It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the wonderful Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun colour challenge for us to work with:

I love green, especially bright greens - Cucumber Crush is one of my all time favourites! - but for today's challenge I decided to go with an altogether more subtle green in Mint Macaron - take a look:

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

Succulent Garden - I chose to use a 'tricky' piece of designer series paper on my card today from the Succulent Garden pack. I have been at a loss as to how I should use some of the papers and patterns in this pack and I felt that this sheet in particular lent itself to a monochromatic card in green and white, so used is to cover my entire card front.

A Bold Sentiment - With such a busy paper pattern, I needed a simple, bold sentiment so I chose this bold thank you from the 'Thankful Thoughts' stamp set. I stamped in Mint Macaron onto Whisper White and I used my Stitched Shape Framelits to add a little interest to my otherwise plain circle. With the exception of my row of stamped cacti inside my card and on the front of my co-ordinating envelope, this is all the stamping to feature on my card.

Triple Banners That Sparkle - I added a trio of banners to anchor my sentiment circle, one each in green and white and the third in Mint Macaron glimmer paper, the latest in the Sale-A-Bration free product offering. The sparkle and texture of the glimmer paper introduces another element yet is still in keeping with the overall monochromatic feel of 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. 

So a super simple card today, but one with a very calming colour scheme that I hope Jaydee will appreciate.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Banner Triple Punch
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Glitzerpapier-Set 6" X 6" (15,2 X 15,2 Cm)

I've a busy day today - out for a netball match this morning, then school Spring fair and a swimming gala for both James Juniors this evening, so I'm squeezing in my blog post whilst everyone else is doing homework before heading out the front door again for the next activity of the day!

Today I'm sharing a card that I made whilst preparing for this month's technique class featuring the Dragonfly Dreams bundle. In addition to featuring a particular technique in these classes, I also try and use each of the stamps in the set. My technique classes are product-based and always feature one particular stamp set or product bundle and I like to give my class attendees as many ideas as possible for how they can continue to create with their sets long after the class has finished. The techniques in this month's class are all around sponging in various forms and as this card doesn't have any sponging, it didn't make the class cut. I still love it though and since I'm always encouraging my ladies to check out my blog for additional ideas, it's right and proper that I share it with you today - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Dragonfly Dreams of Bees - I chose to use the bee stamp from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set for my card today, stamping and fussy cutting two of them to frame my circle of honeycomb. I could have just as easily cut these bees out with their coordinating thinlit, however I didn't want to loose the detail on the wings for my card. I left the bee bodies matt black with just a little yellow coloured in, but their wings in real life are so pretty: I brushed each liberally with clear Wink of Stella then when dry covered that with a further layer of fine tip glue and left it to dry. The result is some beautifully glossy, shimmery wings - just like the real thing.

Hexagonal Honeycomb - I placed my bees either side of a 1 3/4" punched circle, with a layer of Daffodil Delight behind that I had embossed with my Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (TIEF). This is one of the new embossing folders that gives a deep, dimensional embossed impression - just like real honeycomb!

Pollen Border - To finish, I added a border of dots using the border stamp in the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set, along the bottom of my card. This is one of those really useful stamps that will work both with the stamps in the same set and others; here it reminded me of pollen, given that my bees were not too far away! It's also perfect for the new challenge over at As You See It - check out their 'seeing spots' sketch inspiration this week:

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. 

If you like this card and would be interested in my Technique Class featuring the Dragonfly Dreams Bundle, do get in touch. I will be offering this as a 'Class to Go' free with a purchase of the Dragonfly Dreams Bundle from my online store and will be featuring further cards from this set later this week, so stay tuned.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set	Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	1-3/4" (4.4 Cm) Circle Punch	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Regals Stampin' Write Markers	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Fine-Tip Glue Pen

Hooray it's Friday! This week feels like a long one and has finished with what feels like a day at the wheel of my Mum Taxi! I did manage to finish a card I started yesterday for this week's challenge over at Less is More although I am too late to link up - you should totally check out the DT and gallery cards though, they are gorgeous: 

I love the idea of 'mainly teal' for this week's colour challenge and I've had an idea for this card that has been with me all week, just waiting for some time in my craft room to execute it  - take a look:

I decided to go with a simple layered flower and leaves, cut with my Stylish Stems Framelits Dies, in Bermuda Bay and Pool Party cardstock and some of the gorgeous new Sale-A-Bration Glimmer Paper in Bermuda Bay for my flower outline and border edge. To create the same effect with the leaves, I used my Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker to colour some Dazzling Diamonds white glimmer paper to mimic this. A border of retired Cherries On Top DSP and a sentiment from Butterfly Basics finishes 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. 

This new Sale-A-Bration glimmer paper is gorgeous and I love the way that just a little sparkle adds to this otherwise clean and simple design.

A really quick post from me today - should be back with an earlier one tomorrow though! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Stylish Stems Framelits Dies	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party A4 Cardstock
Subtles Stampin' Write Markers	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper	Glitzerpapier-Set 6" X 6" (15,2 X 15,2 Cm)

I've had a busy week so far but it's about time I squeezed in a quick blog post! I realise I haven't shared the card that I sent out to my lovely customers with my Spring-Summer catalogues and Sale-A-Bration catalogues at the beginning of January and since it's super clean and simple (well, I had a lot of them to make!) this is a great time to share it - take a look:

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

Design Your Tee FOR FREE - Each of my cards features a cute t-shirt featuring one of the stamps from the Sale-A-Bration Designer Tee set, stamped onto Whisper White cardstock and cut out using one of the T-Shirt Builder Framelit Dies in the Spring-Summer catalogue. A number of this year's SAB products co-ordinate with bundles in the Spring-Summer catalogue, which is such a plus; this Designer Tee stamp set extends the creative possibilities of the Customer Tee Bundle even further and I thought the stamp on my t-shirt was just perfect to send to a bunch of people who share my love of all things Stampin' Up! Better still, if you buy the Custom Tee bundle you are well on your way to receiving the Designer Tee stamp set - or any other SAB promotional item - for FREE! We are in the third and final month of this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion - if you haven't yet reaped the benefits, there's still time!

Itty Bitty Flower - I added a punched flower to my t-shirts, finished with a rhinestone for a little girly bling. So many of you lament the retiring of the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, but did you know that the Tree Builder Punch has this tiny flower that is very similar and just as useful? What's more it's a current product and is still available to purchase.

Perpetual Birthday Flowers - I wanted to add a little background to my cards, so I went to one of my 'go to' stamp sets for a little background pattern - Perpetual Birthday. I love the little motifs in this set, so useful for backgrounds, creating your own designer paper and seasonal projects. I guess you could say this set is my personal 'Gorgeous Grunge', a set that I know is a stamp room staple for many of my customers - a little more gorgeous and a little less grunge!

When I'm mass-producing cards in this volume, I also like to make the same card in a rainbow of colours (it stops me from getting bored!) and I often reach for my favourite brights - here's a little shot showing the colours I used:

If you received one of these, which colour did you get? Feel free to leave a comment below or better still upload a picture of you and your card on my Facebook page - I would love to see! If you didn't receive one, it will be because you're not on my customer list; if you don't already have a demonstrator and would like to receive a catalogue, just get in touch and I can pop one in the post to you.

Lastly, check out this video from the Stampin' Up! Home Office Team that shows you lots of other cool things you can do with this stamp set:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Designer Tee Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer Stamp Set	T-Shirt Builder Framelits Dies	Tree Builder Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Brights Classic Stampin' Pads	Brights A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

I've had a busy couple of days making costumes for World Book Day which is today and helping with some fundraising project that Rebecca is involved with so no time to blog. Good news is though I'm back today and I'm sharing a card using items from the Cupcakes and Carousels Suite - take a look:

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

All The Fun Of The Fair - Cupcakes and Carousels Suite is described in the Stampin' Up! literature as 'funfair imagery with vintage flair'. This is one of those sets that didn't overly appeal to me at first glance, but having seen so many lovely things made with it by fellow demonstrators my mind was changed. The carousel horse is a definite favourite and I love how the images work together with the unusual retro styling of the fonts.  

An alternative Approach to Layers - Today's card is based on this week's Paper Players sketch. You can see my Design Team card here in Sunday's post; I also created this one still with three images, but as the images were larger I decided to stamp the ferris wheel directly onto the background paper, then added a vanilla doily behind the carousel horse image on the medium sized circle before finishing with the smallest one up front.

A Colourful Combo - The colour scheme for my card was inspired by the starburst-style sheet of designer series paper I chose from the Cupcakes and Carousels Paper Stack. Rich tones of Early Espresso, with the bright red and orange along with a hint of vanilla - feel free to save this combination if it's one that appeals to 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

In addition there is still time to play along with our challenge over at The Paper Players - you can get the full details here.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Carousel Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Cupcakes & Carousels Designer Series Paper Stack	Lace Doilies	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock
Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you've had a good day. I've had a busy start to the week with preparation for next week's classes followed by a pleasant hour watching Rebecca swim in a school swimming gala (she won all her races and the team won overall, so smiles all round.) Rebecca came second in her competition race yesterday too and had a new personal best time, so all good. Anyway, to today's cards - yes, two! I've made a couple of cards on the same theme using the same colours for a couple of different challenges:

I decided I needed to get cracking (excuse the pun!) with my Easter makes, so today it's all about the Basket Bunch bundle  - take a look:

Paper Craft Crew have a great sketch this week and I really love the CAS Colours & Sketches colour combination - I will be so sad to see Cucumber Crush leave us in June! - and thought it was perfect for a little Easter egg hunt through the grass. I stamped and die cut a selection of eggs and interspersed them between my strip of grass. I layered it onto a piece of basket weave patterned paper from the Sale-A-Bration Carried Away Designer Series Paper and finished with this fun sentiment from the Basket Bunch stamp set, cut out with my Layering Ovals. May all your chocolate be solid - I love it!

Having completed this card, I thought it was probably a little too layered to qualify as truly 'clean and simple' for the lovely ladies over at CAS Colours and Sketches, so I die cut a few more pieces and created something a little more in keeping: 

Clean and simple with an alternative sentiment, yet no less colourful!

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

And for my second card:

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:

Basket Bunch Photopolymer Bundle	Basket Builder Framelits Dies	Basket Bunch Photopolymer Stamp Set	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock	Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad
Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Layering Ovals Framelits Dies	Playful Palette Designer Washi Tape	Cucumber Crush Thick Baker's Twine

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! My good friend LeAnne is the hostess this week and she has a sketch for us to work with:

Now you know me - I love a good sketch and this one is a keeper! I had a couple of ideas for this sketch and made two quite different cards. The one I'm sharing today is very much in keeping with my style (maybe that's why it won the James family vote 2 to 1 when I conducted a quick poll!) I went with my signature 'clean and layered' style and took the opportunity to make another card using my 'Perfect Mix' stamp set - take a look:

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

It's In The Detail - My card today is my usual clean and layered style. I toyed with adding some additional background pattern or even designer series paper, however the size of my circle elements would have made this too busy. Instead I opted to create detail in other ways: I used my circle Stitched Shape Framelits to cut out my stamped images and layered these onto some punched circles to add a thin border of colour. I also used the partial die cutting technique to add interest by allowing part of the image to overhang the circle. The mixer I inked using my Stampin' Write marker so that I could omit the sentiment that goes with it. I also stamped my oven glove onto coloured cardstock and fussy cut it before popping up on a dimensional for added colour and impact.

Rule of Threes - It is a known principle that things that come in threes are somehow more satisfying or more effective than other numbers. LeAnne's sketch uses three circular elements; I also added a trio of enamel shapes to echo my layered circles and continue the harmony of my card.

A Perfectly Purple Colour Combination - I love purple but it's not a colour I use often on a card, so I chose to use a combination of purples and neutrals today for a change - here it is if you'd like to try it too:

This is such a great stamp set! I love the punny sentiments but if you, like me, are a baker then you will find so many uses for these images.

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

 **To be updated - Stampin' Up! Website currently unavailable due to overrunning maintenance work. Online ordering currently offline.**

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:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; I'm off to spend the day at the swimming pool as Rebecca is racing in her rescheduled Counties Competition. I don't know which I'd rather - the gale-force icy winds I experienced as I stood outside watching her play in her netball match yesterday morning or the sauna-like temperatures of the swimming pool today! The things us mothers do for love!. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

To be updated - Stampin' Up! Website currently unavailable due to overrunning maintenance work.

Today I'm sharing a congratulations card that I made for one of the hard-working members of my team who has been achieving great things during Sale-A-Bration - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Sparkly Celebration - I took the 'Celebrate' stamp in the 'Love Sparkles' stamp set and decided to create a multi-coloured embossed background to echo the idea of sparklers and fireworks. I used a selection of (retired) coloured embossing powders - Melon Mambo,Blushing Bride and Crushed Curry - but you could equally ink your stamp with the same colour inks and a sponge dauber, then heat emboss with clear embossing powder. 

Going For Gold - I added a stacked gold glimmer 'you', diecut with my Hello You Thinlits, a couple of strips of gold glimmer top and bottom and a starburst of gold glitter stars to add to the celebratory feel.

Be A Hoot Too - My team of demonstrators, known as The Hoots, range from happy hobbyists to full-time business builders - everyone is welcome and they are all united by a love of crafting and more specifically, a love of crafting with Stampin' Up! products. If you have ever considered joining Stampin' Up!, whether to get a discount on your hobby supplies or because you want to run your own successful direct sales company (or somewhere in between), Sale-A-Bration is one of the best times of the year to do so. During Sale-A-Bration, your starter kit is extra special as not only do you get your choice of £130/175 Euros worth of product for £99/129 Euros, but you get to choose an additional 2 stamp sets FOR FREE - that could be worth as much as an extra £93/126 Euros. There are so many ways in which you can benefit from being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - please do give me a call on 07773 421446 or email me if you'd like to discuss further.

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. 

Congratulations Helen and I hope you liked your colourful card! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love Sparkles Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Hello You Thinlits Dies	Gold Glimmer Paper	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat & Stick Powder	Gold Stampin' Glitter

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I decided to break out one of my new sponge brayers and some Irresistibly Floral embossed paper for my card today - take a look:

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

Easy Embossing - I decided to brayer the circle shape onto a piece of Irresistibly Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper using a sponge brayer. This is the first time I've brayered with one of these and I must confess I'm rather impressed - they make it so easy to get a smooth graduated finish and are great for this kind of ink technique, really bringing out the pattern of the paper. I created a simple circle stencil using a spare piece of cardstock and my Circle Framelits and brayered from bottom left to top right of my circle as I wanted to try and emulate the less-than-perfect circle of the sketch. As for the paper - this patterned clear-embossed white paper is great for colouring and sponging - a great embossed finish without any for of Versamark or heat tool required. Cheating? No! Easy? Most definitely!!

Co-ordinating Florals - I stamped a flower from the Falling Flowers stamp set and diecut it and a couple of leaves from the co-ordinating May Flowers Framelits to ground my simple diecut sentiment (cut from the now retired Greetings Thinlits - still one of my go-to sets!) This bundle which you can see on page 127 of the annual catalogue also co-ordinates with the patterns on the Irresistibly Floral embossed paper - and makes designing easy!

Fresh Colour Combination - I chose a fresh, spring colour combination of pink and green to compliment my contrasting black and white background and sentiment today - here it is if you would like to save it for future inspiration too:

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:

Falling Flowers Clear-Mount Bundle	Irresistibly Floral Designer Series Specialty Paper	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Cardstock
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	White Perfect Accents	Sponge Brayers