Firstly, an apology to my regular readers for my lack of blog posts this week; I was well and truly wiped out following the craft retreat I hosted last weekend! I had a fabulous time, but following my class at the start of this week I needed to take a few days out to catch up on some family things and get my office straight in order to start again.

As it's Sunday, I'm back with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have my personal nemesis, a colour challenge for you to work with:

Now since it's Mothering Sunday here in the UK today, you might think I would have a Mother's Day card to share with you, or maybe something floral - but no, instead I have a rather girly birthday card to share with you this week, with a fun surprise element too - take a look:

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

Pretty In Pink - I chose to feature a combination of Pink Pirouette and Melon Mambo on my card today - who wouldn't love a pink house with a pink front door, right?! Using the stamps and framelits in the At Home With You bundle featured in the annual catalogue, I also added a pretty spring floral wreath and two flower pots, all coloured with my Stampin' Write markers to complete my doorstep scene.

A Birthday Surprise - The At Home Framelits Dies include a framelit that cuts and scores a hinged door, that allows for a fun feature and a hidden birthday surprise - take a look:

A birthday message and a gift too!

Textured Brick Wall - I continued the house theme by adding some textured bricks around the door using embossing paste and a stencil - I think it gives my card something of a cottage feel. I continued my stamping inside my card and onto my envelope for a finishing touch.

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:

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's colours and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I have had an early start today as I needed to be up at 4am to see one of my James Juniors off to school to board the coach for a week long school trip to Normandy, so I suspect that my day will involve a lot of caffeine and need to finish rather earlier than usual! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

At Home With You Photopolymer Bundle	Many Marvelous Markers	Embossing Paste	Pattern Party Decorative Masks	Palette Knives
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the delightful Jaydee to host this week and she has a rather timely theme challenge for you to work with:

My card was totally inspired by the lovely inspiration photo Nance chose for Jaydee's challenge badge this week: those red tulips are just lovely so I had to feature some on my card today. We have been experiencing sub-zero temperatures here in the UK for the past week, along with significant snowfall and I for one am ready for Spring, even if only with my card today - take a look:

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

Get Tranquil Tulips For Free - Tranquil Tulips is one of the hostess sets in the annual catalogue, that is available exclusive to those that host a Stampin’ Up! party or place a personal order of £150 or more. A gorgeous set with blooms that can be stamped directly or fussy cut and layered as I’ve done here. Sale-A-Bration is the best time of year to host a Stampin’ Up! party, as with qualifying sales you can earn an extra £20 in rewards on top of the usual levels. I’ve had lots of customers take advantage of this and earn this sets and lots of other free produc, whilst having a fun evening with friends into the bargain. If you would like to earn this set for free, then talk to me about hosting your own party - I still have a few slots left this month if you would like to squeeze one in before the end of the month, but you’ll have to be quick!

A Tutti Frutti Pattern - I paired my red tulips with some blue grape hyacinths and that inspired the colour scheme for the rest of my card. The background paper is from the Tutti Frutti paper stack - lots of bold fruit patterns here, but if these are not your thing there are some great patterns such as the one I’ve used today on the reverse of each sheet too.

A Spring Banner - I took the wording for my banner from the current ‘Hello Easter’ set and paired it with the banner from the Bunch of Banners set to fit my theme. Some navy crinkle seam binging ribbon finishes 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 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:

I can't wait to see how you interpret this week's theme and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly.

I am spending today with a bunch of lovely ladies who braved the British weather to join me for my first residential luxury crafting retreat. Yesterday was a craft-packed day and theres just as much fun in store today. Wish you were here to join in the fun too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Tranquil Tulips Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tutti-Frutti 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper	Hello Easter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Night Of Navy 5/8" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Bunch Of Banners Framelits Dies	Banners For You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes

Today I'm sharing a 3D project with you that is the ultimate showcase of the Sale-A-Bration Bubbles & Fizz papers, so is perfect for this week's Global Design Project challenge:

Why is it the ultimate DSP showcase? Well there's not a single bit of stamping on today's project - take a look:

A multi-coloured and fully functional working clock - how fun is that?! Here's the low-down on today's project:

No Stamping Required - This is another of the projects that I showcased at Onstage back in November and is a real favourite of mine. You know how much I love those Bubbles and Fizz papers and this project showcases 3 of the designs (4 if you count the decorated pizza box I used to gift wrap it!): the multi-coloured bubble background, the bottle tops indicating where the numbers are and the bottles that form the clock hands. All three papers work really well together and leave no need for any stamping on this project.  

Bottles and Tops - Well, Bottles and Bubbles actually - well framelits that is, that fit the Bottles and Fizz paper perfectly. On each of these sheet designs every bottle and top can be cut out perfectly with the co-ordinating framelits, so there is no wastage. 

A Touch of Gloss - I added a layer of fine tip glue to my bottles and tops before attaching the to my clock face, to give a layer of shine and protection. That's all there is to it!

This project uses a simple clock kit that you can buy at any craft store and is great if you have customers who like home decor projects but are not big stampers (I have a group of those!) The clock is also fun - great for decorating the bedroom of a discerning teenager or maybe a student away from home. It really doesn't use much in the way of supplies and whilst you only need the framelits for this project, you are definitely going to want to buy the bundle to benefit from the stampset too and explore further creative opportunities.

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 weekend; I will be hosting my first two day residential Stampin' Sanctuary luxury craft retreat so will not be blogging tomorrow. I'll be back on Sunday with another project for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players though so be sure to tune in then. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper

Bottles & Bubbles Framelits Dies

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

Having a busy few days putting the final touches to my craft retreat this weekend, so a quick post from me to share a card that is perfect for the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week:

For my 'h' I had to go with 'h for happy' as in the 'Happy Wishes' Sale-A-Bration set - take a look:

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

Happy Birthday Wishes - The 'Happy Wishes' stamp set is one of three items available with a £90 purchase during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion - a great sentiment set with so many possibilities. Two large floral words and 14 additional stamps with words and phrases that can be combined to create a wide variety of sentiments. Useful and pretty too!

Easy Ombre - I made a version of this card in my recent Sale-A-Bration class and wanted to teach those present how to create an easy ombre effect by inking a stamp in a single, light colour (here I inked my 'happy' in Powder Pink) and then add ink in a complimentary darker colour, such as Berry Burst, with my sponger dauber to the lower portion of the stamp. A fun technique that is easy to achieve - always a winner. Once stamped, I added a little more Powder Pink to the florals on the stamped image with my blender pen for a little added detail. 

Love The In-Colours - My card features a little Powder Pink but is otherwise all about the Berry Burst - ink, some in-colour patterned designer series paper and a bow in that lovely, soft Berry Burst crinkle ribbon. In case you couldn't tell, I just love this in-colour - I think it might be my current favourite! 

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. 

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Happy Wishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Stack	Berry Burst 5/8" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies	Pearl Basic Jewels

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

Now I have a slight confession: I have been working hard to put the finishing touches to my weekend craft retreat that is being held next weekend, so I have been working a little more in advance than usual and sketching out my cards without always having my laptop to hand. I instantly knew what I wanted to do with Sandy's sketch and set to work colouring my central panel; it was only after I glued everything together I realised I hadn't re-checked the sketch and so my background layers are regular rectangles, rather than the longer, narrower central panel. I did not have time to remake my card so I'm sharing with you as is. I know that the lovely Sandy will forgive me though - besides, i'm hoping she will be so impressed with my colouring in she might not even notice ;-) 

Anyway - my card contains one of my most favourite spring blooms so is also perfect for the challenge over at Stamp Ink Paper this week. As someone who hails from the rolling hills of Wales I could not pass up this set from the seasonal catalogue, it really was love at first sight! Here's my card - take a look:

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

Daffodil Delights - I have longed for a daffodil stamp for ages so am delighted to have 'You're Inspired' to add to my stamp collection. With sentiments for Easter, Mother's Day, Birthday and a couple more besides, along with two beautiful line-drawn daffodil images, this is a great set for Spring and beyond. There are so many ways this image can be coloured and I will be sharing lots of cards that demonstrate the versatility of this set in coming weeks. For today's card I went for straight forward colouring with my Stampin' Blends Daffodil Delight and Old Olive markers on Whsiper White cardstock. 

Coffee Break Stripes - I paired my daffodil image with a background of white and old olive stripes from the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper pack. It has enough pattern to add interest but not so much to detract form the main image of those beautiful blooms. I added a Crushed Curry horizontal banner and finished it with some Old Olive ribbon to tie the elements of my design together.

Down Dales And Up Hills - ... rows and rows of daffodils! This is the first line of a poem I learned in primary school to recite on St David's Day some 40 years ago and I can still remember it all these years on. I was reminded of it when I saw the stamp featuring a row of daffodils; I decided to repeat this image and create a border of daffodils for the inside of my card, take a look:

I know I am going to get so much use out of this stamp set and it will definitely be a keeper for me. I can't wait to make lots more with it!

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:

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

You’Re Inspiring Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Coffee Break Designer Series Paper	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon

Yay it's Friday! Another fun beer bottle to end the week, this time the make and take card from our Onstage event:

This card design is great for showcasing those fabulous bold and bright patterns in the Bubble Over Designer Series Paper Pack - it's also a good way to use up scraps of paper that you may have lying around from other projects. Paired with a mat stamped with bubbles, a bottle and some of those lovely sparkly Glitter and Clear Epoxy Shapes, this thank you card is sure to brighten anyone's day!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	Bubble Over Photopolymer Bundle	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes

A quick post this evening to share with you another Bubble Over card featuring one of my favourite patterns in the Bubbles and Fizz pack of designer series paper - take a look:

I just love that multi-coloured bubble pattern - such a great background for a fun card! Super simple, with some basic layering and another brightly coloured pop bottle front and centre, complete with straw and a fun sentiment - perfect when you want to send someone a little love for a 'yay' moment. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	Bubble Over Photopolymer Bundle	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock

A busy day yesterday with a class and a Stampin' Up! party with a lovely bunch of ladies yesterday evening so no time to blog but I'm back with you this evening with another Bubble Over card - take a look:

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

Bubbles and Fizz - Today's card features two of the bottle patterns in the bright and colourful Bubbles and Fizz Designer Series Paper. This can be yours free during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion with an order of £45 or more. I just love the modern patterns and colours that have a universal appeal and work particularly well on cards for teenagers I think (sometimes a tricky crowd!)

Bottles and Bubbles - You can see the bottles again, this time they've been cut out though with the co-ordinating Bottles and Bubbles Framelits, along with some bubbles and a bottle top. Here's a sheet showing all of the framelit shapes - as you can see, there are two of some shapes to speed up your crafting as you can cut multiples of the same shape at the same time - super useful. Lots of little bits and pieces though, so you are definitely going to want to attache them to a magnetic sheet for storage to avoid losing any.

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:

Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	Bubble Over Photopolymer Bundle	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Banner Triple Punch
Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Basic Gray A4 Cardstock

A new week and a new blog post! Today I'm sharing a card that uses this week's challenge over at Color Throwdown and also fits the current challenge over at SUO Challenges, where the team are CASing the Stampin' Up! catalogue:

I decided to CASE the card on page 223 of the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue - take a look:

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

Lots Of Lavender - The lilac of the inspiration photo looked so fresh I decided I would stick with the florals too and use my Lots of Lavender stamp set. Love this set - and it didn't cost me anything either as it's one of the sets you can get free with an order of £45 or more during Sale-A-Bration - bonus! Whilst we have some new Sale-A-Bration free item options available as of last week (you can read all about them here) the original items, including this lovely lavender, are still available too. So much to choose from! I stamped my lavender in Sweet Sugarplum for a more pinky-lilac and after stamping went back in with my marker pen and blender pen to add a little extra colour here and there. I stamped my stems in Wild Wasabi and added a few tiny pearls in between the floral stems too. 

Shades Of Grey - I incorporated some soft grey tones with my background paper, choosing one of the grey-coloured wood patterns from the Wood Textures DSP Stack and a bow of grey and white gingham. Maybe not quite 50 shades on today's card, but grey is there nonetheless!

CASE: Copy and Share With Everyone - There are lots of definitions for this acronym, this is the one the team at SUO Challenges are using for their challenge. My card bears a number of similarities to the card on page 223 of the annual catalogue: I used a floral image, stamped onto a central panel cut with the Lots of Labels Framelits, and popped this up on a DSP background. I also added a sprinkle of sequins to embellish, although I substituted the sentiment banner with my gingham bow as I wanted my card to be sentiment-free. As you can see there are some distinct similarities, yet my card is distinctly individual to me. All of the catalogues are a great source of inspiration with lots of cards and samples that you can use as a starting point to create your own work - especially good if you are short on time or in a creative rut! Give it a try - I'd love to see what you create!

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 love this colour combination and actually thought of lots of ways I could use it so it's definitely one I will keep. 

Enjoy your day; mine will be spent preparing for classes and my upcoming weekend craft retreat. Barring technical disasters, I will be back tomorrow with another project though. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lots Of Lavender Photopolymer Stamp Set	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies	Smoky Slate 1/2" Gingham Ribbon	Pearl Basic Jewels
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my fabulous friend LeAnne's turn to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

This week's challenge was indeed 'sew' much fun and I have not one but two super clean-and-simple cards to share with you this week! This is also something of a 'something old, something new' post for me and perfect for the current challenge over at As You See It where they are asking us to remember the first tool or stamp set we bought or the one that made us fall in love with stamping, so I have a story for you today! First things first though - here is card number one:

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

Take A Hoop - I've been wanting to use these cute little mini embroidery hoops in the seasonal catalogue and today gave me the perfect opportunity. Perfect for framing miniature works of art, they are just like the real thing. 

Cross Stitch With Hoop La La - The stamp set I've used today is an old set called 'Hoop La La'. It isn't the first stamp set I ever bought (that was called 'Sweetheart' I think and you could make treat cup cards with it - I still have it somewhere but couldn't find it anywhere when I looked this week!) but this was one of the first. I chose it because it combined two of my favourite hobbies: my love of cross stitch and my new passion for card making - I just had to have it and haven't been able to part with it since. On this card I used the house, coloured with my Stampin' Write markers in Pool Party and Bermuda Bay and added a red enamel heart. Another 'new home' card - I seem to be needing a lot of these lately! The stamp set includes a stamp of an embroidery hoop, but I love the dimension that the little wooden hoops give to the card.

Get Stitching - To continue the stitching theme, I used my stitched circle framelits to cut out my circle to sit inside the hoop (I popped it up on dimensionals). I also added a diecut needle from last season's Quilt Builder Framelits and threaded it with some Pool Party baker's twine. I also added a twine bow to the top of my hoop for decoration. 

Here's the second of my cards, this time using the smaller size embroidery hoop and adhering my stitched circle to the top of the frame for an alternative mount:

This one shows up a little better with the darker purple colour against the white - here is a close up of the hoop so that you can see the alternative mount on the smaller embroidery hoop:

I like this mix of old and new so much I think I'm going to have to get another pack of hoops and make up some more of these cards! 

Here is the visual summaries 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:

Don't forget the theme is clean and simple this week - so minimal layers and embellishments and lots of white space. I can't wait to see what you create and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Mini Embroidery Hoops	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Brights Enamel Shapes	Pool Party Solid Baker’S Twine	Silver Foil Sheets
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies