Hopping again!

Welcome to the last stop on the Hop. If you are following in order, you've just been wowed by Stefanie's awsome projects. I'm the last stop but because the Hop is circular, you can keep going and do another round if you want.

I have two Christmas projects to share. The first one is a tile I stamped with the Christmas Bauble stamp. I've been wanting to use Blendabilities on a tile since I got them and since I had this tile in my stash, this is the perfect time to use it.

I used Old Olive, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Cherry cobbler.

Next up is a really quick project that would be easy to do multiples of. I used scraps of Designer Series Paper to make a collection of Christmas candles.

I used the smallest star from Bright and Beautiful and embossed with gold embossing powder on Hello Honey cardstock. At the bottom I used my Fringe Scissors on a strip of Garden Green and wrapped gold Baker's Twine around it. The sentiment is from Endless Wishes.

If you click on the 'Next' button you will go back to the beginning.

Holiday Sneak Peak

There's a new Holiday Catalogue on the horizon and I can promise you it is full of exciting products. I had a hard time deciding what to get on my pre-order - I wanted all of it!

My first project is doing double duty since this Hop theme is "Summer/Sneak Peek at Holiday Catalogue". The same group that brings you these Blog Hops has also started doing Challenges. Check out the Challenge Blog here. The latest challenge is to CASE - which stands for Copy And Share Everything - one of the Watercooler Gang. I CASE'd Kath who made a card using the background stamp Corner Garden. See her's here. This stamp is on my wishlist, however it hasn't made it into my collection yet. But, I did order the Park Lane Designer Series Paper - and, one of the designs just screamed out "Colour Me!"

So I did. And the obvious choice was Blendabilities. I used Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and the Skin Tone Assortment. I also used a Project Life journaling pen to define some of the leaves. Love those pens! It did take some time to colour, so I wanted that to be the star of the show I didn't add much to this card. The main image is mounted on an Old Olive base. I used a piece of the gorgeous Mossy Meadow 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon across the middle and over that a sentiment from Label Love stamped on Whisper White with Tangelo Twist ink and punched with the Artisan Label punch.

Next up, we go from summer to Christmas. I love Blendabilities and Stampin' Up has made sure there are many stamp sets to choose from in both the main catalogue and the upcoming Holiday Catalogue that are perfect to showcase the Blendabilities. I used a single stamp - Christmas Bauble. It has a retro feel to it that I love. It's coloured with Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Blendabilities. I added highlights with the uni-ball Signo Gel Pen and the Silver Stampin' Dazzle Marker. A little bit of bling from Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details completes the bauble.

The Merry Christmas, stamped in Cherry Cobbler, if from the Photopolymer set Endless Wishes. Behind the image layer is a design from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack. For the card base, I used some of the new Kraft cardstock. I can tell this is going to be a favourite - and it comes in 12" x 12" sheets.

  Now, I also have to point out the little strip of shiny red ribbon on the left side of the card. I thought it needed some more bling. So I coloured a piece of 1/8" silver ribbon with Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities.

Next stop on the Hop is Teri. I can't wait to see what she has come up with to inspire all of us! Just click on the Next button to take you there.

Inspired by St. John's Jelly Bean Row

My niece visited the Maritimes recently and took some lovely photos, including one of what is known as Jelly Bean Row in St. John's Newfoundland. They are vibrantly coloured Victorian row houses. And perfect to use as an inspiration for colouring with Stampin' Up's Blendabilities.

I received an order yesterday that contained 3 new sets of Blendabilities and the Colour Lifter. It also contained one of the fabulous Hostess Sets in this new annual catalogue - Life's Adventure. There is a stamp of what is very similar to a Victorian row house.

So I immediately got out cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black ink and my Stamp-a-ma-jig and went to work.

First, I'll share the photo my very talented niece Christine took:

I stamped 2 card fronts on Whisper White cardstock and coloured one house with Cherry Cobbler, a second with Daffodil Delight and the third with Coastal Cabana Blendabilities. The little porch on each house was coloured with Old Olive Blendabilities. With the colour lifter, I lightened up some areas on each house.

But, I couldn't decide what colour to mount the images on. So I put one on Mossy Meadow and the other one on Lost Lagoon.

Here's a recap of materials used:
Stamps: Life's Adventure (Hostess set)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, Old Olive Blendabilities collections
Cardstock: Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Lost Lagoon
Other: Stamp-a-ma-Jig, Scallop Oval punch, Extra Large Oval punch, colour lifter

Colouring is one of my favourite things to do. How about you? Have you tried Blendabilities yet? If you live on the Sunshine Coast in BC and want to learn how to use them in a class, leave a comment.

WCC05 - Color Challenge 2 ( Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight)

Our Watercooler Challenge team came up with this awesome colour combo. I love colour challenges, as usually they force me to use colours I don't often gravitate to. But this one uses one of my all-time faves - Crumb Cake!

I think Crumb Cake goes with just about any colour, and particularly those with a red/purple hue. So I decided to make Crumb Cake the dominant colour in my sample, with just touches of Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Delight. I also used some Pistachio Pudding.

This card also uses a few techniques - Two-Step Stamping using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, marker-to-stamp inking and embossing. Stamping off technique was used for the bottom layer of the roses. This means inking the stamp, then stamping it once onto scrap paper and then stamping it - without re-inking - onto the cardstock. This gives you a lighter shade of the colour. When you stamp the top detail layer, use the ink full strength to give it dimension. Two stamp sets are used - Stippled Blossom and Bloom With Hope (the sentiment).

I love the soft look of the Crumb Cake roses, don't you?

Here's a close-up of the roses and the Pearl Basic Jewels in the centers.

Here's the ingredients:

Stamps: Stippled Blossom, Bloom With Hope (2014-2015 Hostess Set)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry, Pistachio Pudding
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Other: Pearl Basic Jewels, Deco Lbels Collection Framelits, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Thanks for taking a look! Please leave a comment and be sure to check out the Watercooler Challenges Blog here.