Sometimes a card is so hard to make -- Top Pick at the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge

*Making this card was an emotional ride for me and I was thrilled to discover it was Top Pick at the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge*

A friend of mine approached me yesterday.  She wanted me to make a card for her to give to her mother.  She'll be going to the Netherlands in another couple of weeks and really wanted a special card.  You see, this is her goodbye visit.  Her mother is losing her battle with cancer.

I felt both honoured and panicked by the request.  Honoured because my friend obviously loves my work enough.  Panicked because this is a card that means so much to her and will mean so much to her mother.  The criteria for the card were that her mother loves animals and flowers.  Then this morning she added that it would be wonderful if the card could have a Canadian theme.  And she also gave me the sentiment she wanted, in Dutch.

I really wasn't fazed by any of the criteria except for one.  The Canadian theme had me stymied.  I have no Beaver stamp and really didn't want to settle for a maple leaf.  Then I thought of my Walk in the Wild stamp set and I knew I would use the moose stamp.  I know, I know---moose are not only indigenous to Canada.  They are, however, frequently used as a type of Canadian "mascot" and that would have to be it for my "Canadian content".

 I wanted the card to be special and so I worked on a different style than normal.  I decided to make a square twisted easel card measuring 5 1/4" x 5 1/4".   I also decided that I would make a scene comprised of the Lovely as a Tree stamp, moose stamp, and bull-rushes from the Wetlands stamp set.  That, of course, meant making a mask of the moose so that I could stamp the trees without stamping on my moose.  The stamping took some time.

To complete the scene, I drew in some details freehand using my Project Life 01 journalling pen.  I used that because it is waterproof and fade-proof.  I extended the grasses beside the moose, creating a shoreline.  Then I turned my paper and sketched in a "reflection" of the grasses.

I did all the colouring using my Blendabilities.  I have to say that I probably couldn't have gotten the degree of shading or detail without those Blendabilities.  They really work well together, even from colour to colour.  I even coloured a "reflection" of the moose and then coloured over that with the blue and it really did look like a reflection in water once the alcohol in the inks fully evaporated and the true colours set.  The sky, however, was done using my Marina Mist ink refill and Aqua Painter.

For my base cardstock I used the Naturals White.  Then a layer of Marina Mist and then the painted Whisper White for which I made a frame using my Square framelits and Early Espresso cardstock.

I decided to add Lupines to the left and bottom border of the card and that was made possible by the stamp in the Forever Florals stamp set.  Stamping and colouring took some time but nothing compared to the fussy-cutting required to cut those flowers out.  But the end result was worth it when I used glue and Dimensionals to put them in place.

I cut 8 simple flowers using my Filter Paper and Flower Frenzy Bigz L die.  I coloured 4 using the lightest of the Night of Navy Blendabilities and 4 using the medium of the Night of Navy Blendabilities.  Then I pierced them all and put them onto an Antique Brad, alternating colours.   For the inside of the card and also to make the "stop" to hold the easel in place, I layered Early Espresso and then Marina Mist (cut with the scalloped square framelit).  Then I mounted the brad and flower to one corner of the layers and adhered them to the base cardstock, making sure that the flower "stop" was in the right position to hold up the easel or front of the card.

I love the finished card.  There is a rectangle of Whisper White on the inside for writing but I kept it small enough that when the easel is open, only the card shows.  

Because it's what I do, I decided to enter the card into a challenge.  It really is a lovely card and deserves some showing.  The Fab 'n' Funky Challenges is having a "Walk on the Wild Side" this week and what could be more perfect than that?  

And then I discovered that the City Crafter Challenge Blog is having an "animal magic" week so all cards must feature animals.  What perfect timing!

And last of all, I'm entering the Friday Mashup sketch challenge:

...and more challenges! (Chosen for Top 3 at Freshly Made Sketches)

Have you ever looked at a group of colours and wondered what on earth you could do with them?  I was in that position when I decided I wanted to enter a colour challenge that included a number of colours that I don't frequently use.  But that's what makes it a challenge, right?

That is my finished card.  The spatter is gold embossing thanks to that wonderful Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.  I've used real Washi Tape, the Calypso Coral design from the Epic Day set, as well as a strip of Washi tape wannabe, thanks to the Tape It stamp set and Gold embossing powder over Elegant Eggplant.  The skinny ribbon is Melon Mambo 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon.  The sentiment is from the Hello Love stamp set and cut with the cute little Banner punch.

That gorgeous tag is two layers, one of Gold Foil and the other Whisper White.  Both were cut using the Chalk Talk framelits.  I stamped the Pink Pirouette using the Work of Art stamp set and the Elegant Eggplant using the Choose Happiness stamp set.

Would I have chosen to use those colours?  Probably not.  But I have to admit that they add a lot of life to the card and make it very cheery.  And that's why I enter challenges:  because they force me to go out of my comfort zone and try new things.

This is the sketch challenge I entered at Freshly Made Sketches:

This is the colour challenge that I entered at colourQ:

Because I haven't been with Stampin' Up! long enough, I had to change out Concord Grape for the current Elegant Eggplant and Pretty in Pink for the current Pink Pirouette.  The Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Whisper White and Gold are still current and were used.

This is the photo inspiration challenge that I entered at Addicted to Stamps and More!:

It's always great to read comments from people who come to see my post.  If you have a moment, please leave one.  Thanks so much.

WCC05 -- A Colour Challenge

This time the challenge over at the Watercooler Challenges is a colour challenge:

I wasn't sure of the colours to begin with because I wouldn't have picked them for a card.  But then, that's what challenges are for:  to push you into territory that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable.  Still, it took me a while to decide just how I would use the colours together and what direction the card design would take.

I used Naturals White as my base cardstock.  I wanted something neutral that would compliment all three colours.  Next I cut a layer of Rich Razzleberry and used my little star punch to cut stars along two sides.  I attached that to the base with my Snail tape runner, pushing it as close to the top and right hand side as possible while still leaving a narrow border for the base to show.  Then I cut a piece of Whisper White and stamped it using my Hardwood background stamp and Crumb Cake ink.  I cut a matte for the piece out of Crumb Cake cardstock, leaving only a narrow border.  I attached that to the card with Dimensionals, pushing it as close to the bottom and left hand side as possible while still leaving a narrow border for the base to show.

Remember all those stars that I punched out of the Rich Razzleberry?  I took six of those and attached them, using Dimensionals, along the left and bottom of the Hardwood layer.  I coloured some rhinestones using my Daffodil Delight Blendabilities and then mounted those in the centres of the empty star shapes.  Then I mounted some uncoloured rhinestones in the centres of the Rich Razzleberry stars.

Finally I was approaching the finish line and had to decide on my sentiment.  I knew it would include Daffodil Delight because I didn't think the coloured rhinestone were enough to represent the colour.  So I cut a star from Daffodil Delight cardstock using my Stars framelits.  Then I used them to cut a smaller star our of Whisper White.  Prior to cutting the Whisper White, I had stamped it first with Rich Razzleberry (off-stamped once) using my Work of Art stamp set and then with Black Memento ink using my Yippee-Skippee stamp set.  I used Snail to attach the Whisper White onto the Daffodil Delight and then Dimensionals to attach the matted star onto the card.

I didn't like the empty top left corner or bottom right corner and so I attached Candy Dots in Crumb Cake.  That seemed to finish it off.

For more cards in this challenge, go to Watercooler Challenges.

Sketched Birthday --- PCCCS #102 -- Top Pick for Challenge

Have you ever had a stamp set that you bought and then, months later, still hadn't used?  For me that stamp set was the Sketched Birthday.  When I made birthday cards I turned to just about every other set rather than this one.  Why?  I really couldn't say.

All that changed today when I saw the Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch.  For some reason it really appealed to me and immediately made me think of using this stamp set.  Here's their sketch challenge:

I really didn't want the Designer Paper that I used to take over the card.  I also had in my mind that I wanted to use Strawberry Slush as one of the colours for my card.  After rejecting all my Designer Paper, I suddenly thought of my 2013-2015 In-Color Designer Series Paper Stack.  The polka dot design was my instant choice.  

I planned to have the cake slice be strawberry mousse with chocolate icing so, of course, I chose to use Chocolate Chip as one of my colours.  Things were falling together quite nicely and I was on a roll.  For my base cardstock, I chose the Strawberry Slush and then followed that with a layer of Chocolate Chip.  Then I added a strip of the polka dot Strawberry Slush to the left side and a narrower strip of Whisper White to the right side.  

The banner at the top was easy because I wanted to use the party hat for that.  By colouring it Strawberry Slush and Daffodil Delight, it became a bright an cheery piece of interest.  For a bit of sparkle, I added three Strawberry Slush sequin stars.

I decided that I wanted balloons on the card as well since they were part of the stamp set and serendipitously the sketch was perfect for a trio of balloons just to the right of the main image.  Since I had added Daffodil Delight to the party hat, I also added it to my balloons.  I absolutely love the sentiment from the Yippee-Skippee stamp set and added it to one of the conversation bubbles.

Like I said, I wanted the cake to be strawberry mousse with chocolate icing.  With a Daffodil Delight plate and a striped Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush candle, I think it looks simply delicious.  

I had a lot of fun making the card.  I really didn't want any embossing or even spatter or shading on the Whisper White because I felt it would detract from the details of the card.  Sometimes less is more.  Now that I had a chance to introduce this stamp set to ink, I'm sure I'll be using it again soon.

For more cards created for this challenge, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

Traveler & World Map --- A good combination

It is almost as if the Traveler stamp set was made for the World Map stamp.  The two really compliment each other so well.  For my latest challenge entry I used the two stamp sets together again.  The challenge was put on by Just Add Ink, a great challenge blog from down under---that's right, Australia.  I may not be travelling the world, but my challenges certainly are.

This was the sketch for the challenge:

I love the way the circle is cut apart like that.  The way it's laid out, one could either make a circle card or, as I chose to interpret the design, put a circle inside a square.

My base cardstock is Naturals Ivory because I want to give the design a bit of a vintage feel.  On top of that I adhered a piece of the print pattern from Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper which I had sponged around the border using Early Espresso ink.  Along with that I also used Early Espresso cardstock, cut into a circle and then embossed with my Woodgrain embossing folder.  Then I cut Very Vanilla cardstock into a circle and cut it apart as shown in the sketch.  I laid out the pieces of Very Vanilla with a slight separation between the pieces and then stamped the whole using my World Map stamp and Pool Party ink.  

Then I stamped the vintage camera image and world globe image from the Traveler stamp set onto Very Vanilla using my black Memento ink.  The worst part was the fussy cutting for the images, but I wanted to attach them to the design using Dimensionals, so they had to be cut out.  Then I used my Blendabilities and a touch of the Silver Stampin Dazzle marker to colour the images.

Finally, after assembling the pieces and attaching them to the card, I stamped the "adventure bound" from the Project Life Remember This stamp set on Very Vanilla using Early Espresso ink and cut that into a skinny banner.  To finish the card off, I added one of the Essentials Wooden Elements arrows with a strip of Early Espresso Seam Binding tied around it.

For more cards using this design, visit the Just Add Ink Challenge Blog.

A little fun with challenges

I'm thrilled to say that this card was chosen as a Pals Paper Arts Pick.

Sometimes you just have to have fun, right?  I found a sketch that made me think of birdhouses, of all things.  What do I have that looks like birdhouses?  Certainly not a stamp.  But wait!  You know what could pass as a birdhouse?  The fat arrow from the What's Up? punch.  As soon as I thought of that, I knew what I wanted to do.

I decided to keep myself to some set colours and so found a colour challenge.  It's more fun to force oneself to discover a way to make colours one wouldn't pick work for a project.  The colours that I would be using for this challenge would be Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana.

I decided to have my base cardstock be Naturals White.  On top of that I layered some Coastal Cabana and then a layer of Whisper White.  I stamped the Whisper White with one of the Work of Art stamps to give the illusion of clouds.  The ink is Coastal Cabana off-stamped twice before finally stamping on the Whisper White so that they would be whispy and pale and not draw too much attention to themselves.  Before attaching the Coastal Cabana and Whisper White to the base, I wrapped several strands of Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine around them.

Then I cut two Strawberry Slush arrows and two Daffodil Delight arrows.  I cut them apart where the base of the arrow begins.  Then I reassembled them so that I had mixed colours.  For the roofs I stamped Daffodil Delight ink on the pointy portion of the Daffodil Delight arrows using the Truly Grateful stamp set and Strawberry Slush on the pointy portions of the Strawberry Slush arrows.  On the base portion of the arrows, I drew black circles by hand.

Then I stamped the little bird from the Hello Love stamp set (Hostess) on a scrap of Whisper White using the Memento ink.  After fussy-cutting out the bird, I coloured it using my Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.

Using Dimensionals, I mounted three "birdhouses" below the Thick Baker's Twine, mixing tops and bottoms.  Two, I mounted the right way around and the third I mounted upside down.   Then I mounted the little blue bird on the upside down "birdhouse", also using Dimensionals.  Finally I added a sentiment saying "miss you already" from the Just Sayin' stamp set.

It's a funny, sweet and playful card that I had a lot of fun putting together.

This is where you can see the other cards in the Fab Friday Challenge.

This is where you can see the other cards in the Pals Paper Arts Challenge.

An Open Heart, Hardwood and Burlap---Oh Yeah!

Burlap makes such an impact on a card.  When you add a background of Hardwood, they make an amazing team.

I've created this card to enter three challenges.  Yes, three!  The first is a sketch challenge and, even though the sketch is simple, it allows so many possibilities:

The second is a colour challenge but instead of suggesting several colours, this challenge is simply for a Monochromatic theme:

The third challenge is for "anything goes" with the proviso that there be a 3-D element on the card and/or a background stamp:

I had already decided to use the bird from the new An Open Heart stamp set, burlap, and a base of Early Espresso.  To go along with the Monochromatic theme, I stayed within the Neutrals, adding some Very Vanilla and Baked Brown Sugar to the colours.  To take some of the starkness away from the Very Vanilla, I used the Hardwood background stamp and stamped the cardstock with Baked Brown Sugar ink after off-stamping once.  I also stamped the sentiment in Baked Brown Sugar but did not off-stamp.

For the 3-D aspect I used Dimensionals to adhere the Early Espresso layer to the Burlap Ribbon (which already had dimension to it anyway) and then also on the banners and on the bird (cutting the Dimensionals into skinny enough pieces for the beak and the feet was a challenge in itself).

I think this card could easily be for either a masculine birthday or occasion (with a change of sentiment) or even for a general-style card.  It's pretty unisex, overall.

Check here for more cards in the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

Check here for more cards in the Friday Mashup! challenge.

Check here for more cards in the Paper Players challenge.

The Wacky Watercooler First Anniversary Celebration

Celebrate our First Anniversary with us!

That's right!  It's our First Anniversary!  A year ago a few friends on the Wacky Watercooler discussion group got together and began having blog hops where we shared our ideas with each other and an unsuspecting world.  We've grown in numbers.  We've grown as artists.  We've grown in our friendships.  This has been a very good year.  Thank you for supporting us and for coming to see what we come up with each month.  We really do appreciate your interest.

For those of you who are familiar with our Blog Hop, you'll remember it's a circular one.  Whoever you begin with, whether you go backwards or forwards through the names, you will eventually come full circle back to where you began.  For those of you who haven't experienced one of our Blog Hops before, you're in for a treat.

If you've worked your way through the blog hop from the beginning, you'll have come to my blog after having enjoyed Jackie Susnik's exciting creations.

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Since it's our Anniversary, what could be more natural than to share an anniversary card?  After all, the traditional gift for the first anniversary is paper and that's one of my favourite products.  Without paper, what would happen to making cards?  I'm not really into papyrus or animal skins. I've used a rainbow of colours over the simple black stamping thanks to my array of Blendabilities alcohol markers.  They colour over the Memento ink beautifully without smudging the black.  My card is actually an anniversary card to the "Watercooler gang".  We've used a rainbow of colours over this last year and what more appropriate way to remember that?

The "celebration" is from the Project Life Remember This stamp set, the "1st Anniversary" is from the Memorable Moments stamp set.  I've cut the black star out using my Star Framelits and the arrow using my What's Up punch.

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For my second project I decorated one of those great Kraft Gift Boxes so that I could slip my husband's new watch into it---it was our anniversary over the weekend.  Rather than wrap the box it came in, I chose to make my own very personal box for Ken.  The first thing that I did was to force the lid of the box into my Scallop Tag Topper punch and cut it.  It left a nice shaped flap through which I could lace ribbon to tie it shut.  Since I planned to clad the box in Gold Foil, I cut a gold tag and just cut a narrow piece of that to go around the hole.

I think it looks great plus it reinforces the hole so that it won't just begin to rip apart.  Then I used Early Espresso for the first layer on all sides and the top.  You can just make out that I embossed the cardstock using my Woodgrain embossing folder.  My next layer is the Gold Foil which I embossed using the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  Finally I cut the letters using my new Little Letters Thinlits dies and the hearts using various Hearts framelits.  I also cut the top from eight Gold Foil triangles and folded them in half to make the decorative corners for the box.

I'm really pleased with the finished box.  It is decorative but still looks masculine.  The Early Espresso Seam Binding ribbon and on-trend Gold Ribbon which I attached to the front of the box with a small brad finish it off nicely, don't they?

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My final project is a card I had meant to give my sister for her birthday.  I wound up making a different one for her but that's beside the point.  This one just appealed to me and would have tickled my sister's sense of humour.  It was made using the Giggle Greetings stamp set.  I love, love, love that cat.  Of course the fact that I have two cats that take turns presenting me with hair-balls might be part of that love.  

My card is very simple.  Well, it appears simple.  There is a lot more to it than first meets the eye.  The Basic Black cardstock I've used as my base was run through the Big Shot with my Woodgrain embossing folder.  I wanted some texture to the front of the card but didn't want to do anything to the Whisper White on which I stamped my cat and sentiment.  To colour the cat I used my Blendabilities which allowed me to seamlessly give shading to the cat and give it some depth as a result.  I also stamped and coloured a second head which I attached over the first coloured head using dimensionals.  That way the head seems to be slightly forward of the body, giving it dimension.   Cutting that head out wasn't too difficult until I decided I wanted to keep the whiskers.  That really added a whole lot of difficulty to the cutting.  But the whiskers remain intact.

I also added a real "hairball" by taking some fibres from my burlap ribbon and scrunching them into a ball and attaching them with a glue dot.  I love the texture and realism it adds to the card.

Finally I added the sentiment but placed it in a bubble near the top of the front of the card, adding little thought bubbles to connect it.

I really love that little cat and may just have to keep the card myself.

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Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them.  Your next stop will be the very talented Deborah Smart's blog where she will share some amazing projects with you.

If you have a moment to leave a comment, it would be terrific.  Thanks so much.

Best Kid Ever!

I don't often really like the stamp sets that are meant for kids but this set that was just brought out in the new catalogue really appeals to me.  I'm talking about the Boys Will Be Boys stamp set.  My daughter, who has two little boys, actually squealed with delight when she saw the set in the catalogue.  How great is that?

I had been at a loss regarding a challenge I really wanted to enter.  The sketch left me blank---I really couldn't think of what I wanted to do, or if I came up with something, I saw that someone else had posted an entry far too similar for me to continue.  To top it off, I had decided to use a colour challenge for this card that kept me to Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White.

And suddenly it all came together for me.  I knew I would use the Alphabet Press embossing folder and this stamp set.  I felt like a load had been lifted.  Funny?  Well I can get rather serious (read single-minded) about my crafting.

The sketch challenge is from CAS(E) this Sketch!

The colour challenge is from Pals Paper Arts.

I coloured the stamped Legos and building blocks with my Blendabilities and then attached them to the card with Dimensionals.  The embossing in the background is perfect against the toys.  I hadn't used the embossing folder before so this was a perfect match and a perfect opportunity.

Isn't that just a fun card?  I think I'm going to have to try it with some different coloured Legos, too.

Thinking of You

Don't you just love those little birds from the For the Birds stamp set?  They're simply sketched but have so much personality.  I love the little one in the nest, thinking of you.

It was natural to choose this stamp for the card challenges that I entered.  For the ColourQ challenge there was a really pretty assortment of colours:

While the Fab Friday challenge had a sketch that I knew I wanted to use:

Combined, they would be the basis for a really fun card.  Altogether I used a number of stamp sets for my card.  The patterned Coastal Cabana strip is stamped using the Handcarved stamp.  The feathers were stamped with one of the stamps from the Happy Hooray set.  The little bird and sentiment, of course, are from the For the Birds set.

The inks that I used are the Poppy Parade (retired), More Mustard (retired), and Coastal Cabana.  My base cardstock is Naturals White and I've also used Whisper White as well as a strip of Coastal Cabana.  I also used the Woodgrain embossing folder.

I'm happy with the result.  It's fun to set a sketch goal, work within set colours, and discover what I can come up with.  

For more cards with these colours, check out ColourQ.

For more cards using this sketch design, check out Fab Friday.

I'm Here for You -- Love those new In-Colors

I really do love the new In-Colors, especially the Lost Lagoon, which is such a beautiful blue.  But all the colours compliment each other very well.  You can see that in this card, where I have used the Lost Lagoon, Tangelo Twist and Hello Honey.  These are the colours that were part of the Hand Stamped Sentiment challenge:

And I used them in completing the Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

This card gave me the opportunity to use some of the 2014-2016 In-Colors Background Designer Series Paper stack.  I chose to use the polka dot design in the Lost Lagoon as well as the Tangelo Twist.  I stamped the Swallowtail on Whisper White and fussy-cut only a section of it to fit the polka-dot Tangelo Twist paper and coloured it with my Tangelo Twist and Hello Honey markers.  Once I had adhered the Swallowtail onto the background paper, I covered its body with Crystal Effects and let that dry.  

Then I cut a piece of Hello Honey Cardstock using my Banner Framelits and used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to emboss two lines of dots onto the right edge of the banner.  I stamped the banner with one of the Forever Florals stamps using Tangelo Twist ink and then stamped the banner with a sentiment from the Petite Pairs stamp set.  After mounting the banner on a piece of Whisper White, I hand-cut around it leaving only a thin border of white.  I covered the banner with Crystal Effects and let that dry.

Because I wanted a button to match the Hello Honey, I made one using the Simply Pressed Clay and the Buttons Mold.  I used the largest of the buttons and coloured it using my Hello Honey marker and then finished it off by tying a double bow using my White Baker's twine.

For the base cardstock I used Hello Honey with a layer of Whisper White followed by a layer of the polka-dot Lost Lagoon Designer paper.  The final touch was a rhinestone in the centre of the white baker's twine bow.

I've also entered this into the Stampin Royalty Anything Goes challenge.

Sunshine and Lavender -- Two challenges

I love the new Hello Honey In-Color for 2014-16.  It is so rich and warm a yellow that it reminds me of sunshine.  What better colour to use for a challenge that calls itself "sunshine and lavender"?  Along with the sumptuously rich Elegant Eggplant, the colours just "pop" on my card.

For the sketch design I used the Creative Challenge Club's template as well as stamps from the Hostess set, Hello Love.  Altogether, the colours and the design work extremely well together.  I also threw in a touch of Wisteria Wonder because it is a watered down version of the Elegant Eggplant.  All the colours look great against the Whisper White which I've used as my neutral.

The colours from City Crafter Challenge:

And the design from Creative Challenge Club:

My card:

You can find more cards here at the Creative Challenge Club.

You can also find more cards here at the City Crafter Challenge Blog.

WCC04 - Fringe Scissor Challenge

The new Fringe Scissors that Stampin' Up! offers this year are a lot of fun.  You can use them to make some amazing flowers and, of course, grass.  There are also layers of various fringes and a variety of different ways to put them all together.  So I wanted to do something different.  That's not easy when so many people are coming up with so many ideas.

I decided to make a card for a "tween" girl.  You know, that age when you're not a child any longer but you haven't quite made it into the teens?  Well, I know a number of them and they love glitz and glamour.  The card I made has that in spades.

I began with my second largest Oval Framelit and cut a folded piece of Blushing Bride cardstock so that the top remained hinged.  Then I cut a 1 1/2" piece of Basic Black cardstock and began cutting that with my Fringe Scissors.  Once I had cut the entire length (about 4"), I snipped the piece in half and then shaped the fringe so that one end had longer fringes than the other.  Then I used my Bone Folder to curl the fringe and finally used my Tombo glue to adhere the shaped fringe in a curve on each half of the oval.  Once that was dry I set small rhinestones along the top of the "lashes".

That was okay but something was lacking---hair.  So I took another single oval cut with the same framelit from Hello Honey cardstock.  Along one length I used the Fringe Scissors and made bangs.  I curled them slightly with my Bone Folder and then tied a "hairband" of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon in a bow and adhered that to the "hair".  Finally I glued the blonde hair onto the pink face.

The final touch is the sentiment from the Million & One stamp set, stamped in Black Memento ink across the top of the hair.

For more cards that are part of this challenge, go to Watercooler Challenges.

SCCC33 -- Christmas Colour Challenge

Well, it certainly didn't take long for the new Christmas Card Challenge to come along, but that's what happens when you do the first one so late in the game.  This one is a Colour Challenge

They're really pretty colours together but it took me a few minutes to think what I might have that is current Stampin' Up! product and will look good in these colours.  When I thought about For the Birds I knew it would work out.  Especially since I could use some of my Blendabilities again.

