It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week is a very special one for us - we are celebrating our 300th anniversary - isn't that just AMAZING?! It's the turn of the awesome Jaydee to host and she has chosen an appropriate theme for her CAS challenge this week for you to play along with - Celebration:

To celebrate this occasion we have blog candy to give away, and lots of it! The team has assembled not one, not two, but ten grab bags full of stamping goodness! To be eligible to win one, all you need to do is play along with our challenge this week. You can play as many times as you like, but each needs to be a new project (no back linking, please) and see The Paper Players blog for our other challenge rules. Winners will be selected from all PP300 challenge participants using Random.org and will be posted on Saturday June 25th.

For my card this week I decided to go with and a little pop of pink and a big party balloon for my celebratory card, using this weeks Freshly Made Sketches sketch (upside-down, of course!):

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

Celebrate Today - Every celebration needs a balloon or two! I decided to go with a large pink one from the 'Celebrate Today' stamp set. This balloon was the perfect focal point for the sketch and the co-ordinating Balloon Framelits make cutting it out a cinch.

A Pop Of Pink - I decided to use a piece of the Pop of Pink specialty designer series paper for my background. The gorgeous black and white papers with a pop of pink (and a little gold too) were the inspiration for the colour scheme for my card. 

Touches of Gold - Whilst I didn't use any of the gold patterned Pop of Pink DSP, there are a number of subtle gold elements that make this card: the gold foil trim, the heat embossed sentiment and sparkle of the balloon and the trailing gold sequins.

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 haven't been with the team all this time, but I can honestly say I am so pleased to have been a part of it for as long as I have - these gals are truly inspirational, supportive and all-round top notch in equal measure and I sure hope I can be a part of the next 300! Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your celebratory CAS creations in our gallery this week and reading your kind comments on our blogs. Don't forget we have 10 bags of blog candy to give away too, so you should definitely consider an entry this week. You have to be in it to win it! I'm not telling you what's in my grab-bag  - it's a surprise! - but I can guarantee it's full of crafty goodness. We are shipping worldwide, so everyone can join in!

I'm not sure what today has in store for me, other than it will certainly involve some pampering of my husband by myself and the two children as it's Father's Day. Happy Fathers Day wishes to all of the men out there celebrating along with us today! 

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pop Of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper	Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Framelits Dies	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Versamark Pad
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Gold Sequin Trim
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

I'm back from a special day yesterday: Rebecca celebrated her 11th birthday - wherever did that time go?! She was slightly disappointed that it was a school day, although genuinely touched by the number of children that came up to her to wish her a happy birthday yesterday, and two little juniors who even came and sang to her - how sweet! It seems when you're Head Girl everyone knows when it's your birthday!

Anyway - today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

For my card today I decided on a showcase of in-colours and one of the new designer series paper stacks - take a look:

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

A Playful Palette of Colour - The designer series papers featured on my card today feature four of the five new in-colours (only Dapper Denim is absent) and are one of the products featured in the Playful Palette suite - modern and colourful designs, inspired by brushstrokes and artwork. Here's a photo showing other items in this creative suite:

Layering Squares - I cut each of my four squares with my new Layering Squares framelits and chose to highlight one of the squares with a narrow scalloped border in Peekaboo Peach. These layered squares are great for creating perfectly aligned borders, frames and shaker cards and can be used in endless different combinations to achieve a different effect each time.

Hello You Happy - I finished my card with a sentiment comprising a little banner using words from the 'Crazy About You' stamp set and a die cut 'happy' using one of the 'Hello You' thinlits. I diecut my 'happy' in Emerald Envy, dipped it in Versamark and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and repeated the process 3 times to get a smooth and glossy finish. It really stands out against the patterned papers and the Sweet Sugarplum base  - I love it!

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day; I'm getting together with some of my team for a catch-up, which should be fun. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

I'm back again! Apologies for yesterday's lack of blog post; at this time of year the last few weeks of the academic year are always busy, so it sometimes means my daily blog schedule is disrupted. Do bear with me - it's often not for want of things to share and more the time to write the posts, in amongst other commitments to my family, customers and team. There will always be posts to coincide with my design team commitments; there just might be the odd day when I don't make it to the laptop! Anyway today I do have a fun share that uses this week's colours over at The Paper Players again and the sketch layout at CAS Colours and Sketches:

My fellow Paper Player LeAnne, who chose this week's colours, also chose to use this sketch for her Sunday card (you can check it out along with the other Paper Player Team cards here) and whilst I was working on my team card, I also came up with this one that would make a fun last-minute Father's Day card:

I am using a few retired products on today's card, but you could quite easily substitute these with other similar products such as the scalloped tag topper punch, layered circle thinlits and an alternative alphabet stamp set such as the new Labeler Alphabet. Here's the low-down on today's card:

My Hero Captain America - The layered circle element on my card is inspired by the shield belonging to that all-American superhero Captain America. I used my circle framelits and the challenge colours, with a circle of silver foil card, to create my shield. I decided to make this card into a Father's Day card, but the sentiment could also be adapted for a younger boy's birthday card, which given the popularity of Marvel comic book heroes with my 8 year old and his friends currently is something I definitely need to look into!

Calling All Heroes - I used the Retired 'Calling All Heroes' stamp set for my custom sentiment on my tag; this comic book script adds just the right feel for my card. For my UK readers who might be thinking 'what set?' this set was available only in the USA. I was sent a set by the lovely LeAnne (thank you again!) and I knew that I would get lots of use from it with its fun comic book and superhero images. I also used other images from the set to decorate the inside of my card. For me it's a keeper!

It's In The Stars - Lastly, I punched a white star for the centre of my shield using the medium star punch and embossed the background panel for my cardfront using the Lucky Stars embossing folder to add texture and interest and tie in with my overall 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. 

Enjoy your evening. I'm off to bake and ice some cupcakes for a very special birthday girl who will be celebrating tomorrow. I'll be back then with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets
Lucky Stars Textured Impressions Embossing Folders

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my dear friend LeAnne to host our challenge this week and she has a great colour combination for you to play along with:

I thought these colours were calling out for a patriotic red, white and blue card. I toyed with creating something in honour of HM Queen Elizabeth II who is celebrating her official 90th birthday this weekend, but in the end decided to go with something more appropriate for American Independence day as 4th July is not that far away. This is what I came up with:

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

Thoughtful Banners - I used the new 'Thoughtful Banners' stamp set to create my abstract stars and stripes card today. This set is all about the sentiments, with many combinations to choose from. It also has a useful stripe stamp, that can be used with or without the words and banners to create a striped pattern, as I've done here. This is a photopolymer stamp set too which makes it easy to line up without the need for a stamp-a-ma-jig - bonus! 

Duet Banner Punch - I could have used so many of the stamps in this set on my card today, however when I thought about independence and the armed forces both here in the UK and abroad, the one word that summed up how I felt was 'blessed' - blessed that so many men and women are prepared to serve our countries and protect the rights and freedoms we so often take for granted, so this was the word I chose to feature on the banner of my card. A banner that was easily created with the co-ordinating Duet Banner Punch. Buy this with the Thoughtful Banners stamp set as a bundle and save 10%; don't mind if I do!

Shine Like A Star - I backed my sentiment banner with a layered star, cut from silver foil with the Star Framelits and centred with a smaller one in Whisper White. 

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 hope this card is a fitting tribute to those who give of themselves in order to protect the freedoms of us all, for whom we should all feel truly blessed.

I'm linking up with the ladies over at SUO Challenges today where their current challenge is Summer Celebrations.

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

I look forward to seeing what you create with our colour palette this week. We have basketball this morning then an afternoon of music practice for Rebecca who is singing in a concert on Monday evening, along with more practice of her lines in readiness for her stage performance as Dorothy in her school production of the Wizard of Oz in just a few short weeks time. 

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Bundle	Stars Framelits Dies	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock
Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets

I had a great day yesterday with the first of this month's technique classes, an outside BBQ dinner and an evening bike ride along the canal - not a bad start to the week! Today I have my third-in-a-row masculine card for you, using this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

I decided to have some fun with the idea of the vertical lines and sentiment so combined the two to come up with today's card:

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

It's All About Perspective - I was definitely inspired by the sketch, but chose to reverse the perspective of the vertical lines and the sentiment. I stamped the 'you're the best' sentiment from the Watercolour Words stamp set in Versamark and heat embossed it in gold, then diecut my letters using the now retired Little Letters Thinlits. Before adhering the letters to the background, I cut 4 extra sets and glued these each on top of each other to give my 'DADDY' dimension.

A Touch Of Gold - I wanted to preserve the clean-and-simple look and feel of my card so kept to a monochromatic colour scheme with Pacific Point for my 'white space' and added a touch of gold for my lettering and framing mat.

You're The Best - I love the handwritten styling of the sentiments in the 'Watercolour Words' stamp set. This is a great sentiment set with lots of possibilities and it works perfectly to sum up my Father's Day message on this 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 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I have another day of classes and music lessons after school, so mine will be full! I will also be at Bell's in Northampton tomorrow for my fortnightly drop-in Coffee & Card Session if you're local and fancy some crafty respite!

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Watercolor Words Photopolymer Stamp Set	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
Heat Tool (Uk)	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot

Happy Monday everyone! What a lovely day we had here in the UK yesterday - sunshine at last! I'm here bright and early this week as I have a busy one: two monthly technique classes today and tomorrow, my Project Life memory keeping class, a drop-in coffee and card session at Bells in Northampton and my Annual Catalogue Open House at the end of the week to look forward to, amongst other things! Today I'm back with another masculine card, this time for the colour challenge over at Pals Paper Arts:

I thought these colours would suit a little ocean scene - I originally started out with the sketch I used for yesterday's card, but eventually my idea morphed into this:

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

Sail Away With The Swirly Bird - It's official - I am in love with the Swirly Bird stamp set and co-ordinating thinlits! This bundle is definitely at the top of my list of favourite things from the new annual catalogue. It has flowers and birds, boats and kites and the splatters you see in the background behind my boat - such a fun set! I stamped my boat in Sahara Sand, then for the sails I stamped one in Night of Navy and the other in Mint Macaron (stamped off first) then overstamped the stripes in Night of Navy and clear heat embossed them for a lovely shine.

A Life on the Swirly Scribbles Ocean Wave - The sea on my card was made using a die from the co-ordinating Swirly Scribbles Thinlits: I cut it out of the top Mint Macaron layer, which was attached to my base layer with dimensionals, and paper-pieced the negative pieces into the space on my Night of Navy base layer. It's a little difficult to see in the photograph, but this gives a lovely added dimension to my rolling waves.

A Swirly Greatest Greeting - I wanted my sentiment to follow the curve of my cardstock, so I used my sentiment from the 'Greatest Greetings' stamp set and curved it to follow the contours of the cut line before adhering to my stamp and stamping it. This is much easier to do with photopolymer stamps, however since I hadn't adhered the word image to the back of the stamp it was a little more sticky than would otherwise have been the case and held in place on my block long enough for me to get a shaped image. I then finished this with some retired Mint Macaron It's My Party enamel dots. 

I love this fresh colour scheme and although my card features only the tiniest pieces of Sahara Sand for the hull of my sail boat, I think my design really makes the most of these colours.

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 off to get ready for my class. I'll be back tomorrow with another masculine project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Swirly Bird Photopolymer Bundle	Greatest Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the super-talented Claire to host our challenge this week and she has a timely theme for you to play along with:

With only a couple of weeks to go until Father's Day, today's challenge is a great opportunity for you to get your cards made (and posted if necessary!) in a timely manner. For my card this week I debated with myself what stamps to use: old or new! In the end I ended up making not one but 3 cards, each using a different set. I will be sharing them all over the next three days so if you're in need of masculine inspiration be sure to check back for three very different cards, each of which would work for both Father's Day or a male/Dad's birthday.

For today's card I used this week's sketch over at the Global Design Project and decided to go with one of my favourite existing masculine sets, Guy Greetings, along with some new product - copper embossing powder. Take a look:

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

Add Shine With Copper - Heat embossing adds a 'wow' to any project and the new copper embossing powder is no exception. I stamped my anchors from the 'Guy Greetings' stamp set in Versamark onto a panel of Whisper White and heat embossed them in copper. Check out the lovely sheen that you get when the light bounces off it on my card above! I chose Bermuda Bay for the base and top split layer above my recessed anchor panel; it looks great with the copper and reminds me of the sea, so seemed appropriate for today's card. 

A Multi-Purpose Guy Greeting - I saved my 'Happy Father's Day' sentiment for the inside of my card and chose the anchor one for the front. It ties in with my visuals of course, but would also make this card a multi-purpose masculine card that could be used for other occasions too.

A Layered Label And Embellished Anchor - I used a layered label from the Tags & Labels Framelits set for my sentiment, modifying the mat as I wanted it to have a thinner border than the standard framelit size. This was easy to do: I just cut a standard sized one, then cut it again to remove a slice off two of the four sides. To finish I embossed another anchor in copper, then fussy cut it by hand, removing the rope pieces. I then took some thick Bermuda Bay baker's twine and wrapped it around the anchor where the embossed rope would have been and secured it in place with glue dots. You can see it in more detail in the thumbnail at the top of today's post.

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

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

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

I look forward to seeing your masculine creations in our gallery this week. The weather hasn't been great here this week, however yesterday was a little warmer and today is forecast the same, so I'm looking forward to a BBQ lunch in the garden - doesn't food always taste better if eaten in the open air? I think so! Then I'm hoping to spend some time in the afternoon preparing for my Annual Catalogue Open House on Friday later this week. I hope you enjoy your Sunday too.

I'll be back tomorrow with another masculine project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Guy Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set	Tags & Labels Framelits Dies	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder	Bermuda Bay Thick Baker’S Twine	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)

It's Saturday and the weekend! I've had a hugely productive day today, which has included collecting my brand new car - exciting stuff! I also have all-new products to share today, for my floral card using this week's sketch over at Stamp Ink Paper:

My card today features products from the Affectionately Yours product suite - take a look:

Isn't that just so pretty? (even if I say so myself!) Here's the low-down on today's card:

Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper - Ok, so you know how much I love (and hoard!) paper and I always get excited when there are new ones to choose from - well, this one is gorgeous! Bright pops of colour with Night of Navy and Crumb Cake having a starring role. The best bit though is that the two special sheets are copper embossed - I haven't used either of those on today's card - can't quite bring myself to cut into them yet! - but all in good time, they are too beautiful not to be showcased on a project!

In Love With Love And Affection - I used the Love and Affection stamp set on yesterday's card and I love the bold floral images that co-ordinate with the paper. Here I've stamped the individual elements in Night of Navy onto colours of co-ordinating cardstock and fussy cut them to create the floral bough that frames my sentiment circle. 

And Washi Makes Three! - The Affectionately Yours suite also includes a set of co-ordinating washi tapes. After stamping my sentiment, i needed something to balance the flowers around my circle, so I taped some washi to some Whisper White cardstock and snipped a couple of banners. With a thick baker's twine bow in Cucumber Crush it was just what I needed to complete my card. It's quite difficult to tell on today's card, but the spotted one is actually metallic copper - it even made it onto the washi tape!

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 this week's card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love & Affection Photopolymer Stamp Set	Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper	Affectionately Yours Designer Washi Tape	Affectionately Yours A4 Cardstock	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Cucumber Crush Thick Baker's Twine	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock

Happy Friday everyone! I can't believe the week is almost over - time seems to have zipped by this week! We have achieved lots though, including a trip to the theatre yesterday to see the musical 'Annie', which was great. I have a really quick post today for the challenge over at CASology where they are celebrating their 200th anniversary - wowsers! Their challenge this week:

The CASology guidelines for a clean and simple card are summarised as:

1. One main image
2. Lots of open space, uncluttered
3. Limited layers & embellishments
4. Quick & easy to recreate 

I decided to go with a one layer white card using some new in colours and a couple of products from the Affectionately Yours product suite:

My sentiment from the Love and Affection stamp set in Dapper Denim, along with some embossing courtesy of one of the Floral Affection embossing folders (there are two in the set) and finished with a few flowers and sprays in Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo and Emerald Envy to complete the oval shape. Super clean, super quick!

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: 

Love & Affection Photopolymer Stamp Set	Floral Affection Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad
Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad