Wacky Watercooler March Blog Hop

Welcome to our March Sale-A-Braion Blog Hop.  Each month, on the third Thursday of the month, a group of us get together to hop and share projects from Stampin' Up!'s current catalogs.  It's always a lot of fun.  Today's hop is all about the Sale-A-Bration Brochure.  Sale-A-Bration ends on March 31st so if you have your eye on one of the products, now would be a good time to get that $50 order in to get your free item.

You should be coming to my blog from Heidi Weaver.  After your visit with me, you'll head on over to Marie Green.  And, as always, our Hop runs in a circle.  Whether you start at the top and go forward or start at the bottom and go backward, you will always wind up where you started.

All three of the projects I've made feature just one of the Sale-A-Bration stamps sets.  It's the Avant Garden Stamp set and I just love it!

The inspiration for my first card came from Jo Anne Hewins.  You can see her card HERE.  While I used the Elegant Eggplant as she did, I used Emerald Envy for my green and the Triple Banner Punch for the sentiment.  What I liked most about the card is making my own patterned paper using one of the stamps from Avant Garden.

Stamp Set:  Avant Garden; Ink:  Elegant Eggplant:  Stampin' Write Markers:  Elegant Eggplant, Emerald Envy; Cardstock:  Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White; Other:  Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies, Triple Banner Punch, Linen Thread

My second project is all blues and yellow.  I hadn't used Dapper Denim and Marina Mist together before but they played well together.

Stamp Set:  Avant Garden; Inks:  Dapper Denim, Marina Mist, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi; Cardstock:  Marina Mist, So Saffron, Whisper White, Whisper White Thick; Other:  Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies, Orange Wink of Stella Brush

My final project is a CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of a card done by Melissa Kerman.  I couldn't find the a link to her blog so I can't direct you to her card.  I made a few changes to my design since I love butterflies.  

Stamp Sets:  Avant Garden, Butterfly Basics, Papillon Potpourri, Timeless Textures; Inks:  Always Artichoke, Blushing Bride, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry; Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, Tip Top Taupe, Very Vanilla; Other:  Bitty Butterfly Punch, Pearl Basic Jewels

That is all from me.  The next stop on your tour is Marie Green.  She always has such great projects.  To see her wonderful projects, click the image below.

If you'd like to revisit Heidi Weaver and see her wonderful projects again, click the image below.

To start at the beginning you can click the image below to go back to the Wacky Watercooler Stamping Blog.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges #110

This week our Clean And Simple (CAS) challenge is hosted by Heather and she has picked the theme of "Easter Bunny."  How cute is that!  I love bunnies.  With Easter fast approaching, it's a good time to be thinking ahead.  So, take a look at the inspiration photo then, get creating and share with us what you created.

Stamp Set:  Crazy about You; Inks:  Pacific Point, So Saffron, Smoky Slate, Tuxedo Black Memento; Stampin' Write Marker:  Pink Pirouette; Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Whisper White Thick; Other:  Hippity Hop Dies (Taylored Expressions), Pocket Die (Taylored Expressions), Frame in Frame 2 Cutting Plate (Taylored Expressions), Pearl Basic Jewels, Whisper White Baker's Twine

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit Watercooler Wednesday Challenges by clicking the image below.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday, March 20th at 6:00 p.m. Central Time to link your project.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Pocketful of Flowers

The past couples of days have found me with no inclination to do any crafting but today I finally sat down and made some bright flowers to cheer me up.  It did.  I've not used the Jar of Love set for a while and I like the way one color of ink can look different when you stamp it off.  The bow on the pocket is actually cut from Elegant Eggplant cardstock but I coated it with some Texture Gems and it darkened the color.

Stamp Sets:  Avant Garden (sentiment), Jar of Love; Inks:  Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant, Smoky Slate; Cardstock:  Elegant Eggplant, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Whisper White Thick;  Patterned Paper:  Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack; Other:  Everyday Jars Framelits Dies, Scallop Border Punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Texture Gems (Faber-Castell), Clear Wink of Stella Brush

The colors I used are from the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

The Flower Challenge is an Anything Goes but must have flowers.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges #109

It's a color challenge this week at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges and our host, Heidi, has chosen a great combination of colors.

My card base is Basic Black as is the layer that I added images stamped in Whisper White Craft ink from the Timeless Textures stamp set.  I stamped the sentiment from the Butterfly Basics stamp set onto Whisper White using Basic Black Archival ink, then punched it out using the Decorative Label Punch.  The Pool Party butterflies were cut using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.  I've not used that in a while and had forgotten just how nice those butterflies look.  The Island Indigo butterflies were punched using the Bitty Butterfly Punch and the Elegant Butterfly Punch.

Before attaching the label and all the butterflies, I added a piece of 1/4" Island Indigo Ribbon to the bottom of the stamped layer.  I randomly glued the butterflies in place and added Pearl Basic Jewels to the center of each butterfly.  The label was popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals.

One thing I should share with you is that I used Whisper White instead of the Very Vanilla as stated on the graphic.  When looking at the graphic, I saw white and used white.  I didn't do a very good job of reading the colors, did I?

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit Watercooler Wednesday Challenges by clicking the image below.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday, March 13th at 6:00 p.m. Central Time to link your project.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Bunny Lineup

What fun it was to make these colorful, cheerful bunnies.  It's snowing here today so they are definitely the bright spot in my day.  And, because, I designed this for the Retro Rubber Challenge, my stamp set had to be a year older or older.  Crazy about You fits the bill as it was introduced in the 2015 Occasions Catalog.  It's a great sentiment stamp set. 

Stamp Set:  Crazy about You (2015 Occasions Catalog); Ink:  Tuxedo Black Memento; Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Emerald Envy, Pacific Point, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White Thick; Other:  Hippity Hop Dies (Taylored Expressions), Emerald Envy Thick Baker's Twine, Itty Bitty Epoxy Stickers (retired)

The inspiration for my card came from the Retro Rubber Challenge.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges #108

It's Wednesday and that means a new challenge at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  This week Gail is hosting a sketch challenge and she has picked a good one.

To start, I stamped spatter images from the Avant Garden stamp set onto a Whisper White card base using Strawberry Milkshake ink.  Then, I added a piece of Rainbow Brights Patterned Paper to the card base.  Using the Postage Stamp Stacklets Dies, I cut a layer from Whisper White and stamped the word birthday from the Wish Big Stamp & Die Combo at the bottom.  On a piece of Whisper White, I stamped the word happy from the Wish Big Stamp & Die Combo using Strawberry Milkshake ink then, cut it out.  The postage stamp layer and the word happy were popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals.  The Strawberry Milkshake ink, Rainbow Brights Patterned Paper, Postage Stamp Stacklets Dies and the Wish Big Stamp & Die Combo are all from Taylored Expressions.  All other product is from Stampin' Up!®

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit Watercooler Wednesday Challenges by clicking the image below.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday, March 6th at 6:00 p.m. Central Time to link your project.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #212

Today is my last day as a Guest Designer for the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge.  I have so enjoyed being a part of this challenge and will continue to participate in their challenges.  I am grateful and thankful to have had this opportunity.

My card, using the sketch for this weeks' challenge, is a thank you card.  I thought it would be an appropriate farewell card to the whole team at CAS Colours & Sketches.

For the swirly flowers, I used the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies.  I cut one of the smaller swirls from Crushed Curry and one from Pumpkin Pie.  I cut four large swirls from Emerald Envy and glued them together to give a bit of dimension to the large swirly flower.  Under the die-cuts, I stamped images from the Swirly Bird stamp set using the same colors as the die-cuts.  The colors used are Emerald Envy, Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie.  The leaves were stamped in Mint Macaron and cut using the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies.  Again, the stamp set is Swirly Bird.  The sentiment is from the Rose Wonder stamp set and stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento ink.  For the finishing touch, I added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

For all the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Watercooler Wednesday Challenges #107

This week Penny is hosting our Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges.  For my card, I decided to do little stamping and more die-cutting.  I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan and used some of my Crafter's Companion product for this design.

The card base is Naturals White to which I added a layer of Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack.  First I cut a strip of Tip Top Taupe.  I ran it through the Big Shot using the Brick Wall Embossing Folder and attached it to the card front.  The silhouette is cut from Basic Black using the Downton Abbey Die.  Then, I ran it through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  I placed it right on top of the Tip Top Taupe wall.

The car is from the Downton Abbey Collection.  It's stamped using Basic Black Archival ink.  I did fussy cut it out and popped it up with Stampin' Dimensionals.  What you cannot see well in the photo, is that I covered it with Clear Wink of Stella to give it a shimmer.  That stuff is hard to photograph.  The sentiment is from the Sprinkles of Life stamp set and stamped in Basic Black Archival ink.  A few silver sequins and it was all done.

Most of the Stampin' Up!® is retired but I still love to go back and play with some of my favorites. 

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit Watercooler Wednesday Challenges by clicking the image below.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday, February 27th at 6:00 p.m. Central Time to link your project.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #211

It's a color challenge at the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge as well as my third week as a Guest Designer.  And, it's another birthday card.  I have quite a few birthdays coming up so it was time to get some more cards done and ready to send.

Balloons are always good for birthdays.  I cut two balloons out of the Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack and one from the 2016-18 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack using the Hearts Balloons Dies from My Favorite Things.  I added some Clear Wink of Stella over the balloons for a subtle shimmer.  They sure are bright and cheerful in the Cucumber Crush, Peekaboo Peach and Watermelon Wonder colors.

The card base is Whisper White Thick and attached a layer of Whisper White onto a layer of Watermelon Wonder.  The strings for the balloons were stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento ink.  The sentiment is also stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and is from the Beautiful You stamp set.  I popped up the balloons with some Stampin' Dimensionals.

For all the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

What Will You Stamp? Challenge #104

It's so exciting to share with you that I was selected to be a Guest Designer for this weeks' challenge at What Will You Stamp?  I love challenges and being asked to design for them is such an honor.

This week we are featuring the Lift Me Up stamp  set.  It's one I've not yet purchased so borrowed it from friend.  Now that I've had the opportunity to play with it, it has gone on my ever lengthening wish list.

For my design, I made a scene of hot air balloons floating over the mountains.  This was to be a practice card, which is why it's done on Naturals White retired cardstock.  But, it turned out so well, that rather than starting over, I used it.

First, I stamped the mountains from the In the Meadow stamp set in Basic Black Archival ink and colored them using the Early Espresso Watercolor Pencil.  The meadow was sponged using Wild Wasabi and Pear Pizzazz inks.  The grass was stamped using Old Olive ink as are the flowers.  Using Stampin' Write Markers, I added Flirty Flamingo, Pink Pirouette and Rich Razzleberry inks to the blooms.  Of course, I had to get my little Dapper Denim butterflies flitting around the flowers.

Using the Lift Me Up stamp set, I stamped the two balloon images onto Whisper White; one in Dapper Denim and one in Sweet Sugarplum.  The clouds were stamped using Smoky Slate ink.  Then, I cut the balloons and clouds out using the Up & Away Thinlits Dies.  I attached them to the card base with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels for the finishing touch.

For all the What Will You Stamp? Challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Bless Your Heart

It's a beautiful, warm, sunny day here in Iowa.  Given that it's February and the temperature is already 43 degrees at 9 a.m. with a high expected in the 70s, who could ask for more!  It's usually cold and snowy this time of year for us.

Before I head out and about to enjoy this day, I wanted to share a card I made combining three challenges, something that is not always that easy to do.  But, Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Stampin' Royalty all work well together and here is the result.

Stamp Set:  Jar of Love (sentiment); Ink:  Early Espresso; Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Tempting Turquoise; Patterned Paper:  Adventure Abound Designer Series Paper Stack (retired), Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack (retired); Other:  Pocket Die (Taylored Expressions), Pearl Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals.  Stampin' Up! product unless otherwise noted.

The sketched I used is from the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.  The colors are from the Color Throwdown Challenge and a project using dies is from the Stampin' Royalty Challenge.  For details of each challenge and to share your project, click the images below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Wacky Watercooler Spring Fever Blog Hop

Welcome to our February Spring Fever Blog Hop.  Each month, on the third Thursday of the month, a group of us get together to hop and share projects from Stampin' Up!'s current catalogs.  It's always a lot of fun.  Today's hop is all about Spring and I must say that this week in Iowa, with 60 degree temperatures, it's going to feel very springlike.

You should be coming to my blog from Kath Ricks.  After your visit with me, head on over to Libby Fens.  And, as always, our Hop runs in a circle.  Whether you start at the top and go forward or start at the bottom and go backward, you will always wind up where you started.

With 60 degree temperatures here in Iowa for the next eight days, it's definitely feeling like Spring.  I'm just hoping that we don't get a nasty March snowstorm.  It's been known to happen.

The projects I made all feature some aspect of Spring.  It could be through a word or a flower or a vibrant color. 

Stamp Set:  Beautiful You, Crazy about You, Jar of Love, Sunshine Sayings; Inks:  Mint Macaron, Pacific Point, Tuxedo Black Memento; Cardstock:  Pacific Point, Whisper White, Whisper White Thick; Other:  Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

Stamp Set:  Lift Me Up; Inks:  Emerald Envy, Tuxedo Black Memento; Cardstock:  Emerald Envy, Peekaboo Peach, Whisper White, Whisper White Thick; Other:  Rose Garden Thinlits Dies, Up & Away Thinlits Dies, Cloudy Day Embossing Folder (retired), Clear Wink of Stella Brush, Rhinestone Basic Jewls 

Stamp Sets:  Avant Garden, Wetlands (sentiment); Inks:  Emerald Envy, Melon Mambo, Soft Suede, Tuxedo Black Memento; Cardstock:  Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Whisper White Thick; Other:  Pearl Basic Jewels

That is all from me.  The next stop on your tour is Libby Fens.  To see her wonderful projects, click the image below.

If you'd like to revisit Kath Ricks and see her great projects again, click the image below.

To start at the beginning you can click the image below to go back to the Wacky Watercooler Stamping Blog.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #106

What can I say, I love sparkle!  Heidi is hosting the challenge this week.  When I saw she had picked sparkle as the theme for her Clean And Simple (CAS) challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

The base is Whisper White to which I added a layer of Crumb Cake.  The flower is cut from glitter felt using the Tattered Florals Dies from Tim Holtz.  To the center I added a burnished silver brad.  It's a bit hard to see but the word sparkle is cut from Silver Glimmer Paper using a Taylored Expressions Die.

And that, as the they say, is that!  A very simple card that took no time at all to put together.  And, you may have noticed that there is no stamping on the card.

It's one destined for my note card shelf as I like to keep cards on hand to send to my grandchildren.  My oldest granddaughter is to be the recipient of this one, eventually.

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge by clicking the image below.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday, February 20th at 6:00 p.m. Central Time to link your project.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #210

My second card as a Guest Designer for CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge, is a birthday card I made for my sister.  She will be celebrating a milestone birthday and will turn 60 on February 16th.  She loves purple so I always try to add the color somewhere on the cards I make for her.

For this one, I attached a strip of Graphic 45's Secret Garden Patterned Paper to a Whisper White Thick card base.  To be honest, I had planned to place a line of bakers twine down the center of the colored strip but forgot to add it before I attached everything.  Instead, I drew a line using my Elegant Eggplant Stampin' Write Marker.  It worked.

On a piece of Whisper White I stamped the sentiment from the Jar of Love stamp set using Elegant Eggplant.  Next, I cut it out using the Mini Frame 4 from Taylored Expressions.  The piece I used is actually the center of the frame.  I also cut one in Elegant Eggplant and placed the frame over the center cut using Stampin' Dimensionals.  The butterflies are punched from Elegant Eggplant using the Elegant Butterfly Punch.  I attached them using Tombow Multipurpose Glue.  Down the center of each butterfly, I placed some Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  The sentiment on the lower right is from the Sunshine Sayings stamp set.

Before I attached the frame and the butterflies, I spritzed them with some Radiant Rain Shimmering ICE Mist.  It added just a wee bit of sparkle to the card.  

For all the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

 Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Love Is In The Air

Today finds me with low energy but in the mood to create.  I found that I could combine these challenges, CAS(E) this Sketch, Just Us Girls and CAS Watercolour, for a cheerful card that could be used for Valentine's Day or an anniversary.

To start, I did a bit of splotchy watercoloring on a piece of Watercolor Paper.  The colors I used were Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo and Peekaboo Peach.  Once dry, I attached that layer to a card base of Whisper White Thick cardstock.  The large hearts were punched from Sweet Sugarplum and Blushing Bride.  The Blushing Bride heart was embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  The little hearts were punched from Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach, Pink Pirouette and Rich Razzleberry using the heart from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.  The two hearts on the lower left of the card were embossed using the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder.

From the Sunshine Sayings stamp set, I stamped two sentiments onto Whisper White using Basic Black Archival ink.  Then, I added a line of Rhinestone Basic Jewels to each label and one to the large Sweet Sugarplum heart.

Here is a close up of the what the Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist looks like.  I sprayed the entire front of the card with it so it has a very pretty shimmer to it.

The sketch I used is from the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

The them of hearts is from the Just Us Girls Challenge.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

The theme of love is from the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

A Yellow Rose

It's just a short post today.  I've been rather under the weather all week long and am just now starting to feel normal again.  I've found that being on the computer makes everything worse so I'm limiting my time to a short duration.  Here's the card I made for The Flower Challenge where we were to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) the Guest Designer. 

Stamp Set:  Rose Wonder; Ink:  Rich Razzleberry; Watercolor Pencils:  Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry; Cardstock:  Shimmery White, Very Vanilla; Other:  Rose Garden Thinlits Dies, Metal Rimmed Pearls

My card was entered in The Flower Challenge.  For all the challenge details and to share your project, click the image below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha

Bold Butterfly

One of the things I enjoy doing is combining a sketch challenge with a color challenge.  Today I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches Challenge and the colors from the Color Throwdown Challenge to make this bold butterfly design.  For the challenge colors I used Bermuda Bay for the teal, Tangerine Tango for the orange and, of course, Basic Black for the black.  :-) 

For the butterfly, using the Butterflies Thinlits Dies, I cut one from Bermuda Bay, one from Tangerine Tango and one from Whisper White.  Using a blending tool, I blended color over the Whisper White butterfly.  I used Bermuda Bay and Tangerine Tango ink.  Then, I covered it with VersaMark and heat embossed it using Clear Embossing Powder.  After embossing, I glued the three butterflies together.  I used Bermuda Bay sequins on the body of the butterfly to add more dimension.

For the card base I used Whisper White Thick cardstock.  The rectangle layer was made placing a piece of Whisper White over a piece of Basic Black.  The two small banners were punched from Bermuda Bay and Tangerine Tango using the Triple Banner Punch.

The sentiment from the Jar of Love stamp set and the antennae from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set were stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. 

For all the challenge details and to share your project, visit Freshly Made Sketches Challenge and Color Throwdown Challenge by clicking the images below.

Thanks for stopping in at the Coffee Pot Stamping Cafe,

Marsha