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 a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

With GCSE exam results announced here in the UK last week, I have had the need for lots of exam congratulations cards, including some for boys, so today's clean and simple masculine challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to come up with another quick and easy-to-replicate design - take a look:

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

I used Jen Timko's fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week for my layout and kept things simple by creating only in 'shades of blue', in keeping with the colour challenge over at Less Is More. I used a piece of retired Whale Of A Time designer series paper featuring ombre blue waves inside my oval aperture, and added a Night of Navy stamped whale and sentiment from the 'Whale Done' stamp set. I kept my card base white and didn't add any additional embellishments in order to preserve that all-important 'white space' and masculine feel:

Super simple and not at all girly - this whale has been getting lots of use lately! Perfect to send congratulatory wishes. This week was a big one for the James family: my nephew received A Level results and Rebecca received her GCSE results. Both of them had worked very hard and did very well, with a full set of A*s and As between them, so we had lots to celebrate. More importantly, they both achieved everything they need to move on to the next stage of their education, which is the most important thing. This year has been tough for all those in examination years and I think all GCSE and A Level students should be mighty pleased with their achievements at all levels. 

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; no big plans here, so hoping I'm lucky enough to squeeze in some crafting!  I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

WHALE PUNCH (£17.00)

WHALE DONE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

I so enjoyed making the card I shared with you on Sunday, that I decided to make another card using the Merriest Moments bundle for the challenge over at Just Add Ink, this time inspired by the modern colour palette over at TGIF Challenges: 

I just loved that colour palette and thought it would work well for a modern Christmas card. I also changed the orientation for today's card - take a look:

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

A chalkboard style sentiment, this time surrounded with a white frame cut from the Snowy White Velvet sheets - these are amazing! I hope you can see some of the gorgeous embossed detailing on the velvet below:

It's so pretty in real life! I used some Pattern Party patterned paper for my background, and centred my Coastal-Cabana stamped poinsettias with some of my favourite black matte dots too.

A few loops of Coastal Cabana (retired) sheer ribbon for an added pop of blue complete my card, with a little extra stamping on the inside:

Before you think I'm completely mad choosing to feature these traditionally red or cream flowers in bright blue, a quick internet search showed that blue poinsettias are actually a thing - who knew?! I absolutely love this card - I'm definitely going to make a few more in this colourway.

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; today is the youngest of the James Juniors 14th birthday and we have a fun day of activities planned, all to be finished off with an Oreo cookie ice cream cake! I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

MERRIEST MOMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	SNOWY WHITE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) VELVET SHEETS (£4.75)	PATTERN PARTY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) HOST DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	VERSAMARK PAD (£8.75)	BASICS EMBOSSING POWDERS (£17.00)	COASTAL CABANA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	MATTE BLACK DOTS (£6.50)

This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Bhavya has asked that we use four images stacked vertically, interspersed with a sentiment. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

My card today was completely driven by the need to find four images and a sentiment that would fit on a card front; that and my current phase of fussy-cutting images from designer paper! Here's what I came up with:

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

Super simple this one! I fussy cut four of the mini gingerbread images from the Gingerbread and Peppermint designer series paper, along with a base from the same pack to give a little border on each side, and stacked them on dimensionals, interspersing with a sentiment stamped in Real Red taken from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set:

That's all there is to it - super simple and very little stamping too!

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

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

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! color 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.

This is a big week in the James household, so blogging will be a little less frequent than usual. Today my nephew received his A Level results: an A and two A*s, which he is thrilled with and is testament to his hard work and effort in recent months. Tomorrow it is the turn of the James Junior who turns 14 - we have some exciting surprise birthday celebrations planned which I will share later in the week! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

POINSETTIA PETALS PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£25.00)

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

These colours immediately made me think of florals, then Christmas and since I had just taken delivery of some new goodies that ticked both boxes I couldn't wait to try them out - take a look:

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

Merriest Moments - Merriest Moments, like the Art in Bloom bundle in the annual catalogue, is a 3 in 1 bundle comprising a stamp set, dies and a hybrid embossing folder that enables you to get beautifully textured die-cut images in seconds.

Perfect for the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week, where they are asking us to 'use a frame' on our cards, the Merriest Moments hybrid embossing folder adds a beautifully textured frame, choc full of festive foliage. I embossed my card base, then embossed and cut my frame and I added some sponged white kraft ink to give it some highlighting:

I added a sentiment panel and a trio of red and yellow Christmas poinsettias to accent it. I also stamped another flower and a sentiment inside my card to finish:

This bundle has everything you need to make your Christmas cards in one go - just add your colours and create! This bundle will feature in my class on October 11th so if it appeals to you, then do drop me a line to be added to class list. Meanwhile, I can't wait to create more cards with this bundle!

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

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

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

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

Enjoy your day; I am looking forward to a catch-up day today, since I've been out of action decorating for the last few days. I'm hoping to squeeze in a little crafting too so that I can be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

MERRIEST MOMENTS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	REAL RED CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	OLD OLIVE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)
TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	OLD OLIVE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	UNINKED STAMPIN’ PAD & WHISPER WHITE REFILL (£8.75)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's time for a fun 'fill in the blank' challenge:

Favourite animal? That is an interesting one! I used the Sunday Stamps sketch layout and a Sale-A-Bration freebie to create a Christmas card featuring one of my favourites, that is actually going to be a big feature of the Stampin' Up! festive season - take a look:

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

P-P-P-Pick Up A Penguin - Yes, my favourite animal on today's card is definitely the penguin! He is the star of the show in the Penguin Playmates Designer Series Paper that is one of the Sale-A-Bration items that can be yours free with a £45 purchase during the promotion. I've used three of the designs on my card today: one for the background, another for the striped panels and lastly I fussy cut all three animals from a third design:

A simple stamped sentiment from 'Penguin Place' completed my card. This card was actually really quick to create, as I had a whole pile of animals I had already cut out of the DSP one evening as I sat watching TV so they were ready to go. Which is a good thing, as I've been decorating this week (the youngest of the juniors wore me down with his constant requests for a bedroom makeover) and it left me with neither the time nor energy to create from scratch! Fortunately I had been thinking about the design as I painted, so the whole thing came together easily.

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.
• In a Fill in the Blank challenge, complete the sentence in the Challenge Banner with the phrase that is true for you and create your project using the words you used. Tell us what you said in your blog or on your site.

I am almost finished with my painting - just woodwork to do today - so will be looking forward to a rest over the weekend, in readiness for a very big week next week (more on that to follow!) Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PENGUIN PLAYMATES 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£0.00)

PENGUIN PLACE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£16.00)

FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

MISTY MOONLIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing a clean and simple card inspired by a couple of challenges:

AAA Cards are looking for designs 'along the edge' with an optional twist of dry embossing and over at The Alphabet Challenge they are on 'I is for Insect'. I embraced all three to come up with a super simple card - take a look:

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

I embossed my panel of thick Basic White with the Greenery embossing folder; it goes off the edge on both sides, but here I just ran it through along one edge. I added a get-well soon sentiment in Night of Navy and to finish could resist a golden bumble bee trinket for my insect:

And that's it - super simple but I hope you'll agree quite effective nonetheless.

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:

GREENERY EMBOSSING FOLDERS (£7.50)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

BUMBLEBEE TRINKETS (£7.00)

FLOWERS OF FRIENDSHIP CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

This is my second post for today - if you missed the first one, be sure to go back and read that one here! It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Bhavya is hosting this month, we have a new guest designer and our first challenge is a colour challenge: 

For my card today I decided to use a new set that has yet to make it out of the box: What's Cookin'. I used the sketch layout over at Paper Craft Crew as my starting point and created a fun mix of utensils for my card - take a look:

I backed my utensils with a square of Rich Razzleberry for impact and fussy cut my sentiment and added a trio of enamel dots to finish:

I love to cook so this is a fun set for me, although I do find it mildly amusing that the saucepans are so small relate to the size of the bowl and knife, for example - creative license I guess!

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! color 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:

WHAT'S COOKIN' CLING STAMP SET (£20.00)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	RICH RAZZLEBERRY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SMOKY SLATE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
BASIC GRAY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

So many reasons to celebrate today - or should I say, Sale-A-Brate?!

First up, we have a new mini catalogue, with everything you need for your seasonal and festive crafting, to take you from autumn, through to Halloween, Christmas and beyond! Here is the new mini catalogue, in all its festive glory:

Just click on the image above or in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you and you don't already have a demonstrator; paper copies have been sent to my regular customers. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

And as if that wasn't enough, we get a second bite of the Sale-A-Bration cherry this year too, with our second 2 month long Sale-A-Bration promotion! Starting from today 3rd August until 30th September, you can once again get more bang for your buck when you shop, host or join. You can click on the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page or below to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or click on the icon above or on the right to go directly to my online shopto place an order - we are LIVE!

So a reminder of how Sale-A-Bration works: for anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, join or host. You can earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 3 August and 30 September. There is also the opportunity to earn even bigger rewards with a £90 purchase. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! Here's a link to a video from the nice people at the Home Office that lets you see each of those free products up close in more detail:

I hope that was useful and rest assured I will be sharing plenty of additional projects on my blog in the next few weeks that show these items in more detail. 

It’s also one of the best times of the year to join Stampin’ Up! There is a fabulous joining option during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion: as usual, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £130 of FREE products for your Starter Kit. In addition to an extra £31 worth of product in your starter kit, you can select an additional one of 12 bundles FOR FREE. Here are the bundles that you are able to choose from:

There couldn’t be a better time to join the Stampin’ Up! family. Plus, the whole kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you. 

Hosting is also even more rewarding during Sale-A-Bration. When you host a party and reach a certain amount in sales (see the Stampin’ Rewards chart in the Sale-A-Bration brochure for more information), you can earn a free stamp set - this time the 'In Your Words' stamp set shown above. Even if your order reaches the qualifying amount on your own outside of a party, you can earn the same free stamp set too, both in person and when shopping in my online store. What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a virtual party, please do get in touch. Equally if you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team and the benefits.

If you would like more information on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch! 

Thanks so much for popping by - it's always nice to share good news! Back soon with lots of projects showcasing products from the new catalogue and today's clean and simple post for our new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy shopping!

Today I'm sharing a card that uses Judy's current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the fresh colour palette over at Just Add Ink:

I though the panels on Judy's sketch would be perfect to break out another new stamp set, Celebrate With Flowers - take a look:

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

I added elements of the flowers from the set into two of the boxes and saved my sentiment for the third one. I stamped my stem and leaves in black and the flowers in the other two colours and fussy cut them before adding with dimensionals. I added in-colour gems to the centres and stamens in each of the colours for a little extra sparkle:

The paper behind the panels is some of the Beautifully Penned black and white paper that can be yours free with an order of £45 or more from tomorrow when our next Sale-A-Bration campaign begins.

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

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

Before I go, a reminder that today is your last chance to receive 15% off in the designer series paper sale - you can read all about it here.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CELEBRATE WITH FLOWERS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£17.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£5.50)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)	POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
PALE PAPAYA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

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 I have a timely theme challenge for you to work with:

Whilst lots of us are already starting to work on Christmas projects, it is still very much summer time and I chose this week's theme with that in mind. As the rhyme goes, 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, oh I do like to be beside the sea' - sand between your toes, fish and chips, buckets and spades and more - the seaside is one of my favourite places to be. I decided to break from my usual card and make a scrapbook page to share with you for a change this week.

I live in Northampton which is very close to the very centre of England, so is about as far from the coast as you can get. I recently took the James Juniors to visit their grandparents, my parents, in Wales for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic and the first place they always ask to visit is the beach. This left me with lots of great photos ready to scrapbook. I am mostly a Memories and More pocket scrapbooker, but occasionally I do make full 12" x 12" layouts and with the gorgeous 'Friends are Like Seashells' bundle in the annual catalogue I couldn't resist. Take a look at today's layout:

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

I captured a great photo of Rebecca jumping the waves as I followed her down to the shoreline, so thought it would be perfect for my layout. Here's a close-up of my photo and the surrounding decoration in more detail: 

 I backed my photo with a piece of 'Expressions In Ink' designer paper and added a strip of the gorgeous Night of Navy ombre glimmer paper down the left side, to pick up on the bright blues of the sky in the photo. I embossed and diecut the seaside shells from pearlescent paper, then used the corner to decorate my photo whilst snipping the the other shells and seaweed apart to add as decoration elsewhere. I did a little background stamping beneath my layering and my main sentiment is fussy cut from one of the 'What A Year' Memories and More cards; you can see that more closely below:

I love that sentiment and it totally sums up the mood of the day and Rebecca in particular in that moment. Both of the James Juniors were so thrilled to be at the beach that day, jumping the waves, fishing in rock pools and generally enjoying the sea air.

In addition to a sprinkling of sequins and gems, I also added a sentiment tag to the corner of my page, decorated with a fussy ribbon bow:

My layout is actually quite simple, and very much like my card making style - although if you could see the pile of patterned papers that covered my desk as I made this page you would think that it must have been anything but and I did procrastinate for quite some time before deciding on my final papers and design!

So what do you think? Did you enjoy my scrapbook layout today for a change? Should I share more of this kind of thing on my blog? Feel free to leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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 my theme inspires you this week!

Since I did something other than a card today, I am going to link up over at Just Us Girls where that happens to be their theme this week.

Enjoy your day; I have a family day at home today, with nothing special planned. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEASHELLS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£50.25)	SEASHELLS 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£8.25)	PEARLESCENT SPECIALTY PAPER (£3.75)	OMBRE 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY PAPER (£9.25)	EXPRESSIONS IN INK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)
WHAT A YEAR MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK (£9.25)	BASIC WHITE 12X12 (30.5 X 30.5 CM) CARDSTOCK (£7.25)	PALE PAPAYA 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)	2021–2023 IN COLOR JEWELS (£6.50)
ARTISTRY BLOOMS ADHESIVE-BACKED SEQUINS (£6.50)	PALE PAPAYA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)