The Wacky Watercooler Gang Celebrates the New Catalogs

Yes, it's time for another Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop, and you know what that means - 15 blogs celebrating the beautiful new Stampin' UP! catalogs--the Annual Catalog and the newer Holiday Catalog.  Our blog hop is circuler--jump on anywhere and click the "next" or "previous" buttons until you've made it all the way around.  If you've just joined me from Kathe's blog, I'm sure you were wowed by her creations!  She always does such great work!

Our challenge this month is to create three samples using new items from our catalogs.  And I had such fun!  I decided to focus on the new Holiday Catalog, and I have one project for each holiday.

What's first?  Why Halloween, of course!

I made a double-sided carrier for my mini-coffee cups.  The Howl-o-ween Treat stamp set with matching Boo to You Framelits Dies were irresistible to me and I couldn't wait to play with them.

I started with two pieces of 5" x 5" Basic Black Card Stock, scored at 1-1/2" on all four sides to create two little boxes.  I stuck them together with a "handle" in the middle, and covered it all with Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper (did you catch the bats design in the paper?  <love>).  Then I used nearly every stamp and framelit in the set to decorate my carrier and cups.

My cups were covered with the DSP and I even used the framelits to cut Black Glimmer Paper (fabulous!!!) embellishments.  Don't miss the little spiders on the stir sticks!  I even had to add pieces of Spider Web Doilies to the tops of the cups.  Such fun!

Then it was time to think about Thanksgiving:

I love fall and all the beautiful, vibrant, rich colors.  So I played with the fabulous Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, using ink pads to color the actual folder.  After inserting my Whisper White Card Stock into the folder, I ran it through my Big Shot, leaving white birch trees with a rich, colorful background.

This card needs little embellishing, so I just stamped the sentiment from Among the Branches using three ink colors, Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow and Tangelo Twist:

It was punched using the 2" Circle Punch and layered over a strip of Burlap Ribbon (still one of my favorites!).  I also stamped and fussy-cut a bunch of the little leaves, popping two of them up on pieces of Dimensionals around the sentiment; the rest are gathered underneath.

And finally, Christmas:

Now this card is very hard to photograph.  I wish you could see it in person.  It's a double-fold card, with a base of Mossy Meadow, just 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" and not folded.

Next comes a piece of Season of Cheer Designer Series Paper.  This piece is 5-1/4" x 8", folded in half and looking like a traditional card, but attached to the Mossy Meadow base.  I cut an oval in the front, using Oval Framelits.

Here's the special part of this card - inside is a piece of 5" x 7-1/2" Whisper White Card Stock.  This piece is folded in half like a card, but mounted backwards, inside the card.  On the front is a gold ornament; I used Gold Foil Sheets and cut three of the ornaments using the Delicate Ornaments Thinlits Dies.  After embossing them with the Zig Zag Embossing Folder I scored each one down the center, then attached them back to back to create a 3-D ornament.

It actually pops through the oval on the front of the card, yet can fold flat for mailing.

Now opening this layer gives you the full effect:

The holly leaves and sentiment from Embellished Ornaments are stamped on the inside (the holly was embossed with Black Embossing Powder and colored with Stampin' Write Markers), making a very special Christmas card for a very special someone.

And I don't want to forget the sensational Expressions Natural Elements on the front:

I "pounced" Versamark ink all over the element, then heat embossed it using Gold Embossing Powder.   The process was repeated twice, resulting in a very shiny embellishment.  I used the wonderful new Fine Tip Glue Pen to adhere it permanently to the front of my card.  


Well that's it for me!  Thanks so much for visiting; I'll have a video on how to make this double-fold card next week, so please come back.

And now go see what Heidi has in store!  She is our fearless leader and always has the best projects!  Thanks for stopping by!