CAS Watercolour Ocean Shell-ebration...

Thought I'd shell-ebrate by playing along this month at CAS Watercolour Ocean challenge with two variations on a theme. Using this gorgeous shall diecut by Kaisercraft as a starting point (thanks Jenny!), First up I created a watercolour wash background, overlay the Kaisercraft diecut in kraft cardstock and added the Paper Smooches sentiment.

Variation on a theme saw the Kaisercraft shell diecut smooshed into a variety of blue Distress Inks, sprayed with water, reverse diecut out of the pale woodgrain patterned paper.

FUSION A Little March Madness...

I thought I would take on the added challenge of creating a Christmas card from this fortnights FUSION inspiration, combining the colours and rectangle frame from the inspiration photo with this fabulously versatile sketch. Layered Kaisercraft papers diecut with Couture Creations Victorian Squares and a fussy cut poinsettia, together with wooden veneer photo frame from Basic Grey and Happy Holidays from my stash.

To play along you can take inspiration from either the FUSION sketch or inspiration photo - or combine the two as I have!

Hop on over to the FUSION blog for some more super sized inspiration from our fabulous Design Team...

Becca Cruger - Betty J. - Jeanne Jachna - Jen Mitchell - Karren Johnson

Linda Callahan - Michelle Leone - Michelle Lupton - Michelle Williams

Hope you can join in the fun this fortnight @ FUSION.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Fabulous, Foxy & Fifty...

I had this card all lined up for FUSION this fortnight, but as FUSION has taken an early Summer break (see you back in September!) and as the card is for my hubby's 50th (hence the fabulous, foxy and fifty), I thought I would link it up to this weeks Simon Says For Him, and Seize the Birthday challenges instead. Created with Coute Coture embossing folder, wood veneers from Lawn Fawn and Studio Calico, letter stickers from Lily Bee, and papers from my stash.

Hubby noticed the the markings around the "fabulous" and asked "Does this mean you think I'm burnt out!?" LOL.

Spent a lovely couple of days relaxing in the Yarra Valley to celebrate - wine, cheese, chocolates and staying warm by the fire, while listening to the rain on the roof - perfect!

Playing along with Simon Says For Him and Seize the Birthday.

Happy Falling for FUSION..

Even though it's warming up in our corner of the world, I still can't resist that gorgeous Autumn (or Fall!) foliage! This fortnight's FUSION inspiration photo is chock full of fabulous colour and texture. From the flowers, fruit and foliage, to the wicker, wood and woven blanket. How will you be inspired!!!

Leaves created using Glimmermist Sprays in golds, reds and oranges, with a Prima Tea Leaves and Primrose, using die cut leaves from Clearly Besotted. Wood veneer "Happy" sentiment from Heidi Swapp. Papers from Echo Park Everyday Eclectic die cut with Lil Inkers Stitched Polaroid frame and Stitched circles, and cardstock embossed with Couture Creations Royalty folder.

Hop on over for more gorgeous inspiration

from the rest of the fabulous FUSION DT

Betty J - Deanne K - Jeanne Jachna - Julia Aston - Katie Brooks

Karren J - Kimberly Wiener - Lynn Mangan - Michelle Folland

Michelle Lupton - Sandie Munro - Stephanie Severin

and WELCOME to 
Brandi Hall and Shannon Jaramillo

Hope to see you playing along, can't wait to see what you create! 

Remember you can play along by being inspired by 

the photo, the sketch or BOTH.

Please check the linky for the days left to play with us.

Playing along with the fabulous Color Throwdown and 

Little Red Wagon Embossing Folder Challenge 
and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes (Clearly Besotted) too!

  

This made me smile...

Hello FUSION

Inspired by the colours and textures of this fortnight's FUSION, together with the gorgeous scripty background and of course the fabulous FUSION sketch! Combining two layers of yellow flowers and a couple of white fabric leaves from my stash with a silver tulle flower as the centre to create the flower. The Prima butterfly was stamped onto vellum using Momento Ink, then coloured on the back using yellow gelatos and fussy cut. The Heidi Swapp wood veneer "hello" sentiment is pop dotted against the MME scripty striped paper and dark grey background. The edges are also inked in Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

Hop on over for more gorgeous Vintage Floral inspiration 

from the rest of the fabulous FUSION DT 

Amy Tsura - Betty J - Deepti 

Jeanne Jachna - Julia Aston - Katie Brooks

Kelly Griglione - Kimberly Wiener - Lynn Mangan

Michelle Folland - Michelle Lupton - Stephanie Severin

Hope to see you playing along, can't wait to see what you create! 

Remember you can play along by being inspired by 

the photo, the sketch or BOTH.

Please check the linky for the days left to play with us.

Playing along with the Mixed Media Card Challenge Wings and

Virginia's View Textures and Layers too!

 

All Hearts Come Home for Christmas...

Are you like me and ought to have all your Christmas cards done by next Christmas LOL! There's so much inspiration out there I'm finding it hard to keep up!

I do love the idea of double-tagging on cards, as featured in the current Muse (Caroline) and Tag You're It! (Maureen) challenges. Christmas tag card created using Lawn Fawn papers, Paper Smooches Bookmark die cut, (shortened by die cutting just the fishtail end a second time to remove the excess length), My Favorite Things sentiment embossed in Silver, Prima wood veneer house, heart sequins from the ArtShed and twine from Annabelle's Stamps (now closed).

Playing along with Color Throwdown, Muse and Tag You're It!

I {heart} Scrappy Canary 2...

I applied last year to be part of the Polly!Scrap Kits card design team, although Ruth decided not to go ahead with a Card Designer on the DT, she asked if I'd like to join in the fun as a Guest Designer for July, and I jumped at the chance!  In the meantime Polly!Scrap Kits has evolved into Scrappy Canary, with Mandy, still the same fabulous Australian kit club, now with a new name.

There is a monthly kit released on the 15th of each month, and Scrappy Canary often include exclusive products like stamps, letterpress or wood veneers. The June Pocket kit - Tea and Toast, was no exception with a gorgeous scripty sentiment exclusive from Wilna Furstenburg.

The Scrappy Canary blog is here and the store here, with the VIP Lounge open 24/7.

I was only asked to do two projects, but I had so many fabulous ideas working with this kit, I couldn't help myself! To demonstrate the amazing versatility of Scrappy Canary kits, I created a total of two 12x12 layouts and 6 cards with the June Pocket kit - Tea and Toast, and there is still spare! I loved this kit so much especially the exclusive acrylic sentiment from Wilna Furstenburg, so much fun!

I had a sneak peek of two of my projects earlier this week, and here is a shaker card...

"You are a Star" a super shaker card created featuring this exclusive scripty sentiment from Wilna Furstenburg. The card base was covered with MME Wood Necessities, and the corners rounded. The shaker card shape was die cut using a Paper Smooched photo frame die, backed with one of the 3x4 Echo Park pocket cards, layered with two foam sheets stuck together and die cut to create the walls of the shaker box. The Wilna Furstenburg was adhered inside the shaker box, together with some Studio Calico wooden stars (from Scrappy Canary), before an acrylic clear sheet and the die cut MME Wood Necessities was added on top. The shaker box was adhered to the front of the box, and another Studio Calico wooden star added.

To catch the other projects I created from this kit, pop on over to the Scrappy Canary blog next week...

Playing along at Simon Says Stamp Lets be Clear Challenge,

Just Us Girls Woodgrain Element, and Virginia's View Die Cut Challenge.

The Mixed Media Card Challenge... Bliss

SO excited to share with you for the inaugural The Mixed Media Card Challenge. 

The theme for July is Touch of Nature, and the optional element is Tag.

This month I went close with the optional element, but ended up using a canvas flag, rather than a tag (or maybe it's actually a hole-less tag LOL!), and incorporated a Touch of Nature in the textures, colour palette and floral and dragonfly images.

Created by applying Brushed Corduroy Distressed Ink around the edges of the Kaisercraft woodgrain paper and Francheville stitched canvas flag then layered these on a pale Kraft cardstock base. Tarnished Brass Distress Paint was applied to the grungeboard Tim Holtz flowers. The Tattered Angels dragonfly was stamped in Versamark Watermark Ink and Zing Gold embossing powder onto blue mulberry paper, and added the Studio Calico wood veneer sentiment.

I hope you take the opportunity to have a play with Mixed Media, I'd LOVE to see your creations!  In case you're wondering what qualifies as a Mixed Media Card, I have posted details here, and they can be found on The Mixed Media Card Challenge blog. 

While you are there, grab some more fabulous inspiration 

from the amazing Design Team!

Julia Aston

Shirley Bampton

Charlene Cundy

Maria Fischer

Jan Jenitis

Kripa Koushik

Maria Levine

Sanna Lippert

Deepti Malik

Jenny Martin
Shery Russ

Elina Stromberg

Loll Thompson

HOW TO PLAY

1. Create a mixed media CARD based on the theme, with or without the optional element.

2. For this challenge only, you may create a mixed media TAG based on the theme.

3. Display the challenge graphic on your blog post and link back to this challenge post.

4. You may enter as many times as you want, as long as each entry is different.

5. You may combine a maximum of 7 challenges (6 other challenges plus ours).

6. Submit your projects by July 25, 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT -700).

7. We’ll announce the winner and favorites on July 31.

Playing along with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes too!

Winnie & Walter Seize the Playdate...

I had been patiently waiting for my floral stamps from Winnie and Walter to arrive, but as stalking my postie has not paid off yet, and I couldn't wait to join in the Winnie and Walter Playdate #2, I created today's card using just the Colour Palette for inspiration - although I think my green went a tad more lime than olive ;)

The background panel was created by smooshing Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar onto waxed paper, then spritzing with water before twisting a piece of watercolour paper in the ink pools. The resulting pattern reminded me of a nebula, so I stamped Walter & Winnie Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stars with Versamark Watermark ink then embossed in white. The Walter & Winnie The Big, the Bold and the Happy sentiment was also stamped in Versamark Watermark, and embossed in Zing Orchid on a clear vellum fishtail flag panel. The vellum is secured in place by gluing behind the sentiment, and adding a couple of extra dabs of Dimensional Magic behind the Studio Calico wooden veneer stars, inked with Momento Ink Wedding Dress.

With these gorgeous summer colours, I'm playing along with 

Seize the Birthday Summertime Toppings too!

Anything Goes with Hugs...

Had so much fun playing with stencils while I was away! Headed down the path of Freestyle Collage mixing and matching the layers and media. This was created using a Prima Cherry Blossom stencil and some Distressed Inks sponged over a sheet from an old Fairy Tale book covered in Gesso.  The cute 'Hugs' sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp, and the wood veneer butterflies are Studio Calico, with a matching button found lurking in my stash. 

Playing along with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes with Buttons, 

Virginia's View Challenge #2 Stencils, The Card Concept Butterflies Challenge,
and A Blog Named Hero Build Yourself a Background Challenge and
 Moxie Fab World Styling with Stencils Challenge

 

A Lucky FUSION...

Can't wait to see how you will be inspired by FUSION this fortnight!

With St Patrick's Day soon, I thought it would be fun to create this Lucky Me card, inspired by the colours of this weeks FUSION inspiration photo, together with this fabulously versatile FUSION sketch.  Played with my gelatos and watercolours again, blending two shades of green for both the background and the paper piecing of this gorgeous little Paper Smooches frog. Added silver sparkles for his crown and stars, and finished with Lawn Fawn die cut letters and Paper Smooches sentiment.

How to play:

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 Rules Page before playing along.

 Head over to the FUSION blog for some more spectacular 

FUSION inspiration from the Design Team!

Betty J - Cathy Weber - Dannielle Robeson - Deepti
Geri Freeman - Julia Aston - Katie Brooks - Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener - Lynn Mangan - Michelle Lupton
Michelle Williams - Sindhu - Stephanie Severin

Check the FUSION Mr Linky to see how much time is left to play!!   

Couldn't resist breaking out the watercolours to play along with Virginia's View Watercolour Challenge, The Pink Elephant Inspiration Challenge, and Paper Smooches Sparks Picture Perfect Inspiration - inspired by the green and touch of silver, love how that "me" stamp reminds me of the curly twine too!

  

Happy Christmas Deer...

Inspired by Day 2 of the Online Holiday Card Workshop 2013 and Creative Craft Challenge 2 Non-traditional Christmas Colours, together with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Tim Holtz week. Today's card was created using this gorgeous Memory Box deer trio die-cut, Paper Smooches die-cut sentiment, birch sticky paper and Tim Holtz Distressed Ink Vintage Photo. Cut the birch paper panel 4 inches by 5.5 inches, and die cut the Memory Box deer trio.  Carefully removed the deer trio and die-cut the Paper Smooches sentiment from a spare strip of birch paper and inked using Vintage Photo and a foam make-up wedge.  Adhered the birch paper back in place on a sheet of white cardstock before mounting of brown card base. 

 

Paper Smooches August Guest Designer...

So excited to be Guest Designer over at Paper Smooches!!!

Delighted to bring my first two cards featuring the August Paper Smooches release Many Thanks stamps, these are the Thanks A Million stamps for August too - so any August order over $60 (before discounts & postage) receives this fabulous set for FREE!

This set will certainly never leave you short for a word of thanks! I couldn't decide which of the fabulous Many Thanks sentiments to choose - so I (nearly) used them all!  I created the background using Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemon, then spritzed with water and a touch of Dylusions Lemon Zest (hungry yet anyone LOL!), and used a heat gun to ensure this was thoroughly dry before stamping.  I aligned all my stamps using my Fiskars Stamp Press before stamping in Momento Black ink, and adding these cute wood veneer hearts and speech bubble from Studio Calico.

My next card features sentiments from Many Thanks, combined with this funky little Bee Mine bee and "Bee" sentiment, together with the August release Artisan Blocks hexagon honeycomb.  The honeycomb background was created by stamping Artisan Blocks on yellow vellum using Versamark Watermark then heat embossing with Whispers Black Glitter - it's amazing how this looks in real life! The bee was also stamped in Black Glitter on yellow vellum, with his body backed using white cardstock - and fussy cutting the holes out for his eyes.  Paper Smooches Hexalongs dies were used to create the negative space for the honeycomb, and to also cut a negative space in the dark grey cardstock base - so the yellow vellum honeycomb becomes a translucent window - perfect for playing along with this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch - Sheer & Clear.   The white cardstock layer and bee were pop dotted, and this cute little Studio Calico wooden heart was stained with Versa Color Opera Pink ink.

Playing along with Dynamic Duos,
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes,
The Pink Elephant Texture Challenge
Little Red Wagon Falling to Pieces, and
Summer Camp Online Class Homework Week 1 - Day 2 too!

CAS(E) this Sketch Guest Designer...

So, so happy when Chrissy asked if I would like to be a Guest Designer this week, and with this fabulous CAS(E) this Sketch to play with, who wouldn't want to play along!  I interpreted the sketch fairly literally - bird and all!  The heart frame was created using My Favorite Thing Die-cut, paired with this cute "love", small heart and bird die-cuts from WPlus9.  The lovebirds are almost floating on air!  American Crafts heart papers line the inside of the card, so they peek through the heart window frame, with a small piece filling the heart in the "o".  The matching lovebirds are die-cut from Crate Paper woodgrain paper.

I can't wait to see what you create using this weeks fabulous CAS(E) this Sketch!

Playing along with the woodgrain & wedding theme from this fortnights Monday Mood Board,

and the The Pink Elephants Woodgrain Challenge too

In CASE of Travel...

After having so much fun with my CASual Fridays Mapquest Challenge LIFE Map card yesterday, I thought I'd have a play and do another using the same October Afternoon Thrift Shop paper.  This time I combined it with a dollop of inspiration from Lisa Spangler's gorgeous CASE Study card, using plenty of hexagons for the Less is More Hexagons Challenge and Shopping Our Stash Geometric Shapes Challenge. Cut the map hexagons using Cheery Lynn Honeycomb Frame die, and enlarged the shape to create a template for my cork hexagon. The gorgeous wood veneer plane is from Studio Calico.  The fab world map is from Paper Smooches Space Cadet.  The sentiment is a cardstock sticker from My Mind's Eye, wrapped in The Twinery Solid Natural twine and pop dotted - 'cause you know I need to LOL!

Lisa Spangler's gorgeous CASE Study card

Also playing along with Catered Crop For the Boys Challenge 

The Twinery Anything Goes Challenge, Online Card Classes Summer Card Camp 2,

Simon Says Stamp Transport Challenge and Let's Get Trendy Now! 3 Textured Layers.

LIFE... Enjoy the Journey

Love this piece of October Afternoon Thriftshop Map of London paper I had been hoarding saving for a special occasion, and thought it would be perfect for this weeks CASual Fridays Mapquest Challenge.  I printed LIFE in 190pt Showcard Gothic, onto a sheet of white cardstock, then hand cut the letters (I hope this counts for this fortnights Keep It Simple Negative Diecutting Challenge!)  I brought this stamp way back when I was only doing scrapbooking, as part of my travel stash - it has long since lost its packaging, so I don't even know what brand it was, but it's easily the stamp I've had the longest, for the Shopping Our Stash Oldest Stamp Challenge, and I thought I'd play along with the Sweet Stamp Shop: Use What You Have Challenge too.  Added a Studio Calico wood veneer bike to make the journey more enjoyable, and for playing along with Simon Says Stamp Transport Challenge!