WWC198 - Gail's All About Holidays Challenge

I don't often reach for pink when I'm making cards - but when I do, it's sparkly. Well, not necessarily, but I like how the sparkle and pink work with Crumb Cake and white. And, Christmas is the time for sparkle!

If you happened to see my blog post from last week's challenge, when I die cut the large snowflake from the Snowfall Thinlits Dies, this week you'll what I did with that snowflake.

I cut a small snowflake from some retired Sweet Sugarplum glimmer paper to put in the center. Then I used the new Rose Metallic Thread behind the snowflake to pick up on the Sweet Sugarplum.

The sentiment is from the Snow is Glistening stamp set, stamped with Crumb Cake on a strip of Whisper White cardstock. Some accents also cut from the Sweet Sugarplum glimmer paper set it off.

Now, for the background. While it doesn't show on photo, it is really plush in real life! I embossed a piece of White Velvet Sheet with the Basket Weave embossing folder. Sadly, this paper was so popluar, as part of the Snowflake Showcase suite, that it quickly sold out.

The card base is Sweet Sugarplum. I quite like this Crumb Cake/white/pink combo for Christmas. How about you?

There is an abundance of holiday inspiration waiting for  you at Watercooler Wednesday.

WWC197 - Kath's Masculine Anything Goes Challenge

This week, Kath brings us a theme that many cardmakers find challenging - making cards for the men in our lives.

My card was inspired by a card I saw online that was made using a large snowflake die from another company. Luckily, I just happened to have recently received the wonderful Snowfall Thinlits set. And it has a gorgeous large snowflake that was perfect. Take a look:

This card was quite easy to make. I started by cutting the large snowflake die from the piece of Crumb Cake cardstock, then ran it through the Big Shot with the Corrugated Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

Next I sponged Whisper White Craft Ink all over. Once that was dry, I used a very find paint brush to paint Copper Shimmer Paint all around the shape of the snowflake.

On a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, I stamped the pine trees from Rooted in Nature using Mossy Meadow ink. By using the stamping off technique, it's possible to get various shades of green and create depth in the image. The sentiment is also from Rooted in Nature, stamped with Soft Suede. I also sponged a little bit of Mossy Meadow over the edges of the embossed piece.

Here's a closeup of the trees:

When I was ready to photograph my card, it happened to be sitting on my craft table right beside a Distressed Red Card Tin that had been in my last order. I love anything distressed! Thought it went well with my card, so it became a prop.

If you need ideas for creating masculine-themed cards look no further than Watercooler Wednesday and the very talented Watercooler Artists!

WWC196 - Heidi's All About Occasions Challenge

There are so many card-giving occasions throughout the year, including birthdays. Heidi hosts this week's challenge and you can choose your occasion.

I went with a birthday, as one of my sisters celebrated hers recently and I am the offical card maker for our birthday celebrations. (Last week's gift bag project was also made for her birthday.)

I love the You've Got Style stamp set. It was so much fun colouring this, as I just grabbed any Stampin' Blend from a pile without giving it much thought. Except for the cat - I did pick a colour for her.

After the colouring was done, I used the clear Wink  of Stella and 'winked' her shoes, hair, ear rings and jewelery. To add some more bling, I matted the image with the Black Foil and then mounted it all on a Berry Burst card base.

I put the birthday greeting on the inside:

And that's it! Check out Watercooler Wednesday for more ideas and occasions.
 

WWC195 - Charlotte's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge

Our theme this week, from Charlotte, is Feminine Anything Goes.

I needed to make a gift bag, so decided it would do double duty and also be my project for this challenge. I love when stores use bags with handles to put your purchases in. They are perfect for upcycling. Like this:

I went with a fall theme and stamped random leaves from the Rooted in Nature stamp set using Merry Merlot, Mango Melody and Shaded Spruce. I stamped all around the bag.

The tag is a large shipping tag from the office supply store. I embossed it with dies from the Nature's Roots Framelits. I sponged lightly with Crumb Cake.

Peeking out from behind the tag is some of the Chicken Wire Elements that I coloured with Copper Shimmer Paint. Still going with my copper obsession, I die-cut some Copper Glimmer Paper from the Joyous Noel Glimmer Paper pack with a die from In The Woods framelits.

Then I went kind of overboard with Merry Merlot & Copper reversible ribbon, Linen Thread and Burlap Ribbon to finish off the tag. Well, what's that saying? Go big or go home!

You can see a little bit of what looks like tissue paper peeking out from the top of the bag. It's actually from a sewing pattern I bought at the thrift store. It's a huge pattern for a costume and it was .50. I've used parts of it on some mixed media and love it because of the lines and lettering on it. And it works great to stuff in a gift bag.

Now it's your turn to show us your Feminine Anything Goes project. Check out the other Watercooler Artists at Watercooler Wednesday.
 

WWC194 - Anything Goes Challenge

Here we are with another Anything Goes Challenge. That means you can pick your theme, occasion, type of project. It's wide open!

Ever since I became obsessed with making mono prints on a gelatine plate, I've been exploring different ways to incorporate my Stampin' Up supplies into my gelli prints. For this challenge, I've used framelits, a stamp set and shimmer paint along with a gelli plate.

I used various acrylic paint colours to do a dark blue-green background. Then I used the Detailed Dragonfly thinlits to cut three masks from a window sheet. I placed the masks on the gelli plate and brayered a light green layer of paint over everything. The masks were removed and I placed the background I had already made over the plate. That produced the light green layer with the dark blue-green dragonfly silhouettes.

Next, I sponged Frost White Shimmer paint on the stamp from Dragonfly Dreams and stamped in the space left by the masks. The vine shapes are done with a stencil. Using a white Posca paint pen, I drew random circles and a border. The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz collection.

Want to see how the other Watercooler Artists interpret the Anything Goes Challenge? Just visit Watercooler Wednesday to check it out.

 

WWC193 - Tristan's All About Holidays Challenge

There are holidays all through the year that are card-giving opportunities. This week, Tristan hosts our All About Holidays Challenge.

With December just around the corner, I have created a Christmas card.

As do most of my projects, this one also evolved from my original idea of using DSP with just a sentiment. When I was trying to pick one of the patterns from the Dashing Along DSP, my eye kept going to the green, star-shaped snowflakes. I was just itching to cut them out! So, I did.

To give them some sparkle, I applied some Copper Shimmer Paint to the edges with a sponge. Because I had poured some of the paint onto my craft sheet and still had some left, I didn't want to waste it. My eye fell on a piece of the Chicken Wire Elements.

Aha! I got the inspiration to turn the Chicken Wire Element fragment to copper. And, again, because I didn't want to waste the shimmer paint, I grabbed the Cherry Cobbler pattern from the DSP and sponged on top of that for a "two-fer". I'll use it on another project.

I loved the effect of the Copper Shimmer Paint on the DSP - so, onto my card it had to go! A little sponging around the edges with Cherry Cobbler ink helps to define it on the Crumb Cake card base.

For the top part of the card, I stamped the snowflakes from the Colourful Seasons stamp set randomly with Whisper White Craft Ink. I also sponged the edges with Whisper White.

Still not done with the copper theme, I embossed the sentiment from Timeless Tidings with copper embossing powder. It seemed to blend into all the other copper, so I used the fine tip journaling pen and just did a partial outline of each letter.

As a finishing touch, I used some retired star-shaped sequins in the center of each snowflake, and topped that off with a black rhinestone.

And - ta da! - another Christmas card done.

Now just visit Watercooler Wednesday for more ideas for your holiday card.
 

WWC192 - Marsha's Masculine Anything Goes Challenge

Time to add to your stash of masculine-themed cards this week, as Marsha brings us the Masculine Anything Goes Challenge.

I took this opportunity to again see how many stamp sets I can use on one card. The total was only four, but I managed to use eight ink colours!

Here are the stamp sets used: Waterfront, Winter Trees, High Tide, and Carols of Christmas.

And the ink colours are: Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede, Lovely Lipstick, Mango Melody, Gray Granite and Shaded Spruce.

My scene is stamped on Whisper White cardstock and the card base is Early Espresso. The log 'frame' is Wood Textures DSP. Looking at it on screen, it occurs to me that the logs are just sort of suspended in mid-air. In hindsight, I should have continued them across the top. Hmmmmm......

What's the highest number of stamp sets or ink colours you have ever used on a card?

Check out Watercooler Wednesday for more great examples of masculine-themed cards.