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Happy Monday everyone! Today is the start of my class week, so it will b a busy one Chez James! Today's card is one I made that uses the current sketch layout over at Just Add Ink and the colour palette at Color Throwdown:

I thought these colours would be perfect for a birthday card featuring one of the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lovely Lattice - There is lots you can do with this stamped image - many ways to colour it, and lots of options to cut it out and build layers and dimension with the flowers too - but I like it because the main image is one of those that can fill the card and there isn't much else required. I heat embossed my image in white onto Crumb Cake cardstock which really does show the detail of the lattice behind the flowers beautifully. For a free stamp set, this one really is rather pretty - and still available if you'd like to get your hands on it with a spend of £45 or more. Who doesn't love FREE product?!

Colour on Kraft - I decided to colour the image using my watercolour pencils, but dry with no added water for blending, as I wanted to see the pencil strokes; I used a combination of Gorgeous Grape, white and Basic Grey pencils, with a tiny spot of Crushed Curry for the flower stamens. 

Birthday Wishes - The 'Lovely Lattice' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I reached for one of my favourites from the current Spring-Summer catalogue that you haven't seen me use much here on my blog but rest assured they will be a keeper for me, regardless of whether or not they carry over to this year's new annual catalogue: the Well Said bundle. The' Well Said' stamp set combined with the Well Written Framelits dies really are the perfect pair and allow you to create endless sentiment combinations. I added a piece of Gorgeous Grape mini striped ribbon behind my layered sentiment and a sprinkling of pearls 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lovely Lattice Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Well Said Cling Bundle (£71.00)	Gorgeous Grape 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Mini Striped Ribbon (£7.50)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pearl Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)

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

Colours of the rainbow - I love it! I decided a rainbow collection of birthday presents were the order of the day - take a look:

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

I Can Sing A Rainbow - However you remember it (my personal favourite mnemonic is 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain'), the perfect rainbow has seven colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet and I was determined to feature them all on my card! In addition to using cardstock in each of the rainbow colours to back my presents die (a great way to use up your scraps), I also created a background consisting of a vertical strip of each to tie in with the rainbow theme.  

Seven Present Solution - The focal point of my card is definitely the rainbow presents, courtesy of the fabulous Detailed Birthday Edgelit Dies. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the actual die has only five presents, not seven. To create my row of seven gifts, I placed the die and white cardstock in my Bigshot and rolled through once, without going to the very end of the die, then moved the die along and rolled it again, to create a longer length of presents that I then trimmed to fit. Job done!

Birthday Cheer Inside and Out - There's very little stamping on this card - just a greeting on the front and a little more on the inside, courtesy of the co-ordinating 'Birthday Cheer' stamp 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I just love this set and card - the fun colours make it suitable for any person,  boy or girl, young or old - and this will definitely be a staple in my card box. Well, this one and the one that I will feature in another post later this week with a similar rainbow theme!

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; ours was a busy one yesterday at the swimming pool so I'm hoping today will be a little more relaxing. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Birthday Cheer Cling Bundle (£42.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Brights A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Good morning lovely readers! An apology is in order for the lack of blog posts this week. I have been fairly tired following another successful Creative Escapes Weekend Craft Retreat last weekend and whilst I've spent my days catching up on household chores and preparing for next week's card classes, when it comes to the evenings I've been good for nothing; I've fallen asleep in the chair for three nights in a row way before bedtime, much to the amusement of the James Juniors! So today I thought I would make time to blog early so that you didn't miss out!

I'm sharing a card for a couple of challenges this week: The team over at Global Design Project are all about the candy and the folks at Stamps Ink Paper are asking for cards featuring gingham, plaid or stripes:

Not only does my card feature lots of sweet treats and some fetching candy pink stripes, it's a shaker too - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

How Sweet It Is -  If you have a sweet tooth, the 'How Sweet It Is' Suite is for you! Bright and fun, with bold patterns of sweets and traditional sweet jars, it's great for cards and packaging alike. The papers, which feature bold stripes and spots in addition to candy-inspired patterns, really are good enough to eat. I used a pink stripe for the front of my shaker and a sweetie print for the inside at the back of my window, I also used the Jar of Sweets Framelits to cut out one of the sweet jars directly from the designer series paper to decorate the front of my card - I love it when dies and paper co-ordinate like this!

Jar Of Sweets - I used another of the Jar of Sweets Framelits to cut out the aperture for the window of my shaker, stamping the same image onto Whisper White and fussy cutting the jar lid to adhere to the top of my window section. I filled my shaker with a selection of sequins and some diecut sweets in bright, co-ordinating colours; you can see from the extras that I added to the front of my card these dies emboss a pattern onto the diecut sweet shape too which adds an interesting textural detail. There's very little stamping on today's card, save the sentiment and jar lid. A little extra stamping on the inside of my card courtesy of the 'Sweetest Thing' stamp set too:

Sweeter Than Candy - The 'How Suite It Is' Suite also includes some fun treat cups, that are perfect for dressing up to contain some sweet treats for your loved ones. I managed to snag these shots with my phone of some of the decorated sweet cups that filled with a selection of jelly beans and gummy bear for the lucky ladies on my retreat as one of their little gifts - I do love to spoil the whilst they are with me! 

I covered the cups with designer series paper and stamped a simple label for each of them decorated with a sweet jar cut from the DSP, and tied the tags to the cups with some of the very yummy Coastal Cabana/Granny Apple Green 3/8" reversible ribbon:

So cute and easy to decorate and I know from the feedback that my ladies loved them!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

How Sweet It Is 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Sweetest Thing Photopolymer Bundle (£43.00)	Jar Of Sweets Framelits Dies (£28.00)	How Sweet It Is A4 Cardstock Pack (£8.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)
Foam Adhesive Strips (£7.25)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Sweet Cups (£8.00)	Coastal Cabana/Granny Apple Green 3/8" (1 Cm) Reversible Ribbon (£6.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Inspire.Create Challenges where they have a beautiful Spring colour palette this week:

With the unseasonably warm weather we have been having here in the UK this past week or so, I am definitely feeling like Spring is around the corner. The flowers in the garden are waiting to burst into bloom so I just had to use these fresh colours for another dry embossed card using one of my current favourites from the second Sale-A-Bration release that went live on 15th February, the new Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder: 

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

Country Floral - I couldn't resist the opportunity to create another card using the new Country Floral dynamic embossing folder. This time I tried something else new that is the reverse of this card that I shared with you the other day - I embossed a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then used my Blends markers in the challenge colours to colour the individual flowers. A little quicker than my previous card and a great way to include all of these lovely spring colours. 

A Perennial Birthday - I used a sentiment from the Perennial Birthday set in the annual catalogue on my card - the script compliments the embossing folder I think. I stamped mine using Pool Party ink on Whisper White and punched it out using the Everyday Label Punch and trimmed it slightly so that it could be matted with a Daffodil Delight base. 

Sale-A-Bration New Releases - My card today does use some of the Sale-A-Bration organdy ribbon that sold out some weeks ago. I don't like to tempt you with something you can no longer get your hands on, but it was the perfect finishing touch for my card. There is good news though - as of March 1st there are even more FREE product choices for the remainder of Sale-A-Bration (you can read all about them in my earlier post here if you missed it) so there is lots more to choose from!

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. 

I am busy hosting my first residential crafting retreat of the year this weekend so I have a whole day of crafting fun ahead with some fabulous ladies. I will have more to share with you about it later this week, but in the meantime, if this is the kind of thing that appeals to you, why not check out the details for my next one in October here. It's open for booking and I would love to welcome you!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with this week's project for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£0.00)	Everyday Label Punch (£17.00)	Perennial Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

The James Juniors are back to school today following the half term break and I am here with a nice early post for you! Today I'm sharing a card that combines a few challenges: the current challenge over at Less Is More where it is one layer with the focus on sentiment and the current CASology challenge. My card also fits the photo inspiration at Fusion:

It's something of a happy accident that I am combining each of these in today's card - it just so happened that I had an idea that works for all three - and I have two cards for you! I decided to create a couple of pet sympathy cards; first up, a dog one:

I also created one for a cat lover too that is exactly the same design, just mirrored:

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

Sorry For Your Loss - I recently spotted this card on Pinterest and loved the clean lines created by the fun punch art idea and monochromatic colour scheme. It inspired me to think about using a similar idea to create a one-layer card using the same 'Sorry For Everything' stamp set - such a great set where you need a sentiment to take centre stage and useful for lots of different circumstances, including the loss of a furry friend. 

Cats And Dogs - I used a retired Sweet and Sassy Framelit heart, along with a punched cat and dog respectively, to create a mask through which I could sponge my heart. By using a different colour to the sentiment, which I stamped in black, it gives the illusion of another layer and whilst I didn't use the punches directly on my card, the silhouette created by the negative space makes my furbabies easily identifiable. 

Crossing The Rainbow Bridge - My colourful heart whilst perfect for the Fusion rainbow photo was actually inspired by a blog post a couple of week's ago by my Paper Players teamie and committed dog lover Ann Schach. As any of you who follow my blog will know, I am relatively new to the idea of pets having never had one as a child. Ann made this card for a friend of hers that was going through a tough time and she mentioned one of the things her friend was having to deal with was the loss of a pet, which she described as having 'crossed over the Rainbow Bridge'. I thought this was a lovely idea and so tried to incorporate the idea of a rainbow by sponging one into my masked heart, with a little purple heart to accent each pet. I really love the effect - what do you think? I also carried the rainbow theme onto the inside of my card with a set of rainbow footprints around my sentiment, that is courtesy of the new 'Happy Tails' stamp set:

A fitting sentiment for this kind of card I think and the rainbow colours are really uplifting. So two cards inspired by others in lots of ways, yet unique to me. Do check out the respective challenges for lots more inspiration.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sorry For Everything Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)	Dog Builder Punch (£17.00)	Cat Punch (£17.00)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£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 Ann to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

I could think of so many ways to use this sketch! I decided to challenge my self to retain the 'any shape' oval element, since I don't often use ovals on my projects and work with a new-to-me stamp set too - take a look:

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

Masculine Classic Garage - The Classic Garage Suite in the Spring-Summer catalogue is perfect for projects to celebrate the men in your life: cars, keys, tools, perfect for those who love motors or anyone with aspirations to be a petrol-head. The designer series papers include some fabulous bright colours too and I used them to influence the colour scheme of my card, both in the papers that I used for my layers and the bold blocks of colour that feature my sentiment and focal point image.

Geared Up - I chose the classic car from the 'Geared Up Garage' stamp set as my focal image, stamped in black onto Tranquil Tide cardstock. I stamped it again onto vellum and fussy cut the windows before gluing to my car and covering them with a layer of fine tip glue for added shine. I'm not big into cars and I'm not sure what car type this is, however it does remind me of old-fashioned cars in the 1970s and I remember my Dad driving a car that was turquoise green in colour at the time and since this will be his Father's Day card I think he will appreciate the similarity and it is sure to evoke a few memories. I used another of the stamps from the set for the sentiment on the inside too:

Keys To The Car - Or key, to be precise! The silver metal keys and spanners that make up the Classic Garage Metal Elements are perfect for tooling up cards and packages and I couldn't resist adding one with a little bow of black twine to finish off 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:

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 a family sport-free day today so will be making the most of it before the Juniors return to school tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Geared Up Garage Cling Bundle (£45.75)	Classic Garage 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Classic Garage Metal Elements (£6.50)	Classic Garage A4 Cardstock Pack (£8.00)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Basic Black Solid Baker's Twine (£2.75)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)

It's Friday and almost time for the weekend! My week has been a fun one with the children home for a change and a slightly less frantic pace than usual, which is nice. I haven't had much time to get in my craft room but did manage to create a couple of quick cards yesterday whilst simultaneously coaching Rebecca through her Music Theory in readiness for her Grade 4 exam in a couple of week's time. Today I'm sharing one of those cards with a technique I've been wanting to have a go at that is perfect for the current challenge over at StampsInkPaper who, like us over at The Paper Players for our clean and simple challenge, also chose to have 'monochromatic' as their theme this week:

Having watched this video by the uber-talented Jennifer McGuire a few weeks ago, I was keen to have a go at a card using the same technique and the border die from the Wonderful Floral Framelit Dies set. This is what I came up with:

I simply layered three of the Wonderful Floral border diecut pieces, one each in Granny Apple Green, Call Me Clover and Shaded Spruce front the back to the front, along the left hand vertical edge of my card, overlapping each one a fraction to the left of its predecessor. This die is often used with the leaf pattern along the outer edge, but here I laid the pieces with the leaf shape to the centre of my card so that the layered leaves would really stand out against my white card base. You can really see the effect of the overlaying of the diecuts in this photo here:

It also allowed me to position my gold heat-embossed sentiment along the straight edge. This actually looks shinier in real life, although looking at the photograph I think that heat embossing in white might have been a better idea. Next time, perhaps!

And that's all there is to it! 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. 

I really like this effect and am definitely going to revisit my collection of dies to see what other cards I can create using this technique. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Wonderful Floral Framelits Dies (£32.00)	Wonderful Romance Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Call Me Clover A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)

Today I have a card for the current challenge over at As you See It, where the team are asking us to complete the sentence 'When I think simple, I think of...':

Now today's post feels a little bit of a cheat as far as the challenge is concerned, however hear me out. My regular readers will know what a fan I am of Stampin' Up!'s kits and for me, 'When I think of SIMPLE, I think of KITS' every time! Especially all-inclusive kits, with everything in the box ready to go, including instructions and layouts - no thinking required! So today I'm sharing with you one of the latest all-inclusive kit offering from the annual catalogue - the Notes of Kindness Card Kit and one of my current 'go to' kits.

Here is an example of one of each the finished cards from the set:

And here's an image that shows all of the cards that can be made with this kit:

Here's the low-down on the Notes of Kindness Card Kit and why I think they are perfect for just about anyone and everyone:

All Inclusive - The Notes of Kindness Card Kit kit is one that contains everything you need to create 20 cards, 5 each of 4 designs: card bases, co-ordinating envelopes, die cut images and shapes, a Stampin' Spot ink pad, set of 6 photopolymer stamps and an acrylic block, along with a range of accessories and embellishments. Simply add your choice of adhesive and you are good to go. 

Great Value For Money - At £33.00, this kit offers exceptional value for money - where else could you buy 20 handcrafted greetings cards at £1.65 each and have a stamp set, ink spot, block and a range of embellishments left over to create even more things with too? Not to mention the creative fun you will have putting them together along the way! And if you like it, refill kits of the consumable elements are available so you can make even more for less too.

The Perfect Gift -  Whether young or old, experienced crafter or new to crafting, this kit is perfect for you. Follow the instructions included or unleash your own creativity and do your own thing - and if you're trying to buy for 'the person who has everything' - I bet they don't have one if these! The kit comes in a lovely recyclable gift box too, so all you need is some ribbon and a tag and you are done.

Here is a reminder of this fantastic kit if you are getting organised and want to pin it 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. 

Like all of the kits in the Stampin' Up! catalogue, the Notes of Kindness Card Kit is the perfect way to bring your creativity to life like a pro MADE SIMPLE - with everything except glue included. So I hope the ladies over at AYSI will forgive me this indulgence of creating a kit card for this week's challenge - for me a kit is escapism in a box!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Notes Of Kindness Card Kit (£33.00)

Notes Of Kindness Card Kit Refill (£20.00)

It's half-term here in the UK this week so with both James Juniors at home I didn't manage a post yesterday, but I'm back for a quick one today and I'm sharing a card inspired by both the photo inspiration and sketch over at Fusion that also works for the current challenge over at TGIF Challenges this week:

I love that inspiration photo and took my cue from the pink roses and the tea cup. My card is all about the gorgeous Petal Promenade DSP, which is the perfect background for my lightly watercoloured  'Tea Together tea cup - take a look:

I love this set, especially with the Tea Time Framelits that are one of the Sale-A-Bration free items; no need for fussy cutting, one roll through the Big Shot and they pop right out - so easy. I also added a little stamped/punched detail to the square that my cup sits on; I wasn't sure about it initially, but I think it breaks up the bold paper and unifies the various elements of the design.

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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Tea Together Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tea Time Framelits Dies (£0.00)	Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Detailed Trio Punch (£19.00)	Detailed With Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£19.00)