PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN SPOT: Wacky Water Cooler Blog Hop

I don't know about you but I simply can't believe how quickly this summer is zooming by. Not only is it rolling by quickly, but its time for the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop once again. Didn't we just celebrate?

I want to welcome the awesome Fiona Whitehead to our group of Wacky Watercooler designers. Fiona's participated in many of our challenges and is a very talented stamper whom I know you're going to enjoy!

The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hops has been pretty consistent over the years with design artists generally featuring three different projects for the hop. but we've thrown that concept out the window for today. Yes, that's right, our August hop has a twist that we hope you'll enjoy! Each design artist is starting out with an ordinary "I'm in a hurry I need to get this done" type of card". Their second project will take that very same card and "step it up" a notch, and then our final projects will be a totally stepped up version that shows how fancy we really can get with this card. Don't be fooled, this is not as easy as it sounds!

Before we begin, our hops work on a circle basis so if you've started with me, just keep following the links until you wind up back here again. If you've arrived from Heidi Weaver's blog I'm sure you're still reeling from her amazing projects. At the end of my post just click on the Watercooler that says "next" and you'll go to Marsha Reed's amazing Coffeepot Stamping Cafe, where she has some fabulous projects. What fun!

Project One:
Okay, so this is the starting point of my "plain jane", "simple", "I'm in a hurry" type of card. The focal point, the hydrangea, comes from a set I hadn't had an opportunity to use yet called Thoughtful Branches and it's matching Beautiful Branches Framelits. This bundle is available only during the month of August or as long as supplies last. So, what better time than this hop to show case it, and boy am I glad I did, not only for the end results but because it was an exceptionally fun bundle to use.

Supplies: (Note: This supply list is for the three projects)
Stamp Sets: Gorgeous Grunge, Thoughtful Branches (Limited Edition Only Available in August 2016),and Butterfly Basics.
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry) So Saffron, Sweet Sugarplum, Wisteria Wonder
Card Stock: Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizazz, Sweet Sugarplum, Whisper White.
Accessories: Big Shot, Trimmer, Beautiful Branches Framelits (Limited Edition Only Available through August 2016 or while supplies last), Itty Bitty Accents Flower Image Punch(R), Small Butterfly Punch, Tom Bow Glue, Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones, Fluttering Embossing Folder

How It's Made:
1. I cut an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Sahara Sand card stock for the base and scored it at 4 1/4".

2. I looked very carefully at the fading hydrangeas in my garden to get the colour perspective and then created a palette on a piece of Whisper White card stock, using the Gorgeous Grunge splatter and spot stamps and the hydrangea image from the Thoughtful Branches set. The colour mix was made up of: Perfect Plum, So Saffron, Elegant Eggplant, Sweet Sugarplum and Wisteria Wonder.

Note: I took this picture before I stamped the hydrangea image across it, so it was a lot fuller when I finished.

3. I cut out the hydrangea flower head with the Beautiful Branches Framelits. It cut like butter and I must say I was so impressed, because I don't have a precision plate.

4. I cut a second hydrangea out of Sweet Sugarplum card stock and adhered the two flower pieces together with foam tape. Glue the combined flower head in the top left hand corner using Tom Bow glue. Tip One: Before adding the adhesive shift the flowers just slightly so it the flower head looks fuller. Tip Two: There isn't a lot of room between the floors to fit in dimensionals so instead I cut a very small strip across the top of my adhesive foam strip and these eensy weensy pieces fit perfectly to separate the two layers and give some fullness.

5. Cut the stem from Pear Pizzazz card stock and adhere with Tom Bow glue. I just did tiny little dots of glue on the back side of the leaf image and I used tweezers to lay it down on the card stock and secure.

6. The beautiful "Thank You" sentiment from Thoughtful Branches was stamped in Elegant Eggplant Ink just below the leaf on the left hand side of the card bottom.

7. The inside of the card has a 5 1/4" x 4" panel of Whisper White card stock with the simple "Your Kindness Makes a Difference" sentiment stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink.

Project Two:

For the second project the following changes were added:
1. I added a 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" layer of Rich Razzleberry card stock.

2. The next layer is a 5 1/4" x 4" layer of Sahara Sand card stock.

3. I stamped and assembled a hydrangea the same as in project one.

4. I added a small Rich Razzleberry butterfly to the leaf. It was punched out with the Bitty Butterfly punch. and three basic rhinestones were added to its center.

5. I used a retired punch called the Itty Bitty Accent punch (flower image) to punch out a number of small flower images which I shaped with a stylus ball so they had some shape. The flowers were attached with Mini Glue Dots. I also added small basic rhinestones to their centers.

6. The stem and sentiment placement was the same.

7. Nothing changed on the inside of the card.

Project Three:

For my third project the following changes were added:

1. I added the Rich Razzleberry layer as in project two.

2. The Sahara Sand layer was embossed with the Fluttering Embossing folder.

3. I stamped the Thank you sentiment as in projects one and two. I then stamped the honeycomb stamp from Butterfly Basics , randomly over the Sahara Sand layer. I used Sweet Sugarplum ink, but I stamped off before applying each image.

4. I added the hydrangea as in Project Two but added more flowers and fluffed out the base so it was fuller. Instead of adding Basic Rhinestones I added small Basic Pearls. I added Wink of Stella to all of the flowers.

5. The stem placement was the same but I coloured the leaves and stem with Wink of Stella.

6. I added two more butterflies in Rich Razzleberry and one in Sweet Sugarplum to the stem and added pearls to their centers instead of rhinestones.

7. For the inside of the card I added a 4" x 5 1/4" layer of Rich Razzleberry card stock followed by a 3 3/4" x 5" layer of Whisper White. The sentiment remained the same, however I randomly stamped the honeycomb image and added three butterflies.

Well that's it for my three "STEP IT UP" cards. I hope you enjoyed this presentation, and the way I've used this stamp set to create them. I'd like to hear your comments, and which card you liked the most.