I decided to colour the bird grey because that way his hat and scarf could have the brighter colours.  I also decided to use the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details for the pom-pom and the clear Dazzling Details for the centre band around the ornament.  

To give the card more interest since my image is so small, I decided to use my Decorative Labels framelits to cut out the Whisper White stamped piece, the next layer of Cherry Cobbler and the final layer of Basic Grey.  I also used embossing folders on the coloured layers.  The base cardstock of Smoky Slate looked so drab against all the embossing and colour so I decided to stamp it randomly with my Silver Encore ink using a snowflake stamp from the still-available Festive Flurry stamp set.

Finally I added some stars punched from the Dazzling Details Glimmer Paper.

To see more card in this challenge, check out the Christmas Card Challenge.

I also entered the Inky Chicks Challenge #33--Christmas in July.

SCCC32 -- Peace & Joy

I really am enjoying the Christmas Card Challenge and was determined to post for this week's challenge.  Time almost got away from me, however, but it's better late than never, right?  This week's challenge is to make either a Christmas gift tag or a Christmas card with a tag on it.  I chose the latter.  I've been using the Silver Foil lately and so my first thought was to make a tag out of it.  My second thought was to use the Northern Flurry embossing folder on the Silver Foil.

The embossed snowflakes on the Silver Foil looked spectacular, especially once I put a rhinestone in each centre.  Because the tag looked so elegant in silver with the embossing, I decided to keep the rest of the card simple.  I therefore used the same embossing folder on Whisper White and mounted that on a base cardstock of Lost Lagoon.  Then I cut the top of the tag with the Scallop Tag Topper punch and rounded the corners using the Envelope Punch board.  I mounted the Silver Foil on a layer of Lost Lagoon cardstock and cut that very closely to the Silver Foil, leaving a very narrow border.

Then I tied a bow around a piece of Lost Lagoon ribbon that I pulled through the top of the tag.  Finally I used Dimensionals to mount the tag onto the card at a slight angle.  For the sentiment I decided to use the new Good Greetings hostess stamp set that will be available in the new Holiday Catalogue.  I stamped that in Lost Lagoon ink and mounted the Whisper White label on a piece of Lost Lagoon cardstock, cutting that to leave only a narrow border as well.

I love the simplicity of the card.  I hope you will, too.  For a look at more cards, check out  the Christmas Card Challenge.

Today & Everyday---You Light up my Life!

Sometimes you see a stamp set and know it's meant for  you.  The Today and Everyday stamp set, for example, is one of these.  Throughout my daughter's life, I've told her that "you light up my life" and that is one of the sentiments included with this set.  Perfect?  Yes, indeed, the set is perfect---especially when the Blendabilities make colouring so much fun.

I've used the Blendabilities on Whisper White with excellent results.  The shading and colours make all the images on which I've used them come to life.  I've also used the Blendabilities on such embellishments as the Rhinestones and the Pearls and love the way I can coordinate their colours with the rest of the card.  This time, however, I intended to use the Blendabilities on the Silver Foil.  After all, if they work so well on the embellishments, they should also work on the foil.  I thought that stamping the paper lanterns on the Silver Foil and colouring them would give a real inner sheen to the images.  I was right.

The Memento ink stamped on the Silver Foil brilliantly and dried well (although I did heat set it since I knew there would be no absorption by the paper).   The colours went on beautifully as well.  I didn't even have to use the Blendabilities Colour Lifter because it was easy to leave a much lighter area against the foil.  Being alcohol based, the inks dried rapidly and did not rub off.  So far, so good.

I did not like the huge empty area at the bottom of the card.  Yes, negative space can be really effective with Whisper White or Very Vanilla, but I found it just looked empty with the Silver Foil.  So I tried something new with my Decorative Dots Embossing folder.  I fit the Silver Foil against the front and then used the fat end of my Simply Scored Stylus to "push" the pattern into the foil in a gentle "scoop" design.

I chose to separate the sentiment from the image and mounted it on the card with Dimensionals.  Unfortunately the glow of the silver really isn't done justice in the photograph.  This is one of those times that the real thing is much better than the picture.

I've entered the card in the Stampin' Royalty challenge.