Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #125 - Kath's Christmas Challenge

It's time for another Christmas challenge, hosted this week by Kath. But she has thrown us a curve ball! We have to use non-traditional colours.

I remembered I had some of the 6 x 6 Glimmer Paper in some fun colours from this year's Sale-a-Bration. Also, I wanted to use Lemon Lime Twist - one of our yummy new In Color collection this year. It would work, I thought, with the Mint Macaron Glimmer Paper. Take a look:

 First, I stamped the pine branch from Christmas Pines using Lemon Lime Twist, stamped off once, onto Whisper White cardstock. The greeting, from the same set is stamped in Tranquil Tide.

After cutting out the ornament from the Delicate Ornaments Thinlits, I then used some mini-glue dots to secure it to a piece of Copper Foil, trimmed to the same shape. I love how the Glimmer Paper looks against the Copper Foil:

A piece of Copper Ribbon was wrapped around the Whisper White piece, and I used some Linen Thread to hang the ornament from it.

The cardbase is Tranquil Tide. Hmmmm - I seem to be using these two colours, Lemon Lime Twist and Tranquil Tide, together a lot. They just work so well together!

Now, just visit the Watercooler Wednesday blog to see what non-traditional colours the other 'Cooler Artists have use, then show us your combinations.

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #124 - Fiona's Masculine Challenge

 
This week's host is Fiona, who brings us a masculine challenge.

I had an immediate idea and had started to work on my design. And then, I saw a post from an on-line stamping friend - Buffy Cooper - that made me totally change direction. You can see her card here.

A lot of Stampin' Up demonstrators were thrilled that SU brought back Glossy White cardstock. I just happened to have some I've been hoarding since it retired, and when I saw Buffy's card I had to pull it out.

One of the most fun techniques to do the Glossy cardstock is sometimes called "direct to paper" or just "swiping". All it involves is dragging an ink pad over the cardstock. I used two of my favourite new In Colors: Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist.

All the stamping on this card is done with the High Tide stamp set. You do want to make sure the swiped ink is totally dry before you stamp on it. Also, the shiny finish on this cardstock makes it a bit slippery, so take care when stamping on it.

The lighthouse and birds are stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and the sentiment and water details are done with Tranquil Tide. This colour just might make up for the loss of Lost Lagoon a couple of years ago!

I used the Stitched Shape framelits to cut out the sentiment and then popped it up with dimensionals. The image panel is mounted onto a Thick Whisper White base.

This technique is so easy - but gets really spectacular results! Give it a try - you will be surprised.

Now it's your turn. Visit Watercooler Wednesday and take a look at what the other Watercooler Artists have done - then show us your stuff!

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #123 - Marsha's Fireworks Challenge

Marsha is our host for this week's challenge, and she has given us a really fun theme to work with.

We're coming up to a time of year that will see fireworks used to celebrate occasions and milestones in many places around the world. Here in Canada, July 1 is known as Canada Day:
 
Canada Day in Canada

On July 1, 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain and a federation of four provinces: Nova Scotia; New Brunswick; Ontario; and Quebec. The anniversary of this date was called Dominion Day until 1982. Since 1983, July 1 has been officially known as Canada Day.

This year is the 150th birthday of our country - and it's a good bet there will be fireworks somewhere!  That's what I was thinking of when I created this OH, happy day! card.

I used a retired stamp set from a few years ago called Build a Bouquet. These images are meant to be layered in a two-step stamping technique to create flowers. But, I think they make great fireworks.

I used three of the brand new In Colors: Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst for the smaller images and Powder Pink for the large image.  The Berry Burst images were stamped off three times to get the different shades.

Using the Copper Thread, I wound it around my fingers several times and secured it with a Mini Glue Dot in the middle of the Lemon Lime Twist images, then cut the loops. One of the new Gold Faceted Gems covers up the glue dot.

The Watercooler Artists have outdone themselves with this challenge and there are some really creative interpretations of the Fireworks Theme Challenge. Visit Watercooler Wednesday and I am sure you will agree!
 
 

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #122 - Libby's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge

This week Libby is hosting a Feminine Anything Goes Challenge.

If colours can be said to have gender, then pink is the ultimate feminine colour. Two of the brand new In Colors for 2017-2019 fall into the pink tones - for me anyway: Powder Pink and Berry Burst. I combined these two colours with a really easy watercolour wash background done as a resist technique. I CASEd a card done by a German Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Her blog is in German and doesn't have a translate button and I can't figure out what her name is. The name of the blog is Stempelzeit - I think.

I loved the colours she used, but decided to try doing it in Powder Pink and Berry Burst.

The stamp set is Daisy Delight. I stamped randomly with Versa Mark ink on the Whisper White cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder. Using an Aquapainter, I diluted Powder Pink ink in the lid of my ink pad and did a loose wash across the cardstock. Then repeated with the Berry Burst.

I used some of the Copper Ribbon and Linen Thread to tone down the pink tones somewhat. The little tag is cut with a die from the new Wood Crate Framelits.

And that's it! Now check out what the other Watercooler Artists have done with this challenge and then show us your interpretation.