A Cute Christmas

October Tour de Freaks is here!

October 19, 2010 By Connie | 21 Comments

Wow…another month ZOOMS by and it is time for the monthly Tour de Freaks, brought to you by the Control Freak Swappers! You've probably just arrived from Wendy Janson's blog. Aren't her projects fabulous? This month we're celebrating the upcoming December holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza and we have 13 stops on the tour!

My first project is a card. I've been thinking about doing a pyramid of Penguins for a while…in fact, the penguin piece has been sitting on my desk waiting to be finished! So…here it finally is done! Yep…it is made with that OH SO FUN Owl Punch! Can you believe I first thought that I wouldn't use that Owl Punch? Oh my gosh! I've seen such CUTE things done with it…and owls are REALLY popular with kids right now!

I started with a base card of Real Red cardstock. I added a layer of Whisper White that is stamped with the Jolly Bingo Bits snowflake in Bashful Blue randomly in the background. Then I ran it thru the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Impressions Folder for some extra texture. I wrapped two pieces of the Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon around and secured in the back. The penguins I punched out the Owl with Basic Black and cut off the ears and the feet. I punched just the feet in Pumpkin Pie cardstock. I punched the vest/belly in Whisper White and layered on top. The beak is just a small square cut in half diagonally. Then the eyes are from the Owl Punch, too. I added a strip of torn Whisper White across the bottom of the Bashful Blue cardstock for snow and added Dazzling Diamonds so it sparkles. I stacked the three Owls on top of each other. Then added a Real Red Santa Hat from Jolly Bingo Bits to the top Owl. The Bashful Blue is layered on Basic Black and placed on the front of the card.

I stamped the greeting from Jolly Old Saint Nick in Basic Black and punched with the Large Oval, then layered on a Real Red Scallop Oval. It is placed on the ribbon with Stampin' Dimensionals. I added a Bashful Blue snowflake from the Northern Frost Decorative Strip Die on the corner with the large Rhinestone Jewel. The top corners needed a little something, so I added some small Rhinestone Jewels to them, too. Love how it sparkles!

My next project is one that my customers who attended my Stamping Festival a couple weeks ago made. I designed a little Mug Mat that they showed us at Convention out of the Candy Cane Christmas Fabric and the large Scallop Square Die. I made a sandwich of the fabric, then batting, then pink polar fleece on the bottom. It is stitched together in the corners with Linen Thread. In one corner, I added the Circles Diecuts from the other fabric patterns and more pink polar fleece. A big Candy Cane Designer Button is sewn on top!

I purchased the Red Mugs at a local "Big" discount store. I added Northern Frost Decorative Strip snowflakes cut with the Whisper White Decor Elements Sheets! I used all the snowflakes around the mug…it looks so cute! TIP: You don't need to use the paper backing that is for walls…only use the front Whisper White sticky sheet. Also, make sure you run it thru your Big Shot with the BACK protective sheet up…then it is easy to just peal off the snowflakes and place them on the mug like stickers! Make sure to have a piercing tool close by to poke out all those little pieces. I found it easier to do while the protective backing was still on the snowflakes.

Inside the mug I had some shredded paper, then a Medium Cello bag filled with powdered Hot Chocolate Mix and marshmallows. I made the tag with the snowman from A Cute Christmas, stamped with Black Stazon and using Baja Breeze and Blushing Bride Stampin' Write Markers. It was punched from the Whisper White with the Small Tag Punch and layered on the Baja Breeze Large Tag Punch. The Crop-a-dile made the hole on top for the Silver Tinsel Trim. That is SO nice because it has a fine wire in it. Too fun!

Hope you enjoy my Tour de Freak projects for this month! The next stop is the amazing Mary Brown! Just check out what SHE did this month!

A Cute Christmas

October 12, 2010 By Connie | 7 Comments

I was in the mood to make a Christmas Card today, so looked around for a challenge. Technostamper has a fun sketch (TSSC143) and SCS292 has a color combination of Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette and Real Red. I can work with that!

I pulled out Stampin' Up!'s A Cute Christmas stamp set and decided to use an image I hadn't worked with…the stockings! I stamped the image with Black Stazon ink on Whisper White, then colored in the images with Pink Pirouette, Pear Pizzazz and Real Red Stampin' Write Markers. I layered it on Real Red. I cut the circle from the Circles die with Pear Pizzazz cardstock.

The base of the card is Pear Pizzazz. I layered Whisper White on it that I ran thru the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder. I used a strip of Candy Cane Christmas DSP in the background and layered it on Real Red cardstock that I trimmed with the Scallop Trim Border Punch. I wrapped the Real Red Satin Bow around to the back and adhered. I stamped Have a Cute Christmas with Black Stazon on Pear Pizzazz and punched with the new small Oval Punch and placed it under the bow. The stocking element was popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals on the front.

I added 1/8" Certainly Celery Taffeta Ribbon to the center of the Real Red Designer Button…I love that we can do that! I adhered it to the front with Mini Glue Dots. I think it made a FUN card…what about you?

We are building houses over on Create with Connie and Mary this week…and they are DARLING! Each one so far is uniquely different and SO much fun! If you haven't checked out the Create with Connie and Mary site yet, now is the time to do it! We feature new Holiday Mini products every week. There is a new project posted every day and there will be an average of two fabulous tutorials each and every week. NEW this Edition is a Project Sheet to print out for every project not having a tutorial! Our sites stay up long after the session is done, so you will always have access to the site and the tutorials. For more information and to see our Preview Week projects please visit at Create with Connie and Mary! Sign up today!

Create with Connie and Mary Thursday Challenge

September 16, 2010 By Connie | 5 Comments

Today's Create with Connie and Mary Thursday Challenge is another sketch! Yeah! It went together really quickly! I'm switching gears a little going from Halloween to Christmas. This sketch just seemed to be calling out for Stampin' Up!'s "A Cute Christmas" set in the Holiday Mini! Make sure to check out to see what the rest of the Challenge Team did this week with the sketch, then create your own and upload it over on the Create website! Make sure to use CCMC116 in your post. We love to see your creations!

And here is my "A Cute Christmas" card! Lots of dots going on here!

This new Candy Cane Christmas Specialty Designer Paper is going to be a FAVORITE of mine, I can tell! It has new and updated colors for Christmas AND it glitters! I think Christmas is ALL about the glitter! (And you knew it was probably Mary and my favorite because we have it on the Create with Connie and Julie website, right???)

Anyway, back to the card. I started with a base of Poppy Parade and layered on Whisper White. Then I added Baja Breeze that I ran thru the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder. I took my color scheme from the Glitter Dot Designer paper on the right side and layered that on Poppy Parade. Then I stamped the mitten image from A Cute Christmas in Basic Black and colored it with Baja Breeze and Poppy Parade Stampin' Write Markers. One of the mittens has a beautiful Rhinestone Jewel on it for some added sparkle.

I wanted to do something a little different for the ribbon treatment, so I used the Dotted Ribbon Punch and did some stitch sewing with the Linen Thread to make Xs in the holes. I stamped the greeting on Whisper White, then punched with the Small Oval and layered on the Baja Breeze Large Oval and finally the Scallop Oval in Poppy Parade. I punched out three of the dots from the Designer Paper and added them for "faux brads" on top of the stamped image with Mini Glue Dots! I think it made a FUN card!

Again, check out what the other Challenge Team Designers on Create with Connie and Mary did this week! I'm sure they are FABULOUS! And…don't forget…Early Bird Special price of $34.95 going on now! Save $5 off the regular price!