It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I'm back following my week off and raring to go. It's the turn of the wonderful Laurie to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

Remember in addition to the theme of "blooms", this week is a Clean-and-Simple (CAS) challenge!  What do we mean by CAS?

• Minimal layers and embellishments
• Plenty of open space, aka "white" space
• Simple and uncluttered

I have a couple of cards of cards to share with you today (and another tomorrow!) that fit this week's theme. I decided to use the retiring 'Definitely Dahlia' stamp for my cards today, and was very much inspired by our badge this week created by the oh-so-talented Nance. Here's my single clean and simple bloom:

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

Farewell Definitely Dahlia - I will miss the 'Definitely Dahlia' background stamp, as it is so great for CAS cards. Whether you simply stamp 'as is' (see my uber-CAS card below) or do as I have here, where I inked with two colours to create a two-tone effect, this is a stamp that needs little else for a clean and simple card - the stamp really does much of the work.

Hello Pineapple Punch - I used one of the new in-colours, Pineapple Punch, to create the base layer of colour for my dahlia, stamping off once before adding some Melon Mambo pink with a sponge dauber to the petal edges to create a pretty two-tone effect. This adds a little more depth and interest to the final stamped image. I really like the new in-colours this year - they work so well as a collection and compliment many of the other colours in our palette.

Amazing You - I finished my card with a stamped and diecut sentiment from the 'Celebrate You' thinlits set - can't wait for these to become available in the new catalogue, you know how much I love a diecut thinlit :-) 

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 I go, here's another version of the same card, this time super clean-and-simple in style, that I made for the current mix it up challenge over at Sugar Pea Designs, using both sketch and photo inspiration:

Whilst I didn't choose a rose for my flower, I did go with the pale pink and a single bloom, and I used the sketch. Here's my card:

I simply stamped my dahlia in retiring Pink Pirouette ink, stamping off once to get a pale flower, heat embossed my sentiment from another retiring stamp set, Remarkable You, in silver and mounted on a Pink Pirouette card base. 

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Definitely Dahlia Wood-Mount Stamp Set (£18.00)	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies (£21.00)	Sponge Daubers (£4.50)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)
Pineapple Punch A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Pineapple Punch Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Good evening everyone! Well, today has been a special day here in the UK - we celebrated the royal wedding of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Whilst I'm not a devoted Royal watcher, I do think the Monarchy has an important role to play and one thing's for sure: I love a wedding, royal or otherwise! I enjoyed watching the wedding from my office as I was crafting this morning and ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the flowers, the dresses and those adorable and so well-behaved bridesmaids and page boys. Such a glorious day for it too and the bride was truly stunning.

Since weddings are the order of the day, I thought it would make a great topic for today's blog post too so I'm sharing with you the invites I designed recently for a bride who was keen to create her own stationery for the big day.

Making your own wedding stationery is a great way to create something individual and personal to you - take a look at the design we agreed upon:

The key things to remember when designing your own wedding stationery are as follows:

Make It Your Own - When you make your own wedding stationery, you are able to create something unique and personal to you in a way that off-the-shelf invitations will never be able to deliver. You can choose colours that co-ordinate with your scheme for the day and flowers or emblems that tie in with your chosen theme. For this wedding, the bride was keen to incorporate pale pink, but otherwise had no fixed views on design. This is one of the things I love about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator - I love to design cards and projects, so working to a bride-to-be's brief is always an exciting prospect. It's great for the bride too - often they are keen to make their own stationery but have never done this (or sometimes any papercrafting) before, so they are keen to work with someone who can take their ideas and make them into a workable, reproductable, design. 

Keep It Simple - The key to good wedding stationery design is to keep it simple. Sometimes you may only have to make 20 invitations, but sometimes it is 120! For any kind of mass production, it's important to have a design that can be easily reproduced many times, each time as good as the last, so keeping it simple is key. For this invitation, we used the Detailed Floral Thinlits to create a gatefold-style card, with a Powder Pink Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper insert that was adhered on one side. When opened, the invitation wording was then on the inside.

Finishing Touches - Whilst the design is simple and easy to reproduce, the finishing touches are all-important to add that of luxury: the outer gatefold was cut from Shimmery White cardstock, with the addition of Powder Pink Shimmer Ribbon to create the tied closure that co-ordinates with the DSP lining. We also added a small round punched tag, with the words 'Mr & Mrs' from the 'Beautiful Bouquet' set stamped on it in pink, using a length of silver thread.  

These invitations were really not too tricky at all to make, armed with the right tools and a few pairs of hands. The most important thing to consider when making your own wedding stationery is to plan ahead - don't underestimate the time it takes to mass produce invitations and other stationery items and be sure to allow enough time to actually put it all together. This is the perfect activity to involve friends and bridesmaids in - after all, many hands make light work!

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. 

If you are reading this and thinking you would like some help in designing your own wedding invitations, please don't hesitate to get in touch - I'd love to discuss your requirements and help you create the unique, bespoke stationery of your dreams.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies (£26.00)	Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Stack (£20.00)	Powder Pink 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon (£6.25)	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)
Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	1" (2.5 Cm) Circle Punch (£11.50)	Silver Metallic Thread (£2.75)

Hello - I'm back! I know that some of you have missed me; I exhibited at Kirstie Allsop's Handmade Fair at Ragley Hall in Warwick last weekend and seem to have spent most of this week recovering and getting family life back on track. It was a great weekend and I met many wonderful people, however it did wipe me out! Hopefully I'm recovered enough to get back to blogging properly. Here goes!

I have a number of projects that I've made and not shared using retiring products and need to get them shared sooner rather than later so thought I'd share a fun 'box in a card' make that I made a couple of weeks ago featuring the Picture Perfect stamp set and Picture Perfect Paper - take a look:

These cards are easier to make than they look: you simply cut a 2" wide section out of a folded A6 card and make a 2" square box from a sheet of 6x6" paper with a lid and slot it into the space - perfect for a little treat:

A little stamping on my card and to finish I topped my box with a mini bow to tie in with the party theme. 

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

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

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Picture Perfect Party 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£9.00)	Picture Perfect Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set (£15.00)	Berry Burst A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock (£7.25)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)

Good news - today the list of products that will be retiring from this year's annual and Spring-Summer seasonal catalogues has been updated and some of the products are now available at a discount! You can see the list of discounted products here or just click on the image below to read and download the full PDF:

For a reminder of the full list, you can see and download the full list of items retiring from the current Spring-Summer catalogue by CLICKING HERE.

You can see and download the full list of items retiring from the current Annual catalogue by CLICKING HERE.

Retiring products are only available WHILE STOCKS LAST, so if you've still items on your wish list from this year's annual or spring-summer seasonal catalogues, you need to check the retiring lists and if they're on it put an order in pronto! Don't forget to add this month's online hostess code: W4TSQCWY

Here are the links to the online store for those items that are now discounted. including their reduced price:

Picnic Basket Builder Framelits Dies (£20.25)	Sweet Soirée Decorative Masks (£2.55)	Itty Bitty Fruit Punch Pack (£10.50)	Myths & Magic Glimmer Paper 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) (£6.75)	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock (£6.16)	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock (£6.16)
6" X 17" (15.2 X 43.2 Cm) Gusseted Cellophane Bags (£3.00)	Brights Enamel Shapes (£6.19)	Subtles Enamel Shapes (£6.60)	Bell Punch (£12.00)	Holly Berry Builder Punch (£8.00)	Birthday Friends Framelits Dies (£21.00)
Celebration Thinlits Dies (£20.25)	Alles Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set (German) (£12.80)	Rosenzauber Photopolymer Stamp Set (German) (£16.80)	Feierliches Duo Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (German) (£4.13)

Items are discounted by between 15-50%, so a few bargains to be had. The item I will miss the most out of that little lot has to be the enamel shapes - time to stock up I think!!

Remember stocks of all products featuring retiring ink colours are now officially whilst stocks last, so if you haven't ordered yours yet this really is your last chance.

I'll be back tomorrow with a creative project; until then, happy shopping!

Happy Monday everyone! Today it's a Bank Holiday and therefore a national holiday here in the UK so we have enjoyed a long weekend along with some wonderful sunshine to boot! Today I'm sharing a card using Jen's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches that also works for the 'O' challenge over at Just Add Ink - I've been so busy out enjoying the sunshine I didn't make time to photograph my card in time to link up at FMS, despite hoping that I was going to manage to play along with these 2 challenges for the second week running as they are a couple of my favourites. You should definitely check them out, their Design Teams are awesome! Here are this week's challenge badges:

I was intrigued by Jen's sketch this week as whilst a simple oval it occurred to me that I rarely use ovals in my card making, so I thought I would give it a go. I've included the photo inspiration for last week's challenge over at StampInkPaper because although I'm not linking up there, it was this inspiration photo that led me to create today's style of card that I am ultimately going to link up over at Just Add Ink with my 'o' for 'oval' - take a look:

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

Sharing What You Love - I have been busy making lots of samples with the fabulous 'Share What You Love' set that is on early release to customers this month using the products and colours in the bundles, so wanted to make something a little different. This card is all about the textures and so I kept my colour palette neutral: wood, white, vanilla, linen and a little Old Olive. Another way to share what I love!

A Rustic Theme - I don't use my Wood Textures papers anywhere near enough and decided to use them both for the background and my heat-embossed flowers. I added a little linen thread and the texture of my oval surround along with a little fussy cutting and a few pearls adds to the rustic feel of my card.

Delightfully Detailed Ovals - I have a new paper love: the Delightfully Detailed Laser-cut Specialty Paper is just beautiful! For my card, I used one of the oval pieces and used it to frame my focal point - it's just so pretty.

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. 

This card is a little different for me but it's nice to experiment once in a while and step outside of my comfort zone. What do you think - did it work? I'd love to hear your thoughts below.

I hope you've all had wonderful days and that the weather is as glorious where you are! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Just Getting Started Bundle (£53.25)	Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Specialty Paper (£13.00)	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack (£9.00)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Linen Thread (£4.25)	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock (£6.50)
White Stampin' Emboss Powder (£4.50)	Versamark Pad (£7.75)	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our fearsome leader, the fabulous Nance, to host this week and she has a rather pretty theme challenge for you to work with:

This challenge was made for me as I am a dedicated tea drinker! Coffee not so much, but I can drink as many as 10 cups of tea a day on average - definitely my drink of choice! I don't have much current product with a tea theme though, so wondered how I was going to tackle Nance's challenge this week, when I remembered the colouring paper in the current catalogue and voila - both my card and an accompanying little tea-related gift were created! First up, my card:

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

Just Add Color - One of the patterns in the Just Add Color Specialty Designer Series Paper pack is a sheet covered in all kinds of tea cups and teapots, so I cut a strip from the top of a sheet of paper, grabbed my Stampin' Blends and got to work. I went for a longer, thinner card this week and allowed the DSP pattern to dictate the dimensions for my card base.

Get Blending - Given that some of the teacups contain succulents rather than tea, this week's colour palette over at The Color Throwdown was perfect for my project. I used my Calypso Coral, Old Olive and Crumb Cake Blends, with the top portion coloured in Ivory. This paper is both very thick and matt, so alcohol markers do not blend quite as well as they do on Whisper White. This is particularly noticable on the larger areas such as the table and wall behind the teaset, however I quite like the effect - it gives an almost chalk effect, like rough plaster, so certainly works on my card.

Anyone For Tea? - Having completed my card, I was left with an offcut of DSP with a teapot and teacup. Rather than put this in my scrap box never to be seen again, I decided to use it up so coloured it and made a little tea bag holder containing a few wrapped tea bags that I could gift with my card. I also added a sentiment from the retired set 'Have A Cuppa', mounted on a punched scallop circle - here it is:

I cut my tea bag holder larger than was actually needed to accommodate the tea bags, as I didn't want to cut down the DSP; I just made my wrap and tea bag envelope holders, made with the Envelope Punch Board, slightly larger too. This is what it looks like on the inside - I used some Whole Lot of Lovely designer series paper for my little tea bag envelope pockets:

Did you spot the little tea pot trinket embellishment too? This is retired but it's at times like this I'm so glad I hoard these bits and pieces, as it finished off my package a treat :-) I love this fun set - I think I might send it to my Mum, as she is a keen tea drinker 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 Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

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

I can't wait to see how you interpret this week's theme and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - we have a 3 day weekend here in the UK as it's a national Bank Holiday on Monday and for once the weather is glorious, so I will definitely be outside making the most of it. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Just Add Color Specialty Designer Series Paper (£11.50)	Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Old Olive 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon (£6.25)	1-3/8" (3.5 Cm) Scallop Circle Punch (£14.50)	Whole Lot Of Lovely Designer Series Paper (£10.00)
Linen Thread (£4.25)

It's clear many of you are enjoying the early release of the Share What You Love Suite (if you missed it, you can read all about it in Tuesday's post here) so today I thought I would share a card that I made as one of my make and takes at Stampin' Up!'s recent Onstage event featuring lots of the products in this fabulous suite - take a look:

The card base is the returning Mint Macaron with a little tone-on-tone stamping, then there is layering of vellum, Share What You Love Designer Series Papers and embellished with a pearlised doily, velvet ribbon and the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls. Finished with one of the sentiments from the Love What You Do stamp set, this card shows just how easy it is to create fresh, beautiful cards with this suite and the Gotta Have It All 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 '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:

Gotta Have It All Bundle (£118.75)

We know that a new catalogue is always a highly anticipated event, so the lovely people at Stampin' Up! have decided to offer a little something to whet your appetite and is releasing the Share What You Love Suite in advance of the catalogue going live and better still - it can be yours from today!

The Share What You Love Suite has been designed to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 30th anniversary and is a tribute to all of the people who have made - and continue to make - Stampin' Up! what it is today: employees, demonstrators and you our customers. Featuring delicate florals and a pearl theme throughout, the suite contains two stamp sets and lots of co-ordinating embellishments and accessories. For those who choose to join us in celebrating the good times during the month of May and the early release, there is also the opportunity to receive your very own exclusive Statement Of My Heart single stamp, detailing the Stampin' Up! mission statement:

The Share What You Love Suite Early Release will be available as three exclusive bundles, suitable for every crafter. This is what each of the bundles looks like in more detail:

The Just Getting Started Bundle is aimed at the new crafter - it contains an acrylic block, stamps, ink and paper and some free envelopes - everything you need to get started and create beautiful, simple projects. You can purchase it by clicking on the link to my online store below:

Just Getting Started Bundle (£53.25)

If you're the kind of crafter that likes to add a little something extra to your projects, then The A Little More Please bundle is for you. Containing not one but two stamp sets, additional coloured cardstock and some beautiful embellishments to enable you to 'step up' your projects. In addition to a free pack of envelopes, you will receive the Share What You Love Embellishment kit for free too, containing a ton of extra bits and pieces and contained in a beautiful presentation box that you can reuse too. You can purchase it by clicking on the link to my online store below:

A Little More, Please Bundle (£85.50)

And finally we have the 'Gotta Have It All' bundle:

Last but by no means least we have the ultimate crafter's companion - if you really do need to have it all, then this bundle is for you: in addition to the items above you will also receive the beautiful Share What You Love Designer Series Paper with pearlescent detail, an embossing folder and that Statement of My Heart stamp set as an additional free gift. You can purchase it by clicking on the link to my online store below:

Gotta Have It All Bundle (£118.75)

This bundle costs £118.75, but could be yours for just £99 if you join my team. This suite of products has everything you need to get started with classes, parties and workshops if that's your thing, or perhaps you just like the idea of being in crafting heaven with lots of beautiful new items to craft with and would like to enjoy an ongoing discount on future product purchases. 

If you would like to see each of these bundles in more detail, Stampin' Up! have created this great video for you:

I am excited to be creating with this fabulous new bundle of products and look forward to sharing lots of samples with you in the near future. If you have any questions or would like to chat with me about how to obtain the Gotta Have It All Bundle as part of a starter kit, then do get in touch - I would love to hear from you.

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

Today is a big news day and especially exciting for those of you who are eagerly awaiting the new annual Stampin' Up! catalogue and can't wait to get your hands on some new product! The first of my posts today is all about colour. I updated you on the details of Stampin' Up's colour revamp in my previous post here so now it's time to introduce you to the new in-colours for 2018-2020.

Every two years Stampin' Up! will continue to introduce a collection of 5 In Colours that will compliment the rest of the Stampin' Up! range. Here are the new in colours that will be joining us this year:

A collection of bright, contemporary colours that will compliment our core offering. Whilst at first glance these colours may appear similar to other existing colours or those we've seen before, when compared directly each is uniquely different. Here's a look at the overall collection, including the new and returning colours and the 2017-19 In Colours that are still with us for another year:

These new in colours are sure to feature in my projects lots in the forthcoming weeks and months; I've had mine for a few weeks and I have been enjoying working with them creating samples and getting to know them better. 

Now for today's news - from today, you can get your hands on these new colours too! As one of two early releases, the new in-colour ink pad collection is available for you to purchase and what's more, as a thank you, you will receive a 10% discount too - bonus!

Simply click on the link below to go straight to my online store to get your hands on yours!

Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment In Color 2018-2020 (£31.50)

Happy Monday everyone! I have the first of this month's technique classes today so my day will be a busy one but I'm early with today's post - yay! I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where Amy has the following sketch:

I needed a couple of birthday cards for young boys, so decided to break out my 'Let The Good Times Roll stamp set and create a fun rollercoaster scene - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Thrilling Ride - The wide central panel of Amy's sketch allows for lots of options and what could be better for a child's birthday card than a brightly coloured rollercoaster with presents and balloons? The space allowed me to create a fun little scene and whilst I haven't used the pop-up elements that make these thinlits unique, I did pop the rollercoaster and a couple of clouds up on dimensionals for a little extra lift. 

The Longest Rollercoaster EVER! - Having had the idea for my card, I wanted the rollercoaster to extend across the entire width of my cardfront, whereas the actual stamp covers only about two-thirds of the card. I overcame this by masking off the left edge and base, and then having stamped the rollercoaster stamp once in its entirety on the right-hand side, I inked it again and matched up the top of the largest curve with the left-hand edge to continue it across the page. I then drew in the closing edge and baseline with my Crumb Cake Stampin' Write marker. This sounds more complicated than it was to execute, especially as the stamp is photopolymer so easy to line up.

Birthday Memories Stripes - I used the rainbow stripes of the retiring Birthday Memories designer series paper for the background panel and as the inspiration for the bright colour scheme for the rest of my card, picking out 4 key colours for my rollercoaster. I also added a sentiment and another rollercoaster car complete with gift to the inside of my card too, just to finish off:

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 and news of a fabulous new suite that is on early release from the new annual catalogue - exciting stuff! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Let The Good Times Roll Photopolymer Bundle (£38.50)	Let The Good Times Roll Photopolymer Stamp Set (£14.00)	Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper (£10.00)	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)