If nautical nonsense be something you wish – well then you’ve come to the right place! This week we’re all about creativity on the high seas and all things nautical. In fact – we’re stretching that definition to include all kinds of inspiration. From mermaids to sea critters, rich ocean blues to sandy glitters and embossing powders – let’s sea what you can come up with! Whether you are inspired by the glamour of the cruise liners of the olden days,or are thinking about ye olde pirates, going to scrapbook that trip to the islands or want to break out that stamp with bubbles on it – join us aboard the ship known as the Monday Challenge Blog!

Dan is slowly easing himself into holiday preparation mode with his nautical Christmas carol themed card.

I’m determined this year to actually send some holiday cards that I’ve made rather than bought, so I’m starting early (though I’m sure not as early as some of you!). Luckily I have a pretty small family so I don’t have too many to make. I’m loving the Tim Holtz layering stencils at the moment and used two of them as a base layer for my background. Given the song that I was using as my theme, this Paper Artsy stamp set was perfect. As a final touch I used the Hero Arts Printer’s Alphabet to add the snippet from the carol.

Sandra Mouwen was inspired by the navy colors red, blue and white while making this card.

I don’t often combine the colors navy blue and red. But they really do look pretty together. Those colors are what inspired me this week. I tried to make mix of a layered card with some art journal techniques. For the background I used the Chunky and Halftone stencil and of course my all star Script stamp with the gorgeous Cobalt Archival Ink. I did the stamping with paint technique, and I stamped the circles of the Grunge Cirque stamp set with Studio Sky Blue paint. I’m in love with the Cork Arrow Stickers and the Burnished Wood Shapes. They are fabulous!

Meihsia was inspired by the cruise trip she went on this summer and made this layout.

During our cruise trip in Alaska, the most amazing part was seeing the gorgeous glaciers and ice fields. We truly enjoyed the natural beauty of Glacier Bay National Park and those cities along the way. To keep these beautiful memories of our vacation, on the background of this layout, I used Gesso, Gelatos, modeling paste and crackle paint to make the ice and ocean look. The Tim Holtz Cling Artful Voyage Rubber Stamps and Stuido Calico roller date stamp are perfect for the date and sentiment.

Suzz took a cruise with the family last year and was thinking of her family voyage when she created her card.

We had seven days of food, fun and all kinds of activities. One of our day trips took us out on a sailing ship similar to the image in the Darkroom Door Sail Away set. The hemp and metal pieces from Prima Jeans Buttons Tiny Junkyard Findings kept the feel of the moorings as we docked in the different ports. The Voyage stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Classics #1 was the perfect banner to hang across the card.

When Candy saw “Nautical Nonsense” as this week’s theme, she immediately thought of Dyan Reaveley’s Dylusions Ink Sprays and water themed stamps to create a new art journal page.

What a perfect way to release some nonsensical energy than by creating a bright, extremely silly art journal page using my favorite Dylusions Ink Sprays combined with several of Dyan Reaveley’s whimsical stamp sets. Under the Sea, Ocean Backgrounds and Doodle Parts among others were perfect companions for my assembled mermaid. Her upper body is a Prima Paper Doll with the Ruffled Dress and her tail is a labor of love that began with Manila Cardstock and Tim Holtz’ Bubble Texture Fade to create scales.

Michelle, tired of waiting for her ship to come in, made one of her own.

Ships Ahoy! She may not be seaworthy, but she has loads of personality as she proclaims that “That’s How We Roll!”, using the Simon exclusive All Occasion Banner Die and Stamp Set. The DIY Shop provided the sails while the Washi tape provided the character.

When Ashli heard Nautical, only one thing came to mind… her favorite place!

When I think of nautical, I think of the ocean, and when I think of the ocean, the first thing that comes to mind is my favorite place – Driftwood Beach. I have certainly done my fair share of layouts about this magical spot, but have never done a mini. This is the week for that! I added in some of the Hello Again 6×6 papers, along with some of the coordinating stickers and a bit of the die cut shapes from Polka Dot Party. With my journaling added in, I have a lovely little photo book showcasing my favorite place!

Mona was inspired by the Nautical Nonsense theme to create a canvas featuring an underwater scuba diving photo of her son:

With the gorgeous shades of the blue and green ocean in mind, I combined a variety of sprays, spritzes and mists to cover my canvas. I stamped a title and seashells from Down By The Seaside on a die cut tag, created a twine frame then completed the canvas with seashells from my stash.

Andrea whipped up a whimsical cake display to show off her beach mementos.

Sometimes it’s fun to combine our favorite things in life (hot chocolate and donuts) and sometimes combining is hazardous (hot chocolate and roller coasters). I love fabric and I love cake and I love all things beachy, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to combine them all into this Mermaid Cake (this project also goes to show that Mod Podge knows no bounds)! The Tim Holtz vial was a perfect bottle for my beach sand and the “love” sentiment from Prima’s Lyric collection definitely leaves no question about my feelings for the coast.

Anna-Karin took an imaginary sea voyage with the help of stamps and ink.

I love this large ship stamp by Tim Holtz and made two cards with it, using different surfaces to stamp on. Here the boat is stamped on the smoother side of the new Ranger watercolour paper. The scene was watercoloured with Distress Inks and I white embossed a sentiment on the boat. The background is dry embossed navy kraft-core cardstock and I finished the card with a stamped compass and a bingo piece.

Tracy is using some fabulous TREASURE of her own this week to create her nautical piece.

Pop back on Wednesday when I will share a few step by steps for using the fabulous Treasure Gold Metallic Waxes, perfect for adding your own touch of treasure to any nautical piece.

For more inspiration click on our design team’s blog links so you can see more photos (and full supply lists) for their projects. Leave them a little comment love while you’re there so they know how they’ve inspired you too, if you’re so inclined.

As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by random generator. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here. This challenge will end at 11:59pm on Sunday October 20th Eastern time.

We will also be choosing some of our entries to put in the spotlight – a special honor where we talk about why we loved that entry in particular and award a special badge too!

For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog.

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