WWC282 - Fifth Week Anything Goes Challenge

Every month which has five Wednesdays we have a special challenge for our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  It's an Anything Goes challenge and I decided to create another special fold.  This time it's very simple.  It's a gate-fold but is made special  by the gorgeous Designer Paper which I used.

I used the Heavy Whisper White for my base, cutting it to 5 1/2" x 8  1/2".  The gate-fold is created by scoring first at 2 1/2" and then at 6 3/4".  I purposely made an uneven gate.  The Designer paper seemed to want to be cut at that point and so I went along with it.  My matte is the lovely Highland Heather cardstock.  The Designer Paper is the retired but, nevertheless stunning, Perrennial Essence.

 At this slight angle, you can just see how I've added some sparkle to the centres of the blossoms  with my Sheer Shimmer Stix Dauber.  It compliments the sparkle of the scalloped circle mattle under the stitched circle of the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment using  Rich Razzleberry ink which is close to the warm tones in the blossoms.  The little butterfly is sparkly as well, cut from glitter paper. 

For the inside of the card, I kept it simple.  I cut a piece of 4 1/2" x 3 1/4" Highland Heather cardstock and then added a piece of 4 1/4" x 3" Whisper White on which I stamped a little butterfly and blossoms, leaving lots of room for a written greeting.

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday,  August 3rd.

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

 Lemon Shortbread Challenge #125 - Anything Goes

A Place to Start July 2020 Challenge - Flowers (Flowers, Floral Papers, etc)

WWC281 - Heidi's Challenge: All About Occasions

It's my turn as host for our awesome Watercooler Challenge this week.  One occasion for which I'm always needing more cards is when I'm sending thanks to someone.  I always seem to run out of Thank You cards.  So that's what I decided to make using some fun retired patterned paper as well as those adorable little House Mouse images.

This is a special fold which I saw on Mary Brown's blog and had to try myself.  If you're curious about Mary's, just click here.  It's actually an easy fold (which is always nice, right?) and helps to use up some of the patterned paper we all seem to wind up hoarding.

You begin with a piece of 5 1/2 x 12 patterned paper.  It works best if your paper isn't strictly "one direction" on one side.  From there you score at 2", 4", 8", and 10".  At each end, you cut diagonally from the fold line to the centre of the edge, as you can see from the pic:

Keep those little triangular pieces.  You're going to glue them onto the uncut end of that last fold as you can see from the pic:

Once glued on with all the folds in place, you will have a special fold card ready to decorate:

On a piece of Mixed Media paper, I stamped the adorable little images from Ellen Jareckie's Acorn Cap House Mouse set.  Perfect for the patterned paper which I used, right?  After using my stitched oval die to cut out the image, I proceeded to watercolour it using my favourite Derwent Watercolour Pencils and Aquapainter.  When the colours were dry, I added some Sakura Glaze to the nut portion of the acorns.

 To finish up I cut a 3" x 4 1/4" piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, added two fussy-cut acorns, and glued it to the centre of the inside of the card. 

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, July 27th.

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

 HMFMC #321 - Anything Goes ( Option: use a number)

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #124 - Anything Goes

WWC280 - Kath's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

With Kath's masculine challenge, I thought it was the perfect time to play with the fun (and new) stamp set I bought from Art Impressions.  The images are by Bonnie Krebs and reflect her usual humorous look at life.

This is what happens when men go hunting.  If one of them is celebrating a birthday, all bets are off.  Clearly both the birthday boy and the birthday cake have gone missing.  Are they carrying their guns for any reason other than protecting themselves from wild bear and disgruntled deer?  We'll never know.   What happens in the woods, stays in the woods.

I had such fun watercolouring Bonnie's terrific images.  Keeping each of the men separate and giving each a bit of a different look took a bit of time and a lot of thought, but I think, in the end, it worked out well.  I used Mixed Media paper for the watercoloured image and, of course, my favourite Derwent watercolour pencils.  I used a matte of Gray Granite and the base is simply white.

In this slightly off centre photo, you can just see the sparkle of the Shimmery Crystal Effects on the glass of the binoculars and the soft sheen of the silver buckles.

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, July 20th.

 I've also added my card to the following challenges:

  Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge #249 - No patterned paper

 Lemon Shortbread Challenge #124 - Anything Goes

The Male Room Challenge #140 - Sport

WWC279 - Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

I'm so glad this challenge is All About Occasions!  I'm ready to begin building up my Christmas card stash and what a perfect way to begin, with those adorable little House Mouse designs.

I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White cardstock and then added a lovely die-cut matte of Garden Green.  I stamped the adorable Ellen Jareckie House Mouse image onto a piece of Mixed Media paper and then proceeded to colour it using my fabulous Derwent Watercolour Pencils.  Because I decided those little Christmas lights should be lit, I added a light wash of colour around each bulb.  You can just see it on the paper and  beside the bulb, but this is the way the colour would naturally spread.  After colouring the image, I took the next smaller die and cut out the image with it so that it would fit perfectly inside that green matte.

I added a layer of the Shimmery Crystal Effects to the Christmas Lights and some silver to the end of the pencil.  You can see that more easily with the slight angle of this photo.

For the inside, I inked up only the one Christmas bulb and stamped it in the upper left corner.  Then, after watercolouring, I added some Shimmery Crystal Effects to the bulb as well.  The sentiment is from an old, retired set which I've kept simply for the assortment of sentiments. 

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, July 13th.

I've also added my card to the following challenges:

HMFMC #320 - Anything Goes with the option of stitching

Shopping Our Stash #424 - Hanukkah/Christmas in July

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #123 - Anything Goes

Fezziwigs Festive Frolics - Anything Festive Goes

WWC278 - Michelle's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Feminine Twist

I love Coneflowers (also known as Echinacea)!  They have become a popular garden addition and boast a whole lot of colours now.  I bought a die set with three sizes of Coneflowers which I've been wanting to use.  And, finally, I've used the dies for this week's challenge card.

I decided to use a slightly cream coloured base and then added two mattes.  The first is a very narrow Daffodil Delight followed by a wood patterned paper.  On top of that, I added a lovely retired piece of Designer paper which has a Heat Embossed finish to it.  Not only does that add interest and weight but it also has a wonderful shine to it, almost like mosaic tiles.

I cut the pieces for the Coneflowers from Watercolour Paper.  When I first cut the pieces, I intended to check on the internet to see the possible  colours.  To my surprise there were many from which to choose.  I think I changed my mind half a dozen times and then, finally, decided on yellow.  Watercolouring them allowed me the opportunity to add shading, which I prefer to simply using a yellow cardstock.  Of course, seeing the close-ups of the cones showed me that there was more of a pattern and more colours to them than I had anticipated.  For the additional dots of red, I used a paint brush to add some pearlized Nuvo Drops.  

As you can see from this picture, I created an easel card.  I added an outline of the same patterned paper to the inside as well as a little die-cut bee.  Not only is the bee perfect for the flowers, it provided that very important little "stopper" for the card, forcing it to stay put in the easel position.

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, July 6th.

I've also added my card to the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #123 - Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #460 - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations July Challenge #411 - Anything Goes