Travel Journal

Create with Connie and Mary Father’s Day Challenge

June 17, 2010 By Connie | 2 Comments

Create with Connie and Mary's Thursday Challenge is a Father's Day card challenge! Or masculine card challenge if you'd prefer! We've always had challenges for our subscribers, but now every Thursday we will offer a sketch, color or inspiration challenge for EVERYONE to try. Just check to see what the challenge is for the week, then submit your entry via INLINKZ over on the Create with Connie and Mary blog. Please state in your post that it is a Create with Connie and Mary Challenge and the corresponding challenge number (CCMC103 is today!) Come play with us!

Recently my Punch Classes made a card using the Punch Art wrench and they loved it. Here is another idea using the Punch Art Wrench! I combined with with the Happy Father's Day greeting from All Holidays. I started with a base of Kraft cardstock and layered on Soft Suede. I used a piece of stripe paper from Travel Journal Designer Paper and layered that on top. I stamped Happy Father's Day once in Soft Suede and once in Pumpkin Pie on Very Vanilla, then cut out the Pumpkin Pie center and layered it over the Soft Suede. I layered the Very Vanilla on Pumpkin Pie cardstock and placed on front.

For the punch art wrench, I used the Boho Blossoms punch and the 1" circle punch for the bottom, the 1 3/8 Circle punch and Word Window punch for the top. The middle is just a rectangle piece of cardstock. I sponged along all the edges with Soft Suede ink. Finally, I added two Circle Designer Brads (retiring!) in the upper right corner. I thought they looked a little like bolts! Clever, huh?

Make sure to check out Create with Connie and Mary to see Mary's delightful card this week!

Create with Connie and Mary is looking for three Design Team Members to play along with our Thursday Creative Challenges each week! You'll need to use Stampin' Up! only products, have a blog where you can post your Thursday Challenge card, and love to use sketch, color or inspiration challenges as a starting point in your creations! See more details over on Create with Connie and Mary! We'd love for you to join us each week!

Stamping 411 Reveal!

May 27, 2010 By Connie | 4 Comments

Did you have a chance to go over and play the Stamping 411 guessing game in celebration of our One Year Anniversary of Stamping 411 Sketch Blog? It's been a fun year! Selene came up with the idea for us to post one of the other Design Operator's cards on our blog, and have the readers guess whose card it might be from the style. She'll be posting the Blog Candy Winners soon…so check it out!

I must have fooled a lot of people because guesses for me were way over the board, even from the Design Operators! I hope that means I have a very eclectic style! I think I confused everyone with Gretchen because she had posted the scallop envelope the week before…my card was already in the mail and I didn't know it! But now for the Big Reveal…here is MY actual card.

I started with a base of Bashful Blue cardstock and layered along the bottom the diagonal strip pattern from Travel Journal Designer Paper. The top Kraft layer, I stamped randomly with Night of Navy Classic Ink and the Sentimental Jouney Stamp Set. I also used Itty Bitty Backgrounds for some added speckles of Night of Navy ink. I wrapped two pieces of Night of Navy Grosgrain Ribbon around to the back to secure and hide the seam.

I ran the Scallop Envelope die thru the Big Shot with Night of Navy cardstock, then ran it thru again with the Square Lattice Impressions Folder to emboss it. I placed it on the front with a small Bashful Blue card inside that I stamped with Stampin' Up!'s Wonderful Favorites stamp set in Night of Navy Classic Ink. Finally, I stamped the compass from Sentimental Jouney in Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink and punched with the 1" circle punch. I added an Vintage mini brad in the center and adhered it to the envelope.

We sent our cards off to Selene to photograph…she did a mini swap and mailed them out randomly to the other Design Operators…I wonder who got mine?

I hope you have a wonderful day! My Stamp Clubs meet tonight…need to finish up getting ready for them and CLEAN my room! lol!

CCMC3 – Color Challenge

May 15, 2010 By Connie | Leave a Comment

Over on Create with Connie and Mary's Saturday Challenge, we have a color combination challenge! It is the only day we share our cards/projects on our personal blogs along with on the Create site for subscribers. Our subscribers are invited to play along for a chance to win one of two $75 merchandise gift certificates or a chance at one of four free subscriptions to the next Edition!

This CCMC3 Challenge we were to use the colors of Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Garden Green, Kraft and Pumpkin Pie. Hint…all these colors are in the Travel Jounal Designer Paper. We've been featuring it this week, along with Pedalling Past and Sentimental Journey stamp sets! It's not too late to join! You are able to see and download all the posts we've already done AND will still have two more full weeks of projects and ideas to look forward to getting! The Summer Mini is just FULL of great products!

I made a small sized square card for my challenge card. It is 4 1/4 square, so will fit in a Medium sized envelope without extra postage costs. I used Kraft for the base, then layered on Night of Navy cardstock. I used the printed map from Travel Journel Designer Paper, then used just a strip of the reverse side stripe to lay over it. Can you tell what the scallop is behind the car? YES! I used the small cog from the new Cog Punch in a scallop type pattern underneath the Pumpkin Pie circle. The car was stamped with Garden Green Classic Ink on Whisper White and punched with the 1 3/4 circle punch…then layered on the Circles #2 die, with the Kraft cogs behind it. I stamped Happy Graduation from Teeny Tiny Wishes on Garden Green and punched with the Modern Label punch. I added two Pewter Vintage Mini Brads on each side. I stamped the compass in Pumpkin Pie and punched with the 1" circle, then placed a mini brad inside and popped it up with Stampin' Dimensionals! It was FUN and I think makes a great Grad card!

Make sure to check out what the rest of the Create with Connie and Mary Design Team has done this week with the color challenge! I'm sure they will have wonderful ideas!

Mary Brown

Kerin Sylvester

Monika Davis

If you haven't checked out the Create with Connie and Mary site yet, now is the time to do it! We feature new Summer Mini products every week. There is a new project posted every day and there will be a minimum of two fabulous tutorials each and every week. We like to have lots of fun so we have challenges and prizes for our subscribers. 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!

Create with Connie and Mary Summer Edition….$24.95 US

Stamping 411 – All Holidays

May 14, 2010 By Connie | 8 Comments

Time again for another Stamping 411 Sketch…#151…wow…the weeks just FLY by, don't they? This week's sketch challenge was fun. I actually did it TWICE! Long story…lol! Good thing next week's sketch looks similar to this one!

As you can see from my card, my shape is a rectangle instead of an oval. I wanted to use the Happy Father's Day greeting from Stampin' Up!'s All Holidays. This set is one of my favorite greeting sets! I will keep it in my stash even after it retires (whenever it does…no, I don't know anything!)

I started with a base card of Not Quite Navy. Then I used the Travel Journal Designer Paper…I cut it so that it looks like two different patterns are on the one background piece. Gives it a little interest. I wrapped the 1 1/4" Striped Pumpkin Pie Ribbon around the middle and secured it in the back. Since my greeting was a little plain, I stamped it once with Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink on Very Vanilla, then stamped it again with Not Quite Navy and cut it out, layering it over the Pumpkin Pie piece. I left room at the top for a couple Not Quite Navy brads.

My Cog Punch just came in my order yesterday. Have you ever SWORN that you bought something, then looked all over for it and couldn't find it? I just knew I had purchased it on my preorder last month. But, then remembered, that we couldn't preorder. So now it is finally in my possession! I punched three of the large cogs from Not Quite Navy and placed them along the side of the greeting.

Really, it is a pretty simple card! I just love the Travel Journal Designer Paper in the background! I can't wait to see what the rest of the Stamping 411 Operators have come up with this week! I'm always amazed at how different each of our cards are…even using some of the same elements! I hope you take time to make up a card of your own with the sketch and post a link over on Mr. Linky at the Stamping 411 blog! Have a great weekend!