TAWS May Release Blog Hop: Best Fishes

Hi everyone and welome to The Alley Way Stamps May 2015 release BLOG HOP!

The TAWS DT have been sharing some fantastic creations made with the fabulous May release stamps over the last 3 days, and today we are celebrating their release with a GRAND BLOG HOP!

The full release will be available to buy from The Alley Way Stamps later tonight!

For my hop card, I used 2 stamps from the fantastic *NEW* All Washed Up stamp set to create my CAS card:

Supplies
The Alley Way Stamps: All Washed Up

Bazzill cardstock: Coconut Swirl
Stampin' Up cardstock: Tempting Turquoise
Distress Inks: Broken China, Spiced Marmalade
Memento Inks: Teal Zeal
MFT Stamps Die-namics: Blueprints 13; Bright Lights Alphabet
6mm & 5mm Crystal Clear Cupped Sequins

I started off by die-cutting a piece of Bazzill Coconut Swirl cardstock with the large stitched rectangle die from my Blueprints 13 die-namics set.  I inked half of the panel with Broken China distress ink.  I then stamped one of the tiny fish from All Washed Up in Spiced Marmalade several times across the centre of the panel.  I used my Bright Lights Alphabet die-namics to die cut the word FISHES from Tempting Turquoise cardstock and glued these on top the shoal of fish. I selectively inked the top of the "best fishes" sentiment from All Washed Up in Memento Teal Zeal and stamped the word "best" above the die-cut word.  A few sequins and it was done!

This fabulous 3x4" mini stamp set, Gill-Friend, is FREE when you spend $40.00 or more (before shipping) at The Alley Way Stamps store during the month of May 2015.

PRIZE ALERT ... Would you like to win all 3 of the 4x6" new stamp sets? Hop on over to The Alley Way Stamps blog to get all the details and enter the Rafflecopter draw.  Be quick, as the contest is running for TODAY ONLY (30th April)!!!!

So now it's time for you to continue the hop by hopping to Tanja's blog, but here is the full hop list, just in case!

Alison
Angel
Anni
Chrissie
Dana
Emily
Francine
Heather
Holly
Jeni
Lisa
Marina
Meredith
N@Ali
YOU ARE HERE ---> Simonne <--- YOU ARE HERE
Tanja
Tracy

Thanks for stopping by today and happy hopping!

Hugs,

TAWS May Release Day 3: Welcome Little Squirt

Hi everyone! Welcome to Day 3 of The Alley Way Stamps May 2015 release! Have you enjoyed the sneak peeks of these fabulous new stamp sets so far?

We are sneak peeking the *NEW* Little Fellas stamp set today, which will be available to purchase from The Alley Way Stamps store at 10pm (mountain time) tomorrow!

Little Fellas is a 4x6" clear stamp set of little versions of the full-size whale and fish stamps from 2 of the other new May stamp sets - All Washed Up and Something's Fishy. I LOVE that Ali created this set to go with them - they are TOO cute!

Supplies
The Alley Way Stamps: Little Fellas
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copic Markers: B39 B45 B63 B60 B91 0; C5 C3 C1
Distress ink pads: Broken China, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed
Sakura Gelly Roll White pen
5mm Crystal Rainbow Cup Sequins

For my card, I used the baby Narwhal and one of the sentiments from Little Fellas. I followed the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch #120, and also tried "ink smooshing" again!

If you hop on over to today's sneak peek post on the The Alley Way Stamps blog, you will be able to see the rest of the team's awesome Little Fellas sneak peek cards, plus there is an opportunity to WIN this fantastic stamp set! Be quick, as the contest is running for today only and will close at 7pm mountain time tonight (that's 2am tomorrow morning for my UK friends!).

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hugs,

TAWS: Ink Smooshing!

Supplies
The Alley Way Stamps: Phone Home stamp set
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copic Markers
Distress ink pads: Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord
Doodlebug Kraft in Color 6x6 paper pad: Color (#4205)
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Silver Star Sequins

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I have a TAWS card to share that I made for the current challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch #120. I've seen a lot of "ink smooshing" around blogland lately, and as soon as I saw the sketch, I knew that it was the perfect layout to try out this technique.

I've never tried "ink smooshing" before, but after watching a few You Tube videos, I pulled out my craft mat and some distress ink pads and had a go. I pressed my Chipped Sapphire ink pad into my craft pad, removed some ink with a paper towel so it wasn't a square (I have the large ink pad in this colour - the mini ink pads are perfect for this technique!), and then spritzed it with some water. I then took my piece of cardstock and pressed it onto the ink. I did this a few times and then dried it with my heat gun. I then did the same with Dusty Concord. I don't have Black Soot, so I used my Memento Tuxedo Black ink, which definitely reacted well with the water, but gave a bit more of an even splodge when I pressed my cardstock into it.  After everything was dry, I splattered some Chipped Sapphire around a bit (I only have the distress ink pads, so I used a wet paintbrush to pick up some of the ink that I'd pressed onto my craft mat).

I then stamped the spaceship from Phone Home in Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto the card I use for Copic colouring. I added one of the little aliens to the cockpit (love that you can do this!), and then coloured with Copic markers. I then fussy cut it out and added a googly eye.

When I was ready to put the card together, I saw that somehow I'd scribbled with one of my Copic markers at the bottom of the inked panel!!! Eeeek! I always have a piece of scrap card to hand when I'm colouring so that I can check out colours or blending combos, so my inked panel of cardstock must have been hiding under something and I inadvertently scribbled on the bottom thinking it was my scrap card!!! I tried to cover up the mistake with some more ink, but in the end I had to trim off the bottom portion of the panel. Now the card was out of proportion, so I added a strip of purple paper to the bottom to balance it out. I know it's not part of the sketch, but I didn't want to start all over again, lol!

Finally, I stamped my sentiment from the same stamp set in Versafine Onyx Black, which is a much deeper black than Memento Tuxedo Black.

In hindsight, I wish I hadn't added the black "smooshed" ink to the background, as the placement looks as though there is black smoke coming from the alien's spaceship, plus it doesn't work too well with the placement of the sentiment!  I nearly didn't share this card, but I think it's good to show the failures as well as the successes, lol!  I will definitely try this technique again, but maybe with rainbow colours and as a background to a larger sentiment!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Color Throwdown #339: TAWS We Burn Bright Together

Supplies
TAWS Lighter than Air stamp set
Memento ink: Tuxedo Black, Dandelion
Copics: Y17 Y15 Y13 Y11 Y000; C7 C5 C3 C0
Doodlebug Sprinkles: bumblebee
Ranger Enamel Accents: Black
Clearly Besotted Stamps: Diagonal Stripes
Versafine ink: Onyx Black

Hi everyone! I was extremely lucky to be chosen as the Featured Stamper of Color Throwdown #337, which meant I was invited to join the CT team as their Guest Star Stamper for today's new challenge - yay!   The colours for this week are yellow, white and black.

As soon as I saw the colour combo, I knew I wanted to ink up the cute lightbulb stamp from my The Alley Way Stamps: Lighter Than Air stamp set. I stamped the lightbulb 3 times in Memento Tuxedo Black ink into onto a 105x148mm piece of card I used for Copic colouring, drew in some hanging strings, and then coloured them with Copic markers.

The sentiment comes from the same Lighter Than Air stamp set too, but I only inked the top portion for the front of my card, so that I could stamp the last line of the sentiment inside:

I followed CAS(E) this Sketch #119 for my layout again, but this time I used it upside down:

  

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you will join us this week at Color Throwdown.

Hugs,

TAWS: Birthday Balloons

Supplies
The Alley Way Stamps: Phone Home stamp set (alien)
The Alley Way Stamps: Yappy stamp set (sentiment)
WOW! Embossing Powder: Metallic Gold Rich Sparkle (WS07R), Bright White (WL01SF)
Whimsy Stamps Party Time die set
Whimsy Stamps Basic Backgrounds & Borders 2 stamp set
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Versamark Ink
Copic Markers: W7 W5 W3 W1
6mm satin gold sequins
Hemptique: Black Hemp Cord
Bazzill cardstock: Coconut Swirl, Blackberry Swirl, Date Swirl
American Crafts: POW Gold Glitter Paper

Happy Saturday everyone!  Today I have a cute birthday card to share using a couple of fabulous The Alley Way Stamps sets. 

First, I stamped a striped border down the left side of a 105x148mm piece of Coconut Swirl cardstock with Versamark Ink, then heat embossed it with some WOW! Metallic Gold Rich Sparkle embossing powder.  I die cut 6 balloons from black, grey and white Bazzill cardstock and some AC gold glitter paper using the largest balloon die from my Whimsy Stamps Party Time die set.  I added them to the card front using glue and 3D foam pads. I then added some black Hemptique cord for the balloon strings.  I stamped one of the cute aliens from TAWS Phone Home, coloured him with Copics, fussy cut him out, and popped him up with foam pads.  The sentiment is from TAWS Yappy. I heat embossed it with WOW! EP onto a banner of Blackberry Swirl cardstock, then added it to the card front using foam pads.  Finally 3 satin gold sequins to finish!

Sorry that the photo is not the best! I usually photograph in the windowsill of our dining room, but as it's very sunny at the moment, it's making it difficult to take good photographs (not that I'm complaining about the sun, lol!).

I made this card for a number of challenges.  I followed the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch #119, the theme at Less Is More #220 (which is Up, Up and Away), the colour combo at ColourQ #287 (which is grey, black, white and one spot colour  - my spot colour is gold), and CAS on Sunday #56 (which is Gold).

   

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Hugs,

TAWS: I wanna hold your hand!

Supplies
The Alley Way Stamps: Feeling Groovy stamp set
The Alley Wat Stamps: Far Out mini stamp set
Memento ink: Tuxedo Black, London Fog
Copic markers
Doodlebug Sprinkles: Swimming Pool, Ladybug
Studio Calico Mister Huey's Mask - Circle Graph (ref 331062)

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I have a card to share today using the awesome Feeling Groovy and Far Out stamp sets from The Alley Way Stamps April release.

Feeling Groovy is a 4x6" stamp set jam packed with stamps, including the very "cool dude" stamp I used today, plus an awesome VW-style camper van (I already made a card using the van stamp here).  Far Out is this month's mini (3x4") set that you receive FREE when you spend $40 or more (before shipping) at the TAWS store, and includes the girl stamp and some awesome accessory stamps that I used on today's (pattern on her dress, glasses for the guy)  The sentiment also comes from the freebie set.

I used a brand-new-to-me stencil by Studio Calico called Mister Huey's Mask - Circle Graph. I saw the amazingly talented Francine use it on a few of her cards recently, and I knew that I just had to have it! I placed the stencil directly onto the front of my 105x148mm card base and inked it with Memento London Fog using my mini ink blending tool. The groovy girl and cool dude were fussy cut out and popped up with 3D foam pads, and the sentiment simply stamped beneath them. A few Doodlebug Sprinkles, and it was done!

I was totally inspired to create this card by the amazing sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch #118.  I also followed the gorgeous colour combo at The Challenge #30.  Finally, I would like to enter this into this week's new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is Make Your Own Background.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hugs,

TAWS: Greetings Earthling

Supplies
The Alley Way Stamps: Phone Home
The Alley Way Stamps: Blast Off
Bazzill cardstock: Coconut Swirl, Blackberry Swirl, Tangelo Blast, 
Banana Bliss, Tropical Breeze, Watermelon Sensation
Stampin' Up cardstock (retired colours)
MFT Die-namics: Blueprints 13, Blueprints 20
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
6mm Silver Star Sequins

Happy Saturday everyone! I have a new TAWS card to share today using Phone Home and Blast Off from our April release.

I wanted to make a one layer card, so I inlaid all the die-cuts into one layer. First, I took a piece of Coconut Swirl cardstock and cut out the main stitched panel using the large stitched rectangular die from Blueprints 13.  I took the window die from Blueprints 20, taped it to the centre of my main, white panel and cut it out, so it left a rectangular hole ready to inlay my die-cuts.  I then ran the same die through my Cuttlebug a second time using Blackberry Swirl cardstock to create the black window.  I used the plain, stitched square die from the same die set to cut out 6 squares from coloured card.  I stamped the coloured squares with various ailen stamps from Blast Off and Phone Home, then I inlaid the black window die-cut and coloured squares into the rectangular hole so that everything was flat.  To finish, I stamped a sentiment from Phone Home and added 2 silver star sequins.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
- Scrap & Craft Inspiration #6: Frame it
- Addicted to Stamps #139: Clean & Simple
- Everybody Art Challenge #319: Sequins
- Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: A is for (my "A" is for ALIENS, tee hee!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hugs,

SPD Sweet2Repeat Hop: From Our Home to Yours

Welcome to the SugarPea Designs Sweet 2 Repeat Blog Hop! Now that so many of you have our March Product Release in your hot little hands, the SugarPea Designers have put together new projects that will inspire you with even more creative possibilities featuring the newest SugarPea Designs stamp sets and SugarCut dies!

Supplies
SugarPea Designs: Homescape die
SugarPea Designs: Home Sweet Home die
SugarPea Designs: Sweet Sentiments - Home stamp set
Bazzill cardstock: Kraft, Humming Bird, Ocean Breeze, Tangelo

For my hop card, I paper pieced the Homescape border die.  I cut the main scene from green cardstock first, and then cut out the different elements using kraft, blue and orange cardstock.  I simply trimmed them and glued them onto the green base!  I popped up the little scene with 3D foam pads for dimension.  I also used the darling Home Sweet Home word die (again, cutting it out twice in orange and blue card, then snipping the house from the blue die-cut and gluing it over the orange one!) and two stamps from the Sweet Sentiments - Home stamp set.

Here are the products I used:

I followed the gorgeous colour combination at Colour Throwdown #337:

Would you like to win a $20 gift certificate to spend on some SugarPea Designs goodies of your own? Please visit with each of our design team members listed below and leave a comment for your chance to win!

InLinkz.com

Happy hopping!

Hugs,