Autumn Splendor

October 11, 2010 By Connie | 3 Comments

Well…we had some exciting news this weekend! Our youngest son, Ross, just got engaged to his girlfriend, Allie! We are SO happy to have Allie officially join our family. She has been "around" for a long time, so we've gotten to know and love her already. They knew each other in high school and started dating in college. They are thinking next August for the wedding. Yeah! Here they are together! Aren't they CUTE?

So…now on to one of the cards that my Technique Class did this month! I pulled out one of my favorite looks…pastels over bleach! Easy to do, although it does "smell" a little…even with floral scented bleach! (Yeah, right!) But, that soon goes away. I just make sure to throw out my bleach paper towel as soon as I'm done.

I used Early Espresso for the background and it bleached to a nice Peach Pizzazz color! Stampin' Up!'s Autumn Splendor leaves work perfectly with this technique. Surprisingly enough, I tried Basic Black first, because that is what I normally use, and it only bleached it VERY slightly. So…always check your cardstock to see what color it will bleach before you work on an entire project. It can even change from package to package! And…make sure you use fresh, new bleach. I had just purchased a new jug.

The base of the card is Peach Parfait. I layered the bleached Early Espresso on Pear Pizzazz. I did the medallion treatment that Gretchen Barron did (I think) using the Designer Label Punch. It is 3 of the punches layered on top of each other. Then the middle oval from the Ovals Die and another Designer Label on top. I stamped the greeting from Grateful Greeting in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla. I stamped the acorns on Crumb Cake cardstock and cut them out. I tied a knot in the Victorial Crochet Trim and added it on top of the acorns with a Mini Glue Dot.

This card is truly vibrant in real life! It was a hit in class!

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 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!

Autumn Splendor

October 1, 2009 By Connie | 2 Comments

I’m having so much fun using the Stampin’ Up! Table Settings Die! Did you know that with a $250 workshop, you can purchase it (or anything else in the Holiday Mini Catalog) for only $10? What a bargain! Note: it cannot be an online order, though…you must place the order directly through me to get this hostess benefit.

I made another one of the small pumpkins from the Spiral on the Table Settings Bigz XL Die. When I first saw that piece of the die, I wondered if I ever would use the spiral. I know now that I definitely will be using it a lot! Did you see the pumpkins on the 12×12 Scrapbook page I made over on Create with Connie and Julie during Preview week? What about the table setting I posted over there yesterday? And today I have some fun fall tree ornaments posted using it!

October is birthday month for us, so I made this cute pumpkin card for my mom whose birthday is next week. I cut off a couple of the outside rings on the spiral from the Table Settings die to make it smaller to fit on the card! I sponged the edges with Pumpkin Pie Classic ink for some added dimension. The leaf I stamped from the Autumn Splendor Stamp set in Chocolate Chip Classic ink on Always Artichoke cardstock, cut it out and sponged the edges with Always Artichoke Classic ink. The stem I cut free hand from Chocolate Chip cardstock.

The base card is Pumpkin Pie cardstock and I layered a 4×4 piece of Autumn Meadows Designer Paper on top. I added some Always Artichoke cardstock punched with the Eyelet Border punch across the bottom and added Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon to hide the seam there. For behind the pumpkin, I cut a square of Kraft cardstock and layered it on Always Artichoke cardstock and sponged Chocolate Chip ink around the edges. I used the 3/8 Corner Rounder on the top two corners of each layer. I also used my Paper Piercing Tool and the Piercing mat to punch a small design in the upper right corner…it was kind of blank there and I think it dresses it up a little! The pumpkin I added on top with some Stampin’ Dimensionals! Finally, I added the birthday greeting from On Your Birthday in Chocolate Chip Classic ink.

Thanks for stopping by today and don’t forget to check out Preview Week!

Supplies:

Stamps: Autumn Splendor (116503), On Your Birthday (111664)

Classic Inks: Chocolate Chip (100908), Pumpkin Pie (105216), Always Artichoke (105219)

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie (105117), Always Artichoke (105119), Chocolate Chip (102128), Kraft (102125)

Accessories: Autumn Meadows Designer Paper (116769), Tabletop Settings Bigz XL Die (116819), Paper Piercing Tool (116631) and Mat (105826), Eyelet Border Punch (113692), Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon (109071)

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September Card Kit & Autumn Splendor

September 22, 2009 By Connie | Leave a Comment

Reminder that the last day to order my September Card Kit is Thursday, September 24th! You can find more details HERE!

I hope you enjoyed the Tour de Freaks blog tour over the past couple days! I know I saw a lot of great ideas…hope you did, too! Come back for next month’s tour on October 20th!

This week’s challenge over on Late Night Stampers is to dust off those chalk pastels you have sitting in a drawer! I know I hadn’t used mine in quite a while! For this card, I used the technique of using chalks in the background.

I started by stamping the leaf from Autumn Splendor on Kraft cardstock with Basic Brown ink. I used various colors of Stampin’ Up! Pastels and cotton balls to scrub the chalk into the cardstock in a circular motion. I used a Sponge Dauber and Basic Brown ink around the edges of the cardstock. I followed the same procedure with the Give Thanks image from Holiday Best, the Level 1 Hostess set and punched it with the Wide Oval punch.

The base card is Kraft cardstock with a layer of Really Rust. I added a strip of Autumn Meadows Designer Paper along the bottom and wrapped some 1" Chocolate Chip ribbon to hide the seam and secured it in back. Finally, I stamped the acorns from Autumn Splendor on Kraft cardstock with the Basic Brown ink and cut them out. They were placed on the leaf image with dimensionals. To make sure the chalk doesn’t rub off by touching it, I lightly spritzed the cardstock with a Matte Sealer spray.

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Bloggers Challenge – Thinking of You

September 11, 2009 By Connie | 15 Comments

Happy Friday! I’m headed off this afternoon to attend the Cincinnati Regionals tomorrow! Woohoo!!! So excited…it is like a mini Convention! I’ll be catching up with several people I normally only see at Convention or Leadership, so that will be fun!

Today’s Bloggers’ Challenge is to create a Thinking of You card. I seem to use a lot of this type of card. I wanted to use one of the new fall sets in the Holiday Mini called Autumn Splendor. The leaves have a beautiful fine drawing which makes it perfect for coloring, embossing or just stamping in colors. I have seen some gorgeous cards done with this set!

I also used the coordinating fall designer paper in the big catalog, called Autumn Traditions. These are definitely MY colors! I love the Earth Elements color family! The base is More Mustard and I placed a layer of Soft Suede cardstock on top of that. Then I punched 1 1/4 squares from the Designer Paper and placed them like tiles in the background. I stamped the leaf with Versamark on More Mustard and the acorns on Soft Suede, embossed them with Gold Embossing Powder, then cut them out. Thinking of You is from Thoughts & Prayers stamp set. I cut out the tag from the Matchbox XL Bigz Die with my Big Shot and More Mustard cardstock, then stamped the words in Basic Brown and sponged the edges. I really like how this turned out!

I hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend! It is supposed to be gorgeous here!

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