Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

It's time for another Blog Hop by the Wacky Watercooler gang!  And what a hop it is!  Whether you hopped on here or came from the wonderful Deb Smart (LOVE her stuff!), I'm so glad you have joined us today.  If you're new to "hopping" just click on the "next" watercooler below and it will take you to another site.  Keep clicking and you'll find yourself all the way around and back to me!  Have fun!
 

Our hop this month focuses on "Favorite Things" (or "Favourite", depending on where  you live). 

We’re going to show everyone our favorite from past posts (as chosen by a peer), our favorite Occasions/SAB, and our favorite of clearance or current Stampin’ Up! products.  

Favorite Occasions/SAB

I chose a stamp from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, Big Day.  Five individual stamps to celebrate birthdays, and they can all be stacked on top of each other to make a stupendous card:

 

  And stamping them all on the wonderful Chalkboard Paper with the fabulous new ColorBox Chalk Ink Pads makes it right on trend.  For this card I stamped three of the stamps using Rose Coral and Yellow Citrus Chalk Inks; I stamped the middle one again with Versamark, and embossed the "Celebrate" with White Embossing Powder.  Some fussy cutting and Dimensionals and it screams, "Fun!". 

To get the perfect "chalkboard" look, I also smeared a little chalk dust from my Embossing Buddy on the paper--I feel like a teacher!  The background paper is from Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack, along with some Bermuda Bay, embossed with the Arrows Embossing Folder.

Favorite Current Stampin' UP! Products

Ok, this one was easy.  I love, love, LOVE the cute Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies!  Take a look: 

 

 I used the beautiful Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper, carefully choosing just where to place my dies.  The dies are amazing; you get two dies to make the bag (cut one of each) and a whole bunch of extras to decorate your treat...banners, hearts, stars and words.  I cut a peek-a-boo heart in the center so my treat shows through.

Then I had fun decorating the little tag with the included banner die (stamped with another favorite, Butterfly Basics), the "for you" die and a heart.  The tag (with some Gold Sequin Trim) is clipped to my bag with an In Color Clothespin.  So pretty!

Favorite Past Post (chosen by a peer)

So our final assignment was to be paired up with another Wacky Watercooler member and CASE (Copy) one of their creations.  And I got the incredible Heidi Weaver, our fearless leader!  Wow!  Can you say, "Gulp"?  Heidi is known for her fabulous creations, and I had a blast searching through her past posts to come up with just the right thing to CASE (and TRY to do justice to!).  I found a beautiful card from a year ago; Heidi was showcasing an embossing folder available for last year's Sale-A-Bration, and I was struck by the beauty of her all gold card:

 

 So I took elements of her card and came up with a Valentine:

The heart is Gold Foil Paper embossed with a retired medallion-style embossing folder.  Heidi used a Paper Doily, so I did too, cutting off just the edge and "ruffling" it around my heart.  I stuck to Heidi's theme of Whisper White card base, but added a a dash of Real Red (it's for Valentine's Day, after all), and placed the Gold Foil elements on Basic Black to make them stand out.

The only thing I couldn't fit were flowers, so I took some liberty and used gold foil leaves (from the Bird punch); these are glued down to the Black paper, making it look like a foil embellishment.  

Inside:

I hope you enjoyed my Favorite creations; now off you go to see what fun Marsha has in store for you.  Thanks for stopping by!