Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

I decided to go with bright colours and tea cups today - here is my card:

Today's card is all about colour and is surprisingly easy to recreate with a few key supplies:

Have A Cuppa Designer Series Paper - The 'Have a Cuppa' Designer Series Paper Stack is choc-full of tea-themed designs in bold, bright patterns and colours. This paper works hard to earn its place on a card but as a result allows the remaining elements to be simplified, so that it can really shine. I used many of the dsp colours for the other blocks of colour on my card.

Cups and Kettles Framelits Dies - The only thing stamped on today's card is the sentiment; the patterned cup is courtesy of the Big Shot and the Cups and Kettles Framelits; with three cups and patterns to choose from, decorated tea cups are quick to produce. I also added an Itty Bitty punched heart to mine - just because!

Add a trinket - The simple design of my cup needed just a little something to finish - I decided a cute little Have A Cuppa Embellishment in the form of a silver teapot and cup, tied with Bermuda Bay stitched ribbon, would be just the ticket. These are perfect addition to a card or gift and add an antique charm to an otherwise modern card.

This card is a fun, punny way to share with someone the high regard in which they are held.

Here's the visual summary of the key supplies used to make today's card for easy reference:

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too! We have some new designers joining the team this week so do pay them a visit and see what they have to offer.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

The middle of the week has arrived - and a short week at that! Today I have a card to share with you for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenge that also uses the sketch layout at Fab Friday:

I got such lovely comments on my card for last week's TGIF Challenge, that when I saw the badge for this week I just knew it was the perfect opportunity to get out the ice cream patterned paper in the Birthday Blossoms DSP and play along. Here is my card:

My card is a mix of mouth-watering ice-cream in pastel colours, with a little texture and another go at no-line watercolouring. Today's highlights include:

A sweet treat stamp and paper combination - The Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper has some gorgeous florals, but also includes a number of great alternative patterns that are perfect for a sweet celebration. I love these soft, watercoloured ice creams and decided to stamp one using the ice-cream stamp in the 'Honeycomb Happiness' Sale-A-Bration stamp set onto watercolour paper and coloured it using inks and my aquapainter to mirror those on the paper. I needed a small sentiment that wouldn't overwhelm my cone, so I trimmed the top part away for a better fit.

A colour combination that's good enough to eat - I love the combination of pale pink and pale green, with the warm brown of soft suede - the ice-creams combine these colours perfectly and the pink and brown make the perfect base for my card. Here's this colour combination if you would like to save it to use on your projects:

Waffle-y Versatile Stylish Stripes - I used the pastels for the horizontal stripes on my card and decided to use Soft Suede to mat my watercoloured image. I don't often use texture and embossing on my cards but decided to create a little more interest with a textured layer that emulated the cone of my ice cream. The Tiny Triangles or Zig Zag Textured Embossing Folders would have been good choices, but since I don't own either of those I embossed my cardstock twice with my trusty Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, embossing once then rotating my cardstock through 90 degrees and embossing again to give a criss-cross look. It works for me!

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

I hope you like today's card. As I mentioned yesterday, today is the first day of the school holidays and when I returned from my drop-in Coffee and Card session at Bell of Northampton this morning (I'll be back to share the card we made today later in the week), Rebecca decided that having played outside all morning, she wanted to do something creative this afternoon. So what do you do when two of your greatest passions in life are Lego and craft? Well, you use your Lego Mindstorms to build a robot that you can programme to decorate your Easter eggs! We made a short video to show the results and I thought I'd share here as I thought the results were rather impressive:

Who said school holidays were boring? Not when you're 10 years old and a member of the James family, for sure!

Back tomorrow with this week's card for the new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper	Honeycomb Happiness Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot	Aqua Painters
Watercolor Paper	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Tuesday and today I have a change of style with a masculine card for you! I'm too late to link up over at Pals Paper Arts Challenge but I just couldn't resist this great sketch from Beth Beard:

So many lovely layers! The minute I saw this sketch I knew that I wanted to use the compass from the 'Going Global' stamp set and the co-ordinating papers in the Going Places DSP stack. Here's my card:

Today's card is all about co-ordination, colour and layout:

Co-Ordination - One of the things that make Stampin' Up! special is the extent to which suites of product fit seamlessly together and co-ordinate with our standard inks and cardstock and the Going Places product suite is no exception. Trendy, masculine patterns and textures with travel-inspired designs make this set perfect for cards for the man in your life. Whilst I don't often mix more than one designer paper on a card at any one time, the contrasting colours of the papers I used today work really well and the repitition of the compass image is what really makes this card.

Colour - Basic Black and Very Vanilla are in both of my chosen designer papers so I knew these colours would feature heavily on today's card. I needed a third colour though; what to choose? I decided upon one of our soon-to-be retired 2014-16 in-colours, Lost Lagoon. I wanted something muted, yet natural and Lost Lagoon fitted the bill.

Layout - I love a sketch with lots of layers and Beth's doesn't disappoint! My card actually has 12 separate layers, yet the definition of each plays an important part in the finished look and feel. Having chosen my sentiment and where I was going to position it on my card, I did take one liberty with Beth's sketch; my papers and compass were all centred on my card and whilst Beth's sketch shows the banner coming from one side and flagged on one end only, I knew I needed to centralise my Lost Lagoon banner too to maintain the balance of my card. This gave me the balanced look I was aiming for.

Here is a visual summary of the key products used to make today's card for easy reference:

I hope you like today's card. I have a short work day today as the James Juniors are on an early collection from school as it's the last day of term, so I need to get cracking! Before I go - for those of you interested in yesterday's netball scores, both A and B teams won their matches so Rebecca was thrilled to end the season on a high. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack	Going Global Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Going Places Cardstock Pack
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	2" Circle Punch	2-1/2" Circle Punch

Here I am with today's post that contains not one but two cards - a variation on a theme! There are only 11 more days left of this year's Sale-A-Bration with Stampin' Up! and I wanted to share with you a couple of cards I made with my most favourite of the second wave of limited-time products that you can receive free with a £45 spend - the Pedal Pusher stamp set. Both cards have been made with a couple of challenges in mind - the first for this week's colour challenge at Color Throwdown:

Having had Wisteria Wonder, a colour I don't use often, out on my desk for yesterday's Paper Players card, I couldn't fail to be inspired by the inspiration photo and decided to ink up my Pedal Pusher Sale-A-Bration stamp set for the first time:

I decided to use the Wisteria Wonder for my card base, but decided my bicycle should be red - somewhat ironic, as my actual bicycle is purple, but it's more of a Rich Razzleberry colour, so not one for this card. Anyway, I digress! I added a strip of Cucumber Crush 'Cherry on Top' designer washi tape horizontally across my card, stamping my bicycle above it, coloured with my Stampin' Write Markers, and my sentiment below it. I added some retired Wisteria Wonder baker's twine and a retired button from my stash to finish this card. 

The Pedal Pusher stamp set is just great for so many reasons - here's my top 3:

It's versatile - there are so many little pieces to customise your bicycle, including three sentiments all of which play on the tandem bicycle theme.

It's photopolymer - makes aligning all the pieces easy-peasy and allows for perfect stamping every time.

It's free - with a £45 spend before 31st March.

Here's the visual summary of the supplies used to make today's card for easy reference:

To demonstrate its versatility, for my second card I went a little more clean and simple and restricted my colour palette to white, Melon Mambo and Basic Black, adding an alternative sentiment and basket contents:

This time I coloured my bike using some Melon Mambo ink and my aquapainter and I also added a little clear Wink of Stella to my floating hearts for a nice shimmer. How cute is that?! The perfect card to let a friend know you are thinking of them. I'm linking this card up with the lovely ladies over at Less Is More this week, where the theme is 'what's outside your window'. Whilst I'm guessing a bicycle might not be the most obvious choice for some, now that Spring has sprung my bicycle will often be found outside my window - before I get on it and join my hubby and the James juniors for a long bike ride. With school holidays starting from tomorrow, I am hoping for lots of fine weather and the chance to indulge in this pleasant past time. 

Here's the visual summary of the supplies used to make the above card for easy reference:

That's all from me today; I'm off to squeeze in a quick trip to Ikea (if there is such a thing!) before going to watch Rebecca in her final school netball match of the season. Yesterday both James Juniors played basketball for school and were narrowly beaten into second place in their county qualifier, however Rebecca's club hockey match had a much more successful outcome, with her team earning a place at the U12 regional finals next month. Go Northampton Saints Hockey! The netball team cam third out of five in last week's inter-school netball tournament, so it would be nice for the girls to end the season with a win - here's hoping! 

Back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Card 1:

Pedal Pusher Photopolymer Stamp Set

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock

Cherry On Top Designer Washi Tape

Many Marvelous Markers

Card 2: 

Pedal Pusher Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Aqua Painters	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Baker's Twine Combo Pack

Happy Monday everyone! I am feeling much better this week and having managed to squeeze in a little crafting time on Saturday I have lots to share with you. I was fully intending to share this quick clean and simple card on Saturday, but didn't manage to squeeze in a post due to the need to make sure I was ready in good time for yesterday's Paper Players post - oh the busy life of a blogger! I want to link up with the team over at Casology before this week's challenge closes so this is a little extra post today. Monday's scheduled post will follow shortly!

So the challenge over at Casology this week is 'Doodle'. I've been having fun playing along over there in recent weeks, seeing where the cue card takes me creatively. I also really like the way their Design Team define their cards with what makes them 'clean and simple' or CAS - very useful if you've ever wanted to understand more about what makes a great CAS card. So having pondered this week's cue, I decided on this doodled sentiment for my card for the challenge:

Such a simple card: the sentiment from 'Big News' is stamped in Black Archival ink on Whisper White, adhered to a black mat and then popped up on dimensionals on a Melon Mambo base. I infilled the spaces of my 'awesomeness' sentiment with my Melon Mambo Stampin' Write marker and added a little clear Wink of Stella for a touch of sparkle, but that's it. the restricted colour palette keeps it clean and simple and allows the doodled sentiment to shine.

Melon Mambo is one of my favourite SU! colours and chose to make this card as a card that I would love to receive. Whilst I have recently achieved a significant business goal that I had set myself, I'm not going to send myself a card (that would be weird right?!) Instead I will be sending this to one of the many young people I know who are sitting GCSEs this year when they receive great results, as I know they will. So one for the stash!

Here's the visual summary of the products needed to make today's card for easy reference:

Back shortly with today's actual post. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Big News Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Brights Stampin' Write Markers	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our very own Birthday Girl, the lovely Jaydee, to host our challenge this week and she has a fun clean and simple theme for you to play along with:

So along with Jaydee's birthday - happy birthday wishes to you Jaydee! - we are also celebrating the arrival of Spring! For my card this week I was inspired to use the cute little chick from the Sale-A-Bration Honeycomb Happiness stamp set, this time in conjunction with the floral spray in the 'Number of Years' stamp set. I used this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches for my card - take a look:

Key points to note about today's card:

More than a number - The 'Number of Years' stamp set is big on numbers, but it also has this lovely floral spray which can be used in conjunction with the other stamps in the set or for something totally different, as I've done here. The watercolour-effect stamp was the perfect pairing for my no-line watercoloured chick today. I stamped it twice, masking my chick once so that some of the stems appeared behind for depth of field, then went over the top with my aquapainter to further enhance to watercoloured effect. 

No-line watercolouring - I've used this technique with this same little chick previously (you can see that card here). Today I wanted to use soft pastels and delicate colouring to have him peeking out of the spring flowers, so no-line watercolouring was the perfect solution. I stamped him in Sahara Sand and coloured him in So Saffron and Daffodil Delight with my aquapainter to give him a realistic finish.

Sketches are open to interpretation - Kim's sketch is great but I needed my chick to be grounded and not floating in mid-air, so I rotated the sketch through 180 degrees (this is allowed!) I used the floral spray to give the circular shape within the sketch without adding another layer to my card and keep it looking 'clean and simple'.

A bold Hello - With such delicate watercoloured pastels, I decided to stamp my sentiment in Versamark on Basic Black and heat emboss in white to give my sentiment some prominence. I then punched this out with my Word Window Punch. A nice contrast I think to the softness of the rest of my card.

I'm also linking up my card today with the challenge over at Addicted to CAS, where the current theme is 'delicate' and SUO Challenges where the theme is 'welcome Spring'.

Here's today's visual summary of the key products used on today's card for easy reference:

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 clean and simple theme. We have a jam-packed day of sport today: hockey and basketball training, followed by a hockey tournament, lunch and then both James Juniors are playing in a basketball match. I'm thinking we need to start the day with at least two Weetabix each to get us through to dinner!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set	Honeycomb Happiness Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Word Window Punch	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

These colours immediately made me think of nature so I decided to use my new 'In The Meadow' stamp set for my card today:

I stamped my images in Archival Black ink and used my aquapainter and inks to colour them in before cutting out with my Circles Framelits. My Soft Suede card base is square and I layered this with a mat of Mossy Meadow and a piece of striped paper from the English Garden designer series paper pack that has a lovely watercoloured feel. I added a strip of Mossy Meadow and before I added a few twists of linen thread and a bow, decided to add a strip of wide Watermelon Wonder ribbon on something of a whim. The only other place I used this one of the challenge colours was on the butterflies next to my sentiment, so thought I would try a bold injection of colour; I liked it, so I kept it! This stamp set is not the type I am normally drawn to, but having seen some beautiful scenes created with it I decided I had to have it and I love the creative possibilities it offers.

Here's today's visual summary of the key products used to create today's card for easy reference:

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

I have another busy day in store today (no rest for the wicked and all that!)

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

I'm back! No blog post from me yesterday I'm afraid: I have been battling a dreadful cold this week and with my busy days a few early nights have been in order. Today I'm back with another of my technique class cards using all three products from the Botanical Garden bundle, this time a clean and simple thank you card. I made this card early last week before last week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was published, so I couldn't quite believe it when I saw both the sketch and Amy o'Neill's FMS Design Team card, that bears many similarities to mine - spooky how that happens sometimes! Here is the card I designed for my class:

This card is all about the vine; it can be used in lots of different ways (here's another example on an earlier card here) but one thing is for sure, it makes such a beautiful edging for a card. On this card it is cut into the front piece of my extra thick Whisper White card base and a piece of Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper adhered to the back panel beneath it to show through when closed. The focal point of my card is another flower cut using my Big Shot and the Botanical Gardens framelits, but the other things that make this card special are:

Suite Sayings Sentiment - One of my favourite current sentiment sets, Suite Sayings, has a wide variety of sayings and this one is perfect for a thank you 'just because'.

Awesomely Artistic Grunge - I added a little back splatter using the grunge stamp in the Awesomely Artistic set to add a little more colour and soften my card, without obscuring too much of the all important 'white space' that adds so much to a truly CAS card.

A Trio of Embellishments - I actually managed to use three separate embellishments to my card: a White Perfect Accent for my flower middle (coloured black with my Sharpie), some strands of looped gold twine and a vellum leaf. Each of them adding a subtle detail without overwhelming.

Here's visual summary of key products used to make today's card for easy reference:

I hope you like today's card. I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Botanical Blooms Photopolymer Bundle	Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Botanical Gardens Cardstock Pack	Big Shot	Precision Base Plate
Big Shot Die Brush	White Perfect Accents	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Gold Metallic Thread	Vellum A4 Cardstock	Awesomely Artistic Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Good evening lovely readers! I have had a busy day with the second of this month's technique classes this morning and a Spring concert for one of the James Juniors this afternoon. Today I'm sharing a card I made for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges that was also one of the cards I made with the ladies in my card class this morning. I haven't played along with the TGIF team for a while and I couldn't resist this week's sketch:

My card features all of the products in the Botanical Gardens bundle offer (buy all 3 and save 15%) - Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper, Botanical Blooms stamp set and Botanical Builder Framelits Dies - and features a fun technique. Here is my card:

Today's card is a celebration of the Botanical Gardens product suite, but there are three things that really make it special:

Customised Designer Series Paper - The paper I used for the background on my card is one of a number of patterns in the Botanical Gardens Designer Series paper pack that can be customised using the Botanical Blooms stamp set. Many of the leaves and flowers can be stamped with veins and stamens in the colours of your choice to create a variety of different looks. I had great fun adding detail to my background and this best thing is, this can be different every time. 

Fuss-free Flowers - I just love the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies for limitless floral creative possibilities, yet the two things that really make these fuss-free can't even be seen on this card: the Big Shot Die Brush and the Big Shot Precision Base Plate. Both perfect for working with intricate dies, they really do enable these flowers to pop out easily, no wax paper required. You may think you don't need these items, however whilst you could use a standard or magnetic platform, you will definitely get better results using these tools. My customers keep telling me this too, so impressed are they with the results.

A Free Sentiment - The sentiment on my card is from the Sale-A-Bration set 'Botanicals For You'. This stamp set co-ordinates with the other Botanicals products and is available free with a £45 spend before the end of the month. The Botanical Gardens bundle costs £46.75, so if you buy the bundle, you can get this set for free too - bargain!

Here is today's visual summary of the key products used and top tip for easy reference:

I hope you like today's card; I have two more to share this week using this product suite that were also makes in my technique class today, so stay tuned for those. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Botanical Blooms Photopolymer Bundle	Botanical Gardens Cardstock Pack	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Botanicals For You Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Big Shot
Precision Base Plate	Big Shot Die Brush	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	White Perfect Accents	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
2-1/2" Circle Punch	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our esteemed leader the amazing Nance to host our challenge this week and she has a fun colour scheme for you to play along with:

For my card this week I was inspired to use my Picture perfect stamp set for the first time; I've seen so many brightly coloured hummingbirds with this set, I thought these colours would be perfect to create one of my very own. Take a look:

Here are the key features of today's card:

Picture Perfect Hummingbird - 'Picture Perfect' is a multi-step image stamp set, with each of the stamps having two, three or four layers. The hummingbird comes in four pieces, so in order to get four layers with only three colours, I stamped my first and third layers in Bermuda Bay, having stamped off the first one so that it was lighter in colour. I stamped the second stamp in Calypso Coral and the fourth and final one in Memento Black. Whilst it sounds complicated, this set is made from photopolymer which makes lining up the images really straightforward. 

Partial Die Cutting using Circle Framelits - I decided upon a rather unusual layout for my card today, using a base of Calypso Coral with the top part of the front cut away on the diagonal. I stamped my bird onto a piece of Whisper White and having fussy cut his wing tip by hand, I then cut a partial circle up to the diagonal before adhering behind so that it aligned with my cut away circle on my card base. Circle Framelits are invaluable for this kind of partial diecutting, as you simply roll through the Bid Shot to the desired point without cutting the whole way through.

Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper - I used this black pre-embossed paper last week on this card and decided it was just the thing to add a block of colour to the background of my card today too. The subtle stripes align perfectly to the diagonal line of my card and add interest without detracting from the bird.

Lastly, I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it in black and added a trio of White Perfect Accents, coloured black using a Sharpie, for a little extra shine. I spent ages trying to work out what to do with these colours, but once I'd decided on using this stamp set, it all came together seamlessly. Love it when that happens!

Here's today's visual summary of the key things needed to make today's card for easy reference:

Remember you can also find all of my 'Tip and Techniques' summaries on my Pinterest page here.

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 colour palette this week. We are off to basketball today and hockey today, Rebecca has a birthday party to attend to and I have lots of preparation for this week's classes to be getting on with, so it's going to be a busy one!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad
Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	White Perfect Accents	Punch Corner Project Life