Welcome to the Wacky Watercooler March Blog Hop!

 

Are you ready for another Wacky Watercooler hop?   I hope so.  We've settled into the monthly program we announced previously and here it is the second Thursday in March...so we're ready to hop and hope you are ready to be inspired by a smorgasbord of talent, multiple occasions to celebrate and create for and inspiring ideas. 

March has so much going for it don't you think?   St. Patrick's Day, Spring,  lions, lambs, wind, snow, sun and of course prep time for Easter, Passover, birthdays, weddings and anything else you can think of.  Of course for some March Madness is also on the mind with bouncing basketballs, cheerleaders and of course scores and trophies.

Here are a few more things to celebrate this month from various calendars:

• Irish American Month
• Music in Our Schools Month
• National Craft Month
• National Frozen Food Month
• National Irish American Heritage Month- designated by Congress in 1995.
• National Nutrition Month
• National Peanut Month
• National Women's History Month
• Red Cross Month
• Social Workers Month

Perfect occasions for a card right?  Or a treat holder with a sweet something in it?

In case you are new to our hops heres a thumbnail description of who we are:

We are a creative group of Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrators who hang out together on our demonstrator website in the Wacky Women's Watercooler thread. We share stamping, business, life, love, animals and pretty much whatever comes into our heads with a generally wacky slant on most things. Luckily being virtual the watercooler is always open for fun, frivolity and most of all creativity at any hour of the day.

Feel free to run the hop either forwards or backwards or somewhere in between.  Every post will have links to get you back home here to hop central in case you get lost or a link gets broken.

 Note:  All posts will be active as of 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.  If you log in before that you may miss a stop or two.  If a link isn't working when you check out the Blog Hop, please try again later as technical problems can arise and will be fixed.

Let's meet this months round of hoppers:

Note: Links all go directly to the hop post (as of 3/15/14)

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Deborah Smart - www.stampandcreate.net

 

Jackie Susnik - www.jackotterstamp.blogspot.com

Susan Horr - http://susanstamps.wordpress.com

Marsha Reed - http://www.coffeepotstampingcafe.com

Heidi Weaver - http://heidistampinalong.blogspot.com

Jean Fitch - http://jlfstudio.wordpress.com

Jeanne Kupsh - http://happy-jeannie.blogspot.ca

Christine Giuda - http://www.dancinstamps.blogspot.com

Kath R. - http://kath-allthatscrap.blogspot.com

Gail Allen - http://stampingandotherstuff.blogspot.ca

Stefanie Pletscher - http://craftymedic.blogspot.ca

KatheD - http://kathesadventure.blogspot.ca

Buffy Cooper - http://buffycooper.com

Terri Antoniw - http://stampwithter.blogspot.ca

Bev Q - http://stampwithbev.blogspot.ca

We've also got a non blogging hopper this month.  Germaine has shared her projects on the home blog here and here.

As you can see we have a few new hoppers this month...including...ta da...one from Germany!   We've gone Bi Continental this hop!   I hope you'll leave some comment love as you circle the hop and the globe with us.

For now though...lets get hopping!

Simply Sketched à la Germaine

Welcome back friends to another shared pre-hop posting by Jean and Germaine.

Germaine is back once again to share her beautifully monochromatic Simply Sketched creation.  And using one of my favorites of the new In Colors...Baked Brown Sugar.  Love that color!  The variety and layout of the many layers on this wonderful card really adds to the texture that the burlap ribbon with button brings to the fore don't you think?

  Simply Sketched is one of my favorites of the current crop of Hostess Stamp Sets.  As you can see from the online store picture this set gives you a variety of images for every occasion as well as the sentiments to make them all work.  A real work horse of a stamp set.  And available free to hostesses (or customers) with qualifying orders.

Here's Germaine's shared description of her card:

I really like the pretty little sparrow from Simply Sketched.  I like this set because it gives my group the option to use the same card design as a thank you, birthday, or sympathy card.

I used Baked Brown Sugar and VeryVanilla card stock.  And the use of the Hardwood stamp makes an excellent background.  The ribbon is burlap and I made the medium clay button (using our Stampin' Up molds and Simply Pressed Clay), also used linen thread as the twine for the button.

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Here's the Supply List for your convenience and CASE'ing pleasure.

Supplies

Stamps: Simply Sketched (hostess set), Hardwood (Occasions Catalog)

Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar


Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla Cardstock

Punches: Extra Large Oval, Scallop Oval

Other:  Simply Pressed Clay, Buttons and Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds, 1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon (Occasions Catalog pg. 37), sponge daubers, adhesives.

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Thanks once again for joining Germaine and myself for another pre-hop post.  Feel free to share what you love about Germaine's lovely design in the comments.   And don't forget to join us Thursday night starting at 6pm West Coast time for another great Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop!

Germaine's Scallop Tag Topper - Lattice Cross cards

Welcome everyone to another edition of pre-hop posting.

 Heidi our usual poster and webmaster of late is off in Cancun soaking up the sun before returning to the snowy wilds of Canada once again.  So today you get Jean and her Watercooler Crew friend Germaine from the States.   When the cats away the cross border mice will play right? :D

As a warm up for our upcoming Blog Hop (March 13-15) one of our blogless Wacky Watercooler crew has offered the following for your inspiration.  I hope you'll leave Germaine a warm welcoming comment as this is her first posting with the home hop blog.

Germaine has a wonderful eye for design don't you think?  And she really rocks a now popular use for Stampin' Up's newest Scallop Tag Topper Punch from the 2014 Occasions Catalog.   Check out these two variations on a theme.

First the Sympathy Card variation - a monochromatic use of Wisteria Wonder and Whisper White with a hint of a deeper purple in the Concord Crush ribbon.

Then the more colorful Easter selection that adds that punch of Daffodil Delight to warm the soul.  Rather like many of our winter gardens that are showing daff's peeking through the snow and ice right about now.

Whether for Easter or for a needed Sympathy card the Lattice die cut cross is a wonderful focal point.  And the Everything Eleanor images make for a wonderful One Sheet Wonder technique that allows you to stamp your own background papers then cut to size as needed for a multiplicity of cards.

Germaine shared these details with me:

I did the crosses for a class.  As some people send out Easter cards and others do not. I gave people the choice of making one or the other by substituting either the Wisteria Wonder Patterned Stack Designer Series Paper from the Subtles Collection or the Daffodil Delight from the Brights Collection. the main card base is Wisteria Wonder for both.

The cross is made from the Lattice BigZ die . I really like the new Scallop Tag Topper punch.

The ribbon is a retired ribbon called Concord Crush (an older retired In Color) and the Happy Easter stamp is also retired.

Of course you recognize the current and available Everything Eleanor stamp set and the Love and Sympathy set.

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Thanks Germaine...that covers it in a nutshell.

So here's what the supply list still available for purchase boils down to:

Supplies

Stamps: (non retired): Everything Eleanor, Love & Sympathy

Ink: Wisteria Wonder

Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Subtles (Wisteria Wonder)  and Brights (Daffodil Delight) Patterned Stacks Designer Series Paper Collections

Punches: Scallop Tag Topper, Scallop oval, Extra Large Oval

Other:  Big Shot, Lattice Bigz die, Large Rhinestones

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If you'd like to see how the cross was "snipped" from the Lattice die cut here's a quickie template from an old blog post of mine.  Template shows the long and the "short" form of the cross.  Germaine used the short form.

Thanks Germaine for sharing your talent with our home hop blog.  You've given me a new idea to play with.

Come back tomorrow for another post showing Germaine's latest creation with the Simply Sketched Hostess set.  And don't forget to follow or bookmark us so you don't miss the March Hop that starts the 13th.

Happy Hopping folks and stay tuned... and Heidi if your reading...don't forget the sunblock and the underwater coverup for your camera while snorkeling.
 - Jean

Pinch Me! The Wacky Watercooler March Blog Hop is almost here!

Have you heard?   The Wacky Watercooler March Blog Hop is coming!

March 13-15

That's right!  Save the dates March 13-15, because there is another awesome blog hop coming in just over a week. 

15 Stampin' Up bloggers this month will be looking to jump start your creativity and inspire your March Madness.

Anything current is fair game this hop.  From St. Patrick's Day, to Easter to basketball to...I'm so ready for Winter to be over will be fueling our hoppers entries.    Blogs will be reporting in from the USA, Canada and tada...Germany!   Yep...we've officially crossed the pond this hop.  Not to worry...our German entry is a militarily misplaced American so no translation utilities needed...unless of course you are joining us from overseas yourself...in which case...Google Translate is your friend. :D

See you for the Hop!   Tell your friends...the more the merrier.