I've taken part in the TGIF Challenge today! This week they have a colour challenge to use the Stampin' Up! colours Crumb Cake, Bumble Bee and Night of Navy. 

I was completely outside of my comfort zone here but it is great to stretch yourself and work with colour combinations you never normally would combine together! I'm going to try to do this more often!

To view cards entered into this challenge click here.

Another challenge for me right now is I don't have a lot of 'current' Stampin' Up! product to use. The new catalogue was released a few days ago so I am patiently waiting for my box of goodies to arrive... so in the meantime I have a pack of Misty Moonlight cardstock (see this Monday's blog post) and a pack of the Flowers for Every Season 6" x 6" DSP to play with and showcase on my blog!

I have quite a few stamp sets and dies but they are mostly sentiment stamp sets and labels dies! I seem to be quite a collector of these. What this situation has allowed me to do is really look at the individual stamp and dies I've overlooked, so you'll see a few of these over the next few blog posts!

I didn't actually have any Bumble Bee cardstock so I selected one of the patterned paper sheets that featured this colour in the Flowers for Every Season DSP. I really love the subtle monochrome flower design and wish it was available in other colours. 

The dies I've used are from in the Garden Gateway Dies. I've actually used the same patterned paper to die cut these shapes from, I really like the multi-tonal look that's been achieved. 

The panel of Night of Navy cardstock has been embossed using the Pinewood Plank embossing folder. I stamped 'Thanks' in Versa Mark ink using a sentiment from the Well Said Stamp Set and heat embossed it using white embossing powder. I then broke down the fibres in the Crumb Cake cardstock using my bone folder to give it a worn look. To finish I've added Linen Thread and a Gold Gilded Gem.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. At 10pm BST time on Monday evening I'll be publishing another blog post where I am taking part in a special showcase with demonstrators from all over the world!

Have you ever seen a napkin fold card before? They've been around for many years but I've only recently started making cards in this style. They are such fun and a real labour of love.

I am entering this project in the Global Design Project challenge #243. This weeks theme is floral!

Petal Pink Organdy Ribbon

Well Written Dies

Itty Bitty Birthdays Stamp Set

Anyone who knows me well, knows I LOVE handbags. I also love the colour aubergine, so the handbag on the front row has definitely got my name on it!

The handbags that feature on my card can be found printed on the Best Dressed patterned paper that is retiring from the catalogue in a few days. I cut them out carefully using my paper snips scissors and put them aside while I designed the rest of the card around them. 

I chose patterned gingham paper in Purple Posy for the background, to coordinate with the colour of two of the handbags. Then I picked a Smokey Slate card base, with a Whisper White Layer.

I quite often design my cards like this, working backwards from the main feature, making sure everything coordinates! 

When I adhered the patterned gingham paper to the Whisper White layer, I didn't add glue to the corners and curled them inwards using my bone folder, hopefully you can see this in these images.

I used the Stitched Nested Labels dies to cut a shape to sit behind the handbags. I picked up my Silver Metallic Thread to wrap around the die cut but then I had an idea! I wondered if the thread would fit through the tiny holes (the die creates to give it a stitched effect)? It did! So just for fun, I created a random pattern using the thread, feeding it through the holes.

This was certainly never my intention, a happy accident maybe! And you know what, I quite liked the finished result! 

I added a sentiment to the card, stamping 'thanks' from the Seriously the Best stamp set, using my Stamparatus to get the desired bold result (read more about this in a previous post by clicking here). I cut around the word 'thanks', leaving a thin white border to make it stand out better! 

To finish the card, I added some rhinestones. I usually like to add these randomly and in odd numbers however I felt 4 rhinestones placed in these positions looked the best.

With this card, I ticked off two squares on the bingo challenge I've mentioned in my recent posts - 1) embossing and 2) retiring product. If you look closely I embossed the gingham patterned paper with the Subtles embossing folder, twice, in both directions!

Best Dressed Designer Series Paper

Seriously the Best Stamp Set