Today I'm sharing a second card (get me!) that uses the current sketch over at Inspire.Create and I'm squeezing in a link up:

I'm not that organised; I intended to blog this yesterday, but clearing away the Christmas decorations and a pre-season hockey get-together in the evening meant I ran out of time :-) Anyway, I digress! I used a trio of fun Sale-A-Bration items to create a Monet-inspired waterlily shaker card - take a look:

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

Lily Impressions - With so many lovely free products to choose from, Sale-A-Bration is always a special time and today my card features three of the items you can obtain FREE with a £45 Stampin' Up! purchase. Whilst the sketch was the starting point for my card, the design is inspired by the lovely Lily Impressions Designer Series Paper. The impressionistic images and rich colours of these papers make elegant, bold backgrounds and I chose one of the waterlily patterns for my cardfront. I love the loose Monet-like brushstroke effect and if you look closely you can see the paper has the appearance of canvas, just like an oil painting. 

Lovely Lily - I didn't do a huge amount of stamping on this card. Aside from the sentiment (from the 'Botanical Bliss' stamp set) I stamped the large outlined waterlily in Melon Mambo on the inside on my shaker. I added a little one to my envelope and inside too, this time using both sides of the stamp to both outline and colour - yes, this set is reversible so will do both simply by reversing the stamp. 

Lilypad Dies - The third lily item in the Sale-A-Bration is the Lilypad Dies. A collection of outline and more detailed dies of both waterlily blooms, leaves and lilypads, along with an interesting diecut/border piece too. The dies are free with a £90 purchase, whereas the stamps and papers can be yours with two £45 purchases respectively. I used the largest outline to create the window for my shaker element and added some retired Melon Mambo sequins for the interactive element for a little co-ordinated sparkle.

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:

Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Window Sheets (£4.75)	Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Foam Adhesive Strips (£7.25)	Botanical Bliss Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Lovely Lily Pad Photopolymer Stamp Set (£0.00)	Lily Pad Dies (£0.00)
Lily Impressions Designer Series Paper (£0.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Metallic Baker’S Twine & Sequins Combo Pack (£0.00)

Hello everyone - it's time to shake off the January blues, today is THE day - yes, the highlight of the Stampin' Up! calendar, Sale-A-Bration 2020 is here! No more sneak peeks - the catalogue is available, the shop is live and from now until 31st March the benefits are yours for the taking. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page or below to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or click on the icon above or on the right to go directly to my online shopto place an order - we are LIVE!

So what is Sale-A-Bration? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host:

Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 3 January and 31 March. There is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £90 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! 

It’s also the best time of year to join Stampin’ Up! There is a fabulous joining option during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion: as usual, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £130 of FREE products for your Starter Kit. In addition to an extra £31 worth of product in your starter kit, exclusive to Sale-A-Bration, you will also get the following items FREE:

• A new Mini Paper Cutter
• A 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper Sampler pack
• Your choice of any stamp set offered in current catalogues (host sets and Sale-A-Bration sets excluded)

Isn't that just great?! Plus, the whole kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. 

It's also a great time to host a Stampin' Up! party. When you host a party and have party sales of £275 or more (this also applies to individual orders), you will earn the exclusive Little Ladybug stamp set for FREE in addition to your usual Stampin' Rewards. Party sales of £400 or more also earn one 50% off item. What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a party, real or virtual, please do get in touch; my diary is filling up but there are still lots of slots available and I would love to share these great benefits with you. Equally if you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator; paper copies have been sent to my regular customers. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back soon with lots of projects showcasing products from the new catalogue. Until then, happy shopping!

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's Laurie's turn to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month we have a tic-tac-toe challenge for you to work with:

I really struggled with my card today - too many options to choose from on Laurie's fabulous board! I was also under a little time pressure having left my card to the last minute, which is never good for creativity! I also used this week's sketch over at Stamp Ink Paper which is great for a blank canvas with a central focal sentiment and my card also happens to use the colours over at Color Throwdown this week (as close as I have to them). So after much deliberating, I went down the left hand row of Laurie's TicTacToe board to create an Easter card (I've just realised it works for the diagonal too!) - take a look:

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

Sale-A-Bration Shades of Purple - I chose to feature this pretty floral paper from the Sale-A-Bration Botanical Butterfly paper pack as the background for my card today. Such a pretty pattern - if you like it as much as I do, then you only have today to still snap it up as this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion is finally coming to an end. I softened it with a piece of vellum, so that it didn't distract from my main design yet still adds a delicate pattern detail.

