Wacky Watercooler Spring Fever 2015 Blog Hop

I was absolutely thrilled when Heidi Weaver asked me to participate in the Spring Fever Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop this month.  This is one of those really fun blog hops where the design participants always come up with awesome projects relating to a stamping theme.    This hop celebrates Sale-a-bration and the Spring Occasions catalogues.

Whether you linked to me from Christine Giuda's Dancin Stamps blogspot or this is your first stop on the Spring Fever Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop, I hope you'll enjoy what I have in store for you. This is a triple project post, so make sure you keep scrolling down!  

Oh and just remember our blog hop is hopping in a circle so grab some refreshments and continue hopping until you return to your starting point. It's quite a  journey and I'm sure you're going to find plenty of inspiration along the way. I'd love it if you left a comment to let me know that you've stopped by, and how you liked my projects, and I hope you'll come back to visit me again. 

In case you have to leave or get lost, here's a list of the blogs participating in this hop:

Buffy Cooper  

Jackie Susnik 

Christine Giuda 

Penny Hanuszak 

Heidi Weaver  

Deborah Smart  

Stefanie Pletscher  

Marsha Reed  

Priscilla Ivler  

Gail Allen  

Kath Ricks 

My Favorite Past Project:
I was thrilled to learn that Kath Rick's blog "All That Scrap" was assigned to me for the favorite past project part of the blog hop.   

Let me tell you, choosing a card to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) from Kath's blog was definitely a hard choice for me as there are just so many exciting posts. Kath's card making creativity has long been an inspiration for me, and I sincerely enjoy visiting her blog and checking out her many challenge and technique posts.   I hope you'll drop by and check it out too.  You won't regret it.  

Here's the card I chose for my "past favourite".  

Card created by Kath Ricks of All That Scraps Blog Spot - February 13, 2014

Here's my version of Kath's Birthday Card:

I liked the Watercolour DSP Kath used for her background and the blend of white, yellow and black layers. I also liked how the floral image was showcased on the black background left by the die cut.  I decided to copy the colour scheme but changed up my layers, dies and stamp sets for my rendition. I hope you like my version and will leave me a comment on it.

I'm a big fan of the Butterfly Basics stamp set in the Occasions Spring Catalogue, so when it came to designing this card I didn't have to think very hard about which stamp set I'd use.  The floral image is fabulous whether it's stamped in it's entirety or shown as only a partial image and I think it's one of those stamps that looks good coloured or just stamped in black ink.  I would have liked to have used Blendabilities on this image however I think it looks okay coloured with Stampin' Up! markers.  Let me know what you think.   

I chose to play up the black and white frame on Kath's card by adding an additional two layers below the designer paper layer.  Note:  Before adhering the first black and white card stock layers, I cut a die image from the centers to reduce their overall weight on the card.  Because my image was larger than the one Kath used I opted to use the Window Frames Collection Framelits to cut the opening in my dsp layer before embossing it with the Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Note:  DSP becomes really fragile to handle once it's embossed, so I didn't want to risk tearing it.  

This is the inside of the card and the Whisper White panel measures 5 1/4" x 4".  I stamped the Honeycomb from the Basic Butterfly stamp set across the center of the page and then layered the sentiment from the same set on top of it.  Two  1/4" strips of Basic Black and DSP were layered across the bottom. 

Here you can see some of the detail and colouring of the stamped image.  

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Butterfly Basics and Petite Pairs 
Inks: Black Memento Ink, Hello Honey
Markers:  So Saffron, Starfruit, Crushed Currie, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi and Pear Pizzazz
Card stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black 
DSP: 
Accessories: Window Framelits, Paper Trimmer, Big Shot, Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Adhesive

Butterfly Basics Stamp Set page 26 of the Occasions Catalogue

MY SECOND PROJECT:

I'm totally in love with the stamps and products in this year's Sale-A-Bration and Occasions Spring catalogues.  My favorite stamps are the Lotus Blossom and Basic Butterfly because of their soft feminine images and the ease with which you can combine them.

For my second project, I decided to make a Center Stair Step Card featuring both these stamp sets.  If you've never tried a stair step card before, now's your chance.  I hope my instructions and photos will help you along.  In my opinion, stair step cards have such a wow factor when they come out of the envelope, that makes them fun to give!   
Here's my Card:

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Lotus Blossom, Basic Butterfly, Petite Pairs and Gorgeous Grunge
Card Stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White and Calypso Coral
DSP:  Stacked With Love 
Ink:  Tuxedo Memento Black Ink, Cantaloupe Crisp, Old Olive 
Accessories:  Trimmer, Score Pal, Bone Folder, Basic Butterfly Framelits,
Basic Pearls, Old Olive 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, dimensionals, glue dots, and adhesive strips.

How Did I Do It:
Although you may think this is a difficult card to make, fear not, because it's super easy.  This card requires only a few cuts and scores and then you're off to decorating it, so just follow my steps:
1.  Cut your Basic Black card base to measure 5 1/2" x 11".  
2.  Using your trimmer place your card stock facing the right side and at the 1" mark, move the cutting blade down to the 6 1/2" mark on the ruler.  

3.  Flip the card stock over and repeat this cut on the other side.  These are the only two cuts you need to make on this card stock. 
4.  Starting with the card stock facing the top of your trimmer, score from the outside edge of the card stock to the beginning of the cut at the 1" mark then move over to the other side of the card and repeat.
5.  Move the scoring blade down to 2" and score to the cut line and again on the other side of the card.
6.  Move the scoring blade down to 5 1/2" mark and score but this time move to the inside of the cut lines and score just the center part of the card.  This will be the fold line for the front of the card.  
7. Move the scoring blade down to the 6 1/2 " mark and score from the outside edge of the card stock to the score line and repeat on the other side.

The score lines are the dashes at 1", 2", 5 1/2" and 6 1/2". 

 Note if you're using a Scoring Tool to do the scoring, complete all the scores at 1", 2", 6 1/2" and then remove card stock, flip it and repeat for the other side of the card stock and then score only the center at the 5 1/2" mark.  To fold score lines, start at the 1" score and do a mountain fold.  At the 2" score line do a valley fold and at the 5 1/2 and 6 1/2" score lines do a mountain fold. Reinforce folds with bone folder. 

The 1", 5 1/2" and 6 1/2" score lines are folded as mountain folds and the 2" is a valley fold.

8. Decorate the side, front and bottom panels with Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper and Cranberry Crisp card stock. Here are the measurements for the panels:

Black card base before the panels are adhered. 

Side Panels:

Cut two pieces of Cranberry Crisp measuring 4 1/4" x 3/4".  Cut two pieces of DSP measuring 4" x 5/8", adhere to side panels. 

Bottom Panel:

Cut one piece of Cranberry Crisp card stock to measure 5 1/4" x 3/4" and a piece of Stacked with Love DSP to measure 5" x 5/8".

Center Panel:

Cut a piece of Cranberry Crisp cardstock to measure 3 1/4" x 4 1/4".  Cut a piece of Stacked with Love DSP to measure 3 x 4".  *Cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock to measure 3 3/4" x 2 3/4" and a piece of Cantaloupe Crisp to measure 3 5/8" x 2 5/8".  The Whisper White panel is 2 1/2' x 3 1/2".  

Adhere all the card stock and DSP pieces to the panels, except for  the ones marked with an asterisk (*) above.  They will be added with dimensionals, once the stamping is done. 

9.  Stamp the Lotus Blossom stamp image in Cantaloupe Crisp on the Whisper White panel. the stems are stamped in Old Olive and I added some splatter with the Gorgeous Grunge splatter stamp in Old Olive and Cantaloupe Crisp.  Stamp the "Happy Birthday Wishes" in Olive Green.  Stamp the small butterfly from the Butterfly Basics stamp set in the upper corner. 

10.  Tie a piece of Old Olive 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon around the card panel and add a bow.  Adhere to Cantaloupe Crisp and Basic Black panels noted above and then mount on center card panel with dimensionals. 

11.  Die cut two of the medium sized butterflies with the Butterfly Framelit Dies and adhere with glue dots to the bottom right hand side of the card.  I used Basic Pearls on the center of the butterfly.  

Can be bought as an individual die set or as part of a bundle.  See page 26 of the Occasions Catalogue.

12.  For the card inside I cut a piece of Whisper White card stock to measure 5 14" x 4" and adhered it to the inside.  I stamped Happy Birthday from a no name set and some more of the Lotus Blossoms to finish the card.  

Additional Project:

I am also going to show you some of the other card sets that I've made with these stamp sets and hope you will enjoy them too.  

This card set was made with Tangelo Twist and Hello Honey inks. 

Matching envelopes which I made with my Envelope Maker.  

I made four of this card style and they featured mixed sayings - "Happy Birthday", "Thank You", "Get Better Soon" and "With Sympathy".  I used Tangello Twist and Mossey Meadow Inks. 

The inside view and matching envelope.

Loved the addition of the Gorgeous Grunge Splatter!  It really adds a watercolour effect to these card fronts. 

This one is quite unique in that I had been stamping over top of a piece of Whisper white card stock on my piercing mat, and at the end of all the stamping I was left with a collage of images.  I couldn't let it go to waste so cut the card stock down to card front size and used it.  I quite liked this "art work". 

The following sets of cards were down in Old Olive and Strawberry Slush inks and cardstocks.  

All of the thank you cards had a similar inside. 

Well that's it for me for today.  But I'll be back again with some more projects later this week, so I hope you'll come back. Thanks again for visiting and for your feedback.  Much appreciated. 

The next person on our Wacky Watercooler blog hop is Heidi Weaver and I know she'll have something awesome to share with you.  

Click here to go to Heidi Weaver's blog: 

Click here to go to Christine Giuda's blog: to go to 

Click here to go the Wacky Watercooler Blog 

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens

WWC17 Valentine Challenge Winner!

I've just received two very exciting pieces of news from Heidi Weaver of the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hoppers  and I couldn't wait to share them with you. 

The first piece of news is this:

That's right, they chose my card as the winner of the WWC17 Valentine Challenge last week.  Here's the card:

I'm so excited and unbelievably thrilled, especially because it's the first time this group have held a challenge, so that makes my card the first time ever winner. Whoo Hoo!!!  So here's a big shout out and thanks to the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop participants.

Now the second big piece of news I want to share with you is that I'm actually going to be participating in The Wacky Watercooler Spring Fever Blog Hop coming up February 26th through 28th.  I've been invited by Heidi to join the participating blog hoppers, and I'm totally over the moon about this, and looking forward to participating in future blog hops.  

I hope you'll visit my blog during that time and check out the Spring Fever Blog Hop because it's sure to be exciting and filled with all kinds of great Spring and Easter projects from this talented stamping and paper crafting group.  I know you're going to love it, so come on back!  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens

WCC17 -- The Valentine Challenge

VALENTINE'S DAY is just around the corner and it's such a wonderful time of year to be creative, share your love, and have fun.  

How about you, do you make Valentine's cards or special Valentine treats for your friends and family? Do you help your kids or grand kids make Valentine cards?  Well, if you haven't already started this tradition, it's not too late, there's still plenty of time before the big day.   I'd love to hear what you do  to celebrate so leave me a comment at the end of this post. and I will forward this card, to one lucky visitor. 

I'm entering this Valentine's card in the Valentine Watercooler Challenge.  Hope you'll check out this link and the design team and entrant's great cards.  And if you've got time, play along as this is such a great challenge site.

Valentine Pop Up Springer Card:
I recently attended a stamp club meeting held by Cheryl Lefore, where she demonstrated how to make a Pop Up Valentine Springer Card.  I'd never made one before, so was excited to assemble my card and learn this new to me fancy fold.  Here is the card I made at Cheryl's:

This is the back view of the card, complete with a small white greeting note card that was punched with the Confetti Heart Border Punch.  

My Take on this Card: 

I chose to do my card in red, black and white, my favourite classic Valentine's day colours and change up the card base to just a row of hearts rather than using the confetti punch.  I like the clean lines. 

What a fun card to make, and it's even more fun to see it come out of the envelope.  It virtually pops up, and is sure to bring a big smile or squeal from the lucky recipient.  I really love the fact that this card has virtually no stamping on it and it still looks fantastic!  

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Card stock:  Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White
DSP:  Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack 
Accessories:  Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch, Confetti Heart Border Punch, Balloon Framelit Die, Basic Pearls, 6" of ribbon, dimensionals, adhesive.

The back view of card  shows the pocket for inserting a gift card or a note card.  It is the folds in the back of the card that provide the spring action for the card itself. 

This is what the back of the card looks like before it is folded.  

This is a small inset note card that fits into the back of the card.  The dimensions are:  The Basic Black layer is 3 1/4 x 3 1/4, the Real Red layer is 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" and the Whisper White layer is 3 x 3.  The small hearts were punched out with the Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch and small Basic Pearls were adhered to the center top of each heart.  The "happy valentines" sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp set. 

I made a template to make it easier to get my fold lines in exactly the right spot.  You can make this card in virtually any size, however the rule of thumb is that the length of the card stock is double the width.  In this case the cardstock measured 10 x 5".  

On the long side of the sheet it is scored at 2 1/2", 5" and at 7" put in a small pencil mark on either side of the card stock.  Turn the card stock to the short side and at the top of the card stock mark the center of the card at 2 1/2" and draw a line on each side of the 2 1/2" mark to the 7" mark.  Cut off the excess from this line and you will wind up with the diamond shape as in above photo. 

Score on the left hand side of the cardstock from the 7" mark to the 2 1/2" score line.  Repeat this last step on both sides.  Use your bone folder to make nice tight score lines and your fancy springer card will come to life.  The final step is to adhere the bottom center half triangle to the flat base section of the card.  This provides the spring in the card.  

Decorate the diamond shape of the card to your liking. For mine I layered a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Basic Black cardstock with a 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" piece of Whisper White card stock. I punched out four perfect little hearts using the "Sweetheart" punch and the absolutely to die for Designer Series Paper from the Stacked With Love DSP featured in the Spring Occasions catalogue.  

For Valentines, anniversaries, thinking of you. The designs and colors in this paper are suited from just about anything. Great for card fronts or backgrounds. 48 sheets in each padded stack: 4 each of 12 double-sided designs. 4-1/2" x 6-1/2". Coordinates with Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Real Red, Whisper White.

The three small red hearts on the striped heart were punched out with the Confetti Heart Border Punch. The small red heart on the bottom of the card front was punched out with the Itty Bitty Accent punch as were the heart shapes on the bottom strip of Basic Black card stock (which measures 1 1/2" x 5").  Again I added a Basic Pearl, but just a bit bigger size.  The perky little gingham bow is from some old Stampin' Up! ribbon that was in my stash.  And finally, the little banner on the XO Heart was hand cut and pearls were added.  I didn't have the Birthday Banner die set when I made my card at home, so I just fussy cut a small line of banners.  

Little Boxes Filled With Kisses:
Another cute Valentine treat we made at stamp club was this small 2"x2"x2" Tiny Treat Box.  How cute are these?  These adorable little boxes hold 5 Hershey's Kisses.  The boxes are food safe and you get 25 boxes in a package. Assembly takes no time and you can decorate to your heart's content!  

Okay, so what do you think after seeing these cute Valentine's Day cards.  I hope you liked them and will leave me a comment.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

Super Bowl Thank You Card Set

How about those Sea Hawks?  Last Sunday my husband and I were invited to attend a neighbor's Super Bowl party, so along with our favourite party time appetizer, I made the hostess a small gift to thank her for her generous hospitality.  

Since our hostess is a great believer and user of "thank you" cards and notes, I decided to make her a box of six cards, using the new Butterfly Basics stamp set and matching dies.  

What fun I had making this wonderful set.  This is not my original design however.  I actually watched an awesome video demonstration by Brandy Cox on Youtube, and after I turned it off I had to grab my card stock and stamps and get to work making my own version.  You can find Brandy's fantastic Butterfly video at this link.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp set, Painted Petals and Gorgeous Grunge
Card Stock:  Whisper White and Night of Navy
Ink:  Hello Honey, Mossey Meadow, Night of Navy
Accessories:  Butterfly Basics Dies, Basic Rhinestones, Acrylic Blocks for stamps, 20" of sheer ribbon, 6 x 5 1/2" box, six Whisper White Envelopes, six cello bags, dimensionals and adhesive. 

How to Make The Cards:

1.  Cut six card bases from Whisper White card stock measuring 4 1/4 x 11. Score at 5 1/2".  
2.  Stamp a collage on the card front as follows:

• Stamp the leaf image from Butterfly Basics in Mossey Meadow ink, towards the center top of the card. Stamp the first leaf image then keeping the stem in place move the leaf slightly to the left and stamp and then move the leaf to the right of the main leaf and stamp again.  The stems should stay tightly together and the stamped off leaf will create a shadow effect. Note:  Using the photopolymer stamp set made the leaf positioning super easy as you could see what you were doing throughout the process. 
• Next ink up the honey comb image from Butterfly Basics in Hello Honey ink and stamp the image starting in the top right hand corner of the card front. Re-ink the stamp and stamp the image three more times moving the stamp downwards across the leaf each time it's stamped.  Try to keep the edges of the image just touching. 
• Using Night of Navy ink and the speckled dots image from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, stamp dots lightly and sparingly over the leaf and honeycomb areas.   
• Stamp the postage time stamp from Butterfly Basics in Night of Navy ink beside the leaf stems on the right hand side.
• Stamp the "thank you" sentiment from the Painted Petals stamp set on the bottom left hand area of the card front using Mossey Meadow ink.  
• On a scrap piece of paper stamp six of the lacey butterfly images from the Butterfly Basics stamp set in Night of Navy ink.  Cut these images out using the coordinating die cut.  Attach one of the butterflies with dimensionals beside the leaf images.  
• Add a large Basic Rhinestone to the center of the butterfly image and then scatter some various sized rhinestones around the card face.  I used six rhinestones on each card front.  

I had already packaged up this gift set - three cards and three envelopes in each cello bag, and then realized I should have taken some photographs, so it's hard to see some of the details on these cards.  

3.  Inside of the Card:

• Stamp the "You're Amazing, Amazing" image from Painted Petals in Mossey Meadow ink towards the top center of the inside of the card.
• Stamp the leaf image on the right hand side of the card.  I only used the top portion of the leaf and angled it onto the card stock and then shadow stamped it once.  
• Stamp the butterfly image in Night of Navy Ink towards the bottom of the leaf on the right hand side
• Stamp some speckles with the Gorgeous Grunge speckled stamp image in Night of Navy. 

4.  Envelopes:

• I made six white envelopes using my Envelope Punch Board.  I did not use Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White card stock for this because it's a little too heavy for envelopes, however I did use a 60lb weight card stock I'd purchased elsewhere.
• I stamped the leaf and the postage seal stamps on the bottom left hand corner of the envelopes, repeating the pattern from the card fronts.  
• I stamped the butterfly image on the envelope flap on the back of th e card in Night of Navy.

By simply repeating the same pattern as the cards you give an idea of what's to come when you open the envelope.  

5.  Card Box: 

I could have made a box to go along with these cards, however I had a white cardboard jewelry box left over from Christmas that was just the right size to hold the six cards and envelopes.  I decorated it as follows:

• I cut a 6 18" x 5 3/4" piece of Night of Navy card stock and glued it to the box top.  
• I re-stamped a piece of Whisper White card stock with the same images as the card front and adhered this to the Night of Navy card stock.
• I cut two butterfly images out and adhered them to the top right and bottom left of the card box top.  I added large Basic Rhinestones to the centers of the butterflies and some additional rhinestones scattered around the design.
• A sheer ribbon was added to hold the box together.  And, voila it was done! 

Here you can see the open box lid and the cards tucked inside.  

I hope you enjoyed these cards,  I absolutely loved them and plan on stamping a lot more of these to have on hand for gifts.  A special thanks again to Brandy Cox for her video tutorial and inspiration.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens