Stampin' Up!

Grand Vacation Hawaii Blog Hop

April 22, 2015 By Connie | 25 Comments

ALOHA!!! So excited that 30 of us going on the Stampin’ Up! Hawaii Incentive trip are participating in a BLOG HOP!!! Our theme is Hawaiian…can’t wait to see all the ideas! You’ve probably just come from Barb Mullikin’s blog! Love her project!

When thinking about what to do, I realized that I really don’t have any current Hawaiian-looking stamps. Of course, I could do flowers, but wanted a little something different. So, besides flowers…what is Hawaii known for? How about PINEAPPLES! No sets with pineapples, but I could do something with punches! Here’s my Hawaiian theme using pineapples…a card and matching little favor.

For the card I used the Perfect Print Alphabet Dies to spell out Aloha, cut from Garden Green cardstock. The five pineapples were punched with the Extra Large Oval from Hello Honey In Color Backgrounds Designer Paper! I thought the pattern in the DSP worked great! I sponged Hello Honey around the edges. The tops were stamped with the small flower in Flower Patch with Garden Green Ink and cut out. The Petite Petals flowers were punched from Tangelo Twist cardstock and the centers from Crushed Curry cardstock. Garden Green Candy Dots were placed in the centers. Here’s a closeup of the card:

Then I made a Fry Box cut from Garden Green cardstock. I used another pineapple and flower punch art on the front and added some White Bakers Twine. Hello was stamped with Tuxedo Black Ink on a strip of Whisper White across the front of the Fry Box and is from A Dozen Thoughts Stamp Set. I filled a cello bag with Tropical Trail Mix…yummy! It is tied closed with 1/8″ Gold Ribbon. Here’s a closeup:

I hope you think they are as super cute as I do! Next up on the blog hop is Alison Solven! I’m sure you will love her project, too!

Here’s the list of everyone participating:

Blog Hop List

1. Brian King

2. Louise Sharp

3. Kylie Bertucci

4. Janet Wakeland

5. Shannean Moncrieff

6. BJ Peters

7. Selene Kempton

8. Georgia Giguere

9. Linda Higgins

10. Simone Bartrum

11. Dawn Griffith

12. Marelle Taylor

13. Dena Rekow

14. Connie Stewart

15. Alisa Tilsner

16. Tami White

17. Renee Kohnke

18. Bec Ross

19. Ann Craig

20. Vanessa Webb

21. Sandi MacIver

22. Sharon Armstrong

23. Barb Mullikin

24. Connie Babbert

25. Alison Solven

26. Betty Button

27. Lisa Curcio

28. Krista Frattin

29. Kim Gavarra

30. Jacque Williams

Week 2 Blog Hop: YeeHaw

April 18, 2015 By Connie | 2 Comments

Wow! We are just finishing up Week 2 and the Design Team from Create with Connie and Mary Card “Create”tions Celebrations are showing off the stamp sets we used this past week with a BLOG HOP!!! We’ve done a little favor to match! Come take the tour and see what the designers have come up with. (Of course, you can only see the actual card set projects if you are a subscriber!) You probably have just come from Deb Currier’s blog…love her little project, don’t you?

This week I used the stamp set Yee-Haw for my card set. It’s one of the exclusive Photopolymer sets that Stampin’ Up! has introduced online, so you won’t find it in the catalog. But, if you don’t have this stamp set, you could just copy the layouts I used! Isn’t that great? Of course, that is true with ALL of the card sets our designers are doing…just change them out with images you DO have!

Once again I used the Mini Treat Bag Thinlet this week. I didn’t intend to, but Mary used my other idea last week on her favor! lol!

So…I thought I’d turn the Mini Treat Bag into a Western style shirt for the “new sheriff in town”! lol! Doesn’t it fit the Yee-Haw theme? A little bag of M&Ms fits perfectly inside!

Here are the details.

The base of the Mini Treat Bag Thinlet was cut from Night of Navy cardstock. Adhere the two pieces of the bag together, but leave it open so it can be worked on easily.
Cut some red check pattern from Maritime Designer Paper to 3-1/2 x 3-3/4. Finding the center at the bottom edge, punch the Large Oval Punch, then punched it again on the right and left of the center punch to create the points on the western shirt.
Stamp the little asterisks image randomly over the red check pattern with Night of Navy ink, then adhere it to the center portion of the bag.
At the top of the bag, cut down from the center portion approx. 1″, then cut from the side score lines to that center point to make the diagonal cut lines of the shirt collar (like a banner cut).
Cut two 1 x 2″ of Whisper White and hand-cut diagonally to form the points of the collar (note: cut at the same time to make them symmetrical.) Add Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker “stitches” along the edges.
Also cut a 1/2 x 4-1/2 strip of Whisper White and make the stitches along each side, then adhere it down the center and added the collar points on top. Trim off excess at bottom.
Pierce holes for the Candy Dot Bases in the shirt placket and on the points of the shirt, then add the Night of Navy Candy Dots on top.
Finish adhering the bag together.
Stamp the badge from Yee-Haw with Night of Navy Ink on Crushed Curry cardstock and cut out. Stamp it again with Night of Navy on Whisper White and cut out the center banner. Stamp Sheriff with Real Red Ink on the banner and adhere on Crushed Curry badge. Add badge to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Isn’t this a FUN favor for a Western party? Too cute! And…you know you want the coordinating card designs, right? So…get more information and sign up at Create with Connie and Mary! Then continue around the rest of the blog tour from there!

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* Over 72 EXCLUSIVE cards featuring 18 stamp sets!
* Edition runs April 5 – 25
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CCMC351 Flamingo Lingo

April 16, 2015 By Connie | 8 Comments

It’s Thursday and time for a Create with Connie and Mary Challenge! It’s a fun sketch! Grab your stamps and play along!

Have you purchased the Ronald McDonald House Charities set this year yet? It will soon be retired! Stampin’ Up! donates $3 to RMHC for every set sold. This year’s is especially cute! All the images on my card came from this set.

Here’s my card. I used two of the retiring In Colors, too…better grab your refills and extra cardstock or accessories while you can!

The base is 4-1/4 x 11 Coastal Cabana, folded in half.
The Basic Gray layer is 4 x 5-1/4.
Placed along the left side of the 3-3/4 x 5 layer of Whisper White is a 1-1/4 x 5 strip of the Strawberry Slush geometric lines from Confetti Celebrations. On top is a coordinating diagonal piece of the polka dots pattern, then a 1/4″ strip of the gray design, based on the sketch.
On the right side, the flamingo from Flamingo Lingo was inked with Strawberry Slush Ink, then the legs colored with the Basic Gray Marker, then stamped.
Happy Day was stamped with Tuxedo Black Ink on Coastal Cabana and cut out (or use the banner framelits) and popped up across the legs.
The flower in Flamingo Lingo was stamped three times with Crushed Curry ink on Whisper White, then punched with the Petite Petals punch.
Bright pink Candy Dots were placed in the centers and then popped up on the front of the card.
The eye was colored with a Basic Black Marker, and the ground was colored with the Sahara Sand Marker.

Isn’t this a fun card? Make sure to check out what the rest of the Challenge Team did this week over on Create with Connie and Mary! And check out the details of our latest Card “Create”tions Celebration session! It’s not too late to join!

Perfect Peacock

April 14, 2015 By Connie | 4 Comments

Now that the retirement lists will be out next week, I start thinking about stamp sets that I haven’t used as much as I planned! I used Perfect Peacock for one of my Blendabilities classes a while back and still had this sample sitting on my desk already colored! So, I turned it into a card! I used a cool Framelit technique…only the bottom tail of the peacock is cut out, the rest is cut by the Circle Framelit! I’m also using my FAVORITE retiring In Color, Coastal Cabana! Waaah! What will I do without it?

Here are the details:

The base is 4-1/4 x 11 Whisper White, with the bottom corners rounded with the Project Life Corner Rounder.
Coastal Cabana cardstock layer is cut 4 x 5-1/4 and the corners rounded, too.
On a piece of Whisper White, the Perfect Peacock image was stamped with Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Coastal Cabana and Rich Razzleberry. (Substitute the Stampin’ Write Markers and an AquaPainter for a similar look since the Blendies are not available anymore.)
Use the Circle Framelit sized to fit around the image and draw a pencil circle on the inside of the Framelit around the peacock image. Cut the portion of the image that falls outside the circle up to the pencil line.
Slip the outside portion of the image ABOVE the Circle Framelit so it doesn’t cut and then line up the Framelit with the pencil circle you made. Run thru the Big Shot to cut.
Add the image to the front with Stampin’ dimensionals.
Add some small Pearls for a little bling.
Stamp the Happy Birthday greeting from the hostess set Because You Care with Tuxedo Black ink in the lower right area. I love this greeting set!

Week 1 Blog Hop: Simply Sports

April 11, 2015 By Connie | 1 Comment

WOOHOO! The Design Team from Create with Connie and Mary Card “Create”tions Celebrations are showing off the stamp sets we used this past week with a BLOG HOP!!! We’ve done a little favor to match! Come take the tour and see what the designers have come up with. (Of course, you can only see the actual card set projects if you are a subscriber!) You probably have just come from Deb Currier’s blog…love her little project, don’t you? Before you take the tour, here is some information about our Card “Create”tions Celebrations session:

We are just getting started over on Create with Connie and Mary Card “Create”tions Celebrations edition! It’s all about CARDS! We know so many of you LOVE these editions! We will use 18 different sets in the Annual and Occasions Catalogs and feature 4 cards in a set using them! That’s over 72 card ideas…for only $19.95 US! Kick off the end of the Stampin’ Up! year with these ideas for your classes and stamp camps (but, of course, you don’t need to be a demo to join!) See more details over on Create with Connie and Mary!

This week I used the stamp set Simply Sports for my card set. But, if you don’t have this stamp set, you could use any image that would fit within the circle! Just copy the layouts I used! Isn’t that great? Of course, that is true with ALL of the card sets our designers are doing…just change them out with images you DO have!

This favor is a combination of the Mini Treat Bag Thinlet turned into a box, PLUS a slider! See what I mean?

And here it is with the candy slider pulled out by the ribbon! Isn’t that fun? As you pull the ribbon up, the candy box comes up, too!

Here are the details:

I cut the Mini Treat Bag from Basic Black cardstock. I adhered it closed as normal, except I cut off the bottom tab.
I scored the sides 1/2″ from each side and the bottom 1/2″. Slit up the score lines at the bottom in each corner to make tabs, then open up the Mini Treat Bag and secure the bottom with Sticky Strip to the tabs.
The front was decorated with the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 Pumpkin Pie Brights Backgrounds Designer Paper Stack, cut on a diagonal.
I added some Stacked with Love Washi Tape along the left side and punched some Chevron punches from Basic Black cardstock for the bottom right side.
The basketball image from Simply Sports was stamped with Tuxedo Black Ink on Whisper White and cut with the 4th from the smallest Circle Framelit. It was placed on the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
Go Team from Simply Sports was stamped with Tuxedo Black Ink on Pumpkin Pie cardstock and cut out, then adhered to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
Two 1/4″ circles were punched at the top front and back of the Mini Treat Bag, then the ribbon fitted around the candy (decorated with DSP), and pulled thru the holes from the inside out, then tied with White Bakers Twine tied in a bow.

Isn’t that sweet? I was really happy with how it turned out…and how it looks with the card set (remember, only our subscribers can see our card sets…so go sign up!)

You can find out more details over at the Create with Connie and Mary website which is your next stop, then continue around the tour until you see all the Design Team favors!!! Thanks for stopping by!

CCMC350 Big On You

April 9, 2015 By Connie | 7 Comments

It’s Thursday and time for another Create with Connie and Mary Thursday Challenge! It’s a fun color challenge, taken directly out of the Birthday Bash Designer Paper colors!

I had purchased the Big On You stamp set in the Occasions Catalog, but hadn’t used it much. I thought this would be a perfect time to pull it out! Isn’t this card fun with the little punch art Party Hats and Pom Pom trim? Sure hope Stampin’ Up! puts that trim back in the ordering system soon!

Here are the details:

The base is 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 Whisper White cardstock, folded in half.
On the 4 x 5-1/4 layer of Crushed Curry, It’s Your Day from Big On You was stamped with Night of Navy Ink and colored with the Crushed Curry Stampin’ Write Marker.
On the left, a 1-1/2 x 4 strip of Birthday Bash Designer Paper was adhered, then a 1/2 x 4 strip of Calypso Coral hides the seam.
A 2-1/2 Circle was punched from Night of Navy cardstock and added to the front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
The party hats were punched from the Birthday Bash DSP with the Petite Pennants Builder Punch, then punched again with Night of Navy cardstock and just the bottom trimmed off the Night of Navy ones to add as the band on the DSP ones.
Two Calypso Coral Pom Poms were cut off the string and adhered to the tops of the Party Hats with Tombow Monoadhesive Glue, then added to the front of the 2-1/2 Circle with Stampin’ Dimensionals!
I had a little Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper star on my desk, punched from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack that I added in the bottom right corner for some bling!

Lots of fun for a birthday card, huh? Make sure to check out what the rest of the Challenge Team did with these colors over on Create with Connie and Mary! And, while you are there…sign up for our latest Card “Create”tions Celebrations session! We just got started with over 72 card ideas from 18 stamp sets! You don’t want to miss it for only $19.95 US!

Petal Potpourri

April 8, 2015 By Connie | 3 Comments

Woohoo!!! We are just getting started over on Create with Connie and Mary Card “Create”tions Celebrations edition! It’s all about CARDS! We know so many of you LOVE these editions! We will use 18 different sets in the Annual and Occasions Catalogs and feature 4 cards in a set using them! That’s over 72 card ideas…for only $19.95 US! Kick off the end of the Stampin’ Up! year with these ideas for your classes and stamp camps (but, of course, you don’t need to be a demo to join!) See more details over on Create with Connie and Mary!

I used Petal Potpourri for my FREE TUTORIAL during Preview Week…see it over here on Create with Connie and Mary if you missed it. I had also made this card first at the same time, but it didn’t fit the direction I went using Gold Soiree DSP and the Party Pennants Die. I still really like it, though…great workshop card! I like how the lighter shade of Crisp Cantaloupe in the background almost looks like it is under vellum!

Here are the details:

The base is 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 Garden Green, folded in half.
On the 4 x 5-1/4 Whisper White layer, the Petal Potpourri flower image was stamped three times with Crisp Cantaloupe Ink. The centers were stamped with Gold Metallic Ink.
The greeting from Because You Care Hostess set was stamped with Tuxedo Black Ink on the right side.
On scrap Whisper White, the flower was stamped again with Calypso Coral Ink and Garden Green Ink and both punched with the Flower Medallion Punch. The leaves were made by cutting the petals into pairs.
Calypso Coral was punched with the Flower Medallion Punch for behind the inked flower.
The center was stamped with Gold Metallic Ink on Whisper White and punched with the 1/2″ Circle Punch.
Everything was put together with Stampin’ Dimensionals and added to the front.

Love it! I think I’ll make some more in different colors for my mom for Mother’s Day! She’ll like that!

SUOC120 Bravo

April 7, 2015 By Connie | Leave a Comment

This week’s challenge over on SUO Challenges REALLY challenged me! As I’m writing this on Monday during the day, the NCAA Basketball Tournament is down to two teams…Wisconsin and Duke who will play Monday night. Although Ohio State is my team of choice, my daughter-in-law is from Wisconsin and a big fan. So, I created a “way to go” card using Wisconsin’s team colors, Red/White and Black as big congratulations for beating Kentucky on Saturday! Woohoo! GO Big Ten! I’m HOPING that they win against Duke tonight!

Here are the details:

The base is 4 1/4 x 11 Real Red.
The next layer is 4 x 5 1/4 Basic Black cardstock.
On top is a 2 x 5 1/4 Real Red Patterns DSP towards the left side.
Way to Go from Bravo stamp set was stamped with Tuxedo Black on Whisper White, then cut with the Circle Framelit. It is layered on a Real Red Starburst Framelit with Stampin’ Dimensionals. In between I placed a 1/4 x 5 1/4 strip of Basic Black cardstock.
Finally, I stamped Itty Bitty Punched Stars from Silver Glimmer Paper and added to the front.

A very simple card, but it meets the SUO Team Colors Challenge this week, even though it isn’t my beloved Ohio State colors…it is close! Check out what the rest of the Stampin’ Up! Only Challenge Design Team did this week!