Today I'm sharing a couple of cards for a couple of challenges, the second having evolved from the first! Both cards use the layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and the first one uses the colours over at Color Throwdown:

I'm a big fan of the work of the lovely Cecile who is responsible for the FMS sketch this week, so having not managed to play along for a few weeks I couldn't resist squeezing in an entry today. Both cards use the new-to-me Lovely & Sweet stamp set from the current mini catalogue - here's the first one:

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

I thought this colour palette would work well for the vanilla image in the set, so I diecut and coloured the image in the challenge colours with my Stampin' Blends and added to my offset diecut semi-circles (more on those in a moment!) along with a sentiment from the same set - I thought this soft colour palette would suit a sympathy card. A few sparkly gems add a finishing touch:

Having finished this card, I really wanted to pair the peach and vanilla with touches of brown; technically not the correct colouring for fresh vanilla, but I wanted to switch things up so created this second version:

I flipped the colours here and used the peach for the semi-circles, adding some background stamping in Pecan Pie and stamping my vanilla image and sentiment in Early Espresso, with a few toning sequins to finish:

This card is my favourite for sure, so this is the one I'll link up over at Freshly Made Sketches, but I'd love to hear which one you prefer - do leave me a comment below with your thoughts. 

Before I forget - a tip for you regarding those stitched semi-circles! If like me you don't have semi-circle dies, you can easily use a circle from the Stylish Shapes Dies that you cut in half using the edge of one of the square dies in the same set; just make sure to repeat the process on the straight edge of both semi-circles (the stitching design is different depending on whether or not it is inside or outside the frame - if you take a close look at the dies, you'll see what I mean).

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; I'm feeling a little grey today, much like the weather so I think I'll be spending the day in my craft room. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

LOVELY & SWEET BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (49.50)	NOTES OF NATURE CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (23.00)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)	PETAL PINK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	EARLY ESPRESSO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (6.25)
PECAN PIE A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	PETAL PINK STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (9.50)	STAMPIN' BLENDS COLOR LIFTER (4.75)	NEUTRALS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (7.00)	IRIDESCENT PEARL BASIC JEWELS (7.00)	VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)
ADHESIVE-BACKED SOLID GEMS (7.50)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! Happy Mother's Day to all the UK Mums out there! It's the turn of our globe-trotting team member Jaydee to host this week and she has a colour challenge for us to work with:

I used the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for my layout (the large yellow flowers represent the hexagons) and went down the right hand column of the board over at TicTacToe Challenge with floral/embossing (I heat embossed my sentiment)/favourite colour (mine is yellow) and decided to create a large card full of bright and cheery florals - take a look:

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

I decided to use my 'Textured Floral' stamp set and coordinating dies since they haven't seen much love lately, and stamped a collection of flowers and greenery. Since we are using generic colours this week, I used a couple of shades of yellow and pink for my flowers to add interest. I added Daffodil Delight ink to my central panel with a blending brush along with some splatters, before adding my florals. To bring out the black and white elements, I added in some extra diecut foliage and a twist of gingham ribbon behind my sentiment label:

I do love the contrast of the neutrals with the bright colours! A few colourful sequins and gems complete the front of my card; I also added some of my leftover florals to decorate the inside of my card:

This card is larger than usual (it is A5 in size) with lots of dimension - it will make a lovely birthday card for someone special. The Textured Floral bundle is beautiful for blousy floral displays - I really should use it more often!

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; since it's Mother's Day here in the UK today, I am looking forward to a roast dinner and being spoiled by the youngest of the James Juniors! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

TEXTURED FLORAL BUNDLE (49.50)	BLACK & WHITE 1/4" (6.4 MM) GINGHAM RIBBON (6.75)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (10.00)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)
FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	MELON MAMBO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LEMON LIME TWIST CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	LEMON LOLLY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (17.00)
VERSAMARK PAD (9.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. I have the pleasure of hosting this month and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my colour palette today, I chose the most recent addition to my ink pad collection (Azure Afternoon), the very first ink pad I ever purchased (Old Olive) and Balmy Blue to balance the mix. Just like the lullaby that inspired the title of today's blog post, I thought these colours would be perfect for lavender, so I grabbed my 'Painted Lavender' stamp set and my Perennial Postage bundle and set to work. This is what I came up with: 

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

Painted Lavender - I chose the tiny lavender sprigs to feature on two of my three postage die pieces, repeat stamping them in Azure Afternoon and Old Olive to fill the space. 

Masked Perennial Postage - To give the appearance of a postage stamp, I masked off the edges of my diecut and then used a blending brush to add a Balmy Blue 'sky' to the centre of the rectangle, blending from top to bottom. I then removed the masking tape to reveal the crisp, white borders - lovely! 

Inked Embossing - I stamped my sentiment on the central diecut piece, off-centering it so that I could add an embossed postmark. This die is from the Perennial Postage Dies; to make it standout I added Balmy Blue ink to the die before embossing it onto the diecut, so that it leaves both and inked and embossed detail; you can see it more closely below:

I love the addition of the postmark - such a neat detail! I used a strip of Azure Afternoon cardstock to bring my 3 postage diecuts together and 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. 

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! colour 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:

PERENNIAL POSTAGE BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (48.50)	PAINTED LAVENDER PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (19.00)	AZURE AFTERNOON A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)
BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (13.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

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

This theme couldn't be more appropriate for the British weather, especially this past few days, when once again it has, as the expression goes, been raining cats and dogs once again! My cheery little bunny isn't put off though - take a look:

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

Rainy Days - My bunny and sentiment come from the 'Playing In The Rain' stamp set and are cut out with the coordinating Playing In The Rain Dies. I coloured him with my Blends markers and gave him a green jacket to pick up the colours in the background paper.

Sunny Days - I know Sale-A-Bration is now over, but the Sunny Days papers were just perfect for today's card. I used a background of clouds and rain, then used a sun-patterned piece to cut out an abstract sun to tuck behind the clouds.

Collage Cute - I added a mix of stitched clouds, a ribbon tab and a mix of sparkly raindrops, enamel dots and sequins and layered them up to give my card a fun, collage 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 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 have no big plans today, maybe some baking and if I'm lucky a little creative time. One thing's for sure - it will be too wet for gardening! All being well I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

It's the 1st of March: Sale-A-Bration is over for another year and to any fellow Welsh readers out there - Happy St David's Day! No daffodils here though; today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a seasonal theme challenge chosen by me:

I thought Easter would be a good theme for our challenge this week given that it's at the end of this month, although it did mean I had to get creative as I haven't purchased any new Easter sets and I don't have the Easter Bunny set in the annual catalogue either. Never fear though - I got creative! This is what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Countryside Inn - I noticed that one of the papers in the Countryside Inn pack has a rabbit in the pattern that I thought would make a sweet background for an Easter card and this set the tone for my whole card. I used a Boho Blue card base and balanced it with another of the patterns in the pack.  

Easter Bunny - I used a simple white rabbit punched with the Easter Bunny Punch as my focal point and stamped my greeting onto it directly - for those of you that picked up the 'Heartfelt Hellos' stamp set during Sale-A-Bration, this is where this sentiment comes from. A trimmed ribbon bow was all the decoration my rabbit needed: 

Everyday Details - You may recognise the layout of my card: it's this week's Paper Players layout that I used for my card on Sunday. The rabbit is in place of the hot air balloon, and on today's card instead of a row of clouds, I created a layered border using one of the Everyday Details Dies, adding pearls to the diamond centres for a little added detail.

I'm pleased with how my card finished up; it's also a great way to show how the same layout can be used in different ways. 

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.

Enjoy your day; I am taking a well-earned break today following my final trips to both my local charity shop and waste tip respectively, which signify the end of my loft clearance project this week. Hopefully I will make it back into my craft room and I'll have something to come back and share with you tomorrow. Until then, happy stampin'!

Good evening everyone! I am spending the week clearing out my loft (a job long overdue!) so today I'm sharing a quick clean and simple card for a couple of challenges:

AAA Cards would like anything CAS with the optional twist of birthday, so I did both and also went with the CAS on Friday theme of male/boy. I made a fun, cute card for a little boy who is celebrating his birthday - take a look:

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

I created a subtle sweep of Azure Afternoon ink to highlight my sweet hula-hooper that I fussy cut from the Just Kiddin' designer series paper, adding some stamped hearts and stars in the same colour:

A simple sentiment from the 'Hooray For Surprises' set completes my card. Just a few key items needed to create this super cute 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 evening and I'll be back later this week with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

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

I love the layers on this week's sketch - perfect to showcase some pretty designer papers. I decided to embrace the pastels and showcase some patterns in the Lighter Than Air pack. This is what I came up with:

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

There are so many pretty papers in the Lighter Than Air pack. I chose stripes for my horizontal panel then a balloon patterned piece for my vertical one. I stamped and diecut a single Pool Party balloon as my focal point and added a banner to it for my sentiment. I added a cloud panel diecut using one of the Basic Borders Dies. I added a couple of extra diecut clouds to give further depth to my scene and a trio of rainbow adhesive dots to finish the front of my card:

I couldn't resist a little extra stamping and some stencilled clouds to decorate the inside too:

So many possibilities with this layout - I can't wait to see what you make with it!

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

- to follow - 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

to follow

Today I'm sharing a card for the challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown that uses the current layout over at Tuesday Morning Sketches:

As with my previous Christmas card make, today's card features another of the patterns in the retired Storybook Gnomes designer series paper pack - where else can you find Christmas mushrooms?! Here's my card:

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

I chose a busy pattern featuring lots of gnomes and mushrooms/toadstools, split it into 3 as per the sketch layout, then added a circle embossed with the retired Wintry 3D snowflake embossing folder, where I highlighted the details with some white craft ink, before adding another toadstool and gnome that I diecut from another sheet of designer paper. I also added some puffy snow to my toadstool for an added wintry detail:

My sentiment comes from the coordinating 'Kindest Gnomes' stamp set, which I also used to add some detail to the inside of my card:

I couple of sparkly enamel dots complete the detail on the front of my card. The hubby ventured into my craft room the other evening as I was finishing this card, and was properly bemused to see me making a Christmas card in February. As I pointed out, it pays to be prepared! How is your Christmas card stash coming along?

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

Today I'm sharing another card using one of the current Sale-A-Bration free products that I've been using but haven't shared a project that features it in a while - what can I say, so many goodies, so little time! So today it's the turn of the Trusty Toolbox designer series paper - take a look:

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

No Co-ordinating Product? No Problem! - The Trusty Toolbox designer series paper co-ordinates with the Trusty Tools bundle that can be found on page 56 of the mini catalogue, but you don't need the bundle to have a lot of fun with these papers! They are great for creating layered cards with lots of fun patterns and the tools themselves are so easy to fussy cut as I've done on today's card. 

Biggest Wish - I went with a diagonal design to give me the opportunity to fit in lots of lovely tools and paired my design with a birthday greeting from the 'Biggest Wish' stamp set - a great sentiment-only set:

And Another Thing - If you look closely at my card, you will see that none of the tools are shown in their entirety; I actually used a bunch of tools cut from the edges of the paper and used my diagonal to 'hide' their incomplete portions - waste not, want not, right? I also used a few more to decorate the inside of my card:

A few enamel dots were all that I needed to complete this fun masculine card that makes the most of these free papers!

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'm also linking this card up for a second entry over at TGIF Challenges where the theme this week is Sale-A-Bration.

Enjoy your day; it's still raining cats and dogs here in the UK so I will most definitely be spending the day indoors - I'm not sure that the ground can take any more! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

The ladies over at TGIF Challenges have Sale-A-Bration products as the theme for this week so I have a another card for you featuring one of my Sale-A-Bration favourites. My card was inspired by this card by Cindy Timmers. I decided to keep with the layout of Cindy's card and the use of designer series paper, but changed it out for the oh-so-pretty Flight & Airy papers - take a look:

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

Flight and Airy - My card actually uses three of the patterns in the Flight & Airy pack: a busy floral for the base, a panel of washed Boho Blue and some birds diecut from another of the designs. On every card I've made featuring these birds up until now, I've fussy cut the birds, but for today's card I wanted to show that if fussy cutting isn't your thing, these papers are still great! I used my Stylish Shapes Dies to diecut three circles, positioning the birds in the centre each time. 

Thoughtful Moments - I used a sentiment from the 'Thoughtful Moments' hybrid embossing folder across the centre of my card. I inked the embossing folder with Night of Navy ink using my brayer, then embossed and diecut it onto a piece of DSP the same colour as my horizontal band. These embossed and diecut sentiments make such an eye-catching centrepiece: 

Finishing Touches - Some Night of Navy twine, iridescent gems and some leaves punched using my retired leaf punch complete my card. The leaves in particular add lots of dimension and I must say I rather like the end result.

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

THOUGHTFUL MOMENTS HYBRID EMBOSSING FOLDER (ENGLISH) (36.00)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (28.00)

IRIDESCENT RHINESTONES BASIC JEWELS (7.00)

GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (9.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (8.50)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (8.50)