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.

Introducing the Stampin' Up 2014-2015 Annual Catalogue

Yes, it's Blog Hop time again! I know you really enjoyed the projects on Kath R's blog. She is our blog leader this time and has really set the bar high for the rest of us!

If you are a first-time visitor to our Hop, you may be wondering just what exactly is the Wacky Watercooler? Well, this is the definition you will find on our Homepage:

"We are a creative group of Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrators who hang out together on our demonstrator website in the Wacky Women's Watercooler thread. We share stamping, business, life, love, animals and pretty much whatever comes into our heads with a generally wacky slant on most things. Luckily being virtual the watercooler is always open for fun, frivolity and most of all creativity."

This month we're all excited about the new stamp designs, In-Colour collection and tools in the new Catalogue. One of the most exciting tools is the Blendabilities, which are alcohol based markers. There is a bit of a learning curve when starting out with them, but they are oh, so much fun to use! Right now, the are only available to demonstrators on a limited basis and hopefully will be available for all of you to order in July.

For this Hop, I thought I would share with you some of my practising. I only have two sets of Blendabilities right now: Cherry Cobbler, which has three shades of red, and the Skin Tones which has five different shades ranging from a very light beige-y colour to a nice shade of bronze.

To go along with these gorgeous new colouring tools, we have some new stamps just begging to be coloured! My first example features Blended Bloom, a single stamp available only in wood mount.

The flower is stamped on Whisper White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. When using the Blendabilities - which are alcohol-based - you need to use a water-based ink like the Memento. If you use an alcohol-based ink, such as Staz-On, you may get bleeding from the Staz-on.

I coloured the middle part with Daffoldil Delight and Pumpkin Pie markers, then added highlights with the Signo Jell Pen. After colouring, I cut out the flower using my Stampin' Up paper snips and popped it up with Dimensionals. The mat behind the image is one of the new In-Colours - Blackberry Bliss. It's already one of my favourites because it is so very rich and vibrant! That in turn is mounted on one of the patterns from the Moonlight Paper Stack. Also already a favourite! A Crumb Cake base finishes it all off.

And finally, the sentiment from Really Good Greetings is stamped with Blackberry Bliss.

Next up is a brand new Hostess Set called Bloom With Hope that is also tailor-made for the Blendabilities.

I stayed with the colour-combo of Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White and Crumb Cake with the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities. This time I stamped a few times with one of the lovely splotch stamps from the Work of Art stamp set using another of the In-Colours - Mossy Meadow. Green is one of my favourite colours and Mossy Meadow is gorgeous! The sentiment is also from Really Good Greetings. This set has something for everyone.

My final offering features something I have never done before. I carved my own stamp!!!!

At last summer's Convention, we were introduced to the Undefined Stamp Carving Kit. We were given a sample of the material, but not the tools. There was a table set up where we could use the carving tools and try it out right there. But, the line-up was really long, so I brought mine home. I ordered a full kit when it was made available last fall, but could not decide what I wanted to do with it.

Then, one of my friends who I used to travel to dog shows with, got a new German shepherd puppy named Osar-Justice Shines, or Justice for short, and began showing him. While still under a year old, he has accumulated Group and multiple Puppy Group wins. After he turned one year old and began showing in the adult classes, he earned his Canadian Championship at one 3-day show. So he is now officially Ch. Osar-Justice Shines.

When I saw his picture in the February issue of Canadian Dog Fancier, I knew I had to carve a GSD stamp! For now, I will just show you the card I made and I plan on doing a post in a couple of days outlining the process. While I'm pleased that I finally attempted to carve a stamp, I think I tried to do something too ambitious for my first attempt and want to do another one, now that I am more familiar with the process.

So, this is it!

I used the Memento Tuxedo Black ink for both the image annd the sentiment, which is from Wetlands. The image is stamped on one of the cards from the Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection. This new catalogue features the first collaboration between Stampin' Up and Becky Higgins.

Mossy Meadow is used to mat the image layer and for the card base. And, yes, that's another piece from the Moonlight Paper Stack.

Whew! This new catalogue is jam-packed with so many new things. I want to try them all. How about you?

Now I can't wait to see what lovely things all the other Watercooler Hoppers have come up with. Just click Next to go on to the next stop - Terri, who has a beautiful masterpiece to share. If you get lost at any point, click on the Home button to go to the main page.

WCC01 - New In-Colors

It's a new month, we're on the verge of a new Stampin' Up catalogue becoming available and the Watercooler group is embarking on a new venture - a Challenge Blog!

In case you're wondering what - or who - the Watercooler is, we are a group of Stampin' Up demonstrators who gather from time to time at our virtual watercooler and discuss topics covering many aspects of our lives. Sometimes we even talk about stamping!

For many months now we have been doing Blog Hops and having a lot of fun with them. For myself, it's been a great way to challenge myself as all the participants are extremely talented and offer a lot of inspiration.

We decided to start doing a Challenge Blog so that anyone, anywhere in the world, can join in the fun. This first challenge is all about the new 2014-2015 In Colours. They are all yummy! I decided to use Mossy Meadow and Hello Honey as my colours. And, can I just say - the new ribbon is very easy to work with and has a beautiful texture! I don't tend to use ribbon a lot as I find it difficult to tie neat bows. I think I will use this new ribbon a lot.

And I just had to also use the brand new Blendabilities alcohol markers! The flower image is from Bloom With Hope - a new Hostess set with endless possibilites. My idea was to colour it with the Skin Tone set of Blendabilites, but it didn't look like the image I had in my brain. So I went over it with the lightest shade of the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities and then blended that with the Nude marker from the Skin Tones. I coloured the center of the flower with the Daffodil Delight Stamp 'n Write Marker, added a few lines with the Bronze Blendabilities and then a few highlighting dots with the Signo Jell Pen.

The sentiment is also from the Bloom With Hope set and I stamped it with Mossy Meadow, along with the leaves from the same set on a piece of the very nice Moonlight Designer Series Paper Stack.

Also a new technique for me is the way this card is held closed by the ribbon. This was done using the Scallop Tag Topper punch.

Whew! That was pretty long-winded, so I better show you what I created.

Here's a recap of ingredients:
Stamps: Bloom With Hope (hostess)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler and Skin Tones Blendabilities, Daffodil Delight marker, Signo Jell Pen
Other: Mossy Meadow 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon, Scallop Tag Topper Punch

If you want to participate just go to the Watercooler Challenges blog here.

Horse Frontier Thinking of You

Does anyone else do this? You see a stamp set that you just have to have. Finally, you order it. Then it sits. That's exactly what I did with the Horse Frontier stamp set. And now it's going to be retired as of midnight May 31.

I finally have put ink to stamp to make a card for a friend who loves horses. Admittedly, it was a bit of a challenge. After looking at many, many samples - on Stampin' Connection, a demos-only perk of being a Stampin' Up demo, and on Pinterest - I was finally able to give it a try.

While doing my 'research' - as I call it - I did come across comments from other demos who did not like the look of the horse. I stamped a test on some scrap paper and as I was looking at it, I thought it was missing a few details, such as a mane. So I added one using the Early Espresso marker. I also decided that my horse would have a white blaze down her nose and four white socks - all done with a Signo Jell Pen.

I'm happy with the results. What do you think?

For the background I scribbled on an acrylic block using Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Pistachio Pudding markers. Normally when doing this technique, I would spritz a bit on water onto the acrylic block. This time, because I was using Stampin' Up's Watercolour Paper, I spritzed the paper instead and stamped the block onto it.

The horse image was stamped with Black Staz-on ink. I used Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede and Early Espresso to colour the body. A little touch of Blushing Bride defines the muzzle and hooves. Added the sentiment using Basic Gray and one of the stamps from the Wetlands set.

I matted the image on a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock which was in turn matted on a piece of Naturals White CS stamped with the Hardwood background stamp in Smoky Slate and everything is put on a base of Smoky Slate and finished off with Tempting Turquoise Candy Dots.

April Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

 

Welcome to another Watercooler Hop. If you want to visit our home page, just click here.

If you are following the Hop in order, you've just been admiring Deborah's  inspiring creations. I don't know how she does it, but every Hop is better than the last!

This month, I'm all about Blooms, Butterflies and Birds! Yes, it's Spring and although a lot of the rest of the North American continent still has snow, it is melting. Hopefully it won't melt too fast and cause widespread flooding.

My first project is the first time I've tried one of these. I don't know what it's called; I'm calling it a Screen Card because it reminds me of those screens that are used as room dividers. If anyone knows what they are called, please leave me a comment!

This took me a while to do and I was inspired by the arrival of my Scallop Tag Topper punch. I first used a sheet of ordinary paper and punched a series of the scalloped tops. Using this as a template, I traced the outline onto a piece of Crumb Cake Core'dinations cardstock and then cut it out using my handy-dandy paper snips.

I used an assortment of punches and embellishments to decorate each section. While it was a bit time consuming, it was a lot of fun to do.

Cardstock: Crumb Cake Core'dinations, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Shimmer White for the butterflies
Stamps: Hello Lovely, By the Tide, Petite Petals
DSP: Gingham Garden
Ink: Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, Primrose Petals, Wild Wasabi
Other: Petite Petals punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Bird Builder punch, Artisan Label punch, Beautiful Wings embosslits, Candy Dots, Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Pearl Basic Jewels

Here's another angle:

And another:

My next project is a CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of a card I received in the mail recently. It was quite a surprise to me, as it was stamped on the back "Handmade by your fellow Demonstrators" and inside it congratulated me on my 6-year anniversary as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator.

It really does brighten your day to receive a handmade card in the mail! I loved the brightness of the design and thought it would be suitable to commemorate my mother's 87th birthday. We took her for High Tea at a tea shop in Gibsons to celebrate.

And this is the card:

Stamps: Secret Garden, Chalk Talk
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Staz-on Black
Other: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, Very Vintage Designer Button, Candy Dot

And now you can continue your journey to see Kath R's fabulous creations. Just click on the Next button to move forward and the Home button will take you to the home page.