Watercooler Wednesday #123 - Marsha's "Fireworks" Theme Challenge

The Watercooler Wednesday challenge this week, hosted by Marsha is a Clean & Simple Challenge with a "Fireworks" theme.

After getting off to a super slow start with this "CAS Fireworks" challenge, I believe I came up with a pretty good interpretation of it with this card.   

I initially had a lot of difficulty because I was really stressed over the fact that I didn't have any fire works stamps.  I knew what I wanted to make and spent a lot of time trying out several different floral, star and splotch stamp images in my search for something that resembled fireworks even if it was in an abstract way.  In the end, I lucked out at the Clipper Street Garage sale this past weekend when I  found a gently used fireworks stamp from Great Impressions that worked for me and got my mojo going.  

Here's my card: 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Holiday Home (R-135095), Great Impressions - Fireworks (Non SU), Beautiful You (143637)

Card Stock: Whisper White, Real Red

Inks: Basic Gray, Momento Tuxedo Black, Smokey Slate, Night of Navy, Elegant Eggplant, Marina Mist inks; Real Red, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight SU Markers, and Red, Yellow and Green Sharpie Markers

Accessories: Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Bitty Banner (R) and Bunch of Banners (144488) Thinlet Dies, Post It Notes for Masking, Aqua Painter, Wink of Stella, Dazzling Details in Cherry Cobbler, Stickles in Green and Yellow, Basic Rhinestones, Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Currie, and Crushed Cucumber Embossing Powders,  Sponge Daubers, Coffee Filters, Heat Gun and Post It Notes for masking.

Details:
1.  4 1/4" x 11 piece of Real Red card stock scored at 5 1/2" for a Top Fold card base. 

2.  4" x 5 1/4" Whisper White panel  adhered to card base.

3.  3 3/4" x 5" Whisper White panel:
a.  Begin by stamping the house images from the retired Holiday Home stamp set in Momento Tuxedo Black ink along the bottom portion of the panel. 

b. Stamp and fussy cut three more images from Post It Notes and use these to mask off the houses.

c. I began sponging, starting at the top of the panel and working downwards,   starting with Basic Gray ink.  This was followed with Night of Navy, Marina Mist, and Elegant Eggplant inks to create the night sky.  I sponged around the edges of the entire panel with Momento Tuxedo Black ink, so the Whisper White card stock didn't show through. 

d. After sponging the panel I removed the masks and coloured the houses with Smokey Slate, Basic Gray and Daffodil Delight inks and an aqua painter.

e. I stamped the fireworks image with Versa Mark ink and covered each of the three bursts with embossing powders in Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Currie and Cucumber Crush and then heat set.  Tip:  I stamped the first image which has three bursts and carefully poured the embossing powder individually over the images trying not to overlap the colour.  I used coffee filters to capture each of the inks separately.  Once the Embossing Powder was spread I heat set the image with my heat gun and then repeated this process for the next image.
 

f. I finished off the star bursts with medium sized Basic Rhinestones that were coloured with Sharpie Markers.  Using Dazzling Details and Stickles I outlined each of the star bursts to add some shine.  I coloured the small bits in the background with Wink of Stella.

 

4.  For the inside of the card I cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock. Instead of embossing the image I coloured the fire works stamp with Real Red, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive markers and stamped the image in the bottom left corner.  Note:  I didn't add a sentiment to the inside as this card could be used for many different types of celebrations.

5.  For the sentiment I stamped the "Celebrate" stamp from Beautiful You on a scrap of Whisper White, cut it out with the Itty Bitty Banners dies and then mounted it to a Real Red banner from the Bunch of Banners thinlet dies.  I used Tom Bow glue to adhere it flat across the house images.
  

Well that's it for this week's card challenge.  I hope you'll leave me a comment and let me know if this card works for you. I'd also like to hear what you would substitute for fireworks if you didn't have a stamp. 

If you want to play along with this challenge (and I hope you will), it's open for link up until 5pm Mountain Time on Monday May 19th.  All the rules and information for posting are on the home page.  

If you haven't checked out the other Design Team creations pop on over to the Watercooler Wednesday challenge blog.  Trust me there are some amazing renditions of fireworks to be seen.

Until next time.........

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot