Thursday 25 July 2013

The Wacky Watercooler New Catalog(ue) Blog Hop

Wacky Watercooler New Catalog(ue) Blog Hop

How exciting!  Our very first blog hop!  It's fun chatting around the virtual watercooler on the Stampin' Connection, but expanding into a blog hop is an incredible feeling.  By now you will have been to the very talented Terri Antoniw's blog.  She's a tough act to follow, but I'll  do my best.

This blog hop is all about the new Annual Catalogue which was released on June 1st, 2013.  It's a fantastic catalogue, full of great new products, a surprising number of discounted bundles and, of course, new colours, papers and other surprises.  I love this catalogue!

My first project is a card that showcases the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set, available in wood or clear.  Hexagons are such fun to play with and this is certainly a playful card.  I love that Stampin' Up! bundled the stamp set with the brand new Hexagon Punch.  Saving 15% by getting the two together in either wood or clear is a sweet deal.  I wanted to use primarily warm colours for this card and so I used a base of the new In-Color, Baked Brown Sugar, and found a yellow and white pattern in the Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Paper.  To those colours I added my old friend and upgraded-from-retired-In-Color-to-permanent Subtle Color, Calypso Coral.

I used the Baked Brown Sugar ink and the Calypso Coral ink to stamp several of the patterns from the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set.  Then I layered the piece of Specialty Designer Paper onto a piece of Calypso Coral cardstock and then adhered the punched out hexagons onto that.  I liked the effect but decided to give it a real quilted look by running it through my Big Shot using the Square Lattice embossing folder.  Then I adhered it to my Baked Brown Sugar base using Stampin' Dimensionals.

To finish it off, I punched a 3/4" circle out of a piece of Champagne Glimmer Paper and then centred the circle in my Hexagon Punch and punched that out.  That circle hole allowed me to arrange my banner greeting, which I stamped in Baked Brown Sugar ink onto a piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock, through the hexagon shape.  I adhered those  with Stampin' Dimensionals as well and then, just for the fun of it, added three Champagne Glimmer rings which I punched out using my 1/2" circle punch and 3/4" circle punch.


One of the products which jumped out at me when I went through the catalogue was the new Modern Medley Designer Series Paper.  The colours are very simple: Very Vanilla and Basic Black.  Simple, yes; boring, no.

My next project, therefore, is a masculine card that not only highlights the Modern Medley DSP, but also puts the spotlight on that wonderful new stamp set, Wetlands, clear or wood mount.   For this card I used the Naturals Ivory cardstock as my base and layered it with Basic Black and  the Modern Medley DSP.  I think the flying birds printed on the Designer Paper makes the perfect background for the Canada Goose and rushes.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but I've heat embossed the goose and "Thinking of You" in black.  That helps it to "pop" behind the Window Sheet onto which I stamped the rushes using Black StazOn ink.


My final project also uses the Modern Medley DSP but aside from that is completely different.  This time I made an elegant Pillow Box using a pattern from Stampin' Up!'s famous Pattern Library.  It was a hard choice with so many striking designs to choose from, but I finally settled on the baroque design with the faint stripes in the background.  By adding Vellum flowers using that wonderful bundle: the Flower Shop stamp set (wood or clear) and the matching Pansy Punch as well as some Vellum leaves cut with the Secret Garden framelit, I added a bit of whimsy to the black girdle which I adhered around the centre of the Pillow Box.  A few touches of gold heat embossing on the flower and in the sentiment, a little black Simply Pressed clay flower, and it was done.  If you want to try your hand at making one of these pillow boxes, I have provided the template here for you to print out and use.



Of course if you really like the Flower Shop stamp set and matching Pansy Punch, your best buy is to go for the bundle in wood or clear, which saves you 15%.  Just look at the flower close up---this is a wonderful bundle to own and use.



Well, that's about it.  I hope you've enjoyed my projects as much as I enjoyed making them.  Your next stop on this Blog Hop tour  is the terrific stamper, Deborah Smart.  I'm sure you'll love seeing her creations.


Terri's Blog


 photo nextwatercoolercrockbutton.jpg

Deborah's Blog


Blog Hop Home Site

26 comments:

  1. Wow Heidi! You really started the hop off with a bang. I especially love what you did with the pillow box. Very elegant. Brilliant use of the window dies for your wetlands card too. With what you and Terri have shown with that set it's firmly at the top of my wishlist. I love how the paper from Modern Medley gives the illusion of a flight of geese overhead with the one stopping by with the sentiment. Very creative.

    Thanks for sharing in our first hop. Looking foreward to what you do in our next!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Jean. I love the Modern Medley DSP and will be ordering more. I imagine it will sell itself if I get people to use it in my classes. Those pillow boxes are such fun to make! Got home late but everything went on without me. Now for visits to my fellow bloggers. :)

      Delete
  2. Heidi, I love your projects! You've given me the courage to open up my package of Modern Medley DSP - it's gorgeous :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Surely you jest, Deborah! You don't need courage to open that DSP. You need more packages because it's gorgeous and fun to use!

      Delete
  3. Great job, Heidi! It's sure fun to do some hopping! (now if only it was easy to hop to each other's craft rooms in real life, eh??)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Teleportation should be one of the key things the world governments work on. It sure would cut down on travel time and it would be a fantastic way to enjoy each others' company doing crafts.

      Delete
  4. All of you are really setting the bar high. I agree with Jean, that Wetlands set was already on my wish list but now it has stars beside it. And that wish list gets longer with each blog I visit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Gail. I knew I really liked the Wetlands stamp set when I first saw it but that "like" has turned to love. The detail is even better than I anticipated and I keep getting new ideas for using it. You won't be sorry when you finally order it.

      Delete
  5. Sharon Steinwand10:44 pm, July 25, 2013

    I love your wetlands card - all your work here is great! I'm also in Alberta, and would love to follow your blog as an avid admirer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sharon. It's great to "meet" a fellow Albertan and I would love to have you follow my blog. What a lovely compliment!

      Delete
  6. Love the pillow box! That DSP will be on next order.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kath, you won't be sorry. I love that DSP, truly love it. Even the couple of designs I'm not entirely pleased with have nice designs on the reverse so I can honestly say I'll be using all the pages. Usually I wind up with leftover DSP by the end of the catalogue year, but I suspect this one will be a re-order.

      Delete
  7. Hi Heidi,

    The pillowbox looks gorgeous made from the Modern Medley DSP! The wetlands set had not been on my wish list, but it has not been placed on my "maybe I need this after all" list. Ha ha!

    Peace, Love & Joy,
    Joyce

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Joyce, my enjoyment of the Wetlands stamp set has exceeded my expectations. I will be using it a great deal, especially for masculine cards. I also used it in putting together the background for a scrapbook page which I think I posted on my blog. It's just a wonderful set. You probably do need it after all. :)

      Delete
  8. Oh, Heidi, these are all stunning, and very creative! I'll be adding your blog to the ones I follow as soon as The Old Reader is back online - thanks for sharing your beautiful work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Kathe. This Blog Hop has been such fun, especially with Jean's expert guidance. I'm glad you enjoyed the projects I displayed.

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Christine. They were such fun to create.

      Delete
  10. Love how you spiced up the Quartrefancy specialty paper with the Champagne Glimmer paper, and used the Modern Medley paper for the pillow box. The modern Medley paper is my favorite and I just ordered another pack. Now, the Wetland card is my favorite! Using the window sheet gives it so much more dimension, plus you used my favorite paper again Modern Medley.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Jeannine. I have my second pack of Modern Medley on order as well. The variety of designs in the pack is simply awesome. Let's face it, how often can you use the same pack for something elegant like the Pillow Box and then turn around and use a piece that is perfect for a masculine card?

      Delete
  11. Heidi-
    Loved your projects! I haven't used the Modern Medley, but it looks like I need to order it!
    Beth Steel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beth, you won't be sorry. It is so simple, being only the Very Vanilla and the Basic Black, but what they've done with those two colours is amazing.

      Delete
  12. I know I commented on yours. I wonder what happened. Anyway, I love what you did with the Wetlands set. Really neat to see the seagulls flying above the goose. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bev, I love that Wetlands set. I'm sure I'll use it a lot---more than I anticipated. That Modern Medley paper, too, is proving to be surprisingly versatile. Thanks for the compliments. I appreciate them.

      Delete
  13. Hello Heidi,
    You came to my blog once and posted a message. I hadn't seen it because it was in my spam box !!! I've just seen it today and I want to say thank you for your nice comment !
    Your blog is soooooo nice too ! very beautiful cards and stamp arts !
    Thanks again and bye !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. I've discovered that a few people found my comments in their spam (and I've found a few of theirs in my own spam). It's annoying, isn't it?

      Delete

GDPR (for my EU visitors)

In line with new Data Protection legislation (GDPR) coming to the EU, please note that in commenting you do so with the knowledge that your name & comment are visible to all who visit this blog and thereby consent to the use of that personal information for that specific purpose, only. I do not collect information stored on my blog. If you have left a comment and prefer that it not be seen, please delete it. Followers: If you follow my blog (thank you!) you do so in the knowledge that my followers list is open to anyone who visits my blog. Your photo, name and links will appear and can be seen by anyone. If you don't want this data shared, please remove your name from my followers list.