Thursday 14 November 2013

The Wacky Watercooler 2013 Year End Blog Hop

Wacky Watercooler New Catalog(ue) Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hop from Blackfalds, Alberta, Canada.  That's quite a leap if you just left the talented Jeanne Kupsch who is stationed over in Germany right now.  Wasn't her post wonderful?

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For my first project, I'm featuring Christmas and that wonderful Pop 'n Cuts Card Base die and matching Dress Form die designed by Karen Burniston exclusively for Stampin' Up!  The dress-form has undergone a bit of a transformation in my card, but the bones are there and they provided a wonderful base for my design.

I chose to use Basic Black as my base cardstock because I had plans to decorate the card using my favourite Designer Paper from the Annual Catalog(ue), Modern Medley.  I love the designs in that pack!  Because I had plans to make the inside of the card look like a living room, I used two of the designs: one for the "wallpaper" and one for the "floor".  The dress form quickly disappeared and became a fireplace with the top portion of the cut-out covered by a feature picture stamped with the Wetlands stamp set.  The logs and fire were made using my Word Window punch and the wing from the Bird Builder punch.  Love what a little embossing or sponging will do, don't you?  I free-handed the little stockings from some Modern Medley paper and coloured in the heels, toes and tops and then sponged the rest with Cherry Cobbler ink.

The final touch to the inside was to stamp the sentiment from the Joyful Christmas stamp set onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and then cut it out using my Apothecary Accents framelits.  With a bit of Basic Black sponging, it looks just like an area rug, doesn't it?


Since my base was Basic Black, I decided to layer the front of the card with some Cherry Cobbler and a piece of the Modern Medley, this time the music notes.  I used another of the Apothecary Accents framelits to cut out the Greeting which I had heat embossed in silver.  Then I tied a pretty bow using the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon.  But the card still needed a focal point.

For the focal point on the front of the card, I decided to use the Joyful Christmas stamp set.  I simply can't get enough of that wonderful Poinsettia!  This time, however, I only used the centre portion of the flower because otherwise it would have taken over the entire front of the card and I had other plans.


I heat embossed the flower using Silver embossing powder and cut out the centre, smaller flower.  Then I heat embossed two leaves using the Wild Wasabi embossing powder on the new Silver Foil sheets.  I love how that turned out!  


This is definitely a card that is fun both inside and out!

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Since Stampin' Up! carried over that beautiful Jewish Celebrations stamp set from last year, I decided I would try my hand at a Hanukkah card using the new Thinlits Circle flip flop card die.  For my base, I used Pacific Point cardstock, which is one of my favourite deep blues.  Even though it's not one of the colours in the Winter Frost Specialty Designer Paper, the colours compliment each other beautifully.  The card has the extra fold that I explained back in this post.

This is the front of the card with a strip of the foil pattern from the Designer Paper.  The other foil pattern is on the inside flap that you can see.  I stamped the design using Pacific Point ink on Shimmery White cardstock and then heat embossed the Star of David on a Silver Foil sheet using Pool Party embossing powder and punched it out using my 1" circle punch.


For the inside I cut a strip of the Designer Paper and adhered it to a piece of Whisper White.  On the reverse of the circle flip-flop, I stamped the Menorah using the new Metallic Silver Encore ink and then heat embossed the sentiment on the Pacific Point using silver embossing powder.  The folded star below the sentiment can hold money or a chocolate coin.


And that's my interpretation of a Hanukkah card.  

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My final project is geared for the man in my life.  My husband loves fishing and so I decided to use one of the wonderful new Wood-Mount Cases that Stampin' Up! introduced in the Annual Catalogue.  Those cases are so nice and strong and will hold all sorts of goodies.  I plan to fill this one up with some little things that he's been muttering about needing.  The way I see it, a fly-fisherman who ties his own flies "needs" about as much as a paper crafter.

We used to see a lot of wildlife when we lived in British Columbia so I decided to use the Walk in the Wild stamp set and the Lovely as a Tree stamp set for this project.  I masked off the grass on the ground so that I could give the illusion of a snowy landscape.  Then I used my Aqua Painter and watercoloured the scene, adding some Dazzling Details on the tree and on the ground.


Then I made a starburst using embossed pieces of Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso Core'dinations, and Marina Mist, mounting it on a piece of the Marina Mist Polka Dot Parade Designer paper.  The finished piece slipped under the plastic window of the Wood-Mount Case perfectly.


This is the way my husband will probably use the case, but to dress it up for Christmas I had to add a little bit of extra.  For that I created a "girdle" using the 1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon.  I attached one of the brown buttons from the Designer Naturals with a brad and safety pin from the Vintage Trinkets.  That provided me with the perfect way to attach my snowflake (from the Festive Flurries bundle) and tag (from the Very Merry Tags).


I know he's going to love this.  Wouldn't the man in your life be happy to receive something like this, too?  It's easy to make and so handy.

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Well that's it for my blog hop post.  I hope you've enjoyed my projects.  I'd love to hear what you thought about them if you have a moment.  Your next stop will be Terri Antoniw's inspiring blog.  I'm sure she'll have some amazing projects to share with you.   Thanks so much.

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24 comments:

  1. Amazing projects as always, Heidi! Wow - I don't know which I like best - the inside or outside of your Pop 'n' Cuts card!

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    1. Thanks, Deb. The scene inside the Pop 'n Cut card was fussy work but I love the finished effect.

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  2. As per usual, your projects are exciting! You put in a lot of detail to your work!! I'm boring and just like everything simple and as quickly done as possible. I just don't have the patience. :)

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    1. Thanks, Terri. Your projects are wonderful! Especially your framed snowflakes.

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  3. All three are WOW projects, IMHO. Love the moose and I can just hear the fire crackle in that fireplace!

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    1. Thanks, Gail. Let's hope the fire doesn't burn up my poor card. ;) I love that moose, too. It was the first stamp that made it to my wishlist as I went through the annual catalogue.

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  4. Absolutely beautiful projects. I haven't attempted the Pop n Cuts yet though I have all the dies. Now I am inspired.

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    1. Thanks, Christine. I was so sure I didn't want the Pop 'n Cuts dies. And then I bought them on a whim just recently and have made four cards already. Once you've begun playing with yours, you'll be hooked. I look forward to seeing your creations.

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  5. How incredible!!!! ALL your projects have that "WOW" factor!!! Bravo! And I'm totally casing that music card!!!

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    1. Thanks, Jeannie. CASE away. It was fun designing a paper living room. Make sure to show me yours when you're done.

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  6. Oh, my gosh, your creativity astounds me!!!! I love how you showed the inside of the first card before showing the outside. I had a vision of the outside that was totally different than what you created. I just will haveto case the inside with my outside. I just purchase the Jewish Celebrations set, however,have not had time to play with it yet. I am glad you included it in your post. Love it. Last but not least is your fantastic fishing case. My son-in-law likes to fish so I may have to case the box. Again,you are very talented, beautiful projects.

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    1. Thank you very much for the kind words, Jeannine. I'm going to have to see what your vision is of the outside of the Pop 'n Cuts card when you post it. You have me curious.

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  7. Heidi I love the Christmas card with the sheet music in the background - wonderful!

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    1. Thank you so much, Bev. I had a lot of fun with that card.

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  8. Heidi, What work you put into your projects, they are wonderful.

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    1. Thank you, Kath. I really find that I "go into a zone" when I create. It's therapeutic.

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  9. I got on the blog hop train at Jeannie's!
    Awesome projects, and the moose is amazing!

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    1. Thank you, Gail. I know my husband will love the moose box.

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  10. Your projects are beautiful, Heidi! I love them all!

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  11. Hi Heidi,

    I love all of your cards on the blog hop today! Especially the fireplace!

    Peace, Love & Joy,

    Joyce

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    1. Thank you, Joyce. I went through so many trials and errors before finally settling on the living-room scene. The real plus was being able to use so much of my favourite Modern Medley DSP and also getting to use the Wetlands stamp set again (love that set!).

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  12. These are both spectacular! I'm sure they will be very well appreciated!

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