The Wonders of Washi Tape

I belong to a local card swap club that meets once a month at my lss. This month's theme was Washi tape. Now I have a few rolls of the stuff but never really delved into their possibilities--until today.
After cruising Pinterest for inspiration, I decided on using my tapes as borders. I taped around plain white cardstock to make it look like patterned paper underneath my embossed papers. I also used the tape to frame my sentiment.
Since I used the sentiment as the focal point, I added a single shaker balloon and tiny adhesive-backed pearls in each of the corners.
Of course, I ran out of the balloons and, pledging to use up my stash, I had to find another birthday-related embellishment to finish up the 16 cards I needed to swap. I found some 3D cupcake stickers to use on the last 4 cards.

I was so thrilled with the Washi tape that I made everyone a matching pen or pencil to go with the card they chose. And now I must put Washi tape on my Christmas list, as I am almost out of the stuff, and love to use it.

Have you discovered a passion for a new technique or product through a challenge? While my favorite challenges are Anything Goes, I also love to be nudged (shoved) out of my comfort zone with all the challenges out there in blogland.
Meanwhile, I am entering my cards (16 in all w/matching writing stick) in the following challenges: