Wacky Watercooler August "Sprinkles of Life" Blog Hop

It's time for another blog hop and this one is different from others we've had.  This time we're featuring a special stamp set and punch for two of our projects.  It's a special stamp set insofar as it's the one dedicated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities this year.  What that means is that for each stamp set sold, Stampin' Up! will donate $3.00 to the RMHC.  This year's stamp set is special.  It's called Sprinkles of Life and is so very versatile.  As if that wasn't enough, Stampin' Up! developed a punch, the Tree Builder punch, that perfectly compliments the stamp set.  I can't wait to see what the other "hoppers" have done with this set.  It's going to be such a fun blog hop.  I'm glad you've come along for the "ride".

As you will remember, if you've wandered through our blog hops before, our blog hop is presented in a circular fashion.  What does that mean?  Wherever you begin in our blog hop, whether you go forwards or backwards through the participants, eventually you will wind up precisely where you began.  I hope you'll take time to visit all the participatings blogs and, perhaps, leave a short message letting us know  what you've thought of our posts.

If you've been moving forwards through the blog hop, you'll have arrived here from the very talented Penny Hanuszak's blog.

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I kept my first project simple.  The little trees, the bird, and the cloud are all stamped using images from the Sprinkles of Life set and then cut using the Tree Builder punch.  I've used Watercolour paper for my background and mixed some Isopropyl Alcohol and re-inkers for the colours.  The upper area has Pool Party ink while the lower strip has Mint Macaron ink.  For the tree trunks I stamped Tip Top Taupe ink on Tip Top Taupe cardstock and for the foliage I stamped Mint Macaron ink on Mint Macaron cardstock.  The bird was stamped using Whisper White craft ink on Pacific Point cardstock.  He's my bluebird of happiness.

The little heart in the tree was cut with my Confetti Hearts punch.

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My next project uses a special fold.  Laura Lipe wrote a tutorial for a similar fold for the Splitcoaststampers and I was intrigued.  Of course the Windows framelits are retired, so I decided to make my card using the Floral Frames Collection framelits.  It worked out well.

I used the Sprinkles of Life set for my crazy off-kilter ice-cream cone with the birthday candles while the sentiment is from the terrific new Happy Happenings set.  The ice-cream for the cone was cut using the Tree Builder punch while the sign with the sentiment was cut using one of my Handpicked framelits.  I had to hand-cut the candles and the cone.

The pretty background paper is from the Cherry on Top paper stack.  I love the variety in that paper stack and the 6" x 6" sheets are so versatile.  The remainder of the cardstock is Whisper White (both the new heavy weight and also the "normal" weight, Bermuda Bay, and Crushed Curry.  I used the heart punch from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack to cut the heart shapes along both sides of the card.

I couldn't resist the candles sliding off the shiny (Crystal Effects) scoop of ice cream.  Let's face it, that's what they'd be doing in real life.

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For my final project I've CASEd the new Annual Catalogue.  I thought it would be fun to add a masculine card to my post and the card on page 98 fit the bill perfectly.  The Guy Greetings set was introduced in the Occasions Catalogue but was so popular that it made its way into the Annual Catalogue.  And no wonder!  There are so many great images in that stamp set!

The original card, p. 98

Of course I wasn't going to make a direct copy.  Where is the fun in that?  I followed the design and flair of the original with my own spin.  I loved that the designer paper used for the sample card was the new Color Me Irresistible Specialty paper.  You'll probably remember how much I loved the Irresistibly Yours paper from Sale-a-bration.  Well, this one is designed along the same lines, giving the impression of an emboss resist without all the fuss and bother.

I used a base of Smoky Slate and added a black on black layer from the Color Me Irresistible Specialty paper.  The thin strip of Crushed Curry patterned paper is from the Cherry On Top paper stack.  For the centre image and sentiment layer, I began with a base of Smoky Slate followed by layers of Basic Black and Crushed Curry.  The final stamped layer is, of course, Whisper White.

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Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed creating them.  If you get a moment, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

Your next stop will be with a very creative member of our group, Christine Giuda.  I'm sure you'll be amazed with her wonderful projects.