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

Lots of love-related elements on this week's board, but you are by no means restricted to creating a Valentines/wedding/anniversary card - this is your opportunity to get creative! I couldn't resist another card using my Floral Heart Dies and the sentiment that made me buy the accompanying stamp set - take a look:

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

You Had Me At Hello - Any of my regular readers will know that the sentiment that features on the central heart that features on today's card is a line from one of my most favourite movies of all time - Jerry Maguire. If you'd like to read the back story to this, check out this previous post where I explained all. The Floral Hearts Dies were definitely on my wish list, but it was this stamp that sold me on the bundle. What can I say - I am an old romantic at heart!

Hearts and Flowers - Having stamped my sentiment in Real Red so that the wording would appear in white (I definitely recommend using your Stamparatus for this to give good, solid ink coverage), I decided to border it with the main die from the Floral Hearts Dies in white. This card is unashamedly made with Valentines in mind, with its red and white colour combination and showy red satin ribbon and bow detail, but sometimes it just has to be done!

And More Hearts - The background designer paper is now retired, but there is a similar design in the Snail Mail pack or you could even stamp a similar design with the tiny heart stamps in the Always in my Heart stamp set. I also added a trio of bright red resin hearts to my card to finish; these are actually from the Snail Mail Suite, but work perfectly for a Valentine's card and blend easily with other sets 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. 

I might keep this card for the DH, as he would certainly appreciate the sentiment, if not the fancy heart and showy bow. We don't generally send each other Valentine's cards since we got married, as our wedding anniversary is the following week, but it sometimes serves as a useful reminder to him to get a card for the following week - it is fair to say Mr James is not known for either remembering or celebrating memorable dates without a little help, much preferring spontaneous romantic gestures. Unexpected flowers are always lovely though, so I'm not complaining!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

ALWAYS IN MY HEART BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)

REAL RED A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

REAL RED 3/8" (1 CM) DOUBLE-STITCHED SATIN RIBBON (£7.00)

RESIN HEARTS EMBELLISHMENTS (£6.50)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Today we have a sketch challenge and Jeanne has asked that we use any non-geometric shape. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I decided to make another card using the 'Snailed It' set. I know I used this set last week for my CC&S card too, but I just couldn't resist another outing (don't worry, if you're not a snail fan I have something different in store for my challenge card next week!) These snails are just perfect for a clean and simple card - take a look:

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

Snailed It - For today's card, I used the alternative snail in the 'Snailed It' set, who instead of bearing snail mail comes bearing gifts - of the birthday kind! I coloured him using my Stampin' Blends markers and took the inspiration for my colours from the other elements of the suite.

Snail Mail - I decided to create a recessed panel from the horizontal line of the sketch that is both spanned by my birth!day snail and home to a narrow strip of Snail Mail designer paper on the panel below. It's a rare thing to use designer series paper on a clean-and-simple card, but used sparingly and to accentuate a specific design element, such as the recess, and with a clear pattern element, it can be used to great effect (as I've shown here, even if I say so myself ;-) ) 

Art Gallery Birthday - Lastly, the sentiment from today's comes from the Art Gallery stamp set. This set is so, so beautiful and contain some of the most amazing florals, but is also home to some fabulous basic block-type greetings, which are perfect for clean and simple cards.

And that's it - clean and simple, done!

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; today both James Juniors are officially 'back to (virtual) school. I was fully anticipating getting some of my desk jobs ticked off, but so far I have had a steady stream of interruptions from each of them, who are both on breaks at different times and are requiring attention of one form or another, even if it's just real-life human interaction. Something tells me home-schooling is not a route to peace and quiet ... or productivity, or at least not for me anyway! Sanity aside, all being well I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SNAILED IT BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	SNAIL MAIL 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	ART GALLERY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
DAFODILL DELIGHT STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BERMUDA BAY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PETAL PINK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	REAL RED STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	PETAL PINK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

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 an interesting colour challenge for us to work with:

Now I know I said Ann had an 'interesting' colour challenge for us this week ... what I really meant to say was 'incredibly difficult'!! Or at least, it was for me this week! Whilst I don't mind any of these colours in their own, or even paired, as a trio I struggled with them. All three are featured in the new Dandy Garden designer series paper, and usually DSP would be my first port of call for a colour challenge, but the truth is I am not a fan of this pack! Or at least, I should qualify that by saying I'm not a fan of the sides with mixed colours - the monochromatic patterns in this pack are just lovely! Anyway, I had to call in help for this one, both in the form of this week's Paper Craft Crew sketch and a certain James Junior - take a look at what we came up with:

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

A Trio Of Triangles - I was drawn to this week's PCC sketch with its three triangles, as I had been having a team chat this week with one of my team who has been using her stitched triangles as part of an ongoing challenge and I mentioned that I had bought these before Christmas but not yet used them and I thought the sketch would be a good way to remedy that. The trio would also enable me to work in this week's colours, so provided a great starting point.

A Darling Donkey - I then needed to decide upon my neutral colour; this is where Rebecca, the self-confessed 'brains' behind today's card, suggested I go with grey and a donkey from the super cute 'Darling Donkeys' stamp set, one of the sets that can be yours free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration. So I coloured one of the funny kicking donkeys and fussy cut it out - perfect!

Hinge-Step HeeHaw - Finally, I just had to work out what to do use for the horizontal background panel. I decided to go with a tri-colour sentiment block, made up of alternating colours of 'heehaw!', one of the sentiments in the Darling Donkeys set. I used my Stampuratus and moved the plates up and down the hinge to perfectly space my words to create a seamless flow across the page. The Stamparatus made light work of the stamping, although 'the hands' (Rebecca's reference to my contribution!) were definitely not working as quickly as 'the brain' (apparently, since it was all her idea!!) I finished my card with a birthday sentiment and a trio of enamel dots. 

Despite my initial reservations about this week's colours, I'm actually pretty pleased with the end result. What do you think? Did Team James pull it off?! Do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll be linking today's card up over at SUO Challenges too where they have 'Designer's Choice' themes 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 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. 

Enjoy your day; I'm hoping to do a little crafting and maybe wrap up and brave the elements for a brisk walk - but I'll see what the temperatures are like first! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

STITCHED TRIANGLES DIES (£33.00)	DARLING DONKEYS CLING STAMP SET (£0.00)	CLASSIC LABEL PUNCH (£17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BLACKBERRY BLISS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MISTY MOONLIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	2020–2022 IN COLOR ENAMEL DOTS (£7.50)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our first challenge of the new year over at As you See It. We have a fresh new look thanks to Heather and Amy and I am the hostess for this week, starting us off this year with a Speed Stamping challenge. I always find myself getting distracted by the process of tidying my craft room in the new year (well, I have to make room for all of the new things Santa brought me!) so I thought this would be a good opportunity to rummage through the scrap bin and use up some of those crafty leftovers and put them to good use:

So the idea of the speed challenge is that you create a card in under 10 minutes. Thankfully this doesn't include the time to plan out your ideas; the clock only begins the minute you start to construct. Now for today's challenge I am more thankful for free planning time than ever; why? This was my scrap box before I started this challenge:

Yes, out of control in epic proportions! I haven't been through it in some time!! So first things first: I sorted through the box, made piles of things that co-ordinated in terms of colour/style/theme and created a number of piles, so that I could take each in turn and create something with it:

I ended up making a whole bunch of cards and managed to time and photograph a few of them to share with you in today's post. So here's my first card, which uses some flowers from Beautiful Friendship and Fabulous Florals stamp sets, along with a sentiment from Free As A Bird, some diecuts and an offcut of Terracotta Tile scalloped linen ribbon:

Every single one of these pieces was already cut and stamped in my box, so all I needed to do was cut a card base, layer and arrange in place, which took a record 3 minutes 19 seconds:

This card was so quick, I also pulled together a few more from the other bundles of mostly retired bits and pieces. Here's one of my favourites in Very Vanilla and Rich Razzleberry/Blackberry Bliss, with touches of gold:

This one took a little longer at 8 minutes 10 seconds, but still within a 10 minute window. Here's another:

The brick-embossed cardbase was already in my box so this was a super quick make too, at just 2 minutes and 21 seconds. The quickest card was this one though, at just 2 minutes and 21 seconds:

This one uses a foil-striped diecut and a heat embossed sentiment that is easier to see at an angle:

And finally I made a gift tag with another pile of scraps:

I've since completed another 5 cards too with the other bits and pieces. My scrap box is much depeleted and I've gained additional space on my desk - bonus!

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 speed stamping challenge, please time yourself and say in your post how long your card took to complete. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used (main card only):

BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	FREE AS A BIRD CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	ALL THINGS FABULOUS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£20.00)	BE MINE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	TERRACOTTA TILE 1/2" (1.3 CM) SCALLOPED LINEN RIBBON (£7.50)
BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
MOSSY MEADOW CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made with this week's colour challenge over at TGIF Challenges in mind:

I had a piece of black and white True love Designer Series Paper out on my desk after making this card, so decided instead if tidying it away to use it up and this black and white challenge seemed like a great opportunity. This is what I came up with:

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

I used lots of the same elements as my previous card, including those gorgeous Always Dies. This time I diecut my 'Love' 3 times and stacked it to create a dimension diecut and combined it with a reverse white-on-black 'with'. There are lots of ways you can combine sentiments using these dies and they don't all have to be with weddings/anniversaries/Valentines in mind; the sentiment on my card is sufficiently generic that it could be used for anything. Again I added some of those matt dots, along with some twine to jazz up my scalloped rectangle. I offset this layer slightly to show a wider piece of the DSP behind, as the pattern got a little lost when it was centred and I really like the effect. And that's all there was to it!

If you love working with black and white as a combo, you should definitely check out the TGIF DT cards and the gallery this week - there are some great examples to feast your eyes on!

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:

FOREVER AND ALWAYS BUNDLE (£43.00)	TRUE LOVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	STITCHED SO SWEETLY DIES (£30.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MATTE BLACK DOTS (£6.50)	PLAYFUL PETS TRIM COMBO PACK (£7.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

Apologies everyone - this post was scheduled to go live yesterday but didn't publish (operator error, I'm afraid!) so here it is today!

We may be in a tier 5 national lockdown here in the UK, but that does mean at least lots of time for crafting! So what better time to announce that the first of this year's Sale-A-Bration 2021 promotions is here! Yes, this year times are a-changing and instead of just one 3 month long Sale-A-Bration at the start of the year, there will instead be two, slightly shorter promotions. The second one will be in July to coincide with the launch of the new annual catalogue, but the first one is happening now and runs from 5th January until 28th February. 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 how does Sale-A-Bration work? 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. You can earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 5 January and 28 February. 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 one of the best times of the 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 receive a free stack of our Regals, Subtles, Neutrals, Brights, and 2020—2022 In Color Designer Series Paper along with your Starter Kit! There couldn’t be a better time to join the Stampin’ Up! family. 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. 

Hosting is also even more rewarding during Sale-A-Bration. When you host a party and reach a certain amount in sales (see the Stampin’ Rewards chart in the Sale-A-Bration brochure for more information), you can earn a free stamp set! Even if you reaches the qualifying amount on your own outside of a party, you can earn the same free stamp set too, both in person and when shopping in my online store. 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 virtual party, please do get in touch. 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 January-June 2021 mini 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!

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This is my first proper post as a full-time design team member and am thrilled to be joining these lovely ladies! Jeanne is hosting this month and our first challenge of the new year is a colour challenge: 

 For my card today I decided to break into one of my favourite sets from the new January-June mini catalogue and create a fun card that is also perfect for the current theme word challenge over at Just Us Girls this week - take a look:

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

Snail Mail - I love the collection of cute snails that feature in the Snail Mail Suite and couldn't wait to stamp and colour one with my Blends for my card today - cute, right?! And with a friendly 'hello' speech bubble, the perfect way to send someone a little 'happy mail' and let them know you are thinking of them.

All Hearts  - I created a two-tone base for my card front and used the tiny hearts border die from the Floral Hearts Dies set to create a border edge in my Pool Party layer that reveals the Cherry Cobbler hearts from the main card base, to pick up on the heart that features on the snail's happy mail envelope. I love to find co-ordination details like this across the products in my collection.

It's In The Detail - I used the same die to add a top and bottom border to my insert and another of the stamp sets to decorate the back of my envelope to complete my card:

I left the remainder of my card insert blank as I want to use this card to send a long-overdue note to a friend of mine who now lives in the USA, so need plenty of space to write. Whilst we do share photos and such like via social media, we make an effort to keep in touch with each other the old fashioned pen-and-paper way, so I know she will appreciate the sentiment of this little snail and the preview decoration on the back of the envelope 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. 

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:

SNAILED IT BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£41.25)	FLORAL HEART DIES (£35.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BERMUDA BAY STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	POOL PARTY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BERMUDA BAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)	CRUMB CAKE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for the first challenge of the new year over at The Paper Players! We have a new trio of guest designers to welcome - hello to Debbie, Amanda and Nancy, and it's the turn of the fabulous LeAnne to host this week and she the perfect theme challenge for you to work with:

Something new - what a great theme to get our craft on into the new year! I have so many lovely new things that can't wait to share with you - I was truly spoilt for choice! I decided to use the current layout over at The Spot and use new papers, foils dies and stamps on today's card  - take a look:

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

Floral Heart Centrepiece - Today's card features a number of new items from the Love You Always suite, which includes two stamp set and die bundles. On today's card I used the fancy floral heart as my centrepiece, cut from Rococco Rose foil to compliment the foiled specialty paper that I used for my panel piece and decorated it with some additional flowers and foliage cut from other dies in the set. Isn't it just so pretty?!

Love You Always Foils - There are both solid foils and specialty foiled paper in the suite. It's always difficult to show foil to full effect on a photograph, so you'll have to take my word for it how beautiful and shiny it is! Here's another view that hopefully captures some of it for you:

Always In My Heart - The Floral Heart Dies alone are fabulous, but it also had a lovely stamp set too. I decided to go with a white heart for the front of my card, stamped in Merry Merlot (I think this red compliments Rococco Rose beautifully) given that I had used Merry Merlot for my card base and finished with a little extra stamping on the inside of my card:

It is my wedding anniversary in February, so I might save this one and use it for my dear hubby - if that's not too organised of me! So what do you think? Is the 'Love You Always' Suite one you can see yourself falling in love with? Do leave me a comment below - I will be sharing more projects using new products from this suite in the coming weeks.

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. No links to the online store today as these products are not available to purchase until 5th January; only another couple of days to wait though!

Enjoy your day; we will be taking our Christmas decorations down today as Jason is back to work tomorrow and this is definitely a two-person job. The Juniors have another week of Christmas vacation but if they had their way, we would have Christmas decorations up until April, so they can't be relied upon to help in a constructive way so it's not a job that can be left until Twelfth Night!! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ALWAYS IN MY HEART BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£46.75)	LOVE YOU ALWAYS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	LOVE YOU ALWAYS FOIL SHEETS (£9.25)	MERRY MERLOT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MERRY MERLOT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	ROCOCO ROSE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Happy new year lovely readers! I hope you have all enjoyed a restful Christmas and peaceful new year with your nearest and dearest. I have enjoyed a craft-free break over the festive period, instead spending some quality time with my family and indulging in some of my other passions, such as Lego building, board games and book reading. I am slowly getting back to crafting; I have lots of new goodies to play with so am looking forward to sharing some of those with you.Today I'm sharing a card I made for the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I love this sketch by Jennifer T and decided to create a layered sentiment and start cutting in to my new pack of True Love black and white designer series paper for my card - take a look:

I diecut the larger of my 'always' outlines out of the patterned paper and after adding some colour to the blooms on the paper with my Flirty Flamingo Blends, I popped this panel up on dimensionals. I cut the narrower 'always' out of Basic Black that I first adhered to a foam sheet and then inset this into the aperture onto the background layer and added a stamped 'forever &' to complete my sentiment, with a trio of black mat dots to finish. I also added some coloured DSP to the flap of my envelope too for a co-ordinated finishing touch.

You can see the dimension of the sentiment and the colour detail better here:

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. No online store links as these products are not available to purchase until 5th January.

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with my first challenge post for The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

FOREVER AND ALWAYS BUNDLE (£43.00)	TRUE LOVE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMNGO STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£8.50)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

Good evening everyone! I have had a busy few days with last-minute Christmas preparations so blogging has had to wait awhile, but I've managed to squeeze in some time this evening to share a card I made a few weeks ago following my 'Dove of Hope' online class that features a fun technique. The sentiment and non-traditional colour scheme also make it perfect for the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge and the challenge over at Colour Dare too:

I used the Detailed Dove Dies to create my fabulous dove and teamed it with a sentiment from the Peace and Joy bundle, along with an inked background I created using the salt technique - take a look:

Have you ever created a background using the salt technique? It's really easy: all you need to do is take a piece of watercolour paper and give it a wash in your chosen colour(s), then whilst still wet, sprinkle with salt crystals in varying sizes, some coarse and some fine, then ideally leave your background to dry naturally. When it's dry you can brush off any excess salt and you will be left with a background where the salt has created an interesting textural pattern. I added a fine spray of Frosted White Shimmer Paint too for a little added extra sparkle, before adding my layered sentiment and diecut dove.

I adore this dove die and have a few more cards with it that I've yet to share, so I'll try and add a couple more later this week if time permits. 

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'!