Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #129 - Libby's "All About Christmas" Challenge

I love Christmas, don't you?  Well, our brand new challenge is all about Christmas.  I love the way Libby's challenge allows us to choose any image or colour.  The creation just has to be about Christmas.

I decided to showcase the outdoors, especially since I was itching to use the new Carols of Christmas bundle.  There are so many wonderful images and dies in that bundle!  I can imagine so many different cards and paper creations.  But back to this challenge.

I chose the Heavy Whisper White cardstock for my base.  I wanted to keep the colours as simple as possible, primarily white and navy.  With that in mind, I cut a smaller piece of Night of Navy cardstock and proceeded to heat emboss white stars across the top, all chosen from the Star of Light set.  Once I finished heat embossing those, I heat embossed the sentiment, also from the Star of Light set, across the bottom in white.

With my embossed areas in place, I took the dual tree framelit and cut the image out, fitting the tops of the trees between the rays of the star.  Then I took the single tree framelit and cut the last tree.  Once the piece of Night of Navy was attached to my white base, the tree shapes just "popped".  To finish off I added one subtle spot of colour, the deer.  I stamped the image on Whisper White and used the deer framelit to cut it out.  Since I like things just so, I fussy-cut between the legs to minimize the amount of white.

This could easily be dressed up with a few well-placed rhinestones or sequins.  I chose to leave it clean and simple.

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

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #128 - Heidi's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

It's my turn as hostess for this week's challenge.  What fun!  Welcome to my Masculine "Anything Goes" challenge.  I love the opportunity to make these masculine cards.  With my extensive family, most of whom are male, it is great to have more from which to choose.

It's funny the way things happen.  When I saw the Coffee Cafe bundle my first reaction was that I didn't need it.  How many people would I send coffee-oriented cards?  But then second thoughts smothered those first thoughts and I added it to my list.  How many of my friends and relatives drink coffee or something else that could be made with this set?  Most of them.  How awesome is the Designer Paper for this bundle?  Absolutely "frickin" awesome.  I love the colours, the designs---everything about the paper.

Using the bundle for a masculine card made me think a bit more about what would make it masculine.  The colours, of course.  And so I used a base of Early Espresso, added a layer of Crumb Cake, added a layer of the gorgeous wood-grain, primarily Early Espresso designer paper and then added a large square of Crumb Cake and three small squares along the right side.  Into the large square I added another piece of the wood-grain designer paper.  Onto that I adhered the cup of coffee, all dressed up with a sentiment and stamped coffee beans.  Into the small squares I added (from top to bottom) a small coffee cup, a leafy branch with coffee beans, and a small coffee pot, all fussy-cut from the designer paper.

I love the colours in this card and know that it will be appreciated.  Especially when it has been opened to expose the Starbucks gift card inside.  Coffee really does help.

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

Peace on Earth

It's been a while since I've created a card for a challenge other than our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  But with the arrival of the Carols of Christmas bundle, I've been inspired to play a bit.  Yes, those large sentiments are great but what I love is those wonderful dies for the trees, deer and starlit sky.

Since the Jingle Belles Challenge is all about a colour inspiration photo, I knew I could create something for that.

 

What inspired me?  The wonderful blues, the silhouettes of trees, the touches of green, and the starry sky.  Perfect for this bundle.  

I used the lovely Night of Navy for my base, added a layer of Silver Glimmer paper and then proceeded to use my dies on the next layer of Night of Navy.  For the top portion I used the starry night die and for the bottom portion I used the "frame" die.  Since those dies only cut into the cardstock, leaving an open pattern, the Silver Glimmer paper showed through and sparkled beautifully.  

Next I heat embossed the sentiment, Peace on Earth, on a rectangle of Night of Navy using Silver Embossing Powder.  I attached that to the "framed area", adding a thin strip of Silver Glimmer paper to the top to continue the design.

Then I cut out a whole bunch of evergreens from a piece of Garden Green cardstock and three deer from Chocolate Chip cardstock.  I arranged those above the sentiment and my card was done.

I hope you'll check out the Jingle Belles Challenge for more of their Christmas cards.

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #127 - Judy's "All About Birthdays" Challenge

This week Judy Markowitz is hosting our first ever "All About Birthdays" challenge.  What fun!  I know that except for Christmas, birthdays definitely demand the most cards from me during the year.

Of course I wanted to use some of the new goodies which I ordered when the new Stampin' Up! catalogue was introduced.   So much to choose from...

Because I'm fascinated with the new Modelling Paste, I decided it would play a central part in the card.  Unfortunately I just didn't get inspired by the new masks (stenciles) and so I made one of my own using the Oh So Eclectic bundle.  The diamond open-work die seemed perfect for my needs.  Instead of adding colour this time, I left the modelling paste white so that it would pop against the Fresh Fig background.  Once that dried, I was stumped for the rest of the card and set the piece aside for several weeks.

I rediscovered the piece this week and suddenly I knew what I wanted to do with it.  I pulled out the new Lemon Zest stamp set and proceeded to stamp the full lemon image as well as the slice.  Just because I wanted a more "lemony" colour, first I stamped the images using a stamped off Lemon Lime Twist and then I stamped over that using the Daffodil Delight.  I like the way it produced a more natural lemon colour, don't you?

Of course I had to fussy cut the images.  Then I adhered them over the Modelling Paste using Dimensionals.  I heat embossed the two parts of the sentiment at the top left and bottom right of the piece using Whisper White embossing powder.  As a final touch I added some of the "diamonds" which I had cut from Lemon Lime Twist cardstock using the same die from the Oh So Eclectic bundle.  In the centre of the die-cuts I attached a small Clear Faceted Gem.

My base is Heavy Whisper White.  Then I added a layer of Lemon Lime Twist and then my image layer.

I hope you'll check out the cards made by the other Watercooler Artists for Judy's "All About Birthdays" Challenge.

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #126 - Fiona's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

Woo Hoo!  Don't you just love that new banner?  I sure do.  And I love Fiona's terrific Feminine Challenge this week, too.  Since it's an "anything goes" challenge as long as the card is feminine, it let me play with a whole lot of new products and a whole lot of ideas.

I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White and a layer of one of my favourites in the new 2017-19 In-Colors line-up, Berry Burst.  After that I just let inspiration take me for a ride.

I wanted to try out the new Embossing|Paste and, of course, the Pattern Party Mask (Stencil) in the brick pattern.  Since I wanted a white background, I added a few drops of Smoky Slate to a dollop of the paste and mixed it well.  I didn't want the bricks very grey but I did want them to show up against the white.  I think the three or four drops I mixed in gave me just the right colour, don't you?  And the unique texture which each individual brick has is absolutely priceless.  I do love the paste.

I wanted a bird on a branch reaching for some berries.  I managed to get that by using the Birds & Blooms thinlits to cut a small stylized bird from a piece of Marina Mist cardstock.  The branch is cut from a piece of Soft Suede cardstock using the new Seasonal Layers thinlits.  The leafy branch is the result of the Eclectic Layers thinlits die which actually embosses rather than cuts.  After using it on a piece of Tranquil Tide cardstock, I carefully cut around the embossing.  The berries are cut from a piece of Berry Burst cardstock using one of the Eclectic Layers thinlits.

Because the bird is my "bluebird of happiness" I wanted to give him a bit of a flair and added a bit of the Stampin' Chalk marker to his chest and wing.  And that left me with the sentiment.

I turned to a retired thinlit to cut out "friend" from a piece of the Berry Burst cardstock.  After adhering that to the card, I carefully stamped "you are my" from the Sunshine Sayings stamp set and under that stamped "amazing" from the Thoughtful Banners stamp set using the Berry Burst ink.

This was such fun to create.  I hope you enjoyed my little "journey".  Please check out the wonderful creations by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Oh yes, we have a new look.  Isn't it terrific.