WWC83 - Thinking of You

This week Penny is hosting a Tic Tac Toe challenge and she's offered some terrific choices.  I love Tic Tac Toe challenges anyway, but it's so much more fun when the choices are varied and offer more of a challenge.

I decided to do the first column vertically but you'll notice that some of the other choices made their way into my card anyway.

For a fun fold I turned to a fold I had seen a few weeks back and with which I was intrigued.  You can see Chris Slogar's card here.  I believe this fold has been around for some time, but this was the first I had seen of it so I'm giving credit to Chris.  She calls it a Twist and Turn fold.  Yes, there is a lot of twisting and turning but in the end this fold has a lot of WOW to it.  I'm not going to bother with the instructions or dimensions because Chris offers all that on her post.

Isn't that a great fold?  Of course I've used the beautiful Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper stack as my background paper and it is gorgeous all on its own.  Along with it I've used the Best Birds stamp set and matching Birds & Blooms Thinlits.  Don't the leaves look similar to the leaves in the background?  For the berries I decided to use the new Copper Foil and stamped the berries using Black StazOn so that it would properly stay on the foil.

For my base I used Heavy Whisper White and then used a matte of Early Espresso behind each piece of Designer Paper.  I coloured the bird and branch with my Aqua Painter and Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Delightful Dijon, Old Olive and Pear Pizzaz inks.  I heat embossed the sentiment from the Wetlands set on Early Espresso using the lovely Copper embossing powder and then cut it out using the Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits.  I hand cut a matte of Whisper White for it to help it stand out against the background.

The great thing about this fold is that there is ample room to stamp a greeting inside.

The diamond shaped fold at the side also lifts up and exposes the lovely paper underneath.

I hope you'll check out the other Tic Tac Toe samples created by the Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I look forward to seeing your card linked up this week.

I've also linked my card up to this week's SIP Challenge #63 since it's all about wings.

PCCC209 - Just Sayin' Hello!

I love Tic Tac Toe challenges, don't you?  Having all those choices but also having to stay within three in a row.  It makes it a bit more challenging but lots of fun.  Well, that's what we're doing over at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week.

I decided to go right through the centre, horizontally.  In other words, my three choices were Natural Element, Any Blue and Summer Food.  What did I decide to use for each?  My natural element could be either a tree branch or the wonderful bokeh of the background.  My blue is the ever lovely Marina Mist which I've used both in the faerie's wings and in the die-cut "Hello".   My summer food?  Cherries, of course.  Those are one of my favourtie summer foods, especially right from the tree.

Paper:  Soft Suede,  Marina Mist, Serene Scenery Designer Series Stack, Shimmery White, Vellum

Inks: Basic Black Archival, Real Red, Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Versamark

Stamp Sets:  Fairy Celebration, Crazy About You

Tools, etc:  Paper Snips, Hello You Thinlits, Very Vanilla Candy Dots, Black Embossing Powder

I love the way this card came together.  It's very carefree and fun.  I hope you'll check out the other Design Team cards over at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

I've also entered this card in the Stamp, Ink, Paper Challenge since it's all about wings.

WWC82 - Friendship is a Sheltering Tree

It's Libby Fens' turn to host our theme challenge this week and so it's all about trees.  What a great theme, considering how many wonderful trees and leaves there are among Stampin' Up!'s current products.

Since I was itching to play with the new Presents & Pinecones suite, I decided to combine the wonderful evergreen tree from the classic Lovely as a Tree set with the new Pine Bough embossing folder.  And what a great combination they make!  I used a base of the Heavy Whisper White followed by a layer of Wild Wasabi cardstock.  Then I added a piece of Whisper White onto which I first stamped the evergreen using Almost Artichoke and Soft Suede.  After that I lined up the Pine Bough embossing folder to avoid the stamped tree and still leave room for a sentiment.

To give added definition and interest to the embossed pine boughs, I used my Aqua Painter and Soft Suede to trace along the woody portion.  Then I softly sponged over portions of the raised embossing with Almost Artichoke ink followed by sponging with Wild Wasabi ink.  For my sentiment I turned to the Sheltering Tree set and stamped it using Wild Wasabi ink.  The bit of background detail?  Just a repeated stamping with the snowflakes images from the Christmas Pines set using Soft Sky ink.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful cards by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge this week.

PCCCS208 - Heartfelt Greetings, Merry Christmas

The new sketch at the Paper Craft Crew Challenges immediately made me want to play with some of my new goodies from the Holiday Catalogue.

When I looked through the new Holiday Catalogue, I fell in love with the Presents & Pinecones Suite.  What fun to use an embossing folder that matches a stamp set AND also matches a thinlits set!  And, of course there are all the little additional add-ons that are hard to resist like the gorgeous Designer Series paper and the stunning embellishments.  But more on that when you have your own Holiday Catalogue in your hands.  For now, let's just play with the stamp set and the thinlits.  

Stamp Sets:  Christmas Pines, Cookie Cutter Christmas, Snow Place, You've Got This

Paper:  Early Espresso, Whisper White, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede, Red Glimmer

Inks:  Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede, Real Red, Versamark

Tools:  Pretty Pines Thinlits, Snow Friends Framelits, White Embossing Powder

Embellishments:  Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details

I hope you'll check out the other cards created by the Design Team at the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.

The Wacky Watercooler August 2016 Blog Hop -- Stepping it Up: One, Two, Three!

Welcome to our August Blog Hop.  This month we're trying something we have never tried before.  You've heard of "stepping it up", right?  You begin with something simple, then step it up with some additional decorations, and finally step it up with dazzling details.  That's what we decided to do this month.  Expect to be surprised at how much a card can be changed.

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 Fiona Whitehead.  Fiona has joined our group for the very first time this month.  She lives in England and has been quite regular in participating in our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I'm sure you were delighted with her projects.  Weren't they terrific?

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My first project could easily be considered "simply stamping".  I've used the new Cookie-Cutter Christmas stamp set for the images and sentiment.  This is a perfect project for someone just coming into the stamping world with little more at their disposal than stamps, ink and cardstock.  Even kept simple, however, a card can be a showpiece.  For mine I've used the Heavy Whisper White as my base and  then stamped the image of the little bear on a much smaller piece of Whisper White.  I cut the piece to 2 3/8" x 3 3/4" and stamped the bear slightly high but centred.  This way I was able to stamp the sentiment using Real Red underneath the bear.

I kept everything simple by using only three colours for stamping.  The bear is stamped using Crumb Cake ink, his face is stamped using Early Espresso ink and the little bow tie and sentiment are both stamped using Real Red ink.  Inside the card I've stamped a sentiment using Early Espresso ink.

To help the stamped piece of Whisper White stand out and to add more interest to the card, I've mounted it on a 2 5/8" x 4" piece of Real Red cardstock.  It's a simple card that anyone would be proud to make or happy to receive.

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For my second project I stepped it up by adding a variety of designs from the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series paper.  I chose to keep the same layout and, besides the simple stamping which I did for the initial card, I used my Stampin' Trimmer to cut a variety of sizes of cardstock and Designer paper to dress up the card.  Instead of leaving the large white frame around my image, for example, I've added a layer of Early Espresso before attaching a background of candy canes and white frosting flourishes.  I've added a "girdle" of diagonal stripes backed with Crumb Cake cardstock.

My centre image is stamped on a piece of Whisper White as before but this time I've mounted it on a wider piece of Real Red cardstock and have added a strip of Designer paper to the left side.  Once that was all stamped and assembled, I used Dimensionals to add it to the card.

For the inside of my card I added a strip of diagonal striped Designer paper to the top and bottom before stamping a sentiment from the Wondrous Wreath stamp set. using Early Espresso.  I'm sure you'll agree that this card, although basically the same design, is quite a step up from the original card.

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For my third project I went all out.  I used the same little bear image and sentiment as I did on the previous cards and maintained the same colour palette.  That's where the similarities end.  

I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White onto which I added a piece of Real Red.  Then I cut a slightly smaller piece of parquet-style wood image from the Serene Scenery Designer Series paper stack.  It was perfect since the colours in the piece were various shades of Crumb Cake.  I used the round-cornered rectangle from the Project Life Cards & Labels framelits to cut out a section, slightly offset from the centre.  Then I lightly sponged the opening with Early Espresso ink to make it stand out.  Before adding it to the Real Red matte, I cut a piece of Whisper White which I embossed using the Softly Falling embossing folder.  I made sure the embossed piece was centred in the rectangular cut-out when I attached the pieces to the card.

I stamped my bear as usual on a piece of Whisper White and then used the Cookie Cutter Builder punch to cut him out.  I also cut out two little white hearts and a Red Glimmer paper bow tie using the same punch.  Of course I wanted to use some of the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series paper and so I fussy-cut out one of the adorable gingerbread houses.  Once I mounted the bear and house on the embossed Whisper White using Dimensionals, the card already began looking more festive.  

Using the same punch, I cut out ten little Red Glimmer paper hearts and glued them along the wider right hand side of the Designer Paper.  Then I used the Number of Years stamp set and, on a scrap of Whisper White, stamped the banner using Real Red ink.  Carefully centring it, I added the same sentiment I had used on the previous cards using Early Espresso.  After using the banner framelit from the Large Numbers framelits to cut the banner, I gently sponged around the perimeter using Early Espresso ink.  I used Dimensionals to add the banner to the card as well.

To finish up the front of the card I took several lengths of the Whisper White with red metallic thread Candy Cane Lane Baker's Twine and tied them into a bow.  Then I took a length of the Real Red Baker's Twine and threaded a mini red Jingle Bell onto it before gluing it around the centre of the bow.  Using glue dots, I adhered the bow to the upper left corner of the rounded rectangle.  If you look closely, you'll see that I also went over all the white in the gingerbread house with the clear Wink of Stella.

The inside of the card is stamped first with the star flourish from the Star of Light stamp set using Crumb Cake ink and then stamped with a sentiment from that set using Early Espresso.  To enhance the star flourish and add a bit of dazzle, I added the clear Wink of Stella to the larger stars.

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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 added my last card to the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge since it was such fun to create.

WWC81 - It's a Good Day!

It's time for another challenge and this week it's being hosted by Gail Allen.  I love colour challenges and the colours which Gail chose work beautifully together.  The hardest part of the challenge was committing to just one project.  Yes, that's how much I loved the colours.

Aren't they great?  I had a lot of things in mind, including a pretty sunset, etc.  But in the end I couldn't resist using the adorable little frog from the Hostess set, Love You Lots, again.  What can I say?  He makes me smile.

I decided to try a technique I've seen used on several cards over the past few months.  One cuts the front of the card apart and leaves a gap which one connects with a narrower shape, leaving a visually very distinctive card.  For mine I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White which I cut to 4 1/4" x 7 1/2" and then I cut another piece measuring 4 1/4" x 2".   I scored the longer piece at 5 1/2".   To link the 2" piece at the top of the card with the 2" piece that was all by itself, I cut a piece of Heavy Whisper White using the largest of my Banner Framelits, but kept it to a shortened 4 1/2".  That is what I used to link the two front pieces together.

I combined a number of stamp sets for my card.  The umbrella is from the Weather Together set, the grass is from the In the Meadow set, and the sentiment is from the Best Birds set.  I've already mentioned the frog.  That is definitely my favourite Hostess set this year.  Because the umbrella had to have a reason for being there, I decided to create a nice, bright sun using the Daffodil Delight and Peekaboo Peach, cut with the Swirly Scribbles thinlits and pieced together.  The floral background comes from the 2016-18 In-Colors Designer Series Stack and is perfect for this happy little card.

Like I said, this frog makes me smile.  I hope you like him, too.  Don't forget to check out the wonderful creations by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge this week.  And then, think about linking up your creation for us to enjoy.

I have two grandsons who insist that frogs are "cute and cuddly" and so, bowing to their expertise in these matters, I am linking my card to the SUO challenge which is for "cute and cuddly".

PCCCS207 - Love You!

I had a lot of fun with the new sketch at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week.  Strangely enough, the only things I've stamped on the entire card are the "you" which I've taken from the "thank you" in the Thoughtful Banners set and the tiny bow which is from the retired Festive Fireplace set.

My card wound up being a combination of die-cuts, washi tape and the new Sparkle embossing folder.  I took my inspiration for the colours from the Pop of Pink Designer Washi Tape.  As a result, my base cardstock is the Heavy Whisper White followed by a layer of Basic Black embossed with the Sparkle embossing folder.

For my shape I used the pre-cut gold doily shape topped by a circle of scribbles in Melon Mambo using the Swirly Scribble Framelits.  Before attaching the scribbles, I added a Whisper White circle to the middle of the gold doily.  It really helped the die-cut "love" stand out.  Below the "love" I stamped the "you" which I've already mentioned.

For the top right corner I added two strips of the Washi Tape since that was the inspiration for all my colours.  Finally I added several small stars using the Starlight Thinlits from the Holiday Catalogue.

I hope you'll check out the other cards created by the Design Team at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

I've also entered this card in the "Anything Goes" Stampin' Royalty Challenge.

WWC80 - Heidi's Clean & Simple "Water" Challenge

I am thrilled to be the hostess for today's Watercooler Wednesday Challenge!  I'm presenting a clean and simple challenge with a "water" theme.  Clean and simple is a much debated technique, but for this challenge it is cut and dry.  Our Watercooler Artists' team got together and created the following rule of thumb:

Either a single layer upon which we stamp or a base with a single layer upon which we stamp. Since we use embellishments for any other type of card, no embellishments or die-cuts or anything except the simplicity of stamping for the "clean & simple". That gives a clear reason for its name. And what is simpler than stamping? That will allow heat embossing since, if one decides to use a colour, heat embossing would show better than simple stamping. But no e f embossing. Clean and simple.

It's easy to follow and gives you a good idea of what we'll be looking for if you link up to our challenge.

There are so many awesome ways in which you can use water.  I found myself coming up with far too many ideas and had to get back to reality and think seriously about what could work out best for my clean and simple challenge.  Finally I decided that I would use the Gorgeous Grunge and Wetlands sets.  Together they work well to give the illusion of an beachfront scene, don't they?  I especially love the splashes of water at the two corners of my scene.  That's how it happens when the waters move in and splash over the rocks.

I only used four colours for my card and stamped them as well as used my AquaPainter with them to get this effect.  The corner water is Tempting Turquoise with a "splash" of the Craft Whisper White stamped over it.  The centre water is painted with my AquaPainter as is the sand.  Again, the water is Tempting Turquoise and the sand is Crumb Cake.  The reeds near the bottom are stamped using the Archival Basic Black as are the sandpipers and the sentiment.

The entire scene was created on a single sheet of Heavy Whisper White cardstock.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful cards created by the Watercooler Artists for our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge this week.  Perhaps they'll inspire you to link up your own creation for this challenge.

Since the "Just Us Girls" Challenge has a word challenge this week, with a water theme, I am also linking to that challenge.

PCCCS206 - Thank You

It's time for another challenge at the Paper Craft Crew Challenges but this one is not based on a sketch.  This time it's all about the Designer Series Paper.

I decided that the best way to show off several Designer Series patterns would be to create a collar fold card.  That way both sides of the beautiful Designer Series paper would show and also, by cutting the leaves for my flower from the Crisp Cucumber pattern in the 2015-17 In-Color Designer Series paper stack, I would be showing that off as well.

I used the Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper as my design choice.  From that I pulled the colours for my card:  Crumb Cake for the base and then a layer of Night of Navy.  My flower is cut from Watermelon Wonder using the Botanical Builder framelits and the leaves were cut from the Crisp Cucumber pattern as I mentioned, using the Festive Flower Builder punch.   Finally, I heat embossed the sentiment from the Happy Happenings set using Copper embossing powder.

I hope you'll check out the other Design Team cards at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

WWC79 - Kath's Sketch Challenge

I really enjoy sketch challenges!  Kath Ricks is our hostess for this week's challenge and the sketch challenge which she has posted lends itself to a lot of creative interpretation.  This time, however, I did not flip the sketch on its side or do anything else drastic to change it.

I had a clear idea of what I wanted to create using this sketch.  Actually, the scene I had in mind would have worked equally well no matter which way I had flipped the sketch.  That's one of the reasons I left it as presented.  Why bother changing the direction if, in the long run, it doesn't add to the design?

In my mind, I saw a frog on a lily pad with water rippling in the background.  The water was an easy choice.  I took a piece of Pool Party cardstock, cut the size of rectangle I wanted, and embossed it using the versatile Seaside embossing folder.  To emphasize the ripple effect, I sponged over the raised pattern using Pool Party ink and also added a bit of sponging to the perimeter of each piece once I cut the rectangle into three pieces.

Next came the lily pad and for that I had decided to use Emerald Envy cardstock cut using the largest circle of the Swirly Scribbles thinlits.  I kept the centre cut-out and sponged it using Emerald Envy ink to give it more substance and have it stand out against the rest of the die-cut.  For fun I added a lily to the pad using Blushing Bride and Sweet Sugarplum cardstocks cut using the small swirly circle.  I used the Blushing Bride die-cut and filled the negative bits from the Sweet Sugarplum into the blanks to add to the lily effect.

My frog was simply fun!  I love the little frog image from the Hostess set, Love You Lots, and stamped it on Shimmery White cardstock using Archival Basic Black ink.  Once that had dried, I used my Aquapainter to  bring him to life.  Finally I fussy-cut him and he was ready for the card.

My base is Whisper White Heavy cardstock followed by a layer of Island Indigo.  Then I've added the embossed Pool Party pieces.  The swirly area of the lily pad is simply glued in place but the centre is raised slightly on Dimensionals.  The lily, on the other hand, is simply glued in place.  My frog is raised on Dimensionals, showing up nicely against the lily.  A tiny heart cut from Red Glimmer paper with the Owl Builder Punch completes my card.

There are some wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists posted to our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I hope you'll join us and link your own card this week.

PCCCS205 - Thank You

I loved the sketch for this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge and am sure you will, too.

I decided to make a vintage style Thank You card for this challenge.  For my base I've used the Crumb Cake and then added a layer of Whisper White onto which I've stamped images from the Butterfly Basics and Timeless Textures sets using stamped off Crumb Cake and Sweet Sugarplum inks.

For my Designer Paper rectangle, I used the Irresistibly Floral design inked up with Crumb Cake using a sponge brayer.  I backed that with a piece of Crumb Cake and added it to the card after adding a piece of the Ruched Sweet Sugarplum ribbon.

Finally I stamped my oval using an image from the Butterfly Basics set and coloured it using my AquaPainter.  After adding the oval (backed with a larger oval of Sweet Sugarplum) to the card, raised on Dimensionals, I finished up with several Rhinestones and a bow in the Ruched Sweet Sugarplum ribbon.

I hope you'll join us this week with your own interpretation of this sketch.