Watercooler Wednesday #121 - Anything Goes - Always An Adventure

It's hard to believe but we've reached the end of May and it's time for our WWC121 Anything Goes challenge.  Are you up for it?   

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.   We'd love to have you join us.  You have until 5:00pm Pacific Time on Monday, June 5th  to link your project.

Here's My Card: 
Now that the weather is finally improving and summer is just around the corner, I was inspired to make a Pop N' Twist birthday card for a guy friend showcasing the great outdoors.   He's an avid camper, so this card should make him smile.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets:  Always An Adventure(R), Balloon Adventures (R), Guy Greetings and Birthday Blast (R).

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Whisper White and 2 sheets of DSP from the Warmth and Cheer DSP Pack

Inks:  Old Olive, Crumb Cake and Momento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Acrylic Blocks, Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Outdoor Adventures Framelits, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Bunch of Banners and Stitched Shapes Thinlet Dies, Tom Bow Glue, Dimensionals, Black Rhinestones, Bone Folder and Detail Scissors.

I've been procrastinating about buying the Always an Adventure stamp set and coordinating Outdoor Adventure Framelits before they retired at the end of this month. Fortunately my sister loaned me her set to make this project and I've made up my mind to get it.  I think I was sold when I cut out the mountains.  What fun!

How It Came Together:

Note: When I construct a Pop N' Twist card I make all the foundation pieces out of the same colour of card stock.  For this card I cut the following from Very Vanilla card stock:

• Card Base - 4 1/4" x 11" and scored at 5 1/2"
• Pop N' Twist Hinge - 3 1/2" x 8" scored at 1 3/4" for the center.  On the long side measure down from the top to 2 1/4" and mark with a pencil.  Turn and measure from the bottom up 2 1/4" and mark with a pencil.  Do this on both long of the hinge.  Take a ruler and link up lines in an X.  Use the lines as a guideline and use your trimmer to score along the X lines.
• Accordion Fold Piece - 3 1/2 x 10 scored at 2 1/2", 5" and 7 1/2" 
• Belly Band 3/4" x 10" scored at 2" and 6 4/8"

Card Front:
Layer 1:  4" x 5 1/4" Basic Black card stock.  Before adhering to the card base die cut the 3 5/8" circle from this piece and set aside.

Layer 2:  Cut a piece of DSP to measure 3 3/4" x 5" and adhere to 1st layer.

Layer 3:  Adhere the Basic Black circle to the upper top of the DSP.  Cut a 3 1/4" circle from Crumb Cake with the Circle Framelits. To create the scene die cut the mountains from Chocolate Chip, the Peaks from Crumb Cake, the Clouds from Whisper White, the stand of trees from Old Olive, a black bear stamped with Tuxedo Black ink on Whisper White, and a tent stamped in Crumb Cake on Very Vanilla. Layer these pieces onto the Crumb Cake circle.  The mountains, peaks, and clouds are all glued flat with Tom Bow Glue and the trees, tent, and bear are popped up with Dimensionals.  Attach the Crumb Cake circle to the black circle with Dimensionals.

Belly Band:  Crease the folds and adhere at the back with a piece of sticky strip.  Stamp "The Best is Yet to Come" in Momento Tuxedo Black ink in the center front.  Cut out a banner from Basic Black using the Bunch of Banner dies and center over sentiment.  I added 3 small black rhinestones beneath the words.  

Inside of Card:

1.  For the top of the card cut a 3 5/8" x 4 1/8" piece of Basic Black card stock and a 3 1/2 x 4" piece of DSP and glue to the card base.
 
2.  For the bottom of the card cut a 3 5/8" x 4 1/8" piece of Basic Black and a 3 1/2 x 4" piece of Very Vanilla.  Glue to the bottom of the card base. Stamp the sentiment "Celebrate You" from the Birthday Blast stamp set and the bear in Tuxedo Black ink on the Very Vanilla layer.

 
3.  Cut 4 3 1/4 x 2 1/4" pieces of Basic Black card stock for the Accordion Fold piece. Cut 2 Very Vanilla and 2 DSP pieces to measure 2" x 3" and glue to the Basic Black layers. 

Stamp the "It's Your Birthday" sentiment on the top of the Very Vanilla layer in Tuxedo Black ink.  I stamped the grass from Thoughtful Branches and the Tree from Always an Adventure in Old Olive ink. The bear was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink.  Adhere these layers together and attach to the first fold in the Accordion Fold piece.  For the second section layer the basic black card stock and dsp to the accordion fold piece.    Note I somehow added a layer of Very Vanilla in this section, just ignore that in the picture. 

For the second half of the Accordion Fold Piece create this scene on the first panel by:  Cut out another section of trees from Old Olive card stock and adhere across the bottom of the Very Vanilla panel.  Stamp the Road Sign in Crumb Cake on Very Vanilla card stock and fussy cut out the image.  Adhere to the Very Vanilla panel with Dimensionals.  Stamp two clouds in the sky in Tuxedo Black ink.  For the fourth panel layer basic black panel and DSP panel.  Stamp the sentiment "World's Greatest" from the Guy Greeting stamp set in Tuxedo Black ink on Very Vanilla and fussy cut.  Attach with Dimensionals.  Note:  I sponged all of the DSP pieces with Crumb Cake ink before adhering to the basic black panels. 

Well there you have it for today.  I really enjoy creating these Pop N' Twist cards. Pulling all the elements together is so much fun.  I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did and would be happy if you could leave me a comment. It makes my day.  In the meantime....

Happy Stamping! 
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot  
    

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #111 - Marsha's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I felt bad missing Heather's Watercooler Wednesday CAS Bunny card challenge last week, but I was traveling and had no time to stamp.  What a terrible feeling.  But, not to worry because I'm back with a fun card for Marsha's #WWC11 Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge.  "Anything Goes" means that whatever is submitted is fine whether it be a card, a 3-D project, a scrapbook page just so long as the entry has a masculine theme.  What fun!  

Here's My Card:
My card features a fun stamp and die bundle from the Occasions Catalogue called Custom Tee and the T-Shirt Builder which I've married up with the  CAS Colors & Sketches Challenge #215:

Inside and out, this card has an "all boy sports theme" going on that meets the criteria for this Masculine Anything Goes challenge.  

I love that there are so many great sentiment stamps to use with the T-Shirts in the Custom Tee set.  There's also a set called "Designer Tee" in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue that's available for FREE until March 31st with a $60 CDN order .  It has 10 wonderful Photopolymer stamps that  fit in the middle of the T-shirt.  T

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Custom Tee, Balloon Adventures, Cozy Critters Hostess Set, Great Sport (Retired)
Inks:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Pacific Point
Card Stocks:  Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Pacific Point
Accessories:  Trimmer, Big Shot, T-Shirt Builder Dies, Circle Framelits, Itty Bitty Accent Star Punch (R), Bunch of Banners Thinlets, Tom Bow Glue, Glue Dots, Basic Rhinestones, Sponge Dauber.

What fun!  I loved how this card came together.  Here's the details:

1.  The card base was a piece of Very Vanilla card stock measuring 4 1/4" x 11" and scored at 5 1/2".

2.  The first layer is Rich Razzleberry and measures 4 x 5 1/4".  

3.  The second layer is Pacific Point and it measures 3 3/4" x 5"

4.  I used one of the retired Circle Die Stamps to cut a 3 1/4" circle from the Pacific Point layer.  I randomly stamped soccer balls from the Good Sport (R) stamp set and small birthday presents from the Cozy Critters Hostess set in Pacific Point ink on this layer.

5.  I was going to use a 3" circle die to cut out a smaller circle in the Rich Razzleberry layer, but decided to use the T-Shirt Builder die instead.  I lined up the T-Shirt so that it was in the middle of the 3 1/2" circle.  

6.  I glued the first and second layers together but before I attached them to the card base I cut off the bottom right hand corner on an angle, which exposed the Very Vanilla card base, once these layers were adhered.  I stamped the sentiment "All Star Champs" from the Customer Tee stamp on an angle in this space.  I stamped "#1" in Old Olive ink in the middle of the T-Shirt. 

7.  I created a banner label using the Bunch of Banners Thinlet dies and stamped "Birthday Boy" in Pacific Point ink.  

8.  I punched out some small stars with the Itty Bitty Accents Star punch (R) from Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry card stocks and adhered them with Mini Glue Dots to the banner and the card layer.

8.  To finish the inside of the card  I stamped the Rich Razzleberry T-shirt that was left over with the sentiment "All Star Champ" and sponged the edges with Rich Razzleberry ink, and adhered it to the top inside panel of the card.  A few random Old Olive and Pacific Point stars were added. 

9.  The bottom inside layer was stamped with the sentiment "No One Deserves a Happier Birthday Than You" from the Balloon Adventures stamp set in Pacific Point ink.  A soccer ball was stamped in the bottom right corner in Pacific Point and two small gift boxes were stamped in Rich Razzleberry.

Well that's it for me this week.  I hope you liked this card and will leave me some comments.  

I hope you'll drop in and visit the other Design Team Artists for some more inspiration at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Blog.  I also hope you'll play along with us by linking to the InLinksy no later than 5pm Mountain Standard Time on Monday March 27th. Instructions are at the bottom of the Watercooler Wednesday challenge blog post.   We'd love to have you join us. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Watercooler Wednesday - #107 Penny's Masculine Anything Goes Challenge

Hi stampers!  Welcome back to the Watercooler Wednesday challenge.  This week I'm happy to bring you a Masculine Challenge.  The style is an "anything goes" challenge so there aren't really any restrictions other than it has to be a guy card.    

Here's My Card:
I made this masculine birthday card for my dear brother-in-law Ken's February birthday.  Ken's kind of a burly guy but he's not reluctant to say he likes bling and he certainly is a fan of Stampin Up!, so I thought a combo of Bear Hugs and Balloon Adventure would fit the bill for his special day.

This is a Shadow Box card. I've haven't made a Shadow Box card for some time now, but when I saw a recent Dawn Griffiths post on Youtube  using Balloon Adventures and this card style, I knew I wanted to CASe it.  

What a fun card to make! I fell in love with this card style all over again.  For sizing and details on how to make a Shadow Box card just click on Dawn's name above for a direct link to the video.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Bear Hugs, Balloon Adventures, Bella and Friends
Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
DSP:  Gold Glimmer Paper,  Type Style Designer Paper (R)
Ink: Tuxedo Momento Black, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Accessories:  Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies, Bunch of Banners Thinlets, Big Shot, Trimmer, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue,Glue Dots.

Balloon Pop Up Thinlet Dies

Balloon Adventures part of the Party Animal Suite in the new Occasions 2017 Catalogue.

The sentiment is from Balloon Adventures, the little bear is from Bear Hugs and the small balloon  image is from Bella and Friends. The Very Vanilla panel is 5" x 3 1/2" and is layered on Basic Black.

The layers for my card front are:  5 1/2 x 8 1/2" Soft Suede card base.  1st layer is  5 1/4" x 4" Very Vanilla, 5" x 3 3/4" DSP layer.  For the layers with the bear I cut a 3" x 3 1/2" Soft Suede, 2 3/4" x 3 1/4" Basic Black and a 2 1/2" x 3" Very Vanilla panels.

Here's a side view of the sentiment and balloons.  The "Party On" sentiment is from the Balloon Adventures stamp set. I stamped it in Momento Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Very Vanilla card stock and then cut it out with the Bunch of Banners Thinlet Dies.  The edges  were sponged with Soft Suede ink and I used a thumping technique to apply for ink to the banner to give it a mottled appearance.   I used the negative image dots from the die cut balloons as additional trim and applied them with glue dots. 

The Gold Glimmer Paper balloons were perfect for this card.   They add such sparkle to the soft Suede paper.  The large balloon die from Balloon Pop-Up Thinlets fits perfectly on this panel of the card so no extra trimming is required.  I used the "Let's Celebrate" stamp from the Balloon Adventures Stamp Set.

Well that's it for today.  I hope you enjoyed this card and will add this technique to your collection of fancy fold cards. If you haven't already checked out the other Watercooler Wednesday Design Artist's cards make sure you stop by. This challenge is open until 5:00pm MT so if you'd like to link up your masculine card creation, we'd be thrilled to have you join us. 

Happy Stamping!Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Wacky Watercooler February 2017 Spring Fever Blog Hop

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day this week. I know for some of you you're still getting winter storms so you'll probably welcome our thoughts of better things to come with our Spring Fever Blog Hop which runs from today through Saturday February 18th, 2017.  Hopefully no matter what your weather situation, you'll be able to have happy Spring thoughts.  

The Wacky Watercooler blog hop is a circular hop so no matter whether you start at the beginning of the list or enter at some other point, if you continue moving from participant to participant you'll always wind up where you started. 

This time around I'm very excited to be starting off the hop, so you're either beginning or ending at my site.  Hope I don't disappoint.  There are a total of 8 other talented paper crafters following me who're all eager to share their creative and exciting projects with you, so I hope you'll relax, settle in and enjoy the hop! 

My First Project - Sparkles:  

It seems I'm caught up in Sparkles and Birthdays this week, so it's appropriate that my first project combines both.  This is a fun birthday/gift card holder I've made for a very special girlfriend of mine who absolutely "sparkles" in everything she does.  

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Love Sparkles #143183
Card Stock:  Whisper White and Smokey Slate, Silver Glimmer Paper, Silver Foil Card Stock
DSP:  A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper Stack #141637
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Big Shot, Mini Treat Bag Framelit, Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet #142753, Star Blast Edgelits#142763, Tom Bow Glue, Basic Rhinestones, Stitched Rectangles (Non-Su)

 

This project started with a Mini Treat Bag made with the dies of the same name.  Since my friend is such a glam and glitzy girl, I chose this beautiful designer paper from the "A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper stack to go with my gray and white theme. It was perfect.  Note:  You need two 6x6 sheets to complete the mini bag.

I absolutely love the Star Blast Edgelits.  They just instantly create happiness and excitement on a project.  For this bag I cut both a Smokey Slate and a Silver Glimmer Paper star blast image.  I attached them with Mini Glue dots at the base so the stars would still bob and move around once they were adhered to the bag front. For some additional glam I added a strip of silver foil to the Smokey Slate card stock base and adhered this piece on an angle across the bag. 

For the sentiment I stamped the "Sparkle" sentiment In Momento Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and cut it out with a non-SU stitched rectangle die.  I added some silver foil stars and Basic Rhinestones to complete the sentiment piece.    

The inside gift card was made with a piece of Whisper White card stock that measures 5 1/4" x 3 7/8".  The overlay was made by cutting a piece of Smokey Slate card stock with the Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet.  

I added touches of Silver Glimmer paper for the balloons and stars and some small Basic Rhinestones.  I cut two Smokey Slate bows using the Bow die cut from this set for the handle on the card.  The sentiment "It's Your Day" is from the Love Sparkles stamp set.

The back of the insert has a 2" by 3 7/8" piece of the designer series paper across the bottom. It was attached with a small amount of Tom Bow glue on three sides. The gift card slides in length-wise in the center. The sentiment "happy birthday" was stamped at the top of the insert with Momento Tuxedo Black ink. 

My Second Project:  A No-Cut DSP Gift Folder CASE

My second project is also birthday related and uses products from the Party Animal Collection in the Occasions 2017 catelogue.  My inspiration for this project came from the very talented Diane Barnes, who has been making what she calls a "No-Cut Patterned Paper Gift Folder" since 2008.   

Here's What I Came Up With:

This is the front of the folder.  

Inside the gift folder are two side pockets where you can add notes.  I've left mine blank so I can personalize for the fellow I'm going to give this to. 

This is the back view of the gift card holder. The Pacific Point bow on the side is the gift card pullout. Because of the additional pull-out, you would have to custom make an envelope to hold this card.


Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Balloon Adventures #142823, Love Sparkles #143183, and Avante Garden (143272 - Happy Birthday)
Ink: Emerald Envy, Watermelon Wonder, Pacific Point
Paper: Party Animal Designer Series Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper
Card Stock: Emerald Envy, Tangerine Tango, Watermelon Wonder, Pacific Point, Whisper White.
Accessories: Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies #142753, Star Punch from Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack (R), Banners Framelits #132173, Lots of Labels Thinlet Dies #138281, Emerald Envy Bakers Twine, Dimensionals, Tear N' Tape, Tom Bow Glue, Simply Scored, Trimmer and Big Shot.

Side view of the Gift Folder

The blue tab on the side is for the gift card.  It is tucked into this side-seam.

 

This is the front of the actual gift card holder that I designed and added to the card.  It comes complete with it's own little tab on the side that I cut out with the Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies.  I slid this into the side seam created by the fold in the card stock and it fits snugly inside. 

Here you can see I just created a small pocket on the reverse of the holder that the gift card can just slide into.

I loved the fact that there are all kinds of neat little folds and hiding places on this gift card holder. And, although I basically CASED Diane's design I like adding my own take on a project, such as adding glue on some folds so that the package didn't come apart and I also created a square gift card holder that I could tuck into the side seam. 

Assembly:
Because Diane happily shares her template and fabulous instructions for this Gift Folder, on her blog, I've provided this link so you can check out her post on this topic.  I'm sure you'll be just as eager as I was to create one or maybe several of this fun gift card bag(s).  Whatever you do please acknowledge her and drop her a comment, let her know I sent you.  

Project Three:   Avant Garden Spring Card

With Spring just around the corner and a plethora of birthdays coming up in March and April I decided to make a simple card using the Avant Garden stamp set for my third project.  You can't buy this stamp set, but you can earn it for free during Sale-A-Bration with the purchase of $60.00 CDN from any of the other Stampin' Up! catalogues currently available.  

I stamped three of the bouquet images on a piece of 3 1/2 x 3 1/2" Very Vanilla card stock.  I water coloured the flowers and stems with Sweet Sugarplum and Pear Pizazz inks.  To get the fullness in the image, I restamped three more floral images, painted them and fussy cut them out attaching various bits and pieces to the original stamped flowers with dimensionals.

Well you've come to the end of my projects for this hop and I hope that I've inspired your creative side in some way.  Now it's time to move on to the wonderful Kath Rick's blog so she can wow you with her projects.  Have fun and remember to leave some comments along the way..... we love to hear from you.

Kath Ricks

Heidi Weaver

Wacky Watercooler Feb 2017 Blog Hop

Happy Stamping!
Penny Token's Stampin Spot