Hello and welcome to the next stop in August's Pretty Cards and Paper blog hop. My project uses the Peaceful Prints designer series paper. 

Isn't the tree design so pretty? Usually I start a scrapbook page with photos but this time I started with the designer series paper. If you're unsure of where to start with creating a layout Pinterest is a great place to start. Another option is to cut some paper and place it down, more items around a bit, or maybe walk away from the layout for an hour or two. 

Hello and welcome to my blog in this month's Colour Combo Blog Hop. Our projects for this blog hop use Gray Granite, Bermuda Bay and Gorgeous Grape.

Have you tried the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder before? It was available in the Jan-Jun Mini Catalogue and has carried over to the Annual Catalogue. I went digging through my embossing folders yesterday wondering what one I should use. It was hard to pick between the Painted Textured and the Tasteful Textile embossing folders. The best thing to do when you cannot chose between which embossing folder to use is to make a sample of both in the colour you will use. Then you can put the embossed cardstock down and place the items (without gluing them down) over top to see which one you prefer. Add the piece you don't use to your stash so that it's ready to go or make a 2nd card using it while you have all the items out. Then you'll have a few cards ready to send out for the time when you need it!

Welcome to August's Global Stamping Friends Blog Hop with our theme of animals. From penguins, to polar bears and deer, the Stampin' Up!'s catalogues have some adorable and realistic images for us to use to create our cards and scrapbook pages.

Do you love to colour? The Beautifully Penned designer series paper is designed for you to add colour! Or you can leave it black and white. You're choice. On this card I've used a piece of the polka-dot design and coloured the whole piece using Pool Party ink and a Blending Brush. The striped piece across the center is from the same pack of designer series paper that I didn't colour in. If you would like to see how to create this card watch my Instagram Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CSNrYRJH_b0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link. I was going to try colouring it with Gorgeous Grape ink but thought the purple might be overpowering! What do you think, would the purple be a good addition or not?

You can find the Hand-Penned Petals bundle, the stamp set and dies used to create this card, in the Annual Catalogue on page 105 along with other items from the Hand-Penned Suite. While I do like the coordinating Hand-Penned designer series paper, I wanted to share that you can choose which designer series paper (DSP) you want to pair with any stamp set. Using DSP that is designed to work with a stamp set or bundle is an easy way to recreate project seen in the catalogue or create your own designs. But sometimes the DSP is either not in our favourite colours, design or perhaps there is already some DSP stashed in your crafting supplies? No, that last one cannot be the case! shhh, I won't tell. I have lots that I haven't used too!