It's my third week as Guest Designer over at Just us Girls and this week it's Mood Board Week and we have a beautiful summery scene to inspire you:

How beautiful are those poppies on the beach? For my card I reached into my retired box to find my Painted Poppies stamp set, to create a clean and simple card - take a look:

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

I must confess I had a couple of attempts at this one - for the first one I went all-in trying to create the various elements of this beautiful beach scene, but I ended up binning it as it was 'too much' - does that ever happen to you? For my second attempt, I stamped a single poppy, coloured it with my Stampin' Blends, then masked both it and a rectangle around it, and used a combination of two blues and a yellow added with a blending brush to evoke the sky, sea and sand of the scene, with just a little tone-on-tone stamping of grains of sand and seashells in one corner:

A trio of iridescent faceted enamel dots and a simple sentiment from the 'Peaceful moments' stamp set (also retired), popped up on dimensionals, complete my card.

Poppies do make for a lovely sympathy/remembrance card, hence my chosen sentiment, and I think paired with these summery colours make for an uplifting clean and simple card. How does this beachy scene inspire you? Why not play along and join us over at Just Add Girls this week!

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 soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	TUXEDO BLACK MEMENTO INK PAD (£7.50)	POPPY PARADE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	OLD OLIVE STAMPIN' BLENDS COMBO PACK (£10.25)	POOL PARTY CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	AZURE AFTERNOON CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
DAFFODIL DELIGHT CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Claire to host this week and she has a fun clean and simple challenge for us to work with:

Fresh and fruity - but in a clean and simple style! I  - couldn't resist another Celebratory Sips creation, with a focus on citrus fruits for today's card - take a look:

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

There's really not much to this one: a clean white card base, stamped in Cloud Cover with a retired sentiment from the 'Sweet Citrus' stamp set, and three glasses, one orange, one lemon and one lime adorned with fruit slices, fussy cut from the designer paper and popped up on dimensionals and a selection of sequins and enamel dots in coordinating colours from my collection to finish:

Doesn't that look so refreshing?! So what fresh and fruity creations do you have up your sleeve? We'd love you to share them with us, just remember to keep them clean and simple, which we define as:

• Lots of clean 'white' space (it doesn't have to be white in colour - just free of pattern)
• Minimal layers
• Minimal embellishments

This should be the overriding focus of your card - the fruity theme runs secondary to this.

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:

Enjoy your day; it's Father's Day here in the UK today, so we will be celebrating one of the best here in the James household. I'll be back soon with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

CELEBRATORY SIPS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

CLOUD COVER CLASSIC STAMPIN' INK REFILL (£5.25)

Today I'm sharing my design team card for our new challenge over at As you See It where it's a sketch challenge, designed by yours truly:

I liked the idea of three 'somethings' overlaid with a sentiment and I think this is a sketch with so many creative options - the team have certainly done a fab job with it! I couldn't resist using it to showcase some pretty designer paper - fussy cut, of course! Take a look at what I came up with:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Yes, I fussy cut a trio of birthday cakes from the Wildflower Birthday papers and added a simple heat embossed birthday sentiment from the (retired) 'Sending Smiles' stamp set. This paper does have a faint pink background, so I added some Pretty in Pink ink with a blending brush both behind my cakes and on my card base to give a soft, feminine feel:

A trio of faceted iridescent dots and a simple gold twine bow to pick up on the gold embossing on the paper complete my pretty birthday card. So what do you think when you see those 3 panels? Why not have a go and add your card to our challenge gallery?

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. 

Here's a summary of our challenge rules:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your post.
• Make sure you link the specific post and not the whole blog to the Linky. Use AYSI#(insert challenge number) when uploading to a public gallery
• Please turn off word verification so that we can send you lots of feedback.
• You can combine our challenge with up to 3 other compatible challenges. 
• We do reserve the right to delete, or not consider for Top Pick and Featured Artist, entries that do not comply with these guidelines.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

WILDFLOWER BIRTHDAY 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£16.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

PRETTY IN PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

BLENDING BRUSHES (£14.00)

It's my second week as Guest Designer over at Just us Girls and this week it's Word Week and the word is 'number':

Lots of ways to go with this one! I actually started my card with letters, rather than numbers - take a look and I'll explain more:

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

Party Alphabet Dies - I have a whole list of ideas I want to try with those new larger-than-life Party Alphabet Dies and today's number challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to try one! Given the size of the letter dies, there's a limit to how many you can fit onto a standard size card front, so today's greeting is in an easy-to-understand shorthand: HB2U! I diecut the letters from a piece of Basic Black cardstock ready to position some fun patterned paper behind, then used a (retired) Large Numbers Framelit of the number '2' to diecut my number. You could use a number die from the current Alphabet A La Mode Dies, but I wanted something a little more chunky.

Broadway Bound - I have been having fun playing along with the challenges over at TGIF Challenges lately and this week's almost neon colour palette totally caught my eye. It reminded me of the (retired) Broadway Bound designer series paper, covered in candles, cakes and party hats so I decided to hunt some out of my retired stash to use as the backing for my letters. It was then I discovered that my mind had somewhat played tricks on me, as the pink in this paper isn't actually my favourite hot pink, Melon Mambo, but the retired in-colour, Lovely Lipstick. By now I was committed to my idea though, so decided since there wasn't much in it I'd plough ahead - hopefully the ladies at TGIF Challenges will forgive me this oversight ;-) 

A Touch of Glimmer - Since we are all about the numbers over at Just Us Girls this week, I wanted to make mine standout. I popped it up on some dimensionals, overlapping the letters behind it and some Lemon-Lime Twist glimmer paper from my stash was just the thing for added impact:

A few sequins were the only additional decoration to complete my card. I was hoping that the graphic letters and bold colour scheme would make this card suitable for boys as well as girls; a quick consult with the youngest of the James Juniors suggested he would not be offended to either receive or send this card to one of his mates, so I think I'm safe!

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. 

So how do you like to feature numbers on your cards? The Just Us Girls Team have some fabulous inspiration for you too so why not take a look and add your numbered creation to the gallery at the same time?

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project for our new challenge over at As You See It. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PARTY ALPHABET DIES (£93.00)

BASIC BLACK A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

MELON MAMBO A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

LEMON LIME TWIST A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

It's Tuesday and time for a new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Shannon is hosting this month this week's challenge is a sketch challenge:

Shannon has asked that we create a design featuring 9 rectangles, each of white should be white/plain and pattern-free. Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch when making your card. I don't mind saying that the idea of 9 completely blank rectangles almost threw me for six, but I eventually made 2 cards! 

Here's the first one that I made:

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

Perennial Postage - I decided to use the Perennial Postage Dies for my 9 rectangles and whilst a whole panel of DSP is usually a no-no for a CAS C&S card, since it was going to be mostly covered with my white rectangles, I grabbed a piece of (retired) Iconic Celebrations heart-patterned paper and added this to my base.

Greetings For All - I chose a co-ordinating diecut sentiment from the 'Greetings For All' pack and added a couple of punched hearts behind to pick up the colour and design of the paper:

Take Two - Having made this card, I decided to make another one, but this time choosing a piece of (retired) Sunshine & Rainbows designer series paper that featured white in its pattern, to see if this would create a more clean and simple feel:

I followed the same design and chose another sentiment in the pack and added a Pool Party heart accent:

The monochromatic colour scheme and addition of white in the pattern I think does give this second card a more CAS feel, so this is the one that I used as my challenge card this week, but I thought I'd share both and my thought process. No stamping either! I'm looking forward to see how our challenge participants tackle this challenge this week - why not have a go yourself and come and join us?

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:

PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)

BASIC WHITE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Happy Monday everyone! I have a couple of quick posts today - this is the second one. There are too many good sketch challenges around this week - I just had to get creative! This card is using Cecile's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches and is also my entry over at The Flower Challenge this month where they are all about embossing (heat or dry):

 I do love the challenge of working with Cecile's layouts - she designs the most beautiful and inspiring clean and simple cards! When I saw this week's sketch, I knew exactly where I was going with it - take a look:

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

My dear crafty friend Elizabeth over at Paper Sweetness shared some beautiful Pinkfresh Studio washi tape designs with me a little while ago and whilst I've used most of them up, I still had this fabulous fuschia that I have been waiting for just the right opportunity to use. Cecile's sketch was perfect for it; I tucked it behind my central square and allowed it to hang over the front in all its glory, adding a smaller piece with a dimensional on the left - you can see that more clearly below:

I added my sentiment to the central square (from the retired set 'Hydrangea Haven') and picked up on the touches of gold with a thin gold border and some tiny gold pearls. I toyed with leaving the frame plain, but there were so many lovely examples by the FMS Design team that featured embossed backgrounds that I decided to emboss it with the exposed brick embossing folder and I must say I'm really pleased with the finished effect. I also added a small heat embossed birthday greeting; this card is for my Mum who has a significant birthday later this year and she loves fuschias, so I'm sure this card will make her happy! 

Enjoy your day: mine is going to be a busy one! I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of cards for tomorrow's new challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

EXPOSED BRICK 3D EMBOSSING FOLDER (£10.25)

BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)

STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)

GOLD FOIL SHEETS (£4.75)

BLACKBERRY BLISS CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Happy Monday everyone! I have a couple of quick posts today with cards I made last week and can't wait to share! The first is using the fab layout over at Hand Stamped Sentiments:

 I still can't put that Celebratory Sips designer paper down!! Today's creation is still all about the purple tones too - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Another couple of fussy cut glasses, this time accompanied by two panels of another of the patterns in the pack. I used the back and front of the same sheet, and diecut them using one of the rectangular dies from the Nested Essentials Dies, cutting each one in three passes, with a partial diecut each time to enable me to keep the edge pattern and elongate the shape - this is a great way to get more out of a basic shape die. I finished my cardfront with a diecut 'celebrate' cut with one of the Wanted To Say Dies:

The Wanted To Say Dies are one the Last Chance page on the website and if you don't already have them, I can highly recommend them - they are so useful! I finished the inside of my card using a sentiment from a retired set called 'Sip Sip Hooray' which coordinates perfectly with these new papers:

I stamped my sentiment slightly wonky, so stamped it again onto a label cut with the die that I used to create those long panels on the front of my card and added that to the inside of my card (shh - don't tell!) Another fun card to add to my stash!

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. 

Back shortly with my second card in its own post; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

CELEBRATORY SIPS 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 CM) DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (£11.75)	WANTED TO SAY DIES (£11.10)	STYLISH SHAPES DIES (£28.00)	NESTED ESSENTIALS DIES (£32.00)	PURPLE FINE SHIMMER GEMS (£7.50)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)
GORGEOUS GRAPE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today it's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the fabulous Stef to host this week and she has a fresh colour challenge for us to work with:

I have made some time-consuming cards this week (check out my earlier posts in case you missed them) - but today's card definitely wasn't one of them! I saw Stef's colours and knew I had some retired paper in my stash featuring all three colours that would be perfect. So I grabbed some dies and the great layout over at Sketch Saturday and set to work. Take a look at what I came up with:

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

The retired You're A Peach designer series papers feature all three of Stef's chosen colours, so I chose a couple of my favourites and cut a couple of rectangular panels, one with a (retired) Everyday Details die, and layered them up as per the sketch. I went with a sentiment from the Grateful Blessing stamp set, embossed on a blue circle cut with one of the Spotlight on Nature Dies for an additional pop of colour:

Three simple layers, a couple of diecuts, a heat-embossed sentiment, some enamel dots and a twine bow - done! A great standby card for my stash and I managed to use up some of my retired papers too - bonus.

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:

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

GRATEFUL BLESSING PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET (ENGLISH) (£19.00)	SPOTLIGHT ON NATURE DIES (£33.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	VERSAMARK PAD (£9.00)	BASICS WOW! EMBOSSING POWDER (£20.00)	BAKER'S TWINE ESSENTIALS PACK (£10.25)
BALMY BLUE A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)

Today I'm here with some exciting news! You know how much I like to play along over at Just Us Girls whenever I get the chance and I was delighted to be asked by the lovely Vicki to be their guest designer for the month of June. Our first challenge for the month of June is Die Week - with layers:

I decided to have a play with the new Pretty Florals Bundle stamps and dies and have a mammoth stamping session! I grabbed the coral and green colour palette over at Color Hues and used the themes of 'bold' and repeat' from the 'choose 2' theme over at Time Out. Here's the card that I came up with:

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

Layered Pretty Florals - I do love a good diecut and a layer or two, so this week's JUGS challenge was perfect for me! I decided to really go to town on this card and, somewhat inspired by the framed sample featured on page 47 of the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue, I decided to stamp duplicates of each of the flowers in the Pretty Florals stamp set and then create my layout. Each flower comes in two pieces - a flower head and a stem, with each stem suiting two different flowers. The flower heads are a two-step stamp, but they are super easy to line up. Once I had my images diecut and constructed, I layered them overlapping slightly onto my white cardbase and when I was happy with my layout, I glued them in place and cut off any excess overhanging the edges. 

Shades of Coral - I'm not really an orange person (although I do love the new In Colour, Timid Tiger) but there's something about Calypso Coral, a mid point between pink and orange that really appeals to me. In order to get shades of coral for my flowers, I stamped some of the flower bases in Petal Pink (this is much more of a pale coral than a true pink in my view), both stamped off and full strength, and some of the bases in Calypso Coral that I stamped off first, then stamped the second layer on all of the flowers in full-strength Calypso Coral. This gave a good variety and depth of colour, whilst maintaining the overall coral hue. I love the Coral and Garden Green pairing too for a bold and colourful card.

Postage Window Frame - The idea for my frame came from a similar idea I saw on Pinterest. The vellum softens the frame and still allows the edge-to-edge flowers to show through, whilst the postage frame, with a stitched rectangle cut out of the centre adds additional layering and interest. I added a sentiment from Sweet Florals (more layers!) and allowed the diecut portion to overhang the frame slightly:

A few random enamel gems complete my card. I really love this card - so much colour from only three inks and such a bold design! I think if I made it again, I would make a horizontal version rather than a vertical layout to better accommodate that diecut sentiment, but I had that thought after I glued down the base - so that's an idea to try another time! Also, both the Pretty Florals Bundle and Sweet Blooms Bundle are available in the current Stampin' Up! 50% off suite sale (read all about it here if you missed it) - if you buy one bundle, you could get the second half price - what a steal!

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. 

So what dies do you have in your collection that you could layer up and share with us over at Just Us Girls this week? The Design Team have made some amazing cards - why not dig out your dies and join us and play along? Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

PRETTY FLORALS bundle (£47.50)	SWEET BLOOMS BUNDLE (ENGLISH) (£48.50)	PERENNIAL POSTAGE DIES (£31.00)	BASIC WHITE A4 THICK CARDSTOCK (£16.00)	GARDEN GREEN A4 CARDSTOCK (£14.00)	GARDEN GREEN CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)
PETAL PINK CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)	CALYPSO CORAL CLASSIC STAMPIN' PAD (£8.50)

Do you love to scrapbook? Are you committed to memory keeping or would like to start? If you answered yes to either of these questions, this event is for you! This is a brand-new event that’s unlike anything Stampin' Up! has ever done before! During this three-day, virtual event, you’ll create 12 scrapbook spreads using the Month by Month Album Retreat 2025 kit, craft with customers and Stampin' Up! demonstrators who love scrapbooking, learn new techniques, and connect on a personal level with fellow crafters and Stampin’ Up! staff. We’ll even have some fun giveaways!

Details for the event are as follows:

You can participate in some or all of the event live, or alternatively watch or re-watch the sessions at your leisure - the recordings will be available immediately as each session ends.

Here's a close up of the first two pairs of layouts so that you can see them in more detail:

You don't have to register the event; you will need to purchase the kit in advance and once you've ordered your kit, you will be sent a link to join the virtual event Facebook group. Take a look at everything that the kit contains:

The kit contains exclusive stamp sets and everything is prepared and neatly packaged by month so that you can easily grab the layout you're ready to work on.

The Virtual Retreat Scrapbooking Kit is now available to order - it costs £233 and you can get yours by clicking this link to it in my online store. What's more, Stampin' Up! are also running a competition over on Instagram to win a kit so that you can participate in this event for FREE - find full details and make your entry here. 

Hope to see you there!