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  
    

WWC71 Heidi's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge

It's Wednesday and that means it's time once again for a new Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Heidi Weaver has taken the lead on this one and chosen a Tic-Tac-Toe theme.....what fun!

WWC71-Heidi's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge

Wow, so many decisions!  I wasn't sure which way to go - vertical, horizontal or diagonally across the middle.  In the end, I decided to use the end column and make a Gift Card Holder for Father's Day, using one of my new stamp sets called Bear Hugs and its matching Bear Hugs Framelit Dies.  In the end it turned out this design also worked diagonally.  Who knew!
Here's my card:

This is a quick and easy gift card holder to make. I found the original instructions in a video by Dawn Griffith.   Here are a few more details and views.

The easel on the front of the card can be in either in a raised position or flat (see next picture).  To stop the top portion of the card from sliding forward I cut a scalloped circle from Dapper Denim and layered it with a wood grain piece and a blue button with some rafia tied in a bow.   

 

The card base was cut from Dapper Denim card stock, one of the new Incolours.  The wood grain panels were stamped on Crumb Cake  card stock and the sentiment panels on Very Vanilla card stock. I wanted the Papa Bear to look like he was in a huge tree trunk so I inked up the Wood Grain embossing folder with Soft Suede ink and my trusty brayer and ran these pieces through the Big Shot.  

This is such a fast and fun technique and clean-up of the embossing folder and brayer are a breeze with warmy soapy water. For the hole in the tree I punched out a 2" circle and put a square of basic black card stock on the back.  I stamped the full image of the bear and tucked him into the opening.  His bottom half is glued to the back of the card front and I placed a dimensional behind his head and paws to make him stand out.
  

The "World's Greatest" and "DAD" sentiments from the Guy Greetings stamp set really work with this card face.  What would we do without this great masculine set? Guy Greetings covers every occasion and is so versatile. 

Look at that Papa Bear, he's soooo cute!  He was stamped in black ink on Crumb Cake card stock and his fur and around the edges were sponged with Soft Suede ink.  I also added a wee bit of Crystal Effects (now retired) to his nose and claws to make them stand out.  That cute bow tie is stamped in the black ink on Dapper Denim and then cut out with the matching Bear Hugs Framelit die.    

These jars started out as honey pots but I wanted them to say "DAD".  I began by stamping the three honey pots in black ink on Very Vanilla card stock.  Before I actually stamped the image, I wiped off the word "honey" with a wet one. Once the pots were stamped I inked up the word "DAD" and added it to the center of each pot. To finish the jars I coloured the lids with a Hello Honey (appropriate) marker and the jars with Sweet Sugarplum, Peek A Boo Peach and Flirty Flamingo markers.  The final touch was some Crystal Effects on the honey.  Voila! 

This view gives you an idea of what's going on inside the card.

The top wood grain panel holds a standard size gift card.  The opening is cut out with the 2 1/2" circle punch. To give it some strength for removing the gift card, I used 1/8" sticky strip instead of glue around the 3 edges

 
I love this cute little bear.  He's stamped with black ink on Crumb Cake and I softened the edges and added a bit of colour with a sponge dauber and Soft Suede ink.  A 3/4" strip of the woodgrain card stock was added about 1/2" from the bottom of this panel.  Don't you just love that bow tie? The sentiment "It's For You" is from the Bear Hugs Stamp Set. 

The Very Vanilla panel was stamped with black ink.  The "Happy Father's Day" sentiment is from Guy Greetings and the "I love you" heart is from Bear Hugs.

Stamping Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Bear Hugs, Guy Greetings
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black, Soft Suede
Markers:  Hello Honey, Sweet Sugarplum, Peek A Boo Peach, Flirty Flamingo
Card Stock:  Dapper Denim, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Accessories:  Big Shot, Trimmer, Woodgrain Texturized Embossing Folder, Bear Hugs Framelit Dies, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 2" Circle Punch, Scissors, Brayer, Button, 8 " Raffia, Crystal Effects (now retired).

Well that's it for my card this week. I hope you like it.   Be sure to check out all the Design Team cards and leave some comments along the way.  

Oh and, how about participating in this challenge?  If you've never done a Tic- Tac-Toe challenge now's the time to try it out, we'd love to have you join us and play along!  You can do it!

Happy Stamping! 
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges - WWC69 Masculine CAS Challenge

It's time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this time the theme chosen by design team member Kath Ricks, is for a "Masculine" "CAS" challenge.  Yikes, masculine and CAS......... two words I  normally don't want to hear in the same sentence.

I love layers and colour in my cards so the term CAS which stands for uncluttered, with white or open space, and minimal layers and embellishments, pretty much terrifies me.  I think it's probably the "white open space" concept - because I always want to fill it up.

Well here goes:  

I began with an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock scored at 4 1/4".  A 5 3/8 x 4 1/8" layer of Night of Navy card stock was added next, followed by a 4 x 5 1/8" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I used the Simply Scored scoring board to add three lines of scoring vertically and horizontally in the upper left portion of the card.  The addition of these stripes helps with the cards visual balance.   

I think this is possibly the most white space I've ever left on a card, but to my surprise it actually worked out okay.  Without any additional visual distractions this little boat really looks like it could float and it really highlights the sentiment "world's best dad".   

