Wacky Watercooler January Mini-Hop #1

 

Welcome to our first Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop for 2016!  

We’re doing things a little different for January; because it’s such a busy month, with so many new stamp sets & products to play with, we’re doing 2 ‘mini’ hops!  You may not see every one of the regular participants in each hop – because it’s a busy month!  But what you WILL see is the introduction of lots of great ideas and sharing of new products from the new Occasions Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration!  (yes, Heidi did spell catalog(ue) wrong for us Canadians in the header; that’s because a lot of the ‘cooler members reside in the U.S.)

Nevertheless – we are here to wow you with projects, however you happen to spell catalogue! 😉

If you haven’t gone through one of our blog hops before, it’s really easy; each of our blogs is linked to the blog before and after it, in a circle.  So, as long as you keep clicking in one direction (either next or previous), you will travel through all of the participating blogs, and not miss a single thing!  On the other hand, if you run into a technical glitch (those internet gremlins do appear once in awhile) you can simply click on the ‘home’ button, which will take you to the complete list of blogs, and their links.

So if you’ve been traveling forward, you’ve arrived here from Priscilla Ivler’s  blog – aren’t her projects amazing?!  She never ceases to wow me with her creativity!

I decided to focus on one particular bundle that is in the new Occasions catalogue for my projects; you could actually consider it a whole suite, because it has not just the coordinating stamp set and framelits, but also the designer series paper stack, embellishments, ribbon and cardstock pack!  It’s the A Nice Cuppa stamp set (#140683 pg. 35) and Cup & Kettle Framelits Dies (#140624 pg. 34), which can be bundled together (bundle #141074) for a 15% savings!

My first 2 projects go together; this is a lovely little card & gift box that you could give the tea-lover in your life – also perfect for teachers, hostesses, etc.

I just love the Have a Cuppa Designer Series Paper Stack – you  get 48 sheets – 4 each of 12 double sided designs.  Isn’t this tea bag design adorable?!  And the colours in this set are calm & soothing on one side, and bright & cheerful on the other. 🙂

It’s funny; I had decided to use this set, and make this flip up card a couple of days ago – then behold, I see that another demo, Patty Bennett, had done the same thing!  Oh well – it was stuck in my mind, so I went with it anyway!  (great minds think alike, right?)

The card base is a piece of 4 1/4″ x 11″ Wisteria Wonder cardstock, scored at 4 1/4″ and 8 1/2″.   I layered the top panel with Basic Grey cardstock, and the bottom panel with a piece of the Have a Cuppa DSP Stack.   The tea cup is die cut from Melon Mambo cardstock using the  Cups & Kettle Framelits; I used the little ‘wavy’  die to add the interest on the cup in Wisteria Wonder.  The hearts were die cut from Melon Mambo cardstock, and the spoon is die cut from (retired)  Brushed Silver cardstock (you could use the Silver Foil paper as well; I just had the Brushed cardstock closer at hand!)

Here’s what the card looks like as it opens; it’s quite easy to make, though it can look a bit tricky:

 

This is how it looks when you lift the top flap; the flap open over the circle. The 2″ Circle Punch is used to make the circle at the 8 1/2″ score mark; then you punch another 2″ circle in a coordinating cardstock (I used Melon Mambo), and then a 1 3/4″ circle to go in the middle of the 2″ one.

 

Then when you open the bottom flap, you can see where the sentiment is stamped on the bottom  panel.  You  can either add another piece of Whisper White in the middle, or designer paper, or do as I did, and randomly stamp an image (I used the tea bag, stamping in Wisteria Wonder ink).  I stamped the hearts along the side in Melon Mambo ink, and the sentiment is stamped in Wisteria Wonder.

The box was super easy to make using our fabulous Gift Box Punch Board and Wisteria Wonder cardstock.  I simply followed the punch board directions of a large box, using 8″ x 8″ cardstock.  I then used Tear & Tape to keep the corners tucked inside, and added panels of the same DSP that I used on the card.

I used the 5/8″ Organza Ribbon in White around the box, and tied a bow.  To finish it off, I die cut the little creamer jug in Whisper White and Wisteria Wonder, glued them together and stamped a ‘for you’ part of a sentiment from the Num, Num stamp set in Wisteria Wonder.  I then tied it and the little teaspoon from the Have A Cuppa Embellishments onto the ribbon.

Here’s what the box looks like when opened – the perfect size to fill with your favourite (or the recipient’s favourite) tea!

The ribbon can be slid off & kept, and the box with it’s slits in the top flaps will stay closed on its own.

My next project is a card made from the same stamp set and framelits, but this time I thought I’d show you how you can use the kettle framelit, as it has no coordinating stamp.

I think the kettle looks great, die cut from one of the Have a Cuppa DSP designs!  I stamped the cup in Crushed Curry ink, the die cut it, and then I die cut the inset pattern from the same patterned paper that I used for the kettle.  Ta-da; coordinating set! (because we all, at some point, had a tea pot that coordinated with the tea cups, right?)  To help make the tea pot stand out a bit better, I sponged the edges using a Sponge Dauber and Bermuda Bay  ink.

I stamped the lemon wedge in Crushed Curry ink onto Whisper White cardstock, then used my Daffodil Delight marker to colour it in after cutting it out with my Paper Snips (really – no framelit for the lemon wedge?!!  I was taken aback!)

The tea bag was stamped in Basic Gray Archival ink, and linked to the tea pot with a piece of Baker’s Twine.  The sentiment was stamped onto Whisper White cardstock in Bermuda Bay ink, and was die cut using the Tags & Labels Framelits; I love using this set, as it lets me make a coordinating layer behind the sentiment, in Bermuda Bay cardstock.

The card base is Bermuda Bay, layered with a panel of Smoky Slate cardstock, and a 1″ wide piece of Have a Cuppa DSP down the left hand side.

This really is a fabulous bundle; I think you get great value for the price, considering that there are 11 stamp images, and 12 dies!  Here’s what the complete bundle (stamp set & dies) looks like:

That’s it  for my projects on this mini-hop!  I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing them, and gotten some inspiration for your own creations using the new A Nice Cuppa bundle!  If you have time, I would love reading a comment from you 🙂

Now you can click the ‘Next’ button and hop back to Marsha’s blog (hers is the 1st on the list), or you can click on the ‘Previous’ button to go back and take another look at Priscilla’s projects.  Either way, you can’t lose! 🙂

Thanks for spending some time with me – until next time, happy stamping!