WWC176 - Kath's All About Christmas Challenge

Are you ready to add to your Christmas card stash? Want to get a headstart on Christmas cards so you are not scrambling at the last minute? Kath has the solution for you this week!

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a card I made from bits and pieces that were laying around on my craft table. You can check it out here.

Today I have another one!

The elements on this card had all been created for other projects, down to the Crumb Cake cardstock. On the tree layer, I started by using my sponge brayer to apply Powder Pink, Berry Burst, and Fresh Fig inks, leaving the center area the lightest.

The trees are stamped with the pine tree from Lovely as a Tree in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. The sparkle is Dazzling Diamonds which I applied by first spattering some watered-down Tombow Liquid Glue before sprinkling with the glitter.

For the sentiment and snowflakes I used stamps from a Paper Pumpkin kit, in Fresh Fig and Tranquil Tide on Very Vanilla cardstock.

A scrap of lace trim provides an accent between this layer and the Copper Foil circle diecut with Stitched Shapes thinlits.

I'll have to do another clean-up session as things are piling up again. It's fun to do and surprises me as to how many cards I can complete in just a couple of hours.

For more Christmas inspiration, check out what the other Watercooler Artists have done at Watercooler Wednesday.

WWC175 - Marsha's Masuline Anything Goes Challenge

This week's challenge theme, hosted by Marsha, is a theme I still struggle with. As do some of you.

For some reason, I was thinking about graffiti and thought I would see where that went, since I had no plan. Here's what happened.

First, I needed a brick wall. Out came the Brick Wall embossing folder and a piece of Gray Granite cardstock.  wanted to emphasize the grout lines, so I applied Silver Embossing Paste with the tip of a skewer between each brick.

When that dried, I stenciled some "graffiti" using some blue acrylic paint. Some sponging with Gray Granite ink added to the grunge look.

For a pop of colour, I diecut the bench from Pretty Park Framelits from retired DSP. Then, the bench needed that cute dog from Sitting Pretty. He is stamped with Gray Granite and Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

The tops of the potted plant in the Sitting Pretty stamp set, in Call Me Clover, make the foliage under the bench.

To finish it off, I stamped the banner and the word 'chill' from Pick A Pennant, with Pineapple Punch and Gray Granite.

If you struggle with making cards for the men in your life, visit Watercooler Wednesday for more inspiration.

WWC174 - Gail's All About Occasions Challenge

We have another challenge for you this week that covers any cardmaking occasion throughout the year.

As many crafters know, there comes a time when you look at your work area and you know you just have to tackle the mess. I had one of those moments the other day. After I had put away the piles of stamp sets and ink pads, the next thing to tackle was some piles of cardstock and DSP.

Some of the pieces had been cut for card bases and never used. Others had images stamped on them and never used. Pieces of DSP had been cut to card-front size, or were pieces left over from trimming bigger pieces.

Since I was tired of tidying, I decided to sift through all the bits and see if I could combine some of this into finished cards. Two hours later, I had 6 finished cards! And it was fun to do!

This is one of the projects I came up with.

This fun image is from Santa Paws. It may or may not have been on my table since Christmas. Ooops!

The image had been stamped with black ink (I don't remember if it was Archival Black or Memento), on Crumb Cake cardstock that had been embossed with the Woodgrain Embossing Folder, but never coloured.

First, I toned down the Crumb Cake by lightly running my Craft Whisper White ink pad over it to give it a white-washed effect. Then I coloured it with Stampin' Write Markers.

Next, I stamped the holly image from the Father Christmas stamp set all around the edges to create a frame, using Always Artichoke ink.

There just happened to be a piece of Always Artichoke cardstock laying on the table, as well as a piece of Cherry Cobbler to use for the cardbase. The Cherry Cobbler die-cut bow I found is from, I think, the Santa's Sleigh thinlits.

I stamped the sentiment on Very Vanilla cardstock in Always Artichoke, cut it apart and sponged each piece with the Always Artichoke ink.

I have to say, I quite enjoyed doing this. It was a challenge, at first, when sorting through everything, but in a way it was much easier to finish cards as I had no pre-conceived ideas in mind.

Give it a try!

Now visit Watercooler Wednesday and see what occasions have inspired the other members of the team.

WWC173 - Tenia's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge

Welcome to a new Watercooler Wednesday Challenge. This week's host is Tenia, with a Feminine Anything Goes theme.

My card for this challenge would surely win the prize for the most stamp sets and ink colours used on one card!

I made this for a friend who is taking a much-needed, long over-due break from work and gave it to her with a bottle of wine. So I was going for a relaxing scene with soothing, soft colours.

My starting point was the mountains, sky, water and grassy areas. These were done with the Waterfront stamp set. Some interest was added to the water area with the ripple image from High Tide.

Colours used for these areas: Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Coastal Cabana, Old Olive and  Soft Sea Foam.

Next, I went to the Colourful Seasons stamp set and stamped the frame for the chair with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. For the  seat, I used Lovely Lipstick on Whisper White cardstock and fussy cut it.

Of course, there had to be a glass of wine and the Half Full stamp set had the perfect size! It is stamped with Gray Granite and the wine is  coloured with Merry Merlot (of course!) and a blender pen.

The glass of wine needed a table. So I searched through my stamp sets, looking for something that would work. When I looked at my stack of retired sets, I spotted Sprinkles of Life and had an ah-ha! moment when I looked at the image for the ice cream cone. Stamped with Crumb Cake on Whisper White CS, fussy cut and turned upside down, it made the perfect little table.

I thought it needed some colour in the upper left hand corner to balance out the bright red of the chair. For this, I cut the tree branch from a piece of Wood Textures DSP using the Seasonal Layers thinlits and stamped the flowers from Colourful Seasons with Grapefruit Grove.

This kind of stamping is something I really enjoy. It's fun to look at various stamp sets and combine them to create a scene. Give it a try!

To see what the rest of the team has done, just visit Watercooler Wednesday and be inspired.