WWC98 - Kath's Color Challenge

Whew!  This week just flew by and once again it's time for the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  This week it's hosted by Kath and she's chosen a very festive colour challenge.  The colours you need to use in your card are:  Early Espresso, Silver, Gold and Whisper White. 

Here's My Card:  
I'm not sure which was more challenging, trying to decide what I would create for this week's challenge or taking the pictures of it.  

I still had a bunch of Christmas cards to make so I decided to work with two of my favourite stamp sets this season and a technique called "3 layer stamping" to design this  fun and festive card.  Oh and just so you know, I did use all the colours in the challenge.  It's extremely difficult to see that the Reindeer are Gold Embossed, but trust me they are. One of the reasons for this is that the Silver Foil reflects so much light that it made it difficult to photograph and you're going to have to wait until the end of this post to discover the other reason.  You'll be surprised!

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Cookie Cutter Christmas #142043, Merry Mice #142145
Ink:  Early Espresso, Versa Mark, Smokey Slate
Card Stock:  Early Espresso, Whisper White, Silver Foil and Gold Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Heat Gun, Gold Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Bunch of Banners Framelit Dies #141488, Cookie Cutter Punch, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue and Basic Rhinestones

Assembly:
1.  Cut the Early Espresso card stock to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and score at 4 1/4".

2.  Cut the following layers of Silver Foil card stock: 5 1/4" x 4", 4 1/2" x 3 1/4" and 3 1/2" x 2 1/4".
Note:  I always cut out the centers of fancy foils or glimmer paper, because they are two precious to waste, and also because it reduces the amount of weight for mailing.  This is what my foil layers look like after they are cut.  I have a set of rectangular dies that I use to cut out the centers, but you could do this with a paper trimmer.  The lighting is very poor but trust me these layers are silver. 

3.  Cut the following layers of Whisper White card stock:  5" x 3 3/4", 4 1/4" x 3", 3 1/4" x 2".  Cut a 3" by 2" piece to stamp an extra reindeer image. Cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece for the inside of the card.

4.  Working with the Whisper White layers place them one on top of the other and center each layer.  I hold them in place with a dab of re-positioning glue on the back side of the two smaller layers.

5.  Now the fun part.  Once I had the layers properly aligned, I randomly stamped the reindeer head from the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set with Versa Mark ink.  Make sure your ink is juicy. When you stamp the image you are stamping right over the layers.  Apply Gold Embossing Powder shake off and heat set the images. 

Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp Set #142043

6.  Stamp the star image from Merry Mice in Smokey Slate ink, randomly across the layers. 
 

Merry Mice #142145

7.  Stamp the reindeer head on the 3" x 2" piece of Whisper White with the Versa Mark Ink, add the Gold Embossing Powder and heat set.  Cut out the image with the Cookie Cutter Punch.
 

Cookie Cutter Punch #40396  Note:  This punch will soon be out of stock. 

8.  Punch out two bows using the Cookie Cutter Punch from Gold Glimmer Paper and attach it to the middle of the punched out reindeer's head.  Add a basic rhinestone to the center.  Set this piece aside.  Note: the second bow is for the inside of the card.

9. Starting with the smallest Whisper White layer, glue it to the smallest Silver Foil layer, then repeat with the next sized layers and finally glue the group of layers to the Early Espresso card base.  Make sure you are lining up your images (antlers, ears etc.) so they join one area to the next.

10.  Adhere the punched out reindeer head to the center of the card using dimensionals.  

10.  Stamp the sentiment "It's Time To Deck The Halls" from the Merry Mice stamp set in Early Espresso ink on a scrap of Whisper White and cut out with the Bunch of Banner Framelit Dies and Big Shot machine.  Adhere with dimensionals.  Add two basic rhinestones on the end of this banner and scatter some extra rhinestones randomly on the card front. 

11.  For the inside of the card cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Whisper White card and stamp the sentiment "Wishing You a Festive Season" from Merry Mice and the reindeer head in Early Espresso ink.  Stamp some stars in Smokey Slate.  Add the Gold Glimmer bow to the reindeer's head and add a basic rhinestone.

Stamping on inside of the card.

Okay, if you've been waiting to find out what the second reason is that the Gold Embossing doesn't show up in the pictures, read on.  Today I learned the hard way while I was in the process of embossing the images that my Gold Embossing Powder which I've had for some time, had gone bad.  What does that mean?  Well, although the powder heat set, the silica had lost it's oomph or it's ability to turn the powder into a shiny gold surface and it remained flat and dull on the surface.  Bummer!  From now on I'll be testing my Embossing Powders  before using them.  What about you?  Have you ever had this happen to you?

I hope you enjoyed this card today and my short tutorial.  Layered cards are one of those neat techniques that you can always rely on  to give a simple wow to your cards.  I hope you'll leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this card.  And, don't forget to check out what the other Watercooler Wednesday Design Team artists have created for this week's challenge. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Token's Stamping Spot

Spotlight on "Swap Shares" #1

Hi Stampers.  Today I'm going to begin my new series "Spotlight on Swap Cards" with a group of very talented stampers I had the pleasure of attending Convention with in July.  Not only are these gals talented but they were funny, spontaneous and oh so sharing................ great attributes for a group you just want to have fun with!

In this group photo Joni Metras from Charlton, Massachusetts is on my left while Adel Klassen and Diane Ison from British Columbia Canada are on my right.  For obvious reasons, we called our little group the "Can/Am Girls". We had so much fun this year we're hoping to join up for Stampin' Ups! 25th Anniversary celebration next summer.  It's sure to be a blast.  When we parted after convention it was with this thought........same time, same place, same group and more fun! 

 

And now for their great swaps.  I've thrown in some product and technique details but if you want more information just click on their links below I know they'll be thrilled to help you out with any questions or kudos.  I hope you enjoy these little works of art as much as I have! 

 

Spotlight on Diane Ison:

What new mom wouldn't want to receive this sweet little baby card? It was created by Diane Ison a very talented stamper from Richmond B.C.  Diane's featured stamp set is called Baby Prints. There are 7 great stamps in this set and she's used two of them to complete this great card. 

 

The image of the baby's feet was stamped in classic white ink and embossed.  The card base and the circle with the baby's feet were made with Baja Breeze cardstock and the Scalloped Circle is in Certainly Celery.  What a great colour combination. 

 

The sentiment Cherish the Moments is also in the Baby Prints set.  The cute ribbon detail is achieved with two small strips of 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Baja Breeze and Old Olive and the base ribbon is a strip of Whisper White 1/4" Grosgrain Striped Ribbon.  The Whisper White background  layer was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. 

Spotlight on Joni Metras:

How can you tell this card was created by a gal who loves the seashore with a passion?  When I look at this card I can feel the sand between my toes, the breeze on my face, and hear the roar of the waves.  Fantastic! 

 

Joni has featured the appropriately named Stampin' Up! stamp set "By The Seashore".  She used Naturals Ivory cardstock for her base and layered it with Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake that have been torn into strips.  Her seashell images are stamped with Early Espresso Ink on Crumb Cake, Natural Ivory and Baja Breeze cardstocks.  She's embellished the sand dollar image with a basic pearl.   The beautifully scripted sentiment "Imagine the Possibilities"  is from the Word Play stamp set and stamped in Baja Breeze ink. 

 

Don't you love the glitter along the water strip?  That was achieved with by laying down a strip of multipurpose liquid glue (pg. 177) and covering it with Glass Stampin Glitter.  This beautiful Glitter, which comes in Champagne and Silver is a chunky glitter that slightly tarnishes over time giving an aged vintage look to your projects.   

 

The final detail on Joni's card that I love is how she tied it with Linen Thread and then added some Baja Breeze Seam binding.  Can't get enough of that ribbon. 

Spotlight on Adel Klassen:

I travelled with Adel Klassen from Chilliwack BC to Convention this summer.  We were both first-timers and we had a couple of great pre-convention "swap assembling" sessions before we left on our big adventure.  This is one of many swaps Adele made.  She put so much work into this card and I was simply thrilled when she gave me one.  Thanks Adele!

 

Adele's beautiful wedding card features the "Love and Laughter" stamp set featured on page 38 of the IB&C.  This beautiful set has eight wonderful stamps that can be used for weddings, anniversarys and engagements.  The side-step card features five of the stamps from the set.  Adele did a beautiful job of embossing the dress in Pewter Embossing Powder and the cake and Congratulations sentiment in Black Embossing Powder.  Now that's a lot of embossing for one card. 

 

The side-step card base is made with Basic Grey cardstock and the contrasting Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White details really add some pizzazz to it.  The three Basic Pearls on the waist band of the wedding dress were coloured with a tempting turquoise marker and the heart on the top of the wedding cake was coloured with Perfect Primrose. 

 

Other accessories used to make this card included the Modern Label Punch, the Scalloped Oval and Large Oval Punches and the Labels Collection Framelits.  I can't remember how many of these cards Adele made but the number "50" comes to mind........... it might have been even more, and she told me her grandma, whom she adores fussy cut every single cake image by hand.  Now that's love!



Just in case you've never made a side-step card and would like to try, here is an easy video to help you out.  Side Step Card Video showing how to assemble the card base: