No post yesterday as I had a class and one James Junior to get ready for her German student exchange trip with the other to swim training and I simply ran out of time! So I'm sharing my planned card today which is perfect for the current challenge over at Just Us Girls where the cue word is 'Smile':

My class yesterday featured the new Daisy Lane stamp set and Medium Daisy Punch and this is one of the cards we made - take a look:

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

There's A New Daisy In Town - Daisy Lane is a new Stampin' Up! stamp set that features that perennial favourite - the daisy. Definitely more wild flower than weed, today's card features two daisies from the new set, stamped in Smoky Slate with some So Saffron added to the centres with a sponge dauber before punching the larger one out with the existing Daisy Punch and then the smaller one with the Medium Daisy Punch and added to the stems that were stamped directly onto the card base.

Feeling Fuzzy - What makes these daisies stand out though, are the little fuzzy yellow centres. These Perennial Essence Floral Centres are part of the Perennial Essence Suite but they make great daisy centres too. They have little self-adhesive backs so are easy to attach to punched flowers to give them added interest. I can see me using lots more of these!

A Timeless Label - The 'smile' sentiment is also from the Daisy Lane set and to give it a little more emphasis I punched it out with the new Timeless Label Punch which is the perfect size for both the 'smile' and 'friend' sentiments in this set and lots more besides. This is another of those super-useful punch shapes that is a good basic for your crafting arsenal.

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:

Daisy Lane Bundle (£32.25)	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Sponge Daubers (£4.75)	Perennial Essence Floral Centers (£5.50)	Timeless Label Punch (£17.00)

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

I held a class featuring the 'Best Catch' stamp set a few months ago when it was in the Spring-Summer catalogue. Since this set carried over into the new annual catalogue, today's challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to share one of the fun folds we made - take a look:

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

Best Catch -  If you or someone you know is a fan of fishing, then the 'Best Catch' is perfect for you. When I think of watersports, I tend to think of swimming or scuba diving as they are the watersports that I love, yet angling is one of the most popular past-times globally, fly fishing in particular. There are some great images and sentiments in the set, and there is also a useful set of co-ordinating dies, 'Catch Of The Day', that make cutting out the shapes super quick and easy. My favourite image is the fish and he is definitely the star of this card; so many options to colour him, and when you use the framelits to cut him out you get a fun fin detail too that is great on a fancy fold card. I stamped my fisherman and fish on Shimmery White cardstock as this allowed me to watercolour them with inks and an aquapainter and gives the fish a nice sparkly sheen too - just like fish scales!

A Fancy Fold Bendi Card - A bendi-fold card seemed like a fun way to add extra dimension and interest to my fishing card. Using a standard sized A6 cardbase for my backpiece, I then added a narrow panel to each outside edge; one in brown the same colour as my card base, and the other in Pool Party to the other side. To made the bendi fold mechanism, I simply cut a small slit in the back panel approx. one third from the opposite edge and slid the edge of the brown panel into it, creating a bend, then repeated this on the other side with the blue panel, tucking it into the first brown fold (just under the bulrushes).

Making Waves - Aside from my fun fancy fold, I added some texture and interest to my 'river' by running my Pool Party section through my Big Shot with my (now retired) Seaside Embossing Folder. If you don't have this, the new High Seas 3D embossing folder could be used to create a similar effect. Along with some die cut bulrushes and a little stamping, this finished my scene.

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. 

So what do you think? Have you ever tried to make a bendi-card? What is your favourite type of fancy fold? Do let me know in the comments below - I love to read your thoughts.

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; we will be hoping the weather is slightly warmer than yesterday so that we can spend some time outside. I am also going to be busy getting the oldest of the James Juniors ready for her school exchange trip to Germany this week.  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Best Catch Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Catch Of The Day Dies (£26.00)	High Tide Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Soft Suede A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Garden Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£9.25)

With a new Stampin' Up! catalogue, new in-colours always feature on a new wish list - why wouldn't they? The new 2019-21 In Colors will be with us for the next 2 years and this year's in-colours are very on-trend and co-ordinate beautifully with each other and the other colours in the Stampin' Up! colour families:

To help you spread the cost and gradually grow your new in-colour collection, for the first time I am offering an in-colour club (UK customers only). It begins this month and runs for the next 5 months, up to and including November. Each month, you will receive a collection of  products for one of the colours, with each month featuring a different colour.

Each month, you will receive: 

• 1/2 pack of A4 cardstock (12 sheets)
• 1/2 roll of Scalloped Linen Ribbon
• 1 ink pad
• 1 ink refill
• 1 Stampin' Write Marker
• 18 Faceted Dots
• Eight 6”X6” In-Color DSP sheets
• A hand stamped card featuring your in-colour of the month

Since all of the colours except Terracotta Tile are also available as Stampin' Blends, there is the option to add on a Stampin' Up! Blends Marker Combo Pack each month for an additional £8.50. 

For the month you receive the Terracotta Tile colour kit, you will receive 1/4 pack of Woven Threads DSP and Woven Threads Sequins in place of the Blends. Both of these products also feature all five in-colours.  

Details:

Basic Pack Cost: £25 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month July through November. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Enhanced Pack Cost: £33.50 plus postage and packaging (Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed For) every month July through November. If you are local, you can avoid the cost of shipping and arrange to collect. 

Payment can be made by bank transfer (or cash/cheque for local customers).

If you would like to join my new colour club this month, then you can email me to sign up here.

Today it's lesson time! I'm sharing a couple of cards that I promised you a while ago that are stepped up versions of an earlier clean and simple sympathy card that I made and since this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges is to make a sympathy card, this seemed an appropriate time to share with you:

It's never nice to have to create sympathy cards especially on the spur of the moment, so it's always handy to have one or two on hand for when they are needed. There are lots of great sets in the Stampin' Up! catalogue with just the right words for these sometimes difficult cards and Rooted In Nature is definitely on my 'go to' list. Here's my original card that I featured in this blog post here:

This is a great card for a beginner stamper - stamps, ink and white cardstock are all you need to create this card.

I decided that this was a good card to show how easily a card can be 'stepped up' with a few extra supplies. Here's my intermediate version - instead of a one layer white base, I used a coloured card base (retired Lemon Lime Twist, but you could use Granny Apple Green for a similar colour combo), a piece of designer series paper (retired 'Under The Mistletoe' pattern) along with a strip of Night of Navy cardstock, then popped my leaf stamped panel up on dimensionals and heat embossed my sentiment in silver on a strip of vellum and wrapped it around this layer:

A few additional cardstock and paper supplies and the addition of the heat embossing as another technique creates a slightly more stepped up card for the more casual crafter who wants something a little more. Finally I created a card for the avid crafter that features an even wider variety of products and techniques:

For this version, I retained the layout of my stepped up card, but this time stamped the leaves tone-on-tone onto the same coloured cardstock and cut them out using the co-ordinating Nature's Roots framelits, overlapping slightly on my white panel. I then added a double length of navy baker's twine across the middle before overlaying my heat-embossed vellum sentiment. I finished my card with one of the silver metallic leaf trinket embellishments tied with a navy twine bow. 

So what do you think? Which of these do you prefer? I think on balance I am somewhere between the first two cards - I love the simplicity of the outlined leaves on the white, but maybe with the addition of the heat embossed sentiment on the vellum. Decisions, decisions - the joy and freedom of creativity!

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; the sun is still shining here in the UK and I am off to sports day this afternoon, so looking forward to a fun afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set (£39.00)	Nature's Roots Dies (£36.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Leaves Trinkets (£7.50)	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)
Vellum A4 Cardstock (£9.25)

A later post from me today as I've had a busy one that culminated in a wonderful Summer Serenade concert to listen to the youngest of my James Juniors sing - always a joy! Today I'm sharing a card for the current Fab Friday and Inspire.Create challenges which coincidentally both have exactly the same colour palettes this week - the new 2019-21 Stampin' Up! in colors:

Whilst I love all of these colours individually, I found it a challenge using all of them on one card - that's the idea though, right? So I resisted making a collection of monochromatic cards featuring each of the colours individually and pushed myself to get all 5 on one card. After much deliberation, this is what I came up with:

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

Artfully Aware - I decided that the stamp that features five people intertwined in the 'Artfully Aware' stamp set would be a great way to incorporate all 5 in-colours on my card by giving each person a different colour sweater. I love the sketchy style of these stamps and this set has some great words of encouragement and support. I used one of the sentiments in the set too, but split it and included the first part 'together...' on the tab on the front of my card, then continued it inside with '...we make a difference'. 

A Mix of Mediums -  I did something I don't normally do and used a mix of Blends and inks and a blender pen to colour, as I still have inks in all colours bar Purple Posy, whereas this is the only in-colour I have in Blends. The colours are much softer with ink and a blender pen and I like the more watercoloured look. I decided that this would make a nice masculine encouragement card, so used the darker colours of Pretty Peacock and Terracotta Tile for my base and in-colour DSP layer, along with my tabbed piece.

A Blue Ribbon - The Artfully Aware stamp set co-ordinates with the Support Ribbon Framelits and I decided to use the small support ribbon framelit to cut a pale blue ribbon out of Seaside Spray as a small embellishment to anchor my sentiment.

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 really love this year's set of new in-colors and I know lots of you do too. For this first time this year I am running an In-Color Club for my customers and still have a few spaces in my latest round that are available; please contact me if you would like to take part - you can read all about it here.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Artfully Aware Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Support Ribbon Dies (£21.00)	2019-2021 In Color A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	2019–2021 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Rococo Rose Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)
Terracotta Tile Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Seaside Spray Classic Stampin’ Pad (£7.00)	Purple Posy Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Stitched Labels Dies (£31.00)

This is already my second post of the day today as it's 1st July and there is lots going on, including the return of bonus days and a fabulous joining offer - you can read about both of these in my earlier post here. For today's creative post I'm sharing my card for this week's challenges over at As You See It and Just Add Ink that also fits the current challenge over at Time Out, which is a new-to-me challenge that I thought I would play along with too (I don't think it's a CAS challenge although a lot of the DT samples and gallery cards are and for once my card is a little less CAS than usual so I hope it fits the bill!):

So I'm not fully finished with my run on Bird Ballad projects, but I did get out another new stamp set that I just couldn't resist called 'Over The Moon' when I grabbed a little crafty time and couldn't resist making some fun cards with it - these comical cows are just adorable - take a look:

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

How Now Brown Cow - So I think I am in love with these fun animals! I mean, three comical cows and a bunch of punny sentiments in the 'Over The Moon' stamp set - what's not to love?! I decided to colour mine today with Stampin' Blends, but stamped my outline in stamped-off Sahara Sand so it has an almost no-line look, which I think works nicely with my sweet brown cow. I repeated the same image on my envelope and inside my card too. My choice of browns to compliment the purple was brought about by my desire to use some of that fabby linen-look in-colour scallop edged ribbon and I like the finished look.

Daisy Delights - I continued my browns with a piece of tone-on-tone stamped Crumb Cake for my background, that I stamped randomly with one of the daisy stamps from the Daisy Lane stamp set, which I thought tied in with the flower my cow - let's call her Daisy! - is holding. I like the added detail without detracting from the main image. 

The Colour Purple - This whole card started with the colour purple; apart from navy, it is definitely the colour that features most highly in my wardrobe and is without doubt my most favourite colour to wear. I chose to use the new in-colour Purple Posy as the purple on my card today as it gave me the opportunity to break out new Blends, cardstock, in-colour DSP (love that gingham!) and co-ordinating ribbon and sequins too. My choice of the welly-wearing cow was also no accident, as I am even the proud owner of some beautiful purple wellington boots that the James Juniors gifted me for Christmas a few years ago. I couldn't find a photo of me wearing them, so took this quick snap of them next to a couple of my patio pots - check these out:

Aren't they just the best?! They are more Highland Heather than Purple Posy, however I didn't have as many embellishment options for that colour! There is something about gardening or trudging through the snow in purple wellies that is ever so cheery.

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 - I am organised this week as it's going to be a busy one! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Over The Moon Cling Stamp Set (£19.00)	Daisy Lane Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Purple Posy 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Scalloped Linen Ribbon (£7.50)	Woven Threads Sequin Assortment (£4.75)	Purple Posy A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
2019–2021 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Stitched Rectangle Dies (£33.00)
Stitched Be Mine Dies (£33.00)	Purple Posy Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Mango Melody Light Stampin' Blends (£4.25)	Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)
Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	So Saffron Dark Stampin’ Blends Marker (£4.25)

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had wonderful weekends and if you're in the UK are enjoying the glorious weather - long may it last! I have a big news post for you today as it's all happening here at Stampin' Up! during the month of July.

First things first - BONUS DAYS ARE BACK! Do you remember this promotion from last year? It was so successful, Stampin' Up! have decided to repeat it this year. 

For every £45.00 you spend between 1 July and 31 July (before delivery), you’ll get a £4.50 Bonus Days coupon that you can use between 1 and 31 August. Our new annual catalogue has been out for a month now, so I'm sure you will have long wish lists; this is a great opportunity to shop from it and make savings when you shop again in August with your coupons! 

There are some details in terms of small print that you need to take note of, as follows: 

• Promotion period: 1–31 August 2019
• Redemption period: 1–30 September 2019
• An email address is required to participate in this promotion; Bonus Days coupon codes can only be delivered via email.
• If a participant earns multiple codes from a single order, they will receive one e-mail with multiple codes. If they earn multiple codes from multiple orders, they will receive separate e-mails for each code earned.
• It is strongly recommended that you both save emails containing their Bonus Days coupon codes AND write down the coupon codes in a safe place. Codes cannot be resent if the email is lost, and lost codes cannot be recovered.
• Bonus Days coupon codes can be redeemed for any product, excluding Starter Kits.
• There is no limit to the number of coupons you can receive per order or throughout the duration of the promotion.
• There is no limit on the number of coupons you can use on an order during redemption.

As if that wasn't enough, we also have a fabulous recruitment offer - check it out:

Yes, the promotion that is so good, we named it twice! If you've ever considered becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, this is a great time to join. For the next 2 months, from 1 July until 31 August, new demonstrators will receive £25 to put towards bonus products in their Starter Kit - that's in addition to the extra £30 they already receive, so a whopping £155 worth of products of your choice for £99. And that's not all: the following month after joining, you will receive an £8 coupon code to use towards any order placed that month - and that includes items from the Autumn-Winter catalogue which goes on pre-order to demonstrators on 1st August a whole month before it goes live to customers on Wednesday 4th September - woohoo!

There are some details in terms of small print that you need to take note of, as follows: 

• Promotion period:1 July–31 August 2019
• The bonus at initial sign-up allows demonstrators to pick up 32 € I £25 more than usual. They will pay 129 € I £99 to sign up and choose 207 € I £155 worth of Stampin’ Up! products in their Starter Kit.
• Coupon codes will be sent between the fifth and seventh business day of the following month the new demonstrator signs up.
• The e-mail address listed in a new demonstrator’s profile will be used to send the 12 € I £8 coupon code.
• Refer to the Demonstrator Policies document (UK | NL) for more information on recruiting policies.
• Coupon codes may be redeemed only once; they will reduce the commissionable amount of orders.
• Coupon codes expire 31 October 2019; after this date, they will no longer be valid.

There really has never been a better time to shop with or join Stampin' Up! - if you need any additional information on either of these promotions, then please don't hesitate to get in touch. I would love to help you explore a new business opportunity or simply get your hands on some great quality crafting supplies.

I'll be back shortly with today's project (it's a fun one!) but in the meantime you can shop with me online here or click here to sign up and get your hands on a starter kit today!

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

I have been on a bit of a creative roll lately with the lovely Bird Ballad suite and I couldn't resist using it again for my birthday card today - take a look:

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

Hello Sunshine - Yellow is one of my favourite colours to work with; I always think there is something so cheery about sending a yellow card, so I couldn't resist including this colour on the board and I decided to use Daffodil Delight for the base of my card. I'm also linking today's card up over at Festive Friday #FF037 where they have the design element of yellow as part of their current challenge:

A Fancy Fold - The outside of my card looks simple enough, with just a hint of embossing and a fussy cut bird and branch to highlight my sentiment, with a little linen thread and a Bird Ballad trinket for decoration. You could even be forgiven for wondering which line on the tictactoe board I completed (I actually followed the middle vertical line and the diagonal bottom left to top right). This card is no ordinary card though - it's a shadow box card and it opens to reveal this pretty stepped inside, courtesy of some windows cut with the Stitched Nested Label Dies and featuring a rear panel of the Bird Ballad DSP:

Not Just  A Label - The Stitched Nested Labels Dies are useful for framing and make great labels for sentiments - but you can also use them to make a fun lidded box too. Here's one I made using the second largest die for the base:

This box measures approx. 1 1/2" x 3" x 2" deep so is the perfect size for a few chocolates or a small gift. This is what it looks like inside:

The base and lid have a lipped edge, slide neatly together and I used colours to tie in with my card - I love when things co-ordinate! I've been working on a whole set of these boxes in different sizes and am planning to share those with you soon (maybe even with a video tutorial!)

This little card and gift combo is heading to my running buddy, whose birthday it is the week after next - she loves something handcrafted! I'm linking up with the team over at SUO Challenges today too where the current theme is 'birthdays'.

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; we will be collecting the youngest of the James Juniors from a sleepover and hoping the sun and high temperatures last long enough to enjoy a BBQ lunch. then having a quiet-ish day before his final week of school this year before he breaks for summer - eek!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Free As A Bird Bundle (£47.50)	Bird Ballad Trinkets (£6.50)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Linen Thread (£4.75)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for my monthly technique class last week featuring the Bird Ballad Suite that uses the current sketch over at The Paper Craft Crew as the inspiration for the layout:

I was intrigued by the oval shape as I don't tend to use ovals on my cards often and I wanted to incorporate a few different techniques. This is what I came up with:

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

A Spotlight on Fussy Cutting - The Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper is beautiful and just like the co-ordinating 'Free As A Bird' stamp set, offers a ton of fussy cutting possibilities - no co-ordinating shaped framelits for these feathered friends I'm afraid! I fussy cut one of the birds and backed him with a Crumb Cake stitched oval shape. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that I didn't remove all of the paper - for the really tricky bits, such as around the legs and branches, I simply coloured the paper with my Crumb Cake Blends marker to blend in with the background. 

Background Birds on a Branch - The sketch shows some background stamping behind the banner and this inspired me to get out my watercolour pencils and add a very subtle row of birds using one of the stamps in the 'Free As A Bird' stamp set. I did some tone-on-tone stamping, stamping the image in So Saffron, then delicately coloured with my watercolour pencils and blended with a blender pen. Only the outer edges of the image are visible behind the oval, but I really like the way this detail adds interest to the background and spotlights the fussy cut bird and oval. 

Stamp and Emboss - Once I had completed all of the stamping and colouring on my card base, I ran the whole thing through my diecutting machine and embossed it with the Subtles 3D embossing folder. The texture this adds is so subtle it doesn't distort the stamping at all, but adds an almost silky feeling to the cardstock. I love it! Some lace and pearls and a little envelope decoration 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; I have a lot to achieve today so need to get on with it! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Free As A Bird Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Very Vanilla 3/8" (1 Cm) Scalloped Lace Trim (£6.50)	Pearl Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Stitched Shapes Dies (£28.00)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)	Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2 (£11.75)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I am hosting this week on behalf of the lovely Jaydee who had a fall a few weeks ago and is taking a few weeks off from crafting to recuperate. Jaydee has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for us to work with this week:

My regular readers will know how much I love a good sketch and this is one that can be used time and again. I liked it so much I made not one, not two but three cards with it to share with you this week (I'm making up for my lack of blog posts in recent days!) This is the first card I came up with using one of the Bird Ballad papers that I had yet to use:

A simple card with an inset panel of DSP; the neat feature on this card is that I cut off the shaped end and extended one of the nested stitched labels for the sentiment and then added a bird I fussy cut from the paper itself.

My second card uses the reverse of this bird patterned DSP for a soft floral card that is delicate and pretty:

I used a basic nested stitched label for my sentiment this time but added a ruffle of ribbon (retired but I've linked below to a current one that would make a great substitute) and a fussy-cut flower and leaves with a few sparkly self-adhesive sequins. This one is much more girly and pretty!

My third and final card uses both a border and fussy cut hummingbird from the Mosaic Mood paper set and highlights a new in-colour - Terracotta Tile:

I am on a mission to use these papers as the main feature of my cards by simply co-ordinating with a variety of different sentiments. I used the same sentiment on this card from the 'Free As A Bird' stamp set that I used on the previous cards above, but this time punched it out of Very Vanilla cardstock using the new Timeless Label Punch. This is going to be a really useful punch for sentiments - the longer length makes it very versatile. I also picked up the green colour from my hummingbird and added a contrasting edge border to my top layer using the straight stitched die that can be found in the Stitched Nested Labels Die Set. We have a Facebook Group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators that has had lots of discussion as to how you would use this particular die, so I thought I would give you another example!

So which of today's cards is your favourite? I think I'm leaning towards the pretty pink florals with the ruffle of ribbon, which was inspired by this week's TGIF Challenge (badge at bottom of post). I buy lots of ribbon but often don't use it enough on my cards so I'm hoping to find the time to have another go at their challenge this week with something that features ribbon as the main focus, so do pop back later in the week for another idea. I'd love to know which one gets your vote - as always, feel free to leave me a comment below.

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

Card Number 1:

Card Number 2:

 Card Number 3:

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; finally the sun is shining here in the UK for the second day in a row, so I will be spending mine enjoying a BBQ lunch and pottering in the garden. I might even take my laptop outside and prep some of this week's blog posts! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Free As A Bird Bundle (£47.50)	Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Petal Pink 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Organdy Striped Ribbon (£7.50)	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins (£6.50)
Mosaic Mood Specialty Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Timeless Label Punch (£17.00)