The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop presents the May Mashup!

Welcome to our Wacky Watercooler May Mashup!  What does that mean?  It means that May is a month where we have some favourites which are retiring, we have some products from the upcoming 2016-17 Annual Catalogue which we have pre-ordered, and we have Father's Day ahead of us.  As a result you're going to see some great creations featuring all those things.

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 participating 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 Libby Fens.  Weren't her projects terrific?

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My first card is all about the retiring products.  I had a hard time with this.  Where would I begin?  So many products and stamp sets that I absolutely love are leaving this year.  Finally I decided to embrace a theme, and that is the hexagon.  Do you realize that we are losing the entire hexagon "family" this year?  My card features every one of them: the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set, the Hexagon punch, the Hexagon Hive thinlits, and, last but not least, the Honeycomb embossing folder.  I've also used all of the retiring 2014-16 In-Colors as well as another retiring stamp set which I loved to use, the Hostess set, Best Thoughts.  With a line-up like that you would think that the card would be a big jumble, right?  Well, it turned out remarkably well, given the numbers of products I used.  But you can judge for yourself.

The Mossy Meadow peeking through the die-cut area was embossed with another retiring embossing folder which I will miss a great deal, the Decorative Dots.  The Lost Lagoon hexagon shapes were hand-cut from the embossed cardstock.

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My second project is all about Father's Day.  For this card I used retired, current and sneak-peek products.  I began with a Chocolate Chip base followed by a layer of Kraft paper with distressed edges and then a layer of Very Vanilla on which I did all my stamping and for which I also tore the edges and then sponged using Tip Top Taupe ink.  The bi-plane is part of the retired Sale-a-bration group, the background mountains are part of the current In the Meadow set (which is carried over into the new catalogue), and the tips of the evergreens in the foreground are part of the retired Wonderland stamp set.  I love the way all the sets work together so well for my little scene.

That lovely little banner in the lower right corner?  It is from the sneak peek of the new Annual Catalogue, from a bundle which includes the banner punches as well as the Thoughtful Banners stamp set.

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For my third project, I turned to my very few sneak peek items and hit a creative block.  My mind simply would not come up with any possibilities.  Two days later, I finally came out of my creative doldrums and knew what I would create, using the new Pop of Paradise stamp set as well as the Botanical Blooms bundle which (hurrah) is carrying over into the new catalogue.

I began with a base of the Heavy Whisper White and decided to make a semi-oval easel card.  Why semi-oval?  Because I wanted the card to be the regular rectangular 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" but I also wanted it to be oval.  You can see from the card how I managed the compromise.  That layer of Dapper Denim was embossed using the Boho Chic embossing folder which I first inked with Craft White ink.  I love the effect it gives and how it emphasizes the pattern.  I used a number of the new 2016-18 In-Colors for this card.  If you look closely, you'll see some So Saffron, Pool Party and Calypso Coral as well.

Card closed

Card standing as easel

Aren't the colours wonderful?  I had a lot of fun making this card.  The most tedious part?  Fussy-cutting the flamingo, especially those legs!

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And that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed creating them.  From here you'll be visiting another wonderfully creative stamper, Penny Hanuszak.

I've also entered my masculine card into The Male Room Challenge which is all about transport.