a-ma-jig; many of them own one, but weren't confident in using it so I've been making sure that at least one card in each class offers the opportunity to practice. You know what they say - practice makes perfect :-) I wouldn't be without mine, that's for sure.

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Jet Black Stazon Pad
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Happy Watercolor

Back again with a creative post today - just in time to share my card for The Paper Players this week, where Anne Marie has this sketch challenge for us:

I decided to use a sheet of the flower patterned paper from the Fresh Prints DSP Stack as the starting point for my card; I love the pattern on this paper, but have been almost afraid to use it as it's so busy. Today I took the plunge - here's my card:

I used a Coastal Cabana base for my card, then matted a piece of Crumb Cake on Real Red and adhered to the base. I used the flower DSP for the main panel and broke slightly from the sketch to put my sentiment on the second rectangular panel, as opposed to the Crumb Cake layer. I stamped the blossom stamp from the Morning Meadow hostess set around it, having coloured it with my Crumb Cake and Coastal Cabana markers, then punched three flowers from Coastal Cabana cardstock using my Itty Bitty Flower punch and moulded them around the end of my paper piercing tool to shape them before adhering over some of the stamped blossoms. I then finished with a Real Red stamped flower from Simple Stems and three red candy dots (I really need these to be sold in packs of red only - I use more red ones than any other colour!!)

I'm quite pleased with the final result - the bold red borders really ground the busy flower pattern I think. I'm also linking this card up with SUO Challenges, where the challenge this week is to use a flower on your card.

Must go - I've grocery shopping to do before I turn in for the night (thank heavens for online grocery stores!)

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack	Simple Stems	Simply Sketched	Morning Meadow	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red A4 Card Stock	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Crumb Cake Stampin Write Marker
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Brights Candy Dots	Punch Pack	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Good morning everyone! I've bumped today's creative post as I have more exciting Stampin' Up! news to share with you: following on from successful trials in the USA, Stampin' Up! is introducing photopolymer stamps in Europe too!

Stampin' Up! have spent a long time trying to find the right material to introduce clear stamping to the Stampin' Up! range that gives the high standards of stamp and finish that you would expect of the Stampin' Up! brand and this is it! The forthcoming annual catalogue will now contain wood mount, clear mount and photopolymer stamp sets. There are lots of benefits to photopolymer stamps: they are great value (they are cheaper to produce so you get more stamps per set) and above all their transparency means that they make it so easy to line up your images, without the need for a guide or a stamp-a-ma-jig. Here's a short video showing you how they work:

Now for the best bit - FREE STAMPS!! To celebrate the introduction of the photopolymer range, Stampin' Up! are offering a limited offer on Stampin' Up! photopolymer sets. For every order of £60 or more between 1-31 May, you can choose one of a selection of photopolymer stampsets FREE! This offer is only available whilst stocks last though, so if you'd like one, you need to get your Stampin' Up! order placed as soon as possible! if you're ordering online, don't forget to use the online hostess code to be in with a chance of earning additional benefits. The icons below show the stamp sets on offer (these are not clickable through to my online store - you will be presented with the option to add them to your basket when you have an order with a qualifying spend). To order, simply follow the shop online link on the right of this page.

Show & Tell 1 Photopolymer Stamp Set

Show & Tell 2 Photopolymer Stamp Set

Eye-Catching Ikat Photopolymer Stamp Set

Sans And Stripes Photopolymer Stamp Set

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy stampin'!

It's Wednesday and they're here: week 4 of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for April (you can find this under the 'Shop Online' section on the right. If you're local to me in Northampton, I'm placing an order tomorrow so if you would like to add anything to this order and save on postage, then give me a call today and I will place your order for you.

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Baked Brown Sugar 3/8" Ruffle Stretch Trim	Downtown Grunge Photobook Template - Digital Download	Dress Form Pop' N Cuts	Label Insert Pop' N Cuts Die	Measuring Stick Stampin' Around Builder Wheel
Tasteful Trim Bigz Die	Venetian Romance Designer Series Paper

As you can see, some great deals this week: in colour stretch ruffle trim and another DSP and some great deals on Big Shot Dies - the Tasteful Trim die and two of my personal favourites - the Pop 'n' Cuts dies. Here's my most popular card made with the Dress Form Pop 'n' cuts - my pop up Lego City Fireman from last August (original post here):

More good news too - Wednesday Deals will continue throughout the month of May! I will post them here every Wednesday, so do make sure you check back each week - there are some great deals to be had!

Back later with today's creative post - until then, happy shopping!

Today I'm sharing my entry for this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge. I was lucky enough to be a PPA Top Pick with my monochrome baby card last week on their 200th anniversary post (you can see that card here) and this week Nicole has a great sketch to follow:

For my card this week I decided to use one of the Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags. I've used these on cards before and really like how you can make a feature of them for a quick card. So here's today's take on the sketch:

I went for a really clean look for this card and I think this really allows the tag and sentiment to be the star of the show. I used one of the Retro Fresh DSP sheets to co-ordinate in with the colour scheme, which I allowed the tag to dictate. This card actually uses very few products, has no stamping and would be really quick to recreate. If you want some great ready-made sentiments, you should definitely check out the Retro Fresh tags - at just £4.50 for a pack of 32 they are great value for money - and you can use them for journaling too!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags

Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper

Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

So Saffron A4 Card Stock

Good evening blog readers! Today I'm just in time with a card for this week's Colour Q challenge - here is the colour palette:

Last week I was chosen as one of the ColourQ Courtiers - you can see my winning card here. I saw this week's colour palette and photo inspiration and decided to make a card using a technique that I'm teaching in my card classes this week - painting on a white watercoloured background within a heat-embossed outline (not sure if there's a more succinct title for this technique, but that's how you do it!). Here is my card:

I went for a simple and bright layered background of Daffodil Delight on a Pear Pizzazz base, as I wanted the detail on my tag to take centre stage. I stamped my flower image in white kraft ink onto a piece of Crumb Cake cut with the Scallop Tag Topper Punch, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then, using my aquapainter, I painted the whole of the image white using the white craft ink, then when dry used my aquapainter again to over-paint with Daffodil Delight and Elegant Eggplant on the flowers, and Pear Pizzazz for the stems. I backed this tag with a second one cut out of Elegant Eggplant for another splash of colour and finished with a double ribbon bow topper and stamped a simple birthday sentiment.

The stamp that I used on my tag is from the 'Happy Watercolour' set and does require quite a long tag to fit it onto, which doesn't lend itself to a standard A6 card size. So I made a bespoke card, 200mm x 105mm, for which I then needed a bespoke envelope. And so to the exciting news that I hinted at the end of yesterday's post - I have another cool tool for you!

Following on from the huge success of Box Buster from The Crafty Owl, which enables you to make any size box using your Envelope Punch Board, I had so many requests for a similar tool to create an envelope of any size, I thought I had better get on with it - and Envelope Expert from The Crafty owl is the result! In truth I don't make that many unusually sized cards, and therefore envelopes, I didn't appreciate there was such a need to go beyond the 66 standard envelope sizes that come with the board - but having 'busted' boxes, Envelope Expert was pretty straightforward. So for everyone who asked, here it is! you can find this free to use tool at www.thecraftyowl.co.uk/envelopeexpert or simply go to www.thecraftyowl.co.uk and on the menu choose 'Tools' and 'Envelope Expert'. To see Envelope Expert in action, why not watch the short video below:

Now you can make any size card and matching envelope you like, just as easily as you can make an any size box - can you tell how much I love my Envelope Punch Board?!

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin' - and envelope-making :-)

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Watercolor	Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad
Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz	Elegant Eggplant A4 Card Stock	Simply Sketched
Daffodil Delight 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Pear Pizzazz 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Aqua Painter	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Envelope Punch Board	Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack

Good evening lovely blog readers! I hope you have all had enjoyable weekends; mine has been pretty good, with the final finishing touches to Ben's Lego bedroom, a little crafting and even a bike ride in between the showers today. More on the bedroom later, but for now today's card is my entry for this week's Colour Me Card Challenge, where there is lovely colour palette of blues on the menu:

For today's card, I also took my inspiration from the picture of the cotton reels and went with a sewing-themed card - here it is:

The Six-Sided Sampler set has always reminded me of quilts - the hexagon pattern has to be one of the most popular quilting shapes, or at least one of the most iconic to me. I decided the colour palette would lend itself to a quilt, so set about laying out mine. I stamped from top and bottom opposing corners - my stamp-a-ma-jig was invaluable in getting them all aligned - and stamped my sentiment in the centre in Pacific Point. For fun, I also added a needle threaded with Pacific Point stamped from a retired set called 'Hoop La', just to add to the 'stitched' effect.

Just before I go, I wanted to share with you some of the photos of Ben's Lego-themed bedroom, featuring Lego City Firemen (of course!) - he chose a three colour wall combination, but the most fun was in customising the decoration, all of which were inspired by various photos on Pinterest:

The letter 'B' is my favourite - the windmill rotates, the wheels turn and the firemen and surface bricks can all be changed out as desired. Working wall art - how cool is that?!

Back tomorrow with something very exciting that you are not going to want to miss!! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Six-Sided Sampler	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Card Stock
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Stampin' Write Marker

I've been busy preparing for next week's classes today; I'll share those cards with you later next week, however today thought I would share something a little different. If any of you are followers of Stampin' Up! UK's Facebook page, you will probably already be aware of Stampin' Up!'s 'Cards For Keeps' charitable auction that is due to take place on Ebay in May. For those of you that aren't, Stampin' Up! have joined forces with Coram, the oldest UK children's charity, to celebrate its 275 year anniversary by inviting a wide range of stars from sport, stage, screen, music and art to create a unique card using Stampin' Up! supplies.

Stampin' Up! demonstrators have also been invited to submit a card for a pre-auction competition; the winning card will also be entered into the 'Cards for Keeps' auction, alongside those of the participating celebrities. In trying to decide on a design for my contest submission, I did a little research about Coram. Through services such as adoption and creative therapies, Coram helps some of the UK’s most vulnerable children to feel safe and loved and have access to the education and opportunities in life all children need. I read several inspirational stories about the work they do and the difference they make to the lives of so many young people, they really are a charity worthy of our support.

So without further ado, let me share the card I designed;for me, this card sums up everything that Coram stands for:

My colour scheme of Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White was inspired by Coram's logo and corporate colours. I decided to make a square card with a strong focal point - the 'you make the world a better place' stamp from the Starburst Sayings set. For me, this stamp sums up the work of Coram so well - they make the world a better place for thousands of children each and every year. l brought in lots of detail to my card with layers and textures: I stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed in Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, cutting out the 'World' banner and popping it up on a couple of dimensionals for extra emphasis. I then matted my starburst on white and Cherry Cobbler circles, followed by a final starburst of Pumpkin Pie. I cut my banner using the Banner Framelits and a piece of Cherry Cobbler Cored'inations cardstock. The base of the card is Pumpkin Pie, with Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White mats and a central panel of Polka Dots DSP in Pumpkin Pie. A Cherry Cobbler seam binding double bow tied with white baker's twine and a Pumpkin pie button finish my card.

The inside had a little treatment too, before I added my personalised message:

If you would like to see some of the celebrity cards that have been created for the 'Cards For Keeps' online auction, check them out here on the Cards For Keeps Pinterest board. There are sure to be some sought-after auction lots, with celebrities from Benedict Cumberbatch to Liza Tarbuck, and Axel Scheffler to Twiggy.

I'll let you know if my autographed version is lucky enough to join them, but for now I'm off to work out which ones I'm going to bid on - so far my favourite is Jo Brand and the Jelly Babies (yes, for real!)

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Starburst Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Brights Designer Buttons	Cherry Cobbler 1/2 Inch Seam Binding Ribbon	White Baker's Twine	Regals Core'dinations
Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Banners Framelits Dies

Well, I don't know where yesterday went! I was so busy I didn't even manage a blog post; I had my card all ready and just didn't get it photographed. So in the interests of all things quick, here is the card that I had intended to blog yesterday - my second attempt at a CAS washi tape card for Nance's challenge over at The Paper Players this week:

I have now replaced the earlier photograph with one of a better quality! this kind of card is so quick to create: my card is a simple white background with a Night of Navy mat for my image. I then took a rectangle of Whisper White and covered it in diagonal strips of co-ordinating Gingham Garden washi tape. As with my washi tape card earlier this week, you can use the washi tape directly onto coloured card for a diferent effect, but I wanted the colours to remain true here, so needed a white background. I then adhered this to the mat and lastly popped a Melon Mambo rectangle on with dimensionals, having first cut out a butterfly shape using my butterfly die. You could just leave it there, however I decided to add a little 'hello' greeting and a candy dot flower cut from one of my pieces of card scrap just to complete my card.

A quick card for a quick post! Everything is about speed today; I'm off to the hairdressers shortly and have a hundred and one jobs to do before I collect the James Juniors from school today for the weekend. I've already ticked a few off my list though this morning, so am making good progress!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Beautiful Butterflies Stampin' Up! Bigz Die	Punch Pack
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock	Brights Candy Dots	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock
A Dozen Thoughts

My James juniors are back at school today after a long Easter break, but I assure you that's not the reason behind the sentiment for today's card ;-) I started off with an idea in mind for this week's Less Is More challenge, where the theme is 'something that makes you smile'; unintentionally, I ended up combining this with the colour challenge this week over at CAS Colours and Sketches, where black and shades of grey are the order of the day:

 I knew immediately that my 'something that makes me smile' would have to be that cute little mouse from the Life in the Forest stamp set that I used on this card last week; I decided to use him in conjunction with the word 'smile' from the Happy Day stamp set and position him as if he was standing just behind the word and peering around. I stamped 'smile' in Versamark and heat embossed in black embossing powder, as I wanted the sentiment to really stand out and look solid, then stamped the mouse using black stazon and coloured him with the greys and my blender pen. I sometimes struggle with the simplicity of 'less is more', but this card seems to tick all the boxes for clean and simple: lots of white space, few layers (none) and minimal embellishments (none). I think this may be my 'zen' of CAS cards!

I love this card for all its black and white one-layered simplicity, but couldn't help play around with an initially discarded version where I sought to introduce some colour - this card is so far out of my comfort zone, I just couldn't help it. If you'd like to see a more colourful version, check out the post on my Facebook page today - I'd love to know which one you prefer. For me, the one above wins; as for the mouse, he makes me smile every time, with or without!

I'm off to my office for a nice early start: lots to do today, including amongst other things start preparing next week's classes. Back tomorrow with another project, until then happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Life In The Forest	Happy Day	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Jet Black Stazon Pad	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Blender Pens
Stazon Cleaner	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Heat Tool - Uk Plug