As if the launch of the January-June mini catalogue retiring list and a creative post wasn't enough for you today, I also have more great news - Stampin' Up!'s new line of all-inclusive craft kits launches to customers today! Designed to be the perfect introduction to paper-crafting, the Kits Collection by Stampin’ Up! is great for the beginner crafter or the crafter on the go.

You can now go online and choose from a variety of affordably priced, versatile kits for multiple occasions. Whatever your skill or experience, the kits are designed for you, the customer, to be in control and and choose the kit experience that is most comfortable for you. 

Kits are all-inclusive, pre-cut, and ready to use with complete step-by-step instructions; plus, new kits will be added to the online store regularly, so remember to check back often! The following kits are currently available in the online store: 

Kit prices range from just £11.25 to £18 each - why not head on over to the online store and check them out? Happy shopping!

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

For my card today I decided these colours would be perfect to re-create those beautiful lilacs in the Inspired By challenge photo ... but I have no lilac stamps! So what to do? I decided to get creative - take a look:

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

When Is A Hydrangea Not A Hydrangea? - When it's a lilac, of course! I decided that the die with the row of four-petal flowers in the Hydrangea Dies set would be perfect to create some lilac blossom too. I diecut a whole bunch of them in Fresh Freesia cardstock and added a little Fresh Freesia ink to the edges of some with a sponge dauber and added some Gorgeous Grape ink to others, along with a dot in the centre of each. 

A Stem Trick - The main thing that distinguishes a lilac blossom is its triangular shape. In order to get the shape I wanted, I used the berry die from the Poinsettia dies set and stuck two together to create a triangle shape, then added my petals to the berries. I love the way there is a hint of green peeking through between the petals, as it would with an actual lilac blossom in real life. I added a couple of Pierced Blooms leaves for some added extra greenery.

A Foray Into Stencils - I've seen so many wonderful examples of stencilling on cards recently I decided to dig out mine that I haven't used for ages and used an old one to create a background that mimics the shape of the Inspired By sketch to add some pale green dots, fading out from the bottom corner of my card. I finished with a sentiment from the Hydrangea Haven stamp set in Gorgeous Grape. Check out the detail on those blossoms - so pretty!

So what do you think? Did my hydrangea turned lilac tick the creative box? Do you ever look at your dies and see a different purpose for them?

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'!

Edited to add: I was the winner over at Inspired By with this card!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

HYDRANGEA HAVEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	PIERCED BLOOMS DIES (£34.00)	POINSETTIA DIES (£33.00)	FRESH FREESIA A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SOFT SUCCULENT A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
FRESH FREESIA CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SOFT SUCCULENT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	GORGEOUS GRAPE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

It's a Bank Holiday here in the UK today and the sun is shining - woohoo! There will be more gardening rather than crafting done here today, but fear not - I have a card to share with you that I made over the weekend inspired by a few challenges: 

I was inspired by both the colours and the inspiration photo over at Color Throwdown this week and decided to dig into my retired stash for the perfect stamp - take a look:

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

Giggle Greetings - The less-than-impressed feline that features on today's card is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called 'Giggle Greetings' from 2013 - so perfect for the 'anything goes' challenge over at Retro Rubber this week! I loved the corny sentiments and greetings in this set and have used it lots of times, so it was always going to make it into my 'keep' pile. I coloured my cat simply with my Blends markers and split the sentiment, masking off part of the words on the stamp on the front of my card and then continuing these on the inside:

On Film - I decided to 'frame' my cat with another retired product - this time the film roll from the On Film Framelits, another gem from 2014. These are so great for highlighting images when scrapbooking, which is primarily why I still have them in my stash, but they also came in useful for the challenge over at CASology this week where the cue word is 'photo':

Dots and Spots - The main image is mostly grey so I wanted to incorporate some of that lovely yellow into my card to just lift things a little. I decided to add a couple of small pieces of DSP (this is a CAS card after all) and chose some with both dots and spots and added them behind my film/photo. This way they don't overwhelm and the colour palette remains simple, whilst still adding brightness to the card. This also meets the brief over at Just Us Girls this week - I can't remember the last time I created a card worthy of all these challenges all at the same time and I wasn't even trying!

I know exactly who will be receiving this card - lots of my friends are approaching the big '50' and some are looking forward to it more than others, so this will be a fun way to raise a smile!

No visual summary or product table of the key products used on today's project as most of them are no longer available to purchase.

One last reminder today - if you have been considering taking advantage of the current Stampin' Up! joining offer where you can choose £154 for £99, today is your last chance - read all about it here and join my team here - can't wait for you to be part of the fun!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow 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 LeAnne to host this week and as it's the fifth Sunday of the month we have a tic-tac-toe challenge board for you to work with:

I went down the first column of our TicTacToe board with blue/die-cut/heat embossing and decided to use Jen's Freshly Made Sketches layout and make another slimline card that was totally inspired by the fabulous nautical photo over at The Card Concept - take a look: 

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

Sailing Home - I took the inspiration for my 'clean and layered' card from The Card Concept's great nautical inspiration photo this week, specifically the cushion at the top of the photo, with the blue and red stripes on cream. I incorporated these into my design but decided to change out the anchor for the sailboat that features on the central cushion as it fitted better with my sentiment, as I wanted to make a congratulations/good luck for the future-type card. I heat-embossed the large sailboat from the 'Sailing Home' stamp set in white on Night of Navy then diecut it with my Come Sail Away dies. A 'thank you' too to the team over at The Card Concept for choosing this card as one of their Honourable Mentions recently and for their kind comments on a card that felt quite out of my comfort zone but was totally inspired by their awesome photo!

A Beautiful World - For my sentiment I used both the retired stamp set 'Beautiful World' and paired it with one of my favourite diecuts from the retired Summer Silhouettes dies - the long, slimline design is perfect for showcasing the long 'adventure' diecut, which I cut a couple of times and glued together for added height. I also added another stamped greeting from the same stamp set to the inside of my card:

A Cautionary Tale - So I'm sure you are looking at today's card and thinking it came together really quickly; to be fair, if I made a second one it probably wouldn't take long at all. For this one that was not the case though! I spent quite a bit of time deciding on which nautical elements to incorporate on my card and then just as I had everything stuck together, I decided my card needed a little something extra so decided to add a trio of stamped gulls. And that was where the disaster happened! I missed one part of one of the gulls, and then slipped with my stamp-a-ma-jig when I went back in to correct. So what to do? Luckily I managed to remove the top vanilla panel with some dental floss (such a craft room life-saver!) and then I removed the top portion and replaced with another one, with birds correctly stamped before I glued into place. Crisis averted - and let that be a lesson to you: don't glue everything down until you are completely sure your stamping is complete! I do like the addition of the birds though, so it was worth it:

This is one of those cards that I would not have made without the photo that inspired it, but I love it! What do you think? Do you like the current trend for slimline designs? Do leave me a comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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 spending some time in the garden today as we are enjoying some warmer weather here in the UK for a change - it bodes well for our Bank Holiday weekend for sure. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Edited to add: I was the Challenge Winner over at The Card Concept with this card!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

SAILING HOME CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£22.00)

SMOOTH SAILING DIES (£30.00)

NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

CHERRY COBBLER A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)

NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

VERY VANILLA A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)

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

I'm afraid I couldn't resist dipping into my Expressions in Ink Suite again for the third time this week to find my ingredients to meet the recipe criteria for this challenge - take a look:

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

Expressions In Ink - Today's card uses another of the beautiful alcohol-ink inspired backgrounds that feature in the Expressions in Ink designer series paper. This one features a loose floral pattern that I deliberately chose for today's card because it is a great match for the large floral die. 

All About The Die - Today's card really is all about showcasing the gorgeous large floral die. I cut it out of (retired) gold glimmer paper as I wanted it to make a real focal point on my card; can you see how the pattern of the florals behind align with the florals on the diecut? I'm not sure if this is by design, but I was rather pleased when I discovered it:

The Remaining Ingredients - So that is DSP and diecut sorted; I heat embossed my birthday sentiment in gold onto a Tasteful Label banner and added a simple gold twine bow so as not to detract from the diecut to complete the other elements of our recipe this week.

I am truly in love with this suite - so very pretty and easy to use. I can promise you haven't seen the last of this yet!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

EXPRESSIONS IN INK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	ARTISTIC DIES (£33.00)	PEACEFUL MOMENTS CLING STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£20.00)	TASTEFUL LABELS DIES (£29.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	SHADED SPRUCE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	GOLD & ROSE GOLD 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 CM) METALLIC SPECIALTY PAPER (£4.75)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses more of my new product stash so is perfect for the challenge over at TGIF Challenges this week where they are all about the new:

I could have linked up any of my 'Expressions In Ink' cards this week (and heads up - I have another one of those for you tomorrow!) but instead took a break to play with some of the new stamps and paper from the Sweet Symmetry Suite that you can find on page 112 of the new annual catalogue - take a look:

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

Sweet Symmetry - The starting point for today's card is the gorgeous Sweet Symmetry designer series paper. Bright colours and bold, graphic designs make this a set of papers that won't appeal to everyone, but I have to say I love the retro fee of the patterns in this set and bright colours always tick my creative box! I chose one of my favourite repeating patterns and used that for the panel that covers two-thirds of my card front. 

In Symmetry - I decided to create a focal point flower that I stamped using the co-ordinating 'In Symmetry' stamp set and as I wanted the design to echo the papers, I stamped the flower several times in a variety of colours then fussy cut the sections and pieced them together. There are no framelits for this set - a very useful symmetrical stems punch instead that I didn't use today - but the uniform shape of the various floral elements meant this was easy to accomplish. You can see the detail of my layered flower more closely below:

Same Layout, Different Card - You may be wondering if there is something familiar about today's card; whilst the product I'm using I am sharing for the first time, the layout is the same as the one I used for my Paper Players card on Sunday (if you missed it you can see that card here). I liked Jaydee's sketch so much I thought I'd change things up and use it with a different set. Both cards look completely different, yet the sketch does give them a synergy that would otherwise be missing. Same layout, different card - I love that!

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 have jobs to do and need to crack on! Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project and yes - it features Expressions in Ink! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

IN SYMMETRY PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (£16.00)	SWEET SYMMETRY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£10.75)	LAYERING CIRCLES DIES (£33.00)	SO SAFFRON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	FLIRTY FLAMINGO A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
FLIRTY FLAMINGO CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	NIGHT OF NAVY A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	NIGHT OF NAVY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BUMBLEBEE A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	BUMBLEBEE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)
CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge and Samantha has asked that we feature a non-geometrical shape on our cards: 

Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card.

For my card today I had to make another card using items from the 'Expressions In Ink' Suite - take a look:

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

Artistically Inked - The main feature on today's card is a gold foil leaf branch cut with my Artistic Dies and a trio of Polished Pink blooms that I've stamped and diecut and tucked in amongst the leaves.  The flowers in this set are so pretty and they are so easy to stamp - perfect for clean and simple cards.

A Distinktive Inking Tip - As beautiful as they are, there is no patterned paper from the suite on today's card. Instead, I added a 'hint of pink' both behind my floral stem and in the opposing corner beneath my sentiment. Instead of inking the stamp directly, or even stamping off, I added ink to the stamp using my blending brush; this gave perfect coverage with no harsh lines and allowed the detail of the distinktive stamp to show through, but with just a hint of colour:

I really like this effect, so soft and subtle.

Finishing Touches - A gold heat-embossed sentiment and a trio of gold gilded gems finish today's card. Just enough bling to make it special without breaking too many CAS rules!

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. 

It's still freezing cold and blowing a gail here in the UK today, although mercifully the torrential rain has stopped for the time being. Summer, oh summer - where are you??!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ARTISTICALLY INKED BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£49.50)

GILDED GEMS (£6.50)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)

POLISHED PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

Happy Monday everyone! Today was class day so my day has been a busy one. I'm just popping in to share a couple of my class cards that I made using this week's Color Throwdown colours:

We were using the Dragonfly Garden stamp set and co-ordinating Dragonflies punch and one of the things I wanted to do today was to teach my class ladies how to create a card using the 'floating frame' technique. So this actually means I have two cards for you! Here's the first one: 

And here's the second one, featuring the outer frame element:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Floating Frames - The floating frame technique is really easy to create with a few basic tools: some 'Press and Seal' food wrap or similar, a framelit - I used my Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies - and lots of dimensionals! You simply stamp and punch/diecut your images, lay them out, cover with Press and Seal, trim to frame size and cut out your central piece, before adhering dimensionals to the back of the diecut pieces and adhering to your chosen card base. Finally you remove the Press and Seal and your floating shapes remain in place. 

Dragonfly Garden - I used a combination of large punched dragonflies in the three challenge colours and interspersed them with smaller white ones to fill in the gaps. The dragonflies are a great shape and size for a floating frame as they are easily identifiable even when only partially visible:

Frame It - For the central portion, I added a rectangular border and heat-embossed sentiment:

Lastly, here's a photo of both cards together - which one do you prefer?

I think I like the one with the central detail and coloured frame best, but I like the other one too - it's a tough call!

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:

DRAGONFLY GARDEN BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£34.00)	STITCHED RECTANGLE DIES (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£7.75)	BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MINT MACARON A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)
MINT MACARON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	BALMY BLUE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)

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

I decided that Jaydee's sketch was the perfect opportunity to get to work with my Expressions in Ink suite. As is often the way, the first card that I make when I open a new suite for the first time ends up including a bit of everything, and today's card is no exception - take a look:

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

Expressions In Ink - The starting point for today's card was the beautiful 'Expressions In Ink' specialty designer series paper that is the cornerstone of the suite of the same name and that features on the front cover of the new annual catalogue. Full of patterns made from alcohol inked backgrounds with gold embossed detail, these papers are stunning! I chose a heavily patterned floral design with gold embossed detail and added it to the top portion of my card.

Artistically Inked - I used the 'Artistically Inked' stamp set to stamp a Magenta Madness flower and two pairs of leaves, along with a heat-embossed sentiment on the front of my card. These are distinktive stamps that also have that watercoloured or alcohol-inked effect. I die cut these elements with the co-ordinating Artistic Dies. I also added a sentiment and another stamped flower to the inside of my card:

Touches of Gold - I added lots of additional touches to my floral focal point to make this a rather special card - gold foil diecut leaves, Pale Papaya ribbon (cut in half lengthways), gold twine and gilded gems for an added touch of luxury:

I just adore this suite - I think it is my favourite of all of the new suites in the catalogue. If it's a favourite of yours too, you are going to want to come back again this week as I have made lots more cards that I will be sharing with you. So much so, I am already running out of this paper - I will be needing to order more of that this 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 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; mine is a going to be a busy one as Sundays go. There is swim squad training for both James Juniors and then Master James has a football-themed birthday party to attend in the afternoon too. I'm just hoping it stays dry - cricket was cancelled again yesterday - and for once not because it was raining, but this time because we have had so much rain so far this last week and in May as a whole that the cricket pitches were saturated. The poor boy has yet to wear his new cricket kit this year - at this rate he will have grown out of it before he gets the chance!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

ARTISTICALLY INKED BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£49.50)	EXPRESSIONS IN INK 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£14.00)	SIMPLY ELEGANT TRIM (£7.00)	GILDED GEMS (£6.50)	GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)
MAGENTA MADNESS A4 CARDSTOCK (£8.25)	MAGENTA MADNESS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	SHADED SPRUCE CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£7.00)	PALE PAPAYA 3/8" (1 CM) OPEN WEAVE RIBBON (£6.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£9.00)