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

WWC169 - Charlotte's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I love the "All About Occasions" challenges, don't you?  This week Charlotte is our host and I just know there are going to be some awesome cards for this challenge.

With Mother's Day coming up within days here in Canada, of course I decided to make a card with that in mind.  Since my own Mum has passed on to a kinder, more joyful home, I decided to make this card for my beautiful daughter.  Shera-Lee is an awesome Mother to her two boys and deserves to be celebrated each and every day, especially on Mother's Day.

For this card I decided to use a combination  of products, both brand new to the upcoming Annual Catalogue and, unfortunately retiring with the current Annual Catalogue.  The ones retiring are the gorgeous Myths & Magic Specialty Designer Series paper which I've used for my base.  It has bubbles which are embossed in an irridescent, glittery design.  It looks amazing in this photo but even more so in real life.  The other retiring product which I've used  is the sentiment from the Birthday Blossoms set.

The rest is all new product and it's exciting to showcase it for you.  Don't you just love the heron and water-lilies from the new Lilypad Lake Bundle?  And that gorgeous paper in the foreground under the sentiment is from the new Share What You Love Specialty Designer series paper  which just takes my breath away with those wonderful pearlized pages.

The sun  rising in the distance is from the fun Waterfront stamp set while those clouds are from the Lift me Up set.  I've used my inks and AquaPainter to add the soft colours.

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

I'm also linking this card up to the following challenges:

Crafty Animals Challenge #14 - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps & More #291 - Anything Goes

WWC161 - Helen's "All About Occasions" Challenge

This week's challenge is being hosted by Helen Finlay and it's all about the special Occasions in our lives.  You can see a few listed in the challenge icon, but you can probably think of a bunch more.  Let's face it, special occasions are one of the reasons we create our cards.

Here in Canada it's still quite a while before Mother's Day occurs in May but it was my mother's birthday last week and I've been thinking of her a lot lately.  Making a Mother's Day card just felt totally natural under the circumstances.

I kept this card very simple.  In fact it's a one layer card except that I matted the one layer and then adhered it to a base.  But you know what I mean. After stamping it, I masked the pretty stone wall image from the Hostess set, "Cosy Cottage".  Then I stamped the trees from the retired "In the Meadow" set so that they would appear to be behind the wall.  The sizing of the two sets is perfect.  They appear to be made for each other.

The scene I've created and watercoloured reminds me so much of a pretty garden to which we'd frequently go for a little picnic when I was growing up in Victoria.  After a snack, I'd weave together the little wild daisies so I could wear them like a crown in my hair.  Most of the time both my sister and I wound up wearing the daisy "crowns" which our Mum had made.  For some reason mine seldom held together properly.

While the outside of my card is rather simple, without embellishments or surprises, I had to do something special for the inside.  So I took the Sale-a-bration "Blossoming Basket" set and stamped the basket in the centre of a piece of 8" x 5" Whisper White and then watercoloured it before carefully cutting around much of it using my craft knife.  I left enough attached so that it would "pop out" when the card was opened.

I hope you'll check out the cards created by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've also entered this card into the CAS March Watercolour Challenge which is all about Gardens.

I've entered this card into the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #283 - Holidays.

I've entered this card into the That's Crafty! Challenge - Spring Into Action

And, finally, I've entered this card into the The Crafty Addicts Challenge #46 - All About Mums