WWC72 Jean's Colour Challenge

Have you been waiting for this week's Watercooler Wednesday challenge?  If so, I know you're not going to be disappointed.  This week's challenge is brought to you by the fabulous Jean Fitch and she's chosen to use the new amazing 2016-2017 Incolours for her theme.  

Click here to go to the Challenge

Here's My Card:

The challenge says you can use 3, 4 or all 5 of the colours in your project and there was no specific theme, so it was a really open field to begin with.  Believe me I stared at those colours and played with them for a while before I decided to make a birthday card and showcase the colours in the balloons.  I think this was a good choice.

Supplies: 
Stamp Sets:  Gorgeous Grunge, Balloon Celebration and Birthday Blooms
Ink:  Dapper Denim, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo, Peek-a-Boo Peach and Sweet Sugarplum and Momento Tuxedo Black
Card stock:  Dapper Denim, Emerald Envy, Flirty Flamingo, Peek-a-Boo Peach and Sweet Sugarplum and Whisper White
Accessories:  Balloon Bouquet Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue.

 
The card base is an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Flirty Flamingo scored at 4 1/4".  This is followed by a 5 1/4 x 4" layer of Emerald Envy and a 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" layer of Dapper Denim.  

I don't know about you, but I love those fat little "splats" or blotches in the Gorgeous Grunge set and the lines so I used both of these to create a background for the balloons.  

I began by stamping the lines vertically in Dapper Denim on a 5 1/8" x 3 6/8" piece of Whisper White card stock.  I then stamped a "splat" in each of the Incolours in an arch across the Whisper White card stock.   Originally I had planned on just stamping the balloons on the Whisper White panel, but I decided to punch balloons from the Incolour card stock and then layer them across the splats.  I was happy I did this because it really worked.  It was so easy punching out the balloon shapes with the Balloon Bouquet punch. 

To make the balloons look like they really were in flight I tried out a technique I've seen recently that plumps the balloon up and adds dimension to it.  This is easily achieved by running the fattest ball on your stylus around the edge of each balloon until the edges began to raise and take shape. 

I sponged around the edge of each balloon with the corresponding ink

I added a little crescent on the left hand side of each balloon with a white gel pen.

With the balloon face down on the sponge piercing mat I ran the stylus around the outer edge of each balloon until the edges started to curl up. 

Once I had the shape molded around the balloon I mounted the balloons  over their corresponding colour splat using dimensionals. I drew the balloon strings free hand with a neutrals black marker and I stamped the sentiment "Happiest of Birthdays to You" from the Birthday Blooms stamp set in black ink at the base of the card.

When I was finished I felt the balloons needed just a bit more "something" so I stamped some star clusters from the Balloon Celebration stamp set on the face of the balloons and added a Basic Rhinestone at the base of each balloon.  Perfect!

Well I guess that's it from me for today's challenge.  I hope you enjoyed it and will try this technique. I'd love to hear how yours turned out.

Oh and while you're at it, grab your ink and card stock and make a card of your own to enter into the challenge, we'd love to see what you come up with. You can go back and check out the other designers at this link.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

JUNE'S HOSTESS CODE IS:   XUB7WFD2

Pssssssssst - Paper Pumpkin Flashsale

Coming June 9th - One Day Flash Sale:

If you've never subscribed to Paper Pumpkin Stampin' Up!s monthly paper crafting kit, here's your opportunity to try it out for just $7.00 Canadian plus tax. 

This amazing offer starts Thursday, June 9 at 5:00 PM (MT) and ends Friday, June 10 at 11:50 PM (MT).  Technically that’s just shy of 31 hours—a little more than one day, but it will go by in a blink! 

Take advantage of this offer to grab your first Paper Pumpkin kit for practically pennies. Get ready to click “subscribe” at 5:00PM on Thursday.
 
The fine print:

• This offer is open to first-time subscribers only. 
• Use Promo Code:  ONEDAYDEAL
• Discount applies to one kit for June 2016. 
• After the first month, the price for the subscription will return to $26.95 CAD. 
• Available for month-to-month subscriptions, not prepaid subscriptions.

Happy Stamping! 
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot
June Hostess Code:  XUB7WFD2

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

Dreaming of November ......

You're probably thinking right about now, "hey it's only June, why is she "Dreaming of November"?  Well, I've got a couple of reasons.  
The first is that on June 6th I'm going to be celebrating my 10th Anniversary as a demonstrator with Stampin' Up! 

And the second, is that I get to celebrate that anniversary with all my stamping friends when I attend Stampin' Up!s OnStage Event in Vancouver 5th of November.   I can hardly contain myself I'm so excited.  These very special events don't happen often in Vancouver so every demonstrator I know locally, will be wanting to attend, and that includes anyone who joins now.

Today I want to share some special projects that I put together for Stampin' Up! in hopes of getting an opportunity to stamp projects for the OnStage Display Boards.  I'm not sure how many boards they will have but each board represents the work of a local demonstrator and it's a very big honour to be chosen  to participate.  

I didn't see the invite until yesterday, but we were asked to put together a sample of our work including the following hand stamped items for consideration:

• Three card fronts
• One scrapbook page
• Two 3D items
• And a blog post or some other medium to display the pictures of our projects.  

Yikes!!!  I've been in a panic all day because I had lots of stamping and assembly to do.  Here's what I made:

Three Card Fronts:

Card Front One:  Features stamps from Swirly Bird and Picture Perfect Stamp Sets.  Stamping is done with Emerald Envy one of the new InColours for 2016-2018.

Card Front Two:  This card also features the Swirly Bird stampset and the sentiment is from a set called Birthday Blooms.  I love the new Flirty Flamingo InColour which I've paired with Watermelon Wonder inks and cards stock. 

Card Front Three:  This card is stamped with the Painter's Palette Stamp set and the sentiment is from the Balloon Celebration Stamp Set. The Emerald Envy cardstock sets a bold statement on this card and mixes well with the other InColours -Dapper Denim,Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum and Peekaboo Peach. 

Scrapbook Page:
 

I don't often make scrapbook pages, so it was fun trying to decide how to showcase this awesome photo of my sister. I wanted to bring in the blues in her shirt and keep the feel of the garden in my page. 

The Dapper Denim Incolour was mixed with Blushing Bride For this page I used the new Swirly Bird Photopolymer stamp set for all the background stamping. The sentiment "you are just the nicest" is from the Picture Perfect stamp set. And finally, I stamped the Blushing Bride circle with the Birthday Blooms stamp set to capture the flower garden look. The swirl flowers are made with the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies and are cut from Blushing Bride Glimmer Paper. The butterfly was cut from Dapper Denim card stock with the Butterfly Thinlets.

Two 3-D Items:  
My First 3-D Project is a picture frame featuring the Butterflies Thinlits, The Swirl in Silver Glimmer Paper from the Swirly Scribbles Thinlit Dies and the verse from the Butterfly Basics stamp set which was cut out and layered with the Layering Squares Framelits Dies.  There's lots of Basic Rhinestones to add some dazzle.  I used Rich Razzleberry cardstock for the background and dry embossed it with the Fluttering Embossing Folder before the other elements were added.  

My second 3-d Project is a Diorama Father's Day card.  It is made with Dapper Denim and Whisper White card stocks.  The Guy Greetings stamp set was used for the sentiment on the inside of the diorama "Worlds Greatest Day" and he Happy Father's Day on the front panel.  I also used Timeless Textures to add some background interest to this card. 

Because I'm worried my Diorama card won't be viewed as a 3-D Project I decided to include another 3-D project for consideration.  This next project is a Note Card Gift Folder.  This is the only project I didn't make today.   It was originally made for the Watercooler Wednesday WWC63 challenge  in April and was the winner. 
 

This is the lid for the Note Card Gift Folder.  The folder contains six Whisper White 3 x 5 Stampin Up Note Cards that are stamped with the Birthday Blooms Stamp set.  The folder and layers are in Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz and So Saffron card stocks.  

The cards and note box are stamped with the Birthday Blooms Stamp set which was originally in the Occasions Catalogue that just retired. Fortunately this set was carried over to the new catalogue.  I'm so happy, as this is one of my all time favourite stamp sets.

 

 

Well, that's it for this post. I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've made and will leave me a comment.  If you're at all interested in becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, this is the time to do it, because you'll be eligible to come to the November OnStage event too!  If you'd like more information please contact me, I'd be happy to let you know more about the event and becoming a demo. 


Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stamping Spot

Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Join Now It's the Best Time!

What type of demonstrator would YOU be?

Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators have lots of options, and it doesn't matter whether you're a woman or a man.  What kind of options would you choose?

Discount Demonstrators really like getting their stamps and accessories for their own personal use with a 20% discount.  They are usually their own best customers however they may sell to neighbors, relatives, friends, when the occasion arises.

Short-Term Demonstrators are those gals who only want to sell for a short period of time to earn a specified amount of money and then once their goal is reached they drop out.

Seasonal Demonstrator: Works hard at the business during some period of the year such as September, October, and November for seasonal money keeps their demonstratorship by getting minimum orders and sales during the balance of the year.  Often snowbirds fall into this category.

Hobby Demonstrator's are the types of stampers who love holding workshops and earning extra money when it’s convenient.  These gals choose to work a lot some months and very little other months so they can achieve balance in their lives.  They like to do workshops and stamp clubs that are easy to book and don't take a lot of their personal or family time away from them.

Career Demonstrator: Views being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator as a viable business opportunity with potential for long-term lucrative career prospects.  A Career Demonstrator is the gal who actively pursues management and wants to move up the career ladder.  A Career Demonstrator is the one who absolutely loves attending Stampin’ Up! events and has developed close social relationships with other demonstrators through networking.  A Career Demonstrator is the one who takes her business seriously, establishes short and long term goals and works her business in a consistent and outgoing manner.

Contact me at: pennyhanuszak@telus.net with any questions.  Signing up is Easy - just follow these steps:
 
1. Take it slowly and build your kit by entering the item numbers for $125 in the product of your choice. Anything goes!  The Starter Kit is $135 + tax and ships FREE!  
2. Go to my website at http://www.pennyhanuszak.stampinup.net/jointhefun
In the left column, click on “Join Now”. 
3.  Check out the links and then Join Now.


Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot!  
   

Stampin’ Up!’s 2016-2017 Catalogue is Here

Let the magic begin!  It's June 1st and the brand new Stampin' Up 2016-2017 Catalogue is finally here.  This year's catalogue which runs from June 1, 2016 to May 31st, 2017 is called "Find Your Inspiration".  I can guarantee you there is lots of inspiration in this 209 page cattie.  

Here are your PDF links to both the Canadian English and French versions of the catalogue.  Later today both of these links will be permanently available on the Catalogue menu screen at the top of my home page.  

Click Here to download a PDF copy of this English Version of the catalogue.

 

Click here to download a PDF copy of this French Version of the new 2016 catalogue.

Click Here to Order Stampin' Up just click on the SHOP NOW button. Enjoy!


Happy Stamping
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot

WWC70 Marsha's Sketch Challenge

It's Wednesday and that means it's time for the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I'm super stoked to participate today and to let you in on some great news.  Drum roll please............  

Today, I'm participating for the first time as a Temporary Team Artist for the Watercooler Wednesday Design Team.  How awesome is that?  In terms of "awesomeness" for me, it's a really big honour to have been given this opportunity.  It means I'll be contributing on a regular basis over the next three months with this group of very talented ladies whose creativity and friendship have inspired me so much over the past few years. You just can't wipe the smile off my face! 

Okay, let's get down to business.  Today's challenge #WWC70 is a sketch challenge chosen by Marsha J. Reed. Here is her wonderful sketch:

My Card: 
When I saw this sketch, I was a little undecided about what to create.  I started out making a graduation card but then the more I played with the sketch it morphed into a Masculine Birthday card and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  This card features some recently retired Stampin' Up! products as well as the brand new Layered Squares framelit dies, which I'm excited to share with you.

 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Oh My Goodies, Party Pants, Starburst Sayings, Happy Birthday Everyone
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Tip Top Taupe
DSP:  Go Wild Designer Series Paper Pack 
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black Ink
Accessories:  Chevron Embossing Folder, Layering Squares Framelits - Dimensionals, Big Shot, Trimmer, Tom Bow Glue, Scissors 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Starburst Framelit dies (smallest one)

Details:
1.  The card base is a piece of 5 x 10" Tip Top Taupe card stock scored at 5".
2.  The first layer is a piece of 4 3/4 x 4 3/4" Basic Black card stock.
3.  The second layer is a 4 5/8 x 4 5/8" piece of "Go Wild" DSP.
4.  The banner layer is a 2 x 5" piece of Tip Top Taupe card stock that was embossed with the Chevron Embossing folder and adhered 1/2" from the left hand side of the card base  and from the top edge to the bottom, overlapping the first and second layers.

5.  The square layers started with a 3 x 3" piece of Basic Black card stock that was cut out with the 2 3/8" scalloped square die from the new Layering Squares Framelit set.  The Whisper White layer began with a 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" piece of card stock that was trimmed down with the 2 1/8" straight square die cut.  This piece was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink with the "Live Well....." image from Oh My Goodies stamp set, and adhered with Tom Bow Glue to the black square.  The image was stamped again in Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Whisper White and again on a scrap of Tip Top Taupe.  The Whisper White image was completely cut out using scissors and only the lines and words "laugh hard" were again fussy cut from the Tip Top Taupe piece.  Both of these images were adhered with dimensionals to the anchor image. 

6.  The "Woo Hoo" image  from  the Party Pants stamp set was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Tip Top Taupe card stock and cut out with the 6/8"scalloped square Layering Squares die cut and then mounted on a square of Basic Black card stock that was cut out with the 7/8" straight edge Layering Squares die cut.

7.  The "Celebrate" image is from a retired stamp set called Starburst Sayings that was stamped on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and then cut out using the retired Starburst Framelit die.  I stamped this image twice and the second image was fussy cut and then mounted in the center of the image with a dimensional.  To make it pop out I cut a piece of Basic Black card stock with the 1 1/4" circle punch and adhered the image so that it was centered on the circle.   

8.  Whenever I make a square card I also like to make the envelope using Stampin' Up!s Envelope Punch Board.  I lined the envelope with the same DSP as on the card and on the envelope front stamped the "celebrate" starburst in the bottom left hand corner.  

Well that's it for today.  I hope you'll take the time to leave me a comment on this card.   How do you like square cards?  Do you make them and if so do you make your own envelopes and line them?  

Happy Stamping Until Next Time!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot