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 a fun theme challenge for us to work with:

I decided to use Jen M's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and was also inspired by the masculine blues and browns of Laurel's Inspired By photo for my Father's Day card this week - take a look:

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

Oceanfront - I haven't used the Oceanfront stamp set in ages, so thought today's card was a good opportunity to rectify this! This is such a great stamp for making beautiful beach scenes and is so easy to use. I stamped my scene with a Boho Blue sky, Misty Moonlight ocean and Crumb Cake sand with Copper Clay grasses - done! I also added some birds in Pebble Path from the 'Beside Me' set that I had out on my desk for my sentiment and some retired pebble enamel shapes to add a little extra detail. I wanted to diecut my scene with a stitched rectangle, but since they are now retired I thought I would consider other current options first and what do you know - one of the scalloped rectangles in the Scalloped Contours Dies was the perfect size!

Fresh As A Daisy - I used two pieces of designer paper for my split panel background - do you recognise them? In addition to all of the lovely floral patterns, the Fresh As A Daisy papers have a beautiful wash reverse in each of the new in-colours. I used the Boho Blue and Copper Clay papers to echo the colours of my oceanfront scene, with the diagonal proving a useful way to combine the two.

A Sketch Liberty - Whilst I think it's clear to see how Jen's FMS sketch inspired my layout this week, you will notice I did take a few liberties with it to suit my finished design (I hope she doesn't mind!). The size of my final card is larger than usual (14.9cm x 21cm) as I wanted to be able to accommodate my scene and still have plenty of background on show. I also re-angled the diagonal of my background layer; I wanted the diagonal to follow the diagonal of the shoreline of my ocean scene, so instead of going corner to corner I cut across the the main panel. This way the design still looks cohesive and the diagonal works with my scene, rather than making everything look slightly out of kilter:

A simple heat-embossed sentiment cut out with the label (shortened to fit) from the Cheerful Daisies Dies and a fancy linen thread bow complete my Father's Day card. This one will be headed to my Dad in a couple of weeks time - hope he likes 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 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:

Enjoy your day; after what has been a decidedly chilly week here in the UK, the sun is finally shining and temperatures are on the up - hurrah! I am looking forward to spending some time in the garden today, hopefully with a good book. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

OCEANFRONT PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (21.00)	BESIDE ME CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (25.00)	SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (33.00)	FRESH AS A DAISY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (9.98)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	COPPER CLAY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
COPPER CLAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BOHO BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	PEBBLED PATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)
BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	LINEN THREAD (4.75)	CHEERFUL DAISIES DIES (32.00)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where we have a special challenge for you - we are celebrating our 300th challenge! It's theme week and our wonderful leader Heather C has chosen the theme of 'adventure' for our milestone challenge:

I was inspired by the patriotic red, white and blue colours of the Card Concept and the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday to create my clean and layered card - take a look:

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

Today's card uses a combination of 'something old (retired), something carried over and something new': my something new is those Nested Essentials Dies again, where I used one to create the aperture in my vellum layer to 'frame' my map, courtesy of the background stamp 'Watercolour World'. I  bordered it with a thin strip of red and white stripes and finding nothing in my current stash that has an adventure theme or wording, I finished my card with a sentiment made from a retired Sweet Silhouettes die and the 'Let's Set Sail' stamp set:

I really like the effect of the vellum frame - a great way to focus on the map, without the frame obscuring the detail. A great tip when you use vellum in a frame in this way is to cut your piece wider than you need and wrap it around the layers below and adhere firmly on the reverse. This way your vellum layer stays in place, without there being any unsightly visible glue on the front of your card.

A simple layered card that I will keep ready for when one of the many teenagers I know announces they are heading to foreign parts for a gap year adventure.

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. 

What does the theme of adventure mean to you? Why not make a project and share it with us for our current challenge. Since we are celebrating, there will be 6 winners this week, one chosen by each member of the Design Team and each will be eligible to receive a prize from Stampin' Up! or Clarity.

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WATERCOLOR WORLD CLING STAMP SET (22.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)
BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. We have five Tuesdays in the month of May so this week it is time for our double challenge, featuring a previous sketch and retired colour combination:

For my card I went with a colourful clean and simple birthday card - take a look:

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

For my card today I actually took my inspiration from a card which recently appeared in my Pinterest feed that I couldn't actually find a source for; I thought it was a great way to use up leftover cardstock strips and a neat way to include this trio of bold colours whilst preserving my 'white space' so I adapted it to suit this layout. I used my Wanted To Say Dies for my greeting, this time featuring the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment. I cut the outer sentiment from the white panel, then adhered the inner piece to a foam sheet before diecutting the main sentiment detail, so that I could inset it into the negative space in the main panel:

A trio of orange dots 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. 

As a reminder, for our colour challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colours. You may also use neutral colours; however, the challenge colours should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up! color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colours as closely as possible. For this challenge, I didn't have any of the retired colours so I used my closest current matches: Daffodil Delight, Tahitian Tide and Pumpkin Pie.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)

DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

TAHITIAN TIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge for us to work with:

I decided to take the bright trio of colours over at Just Add Ink and use them to make a cheerful get well soon card - take a look:

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

I initially considered using that vertical panel to showcase some designer paper, but decided instead it would be the perfect place to showcase a new die-only set from page 167 of the new annual catalogue, the Wanted to Say Dies. There are four sentiments in this set and each consists of two layers:

In place of the circle I added a layered flower and leaves, made using another new die-only set - Paper Florist Dies. These are so cool - you can make so many awesome dimensional flowers using these dies - they will be great for packaging and home decor too. These bright and cheery colours are perfect for a feel better soon greeting - I find yellow so uplifting, so it had to be the main colour focus on my card. And not a stamp in sight!

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:

Enjoy your day; I will be enjoying the sunshine and marvelling at the fact that we are having a fine weather Bank Holiday here in the UK - yay! I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WANTED TO SAY DIES (37.00)	PAPER FLORIST DIES (35.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	PARAKEET PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BRIGHTS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge. 

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'Father's Day' which is on 18th June. This time around we are also teaming up with Double Trouble: entering both challenges gives you double the chance of winning. Their Thing 1 challenge is to create a masculine card. Their Thing 2 challenge is to enter our Festive Friday Challenge. Their Thing 3 challenge is to include a plaid/check. Here's the link to enter their challenge: Double Trouble Challenge. Remember the fun thing is that at Festive Friday you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion; your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. This week I used blue, monochromatic, masculine, plaid/checks and diecuts and decided to create a Father's Day card - this is what I came up with:

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

Inked Botanicals - The plaid paper that I used for my background inspired the subtle colour scheme for today's card. You may be surprised to know that this soft plaid is one of the designs in the new Inked Botanicals designer paper pack. I though the soft Pool Party and Lost Lagoon tones would provide the perfect background for my coastal themed card which I'm also linking up with the lovely ladies over at SUO Challenges who are all about the blues and sea-inspired cards.

Nested Essentials - I framed my stamped scene using one of the new Nested Essentials Dies. These are one of those 'easily overlooked' products as they are a die-only set. Comprising 12 dies including 4 banners, 4 rounded corner rectangles and 4 nested diamonds with straight edges all of which have a neat stitched border detail, these are great for framing and layering and I know that they will become a new craft room staple. 

Beside Me - But Not As You Know It - The image on the front of my card is from the 'Beside Me' set - but the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that there is something missing! I love this image as it looks exactly like the James Juniors with their Dad, but I don't think they have ever been fishing together - so the fishing rods had to go! This was so easy to achieve: I simply inked the stamp in Lost Lagoon and masked off the fishing rods before inking, so that they weren't present when stamped - voila! I wanted to stick with my simple colour scheme, so chose not to colour the image itself, instead masking it before inking in a sky and sea using a blending brush. You can see the results of my handiwork more closely below:

This wasn't the only stamp I tweaked on today's card. I stamped a combination of sentiments from the set inside my card, but since the image on the front of the card had two children, I wanted the sentiment to read 'You've always been there for us' as opposed to 'me'. Again, this was simple enough to achieve: I stamped the sentiment having masked out the 'me', then added in a 'u' and 's' using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up, having selectively inked them up on one of the other stamps in the set:

I think it works - don't you? I love that I can tailor my stamps to create something that is bespoke to my needs. Do you ever do that with your stamps? Do leave me a comment below - I would love to know about your 'stamp hacks' 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. 

How does our board inspire you? I can’t wait to see what YOU create! For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Festive Friday Card Making and Paper Crafting Challenge

 Design team:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BESIDE ME CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (25.00)	INKED BOTANICALS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (32.00)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LOST LAGOON A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
LOST LAGOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at TicTacToe! It's the turn of Team X to host this week and the lovely Vicky is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went across the bottom row with diecut, ombre and shapes to create a masculine card for this week's TGIF Challenge that gave me the opportunity to use some existing product in a whole new way - take a look:

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

I was captivated by the fabulous blues of the Just Us Girls mood board this week and I was excited to see the geode in the top right photo, as I've wanted to try and create one of these for a while. I saw a card by fellow demonstrator Carrie Button that used the Tree Rings Dies and co-ordinating embossing folder to create a geode and wanted to have a go (here's a link to her helpful video tutorial if you'd like to take a look at how she did it). I made my geode slightly differently so I've included step by step instructions in case you'd like to recreate:

• Take a piece of Tahitian Tide cardstock and run through the Tree Rings Hybrid Embossing Folder, having inked the upper side of the EF with Versamark.
• Heat emboss the embossed tree ring with metallic silver embossing powder and cut out with co-ordinating die.
• Colour the geode: use a Basic Grey Stampin' Write marker for the outside, then use a combination of Tahitian tide, Azure Afternoon and Blueberry Bushel Blends to colour the inner rings.
• Add fine line detail with Stampin' Write markers in the same colours.
• Brush the ombre blue section with clear Wink of Stella, then add some loose (retired) Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the centre.
• Finish the centre by adhering a combination of blue and clear rhinestone basic jewels (colour them with your Stampin' Blends).

That's it! Check out the sparkly detail - I can't tell you just how awesome this is in real life:

I wanted my geode to take centre stage, so the only other decoration was a strip of (retired) Mercury Glass Acetate that I added to my Blueberry Bushel card base. I used a sentiment from the 'Waves of Inspiration' stamp set as I though this worked well - this geode is most definitely a thing of beauty as far as I'm concerned!

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. 

A tictactoe board offers so many creative possibilities - how does this week's board inspire you? Why not have a go? We would love to see you in the gallery and who knows - you might be selected for Designer's Choice and be eligible to be a guest designer on a future challenge. 

Enjoy your day; today is the last exam day for the James Juniors this side of half-term; we are looking forward to a brief, if revision-filled, respite for the next week, before we start again. The youngest of the James Juniors proudly announced this morning that he has passed the halfway point - ever the optimist, bless him! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

TREE RINGS HYBRID EMBOSSING FOLDER (35.00)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON STAMPIN’ BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	TAHITIAN TIDE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	STAMPIN' WRITE MARKERS COLLECTION (126.00)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)	WAVES OF INSPIRATION CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	WINK OF STELLA GLITTER BRUSH (7.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme for Clean And Simple challenge week:

I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I love clean and simple (CAS) cards! Minimal layers, few embellishments and lots of white space all typify a clean and simple card. I often find it helpful if I'm designing a CAS card to choose a single image as my focal point - it's a great way to reduce clutter. With this in mind, my theme for our challenge this week is to choose one of something as the main feature of your card. 

For my card I made creating even easier by reaching for my new pack of Bright & Beautiful Memories and More cards that arrived this week - take a look:

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

These cards are perfect not just for memory keeping, but great for quick handcrafted cards too. I chose one of the small Memories & More cards featuring a single balloon in Bubble Bath, Azure Afternoon and Lemon Lime Twist that also has a pre-printed birthday sentiment, added this to a piece of white cardstock and then adhered this to a pre-printed Bright & Beautiful Memories & More card base:

The pre-printed card bases come with pre-printed coloured envelopes too - literally no stamping and you have a clean, simple and colourful card ready in under 5 minutes! What's more with 50 double-sided cards and 20 card bases and envelopes, you could make a whole ton of cards in next to no time and still have cards left over for scrapbooking 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 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:

Yesterday was a glorious day here in the UK and it was definitely a day for gardening as opposed to crafting, so it was the perfect week to making a quick card! Enjoy your day; the forecast is good again here so we are taking full advantage and having a BBQ lunch. If I can tear myself away from my garden, I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (8.00)

BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES & MORE CARDS & ENVELOPES (10.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a recipe challenge chosen by Deborah who is back from her travels this week:

I sometimes struggle with recipe challenges, but I just received some new goodies so grabbed them along with the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday and set to work - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Shades of Blue - I decided for today's card that I wanted to play with the new blue that is part of the Brights colour family, Azure Afternoon, so that's what I chose for my card base (I added some tone-on-tone stamping using a stamped-off flower to create a subtle pattern detail) and the piece of watercolour-effect designer paper from the Bright & Beautiful paper pack that runs across the centre of my card. This is such a lovely shade of blue: not as turquoise as Tahitian Tide, not as dark as the old Pacific Point. I also used this colour to stamp my flowers, adding in a second blue, the returning Blueberry Bushel, to highlight the flower leaves. I also added a strip of this darker blue behind my horizontal panel and added some ribbon and a bow in some retired Blueberry Bushel ribbon that I rescued from my retired box - yay! I love the way these two blue go together.

Diecuts and Frames - There are two sets of diecuts on today's card: the horizontal border and the scallop-edged square are both adapted from the Scalloped Contours Dies, but the dies that ultimately inspired today's card are those that contain this sweet embroidery hoop and centre - the Crafting With You Dies. I thought the embroidery hoop would be a clever 'frame' and perfect way to highlight the emboidered flowers that are part of the co-ordinating stamp set:

A Handmade Hug - I decided to leave the front of my card sentiment-free because it's always useful to have some more general cards to hand, but I couldn't resist adding one of the sweetest sentiments from the 'Crafting With You' stamp set to the inside of my card:

Isn't that just lovely?! I actually managed to tick off the recipe ingredients with relative ease for once. If you are a fan of blues, you should definitely check out the Design Team cards - they really are fabulous!

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can leave you lots of lovely comments. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSIXXX when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab on the As You See It Challenge homepage. 

I am rushing about today, running errands and feeling unusually tired - I definitely have that Friday feeling! Enjoy your day and I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CRAFTING WITH YOU BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (51.25)	SCALLOPED CONTOURS DIES (33.00)	BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (11.75)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLUEBERRY BUSHEL A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
BLUEBERRY BUSHEL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	PECAN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Cecile has asked that we make a square card with a focal sentiment and patterned background:

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. 

For my card today I chose monochromatic pinks with a touch of silver to create a simple stencilled background for a feminine birthday card for a discerning teenager - take a look:

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

I took my square card base and using some stencils I made with various circle punches and some window sheet, I added Melon Mambo and Bubble Bath ink using my blending brushes, varying the intensity to give some depth to the colour. I heat-embossed part of my sentiment in silver and used a diecut 'sending' in silver foil backed with vellum as my centrepiece:

A sprinkle of basic rhinestones added a final touch of sparkle. This is one of those cards that could work in lots of colours and is thoroughly inoffensive - so perfect for the discerning teenager! Since I went with pinks, I'm also playing along over at Addicted to CAS with my monochrome pinks and also celebrating with the team over at AAA Cards as they celebrate their 9th birthday with CAS pink birthday cards too - the balloons on the inspo board also inspired my bubbly background!

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. 

Please excuse today's photos - I struggled with that foil diecut and the lighting and didn't have time to retake. I have a super-short day today as the youngest of teh James Juniors has 2 exams and is on early pick up, so just time for a speedy lunch then I'm back in the car for the school run! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SENDING SMILES PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (21.00)	SENDING DIES (ENGLISH) (31.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BUBBLE BATH CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	METALLICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)	RHINESTONE BASIC JEWELS (5.75)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)

We are having a two-post Tuesday today since in addition to my regular CAS Colours & Sketches post, I am guesting with the team over at The Colour Hues Challenge following my win for challenge #62 with my purple and green card - you can see that card here if you missed it.

So their new challenge is an interesting one for this time of year - take a look:

Yes, orange and slate grey - a combination I rarely consider outside of Halloween season, so I found this one a challenge in the true sense of the word! I love the slate grey, but what to do with the orange? Having had a little play, I finally came up with something that I think works - take a look:

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

I decided to use the slate grey for my card base, adding some tone-on-tone splatter with a grey marker, and added a double sprig of flowers from Dainty Delight with a trio of white daisies. I used retired Pale Papaya for my stems, that I added Pumpkin pie ink to with a blending brush to bring out the orange tones, and used the true Pumpkin Pie Orange sparingly for small flower heads and daisy centres: 

A sprinkling of gems and a white embossed sentiment complete my card. So what do you think? Did I successfully manage to use the orange to add a pop of colour to my otherwise sombre sympathy card? I hope so, but I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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:

DAINTY DELIGHT DIES (34.00)	SOMETHING FANCY CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (22.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	BASIC GRAY A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
PUMPKIN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	PUMPKIN PIE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)