October Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop

It's that time again...time for another Blog Hop from the Wacky Watercooler gang.  This month it's all about the holidays!  From Halloween through New Year's, let's see what our friends have come up with to help get you in the spirit!  You may have just hopped over from the ever-awesome Heidi Weaver--she never fails to WOW me!  And if you've just joined us now, don't neglect to make your way around and see what everyone has created.

I couldn't choose just one holiday, so I chose three--let's start off with Halloween.  I simply couldn't resist the adorable Howl-o-Ween stamp set and matching Boo To You framelits dies. 

This Cascading Card uses nearly every stamp in the set.  My owl is getting ready to Trick or Treat--see his little pumpkin candy holder?

This card also uses Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper.  

And the best part?  The card folds flat so it can be mailed:

Because it's rather tall, I used my Envelope Punch Board to make my own, matching envelope--easy peasy!

I'll feature this card later next week, so you can have directions on how to put it together.


Next up (for us Americans) is Thanksgiving (our Canadian friends celebrated earlier this week--Happy Thanksgiving!).  This is a holiday that goes hand in hand with beautiful autumn colors, and I SO love seeing the leaves turn.  So what could be better than seeing the trees through your window?

 I used the always-classic stamp set Lovely as a Tree.  I mean, who doesn't own this?  On my card base of Whisper White Thick cardstock, I stamped my trees after coloring directly on the stamp with Stampin' Write markers in Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, and Cherry Cobbler.

 

I then took a piece of Whisper White, adhered Envelope Paper "wallpaper" to the top half and cut a rectangular opening.  A "chair rail" of Tip Top Taupe was scored and glued down.  The window was cut out with the Hearth and Home Thinlits die and a piece of Window Sheet was added to the back; this was adhered to my "wall".  Then this layer was popped up with Dimensionals to make it look like you are looking through a window.

And of course, every window needs a little "dressing"--Tip Top Taupe 1" Dotted Lace Trim made a perfect valance!


And finally, let's have a little Christmas spirit.

I'm getting a jump start on my Christmas wrapping.  Using the Tag a Bag Gift Boxes makes it easy!  These food-safe Kraft boxes (6-7/8" x 2-1/8" x 2-1/2") with acetate sleeves are perfect for treats and small gifts.  And decorating them is fun and easy.

I took one and covered the box with Season of Cheer Designer Series Paper.  Then I slipped the box inside the acetate sleeve and tied it with White Organza Ribbon.  There's some fancy looped Silver 1/8" ribbon and some Silver Sequins, and then a pretty tag.

But I'm not done:

This time I used the same DSP but in traditional Christmas colors, Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler.  I wrapped the sleeve with Mossy Meadow and Burlap Ribbon, then tied on some sparkly Gold Glitter Ribbon. 

This tag uses Embellished Ornaments and Project Life Season of Cheer...and check out the little Santa hat!  Cute!

OK that's it for me.  Come back next week for directions on my samples here.

And now on to Buffy Cooper, who has something fantastic to show you!

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy the Hop!

Spooky Treats

Do you ever find yourself "needing" something and knowing you just can't live without it, only to find that, once purchased, the item sits on a shelf, feeling quite lonely, while you've happily gone on to something else?

Well that was me with the Stampin' UP! Fry Box Bigz L die.  Those little stinkin' samples were just SO cute--had to make me some of those.

So I bought it.  Added it onto another order at the very last second, and couldn't wait for it to arrive.

Then the box of goodness was delivered, and, oh, my!  Such wonderful new, shiny objects...that Fry Box was carefully placed in my die drawer and there it sat.

Until now...I like to make little goodies for my workshop attendees when I hold a special class.  So this month I pulled out my Fry Die and began to create.  I actually had to reach for a sample I had received at Convention to figure out how it was made (I don't read directions, ya know...) but as soon as I played for a few minutes, there it was--in all it's cuteness!

Take a look:

Of course, being the month of scary things, I had to decorate this for Halloween.

The stamp set All About Sugar is the coordinating set and makes it so easy to add some pizzazz to your fry boxes (it even comes in a bundle with the Fry Box).  See those black lines on the front?  That stamp is the perfect fit.

I used Howl-o-ween Treat for the skulls, stamping them with the Archival Black ink (a wonderful, deep, rich black) and cutting them out with the matching Boo to You Framelits.  The skulls were adhered with Dimensionals for a little depth.

I used the Designer Series Paper Happy Haunting to fit in the back of my boxes.  It was super easy to trace the back and then cut out with my Paper Snips.

A 4 x 6" Cellophane Bag, tied with (oops!) Tangerine Tango (retired) ribbon, and added tag (also from All about Sugar) and my treats are ready for distribution! 

Get one of these dies; you won't be sorry, and you'll find that you reach for it whenever you need to package up a small gift.

Products can be purchased here.

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Boo!

Happy October!  Already?  I can never figure out where the time goes...it always seems like I'm celebrating holidays, then it's hot, and then it's time for holidays again!

I've had such a busy week at work, leading a workshop and spending 12 hours each day in the office.  So glad that's over!  Whew!!!

I want to share with you a fun (and pretty simple) Halloween card that we made in my monthly Card Club last month.

This had so many elements, but they all came together beautifully.  And it was fun to create, too!

A Basic Black card base has a layer of Rich Razzleberry that took a trip through the Big Shot with the Lucky Stars Embossing Folder.  Then we let the layering begin:

First a "tombstone" of Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper, punched with the Note Tag Punch, with a layer of Tangelo Twist behind it, punched with the same punch.  And alongside is a "wheel" of gorgeous Black Glimmer Paper--I cut this with the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch and then twisted it slightly and punched it again--that gave it the spiky edges.

On top of this was a another strip of Happy Haunting DSP, and then we stamped the witches hat from Howl-o-Ween Treat, using Rich Razzleberry Ink.

We also stamped it again on a strip of Tangelo Twist and snipped out the hatband.  Using the Confetti Stars punch, we added some little black stars.

The pumpkin (from the same set) was stamped on Basic Black card stock with Versamark Ink and then embossed with "vintage" Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder.

We topped it all off with a "BOO!", cut with Gold Glimmer Paper  and a cute spider, and cut with the Boo to You Framelits (which includes the witches hat, the spider and the pumpkin), and added some Gold Metallic Thread for the spider web.

This will be going to my grandsons, who enjoy the non-scary part of Halloween.  They love to get mail!

Most items used can be purchased here.

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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!