The Wacky Watercooler Welcomes the New Catalogue

It's always exciting to have a brand new catalogue in hand and even more exciting to share the products that first caught my eye.  I began my list of "must-haves" with the stamp sets and products that I'm about to share in today's creations.  Let me know if my new favourites match yours.

As you will remember, if you've wandered through our blog hops before, our blog hop is presented in a circular fashion.  What does that mean?  Wherever you begin in our blog hop, whether you go forwards or backwards through the participants, eventually you will wind up precisely where you began.  I hope you'll take time to visit all the participatings blogs and, perhaps, leave a short message letting us know  what you've thought of our posts.

If you've been moving forwards through the blog hop, you'll have arrived here from the wonderfully creative Deborah Smart's blog.

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My first project uses the Awesomely Artistic stamp set.  The moment I saw the dragonfly image, I added the set to my list.  I love butterflies but have been waiting for a good image of a dragonfly. All the images in the set compliment each other beautifully and will lend themselves perfectly to a collage-type card.  A great addition to my stamp collection!  I'll bet you think I'm going to create a collage-style card, right?  Well, not this time.  This time I've taken the dragonfly and added it to a watercoloured piece of the gorgeous Timeless Elegance Designer Series paper.  Don't the new In-Color inks look beautiful?

You'll notice that there is no sentiment on this card.  I had some major arguments with myself over this and, finally, decided that I preferred it without anything.  Of course a sentiment could be added later, but I like the idea of leaving it simple and having all the writing inside.  

Love the sparkle of the Irridescent Ice embossing powder!

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My next project is all about the little Gift Bag Punch Board.  I chose to use the new Envelope Paper in Delightful Dijon.  I love the patterns and I love the strength of this paper.  Yes, it feels light-weight but that is totally deceiving.  I added a border using the Delightful Dijon pattern from the new In-Color Paper Stack and tied it up using the wonderfully soft and so-easy-to-tie 1" Dotted Lace Trim in the same colour.  I also added some tiny white flowers cut from Whisper White using the new Tree Builder punch.   

My little card has a base of the Delightful Dijon cardstock with a layer of white stamped with the flowers from the Birthday Blossoms stamp set and coloured with the Delightful Dijon Stampin' Marker.  Of course a scattering of pearls finish the set up beautifully.

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My final project uses my favourite of the stamps in the new catalogue.  I love foxes and the fox image in The Wilderness Awaits stamp set is beautifully realistic.  Of course I had to have him as the little "star" of my easel card!  I can't look at him without smiling.

I had given the layout of my easel card a lot of thought over a number of days before even beginning to create the card.  There were so many elements I wanted in the card and so it kept changing inside my head.  I wanted to use the new Brick embossing folder.  I wanted to create a scene.  Oh, I wanted so many things.  

I began with a base of Tip Top Taupe.  My next layer was Basic Black.  My brick wall was also Tip Top Taupe but before using the embossing folder, I used my brayer to add some Whisper White craft ink to the lines and then embossed the cardstock.  The finished embossing was exactly what I had hoped it would be.

For my background I first stamped the hound on my Whisper White cardstock and then stamped him again on some regular copy paper.  I cut out the image on the copy paper and used it as a mask so that I could stamp the trees from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set as his background.  After that I watercoloured everything using my ink pads and Aqua painter.

I ripped the brick embossing to make it appear as if the wall was crumbling.  Then I attached it to my background scene using Dimensionals.  I wanted the fox for my foreground and so I stamped him on Whisper White and then watercoloured him using my inks and Aqua painter.  Then I fussy-cut him and the grass surrounding him.  For the remaining grass, I cut a 1" strip of Crushed Cucumber and used my Fringe Scissors to cut the grass.  By first cutting regularly and then cutting back into the fringe from one angle and then the opposite angle, I managed to make my grass quite believable.  I used my Aqua painter to put a light wash of Mossy Meadow ink over the grass to give it more texture.  I added the fox using Dimensionals and the grass using my Tombo glue.

For the inside of my card, I kept it simple.  I needed something to hold back the standing easel and so used the heart framelit from my Circle Card thinlits to cut two hearts from the Burlap Ribbon.  The leaves are from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set and the greeting is from the Guy Greetings stamp set.

I love the finished easel and the way the fox appears to be looking me straight in the eye, hoping I won't make the hound aware of his presence.

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Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed creating them.  If you get a moment, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

Your next stop will be with a very talented and creative member of our group, Marsha Reed.  I'm sure you'll be amazed with her wonderful projects.

SIP #1 --- Picking favourites isn't easy!

I found a brand new challenge!  And when I say brand new, I'm not just talking about it being brand new for me.  No, this challenge is truly brand new.  I'm submitting my card for the very first challenge they are having.  Excited?  I surely am.

This challenge is all about using favourites.  So it's the cardmaker's choice as to the ink colours, stamp sets and papers which will be used.  For me, whatever I am using at the moment is a favourite.  I'm a lot like my young grandson who, when he's asked which colour is his favourite, always answers that they're ALL his favourite.  And really, depending on the stamp set used or the occasion for which the card is being made, each colour has its "day".  Yes, there are some I reach for more frequently, but it's probably because of my style rather than because they're my favourite.

The same goes for stamp sets.  At the moment I have several that I absolutely adore.  Yes, they are my temporary favourites but that's because they're new.  When I first saw them in the new catalogue I knew I would include them in my first order.  I've used all three and am still totally in love.  Today I'm going to use one of them, the From Land to Sea stamp set.  The other two will be featured among my projects in tomorrow's Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop.  Oh, and they're amazing!

I began today's project with a piece of Shimmery White specialty cardstock and some inks drawn over a plastic window sheet and sprayed with Isopropyl Alcohol.  Once I had the colours all mixed and "swirly", I put my piece of cardstock into the mixture and spritzed it a bit more with the alcohol.  Then I took it out and let it dry.  The colours I used were Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, and Hello Honey.  Mixed and swirled together, they remind me of an underwater scene, which is good because that's what I was aiming for.

I took another piece of Shimmery White paper and stamped the sea turtle image onto it using Memento ink.  Once my coloured piece was totally dry, I used Versamark and white embossing powder to heat emboss two Jellyfish images, leaving lots of room in between for the turtle.  Once I had coloured the turtle, I fussy-cut the image.  Those who know me are aware of my addiction to fussy-cutting.

For my base, I used the new heavy Whisper White, then a layer of Hello Honey and then a layer of Bermuda Bay.   My turtle is raised up on Dimensionals to add 2-D effect.  My sentiment is stamped in Memento black ink and is from Guy Greetings.

I hope you'll check out the new Stamp Ink Paper Challenge.

PCCCS149 -- For you, Dad!

It's going to be Father's Day this weekend and as soon as I opened my box of new goodies and saw The Wilderness Awaits stamp set, I knew what I would be using for my card.  The sketch at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge lent itself perfectly to my plan.

I took my colour choices from the Sunday Stamps Challenge which is all about Neutrals.  My base, therefore, was Basic Black with a layer of Tip Top Taupe which I first embossed using the new Boho Chic embossing folder.  My banner coordinates perfectly and is cut from the new Go Wild Designer Paper Stack and backed with Basic Black.  For my image, I used Whisper White, also backed with Basic Black.  Because I had planned to use the Mallard duck image but wanted a narrower rectangle, I cut around the wing tip and, quite honestly, love the effect.  Funny how it happened...

I finished up with a star cut from the Crushed Cucumber design from the 2015-17 In-Color Designer Paper Stack, also backed with Basic Black and a few strands of Linen Thread tied around the card.  Simple, neutral, for the most part, but very striking, don't you think?

For more cards using this sketch, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

For more cards using the neutral colour pallette, check out the Sunday Stamps Challenge.

WCC26 -- Happy Father's Day!

Welcome to our new Watercooler Challenge.  This one is a colour challenge presented by Jean Fitch.  With Father's Day right around the corner, I was so happy to see Jean's choice of colours.  They were perfect for the Father's Day card I intended to create.

What I especially liked about Jean's challenge is that she indicated that similar colours could be used.  Well, with that wonderful new brown tone in the brand new 2015-16 Annual Catalogue, how could I resist using Tip Top Taupe?   The other colours were perfect and needed no substitutions.

I used the thick, new Whisper White for my base and then added a layer of Tip Top Taupe.  First, however, I stamped the Tip Top Taupe with the reeds image from the Wetlands set using the same colour ink.  I had already cut a Whisper White oval and held it in place so that part of the reeds image would be stamped on it.  Then I embossed the Tip Top Taupe layer using the Woodgrain embossing folder.  Since my card is in the landscape mode rather than the portrait, the woodgrain looks a lot like ripples on the water and so is perfect for the images I've used.  

The Wetlands stamp set remains one of my favourite sets.  There are so many ways to use it.  This time I used a circle mask to first create the setting sun by sponging Daffodil Delight inside the punched out area of my paper and then used the circle die-cut to cover the sponged sun so that I could stamp the Marina Mist grid over it.  The grid image is from the new You've Got This stamp set.  After that it was easy to stamp the images of the sandpipers across the sun and water so that they appear like silhouettes.  You can see that I used the retired feather stamp and matching framelit to create my feather out of vellum.  It's the perfect spot for my sentiment, isn't it?

For more cards using this colour theme, check out the Watercooler Challenge.

I've also entered this card in the Friday Mashup Challenge which is all about Dad.

PCCCS148 -- Adventure Bound

It's getting close to Father's Day and, of course, Graduation has been happening for some and is coming very soon for others.  What a great opportunity to use the Traveler stamp set with some masculine flair!  I thought the sketch for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge lent itself to that idea perfectly.

What came to mind was travelling.  And so I pulled out the pages from the  beautiful Typeset Specialty Designer Paper which had the map illustrations on them and cut a piece for one side of my card.  For the smaller strip along the right side I chose not to use Designer Paper but, instead, used a piece of Very Vanilla upon which I stamped images of the ship and the locomotive from the Traveler stamp set.  Then I used the new Boho Chic embossing folder on the stamped piece, following which I lightly sponged it with black ink.  

A traveller needs a suitcase and so for the showcase piece, I stamped the suitcase on Very Vanilla, sponged the edges  of the cardstock using black ink, and added touches of Real Red to portions of the suitcase.  The Real Red repeats in the three stars to the left of the stamped piece as well as in the ribbon and in the banners.

I love the simplicity of the colours of this card.  It was such fun to create!  Of course I also loved the chance to use my Traveler stamp set again.

For more cards featuring this sketch, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.

For more cards featuring a masculine theme, check out the fun challenge that the Paper Players team has come up with this week.

FM212 -- I'm Here For You!

Isn't it funny how things turn out?  I wasn't in love with the You've Got This stamp set when I first saw it but decided to put it on my sneak peek order.  So far I've created four cards with it and I haven't even had it very long.  And there are a few stamp sets that retired and yet I hadn't introduced them to ink.

This time I'm using the set to meet two challenges.  One is for the Friday Mashup and the other for Pals Paper Arts.  The challenges are perfect for each other since one is a colour challenge which just makes it so much easier to do the other.  One less thing to fret about.

This card would be classes under CAS (clean and simple) if not for the embellishments.  I've stamped the flower on a piece of Whisper White using Soft Suede ink and then, using a cut out of the flower, masked it and stamped the grid background over it, this time using Watermelon Wonder ink.  Becuase the Friday Mashup challenge is for an ombre effect, I first stamped off some of the Watermelon Wonder ink in three stages, leaving less and less ink on the stamp.  As you can see, the finished effect is definitely an ombre.

I coloured the flower using So Saffron ink and my Aqua Painter.  The two little butterflies which I stamped using Soft Suede and cut using the matching punch are also coloured using So Saffron and Watermelon Wonder, but this time I used my Stampin' Markers.

I finished up my "cluster of embellishments" with pearls down the centres of both butterflies.  By the way, do you feel as if you're seeing double with those butterflies?  Well, that would be the Soft Suede solid butterflies which I attached under the coloured ones.

For more cards showing the ombre/embellishment cluster, check out the Friday Mashup.

For more cards using these colours, check out Pals Paper Arts.

I Think You're Purrrrfect!

If you love cats, you probably have the You Little Furball stamp set.  The images are very simple but convey the typical cat postures.  This one just begged for some silver and a rhinestone because she was obviously quite regal.  What better way to tell someone you love that you think they're perfect?

I kept it simple.  That's really all this card needed.  To put some added attention to the kitty, I drew a diamond around her using my Versamark pen and heat embossed it in silver to match the bow and the sentiment.

I'm entering my card in the "Less is More" challenge which is calling for two legs or four legs.

I'm also entering my card in the Addicted to CAS challenge because, clearly, it is clean and simple.

PP247 -- Thinking of you

It's been some time since I played along with the Paper Players.  Life has been rather busy.  Today, however, I took the opportunity of playing with some of my new "toys" and decided to indulge in the fun Tic Tac Toe challenge that the Paper Players have posted this week.

Of course it took me almost as long to decide what direction to play as  it did to make my card.  Finally, having decided on my cardstock and the rest of what I was going to use, I realized that subconsciously I had already made my decision.  My conscious mind just had to catch up.  I chose to go diagonally and do the Die-cut/Embossing/Sequins.  My colour choice would be perfect for that.  I had pulled out some white and some Mint Macaron.  The clear choice would be to use silver sequins with that, die cut a silver foil butterfly, and heat-emboss my sentiment in silver embossing powder.

I also added some of that soft and so exceptionally-easy-to-tie Dotted Lace Trim in the Mint Macaron.  Each time I use the ribbon I fall more deeply in love (and I'm not usually a ribbon user).  I also used the new Bojo Chic embossing folder on a piece of the Mint Macaron cardstock and the Decorative Dots embossing folder on a layer of white cardstock.  

I love the results, don't you?

For more cards playing with the Paper Players' Tic Tac Toe, click here.

PCCCS147 -- Just Because

It's time for another Paper Craft Crew Challenge and the sketch for this week is simply "yummy"!  I love the wide open area that is just begging for something special.

Of course with what I had in mind, the sketch would work best flipped over into portrait style---and so that's what I did.  I decided to give the wonderful blossoms from the Indescribable Gift stamp set one last go.  I'm also stuck in a bit of a watercolouring "mode" and so, of course, this would be created with watercolour paper.  First I heat embossed the branch of blossoms using white embossing powder.  Once that was nicely cooled and set, I used a large, flat artist's brush and my Pacific Point ink and added some strokes of colour to the upper area.  Then, using the Melon Mambo, I did the same to the lower area.  I love the way the two blended together into a warm purple where they met.

That gave me the idea to turn to Rich Razzleberry for all the cardstock and background touches, and, of course, for the blossoms themselves.  Once the background had dried, I went to work colouring the blossoms using my Rich Razzleberry ink and my Aqua Painter and did the same to the leaves with Wild Wasabi.

Those three large pearls?  They're long retired but seemed to be screaming to be used.  Because there are some great new Metal Rimmed Pearls in the new Annual Catalogue, I thought I'd see what they might look like.  I punched out 5/16" Silver Foil circles and mounted my pearls on those and then glued them onto my card.  I think I'll like the new Metal Rimmed Pearls when my order arrives.  It's a great new look.

I hope you'll find time to join us this week for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

Just for fun I decided to enter my card into the Friday Mashup challenge as well.  They've been such fun to work with and are having a watercolour challenge as well---perfect, right?

WCC25 -- Happy Birthday, Cutie!

Welcome to another Watercooler Challenge.  This time it's Kath's Photo Inspiration Challenge.  It's always fun to try to interpret a photo and come up with a card that reflects how it inspired me.  Kath's photo offered so many different directions in which I could go.  The colours, of course.  Then there is the Mandarin duck which is adorable, too.  Of course there is the water.  So many choices---so many opportunities to try something new.

I finally decided on the colours.  I've been doing a lot of watercolouring lately and so I reached for a large paint brush and proceeded to slap colours onto a piece of Naturals White cardstock.  I used Crushed Curry, Baked Brown Sugar and Elegant Eggplant.  For my little panel I used a piece of the Park Lane Designer paper.  The Calypso Coral was perfect for the colour from the duck's beak.

And then I added the little Toucan from the Little Buddy Birthday stamp set.  That offered me a lot of opportunity to add more of the colours that I see in the inspiration photo.  If you look closely, my Toucan is coloured with the Elegant Eggplant marker.  Finally I added a feather stamped in Cajun Craze.  That, along with the layer of Island Indigo over the base of my card, rounded out all the colours I found in the inspiration photo.

I hope you'll join us for the Watercooler Challenge and link up your own card for this photo inspiration challenge.

I've also entered this card into the Addicted to Stamps and More Anything Goes challenge.

And, of course, since I used their sketch, I'm entering this card into the Sunday Stamps Weekly Challenge.

FM211 -- Happy Heart

The new Friday Mashup Challenge is a bittersweet one.  This is my last challenge as a Guest Designer for the Friday Mashup.  It's been fun and I'll miss being part of the team.  On the other hand this challenge is all about watercolouring which I love.  Of course I want to do the "mashup" which means combining the watercolouring with the sketch.

Sketch or Watercolour or Both

My first impulse was to create a scene.  For that I used the Watercolour Paper and stamped it with two of the images from the retiring Moon Lake stamp set and the forever current Lovely as a Tree stamp set.  In order to ensure that the images didn't obscure each other, I made masks and then stamped the next image.  The stamping was the hard part.  Watercolouring was so much more fun and, as a result, easier.

And then I second-guessed myself.  Shouldn't I use a watercolour technique that might appeal to more people?  Everyone, after all, isn't anxious to begin creating a whole landscape.  And so I began with card number two.  I suppose it would be called a watercolour emboss resist technique since, after stamping the image from the Moon Lake stamp set using Memento black ink, I proceeded to stamp the sentiment and a whole scattering of hearts with Versamark and then heat embossed them with white embossing powder.

The colours I used across the embossed area were Mint Macaron and Watermelon Wonder.  The image was covered with a pre-stamped and cut out mask so that I could colour it "normal" colours.  I like the way that worked.  The boat is another new colour:  Delightful Dijon.  I love it!  It's quite organic---not really a yellow and not quite an orange, either.  In fact, I liked the new colour so much that I used it as my base cardstock, to colour the boat, to create shadows for my sentiment with my Stampin' Marker, to cut three hearts from the cardstock to cover three embossed hearts, and, last but not least, to dye a piece of White Baker's Twine.  You can see the twine wrapped around the bottom of the card and tied in a small bow.

I hope you'll join us this week at the Friday Mashup Challenge.

PCCCS146 --- On your perfect day

I took some time to try out a few of my new products today.  I can't believe I've had them for over a week and am just breaking them open today.  Life has certainly been busy lately!

I already had a base cut for a card in Sahara Sand and it was just lying there on my crafting table, waiting to be noticed and used.  I decided that it would be an interesting exercise to see which of the new in-colors would work well with the colour and go from there.  I had no stamp set in mind.  Except for the sketch from the Paper Craft Crew Challenge which I planned to use and the base colour, I had nothing else.  I hoped that the new colours would supply the inspiration.  And inspire me they did!

I loved the look of the new Tip Top Taupe against the Sahara Sand.  They seemed made for each other---what a wonderful surprise!  And the new Mint Macaron?  Perfect as well.  And then I played with the matching lace.  I wound up stacking several and loved the result.  So my card would have, in this order, the 1 1/4" Jute Ribbon, the 1" Mint Macaron Dotted Lace Trim and the 7/8" Sahara Sand Lace Trim.  It put me in mind of a wedding.  And so I decided to create a wedding card.

I used the gorgeous flower from the new You've Got This stamp set, two sizes of butterflies from the Papillon Potpourri, the Something Lacy background stamp and the sentiment from the Your Perfect Day stamp set.  All my stamping was done using the new Tip Top Taupe ink.  I used my Aqua Painter to colour the flower using Blushing Bride ink.  I dabbed Tombo glue randomly across the lower two-thirds of the stamped Tip Top Taupe layer and added Silver Glitter to it.  That was my sparkly version of the splatter in the sketch.

Because I had layered some Glimmer paper over both the base and the circle, I decided to add a piece of the 1/8" Silver Ribbon to the layered lace.  For the butterflies I first stamped a small one and a large one on Tip Top Taupe using Tip Top Taupe ink and then cut them using their matching punches.  Then I cut another large and small butterfly from the Glimmer paper.   For the centres of the butterflies, I added a line of Silver Dazzling Details and a small Rhinestone. 

There's nothing that I would change about the card.  Oh, and I absolutely love the brand new In-Colors.  

I hope you'll join us for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week. 

And because the theme at the Just Add Ink challenge happens to be all about weddings, I'm entering my card in that challenge as well.

FM210 -- Love you always!

The Occasions Catalogue only has a short while left before most of the products disappear.  Most?  Well, yes, most---since some were lucky enough to make it into the Annual Catalogue.  I loved so many of the products in the Occasions Catalogue, especially the beautiful Something Borrowed Designer Series Paper, the White Jute Ribbon, the Sahara Sand 7/8" Lace Trim, and, of course, the Butterfly Basics Bundle.  Luckily a number of those made the jump into the new catalogue.  Yay!

The challenge for the Friday Mashup this week is an absolutely perfect opportunity to use some of those great products I've listed.  Well, all of them, really.  I had such fun with the challenge!  It's been wonderful being a guest designer.

Butterflies/Lace

As you can see, the challenge is to use butterflies on a card, or lace on a card, or to mash it up and use both on the card.  You know that I had to mash it up, right?

Using all those products I've already listed, I began with a square base of Naturals White cardstock.  Then I added a layer of the Something Borrowed paper which I topped with a "frame" of Sahara Sand cut on the inner border with the scalloped largest of the square framelits.  If you look carefully, you'll notice that I watercoloured some of the flowers in the Designer Paper using Blushing Bride ink. Again, if you look closely, you'll see that I added a strip of the White Jute Ribbon topped by a strip of the Sahara Sand lace.  It's more obvious in person but gets lost in the photograph.  

The lacy butterflies, of course, are part of the Butterfly Basics stamp set and have been cut out using the matching framelits.  First, however, I heat embossed them using Versamark ink and White embossing powder and Blushing Bride embossing powder.  And finally I tucked flowers behind the White Jute Ribbon.  I had fussy-cut the flowers after stamping a second image with a mask over the first.  The flower stamp is from a brand new set that I was able to order during the sneak peek, You've Got This.

Want to see the whole card?  It could easily be a guy's Anniversary card to his lady or, with a change in sentiments, a Wedding card.  If you know a girly-girl, it could even be her Birthday card.

I hope you'll join us for the fun this week at the Friday Mashup challenge.  I can hardly wait to see your creation.

I also had to enter my card into The Card Concept: Card Challenge.  With a challenge for a card that is frilly and fabulous, I couldn't resist!  I kept it classy and elegant, inspired completely by the lace and flowers.

PCCCS145 --- I'm There For You!

I love silhouettes!  There are a number of really great silhouette stamps available in the catalogue.  For this card, I decided to use a combination.  The birds with the nest are from the World of Dreams stamp set while the leaves all over the small background piece are from the Thoughts & Prayers stamp set.  Together, they really compliment each other.

I began with the sketch from the Paper Craft Crew Challenge:

And, for my colour palette, I turned to another challenge, the Sunday Stamps Challenge:

Together, they let me use some wonderful retiring products (Four Feathers stamp set, Feathers framelits, Starburst framelits, Naturals White cardstock and All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack).  I also used some of my favourite continuing favourites (World of Dreams stamp set, Thoughts & Prayers stamp set, Lovely Amazing You stamp set, Neutrals Candy Dots, Antique Brads, Vellum Specialty paper, and Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Pool Party and Lost Lagoon cardstocks).

I hope you'll join us at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge this week.

I've also entered this card in the Sunday Stamps Challenge.

AW41 -- I'm There for You!

I don't get an opportunity to participate in all the challenges that I would like.  Life gets busy.  We all know how that goes.  Imagine my surprise when I had some time to spare and went back to one of my favourite challenges only to discover that this would be their last challenge.  Life has gotten in the way for most of the Design Team and so the Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenge is closing forever.  I'll miss seeing the incredible designs by their talented team.

This final time they are offering a colour challenge.  Since it is using a mixture of retiring and current In-Colors, I embraced the chance to join the fun.

I decided to make a square easel card.  I had just received my package of sneak peek products from the brand new Annual Catalogue and was "itching" to try some out.   I also used a number of retiring products simply because I will miss them when they're no longer current and love the chance to use them now.  The Windows Collection framelits, for example, have such a unique shape and add so much interest to my card.  

What I love about the easel design is that it really shows off the card.  It stands beautifully on its own and can be placed anywhere.  I've done quite a bit of fussy-cutting for this card.  The butterflies from the retiring Build a Bouquet stamp set, for example, were hand-cut right to their little antennae.  I also added a bit of Dazzling Details to the white area on the wings.  In person, it picks up the light beautifully, glittering in a variety of colours.  The flower is from the brand new You've Got This stamp set and took quite a bit longer to fussy-cut, but the result is worth it.  

Here's my card, folded up and ready for a square envelope.

I hope you'll also join in for the final challenge at the Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenge site.

WCC24 -- Thanks a Bunch

Welcome to another Watercooler Challenge.  This time it's Stefanie's Sketch Challenge.  I do enjoy creating from a sketch and this one proved to be a lot of fun.  I wanted to feature all the wonderful 2013-15 In-Colors that will be retiring as of June 2nd.  Those five colours will be missed!  There isn't one among them that I didn't enjoy using.

I added in a touch of Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper as well.  The patterns and colours in that paper have been such fun to use.  I'll miss it when the Occasions Catalogue ends on June 2nd as well.  So much is ending.  I could wallow in the sadness that overcomes me as I look around at all my retiring products.  But then I notice the new 2015-17 In-Colors coming in as well as the few stamp sets that were available as a Sneak Peek and I realize that I'm quite a fickle person.  The new products are already making me feel excited and are taking away the feeling of sadness as well.

I have to warn you about the new Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp set which I have used.  It is so versatile and is such fun to use, especially since one can also buy the co-ordinating punch for it.  Excited?  I certainly was when I saw it.  The excitement lasted all the time that I used it for this card, as well.  If a person was just starting out and could just get one stamp, this is definitely one that I would and could recommend.

Don't worry---the burlap ribbon is not retiring.  The stamp set I've used is just being introduced.  The rest of the products, however, are on their way out.  If you want some of the gorgeous stitched satin ribbon, the Beautiful Wings embosslit die for those adorable butterflies, or any of the paper I've used, I'd recommend placing an order quickly before they all disappear.  They are only available while quantities last.

I hope you'll join us at the Watercooler Challenges and link up your own card for this sketch challenge.

I've also entered this card in the SUO fun flowers challenge.

Retirement Blues --- A Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

We have the Retirement Blues over at the Wacky Watercooler Stampers Blog Hop and there's no better way to express them than by using some of our very favourite products that made it onto the Stampin' Up! retiring list.  For myself, there are so many wonderful tools, papers, inks and embellishments that I will miss.  Not to mention all the great stamp sets.  Let me know what you think of my favourites.  Are they similar to yours?

As you will remember, if you've wandered through our blog hops before, our blog hop is presented in a circular fashion.  What does that mean?  Wherever you begin in our blog hop, whether you go forwards or backwards through the participants, eventually you will wind up precisely where you began.  I hope you'll take time to visit all the participatings blogs and, perhaps, leave a short message letting us know  what you've thought of our posts.

If you've been moving forwards through the blog hop, you'll have arrived here from the fabulous Marie Green's blog.

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My first project is a nod to the grads.  The Chalkboard Paper is from the Occasions Catalogue but will be gone when that ends.  I had hoped it would be included in the Specialty Papers in our new Annual Catalogue, but it wasn't meant to be.  The Chalkboard Paper is profoundly black and has a wonderful matte finish.  I love to use it with my white embossing powder to get a real "pop" and the feel of a chalk message.

My background paper makes me think of an old brick schoolhouse.  The realism of the images from the Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack is another thing I will miss.  I've used the various designs very effectively for some of my cards.

I love the way the card opens from the centre and, even with the added graduation cap, there is lots of room left to write.

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My next project uses several products that I will miss: the wonderful Argyle embossing folder, the Starburst Framelits, the Feathers Framelits, the Four Feathers stamp set, the Lots of Thanks stamp set and, of course, the beautiful 2013-15 In-Colors.  

For the feathers, I've used Coastal Cabana on the tall one and Baked Brown Sugar on the lighter of the short ones, both stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock.  The darker of the shorter feathers is stamped with Early Espresso on Baked Brown Sugar cardstock (I've used my Chalk Marker to add a bit of white to the feather).  The sentiment, from the retiring Lots of Thanks stamp set, is heat embossed on Sahara Sand using the retiring Early Espresso embossing powder.  

I've cut out three circles using the retiring Starburst framelits, one in Very Vanilla, one in Baked Brown Sugar and the smallest in Early Espresso.  For the largest I used the starburst mask from the Hooray It's Your Day Simply Created kit and sponged it using Crisp Cantaloupe.  I also sponged a bit of Crisp Cantaloupe at the base of each feather.

I went a bit wild taking apart some Burlap Ribbon and blued on strands following the rays  on the largest starburst die cut.  To hold the circles together, I used one of the beautiful Antique Brads.  The background paper is the retired Early Espresso Core'dinations which I've embossed using the retiring Argyle embossing folder and then sanded to expose more of the wonderful pattern.

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My first two projects had a bit of a masculine flair.  For my final project I'm taking a giant leap in the other direction.  My Hearts Double Easel card is decidedly feminine.  I chose to use Naturals White as my base and then added Strawberry Slush and Baked Brown Sugar cardstocks.  I also used some of the retiring Champagne Glimmer Paper because it works so beautifully with the tones of the Baked Brown Sugar.  The stamp sets that I used are Good Greetings, Yippee-Skippee, and Build a Bouquet.  I used several sizes of the Hearts Framelits as well as the Hearts a Flutter Framelits.  For my stamping, I used the gorgeous Shimmery White specialty cardstock.  I'm so glad it didn't retire.

The inside of the card with the double portion of the easel closed.

The little double portion of the easel open.

The front of the closed card.

The double easel card standing with both easels open.

My embellishments include the Pearl Jewel Basics, the Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers and two flowers cut from the Natural Filter Paper with the Spiral Flower Bigz Original die and then sponged lightly with Strawberry Slush ink.  It's a soft, elegant and wildly romantic card.  I hope you love it as much as I do.

I've also included this card in the SUO Challenge as well as the Inspirational Challenge.

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Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed creating them.  If you get a moment, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

Your next stop will be with another very talented and creative member of our group, Priscilla Ivler.  I'm sure you'll be amazed with her wonderful projects.