PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN SPOT: Wacky Watercooler Feb 2017 Blog Hop

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day this week. I know for some of you you're still getting winter storms so you'll probably welcome our thoughts of better things to come with our Spring Fever Blog Hop which runs from today through Saturday February 18th, 2017. Hopefully no matter what your weather situation, you'll be able to have happy Spring thoughts.

The Wacky Watercooler blog hop is a circular hop so no matter whether you start at the beginning of the list or enter at some other point, if you continue moving from participant to participant you'll always wind up where you started.

This time around I'm very excited to be starting off the hop, so you're either beginning or ending at my site. Hope I don't disappoint. There are a total of 8 other talented paper crafters following me who're all eager to share their creative and exciting projects with you, so I hope you'll relax, settle in and enjoy the hop!

My First Project - Sparkles:

It seems I'm caught up in Sparkles and Birthdays this week, so it's appropriate that my first project combines both. This is a fun birthday/gift card holder I've made for a very special girlfriend of mine who absolutely "sparkles" in everything she does.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Love Sparkles #143183
Card Stock: Whisper White and Smokey Slate, Silver Glimmer Paper, Silver Foil Card Stock
DSP: A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper Stack #141637
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Big Shot, Mini Treat Bag Framelit, Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet #142753, Star Blast Edgelits#142763, Tom Bow Glue, Basic Rhinestones, Stitched Rectangles (Non-Su)

This project started with a Mini Treat Bag made with the dies of the same name. Since my friend is such a glam and glitzy girl, I chose this beautiful designer paper from the "A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper stack to go with my gray and white theme. It was perfect. Note: You need two 6x6 sheets to complete the mini bag.

I absolutely love the Star Blast Edgelits. They just instantly create happiness and excitement on a project. For this bag I cut both a Smokey Slate and a Silver Glimmer Paper star blast image. I attached them with Mini Glue dots at the base so the stars would still bob and move around once they were adhered to the bag front. For some additional glam I added a strip of silver foil to the Smokey Slate card stock base and adhered this piece on an angle across the bag.

For the sentiment I stamped the "Sparkle" sentiment In Momento Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and cut it out with a non-SU stitched rectangle die. I added some silver foil stars and Basic Rhinestones to complete the sentiment piece.

The inside gift card was made with a piece of Whisper White card stock that measures 5 1/4" x 3 7/8". The overlay was made by cutting a piece of Smokey Slate card stock with the Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet.

I added touches of Silver Glimmer paper for the balloons and stars and some small Basic Rhinestones. I cut two Smokey Slate bows using the Bow die cut from this set for the handle on the card. The sentiment "It's Your Day" is from the Love Sparkles stamp set.

The back of the insert has a 2" by 3 7/8" piece of the designer series paper across the bottom. It was attached with a small amount of Tom Bow glue on three sides. The gift card slides in length-wise in the center. The sentiment "happy birthday" was stamped at the top of the insert with Momento Tuxedo Black ink.

My Second Project: A No-Cut DSP Gift Folder CASE

My second project is also birthday related and uses products from the Party Animal Collection in the Occasions 2017 catelogue. My inspiration for this project came from the very talented Diane Barnes, who has been making what she calls a "No-Cut Patterned Paper Gift Folder" since 2008.

Here's What I Came Up With:

This is the front of the folder.

Inside the gift folder are two side pockets where you can add notes. I've left mine blank so I can personalize for the fellow I'm going to give this to.

This is the back view of the gift card holder. The Pacific Point bow on the side is the gift card pullout. Because of the additional pull-out, you would have to custom make an envelope to hold this card.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Balloon Adventures #142823, Love Sparkles #143183, and Avante Garden (143272 - Happy Birthday)
Ink: Emerald Envy, Watermelon Wonder, Pacific Point
Paper: Party Animal Designer Series Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper
Card Stock: Emerald Envy, Tangerine Tango, Watermelon Wonder, Pacific Point, Whisper White.
Accessories: Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies #142753, Star Punch from Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack (R), Banners Framelits #132173, Lots of Labels Thinlet Dies #138281, Emerald Envy Bakers Twine, Dimensionals, Tear N' Tape, Tom Bow Glue, Simply Scored, Trimmer and Big Shot.

Side view of the Gift Folder

The blue tab on the side is for the gift card. It is tucked into this side-seam.

This is the front of the actual gift card holder that I designed and added to the card. It comes complete with it's own little tab on the side that I cut out with the Balloon Pop-Up Thinlet Dies. I slid this into the side seam created by the fold in the card stock and it fits snugly inside.

Here you can see I just created a small pocket on the reverse of the holder that the gift card can just slide into.

I loved the fact that there are all kinds of neat little folds and hiding places on this gift card holder. And, although I basically CASED Diane's design I like adding my own take on a project, such as adding glue on some folds so that the package didn't come apart and I also created a square gift card holder that I could tuck into the side seam.

Assembly:
Because Diane happily shares her template and fabulous instructions for this Gift Folder, on her blog, I've provided this link so you can check out her post on this topic. I'm sure you'll be just as eager as I was to create one or maybe several of this fun gift card bag(s). Whatever you do please acknowledge her and drop her a comment, let her know I sent you.

Project Three: Avant Garden Spring Card

With Spring just around the corner and a plethora of birthdays coming up in March and April I decided to make a simple card using the Avant Garden stamp set for my third project. You can't buy this stamp set, but you can earn it for free during Sale-A-Bration with the purchase of $60.00 CDN from any of the other Stampin' Up! catalogues currently available.

I stamped three of the bouquet images on a piece of 3 1/2 x 3 1/2" Very Vanilla card stock. I water coloured the flowers and stems with Sweet Sugarplum and Pear Pizazz inks. To get the fullness in the image, I restamped three more floral images, painted them and fussy cut them out attaching various bits and pieces to the original stamped flowers with dimensionals.

Well you've come to the end of my projects for this hop and I hope that I've inspired your creative side in some way. Now it's time to move on to the wonderful Kath Rick's blog so she can wow you with her projects. Have fun and remember to leave some comments along the way..... we love to hear from you.