I've had my first class of the month today and today I have a couple of cards to share with you: one from my class and one that my class card was based on, both of which were inspired by the lovely Julee Tilman's current Mojo Monday sketch (turned through 90 degrees):

Here's the first card I created using the beautiful All My Love suite - take a look:

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

Whilst the papers in the All My Love suite feature classic romantic colours, these papers are not just about hearts - they feature some fabulous florals too. This card features one of my personal favourites and compliments the Soft Sea Foam background beautifully. 

Along with the die cut detail of the sentiment panel, this makes for a simple yet pretty card. 

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

Here is the second similar card that we made in my class, using an alternative colourway, this time with a couple of diecut flowers to compliment the patterned 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 '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:

Forever Lovely Photopolymer Bundle (£45.00)

All My Love 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Linen Thread (£4.75)

Today I've just got time for a quick post to share another card made using the Sale-A-Bration stamp set 'By The Bay' that I made a while ago but haven't got around to blogging. Here's my card:

A simple scene watercoloured on shimmery white paper with inks and an aquapainter, layered with a tone-on-tone panel of Balmy Blue embossed with the Stripes embossing folder and paired with some burlap and leaves and a sentiment with stitched edge detail. Easy as that! You have only 4 more days to snap it up for free with a £45 order so if it's on your list, get your order in before the weekend. 

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:

By The Bay Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Simple Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.00)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Balmy Blue A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon (£6.50)	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Wonderful Floral Framelits Dies (£32.00)

No post yesterday I'm afraid as my day was long and busy, from the moment the youngest James Junior got dropped off at school at the crack of dawn to go on his school trip to Paris to an evening spent helping out with a local Brownie pack followed by Girl Guides doing a spot of Mother's Day crafting. Today has seen the arrival of our German language school exchange student, but a long journey has resulted in an early night so I've time to sit and blog this evening. Today I'm sharing the most popular card from my last Sale-a-Bration class that features not one, but three of the fabulous products that can be yours free with a purchase of £45 or more:

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

A Trio of Sale-A-Bration Goodness - Today's card features three of the Sale-A-Bration goodies that are still available for you to receive free with a spend of £45 - can you spot them all? The wooden butterfly from the Butterfly Elements, and a piece of Grapefruit Grove foil sheet that has been embossed with the Country Florals Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This card is so simple to recreate and would work in lots of alternative colours too - the ladies in my class loved it! Check out the detail of the foil embossing - it really is lovely. 

Shop, Host, Join: There's Still Time - So whether you are going to shop and spend £45 or more (you get one free item for each £45 spend, or one of the higher-value ones for a £90 spend) or host your own party (an online party - or single qualifying order if your shopping list is a long one! - are still options at this stage), you still have 5 days to do so, so get those orders in. 

Join My Team For An Extra Sweet Reward - Whether you are a hobbyist or would like to build a business of your own, there's never been a better time to invest in a Stampin' up! starter kit. Not only will you receive £170 of product of your choice for a £99 spend, if you pay an additional £26 you can receive the fabulous and super-useful craft and carry tote too. You can read more about all of the Sale-A-Bration offers in my earlier post here; if you've any further offers, or would like to chat to me and find out the details of a special incentive that I am offering for qualifying joiners this week, do get in touch - I would love you to join my team.

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:

Butterfly Elements (£0.00)	Grapefruit Grove & Lovely Lipstick Foil Sheets (£0.00)	Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£0.00)	Butterfly Gala Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Circle Punch (£15.00)

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 my favourite challenge, a sketch, for you to work with:

I chose something with layers and whilst the uppermost layer with the sentiment on is arrow-shaped, any horizontal shape would work in this space. I actually have a couple of cards to share with you today. Firstly the card I actually made for today's challenge using my favourite papers for the Spring-Summer catalogue - take a look:

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

A Well Written Tag - I made the top layer of my card into a tag using my Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and used it as the focal point for my main greeting cut using the Well Written Framelits, finished with a tiny bit of stamping that I punched out and shortened with my Classic Label Punch. I added a few flowers from the same set, finished with some Bitty Blooms punched leaves and some navy enamel dot centres.

Happiness Blooms - The gorgeous bold and bright florals of the Happiness Blooms Designer Series Paper set the tone and colour scheme for my card today. I resisted the urge to use my favourite navy pattern in this set and instead chose the gorgeous Calypso Coral/Night Of Navy/Call Me Clover/ Whisper White combo, with a contrasting striped design for my second layer of pattern. I finished off the inside of my card and envelope with another sentiment from the 'Well Said' stamp set and some stamped flowers using 'Bloom by Bloom'. Such a colourful and cheerful card - very me! 

My Original Inspiration - I actually designed this sketch before Christmas and used it for a card in one of my monthly technique classes. I realised during an exchange of messages with my fellow PP teamie the lovely Claire that I hadn't actually blogged that card, and whilst the papers that I used (Festive Farmhouse) are no longer available, the Merry Christmas Thinlits Dies and Merry Christmas To All stamp set are on carryover from the Autumn-Winter catalogue and still available, so I thought I would share with you too so that you can see how it looks with an alternative product set:

So two for one today! Which one do you prefer? I'd love you to leave a comment below.

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

And for the Christmas version:

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. 

I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs to see what you make of my sketch this week. Enjoy your day; I will be packing up the youngest of the James Juniors in readiness for a week-long school trip tomorrow and preparing for the imminent arrival of a German exchange student who is visiting to spend time improving her English language skills with the other one! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (£22.00)	Well Said Cling Bundle (£71.00)	Happiness Blooms 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Happiness Blooms A4 Cardstock Pack (£8.00)	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Classic Label Punch (£17.00)	Whisper White 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Flax Ribbon (£6.50)	Happiness Blooms Enamel Dots (£6.50)	Bloom By Bloom Photopolymer Stamp Set (£16.00)	Bitty Blooms Punch Pack (£21.00)

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (£22.00)	Merry Christmas Thinlits Dies (£26.00)	Merry Christmas To All Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Basic Black Solid Baker's Twine (£2.75)
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Today I'm sharing a card for the current challenge over at CASology where there is watery theme:

I also decided to combine it with this month's #SimpleStamping challenge set by Stampin' Up!, which was to create an occasion card (new baby, wedding, sympathy) with nothing more than stamps, ink, paper and ribbon. I decided to make a card to welcome a new baby using the 'Perfectly Paired' and created both boy and girl versions. First up, I have an ultra quick and easy #SimpleStamping card - the boy version: 

Here is my second #SimpleStamping card - the girl version: 

This really took just a minute to make - I even made a video to show you how I did it! Here you go:

Easy, right? #SimpleStamping with minimal supplies to produce great results (even if I say so myself!!)

Perfectly Paired is a great set for new baby cards if you're starting out: one main image with a couple of smaller ones too and three sentiments that work for the inside and outside of your cards, tags or even a home decor piece for a new baby's nursery. You could also adapt it to form the basis of christening invitations, so lots of creative possibilities for a single stamp set.

The images can be inked in a single colour or coloured using Blends or watercolour pencils, or you can choose to highlight certain parts of the main image by masking or spotlighting specific area of the main image. Adding a simple bow in a co-ordinating ribbon colour adds a simple touch of luxury to a #SimpleStamping card.

Here's an example of the above card coloured with my combo of Pool Party Stampin' Blends to show how a little extra colour really brings the image to life, but still making it a relatively inexpensive card with only a couple of extra supplies needed:

To really get the most from my supplies, I also stamped a partial image on the front of my envelope and this sentiment on the inside of my card:

Not a naked piece of paper in sight! By keeping things simple and using a basic monochromatic colour scheme, this is a card that can be easily mass-produced with limited supplies and would work well in pretty much any colour. 

Having created my #SimpleStamping cards, I decided to create a stepped up version that is still super simple in style and design but introduces a new technique - heat embossing - for the more adventurous casual or avid crafter. I went with a neutral pale yellow base for this card (always useful to have in your stash if you need a quick baby card but don't know the gender) and this time using a white ribbon - a good choice if you've limited supplies and will go with any colour theme:

You could also add a little selective colour to these images to highlight some of the images if you have a marker of the same colour to give some tonal highlights and just pick out a few of the animals.

Here are the visual summaries of the key products used on each of today's projects 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:

Perfectly Paired Cling Stamp Set (£18.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Pool Party 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon (£6.50)

Perfectly Paired Cling Stamp Set (£18.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Powder Pink A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Powder Pink 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon (£6.50)

Perfectly Paired Cling Stamp Set (£18.00)

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£8.00)

Pool Party 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon (£6.50)

Pool Party Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)

Perfectly Paired Cling Stamp Set (£18.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	So Saffron A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White 5/8" (1.6 Cm) Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon (£7.00)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)	Heat Tool (Uk) (£28.00)

Good evening! I was out late last night with the lovely Jane and friends who were hosting a Stampin' Up! party so have been busy placing orders for their goodies today and getting a few other jobs done. Last night we were all about the cupcakes and Easter bunnies, however today here on the blog I'm sharing a Christmas card - yes, a Christmas card! - for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge where they have an intriguing sketch:

I wrestled for ages on whether or not to tackle this sketch and how literally to interpret those sharp lines and then I had a brainwave and my Christmas card was done - take a look:

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

Ready For Christmas - Are you ready for Christmas? Me - not at all, but since it was the title of the stamp set I used for the sentiment and festive baugh on today's card it seemed a fitting eye-catching blog title too! This card is mostly diecutting rather than stamping, however I stamped my pine baugh for extra detail and stamped and fussy-cut my sentiment so that it didn't obscure too much of my festive scene. I also stamped the other part of my sentiment on the inside of my card:

A Christmas Staircase - A flash of inspiration led me to consider how the lines of the sketch looked very much like a staircase, so out came my Christmas Staircase Thinlits that form the basis for today's card. I decided to use the diecut rather than the stamp because I like the fine embossed detail and delicate spindles and wanted this to be the main feature to link it back to the sketch. The decorative pine baugh and diecut bows are from the same die set.

Under The Mistletoe Wallpaper - I used a little piece of Wood Textures paper for my hardwood floor and a piece of Under The Mistletoe designer series paper for my wallpaper to keep with the festive feel. Did you know that you can purchase Christmas supplies all year round from Stampin' Up!? The annual catalogue (pages 93-103) contains a selection of stamps, dies and even papers designed for the holiday season, so there's no excuse not to be Christmas crafting all year round! 

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'm putting my feet up this evening; enjoy yours too and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Staircase Thinlits Dies (£36.00)	Ready For Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set (£25.00)	Under The Mistletoe Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Under The Mistletoe A4 Cardstock Pack (£8.00)
Rhinestone Basic Jewels (£4.75)	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£10.25)

It's Tuesday and I have another animal card for you - actually the first one that I created out of the three I've shared with you in the last few days! This is my main card for this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink where the lovely ladies are all about the letter 'J' :

I am also using Julee's Mojo Monday sketch layout and the colours over at As You See It for my card today.

I love these letter challenges from the JAI team as they really challenge the old grey matter! When having my personal brainstorm of things beginning with J, just like a number of the DT members I immediately thought of the 'Jar of Love' stamp set and 'jigsaw' (check out Lou Kitzlemann's fabulous take on this theme via the link above). I did go with their 'joey' suggestion yesterday, but also came up with a few more of my own (journalling, joined, just because and Joanne to name but a few!) I decided to go with my favourite though, which was 'jumping' and decided it was a great opportunity for a fun interactive card using my free Sale-A-Bration stamp set 'So Hoppy Together' - take a look:

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

J is For Jumping - So whilst the interactive element is not immediately obvious from the flat lay of my photo, my frog is definitely jumping! I've used the frog that is actually riding a unicycle on the stamp, having selectively masked off the unicycle before stamping (I know, I could have just cut my stamp in half and lots of demo friends have, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it!!) Hop Around Framelits Dies to cut him out easily. I coloured him in Granny Apple Green Blends and then attached him to my card with a spring to give him a wobble so that he really way jumping for joy - you can see that in the short video clip below that I shared on my Facebook page today:

The spring simply attaches to the back of the frog with tape, with the other end pushed through the sentiment circle and secured in place on the reverse. Such fun!

Hop To It - I paired my frog with a piece of the Animal Expedition designer series paper that featured frogs on branches as I thought he would make the perfect friend for my jumping frog. I cut my paper carefully to make sure that my frog was both looking in the right direction and positioned in the centre of my square to compliment the overall layout. 

A Creative Sentiment - There are some great additional sentiments in the limited edition 'More Than Words' stamp set that is available this month that co-ordinate with the 'So happy together' frog set, including one that says "leaping for joy is easy to do" - I needed mine to say 'jumping for joy' though to truly fit with the 'J' theme, so I masked out the word 'leaping' and replaced it with 'JUMPING' which features on another stamp in this set, stamping my main sentiment in Soft Suede and my 'JUMPING' in Shaded Spruce for emphasis. The sentiment resolves with the other half on the inside of the card, which I decorated with another jumping frog:

I'm not sure whether it was my excitement at finding my 'J' solution or the fact that this card has a really simple interactive element, but this is one of those cards that is pure fun and I just couldn't wait to share with you! 

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. I have a busy day at my desk and am out visiting the lovely Jane and her crafty friends for a Stampin' Up! party this evening, so mine will be a long but productive one! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£33.00)	So Hoppy Together Cling Stamp Set (£0.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)

Another Monday and a new start to the week! Today I'm sharing a card a baby card using this week's sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches that also fits this week's challenge over at Just Add Ink:

I still had my Animal Expedition papers out on my desk from the card that I will be sharing tomorrow so decided to make a quick new baby card - take a look:

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

J is For Joey - So today's card features the cute koala/kangaroo combo that I cropped from the Animal Expedition papers using my Animal friends framelits. I was reminded when I read the post over at Just Add Ink that 'joey' is another name for a young kangaroo and that this would therefore work for their challenge this week. This is a bonus entry for me though, as I thought this little joey would be perfect for my baby card today - my scheduled Just Add Ink entry is coming up tomorrow and you are definitely going to want to pop by and see where my musings over the letter 'J' took me - it was just too easy to go with the Design Team's suggestions! Another tip from me when cropping these animals from your designer series paper: crop the identical shape out of extra thick white cardstock and adhere your DSP diecut to it for a more rigid element to prevent it getting squashed in the post.

A Hidden Gem - I used one of the other dies in the Animal Friends set for the vertical 'banner' element of the sketch - an inset vine that has some leaves that are remove completely and some that are attached, allowing them to be brushed up and add a little interest to the design. I genuinely hadn't noticed this die in the set before, hence my reference to it as a 'hidden gem'; I really like it and I can see me using it on lots of cards for added subtle detail.

Subtle Texture - After diecutting the vertical vine element, I ran my layer of Blushing Bride cardstock through the Big Shot with my Subtle embossing folder for a little extra texture and interest. It is indeed subtle, but I think it makes a nice addition before adding my sentiment and diecut animal pair on top.

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:

Animal Friends Thinlits Dies (£27.00)	Animal Outing Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Animal Outing Clear-Mount Bundle (£42.25)	Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies (£33.00)
Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£9.25)	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)

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 a CAS challenge for you to work with:

A one layer wonder for clean and simple week - yay! So a reminder: what do we mean by 'clean and simple' ? Create a card that has:

• Minimal layers and embellishments - this week that means ONE LAYER ONLY
• Plenty of open space, also known as 'white space'
• Is simple and uncluttered

My clean and simple cards are often one layer and for today's card I knew exactly which set I was going to use - take a look:

I have been looking forward to using the large floral image in the 'All That You Are' stamp set so decided today to stamp the image in Versamark onto thick Whisper White and heat emboss in black for added definition, then colour using my Stampin' Blends in the colours currently in scope over at SUO Challenges: Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Pool Party and the bonus colour of Mango Melody. In case you are wondering where the Pool Party features, look closely; I added a line around the outer edge of my stamped image and blended it, to give the image a little lift from the white background. And that's it - stamped, heat embossed and coloured - one layer wonder - done! 

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 few things going on but I'm hoping to get a little more time in my craft room finishing off some projects that I started yesterday ready to share with you later this week. I'll be back tomorrow - until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All That You Are Cling Stamp Set (£21.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Embossing Buddy (£5.50)	Versamark Pad (£8.25)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.75)
Lovely Lipstick Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack (£8.50)	Pool Party Light Stampin' Blends Marker (£4.25)	Mango Melody Dark Stampin' Blends (£4.25)	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter (£4.25)

Today I'm sneaking in with another card that I made earlier with some leftover pieces from another project that I'm going to share with you on Tuesday - they were perfect for the current sketch over at Inspire.Create Challenge that finishes tomorrow:

This is a great card layout that would work with lots of papers and stamp sets. I had some offcuts of Animal Expedition designer series paper so used them to make a simple notecard - take a look:

I diecut my rhino and birdie pair from a piece of my leftover paper and added to a sentiment on some layered circles and my card was done!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£33.00)	Animal Friends Thinlits Dies (£27.00)	2-1/4" (5.7 Cm) Circle Punch (£17.00)	Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Berry Burst A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)