The Wacky Watercooler June Blog Hop -- Celebrating the new Annual Catalogue

Welcome to our celebration of the new Annual Catalogue.  It's always exciting to leaf through a new catalogue, oooohing and aaaahing over the brand new products which we can add to our already bulging craft shelves.  This challenge is all about our favourites.  Truth be told, my favourites change with each day.  It seems whatever new product I use becomes my favourite.  Ask me in another month or so, and I will probably have come to a realization of which products please me the most.

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 Jean Fitch.  Weren't her projects terrific?

* * * * * * * * * * 

My first project is all about my favourite Designer Style paper.  While I love the copper embossing on the Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series paper, the endless possibilities of the Irresistibly Floral Designer Series paper takes the lead for me.  There is no end to the colours I can use with this paper since it gives the opportunities of an emboss resist technique.  And the designs?  Absolutely fabulous!

I had a ball with the two designs I chose for my card.  The first one is just a strip of the lattice pattern and I used Marina Mist re-inker, water, and a wide brush to colour the white background.  After it had dried, I "buffed" the paper lightly to remove any blue marks from the embossed area.  The other design has a variety of flowers and leaves which are embossed.  Instead of putting a wash of colour over the whole paper, I decided to watercolour each flower and leaf.  Yes, it took a bit of time but I really like the end result.  The centres of the flowers have been heat embossed with the new Copper embossing powder.  I also heat embossed a spray of leaves from the Kinda Eclectic set with the Copper embossing powder and then fussy-cut it out.

Yes, I've used a variety of colours but they are wonderful together.  In total I used Whisper White (of course), Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Marina Mist and Mint Macaron.  My sentiment is from the Thoughtful Banners set and was cut out using the Duet Banner punch.

* * * * * * * * * * 

My second project is all about my favourite new In-Color.  That was a hard choice.  They're new and I love them all.  If I'm pushed to the wall and have to make a choice, however, I would pick Dapper Denim as my top favourite with Peekaboo Peach running a close second.  Why those two?  Well, I love blues and Dapper Denim fills a colour void in the line-up.  It's a beautiful colour whether using the cardstock, stamping or watercolouring.  I can imagine myself using the colour happily on many of my cards.  Why the Peekaboo Peach?  Quite honestly, it's so different from any colour that we have or have had during my nearly five years with Stampin' Up!  It's not an orange and not a yellow but it has a both a warmth and wonderful tones that make me happy when I use it.

For my card I've used the SwirlyScribbles thinlits as well as the splatters from the Swirly Birds set.  I used the Dapper Denim for the splatters but offstamped once before adding them to the front of the card.  If you look closely, the hint of Peekaboo Peach is actually the cluster of flowers from the Birthday Blooms set.

The inside is a real surprise.  I've added a pop-up butterfly which, after stamping the large butterfly from the Watercolor Wings set using Dapper Denim and Peekaboo Peach, I've cut out using the Butterflies thinlits.

* * * * * * * * * * 

My final project features  my favourite stamp set/bundle.  Again, a hard decision.  I've loved all the ones I've been using.  I was tempted to use one of the bundles but then I realized that my favourite truly is the Country Livin' stamp set.  I guess my family has a bit of the cowboy in our blood because the boots and the guitar just "speak" to me.  I can see myself using this stamp set happily for years to come.

The card I've made is a special fold called the Swing Easel card.  I found several on Pinterest which were posted by the talented Amanda Bates but when I found the instructions on her blog site, discovered that all the measurements are in metric and the card size is different from our "normal" sizes.  And so I adapted the card to measure 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" when folded.  I'll share the adapted measurements in a different blog post.

In order to have the guitar neck stand nicely instead of bending, I had to use a piece of the retired Poster Board onto which I glued my fussy-cut image and then fussy-cut the Poster Board around it.  The colours I've used are Whisper White, Tip Top Taupe, Soft Suede, Peekaboo Peach, Watermelon Wonder, Cajun Craze, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Old Olive, Marina Mist and Soft Sky.  The watercolouring took some time because it was layered but I love the result, especially the beat-up, rusty quality of the old truck.

* * * * * * * * * * 

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, Deborah Smart.