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

Clipper Street Appreciate Day and the Storm

Last Saturday I was invited to attend a fun "Customer Appreciation Day" event being held at Clipper Street in Langley. 

This Langley scrapbooking company was nominated and won awards for being the "BEST" in 2015 for:

• Specialty Gift Store 
• FUN Place to Shop and 
• Crafts and Hobby store 

When my friend Ethel and I met pre-class for breakfast at a local restaurant it was overcast and raining so we were excited about being inside for our class.  Little did we know what was in store for us later in the day.


We joined a wonderful group of ladies and our instructor Deanna to make two cards.  Here's a shot of the group:

Ethel in Wisteria Wonder and I'm wearing the Calypso Coral top.

  Here are the two cards we made:

It was a great fast paced class taught by Deanna and we really enjoyed making these multi-layered, happy cards.  We were a bit worried we wouldn't be able to finish as throughout the class the lights were flickering and a couple of times the power actually went out.  

We finished on time though, and after touring this great store and sampling
some of the lovely cake and punch we headed out to our cars. The moment we walked outside we were almost blown off our feet by the pineapple express winds that were wreaking havoc around us.  We had just walked into the worst storm since 2006 to hit the lower mainland.

We yelled hasty goodbyes and ran to our cars to get out of the wind and rain.  My car was literally rocking from the buffeting winds. Needless to say it took me a long time to drive the 34klms to my home and it was one of the most frightening driving experiences I've ever been through.  Trees were falling everywhere and the rain was so heavy at times you couldn't see out the windshield.  Power lines were down and debris and flying objects were everywhere.

I eventually made it home to safety.  When I arrived our power was out for about four hours, but we were some of the lucky ones, as over a half a million people were without power, some as much as three days, and there was so much damage and destruction. 

This was an experience I won't forget for a long time.



Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens

This deal ends on September 10th.  Check out my post on my Paper Pumpkin link for all the details on how you could be eligible to get 50% off on a fun monthly paper crafting kit.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens