Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings in World War Two, with the start of the invasion on the 6th June known as D-Day. There are commemorations taking place both at home and abroad today to remember those Allied personnel who lost their lives on this day and to recognise the bravery, commitment and sacrifices of those service personnel who fought during the war to free Europe from Nazi occupation.

So it seemed a fitting day to share with you a recent commission. I was asked to create some cards and gift boxes as thank you gifts for some teachers who had led a school trip to the World War Two battlefields recently. A red poppy, the traditional form of remembrance, is the star of this card:

I chose a simple Real Red background and created a layered border using Modern Medley DSP. I stamped the poppy from the 'Simply Sketched' hostess set in Black stazon onto Very Vanilla, then coloured using Real Red ink and my aquapainter, with a touch of Garden Green for the stem. I added the sentiment directly to the card base, and honestly didn't feel this card needed anything else. I also made a co-ordinating gift box using one of the kraft gift boxes available in the annual catalogue:

I covered in co-ordinating paper and made a tag with the same sentiment and poppy image on Very Vanilla and punched with my Scalloped Tag Topper punch, finishing with a 3/4" Chevron ribbon bow.

A lovely set to show appreciation and appropriate to share it on a day when we should all take time to remember the courage, bravery and sacrifice of our armed forces, of yesterday and today, who give of themselves in order that we may live relatively safe and secure lives. I for one, am thankful for that.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Simply Sketched	Kraft Gift Box (4)	Modern Medley Designer Series Paper	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Jet Black Stazon Pad
Scalloped Tag Topper Punch	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Aqua Painter
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Real Red 1/8 Inch Taffeta Ribbon

Today I'm doing one of those things that is somewhat dangerous if you're a cardmaking blogger and your intended recipients follow your blog - I'm blogging a card before I've sent it! So Barbara (affectionately known as 'Aunty Barbie' to Rebecca!) if you're reading this before Sunday - look away now!!!

Sandie's theme challenge over at The Paper Players this week is to create a card around the theme of love, weddings or anniversaries, and as I made a golden wedding anniversary card this week for a very special couple, I couldn't resist linking it up to share it. Here is my card:

This card is a riot of gold products - 6 to be precise (or 7 if you count the gold Encore stamping inside, but that's mean because you can't see that!) Can you tell what they all are? I used Brushed Gold for my card base, then adhered a piece of Shimmer White cardstock to it, and a piece of gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum to the top of that. I dry embossed the ampersand out of gold foil sheet and then fussy cut before adhering to my vellum top layer. I then made two flags out of Shimmer white card stock and heat embossed them with 'Always' and 'Forever' in gold embossing powder; these were both partial stamps from the 'This Day Forward' stamp set. I then popped the flags onto dimensionals and mounted them on opposing sides just touching the top and bottom of the ampersand. Lastly, I added a gold baker's twine bow and threaded this with a strand of gold sequins.

I think this card is just lovely - a fitting way to celebrate 50 years of marriage, which is some achievement in my book. Here's to Barbara and Bob and many more happy years together.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum	Ampersand Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Gold Foil Sheets	Brushed Gold A4 Card Stock	Shimmery White A4 Card Stock
Gold Baker's Twine	Gold Sequin Trim	This Day Forward	Versamark Pad	Embossing Buddy
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug

Well Sunday's summer sunshine was definitely short-lived; the grey of yesterday has turned into steady and continuous pouring rain so far this morning - yuk! Still, today's card for the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge will cheer you up I hope; this week it is a double challenge to use both the sketch and colour palette:

Firstly, a quick thank you to the ladies over at CAS for choosing me as one of their winners last week (you can see my winning card here). Someone I asked me recently how I get on with my challenge entries, as I don't often post the outcome here. I sometimes post a win on my Facebook page but the one place I try and keep track of all my wins is my Pinterest board here - so if you're ever interested to see my growing badge collection, pop on over and take a look.

Anyway, onto today's card! I used a piece of paper from the Fresh Prints DSP stack as the inspiration for today's card - these stacks are great and I'm so pleased that there are going to be some new ones appearing in the forthcoming new annual catalogue. Here is my card:

I love this Orla Kiely-inspired pattern - it always reminds me of flower stems, so it seemed appropriate to use a statement flower as my focal point in place of the arrow on the sketch and what better than that old favourite, Mixed Bunch (staying for next year's catalogue - hurrah!) I used Coastal Cabana for my card base and layered my DSP strip on a mat of Real Red cardstock. I then stamped my flower in Real Red ink on Whisper White, punched it out with the co-ordinating Blossom punch (got to love a matching punch!) and backed this with another flower punched from Baked Brown Sugar cardstock, which I offset slightly so that you could see it through the gaps of the petals of the top flower. I finished my flower with an in-colour Boutique Details in Coastal Cabana; it's not often I dip into my pot of these, but it provided the perfect finish to my bold flower here. Lastly, I added my 'Yippee Skippee!' sentiment from the stamp set of the same name in red to the card base.

A clean and simple card that could be used for lots of occasions and brings the challenge colours together nicely. I am also going to link my card up with the challenge over at 'Less is More' this week where the challenge is to use two different stamp sets; pretty good, considering there are only two actual stamped images on the whole card!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	In Color Boutique Details	Mixed Bunch - Clear-Mount Stamp	Blossom Punch	Yippee-Skippee!

Today's card started out as my entry for this week's challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary; once I'd decided on my design, I also remembered the inspiration photo over at The Card Concept so used this as my colour scheme:

Here is my finished card:

I decided to use the sunglasses (minus the sentiment) from the Spring catalogue hostess set 'To the Point' as the focal point for my card and stamped them onto a circle of Whisper White as I wanted to be able to create the cut out image on the layer behind. I created a patterned layer using punched 3/4" circles on a black square to echo the spot pattern on the sunglasses, and cut out the starburst shape and mat for the circle using my Starburst Framelits. I stamped the retired single stamp 'Spectacular' and my marker pens to create my own DSP background panel, using my stamp-a-ma-jig to enable easy alignment and pattern repeat, and rounded the corners with my Envelope Punch Board. Lastly, I stamped my sentiment onto a flag of Smoky Slate; the sentiment on the original stamp was too small to work here, so I substituted with 'Awesome' from the Cool kid stamp set in the current Spring catalogue (only available until the end of the month).

I had already made a card for the challenge over at The Card Concept, which is scheduled to post later in the week and couldn't be more different to this one, however having chosen my design I couldn't help but think that sunglasses were the only thing missing from the inspiration photo, so I decided to roll with it! My card definitely fits the 'clean and layered' style; the question is, does it really have specs appeal? I'd love to know what you think - feel free to leave me a comment below! I am also linking this card up over at SUO Challenges, where the theme is to create your own background DSP, as I've done here with my 'Spectacular' stamp.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another card and news of this week's Wednesday Weekly Deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Making A Point - Clear-Mount Stamp	Cool Kid	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Starburst Framelits Dies
Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform	3/4 Inch Circle Punch	2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch	Daffodil Delight Stampin Write Marker
Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Basic Gray A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Basic Black A4 Card Stock

Good evening! A really quick post from me today, as I've been out and about all day today: my regular monthly card class with a super bunch of ladies, piano lessons after school and some admin this evening and now I'm ready for my bed! I just wanted to quickly share one of the cards we made in our class today, featuring the Springtime Hello stamp set:

We watercoloured a background using our aquapainters and blended Soft Sky, Pool Party and Pear Pizzazz inks, then overstamped this with one of the flowers in the set and added Melon Mambo and more Pear Pizzazz to the stamped image. We also added the 'Hello' sentiment from the 'A Dozen Thoughts' stamp set. This panel was then mounted onto two mats of co-ordinating cardstock and adhered to a Naturals Ivory card base. The card was then finished with a knot-tied piece of Pool party seam binding ribbon.

A simple card with a lovely pop of colour with the pink flower.

Right my bed is calling, but I will be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Springtime Hello	Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock	Aqua Painter	6 X 9 Watercolor Paper	Jet Black Stazon Pad
Stazon Cleaner	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz
Pool Party A4 Card Stock	Pool Party 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad

Well, I don't know if I should say it, but as the children are about to return to school tomorrow we have had the most glorious day weather-wise - might summer have finally arrived? Let's hope so! We had a BBQ lunch in the garden, long bike ride and a picnic tea in the country park today - we thought we'd better make the most of the opportunity, just in case it's once again short-lived!

This week is also all about classes: I had the pleasure of running a private party yesterday evening for the lovely Maria and 6 of her friends - you can find out what they got up to on my Facebook page and if you live in or around Northampton and would like to host a similar event, do get in touch - and tomorrow is my regular monthly card class. This month we are featuring the stamp set 'Springtime Hello' and the card that I'm sharing today is a slight variation on one that we will be making in class. It is also my entry for this week's 'Colour Me...!' challenge, where in contrast the colours have a rather autumnal feel:

I wanted my card to have a natural feel, so thought these colours would be perfect for my card. Here it is:

I used Naturals Ivory cardstock for my central panel - I haven't used this cardstock before and it has a great texture for this type of card - then inked up the wild daisy stamp using my Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Wild Wasabi marker pens and stamped the flower. I created the script background using one of the stamps in the retired 'French Foliage' set - I inked it in Baked Brown Sugar and stamped off twice before stamping onto my panel so that it would have a very faint background effect.  Lastly, I stamped both the bee and the sentiment in Baked Brown Sugar and added a little Crushed Curry to the bee again with my marker pen. I then mounted this panel on a mat of Baked Brown Sugar and centred on a card base of Very Vanilla. I think this card has quite a vintage feel - like a botanical drawing in an old book. This set is in the current Spring-Summer catalogue and along with lots of others is one that will be retiring at the end of the month, so if it's on your wish list, you only have a little while longer to purchase it.

That's all from me - back tomorrow with another card. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Springtime Hello	Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock	2013-2015 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers
Regals Stampin' Write Markers	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

A really quick post from me today as I have a very busy work day ahead, but a bonus project for you too today - read on! I made today's card a couple of weeks ago for one of Rebecca's friends who was celebrating her 9th birthday. It got me thinking - at 9 years old, suddenly some girls are less about cute and desperate to 'grow up', so I needed to make a card that was girly but not too 'cutesie' (I think that's a word!). Birthday Basics DSP is always my 'go to' paper for cards like this - here's my card:

I went for a 'fun fold' card featuring the Another Great Year stamp set. I stamped the main stamp onto Very Vanilla then stamped it again onto a sheet of Crisp Cantaloupe and coloured the words with markers before adhering to the vanilla layer. I then created a fun scalloped circle closure to hold the card shut, with a co-ordinating paper-pieced cupcake taking centre stage, which I adhered with a dimensional onto the panel featuring colourful birthday balloons:

Doesn't that cupcake look delicious? Below you can see how I created the card base from two pieces of cardstock, along with my stamped sentiment inside:

Another reason for my paper choice was that the gift was a gift voucher to spend at a local cycling store for accessories for a new bicycle, and the Birthday Basics paper has the perfect design for a themed gift card holder, made using my Envelope Punch Board:

I've made these gift voucher holders before (you can find instructions on a previous post here) - the colours mean that both items look great together. Today's card uses lots of retiring colours and products, so if you need to stock up on any you should hop over to my online store by clicking on the links below - the Itty Bitty Punches that I used to create the little flower on the gift card holder above have already sold out!! 

Right, must dash - I need to link today's post up with the current SUO Challenge of 'Something Yummy' - if I'm quick I might just make it! back tomorrow with another project, until then happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:

Another Great Year	Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe
1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch	1-3/4 Inch Scallop Circle Punch	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Envelope Punch Board
Chalk Talk	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Yay - it's Friday again! Boy did that come around quick! This week has been half term and having James Juniors at home for the week seems to make the week fly by! Anyway, the weather is supposed to improve this weekend so that will be good. I have a busy, busy day today with retiring lists, preorders, class preparations and more besides, so let's get to it! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for this week's challenge over at 'Less is More' where it's recipe week and we're asked to include a die cut on our card. I've also combined with the vibrant colour palette over at Colour Q this week:

I just loved the bold flowers on that shower curtain in the inspiration photo! I had to substitute a couple of the colours, as they have retired and I don't have them; I used Rich Razzleberry and Wild Wasabi in place of Orchid Opulence and Certainly Celery, so my purple is not quite so electric but my card is just as colourful - take a look: 

I actually used the same CAS(E) This Sketch layout, turned through 90 degrees, that I used for yesterday's butterfly card for today's background, although it looks totally different here. I used Simple Stems to stamp my flowers, along with the little flower from the Summer Silhouettes stamp set, then used Bermuda Bay for my card base, my die cut 'thankful' - the Expressions Thinlit Dies are currently available on the clearance rack, if you would like to pick up a set for the bargain price of £13.79, I love mine! - and stamped the 'for you' in Bermuda Bay using the Fabulous Phrases stamp set.

This is one of those cards that I finished and just love - the colours, layout, the diecut word, it's so me! Do you ever make a card and like it so much that you think you'll struggle to give it away? I think the recipient of this one will have to be someone special, so if it lands in your mailbox then you should consider yourself very lucky!!

Right - I'm off to peruse the retiring lists and write out my pre-order for goodies from the new catalogue too (and maybe do a little housework!). Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Simple Stems	Summer Silhouettes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Fabulous Phrases - Clear-Mount Stamp	Expressions Thinlits Dies	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

A really quick post from me today as I am having a busy one! Today's card uses this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and is an example of something that I don't do very often: it uses a long-ago retired vintage stamp set, Flight of the Butterfly. Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

I loved the sentiments that come with this stamp set and I needed a card specifically using the sentiment above, so I combined it with some naturals ivory cardstock and some colours that I had out on my desk for another project that I've been working on this week and decided that this set would work perfectly with the above sketch to create a clean and simple butterfly card. I stamped the butterflies in Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Baked Brown Sugar and punched the main one of and just shaped with my bone folder before adhering to my card. I added some linen thread to the spine to add to the natural feel of the card, but couldn't resist a sprinkling of gold sequins too. If you don't have this stamp set, you could easily re-create it with a current set, such as Papillion Potpourri and the Elegant Butterfly punch.

I hope you like today's card; don't forget the retiring list is published tomorrow so do pop back to see all of the things that we will be saying goodbye to at the end of June. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad	Linen Thread	Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock
Gold Sequin Trim

Well, it's still raining here in the UK and I've even had to resort to turning up the central heating - in May!!! We've had a lovely day catching up with friends today, which hasn't dampened our half-term spirits. On to today's card, which I used this week's colours over at Create with Connie and Mary and LeAnne's sketch at The Paper Players:

I started out with the colours and must say the ladies over at Create with Connie and Mary almost had me stumped this week! I played around with these colours wanting to use white as my neutral - some of the CCMC design team used white to great effect with this colour combination on their cards - but in the end I went with a baby boy card and didn't use any white at all (go figure!). Here's my card:

I decided to go with a Soft Sky base and added a strip of DSP down the centre - do you recognise it? This pattern is actually one of the patterns in the Kaleidescope pack, although you could be forgiven for overlooking it as it is quite muted given the other bright and bold patterns in the set. I then used lots of layers to create interest on the main design; I stamped the 'Sweet Baby' stamp from the Baby We've Grown stamp set in Basic Grey onto Sahara Sand, and matted this onto both Soft Sky and Basic Grey. I then stamped the 'Brand New' stamp from the same set in Basic Grey, twice onto Soft Sky cardstock and once onto Sahara Sand. I cut these out with the smallest Starburst Collection framelit and then did a little fussy cutting to create a layered badge: I cut the banner in Sahara Sand and adhered this to one of the Soft Sky pieces, then took the other image stamped on Soft Sky and cut out the individual letters of the word 'NEW' and adhered them to the banner section. This button badge was then adhered to a circle punched from Basic Grey cardstock with a 1 1/4" circle punch and mounted onto my card as per the sketch.

So quite a graphic clean and layered card today and not overly 'baby cute' but still unmistakably a baby boy card I think. I'm just pleased I managed to eventually create something with this colour combination! When I went back to grab the Paper Players sketch image to insert into my blog I realised Ann Schach also used a couple of stamps from the same set to create her baby girl card - you should go check it out on the above link if you want to see an alternative take using the same sketch.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Baby, We've Grown	Kaleidoscope Designer Series Paper	Starburst Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Gray A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch