WWC174 - Gail's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Oh what fun!  This week's challenge is hosted by Gail Allen and is "All About Occasions".  I love this challenge because there is such a wealth of occasions to choose from during the year.

I had been playing around with an idea for a while and decided it was time to see  if reality could come close  to my imagining.  It all began with the gorgeous Share What You Love Specialty Designer Paper pack.  Those of you who have it will know exactly what I mean.  This paper is enough to inspire anyone.  And while I absolutely love the weight  of it and the indescribable look of the translucent and pearlized finish on the one side, it is the other side of one of the designs which set me on the road to my design.  The pattern which I used has no addition of shimmer but it makes me think of someone watercolouring the series of small circles.

There are some awesome colours in this particular designer paper and so it was easy to choose the colours I used for both the watercolouring and the mattes.  My mattes are Mint Macaron and Rich Razzleberry.  For the die-cut birthday and the paint "dripping" from it, I used Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, Pear Pizzaz and Grapefruit Grove.  Those colours are all echoed in the background designer paper.

I've been  going through my retired stamps and came across the Talented Trio set (which I've decided to keep) and realized that I hadn't yet stamped with the little artist.  Well this card took care of that omission.  For her I used the Rich Razzleberry and So Saffron for her smock and the Mint Macaron and Rich Razzleberry for her paint brushes.  I really enjoyed using my inks and AquaPainter for this card.

I hope you've enjoyed checking out my card and reading about the materials.  You'll find more when you visit the blogs of the other Watercooler Artists featured in our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge post.  I look forward to seeing your awesome cards linked up to the challenge.

By the way, you'll see we're also having a Design Team call.  Sadly we lost two of our team members because of personal and family responsibilities.  I'm really going to miss Penny Hanuszak and Tenia Nelson.  Now it's time to see who wants to be part of our awesome team.

WWC168 - Helen's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I'm so glad that we're having a Feminine "Anything Goes" challenge this week.  Helen Finlay is our host and we have some absolutely awesome samples over at the challenge blog.  But this post is all about my card.  I had such fun creating it!

I think everyone has heard about some of our returning colours.  For this card I turned to two of them, since they're featured in the Specialty Designer paper which I've used.  I'm in love with the paper!  Many of the designs have a pearlized finish to some of the images and the shine is wonderful.  For that very reason I've included some silver foil in my card, to match that wonderful shine.

I've had fun including a couple of the new stamp sets and thinlits, too.  This wonderful butterfly, for example, which I've heat embossed in white on Blackberry Bliss is from the Painted Glass Bundle. To add some shine I've used the Clear Wink of Stella in places.

I've used the thinlits from the same bundle for this dainty frame, cut from Rich Razzleberry and attached over a layer of Silver Foil.  The sentiment in the centre is heat embossed in white on a piece of Blackberry Bliss and is from the new Enjoy Life stamp set.

Of course the lovely floral background is from the new Share What You Love Designer Series paper which, as I've mentioned, has a wonderful pearlized finish in places.  Some of those flowers which appear white are actually blue but the light has caught them and they shine as brightly as the silver I've used elsewhere.  In person this is stunning!

My base is the Heavy Whisper White and then I've added a layer of the returning Mossy Meadow, then a layer of Silver Foil and finally the wonderful printed piece.  My butterfly and the sentiment square are both raised on Dimensionals.  As for any other embellishment---well, simply put, I don't think I needed any.

I can see many more projects being created with these products.  I'm in love!

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations created by the rest of the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  And then feel free to link up your own creation for us to enjoy.

I'm also linking my card to the following challenges:

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #18 - Lots of Layers

Fab & Funky Challenges #392 - Wet or Dry Embossing

Double "D" Challenges - May Flowers

Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes May Edition