Twitterpated --- PCCCS129

The first time I heard the word "Twitterpated" was in the Bambi animated movie.  I was just a child but fell in love with the movie and with the word.  I've always loved words and even then I knew this one was special.

Fast forward to 2012 and the new mini Occasions Catalogue.  Stampin' Up! introduced Twitterpated Designer Series Paper.  The paper was great and not only because I loved its name.  And now it's 2015 and we have a new Occasions Catalogue and a new Twitterpated, this time in the form of a stamp included in the You Plus Me stamp set.  I'm loving it!

The sketch for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week was absolutely perfect to showcase my wonderful word.  The card is a Valentine but its main focus is Twitterpated.  I had fun designing it and hope you love its simplicity.

The sketch:                                              

My card:
                     

I hope you'll join us this week at the Paper Craft Crew Challenges and submit your own version of this sketch.

A Whole Herd of Good Wishes!

Every once in a while a stamp set comes along that is simply fun to use.  The From the Herd stamp set is one of those.  The motley herd of animals just makes me smile and I trust will also make the recipient just as happy.

I've entered this card in the Seize the Birthday challenge, in their "anything goes" category.

The Creative Blog Hop Experience

Thank you so much, Marie Green of My Tanglewood Cottage, for nominating me to participate in the Creative Blog Hop this week.  Marie is a member of our monthly Wacky Watercooler Blog Hops and always has wonderful projects to share.  The Creative Blog Hop is an innovative way to participate in a blog hop.  One is nominated, participates, and nominates two others to participate the next Monday.  This is quite a departure from the "normal" Blog Hops in which we have all participated previously or have enjoyed checking out.  I hope you'll enjoy my project and will continue the creative blog hop experience by checking out my nominees next Monday.

If you're a Stampin' Up! fan, you'll have noticed all the wonderful products in the brand new Occasions Catalogue as well as in the Sale-a-bration Brochure.  I keep waffling on which product is my favourite in each.  It comes down to this:  whatever I am working on at the moment is my favourite.  Fickle?  Perhaps.  But the products really are that great!

The stamp set that I'm using for my card is Moon Lake which was the first stamp set that seriously caught my eye when initially going through the Catalogue.  I love the images.  Since I have a male birthday card that must be made for this weekend, I immediately turned to this set.  I hadn't used the image of the Canada goose yet and so I chose to use it this time.  I thought it would  work perfectly with that wonderful male-oriented Designer Paper, Adventure Bound.  A base of the Kraft paper pushed me in the direction of the colours I would use.

I love the way the Always Artichoke compliments the green of the background as well as the Wild Wasabi which I used to heat emboss the Vellum cardstock banner.

NOTE:  I was very unhappy with the image on the Watercolour paper.  I didn't feel that sufficient detail showed and that bothered me considering that the detail in the background paper was so very sharp.  So I re-stamped the image on a piece of Shimmery White cardstock.  I'm much more pleased with it.  For the most part in this version the colouring is done with Blendabilities but some was done with my Stampin' Markers as well.  You'll have to decide for yourself which one is more appealing.

There are four questions asked of each participant in the Creative Blog Hop:

1)  What are you working on now?  I am working on my next post for the Watercooler Challenges as well as for the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.  As a Design Team member I can't be late.

2) How does your work differ from others in your genre?  I'm not entirely sure it differs all that much.  There are so many creative people out there and so many styles.  I probably fit in somewhere.

3) Why do you create what you do?  I create anything that will give me joy.  I have designed clothing, costumes, knit and crocheted items.  I have painted pictures and murals.  I  have created pottery and projects out of an enormous variety of materials.  I love to create and I love to follow through on whatever inspiration comes my way.  I love photography.  Colours, textures, shapes---these things all inspire me and I wind up creating something as a result.

4) How does your creativity work? That's a question that would have a different answer with each project that I create.  Usually I begin with some type of inspiration.  That could be something I've seen online, in a magazine, or even a photograph.  It could even be a result of a story I've read or a poem I've enjoyed.  Something triggers an idea.  It doesn't have to be the same type of project that I wind up doing, it just has to make a part of my brain begin processing what could be done.  Usually I "create" my project in my head and then it's just a matter of making it happen with my materials.  Other times I will be fooling around with some scraps on my talbe, get an idea from a colour combination or shape, and then follow through on that.  Most of the time what I begin to make is not what I wind up making.  There is not always a method to my madness.

And now it is my turn to nominate two people who will have their chance to participate in the Creative Blog Hop next Monday, February 2nd:  Penny Hanuszak from Penny Tokens Stampin Spot and  Marsha Reed from Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe.  Both these ladies are incredibly talented and it is my privilege to call them friends although we have not met in real life.  I know you will enjoy their projects.

WCC16 --- A CASE from the new Occasions Catalogue

Welcome to another Watercooler Challenge.  This time our challenge is to CASE a project from the new Occasions Catalogue.  You will find the original from which I took my inspiration on page 7.

I like having a base for my card and so, instead of the Adventure Bound Designer Paper going all the way to the edges of the front, I chose to use a base of Smoky Slate on which to mount it.  I also decided that it would look better to sponge around the perimeter of the Designer Paper and so I used black ink for that purpose.

You'll also see that my lumberjack is wearing a Tangerine Twist shirt and has a light brown beard rather than a reddish one.  I've also used one of the Essentials Wooden Basics Elements instead of a button.

I had fun creating my project for the challenge.  I invite you to join us by using our InLinkz to submit your own CASE of the Occasions Catalogue.

The Wacky Watercooler Welcome 2015 Blog Hop

It's a brand new year and a brand new Blog Hop!  This time we're celebrating the brand new Occasions Catalogue and, of course, Sale-a-bration.  This is going to be a lot of fun!

Our Blog Hops run in a circular manner.  What that means is that as you go from one participant to the next, you will inevitably, wind up at the point where you began.  I hope you'll find the time to check out all our blogs.  Once you've finished, you'll have to ask yourself what your own favourite in the new Catalogues might be.

If you've been moving forward in the blog hop, you'll have joined me after checking out the very creative Christine Giuda's wonderful post.  Isn't she talented?

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For my first project I drew Kath Ricks' name which meant that I had to go back through her blog posts to find my favourite among her past Occasions or Sale-a-bration projects.  It was a tough choice.  I changed my mind several times.  Kath simply had too many great projects and, finally, I made myself choose just one and stick with it.  I decided to CASE this project from February 14/12 simply because I absolutely loved the fold that she used and because I knew I could make the card out of our current Occasions and Sale-a-bration products.  This is Kath's card

Don't you just love that double "z" fold?  Open or closed, this is a wonderful card.

For mine I used a base of So Saffron and stuck to that colour as well as Crisp Cantaloupe throughout.  There is also white in the card thanks to the Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper offered in the Sale-a-bration brochure.  Using it is just like doing the emboss resist technique without having to heat emboss first.  I'm hooked on this paper!  I also added gold by heat embossing the butterfly using Gold embossing powder and, of course, I used the Gold 1/8" Ribbon.

I love the way the card opens up when you untie the bow.  That's what drew me to Kath's card and convinced me that I would CASE it.

The stamp sets which I used are all from the new Occasions Catalogue:  Painted Petals and Butterfly Basics.  The sentiment inside the card, however is from the Annual Catalogue:  Something to Say.  I love the Butterflies Thinlits Dies and have used them to cut out the butterfly on the front of the card and to make the stencil for the inside of the card.

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For my next project, I used a mixture of retired and current products.  It was such a lot of fun!  The inspiration for the colours and the products came from the stamp set itself.  I used the little pirate image from the Hey, Valentine stamp set (Occasions Catalogue).  That allowed me to go wild with my Blendabilities.  For the black, however, I turned to my Stampin' Markers and then I added a bit of gold and silver using my Stampin' Dazzle markers.

I took advantage of the wonderful Core'dinations that are currently available from the Clearance Rack at a fraction of their original price.  I love the texture of the paper for the sky and also for the water.  Sanding the embossed areas really made everything "pop".  Of course I had to add some additional dazzle since we're talking about treasure and that explains the tiny circles of gold and silver as well as the rhinestones.

  If you've wanted to try out the Blendabilities, this is the right time to do it.  During Sale-a-bration an assortment of Blendabilities is available free with a purshase of $60 (Canada).  Pricing will vary on location in the world.

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 My final project is a framed piece.  I had a lot of trouble choosing my favourites from the current Occasions catalogue.  Bottom line, depending on the day, I have a new favourite.  There is just so much great stuff from which to choose.  I went for the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper, chose several colours  to compliment my chosen design, and then added some butterflies cut with the Butterflies Thinlits Dies.

I used a square black frame and then added layers.  First is a layer of Whisper White followed by layers of Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss and a square of the Painted Blooms.  For my small square I began with a layer of Rich Razzleberry and then added Whisper White and a square of the new Chalkboard Paper heat embossed with White embossing powder.  The sentiment, from the Hello Life stamp set, looks wonderful against the intense matte black of the Chalkboard paper and also expresses exactly what I wanted for this project.

I went a bit crazy with fussy-cutting out the fern from the Butterfly Basics stamp set.  That was a whole new world of torture and I doubt I'll ever cut that particular image out again.

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Well that's it for this month's projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them.  Didn't I warn you that there were some amazing products in the new Occasions Catalogue and Sale-a-bration brochure?

If you get a moment, please leave a comment.  I'd love to know what you thought of my creations.

Your next stop will be at the creative Marie Green's blog.  Prepare to be amazed.

You Mean the World to Me --- PCCCS128

Welcome to this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  The sketch this week is a lot of fun.  It includes newsprint but, as usual, you can interpret that your own way.

I chose to use the map print from the Typeset Specialty Designer Series paper.  My intention was to use the Traveler stamp set and so the map print was the perfect choice.  Since the designer paper is Basic Black and Very Vanilla, that's the direction I took with my colours.   I used Basic Black as my base cardstock and then used the map print for the lower portion of the card and Very Vanilla embossed with the Tiny Triangles embossing folder for the upper portion.  

For the small rectangle I first stamped the Very Vanilla with the print stamp from the Open Sea stamp set using Smoky Slate ink.  Then I stamped over that with the suitcase stamp from the Traveler set using Memento ink.  I used my Blendabilities to colour the image, using only the Smoky Slate and the darkest of the Daffodil Delight set.  Then I stamped the world globe on a separate piece of Very Vanilla and fussy-cut it out.  Then I used my Blendabilities to colour it before attaching it over the suitcase using my Dimensionals.  I used a skinny Basic Black mat for the piece and, after adding a tied Hellow Honey ribbon, attached the piece using Dimensionals.  My final touch was three dots cut from Hello Honey cardstock using the Cupcake Builder punch, which I topped with Crystal Effects after gluing them in place on the bottom left of my card.

For more cards using this sketch, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.

The Kindness You Show --- FM193

I haven't used the triple layer technique for a long time and the challenge at The Friday Mashup this week gave me the push to use it again.  Looking at my card, I wonder why I've stayed away from the technique for so long.  It really does give a "wow" finish to a card.

With all the wonderful new stamp sets it wasn't hard to pick some floral stamps for my card.  In the end I wound up using Lotus Blossom, Painted Petals, Butterfly Basics and Papillon Potpourri.  Yes, I used four stamp sets and I love the final result.

I stayed within a subtle range of colours, using Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist and Baked Brown Sugar.  For my cardstock, I used Naturals White, Whisper White and Baked Brown Sugar.

Just for fun I set the second layer off-kilter and love the effect.  

For more cards using this technique and/or flowers, check out the Friday Mashup.

Just for You --- PCCCS127

Welcome to this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  We have a wonderful sketch for you.

Although you can use this sketch to make a "normal" sized card, I chose to make mine square just like the sketch.  And finally I used my Tap Tap Tap stamp set.  Half a year after ordering it---it's about time, isn't it?

I decided to use colours that would be perfect for Valentine's.  Even without hearts on the front, the "Just for You" makes me think of an inside filled with all sort of sweet messages.  I went all out using alphabets for this card since it seemed appropriate for the typewriter.  The banner across the centre is from the Tap Tap Tap stamp set as is the typewriter but the tiny letters scattered across the background are from the retired stamp set, Confetti.  I even used the Alphabet Press embossing folder to give the background the same look.  

We'd love to have you join us for this week's challenge.  Just see what you come up with for the sketch and use our InLinkz to add it to the challenge.  Good luck and have fun stamping.

WCC 15 --- Love You

Welcome to the Watercooler Challenges.  Our new challenge is all about "new".  That opens an almost endless number of possibilities.  You could do a new technique, celebrate the New Year, try new colours that you normally don't use, finally use a stamp set that hasn't yet seen ink---like I said, there are endless possibilities.  I've decided to make a card using some of the new products which I'm itching to use from the new Occasions Catalogue as well as products from the Sale-a-bration Brochure.

I kept my colours to just the white, black, Crushed Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding.  For the layout I planned, keeping it to a simple set of colours would work best.  I began with a base of Naturals White, followed by a layer of Crushed Cantaloupe and a layer of Basic Black.  My next layer is one of my favourites from the Sale-a-bration Brochure, the Irresistibly Yours Designer Paper.  The great thing about this designer paper is that it appears to have been heat embossed so that you can sponge it or spritz it and it looks as if you've used the emboss-resist technique.   I sponged my piece using Pistachio Pudding ink.

I also stamped one of the butterflies from the Butterfly Basics stamp set onto Whisper White using Crushed Cantaloupe ink and then cut it out using its matching framelit.  To set it off I framed it with a film strip die cut which I cut from a piece of the new Chalkboard Paper using my On Film framelit.

My sentiment is two-part.  For the "love" I used the little heart from the You Brighten My Day stamp set, stamped using Memento ink on Crushed Cantaloupe cardstock.  After cutting it out I covered it with its matching Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Sticker.  For the "you" I used my Hello You Thinlits die and Basic Black cardstock.

I finished it up with a scattering of Crushed Cantaloupe hearts from the In-Color Sequin Assortment Embellishments and some Rhinestones.

I hope you'll join us at the Watercooler Challenges and try your own interpretation of "new".

PCCCS #126 --- A Monochromatic look at Moon Lake

Welcome to my first post as part of the Design Team for the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.  I know you'll love this week's sketch.  It lends itself to some great interpretations, as you'll see from the cards posted by the others in the Design Team.

I decided to use the Moon Lake stamp set for this card.  As I've mentioned before, I love that stamp set.  I've already used two of the images from the set but so far had not used the one with the rowboat tethered under the tree.  I've had a few ideas for that image, but this time, working with a small rectangle, I decided to make a sympathy card and to keep it monochromatic.  My card, therefore, is all whites, greys, black and touches of silver.  

My base is Naturals White with a layer of Basic Black.  My next layer is from the Irresistibly Yours Designer Paper available only during Sale-a-bration.  I've used it before and it's my current favourite design paper.  It is unbelievably versatile.  For my card I took a piece that had "embossed" leaves on it and drew a line partway up.  For the bottom area I used Smoky Slate ink and sponged the piece until it was evenly grey.  The white "embossing" just popped against the soft grey.  I left the upper area white but from an angle you can really see the glossy embossing.

I didn't have any current black ribbon and so I turned to the retired Basic Black Scalloped Dotted Ribbon.  It worked beautifully with the white and black already on the card.  For my small rectangle I began with a base of Basic Black, then a narrow layer of Smoky Slate and finally the stamped piece of Whisper White which I had coloured using my Smoky Slate Blendabilities.

The finishing touches are a small piece of /Winter Frost Designer Series Paper, a small star punched from the Brushed Silver cardstock and a flower cut from Brushed Silver and Basic Black cardstock using the Bojo Blossoms punch and a retired Itty Bitty Shapes punch, centred with a small Rhinestone.  The sentiment  is from my Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

I hope you'll come and see the remainder of the Design Team cards at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge site.  We'd love to see your interpretation of this week's sketch.

Timber! --- Not your usual Valentine FMS 167

There is a new set in the Occasions Catalogue that immediately caught my eye, the Wood You Be Mine stamp set.  There are a number of things I love about it.  It's a two-step stamp set, which means you stamp the one image and then line up a matching or coordinating image to it.  Those are always fun.  I also love that it's all about an old-time lumberjack and his tools.  How often are Valentine stamps so beautifully suited for giving to your guy?

When I saw the challenge at the Freshly Made Sketches blogsite, I turned to this stamp set.  Along with the wooded Designer Paper from the Santa & Co DSP and the fir tree from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set, the elements for this card picked themselves.  All I had to do was the stamping, colouring and cutting.  Don't you just love cards like that?

My base is Naturals White and I've used Soft Suede as my mat layer for each part except the saw.  My sentiment, too, is Soft Suede.  For the saw, I coloured the handles with the Soft Suede and then used my Silver Stampin' Dazzle marker for the blade.  It's subtle but definitely metallic.  The hearts owe their colour to my Real Red marker and a touch of the Dazzling Details Cherry Cobbler.

For more cards using this sketch, check out Freshly Made Sketches.

Polar weather, making a card and exploding eggs!

Baby, it's cold outside.  This morning, with the wind chill, it reached a frigid minus 40 C.  (In Fahrenheit that would be an equally chilly minus 40 F).  Card making weather, you'll agree.  There were three challenges which asked for winter themes and/or snowflakes.  Of course those are the ones that "spoke" to me.

Somewhere during the creative process I became hungry.  And that's when my horrible afternoon began.  I decided to boil an egg.  Having put it on the stove, I went back to my creative centre and zoned out.  Suddenly, halfway through my fussy-cutting, I heard an explosion.  That's never good unless it's Canada Day and I'm expecting fireworks in town.  Along with the explosion, a clear image of my egg in a pot on the stove flashed through my mind and I knew what had happened.  If I had been conducting an experiment, I would have concluded that eggs can explode when left on the stove in a pot that had boiled dry.  I wasn't conducting an experiment.

In the kitchen I had fragments of egg in places that eggs should not touch.  None on the ceiling, however, thanks in part to the microwave/vent above the stove and the fact that my ceilings are just over 12 feet high in that area.  Thank goodness for small mercies.  The rest of the kitchen was bad enough.

It took an hour and a half to clean everything.  Yes, it's sparkling and wonderfully clean.  It's a job I can cross off my to-do list.  *sigh*  But that wasn't the way I had intended to do my kitchen cleaning.

My hands are unhappy.  I got so engrossed, I forgot to wear my kitchen gloves.  Since they're already cracked because of the dry, cold weather, this is going to be a problem.

I'm not going to boil an egg for an unforeseen period of time.  Suddenly boiled eggs don't appeal to me.  Actually, I'm really not hungry any longer.  This is not, however, the way I would suggest anyone go on a diet.

Back to my card.  Thank goodness it's about snow and not birds or eggs.

I decided to use the Bearing Gifts stamp because it seems so carefree and absolutely joy-filled.  I decided to fussy-cut it because I wanted to raise it on Dimensionals and also because I wanted to cut off the gifts and candy cane.  I just wanted it to be about fun with no reference to Christmas.

My base is Lost Lagoon.  For my background I used Naturals White which I embossed using the Northern Flurry embossing folder.  Then I cut out a piece of Vellum cardstock using the smallest of the Festive Flurry framelits and then put that through the Northern Flurry embossing folder so that it was imprinted with the medium sized snowflake.  With a small Rhinestone on each "arm" and a medium sized one in the centre, the vellum snowflake was perfect to attach to the largest of the embossed snowflakes.  A touch of the Dazzling Details on the snowflakes and the background was set.

I decided to use part of a sentiment from the retired Snow Much Fun stamp set:  "snow much fun!"  To finish it off I chose to draw a word bubble around it and then fussy-cut that out.

Except for the fiasco that occurred partway through the creation of this card, I really enjoyed making it.  I think it's perfect for winter and all that snow we've had in the last few days.

For more cards using the winter theme and including snowflakes, check out the Friday Mashup.

For more cards with a winter theme, check out the "Just us Girls" Challenge.

For more cards with a winter theme and an inspiration photo of Winter Wonder, check out the Curtain Call Challenge.

Let me know how you liked my card and if you've had similar kitchen fiascos, won't you?

Happy new home --- PCCCS 125

This will be my last entry into this challenge.  I've enjoyed all the cards that I've consistently entered into the Paper Craft Crew Challenges since my first one on  and have been fortunate to have frequently been among the Featured Artisans.  No matter how often that happened, it never ceased being a thrill.

Why is this the last one?  Because I've been asked to join the Paper Craft Crew Challenges Design Team and, after catching my breath at the surprise, quickly agreed before they had time to reconsider.  Beginning with the next challenge on January 7th, therefore, I hope you'll come and check out my interpretation of the new sketch and those of the other extremely talented Design Team members.  I'm depending on your support.

The house across from us has been on sale for a few months and a week or so before Christmas it was sold and new people have moved in.  They've been away for the Christmas holidays, but the sketch this week inspired me to make a welcoming card for them.  Along with some chocolates, this will be my small effort to make them feel at home in our neighbourhood.

I chose to use Pistachio Pudding as my base colour and then added white, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral and touches of grey, blue and yellow for my house.  The wonderful Holiday Home stamp set offered me not only the house for my card but also the sentiment.  It was the perfect size to fit my arrow (cut with the What's Up punch) and also had the perfect words.  How cool is that?

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I love the On Film framelits, especially the negative die.  That's probably one of the reasons this sketch appealed to me.  I love it in Calypso Coral, don't you?  Instead of stamping the house directly onto my Whisper White square, I embossed the square using the Lovely Lace embossing folder and then set the coloured house half inside and half outside the frame.

The finishing touch of the Essentials Wooden element under the arrow is just perfect, isn't it?

For more cards using this sketch, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.