Watercooler Wednesday Challenge - WWC131 - Kath's "All About Birthdays" Challenge

The ever popular Birthday Challenge is our Challenge this week over at Watercooler Wednesday.

Well, what little story can I tell you about this card - well for a start the background was a complete mistake.  You know we never make mistakes in craft world right?  They are always Embellishment Opportunities or, in my case, Background opportunities. 

I had already stamped the very gorgeous Hello stamp from Floral Statements on to a piece of Very Vanilla and it was sitting on my desk, minding its own business, ready for me to do something with it.  My mind, meanwhile, was on a different card and I had been using a lot of Emerald Envy ink and cleaning my stamps with a baby wipe.  It, and my fingers, were covered in ink - I admit I had gone a bit overboard on the ink.  I just pushed my babywipe to the side of my desk, yes I am that tidy crafter (not!)

Imagine my horror when I realised my very wet wipe had landed on my nice clean piece of Very Vanilla which I had carefully stamped.   I was just about to groan and throw it away when I said - hang on a minute I rather like the look of that background - it is as if I planned it! lol!  So the colour combination for my card was actually decided right there.

 I used some of our watercolour pencils to colour in the flowers and added some of our lovely new ribbon which is Crinkled Seam Ribbon also in Emerald Envy.  I repeated the background for the inside of the card and used Birthday Blooms for the flower and the sentiment. 

 


Phew - I hope you stayed with me through all that long explanation - just goes to show where we get our inspiration from!

I'm looking forward to seeing all your creations - do pop along to the rest of the Design Team and leave them a comment - we do love to hear from you.

The challenge over at SUO Challenge blog #180 this week is also birthdays so I'm going to add mine into their challenge also.

 

HAPPY CRAFTING

      

BIRTHDAY BLOOMS - GLOBAL DESIGN PROJECT #GDP088

Well its safe to say I haven't used this set for a little while but it was the one set that came to mind when I saw the challenge over at Global Design Project this week which is the CASE the designer

 I used some of our watercolour paper for the rose and initially embossed it using Clear Embossing powder and the new lovely Lemon Lime twist.  Did you know you can emboss any of our colours using clear embossing powder.

I then used Old Olive for the leaves and Powder Pink and Berry Burst for the rose and a touch of Dazzling Diamonds in the middle.

This was layered onto some of our new In-Colour cardstock - Fresh Fig and Lemon Lime Twist - I am so loving these new colours.  A few of the lovely Glitter Enamel Dots and a banner from Banner Framelits in the same Lemon Lime Twist finishes off the card. The sentiment is from Colourful Seasons.

 



 

WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE 117

Did you notice my new badge?

I am super excited to have been offered a place on the Design Team of the fabulous Watercooler Wednesday challenge blog.  I have played along with their challenges on and off over the last few years and I was honoured when Heidi asked me to join them for an initial few months.  It is amazing to see all the work that goes on behind the scenes for a challenge blog - who knew?

So for my first challenge this week on the other side of the fence it was 

Heidi's Feminine Challenge - Anything Goes

 I grabbed my Birthday Blooms - I'm so happy this set is staying for another year in the catalogue.  I used our Watercolour Pencils to colour in the rose with a touch of Wink of Stella on the stamens in the middle.

I wrapped some of the Copper Metallic Thread - tricky stuff to use as it is so fine but it helps if you add a bit of glue to the back of your cardstock before wrapping it.

I've used the Bitty Butterfly Punch which sadly is not staying but mine is going nowhere - I love these butterfly punches and I will still use them.

The card was layered onto some Old Olive Cardstock onto some Whisper White which has been embossed with an embossing folder.

 

 I hope we have inspired you to join in with the challenge.  Check out all the other Watercooler Artists to see what they have in store for you this week.

HAPPY CRAFTING

 
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BOXES IN A BOX

I thought I'd have a play with some boxes this week and did a You Tube tutorial to show how they were made.  Really quite simple but very effective - and a nice suprise when the box is opened to see four more little boxes inside.  I used Birthday Blooms for the front and some of our retiring DSP.

 The sizes are as follows:

4 pieces of cardstock measuring 9 cm x 9 cm score at 2 cm (3.5", score at .5")

2 Pieces of cardstock measuring 12.2 cm x 12.2 cm score at 1 cm (4 3.4" score at 3/4")

1 piece of cardstock measuring 10 cm x 2 cm fold and score in the middle (4" x 1/2")
DSP - 9.5 cm x 9.5 cm (3 3/4" x 3 3/4")




 

BOOKCASE BUILDER -GLOBAL DESIGN PROJECT

I'm surprised that I haven't seen much use of this new set out of the Spring Summer Catalogue yet - I quite like this Bookcase Builder set and think that it will be great for scrapbooking pages as well as cards.

The first is for the Global Design Project challenge this week which has given us a colour challenge of Delightful Dijon. Silver and another colour. I don't have any cardstock in this colour but do have some ink.  I've chosen to add Early Espresso as my extra colour and a touch of DSP from the Designer Series Stacks which are so versatile.

Once again I've done a baby card which is very unlike me.  What a gorgeous sentiment this is though - it calls out to be used.  I just love these images in this set and even if you don't use it to make bookcase, this card should show how versatile this set is.  My touch of silver comes from the Dazzling Details Silver Sparkle on the Teddy's bow.

 

 SUPPLIES

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Early Espresso

DSP - DSP stack

Inks - Delightful Dijon, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight

Accessories - Linen Thread, Dazzling Details Silver Sparkle, 

 
The second example is a Valentine card.

 It is certainly true in my house where our bookcases are groaning with my husband's flyfishing books and paraphanalia.  The simple sentiment says it all and hubby isn't one for lots of words so I think he'll love this.

 SUPPLIES:

 Cardstock - Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

DSP - Serene Scenery

Stampsets - Bookcase Builder, Birthday Blooms (for the hearts across the top)

Accessories - Linen Thread - Wink of Stella (on the trophy), Enamel Shapes, Dimensionals.

 If you use this set - do pop by and let me know so I can come and have a look.

As usual all supplies can be purchased from my store if you are in the UK.

Click on the logo below to be taken direct to my store.

  

HAPPY CRAFTING

 

WATERCOOLER WINNER

I'm so excited to have won the Watercooler Wednesday challenge this week - proudly displaying my badge! Here's the card that did it for me

Here's another example of a card I've done using this lovely DSP paper.  I'm not sure what kind of fold this card is - I was inspired by Dawn Griffith - as per usual.  I love watching her videos and she never fails to cheer me up.

 I've used the Thank You from the Thankful Thoughts set - and the rose on the front is from Birthday Blooms.

Still keeping on the theme of the DSP I'm including a little Tag Top Box into the challenge for Time Out Challenges.  Their theme was inspired by a photograph which gave a wealth of possibilities - I honed in on the Bermuda Bay on those tables. Click on the photo to be taken to their challenge.






I think its ok to add 3d projects instead of just cards for this challenge.  Tricky things to photograph though.  The box is made from a 6x6 piece of DPS - in this case Serene Scenery - and the SU Envelope Punch Board.  The box was inspired by Sam Hammond who has a tutorial on her blog Pootles. The sentiment is from Jar of Love.  The ribbon is grogeous Bermuda Bay Stitched Ribbon.

These little boxes would make lovely Christmas presents, with some Christmas paper - just big enough to hold some sweets or chocolates or small soaps.  Perfect for table settings.  Sorry, I'm thinking Christmas already !!!!!

BIRTHDAY BLOOMS

Do you feel sometimes when a new catalogue comes out that old favourites get left behind?  That's how I felt about Birthday Blooms so I thought I would re-visit the set for Pootles Colour Challenge  004 this week.  You'll find the challenge here.  Sam had challenged us to use the following colours - So Saffron, Sweet Sugarplum and Soft Sky.  Luckily three colours I have in my set, although my So Saffron is over 10 years old but still going strong!

This was quite a tricky challenge for me - but hey that's why they are challenges!  These are not colours I would normally work with but I love how soft they are and what a delicate card they create.  The background was stamped with two of the stamps from Playful Backgrounds in So Saffron and Soft Sky.  The cardstock is So Saffron.  The flower from Birthday Blooms was stamped in Sweet Sugarplum and I used an SU Blender Pen to colour it in.  The Hello sentiment is from the Jar of Love set. I edged the Whisper White with a touch of Soft Sky just to soften the harsh white edges.

As usual all products can be purchased via my store - click on the catalogue and don't forget about our Bonus Days during the month of July.

 HAPPY CRAFTING

 

SIMPLY SKETCHED SATURDAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone and welcome to another Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge.   We’re so excited to be sharing this hop with you. The products used are all available in the current Annual, or seasonal, Stampin’ Up!® Catalogues*. Simply use the buttons at the bottom of the post to keep hopping!

Our Sketch this week was chosen by Louise Thomas of Whiteflagdesigns.  What a tricky sketch this one turned out to be for me.




 Here's my take on the sketch.  I used one of the New Colours Flirty Flamingo for my card base. 

The flowers are from the Botanical Builder Framelits. I used some Designer Series Paper in Mint Macaron for the leaves.  The Hello Friend is from the Jar of Love set.

 You know when you do something and then you think oho - that's not right - that's what happened with my card and the framelit from Botanical Builder.  I used the edging one but realised I had done it the wrong way.  However, - I re-cut it on some white card stock - added that to the edge of the inside of the card and Voila - it was as if I'd planned it that way and I actually love how its turned out.  Its like a mini jigsaw puzzle!

You can see the edging strip better on the inside of the card!

 I used the Botanical Blooms stamp set with some Versamark on the outside of the card and on the inside.  The sentiment is from Birthday Blooms.

Do pop along and see the next great card at Jillian's blog or pop back to Sally's  if you're going the wrong way!

HAPPY CRAFTING


 
 

GUEST DESIGNER AT WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY

I'm thrilled to have been asked as a Guest Designer at Watercooler Wednesday blog this week.  I've loved playing along with their challenges each week and its really helped me get back into the world of blogging after a long break.

The challenge this week is

Libby's Colour Challenge 

and these are the colours we could use.

My card uses Whisper White as its base and Mossy Meadow and Hello Honey inks for the flowers.  The set I've used is Birthday Blooms and I'm so pleased that this set is continuing in this year's new catalogue.  The flowers have been cut out twice and popped onto dimensionals for added affect and a touch of Wink of Stella to make them shimmer.  The Designer Series Paper is Wildflowers which sadly has been retired.

Birthday Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Price: £17.00

Birthday Blooms Wood-Mount Stamp Set

Price: £24.00

Happy Crafting

Fiona