The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop Welcomes the New Annual Catalog(ue)

Hi everyone and welcome to my contribution to the June Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop. 

This month we're celebrating the launch of the new 2015-2016 Share the Fun Annual Catalogue, and projects related to Father's Day, Graduation and "something new".  

There are lot's of participants in this blog hop so I hope you'll play along and visit everyone's site between now and Saturday night (June 20th).  There are some awesome projects that I know you're going to love!

If you've been following the blog hop from the beginning you will have arrived here from the wonderful and talented Jackie Susnick's blog.  

Father's Day Project:

For my first project, I've made a Father's Day Card using the Guy Greetings stamp set featured on page 98 of the catalogue. Before I share my card, I just want to express how grateful I am that this stamp set was carried forward from the Spring Occasions catalogue.  It is probably one of the best male themed stamp sets I've used in a long time. 

Guy Greetings Stamp Set #137178 is a 22 piece stamp set that comes in Clear or Wood Mount and Photopolymer, and is available in English and French versions.  

Here's My Card:

Love that Tip Top Taupe Striped paper from the Cherry on Top DSP Paper Pack. 

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Watermelon Wonder and Tip Top Taupe
Ink:  Tip Top Taupe,  Watermelon Wonder
DSP: Cherry on Top  Designer Series Paper Stack #138443
Accessories:  Extra Large and Large Oval Punches, 1" and 1 1/4" square punches, scissors, trimmer, adhesive and dimensionals.  

Graduation Card 
Since my niece is graduating this month, I wanted to make her a special graduation card.  While scouting around on the internet for graduation card ideas I found one by Glenda Caulkins of The Stamp Camp blog, that really caught my interest.  As the school colours were exactly what I was looking for, I decided to CASE her original card, with is called a "Peek A Boo Front Flip card".  You can see Glenda's card here, and here's my original CASE with a couple of changes.

This is a flip top fancy fold card.  Just the center part opens up.  I'll be posting more details and a brief tutorial on how this card and the shaker card below are assembled in my Sunday post, so make sure you come back and check it out.

When you open the flip top you have room to right your message below the sentiment.

When I was asked to make something with a graduation theme for this blog hop, I wanted something a little more exciting so I used the same card colours and stamp set, but designed a "shaker" card.

Both cards were made with the Celebrate Today stamp set, another carry over and favourite of mine. 

Here's my graduation shaker card:

 

I added some gold and royal blue seed beads along with the Metallic Sequins to the inside of the balloon shaker.  What fun!  The sentiment is embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

Supplies:
Stamp set:  Celebrate Today

Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Night of Navy and Gold Foil 
Ink:  Versa Mark 
Accessories:  Balloon Framelits, Metallics Sequin Assortment, Gold Seed Beads (non-SU), Fun Foam, Adhesive, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, trimmer, Big Shot
 

This is the bundle which includes 17 Photopolyer two-step stamp images and 4 framelit dies.  By purchasing these products as a bundle, you save 15% off the original price.

 

Something New 
For my "Something New" project, I wanted to share a combo gift card holder and birthday card made with this year's Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Charities stamp set "Sprinkles of Life".  Did you know that for every Sprinkles of Life stamp set sold, Stampin' Up! contributes $3.00 towards the RMH Charities?  I think that's so awesome!

Sprinkles of Life is a 22 piece Photopolymer stamp set that you're absolutely going to fall in love with.  It has a matching punch called the Tree Builder which helps you cut out all those ice cream or cup cake tops in the blink of an eye!

Here's My Card:

The gift card holder on the inside of the mini gift bag. 

Here you can see the gift card holder with an actual gift card inserted in it. 

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe and Whisper White 
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush, Tip Top Taupe, 
DSP: Cherry on Top  Designer Series Paper Stack #138443
Accessories:  Tree Builder and Banner Triple Punches, Mini Treat Bag Thinlits, Dazzling Details, sequins, trimmer, adhesive and dimensionals.

The Banner Triple Punch gives you triple the banner options in one punch. You can make banners in three widths--1", 1-1/2", and 2"--in any length. Just slide the paper in, punch, and get perfectly notched banners (or gift tags, bookmarks, belly bands) every time. * Punch size: 3-3/8" x 5-3/4" x 1-1/4"

Well that's the end of my projects for this month. Enjoy the remainder of the blog hop... and thanks for stopping by!  

Since this is a circular blog hop you have some choices about how to proceed.  You can click on the "next" button below to move on to the awesome Kath Rick's blog or move back to Jackie Susnick's.  You can also click on the Home link and go back to the beginning of the hop where all the participant's blog links are listed.  Come back and visit again soon!

Click here to go to Kath Rick's incredible blog

Click here to go back to Jackie Susnik's blog

If you want to start at the beginning of the blog hop you can click on this link to go back to the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop site for the list of participants.  

Celebrate Today & Make a Wish

Hi everyone!  Hope your Sunday is a little brighter and sunnier than ours is.  

It's currently cloudy and on the verge of rain.  One good thing about the weather not being so enticing outside is that I get to play in my stamp room today...........yeah!

Last Tuesday when I was making cards with my bestie Sheri, we were working on a Colour Challenge put out by Just Add Ink.  The colour mix was Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party and Crumb Cake. Nice combination right? 

Well, as I sometimes do, I suckered myself into using Pear Pizzazz for the background on my card, even though my better judgement was screaming "go neutral" keep it "clean and simple".  

In the end because of my misguided decision followed by my indecision and dissatisfaction, I missed the post time for this challenge.  Urrrrrrrrgh!!! The final birthday card was finally finished a few days later after much creative angst and major revisions, but the good news is it did get finished and even though it was late for the challenge I decided to post it here.  


Here's the card I came up with: 

The card in MHO is overwhelmed by the Pear Pizzazz background which I tried to make more interesting by embossing with the Lovely Lace embossing folder.  I'm pretty sure that if I'd stuck to a Whisper White background for the card base and the stamped layer I think it would have worked better. Sometimes as the saying goes "less is more".

Along with the colour challenge we were eager to try out a new to us fancy fold technique called a "corner fold card".  This is a great card technique and takes very little time or effort to accomplish.

I'm not going to give you the dimensions and details for completing a corner fold card in this post as you can find several good examples on Youtube .  The one we chose to follow was done by Linda Bauwin.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Celebrate Today, Perfect Pennants
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Pool Party
Card Stock: Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake and Whisper White 
Accessories:  Balloon Framelit Dies, Lovely Lace Texturized Embossing Folder, Trimmer, Big Shot, Basic Rhinestones, Dazzling Details Glimmer Adhesive in Dazzling Diamonds, Note Tag and 1/2" Circle Punches, Snips, Crystal Effects, Adhesive, Dimensionals

Some Details:

Originally I stamped the birthday balloon from Celebrate Today in Pool Party ink on the whisper white layer, and coloured in the word happy with Calypso Coral blendabilities.  I also stamped the sprinkled stars image over top of the balloon and added some Dazzling Details glimmer adhesive to the stars.

One thing about the 17-piece Celebrate Today set is that you get so many creative options and can combine individual stamps to build the final image you want in the colors you want.  I decided to use some more of the images  to dress up this card.  I stamped 4 of the shaker images on Pool Party card stock with the matching ink.  I layered two of the shakers and then cut small strips below the tab part to make them look 3 dimensional.

The banner was stamped in Calypso Coral on Whisper White card stock and then cut out using the Balloon Framelits (love those).  To add a lacquered look to the banners I covered them with Crystal Effects and let them dry before adhering some small rhinestones. 

I fussy cut the balloon tail which was stamped in Calypso Coral on Crumb Cake cardstock and used dimensionals to adhere it to the card base.   I finished it off by adding basic rhinestones in every second tail.  

I stood back, looked at the card and I still wasn't satisfied.   By now I'm sweating because time is ticking on the challenge clock and I so wanted to enter my card.  "What's a girl supposed to do?"

Well, I'll tell you, in frustration I went back to the drawing board, removed all the added details from the card front, that's right stripped it right back down to just the balloon image, and then I stared at it.   I hummed, played on the computer, looked at other stamp sets, planned dinner, and still nothing.  

Then, failing inspiration and in desperation, I did what all good stampers do when they get stumped............. I went and ate a bunch of chocolate and pondered what to do.  And finally the "ah ha" light went off in my head as inspiration hit me!  

It was while I was "wishing" for an idea to hit me that I remembered the "Make a Wish" sentiment stamp in the Perfect Pennants stamp set.  

Bingo this would be the perfect sentiment to layer onto the balloon and I could use my Note Tag Punch to cut it out.  I stamped the image in all four of the colours from the challenge to see which one would work best on the card front and chose to use a Calypso Coral on Crumb Cake.  I punched out the "a" from one of the tags I'd stamped in Pool Party with a 1/2" circle punch and then  mounted it with a dimensional to the center of the tag.  

The rest was easy peasy.  I re-attached the shakers, banners and balloon tail, and stamped the inside of the card with another balloon image.  I missed the challenge but, I did finish the card and that was important to me, along with being satisfied with the second attempt. 

I hope you enjoyed this card and the journey I took to finish it.  How about you, have you experienced my "I'm not satisfied" feeling, and if so what did you do about it?  I'd love to hear your story.  Please share and links to your card if any.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens

May Hostess Code is in effect Until May 31st:   BD37E4S4

Birthday Cards from left overs

Do you hoard scraps, bits of paper, pieces of ribbon and embellishments?  I do.  Yes, I'm guilty as sin when it comes to paper and ribbon hoarding and I'm proud of it!  

I can't throw away mistakes or technique samples, extra punched or stamped images, one off buttons, embellishments and 2 inch scraps of ribbon, because I know in my heart of hearts there's the odd chance I'll use them.  So they're stashed away on a shelf at my creation station in little baskets just like the one above, just waiting for that "ah ha" moment!
 

I just can't throw these "extras" away!

During a recent Wacky Watercooler Challenge that called for silhouette stamping on a watercolour backgound, I wound up with several sample watercolour pieces that I didn't use.  You guessed it, I stashed these background pieces away waiting for just the right moment to haul them out and construct something else. The following are two birthday cards I made utilizing the two left over background images in the center of this photo.

While trying to create a suitable background for the challenge, I applied Calypso Coral, Lost Lagoon and Hello Honey inks with re-inkers to the raised part of a Mosaic Madness Embossing Folder and then covered them with Natural Ivory card stock.  I ran one piece through the Big Shot while it was still wet (not a good idea as I left a big mess behind), and the other two I simply applied pressure to the outside of the folder with my hands to transfer the images.  The results were fascinating, in that none of the pieces were alike.  

 

Here are the two cards I made:

For my first card, I layered the cardstock in the three ink colours noted above, starting with a Hello Honey base measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".  This was followed by a layer of Calypso Coral measuring 5 1/4" x 4" and a Lost Lagoon layer measuring 5" x 3 3/4"  I cut the embossed layer down to 4 3/4" x 3 1/2".  

I stamped the small floral motif in Lost Lagoon randomly on the embossed background layer.  Both of the butterfly images and the 3" piece of Lost Lagoon taffeta ribbon I added were in my stash, left over from a month or two ago when I was stamping with the Basic Butterfly stamp set.  I added a few basic rhinestones to the center of the butterfly.   

Since I can't throw anything away, I wound up with a small strip of the embossed background piece which was ideal for using as a layer on the inside of the card.  I carried the butterfly and floral theme to the inside of the card by stamping the lacy flower butterfly, small flower and happy birthday sentiment from the Butterfly basics stamp set in Lost Lagoon ink. 

 

In this closeup, you might see something unusual about the Modern Mosaic Embossing folder image. Trust me you're not seeing double and they haven't changed the folder.  I created this effect by running the embossing folder through the Big Shot twice.  The first time through was to create the normal image and the second time through I offset the cardstock about an eighth of an inch.  I really think this creates a neat effect, even if I do say so myself. 

For my second birthday card I used one of the more subdued water colour backgrounds and a wonderful stamp set called Celebrate Today that will be carrying over into the new catalogue.   When I added the inks for this one I really used the water spritzer to move them around on the card stock, so it blurs the image of the mosaic. 

Once I used Calypso Coral, Lost Lagoon and Hello Honey inks for this background. The base of this card is made from an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Natural Ivory cardstock (retiring) scored at 4 1/4"  The Lost Lagoon layer was left over from a card class I did a few months ago and had been embossed with the Polka Dot Textured Embossing Folder.  You can just barely see the embossing behind the background layer.  The ties on the balloons are from leftover butcher cord in Calypso Coral.  Both balloons were die cut using the coordinating Balloon Framelit Dies.

This is the inside of the card.  I added a strip of the embossed folder at the top of the inside layer for some additional detail.  The inside Natural Ivory cardstock piece measured 5 x 3 3/4".   I love the tail on this balloon.  Makes me smile!

Well that's it for today folks.  I hope you're now inspired to use your scraps.  I'd love to hear how you make use of them and whether you're as big a hoarder as I am.   How do you save your scraps?

Happy Stampin!
Penny Tokens 

Leave me a comment I'd love to hear from you

A Special Birthday Card for My SIL

Today I'm dedicating my birthday card and wish to my very special sister-in-law, Mary Ann. 

Mary Ann would have been 74 today however sadly, she passed away 18 months ago following a long and courageous battle with lung cancer.

Mary Ann was a very determined and brave woman who faced death with a smile and her strong faith and conviction in God.  She declined heroic measures such as chemo and radiation preferring instead to take each day as it was given and enjoy the time she had left.  And she did. 

During the course of her illness I requested a "shower of cards" from my fellow Late Night Stampers and 33 stampers rose to the occasion.  Mary Ann soon began receiving cards from across Canada and the United States and even one from Austrailia.  

She cherished and loved each and every card she received. Not only did they put a smile on her face when she received them, but they gave her something to think about and focus on when she went through the harder times of her illness.  She told me she thought about where the cards came from and wondered about the senders who were kind enough to think of her even though they'd never meet. How kind you all were and I want to thank those caring stampers who were compassionate enough to take the time out of their busy lives to send a card of hope and caring.  I shall be forever in your debt and will kindly pass along my cards whenever there is a need.  

Happy Birthday Mary Ann.....................so wish you could still be here, but know that we're thinking of you in heaven!  Love and hugs!   

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens