Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #125 - Kath's Christmas Challenge

This week's challenge is hosted by Kath Ricks and is all about Christmas.  But wait!  It's not just a Christmas card.  No, for this one Kath is asking for non-tradional Christmas colours.  Isn't that fun!

I've been itching to use the brand new Christmas stamp set offered in Stampin' Up!'s new Annual Catalogue.  "Nature Sings" is not just perfect for Christmas but for any time of the year if you want to make something "outdoorsy" for the man in your life.   I love the natural looking reindeer and, of course, the trees and branch.

For my card I chose to use the smaller stamp with the two reindeer.  That was the easy part.  I stamped them on a piece of Shimmery White cardstock and cut them out using the Stitched Circle framelit.  After adding a light colour wash of blue behind them and a bit of colour to their bodies, I mounted the circle on a piece of Copper Foil.

Now let's talk about the background piece.  I used the wonderful new Glossy White cardstock.  Then I took my Bermuda Bay stamp pad and my Crumb Cake stamp pad and smooshed them on a piece of smooth plastic.  After spraying them lightly with water, I dipped my Glossy White cardstock into it and, after a few seconds, pulled it staight up and off the plastic.  The results after drying make the loveliest pattern, don't they?

Once that was dry, I stamped the trees twice, using the Archival Basic Black ink and then used my Layering Circles framelit to cut a circle near the bottom right and mounted my reindeer backed with the copper foil in place.  Then I mounted that onto a layer of Early Espresso and then onto the base of Crumb Cake.

For the snowflakes I turned to another brand new set of Thinlits, the "Seasonal Layers".  I cut out two smaller snowflakes from the Copper Foil and then a larger one from the Bermuda Bay cardstock.  

And there you have my non-traditional colours Christmas card.  I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists over at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  After that, link-up your own card for us to enjoy.

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #124 - Fiona's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

Today's challenge is hosted by Fiona Whitehead.  Her challenge gives me another chance to create a masculine card, something that comes in handy with so many men (of so many ages) in our family.

I made this card for my son-in-law for Father's Day.  So he's seen it but now it's being unveiled to the world.  Since my son-in-law is a natural born singer whose voice can do justice to virtually every genre of music (except, perhaps, opera), of course the guitar from the Country Livin' set came to mind.  In fact I channelled a bit of George Strait (his favourite country singer) with that rustic look, the guitar, and the old beater of a truck.

I've used this stamp set a fair bit since it was introduced last year and have been inspired all over again by the addition of the Wood Textures Designer Series paper stack in this year's brand new Annual Catalogue.  There is something about those wonderful wood textures which just asks to be paired with the Country Livin' set.  Of course I've also done some sponging around the perimeter of the paper and the window using some Soft Suede ink.  The window?  Just used my small square framelit four times.  Gives it a rustic "feel".   I think the sponging really compliments the Cajun Craze cardstock which I used as the matte for my card as well as for the sentiment.  And when you're hunting around for just the right sentiment, what could be better than making one's own with the always handy Labeler Alphabet set?

And now I hope you'll check out the terrific cards created by the rest of the Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Better still, link up your own masculine creation for us to enjoy.

MOJO500 - Full of Love for You

Sadly MOJO Monday is closing it's doors with this challenge.  I haven't entered their challenges frequently but those times that I have, I've always found their sketches to be inspirational.

I began with a base of Whisper White and then added a layer of Emerald Envy, followed by a layer of Naturally Eclectic Designer Paper.  I combined that with the wonderful new Sharing Sweet Thoughts stamp set which was designed for the Ronald MacDonald House charity.  I love that jar in the images which can be cut using the Everyday Jars Framelits. Of course the butterflies don't have matching dies but that's what my little sharp scissors are for.

I turned the sketch on its side to accomodate the jar image and so decided that the second background rectangle would be a branch rather than just the rectangle.  For the vertical bands I turned to the new In-Colors and took a strip of the Peekaboo Peach and embossed it using the Cable Knit embossing folder.  Then I took a very narrow strip of the Lemon Lime Twist and added that.

Like I said, I haven't joined the MOJO Monday Challenge frequently, but will still miss its strong presence among the challenges.  Thanks for all the great ideas and all the inspiration.  This card is for the MOJO500 challenge at MOJO Monday.

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #123 - Marsha's "Fireworks" Theme Challenge

Marsha Reed is hosting a theme challenge over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and it's all about fireworks.  This time of the year, that's definitely a suitable theme.

The thing is that I don't have any specifically "fireworks" stamps.  But that doesn't matter when you're creative and have a whole lot of retired and current products just asking to be tried.  Let the fun begin!

I decided to use a nice bright, white base.  Everything shows up well against that, right?  Then I took a piece of Night of Navy cardstock and embossed it using my Softly Falling embossing folder.  Sponged lightly over the raised dots with retired silver ink, that sure looked like a starry sky.

Next I turned to a recently retired set I barely used, the Star Blast Edgelits dies.  With those I cut a piece of Red Glimmer Paper and also one of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper.  After cutting those pieces apart, reassembling them artistically in a fireworks pattern and mixing and matching the colours, I was pretty sure I had created a pretty good display.

But the bottom of the card felt empty.  Yes, I was adding the "celebrate" but that really didn't feel like enough.  Well, from retired set to brand new, unopened set.  I turned to the gorgeous new Seasonal Layers Thinlits.  To be precise, the Adirondack chairs.

The perfect spot to watch the stars or a wonderful fireworks display.  A couple of chairs and two drinks worked out perfectly, especially with the added banner.

I hope you enjoyed my card today and that you'll check out the ones created by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  And then why not link up something yourself once you've been inspired?

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #122 - Libby's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I just love our new Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenges and that's just what Libby Fens is hosting this week.

Funny story.  I created a shadow box frame card for last week's "Anything Goes" challenge but didn't post the one I created.  As circumstances turned out, I created a more masculine one for that challenge and then  decided to put the much more feminine shadow box frame into this challenge.  Good strategy or poor planning?  All in all it worked out very well and I'm excited to share my pretty creation with you.

I had been rooting around in my retired products, deciding what would go and what just had to stay in my stash (I'm a bit of a hoarder), and came across some of the gorgeous (but retired) Co'redinations cardstock.  It was a package of the Neutrals and I knew I had to make my frame using the lovely textured white.

It made me so happy to get the chance to use that gorgeous Bright Wishes stamp set.  Doesn't the wishing well look terrific combined with the littlest fairy from the Fairy Wishes set?  And those flowers and branches adorning the frame?  Those are from the brand new Colorful Seasons bundle.

I also got to use one of the brand new In-Colors!  I wasn't sure what I would think of the bright Berry Burst colour but it's absolutely gorgeous.  The matte inside the frame is cut from that cardstock and the roses climbing up the side of the wishing well are coloured using that ink.  Surprisingly the colour really looks great with our older In-Color, Sweet Sugarplum.

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

I've also linked this card up to the new SUO challenge which, this week, is featuring "Out in the Garden".