Happy Bank Holiday Monday to everyone in the UK and to those celebrating memorial Day in the US I hope your day is a reflective one. Today I'm sharing a card using this week's colour palette over at CAS Colours and Sketches and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches:

I love this bright colour palette and combined it with an almost no-stamping card to say farewell to a favourite die set from the retiring annual catalogue - take a look:

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

Farewell May Flowers - The lovely Narelle who designed this week's FMS sketch is famed for her fabulous flowers (check out her card this week and you will see what I mean - gorgeous!) so there was only one way for me to go this week. My single diecut dahlia along with a pair of leaves from the retiring May Flowers Framelits Dies really allows these bright colours to shine. 

A Simple Sentiment - Another retiring set, Thoughtful Banners, gave me my simple sentiment, that I heat embossed in white onto Basic Black cardstock so that it would stand out.

A Trio of Glimmer - To finish my card, I added a simple trio of Coastal Cabana glimmer dots for a little sparkle.

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:

May Flowers Framelits Dies (£29.00)	Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)

Today extra quick post for a card I made for the challenge over at Inspire.Create Challenge that is about to end this evening:

I love this bright and bold colour palette and had an immediate idea as to how I wanted to use it - it just took me until yesterday afternoon to find the time to make a card! Here it is:

These colours are perfect for some bright and colourful tropical flowers. I layered the square Tropical Thinlit die with Granny Apple Green and Black for contrast, then added a stamped leaf and a couple of flowers to anchor my sentiment, stamping them in Pumpkin Pie and then added some Poppy Parade to the edges using the 'rock and roll' technique.

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:

Tropical Chic Clear-Mount Bundle (£40.50)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

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

I sometimes struggle with making when we are in transition between an old and new Stampin' Up! catalogue - just too much to choose from! - so I was glad of a sketch this week to help things along. I decided to get creative with one of my favourite new suites from the upcoming catalogue called Follow Your Art - take a look:

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

Follow Your Art - The Follow Your Art Suite is perfect for creatives and crafty types. With stamps, co-ordinating dies and papers featuring stamps, ink, reinkers, glue guns, buttons, ribbons and more, there are so many ways to follow your own art with this set. My card features a background piece of Follow Your Art Designer Series Paper and a fun reel of ribbon with heart detail that I coloured with my Stampin' Blends to anchor my sentiment.

A Great Little Gift - One of the other fun items in this suite is the Follow your Art Embellishment kit. With pretty coloured clips, embellishments, twine and four sheets of pretty stitched felt shapes, there are lots of great embellishments for your handcrafted projects. They come in this gorgeous little box too, which you could use to store or gift cards in or give the kit to someone as a gift in itself. Check it out:

I used a felt border beneath my sentiment and added some twine to the centre of a couple of my diecut buttons for a fun touch.

Buttons, Buttons and More Buttons - Buttons feature in this set in more ways than one: I added some diecut paper ones and for the vertical panel I embossed a panel using the new Button Button Embossing folder for additional texture and dimension.

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; we have a long Spring Bank holiday weekend to look forward to so I'm hoping the sun will be shining and allow me some gardening time. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

It Starts With Art Bundle (£44.00)	Follow Your Art Designer Series Paper (£10.75)	Button Button Embossing Folder (£7.00)	Follow Your Art Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Coastal Cabana A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

Having shared a couple of Broadway Birthday cards with you last week (you can see those here if you missed them) I promised to share another that I created at the same time that was a variation on the same theme, this time using the gold and black candle designer series paper. Here's my card:

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

The centralised sentiment is still the focal point of my card, with a combination of both a stamped element and the diecut 'Wish' with gold metallic pearls to highlight my marquee-style Wish diecut, but more of the designer paper on show. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Broadway Birthday Photopolymer Bundle (£38.50)	Broadway Bound Speciality Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Metallic Pearls (£6.50)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)
Gold Foil Sheets (£3.75)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

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

I was inspired by Nance's challenge badge this week so decided to go down the houseplant route and ink up another soon-to-be retired stamp set, but with a sneak peek of something new too - take a look:

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

Goodbye Just Because - The houseplant on today's card is from one of the hostess sets in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue, 'Just Because'. These exclusive sets are sometimes overlooked, but they are a great perk for party hostesses who can claim them with Stampin' Rewards for a special price when they host a qualifying party. They can also be claimed if you place one large qualifying order and are always worth a look. I can confirm that the new annual catalogue has some fabulous hostess sets, so if you would like to host a party post the new catalogue launch, then do get in touch with me now to book a suitable date.

An Embossed Frame - The houseplant on today's card is rather green and uninteresting on its own, so I needed something that would add interest whilst still keeping to Laurie's 'clean and simple' theme. I decided on a stitched embossed frame, placed at a jaunty angle. I used my rectangle stitched framelits to cut a frame that I then ran through my Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Embossing Folder; an easy way to draw the eye to the image and sentiment.  

Hello New 2019-21 In-Colours - My jaunty frame also gave me an opportunity to give you a sneak peek of the new 2019-21 in-colours. My main card showcases my favourite, Purple Posy, and I created a set with a frame in each new in-colour: left to right you can just see Terracotta Tile, Pretty Peacock, Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray and Purple Posy. 

My cards are a little 'unfinished' in as much as I wanted to add one of the new in-colour faceted dots to the right of my sentiment on each card, but alas we are having shipping issues here in the UK and mine hadn't arrived in time to make my card. For anyone local to me that is attending my Open House catalogue launch event on 5th June, you will be able to see the 'completed' 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:

Enjoy your day; I am hoping to spend some time pottering in my garden and enjoying the sunshine. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Just Because Cling Stamp Set (£12.00)	2019-2021 In Color A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Mossy Meadow Stampin' Blends Combo Pack (£8.50)
Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Hurrah for the weekend! Today I'm sharing a couple of cards I made using the current sketch over at Fab Friday that are also perfect for the celebrations over at AsYouSeeIt where it's all about the twos as they celebrate their 200th challenge - woohoo!:

I needed an anniversary card so decided to make something using my Botanical Tags Thinlits as one of them features a pair of birds - take a look:

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

Botanical Tags - I bought this bundle because I fell in love with the detail on these tags, but I think this is the first time I've used them properly on a card and the detail is so pretty. I decided to go with a dark colour and back it with a handcut tag using a scrap of Wood Textures DSP left over from another project. I think this tag works well for a wedding or anniversary card - they could be love birds, right? 

Layers and Textures - My card feels quite busy for me: tags, twine, banners, an embossed background and a stitched rectangle sentiment and foliage branch - that's a lot going on in one place! Aside from the diecut tag, the shapes are all quite simple and my patterned papers are used in quite small quantities so as not to overwhelm and I quite like the effect.  

Take Two In Green - I liked my first card so much, I decided to create another one in a green Mint Macaron/Tranquil Tide colourway. I switched out the embossed background from Subtle to Layered Leaves which adds a little more detail, and the back piece of DSP comes from the Tranquil Textures DSP as opposed to Share What You Love, and I added a flower embellishment to my slightly larger sentiment piece, but otherwise the cards are the same:

The colour scheme for the first card was inspired by the piece of floral DSP I used for my banner, but I quite partial to greens, particularly in home decor. What do you think - which one do you prefer? 

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:

Botanical Tags Thinlits Dies (£25.00)	Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper (£25.00)	Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Petal Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Best Birds Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)
Linen Thread (£4.75)	Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Frosted Flower Embellishments (£6.50)
Faceted Dots (£5.50)

Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at Less Is More this week where the challenge is to feature a beverage on your card:

This card (minus the ribbon) is also another one that is perfect for this month's #SimpleStamping challenge which is to make a simple card using stamps, ink and paper along with a retiring stamp set - the departing Half Full set is great for simple cards:

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

Half Full - So if you're in the UK I'm sure you're wondering why I'm sharing a Christmas card, having had a week of beautifully warm and sunny weather; I'm blaming this stamp set, which is perfect for non-Christmas and festive cards alike! If you search my blog you will find lots of examples of both - this is a set that totally appeals to me and is perfect for cards for many of my friends! I love the humour - the split sentiment that I've used on today's card resolves on the inside of my card as follows:

It also includes a really useful tag that is great for a quick stamp and punch with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch to dress up a wine bottle in a hurry so there's no excuse for a naked bottle when visiting friends! For me this set is a keeper - if you don't have it, snap it up now before it's too late! 

A Lesson In Composition - When I originally stamped this card, I was intending to make it a super clean and simple one layer card. It just didn't work though; I thought I would share with you the original and then how a small change (or two) can make such a difference. So here is a quick snap of my original card:

With the white wine in my glasses, which was necessary to tie in with the sentiment, the whole thing just looked flat and rather insipid. By picking out the colour of the holly and adding a panel of Real Red above my row of stamped and coloured glasses, along with a piece of Call Me Clover in-colour ribbon, it makes my card look much more festive and the red border edge and ribbon trim draw the eye to the stamped glasses and sentiment, rather than them be 'lost' in the white space.

Just One Addition - Today's card is another #SimpleStamping project that can be created with just 5 key ingredients: Thick Whisper White cardstock, Real Red cardstock, a black ink pad, a stamp set and some markers/inks. I did add one extra thing to my card which was the green ribbon; like I said, I just couldn't resist :-)

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:

Half Full Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Real Red A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Many Marvelous Markers (£112.75)
Call Me Clover 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for both the current one-layer challenge over at TGIF Challenges and the fabulous bright colour combination over at Global Design Project this week:

This card is also perfect for this month's #SimpleStamping challenge which is to make a simple card using stamps, ink and paper along with a retiring stamp set - the departing Birthday Sentiments set is great for one-layer cards:

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

A Big Hooray - My regular readers know how much I love single image stamps for quick and easy #SimpleStamping cards and they usually satisfy my love of colouring too! This big 'Hooray' stamp is one of two in the 'Birthday Statements' stamp set that is in the Spring-Summer catalogue and retiring at the start of June. I've featured this stamp on a more detailed card here yet both of the large stamps in this set are perfect for one layer cards too. I used my Stamparatus to stamp the image in black onto my Whisper White card base so that I could stamp a few times to ensure a good solid image and then my card was ready to colour. 

Portable Pencils - As my card was a simple one layer, I made a batch of these cards and decided to add them to my portable colouring kit for my 'crafting on the go' and colour them with my watercolour pencils. I featured my DIY Craft Kit On The Go in this post some time ago and continue to use this as an easy way to always have something with me for when I'm out and about and have a spare moment.Using watercolour pencils on one layer cards also avoids any issues with 'bleeding' on the reverse of my coloured image as happens when colouring with Blends (and I didn't have all of the challenge colours needed in marker form either). I used both the set of watercolour pencils that is currently on sale in the annual catalogue for the yellow (I used Daffodil Delight as a substitute for Pineapple Punch) and then the Gorgeous Grape and Coastal Cabana pencils from the limited-time set that was on sale this time last year. If you missed this set, I have some good news - it will be joining the original set in the new annual catalogue, yay! 

Just One Addition - My #SimpleStamping one layer card needs only 5 items to make a batch of these cards: Thick Whisper White cardstock, a black ink pad, a stamp set and a pack - or in this case 2 - of watercolour pencils. I did add one extra thing to my card for a little birthday sparkle and that was some enamel dots in the challenge colours. I just couldn't resist :-)

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:

Birthday Statements Cling Stamp Set (£20.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad (£9.25)	Watercolor Pencils (£15.00)	Glitter Enamel Dots (£6.50)
Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots (£6.50)

As promised, I have another quick card that use this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout:

It's a little more open to interpretation and uses a ton of retired product: Carried Away Sale-A-Bration designer series paper from last year and my Sunburst Thinlits Dies for the sun itself, but is a great sketch to make a fun card that showcases the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits and co-ordinating Sunshine Sayings stamp set that will soon be leaving us to make a cheery card to brighten someone's day:

I'm loving this colour combo and will definitely be using it again. Here it is if you would like to save if for future use too:

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

I love those Sunshine Wishes Thinlits and will be holding on to mine long after they've left the catalogue. Sometimes it's just nice to make a card because you can - and it was definitely good to use us some of my retired paper collection! Enjoy your evening - I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies (£25.00)	Sunshine Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£21.00)	Mango Melody A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards that use this week's CAS(E) This Sketch layout:

I thought this would be a great design for a couple of birthday cards; I seem to be running out of these so need to stock up! This is what I came up with:

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

Broadway Bound - My card started with a strip of Broadway Bound specialty DSP across the bottom edge of the front of my card. This pack has some fabulous foil designs but today's card features one of the reverse patterns - a row of fun party hats, perfect for a celebratory birthday card. These papers are designed to co-ordinate with the Broadway Birthday Bundle and form part of the Broadway Bound Suite. Whilst the other items in the suite are carrying over to the new annual catalogue, these papers are not so if you like them you only have a few more weeks to snap them up. The same goes for the in-colour Lemon-Lime Twist cardstock that I used for the base of my card; this is no longer available in a single colour pack or the Broadway Bound cardstock pack, however it is still available in the in-colour A4 collection (link below).

A Wish And A Sparkle - The centralised sentiment is the focal point of my card, with a combination of both a stamped element and the diecut 'Wish', which I embellished with a host of sparkly rhinestones to add to the marquee-feel of this fun card.  

Broadway Birthday Bundle - The Broadway Birthday stamp set and Broadway Lights framelits dies are available as a bundle in the current annual catalogue and whilst they are both carrying over to the new catalogue, they will not be available at the discounted bundle price. If you would like to take advantage of the additional 10% saving when you buy these items together, then order your bundle now whilst you still have the opportunity to do so.

I loved this card so much I made another one in more masculine colours too that is perfect for this week's challenge over at Stamp Ink Paper which is cards for men: 

Here's my masculine version:

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

And here's the details for the second card:

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 loved this sketch and made another card with it which I will link up later, along with a couple of alternative cards using the Broadway Birthday Suite which I will share with you another day. I have to get a few more jobs done then I'm off to watch one of the James Juniors play cricket this afternoon; it looks like he might just get to play his first game of the season without wind, rain or cancellation due to a waterlogged pitch. Today's sunny day is just perfect for cricket!

Enjoy your day - I hope you get to enjoy some sunshine wherever you are too. Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Broadway Birthday Photopolymer Bundle (£38.50)	Broadway Bound Speciality Designer Series Paper (£13.00)	2017-2019 In Color A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Lovely Lipstick A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Gray Granite A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Basic Black A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)