Cross Of Hope - Today's Easter card features a layered cross as the basis for the centre piece: a simple cross cut from Wood Textures DSP and overlaid with a simple silver one at its centre. There are some beautiful cross dies in this framelit set (check out my fellow paper Player LeAnne's card for an example of one of my favourites) however simple was my choice for today to allow my florals to shine. 

Easter Greetings - I inked my floral stem with my Stampin' Write markers and overlaid the whole thing with an uplifting sentiment from the 'Hold on To Hope' stamp set, which I heat embossed in silver onto white - I think this is a lovely banner for Easter. A linen twine bow and some glitter enamel dots finish my card. 

So what do you think? In hindsight I think my card might have needed to be smaller in size or with a few extra layers behind, as the centre still seems a little overwhelmed by the background, but in the end I just decided to go with it! Feel free to let me know what you think in a comment below - it may prompt a rework!

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:

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

It's Mother's Day here in the UK and we still have our German exchange student staying with us, so having experienced the delights of traditional British fish and chips yesterday, we are out to afternoon tea today. I'll try and remember to take a picture to share with you tomorrow! I'll be back tomorrow with another project and news of the fabulous new range of Stampin' Up! storage that will be on sale from April 1st - and that's no joke! Until then, enjoy your day and happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cross Of Hope Framelits Dies (£25.00)	Hold On To Hope Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Vellum A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)
Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)
Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£10.25)	Silver Foil Sheets (£3.75)	Old Olive Linen Thread (£4.75)	Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper (£0.00)

Today I've just got time for a quick post to share another card made using the Sale-A-Bration stamp set 'By The Bay' that I made a while ago but haven't got around to blogging. Here's my card:

A simple scene watercoloured on shimmery white paper with inks and an aquapainter, layered with a tone-on-tone panel of Balmy Blue embossed with the Stripes embossing folder and paired with some burlap and leaves and a sentiment with stitched edge detail. Easy as that! You have only 4 more days to snap it up for free with a £45 order so if it's on your list, get your order in before the weekend. 

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. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

By The Bay Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Simple Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon (£6.50)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Wonderful Floral Framelits Dies (£32.00)

No post yesterday I'm afraid as my day was long and busy, from the moment the youngest James Junior got dropped off at school at the crack of dawn to go on his school trip to Paris to an evening spent helping out with a local Brownie pack followed by Girl Guides doing a spot of Mother's Day crafting. Today has seen the arrival of our German language school exchange student, but a long journey has resulted in an early night so I've time to sit and blog this evening. Today I'm sharing the most popular card from my last Sale-a-Bration class that features not one, but three of the fabulous products that can be yours free with a purchase of £45 or more:

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

A Trio of Sale-A-Bration Goodness - Today's card features three of the Sale-A-Bration goodies that are still available for you to receive free with a spend of £45 - can you spot them all? The wooden butterfly from the Butterfly Elements, and a piece of Grapefruit Grove foil sheet that has been embossed with the Country Florals Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This card is so simple to recreate and would work in lots of alternative colours too - the ladies in my class loved it! Check out the detail of the foil embossing - it really is lovely. 

Shop, Host, Join: There's Still Time - So whether you are going to shop and spend £45 or more (you get one free item for each £45 spend, or one of the higher-value ones for a £90 spend) or host your own party (an online party - or single qualifying order if your shopping list is a long one! - are still options at this stage), you still have 5 days to do so, so get those orders in. 

Join My Team For An Extra Sweet Reward - Whether you are a hobbyist or would like to build a business of your own, there's never been a better time to invest in a Stampin' up! starter kit. Not only will you receive £170 of product of your choice for a £99 spend, if you pay an additional £26 you can receive the fabulous and super-useful craft and carry tote too. You can read more about all of the Sale-A-Bration offers in my earlier post here; if you've any further offers, or would like to chat to me and find out the details of a special incentive that I am offering for qualifying joiners this week, do get in touch - I would love you to join my team.

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. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Butterfly Elements (£0.00)	Grapefruit Grove & Lovely Lipstick Foil Sheets (£0.00)	Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£0.00)	Butterfly Gala Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch (£15.00)

It's Tuesday and I have another animal card for you - actually the first one that I created out of the three I've shared with you in the last few days! This is my main card for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink where the lovely ladies are all about the letter 'J' :

I am also using Julee's Mojo Monday sketch layout and the colours over at As You See It for my card today.

I love these letter challenges from the JAI team as they really challenge the old grey matter! When having my personal brainstorm of things beginning with J, just like a number of the DT members I immediately thought of the 'Jar of Love' stamp set and 'jigsaw' (check out Lou Kitzlemann's fabulous take on this theme via the link above). I did go with their 'joey' suggestion yesterday, but also came up with a few more of my own (journalling, joined, just because and Joanne to name but a few!) I decided to go with my favourite though, which was 'jumping' and decided it was a great opportunity for a fun interactive card using my free Sale-A-Bration stamp set 'So Hoppy Together' - take a look:

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

J is For Jumping - So whilst the interactive element is not immediately obvious from the flat lay of my photo, my frog is definitely jumping! I've used the frog that is actually riding a unicycle on the stamp, having selectively masked off the unicycle before stamping (I know, I could have just cut my stamp in half and lots of demo friends have, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it!!) Hop Around Framelits Dies to cut him out easily. I coloured him in Granny Apple Green Blends and then attached him to my card with a spring to give him a wobble so that he really way jumping for joy - you can see that in the short video clip below that I shared on my Facebook page today:

The spring simply attaches to the back of the frog with tape, with the other end pushed through the sentiment circle and secured in place on the reverse. Such fun!

Hop To It - I paired my frog with a piece of the Animal Expedition designer series paper that featured frogs on branches as I thought he would make the perfect friend for my jumping frog. I cut my paper carefully to make sure that my frog was both looking in the right direction and positioned in the centre of my square to compliment the overall layout. 

A Creative Sentiment - There are some great additional sentiments in the limited edition 'More Than Words' stamp set that is available this month that co-ordinate with the 'So happy together' frog set, including one that says "leaping for joy is easy to do" - I needed mine to say 'jumping for joy' though to truly fit with the 'J' theme, so I masked out the word 'leaping' and replaced it with 'JUMPING' which features on another stamp in this set, stamping my main sentiment in Soft Suede and my 'JUMPING' in Shaded Spruce for emphasis. The sentiment resolves with the other half on the inside of the card, which I decorated with another jumping frog:

I'm not sure whether it was my excitement at finding my 'J' solution or the fact that this card has a really simple interactive element, but this is one of those cards that is pure fun and I just couldn't wait to share with you! 

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

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

Enjoy your day. I have a busy day at my desk and am out visiting the lovely Jane and her crafty friends for a Stampin' Up! party this evening, so mine will be a long but productive one! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£33.00)	So Hoppy Together Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

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Happy Monday everyone! Today is the start of my class week, so it will b a busy one Chez James! Today's card is one I made that uses the current sketch layout over at Just Add Ink and the colour palette at Color Throwdown:

I thought these colours would be perfect for a birthday card featuring one of the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Lovely Lattice - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lovely Lattice - There is lots you can do with this stamped image - many ways to colour it, and lots of options to cut it out and build layers and dimension with the flowers too - but I like it because the main image is one of those that can fill the card and there isn't much else required. I heat embossed my image in white onto Crumb Cake cardstock which really does show the detail of the lattice behind the flowers beautifully. For a free stamp set, this one really is rather pretty - and still available if you'd like to get your hands on it with a spend of £45 or more. Who doesn't love FREE product?!

Colour on Kraft - I decided to colour the image using my watercolour pencils, but dry with no added water for blending, as I wanted to see the pencil strokes; I used a combination of Gorgeous Grape, white and Basic Grey pencils, with a tiny spot of Crushed Curry for the flower stamens. 

Birthday Wishes - The 'Lovely Lattice' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I reached for one of my favourites from the current Spring-Summer catalogue that you haven't seen me use much here on my blog but rest assured they will be a keeper for me, regardless of whether or not they carry over to this year's new annual catalogue: the Well Said bundle. The' Well Said' stamp set combined with the Well Written Framelits dies really are the perfect pair and allow you to create endless sentiment combinations. I added a piece of Gorgeous Grape mini striped ribbon behind my layered sentiment and a sprinkling of pearls to 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. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lovely Lattice Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Well Said Cling Bundle (£71.00)	Gorgeous Grape 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Mini Striped Ribbon (£7.50)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Gorgeous Grape A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pearl Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Inspire.Create Challenges where they have a beautiful Spring colour palette this week:

With the unseasonably warm weather we have been having here in the UK this past week or so, I am definitely feeling like Spring is around the corner. The flowers in the garden are waiting to burst into bloom so I just had to use these fresh colours for another dry embossed card using one of my current favourites from the second Sale-A-Bration release that went live on 15th February, the new Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder: 

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

Country Floral - I couldn't resist the opportunity to create another card using the new Country Floral dynamic embossing folder. This time I tried something else new that is the reverse of this card that I shared with you the other day - I embossed a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then used my Blends markers in the challenge colours to colour the individual flowers. A little quicker than my previous card and a great way to include all of these lovely spring colours. 

A Perennial Birthday - I used a sentiment from the Perennial Birthday set in the annual catalogue on my card - the script compliments the embossing folder I think. I stamped mine using Pool Party ink on Whisper White and punched it out using the Everyday Label Punch and trimmed it slightly so that it could be matted with a Daffodil Delight base. 

Sale-A-Bration New Releases - My card today does use some of the Sale-A-Bration organdy ribbon that sold out some weeks ago. I don't like to tempt you with something you can no longer get your hands on, but it was the perfect finishing touch for my card. There is good news though - as of March 1st there are even more FREE product choices for the remainder of Sale-A-Bration (you can read all about them in my earlier post here if you missed it) so there is lots more to choose from!

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. 

I am busy hosting my first residential crafting retreat of the year this weekend so I have a whole day of crafting fun ahead with some fabulous ladies. I will have more to share with you about it later this week, but in the meantime, if this is the kind of thing that appeals to you, why not check out the details for my next one in October here. It's open for booking and I would love to welcome you!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£0.00)	Everyday Label Punch (£17.00)	Perennial Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

It's Friday 1st March - the end of the week and a Happy St David's Day to all my Welsh friends reading this! Lots of business news today - so get comfy! First up - Sale-A-Bration Co-ordination!

From today until the end of the month, you can choose from a selection of exclusive, limited-time products that have been designed specifically to co-ordinate with existing Sale-A-Bration items - take a look at the items on offer:

If you're not a fan of fussy cutting, there are some super-useful framelits in there! A great stamp set that you'll be seeing me using and an interesting shaped label punch. If these new items appeal to you, just click on the links to these products in my online store  below:

More Than Words Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Lily Framelits Dies (£25.00)	Call Me Cupcake Framelits Dies (£25.00)	Hop Around Framelits Dies (£25.00)	Four Seasons Framelits Dies (£26.00)
Story Label Punch (£17.00)

Here's a sneak peek of a card we made in my last Sale-A-Bration class that is a CASE of one of the catalogue samples that shows just what a difference the Hop Around Framelits make - such a crisp, even border:

Next up: you all know that this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion will end on 31st March and in addition to hosting and joining benefits (you can read about those here) you also earn a free product for every £45/90 spend - you can see the existing items here and here.

Good news: from now until the 31st March, you will also be able to choose from a number of other items (you must use the special code as detailed as opposed to the usual item code to get one of these items free with a £45/90 spend):

As you can see, this new selection also includes the gorgeous Painted Seasons Designer Series Paper that is now available minus the stamp set that it comes with in the £90 spend bundle and can be yours free with a spend of £45 or more. 

To make things easier for you, I've created a table linking each of the products directly to the promotional item in my online store - just click on the links below:

Painted Seasons Designer Series Paper (£0.00)	Share What You Love Embellishment Kit (£0.00)	Scattered Sequins Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£0.00)	Mini Pizza Boxes (£0.00)	Pearlized Doilies (X2) (£0.00)
Rich Razzleberry 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Velvet Ribbon (X2) (£0.00)	Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper (£0.00)	Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty Paper (£0.00)

Remember, if you aren't placing your order via the above links, you need to use the special Sale-A-Bration item code for each product - these are different to the standard product codes for these items, which are still available to purchase in the annual catalogue.

If you would like more information or to place an order, either go here to purchase from my online store (don't forget to add this month's hostess code G44UFKHH) or you can email me or telephone me if you would prefer. I'm off to finish packing for the first of my Creative Escapes Craft Retreat which takes place this weekend - so exciting!

Back shortly with a new creative project; until then, happy shopping!