WWC89 - Penny's Colour Challenge

I'm proud to be hosting this week's Watercooler Wednesday colour challenge. Originally I planned to choose some of the rich warm colours of Fall for this challenge, however we've been experiencing some much cooler weather these past few weeks, and my thoughts have turned to the winter ahead.

When I think of winter I visualize frost on the windows, shiny ornaments on the tree,  and the soft dreamy look of the woods behind my house nestled under a blanket of snow. I love the soft tinge of blue in the frozen creek, the cool sky and how it contrasts with the earth that's still visible on the forest floor. With all that in mind it wasn't hard to choose my colours for this week's challenge, they are Tip Top Taupe, Soft Sky, Winter White and Silver.

Here's My Card: 
One of my all-time favourite Christmas stamps, that I was thrilled to see carried over into this years Annual Catalogue, is called Embellished Ornaments.   I chose to use this stamp set and the coordinating Delicate Ornaments Thinlet dies for the focal point of my card.   

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Embellished Ornaments, Time of Year (Hostess Set AC), More Merry Messages (R) and Happy Scenes (R) 
Ink: Tip Top Taupe, Soft Sky ink pads and markers 
Card Stock: Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White, Soft Sky, Silver Foil 
Accessories: Big Shot, Trimmer, Silver Sequins - Frosted (R), Basic Rhinestones, Softly Falling Embossing Folder, Delicate Ornaments Thinlet Dies, Bunch of Banners Thinlet Dies,Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue, Mini Glue Dots, Spritzing Tool (R).

Assembly:

1.  The card base is a standard side fold card measuring 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" and scored and folded at 4 1/4".

2.  The first layer is a piece of Whisper White card stock measuring 5 1/4" x 4".  I stamped the snowflake image from Happy Scenes (R) in Soft Sky in the bottom and top right corners of this card stock and then adhered this layer to the card base. 

3.   The next layer is a strip of Silver Foil cut to 2 1/4" x 5" and adhered to the left side of the card front, and leaving a border of Whisper White on three sides.

4.  The third layer is a strip of Soft Sky card stock measuring 1 6/8" x 4 1/2" and embossed with the Softly Falling EF. Adhere to the foil strip leaving a 1/4" on top bottom and left hand side. 

5. The final layer is a 3 x 4 piece of Tip Top Taupe cut and embossed as above.  This piece is adhered to the Soft Sky and Whisper White layers with Tom Bow glue.

6. The small ornament image was cut from a 2" x 2" piece of Soft Sky with the thinlet from the Delicate Ornaments set.  The top of the ornament is cut with the same dies from Silver foil. Before adhering the ornament to the Tip Top Taupe layer it was very lightly spritzed with Tip Top Taupe ink, and three small basic rhinestones were added across the center of this ornament.  

7.  I stamped the large ornament image from Embellished Ornaments on a 2 1/2 x 4 1/2" piece of Soft Sky card stock with Tip Top Taupe ink.  The image was cut out with the large ornament thinlet. The top of the ornament was cut from a small piece of silver foil using the ornament topper thinlet. The silver foil flower was also cut with the Thinlets, attached to the center of the ornament with a glue dot and then a basic Rhinestone was added to the center for a little more shine and bling.  The ornament was mounted to the Tip Top Taupe layer with Dimmensionals.

Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set has seven stamps that are perfect for all your Christmas card needs.  I love the sentiments in this set and the font.  They're perfect for using on tags or cards.

8.  The Christmas banner from the Time of Year Hostess stamp set was stamped in Tip Top Taupe on a scrap of Soft Sky card stock.  I used the single banner from the Bunch of Banners Thinlet Dies to cut out the banner and then adhered it with dimensionals to the ornament and Tip Top Taupe layer.  I'm so happy with this stamp set.  I'm loving all the banners and have really put them to good use. 

Time of Year Stamp Set is only available as a Hostess Reward for hosting a Workshop or having an order of $200 or more. There are eleven photopolymer stamps in this set and it coordinates with the Bunch of Banners Thinlets pictured below.

Bunch of Banners Thinlet Dies - for this card I used the single banner at the top right of this picture.

 9.  To finish off the card I lightly spritzed the card face with Tip Top Taupe ink and then added some Silver Rhinestones from a retired rhinestone package called Frozen.

10.  A 5 1/4 x 4" piece of Whisper White card stock was cut for the inside of the card.  The verse "Hanging the Holly...." from the retired More Merry Messages stamp set was stamped in Tip Top Taupe ink in the card center.  I stamped the corners of the card with the star corner image from Happy Scenes.  Although this set is retired, I keep it in my tool box for all the small detail stamps that I love, like this one.

 

Well that's it for my card this week, I hope you like it and it gave you some inspiration. This card has many layers and looks a bit difficult but it's actually a fast and easy card to assemble.  Did you like this colour challenge with non-traditional colours?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and on this card design.

Don't forget to check out all the amazing creations by the other design team artists at the Watercooler Wednesday blog.  You're going to love them! So much creativity went into this weeks challenge. 

Want to play along?  I hope you will.  We love seeing what you make with our challenges and hope you'll join us by linking up your own creation this week. This challenge is open until 5:00pm MT on Monday October 17th, 2916. Come play along!

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

September Mixup - Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

What signals one of my most favourite times of the year? Well, for me the first signs are the leaves starting to turn, the weather's getting a bit chillier at night, and the kids are back in school.  Yep, FALL is officially here and it's time to start thinking about all the seasonal celebrations ahead.  

This weekend I've joined the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop design team to  celebrate a "September Mixup".  Our hop is running from tonight through  the 19th of September and is offering some really creative ways of using products from both the new and annual catalogues. 

We have 15 terrific gals participating and showing off their talents so be sure to follow the hop and leave some love along the way! The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop runs in a circular fashion, so no matter where in the list of participants you begin, inevitably you'll wind up in the exact same place again if you keep going to the "next".  

If you started at the beginning of the hop you've just arrived from Marsha Reed's fabulous blog.  Wasn't her project awesome?  Okay now it's time to see what I came up with...........

Halloween Gift Bags - Howl-o-ween Good Times!
We don't get many kids on Halloween night anymore, so for those 5 or 6 that brave the elements to haunt my front door, I love to have some special treat bags on hand.  

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Howl-o-ween Treat* Six Sayings Hostess Set Holiday Catalogue

Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey Marker. Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, Tangello Twist Re-Inker

Card stock: Tangello Twist, Gold and Black Glimmer Paper, Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Lots of Labels Framelit Dies, Boo To You Framelit Dies, Spider Web (R) and BoHo Chic Embossing Folders, Bat punch(R), Google Eyes (non-SU), Dazzling Details, Pumpkin Pie and Blackberry Bliss ribbons, Word Window and Large Oval punches, Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue, Big Shot and Trimmer. 

The Howl-o-ween Treat Stamp Set which comes in wood or clear mount and the Boo to You Framelit Dies are featured on page 49 of the catalogue.  They can be bought individually or you can save 15% by purchasing them as a bundle. 

I love this cute little 4" x 1 1/2" gift bag.  It's simple, very quick to make and decorates easily.  For this bag I started with a 12 x 6" piece of the Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper. If you love Halloween Paper, this set of design papers is a real winner.  Each design and the colour mix are very special.

I used a Hello Honey marker for the owl's nose and a Blackberry Bliss Marker to enhance some of the feather details on the owl's body. I punched out two small circles with the Itty Bitty Punch set from Black Glimmer paper to mount the google eyes on.  Although they don't show up very well in this photo, the wavy feathers on the owl's chest were coloured with dazzling details that I added a bit of Tangello Twist re-inker to. I used two of the Label Framelits from lots of Labels to die cut the two label tags that the owl is mounted on.  I embossed the smaller label with the Bo Ho Chic embossing folder and the larger one is cut from Gold Glimmer paper.  They are mounted to the bag with dimensionals.

 My Second Bag:

Here is the second bag which showcases the Skull and Crossbones from the Howl-oween Treat stamp set.  I layered the stamped images on two labels cut out with the Lots of Labels Framelit Dies.  The Blackberry Bliss label was embossed with the now retired "Spider Web" TIEF.  The other label was cut from Gold Glimmer Paper.  I stamped the super cute little spider from this stamp set in  Tuxedo Black ink and then punched out a piece of Black Glimmer paper with the circle punch from the Itty Bitty Accents punch set and glued it onto its back with a dimensional.  Two rhinestones coloured with a black sharpie were added to the skull's eye sockets.  The "FaBOOlous" sentiment is from the Six Sayings Hostess stamp set.  I fussy cut out the wording and added dazzling details to make it glimmer. 

 Directions for the Bag:
1.  Cut 12 x 6" piece of Designer Series Paper or Card Stock of choice.
2.  Score on long side at 4", 5 1/2", 9 1/2", and 11"
3.  Turn DSP to short side and score at 4 1/2".
4.  Cut from the bottom along score lines to the 4 1/2" score line.  Fold on score lines and trim off small rectangle in bottom right hand corner of bag.
5.  Assemble bag with Sticky Strip.  Fold so small tabs are on the inside of the bag bottom and there is a large tab on the bottom.  You only need to apply sticky strip or glue to the side seam and the bottom of the bag.  
6.  Pinch the sides of the bag together towards the top, like a lunch sack.  
7.  Make a handle area by punch through both thicknesses with either a Word Window or a large oval punch.
 
Embellished Ornament:
Do you ever look at a stamp set or dies in a magazine or catalogue and it sucks the breath right out of you?  Well that's what happened to me when I turned to page 15 in the Holiday Catalogue and saw the Embellished Ornament stamp set and coordinating Delicate Ornament Thinlet Dies.  I fell in love with them, and they quickly went to the top of my wish list.  Here's what I've made with them so far:

I pride myself on finishing the insides of my cards to mirror the exterior.  When I finished this card, I laughed because the inside could actually be the outside it turned out so pretty. I owe that to the Delicate Ornament Thinlet die that I used to cut out this precious bauble.  These are pretty intricate dies but I use a cardboard and wax paper shim when I run these dies through my big shot and I find they cut like butter on card stock, glimmer and foil papers.  

I stamped two additional ornament images and fussy cut the flower from the center of both.  These were mounted with dimensionals on the original ornament and a basic rhinestone was added to the center.  You might think that the shiny circles on the ornament were achieved with rhinestones, but think again.  I actually cut the 1/8" circles from Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper using a punch and then glued them on to each of the spots on the ornament.  I cut the point off a toothpick and used that to apply the glue to the back of the dots and then add them to the ornament. 

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Embellished Ornaments

Card Stock:  Smokey Slate, Whisper White and Blackberry Bliss, Silver Foil and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper
Ink: Blackberry Bliss
Accessories:  Softly Falling TIEF, Big Shot, Delicate Ornament Thinlet Dies, Basic Rhinestones, detail scissors, dimensionals, Tom Bow adhesive.   1/8" circle punch

You can bundle and save 15% on the Embellished Ornament and Delicate Ornament Thinlet Dies through January 4, 2016.  

Usually I do three projects for these hops, and although I have one in the works I unfortunately didn't get the time I'd anticipated to finish it.  But don't worry, rather than rush and botch the project I'm going to finish it later this week and then I'll share it with you under a separate post. So please make sure you come back and check it out.

Now that I'm done I'm passing you along to our next talented designer, Bev, who is sure to delight you with her projects. Make sure you click  on her name here or on the "Next" watercooler icon below.  

Bev Q - Stamp With Bev

Marsha Reed

Happy Stamping Everyone!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot