Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

Hello my stamping friend!  Welcome to our fun-tabulous November blog hop with the Wacky Watercooler gang! 🙂

If this is your first hop with us, welcome!  I know you’re going to enjoy yourself, because we have a great line up of participants, all of whom have ninja skills at stamping!  Are  you wondering what the ‘Wacky Watercooler’ part is all about?  Well, we’re a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, many of whom only know each other online through our demonstrator-only website.  The ‘watercooler’  thread was started as a way for us to get together and talk about life in general; you know – how things are going, kids, families, funny stories, favourite movies or shows; just like the back in the day when offices had water coolers for staff to  hang around and socialize (before email and instant messaging).  So that’s us!  Virtually hanging about, talking about life and what we love, which of course includes what we do – stamping and creating!

So  here we are, gathered monthly to share our creative expression with you, stamping friend, and hopefully inspiring you with ideas and samples.

Our blogs are linked together in a circle, so that as long as you head in 1 direction – either forward or backwards – you will see all the posts and projects.  If  you prefer to hop about randomly at your leisure, you can click on the ‘home’ button, where you’ll find the full list of participants, and links to each blog.

This month our focus is all about Christmas, since we won’t be having a hop next month – leaving you with more time to spend with friends and family.

Enough natter from me – let’s get on with the show!  Here is my first project – a cute little Post-it Note® holder that makes the perfect gift for a teacher, co-worker or just about anyone!

 It was so  fun to decorate these – I couldn’t stick with just 1 cover!    Below, you can see how they look opened up; I love how the cover stands up, so you can still see the cute cover while you have access to  your notes!

I used the Snow Place stamp set and matching Snow Friends Framelits Dies to create the penguin with his Santa hat and scarf, then I used the retired Word Bubbles Framelits to let him say ‘time to chill’ – also from the Snow Place stamp set.  The base is made from Lost Lagoon cardstock, and I used some of last year’s DSP to cover the front and inside.

For the middle one, I stamped with a Paper Pumpkin stamp for the cup, sentiment and steam, used the 2 1/2″ Circle Punch then layered it on top of a Silver Metallic Doily.  The base is made from Mossy Meadow cardstock, and again I used some retired DSP.  I added a bow made from the Silver Cording Trim in the upper right corner to finish it off.

On the right, I masked off the bottom of the Whisper White cardstock and sponged the sky using Sponge Daubers and Tempting Turquoise and Island Indigo inks.  I stamped the scene using the White Christmas stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and die cut it using the retired Labels Framelits.  The base is Sahara Sand cardstock, layered with (again) retired DSP (okay – I know I’m using retired things, but you  have lots of retired products too, right?  and you’d like to know how to use them up, right?  you’re welcome! 😉 )  I added a Snowflake Element with some loops of Gold Cording Trim tucked behind, attached to the front using Glue Dots.

My next project is a card using the very versatile Wonderland stamp set:

I just love using my Brayer to create the backgrounds for this stamp set!  Here I started with a piece of Whisper White cardstock, and used the brayer to apply Island Indigo Ink to the bottom 1/2 of the cardstock.  I then applied Tempting Turquoise to the top 1/2.  Very quick and easy to do.

I then inked up the trees in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and stamped them with the ink full-strength in the front centre of the panel.  Without re-inking the stamp, I then stamped again to one side, then re-inked, stamped off once, and stamped again on the opposite side.  This creates depth, so that the front trees appear closer than the lighter stamped ones.  I then stamped just the tops of the trees again in the very front bottom of the panel.  I then used my  Big Shot and the retired Labels Framelits (again with the retired, I know!  I don’t  have the new Lots of Labels Framelits yet, which would work just the same on this card).

My card base is made using Tempting Turquoise cardstock, and I layered a panel of the gorgeous Winter Wonderland Designer Vellum Stack over top, then a panel of the (retired) Brushed Gold cardstock, then finally the stamped image panel.  I wrapped some Gold Cording Trim around the front twice, then added some loops underneath the sentiment, which was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

For my final project, I just had to try out a new fancy fold I saw that was shared by another demo Kelly Gettelfinger, on our demo only site.  It’s called a ‘corner card’, and it is such fun, and there’s so many  ways to use it!  Here’s what I came up with:

No – I’m not fooling with you!  This is the front of the card; very innocuous looking, isn’t it?  I stamped the Wondrous Wreath in Old Olive and Mossy Meadow inks, with the berries in Real Red, and die cut using the coordinating Wonderful Wreath Framelits.  I used the same Framelits to die cut the ‘Joy’ from Red Glimmer Paper, and attached them onto a panel of Home for Christmas DSP.  Under that is a panel of Very Vanilla cardstock, on a card base of Old Olive cardstock.  Two Home for Christmas Enamel Dots in Real Red and Very Vanilla are in the corner.

Now here’s the WOW part of this card – the inside!

How’s that for a woohoo!  Because of the added portion in the front, this card can stand up to display both sides of the inside, and allow for some 3D pop-ups!  In this card, I just have the cat as the pop up part; he is actually attached only to the bottom front portion of the card, not the side.

I really wanted to emphasize the 3D of this card, so everything is stamped, coloured and then either hand or die-cut, then layer with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

i just love all of the pieces in the Festive Fireplace stamp set – it’s the perfect scene, all in one set!  The fireplace is stamped in Soft Suede ink, coloured in using the same ink and a Sponge Dauber.  The fireplace is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then coloured in using Blender Pens and Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Yellow, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red inks.  The garland was stamped in Cucumber Crush ink, and the pine cones coloured  using the Crumb Cake Stampin’ Write Marker.  The stockings were stamped in Memento black, the coloured using the Real Red and Cucumber Crush markers.  The bows were stamped in Real Red ink, as well as the sentiments.  The cat was stamped in Soft Suede ink, and coloured the same way as the fireplace; using the Sponge Dauber and Soft Suede ink pad.

Thank goodness for the coordinating Festive Fireside Framelits Dies – the only thing I had to cut by hand was the fireplace itself!

Once I had finished stamping, colouring and cutting, I assembled my scene, and attached it to the panel of Timeless Elegance DSP that I had glued to my card base, to look like wallpaper.   The sentiment above the fireplace is from the To You & Yours Too stamp set in Real Red ink onto Very Vanilla, and the ends punched using the Banner Triple Punch.  On the left side of the card, I stamped my sentiment in Real Red onto Very Vanilla, and added a die cut bow on either side.

Well, that’s it for my projects; I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed making them!  If you have time, I would love to read any comment you would like to make 🙂

Now you can continue on your creative journey, and head over to Priscilla’s blog, by clicking on the ‘Next’ button below.  If you’d like to go back and see Heidi’s blog, just click on the ‘Previous’ button.

Thanks for spending some of your valued time with me today – enjoy the rest of the hop!

Until next time – happy stamping!