PCCCS138 --- Happy Easter!

That little bunny from the Happy Easter Bunny stamp set makes me think of Snoopy (of the old Peanuts comic strip) and his happy dance.  Take away the bunny ears and tail and you have good old Snoopy.  He makes me smile, which is a wonderful way to begin making a card.

The sketch for this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge was simply perfect for what I had in mind for that bunny.

I used a number of punches and framelits for this card.  The left side has Blushing Bride cardstock cut with the beautiful Striped Scallop thinlit.  The centre of the card has more Blushing Bride cut with the On Film framelit.  Then I've used the Small Oval punch for a couple of the Easter eggs and the little flower punch from the Itty Bitty Accents punch bundle for the flowers at the top right.  The bunny, however, was carefully fussy-cut right down to his thin little whiskers.

I've kept the colours to Whisper White, Blushing Bride and Coastal Cabana.  The background of Irresistibly Yours Designer Paper was lightly sponged with Pistachio Pudding and the bunny, of course, has a mixture of neutrals to make him look like a bunny.  All this is layered on top of a base of Naturals White.

I had such fun making this card.  Honestly, the bunny had me smiling throughout.  That doesn't happen with every card.

I've also entered this card in the Addicted to Stamps and More for their Holiday challenge.

And I couldn't resist entering the Photo Challenge at the Around the World Stampin' Up Challenge.

A Surprise Inside! SUO 119 -- Fun Folds

Many of you commented that you would like the measurement for a card that I showcased on my most recent Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop post.  At the time I had not yet re-designed the card for our usual 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" format.  The card which I presented for the hop was very oversized and, unless you make your own envelopes or wish to use a 5" x 7" envelope, the card simply was too large.  And so, over the weekend, I fiddled around with the original measurements used by the originator of the design, Desire Fourie.  Happily, the smaller design still packs the same "WOW" factor and so, today, I will share the measurements and the template.

My main colours for this card are Smoky Slate, Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Blushing Bride and Wild Wasabi.  There are also traces of other colours due to the colourful design I used from the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper.

The base, in whatever colour you choose, will be the "normal" 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" cardstock scored down the centre at 4 1/4".  For the front whatever you choose to do does not affect the remainder of the design of the card.  You probably want to think of a theme.

For the inside, which is what the whole template and instructions are all about, cut a piece of cardstock to 8 1/4" x 5 1/4".  Score at 4 1/8".  Next, follow the template which I show below:

This template should be a large enough file to print out.  The remaining images in this post are reduced files.  To recap, along the long side, cut 7/8" from the edge from 7/8" until 7 3/8" on each side.

Then, along the short side, down the centre.  Each line is a score-line as follows:  7/8", 1 5/8", 4 1/8", 6 5/8", 7 3/8".  Do not extend the score-lines into the skinny areas above and below the cut-line. Along the skinny piece above and below that centre, score as follows:  2 5/8", 4 1/8",  5 5/8".

Yes, there are a lot of measurements in  the eighths, but in order to make the design work in the 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card format, it was necessary.

The template also shows you the mountains and valleys that you will fold.

Once you've decorated the inside piece to your satisfaction, you can adhere it to the base card.  This photo will show you where to put the glue/snail/tape (your choice) in order to make the design work:

It's a bit fussy but the reaction of the recipient is well worth it.  Have fun!

The front of my card.

                                                   The inside of my card.

I've decided to enter my special fold card into the SUO Challenge since they are asking for fun fold cards.

PCCCS137 --- Masculine Birthday

It's time for another Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch and this week's has something for everyone.  It could easily work for a very frilly, feminine card or, as I've chosen to do, a really good masculine card.  I love it when a sketch is versatile, don't you?

The first thing I thought of when I saw the partial circle peeking out from underneath was a doily.  But, I thought, that's what is going to cross everyone's mind.  So I pulled out a bunch of stamp sets, thought about the main rectangle and what I would like in it and knew it would have to be Wetlands, particularly that wonderful sketched Canada Goose image.  Choosing my image put all my other choices in place.  My card would be browns, greens, a bit of blue and, if I could figure out how to use it, burlap.

For my base cardstock, I chose Naturals White.  I love the slightly speckled look of that paper.  I followed that with a layer of Soft Suede which I had embossed using my Woodgrain embossing folder after first stamping it with an image from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and White Craft ink.  The next rectangle was a layer of Early Espresso topped with a layer of retired Designer Paper.  Then I stamped my image onto Whisper White, coloured it using my ink pads and Aqua Painter and then attached it to a matte of Mossy Meadow.  

The sentiment is on Early Espresso, heat embossed with White Embossing powder using the Endless Birthday stamp set.  Three little Soft Suede Candy Dots and some Linen Twine finish up the card.

Oh, yes, I did add burlap.  See the semi-circle fringe under the rectangles?  That's the Stampin' Up! Burlap Ribbon.  Of course I pulled all the woven burlap yarn apart, mounted it on a semi-circle of sticky tape with most of it hanging free.  I clipped off any ragged ends and voila!  I got to use the burlap and still stay with the sketch.  

For more interpretations of this week's sketch, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

I've also entered my card in the Addicted to Stamps and More "make your mark" challenge.

WCC20 -- Buffy's Sketch Challenge

Welcome!  Belated greetings to anyone who tried to visit only to discover there wasn't a post for the Watercooler Challenge.  This seems typical for my March.  There has been a degree of madness during the past few weeks that I can't easily explain.  Quite honestly, I would have sworn that I had my Challenge post scheduled for this morning.  Last night I went to bed, secure in the belief that I would wake up to seeing it on my blog and having comments.  Instead I discovered that no such post apparently exists.  Did I dream posting it?  Did the internet imps come and steal it away?  Right now I'm in the middle of a nasty cold, dripping from every conceivable orifice, feeling lousy and will believe anything.

Back to the Challenge.  This one is all about our very talented Watercooler Artist, Buffy Cooper.  Buffy created a sketch for us and I fell in love with it.

Right away I knew I would use the Butterfly Thinlits die instead for my main shape.  But first things first.  I began with a base of Naturals White and then added a layer of Crisp Cantaloupe followed by a layer of Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper sponged using Pistachio Pudding ink.    I added two butterflies.  The largest was cut from Gold Glimmer Paper and then I added a smaller one cut from Vellum cardstock.  The vellum butterfly has been heat embossed using Black embossing powder and the sentiment from the Good Greetings stamp set.  I also added some Gold Glitz Dazzling Details to the perimeter and let it dry before using Tombo glue to attach it to the larger butterfly.

Two strips of Washi tape, a strip of Gold Glimmer paper cut using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch and I was ready to add three little flowers cut with one of my retired flower punches.  Their shape is perfect with the shape of the flowers in the Irresistibly Yours paper, isn't it?

I hope you'll join us at the Watercooler Challenge with your own version of Buffy's sketch.

I've also added my card to the {PIN}spirational Challenge which has an Inspirational Photo that also added inspiration for my creation.

The Wacky Watercooler March Madness Blog Hop

Welcome to our Wacky Watercooler March Madness Blog Hop.  The fluctuating weather this winter has left many of us feeling a bit like the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.  In fact, there have been sufficient odd happenings during the preparation for this blog hop that felt an awful lot as if the world around me was, indeed, going mad.

Spring is right around the corner.  Actually, the first day of Spring will be on Friday, during our Blog Hop.  How appropriate, therefore, that I had Spring on my mind while creating my projects.  With all the wonderful Spring-themed products in the Occasions Catalogue, finding something to use was no problem at all.

Our Blog Hops run in a circular manner.  What this means is that no matter where you begin, 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 time to check out all our blogs.

If you've been moving forward in the blog hop, you'll have joined me after visiting Anna Smith's blog.  Anna is brand new to our team but I've checked out her blog and love her creativity.  I'm sure you will, too.

* * * * * * * * * * 

This month we decided that we would all create a card featuring a fancy or special fold.  There are so many types of special fold cards and so I had problems choosing just one.  Each time I thought I knew what I would be doing, I changed my mind in favour of a different fold.  Yes, I'm that fickle.  Well, finally time runs out and you can't change your mind any longer.  I decided to make a tri-fold card.  I've made a number and they allow so much freedom of interpretation.  Just to immerse myself in the "world of tri-folds", I searched the internet.  To my surprise, there was a special tri-fold that I hadn't seen before or tried.  Of course that's the one I chose to make.

The original creator of this style of tri-fold is Desire Fourie of South Africa.  The front of the card is quite normal and doesn't hint that this will be a special fold card.  Then you open it up and it's a tri-fold.  I hope you love my card as much as I loved making it.

The front is a combination of Naturals White, Shimmery White, Pacific Point, Hello Honey, Whisper White and Vellum cardstock.  For my sentiment I heat embossed the wonderful sentiment from the Build a Bouquet stamp set on Shimmery White using Clear embossing powder.  Then I sponged it using Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi and Hello Honey inks in the emboss resist technique.

For the inside I went a bit over the top.  Again, I used the same cardstocks and also added the beautiful Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper.  The design of this special fold allowed me to spotlight the sentiment on one side and then also have an area for writing on the other side.  I used more of the images from the Build a Bouquet stamp set as well as the Painted Petals stamp set but the sentiment is from the newly released Lovely Amazing You stamp set.  I thought it complimented the front sentiment beautifully.  What I especially love about the butterflies from the Build a Bouquet stamp set is that they are precisely the right shape and size to be cut using the Elegant Butterfly punch.

Normally I would post a template for my fold but this card is very oversized at 6 1/4" x 5 1/4".  Next week I will post another card using this special fold but I will have re-designed it so that it can be used with the 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" format.

* * * * * * * * * * 

I saw the most beautiful filigree silver candle holder in a shop while I was out of town.  While I didn't buy it, I knew I could re-create a very similar candle holder using some of my Stampin' Up! specialty papers.  The thinlit dies that we currently have available to us were perfect for my project.  I used the Striped Scallop thinlit as well as one of the butterlies from the new Butterflies Thinlits dies.  For my base I used one of the Floral Frames Collection framelits.

Primarily I used the Silver Glimmer Paper.  As a liner, I used the Vellum cardstock.  Inside where you can't see it, I have a circle cut from the Silver Foil so that the light from the battery-operated candle would be reflected upwards.  You'll notice that one of the butterflies is smaller than the other two.  I cut the added small dots away, leaving it as a smaller butterfly.  Actually, I love the way that butterfly looks and will do that again with future projects. 

Doesn't it look pretty with the lit candle inside?

* * * * * * * * * * 

My final project is all about Easter.  Instead of using the "normal" Easter colours, however, I decided to use the elegance of whites, greys and blacks with a bit of subtle colour sparingly added.  I had been thinking about creating an egg using the Chalkboard paper and Craft White ink for a while and decided to make that idea a reality for this project.  I used the gorgeous Something Lacy background stamp.  The design was stunning against the matte black of the Chalkboard.  After the ink had dried, I sponged a bit of Basic Black around the perimeter of the oval to give it more dimension.

The expression "mad as a March hare" has been used for centuries and the image of the dancing hare from  the Happy Easter Bunny stamp always makes me think of it.  Since I am a compulsive fussy-cutter, this gave me the opportunity to give into my compulsion and I carefully cut out the stamped bunny, whiskers and all.  After colouring him with very muted tones, I mounted him across the "egg".  I also cut out the sentiment from the same stamp and created a banner to counter-balance the bunny on the card.

That brighter pop of colour in the bunny's neck-tie and backing the banner is Calypso Coral.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed my part of the March Madness Blog Hop.  If you get a moment, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

Your next stop will be with another newcomer to our group, Linda Wicks.  I'm sure you'll be amazed with her creativity.

PCCCS136 --- FM200 A happy combination!

I love it when challenges work together, don't you?  Being able to enter one card into two or more challenges makes me feel the card is doing a good job for me.  Maybe that's just me, but there you have it.

I really loved the sketch for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week but had a problem deciding just what to do with it.  Too many stamp sets, too many ideas!  Really, having too much is just as big a problem as having too little at times.  And then I visited the Friday Mashup.  They're having their 200th Anniversary and invited participants to combine two of their past challenges.  A visit to their Pinterest collection of past challenges brought my decision into focus.  I could do both challenges, using the Paper Craft Crew sketch and themes from the Friday Mashup.  I love it when that happens.

The Paper Craft Crew sketch is quite intricate, allowing a great deal of personal interpretation.  I decided to use the partial circle as a "peek-a-boo" rather than a layer.  And so I cut a partial circle into my background Designer Paper (isn't the brickwork from the Adventure Bound Designer Stack fabulous?) and mounted the bird image from the Moon Lake stamp set behind it using Dimensionals to give it a 3-D effect.  Having the sentiment on the skinny banner allowed me to use the die-cut "you" on the square piece of cardstock.  The final feather, cut using the Feathers bundle, worked perfectly in lieu of the suggested bow.

For the Friday Mashup I combined FM5 with FM135.  For the former I've included a game or woodsy theme along with some woodgrain.  For the latter I've included an inspired by nature theme along with a piece of embossing (the woodgrain).  They work well together and also worked beautifully with my sketch.  A real bonus!

I hope you'll join us at the Paper Craft Crew Challenges so see what others in the Design Team have created using this week's sketch.

Check out the Friday Mashup to see what others have combined for the 200th Anniversary Challenge.

PCCCS 135 --- What love is...

Every once in a while I come across a sentiment which simply blows me away.  The one in the Build a Bouquet stamp set is one of those.  I love that sentiment so much, in fact, that I designed my entire card around it.  Of course the sketch for this week's challenge at the Paper Craft Crew Challenges was perfect for this purpose.

For me, anytime I think about cards that proclaim love or would be perfect for someone I love, I think of butterflies.  This year, especially, with the wonderful Butterfly Basics stamp set and matching Butterfly Thinlits Dies, adding butterflies to cards is not only easy but dresses up the cards wonderfully.  I love the lacy look of the die-cut butterflies!

I kept the card to very subtle colours, beginning with a Naturals White base and adding primarily white, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding.  Then I did something I don't always do.  I threw in some Blackberry Bliss to accent some areas and love the effect.  It looks wonderful in person although the camera doesn't catch the full glory that is the Blackberry Bliss.

I hope you'll join us this week and link up your own interpretation of the sketch.  Drop by the Paper Craft Crew Challenge site and check out everyone else's cards, too.

I'd love to hear what you think of my card if you have a moment to leave a comment.

WCC19 -- Best Buds

Welcome to another Watercooler Challenge.  This time it's all about inspiration.  Yes, we need inspiration to create our projects, but this is a special type of inspiration.  It's an inspirational photo presented by one of our Watercooler Artists, Bev.  Here is the photo with which she challenged us:

I love the colours and I love the shapes.  In fact, whenever I have looked at the photo, the first thing I see is three sitting cats, probably because it appears there are ears.  On second glance, I see three beautifully robed maidens with their arms to the sky.  I didn't have a stamp or punch for either of those ideas.

I did, however, have an Owl Builder Punch which had just about the perfect shape, albeit a bit less streamlined.  The more I thought about using the punch, the happier I felt.  It's always a good thing to feel happy, going into a new project.

My owls are not your ordinary, rather drab coloured owls.  My owls have a strong fashion sense and are best buds.  Good thing I had the From the Garden bundle for an appropriate sign.  The colours I've used on top of the Naturals White base are Elegant Eggplant and Marina Mist.  I've added a layer of Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper (SAB) sponged with Marina Mist (top) and Smoky Slate (bottom).  I love how the sponging brings out all those leaves and branches, don't you?  My owls are a combination of Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey and Old Olive; Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder and Coastal Cabana; and Pacific Point, Strawberry Slush and Marina Mist.  A bit of Whisper White and Basic Black for the eyes and they're done.

To see all the creations, check out the Watercooler Challenge.  You can also add your own card with the Linky and show us your inspiration.  Just think, if your card is picked as the winner, you'll get to post the Winner's Badge on your own blog.

Thanks for your support.  Leave a comment if you have a moment.

PCCCS #134 -- Boys and their toys

I love the Boys Will be Boys stamp set and thought it would be ideal combined with the current Paper Craft Crew Challenge sketch.

Since children usually love bright colours, I went directly to a bright design in my Designer Papers.  Choosing the colours in the Park Lane Designer Series Paper, I used Naturals White for my base, then a layer of Soft Suede followed by the Designer Paper on the left side and a piece of Daffodil Delight on the right.  First, however, I used my Alphabet Press embossing folder to add some texture.

For my image I used a layer of Calypso Coral topped with Whisper White onto which I had stamped the robot image.  I had fun colouring it using my Blendabilities.  In the lower right corner, under the robot, I stamped the sentiment from the Guy Greetings stamp set and coloured it in using the Calypso Coral to match the backing.

I fussy-cut the yo-yo for the upper right, above the robot and then added some fussy-cut Legos for the lower left.

I hope you'll join us this week and add your own card to our Paper Craft Crew Challenge.