Finally time for today's creative post! I was fortunate enough to be selected as the 'Top Pick' over at the As You See It Challenge last week - thank you ladies! - for this card here. Today I'm entering a card for this week's challenge which is another sketch-based one - you know how I love a good sketch:

I was keen to interpret the ring in the sketch as a wreath in some way and since I had some leftover burlap on my desk from another project that I am currently working on, I knew which direction I wanted to go. My thoughts are definitely on Spring this week - here is my interpretation of the sketch: 

I started with a base of Lost Lagoon then added a piece of All Abloom DSP down the side. I overlapped this with a piece of So Saffron and added a Pistachio Pudding panel across the horizontal, that I pierced around the edge to add interest. To create my spring wreath, I used a few strands of burlap that I stripped from a length and tied it together at three points around the edge to hold everything together. To decorate, I added a few springs of leaves in Mossy Meadow punched from my bird punch, then punched my bird itself in Lost Lagoon. I added an eye with a Basic Grey marker and I punched his wing out of a snippet of All Abloom paper in a different stack design. I added a sentiment banner that I stamped using the Crazy About You' stamp set and to finish a trio of flowers, one in So Saffron with a pearl centre, and two that I stamped in So Saffron on Whisper White with the flower stamp from the 'Something to Say' stamp set and punched out with the co-ordinating Itty Bitty Accents punch.

I love the look and feel of this card - it's so fresh and says that Spring is on the way. I haven't used my bird punch in ages but this little fella looks quite at home sat on his burlap wreath. This would also make a nice Easter or Birthday card, with a change of sentiment.

Back tomorrow with another double-post day and some exciting news too! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set	Bird Punch	Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Paper-Piercing Tool
Stampin' Pierce Mat	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock
Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Card Stock	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon

Today I have something a little different for you! The current challenge over at SUO Challenges is 'Cards For Teens', sometimes a tricky group to create for. Most of the children's cards I create are for the under-10s so I wouldn't consider my self experienced in this field at all although having purchased an e-cutter recently and looking through My Digital Studio for inspiration, I discovered a stamp that is perfect for a birthday card for male teens that ultimately led me to make a few cards. Here's the first one:

Using Pacific Point as my base colour, I used the 'Extreme Skateboard' stamp image and converted it to a cut file which I then cut out of Basic Black cardstock using my e-cutter. Before adhering to my cardbase, I added some spatter and stripes in Memento Black ink and Encore Silver Metallic to create a grungy background. I also added a retired 'Awesome' stamp from the 'Cool Kid' set to this card.

For my second card, I used the negative space of the skateboarder to create a black card with a graduated rainbow sponged skateboarder behind and added some letters cut with my Little Letters thinlits to spell 'Cool' - something all teens think applies to them I think:

Finally, I used the cut skateboarder and adhered him to a sponged rainbow starburst background - I also stamped some black stars on top of this to add to the effect:

I love all of these cards, bit I think the bottom one is my favourite. It has an almost psychodelic feel. This is one of the projects that I submitted for the Convention Design Challenge in Brussels last November, although haven't shared until now. I gave the first card to my skateboard-mad 13 year old neighbour for his birthday and he pronounced it 'sick' - as I looked puzzled and slightly disappointed, he rushed to explain this was a good thing - apparently in teen-speak this is high praise! Clearly, what do I know!!!

If you struggle with teenage cards too, do check out the DT samples and the SUO gallery, where there's lots of teen inspiration.

Back tomorrow with a new set of Wednesday Weekly Deals and another project. Until then, happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Extreme Skateboard Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download	Mds Download - Digital Download	Pacific Point A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Silver Metallic Encore Pad	Gorgeous Grunge	Be The Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Sponge Daubers	Brights Classic Stampin' Pads
Subtles Classic Stampin' Pads	Regals Classic Stampin' Pads	Little Letters Thinlits Die	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Big Shot Magnetic Platform

Happy Monday everyone! I am here to start the week with a clean and simple card that I made with a few challenges in mind:

I love the pinks in the Color Throwdown palette this week and having seen many of my blog friends create the cutest 'mini' cards for CASology this week, I just couldn't resist having a go at my own. It is also my card for the 'Less is More' challenge this week, where the theme is 'This makes me happy'. Take a look at my card and I'll explain why:

Aren't that trio of mini flowerpots just the cutest? I used the 'Handpicked From the Garden' framelits that I used on yesterday's card and cut a trio of flowerpots out of kraft cardstock, along with a trio of flower heads, two in Strawberry Slush and one in Pink Pirouette. Before adhering these to the card, I partially inked the vine leaves in Pear Pizzazz and stamped these onto my white base first to give my flowers stems and leaves, before adhering the diecuts over the top. I finished with a simple stamped sentiment of 'Grown With Love' also stamped in Pear Pizzazz and a little bow on my central pot, made from some separated strands of Strawberry Slush thick baker's twine. Here's a little close up of the detail:

I'm not usually one to go for these teeny-tiny diecuts and I bought this set primarily for the plant tag framelits, which as a keen gardener I knew I would get lots of use for, but I'm loving these little diecuts - the set also includes a tiny trowel and a bow, perfect for adding finishing touches to gardening projects. With spring on the way, I am looking forward to be getting out into the garden more. My husband and children are keen vegetable gardeners and don't have much time for flowers, but I love nothing more than pottering around, planting tubs and hanging baskets to decorate the patio through the summer months. These little flowerpots remind me of this and it makes me happy to know that spring is on the way!

I would love to know what makes you happy - please feel free to leave me a comment below to share your thoughts and do pop on over to the LIM gallery to see what's putting everyone else in a good mood this week. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

From The Garden Photopolymer Bundle	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Pink Pirouette A4 Card Stock	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock

It's Sunday and you know what that means - a new challenge over at The Paper Players. This week the lovely Laurie has a fun theme to help us shake off our Winter blues:

When I 'think Spring' I immediately think of spring pastels and flowers in bloom, so the obvious choice for my card today was one of my favourite pieces of DSP from the All Abloom DSP stack:

I love the pretty little flowers on this particular paper and wanted to showcase as much of the paper as possible. I decided it would make a great background layer for a shaker-style open window featuring some cute little die cut flowerpots that I cut from kraft and co-ordinating coloured cardstock using my Handpicked Framelit Dies. I finished one of the flowerpots with a tiny Blushing Bride baker's twine bow and used one of the Bitty Banner framelits to cut out the sentiment stamped from the 'From The Garden' stamp set and accented this with a couple of Daffodil Delight candy dots.

Before you reach for your ink pads, do visit the other design team members to see what interesting ideas they've had this week:

I look forward to seeing your visions of Springtime in our gallery this week. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	From The Garden Photopolymer Bundle	Bitty Banners Framelits Die	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Brights Candy Dots
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride	Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock	Blushing Bride Baker's Twine

Good evening blog readers! A busy couple of days so a later blog post today. Just time to share with you another card using the Butterfly Thinlits, this time including the largest of the trio: 

This is a larger than usual card at 6" x 6", as I wanted to allow enough cardstock to frame this rather large butterfly and set if off to true effect. The base of my card is Crumb Cake cardstock, onto which I added a raised mat panel consisting of a piece of the current Sale-A-Bration 'Best Year Ever' Designer Series Paper onto a piece of Coastal Cabana cardstock. I love this bokeh-inspired patterned paper - it saves the time of creating your own and makes for a lovely background effect. |Even better still, it can be yours free with an order of £45! I then added a piece of Strawberry Slush cardstock, and wrapped some linen thread around the panel before adhering to my card. I then added my layered butterfly - the largest butterfly cut from Crumb Cake and the smallest butterfly cut from Coastal Cabana - and finished with a bow of Strawberry Slush thick baker's twine. A no-stamping card, that really shows these delicate butterflies off to great effect.

I'm linking today's card with the sketch challenge over at Fab Friday (I turned the sketch through 90 degrees and used my linen thread in place of the flagged banner in the sketch).

Back tomorrow with my card for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players and news of some new Sale-A-Bration goodies that you can earn during the month of March. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Butterflies Thinlits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush
Crumb Cake 12 X 12 Smooth Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine	Linen Thread

Thank you for all the lovely comments I've received on my 'Guy Greetings' cards these past couple of days - I'm so glad you are enjoying them. I have more of these to share, some of which I made with my lovely stamp-a-stack ladies at our class earlier today, but instead I'm having a break to share one of the cards I designed for my recent technique class featuring the Butterfly Basics stamp set and co-ordinating framelits:

I stamped the lacy butterfly onto my Very Vanilla base in Bermuda Bay ink, then used the co-ordinating framelit to cut the shape out of the top mat layer. I then added some Crumb Cake, sponged through a stencil made with my Hexagon Hive thinlit, the border stamp, a simple sentiment and some linen thread and a scattering of pearls as a final simple embellishment. I love the versatility of thinlits and how they can be used in so many ways; using the negative space gives a different look to simply using the thinlit to cut out the butterfly and attach on top. 

I'm linking today's card up with this week's challenge over at Less Is More where the theme is 'wings', which suits my butterfly perfectly.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Bundle	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Linen Thread	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

I have another monochromatic masculine card for you today - I still had the papers and stamp set out on my desk from yesterday's card and couldn't resist creating another sample using this week's sketch over at As You See It:

This is a great sketch for combining patterns or images and I had a few ideas as to how I was going to use it so don't be surprised if you see me use it again. For today though, it's all about the shoes - take a look at my card and you'll see what I mean:

I used Very Vanilla as my base and this time a piece of checked Typeset paper on black for my panels, then I narrowed the four square elements of the sketch so that I could fit in four pairs of shoes - you can never have too many pairs of shoes, right?! A stapled banner sentiment, some wide chevron ribbon and some funky shoe laces to highlight one of the pairs of shoes and done!

Making this card reminded me of the Robert Redford/Michelle Pfeiffer movie "Up Close & Personal" - such a great movie, but the scene where she sees his shoes with the red laces at the end ... if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you, but if you're an old-fashioned romantic I can highly recommend it - just don't forget the tissues!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Guy Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Basic Black A4 Card Stock
Basic Black Baker's Twine	Basic Black 3/4" Chevron Ribbon

I'm here today to share my card for this week's challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary where they have a rather interesting sketch to play along with this week:

I've been playing with my new 'Guy Greetings' stamp set this week, in preparation for my next stamp-a-stack class which is featuring masculine cards and I decided that this sketch would work perfectly with a trio of hats - take a look at my card to see what I mean:

I went for a monochromatic look for my card with a Very Vanilla base and a piece of striped Typeset paper, set beneath another layer of Very Vanilla cut at an angle. I masked the hat stamp and inked three of the six hats and stamped them above a piece of black cardstock cut at an angle, then stamped my greeting on the Vanilla base panel. I finished my black strip with a trio of Very Vanilla candy dots. Clean and simple and I like it! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Guy Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Basic Black A4 Card Stock
Neutrals Candy Dots

The children are back to school today so a sense of normality has been restored - or blogging normality at least, with a nice early post! Today I have a relatively quick, clean and simple card to share that uses this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch as my inspiration:

I decided to take a break from the lovely seasonal catalogue and ink up my 'Tap, Tap, Tap' stamp set that I've had for ages, but has been languishing unused on my shelf. I thought the typewriter would make an interesting take on the 'any shape' element of the sketch - take a look at my card and see what you think:

I used Very Vanilla as my card base and stamped the alphabet border strip in black onto Coastal Cabana for my diagonal piece and after adhering to my card base, tied a piece of co-ordinating thick baker's twine around the middle of it. After stamping the 'tap, tap, tap' stamp a couple of times onto my card base, I then stamped my typewriter on a piece of Very Vanilla and coloured it with my Smoky Slate and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities, before fussy cutting out adding to my card with a couple of dimensionals. This is where the 'relatively' quick and simple comes in, as I spent a pleasant 5 minutes or so colouring in - there may have been quicker ways to execute this card, but I find colouring in theraputically relaxing, so it was no hardship. Here's a close-up of my tyepwriter: 

I love this old-fashioned typewriter stamp and if I had a typewriter like this, it would definitely be a red one!! If like me you too are a fan of Stampin' Up! Blendabilities, don't forget you can claim a set as your free gift during Sale-A-Bration with every purchase of £45 or more. Many of my customers are using this as a great opportunity to expand their marker collections and Sale-A-Bration runs until the end of March, so there is still plenty of time to take advantage of this offer. Just click on the links below to go straight to my online store or give me a call. My next technique class on 9th March also features the new Pink Pirouette Blendabilities and the lovely stamp set 'Indescribable Gift', so if you live in or around Northampton and would like to join me, do get in touch to book your place.

That's me done for today - I'm off to finish preparations for this week's classes. I'll be back tomorrow with another project, but until then happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Tap Tap Tap Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Coastal Cabana Thick Baker's Twine
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment

It's Sunday and time for another challenge over at The Paper Players. Thank you to everyone who played along with my CAS bird challenge last week - there were some fabulous entries. This week the lovely Sandy is hosting and she has a sketch challenge for us - my favourite! Here is her sketch:

I decided to use the colour palette over at Colour Me for my card today - I haven't had the opportunity to play along with these lovely ladies since I finished my Design Team post over there at the start of the year, so time to say 'hello ladies!' to Hayley, Tara and the team. I just so happen to be using another stamp in the 'Time To Celebrate' hostess set that I used on my Paper Players card last week - take a look:

The temptation to use a feather in my design as per the sketch was high, however there are some wonderful examples using feathers by other members of the Design Team, so I decided to look at what else I could use and settled on the hot air balloon instead. My top mat layer is a piece of 'Flashback' DSP, the circle pattern perfect to echo the central circle of the sketch. I embossed a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock with the now retired 'Cloudy Day' embossing folder and sponged the sky in Pool Party around the clouds and framed this with a Real Red circular frame cut with my Big Shot and Circle Framelits. I added a simple sentiment banner with a little fussy cutting around the 'y' in 'you', then mounted the hot air balloon with dimensionals for a little lift. I stamped the balloon on very Vanilla and coloured it with my So Saffron Stampin' Write marker and the lightest of my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. I also added a little Crystal Effects to my stars for some additional dimension, although that's quite difficult to see in the photo below: 

That's my card done and I hope you like it. I love the stamps in the 'Time To Celebrate' hostess set - if they are your thing too, please get in touch if you would like to host a party to lay your hands on your very own set. Before you reach for your ink pads, do visit the other design team members to see what interesting ideas they've had this week:

I look forward to seeing how you interpret Sandy's sketch this week - so many possibilities! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Time To Celebrate Clear Stamp Set	Flashback Designer Series Paper	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment	Sponge Daubers	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers