Stampin' Up!

Ohio State Christmas Cards

December 23, 2009 By Connie | 1 Comment

This will be VERY quick! I'm feeling VERY behind this year on everything! I'm still wrapping the last couple gifts! I never am this late. I've just had one thing after another going on and still trying to catch up. Still have one more run to the grocery store for dessert ingredients for Christmas dinner (here!)

My son asked me to make two special cards to go with his bosses' Christmas gifts. They are former Ohio State golf players, so I quickly put together a couple Ohio State themed cards. He says they loved them!

You can see they are basically the same supplies, but by turning the orientation and sizes of the layers, they look different! I used the Block O and Buckeye leaf and nut Quickutz dies and ran them thru my Big Shot. The Real Red Patterns Designer Paper is from a hostess pack last year (?) The Scarlet/Gray ribbon I found at my LSS. I stamped Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings in Basic Black.

Card stock colors used were base cards of Real Red, Basic Black, Going Gray, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel.

Merry Christmas! I have a post ready to go Friday and Saturday, you may or may not get a post from me tomorrow!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Bloggers Challenge – Sketch

December 18, 2009 By Connie | 15 Comments

I'm back! I've been hit or miss on the Bloggers' Challenges the past month. Just too crazy busy, I guess! I love sketch challenges, though, so couldn't let this one go by without doing up a card real quick!

Here is the sketch for today's challenge. I decided to turn it on the vertical to make my card.

The Stampin' Up! stamp, A Brand New Year, is one I really purchased for future use. I knew that I wouldn't be making New Year's cards THIS year, but I loved this stamp! I figure sometime in the future, I can use it on scrapbook pages or for invitations. I don't have anything like it in my stash!

I started with a base of Shimmer White cardstock and layered on Brushed Gold cardstock. I ran the Soft Suede layer thru the Big Shot with the Petals A Plenty Impressions Folder and highlighted each of the flower centers with a blender pen and Encore Gold Metallic Ink. I stamped the A Brand New Year image in Versamark on Shimmer White and embossed with Gold Embossing Powder. I colored in the champagne glass with Sahara Sand Stampin' Write Marker. This was layered onto Basic Black for some drama! As a final touch, I added three clear round Rhinestone Brads along the left side and a strip of Groom Designer Stripe Paper along the top!

I think this card has a lot of impact! What do you think? I hope you have a wonderful weekend and finish up everything you need to do to get ready for Christmas!

INKspired Treasures Blog

Serene Snowflakes

December 17, 2009 By Connie | Leave a Comment

Another card that fits the non-traditional color theme over on Latenightstampers! My upline received a similar card from her upline and I loved it, so had to CASE it! It uses the Tulipe Bigz Die (ON SALE NOW CLICK FOR DETAILS HERE !) as an accent. The Tulipe is cut and the center part and Melon Moss part opens up and the Bermuda Bay flap folds down. Great to hold a gift card!

The base is Sahara Sand at 4 1/4 x 11 and scored at 1 3/4 and 7 1/4. The designer paper is Thoroughly Modern. The large snowflake from Stampin' Up!'s Serene Snowflakes was stamped in Bermuda Bay on Whisper White, then the trio snowflakes stamped in Melon Mambo. I layered the Whisper White on Melon Mambo card stock. Peace on Earth from Four Holidays Stamp Set was inked with Soft Suede Classic Ink. I added a pink Ice Circle Rhinestone brad in the center. The Tulipe Bigz Die was cut on the Big Shot with Soft Suede.

I used the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint and a sponge dauber all around the edges of the layers, on the snowflakes and on the Tulipe diecut! It is so pretty in real life. (AND, good news!…Shimmer Paint will continue to be available as a write-in item in our catalog! Yeah! I love that stuff!)

In the second picture, I left the bottom folded up so you could see how the Tulipe diecut was placed, but the flap actually folds down.

Isn't this a fun card? I'll be using that Tulipe die again that way!

Well, still trying to catch up on everything for Christmas. I did get almost all my shopping done…only one more gift to get. Yeah!

Don't forget to visit us over on the Create with Connie and Julie Occasions Edition blog. Our Early Bird Special for only $34.95 is a fantastic deal for NINE full weeks! We have three very talented designers joining us for this session. It is going to be even bigger and better than the Holiday Edition! See a sneak peak preview over there, too!

INKspired Treasures Blog

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Decorated tins

December 16, 2009 By Connie | 3 Comments

At a recent craft fair, I was commissioned by a local high school PTO to make tins in their school colors for Christmas gifts for the high school teachers. Their school mascot/name is the "Shamrocks". I made 206 of these nugget tins, but filled them with Waggoners Buckeye Candies (an Ohio treat!) While they took much longer to make than I anticipated, I really liked how they turned out and she was thrilled with them when she picked them up.

Not a lot of Stampin' Up! products were used. I couldn't match up the green with any of our colors. I did use Whisper White and Basic Black, along with the Scallop Circle Punch and Modern Label Punch. Sweetest Holiday Wishes was computer generated. I used a 2" circle punch behind the scallop. The shamrock is a Quickutz die that I ran thru the Big Shot. The dotted designer paper is made by Jilli Bean. I placed a green button on each of the shamrocks.

Here is one box of 4 that were full of finished tins! I hope the teachers like them!

INKspired Treasures Blog

Click here for details on Stampin' Up!'s BIG SHOT EXTRAVAGANZA SALE and purchase the Big Shot machine from me for only $79.95!!!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER ONLINE 24/7!

Elf Punch Art

December 15, 2009 By Connie | 1 Comment

This punch art elf is based on some of the images that have been floating around the internet, however, I thought he'd be cute holding onto a Christmas Letter to Santa!

I started with a base card of Bermuda Bay card stock and stamped the snowflake from Stampin' Up!'s Winter Post stamp set randomly across the top half. Along the bottom, I placed some Merry Moments Designer Paper in the red stripe pattern. I hid the seam with a strip of Basic Black card stock. The letter is made with the Scallop Envelope die, I folded it up and adhered the front side to the base card and stamped the snowflake around the edges. I used the Santa Postmark from Winter Post in Basic Black Classic Ink in the upper right corner. Merry Christmas is from the set, Christmas Greetings and stamped in Basic Black ink, too.

I made the Elf head with the Ornament Punch, the hat is also done with the Ornament Punch and then cut with the Wide Oval Punch. The pom pom on his hat is the scallop flower from BoHo Blossoms. His pointed ears are the star flower from BoHo Blossoms punch, too. His hands holding the Christmas letter are made with the Word Window Punch. The eyes are Bermuda Bay 1/4 circles with 1/8 Basic Black and highlighted with a White Gel Pen. I colored his cheeks with Blush Blossom marker and his mouth with a Basic Black marker. His nose is also a 1/4 circle from Blush Blossom.

I hope you enjoy my version of the Elf punch art! My classes enjoyed making him!

INKspired Treasures Blog

Click here for details on Stampin' Up!'s BIG SHOT EXTRAVAGANZA SALE and purchase the Big Shot machine from me for only $79.95!!!

Snow Buddies – TSSC100

December 14, 2009 By Connie | 4 Comments

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We celebrated Christmas with my son and his fiance over the weekend since they were in town. We also spent several days working up the sample of their wedding invitation. I think we have it nailed down now. I'll order all the card stock, but probably won't start working on them until February. Beth and her mom want to come back in town and help!

Woohoo! Mary Jo is celebrating sketch #100! I love it when I have time to do her sketches. Congratulations! I combined her sketch with my Design Team challenge for Latenightstampers — using non-traditional Christmas colors!

I started with a base of Regal Rose card stock and added a layer of Certainly Celery. I cut up the grid sizes in Whisper White and used the checked pattern in Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper. On the Whisper White, I used the three sizes of snowflakes in Snow Buddies, the largest in Certainly Celery, middle size in Regal Rose and the small size I stamped off using Regal Rose for a lighter shade. I stamped the small snowman, from Stampin' Up!'s Snow Buddies, with Basic Black Ink on Whisper White and colored with my Stampin' Write markers in Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Blush Blossom and Bashful Blue. I punched him out with the Wide Oval Punch, then layered him on Regal Rose and Certainly Celery ovals cut from the Bigz Ovals Die. I used the White Gel Pen and made polka dots around the larger oval to fill in the space a little. Finally, I stamped Happy Holidays from Stampin' Up!'s Four The Holidays stamp set in Basic Black Ink.

I think it makes a fun holiday card and I love the non-traditional look! Hope you have a great week…mine is a BUSY one again!

Stamping 411

December 12, 2009 By Connie | 5 Comments

Another week and it is Stamping 411 sketch challenge time again! This one was a little more challenging than normal! I hope I did the sketch justice.

I started with a base of Real Red card stock and added a layer of Soft Suede. On top of that is a piece of Christmas Cocoa Designer Paper. I added two strips of Real Red Gingham Ribbon, one to hide the seam and one for decoration above it. I used the Hostess Level 2 Christmas Punch stamp, colored it up with Soft Suede and Real Red Stampin' Write Markers and used the Wide Oval Punch to punch it out.

I stamped two Poinsettias from Stampin' Up!'s Berry Christmas with Real Red, the centers with Soft Suede and the leaves with Soft Suede. I added some Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds in the centers, too. As a final touch, I added the little bird from Merry Details out of Real Red card stock.

I like how it turned out! Check out the rest of the Stamping 411 Operators this week to see what they did! I'm anxious to see, too! Hope you play along and link to Mr. Linky over on Stamping 411.

Merry and Bright Snowflake tags

December 11, 2009 By Connie | Leave a Comment

Every year I make the tags for my Christmas presents. I had to get some done for this weekend since we are doing Christmas with my son and his fiance this weekend. I'll make close to 50 tags by the time I'm done…I know!!!

This uses the retired Stampin' Up! Merry & Bright stamp set, but I absolutely LOVE the snowman because it fits perfectly when punching out circles AND it coordinates with my snowflake wrapping paper!

The Snowflake #2 Bigz Die is actually cut from the Designer Paper backing cardboard sheets to give it some added weight rather than regular Whisper White cardstock. I stamped the Snowman on Whisper White with Basic Black, then colored with Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red Stampin' Write Markers…very simple! He was punched with the 1 1/4 circle, then adhered to the 1 3/8 Real Red punched circle. On the back I stamped To/From and punched with the 1 1/4 circle and backed it wih the 1 3/8 Real Red punched circles again.

Have a great weekend!

Click here for details on Stampin' Up!'s BIG SHOT EXTRAVAGANZA SALE and purchase the Big Shot machine from me for only $79.95!!!