The sail boat image is from a soon to be released photopolymer stamp set called Swirly Bird.  On its own, the image of the sail boat was too plain looking, so I hunted through my stamp collection and found a stamp that would provide a light and airy background behind the boat.  The stars and dots image from the Celebrate Today Photopolymer stamp set is actually a two-step stamp meant to be layered on a big balloon but I found it took on a magical quality when I stamped it in Soft Sky and Dapper Denim (new) inks on this card.  

This is the Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set.  I used the image above the word "baby" for the background stamp.

I mounted the two sails, hull and flag on a block and stamped the full image in Night of Navy ink on top of the background stamping. I stamped the image again on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and fussy cut out all the parts. Before adhering these additional boat parts with dimensionals, I placed them on my piercing pad and rolled a stylus on the backside of each image (except for the flag) until they began to roll. I guess I must have pressed too hard with the stylus on the back of the smaller sail because it looks like it has wrinkles on it, but that's okay by me. Don't sails have wrinkles?   To achieve the 3-D look I had to stack two dimensional pieces on top of each other and then adhere them to the board.

Here is the inside view of my card. The sentiment is from Guy Greetings and the navigation symbol is from the soon to retire Going Global stamp set. 

Supplies Used: 
Stamp Sets:  Swirly Bird (new), Guy Greetings and Going Global 
Card Stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Dapper Denim, Soft Skye
Accessories:Trimmer, Tom Bow Glue, Stampin'Dimensionals, Simply Scored

May 31st, 2016 ..... Update!
Just wanted to let you know it was a good week around the watercooler for me. I just received a note from Heidi Weaver of the Watercooler Wednesday Design Team letting me know I "Rocked the Watercooler" with this WWC69 Masculine CAS card.  What terrific news!  I'm doing the happy dance now!  Thank you design team and congrats to the honourable mentions for your terrific cards. 

 
Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot!

WWC#29 - Bev's Special Folds Challenge

When I was looking through this week's challenge blogs, I came across Bev's Special Folds Challenge on the Wacky Watercooler challenge site.  

I love getting creative with fancy card folds, so this challenge was right up my alley and made me want to play along too.  

Here's My Card:
Since I have a whole slew of Fall male birthdays hanging in the wings, I chose to make a fancy fold male birthday card.  Choosing the Guys Greetings stamp set for this card was another easy choice.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Guy Greetings
Ink:  Soft Suede
Card Stock:  Sahara Sand and Soft Suede
Accessories:  Scalloped Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Scalloped Border Punch, Detail Scissors, Woodgrain Embossing Folder (TIEF), Circle Framelits, Big Shot machine, Trimmer, dimensionals and adhesive strip. 

Measurements:

• 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" piece of Soft Suede for card base
• 5 1/4" x 9 1/2" piece of Sahara Sand card stock scored at 2 1/2" and 51/2"
• 5 1/4" x 1" strip of Soft Suede for Scalloped Border layer
• 1/8" x 5 1/4" strip of Soft Suede for inside border
• Additional Sahara Sand for stamping two sets of hats

Special Fold Design:
The design of this card is called an Altered Z fold.  I first saw this design in a video posted by Dawn Griffiths (see link at the end of this post), and later on Pinterest.  This is a very fast and easy fun fold card and can be adapted for any occasion. 

I placed a small pencil mark on the inside of the top and bottom of the circle inside the card so my "guy" image would show well through the opening.

Add caption

I used my 2 1/2" Circle Framelits to cut the whole through the two layers of card stock.  The "guy" and the sentiment "To A Classic" were stamped in Soft Suede ink. 

Don't you just love these hats?  I stamped them once in a continuous line on the right edge of the inside of the card.  Using a separate piece of Sahara Sand card stock, I punched them again and then fussy cut and adhered the individual hats with small pieces of dimensionals, to the first stamped images. I also added a 1/8" strip of Soft Suede card stock above the hats, to give some separation between the writing space and the hats.

Note:  If you look at the picture of the stamp set above you'll see there are two sets of hats in the Photopolymer image.  From past experience, I found it really difficult to stamp the hats in a line without getting a halo on my work, so I chose to separate the solid stamp into two stamps by very carefully cutting in between the images.  

I love the old fashioned font they've used for the sentiments in the Guy Greeting stamp set.  I used Soft Suede ink for the "Happy Birthday" greeting and the sponging around the oval and mounted this piece with dimensionals to the background oval. The background layer was punched out with the Scalloped  Edge Oval punch.  Note:  When mounting the greeting layer on the card front make sure the glue only goes half way on the oval so it doesn't show from the inside of the card.  The scalloped edge on the left of the card front was punched from a 5 1/4 by 1" strip of Soft Suede card stock using the Scalloped Edge Border Punch.  Once this piece is in place, the front flap is secured with adhesive. 

The Woodgrain TIEF adds a nice manly texture to the front of the card.  I have to say I found it difficult to emboss this part of the card, it wouldn't fit sideways in the embossing folder. To compensate for this I had to emboss one side of the circle, remove and reposition the embossing folder and run the second side through the Big Shot.  This actually worked out okay and it's difficult to see where the join is. 

 I love these little hats!  I think this grouping added a nice finishing touch to the card front. They were fussy cut and mounted with dimensionals.

So that's it for my challenge card this week. I hope you liked my special fold technique.  If you want more specific information on how to make this Altered Z Fold card just take a look at this card I made last Easter and use the links to see a video by Dawn Griffith.

You can find this card here and a link to Dawn Griffith's  video showing how to make it.  Enjoy!  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens

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.