It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my wonderful friend and talented crafter Claire, to host and she has a great colour challenge for you:

I immediately knew what stamp set I was going to use for my card this week - Sheltering Tree - and I wanted to have a go at making a swing easel card to showcase it. Here's my card:

The stamped panel is easy enough to create and uses all three of the challenge colours. I chose Old Olive as my main colour, with just a little Crumb Cake and Bermuda Bay to allow the latter to really stand out on the bicycle and border. I followed Amanda Bates tutorial here to make my swing easel card (there is a small correction required to the instructions - step 13 should say 'Line up at 5"' not 1"). She is a real whizz with fancy folds! I used two of the Old Olive patterns in the Pretty Petals DSP to decorate my card. The nice thing about this card is that it folds completely flat for mailing, so long as you keep the embellishments to a minimum as I have here:

I hope you like today's card. 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 how you use Claire's chosen challenge colours on your cards in the gallery this week. This is a birthday weekend for us: the youngest of my James juniors will be 8 on Tuesday so following yesterday's birthday sleepover, today we will be continuing our birthday celebrations. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set	Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad
Banner Triple Punch	Big Shot	Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform

I'm here with a quick post featuring the next Christmas card I promised featuring the Lots of Joy stamp set that can be found in the annual catalogue. I used this week's sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew as my starting point for this card:

Again I combined the stamp set with some of the Merry Moments DSP, this time choosing the lovely plaid pattern that echoes the pattern of the tree:

I used the fun postage stamp-style stamp for two of my three squares down the side, so easily punched out with the 1" square punch, with the final one featuring the second part of my sentiment - I selectively inked the sentiment twice and then banner-cut the other piece and layered it underneath. Lovely traditional Christmas colours on this card and I think the plaid gives it quite a modern feel.

That's all from me today - come back tomorrow when we will have a new challenge over at The Paper Players and the lovely Claire will be the hostess. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Lots Of Joy Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Merry Moments Designer Series Paper	1" Square Punch
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Candy Dots	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

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

Having placed my pre-order for items from the forthcoming Autumn-Winter seasonal catalogue this week, I am totally in the Christmas groove. My new goodies haven't arrived yet, but luckily for me the annual catalogue now has a Christmas section again, so that's where I went for some supplies for today's card. Here's my card: 

I used the new set 'Lots of Joy' and combined this with the lovely 'Merry Moments' DSP. I took the three diagonal stripes as inspiration for my card rather than literally - this paper has a lovely stripe pattern of varying thicknesses, so I think it works quite well. I stamped my bauble twice, once in Real Red and once in Smoky Slate, then cut the bauble top from the Smoky Slate one and adhered it behind my red bauble, before adding a silver ribbon bow. I stamped my sentiment in Real Red, then decided to paper-piece the little Christmas tree over the top in Old Olive - here's a close up photo so that you can see it in more detail:

This was quite easy to do - I simply stamped the sentiment again on a scrap of green cardstock, snipped out the tree and reversed it before adhering to my card. The pencil-thin stripe in the DSP is Old Olive and this was a great way to bring a little green into my predominantly red and grey coloured card. I hope you like today's card - I have another Christmas card using the same set to share with you tomorrow! Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Just time for a super-quick creative post today; I've had a busy week so far, with the first of my monthly technique classes and the school holidays keeping me busy, but I managed to squeeze in a half hour of crafting time this evening and came up with the following card for a couple of challenges:

I loved the colours over at Colour Q this week and whilst I was immediately inspired by that floral apron in the inspiration picture, when I saw the sketch at Can You Case It I ended up going in quite a different direction:

A CAS birthday card using the Amazing Birthday stamp set! I chose to use Bermuda Bay as my base colour, and added the other colours in (Hello Honey is not a favourite of mine, so I wanted to use it sparingly). I also substituted Peach Parfait (before my time, I'm afraid!) with Tangelo Twist. Some simple stamping, punching and snipping, along with a heat-embossed 'birthday' and some white baker's twine, and done! All accompanied by my dear husband and 10 year old attempting everything from 'She'll be coming 'round the mountain' to the Eastenders theme tune on the piano - an interesting melody when you're trying to be creative!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Amazing Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Age Awareness Photopolymer Stamp Set	1" Circle Punch	3/4" Circle Punch	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Whisper White Baker's Twine	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my fellow Brit, the lovely Jaydee, to host and she has a fun theme challenge for you:

Yes - square cards! It's always fun to create a square card for a change - when I saw this week's challenge I knew exactly where I wanted to start: the striped paper in the Cherry On Top stack was calling my name! I'm also linking up with the Friday Mashup where the challenge this week is also square cards, although obviously given my paper choice I decided not to go for the 'mashup' and use the colours over there too. Here's my card:

Now the pattern I chose actually has an off-centre point (check out your paper stack to see what I mean!) so I chose to cut my square of DSP square so that the lines all came together in the centre. I chose to use the 'happy' and 'birthday' sentiments from the 'Age Awareness' set as the focal point for my card - I like the contrasting swirls combined with the lined detail, which I infilled with my Stampin' Write markers in the colours that co-ordinated with the striped paper. To balance my sentiment in the square I also included a couple of the swirls across the top, which I joined together using a Crushed Curry Candy Dot. I simply measured my mats and layers and cut them with my trimmer, but you could always use your Square Framelits to make it easier if you prefer. A great clean and layered card and I love the way the striped paper draws your eye to the sentiment. A colourful custom envelope in Watermelon Wonder completes my card!

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

One of the reasons people avoid making a square card is that it often calls for a bespoke envelope. Don't forget about your Envelope Punch Board! Along with the gorgeous new Envelope Paper in the annual catalogue, and my Envelope Expert tool of course, there is no excuse to not make perfectly customised square envelopes (or rectangular for that matter!) every time. No fuss, no wastage, no guesswork required - if you're not already a fan, check out my free Envelope Expert tool today!

I look forward to seeing how you interpret Jaydee's fun challenge and seeing all your square creations in the gallery this week. As you read this I will be flying high somewhere above Europe, on my way back to the rather wetter climes of the UK. Don't worry - I'm doing my best to bring the sunshine back with me everyone! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, however you choose to spend it.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Age Awareness Photopolymer Stamp Set	2015-2017 In Color Envelope Paper	Envelope Punch Board	Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack	Regals Candy Dots
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	2015-2017 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Many Marvelous Markers

Good morning everyone - it's Friday! I'm sure you are all more pleased than I am since it might be nearing the end of the week but for me it means that there are only a few more days left of my vacation before I return to the dreary weather of the UK. Oh well, let's not dwell on that!

Today I have a card that I made with one of my card class customers in mind, that features the bold patterns of the English Garden DSP. Here is my card:

We had been perusing through my DSP samplers whilst taking orders for the latest round of paper shares and the English Garden DSP came in for much comment. It was universally liked but some of my customers were unsure just how they would go about using paper with such bold patterns of a card. We chatted about it but since 'a picture tells a thousand words' as the saying goes, I thought some examples would better explain and today's card is a great example. Some of the patterns in the pack have smaller patterns so can be used in smaller quantities to add interest to a card, however others such as the paper I've used on today's card really need to be a feature of the card, rather than an add-on - the bold patterns work best when you can see as much of them as possible. 

On this card I used a base of Soft Suede, then cut a large piece of DSP into three equally sized panels and mounted each of these onto a piece of Night of Navy to give a narrow border before adhering them to my card. I could just as easily have stopped there, however on this occasion I added some retired Baked Brown Sugar thick baker's twine and a sentiment from the 'A Whole Lot of Lovely' hostess, coloured with my co-ordinating Stampin' Write markers, and added this to the front of my card. It compliments the paper without overshadowing it.

Another great example of how to use the bold patterns in this pack can be seen on this card, by my friend and fellow Paper Player the lovely LeAnne Pugliese:

This too allows the paper to take centre stage with a sentiment treatment that compliments and not overshadows it. I hope you like both my card and LeAnne's - please do leave me a comment below with your thoughts and pop over to LeAnne at her Wee Inklings blog to leave he a comment on her card too - and I hope these cards inspire you to 'be bold' with the patterns in the English Garden Designer Series Paper Pack.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

English Garden Designer Series Paper	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	A Whole Lot Of Lovely Wood-Mount Stamp Set
2" Circle Punch	Many Marvelous Markers

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

As soon as I saw these colours I knew they would be another great combination for work with my Awesomely Artistic stamp set, this time with the fabby new Brick Wall embossing folder:

I used Mint Macaron for my base with a mat of Perfect Plum, then on a piece of Whisper White I stamped the flower spray in Mint Macaron and a few grunge splatters in Perfect Plum, before running it through my Big Shot with the Brick Wall embossing folder in order to create my cottage garden effect. It's important you stamp before running this piece through the embossing folder rather than the other way around, otherwise you will be unable to achieve an even stamp on account of the cement grooves (I hope that makes sense!) I then sponged the whole of my card front with Sahara Sand ink to emphasise the brick shapes and texture of the wall. I wrapped a piece of Blackberry Bliss Striped Cotton Ribbon around my card front (the colour is sufficiently muted on the cotton that it is a good match for Perfect Plum) before adhering to the base, then tucked in the circle embellishment behind it before adding my sentiment, which I heat embossed in white onto Mint Macaron, and the beautiful dragonfly, which I stamped in Perfect Plum and Versamark then sprinkled liberally with Iridescent Ice to add a lovely sparkle. A last minute sprinkle of pearls finishes my card. 

I love the versatility of this set. On account of working ahead this card was made a couple of weeks ago, however I wanted to give a little 'shout out' to a fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator friend of mine, Julie Kettlewell, who blogged something quite similar last week (I am abroad and sans stamping supplies, so have had no opportunity to work up something substantially different!). Julie has made some lovely cards using the Awesomely Artistic stamp set, so if this is a set that appeals to you, I recommend you check out her Pinterest board for more inspiration. Also, do visit the other Design Team members to see how they used this week's challenge colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Right, I'm off to top up my tan! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Good morning everyone! Today I have another of the cards from my July technique lass featuring the stamp set 'You've Got This': 

I was inspired by this card of Patsy Waggoner's and wanted to create a similar card showing how the focal flower could also be used as a background stamp to create an alternative effect. Of course I had to pair mine with my most favourite Pretty Petals DSP with that cute Pacific Point flower, which I then used in the candy dots of the same colour to bring focus to the sentiment banner - a cinch to create with my Triple Banner punch. Pacific Point and Old Olive seem an unlikely colour combo, yet the Pretty Petals DSP shows how they work so perfectly together, especially when teamed with Very Vanilla as the neutral.

This card was another success with the ladies at my technique class; combined with the third card (this one - the card that started it all!) which was the most complicated of the three, we managed to make three cards to be proud of.

Back tomorrow with a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals - don't forget you still have one more day to take advantage of my Weekly Deals Giveaway this week - to remind yourself of the offer, please click here! Until tomorrow, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

You've Got This Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Banner Triple Punch	Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Sahara Sand A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Brights Candy Dots

It's the start of the working week (for some!) and today I'm sharing one of the cards I made at last month's technique classes featuring the stamp set 'You've Got This':

The layout for this card is inspired by the one in the annual catalogue that features this stamp set. For my card I chose a base of Rich Razzleberry and a mat of Sahara Sand, then stamped the hatched background stamp image onto a piece of Whisper White  in Sahara Sand, having stamped off once first, and then overlaid this with the outline of the flower in Rich Razzleberry. This is a really versatile set - there is so much you can do with the flower stamp in terms of colouring (or not), fussy cutting (or not!) and the background stamp is one of those that will be useful for all kinds of projects. I wrapped a piece of Sahara Sand trim tightly around my layers before adhering to my base card and stamped my sentiment and punched it out with the note tag punch and tying it to the lace with some linen thread. I added a few pearls and my card was finished. The ladies in my class loved the simplicity of this card and how it could be recreated in lots of alternative colourways to achieve a different look.

My card was made with a specific friend of mine in mind. The lovely Pip Todman, of Queen Pip Cards, is a fellow SU! demonstrator who I presented with at Stampin' Up!'s European Convention in Brussels last October and has been working very hard to achieving some goals in her SU! business this year. She still has a little way to go but I wanted to send her this card to let her know I was thinking of her and send a few words of encouragement - I do believe 'good things are going to happen' for Pip this year and I am looking forward to celebrating with her when I see her in Brussels again in November. Do pop over to Pip's blog via the above link and leave her some Stampin' love, or better still if you live in or around Ash Vale or the surrounding Hampshire area, do check out Pip's classes - she would love to welcome you along! 

On the other hand, if you live in or around Northampton or just across the border into Leicestershire or Buckinghamshire, I would love to see you at one of my papercraft classes sometime soon. I run a variety of classes, from technique-based, to stamp-a-stack, 3D home decor and project-based classes, as well as Project Life memory keeping. My current schedule of classes can be found here or sign up to my newsletter for reminders and other news and information. My next technique classes for August feature the RMHC Sprinkles of Life stamp set and will be held on Tuesday 4th and 11th August - do get in touch if you would like to join me.

That's all from me today; I have another of the class cards using this stamp set tomorrow, so do pop back to see another take on this gorgeous set. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

You've Got This Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pearl Basic Jewels	Sahara Sand 7/8" (2.2 Cm) Lace Trim	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Sahara Sand A4 Cardstock
Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock	Note Tag Punch

It's Sunday and you know what that means: time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the tun of the super-talented Sandy to host and she has my favourite kind of a challenge for you - yes, it's a sketch:

This is a great sketch and gave me the opportunity to use some of my very favourite items from the annual catalogue: another Expressions Natural Element sentiment, some Pretty Petals DSP and a butterfly cut with the Bold Butterfly Framelits - take a look at my card today:

I used a cardbase of Very Vanilla for my card today, with a border strip of Typeset DSP to compliment the diagonal lines of the Pretty Petals paper that I used to cover the rest of my cardfront. I decided to use Basic Black for my tag, punched with the Ornate Tag Topper Punch, to give a strong contrast to the vanilla elsewhere and I created a layered butterfly that echoes the design of those in the paper pattern, with a solid vanilla base then two of the Bold Butterfly thinlit butterflies - one in Calypso Coral adhered directly to the base butterfly, and one in Pacific Point that I adhered in the middle only so that the layer beneath could be seen. I did reverse the positioning of the butterfly and sentiment on my tag to the sketch - I thought the sentiment was too heavy to put above the butterfly as I didn't want to overshadow it - what do you think, smart move or should I have stuck to the sketch more literally? A few Old Olive candy dots, some satin Very Vanilla ribbon and some black and white baker's twine finish my card. No stamping on this one - not on the outside, anyway! I'm also linking up with the ladies over at Just Add Ink this week where the theme is 'Butterflies'.

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

The tag on this week's sketch is a real fun detail; I look forward to seeing how you interpret it and the rest of Sandy's sketch in the gallery this week. Time for me to return to my sunbed to top up my tan - enjoy the rest of your weekend, however you choose to spend it.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Expressions Natural Elements	Bold Butterfly Framelits Dies	Butterflies Thinlits Dies	Big Shot	Magnetic Platform
Ornate Tag Topper Punch	Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock
Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Brights Candy Dots	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla 5/8" Satin Ribbon	Basic Black Baker's Twine