Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #155 - Anything Goes

Every time we have a fifth week in the month, our challenge has an "Anything Goes" theme.  I love those times because it lets me do what I please.

Of course one of the downsides to an "anything goes" challenge is that my mind goes wild with the possibilities.  I really have to rein myself in and force myself to stick to a project.  This time I decided to create a nice, large shadow frame using the wonderful images from the Myths & Magic Suite.  Yes, even that opened the door to a lot of choices but in the end I decided to concentrate on an "under-the-sea" theme.  Enter the mermaids and seahorses!

Of course even that meant I had to make some major decisions.  First I thought of having a treasure chest and then, before I began cutting out some of my Wood Textures DSP, I thought about having the stone portion of the wishing well from the Bright Wishes stamp set.  I could imagine something like that in a flooded area, taken over for use by the sea creatures.  In fact, a mermaid and her sea serpents could easily store their jewels there, right?  (Yes, the dragons became sea serpents in this little scene--a little "snip" and those wings were history and who needs fiery breath underwater?)

The images are all cut from various Designer papers:  the Myths & Magic Specialty Designer Series paper (mermaid, dragons, branches, and seahorses) and the Naturally Eclectic Designer Series paper (jewels and the background ombre piece).  The long grass is cut with the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits and the "amazing" is cut with the Sale-a-bration Celebrate You Thinlits.  That wonderful wavy watery look in the background is created by the Seaside Embossing folder.

I love the way this shadow frame turned out, don't you?

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

I'm also entering this piece into the Make My Monday  Challenge #63 - Fancy Folds

I've entered this piece in the Crafty Creations Challenge #359 - Anything Goes as well.

And, finally, I've entered this piece in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #147 - Charlotte's "Anything Goes" Challenge

I was so stoked that this week would be an "Anything Goes" challenge!  I had been thinking about making a special shadow frame for Christmas and this challenge was perfect for something like that.

It all began with the super-adorable Ready for Christmas bundle.  When I saw it in the Holiday Catalogue, it was love at first sight.  And I wanted to show it off in a big way.  What better than a shadow frame, I thought.  And so began my obsession.  Whatever I happened to be working on, a small part of my subconscious was constantly at work with the planning for "my big project".

In the end I wound up combining that bundle with the Hearts Come Home stamp set as well as some unrelated Designer Series Paper and some retired products.  Amazingly it all came together beautifully, although the number of interruptions to my crafting time were staggering and I wondered whether the project would be finished in time or not.

I wanted texture for my shadow frame and so I reached for a piece of 12" x 12" retired Smoky Slate Core'dinations cardstock.  Without cutting, the shadow frame possible from a piece of 12" x 12" cardstock is 8" x 8".  I was fine with that and got to work.  For the inside background, after choosing and discarding a half dozen possibilities, I finally settled on a piece of the Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper.  I liked it against the Smoky Slate and it reminded me of snow.

For the presents, I turned to the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper and to the retired Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper.  I stamped the adorable little Dachshund on a retired piece of Baked Brown Sugar and then stamped it again on a piece of Whisper White.  I cut out the doggie-sweater from the piece of Whisper White and coloured it with my Stampin' Blends before gluing it onto the little Dachshund.

You can see I cut the ornaments out from Glimmer paper and also Silver Foil using the dies from the Card Front Builder Thinlets.  This is what my finished project looked like on Monday night.

On Tuesday morning I knew it needed something more.  And so I cut out several more evergreen boughs and coloured some of the Clear Faceted Gems using my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blender.  I also stamped Santa and his reindeer from the Hearts Come Home set using Smoky Slate and somehow managed to fussy cut the images out without beginning to drool.

This is the finished project and I love it.  I hope you do, too.

There are some wonderful projects created by our Watercooler Artists over at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I hope you'll check them out, too.

I've also entered my creation into the HLS Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

I've also entered it in the SUO Challenge - Celebrate the Winter Holidays

And I've entered it in the Hand Stamped Sentiments - Inspiration Challenge

And, finally, I've entered it in the Merry Christmas Challenge -Anything Goes + Christmas