Happy Friday everyone! Today I have my card for the new challenge over at Festive Friday:

The challenge that we are celebrating this week is 'National Peanut Butter Lovers Day' which is on 24th January each year. 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 baked goods, brown and enamel dots for my clean and simple cookie card today - check it out:

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

Nothing's Better Than ... - I love the sentiment combinations in the 'Nothing's Better Than' stamp set - I mean, coffee, chocolate, cookies and cocktails!! I'm a tea drinker over coffee, but that would disrupt the 'c's, so I'm good with it! Today's card of course features cookies as my baked goods; the fun thing about the sentiments in this set is that they can be used inside and outside to make fun combinations - this is how I finished the inside of today's card:

... Cookies - I used a simple layered square for the sentiment on the front of my card, backed with a strip of (retired) pink plaid paper, and accented my sentiment with a couple of diecut cookies, complete with crumbs:

A trio of pink enamel dots complete today's 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. 

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 Challenge Design team:

Ann Schach
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters
Jaydee
Diane Evans
Joanne James

Enjoy your day; it's the last day of half-term today however with the impending storm the James Juniors and I shall be battonning down the hatches and spending the day indoors! and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

NOTHING'S BETTER THAN PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	LOVE YOU MORE THAN DIES (£28.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing a second card that combines a couple of challenges:

The trend in focus over at Just Us Girls is to use a die as a stencil and over at Time Out the challenge is to case a card by the fabulous Michele Ferguson of I Card Everyone. I have been experimenting with stencils - and dies as stencils - quite a bit lately, with varying degrees of success so the JUGS team are most definitely onto something! I had also been playing around with ideas to CASE Michele's beautiful card over at Time Out - if you've never seen Michele's work, you should definitely pay a visit to her blog or look her up on social media - she makes the most amazing creations and is just the nicest person! In an effort to create something that was unique but had a clear nod to Michele's card, I decided to combine both challenges. This is what I came up with:

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

A Floral Heart - I decided that the Floral Hearts Dies that I've used a few times lately might work as a stencil. I used the die to make a stencil, replacing the heart in the centre then using a blending brush with some Polished Pink ink to add ink and fade from the centre outwards. This is what the finished stencilled panel looked like:

I love the effect of the soft, pale pink and subtle stencilled pattern, although it was tricky to capture on the finished card.

Here For You - I decided to add a 'here for you' diecut sentiment from the Here Together Dies to a white heart for the centrepiece of my stencilled card, tucking in a few additional pieces of white diecut foliage behind my heart and a trio of iridescent rhinestones to finish:

With an alternative sentiment this card would work for a variety of occasions, including a wedding or anniversary I think.

To 'CASE' - I've talked about it here before, but the expression to 'CASE' or Copy And Share Everything' is really about using someone's work to inspire you to create something unique with a nod to the original in a variety of ways. When looking at Michele's original card, I retained the white heart as a focal point with a white-on-white sentiment, and used a combination of pink and white foliage/florals around the outer edge of the heart. Whilst there are similarities, there are also aspects of my card that are unique, such as the ink and stencilling. Side by side, my inspiration is clear - but I also created something that has its own sense of individuality too. I'm not sure that my card does Michele's justice, but it was a fun exercise!

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 evening and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at Festive Friday. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)

HERE FOR YOU DIES (ENGLISH) (£30.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

IRIDESCENT RHINESTONES BASIC JEWELS (£7.00)

BLENDING BRUSHES (£11.25)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for fun using the sketch over at TGIF Challenges and the pink and blue inspiration board over at Hand Stamped Sentiments , where the same colours feature at Colour Hues too:

I love the pink and blue colours of the HSS board and was particularly drawn to the florals and the pink camper van with the palm trees. It was the perfect opportunity to ink up the cute camper in the Sale-A-Bration 'Driving By' stamp set - take a look:

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

I used hexagons cut using my Beautiful Shapes Dies, as opposed to a heart as the basis for design, having cut one in the gold-splattered navy paper from the Abstract Beauty pack, and layered it with gold vellum and a double-edged gold hexagon from the Expressions In Ink Ephemera pack, although you could be forgiven for not being able to tell; I didn't have any palm trees, so I used the retired 'Tropical Chic' stamp set and Tropical Thinlits Dies to create some bi-coloured florals and tropical leaves as a back drop for my fun camper van, that I coloured with Blends. Once I'd started layering, I just couldn't stop! I also added in some gold foliage and gold faceted gems alongside my sentiment to finish:

This is one of those cards that I wanted to create 'just for fun' - the sketch and inspo board were too good to pass up!

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:

DRIVING BY CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	ABSTRACT BEAUTY 4" X 6" (10.2 X 15.2 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	BEAUTIFUL SHAPES DIES (£27.00)	EXPRESSIONS IN INK EPHEMERA PACK (£6.50)	BLUSHING BRIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BLUSHING BRIDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. YoonYoung is hosting this month and our challenge this week is a colour challenge: 

I struggled with this week's colours - they were a little dark for me to get my head around. After much to-ing and fro-ing, I decided they would work for Christmas so settled on a simple cluster of festive foliage cut with the Christmas Trimmings Dies and tied with a simple gold twine bow: 

I added a sentiment from a retired Christmas set and then grounded this with some diecut detailing below:

If you'd like to know more about how I created the diecut border detail, then checkout the Tuesday Tip in my 'Crafty Owl Creatives' Facebook Group - if you're not already a member, you can join here. Despite my struggles, I actually quite like the finished card. I'm looking forward to see what you all create with these colours 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. 

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.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CHRISTMAS TRIMMINGS DIES (£25.00)	EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	EVENING EVERGREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MERRY MERLOT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MERRY MERLOT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fusion where I used both the sketch and the pink and red hearts in the photo for my inspiration:

No cupcakes on today's card, although I did try and incorporate a little chocolate brown colour! I I have a card that would work for Valentine's, or any other time that you'd like to let someone know how awesome they are - take a look:

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

Today's card features one of the cute otters from the 'Awesome Otters' stamp set - one of the many items that can be yours free with a £45 purchase during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion. I coloured him with my new skin tone Blends markers - so great to now have so many neutral tone Blends to choose from! - and then heat embossed a sentiment from the same set onto a red diecut heart for him to hold. I love that the heart is so big it looks like the otter can barely hold it up!

I backed the whole thing with more of my favourite Sweet Talk heart patterned paper, and for the horizontal banner added a red glimmer diecut; what to use for the horizontal caused me most of the thinking time on today's card and I tried a whole range of things before settling on this!

Did you know that otters hold hands so that they don't drift away from each other as they sleep? I think that's so sweet! My other half definitely does not display any otter-like tendencies, preferring plenty of space down the middle of the bed to ensure a good night's sleep! He's thoughtful in other ways though - and will be cooking Valentine's dinner for four this evening, so no complaints from me!

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:

AWESOME OTTERS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	SWEET TALK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	BLUSHING BRIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM COMBO (£8.25)	STAMPIN’ BLENDS MEDIUM DEEP COMBO (£8.25)

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 a bright and cheery colour challenge for you to work with:

I used Kim's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week for my layout and decided to create something fresh with a hint of spring - take a look:

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

Special Moments - I love Kim's sketch this week and will most definitely be CASing her card using my favourite Floral Squares Dies. I decided to use the square to feature my sentiment and the circle for my floral decoration. I love this sentiment from the current Sale-A-Bration set 'Special Moments' - it is a paired sentiment that finishes like this on the inside of my card:

Isn't that so sweet? Perfect to let a friend know how much they mean to you. I layered my sentiment square and added a strip of Sunshine and Rainbows designer paper behind - another Sale-A-Bration freebie!

Pierced Blooms and Stitched Greenery - In addition to my sentiment, my card is all about stitched detailing. I used the Pierced Blooms Dies to create my trio of flowers and leaf stems in the challenge colours to add to the corner of my sentiment square and diecut the background with the Stitched Greenery Dies.

Brass Butterflies - As a finishing touch, I added a couple of teeny tiny brass butterfly embellishments to my sentiment square; these are in the mini catalogue - aren't they sweet?

I really like LeAnne's colour choices this week - they are just the thing to bring a breath of fresh air and spring colour on a cold winter's day!

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; we have no plans so will be spending it enjoying the start of the half-term break. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SPECIAL MOMENTS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£0.00)	SUNSHINE & RAINBOWS 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)	STITCHED GREENERY DIE (£30.00)	PIERCED BLOOMS DIES (£34.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BRUSHED BRASS BUTTERFLIES (£9.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a fun 'fill in the blank' challenge:

A favourite technique - how fun! I decided to choose inlaid diecut technique as one of my favourite techniques to share with you today and decided to have another crack at the inspiration photo over at The Card Concept, this time with a clean and layered card (you can see my earlier clean and simple entry here in case you missed it). I was totally inspired by the greenery and pink flowers of that beautiful heart and the texture of the white brick wall behind and where better to turn to demonstrate the inlaid diecut technique than my trusty Floral Heart Dies - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Floral Hearts Dies and Inlaid Diecuts - I cut out the main heart from a piece of green ink-washed watercolour paper and added some additional pieces of foliage as the basis for my heart wreath, then used the separate flower dies to cut out the flowers in both Melon Mambo and Flirty Flamingo. Before brushing out the pieces from the petals of the flower outlines, I carefully used some Press 'n' Seal to lift the pieces out in the same position. I then adhered the outline pieces to some scrap cardstock, and carefully inlaid the alternative colourway into the outline pieces. This gives a selection of two-tone flowers with all pieces intact. I love to use just the outlines of these flowers, but think they look really pretty with their infills too. This technique is quite fiddly with small pieces, however is really easy when larger diecuts are involved, such as the new Tropical Layers Dies, for example.

Textured Brick - I used the Bricks and Mortar 3D embossing folder to add texture to the base of my card; this is a great way to add detail and interest to plain white cardbase.

My Heart Is Tied To Yours - Finally, in addition to some pearls and a simple double bow, I added a banner with my favourite sentiment from the 'Eden's Garden' stamp set:

Is that not just the nicest greeting someone can see when they open a card? I think so. My card is already in the mail to someone who has been having a tough time lately and I'm hoping when she reads this it will truly warm her heart and let her know I'm thinking of her.

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.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)	EDEN'S GARDEN CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£22.00)	BRICK & MORTAR 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
PEARL BASIC JEWELS (£4.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

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 Felicita is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I went down the first column with red/heart/sentiment (my card also works for the middle row of heart/free/stitching) and I used the lovely red and pink hearts inspo over at Double D and the fabulous sketch over at Sunday Stamps (this one is a keeper ladies!) for the layout for my sweet-on-you card today - take a look:

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

Sweet Talk - The Sunday Stamps sketch was crying out for a showcase of some lovely patterned paper (check out the DT cards on the link above - they are amazing!) so I decided to go all-out pink and red hearts and use another two contrasting patterns from the Sweet Talk paper pack that I used for yesterday's card. I used one for my card base, then with a layer of Real Red in between, added a panel decorated with pink and red lollipops and hearts - so sweet!

All About The Angles - Today card is all about the angles, or more specifically, rectangles! I used two large ones for the central tilted panels, then two smaller ones for the sentiment detail. The Stitched Rectangle Dies are such a great way to frame a piece of paper or scene and add subtle detail, without detracting from the main event. 

All About Love - The die cut 'love you' sentiment on the front of my card is actually part of the larger diecut sentiment in the 'Love You More Than' Dies set, where I just used the first two words. I love to look at diecut word sets to see how they can be repurposed or reused with other sets to expand their range of use:

I fussy cut some lollipops and sweets from another of the sheets of Sweet Talk patterned paper and tucked these in just beneath my sentiment for an extra fun touch.

I added a sentiment from 'A Wish For Everything' to the inside of my card - this is one of my favourite sentiment sets:

My card can be used at any time to remind the recipient that they are loved - after all, to love is for always, not just for Valentine's!

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 evening; I am out this evening attending a music recital that includes a performance of a piece of music that Rebecca wrote for her GCSE Music exam earlier this year. When I asked if she'd like to come with me, she said 'Why would I want to do that? I wrote it, so I know what it sounds like - I'm off to hockey training!' And that was the end of that - you can't fault teenage logic!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

SWEET TALK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

LOVE YOU MORE THAN DIES (£28.00)

STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)

A WISH FOR EVERYTHING CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£36.00)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

Today I'm sharing a quick card that uses the colours and inspiration photo over at Color Dare that is perfect for the JUGS Challenge this week too:

I thought this pattern in the 'Sweet Talk' designer series paper pack, covered in love hearts is pretty much all of the colours in the inspiration photo, would be perfect for a quick card for your 'Galentine' (apparently that is a word!) - take a look:

I snipped off the corner and placed another pattern from this pack (it just so happens to be the reverse of the main sheet) underneath, adding a heart diecut border cut with one of the dies in the Floral Hearts Dies set across the join, and finished with a diecut heart in Petal Pink that I retrieved from my scrap box (it was actually cut from the centre of the large floral die in the aforementioned set) and adding a trio of 'BFF' white letters cut with my Playful Alphabets Dies for my very own 'love heart' focal point:

Super simple, no stamping and a great way to let the paper do all the hard work - I love that jumble of colourful hearts!

So is it me, or do teenagers use acronyms such as 'BFF' ('best friend forever' in case you're not familiar!) more and more these days? They creep into our family WhatsApp chats such that sometimes I feel like I need a translator to understand what's going on - I must be getting old lol! (there's another one!) And for anyone out there not familiar with the concept of 'Galentine's Day' - this is celebrated on February 13th and is a combination of the words 'gal' and 'valentine' and was coined as the perfect day to celebrate female friendships - so there's something else to add to the cardmaking calendar!

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:

SWEET TALK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)

PLAYFUL ALPHABET DIES (£32.00)

PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and YoonYoung has asked that we include a trio of shapes towards the bottom of our panel and overlay with a sentiment. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I thought I'd get a little practice using my new skin tone Blends and feature the 'heart hands' from the 'Here Together' stamp set - take a look:

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

I stamped and coloured my hands with SU900 and SU1000 Stampin' Blends and diecut them using my Here For you Dies, adding an arch of colour to my white cardbase before adhering them to my card. I stamped my sentiment in Versamark onto vellum and heat embossed it in (retired) Lovely Lipstick embossing powder, before wrapping this around the hands on my card and adhering on the reverse of the panel.

My card is a rather creative take on this week's sketch, with the hands representing the two outer shapes and the heart that they make the smaller central one. A vellum strip for my sentiment allows the hands and heart to remain visible, whilst also adding a pop of colour from the sentiment itself. By keeping the design to the lower portion of the card is a great way to preserve 'white space' and a clean, uncluttered feel. I'm also linking my card up with the team over at CASology, where the current theme is 'affection' - my teenage son is much more likely to make this sign with his hands than he is to kiss me these days, but he assures me it is a sign of affection so I'll take it! I'm also linking up for a second go with the lovely ladies over at Just Add Ink with another minimalist design.

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HERE TOGETHER BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£45.75)

STAMPIN’ BLENDS LIGHT COMBO PACK (£8.25)

VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)