Catch-up Post #2 - World Card Making Day 2017

If you ask me what my favorite holiday is, I'll either tell you it's Halloween, Christmas, or World Card Making Day, depending on which is coming up next on the calendar. This year WCMD exceeded my expectations! True to form, StampNation posted a bunch of fun challenges, and a slew of sponsors offered up prizes for participants... and I snagged a generous prize package of Spectrum Aqua markers and accessories from Crafters Companion! I can't wait til the package arrives! But more on that later...

I managed to complete all of the challenges this year, and entered multiple cards for a couple of them. I won't lie - I was at least partially motivated by the huge number of possible prizes, but I also saw it as a great way to get a bunch of my holiday cards made before crunch time. Without further yapping, here are the cards:

Challenge 1 (Canada) - Nature scene: I decided to use my brand new Winterhaven Stamp of Approval collection to create this first card, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I started with the week's sketch over at Splitcoaststampers:

then did some watercoloring on shimmer paper, die cut some shapes, and here's what I got:

Challenge 2 (Alaska) - Use snow-like product such as embossing paste or whipped spackle: For the first card I used some shimmery embossing paste over Catherine Pooler inks. I think the sentiment in white on vellum is the perfect topping to this card.

I love (!) how the next card turned out, though it's hard to appreciate fully in just a photo. I used Cosmic Shimmer embossing paste which is comparable to Faber Castell's Glass Bead gel. Pretty stuff, especially when the light hits it!

Challenge 3 (Australia) - Great Barrier Reef mood board (sea creatures, mermaids, colors): I went sea creatures (loosely interpreted).

Challenge 4 (Ancient Rome) - Use something old, something vintage, something distressed; make a birthday card for someone old, etc.: I made a birthday card for an old friend (one I've had for a long time and who is getting up in age) with one of my oldest stamps (Ziggy) and some ancient DSP from my stash. The card base is Robin Hood Red - anyone remember that?

Challenge 5 (Spain) - Flamenco dress mood board: I went with this background because it reminded me of the colorfulness of the flamenco dresses, with the circles mimicking the swirls and twirls of the dance. The dancing lady is from a Stampin' Up! set called Beautiful You.

Challege 6 (France) - Cheers!  This challenge was the most, uh, challenging for me, but I think in the end the cards I made for it are my favorites. I started out using a "cheers" sentiment from the Winterhaven Stamp of Approval collection, and built a card around it using gold metallic DSP from Stampin' Up's Year of Cheer specialty paper pack (which I am in total love with!) along with gold foil paper, a gold snowflake doily, gold washi tape, and some shiny gold sequins.

This next card was made with similar components, but since the DSP had silver and I think champagne, I didn't limit myself to gold. The sentiment is stamped with silver Delicata ink, and I used several colors, shapes, and sizes of sequins.

This next card is my personal favorite, probably because it's so... unique (that's the nice word for weird, which is what two people have called it, lol). The DSP panel is framed with copper foil, while the snowflake frame to the sentiment is silver to accent the silver mistletoe berries in the paper print. Little copper snowflakes accent the card front.

And the fourth card I entered in this challenge is light and simple compared to the last. If I remember correctly, the Joy die is from a previous Stamp of Approval holiday collection, I think last year's. A silver snowflake on foam dots under a die cut panel, some metallic washi tape, some strategically placed rhinestones, and voila'! a card is born! Once again the Year of Cheer DSP does a lot of the work.

The last two cards didn't have "cheer" referenced on the front, but I still posted them in this category because of the cheer reference on the inside of the cards:

Challenge 7 (Ireland) - Green: This is one of the first cards I made for WCMD and has a lot of heart and soul poured into it. I started by stamping the Ornamental background stamp I received in the Winterhaven SOA in Grass Skirt, then stamping the little circle inside each ornament with gold Delicata ink. I layered that panel over some gold cardstock, added my multi-dimensional poinsettia, and an easy sentiment circle. A bit of twine at the top is the perfect red accent, and I couldn't resist putting a rhinestone in the sentiment's "o".

Here's the inside:

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That's the end of my World Card Making Day 2017 cards, so I thought I'd take a second and show you a picture of the prize pack I won from Crafters Companion. It includes a complete set of Spectrum Aqua markers, a marker stand so I can have them at reach on my desk, Spectrum Aqua cardstock, water brushes, Spectrum Noir glitter pens, and a slew of stamps! Wowza!

I am still patiently waiting for my goodies to arrive, but when they do I'm sure I'll say they were worth the wait. Can you believe it? Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

That's it for today. One more post and I'll be caught up on my creations so far this year. Then I'll be able to post the batch of Christmas cards I'm currently working on!

Smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce