WWC189 - Heidi's "All About Holidays" Challenge

When I created my card for this challenge I had no idea that the scene could be taken from real life.  That's right.  I have inches of snow on the ground, loaded on the branches of my blue Spruce and burying my poor hanging basket of flowers.  Winter has arrived and we've barely tiptoed into Autumn.

Just for the record, this is my actual view outside my window today.

You can see it didn't take much to be inspired to create Christmas cards today, right?  I only wish I had some cardinals visiting the suet packs hanging in the tree in real life.

I love the stamp I used.  It's one of the Vintage Collection by Heartfelt Creations, Cardinal Bird Feeder stamp set.  The detail and quality of the image made it a joy to colour.  I used my Watercolour Pencils for this as well as my Aqua Painter.  I appear to be addicted to those Watercolour Pencils lately.  But they allow so much lovely layering and let me add details which are more difficult to add with dye-based or alcohol-based markers.

After checking out some images of Cardinals on the internet, I realized that there is a strong hint of orange and gold to their feathers, especially those on their breasts.  I think I've managed to blend the pencils well enough to give that illusion.  I especially loved the added variety I had with my pencils, using the special set Stampin' Up! added for a short time in August.

You'll notice that we have our awesome Guest Designer, Sheri Lee, with us this week.  Expect to see her wonderful cards for the next two weeks while Charlotte Ehrukainen is away on health leave.

I hope you'll be joining us by linking up your awesome creations before Monday, October 1st at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  To see the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also linked my card up to the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs:  Get Ready for Christmas September edition

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - #409 All Creatures Great and Small

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Anything Goes

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up -  Challenge #45 Have a Tweet Christmas

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Sept 15 to Oct 14 Challenge

ATSM #311 - Anything Goes

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's a theme everyone loves, "Anything Goes".  There are always so many possibilities.

I decided to use my Apron of Love bundle coupled with the gorgeous Share What You Love Designer Series paper.  My base is Whisper White.  After that I've taken colours from the Designer paper in choosing layers and inks.

Primarily I've used Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry and Mossy Meadow.  I also added some Crumb Cake with the apron to carry on that colour from the background of the Designer paper.  I love the little die-cut silver foil scissors, don't you?  I thought they hinted towards crafts without the clutter of a lot more images.  Those Pearlized Doilies are amazing to work with.  I love their sheen and the way they echo the pearlized highlights of the Designer paper.

There is a lot of shine and dazzle to this card with the silver foil, the pearlized highlights and also the Wink of Stella which I've used on the apron straps and around the pocket of the apron.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

WWC188 - Helen's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I just got an awesome die set in the mail and am so happy to use it for my masculine creation this week.  It's from Holland and is called Lighthouse Border by Jeanine's Art.  I thought it was a wonderful complement to the High Tide stamp set.

I began with Watercolour Paper and some Prussian Blue Brusho.  I concentrated most of the Brusho along the lower portion of the paper and worked it upwards with water and a broad brush.  I think the natural Brusho look really creates a stormy sea look, don't you?  While that was drying, I cut the foreground scene from some Basic Black cardstock as well as two birds from the set.  No, not the ones sitting in the foreground.  They're part of the die.  The two flying birds to the left of the scene are die-cut.

Once my Watercolour Paper was dry, I stamped the lighthouse from the High Tide set as well as the flight of birds from the same set.  I made sure there would be lots of room in the centre where I heat embossed the sentiment from the same set using my white embossing powder.

Assembly was easy.  I simply glued the die-cuts to the Watercolour Paper.  Then I mounted the scene to a base of Heavy Whisper White.  I love the results, don't you?

You'll notice that we have our awesome Guest Designer, Sheri Lee, with us this week.  Expect to see her wonderful cards for the next three weeks while Charlotte Ehrukainen is away on health leave.

I hope you'll be joining us by linking up your awesome creations before Monday, September 24th at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  To see the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also linked my card up to the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Guys #203 - All At Sea

Crafting By Designs - You're The Man

WWC187 - Kath's "All About Occasions" Challenge

This is a wonderful time of the year for an "Occasions" card.  Well, besides the usual birthdays, of course.  But it's getting closer to Hallowe'en and there are lots of wonderful stamp sets from the brand new Holiday Catalogue which I am "itching" to use.

I love the look of what is called an eclipse card.  While I didn't create a full eclipse, I love how the raised die-cut letters look in this distressed retired Designer Paper, don't you?  The little creatures all come from the delightful Trick or Tweet stamp set.  They really are adorable, aren't they?  Of course I had to fussy cut them in order to place them the way I did and to raise them up on dimensionals, but it was a labour of love.  Instead of orange, I used the new Mango Medley and absolutely love the softer tone.

In order to have the stamped sentiment "trick or tweet" show up, I heat embossed it using my white embossing powder.  To have the balloon around it, pointing to our little "ghostie" bird, I used a white ink pen to hand draw it.  

You'll notice that we have an awesome Guest Designer, Sheri Lee, with us this week.  Expect to see her wonderful cards for the next four weeks while Charlotte Ehrukainen is away on a month's health leave.

I hope you'll be joining us by linking up your awesome creations before Monday, September 17th at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  To see the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also linked my card up to the following challenges:

Frilly and Funkie:  All Creatures Great and Small Challenge

Crafty Creations #374 - Anything Goes Challenge

ATS&M #309 - CAS

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about CAS--an acronym for "clean & simple".

While on the surface a clean & simple (CAS) card should be a "slam dunk", it's not as easy as it seems.  You have to leave a good deal of white or empty space.  You want your card to grab the attention of your viewers with a minimum of detail.  I love making this style of card.  They make me think and plan a lot more than many of the much more detailed cards which I create.

For my card I turned to the Enjoy Life stamp set.

I spotlighted the wonderful sentiment by stamping that pretty Pineapple Punch background using the image from the Love What You Do set.  Then, after the yellow had completely dried, I dusted it over using my "embossing buddy" and stamped the sentiment with Versamark before heat embossing it with Black embossing powder.  I love how well it shows up using that technique.  I decided to keep with primary colours and so stamped the image of the girl using Lovely Lipstick ink and that sweet little butterfly using Blueberry Bushel.  To finish up I added three pale yellow sequins and the card was done.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

WWC186 - Marsha's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I'm so glad that our challenge this week is a Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge!  I had an idea for a card which will be perfect for this challenge.

I haven't used any of the gorgeous designer vellum panels from the Graceful Glass Suite for months.  When I came across this panel with those beautiful irises, I knew I had to use it for a card.  And why not add the butterflies and sentiment from the Painted Glass stamp set as well, since they can so easily be cut out with the matching Stained Glass Thinlits dies.

This was a perfect opportunity to use the lovely new colour, Highland Heather.  Not only did I use the cardstock for the mattes, but I also used the colour in my new Stampin' Blends for the vellum and in my Stampin' Markers for the butterfly.  And lest I forget, I dragged a piece of the dainty Polka Dot Tulle ribbon across my stamp pad to change it from white to Highland Heather as well.

Since I didn't want the leave the white area beside the vellum panel plain, I decided to use the Hexagon embossing folder for only half that piece of Whisper White.  It makes a perfect spot for those butterflies to land, doesn't it?

I hope you'll be joining us by linking up your awesome creations before Monday, September 10th at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  To see the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.