The Wacky Watercooler September Blog Hop --- Mixing it Up!

September already!  I can tell that summer is drawing to a close because some of the leaves are already colouring the landscape with their gorgeous leaves.  Others make me remember summer is still here with their continuing green foliage.  It's a beautiful time of the year.

In the world of stamping and creating, I love that September brings us a brand new Holiday Catalogue.  I'm always anxious to see what direction my Christmas and holiday cards will be taking.  After all, it's what I find in the new catalogue that tweaks my imagination and creativity.  This year's catalogue took me by surprise.  What a lot of wonderful stamp set/framelit combinations there are, not to mention some awesome combination of stamp sets and punches or embossing folders.

So, back to the "mixing it up".  This blog hop is all about mixing up products that have caught our interest in the Annual Catalogue as well as the Holiday Catalogue.  This is going to be such fun!

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 creative Priscilla Ivler's blog.

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For my first project I made a simple "hello" card.  It's great to have something that can be sent out for an occasion or a simple note.  I kept it very neutral.  This card could easily go to either a man or a woman (or a couple).  My colours are Tip Top Taupe, Pool Party, Basic Black and a touch of Whisper White and Pumpkin Pie.  That wonderful background is a piece of the Go Wild Designer Series Paper stack.  I've also used the cat from the Festive Fireside Framelits dies and the window from the Hearth & Home Thinlits dies.  

I've used one of my favourite stamp sets for the silhouette you can see through the window, the Serene Silhouettes set.  The cat owes its colours to some creative colour blocking with my Stampin' Markers and the Pool Party sentiment is the perfect size, thanks to the Greetings Thinlits.

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For my second project I mixed up some products from the Annual Catalogue with the adorable penguin from the Holiday Catalogue.  Yes, the penguin is part of a Christmas bundle where the Snow Place stamp set is perfectly coordinated with the Snow Friends Framelits dies.  Well, I used the penguin and tie from the bundle but the rest of the elements come directly from the Annual Catalogue.  My background is igloo-like thanks to the Brick Wall embossing folder.  I've used the Banners framelits to cut out a matte in Bermuda Bay and the fun images from the Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper stack as well.  The Watermelon Wonder sentiment from the Amazing Birthday stamp set is mounted on a Crushed Curry "stake" from the Handpicked Framelits dies.  

I love the bright colours in this card.  It was such fun to create and, I hope, will bring a happy smile to the recipient.

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For my final project, I decided to create a fun box filled with candy.  I knew I wanted to use the Fry Box Bigz L die but wasn't sure about using the matching All About Sugar stamp set.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great set, but it wasn't giving me any ideas.  I really wanted to make something for Hallowe'en.  On a whim I went to the Stampin' Up! site and checked out the Photopolymer stamp sets.  I was curious whether the Bite Me stamp set was still current since I couldn't find it in the Annual Catalogue.  And there it was!  The set is still being sold and I was so excited that I had to get up and do a little happy dance.  With that out of my system, I got to work creating a little "ghoulish" candy box.

After cutting the heavy weight Whisper White for the Fry Box, I used a couple of the scrap pieces to create a "mummy wrap" effect.  Stamped strategically with images from the Bite Me set, the box was turning out to be exactly what I had hoped it would be.  The spiders look almost real with the bodies covered in Crystal Effects.

For my tag I used the sentiment from the Bite Me set and cut it out using one of the Tags & Labels Framelits.  I tied it to the bag filled with candies using some of that wonderful Thick Baker's Twine in Cherry Cobbler.  

I love the way this turned out.  I'm so glad I checked to see if one of my favourite stamp sets was still being sold.  If you like the images, you can still order it, too.

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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 talented member of our group, Marie Green.  I'm sure you'll be amazed with her wonderful projects.