Today it's Sunday and it's also the first of March - happy St David's Day to all my fellow Welsh men and women! It's time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the wonderful Anne Marie to host this week and she has a theme challenge for you to work with:

 I am in a bit of a clean and simple card making groove of late - and today I have another CAS creation for you. I decided to take this week's sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches and make another Easter card - take a look:

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

Turn Up The Heat - Do you remember the first time you practised heat embossing? It's one of those techniques that is always a real 'wow' as you turn on your heat gun and see the powder turn into molten metallic magic on your stamped image. It adds such a great shine to projects and a raised edge that makes it easy to colour inside too. If you look at the close up photo below you can see the dimension and shine that it adds:

My top tip for a neat effect and minimal splatter when heat embossing is to always rub your cardstock with an embossing buddy before you stamp your image in Versamark and sprinkle with your embossing powder; this will keep the powder where you want it and not cause it to stick in areas where it isn't required.

Crocus Colours - The colour scheme on today's card is inspired by the most common traditional crocus colours: a warm honey yellow, bright purple and pale yellow. I used a Highland Heather base - I embossed the front using my Subtles Embossing Folder - and coloured my flowers using Highland Heather, Mango Melody and So Saffron Stampin' Blends markers to compliment my gold heat embossing.

Easter Promise - The stamp set I used today is called 'Easter Promise' and has both sentiments and these gorgeous crocus flowers that are perfect for celebrating Easter. I heat embossed the trio of crocus and then used my largest Stitched Circle Die to create a partial diecut around them (that's the 'hat' shape on the sketch!) and I then heat embossed my sentiment and fussy cut it so that I could position it where I wanted it. I also decorated the envelope front and back and the inside of my card and continued with the heat embossing and colouring theme:

For a CAS card it took a little while with all of the heat embossing and colouring, but it was so worth it - this card is so, so pretty! Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

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

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

Enjoy your day; I will be spending the day at home escaping the winds and rain and hoping to get some quality time in my craft room in between catching up on household chores and making sure the youngest of the James Juniors is prepared for this week's mock Common Entrance examinations - not much then!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Easter Promise Cling Stamp Set (English) (£18.00)	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)
Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mango Melody Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Granny Apple Green Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)

As I type my post it's miserable and raining outside so I'm glad to have something bright and cheery to share with you! Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a cheery colour challenge from the lovely LeAnne:

I used Jen B's current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout and decided LeAnne's colours would be perfect for a sweet Easter chick - take a look:

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

A Colour Confession - I feel I need to confess upfront as the eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted I used Daffodil Delight in place of the Mango Melody that LeAnne chose on today's card. This was a genuine oversight on my part (lots on at the moment and having designed my card on the move just grabbed for the wrong supplies!) I didn't have time to remake, which is a shame as I'm sure my cute chick would look equally warm and fluffy in Mango Melody, but I'm hoping you will all forgive me. It does give me an opportunity to point out though that if you are ever put off participating in colour challenges because you don't have the 'correct' colour to hand, most of them - and certainly those for As You See It and The Paper Players which I design for - are perfectly ok for you to substitute with the nearest colour in your stash, whatever the brand. I actually used only the smallest drop of Grapefruit Grove - for my chick's beak and legs - and the same for Poppy Parade - for his comb and also to accent my banner with some gorgeous (retired) Poppy Parade mini striped ribbon. 

Welcome Easter - The star of my card today is the super-cute Easter chick. He features in the 'Welcome Easter' stamp set in the Spring mini catalogue and is perfect for some quick colouring. The set also features a sweet lamb and cute bunny (keep an eye out for him in another post over the next few days, as he will be making an appearance!) along with some Easter/baby sentiments and a few smaller stamps, a couple of which I used to add a little decoration to the inside of my card:

How cute is that?!

Gingham Gorgeousness - Lastly, I embossed my cardfront with my Subtle Embossing Folder for some light texture and interest and used a piece of gingham to make a quick banner using my Triple Banner Punch (so useful!) out of the now retired Gingham Gala DSP. This paper was a deliberate choice, as I wanted to incorporate a little more white into my card. I've linked to the Brights DSP pack below though as the gingham pattern it contains is a good match that is readily available. There is definitely something about colourful gingham that makes me feel like Spring - does it give you that feeling 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. 

Before you put your creative thinking caps on, why not check out the blogs of the other As You See It team members:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

LeAnne Pugliese

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:

Welcome Easter Cling Stamp Set (English) (£19.00)	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)
Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Banner Triple Punch (£22.00)

Today I'm sharing a card that was inspired by the current challenge over at Fusion:

I love the sketch but was also unusually (for me) inspired by the photo and all those neutrals as well this week. It's also a great opportunity to link up with the gals over at Retro Rubber too as their theme is 'anything goes' and I am giving an old stamp set some love - take a look at what I came up with:

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

I used a whole bunch of retired product on today's card; I still had these neutral 'Go Wild' designer papers left out on my desk from my card yesterday, and thought they would make a great background for my shelf of knick-knacks. I used two contrasting papers with the same design and split the mats to compliment each one. I like the contrast, but it does give this card something of a 'magic eye' effect I think! I used my retired 'Bookcase Builder' stamp set for my shelf with a mixture of various bits and pieces (this set dates back to the Spring 2017 seasonal catalogue), keeping in with the neutral colour scheme. I decided to leave off a sentiment as my cardfront was busy enough and I will probably use this card as a notecard to write a letter in, so it is ok without. 

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 for this week's new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Current Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)

Neutrals A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Neutrals Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment (£63.00)

Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing a couple of different notecards using the fun Witty-cisms stamp set. The first one was inspired by Laurel's fun cactus photo over at Inspired by this week:

The Witty-cisms stamp set appeals both to my sense of humour (who can resist a good pun?!) and my love for colouring, so I paired the fun cactus stamp with some retired DSP and a Crumb Cake note card to incorporate those graphic patterns and neutrals to come up with this quick and easy notecard:

I used my old faithful Stitched Shapes dies to cut out the square and my new Stitched So Sweetly dies for the stitched scallop background, but otherwise this was super quick and easy to create - just a quick stamp and colour with my Stampin' Blends. I like that it isn't too fussy - I will be using this one to tuck into Master James' school bag next week to wish him luck for his Common Entrance mock examinations next week - I think it is suitably masculine for a now discerning almost-teenager to wish him luck without causing embarrassment!

I decided to use another stamp in this set and the same layout to create some thank you notelets to pop into my customers' order bags this month - here's that card too:

This layout would work with pretty much any of the stamps in this set and is perfectly sized for our ready-made notelet packs. I made a whole bunch of these in one sitting:

This is such a useful stamp set for this quick style of card - you could even use it directly onto a notelet for a super simple one-layer card, #SimpleStamping at it's best!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's projects 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; did you enjoy your pancakes yesterday? Today young Master James and I will be starting the day at school's Ash Wednesday service and this afternoon Ben will be playing in a hockey match - well, someone needs to work off all that sugar, right?! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Witty-Cisms Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes (£6.50)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Stitched So Sweetly Dies (£30.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Call Me Clover Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends (£8.50)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Happy Monday everyone! The kiddos are back to school so I'm hoping for a productive crafting week! Today I'm sharing the other card that I made using this week's Paper Players sketch (you can see my design team post from yesterday here if you missed it) that was inspired by the spring colours over at CAS Colours and Sketches this week:

I bought my first bunches of daffodils last week and have been busy working with Spring flowers in my craft room for the last few days in readiness for my upcoming Spring Weekend Craft Retreat; it's pouring down with rain here in the UK again and I am so keen to see an end to Winter now! I'm ready to welcome Spring and these colours were perfect to bring a little more seasonal colour my way - take a look:

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

I stamped this stem of daffodils from the retired set 'You're Inspired' stamp set and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends and then created another colour blocked background using the three challenge colours and my stitched rectangle dies to sit behind it. These kinds of backgrounds are easy to create - my top tip would be to cut your three strips of coloured cardstock and adhere them to a piece of Whisper White cardstock before running through the diecutting machine; this keeps them perfectly aligned and in one piece. I added a heat embossed sentiment and some twine to my stamped layer to complete my card.

Daffodils are one of my favourite flowers; I love their sunny colour combinations and they are so cheery when the weather outside is anything but!

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'll be spending mine escaping from the weather and instead being brightened up with the colours of my craft supplies! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Grapefruit Grove A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.75)	Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)
Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine (£3.25)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)

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

I struggled a little with this week's sketch - I think it was because there were so many things I wanted to do with that central panel! In the end I decided to make a couple of cards. Here's the first one - using blue, green and a friendship sentiment from the current Festive Friday inspo list - featuring one of my favourite sets from the current Spring catalogue - take a look:

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

Beautiful Moments is one of my favourite new stamp sets! I am so pleased to be able to add this one to my collection that feature other images drawn by the same artist; this set was inspired by $1million Sales Achiever Jacque Williams and contains three separate images of girls of varying ages. I think they are so beautiful. I kept things simple by stamping my image onto Shimmery White paper and colouring with my aquapainter and then created a colour-block background using the three main colours of my main image. I actually made this card to send to a friend of mine who's been having a tough time of it recently - I added one of the other sentiments from the inside as a perfect reminder that she is cherished:

I can't wait to make more cards using the other images in this set, so watch this space! I'll update my post later with the second card that I made with this week's sketch. 

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 a busy day today with one of the James Juniors playing hockey this afternoon and the other spending all day on the indoor ski slopes  learning to ski in advance of a school trip to Italy in a couple of months time. So I'm expecting two tired children for dinner this evening! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Beautiful Moments Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£9.25)	Seaside Spray A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Seaside Spray Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad (£9.25)	Whisper 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 and the lovely Amy Ottmers is our featured designer this week. This is the fun board that we are playing along with: 

I used the current sketch over at Fab Friday and went with the top line of the board - Diecut, CAS, Purple - take a look:

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

Best Dressed - This Purple Posy floral paper from the Best Dressed DSP pack was the starting point that inspired my whole card today. So soft and pretty, with a delicate ombre effect I couldn't resist using a whole panel on my card.

So Sentimental - I used a simple thank you sentiment from the So Sentimental stamp set, masked off and inked in a combination of Highland Heather and Basic Grey and cut out using the co-ordinating Stitched So Sweetly Dies. This label is one of 4 in the set, along with the stitched scalloped rectangles that I showcased previously on this card.

A Pop of Colour - I fussy cut a flower from one of the other patterns of paper in the Best Dressed pack to embellish my sentiment with and picked out the colours of the flower centre and leaves to use for the banners behind my sentiment for a little added pop of colour.

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 love this sketch and think I'll be using it again! What about the board though? 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; the weather here is still wet and grey, so following indoor climbing yesterday the Juniors are breaking up their mock exam revision with indoor roller skating this afternoon - I will be watching safely from the sidelines! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

So Sentimental Bundle (English) (£45.00)	Best Dressed 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Purple Posy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing a card inspired by the photo over at Paper Craft Crew and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

When I saw that inspiration photo of bright red spring blooms, I thought it was time to reach for an old favourite from the annual catalogue that I haven't used for a while - take a look:

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

I used my Varied Vases stamp set and co-ordinating Vases Builder Punch to stamp and punch out a pretty vase of bright red Poppy Parade tulips and fussy cut a shelf to sit them on. I added a scallop edge detail using the decorative ribbon border punch and balanced this with a couple of Granny Apple Green strips as per the sketch. I set the whole thing against a calming soft Sea Foam card base.

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:

Varied Vases Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Vases Builder Punch (£17.00)	Decorative Ribbon Border Punch (£15.00)	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Happy Monday everyone! The James Juniors are off on their half-term break from school this week so we have a week of revision, piano practice, those boring errands that are saved for a week off and fun in equal measure; this week's blog posts may therefore be a little short! Today I'm sharing a card that uses the current colours over at Color Throwdown:

I decided they would be perfect to ink up one of the little fairies from the New Wonders hostess set from the annual catalogue - take a look:

I stamped the image twice on Basic Grey, then on the bottom layer I sponged the leaves with Old Oliver ink before colouring them with my Blends alcohol markers. For the second image, I cut away the corner, coloured the rest of the image with my Blends, added a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella to her fairy wings and popped it up on dimensionals. I popped the whole thing on a Highland Heather card base.

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 were fortunate to enjoy a quiet weekend indoors and caught up on some movies that we have been wanting to watch: The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas and Toy Story 4. Both so different, yet both equally good in their own right and I would definitely recommend them. We are off to the opticians today amongst other things so will have to brave the elements - wish me luck! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

New Wonders Cling Stamp Set (£12.50)	Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Highland Heather A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Purple Posy Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Petal Pink Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush (£7.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Jaydee to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

I needed some anniversary cards for my Stampin’ Up! downline team so armed with this week’s TGIF Challenge sketch (which would make a great scrapbook layout too) and some new stamps I set to work - take a look:

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

Hoot Hoot Hooray - The sweet little owl that is the star of today’s card comes from one of the stamp sets in the ‘Experience Creativity’ brochure. Designed with beginners in mind, this is a stamp set that is super easy to use: stamp, colour and go! I bought this set just for the owl - my team are called the Hoots and I just couldn’t resist this owl and sentiment perfect for team celebrations - but it contains a good mix of all-occasion stamps which make it useful if you’re just starting out.

Dazzling Demonstrators - I stamped the inside of my card with a demonstrator-only stamp set, along with some stars to continue the theme of the outside:

Whilst my card is designed to celebrate the demonstrators that are on my team and how long they have been with Stampin’ Up!, you could just as easily swap out the inside greeting for a birthday one and use the card to celebrate a child’s birthday.

A Family Party - On the base of my card front, I used a number corresponding to the appropriate anniversary year and the star stamp from the ‘Family Party’ stamp set to create a tone-on-tone pattern, stamping each full strength and for a second time before re-inking to create a random pattern with a little depth. I have quite a number of Stampin’ Anniversaries to celebrate in coming months - Sale-A-Bration is a popular time to join so it also means lots of anniversaries too - so I created a whole bunch of these for up and coming celebrations, in a rainbow of bright colours - here‘s the whole collection:

This is a great CAS design that made it easy for me to create multiples with each one being slightly different but all with a common theme. I can’t wait to get these in the post to my various team members and add a little colour to their day. Sale-A-Bration is a great time to join Stampin’ Up! and the earlier you do it, the longer you can benefit from your product discount before you even need to meet your first quarterly minimum. If you would like to know more about the benefits of joining, then do get in touch with me and I will happily explain in more detail. Alternatively just go for it, you really have nothing to lose - click here to make it happen.

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'll be hunkering down with the rest of the James clan avoiding Storm Dennis and hoping he leaves less destruction in his wake than last week’s storm Ciara. On the upside, our new fence is rock solid and I think could withstand nuclear attack! I’ll  back tomorrow with another project. Until then keep warm and enjoy your weeken. Happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Hoot Hoot Hooray Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Family Party Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pumpkin Pie Dark Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Brights A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Brights Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment (£63.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)