WWC194 - "Anything Goes" Challenge

Oh my goodness!  It's the fifth Wednesday of the month and we're having an "Anything Goes" challenge.  I am so ready for this!  I've been wanting to create a special fun Christmas framed decor item and that's what I've done!

The So Santa stamp set in this year's Holiday Catalogue is perfect for this type of creation.  The images are just the right size for the openings in this adorable frame I found at the Dollar Store.  With the four mini frames inside the larger frame, I had room for each of the three images in the stamp set as well as the longer sentiment in the set.

I took a few liberties.  The image of Santa holding his surf board and that tropical drink does not actually include a palm tree.  But that's what masking and other little stamps are for, right?  I coloured the scene with my Stampin' Blends and love the way it turned out.

For the second little frame I stamped the image of Santa on his motor scooter "popping a wheelie".  When I coloured the image I also left his legs skin coloured to make it appear that he was wearing shorts.  We wouldn't want Santa to be too dehydrated, right?

For the third little frame I again did some masking and added the palm tree.  Besides that I inked his arms, avoiding the cuffs, so that I could make him appear to be bare armed---again, keeping in mind the heat.

I loved creating this piece of decor and now have to decide who will be the lucky recipient.

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also entered this creation in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations Challenge #377 - Anything Goes

Creative Moments #155 - Anything Goes

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenges #189 - Anything But a Card

WWC193 - Tristan's "All About Holidays" Challenge

Oh, I love making Holiday cards, don't you?  And this week it's Tristan's "All About Holiday" challenge.  A great time to try out one of the new sets from this year's Holiday Catalogue.

I've been looking forward to using the awesome new Alpine Adventure bundle.  The stamps and Thinlit dies are so perfect for anyone who love the great white outdoors in the winter.  I decided to use the sled this time.  Instead of stamping it, I chose to die-cut it twice.  The first time I cut it from a piece of Real Red cardstock and the second time I cut it from a piece of the beautiful Wood Textures Designer Series paper.  Once I had both die-cuts, I cut the Wood Textures one apart carefully and glued some of the pieces onto the Real Red one, making a wood-topped sled with a painted red metal frame.  Awesome, right?

For my background I took a piece of the Stampin' Up! watercolor paper and scattered a few of the Prussian Blue Brusho crystals onto it.  After spritzing the crystals with some water, I took a broad brush and spread the blue over more of the paper.  Once that dried, I took the evergreen tree stamps from the Rooted in Nature set and stamped several images in the lower portion using Mossy Meadow.  I continued to stamp some more images using only the remaining ink and creating a distant look as the colour faded.  Then I took two narrow pieces of Whisper White cardstock and tore each on the long side in an undulating pattern to emulate snow drifts.  After lightly sponging the torn edge, I glued one down, then the sled at an angle, and then, finally, glued the second one down.

To finish I stamped the sentiment on the lower "snow drift" using Pacific Point ink.  I used a Pacific Point matte for the finished image panel and then adhered the whole on one of the gorgeous Silver Foil edged cards available in the Holiday Catalogue.  Then, in a random pattern,  I glued on five snowflakes cut from Silver Foil with the Seasonal Layers thinlit dies.  With a rhinestone in the centre of each snowflake, my card was complete.

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations by our other Watercooler Artists at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

Addicted to Stamps & More #315 - Photo Inspiration

What I love about photo inspirations is that there are so many possibilities.  You can look at the photos in the Inspiration Collage and some of the images may inspire you and that's the way you go.  Or you can do as I did, which was to take the colours in those images for inspiration and create a card based on that.

Several colours in the collage "spoke" to me.  I love the repetition of light greys as well as the lovely yellows.  Several other colours insisted on being noticed as well.  The pretty pink, the bluish green and the spot or two of orange were impossible to ignore once they caught my attention.  And so I used those colours to create my card.  The soft Smoky Slate of the card base is also the colour on which I stamped the image.  I watercoloured the image using Daffodil Delight, Pineapple Punch, Pumpkin Pie, Mango Melody, Rich Razzleberry, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz and Smoky Slate.  A lot of colours, to be sure, but then there are a lot of colours in the photo inspiration.

I used the Tailored Tag punch for my sentiment, layering Basic Black, Pineapple Punch and Smoky Slate.  The flowers shimmer in real life because I've touched them with Wink of Stella here and there.  If only such things showed up as well in photos as in real life.

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

WWC192 - Marsha's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

It's Marsha's turn to host the Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge this week.  What fun!  Masculine cards always add to the challenge, making me think outside my usual comfortable "box".  Of course I have enough men in my family to make having a stash of masculine cards a real bonus. 

There are so many products which I love in this card.  That wonderful background, for example, is a piece of the new and gorgeous Galvanized Metallic Paper introduced in the Holiday Catalogue.  I've used the new Tin Tile Dynamic Textured Impressions embossing folder on it and, wow!  Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?  I aged it a bit by sponging some Grey Granite ink over it and the pattern only got better.

The other product which I used for the first time is the All the Good Things stamp set.  Don't you love those Koi?  I fell in love with the movement they seem to have but haven't had a chance to use them until now.  I love the sentiments in the set, too, but must confess that the beautiful words were attached to the large Koi, going in the wrong direction for my vision.  So I carefully cut apart the Koi and the words and can now use them separately whenever I wish.

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations by our other Watercooler Artists at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also entered this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations Challenge #376 - Anything Goes

Ellibelle's Creative Moments/Crafty Wednesday  

Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge #300 - Photo Inspiration  (The colours inspired me)

WWC191 - Charlotte's "All About Occasions" Challenge

It's October and Hallowe'en is getting closer and closer.  When I was a kid, that was one of my absolute favourite Occasions.  Dressing up and getting candy---what could be better?  And let me tell you, I had it a lot easier than my poor grandsons.  Hallowe'en in Victoria meant I could still go out in my Princess gown with a tiara and pretty stole around my shoulders.  Frost?  In October?  In Victoria at that time, unlikely.  It's changed a bit but the climate everywhere keeps changing, doesn't it?  Here in Alberta, however, there is likely to be snow.  Frost is something that, in October, is completely taken over by freezing temperatures.  Trick or Treating here is for the hale and hearty.

For our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge this week I've combined a number of terrific products.  Yes, you can see the little witch and cauldron from my favourite Hallowe'en suite in the Holiday Catalogue this year, the Toil & Trouble Suite.  That "window" through which you're seeing her is created with the Sweet Storybook Bundle.  The wonderful embossed pattern on the purple front of my card is created with the gorgeous Tin Tile Dynamic Textured Impressions embossing folder.  Don't the colours and textures make you want to open that card to see what else is waiting inside?

As you can see, as soon as you open the card, there is a wonderful display of stars thanks to the lovely Toil & Trouble designer series paper.  The images are beautifully coloured and vivid as well.  Several of the images can also be cut out using the dies in the bundle.  The cat and frogs, however, are all stamped and cut out using the actual Cauldron Bubble bundle.  As you can see from the window, there is more waiting inside.

The very inside page of the card shows off the little witch, her cauldron, the spider and web as well as the little frog from this Suite.  What a lot of fun these images are!  The background?  I used the Woodland Embossing folder on a sheet of Pacific Point and then coloured the embossed trees using the White Chalk Marker.  For two of the embossed trees I added green over the white to reflect the green of the roiling cauldron and also to add atmosphere.  I hand cut the bats from some of the designer paper.

I had such fun creating my tri-fold card for this challenge.  Hallowe'en is such a fun Occasion!  I hope you'll check out the cards by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card in the following challenges:

Paper Minutes #558 - Hallowe'en Countdown

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #176 - Fancy Folds

Crafty Creations Challenges #376 - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #313 - Holiday

ATSM #313 - Holiday

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about Holidays.  Such fun!  Especially as we have a number of holidays within the next few months.

For my card I turned to Hallowe'en for inspiration.  My family has always embraced that spooky holiday and I love making cards for it, from the simply cute to the downright scary.  I found several retired stamp sets which, with a little additional help from me, created a suitably ghastly scene.

On a base of Basic Black, I added a piece of embossed cardstock which I had sponged with a variety of greys, greens and some black.   The murky tones really set the stage, don't they?  I used the large jar from the Jar of Love set for the rather ghastly solution with the eyeballs floating in it.  Those wonderfully gruesome eyeballs are from the retired Jar of Haunts set.  I used the mug from a retired set and stamped it with a skull and crossbones from the retired Toil & Trouble set.  The sentiment is from the retired Merry Cafe' set  and the spider's web at top right is from this year's Cauldron Framelits dies.  I had fun with the colours and creating that line of pouring liquid.

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

I've also entered this into the following challenges:

Use Your Stuff Challenge #333 - Autumn/Halloween

CWS #31 Hallowe'en or Leaves (Creative With Stamps Challenge)

Die-Cut-Divas - Dies R Us Autumn & Halloween

Time for a Change!

I've had my blog for seven years now and it's time for a change.  My banner was made up of creations which show off only products from Stampin' Up! which have long retired.  Somehow that isn't the first impression that I want to give anyone.  I do own and create with current products (and the occasional retired classic), after all.

The more I've thought about changing the banner to my blog, the more I've become convinced that I shouldn't be making a new one using any of my crafting products.  That just brings on built-in obsolescence since products are forever being replaced.  And so I've decided to go in another direction.  Why not a photograph from among the many which I take every year?

I didn't want anything too, too personal, but when I came upon this gorgeous sunflower, I knew that my choice was made.  Going back a whole bunch of years, I also found several bees on flowers and also in flight which I had taken at a friend's apiary.  Combining the two images, leaving a lot of wonderful white space to keep it clean and simple this time around, I added my Blog's name to the new banner and love it.

Do you love it, too?  I hope so.  It certainly gives me a happy feeling when I see it.

WWC190 - Gail's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I love our wonderful feminine challenges and had the best idea for a card.  Of course what I had in mind called for an awful lot of masking and planning, but you know what they say.  Where there's a will, there's a way.

You can see that I've used two of my favourite stamp sets.  I love the fairy from the Fairy Celebration set but didn't want to use the branch which was part of her image.  I also love the dandelion clock with the blowing seeds from the Dandelion Wishes set and wanted my little fairy to be hanging from that; flying along with that, actually.  What I had to do was to cover all the unwanted lines of the branch with Washi tape and then I inked up the stamp, removed the Washi tape and stamped the remains of the fairy where I wanted her.  Then, since the dandelion stamp, like the fairy stamp, was rubber, I couldn't stamp the full dandelion clock.  Again, I covered the unwanted stem with Washi tape, inked the stamp, removed the Washi tape and stamped the clock image approximately where I thought it should go with the fairy holding onto it.

After that it was easy-peasy.  I drew in the remainder of the stem for the dandelion clock, fitting it between the fairy's hands and extending past them.  I stamped several more additional seeds to fly behind and beyond the images.  Then I coloured my images using my Stampin' Markers and watercoloured a soft sky.

My base is the Heavy Whisper White and then I've used a matte of Crushed Curry for the image.  After stamping the sentiment from the Dandelion Wishes set, I cut it out using the Taylored Tag punch.  After trimming it down slightly, I cut a matte from the Mossy Meadow.  My little fairy is, after all, wearing fall colours and her girdle is Mossy Meadow.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

I hope you'll check out the awesome cards by our Watercooler Artists over at ourWatercooler Wednesday Challenge Blog. 

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Moving Along with the Times Challenge 81 - Autumn/Fall

Addicted to Stamps & More #312 - Make Your Mark

The House That Stamps Built DCC103 - It's Up In the Air