Happy Bank Holiday Monday to my UK readers and Happy Memorial Day to my USA readers! I'm sure like me you are spending your day differently since we are either still in lockdown or experiencing some form of social distancing, wherever you are. I actually have an online class today featuring the Birthday Jubilee bundle so my post needs to be a quick one. I do have a couple of cards to share with you though. So first up is a card using this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches: 

This layout is very similar to our Paper Players one this week, so I tried to do something different to yesterday's card and grabbed my Tropical Oasis Memories and More Cards for a colourful thank you card - take a look:

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

I paired one of the smaller colourful cards with a sheet of the Tropical Oasis paper with a rustic pattern that I embossed with the Coastal Weave Embossing Folder for added texture, then added a layered 'thanks' that I cut down from the word 'Thanksgiving' in the Word Wishes Dies. I stacked the diecut with three pieces in Early Espresso and them one in Whisper White that I offset slightly.

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 also have another quick card, it's actually notelet size, that I made using a retired Crumb Cake notelet I found as I was clearing out, along with a discarded Highland Heather mat, for the current challenge over at CASology this week:

As I was sorting through my stamps I cam across this small image in the 'Garden Shed' stamp set that was just perfect both for the challenge and to use up the bits and pieces on my desk:

I simply stamped the image, coloured with my blends, and added some linen thread to finish. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

TROPICAL OASIS MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (£10.25)	TROPICAL OASIS DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	COASTAL WEAVE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	WORD WISHES DIES (EN) (£33.00)	MANGO MELODY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
EARLY ESPRESSO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	GARDEN SHED CLING STAMP SET (£21.00)

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

I struggled a little with this week's sketch - so many possibilities I was spolied for choice! In the end, I went super simple. I love the rich colours of the inspiration photo over at Just Add Ink this week and they reminded me of one of the patterns in the Perennial Essence DSP pack, so that's where I ended up - take a look:

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

I mounted a piece of Perennial Essence paper onto a white mat and Pretty Peacock base, and framed it with a double-stitched rectangle frame before adding my sentiment banner. I heat embossed my sentiment, from the 'To A Wild Rose' stamp set, in gold onto the front of my card and finished with 'to call you my friend' inside my card. I added a few gold glittery enamel dots and my card was complete - I didn't want to do anything else to detract from that beautiful paper! I actually made two of these cards, and with the scrap of paper I had left over I made a third card that I added a gold foil Heirloom embossed frame to but no sentiment, but thought I would share with you as I still think it's rather a lovely goodbye to these two products:

I'm calling this one my 'Faux Monet' - up close you can see the canvas-effect detail of the paper and it's gorgeous.

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 am hoping for warmer temperatures and much less wind today, as I have some flowers to plant out in the garden. Yesterday was so windy it was impossible to do anything constructive outside, especially with my overgrown lockdown hair blowing into my eyes! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

TO A WILD ROSE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (EN) (£24.00)	PERENNIAL ESSENCE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£8.60)	RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BLACKBERRY BLISS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
TRIPLE BANNER PUNCH (£22.00)	EMBOSSING BUDDY (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	GOLD STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that I made with my ladies online this week to demonstrate how you can get more mileage from your dies by using them to emboss too. My card also features the colours over at Global Design Project this week:

My online class next week features the Jubilee Beauty Dies and Birthday Jubilee stamp set and they were the perfect bundle to demonstrate this technique - take a look:

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

In order to emboss with your dies, you need to use a different sandwich in your die cutting machine. I actually created two versions of the same card during my demonstration: one using the (now retired) Stampin' Up! Embossing Mats that were specifically designed for this purpose:

The other using a silicone mat in place of the thin blue rubber embossing mat - this is a great alternative and still available to purchase:

You get a slightly deeper impression using a silicone mat - if you look at the photo below, you can see the difference with the card on the left being with the embossing mat and the one on the right with the added tassle being with the silicone mat:

So which one do you prefer? One leaves a deeper impression than the other - do you have a preference? 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:

BIRTHDAY JUBILEE CLING STAMP SET (£16.00)	JUBILEE BEAUTY DIES (£16.80)	BEST DRESSED TASSELS (£7.50)	SILICONE CRAFT SHEET (£5.50)	PRETTY PEACOCK 1/2\" (1.3 CM) SCALLOPED LINEN RIBBON (£7.50)
PRETTY PEACOCK CLASSIC STAMPIN’ PAD (£7.00)	PRETTY PEACOCK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SOFT SEA FOAM A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BLUSHING BRIDE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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

We are saying goodbye to a couple of in-colours  this week, however I used the current sketch layout over at The Paper Craft Crew (welcome back Pam and the team!) and having had my preorder unboxing with some of my excited customers this week I was inspired to crack open the contents and pair these colours with some new goodies - take a look:

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

Jar Of Flowers - First new item on today's card: the Jar of Flowers Bundle. Well, technically that's two items, as the bundle contains both a stamp set and a jar punch; yes, you heard correctly - a jar punch!! The stamps in the set include a flower collection for each season of the year and today I chose to feature the sunflowers on my card; this might well be meant for autumn, but the colours give my card a distinctly summery feel so that's what I'm going with. I stamped and punched my jar twice, the second time on vellum to give the opaque look of glass and fussy cut my flowers to allow them to pop against the yellow background:

Lovely Labels Pick A Punch - The second new and exciting item on my card is the Lovely Labels Pick a Punch that I used to make my Lovely Lipstick sentiment label. This punch is a winner - it cuts 6 different sizes and shapes of labels, but the layering combinations go way beyond this. I predict this punch will be as much of a staple as the Scallop Tag Topper or Triple Banner Punches - super useful.

Ornate Thanks - I paired my card with the 'Ornate Thanks' stamp set from the Ornate Garden Suite, also a stamp set that is new to the annual catalogue but already available to customers to order early this month. I finished the heat-embossed sentiment on the front of my card with a big bold thank you inside:

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. 

If you like my card, do check out the other Design Team members cards over on the challenge page - you will notice something of a distinct theme that stretches beyond our colour palette this week! Likewise, if you are not already a customer of mine but would like to receive a copy of the new annual 2020-21 Stampin' Up! catalogue when it launches on 3rd June, do click here to email me and request a copy.

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 colour challenge, black or other neutral can be used in outlines and sentiments but no other colours should be included. Stampin’ Up colours are used for reference but colours that are a close match are welcome. 

We look forward to seeing your creations in the AYSI gallery.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ORNATE THANKS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (EN) (£17.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	LOVELY LIPSTICK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CALL ME CLOVER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CALL ME CLOVER CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	EMBOSSING BUDDY (£5.50)
VELLUM A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.25)	STAMPIN' BLENDS DAFFODIL DELIGHT COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS LOVELY LIPSTICK COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CALL ME CLOVER COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)

Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by the current Fusion Challenge that also meets the watercolour brief over at TGIF Challenges this week:

I went all-in with the Fusion sketch and photo inspiration and even created a watercolour background for my piece of Delightfully Detailed laser-cut paper -  take a look:

I generally avoid watercolour backgrounds like this as they always seem to end up a sludgy mess, but I was quite pleased to have created this one on my second attempt. I paired it with a sentiment from the 'Strong and Beautiful' stamp set which works for the Fusion theme of 'You are Enough' and split the sentiment into two parts, heat embossing the first part in white on the front of my card. This is the only thing I wish I'd done differently, as it's quite difficult to see on the photo against the pale pink background. This photo shows it a little clearer: 

I added a sprinkling of sequins and then finished my sentiment inside my card, adding another offcut of lasercut paper:

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. 

We have the last of CE exams part one today with History first thing, followed by an online unboxing of my pre-order with my online class ladies late morning - I'm not sure who is looking forward to that more, them or me! I then have a rather boring afternoon of housework lined up - I can put it off no more! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STRONG & BEAUTIFUL CLING STAMP SET (£23.00)	DELIGHTFULLY DETAILED LASER-CUT SPECIALTY PAPER (£5.20)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	FLUID 100 WATERCOLOR PAPER (£8.25)
BLUSHING BRIDE CLASSIC STAMPIN' INK REFILL (£3.50)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' INK REFILL (£3.50)	HIGHLAND HEATHER CLASSIC STAMPIN' INK REFILL (£3.50)	WOVEN THREADS SEQUIN ASSORTMENT (£4.75)	EMBOSSING BUDDY (£5.50)
VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	WHITE STAMPIN’ EMBOSS POWDER (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Fab Friday where they have a great sketch:

You all know how much I love a good sketch, although if truth be told I almost didn't make it to using this one; all that open space I was spoilt for choice as to how to interpret it. In the end, as I was sorting out my retiring supplies inspiration struck and this is what I came up with:

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

A Fabulous Sentiment - A sI was clearing the shelves, it occurred to me that the sentiment on today's card, from the retiring 'Stitched All Around' stamp set, would compliment the Best Dressed designer series papers perfectly. So I stamped it on a banner flagged with that most useful of punches, the Triple Banner Punch, and off I went!

Best Dressed - I love the 'Best Dressed' papers; whilst the stamp set and dies in the Best Dressed Suite are on carryover, the other items, including these papers aren't, so if you love them too you need to stock up now.

Finishing Touches - A card for a fabulous person needs a rather fabulous bow to finish I think, so made a double bow combining some Lovely Lipstick ribbon with some white polka dot tulle ribbon. I also fussy cut a couple of perfume bottles from the leftover scraps of DSP to decorate the inside of my card - waste not, want not and all that:

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. 

Today sees the last of the Common Entrance exams for Master James this week. We then have another week of half-term revision before the final week of back to back exams the week after. Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

STITCHED ALL AROUND CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£18.00)	BEST DRESSED DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	TRIPLE BANNER PUNCH (£22.00)	LOVELY LIPSTICK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
WHISPER WHITE 5/8\ (£7.00)

Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink where they are having a challenge inspired by our current circumstances of lockdown and social restrictions and are encouraging us to send a card to say 'hi' and remind someone we are thinking of them:

I decided to pair one of the sentiments from my #ShareSunshine digital download with a couple of giraffes with a knotty problem to create my fun card - take a look:

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

A Knotty Problem - My cute giraffes on today's card come from the 'Back on Your Feet' stamp set. A great card for get well soon messages, the images also work well paired with the #ShareSunshine download. 

Mirror, Mirror - If you have the 'Back On Your Feet' stamp set or have seen it in the catalogue, you may well be reading this and saying to yourself 'but there's only one giraffe in this set, not two?' And you'd be right of course. To create my socially distanced giraffes, I used my Stamparatus and a silicone mat to enable me to 'mirror' my second giraffe. I have been running a series of free short online demonstrations each week with my online class ladies in between our paid classes and last week we spent our sessions revisiting tools, tips and tricks that you could achieve with your Stamparatus and stamping mirror images was one of the things we covered. 

A Punched Heart - My tiny punched heart is courtesy of my Dog Builder Punch - super useful! and lastly a quick peek inside my card to see how my sentiment finishes 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.

spThat's all from me today; I am off to invigilate master James' second Common Entrance exam this week - Religion, Philosophy and Ethics - and then will be hopping online with my class ladies slightly later as a result. We are looking at 'Embossing with Dies' this morning! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BACK ON YOUR FEET CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	SOFT SUEDE CARDSTOCK A4 (£8.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)
RECTANGLE STITCHED DIES (£33.00)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS DAFFODIL DELIGHT COMBO PACK (£8.50)	DARK SMOKY SLATE STAMPIN' BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	DOG BUILDER PUNCH (£17.00)

Monday already - where does the week go?! I meant to blog this card last Friday and the end of the week simply ran away from me. Anyway, today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's Less Is More Challenge and the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS:

Yes, LIM wanted cards in cream and white and Addicted to CAS have the code word of flower. I have done all-white type cards before and these are always a challenge. I haven't managed to play along over at Less Is More in a while so thought this would be a good time to remedy that - take a look at what I created:

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

A Laser Cut Cheat - I used some retired Delightfully Detailed Lasercut Specialty Paper for my showcase floral flourish on today's card. It's white on one side and vanilla on the other. For today's card, I used the white side against a vanilla card base and snipped a piece to the size I wanted from a larger 12" x 12" sheet. This paper is still available on the Clearance Rack (just click on the link below) if you would like to recreate my card.

It's All About Texture - When using only shades of cream and white, I find texture plays an important role in creating interest, whilst maintaining a clean and simple feel. So in addition to my laser-cut floral flourish, I embossed my card base with the Subtles Embossing Folder and added a simple diecut sentiment from white sparkle glimmer paper for added interest. 

Inside Reversal - I added another piece of laser-cut paper inside my card, this showing the reversed side so that the vanilla shows up against the white lining. I stamped my sentiment in Sahara Sand to maintain the neutral feel: 

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 do have another card to share today so I'll be back with that later! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SUBTLE 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£9.25)	DELIGHTFULLY DETAILED LASER-CUT SPECIALTY PAPER (£5.20)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	SPARKLE GLIMMER PAPER (£4.75)	SWEET SILHOUETTES DIES (EN) (£33.00)
SAHARA SAND CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SILHOUETTE SCENES CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£21.00)

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 a great clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I was intrigued by Kim's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and armed with this and one of my personal favourite stamp sets for masculine cards I created my card - take a look:

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

I had already decided that I would use the 'A Good Man' stamp set for my card this week as it really lends itself to clean and simple cards. I stamped and coloured my image and created my woven cardstock trim as per Kim's sketch, having stamped my sentiment on the horizontal strip and I was done - minimal layers (virtually one layer), no embellishments and plenty of white space - yep, I met the clean and simple brief!

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 spent yesterday finishing the last of my big garden cleaning jobs, with patios cleaned and garden furniture ready now for waxing. I'll be taking it easier today with some cooking and last-minute revision with the youngest James Junior in readiness for the first of this week's Common Entrance exam papers tomorrow - Geography and maybe a leisurely family bike ride too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

A GOOD MAN CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£22.00)	STAMPIN' BLENDS CALYPSO CORAL COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS SOFT SUEDE COMBO PACK (£8.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS NIGHT OF NAVY COMBO PACK (£8.50)	LIGHT BALMY BLUE STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)
STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (£4.25)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CALYPSO CORAL A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	CRUMB CAKE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

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

I had another crack at Brian's CAS(E) This Sketch layout today and my card also uses the colours over at The Card Concept, and whilst I have stripes they aren't of the patriotic kind - take a look:

I chose the right-hand column of Punny Sentiment - Masculine - Punched Shape for my card today and this is how I achieved it:

Punny Sentiment - I love a punny sentiment and the 'Outdoor Barbeque' set in the current Spring-Summer catalogue has a few of them! I especially love this one with the picture of a steak - I mean, who puts a steak on a card, right?! This is perfect for the Dad of the James household - this is exactly how he likes his steak cooked and he is a rare breed indeed (read into that what you may!) I finished the sentiment inside my card with this stamp from the 'A Wish For Everything' set:

Masculine - I'm not sure many females would relish a juicy streak on the front of a card - I'm more a hearts and flowers girl myself! - so that definitely puts this card into male territory. Besides, our Dad is most definitely the king of the BBQ - a very masculine domain! That's where my blue striped paper comes in too; it's from the now retired Come Sail Away DSP but on my card serves as a nod to my husband's navy and white butcher-striped BBQ apron.

Punched Shape - Lastly, I used the Classic Label Punch to punch out the sentiment on the front of my card and pop it up on dimensionals; I cut a long thin strip of cardstock to stamp my sentiment on then fed it into each end of my punch in turn, as the punch was too short to get it in one go. 

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; my day today revolves around laundry, craft, CE revision - the usual! I am also expecting visit number 2 from the oven repair man (my oven is actually in bits on the kitchen floor as we speak - it seems no other Neff oven has experienced the same fault as mine, go figure!!) and a socially distanced interaction with one of my friends and neighbours, who excitedly called me yesterday to say she had managed to get her hands on some plain four and would be bringing some round for me - sometimes the little things are so exciting and this will undoubtedly be the highlight of my day today! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

OUTDOOR BARBECUE CLING STAMP SET (£18.00)	STITCHED SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	A WISH FOR EVERYTHING CLING STAMP SET (EN) (£36.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	WHISPER WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)
DARK CHERRY COBBLER STAMPIN' BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	CAJUN CRAZE DARK STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	LIGHT SO SAFFRON STAMPIN’ BLENDS MARKER (£4.25)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	CLASSIC LABEL PUNCH (£17.00)