Watercooler Wednesday #118 - Penny's "Mom" Theme Challenge

Welcome to this week's Watercooler Wednesday challenge.  It's my turn to host and with Mother's Day just around the corner I decided to dedicate this challenge to "Moms".   

Whether you're making a card for your own mom, your step-mother or some other very special woman in your life, I invite you to share your creation with us.  This challenge runs from Wednesday May 10th through 5:00pm MT Monday May 15th, 2017. I hope you'll join in the fun!

My mom, at 95 years young, is such a big part of my everyday life.  Before her arthritis and vision problems took hold, she liked to make cards too. 

I marveled at her simple colourful creations which more often than not involved flowers.  So, today's card is dedicated to my very special mom.  Here's to you mom!

My Card: 

This card style is called a “Funnel” "Tunnel" card.  You can find directions for making one on Youtube or Splitcoast Stampers.  Although this fancy fold  looks like it might be complicated, it's actually very easy and quick  to assemble.  

I have to give a shout out to the Oh So Succulent stamp set for the excellent Mother's Day sentiments that are in this set.  They really rock!

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Touches of Texture #143251, Oh So Succulent (R) #142992, Butterfly Basics #137154
Ink:  Watermelon Wonder, Old Olive, Calypso Corral, Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo, Blushing Bride
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Old Olive, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories:  Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Stitched Shapes Thinlet Dies, Oval Dies (R), 7 Basic Rhinestones (small),  Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue. 

Here are the specs for making this card. 

One Sheet Wonder: 
I loved the fresh spring colours in this week's banner and decided to use the same colour scheme to create a hand stamped background for my card. I started with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of Whisper White card stock to create a One Sheet Wonder page and a variety of floral and nature stamps. This is the order that I stamped:

- Randomly Stamp large flower from Touches of Texture stamp set - this is a two step stamp so I stamped the outline image in Watercolour Wonder and the solid image in Flirty Flamingo.
-Randomly stamp the medium sized flower in Flirty Flamingo
-Randomly stamp the small flower in Sweet Sugarplum
-Randomly stamp  the large ferns from Butterfly Basics in Old Olive
-Randomly stamp the honeycomb in a mixture of Old Olive and Sweet Sugarplum - I coloured the stamp with markers to achieve a mixture of colour.
-Randomly stamp the splotches from Touches of Texture in Blushing Bride, Old Olive and Flirty Flamingo - I coloured the stamp with markers to achieve a mottled effect.   
Note*:  While I had all the stamps out I stamped the inside center of the card base with the sentiment "Because of you I am me" in Old Olive ink and then randomly stamped in an oval shape around the sentiment.

The flowers are stamped in an oval around the sentiment.  I cut out the funnel panel first and then laid it in place over the center of the card base and then drew the oval outline in pencil to give me a base for stamping the oval of flowers.

Card Front:
Card Base:  8 1/2" x 5 1/2" Whisper White card stock scored at 4 1/4"
1st Layer:   5 1/4" x 4 Flirty Flamingo
2nd Layer:  5 1/8" x 3 7/8" Old Olive 
3rd Layer:   5" x 3 3/4" Whisper White cut from the One Sheet Wonder piece
- Adhere these layers and card base together with Tom Bow Glue

Oval Layers: Cut the following using the Stitched Shapes and retired Oval Thinlet Dies:
-Cut out 1 small Whisper White stitched oval and stamp the "Happy Mother's Day" sentiment from the Oh So Succulent stamp set in Old Olive ink
-Cut out 1 medium One Sheet Wonder stitched oval
-Cut out 1 3" Flirty Flamingo oval cut with the retired Oval Thinlet Dies
-Cut out 1 3 1/4" Old Olive stitched oval
-Adhere all the ovals together with Tom Bow glue and then mount to the center front of the card with Dimensionals. 
-Stamp a Dragon Fly on Old Olive card stock in Old Olive ink and fussy cut out the image.  Adhere with Dimensionals to the bottom of the layered ovals.  Cut a strip of 7 small Basic Rhinestones and adhere to the center of the Dragonfly.  

Card Inside:

Cut layered panels and “Funnel” "Tunnel" insert as follows:

- Cut 8 x 5" piece of Old Olive card stock for the “Funnel” "Tunnel" Panel.  Score at 2", 4" and 6".  Center  3 5/8" Oval thinlet over the center score line and cut out oval.  Stamp two Dragonflies in Old Olive ink on opposite corners of the center part of the “Funnel” "Tunnel" panel.
- Cut 2 Flirty Flamingo Panels 1 3/4" x 4 7/8"
- Cut 2 Old Olive Panels 1 5/8" x 4 3/4"
- Cut 2 One Sheet Wonder panels 1 1/2" x 4 5/8" 
- Card Base - see (*) note above in One Sheet Wonder   

So that's it for today's post.  How did you like this card?  I think my mom will love it.  I hope you've checked out the rest of the cards created by our very talented Design Team members for this challenge.  Wow there are some very inspiring designs.  I know I'm going to be CASEing some of them.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Month of May Eastern Palace Series - Project #3

Today's project is a "no-cut patterned paper folder" to hold birthday wishes and a gift card and features a full 12 x 12 sheet of the beautiful Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper.    

For details on how this "no-cut patterned paper folder" comes together, please check out Diane Barnes Color Me Happy Blog.  Diane has very generously shared her tutorial and tips on making these folders.  Make sure you leave her a comment if you plan on using her tutorial. 

The Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper is perfect for this type of card, because you see both sides of the paper, and trust me they are all beautiful.  The Tranquil Tide and Dapper Denim are so rich looking together but pair them up with Fresh Fig and  Gold Foil card stocks, and it turns this into a WOW look.   

The inside view of the no-cut patterned folder.  Love it!

This view shows the inside of the folder with the two note cards removed.  The pockets are perfect for holding a 3 1/4" x 5 1/4" note card.  I add two of the Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers which are fast becoming "faves" to jazz up the inside a bit.

The two note cards contain the birthday greetings and a gift card can be attached to the back of either note card. "The Happiest of Birthdays To You" sentiment is from the Birthday Blooms stamp set.  I stamped the dotted triangle image from Eastern Beauty set in Fresh Fig ink in the corners of both note cards. I stamped the sentiment "enjoy today" from the Eastern Beauty set on the second note card, but it looked too plain so I stamped this fancy square image in Tranquil Tide over top of it.  Again it looked too plain, so I stamped the scroll work image in the points of the square.  What a difference that made and it was fun experimenting with some of the smaller stamps.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Eastern Beauty Photopolymer and Birthday Blooms 
Ink:  Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide
Card Stock:  Dapper Denim, Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide, Very Vanilla and Gold Foil
Accessories:  Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Banners Thinlet Dies, Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies, Stitched Shapes Thinlet Dies, 1/2 Circle punch, Mini Tassels Assortment, Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers, Basic Pearls, Detail Paper Snips, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue. 

I absolutely love how this belly band turned out.  It's got that Moroccan Arabian Knights thing going on, and promises riches on the inside of the card (or at least that's what I imagine).  The belly band started with a 1" x 9" strip of Dapper Denim card stock.   I added a strip of the Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers to the top and bottom of the band.  Next  I cut two banners from Gold Foil and Tranquil Tide card stock and layered them together with tear and tape.  The Tranquil Tide banner was embossed with the retired Perfect Polk A Dots Embossing Folder. I combined the Eastern Medallions #6, #5 and #4 dies for the Fresh Fig layer and a #10 and 11 for the Tranquil Tide layer of the medallion. The center was a 1/2" circle punched from Fresh Fig and a small Gold Vinyl Sticker and small pearl.  Six medium sized pearls were adhered to the Tranquil Tide flower and a gold tassels from the Mini Tassel Assortment was adhered to the base of the medallion with mini glue dots.  The finished medallion was adhered to the banners and belly band with tear and tape to make sure it was secured strongly. 

 

Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers

Mini Tassels - 6 to a pack - 2 each of Gold, Fresh Fig and Tranquil Tide

Well that's it for today's project.  I hope you liked it and will try out this "no-cut patterned paper folder".  It's an awesome way to use your DSP.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot  

Month of May Eastern Palace Series - Project #2

Well I'm back today with Project #2 in my Month of May Eastern Palace Series.   Today's project is a top fold card featuring stickers from the Eastern Gold Sticker pack.

The Eastern Gold Sticker Packs come with four sheets of stickers.  There are two each of these designs.

The Designer Paper Specialty Pack is simply stunning.  There are 12 sheets of beautifully designed papers including two one sided gold embossed sheets. Let me just say they are all stunning! 

I kept the inside of the card simple and did not add a sentiment only the small flower which was stamped in Dapper Denim.  Since it's a "friendship card", leaving off a sentiment allows for personal writing space for a note.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Eastern Beauty
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide 
DSP:  Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper
Ink:  Fresh Fig
Accessories: Big Shot, Paper Trimmer, Stylish Stems Thinlet Dies, Eastern Medallion Thinlet Dies, Stitched Shapes Thinlet Dies, Basic Pearls, Eastern Gold Stickers, Sponge Dauber, Aqua Painter, Dimmensionals, Tom Bow Glue, Acryllic Blocks 

The gold scalloped design along the top of the banner and the gold overlay on the flower are actually two of the designs from  the Eastern Gold Stickers pack.  You simply peel them off and apply them to your design. I've stamped the beautifully written sentiment in Fresh Fig ink and added 3 pearls in varying sizes to the above the sentiment.  The Whisper White circle was cut out with the largest of the Stitched Shapes Thinlet dies.

I stamped the flower on Whisper White card stock with Fresh Fig ink and then coloured the inside of the image with an Aqua Painter, drawing the ink from the edges. The flower was cut out with Die #11. The gold flower sticker fitted  over top of the die cut.  I sponged around the edges with Fresh Fig ink to reduce the amount of white edging that was visible.  The small Fresh Fig flower for the center was cut out with Die #14.  Another gold sticker was added to the center and finished off with a small Basic Pearl.  I used the two leaf dies from the Stylish Stems (R) Thinlet Dies to cut the Tranquil Tide leaves.  The floral piece was attached to the banner with dimensionals and the leaves were adhered to the banner and Whisper White circle with Tom Bow glue.

 

Well that's it for today's project.  I hope you liked this simple yet elegant card and if so you'll leave me a comment. I'd love to have your feedback.  

Happy Stamping! 
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot  

9 Tips for Using the Eastern Medallion Thinlet Dies

Yesterday was National Scrapbook Day and although I'm not a big scrapbooker, I do like to celebrate the day by inking up my stamps and creating something special.  What fun and a good excuse to spend time in my craft room.

I was thrilled to share the afternoon with one of my besties, Debby Evoy who is also a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator in the Abbotsford area.

It was a great afternoon of yakking, stamping, sharing tips, laughter and smiles.  The latter actually influenced and inspired me to create this "hello" card.

Here's My Card: 

This is the first of many Eastern Palace Suite cards I'll be sharing during the month of May.  It's my own original design.

 

Sometimes it's nice not to add a sentiment to the inside of the card, so I didn't stamp anything I just added the two strips of stamped card stock at the bottom to tie in with the front panel of the card.  

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set and Nailed It (R)
Inks:  Fresh Fig (New), Lemon Lime Twist (New), Tranquil Tide (New)
Card Stock:  Tranquil Tide, Fresh Fig, Whisper White, Gold Foil
Accessories:  Big Shot, Acryllic Blocks, Paper Trimmer, Dimensionals, 2" Circle Punch, 2 1/2" Scalloped Circle Punch, Stitch Shapes Circle Framelit Dies, 1/2" Circle Punch, Eastern Medallions Thinlet Dies.

Eastern Medallion Thinlet Dies:
Before we look at what went into making the above card I want to give you some tips regarding the Eastern Medallion Thinlet Dies .  First of all, there are 14 individual dies with multiple options for layering.  I don't know about you, but although it's exciting to think of all the variations I wasn't sure where to begin.  

I began by cutting out a 4/78" x 6 1/4" piece of Magnetic sheeting to hold all the dies in place.  I numbered each of the dies with a bright pink Sharpie Pen, so I could see at a glance which die I was using.  Here are some pictures of my dies and during the next few weeks when I refer to these dies it will be by number, for example:  Combine dies #1, 2 and 3 to make a particular configuration.   

Here's the Magnetic Sheet I use to hold all the Eastern Medallion Thinlet Dies.  Note: when you first get the dies they are attached to a sheet of thin card stock with scotch tape, that is very strong and it's difficult to easily remove them. Be extremely carefully removing them because you don't want to bend or warp the dies. Here are some close-up pictures of the dies and how I numbered them.

Fig 1.  Dies 1-3 starting from the smallest die in the center.

Fig 2.  Dies 4-6 starting from the smallest die in the center of  the flower.

Fig 3.  Dies 7-9 starting with the die that looks like a driedel.

Fig 4.  The small flower is #10 and the larger flower is #11.

Fig 5.  These smaller individual dies were numbered 12-14.

When I began cutting out the various dies I was surprised that some of them didn't cut all the way through the paper.  I wasn't expecting that. See the examples below.  Figures 6, 7 and 8 show how the individual dies look. 

Fig 6.  You can see from this picture that circles 1 through 6 do not cut through the paper. The reason for this is that when you layer the dies together as in Figures 1 to 4 above, you'll get one solid medallion.  If you want to separate them and use the die shape in some other way you can use coordinating punches or dies to cut them out.

Fig 7.  In this sample you can see that two of the dies #s 8 and 10 do not cut through the paper entirely, while 7,9,11,12,13, and 14 do. 

Fig 8.  These are the negative images from the above die cuts.

Fig 9.  In this picture you can see that only the petals have cut through the card stock on the first flower image. To remove the whole flower from the card stock you need to snip the small pieces of card stock in between the petals to remove it. I used my small detail cutting scissors. I marked the cutting area on the second flower with white ink.  The blue flower shows what it looks like when it's free of the card stock. 

Assembly:

Card Base: I cut an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of Tranquil Tide card stock and scored it at 4 1/4" for the A2 card base.

1st Layer:  I cut a piece of Fresh Fig to 5" x 3 7/8".  Note:  Before adhering this layer to the card stock I punched out a 2" Stitched Shape Circle and a #10  Fresh Fig flower layer.

2nd Layer:  I cut a piece of Gold Foil to 4 7/8" x 3 3/4".  Before adhering to the Fresh Fig layer I punched out a 2" Scalloped Circle and a #14 small floral layer.

3rd Layer:  For the final layer I began with a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of Very Vanilla card stock but later reduced this piece to 4 3/4" x 3 5/8". I used the overage  for the designer strip on the bottom inside of the card. I stamped my own background by randomly stamping the small and medium circle stamps from the Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp set in Fresh Fig and Lemon Lime Twist.  I randomly stamped the "hello" sentiment in Tranquil Tide. 

Large Medallion:  I started with a 2 1/2" Tranquil Tide Stitched Shapes circle layered with a 2 1/2" Scalloped Gold Foil circle, a 2" Fresh Fig Circle, and a 1 3/4" Very Vanilla Stitched Shapes layer.  I stamped the sentiment "to think of you is to smile" in Fresh Fig ink.  

Small Flower Medallion: The small flower medallion was made by cutting out and layering two #10 die cuts - the bottom one in Tranquil Tide and the top one in Fresh Fig.  Next I cut a Gold Foil layer using die #14.  I stamped one of the cute little smiley face icons from the Nailed It stamp set in Fresh Fig ink on Very Vanilla card stock and cut it out with a 1/2" circle punch.  I popped up the center on a Dimensional.  

Inside Panel:  A Very Vanilla panel measuring 4" x 5 1/4" was cut and adhered to the card base.  A 1/4" strip of the background paper was adhered to a 1/2" piece of Fresh Fig card stock and then adhered to the bottom of the card panel.  I didn't stamp a sentiment at this point because this card could be used for various occasions such as Thinking of You, Happy Birthday, Congratulations or Just a Note.  

Well that's the end of today's post.  I hope you enjoyed it and I've provided some helpful hints on using the dies.  I will continue to provide tips and tricks for using this set creatively over the coming weeks.  I'd love to hear your comments and whether you find this kind of tutorial useful.  

Happy Stamping! Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot  

Eastern Palace Bundles - Pre-Release Promotion May 1st to 31st

Have You Heard About This Early Release?  

Stampin’ Up! is offering some great products through an early release!  

That’s right!  You can order select items from the Eastern Palace Suite NOW.... no waiting for the catalogue release on June 1st!  There are two great bundles being offered – and both are totally AMAZING! 

CLICK HERE for all the details and don’t miss out because this die and stamp set bundle are going to open up a whole new adventure in stamping.   

 Eastern Palace Starter Bundle  $77.75 CDN #147196

If you are new to the world of stamping and want an excellent starter kit this one is for you.  The combination of products in this suite will provide you with hours of stamping fun.  The only thing you need to get started are some Acryllic Blocks.

 

Bundle contains: 7 Items
*Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set
*Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper
*Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers
*Fresh Fig Classic Stampin’ Pad (new In Color!)
*Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin’ Pad (new In Color!)
*Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin’ Pad (new In Color!)
*Very Vanilla Note Cards & Envelopes (new!)  

Eastern Palace Premier Bundle #147207 Price $134.75 

This bundle is perfect for the advanced stamper although it works for a beginner too - just more stuff to play with.

This bundle includes: 11 Items
*Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set
*Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper
*Eastern Palace Card stock Pack
*Mini Tassels Assortment
*Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers
*Fresh Fig Classic Stampin’ Pad (new In Color!)
*Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin’ Pad (new In Color!)
*Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin’ Pad (new In Color!)
*Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies
*Very Vanilla Medium Envelopes
*Very Vanilla Thick Card stock (new!)

Click Here To Shop Now

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot