WWC87 - Masculine Challenge

I'm very excited about today's WWC87 Watercooler Wednesday challenge.  Why?  Because it touches an area that I think we don't do enough of, and that's create masculine cards.  

Kath our host this week has also defined the style for this challenge as "Masculine - Anything Goes" which makes it even better because it opens up a broad spectrum of possibilities! Yippee!!! 
Here's My Card:  

One of my guy friends John Clark, who recently passed away was really in to model trains.  Because it would have been his birthday on the 27th he's been on my mind a lot and so I decided to dedicate this masculine birthday card featuring the locomotive from the Traveller stamp set to him.  

The Traveler set is my "go to" for a lot of masculine cards, and I'm so happy that Stampin' Up! decided to carry it over into the Annual Catalogue.  I am CASEing a card by Pat Mayer featuring this set when it was first released back in 2014.

This set comes in Wood Mount #13450 or Clear Mount #134513, see pg 116 of the Annual Catalogue.

The method  used to layer the train on this card is called a "Telescope" Technique. To create the multiple layers I used the new Layering Squares Framelits.  Here's a link to a video by France Martin  where she demonstrates her "Telescope Out Card".  France aptly demonstrates how simple this card is to assemble, so I hope you'll try it out.

Assembly:

1.  Begin by cutting a 10" x 5" card base from Basic Black card stock and score it at 5" for a top or side fold. Mine is a top fold card.

2.  Cut a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of Whisper White for the first layer and adhere it to the card base with Tom Bow Glue.  

3.  Cut a 4 x 4" piece of Basic Black for the second layer and a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece of Whisper White for the final layer.  Stamp the image you want to telescope in the center of the 3 3/4" square.

2.  Choose which framelits you are going to use and then layer three consecutive square framelits over your image and run them through the Big Shot.  I chose to use the Scallop Squares on the top left in the Framelit set. 

Layering Squares Framelits # 141708 pg. 193 of the AC.  There are 19 dies in this set.

3.  Adhere the 3 3/4" square of Whisper White to the Basic Black layer with Tom Bow adhesive. 

4.  I attached the largest frame section with dimensionals to the inside of the cut out square on the 3 3/4" Whisper White piece.

5.  The next square needs to stick out a little bit further so I used Foam Adhesive Strips which are 1/8" thicker than Dimensionals to attach it.

6.  To raise the third and final square even higher, I mounted three stacked dimensionals to the back of the center square.  Remember to remove the protective layer in between each Dimensional so they will stick to each other. 

7.  I stamped the birthday banner from the "Time of Year" hostess stamp set on a scrap of Whisper White card stock, in Momento Tuxedo Black ink. This image was cut out with the Bunch of Banners framelit dies. I adhered the banner with Dimensionals to the top left corner of the card. 

 8. I cut another 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of Whisper White Card stock and adhered it with Tom Bow Glue to the inside of the card.  I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the "Stylized Birthday" stamp in Momento Tuxedo Black ink in the center of the card stock.  

 

Supplies:

Stamp sets:  Traveler, Stylized Birthday, Time of Year (Hostess)

Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black ink

Card Stock:  Whisper White and Basic Black

Accessories:  Big Shot, Layering Squares and Bunch of Banners Framelits, Trimmer, Tom Bow Glue, Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive Strips.    

Well that's it for this week's challenge.  I love this card.  It has such clean lines and kind of a Wow Factor going on.  If you like cards that come together quickly, have some Wow Factor and would work with a broad range of stamp sets then this is a technique to add to your "to do list".  Let me know if you like this card and whether you've tried out my version of this technique. I'd love to hear your thoughts and share your experience.

Along with leaving me a comment (I love comments) I also hope you'll take a look at what the other members of the design team have created for this week's challenge.  There are some awesome cards available to view.  

And before I leave, "how about you"? Feeling up for this challenge?  Why not create a masculine card of your own and link it to our Watercooler Wednesday challenge WWC87.  We'd love to have you join us.  The linky at our site is open until 11:00 MT Monday October, 3rd, 2016.  Until then,

Happy Stamping! 

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

World Card Making Day - October 1st

Hi Stampers!  One of the wonderful things about paper crafting is being able to share your creations and brighten someone's day. Did you know there's a special day to do just that?  It's called World Card Making Day (WCMD) and it's held on October 1st every year!

Now that you know a little bit more about WCMD I hope you're planning to join in the fun and make and share a card with someone.  Gather your friends at your home or favourite stamping hang out, join a class, or stamp with an on-line group.  There's lots of ways to celebrate!  Here's a little video to inspire you to join World Card Making Day:
 

To help with your celebration of WCMD, Stampin' Up! will be offering some specials from October 1-5th. Although I don't know all the details right now, I've heard they're offering discounts  of up to 25% on the Designer Tin of Cards Project Kit, Fast Fuse, and some other cardmaking basics during that time.  I'll share the details as soon as I know more, so you don't miss out.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot

September Hostess Code:   2KDCKBQE
Don't forget to apply the Hostess Code if your order is under $200.00 and I'll send you a gift for shopping with me.  Click here to go to my On-Line Store.

WWC86 Gail's Simply Stamping Challenge - FALL

Whew, what a weather change over the weekend! We went from sunshine and warmth to gray skies and rain!  Not to be deterred, my friend and I decided to go to the wonderful Fall Country Fair in Mt. Lehman and see what they had to offer.  Normally when I've gone the the sun is shining, there's that cool crisp feel in the air.  Not today!  The poor vendors and visitors were subjected to Monsoon type rain.  

And, as if the weather wasn't enough a transformer or something blew and all the inside venues were in the dark.  Outside it was absolutely pouring cats and dogs, so folks were huddled under tents or running from one event to another.  I saw a lot of smiles though, so people were enjoying themselves.

When we were leaving we had to run a half a block from the hall to the car.  I had water dripping down my neck, hair plastered to my head, and squishy runners. What fun, I felt like I was six years old as I ran through the puddles.

When I got home all I wanted to do was dry off, grab a mug of hot chocolate, and spend the rest of the afternoon in my stamp room by the fireplace. It actually worked out great because it put me in the mood to work on Gail's WWC86 Fall Simply Stamping Challenge.  

Here's My Card:

Gail's challenge photo inspired me to grab my Fall colours and one of my new stamp sets Jar of Haunts to create a colourful Pumpkin patch. 

Jar of Haunts Photopolymer Stamp set Coordinates with the Everyday Jars Framelit Set

Unfortunately my enthusiasm and creativity ground to a halt fairly quickly.  Why?  Well this is a "simply stamping" or "clean and simple" only challenge, and I had to really think about what I was making.
I don't know about you, but I find "simply stamping" a real challenge because it means there are no additional layers or card stock, other than the one you're stamping on.  And, it also means no die cuts, no bling, no ribbon and/or additional accessories allowed on the card.  Once again, "simply stamping".  

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Jar of Haunts, Thoughtful Branches, Thankful Forest Friends (R), Itty Bitty Stamp set
Ink:  Early Espresso, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango
Card Stock:  Always Artichoke, Ivory Flecked Specialty Card Stock (R)
Accessories:  Trimmer, Tom Bow Adhesive, Wink of Stella, Blender Pen, Aqua Painter.

Assembly:
1.  An Always Artichoke card base was cut to measure 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4" for a side fold card.

2.  A 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Ivory Flecked Specialty card stock was used for the watercolour layer. I love this card stock even though it's been retired for a while, and kept a huge stock on hand.  Its rough texture and porous nature make it work with water colouring techniques as long as you don't saturate the paper.  

3. The pumpkin images were created using a mask.  To make the mask  I simply stamped a pumpkin image onto a Post It Note then fussy cut around it, retaining some of the sticky part.  I stamped the first pumpkin in Early Espresso ink and then applied the mask then stamped the second pumpkin.  I repeated this for the third pumpkin.  Note:  Early Espresso is a classic ink and not really made for water colouring.  A better choice would have been brown Staz on Ink or Black Archival ink.   

4.  Place the mask over each pumpkin before stamping the pumpkin handle and tendril leaves. The leaves were stamped in Old Olive and a blender pen was used to move the colour around.  An aqua painter and sponge dauber were used to colour the pumpkins, again in Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and So Saffron.  Parts of the pumpkins were shaded with Old Olive ink. 

5.  I added a grass texture with a stamp from the Thoughtful Branches stamp set in Always Artichoke and Old Olive.  I sponged the bottom of the card with Old Olive to build up the grass.

This stamp set is still available in my On Line store.  It was the August special. 

6. Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, and Old olive inks were sponged around the top and sides of the card face.  Note:  Always begin your  blending from off the card stock moving towards the center, so you don't get harsh ink marks.

Originally I planned to create a tree trunk and branch starting from the bottom left of the card face and overhanging the pumpkins.  I began by using a stencil with diamond shapes on the upper half of the card, in hopes of creating a leaf bower effect.  Well that didn't turn out as planned, so rather than scrap the card face I blended out the diamond shapes with a sponge dauber.I created a much denser sponging than I had anticipated but it worked to mask off the diamond leaf effect.

7. The sentiment "Give Thanks" from the Thankful Forest Friends retired stamp set was stamped in the upper left corner in Early Espresso Ink.

8.  I cut and adhered a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Ivory Flecked DSP to the inside of the card and left it blank. 

9.  To finish the card I used a small dotted texturizing stamp from the retired Itty Bitty stamp set to add tiny dots in Old Olive and Early Espresso ink across the face of the card. The pumpkin tendrils and outlines of the Pumpkins were traced with Wink of Stella.

Despite my initial hesitation and grumbling, I finished this card in record time and really enjoyed how it turned out.  I hope you like it too!  Leave me a comment.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the Watercooler Wednesday design artists and that you'll try out our "WWC86 - Simply Stamping" Challenge.  We'd love to have you come and join us this week. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot

September Hostess Code:   2KDCKBQE
Click here to go to my On-Line Store.  Don't forget to apply the Hostess Code if your order is under $200.00 and I'll send you a gift for shopping with me. 

Wacky Watercooler September Blog Hop

Welcome to the Wacky Watercooler September 2016 blog hop highlighting the Design Team's favourites from Stampin' Up!s new 2016 Holiday Catalogue.  

Whew, did your head spin like mine as August whirled past and September rushed in? I  must say the launch of the Holiday Catalogue on the 1st was really helpful in transitioning that change. 


When my copy of the new Holiday Catalogue arrived I spent hours pouring over it and ewing and awing over all the fun new products. Quite literally I wanted everything!  Alas, reality and practicality set in and I settled for purchasing just a few things I knew I'd use and get a kick out of.  During the blog hop, I'll be sharing my love for these new products.

Whether you've just joined in on the hop or arrived here from Fiona Whitehead's awesome blog, I'm super thrilled to have you visit my stamping spot!  I hope you'll enjoy my projects, leave some comments, and ask questions if you have any. At the end of my post will be a next button so you can jump to Marie Green's blog and see her wonderful projects.

 Project One - A Cookie Cutter Christmas

Who can resist a Gingerbread Man or a sweet little Reindeer?  I couldn't! The Cookie Cutter Christmas Photopolymer Bundle was my first choice from the catalogue, and I haven't been able to wipe the smile off my face since it arrived.  

Here's a look at some of the cute projects I've made with this stamp set and punch.

 To begin with all of my customer's who regularly order from me all received their catalogues with two enclosures.  The first is a personalized 4 x 4 card from me and the second is a Wish List form.  Check these out and let me know if they're not the cutest:

This is a fun and very quick card to make.  It measures 4 x 4 card and is layered with Real Red card stock and Candy Cane Lane DSP.  I stamped the two reindeer on Watercolour Paper and punched them out with the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.  What Fun!  The reindeer were painted with an Aqua Painter in Crumb Cake and Blushing Bride inks.  I simply cut off the antlers to make the girl deer and attached a Red Glimmer paper bow and a basic rhinestone.  Too cute!  

It's hard to see from this picture, but for above version of the card I attached a couple of the silver mini jingle bells to the male deer's antlers.  Tip:  Previously when Stampin Up! had these jingle bells they sold out quickly so if you like them don't wait.  

The greeting comes from the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set.  I cut it out with the Bunch of Banners Framelits.  Note:  the card that went out with the catalogues was plain and didn't include the jingle bells for mailing purposes.

For the wish list I simply stamped a Crumb Cake Gingerbread man and attached a Red Glimmer Paper Bow.

I made my next project with the Cookie Cutter Christmas Bundle and it is called a Triple Gate Fold card.  What a wonderful card with it's multiple levels to showcase the Candy Cane Lane designer paper and more of those yummy Gingerbread men.  I love, love, love this card!

The card measures 11 x 5 1/2 and has score lines at 2", 5" and 7".  The base is in Real Red card stock and has layers of Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Candy Cane Lane DSP.  

In the above view you can see the inside of the card when it's completely open.

In this view you can see the front panel, back panel and the gate fold.

The Gingerbread Man and Woman were stamped in Crumb Cake ink on Whisper White card stock and then cut out with the Cookie Cutter Builder punch.  So simple!  They're mounted on a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" piece of Crumb Cake card stock with dimensionals. This piece is called the "gate fold".  The bows and buttons are cut from Red Glimmer paper.  The banner which I really love, is from the "Time of Year" hostess set on page 201 of the Annual Catalogue (AC) and it's stamped in Real Red ink.  

I added a piece of 3 1/4" x 2 1/4" Whisper White card stock on the inside of the Gate Fold and stamped the "Thinking of You At Christmas" sentiment
from the Embellished Ornaments stamp set on page 33 of the AC.  The little mitten was cut from the DSP.

 

Embellished Ornaments 7 piece rubber/wood or clear mount stamp set comes in English and French.   This set has matching framelits. 

The last panel of the card is a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Crumb Cake card stock and 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I adhered a 1/4" x 4 3/4" strip of the DSP down the right edge and  a tree, star and gingerbread man cutouts.  Basic Rhinestones were added to the center of the mittens and the star on the back panel of the card.  

Project Two - Detailed Santa Thinlets:
My second favourite from the Holiday Catalogue is the Detailed Santa Thinlets on page 11 of the Holiday Catalogue. This thinlet set includes an intricate die featuring Santa's flowing beard.  It also includes two side-bar thinlets and a grouping of stars. These four dies work really well and can actually be used for far more than seasonal projects.  

My project is a shaker card featuring the Santa and one of the side-bars.

This shaker card is a top fold card and the base is cut from an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" piece of Whisper White.  I cut the "side-bar" image from the left side of the card and adhered a 1/4" by 3 3/4" piece of Red Glimmer Paper with Mini Glue Dots to the back of the front panel so it lights up the side-bar with colour.
 
The shaker measures 4" x 4".  The Santa image was cut from a piece of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper.  I added a Red Glimmer Paper pompom to Santa's hat for a pop of colour.  This Santa square panel was mounted on a 4" x 4" piece of acetate Window Sheet.  To create the well for the shaker pieces I wrapped Foam Adhesive strips around the edge of the window square.  

At the end of the season last year I managed to buy some clearance rack embellishments which included some awesome silver sequins and snowflakes.  I threw in some silver seed beads for "rattle" to the mix. Tip:  To ensure the shaker pieces don't get static cling, wipe the inside of the window sheet with an embossing buddy before putting in the shaker pieces.  

To seal of the back of the shaker I added a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White  card stock.  Before attaching it I stamped the sentiment "With Loving Wishes for a Bright and Beautiful Season" in Real Red ink.  This sentiment is also from the Embellished Ornaments stamp set. 

For the inside of the card I added a layer of Real Red card stock that measures 4" x 5 1/4" and topped that with a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I stamped the "Thinking of You" sentiment from the Embellished Ornaments stamp set in Real Red.  It looked far too plain so I stamped the Santa from the Cookie Cutter Christmas beneath the sentiment.  Wouldn't you know it looked way too flat, so I stamped another Santa image and cut him out with the Cookie Cutter Christmas punch.  Once coloured I mounted him to the original stamped Santa with dimensionals.  

I hope you enjoyed this Shaker card and my use of the Santa Thinlets.  Stampin Up has put together this video to demonstrate how to use this set and it's matching stamp set "Greetings from Santa".  


Project Three - Merry Mice

For my final project I chose "Merry Mice" a 7 piece rubber or clear mount stamp set that's available in English and French. Each time I use this set I fall more and more in love with these little guys!  What characters.   I know you're going to love this project! 

You may have run across some cards lately that feature an intricate pop up mechanism called a "Twisting Pop Up" or a "Pop Up Panel", and wondered how they're made.  I was very intrigued by the ones I saw and decided this would be the perfect pairing for my Merry Mice card.  Here it is: 

Okay, I know, this card doesn't look so special right now - it's cute but not special.  Just hang on while I give you a few details, then we'll get to special.  
This is a top folding card and the Cherry Cobbler card stock base measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".   The first layer is from the "This Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper" in the Annual Catalogue and measures 4" x 5 1/4".  

The next layer is a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece of Garden Green card stock that's been dry embossed with the new Holly Embossing Folder.  The next layer is a Cherry Cobbler 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Cherry Cobbler and a 3" x 3" piece of Very Vanilla card stock that's been stamped with the sweater mouse image.  

I used a blender pen and an aqua painter to colour the image.  This is the sweetest little mouse I think I've ever seen.  To pop up his head I actually stamped his face twice coloured it, and fussy cut it out and attached it to the original with dimensionals.  

I've used Glossy Accents (now retired) to add some dimension to his big ears and his darling little nose.  I added basic rhinestones to the Christmas bauble.

Okay are you ready...................ta da!

When you open up this card this wonderful pop up panel happens.  I'm not going to go into all the details and measurements for the panels or how it was assembled as I believe seeing it in real life makes more sense.  And, I have to tell you I spent many hours researching the mechanics of this card before I stumbled across a video by Dawn Griffith in which she provides a wonderful example of this pop up panel card.  I've used Dawn's measurements for the panels on the inside of my card, so the details are in the video.  Dawn........you're the best! 

I painted all these little mice panels with the same technique as above and what fun I had.  I did splatter on some ink in Cherry Cobbler and Cherry Red and in some cases was a bit over zealous with the splatters.  Oh well.  

Well, what do you think?  Isn't this just the greatest card?  One of my bestie's saw this at last week's stamping get together and claimed it as her own Christmas card, so I know I'm going to be teaching this technique and making more of these down the road.  Once I figured out how it worked it was a lot of fun and what a sense of accomplishment when it came together!  Yeah!   

So that's the end of my projects for this hop but I'll be continuing to post new projects every week.  I hope you'll take the time to leave me a comment and let me know how you liked these cards.  

To resume the hop and visit the rest of the Watercooler Designer Team just click on the watercoolers below for a direct link.  If you press on NEXT you'll be taken to the very talented Marie Green's blog My Tanglewood Cottage.    

Marie Green

 

Fiona Whitehead

Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop Beginning

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot 

September Hostess Code:  2KDCKBQE