Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #140 - Libby's "All About Birthdays"

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians. I hope you had a wonderful time with friends and family this past weekend and time to reflect on all the things one can be grateful for in life.

This week's Watercooler Challenge is being hosted by "Queen of Clean", Libby Fenns and it's an All About Birthday's Challenge.  That means you can make anything you want for this challenge with the proviso that it's a birthday card or has a birthday theme, and that you haven't entered it in more than 8 challenges including ours!  

This challenge is open until 5:00pm MST on Monday October 16th, so I hope you'll join in the fun.  Our Design Team has created some wonderful projects to share with you so be sure to drop by the home page and check them out.

 

Here's My Card:

 

I'm excited to share this card which uses a new to me technique called Nouveau Retiform.  This was a popular style many years ago and was recently showcased in a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers by Lydia Fiedler.  Lydia demonstrates her updated technique.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to try this out. 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Half Full #144999, Tuscan Vineyard #141902, Balloon Celebration #140675
Ink:  Berry Bliss, Lemon Lime Twist, Crushed Curry and Momento Tuxedo Black
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White and Lemon Lime Twist
Accessories:  Deluxe Card Template Stencil 6-C (Deluxe Cuts), Sponge Daubers, Post It Note paper, Paper Trimmer, Wink of Stella, Tom Bow Adhesive

I loved the colour blend on my card and all the great wine images from the Half Full stamp sets.  The colour blocks work perfectly for showcasing the individual stamps.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to align the word "enjoy". 

Isn't this grape cluster from Tuscan Vineyard super deluxe?  I paired it with the Happy Birthday sentiment from  Balloon Celebrations.   Although the image in this picture is black and white, I actually coloured the grapes and leaves with markers and Wink of Stella.

Details:
1.  For the card base cut an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Basic Black and score at 4 1/4".
2.  Cut a 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" piece of Lemon Lime Twist for the first layer and adhere to the card base.
3.  Cut a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Basic Black for the second layer and adhere to the first layer.
4.  Cut a 3 5/8" x 4 7/8" piece of Whisper White for the third layer.  Before adhering to the second layer sponge over the stencil and stamp the images.
5.  Place the stencil over the Whisper White piece and tape down the edges with Washi tape so it doesn't shift while applying colour.

 6.  Using Crushed Curry, Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Bliss sponge daubers sponge over the stencil to get the desired effect.  Note:  I used post it notes between the lines so I didn't carry the colour from one square into another.  
7.  Stamp your selected images in Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured over the wine bottle label, the wine in the wineglasses and the holly berries with Wink of Stella.

Half Full Stamp set in is the Holiday 2017 Catalogue

8.  For the inside panels cut a 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" layer of Lemon Lime Twist and adhere to the card base. 
9.  Cut a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Whisper White and stamp the sentiment and image in Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  Adhere to Lemon Lime Twist layer.  

 
I didn't exactly follow Lydia's awesome instructions in her tutorial since I used  sponge daubers to apply my ink instead of a brush, but the results were similar and I was pretty happy with the outcome.   

It's funny, I had this stencil earmarked for sale at my recent garage sale for $2.00, but fortunately for me, there were no takers.  When I saw Lydia's tutorial and her gorgeous card, I quickly pulled the stencil from my sale bin and put it back into commission.  I'm so pleased with the results I know I'll be hanging on to this stencil and using it again and again.  

Well that's it for my Happy Birthday card this week.  I hope you enjoyed it and I've inspired you to try the Nouveau Retiform technique.  If you do I'd love to see what you make or have a comment from you.  

If you haven't checked out the rest of the Watercooler Wednesday Design Team simply click here and you'll return to the home page.  Click on the names below the pictures to visit each of the Design Team.  Until next time............

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot