Keep It Simple! and lots of Turquoise!

Today is the last day of term before winter break here, so I have cool on my mind - a perfect time to join in Keep It Simple with lots of cool Turquoise!

As soon as I saw this Merry Christmas washi I knew I would have to create some Merry Christmas deer - it just appeals to my sense of humour!  I created a washi covered rectangle of cardstock, and die cut the Memory Box Trio of deer.  This turquoise background and cardstock base are from Hero Arts (thank you Joy!), and help to keep this very turquoise card also very CAS, with the simple addition of some gorgeous sentiment stamps from Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler and Happy Camper, stamped in Hero Arts Tide Pool, and Paper Smooches Wise Dies Christmas Words.

Remember to stop by the blogs of the Keep It Simple DT 

for some more terrific Turquoise inspiration...

Anni

Christine

Mia

Tanja

Tenia

Love to see how you are inspired this fortnight!

Playing along with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes and 

 Little Red Wagon Animal Antics too!

E.T.A. I think the washi was from Typo.

P.S. Today is Washi Day...

Looking outside - the sun is shining brightly, or at least it's trying to, and we are in the midst of the longest run of warm May days on record!

So despite the fact it is Autumn, I thought it was a perfect time to create a Springy Happy Birthday card using this left over washi tape flower, and adding washi tape letters and side strip too. The die cut flowers are from Simon Says Stamp and sentiment is Paper Smooches.

Playing along with The Paper Players Clean & Simple Flower, 
Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes, and CASology Flower.

    

A CAS(E) of WPlus9 and Stencils...

If you have been lucky enough to be playing along with On-Line Classes Stenciled, you too will have been inspired! I was particularly taken with Debby's fabulous inking, in combination with heat embossed vellum. Taking inspiration from the chevrons, colours, washi and dots from this gorgeous WPlus9 Monday Moodboard, combined with this super versatile CAS(E) this Sketch, and the fabulous FUSION colours and flowers too.

Created my own stencil by die-cutting chevrons from a sheet of paper, then inked the background in Squeezed Lemon Distressed Ink. Stamped this gorgeous WPlus9 bird and sentiment and embossed in mirror silver on the WPlus9 pinked square die-cut vellum, added washi tape and enamel dots to secure the vellum panel.

 

Advent Calendar...

Today's card is part of the fabulous Advent Calendar over on the lovely and hugely talented Christine's blog Das Kartenchaos, with 24 fabulous videos to watch, her Advent Calendar series is jam-packed full of Christmas inspiration!!!

Inspired by the card below, created earlier this year, with its bold colors, clean lines, different layers, and washi tape. The section inside the Lil Inkers Stitched Polaroid frame was filled with strips of Christmas washi tape, before the WPlus9 "Joy" sentiment was cut and pop-dotted, and the little wooden heart added.  My favourite Paper Smooches Freezy Fellas snowman has been paper pieced in MME papers.  Playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes Challenge, and CASology Knit Cue Card.

  

 

Freshly Made Sweets with Gratitude...

I'd like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Nicole, for re-sending my Sweet Stamp Shop order after it disappeared somewhere over the Pacific!!!  I sincerely appreciate your generosity Nicole, and I can't tell you how long I've been itching to play with these little beauties!  And just in case there have been any Sweet Stamp Shop goodies you have a hankering for, Nicole has an AMAZING SALE on right now - but you'd better be quick :)

Playing along with this weeks fabulous Freshly Made Sketch by Cindy and this gorgeous ColorQ combination.  With Sweet Stamp Shop gorgeous Fall Gratitude feathers and sentiment stamped in Hero Arts Butter Bar and Orange Soda, with MME washi tape and enamel dots.

 

A Little Jar of FUSION...

As soon as I saw this weeks FUSION Challenge, I knew I wanted to break out my Paper Smooches Crystal Clear die-cut jar, and create a sequin shaker with this gorgeous watermelon pink vellum.  How about you, will you be inspired by this photo of summertime iced watermelon juice jars, by this fabulous sketch, or by both?

My vellum shaker jar is filled with sequins and topped with Paper Smooches Crystal Clear flower and stem stamps in Blushin Bride and Whisper Green inks, tied with The Twinery Strawberry twine, atop two strips of coloured vellum and a strip of washi tape.

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


Playing along with Little Red Wagon Layers Challenge,
CAS on Sunday Floral Fantasy, and
City Crafters 1,2,3 Challenge too
1 stamp set, 2 coloured vellum papers, 
3 embellishments - washi, sequins and twine

This made me smile...

For a beary special girl......

OK I'm the first to admit I have more than enough tape to washi all my cares away, but when it comes to putting tape to paper, I'm a little slow off the mark - which is probably why this card for the Little Tangles Washi It Up Challenge is rather last minute!  I had been eyeing off the gorgeous colours in this weeks Color Throwdown, when this fabulous Clean & Simple sketch, took away my last excuse not to washi this weeki!  Once I decided on using this fab clouds & hearts tape, I discovered these matching Amy Tangerine chipboard arrows in my stash, just right for playing along with this weeks CASual Friday's Hunger Games (Arrow) Challenge.

Now I just have to find somewhere to keep this for my beary special daughter til Valentines Day!

Clean & Simple Sketch

Playing along with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes too!

A Little Tangled & Embellished

I thought I'd alter some washi from my stash to add to this fortnights Little Tangles Embellish It Challenge, so I used my Hello sentiment from On the Strip stamped in StazOn White Cotton over some pink floral washi, to match my papers from American Crafts Dear Lizzy, 5th & Frolic. Stamped the Neat & Tangled Just Saying Hi sentiment in Momento Black ink and highlighted with a few of the fabulous sequins which arrived in a little bag with my order.

I'll be back soon with another card featuring Neat & Tangled for the next FUSION Challenge starting on Friday noon EST (USA) which is around 2am Saturday morning here!  Can't wait to see you there!

A-MUSE-ing Equation...

Jen's gorgeous MUSE card

There are so many elements I LOVE on Jen's MUSE card that I couldn't resist playing along this week!  And as I love combining challenges, I couldn't resist adding a few more challenges into the mix too.

I love Jen's layout, the butterfly element and the teal and yellow combo, to which I added some orange for extra zest.  Jen's combination of the maths washi tape and teal twine section reminded me of an equation - so what better sentiment to pair with my teal equation washi tape with than "We equate".  The sentiment was created using Paper Smooches Spring Groves "We" from "Welcome Spring", and die cut Wise Dies alphabet, perfect for playing along with this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes Challenge.  I love the embossed background, perfect for playing along with this weeks Catered Crop Make an Impression Challenge, and the washi tape, perfect for this weeks The Pink Elephant Washi Tape Challenge too.

Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you have a FABULOUS weekend, 

and National Scrapbooking Day!

This made me smile!!!

A Little Crazy with Washi...

Have you seen Marion's gorgeous Muse card this week - made entirely of washi!  It inspired me to break out my washi tapes and play along with this weeks Muse Challenge, Moxie Fab World Camera Craze Challenge and this fabulously versatile CAS(E) this Sketch.  I loved the colours and use of negative die cut in this weeks Muse card too and created both backrounds using my washi stash, with a stamped and diecut sentiment created using The Alley Way Stamps and My Favourite Things.  The two cute camera eyelets are from my stash too.  I love that by pop-dotting the negative die-cut it creates a greater depth of field ;)

Hope you get a chance to break out your washi tapes or get a little camera crazy this week too!

Marion's Washi use Card

This made me smile...

HUGE Thank you!!!!

Caffeine Deprivation...

Inspired by this weeks CASology cue, the perfectly drinkable Dynamic Duos monochromatic palette and this fabulously versatile Retro Sketch, especially Kasia's interpretation.  I broke out my coffee washi tape (hoping nobody will notice the splash of red there!) and paired it with these gorgeous Skipping Stones Design stamps and My Favourite Things sentiment, stamped in Espresso ink (of course LOL!) backed onto cafe style checks from MME.  I pop-dotted and used dimensional magic to highlight the coffee in the cup - which got me thinking these would make a great design if you sealed them and created a set of coffee coasters!

I Plum(b) Love You...

Gorgeous colours in this weeks Splash of Plum at Play Date Cafe, combined with this fab Retro Sketch - I just plum(b) love it LOL!  Lovely lips from The Alley Way Stamps Ooh La La! stamped in Concord Crush, and Alphabet Soup sentiment, mounted on Perfect Plum cardstock, with matching ric rac and button from Basic Gray.  Love this black roses washi tape, and I gave my Fiskars corner rounder a good workout too LOL!

Hope you have a FABULOUS day!

TAWS Blog Hop - WIN 3 sets of stamps!

Had to have a BUNNY card for the TAWS blog HOP!  Don't you just LOVE this cute little guy from the The Alley Way Stamps Cover Ups set, seen here with Alphabet Soup sentiment.  Love the gorgeous green Echo Park paper too.  I hand cut the letters with a craft knife using the chipboard letters from Scenic Route as a template - you can achieve a similar effect by printing a template on the computer using Berkley or a similar block letter font. Broke out my washi tapes for the first time - the checks were a freebie with a magazine, but I think there will be some more washi on my wishi list!!!

Don't forget - One lucky person will win ALL 3 NEW TAWS sets TODAY!! So if you want that person to be you.. all you have to do is comment on the hop!
There are many ways you can win...
1. Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog
2. Comment on the DT blogs (links below)
3. Post about it on facebook or your blog
4. Like TAWS on Facebook
(leave a separate comment for each thing you do)
You have until July 31st 9:30pm TAWS time (August 1st at 1:30pm EST in Australia) to leave comments.

TAWS DT Blogs to visit:

Hop on over to Tracy for your next dollop of FABULOUS TAWS inspiration!

Joining in the fun at:
Catered Crop - Washi's Up Recipe Swap
Pile It On - Cute as Can Be Challenge
Stampin' for the Weekend - Gorgeous pink & green {heart} Photo inspiration
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes