WWC218 - Marsha's "All About Occasions" Catalogue

My card for this week's challenge is a bit of a celebration.  It spotlights products which I'm happy to say are being carried into the upcoming Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue (2019-20).  I am always "tickled pink" this time of the year when something I love doesn't retire.

The pretty teacup, of course, is from the soon-to-be-retiring Occasions Catalogue.  Of course the framelit dies for the set was one of the Sale-a-bration offerings.  How wonderful it was to discover that the two products would be part of the new Annual Catalogue.  Peeking out behind the teacup are the stylish open-work connected hearts, part of the Be Mine Stitched framelits dies which are part of the Meant to Be set, also from the Occasions Catalogue.  I was happy to see those carry into the new Annual Catalogue as well.

That stunning 3-D style embossing behind the teacup and hearts?  That folder was also one of the Sale-a-bration offerings.  Happily it, too, made its way into the new Annual Catalogue.  This is an embossing folder that is wonderfully versatile.  I can hardly wait to try some other ways of using it.

I'm happy with the way these products came together for this Mother's Day card.  I kept the colours simple with a base of Heavy Whisper White and then a layer of Mint Macaron and Highland Heather.  Even the Stampin' Blends I used and those open die-cut hearts carry on with those colours.

Oh, and those pretty Gold Metallic Pearls in the centres of the flowers?  Yes, they've also carried over into the new catalogue.

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

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

Inkspirational Challenge #185 - Tea Photo

Lemon Shortbread Challenge Blog #92 - Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - Coffee/Tea Time

Crafty Creations Challenges #389 - Anything Goes

WWC217 - Michelle's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

How serendipitous it is that this week's challenge is for a masculine card and I need one for my brother-in-law's birthday!  Finally, I get to use that gorgeous Let It Ride stamp set.

My brother-in-law loves horses and the great outdoors.  What better way to use some of the images from this set than to create a watercolour background and then carefully do my stamping?  I used a combination of Soft Suede and Crumb Cake inks for the mountains.  Then I added some Balmy Blue for the water and, finally, some Mossy Meadow for the grass.  Once that had dried, I stamped the trees using Mossy Meadow and then stamped the image again just to the side of the first stamping without re-inking.  The darker and lighter trees add depth to the background.

I stamped the horses using Basic Grey ink.  To colour them in, for the one on the far left, I used a combination of Crumb Cake and Sahara Sand and for the one on the right, I used Grey Granite.  To finish up, I sponged the edges using a combination of Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.

My base is Early Espresso followed by a layer of that lovely and sadly retiring Wood Textures Designer Series Paper.  I love how the colours work together for this card, don't you?

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

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

Stinkin' Inkers Challenge Blog:  Lovely As A Tree

Dragonfly Dreams Challenge - Inclue an Animal

Dare 2 B Artzy April Challenge - Animals

Crafty Creations Challenges #388 - Anything Goes

WWC216 - Dawn's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Sometimes an occasion is no more than a wish to brighten someone's day.  Isn't that an awesome reason to send a card?  That's what I've done for Dawn's "All About Occasions" Challenge, by mixing together the Sweet Storybook and Fable Friends stamp sets.

I kept the card clean and simple by stamping the foliage from the Sweet Storybook set directly onto my base of Heavy Whisper White.  I used the Call Me Clover, off-stamped once.  For my adorable little squirrel, I stamped the image onto a small piece of Whisper White and then stamped the flower portion once on a scrap of Whisper White.  After colouring the images using my Stampin' Blends, I proceeded to fussy-cut them out.  (I need a helpful Crafting Elf to keep me company and do all my cutting.)

I mounted the separate flower on top of the flower which was part of the image, using a small Dimensional foam and some Tombo white glue.  I wanted the petals beside the squirrel's face to be flat against him instead of raised.  Then I added Dimensional foam pieces all over the back of the squirrel and flower image and mounted that at the base of the stamped foliage image.

I'm very happy to share the results in Dawn's challenge.

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

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

CAS on Sunday Challenge #155 - Anything Spring

Inkspirational Challenge #184 - Pop it up!

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #91 - Anything Goes

WWC215 - Donna's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I have a confession to make.  I don't always plan ahead.  Lots of times I decide I want to use an image or two or more and I go ahead and stamp them and/or fussy-cut them  and colour them.  And I put them aside.  A week or more may go by while I'm allowing my subconscious to "incubate" ideas.  For me this system works.  Suddenly I'll know what I want to do and it's full steam ahead.  That's what happened while I was creating this card.

I love the sweet images from the Fairy Celebration set.  I've used them in many ways before but I keep coming up with new ideas.  For me, this has definitely been a worthwhile purchase.  Being a glutton for punishment, I stamped the sweet little fairy on a scrap of Whisper White by inking the stamp with my Basic Black Stampin' Marker.  That gave me a chance to eliminate the flower which the fairy is actually holding as well as the other flowers in the image.  I had a different idea in mind.  Since it's the beginning of Spring and I'm just dying to see some daffodils, I wanted her to be holding one.  There was a perfect image in the You're Inspiring stamp set.  Of course that daffodil was one of two on the stamp and so, again, I inked only the one which I wanted.

As if that wasn't enough work, I decided to fussy-cut the images as well.  Have you noticed the detail, especially with the grasses and those little arms and legs?  Besides my little "snips", I had to use my special kraft knife and mat.  But I had an end goal and that was that.  To tell the truth, the hardest part of all was cutting those tiny hands and fingers so that they could curl around the stem of the daffodil.

My base is the Heavy Whisper White.  Then comes a matte of Mossy Meadow.  The next couple of layers actually have ovals cut into them and then the splattered layer was attached under those layers with the base of the fussy-cut Fairy image between.

I decided that I needed a little something to balance the die-cut and stamped sentiment at the right bottom and so I fussy-cut one of the butterflies from the Sale-a-bration Botanical Butterfly DSP.  I think it worked out just right.  It echoes the colours in the fairy and the Floral Romance Specialty DSP.

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

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

Classic DT Open Challenge #4 - 3rd Birthday Anything Goes

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #90 - Anything Goes

The Creative Crafters Challenge #14 - Anything Goes