WWC240 - Kath's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I am finally going to use a stamp set which has retired, the Spirited Snowmen set.  I have no idea why I haven't used this fun set until now, but I plan to make up for the oversight.

I combined the lovey-dovey pair of snowpeople with two designs from my still-favourite Specialty Designer Paper from the Holiday Catalogue:  the Feels Like Frost paper.  What I love is that one side of the two-sided paper has a photographic image on it while the other side has a pattern in white on silver foil.  I decided that the foil with the random white dots was perfect as a background for the pretty "snowfall" image.  And, of course, the snowpeople look perfect against the colours as well.

After stamping the image using my black Memento ink, I fussy-cut it and then proceeded to colour it using my Stampin' Blends.  I used the Pretty Peacock, Basic Black, Highland Heather, Soft Suede, Purple Posy, Old Olive, and Poppy Parade.  You can't really tell, unfortunely, since the camera didn't catch it, but I added some of the Wink of Stella to both of the snowpeople.  The die-cut sentiment is from a fun set of dies with which I was gifted (lucky me, since it works perfectly for this card).

My base is the Heavy Whisper White while the matte is the Pretty Peacock.  I love how this card turned out, 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:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #103 - Anything Goes

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #56 - Anything Christmas Goes

Cute N Crafty Challenge #32 - Anything Goes

Get Creative Challenges #84 - Anything Goes

Jingle Belles Challenge - Goodwill to Men (Peace)

Cute N' Crafty Christmas Challenge #18 - Anything Christmas

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog #66 - Anything Goes

WWC239 - Helen's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I had so many ideas for this masculine challenge!  Finally I decided to use that wonderful "A Good Man" stamp set for my card.  With some masking and several other stamp sets, I created a scene that I'm sure would work for a birthday or some other celebration.

I combined the "A Good Man" set with the "Waterfront" set as well as the retired "Carols of Christmas" set.  I used a lot of inks for my watercolouring.  The background combines the Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate, Pear Pizzaz, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake and Gray Granite inks.  The trees are stamped using Mossy Meadow while the deer is Black.  For the people I've used primarily Stampin' Markers in Cajun Craze, Balmy Blue, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Poppy Parade and the retired Blush Blossom.

My base is the Heavy Whisper White while the matte is Gray Granite.  I love how this turned out, 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:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #102 - Anything Goes

Cute N Crafty Challenge #31 - Family

Creative Craft Cottage Challenge #122 - For the Men in your life

WWC238 - Tristan's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I love our All About Occasions Challenges!  It's so much fun to decide on an Occasion and then to create a card for it.  I've chosen to make another Christmas card simply because I'm going to need them sooner than I'd like to admit.  Of course the fact that I was dying to use the gorgeous Nature's Beauty stamp set and more of that stunning Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper played a large role in my decision.

The photographic images used on this Designer Paper are simply breathtaking, aren't they?  When I saw this piece, I knew it would be perfect for the darling little bunny image in the Nature's Beauty set.  What I particularly love about the paper is that there is enough white and "empty" space near the bottom to allow for an image to be stamped and coloured, integrating it into the paper as if it had been printed there.  In fact, as well as the bunny, I stamped the little bare twigs of the bushes in the lower right corner.  And they, too, look as if they were part of the paper design, don't they?

I used my coloured pencils and Gamsol to colour the bunny and also to add the same blue to the base of the bunny and twigs so that the shadows appeared to be natural.  Continuing with the simple design, I decided to heat emboss my sentiment using the gorgeous Copper Embossing Powder.  I finished the card by mounting the design onto a copper foil matte and then onto the base of Heavy Whisper White cardstock.

A simple design, but I absolutely love it and hope you do, too.

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:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #102 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals Challenge #30 - Anything Goes

CHNC Challenge #454 - Anything Christmas Goes

Crafty Creations Challenges #398 - Anything Goes

WWC237 - Michelle's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

Yay!  Michelle is hosting our awesome Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge and I am finally going to put ink to the adorable octopus image from the Sea of Textures bundle.  Over the months I've reached for it many times, but each time found myself doing something completely different.  This time the gorgeous Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper inspired me to use the octopus.

Look at the wonderful colours in the background.  Isn't it just perfect as an undersea cavern?  Of course my octopus is sporting rather unique colours since I stamped the image using Melon Mambo and then coloured the white portion of the underneath using my Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends.  Who knew those colours would compliment each other so well?  And don't you just love those sparkling black rhinestone eyes?

I used a base of Heavy Whisper White and then added a layer of the Highland Heather cardstock before adding the Perennial Essence DSP.  The netting in the background is cut from the retired Galvanized Metal foil using the matching Under the Sea dies.

In this close-up you can see those sparkling eyes so much better.  I love all the colours and I believe Madame Octopus is quite pleased with the ones I chose for her.

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:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #101 - Anything Goes

Get Creative Challenges #84 - Anything Goes