WWC60 - Marsha's CAS Birthday Challenge

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this week Marsha is challenging us to create a CAS (clean and simple) birthday card.  I love clean and simple challenges.  It's fun to see how creative one can be, keeping it very simple.  

I decided to begin with a Whisper White base and from there added a layer of Marina Mist with the upper left and lower right corner cut using the Project Life Corner punch.  My next layer is the specialty Watercolor Paper.  I chose that because it's really one of the best papers on which to watercolor as well as do some heavy-duting sponging.

I cut the top left corner and bottom right corner of the Watercolor Paper using the Curvy Corner Trio punch.  Then I stamped the lovely curved bough of blossoms from the Timeless Love stamp set towards the lower right of the paper using the Archival Black ink.  To the left of that I stamped my sentiment from the Endless Birthdays stamp set using Versamark and clear embossing powder.  Once that was heat embossed, I knew my blossoms were dry and proceeded to watercolor them using Melon Mambo, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi and Daffodil Delight inks and my Aqua Painter.

While that dried, I cut a scrap piece of cardstock using my 2 3/4" Circle Framelit and used the negative circle space as my mask to sponge over the heat-embossed sentiment using Marina Mist ink and bring colour towards the bough of blossoms.  After sponging, I used my Aqua Painter to blend the colour and to pull it closer to the watercoloured blossoms.  After that I added two rhinestones and my card was done.

I hope you'll check out the cards created for this challenge by the other Watercooler Artists at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.   I look forward to seeing your clean and simple birthday card linked up to our challenge this week.

I've also linked up my card to the "Less is More" Challenge from which I continue to be inspired.

And, finally, I've linked my card to the SUO Challenge since my bough of flowers is the closest thing to Spring in my life at the moment (go away, snow!)

PCCCS187 - The Best Thing

It feels like forever since I've joined the rest of the Design Team for a challenge.  But my vacation is over, my sunburn is peeling, and I'm back at work creating cards.  The sketch for this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge was lots of fun.

I decided to use the pretty Sale-a-Bration Wildflower Fields Designer Series Paper and picked the additional colours of ink and cardstock from the colours in the design.  My base is Whisper White and then I added a layer of Calypso Coral which I first embossed using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder.  Then I added a small square of Crushed Curry which I embossed using the Pretty Print Embossing Folder.  The diagonally cut Designer Series Paper pulled the colours together nicely.  And then I added an Old Olive oval embossed using the Spring Flowers Embossing Folder topped with a stamped and sponged smaller oval in Whisper White.  I used the Timeless Textures stamp set and Crushed Curry ink to stamp and sponge the oval and then used another of the stamps in the set and Lost Lagoon ink off stamped once.  For the sentiment I turned to the lovely World of Dreams stamp set using Blackberry Bliss ink.

I hope you'll check out the rest of the Design Team cards at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge and, perhaps, link your own version of the sketch as well.

The Wacky Watercooler March Madness Blog Hop

It's time for another Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop and this one is all about the madness one finds in March.  They don't have that old saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" for nothing.  Think about it for a moment.  How many animals can manage to do a complete metamorphosis into another animal in a month?  How many months can be mild enough for a person to go looking for flowers pushing through the soil and yet also be fierce enough to make even a heavy winter coat seem to thin to keep warm?  It's madness and we're bringing madness to our blog hop by means of fancy folds instead of "normal" cards.  Are you ready for some madness?

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 participating 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 very creative Deborah Smart.  Weren't her projects terrific?

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For my first project I'm revisiting a fold that I haven't used for a while, the "Z" fold.  This is a fun fold which dresses up even the most simple card.  The one I've created, for example, is really just a single layer, for the most part.  Yes, I've added another butterfly on top of the stamped butterfly and I've also added two die-cut circles on the inside of the card, but that's the only layering for this card.  That doesn't mean that all "Z" folds are that simple.  You can add layers and ribbons and lace and endless embellishments.  For mine, however, it was really all about the butterflies and so I had to keep it simple.

If you look closely, you can see that I've cut the butterflies which were stamped with Marina Mist ink onto the single layer of Heavy Whisper White.  I used the matching die from the Butterfly thinlits dies.  I didn't cut the whole butterfly out.  I stopped halfway so that the butterfly could stick straight out while the card could be folded at the halfway point along the butterlies.

I stamped three of the pretty lacy butterflies from the Butterfly Basics stamp set with Versamark on Vellum cardstock and then heat embossed them using White embossing powder.  Attached to the centres of the three blue butterflies, the vellum butterflies are wonderfully dainty.  

For the inside of the card I used the Botanical Builder framelits dies to cut a flower from a piece of Marina Mist and the centre of the flower in Whisper White and also in Old Olive.  For the centre I added a large Rhinestone as well.  I also cut a fern from the Old Olive.  The die-cuts frame the circles nicely and add a nice touch to the butterflies, don't you think?

To finish the card off I sponged Marina Mist and Old Olive ink over much of the remaining white area and then added a bit of subtle stamping using the Timeless Textures stamp set and off-stamped ink.

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For my final card I've turned to another special fold which I haven't used in several years.  This one is the Twisted Fold.  I love this particular fold because it looks very complicated and yet is basically quite easy to make.  You can use both the front of the card and the inside to tuck a little surprise into the folded area, which is like a little slanted pocket.  Since this one is a birthday card for a nine-year-old girl who loves flowers, bling and surprises, I've only used the inside as a "pocket" for a gift card and the front it all dressed up with flowers and a shiny gold butterfly.  

My colours for this card were based on the Designer Paper which I had decided to use.  The Wildflower Fields Designer Paper (from the current Sale-a-bration brochure) has a pretty design of floating Dandelion seeds on Calypso Coral.  Another design which I used from this Designer Paper is basically white with sprigs of Old Olive and touches of Calypso Coral and Hello Honey.

My base cardstock is the Heavy Whisper White which I turned into the Twisted Fold card.  For the top triangle I used a layer of Basic Grey and topped it with the floating Dandelions.  For the bottom triangle I used a layer of Calypso Coral and topped it with the sprigs.  I did that for both the front and the inside of the card.  Then I used the Number of Years stamp set and stamped the floral sprigs using Old Olive and Calypso Coral inks.  For the Happy Birthday I used Hello Honey ink.  The butterfly is cut from Gold Foil.

For the inside of the card I stamped the sentiment from the Number of Years set on the plain white side and then cut a "9" from Basic Grey cardstock using the Large Numbers framelits.  Once I had attached the "9" to the upper triangle, I used Gold Dazzling Details to add little dots all over the Basic Grey.

I know that it won't just be the gift card inside which will make the little girl squeal with delight.

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And that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed creating them.  From here you'll be returning to the beginning of the circle again, and another wonderfully creative stamper, Gail Allen.

If you get a moment, I'd love it if you would leave a comment.

WWC59 - Bev's Colour Challenge

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this time Bev has provided us with a colour challenge.  But this is no ordinary colour challenge.  This colour challenge is all about the greens.

At first glance I thought "what am I going to do with all those greens!"  My normal inclination would have been to have lots of flowers but with nothing except for greens in the palette, that wasn't going to happen.  And then I remembered that the day after the challenge opens will be St. Patrick's Day.  Who needs flowers?  St. Patrick's Day is all about the foliage.

I began with a card base of Heavy Whisper White followed by a layer of Mossy Meadow.  Then I took a piece of Whisper White and proceeded to stamp all over it with the various greens in this challenge, using images from the Timeless Textures, By the Tide and Awesomely Artistic.  After stamping, I embossed the piece using the Decorative Dots embossing folder.

For The smaller rectangle I used a backing of Crisp Cucumber embossed using the Softly Falling embossing folder and rounded the corners using the Project Life Corner punch.  On a smaller piece of Whisper White I first stamped the foliage from the Awesomely Artistic set using Mint Macaron, off-stamped twice.  Then I used the heart from the Work of Art stamp set to stamp the shamrock using Crisp Cucumber ink.  Before attached the smaller rectangle to the card with Dimensionals, I added a piece of Crisp Cucumber Dotted Lace Trim with another piece of the Lace Trim in Mint Macaron knotted around it.

I hope you'll check out the rest of the Watercooler Artists' creations at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  With all that inspiration, I trust you'll link up your own card and join the challenge.

WWC58 - Gail's Reflection Challenge

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this week Gail Allen has chosen a technique challenge.  I love techniques, especially this one.  Gail has decided to challenge us all to include a reflection in our cards.

I love creating reflections.  I know everyone doesn't, but there are a number of ways to create one.  My favourite is to use a piece of acetate (Window Sheet) and, after stamping my image on that I use it to stamp the image below the image stamped on paper.  That way the reflection is the "mirror image" or reverse image that one would expect.  Another way is to use a brayer.  I haven't tried that and so can't really comment on it.  My images have always been beautiful using the acetate sheet.

I decided to create a scene using a combination of stamp sets.  For my background I used the mountains from the In the Meadow set and then I stamped the wonderful Bi-Plane from the Sky is the Limit set above them.   Because I had decided that there would be a lake in the lower half of the card, I had to create a reflection of the mountains as well as of the Bi-Plane.  First I stamped the image of the mountains on a piece of acetate and then quickly lined the image up below the mountains, upside down, and stamped the image from the acetate onto the paper by firmly pressing across the acetate with my hand.

For the Bi-Plane I used the same technique but placed the image of the plane much closer to the bottom edge of the paper so that there would be some distance between the reflection of the mountains and the plane.  I coloured the "real" plane and the "real" mountains vividly and then coloured the reflections of each a bit more lightly.  Because the air would be moving and thus cause ripples along the water, I used my white Gel Pen to create the illusion of ripples across the image of the plane.

Finally I heat embossed my sentiment on Vellum cardstock using Black embossing powder and then cut that out in a scalloped "cloud" shape and used carefully placed glue dots to adhere it to the card.

I hope you'll feel inspired to try your hand at the reflection technique and than link up your card.  For more inspiration, check out the cards created by the other Watercooler Artists at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

WWC57 - Deborah's Sketch Challenge

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this week Deborah Smart has provided us with a sketch.

I love all the fancy layering in this sketch.  Some of it even looks as if it has been woven, doesn't it?  For some reason it just made me think of a masculine card and so that's the way I'm going to interpret the sketch for my card.

I decided to use some of the Going Places Designer Series paper stack for this card and so I chose my colours from the paper.  As a result my card base is Mossy Meadow followed by a layer of Delightful Dijon and then the Going Places design.  All the men in my life love to travel and so I used the globe and compass from the Going Global set as well as the suitcase from the Traveler stamp set for my stamped main design.  I stamped the images using Basic Gray and then stamped an additional suitcase, coloured it and cut it out.  I used dimensionals to place it over the Basic Gray image.

For those tags that appear woven over the Lost Lagoon rectangle and under the stamped Very Vanilla rectangle, I used Delightful Dijon strips which I first embossed using the Boho Chic embossing folder and then rounded off at the right end.  I added a Candy Dot (white coloured with Mossy Meadow ink) to the diamond embossed shape at the end.

It was fun using Deborah's sketch for my card and I hope it inspires you to try making your own card using her sketch.  Check out the cards made by the rest of the Watercooler Artists for more inspiration at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

TCTC#8 - It's Your Day

I've have the honour of being a Guest Designer for The Colour Tree Challenge this month and this will be my last post as such.  I was over the moon when Bronwyn contacted me and it has been a great deal of fun.  The challenge this week uses gold as well as two of the lovely colours from the 2015-2017 In-Colours, Mint Macaron and Watermelon Wonder.

I immediately thought of using the Botanical Gardens suite for the card.  I wanted die-cut flowers and, at the moment, these are my go-to blooms.  I decided to use three of the flowers in the framelits dies.  Two of them have double-cut petals while the third is smaller and simpler.  For the large flower, I went all out and dipped the edges of both cuts of petal edges in Versamark ink and then covered them with Gold embossing powder.  Once I used the Heat Gun, the gold on the petals was absolutely gorgeous and I knew I wasn't going to sponge the edges with more ink.  I did, however, sponge the other flowers with Watermelon Wonder ink to deepen the colour of the perimeters of the petals.

I wanted to use a variety of golds and thought about the gold sheets in the Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack.  I keep forgetting that the stack included metallic papers as well and the one with the script seemed perfect for my project.  I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White and then added a layer of Mint Macaron.  Then I embossed a piece of Whisper White using the Brick embossing folder, sponged that lightly using Mint Macaron ink to bring out the lines between the bricks, and added that to the layers.  I only used a much smaller rectangle of the metallic Gold printed paper and mounted that right against the right edge of the brick embossed layer.

Even though I had already added Mint Macaron cardstock as well as ink, I felt the flowers really needed some foliage and so cut two sprigs of open leaves from a piece of Mint Macaron paper using the Rose Garden thinlits.  I chose to make a banner for my sentiment and used the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set for that.  I backed the banner with a narrow layer of Mint Macaron to soften the white edges.  A little Watermelon Wonder heart covered with Crystal Effects finished off the banner.

For the centres of my flowers I used Gold Foil specialty paper and, once the centres were attached, added a bit of Gold Dazzling Details to that for additional texture and a different gold.

I had fun with this challenge and hope you will visit Bronwyn's addINKtive Designs to check out this challenge and, perhaps, link up your own inspiration.

PCCC183 - Feeling Special

You know that you're feeling lousy when you totally forget to post your weekly challenge.  That hasn't happened before but then I haven't been downright pushed to the ropes fighting bronchitis for such a long time, either.  Anyway, you know what they say:  better late than never.

This week Paper Craft Crew Challenge is a colour challenge for a change.  It's nice to have a little break from sketches, isn't it?

I love those colours and have used all four in my creation.  But if you're more comfortable, like the instructions say, you can just pick your three favourites and have a go.  

My card is light and bright with my colour base and most of the layers having Whisper White in them.  Using Smoky Slate in the layers as well adds to the lighter, daintier look, too, I believe.  My little fern fronds, thanks to using the Botanical Builder framelits, are cut from Old Olive cardstock.  The butterflies, stamped using the Watercolour Wings stamp set with Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss inks, were cut with the Bold Butterfly framelits and the Butterfly thinlits.  My sentiment is stamped with Blackberry Bliss ink and is from the Garden in Bloom set.

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

WWC56 - You're Tea'riffic!

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this week we have an "Anything Goes" challenge.  I think they're so much fun because I can use a card I've made but not posted or even make a card for another challenge (shhhhh!) and share it here.

I love the new Have a Cuppa Suite!  You'll remember that I used a teacup in a previous post.  Love those Cups and Kettle Framelits Dies!  This time I'm using the teapot.  There isn't a stamp for the teapot in the A Nice Cuppa stamp set but that means you can die-cut the teapot and then use any type of stamp to decorate it.  For mine I decided to use the tiny flower stamp from the Botanical Blooms stamp set and heat embossed it all over the teapot and lid using White embossing powder.  I love the way it pops against the lovely blue of the Marina Mist, don't you?

I used a Heavy Whisper White base and then added a layer of Marina Mist and then a layer of Whisper White which I had first embossed using the Lovely Lace embossing folder.  To that I added a narrower layer of the Blushing Bride colour from the Perfectly Artistic Designer Series paper as well as half a doily.

I added a Silver Foil spoon and two Silver Glimmer Paper sugar cubes as well as some Silver Glimmer Paper steam (love that it's shaped like a heart!).  With the addition of the sentiment from the A Nice Cuppa stamp set,  my card was finished.

I hope you'll check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge to see the other wonderful samples created by the Watercooler Artists.  And then I invite you to link your own card to the challenge.

TCTC#7 - A Happy Hello

I have the honour of being a Guest Designer for The Colour Tree Challenge this month.  I was over the moon when Bronwyn contacted me and, truth be told, am still very excited about it.  The challenge this week uses some very bold colours as well as gold.

For this card I turned to the Annual Catalogue.  There are so many wonderful products available in it but at the moment it is being eclipsed by the Occasions catalogue and Sale-a-bration.  Time for a change.  For my base I used the Heavy Whisper White and then added a layer of Basic Black.  I wasn't certain whether I wanted my next layer to be a pattern or an embossed piece.  And then I remembered the Neutrals Designer Series paper stack and knew that was the answer.  I chose the pretty flower pattern in Black and White but before I attached the piece, I  cut out the centre using my Deco Labels framelit.  That left a nice black shape in the centre of the card for which I cut a white label using the smaller Deco Labels framelit.

For the white label I decided to stamp  one of the sentiments from the Tin of Cards set using the Archival Basic Black ink.  Once that was dry, I used my Aqua Painter to put a watercolour wash over the centre using Tempting Turquoise ink.  To dress up the card I heat embossed three butterflies from the Papillon Potpourri set on Vellum cardstock with Gold embossing powder.   I used my Stampin' Marker to add Tempting Turquoise to each butterfly.

After adding three small gold heart sequins from the Metallics Sequin Assortment my card was done.  I hope you'll check out the wonderful project created by Bronwyn and then link up your own project at The Colour Tree Challenge.

The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop Celebrates the Occasions in Our Lives

Welcome to our February Blog Hop.  What better theme than to celebrate all the occasions that keep happening in our lives?  Of course there are the holidays, but every month sees countless birthdays not to mention retirements, weddings, births, and so much more.  Luckily there are lots of products in the Occasions Catalogue, Sale-a-bration Brochure and Annual Catalogue which work beautifully for these special cards and projects.

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 participating 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 very creative Deborah Smart.  Weren't her projects terrific?

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My first project is a retirement card but, as you know, that's just because of the sentiment I chose.  It could just as easily be used for other occasions, depending on your choice of sentiment.  I've been using a lot of bright colours lately and so I wanted to use something different for this card.  I love browns and blues together.  The colours offer a very subtle elegance and can be used for so many occasions.  

I began with a base of Sahara Sand and topped that with a layer of Soft Suede which I first embossed using my Woodgrain embossing folder.  Then I took another piece of Sahara Sand and cut it using my Striped Scallop Thinlit.  Instead of using the entire die-cut to cover the Soft Suede, I cut it carefully in half and flipped one side to face the other and then put them on top of each other.  It sounds odd but the result is gorgeous.  Instead of scallops, the pattern becomes overlapping circles.

I love the new Botanical Gardens Suite.  What a wonderful collection of framelits, stamps, papers and embellishments.  There doesn't seem to be an end to the projects that can be made using them all.  I decided to make some leaves, fern fronds and a large, overblown flower.  And that's where my blue comes in.  I used the Marina Mist cardstock and ink as well as some browns and the Delightful Dijon for my flower.  And for my sentiment I turned to the Wild About Flowers set which actually offers a retirement stamp.

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I decided to use another of the beautiful flower stamps in the Occasions Catalogue for my next card.  I can't believe, now, that I almost decided not to get this bundle.  For something I didn't think I wanted, I've certainly used it a lot.  The bundle to which I'm referring is the Rose Wonder stamp set and matching Rose Garden Thinlits dies.  This time I decided to make a Double Time Stamped card.  For this style of card, you basically cut two pieces of cardstock, one quite a bit smaller than the other, and then carefully centre the smaller piece on the larger piece and stamp on both at the same time.  The result, once the smaller piece is matted and separated from the larger piece with Dimensionals, is really surprisingly elegant.  It looks much more complicated than it is.

I used two pieces of the beautiful Shimmery White specialty paper and stamped the large rose with leaves across both pieces using Versamark.  Then I heat embossed both with Clear embossing powder.  After that it was simply a matter of watercolouring the image on both pieces of paper.  I used Rose Red and Wasabi  Green for the rose and then added a light colour wash of Tempting Turquoise to some of the background.  The matte which I used for the small piece and for the large piece was also Rose Red.  My base is simply the Heavy Whisper White.

My sentiment is stamped on Vellum cardstock using Rose Red ink and then I immediately covered the ink with Clear embossing powder.  Since the ink is slow to dry on vellum, this works as well as Versamark but there is no end to the colours that can be heat embossed this way.  The label was cut with the label die from the Rose Garden Thinlits die set.

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For my final project I had the best inspiration.  My grandson, Xavian, just turned 9 on Tuesday and so I needed something super-special for him.  He's the one who, when he's asked which colour is his favourite, will always say "all of them".  (But I think he favours red just a bit more than the rest.)  He also loves balloons, especially the floating, helium-filled ones.  What could be better than that fun Balloon Bouquet punch and the bright balloon-filled Cherry On Top Designer Paper stack?  

I decided on the Heavy Whisper White as my base.  Since I wanted to use the Party Pop-Up Thinlits dies for the inside and wanted to use Whisper White for that, the white base would "flow" from one to the other.  I used the "Happy Birthday Cake" die to cut a piece of 3 3/4" x 10"  cardstock.  Then I used my Aqua Painter to watercolour the cake stand with Crushed Curry ink, the "Birthday" with Bermuda Bay ink and the "Happy" with Watermelon Wonder ink.  I watercoloured the candles using all three inks.  For the flames of the candles, I added a  bit of Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details to give a sparkly effect.  Once the ink had dried, I stamped "Make a wish" from the Party With Cake set on the cake stand.  Next, I adhered the die-cut strip to the card base and then I added a strip of the Watermelon Wonder Designer Series paper  to the top and the bottom of the white strip.  The final touch was a balloon cut with the punch, coloured with my Aqua Painter and Watermelon Wonder ink, and covered with a layer of Crystal Effects.  If you look closely, you'll see the silver thread holding the balloon.

For the front of the card I used a lot of balloons, both large and small.  I cut them from Whisper White cardstock and coloured them using my Aqua Painter and Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush, and Crushed Curry inks.  Then I covered them with a layer of Crystal Effects and, while they dried, worked on the rest of the design.

To my base of Heavy Whisper White I added a layer of Cucumber Crush and then another layer of cardstock, Pool Party, which I first embossed using the Lucky Stars embossing folder.  (You always want to have extra luck on a birthday, right?)  I added a strip of the balloon patterned Designer paper from the Cherry On Top stack.

On a small piece of Whisper White I stamped "Birthday Boy" from the Sale-a-bration Hello stamp set using all the colours that were in the strip of Designer Paper.  Then I added a Watermelon Wonder matte and a Cucumber Crush Matte before mounting it to the card with Dimensionals.  The balloons were also attached with Dimensionals and, if you look closely, you'll see a silver thread tied to each one and gathered together under the little banner at the bottom.

After stamping and watercolouring three balloons on the envelope, my card was ready for Xavian.

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And that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed creating them.  From here you'll be returning to the beginning of the circle again, and another wonderfully creative stamper, Marie Green.


If you get a moment, I'd love it if you would leave a comment.

WWC55 - Happy Birthday (Jean's Colour Challenge)

Welcome to another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  This week Jean Fitch is hosting a Colour Challenge and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love with the colours.

Yes, it's a gorgeous ring and the Stampin' Up! colours which match it are some of my favourites.  That's always a good place to begin---loving the colours you'll be using.

I decided to heat emboss the beautiful rose image from the Rose Wonder set in Silver embossing powder.  To give myself a good base on which to watercolour, I did my heat embossing on one of my favourite papers, the Shimmery White specialty paper.  It has such a lovely, subtle shimmer as well as being strong enough to allow watercolouring without any pilling of the paper.

Using my Aqua Painter and the Perfect Plum ink, I coloured in the rose, concentrating the colour in areas such as the centre by adding several layers of ink.  Then I coloured the leaves using the Mint Macaron ink.  For the background, I watercoloured the upper area using Pacific Point ink and then carefully blended in a lighter wash of the Tempting Turquoise as I reached the middle and lower part of the paper.  I did the same with my sentiment, heat embossing it using Silver embossing powder, and then used the bracket from the Rose Garden thinlits dies to cut it out.  To finish the sentiment off, I used a light wash of Perfect Plum ink.

My base cardstock is Smoky Slate with a layer of Silver Foil added.  I love the way the Silver Foil repeats the silver in the embossed rose and sentiment.  Besides using the round corner punch on the Silver Foil, I used the Curvy Corner Trio punch on the watercoloured Shimmery White paper.  A single rhinestone finishes off my card.  The photograph doesn't do it justice.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.   Of course you're invited to link up your own creation using our challenge colours.

PCCCS182 - Happy Together

For today's sketch I decided to use Whisper White and Real Red cardstock---that's it.  Add to that a bit of embossing, stamping with Basic Black ink and a bit of silver embellishment, and my card was complete.  It began with this sketch.

As well as my retired script embossing folder, I used three stamp sets to put this card together.  The sentiment is from A Dozen Thoughts.  The birds and nest silhouette image is from the World of Dreams set and, finally, the additional bough of leaves and flowers in silhouette is from the Thoughts and Prayers set.  They work together beautifully, don't they?

I hope you'll check out the cards created by the rest of the Design Team at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

TCTC#6 - You'll Be Missed

I have the honour of being a Guest Designer for The Colour Tree Challenge this month.  I was over the moon when Bronwyn contacted me and, truth be told, am still very excited about it.  The challenge this week uses some beautiful purples.

I had to think about what I would do with these colours.  The Blackberry Bliss, especially, can be so very dark that it almost appears to be black in pictures.  Of course I didn't want that to happen with my stamping.  And so I chose to do a lot of off-stamping.  What is off-stamping, you ask?  Well, after inking up one's stamp the regular way, one stamps the image on a scrap piece of paper and then stamps the image onto the cardstock which is going to be part of the card.  Does that make sense?  What I love about this technique is that it results in a lot of variations of colour.  Especially since I didn't just stamp off once.  For the Rich Razzleberry and the Blackberry Bliss, I stamped off twice before stamping onto my good Whisper White.

After using the Botanical Blooms stamp set for my stamping, I ran the Whisper White piece through my Big Shot using the Elegant Dots embossing folder to add texture.  Then I cut several leaves from Blackberry Bliss cardstock using the Botanical Builder framelit dies, stamped veins on them with my Botanical Blooms set and added them to my Whisper White in random spots.  Finally, I cut flower centres from Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry, and Perfect Plum cardstock using the Botanical Builder framelit dies.  Since I used each for the centre of the flower stamped with that ink, you can really tell what a difference the off-stamping makes compared to the actual "full" colour.

For the card I used a base of Heavy Whisper White and then added a layer of Blackberry Bliss cardstock before attaching the stamped and embossed Whisper White layer.  I also added several butterflies from the Papillon Potpourri set, stamped on vellum and heat embossed in clear embossing powder.  A few pearls in the centre of my flowers, a sentiment, and the card is done.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful project created by Bronwyn and then link up your own project at The Colour Tree Challenge.

WWC54 - The Bouncing Brayer Technique

This is an exciting challenge for me.  Marsha Reed is hosting her Bouncing Brayer Technique and, even though I've heard about this technique, I'm finally being forced to try it myself.

Are you ready for my first attempt at this?  I've decided that since Valentine's Day is coming up this weekend, it makes sense to make this card all about love.  So I turned to the long-accepted tradition of red and white for my card.

Rather than beginning with a piece of Whisper White cardstock and bouncing a brayer inked up with Real Red ink, however, I decided to do it in reverse.  I chose to use a piece of Real Red cardstock and then bounced that loaded brayer full of Whisper White Craft ink.  Yes, Marsha, you were right to warn us.  I did wind up with inky white fingers BUT I did not get fingerprints all over my project.  Score one for Heidi!

Since I had used Craft ink, I knew it would take some time to dry properly.  That gave me time to get the other elements of my card prepared.  For my base I decided to use Real Red cardstock and then added a layer of Whisper White.  I used my corner punch on all four corners of the Whisper White as well as on all four corners of the brayered piece.  I thought that softened the effect.  Then I added a heart cut from Whisper White using the beautiful Bloomin' Heart Framelit.  To that I added blossoms die cut from the Red Glimmer paper.  I added Pearl embellishments to the centres of the blossoms and then, to the open cut blossoms in the design, I added Red sequins from the Brights Sequin assortment.  I finished the card up with a sentiment at the top centre and another at the bottom centre.

It's all about love, right?  At least that's what the card says and that's what Valentine's Day means to countless people.

I hope you'll join us at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge to check out all the other wonderful cards created by our Watercooler Artists.  This week is special.  We're introducing four new people who will be part of our team for the next three months.  Come on over and say "hi".

PCCCS181 - Be My Valentine

In just a few days it will be Valentine's Day and, of course, that is an open invitation to create a few cards using the Valentine theme of love, love, love.  That's what I decided to do with this week's sketch for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

I decided to use the smaller of the two roses from the Rose Garden Thinlits dies to cut out a rose from a piece of Real Red cardstock.  Taking the red as part of my "theme", I used a base of the Heavy Whisper White followed by a layer of Real Red and then a layer of Whisper White.  On that Whisper White layer I stamped the flourish image from the Timeless Textures set, using the Silver Encore ink.  

Then I cut a smaller rectangle of Real Red on which I mounted a piece of Whisper White.  Onto that I attached the die-cut Real Red rose.  I love the effect but decided it looked a bit stark and so cut another rose from a piece of Silver Foil.  I took the negative pieces from the Silver Foil and added them to the Real Red rose and knew that's what it had needed.  Before mounting this on the base, I added two strips of Washi Tape to the lower portion of the base as well as a strip of the pretty printed Botanical Gardens vellum stack.

After attached the smaller rectangle, I added another small flower cut with the Rose Garden Thinlits dies from Real Red and then attached a thin banner with the sentiment across that.  A few added Real Red and Silver Foil hearts and the card was done.

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