Happy Bee Day...

OK so this is one of those cards that started in one place, and ended up in a whole other postcode - maybe even a whole other country LOL!  Inspired by The Alley Way Stamps BE Inspired, those lemon pom-poms reminded me of this cute The Alley Way Stamps Priceless Joy bee, and the rest of the card evolved from there!  I stamped the bee onto the back of some yellow vellum, so he would be facing the right way, coloured in the black stripes on the reverse side too, then added some yellow paper behind his body, leaving the wings opaque. The cork hexagon was left over from an earlier project, but fitted the theme perfectly.  Added a couple more MFT die-cut hexagons, MME word stickers, and Neat & Tangled sequins, backed with Lily Bee Design papers (of course!!)  It was only after I finished the card that I realised how closely I had followed this weeks fabulous Retro Sketch - must have been lurking in my sub-conscious!  

Playing along with Keep It Simple Birthday Challenge,

Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge, 

Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge and

Jackie's Rockwell Designs Lemon Zest Challenge too!

A Beary Special Birthday...

I had fun today, stamping on cork to create this little birthday tag card.  Inspired by the Little Tangles Into the Woods,  I incorporated some Kaisercraft wooden paper, and paired Glitz teal woodgrain letters with these cute stamps from Neat & Tangled for the sentiment.  Inspired by Amy's gorgeous Freshly Made Sketch and the Little Red Wagon Tag You're It Challenge, a tag was created from Echo Park paper using My Favorite Things vertical sentiments diecut, trimming off one end and punching a hole for the twine.  I love the cute Neat & Tangled bear paw print trail too :)

Playing along with Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge. 

Dashing to Annabelle's...

8 Minutes and 43 seconds later...

Had fun stamping with these fabulous flowers from Annabelle's stamps for the 10 Minute Craft Dash. I think these stamps would look fabulous dressing up wrapping paper too! Stamped with Hero Arts Pale Tomato and Navy, paired with Distress Ink Shabby Shutters.  Twine is The Twinery Strawberry and Honeydew, paired with some white twine from my pantry :)

10 Minute Tips

• Placing the stamps two up on the front of a clear block helps cut the time down - then to speed things up even more, I placed the flower centres two up on the reverse of the block - so they stamped perfectly in place as well!
• Instead of a bow I taped down the straight line of twine, adhered to the back of the cardstock, then wrapped a second set of twine around three fingers, and a third set was used to knot the two sets together.

Playing along with Seize the Birthday Anything Goes and
Keep It Simple Birthday Challenge too!

FUSION #14

A few changes to the FUSION formula, and a brand new ZEN look from Lesley!

Sad to be waving farewell to Deanna and Ally, but HAPPY to welcome two new Design Teamies in Geri and Lynn.  FUSION will now be running for TWO WEEKS, giving you a little extra time to put on your thinking caps to decide - will I be inspired to create just from the sketch, just from the photo or combine both to create FUSION???

This week I was inspired by both the sketch, which I flipped on it's head, and the beautiful gold starfish from the photo inspiration.   Stamping in Whisper Mirror Gold, using Sweet Stamp Shop starfish, silver dollar and matching sentiment, using American Crafts pearl gold cardstock, combined with My Favorite Things die-cuts.  

I can't wait to see how you will be inspired!  Here's how you can play along...
PROCEDURES:
1. Play with just the sketch challenge.
2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.
3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.
4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.
5. Please read the other considerations on the Experiment Page before playing along.

Hope to see you at the FUSION Challenge Blog soon, in the meantime, here's some more FABULOUS inspiration from the Design Team...

Amy Tsuruta

Geri Freeman

Kelly Griglione

Lynn Mangan

Stacey Schafer

Happy Birthday 2U...

Inspired by this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch (strongly influenced by Kim's gorgeous bunch of balloons!), together with the colours and shape repetition from Jocelyn's fabulous CASE Study and the extra colour palette from Summer Camp Homework Week 2 - Day 5.  I broke out my Hero Arts inks in Bubble Gum, Orange Soda and Tide Pool and paired them with this gorgeous rubber stamp set from Yellow Owl Workshop.  I tried unsuccessfully to create this as a one-layer card, only to discover the high degree of difficulty associated with lining up rubber stamps on wooden blocks - not quite as transparent as the clear stamps & blocks I'm used to LOL - so I stamped and fussy cutting the balloons instead.  To match the colours, I stamped the Bubble Gum and Tide Pool straight onto scrap paper before die cutting with My Favorite Things number & alphas.

 

Playing along with CASual Fridays Count Me In - it's a two weeker!

Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Birthday Celebration - open til August 6th!

Moxie Fab Birthday Challenge - open til August 12th!

 

P.S. Totally Cool for School...

Second post for the day...

Homework for Summer Camp Week 2 - Day 4 was to re-purpose Christmas stamps for a non-Christmas card, and some of the creations in the Gallery are just fabulous!  I noticed that some of the papers from the Fancy Pants Down by the Sea I had used were the just the right colours, and I thought I'd add this weeks CASology Cool Cue Card  into the mix, to create this Totally Cool Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdude.  I love that the Totally Cool sentiment fits perfectly across his face! Added three enamel dots for buttons as a finishing touch.

P.S. More TOTALLY COOL news here!

What a Verve Smooching behind a Paper Curtain...

... Today its Cool to be Nauti!

Had such fun paper piecing this nautical scene using Paper Smooches Sailing Boat and cloud diecuts, paired with Paper Smooches waves and sentiment stamps.  Added into the mix are the Verve anchor and ships wheel die cuts, the ships wheel is used to create the sun.  Papers are from Fancy Pants Down by the Shore with Simply Said Vintage Bliss wood veneer paper.

Playing along with the Paper Smooches Cool Shades,

Curtain Call Feeling Nautical, Mojo Monday sketch and

Simon Says Stamp By the Sea

A Colour Smooch for Homework...

Second post for the day!

I love getting my fingers inky every now & then, and the Summer Camp Homework Week 1 - Day 2 gave me the perfect excuse!  I inked and swiped and sprayed a couple of background pieces in Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers, perfect colours for playing along with this weeks Color Throwdown Five Years #250 Celebration too.  This piece reminded me of rain running down a window or tears, which made me think it would be just right for a Miss You card.  I die-cut a Lifestyle Crafts balloon and used the reverse die cut, plus the little sliver, stamped with Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler and hand drew the string drifting into the distance.

Linking up to Paper Smooches August Guest Designer Search too. 

ETA. The paper I use is a pad of Mont Matre A4 Watercolour Paper, from the Art Shed (I think!)

Do You Remember Paris...

When I saw the Mixy-Matchy Style Challenge Moxie Fab World I thought it would be fun create a memory box, full of the patterns and images that reminded me of our trip to Paris, so here we have it, my memories in a box.  This was such FUN to make, and every time I look at my box it makes me smile.  This is how I remember Paris, how do you?

It may not be the first word that comes to mind for most, but when I think of strawberries, I think of Paris. Travelling on a budget, most of our stay was spent eating baguettes, yoghurt, and the most amazing market fresh strawberries we had ever tasted.  I remember we stayed in the attic room of a tiny guest house, with its crazy sloping old timber floors.  I remember we had to get used to paying to use public toilets, and that one of the highlights of our stay was a tour of the old underground sewerage system - strange, but true! I remember visiting the beautiful parks, with the gorgeous trees in full blossom, and their special doggy areas! I remember visiting the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Versaille too, but more than that, I remember the little French Restaurant that we used to walk past on the way to and from the Metro station and peering in the gingham curtains wondering what it would be like to dine inside.

Papers are a mixy-matchy from Crate Paper, October Afternoon, and Echo Park, with chipboard from American Crafts and My Favorite Things, Studio Calico wood veneer chevron, photo cards from Typo, stamps from Heidi Swapp, Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday and the Sweet Stamp Shop alphas, and I used a Heidi Swapp mask as the outline for my heart of hearts.

Also playing along with the Sweet Stamp Shop Use What You Have 

with my chipboard collection being raided again, 

Pinspired Challenge #13 with its strawberries and gingham, and 

Lisa's fabulous Retro Sketch this layout was based on.

These made me smile...

Christmas in July...

Had fun with this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks sketch, missed the deadline due to distracation - aka being distracted by a cat ;)  I'd been wanting to use texture paste behind a layer of napkin to create a more 3D card, and tried it today - you can see the lumpy looking toadstools LOL!  On the whole it turned out better than expected for a first attempt, but I'd build the layers next time. Stamped Paper Smooches Jerome the Gnome and suited him up as Santa, paired with this All Yule Need sentiment.

Playing along with Paper Smooches August Guest Designer Challenge,

Merry Monday Anything Goes Christmas, and
CAS on Sunday Christmas in July.

Spot the Birthday...

You'll be spotting this sketch all over the web this week based on Summer Camp homework - I've already used it once or twice!  When I was die-cutting the letters from the flag, the masking tape pulled off some of my spots, so I had to adjust my design to cover it up - next time I won't use spotted masking tape LOL!  I have used this Happy Birthday sentiment combo here, and loved it so much I thought I'd try it again.  The papers are Echo Park Spots & Stripes, the alphabet die-cuts are My Favorite Things, and the stamp is from Heidi Swapp. 

Playing along with Moxie Fab Birthday Challenge, 

Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Linky Party,

CASual Friday Polka Dots and Annabelle Stamps Polka Dots, 

as well as linking up for the Summer Camp Week 1 homework of course!

This made me smile...

Accentuate the Positive...

Taking what was left over from the card above, I thought I would create a similar card, this time accentuating the positive.  The sketch and colours are from Summer Camp Week 1 homework, The papers are Echo Park Spots & Stripes, with alphabet die-cuts from My Favorite Things and stamp from Paper Smooches. 

Playing along with Moxie Fab Birthday Challenge, 

Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Linky Party,

CASual Friday Polka Dots as well as linking up for
Paper Smooches August Guest Designer Search and
the Summer Camp Week 1 homework of course!

Shine Bright...

5 minutes and 53 seconds later...

I had a few ideas for this weeks 10 Minute Craft Dash Stars Challenge, and decided to stick with the simplest!  My Favorite Things star was die cut and stamped with the Mama Elephant sentiment in Versamark Clear and Whisper Gold Mirror embossing powder - first time I have tried the gold, and I was impressed. Cut the card base at 5 1/4 inches square, and the American Crafts Glitter Paper at 5 inches square, then realised it needed a little more white showing so cut it down a fraction smaller, and rounded all the corners before adhering.  Added the star using foam tape, and all done!

10 Minute Tips

• Don't forget to peel the tape off the back of your foam tape before you cut it - saves time & mess!
• Simple saves time LOL!

This made me smile...