Celebrating 3 years of Hopping!

That's right - we are celebrating our 3rd Anniversary! Can you believe it? And we have all of the original Hoppers from that very first Blog Hop from July 2013. To see the complete list of participants visit the home blog - Wacky Watercooler Stamping.

If you started at the top of the list, you are probably totally awed by all the wonderful creations, and have just arrived from Marsha's blog. She is always a tough act to follow!

I will start with my CASE (Copy And Share Everything) from that original Blog Hop. As usual, there is so much inspiration from this group. But, when I came to Kath R's Faux Watercolouring card - that was it! Here's Kath's card:

 And here is my version:

I kept the background monochrome with Crumb Cake cardstock and ink. All the images in the background are from the fabulous Tuscan Vineyard stamp set and it is embossed with the Brick Wall Embossing Folder.The focal image is done on Watercolour Paper. I used Stampin' Write Markers in Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Emerald Envy and Soft Suede to ink up the bunch of grapes stamp from Tuscan Vineyard.

First, I spritzed the Watercolour Paper with water - you want it pretty wet - but not soggy. Then stamp with your inked stamp. It will go all fuzzy, but don't worry! The magic happens with the next step.

Let it dry. Re-ink your stamp with the same colours and stamp again over top of your first stamp. This will give your image definition. I then ran it through my Big Shot with one of the framelits from Lots of Labels. A few loops of Copper Wire and some strands from the Burlap Ribbon are the finishing touches.

My next card does double duty - it's an anniversary card using one stamp set that was new in 2013 and is still current - Gorgeous Grunge. It is full of wonderful textures and so versatile. I chose the image that reminds me of rain falling - which led me to think about a song from a few years ago - It's Raining Men (don't remember who sang it) - which in turn led me to think about Raining Flowers.

Whew! It really is strange sometimes how the mind of a stamper works. But, here is the result of all that twisted thinking:

I used mostly InColors for this: Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach and Cucumber Crush. The centres of the flowers are coloured by using the Clear Wink of Stella pen dipped into Daffodil Delight ink.

The little flowers are from the Rose Wonder set. I stamped them with Dapper Denim and Peekaboo Peach onto Whisper White cardstock then coloured them with the same colours using my Aquapainter. After coloring, I went back over the petals with the fine point of the corresponding markers.

Again with Dapper Denim ink, I stamped the outline image from Rose Wonder an the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and cut it out. I thought all these colours needed something to sort of ground them, so I added a strip of Burlap Ribbon. It seems I couldn't stop adding things - such as the Pearls Basic Jewels, which I thought looked nice against the rustic Burlap Ribbon.

Dapper Denim - I'm really liking that colour! - makes a great card base for this design.

And, there you have it! Happy 3rd Anniversary to all my fellow Watercooler Blog Hoppers! Click on the 'Next' button below to go to Jean's blog. She is one of our Alumni - and never ceases to amaze us.