It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our wonderful team leader Nance to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

Whether you stay with the circle or use an alternative shape, this is a sketch with many possibilities. I decided to keep with the circle as it was perfect to showcase a new stamp I haven't used yet and have fun with a little colouring - take a look:

I've had a few friends that have either recently moved or are in the process of moving, so I needed to replenish my stock of 'new home' cards and the 'Flying Home' stamp set had the perfect image. Here's the low-down on today's card:

Flying Home - I was lucky enough to receive the 'Flying Home' stamp set at Onstage in November, but had yet to ink it up. This set is perfect for a new home card, or even a new baby card; in fact the whimsical line drawings work for lots of card types. The other great thing about this set is that it is made for colouring. I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my main image and I stamped the little bird twice so that I could fussy cut one and pop him up on a tiny piece of a dimensional for added lift.

A Petal Garden Colour Combo - I pulled the colours for my stamped image directly from the Petal Garden designer series paper that I used for my background panel and added a co-ordinating ribbon trim too. I love these fresh colours, perfect for spring - here's the colour palette for you to save if you'd like to use it for your future projects:

New Home Congratulations - The 'Flying Home' stamp set is sentiment-free, so I decided to go on the hunt through my other sets for a small sentiment that I could add to my horizontal Pool Party strip. I found the perfect stamp in 'At Home With You'  - and followed up inside my card with 'congratulations'.

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'm hoping to fit in a little more crafty time today along with some precious family time. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Flying Home Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Old Olive A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock
Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon	Calypso Coral 1/8" Sheer Ribbon	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Layering Circle Framelits Dies
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker

A late and quick post from me today as I managed to grab a little crafting time this afternoon and made a card for a friend of mine that I'm also entering for a couple of challenges:

I loved the sketch over at Fusion and those bright colours at Inspire.Create were perfect for what I had in mind. No coffee cup I'm afraid - my card is all about the apology and right on the money as far as this week's theme over at CASology is concerned - take a look:

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

Bird Banter - Please tell me I am not the only cardmaker who frequently forgets birthdays? I mean, my intentions are always good and I have loads of cards on hand, but more often than not one of two things happens: I either don't have the 'right' card for that person on hand and so in taking the time to make it I end up late for the date, or alternatively I simply forget. It's never intentional, I'm just always so busy and I have a dreadful memory for dates and numbers, so they just don't stick. So all that said, Bird Banter is the perfect set for me - specifically, the rather punny sentiments and this one in particular: 'A little birdie told me it was your birthday ... obviously it wasn't an early bird'. How fun is that?! I received this set for free at Onstage, but I have to say it's one I would buy for that sentiment alone - it was (unfortunately) made for me!

A Hint of Stripes - I kept my card bright, clean and simple; I tucked in a little piece of the thin-striped Sale-A-Bration Bubbles & Fizz designer series paper behind my image to add a little interest and pop of blue, to compliment my bright pink background and yellow sentiment banner. 

A Stampin' Blends Tip - I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my party parrot (the Melon Mambo ones were actually my old Blendabilties) and added a little clear Wink of Stella to his party hat and wing for a little sparkle. I fussy cut a second wing and tail piece and popped them on a dimensional so that I could overlap my sentiment banner slightly. My Stampin' Blends tip for you today is in relation to using them to colour a co-ordinating stamped image onto your envelope: before you begin colouring, place a piece of cardstock inside the envelope; this will prevent ink leaking through to the back of the envelope and spoiling its appearance.

I added one of the other birds along with the other part of the sentiment to the inside of my card - here he is:

Another handsome fella! One thing I do know - this card is on it's way to a friend, yes, whose birthday I forgot last week!

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 my post for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

I've started the week with one of the James Juniors home from school with the dreaded lurgy, so no time to craft 'from scratch' today. Days like this are perfect days to work on a kit though, where all the hard work and prep is done for you. So today I'm sharing not one card but 5 - yes the five different all-occasion card designs that feature in the fabulous new 'Lots of Happy Card Kit' - take a look:

Here's the low-down on this kit:

Lots of Happy, Lots To Love - There's lots to love in this all-inclusive kit: with 4 each of 5 designs, you can create a total of 20 all-occasion cards using the included 'Lots of Happy' stamp set and then colour these using the Watercolour Pencils that are also included in the kit. two of the four pencils that are included are exclusive to this kits and not available with the standard pencil set. Here are each of the 5 designs individually:

A Fun Night In - The Lots of Happy Card Kit is perfect for a fun night in with friends - if ever you needed an excuse to get together on a wintry afternoon or evening and have some fun, this is it! No skill or previous experience necessary, so whether you consider yourself a crafter or a complete novice that just loves to send beautiful handcrafted cards, this kit is for you! The theraputic benefits of colouring are well-known (you can read all about that in my previous post here) - add some refreshments - tea and cake or wine and nibbles, either works! - and a fun night is guaranteed! If you would be interested in hosting a fun evening with friends, do get in touch - I would love to help you to host a night to remember! What's more if you invite 7 friends to participate during Sale-A-Bration - each kit costs £31.50 each - as the hostess you can get your kit for FREE!

And There's More - This fabulous kit also has a refill available, so if you enjoyed it the first time around, you can reuse your stamp set, block, ink and pencils and create even more cards! A refill costs just £19 - that's less than £1 per card, bargain!

Also the lovely people at Stampin' Up! have also produced a video showing this kit in more detail if you'd like a closer look:

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 know I often say this when a new kit comes along, but this really is a good one - the end results are so contemporary and pretty, I love it! Contact me to get one for yourself today!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Lots Of Happy Card Kit

Lots Of Happy Card Kit Refill

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 I have a topical clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

It's almost February and with Valentine's Day around the corner love is definitely in the air, so what better time to send a little love note or two to the one you love? I have a super clean-and-simple card to share with you this week that is also perfect for this week's challenge over at Less Is More - take a look:

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

Love You Panda - I couldn't resist using another of these cute little pandas on my card today - this time it had to be the one proudly holding his own little love note, perfect for my theme! I simply stamped him in black, coloured in the heart on his envelope and surrounded him with bright pink love hearts, from the Heart Happiness set. Inside I stamped my sentiment, also from the 'Party Pandas' stamp set, along with another spray of hearts:

And that's it - super simple, super cute!

The Perfect Note - I used one of the new Whisper White Narrow Note Cards for my one-layer love note today - they measure 6.4cm x 11.4cm, small and narrow and the perfect size for a note to tuck into a pocket, lunch box or gift package. 

Painted With Love Envelope Liners - My little note card was so quick and easy to put together, I decided to add another surprise pop of colour with an envelope liner on the flap of my envelopes. I simply punched a whole bunch of circles out of the Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper using my 2" circle punch and adhered them to the inner flap of my envelope. 

I love my little note card so much, I made a whole bunch of them - I used a selection of papers and stamped my pandas both horizontally and vertically, with hearts in each of the colours that feature in the Painted With Love paper - here's a shot of a bunch of them together:

These are perfect for me to slip into the James Juniors' blazer pockets for a surprise note at school; we are also going to make a whole bunch more for the children to share with their friends too - it's nice to let your besties know they are loved too! They really are so simple to make - it's taken me longer to write this blog post that to actually make all of these cards!

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:

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: 

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White Narrow Note Cards & Envelopes	Painted With Love Specialty Designer Series Paper	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	2" (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad
Heart Happiness Photopolymer Stamp Set

Another late one I'm afraid as I've been tied (figuratively, not literally!) to my desk all day pushing paperwork. Just time to share a card for the current challenge over at Fab Friday where they have a super-bright colour combo to work with:

I love brights so was really keen to play along with one of my favourite challenges. I figured the best way to use this trio of bold colours was to ensure that I also incorporated plenty of white. I decided to get out my Party Pandas Sale-A-Bration stamp set again and do something I haven't done in a while - take a look:

Yes, it's a fun spinner card - isn't that party panda just the cutest?! I made this card over a week ago but delayed sharing it with you as I made a video tutorial to go with it. I still need to finish editing so will post it here once complete but in the meantime I couldn't not share this cutie! Here's the low-down on today's card:

Get Spinning - Everyone loves the fun element created by adding a spinner - young and old alike! I've made my Sale-A-Bration Party Panda the spinning star of today's card, but this technique works with lots of other stamps too. The panda looks like he was meant to cartwheel though I think! To make the panda spin, you simply attach him to two penny coins (or a dime, or a washer - you get the idea) separated by a dimensional, with the pennies sitting either side of the track. If I've lost you already, come back when I upload the video - all will become clear! 

Creating The Track - I used the Classic Label Punch to create the track for my spinning panda, by repeatedly punching along my cardfront in order to get an extended gap. This is one of the easiest ways to create a spinner track. The key to getting a freely-spinning panda though is to use Stampin' Up!'s foam strips to adhere your front panel to your card base. This ensures the gap is deep enough for the panda to spin freely.

Let's Celebrate - I pulled my sentiment from another of my free Sale-A-Bration sets, Amazing You, and inked up the words in contrasting colours. Such a great sentiment that allows this card to work for all kinds of celebrations, not just birthdays. In fact, I am going to dedicate this one to one of the Fab Friday design team members, the awesome Brian King, who at the time of posting this challenge had announced the day before that he is also joining the design team over at CAS(E) this Sketch, another great challenge blog favourite of mine - way to go Brian! 

I love these bright colours, so perfect for this fun card. Do check out the design team cards over at Fab Friday and the gallery, where there are some amazing and varied entries that will provide great inspiration.

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:

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Amazing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Classic Label Punch	Foam Adhesive Strips	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock
Berry Burst A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad
Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Tutti-Frutti Adhesive-Backed Sequins	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Stampin' Dimensionals

Today I'm sharing another card made using some of the items you can earn for free with a purchase of £45 or more during Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration promotion that I made with the ladies in my card class last week - take a look:

My card uses 3 of the currently available Sale-A-Bration items - can you spot them all? Here's the low-down on today's card:

An Epic Celebration - The trainers or 'sneakers' on my card today come from the Epic Celebration stamp set - perfect for discerning teens, both male and female. I stamped mine in Archival Grey ink and highlighted areas of my shoes and the sentiment with a chalk marker to accentuate some of the detail against the Bermuda Bay background. 

Bubbles and Fizz, Stars and Stripes - My background paper is another Sale-A-Bration freebie, the Bubbles and Fizz designer series paper. It has some great bottle patterns, but also great neutral patterns in bold, bright colours. I used one piece and cut a strip that I flipped over to give a fun 'stars and stripes' combination. 

Shimmer Ribbon - I covered the join of my two papers with some shiny satin Basic Grey ribbon - yes, my third free gift! This pack of three ribbons in different widths on page 9 of the Sale-A-Bration catalogue is easily overlooked, yet the gorgeous shimmer makes them worth a second glance, not to mention the fact that they co-ordinate so beautifully with the designer series paper! 

My card was inspired by this one made by Amy Koenders, with a few subtle differences - thanks for the inspiration Amy! 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:

Epic Celebrations Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	3/8" (1 Cm) Shimmer Ribbon Pack	White Stampin' Chalk Marker	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad
Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Basic Gray A4 Cardstock

I've had a busy start to my week and I'm finally managing to share a card I designed for the current challenge over at Less is More - I'm so glad the ladies have gone to a 2 week challenge as I'm hoping it will give me time to play along more often, I just love their challenges! Their first challenge of the new year is to use purples on your card:

I love the colour purple! I didn't realise that I like it so much until a friend pointed out to me one day that I often wear purple or accessorise with purple - how funny is that?! Anyway, as much as I like it I don't use it all that often on my cards so this challenge was a good opportunity to remedy that. And a perfect opportunity to break out my most favourite of new stamp sets - take a look:

Yes, I adore the Myths and Magic suite in the new seasonal catalogue; I mean, wizards, dragons, knights, mermaids and unicorns - what's not to love?! I chose to work with the wizard today - isn't he just adorable? Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Little Paper Piecing - I decided to use some of the lovely Myths and Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper for my wizard's outfit. Many of the designs in this paper pack have a glitter finish - the one that I chose for my wizard's cloak is Fresh Fig with sparkly silver stars. Use of patterned paper on a clean and simple card is generally frowned upon, unless it's in very small quantities as I've used it here. I stamped the wizard from the 'Magical Day' stamp set onto my card base and again onto the patterned paper, then cut out the wizard's cloak and hat and adhered it to my card base, colouring the remaining parts of the wizard with my Stampin' Blends. 

Ombre, Ombre - Whilst I've used Fresh Fig as my dominant purple, I've also combined with Rich Razzleberry and Sweet Sugarplum to create an ombre effect for the large word 'magical' in my sentiment and in the stamped stars beneath my sparkly magic. This is a fun way to bring additional purples into my design. Here's my colour combination if you would like to save it to use on your projects:

A Mystical Crystal Ball - having stamped the colours in the magic stars rising from my crystal ball, I then decided to add a liberal dose of Dazzling Diamonds glitter; something I don't do often but it definitely adds to the magic feel of this card and is so sparkly in real life. I have a top tip for you too with the crystal ball; I've often struggled to adhere vellum so that the adhesive is invisible. I added my vellum to a self adhesive sheet before punching out a 1/2" circle and voila - a circle with invisible adhesive, perfect!

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:

Magical Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Myths & Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper	Fresh Fig A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Fresh Fig Classic Stampin' Pad
Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players This week it's the turn of the awesome Jaydee to host and she has a great colour challenge for us to work with:

Now as you know I sometimes find colour challenges perplexing, however Jaydee's palette this week got me all excited - so many creative possibilities! And what fourth colour to choose? I eventually settled on Tempting Turquoise, creating the perfect colour combination to ink up my Beautiful Peacock stamp with for the first time - take a look:

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

Eastern Palace Inspired - The first thing I do when I get a colour challenge is to look at what papers or accessories I have in my collection in those colours that I can work with. All three of Jaydee's chosen colours feature within the Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper so this was a natural starting point for me. 

A Beautiful Peacock - I knew I wanted to feature the denim and lime pattern that is on the right hand panel of my background; this pattern has always reminded me of peacock feathers - does it you? This led me straight to another of my free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Beautiful Peacock - such a gorgeous set and a perfect pairing. I decided to add in Tempting Turquoise as my fourth colour and use all four colours on my bird, with a Dapper Denim body and the remaining colours to create a graduation of colours across the tail feathers, punctuated with some retired Dapper Denim enamel dots.  You can see a close up of the detail on the photo below:

I then added some additional swirls and flowers to my panel behind. I really love this stamp - and even more so since it didn't cost me anything at all! 

A Touch Of Gold - I couldn't resist adding in a little sparkle to my project; I brushed some clear Wink of Stella onto the body of my peacock and added a trio of gold enamel shapes amongst the swirls to tie in with the gold stripes of my side strip of designer paper. 

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

You can see all of my 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 look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colour palette. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly; we are having a relatively quiet day, having spent yesterday out in the cold for both netball and football fixtures. One of the James Juniors has been out on a sleepover, so once he's been collected, I'm hoping for a nice lunch and maybe even an afternoon movie - that would be nice! I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Beautiful Peacock Photopolymer Stamp Set	Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad
Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock	Metallic Enamel Shapes

Just popping in this evening with a quick and simple card that I made to go out with my catalogues using two of the great sets that you can get for free with a qualifying purchase during Sale-A-bration - take a look:

I needed a card that would be good for mass production so the key is to keep things simple - a panda from the 'Party Pandas' set that is free with a £45 purchase during Sale-A-Bration, with the balloon coloured in with my Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends markers to co-ordinate with the Celebrate diecut from the 'Celebrate You' Thinlit Dies set - it's a Stampin' Up! first to have these fabulous thinlits as a Sale-A-Bration item and these can be yours free with a £90 purchase. A sprinkle of rhinestones completes my card. I adore both of these items and am thrilled I managed to get them for free with my Stampin' Up! purchases - bonus! You can look forward to lots more projects featuring these items. They can be yours too - just follow the links below to place an online order or get in touch if you are local.

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:

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

In an effort to be organised in 2018, I am going to make a concerted effort to make Christmas cards throughout the year so I'm having a break from the 'new' today and have a Christmas card to share with you that was inspired by the following challenges:

The team over at SUO Challenges are inviting cards that fit with the theme of 'Brr! Baby it's cold outside', which I paired with the sketch over at Handstamped Sentiments, a new-to-me challenge and a little dry embossing for Stamps Ink Paper to come up with this cosy little number:

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

Wrapped In The Warmth of Christmas - I used the sentiment from 'Snowflake Sentiments' as the starting point for my card. I'm so glad this set is on carryover and will be available for a little longer. No snowflakes on this card though - it's all about the warm and cosy! 

A Chunky Knit - I added some great texture with my dry embossed background - a little difficult to see in the photos because of the contrast in colours and I'm a little over-exposed, but it is definitely reminiscent of warm, woollen sweaters which is exactly what I think of when it's cold outside. 

Sweater Weather - I needed a little bit of pattern to bring my elements together and found this piece of retired DSP that was just what I was looking for to complete my card. A few candy dots to finish and my first Christmas card of 2018 is complete! 

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:

Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Cable Knit Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies	Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Layering Squares Framelits Dies