The Retirement Clock is Ticking.....

It's a cloudy, rainy Sunday morning here in Abbotsford, and so I'm sitting back chilling with a fresh cup of coffee and thinking about June 1st when the new cattie is released.  I'm literally counting down the hours.  However, I'm also thinking about putting one last order in to take advantage of some of the 2015-2016 prices and retiring products that I "just have to have".  

What about you? 

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges - WWC69 Masculine CAS Challenge

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this time the theme chosen by design team member Kath Ricks, is for a "Masculine" "CAS" challenge.  Yikes, masculine and CAS......... two words I  normally don't want to hear in the same sentence.

I love layers and colour in my cards so the term CAS which stands for uncluttered, with white or open space, and minimal layers and embellishments, pretty much terrifies me.  I think it's probably the "white open space" concept - because I always want to fill it up.

Well here goes:  

I began with an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock scored at 4 1/4".  A 5 3/8 x 4 1/8" layer of Night of Navy card stock was added next, followed by a 4 x 5 1/8" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I used the Simply Scored scoring board to add three lines of scoring vertically and horizontally in the upper left portion of the card.  The addition of these stripes helps with the cards visual balance.   

I think this is possibly the most white space I've ever left on a card, but to my surprise it actually worked out okay.  Without any additional visual distractions this little boat really looks like it could float and it really highlights the sentiment "world's best dad".   

The sail boat image is from a soon to be released photopolymer stamp set called Swirly Bird.  On its own, the image of the sail boat was too plain looking, so I hunted through my stamp collection and found a stamp that would provide a light and airy background behind the boat.  The stars and dots image from the Celebrate Today Photopolymer stamp set is actually a two-step stamp meant to be layered on a big balloon but I found it took on a magical quality when I stamped it in Soft Sky and Dapper Denim (new) inks on this card.  

This is the Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set.  I used the image above the word "baby" for the background stamp.

I mounted the two sails, hull and flag on a block and stamped the full image in Night of Navy ink on top of the background stamping. I stamped the image again on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and fussy cut out all the parts. Before adhering these additional boat parts with dimensionals, I placed them on my piercing pad and rolled a stylus on the backside of each image (except for the flag) until they began to roll. I guess I must have pressed too hard with the stylus on the back of the smaller sail because it looks like it has wrinkles on it, but that's okay by me. Don't sails have wrinkles?   To achieve the 3-D look I had to stack two dimensional pieces on top of each other and then adhere them to the board.

Here is the inside view of my card. The sentiment is from Guy Greetings and the navigation symbol is from the soon to retire Going Global stamp set. 

Supplies Used: 
Stamp Sets:  Swirly Bird (new), Guy Greetings and Going Global 
Card Stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Dapper Denim, Soft Skye
Accessories:Trimmer, Tom Bow Glue, Stampin'Dimensionals, Simply Scored

May 31st, 2016 ..... Update!
Just wanted to let you know it was a good week around the watercooler for me. I just received a note from Heidi Weaver of the Watercooler Wednesday Design Team letting me know I "Rocked the Watercooler" with this WWC69 Masculine CAS card.  What terrific news!  I'm doing the happy dance now!  Thank you design team and congrats to the honourable mentions for your terrific cards. 

 
Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot!

Color Challenge - WWC68 Libby's Color Challenge

The end of the catalogue season is fast approaching and with it the last chance to get many of the wonderful Stampin' Up! products that will be retiring.  Along with all the stamp sets and accessories, the In-Colours from the 2014-2016 season will sadly be gone.  So, I think it's terrific that Libby Fen's challenge this week for the Wednesday Watercooler Challenge WWC68 focusses on those In-Colours.

Have you ever tried to use multiple colours in one challenge? For me this required some serious thinking, because for me although I really love the Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon, I'm not so fussy about the Mellow Moss and Tangelo Twist. In the end I decided to do a mashup of the colours by adding them in small bits, rather than bold statements of colour.  Here's my entry in this challenge:

Here's My Card:

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Botanicals for You, Picture Perfect, and Number of Years
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon, Mellow Moss and Tangelo Twist
Card Stock:  Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon, Mellow Moss and Whisper White
DSP: Moonlight Designer Series Paper
Accessories: Big Shot Machine, Layering Squares Framelits (new), Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots,Scissors

Assembly:
1. Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock 4 1/4 x 11" and scored at 5 1/2 for the card base.

2. Cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Moonlight DSP.  Using the large scalloped square from the Layering Squares Framelits cut a square in the front of the card. It should measure 6/8" from the top, 1 1/2" from the bottom and 1/2" on each side of the DSP.  Run it through the Big Shot and then adhere DSP to the front of the Whisper White card base.  
 
3. Choose a square plain frame that will leave a 1/4" space between the scalloped edge and the square cut-out.  Center the frame on the Whisper White card stock and run through the Big Shot.  You're going to love these new Square Framelits, they're simply awesome and will be available on June 1st. 

4. Lightly mark with a pencil the edges of the square onto the inside of the card as a guide for stamping.

5.  Stamp the floral leaf arrangement from the Number of Years Stamp in Mellow Moss Ink on the inside of the card.  Stamp the flowers in Tangelo Twist and Lost Lagoon and then add basic rhinestones to the center of the Tangelo Twist flowers.

6. Center and stamp the sentiment "...because you're so nice" in Blackberry Bliss ink below the floral image.
7.  On a small scrap of Whisper White card stock stamp the banner from Number of Years stamp set in Blackberry Bliss.  Fussy cut the banner out.
 

Number of Years stamp set

8.  Stamp "Just a Note" from the Picture Perfect stamp set in Blackberry Bliss ink in the center of the banner and then attach the banner with dimensionals below the scalloped square.  Note:  When I made my card I should have put a line on the inside to drop the sentiment down to so that it doesn't show through the square when the card is closed.  Oh well the next one. 

 

Picture Perfect

9.  Using the small floral punch from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack punch out six flowers from Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon and Hello Honey card stocks. Shape the flowers and add a basic rhinestone to the center of each and then attach around the banner with glue dots.    

And that's it folks, just a plain easy to make little card, that's sure to brighten a friend's day.  Hope you liked it.  

May 25, 2016 - Update:
I just heard from the Watercooler Wednesday Design Team leader that I "Rocked The Watercooler" with this card.  Thanks Libby and the rest of the team for this honour.  Congrats to Heather and Susie who were the honourable mentions this week, your cards were beautiful. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot     
     

WACKY WATERCOOLER MAY MASHUP BLOG HOP

Welcome to my blog and my contribution to the Wacky Watercooler May Mashup Blog Hop.  Although our hop this time around is smaller than usual, only six participant's, I'm sure you'll agree that everyone has given it their all for this mashup.  

What is a "mashup"?  Well for this month's hop we're presenting projects using products that are retiring, products that are soon to arrive and a masculine project. This hop will run from this evening through Saturday May 21st, so I hope you'll hop on board and join the fun. 

If you're joining us for the first time, this is a circular blog hop, so no matter where you joined if you keep going through you'll eventually wind up where you started from.  If you've coming from the previous blog, you'll have been checking out Heidi Weaver's blog, and her incredible projects.  After you finish seeing my projects just click on the next button at the bottom of this post and you'll arrive at Marie Green's blog.  But for now.......

My First Project - Something Old:  
Who doesn't like butterflies?  No one I know, at least none of my stamping friends.  They're all gaga every time a butterfly stamp comes into their world.  That's why I chose the soon to retire Swallowtail stamp for my "sad to see it go" segment of this blog hop.  I know every one of my stamping friends will be as sad as I am to see it gone.  Here is my final hurrah for the Swallowtail stamp: 

My inspiration for this card came from Dawn Griffith's demonstration of a technique she calls "out of the box".  I've been wanting to try this technique for sometime and I'm delighted with the results. I wont go into the details of how I made it, you can check out Dawns video of the technique on this link.

In this view you can see the embossing on the Whisper White layer.  Although you may not be able to see it clearly, I also embossed the Whisper White oval that the butterfly is part of.  The 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card base was cut from the new Sweet Sugarplum card stock, and the next layer is Rich Razzleberry.  

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  The base is layered with Rich Razzleberry card stock and Whisper White. The sentiment and small butterflies are from the Basic Butterfly stamp set which will still be available in the 2016-17 catalogue.

I used a blender pen Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry and Blackberry Bliss inks and the Sweet Sugarplum marker to colour this large swallowtail.  I only coloured the one side of it as once I positioned the oval framelit the rest was cut away. 

I always like to change up at least three things when I CASE a card and so here are the things I changed from the original:

1.  I changed the direction the butterfly sits on the ovals.
2.  I changed the colour of my card stock and inks so I could try out the new "Sweet Sugarplum" Incolour that will be released June 1s, added an extra layer to my card face and a sentiment. Luv, luv, luv how the Sweet Sugarplum and Rich Razzleberry compliment each other.  
3. My final change was to embossed the Whisper White layer with the "Fluttering" Embossing Folder and Silver Glimmer Paper instead of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.   

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Swallowtail #129216 and Butterfly Basics # 137154
Ink:  Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Trimmer, Big Shot, Fluttering Embossing Folder, Ovals Collection Framelit Dies, Note Tag Punch, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue, Basic Rhinestones, Dazzling Details,

My Second Project - Something New:One of the great things about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is getting our hands on new stamp sets and products before Stampin' Up! releases them in the new catalogues.

That's how I managed to get this fabulous new stamp set called "Swirly Bird" as well as the new Incolours and card stocks you'll see in this project. 

I've totally fallen in love with this stamp set and the coordinating die cuts called Swirly Scribbles Thinlets.   They are so much fun to play with that I can guarantee they're going to be on everyone's wishlist come June 1st.    

Here's My Project:

Just look at all those swirls!  For this Happy Birthday card I chose a combination of Watermelon Wonder and the new Flirty Flamingo inks and card stocks.  I didn't use the Swirly Scribbles thinlets for this card, although I was tempted.  This stamp set is such fun to play with you can create all kinds of images and different looks.  I'm working on some other samples which I'll post in the coming weeks. 

This is the inside of the card and the envelope to match.  I layered the Whisper White onto a piece of Emerald Envy card stock............such a beautiful new Incolour!

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Swirly Bird #141749 and Birthday Blooms #140658
Card Stock:  Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy, Watermelon Wonder, and Whisper White
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy
Accessories:  Scissors, Trimmer, Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones, Tom Bow Glue

 

My Final Project - Masculine Birthday Card:I'm dedicating this next card which is indeed masculine to my nephew who turns "21" next week.  As a child he always played with Lego - almost obsessively, so I thought it would be kind of fun to create a jazzed up kid card for him using one of my all time favourite stamp sets Boys Will be Boys. 

 

It was very difficult to take pictures of this card.  The silver on the surface of the Shine On DSP and the silver foil really caught the light.  The base piece of this card which you can barely see is a 5 3/4 x 4 1/2" piece of Basic Black Cardstock followed by a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock. 

Isn't this little robot just the cutest!  I added some small and medium size silver beads that I had in my stash to really give him that futuristic look.  He's coloured with the Smokey Slate marker.

The design on this Shine On DSP really suited the card and was part of my inspiration for making it.  The pattern looks like widgets and bits that would be found in a tool box.  Love it!  This DSP is still available for purchase until May 31st in the Occasions Spring Catalogue.

The card design comes from a post and video by Linda Bauwin and is called a Fancy Fold Pullout card.  I love this fancy fold card design and find I'm going back to it more and more.  It's got just enough of that WOW factor that it makes the card special and yet it can be dressed up simply, and because it doesn't have too many layers mails easily. 

Supplies:

Stamp Sets:  Boys Will Be Boys and Big Day (SAB 2015)
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Silver Foil, and Shine on Specialty DSP
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black and a Smokey Slate Marker
Accessories:  Trimmer, Scissors for fussy cutting, Dimensionals, Silver Beads (non SU), Word Window Punch.  

I hope you've enjoyed these three projects and will try out some of these techniques.  I'd love to see what you make, and I'd like to hear your comments on whether you liked these designs.  Have fun and enjoy the rest of the hop.  Your next stop is the beautiful Tanglewood Cottage blog, by Marie Green: 
   

Marie Green

Heidi Weaver

Wacky Watercooler May Blog Hop

 


Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

wwc67 - Deborah's

Whew, where did the weekend go?  So many things to do and so little time.  As a result I've just missed a wonderful challenge by Deborah entitled "All About Boxes WWC67 on the Watercooler Wednesday Blog Site.  Oh well, that will teach me not to pay attention to the time zones before posting. 

As far back as I can remember in my stamping world, I have always loved to make boxes.  Big ones, small ones it didn't matter.  Most often I like making boxes for card gift sets or for small presents.  

One day in my search for the perfect box instructions I stumbled upon a tutorial on the now defunct Stamping 411 - Stamping With the Operators blog  for a card box that actually worked.  I've been referencing this tutorial "How To Build a Card Box" by Lee Convey ever since.  

Here is My Box
If the design on my box  and colours look familiar, it's because last month I made this double fold card for the last of my three projects using the retiring In Colours for the April Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop.  Since I simply can't get enough of this colour combination I decided to use the same design and supplies for this box.   

Here's  a view of finished box lid.  I've decorated it to correspond with the double fold card inside. 

The box lid measures 6 5/8 x 8 1/8" and is scored at 1" on all sides.  It couldn't get any easier than this!  The corners are miter clipped on an angle to make folding nice and easy.  Once you've added your score tape cut from the short end fold lines to the 1" score line. 

When decorating the lid I began by cutting a 5 3/4 by 4 1/4" mat from Blackberry Bliss, and then added a second mat measuring 5 1/2 x 4" from Whisper White. For the rest of the design I just used the same format as the card, with the exception of adding more floral pieces from Botanical Gardens.

The sentiment is from the "Remembering Your Birthday" stamp set, which I'm so sad to say is retiring on May 31st.  This has been one of my "go to" sets all year and I'm really going to miss it.   The beautiful Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss ribbon's are also retiring, so I made sure I had lots in my stash.

Remembering Your Birthday - this is an eight piece wood or clear mount birthday sentiment stamp set.  Order # 131350.  It's only available froom now until May 31st, 2016 before it retires forever.

Here's a side view showing the height of the box. The sides are 2" high.  The corners fit beautifully, not too snug and not too loose, so the lid isn't hard to lift off or put on. 

The bottom of the box is made exactly the same as the lid.  The starting measurement is  10 x 8 1/2".  This bottom is nice and deep so it's great for holding candy or lots of cards.

This view shows the box lid and the bottom full of matching cards.  It is the perfect box size and so easy to make. 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Remembering Your Birthday for the sentiment
Card Stock:  Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss
Accessories:  The Big Shot, Botanical Gardens Thinlet Dies, Lost Lagoon Satin Ribbon, Black Berry Bliss Ribbon, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

This finished box will hold 8 cards and envelopes comfortably, so if you like giving away boxed occasion cards as a gift, this box is for you.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot