WWC35 - Marsha's Anything Goes Challenge

It's time for this week's Watercooler Wednesday Challenge,
and Marsha Reed, another of the uber talented design team has chosen to do an "anything goes" challenge.  

What does that mean?    Simply put, it is whatever you want it to be.  Share a new technique or an old one.  Share a 3-D project.  Share a mixed media project.  Share a card, a scrapbook page, new wall decor.  Make it totally your own without a sketch direction, a color direction or a theme/inspiration direction.  You want to do a birthday, anniversary, sympathy card, etc?  The possibilities are without end.

The leaves are beginning to change colour now and you can definitely feel a coolness in the air now as we approach the end of September.  In another two weeks we'll be celebrating our Canadian Thanksgiving, so it's time to start putting up some fall decorations and getting ready for what I think is the most wonderful season of the year. 

My "anything goes" project is a "Fall" mantle display.   Here it is:

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Wonderfall
Ink:  Delightful Dijon, Tangerine Tango, Mossy Meadow, Tip Top Taupe
Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Delightful Dijon, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Mossy Meadow, Tip Top Taupe and Gold Glimmer Paper.  
Accessories:  Big Shot Machine, Trimmer, Woodgrain TIEF, Honeycomb TIEF, Elegant Dots TIEF, Autumn Accents Die (R), Gold Thread, Gold Sequins, Serif Essentials Alphabet Dies (R), dimensionals, Tom Bow glue.

Jean's Ombre Effect Technique Challenge WWC34

I love how the Watercooler Wednesday challenges have changed their schedule to a weekly format and that each week is a different theme or format.  This week Jean from the design team has chosen a wonderful  colour format called "Ombre".  Here's her WWC34 Ombre Effect Technique Challenge :

After I was rocked by the sudden loss of my dear friend Gwen earlier this week, I've been preparing some sympathy cards to send off to the family and mutual friends affected by her passing.  But for one friend who lives very far away and is not in touch with everyone, I felt I needed more than a sympathy card.  I decided to make her a friendship card, to let her know I was really thinking of her as she deals with Gwen's passing. This card is dedicated to Gwen and my Aussie friend, Cher.  My thoughts are with you!

Here's My Card: 
Before I began I looked up the definition for "ombre" to make sure I was on the right track and here's what it said:  Ombre: n. A French term meaning "shaded". Usually a multi colored stripe, with colors graduating from light to dark.  

To achieve this graduated tone effect for my card I used a new toy in my tool arsenal called Happy Patterns Decorative Masks.  What fun to use and the visual effect is sheer delight.  From start to finish this is a ten minute card.  The hardest part was choosing the colours. 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Perfect Pennants and Loving Thoughts (R)
Ink: Soft Sky, Pool Party, Mint Macaroon, Lost Lagoon
Card Stock:  Lost Lagoon, Mint Macaroon, Whisper White
Accessories:  Butterflies Thinlet Dies, Happy Patterns Decorative Masks (138313), Sponge Daubers, Basic Rhinestones, Detail Scissors, Trimmer, Big Shot, Elegant Dots Embossing Folder

If you enjoyed this card I hope you'll leave me a comment.  

 Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot

September Mixup - Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

What signals one of my most favourite times of the year? Well, for me the first signs are the leaves starting to turn, the weather's getting a bit chillier at night, and the kids are back in school.  Yep, FALL is officially here and it's time to start thinking about all the seasonal celebrations ahead.  

This weekend I've joined the Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop design team to  celebrate a "September Mixup".  Our hop is running from tonight through  the 19th of September and is offering some really creative ways of using products from both the new and annual catalogues. 

We have 15 terrific gals participating and showing off their talents so be sure to follow the hop and leave some love along the way! The Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop runs in a circular fashion, so no matter where in the list of participants you begin, inevitably you'll wind up in the exact same place again if you keep going to the "next".  

If you started at the beginning of the hop you've just arrived from Marsha Reed's fabulous blog.  Wasn't her project awesome?  Okay now it's time to see what I came up with...........

Halloween Gift Bags - Howl-o-ween Good Times!
We don't get many kids on Halloween night anymore, so for those 5 or 6 that brave the elements to haunt my front door, I love to have some special treat bags on hand.  

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Howl-o-ween Treat* Six Sayings Hostess Set Holiday Catalogue

Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey Marker. Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, Tangello Twist Re-Inker

Card stock: Tangello Twist, Gold and Black Glimmer Paper, Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Lots of Labels Framelit Dies, Boo To You Framelit Dies, Spider Web (R) and BoHo Chic Embossing Folders, Bat punch(R), Google Eyes (non-SU), Dazzling Details, Pumpkin Pie and Blackberry Bliss ribbons, Word Window and Large Oval punches, Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Tom Bow Glue, Big Shot and Trimmer. 

The Howl-o-ween Treat Stamp Set which comes in wood or clear mount and the Boo to You Framelit Dies are featured on page 49 of the catalogue.  They can be bought individually or you can save 15% by purchasing them as a bundle. 

I love this cute little 4" x 1 1/2" gift bag.  It's simple, very quick to make and decorates easily.  For this bag I started with a 12 x 6" piece of the Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper. If you love Halloween Paper, this set of design papers is a real winner.  Each design and the colour mix are very special.

I used a Hello Honey marker for the owl's nose and a Blackberry Bliss Marker to enhance some of the feather details on the owl's body. I punched out two small circles with the Itty Bitty Punch set from Black Glimmer paper to mount the google eyes on.  Although they don't show up very well in this photo, the wavy feathers on the owl's chest were coloured with dazzling details that I added a bit of Tangello Twist re-inker to. I used two of the Label Framelits from lots of Labels to die cut the two label tags that the owl is mounted on.  I embossed the smaller label with the Bo Ho Chic embossing folder and the larger one is cut from Gold Glimmer paper.  They are mounted to the bag with dimensionals.

 My Second Bag:

Here is the second bag which showcases the Skull and Crossbones from the Howl-oween Treat stamp set.  I layered the stamped images on two labels cut out with the Lots of Labels Framelit Dies.  The Blackberry Bliss label was embossed with the now retired "Spider Web" TIEF.  The other label was cut from Gold Glimmer Paper.  I stamped the super cute little spider from this stamp set in  Tuxedo Black ink and then punched out a piece of Black Glimmer paper with the circle punch from the Itty Bitty Accents punch set and glued it onto its back with a dimensional.  Two rhinestones coloured with a black sharpie were added to the skull's eye sockets.  The "FaBOOlous" sentiment is from the Six Sayings Hostess stamp set.  I fussy cut out the wording and added dazzling details to make it glimmer. 

 Directions for the Bag:
1.  Cut 12 x 6" piece of Designer Series Paper or Card Stock of choice.
2.  Score on long side at 4", 5 1/2", 9 1/2", and 11"
3.  Turn DSP to short side and score at 4 1/2".
4.  Cut from the bottom along score lines to the 4 1/2" score line.  Fold on score lines and trim off small rectangle in bottom right hand corner of bag.
5.  Assemble bag with Sticky Strip.  Fold so small tabs are on the inside of the bag bottom and there is a large tab on the bottom.  You only need to apply sticky strip or glue to the side seam and the bottom of the bag.  
6.  Pinch the sides of the bag together towards the top, like a lunch sack.  
7.  Make a handle area by punch through both thicknesses with either a Word Window or a large oval punch.
 
Embellished Ornament:
Do you ever look at a stamp set or dies in a magazine or catalogue and it sucks the breath right out of you?  Well that's what happened to me when I turned to page 15 in the Holiday Catalogue and saw the Embellished Ornament stamp set and coordinating Delicate Ornament Thinlet Dies.  I fell in love with them, and they quickly went to the top of my wish list.  Here's what I've made with them so far:

I pride myself on finishing the insides of my cards to mirror the exterior.  When I finished this card, I laughed because the inside could actually be the outside it turned out so pretty. I owe that to the Delicate Ornament Thinlet die that I used to cut out this precious bauble.  These are pretty intricate dies but I use a cardboard and wax paper shim when I run these dies through my big shot and I find they cut like butter on card stock, glimmer and foil papers.  

I stamped two additional ornament images and fussy cut the flower from the center of both.  These were mounted with dimensionals on the original ornament and a basic rhinestone was added to the center.  You might think that the shiny circles on the ornament were achieved with rhinestones, but think again.  I actually cut the 1/8" circles from Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper using a punch and then glued them on to each of the spots on the ornament.  I cut the point off a toothpick and used that to apply the glue to the back of the dots and then add them to the ornament. 

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Embellished Ornaments

Card Stock:  Smokey Slate, Whisper White and Blackberry Bliss, Silver Foil and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper
Ink: Blackberry Bliss
Accessories:  Softly Falling TIEF, Big Shot, Delicate Ornament Thinlet Dies, Basic Rhinestones, detail scissors, dimensionals, Tom Bow adhesive.   1/8" circle punch

You can bundle and save 15% on the Embellished Ornament and Delicate Ornament Thinlet Dies through January 4, 2016.  

Usually I do three projects for these hops, and although I have one in the works I unfortunately didn't get the time I'd anticipated to finish it.  But don't worry, rather than rush and botch the project I'm going to finish it later this week and then I'll share it with you under a separate post. So please make sure you come back and check it out.

Now that I'm done I'm passing you along to our next talented designer, Bev, who is sure to delight you with her projects. Make sure you click  on her name here or on the "Next" watercooler icon below.  

Bev Q - Stamp With Bev

Marsha Reed

Happy Stamping Everyone!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot

Watercooler Wednesday WWC33 Inspiration Challenge Winner!

Wow, I just got great news!  I was chosen as the winner for last week's inspiration challenge over at the Watercooler Wednesday challenges!  

I'm so thrilled to have won with my entry.  It was pretty stiff competition and I understand my card just squeaked by because of the pop up on the inside. 

If you haven't seen the design team and other entrants cards yet, make sure you click  on this link, you won't regret it, there's so many awesome cards to CASE.  

Here's the card I won with and the link to my post. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin Spot 

WWC33 -- Bev's Photo Inspiration Challenge

Time flies doesn't it? I can't believe it's time again for the Watercooler Wednesday challenge .  This time around it's an inspiration challenge. 

Take a look at this beautiful photo inspiration from Bev. The Watercooler Design team have created some beautiful cards, so make sure you check them out and leave them some comments, if you're inspired too.  There's definitely some good ideas going on here! 

Here's My Card: 
I'm busy making Christmas cards right now, so after thinking a bit about what I wanted to make, I  chose to design a non-traditional Christmas card using the purples, silver and hint of green from this picture. I was drawn by the picture above the bed and the bubbly light fixture when I first glanced at this picture, however there are many other subtle details for inspiration such as the silver metal head and foot boards on the bed, the pink flowers on the mannequin and the green accessories on the dresser. 

 

I chose Perfect Plum card stock for the card base, hoping to mimic the bedding first in my layout.  The card base measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and was scored at 4 1/4.  Taking the dark hues from the vanity chair and shaggy carpet, I used a 5 1/2 by 3/3/4" piece of Blackberry Bliss card stock for the first mat. To mimmick the head and foot boards or rails on the bed I added 1/4" strips of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper to the edges of a 3 x 5 1/2" piece of Whisper White.

These three squares represent the wall picture.  The layers are Pear Pizzazz, Blackberry Bliss and Perfect Plum.  The mosaic tile was inked up with Wisteria Wonder and Black Berry Bliss inks.

I punched the flower center from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper with the Itty Bitty Accents flower punch and centered a medium sized Basic Rhinestone on it.  This was elevated with a dimensional to the center of the mosaic tile. The background on the Perfect Plum square was embossed with Decorative Dots TIEF.

When you open the card a delightful array of ornaments pop up to greet you. I love this little surprise and how the ornaments wobble and bobble about. 

The secret to adding these ornaments which are mounted on 1/4" by 3" strips of Window Sheet is to cut the card on the center crease line and then score at 1/4" on each side of the cut.  This forms a fold line that you can line up the pop up pieces along.  I varied the heights of each of the ornaments and cut off the excess window sheet before closing the two pieces of the card together with Tom Bow adhesive.  Make sure you use your bone folder to crease the fold both inside and outside, so that the ornaments lay properly when the card is closed and opened.

Here is a view of the underside of the ornaments.  I stamped and cut two of each ornament and mounted them back to back on the window sheets with mini glue dots so the underside of the pop up would look just as good as the original view.  The inside Whisper White panel has a sentiment from an old Stampin' Up set called Holiday Collection and measures 3 3/4" x 5 1/4".

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Mosaic Madness (R), Ornament Keepsakes (R), Holiday Collection (R)
Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder Marker, Blackberry Bliss Marker
Card Stock: Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss, Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper
Accessories: Modern Mosaic (R) and Decorative Dots TIEF*, Big Shot, Trimmer, Mosaic Punch (R), Itty Bitty Accents Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Tom Bow Adhesive, Window Sheet Scraps, Dimensionals
*Textured Impressions Embossing Folder 


I hope you enjoyed this card.  If you want more details on assembling this pop up drop me a line.  If I get enough response I'll do a tutorial. 

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Congratulations Card ......#CCM371

I spent today with my stamping bestie, Sheri for a wonderful "Stamping on Tuesday" session.  We both love doing sketch and colour challenges, so when we get together we look at what's current and what tweaks our interest, before settling on a challenge.  Today we decided to work on the Create With Connie and Mary sketch challenge #CCMC371.  

For me there's nothing like stamping with a friend on a cloudy rainy day to let the sunshine in! And, what a blast we had! I love the collaboration and chit chat that goes on when you're trying out a challenge and of course the awesome food we always have.  Today's menu included Chicken Enchiladas that were to die for and Marbled Chocolate Cheese cake.  Yum!

Here is the Connie and Marie Sketch for this week:

 Here's My Card:

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Bright and Beautiful (SU Retired), I Am (SU Retired)
Card Stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer Paper
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Small Star Punch (R)*, Basic Rhinestones, Thinlets Label Card dies, Small and Large Oval Punches,Trimmer, Lucky Stars Embossing Folder, Big Shot.   *(R) means it's retired.

Assembly:

1.  I cut the Whisper White card stock for the base to measure 4 1/4" x 11" and scored it at 5 1/2". 
2.  The Silver Glimmer Paper mat measures 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and the Basic Black mat measures 3 5/8" x 4 7/8".
3.  I dry embossed the black mat with the Lucky Stars Embossing Folder and 8 stars were cut out with the now retired small star punch.  This mat was adhered to the Glimmer paper layer with Tom Bow Glue. 
4.  The sentiment "You Are" was stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of Whisper White card stock and then cut out with one of the small label dies from the Thinlet Label Card set(R).  
5.  Although the card already has a lot of shine from the glimmer paper I added Basic Rhinestones to each of the star centers and to the ends of the label tag to make the card front extra special

6.  I layered a 5 1/4 x 4" piece of Basic Black card stock with a piece of Whisper White card stock that measures 5 x 3 3/4".  
7.  I stamped a medium sized star from the Bright and Beautiful (R) stamp set in the center of the card with black ink. 
8.  I stamped the "A Star" sentiment from the "I Am...." stamp set onto Whisper White card stock and  punched it out with the small ovals punch.  The sentiment was mounted with dimensionals onto a piece of Silver Glimmer paper that was punched out with the large oval punch.  Note:  Dimensionals don't adhere well to glimmer paper so you need to use an adhesive that has a bit of extra bond if you want your paper to stay put. 

That's it for another fun sketch challenge.   I hope you've enjoyed it!  If you get an opportunity to try out  this challenge yourself go for it.  It closes on Thursday.  Be sure to drop by the Connie and Mary Blog to check out all the other entries into this challenge.  As always there are some great card entries and inspiration.


Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

Watercooler Challenges - Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #32

The Watercooler Blog Challenges have moved to a new day and have a new title.  The challenges will now run from Wednesday to Monday and are called "Watercooler Wednesdays Challenges".  

I'm looking forward to playing along with these weekly challenges and I think you will too.  I'm challenging all of my stamping friends to join in the fun and participate in these weekly challenges.  Tell them Penny sent you.
  
Okay let's get down to business. The wonderfully talented Kath Rick's is starting off this Watercooler Wednesday challenge with her awesome sketch WWCM#32: 

Here's My Card:
I have another male birthday coming up soon, so it was the perfect opportunity to use the Watercooler Wednesday sketch to make a masculine card.  

Originally I planned to use my retired In the Wild stamp set for the images and the Go Wild DSP Paper stack for the mat layers, however all that changed.  Why?  Well, while I was doing some test stamping and checking the ink density and image clarity on the Tip Top Taupe card stock my plan took a bend in the road.  I enjoyed stamping all the animals and a beautiful pattern began emerging from my random stamping.  It didn't take me long to figure out I wanted to use the sample instead of the DSP.  Don't you just love when those unexpected things happen?  It's the a-ha moment, personified!

A 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Early Espresso and a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Very Vanilla card stocks were adhered to the inside of the card.  Another giraffe image was stamped in Early Espresso ink and a sentiment from the retired "Full of Life" stamp set was added. 

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Gorgeous Grunge, In the Wild (R), Full of Life (R)
Card Stock:  Early Espresso, Tip Top Taupe
Ink:  Versa Mark, Early Espresso, Tip Top Taupe
Accessories:  Lots of Labels Framelits, Trimmer, Big Shot, Bo Chic TIEF,  Two brass brads, dimensionals, Tom Bow glue, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun 

The animal images were stamped randomly with Early Espresso ink on Tip Top Taupe card stock on a 4" x 5" piece.  After stamping I cut the larger piece into two pieces measuring 1 1/2" x 4" for the top mat and 3 3/4" x 4" for the bottom mat.  I've been dying to use my new Lots of Labels Framelit dies since they arrived last week, so this was a perfect opportunity to work with them. Each layer is separated with dimensionals.

Two small gold brads I'd recycled from another project were place in the center top and bottom of the Early Espresso layer.  I stamped the "happy birthday" sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Versa Mark Ink and embossed it with Gold Embossing powder  on a piece of Tip Taupe Top card stock.  I've never been able to part with my small retired oval punch so I hauled it and the Large Oval Punch out and layered the sentiment with dimensionals before adding it to the bottom corner of the card front.

I stamped the speckled image from Gorgeous Grunge in Tip Top Taupe ink and then again with Versa Mark ink on the top and bottom panels and the background of the smaller label and then embossed them with Gold Embossing Powder. What a difference this makes!  The embossed gold specks add the right amount of life to the images. Before adhering the top stamped mat, I wrapped it a couple of times with gold thread.  Once again this small addition added more interest and life to the images.  

For the card's focal point I stamped the giraffe from In the Wild in Early Espresso ink on the smaller label.  I sponged the edges of all the layers and mats with Tip Top Taupe ink.  When I was finished I felt that the giraffe image looked a little flat, so I stamped a second giraffe with Versa Mark ink on a scrap of Tip Top Taupe card stock, heat embossed it with Early Espresso Embossing Powder and BAM! the image really popped off the page. I fussy cut the second image and mounted it over the original giraffe using small strips of dimensionals. 

 

 I hope you enjoyed this challenge and my masculine card and perhaps you'll join in the fun and enter your own creation for this challenge, you've still got time.
Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens