A little fun with challenges

I'm thrilled to say that this card was chosen as a Pals Paper Arts Pick.

Sometimes you just have to have fun, right?  I found a sketch that made me think of birdhouses, of all things.  What do I have that looks like birdhouses?  Certainly not a stamp.  But wait!  You know what could pass as a birdhouse?  The fat arrow from the What's Up? punch.  As soon as I thought of that, I knew what I wanted to do.

I decided to keep myself to some set colours and so found a colour challenge.  It's more fun to force oneself to discover a way to make colours one wouldn't pick work for a project.  The colours that I would be using for this challenge would be Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana.

I decided to have my base cardstock be Naturals White.  On top of that I layered some Coastal Cabana and then a layer of Whisper White.  I stamped the Whisper White with one of the Work of Art stamps to give the illusion of clouds.  The ink is Coastal Cabana off-stamped twice before finally stamping on the Whisper White so that they would be whispy and pale and not draw too much attention to themselves.  Before attaching the Coastal Cabana and Whisper White to the base, I wrapped several strands of Strawberry Slush Thick Baker's Twine around them.

Then I cut two Strawberry Slush arrows and two Daffodil Delight arrows.  I cut them apart where the base of the arrow begins.  Then I reassembled them so that I had mixed colours.  For the roofs I stamped Daffodil Delight ink on the pointy portion of the Daffodil Delight arrows using the Truly Grateful stamp set and Strawberry Slush on the pointy portions of the Strawberry Slush arrows.  On the base portion of the arrows, I drew black circles by hand.

Then I stamped the little bird from the Hello Love stamp set (Hostess) on a scrap of Whisper White using the Memento ink.  After fussy-cutting out the bird, I coloured it using my Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.

Using Dimensionals, I mounted three "birdhouses" below the Thick Baker's Twine, mixing tops and bottoms.  Two, I mounted the right way around and the third I mounted upside down.   Then I mounted the little blue bird on the upside down "birdhouse", also using Dimensionals.  Finally I added a sentiment saying "miss you already" from the Just Sayin' stamp set.

It's a funny, sweet and playful card that I had a lot of fun putting together.

This is where you can see the other cards in the Fab Friday Challenge.

This is where you can see the other cards in the Pals Paper Arts Challenge.

An Open Heart, Hardwood and Burlap---Oh Yeah!

Burlap makes such an impact on a card.  When you add a background of Hardwood, they make an amazing team.

I've created this card to enter three challenges.  Yes, three!  The first is a sketch challenge and, even though the sketch is simple, it allows so many possibilities:

The second is a colour challenge but instead of suggesting several colours, this challenge is simply for a Monochromatic theme:

The third challenge is for "anything goes" with the proviso that there be a 3-D element on the card and/or a background stamp:

I had already decided to use the bird from the new An Open Heart stamp set, burlap, and a base of Early Espresso.  To go along with the Monochromatic theme, I stayed within the Neutrals, adding some Very Vanilla and Baked Brown Sugar to the colours.  To take some of the starkness away from the Very Vanilla, I used the Hardwood background stamp and stamped the cardstock with Baked Brown Sugar ink after off-stamping once.  I also stamped the sentiment in Baked Brown Sugar but did not off-stamp.

For the 3-D aspect I used Dimensionals to adhere the Early Espresso layer to the Burlap Ribbon (which already had dimension to it anyway) and then also on the banners and on the bird (cutting the Dimensionals into skinny enough pieces for the beak and the feet was a challenge in itself).

I think this card could easily be for either a masculine birthday or occasion (with a change of sentiment) or even for a general-style card.  It's pretty unisex, overall.

Check here for more cards in the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

Check here for more cards in the Friday Mashup! challenge.

Check here for more cards in the Paper Players challenge.

The Wacky Watercooler First Anniversary Celebration

Celebrate our First Anniversary with us!

That's right!  It's our First Anniversary!  A year ago a few friends on the Wacky Watercooler discussion group got together and began having blog hops where we shared our ideas with each other and an unsuspecting world.  We've grown in numbers.  We've grown as artists.  We've grown in our friendships.  This has been a very good year.  Thank you for supporting us and for coming to see what we come up with each month.  We really do appreciate your interest.

For those of you who are familiar with our Blog Hop, you'll remember it's a circular one.  Whoever you begin with, whether you go backwards or forwards through the names, you will eventually come full circle back to where you began.  For those of you who haven't experienced one of our Blog Hops before, you're in for a treat.

If you've worked your way through the blog hop from the beginning, you'll have come to my blog after having enjoyed Jackie Susnik's exciting creations.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

Since it's our Anniversary, what could be more natural than to share an anniversary card?  After all, the traditional gift for the first anniversary is paper and that's one of my favourite products.  Without paper, what would happen to making cards?  I'm not really into papyrus or animal skins. I've used a rainbow of colours over the simple black stamping thanks to my array of Blendabilities alcohol markers.  They colour over the Memento ink beautifully without smudging the black.  My card is actually an anniversary card to the "Watercooler gang".  We've used a rainbow of colours over this last year and what more appropriate way to remember that?

The "celebration" is from the Project Life Remember This stamp set, the "1st Anniversary" is from the Memorable Moments stamp set.  I've cut the black star out using my Star Framelits and the arrow using my What's Up punch.

* * * * * * * * * * 

For my second project I decorated one of those great Kraft Gift Boxes so that I could slip my husband's new watch into it---it was our anniversary over the weekend.  Rather than wrap the box it came in, I chose to make my own very personal box for Ken.  The first thing that I did was to force the lid of the box into my Scallop Tag Topper punch and cut it.  It left a nice shaped flap through which I could lace ribbon to tie it shut.  Since I planned to clad the box in Gold Foil, I cut a gold tag and just cut a narrow piece of that to go around the hole.

I think it looks great plus it reinforces the hole so that it won't just begin to rip apart.  Then I used Early Espresso for the first layer on all sides and the top.  You can just make out that I embossed the cardstock using my Woodgrain embossing folder.  My next layer is the Gold Foil which I embossed using the Decorative Dots embossing folder.  Finally I cut the letters using my new Little Letters Thinlits dies and the hearts using various Hearts framelits.  I also cut the top from eight Gold Foil triangles and folded them in half to make the decorative corners for the box.

I'm really pleased with the finished box.  It is decorative but still looks masculine.  The Early Espresso Seam Binding ribbon and on-trend Gold Ribbon which I attached to the front of the box with a small brad finish it off nicely, don't they?

* * * * * * * * * * 

My final project is a card I had meant to give my sister for her birthday.  I wound up making a different one for her but that's beside the point.  This one just appealed to me and would have tickled my sister's sense of humour.  It was made using the Giggle Greetings stamp set.  I love, love, love that cat.  Of course the fact that I have two cats that take turns presenting me with hair-balls might be part of that love.  

My card is very simple.  Well, it appears simple.  There is a lot more to it than first meets the eye.  The Basic Black cardstock I've used as my base was run through the Big Shot with my Woodgrain embossing folder.  I wanted some texture to the front of the card but didn't want to do anything to the Whisper White on which I stamped my cat and sentiment.  To colour the cat I used my Blendabilities which allowed me to seamlessly give shading to the cat and give it some depth as a result.  I also stamped and coloured a second head which I attached over the first coloured head using dimensionals.  That way the head seems to be slightly forward of the body, giving it dimension.   Cutting that head out wasn't too difficult until I decided I wanted to keep the whiskers.  That really added a whole lot of difficulty to the cutting.  But the whiskers remain intact.

I also added a real "hairball" by taking some fibres from my burlap ribbon and scrunching them into a ball and attaching them with a glue dot.  I love the texture and realism it adds to the card.

Finally I added the sentiment but placed it in a bubble near the top of the front of the card, adding little thought bubbles to connect it.

I really love that little cat and may just have to keep the card myself.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them.  Your next stop will be the very talented Deborah Smart's blog where she will share some amazing projects with you.

If you have a moment to leave a comment, it would be terrific.  Thanks so much.

Best Kid Ever!

I don't often really like the stamp sets that are meant for kids but this set that was just brought out in the new catalogue really appeals to me.  I'm talking about the Boys Will Be Boys stamp set.  My daughter, who has two little boys, actually squealed with delight when she saw the set in the catalogue.  How great is that?

I had been at a loss regarding a challenge I really wanted to enter.  The sketch left me blank---I really couldn't think of what I wanted to do, or if I came up with something, I saw that someone else had posted an entry far too similar for me to continue.  To top it off, I had decided to use a colour challenge for this card that kept me to Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White.

And suddenly it all came together for me.  I knew I would use the Alphabet Press embossing folder and this stamp set.  I felt like a load had been lifted.  Funny?  Well I can get rather serious (read single-minded) about my crafting.

The sketch challenge is from CAS(E) this Sketch!

The colour challenge is from Pals Paper Arts.

I coloured the stamped Legos and building blocks with my Blendabilities and then attached them to the card with Dimensionals.  The embossing in the background is perfect against the toys.  I hadn't used the embossing folder before so this was a perfect match and a perfect opportunity.

Isn't that just a fun card?  I think I'm going to have to try it with some different coloured Legos, too.

Thinking of You

Don't you just love those little birds from the For the Birds stamp set?  They're simply sketched but have so much personality.  I love the little one in the nest, thinking of you.

It was natural to choose this stamp for the card challenges that I entered.  For the ColourQ challenge there was a really pretty assortment of colours:

While the Fab Friday challenge had a sketch that I knew I wanted to use:

Combined, they would be the basis for a really fun card.  Altogether I used a number of stamp sets for my card.  The patterned Coastal Cabana strip is stamped using the Handcarved stamp.  The feathers were stamped with one of the stamps from the Happy Hooray set.  The little bird and sentiment, of course, are from the For the Birds set.

The inks that I used are the Poppy Parade (retired), More Mustard (retired), and Coastal Cabana.  My base cardstock is Naturals White and I've also used Whisper White as well as a strip of Coastal Cabana.  I also used the Woodgrain embossing folder.

I'm happy with the result.  It's fun to set a sketch goal, work within set colours, and discover what I can come up with.  

For more cards with these colours, check out ColourQ.

For more cards using this sketch design, check out Fab Friday.

I'm Here for You -- Love those new In-Colors

I really do love the new In-Colors, especially the Lost Lagoon, which is such a beautiful blue.  But all the colours compliment each other very well.  You can see that in this card, where I have used the Lost Lagoon, Tangelo Twist and Hello Honey.  These are the colours that were part of the Hand Stamped Sentiment challenge:

And I used them in completing the Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

This card gave me the opportunity to use some of the 2014-2016 In-Colors Background Designer Series Paper stack.  I chose to use the polka dot design in the Lost Lagoon as well as the Tangelo Twist.  I stamped the Swallowtail on Whisper White and fussy-cut only a section of it to fit the polka-dot Tangelo Twist paper and coloured it with my Tangelo Twist and Hello Honey markers.  Once I had adhered the Swallowtail onto the background paper, I covered its body with Crystal Effects and let that dry.  

Then I cut a piece of Hello Honey Cardstock using my Banner Framelits and used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to emboss two lines of dots onto the right edge of the banner.  I stamped the banner with one of the Forever Florals stamps using Tangelo Twist ink and then stamped the banner with a sentiment from the Petite Pairs stamp set.  After mounting the banner on a piece of Whisper White, I hand-cut around it leaving only a thin border of white.  I covered the banner with Crystal Effects and let that dry.

Because I wanted a button to match the Hello Honey, I made one using the Simply Pressed Clay and the Buttons Mold.  I used the largest of the buttons and coloured it using my Hello Honey marker and then finished it off by tying a double bow using my White Baker's twine.

For the base cardstock I used Hello Honey with a layer of Whisper White followed by a layer of the polka-dot Lost Lagoon Designer paper.  The final touch was a rhinestone in the centre of the white baker's twine bow.

I've also entered this into the Stampin Royalty Anything Goes challenge.

Sunshine and Lavender -- Two challenges

I love the new Hello Honey In-Color for 2014-16.  It is so rich and warm a yellow that it reminds me of sunshine.  What better colour to use for a challenge that calls itself "sunshine and lavender"?  Along with the sumptuously rich Elegant Eggplant, the colours just "pop" on my card.

For the sketch design I used the Creative Challenge Club's template as well as stamps from the Hostess set, Hello Love.  Altogether, the colours and the design work extremely well together.  I also threw in a touch of Wisteria Wonder because it is a watered down version of the Elegant Eggplant.  All the colours look great against the Whisper White which I've used as my neutral.

The colours from City Crafter Challenge:

And the design from Creative Challenge Club:

My card:

You can find more cards here at the Creative Challenge Club.

You can also find more cards here at the City Crafter Challenge Blog.

WCC04 - Fringe Scissor Challenge

The new Fringe Scissors that Stampin' Up! offers this year are a lot of fun.  You can use them to make some amazing flowers and, of course, grass.  There are also layers of various fringes and a variety of different ways to put them all together.  So I wanted to do something different.  That's not easy when so many people are coming up with so many ideas.

I decided to make a card for a "tween" girl.  You know, that age when you're not a child any longer but you haven't quite made it into the teens?  Well, I know a number of them and they love glitz and glamour.  The card I made has that in spades.

I began with my second largest Oval Framelit and cut a folded piece of Blushing Bride cardstock so that the top remained hinged.  Then I cut a 1 1/2" piece of Basic Black cardstock and began cutting that with my Fringe Scissors.  Once I had cut the entire length (about 4"), I snipped the piece in half and then shaped the fringe so that one end had longer fringes than the other.  Then I used my Bone Folder to curl the fringe and finally used my Tombo glue to adhere the shaped fringe in a curve on each half of the oval.  Once that was dry I set small rhinestones along the top of the "lashes".

That was okay but something was lacking---hair.  So I took another single oval cut with the same framelit from Hello Honey cardstock.  Along one length I used the Fringe Scissors and made bangs.  I curled them slightly with my Bone Folder and then tied a "hairband" of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon in a bow and adhered that to the "hair".  Finally I glued the blonde hair onto the pink face.

The final touch is the sentiment from the Million & One stamp set, stamped in Black Memento ink across the top of the hair.

For more cards that are part of this challenge, go to Watercooler Challenges.

SCCC33 -- Christmas Colour Challenge

Well, it certainly didn't take long for the new Christmas Card Challenge to come along, but that's what happens when you do the first one so late in the game.  This one is a Colour Challenge

They're really pretty colours together but it took me a few minutes to think what I might have that is current Stampin' Up! product and will look good in these colours.  When I thought about For the Birds I knew it would work out.  Especially since I could use some of my Blendabilities again.

I decided to colour the bird grey because that way his hat and scarf could have the brighter colours.  I also decided to use the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details for the pom-pom and the clear Dazzling Details for the centre band around the ornament.  

To give the card more interest since my image is so small, I decided to use my Decorative Labels framelits to cut out the Whisper White stamped piece, the next layer of Cherry Cobbler and the final layer of Basic Grey.  I also used embossing folders on the coloured layers.  The base cardstock of Smoky Slate looked so drab against all the embossing and colour so I decided to stamp it randomly with my Silver Encore ink using a snowflake stamp from the still-available Festive Flurry stamp set.

Finally I added some stars punched from the Dazzling Details Glimmer Paper.

To see more card in this challenge, check out the Christmas Card Challenge.

I also entered the Inky Chicks Challenge #33--Christmas in July.

SCCC32 -- Peace & Joy

I really am enjoying the Christmas Card Challenge and was determined to post for this week's challenge.  Time almost got away from me, however, but it's better late than never, right?  This week's challenge is to make either a Christmas gift tag or a Christmas card with a tag on it.  I chose the latter.  I've been using the Silver Foil lately and so my first thought was to make a tag out of it.  My second thought was to use the Northern Flurry embossing folder on the Silver Foil.

The embossed snowflakes on the Silver Foil looked spectacular, especially once I put a rhinestone in each centre.  Because the tag looked so elegant in silver with the embossing, I decided to keep the rest of the card simple.  I therefore used the same embossing folder on Whisper White and mounted that on a base cardstock of Lost Lagoon.  Then I cut the top of the tag with the Scallop Tag Topper punch and rounded the corners using the Envelope Punch board.  I mounted the Silver Foil on a layer of Lost Lagoon cardstock and cut that very closely to the Silver Foil, leaving a very narrow border.

Then I tied a bow around a piece of Lost Lagoon ribbon that I pulled through the top of the tag.  Finally I used Dimensionals to mount the tag onto the card at a slight angle.  For the sentiment I decided to use the new Good Greetings hostess stamp set that will be available in the new Holiday Catalogue.  I stamped that in Lost Lagoon ink and mounted the Whisper White label on a piece of Lost Lagoon cardstock, cutting that to leave only a narrow border as well.

I love the simplicity of the card.  I hope you will, too.  For a look at more cards, check out  the Christmas Card Challenge.

Today & Everyday---You Light up my Life!

Sometimes you see a stamp set and know it's meant for  you.  The Today and Everyday stamp set, for example, is one of these.  Throughout my daughter's life, I've told her that "you light up my life" and that is one of the sentiments included with this set.  Perfect?  Yes, indeed, the set is perfect---especially when the Blendabilities make colouring so much fun.

I've used the Blendabilities on Whisper White with excellent results.  The shading and colours make all the images on which I've used them come to life.  I've also used the Blendabilities on such embellishments as the Rhinestones and the Pearls and love the way I can coordinate their colours with the rest of the card.  This time, however, I intended to use the Blendabilities on the Silver Foil.  After all, if they work so well on the embellishments, they should also work on the foil.  I thought that stamping the paper lanterns on the Silver Foil and colouring them would give a real inner sheen to the images.  I was right.

The Memento ink stamped on the Silver Foil brilliantly and dried well (although I did heat set it since I knew there would be no absorption by the paper).   The colours went on beautifully as well.  I didn't even have to use the Blendabilities Colour Lifter because it was easy to leave a much lighter area against the foil.  Being alcohol based, the inks dried rapidly and did not rub off.  So far, so good.

I did not like the huge empty area at the bottom of the card.  Yes, negative space can be really effective with Whisper White or Very Vanilla, but I found it just looked empty with the Silver Foil.  So I tried something new with my Decorative Dots Embossing folder.  I fit the Silver Foil against the front and then used the fat end of my Simply Scored Stylus to "push" the pattern into the foil in a gentle "scoop" design.

I chose to separate the sentiment from the image and mounted it on the card with Dimensionals.  Unfortunately the glow of the silver really isn't done justice in the photograph.  This is one of those times that the real thing is much better than the picture.

I've entered the card in the Stampin' Royalty challenge.

FMS143 -- Bravo!

I was intrigued by the sketch for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  It looked like something I could play with and I was right.  It also allowed me to play with that adorable new framelit, the Moustache.  I ask you:  who can resist moustaches?

I decided to make my circle by stamping it.  The Kinda Eclectic stamp set was perfect for that job.  I used Hello Honey ink and already it looked like a celebration.  Then for the bottom banner, I decided to use one of the stamps from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.  Heat embossed with Silver Embossing powder, it looked great against the bottom of the circular sun-shape.  

I used the large Oval Punch and cut two ovals from Basic Black and then free-handed the top of the Top Hat.  I also free-handed a piece of the new Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper for the hat's band.  I used Tombo glue to adhere those pieces directly onto the sun-shape but then use Dimensionals to adhere the Melon Mambo moustache across the brim.  A final banner of Silver Foil heat embossed with "bravo" in Black Embossing powder finished off the bottom.

I thought the card needed some extra "oomph" and added three Silver Foil stars at the top right.  

And that's my entry for the challenge.  To see more of the cards entered into this challenge, go over to Freshly Made Sketches.

For the Newlyweds -- Elegance and simplicity

I needed a wedding card for a friend's wedding.  I wanted something elegant but at the same time, rather simple.  I kept the card to all white with touches of gold and am sure I hit the mark with it.  This is exactly what I had in mind.

Just because I've been doing challenges lately, I couldn't help but follow one of the sketch designs for my card.  What drew me to the sketch was its simplicity.

You can see what I mean about its simplicity.  There isn't much to it, but sometimes it's what you choose for your elements that makes or breaks the final result.  I had already decided to use the Fancy Foil Designer Vellum with the small gold hearts.  Along with that I planned to cut Gold Foil with the scalloped heart from the Hearts a Flutter framelits set.  To dress up the heart, I planned on a white flower made using the Filter Paper and Spiral Flower Originals die.  After assembling the flower, I edged the petals with Tombo glue and dipped the flower into the Gold Glitter.  Even after as much loose glitter as possible was gone, the flower just sparkled like crazy.  I loved it!

I also used Gold Foil for the long, skinny banner and then heat embossed a Whisper White banner with Gold Embossing powder.  The assembled card turned out just as elegant and simple as I had hoped it would.

To see more cards made with this sketch, pop over to the Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge.

I also entered the card into the Stampin' Royalty Challenge which had instructions for participants to "keep it simple".

A long and skinny challenge in Blues

So the challenge for Mojo Monday Card Sketch Challenges is for a long and skinny card.  The sketch is appealing but I'm not used to doing long and skinny.  This really will be a challenge!

There are any number of measurements that one can use for a long and skinny card but since we now have the Envelope Punch Board, I didn't have to worry about a regular envelope.  Whatever sized of card I decided on, I could easily make an envelope to fit it.  My choice was to make my card 3 1/2" x 7".

Then I saw the challenge over at the Pals Paper Arts and thought "Hey, I can combine the two!" because their challenge was a colour challenge.  After all, I might have the dimensions and the layout from the first challenge, but I still had to choose colours.

The colours for this challenge helped me to decide which stamp sets would work, too.  See how it all works together so well?  One challenge gives me the sketch and layout, another gives me colours and the two together help decide the stamps.  I chose "The Open Sea" which is one of my favourites anyway, and which really goes well with the seascape colours.  Along with that set I also used the Something to Say set for the sentiment.

I really love the way this card turned out.  The colours work beautifully together.  The stamp sets are perfect.  And don't those stars just add the "cherry to the top"?

Work of Art meets World of Dreams (Monochromatic)

I really do love these two stamp sets, Work of Art and World of Dreams.  They are easy to use and are so versatile that one can use them to get some awesome effects.  This card, for example, is monochromatic.  I've kept the colours to Blackberry Bliss and neutrals such as Whisper White and Smoky Slate.

The Colour Me Creative Challenge asked for the monochromatic scheme.

I also wanted to enter the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge and that one asked for a very simple design.

Putting the two together made sense and worked beautifully for this card.  I used the design for the sketch and then simply used the colours for the monochromatic scheme.

If you'd like to see the other cards for the colour challenge, just go to Colour Me...!

For the other cards that entered the sketch challenge, just go to CAS(E) this Sketch!

CCC02 -- Life is Wonderful!

I really like the sketch for the Creative Challenge Club this week.  It's simple but there are so many possible ways to interpret it.

I chose to use flowers instead of the stars and the Deco Labels Collection framelits instead of the Ovals Collection framelits, but the style of the sketch remains the same.

I am really warming up to Blackberry Bliss, one of the new In-Colors introduced in the new Annual Catalogue.  It compliments so many of the colours, especially Rich Razzleberry, which seems to be the same colour only lighter.  Along with the So Saffron and the Naturals White that I've used in the card, the Blackberry Bliss just seems to come to life.

My card has a lot of dimensions.  I've mounted the Rich Razzleberry on Dimensionals so that the Naturals White under the punched out flowers seems to be part of a shadow box.  I've also mounted the Deco Labels on Dimensionals which helps it balance against the other part of the card.  For the sentiment background I used the Work of Art stamp set but first off-stamped the Rich Razzleberry before stamping the ink.  Otherwise it would have been a bit too dark to show off the sentiment from the Perfect Pennants stamp set which I stamped using Blackberry Bliss ink.

I'm so glad I embossed the Blackberry Bliss and the So Saffron.  The textures really add a lot as does the background stamping on the Rich Razzleberry with the Truly Grateful chevron.

Check out the other cards at the Creative Challenge Club blog.

Work of Art Meets World of Dreams -- Meeting two challenges

Once in a while you come across a wonderful technique or fold that you know you want to try yourself.  That's what happened when I saw Belinda Neil's Double Diamond Fold Card.  I knew I had to try it myself and I knew I wanted to enter my project in a challenge or two.

***And I have to crow about this!  I just won the SUO Challenge Top 3 for this special-fold card.  That is a real honour and so exciting!***

***I also found out that I won the Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenge Top 3 as well.***

For the Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenge #20, they're asking for projects using Blackberry Bliss, Calypso Coral and Hello Honey.  For the S-U Only Challenge #100, they're asking for projects that meet one of their 100 challenges.  I chose to do their Challenge #59, Fun or Unusual Folds.  Done in the colours from the Around the World challenge, this card will meet both challenge parameters.

I chose to have the base for my card in Blackberry Bliss.  I did all my stamping with the World of Dreams stamp set in Blackberry Bliss ink on Very Vanilla cardstock.  I also did background stamping with the Work of Art stamp set using Hello Honey and Calypso Coral.  For the side panels I also added another layer of Hello Honey cardstock.

For my sentiment I used the word bubble from Just Sayin' but in the centre I stamped "Love you always" from the Something to Say stamp set.

The real impact for this card is the fold but the colours really make it come to life as well.  I'm really in love with these stamp sets.  They are so very versatile---and that's what makes a great stamp in my opinion.

SCCC31 -- Noel (or Blendabilities meet a Poinsettia)

I am really getting into these weekly Christmas challenges.  It's fun to get out of the "normal" cards and stretch my Christmas creativity.  For this challenge I decided I really wanted to use the Blendabilities and what could be more appropriate for that than that gorgeous stamp set, Joyful Christmas and its beautifully sketched Poinsettia?  I'm so glad that this stamp set is still available until August 27th.  For those who didn't order it last season, this is the perfect time.  It's one of the nicest Poinsettia stamps I've seen.

I wanted a soft, candlelit type of background and so, after colouring the Poinsettia and leaves, I used a dauber and several inks to make my background.  I think it worked, don't you?  The colours of ink I used were Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Hello Honey, and Pear Pizzazz.

To finish of the card, I used a sentiment from the Greetings of the Season stamp set (also carried over and available for ordering) and also put some dazzle in the centre of the flower with small rhinestones which I had coloured with my Medium Daffodil Delight Blendabilities marker.

You can check out more of this week's cards at the Sparkle Creations Christmas Card blog.

I'm also submitting this card for the S-U Only Challenges, #33 - Holiday Colours.

FabFri44 --- A Challenge to use ALL the new In-Colors (A Fab Four pick)

I've done this before and embrace the chance to do it again.  What, you ask?  I'm going to love using all five new In-Colors together in my card.  They work so well together this year and this challenge simply gives me another opportunity to see what else can be done with them all in one card.

I don't know if you noticed those amazing Decorative Masks on page 205 of the new catalogue.  I got the Hearts and Stars and the Stars Decorative Mask is the one that I am using for this card.  I love stars and I love rainbows.  What could be better than a rainbow of stars?

I picked the portion of the Decorative Mask that appealed to me and used some retired Washi Tape to keep the Whisper White cardstock in place while I daubed the ink colours.  The beauty of using Washi Tape is that it comes off without ruining the paper.  That's definitely a plus!

I loved the effect and didn't want to take away from the rainbow of stars so I decided to use my new Stars Framelits to make my focal object and sentiment.  It worked out perfectly!  For my base cardstock I used the Blackberry Bliss, followed by a layer of Gold Foil and then my star-filled Whisper White.  In the rather sparse area I mounted my star on dimensionals.  The star wound up being a frame of Gold Foil over a star of Blackberry Bliss on which I had heat-embossed "Yippee-Skippee" in gold embossing powder.

And that is the card.  For more ideas of how to use all five colours, check out the Fab Friday Challenge Blog.