Create with Connie and Mary--Hot Summer Days!

When I think of “Hot Summer Days” I definitely think of ice cream! I hope you enjoying this weeks Create with Connie and Mary Blog Hop theme! Make sure you visit everyone on the Hop!

We have been having some super hot days here in Alberta and I am LOVING every minute of it! And summer ice cream calories don’t count I have decided!

Have you been following along with my blog regularly? Are you noticing a trend…maybe with the Playing with Patterns Suite? Hahaha, I don’t even notice I am using it half the time! It just seems to work with EVERYTHING! Hopefully I have you hooked on it too and you can use my August Host Code to shop for anything you need!

What is unique about this page, is all of the DSP strips of paper are actually from 6x6 DSP stacks! You would never know though as I strategically hid the seams behind the photos. I used the Playing With Patterns, In Color, Whale of a Time and Flowers for Every Season 6x6 collections. I used my finger nail to soften the edges of the DSP to give it some added texture when I added it to the 12 x 12 Whisper White.

I used a trusty old favourite, the baby wipe technique, to create this soft background. I then used my Water Painter to flick the Coastal Cabana ink all over.

I don’t know how you feel about ice cream but I think the sentiments on this page describe my feelings for it perfectly! Hahaha! And my sons expression on his triple scoop ice cream cone is just priceless!

I used a bunch of different sentiments from three different stamp sets to enhance this page. I used Nothings Better Than, Blossoms in Bloom, and Bloom and Grow. And of course, the Playful Alphabet dies!

I hope you enjoy what the other gals have created this week for you and I hope you are having an awesome summer yourself! You can go back to see what Melissa has created and next to see what Connie has designed!

Create with Connie and Mary--Playing With Patterns ALL DAY LONG

When Connie and Mary shared that our design theme for this week was to feature the Playing with Patterns Suite, I won’t lie, I was pretty excited as it is my favourite suite in the new catalogue! I love the fun colors and its one of the best 6x6 Designer Papers we have ever had (in my humble opinion!). Creating this projected also worked out well because my Avid Stamping group that meets monthly, also made these projects earlier this summer. I love when projects can do double duty!

I decided to make three fun and colourful cards with the Playing with Patterns Suite keeping the color palette true to the suite.

When I make cards that all coordinate, whether its the same bundle, suite or stamp set, I do like to present them with coordinating packaging. I think its a great touch and makes giving the collection as a gift super easy as even envelopes are included. I still LOVE our Acetate boxes that are in the catalogue, don’t forget about them because they are not ‘new’.

The stamped envelopes that coordinate with each card are seriously just the cutest. I love getting mail (especially when its not bills) and having these show up in my mailbox would really brighten my day.

The first card I created was this fun shaker option as I had not made one in quite a while. I started with a Night of Navy card base and stamped the stripes in the same color ink on the background (p.s I love that this stamp from the Pattern Play stamp set fits the width of the card!). I used a circle die to cut out the window/shaker component and then stamped some hearts in opposing corners in Calypso Coral with an added marker flick (to take away a bit of the white). The Adhesive Strips were perfect for bending around the circle on the back of the card. I then used the Confetti Flowers Border punch to punch out a selection of flowers in the coordinating colors. I added in some sequins from the Woven Threads as some extra filler.

I cut the Coastal Cabana DSP from the Playing with Patterns 6x6 stack to 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 and secured it to the Adhesive strips to enclose everything and create the shaker.

HI was cut using the awesome Playful Alphabet Dies (a serious MUST HAVE) and added to the Adhesive Sheets so they would be raised up. I love how this card turned out!

For this card, I wanted to use the Playful Alphabet dies in a bit of different way by featuring the negative image of the letters. I started with a Blushing Bride base and cut the word SMILE out. I layered. a strip of DSP behind and raised it up on Dimensionals on the card base. I stamped the chevron image in Coastal Cabana on the card base along with some marker flicking. The Crushed Curry scallop detail under SMILE is cut from one of the dies in the Peony set. I borrowed the word ‘friend’ from the Field of Flowers stamp set.

This card might be my favourite of the three—-I think I love the Coastal Cabana base and using the two different dot stamp sets in the collection. Cue the Confetti is stamped in Calypso Coral ink on Blushing Bride cards stock. I cut four strips of DSP that are 2 1/4 by 3/4 and added them overlapping and at different angles. A couple pieces of ribbon and some embellishments and voila!

I absolutely LOVE this card project and its just the kind of project my Avid stamping group loves! I hope you do too!

I hope you are enjoying the blog hop so far…if you are starting here you can go Back to check out Melissa’s creation or Next to see what Connie has stamped for us!

In the Pines

One of the amazing things about where I live, Edmonton, Alberta is how close to the Rocky Mountains I am and all of the beautiful forests. As soon as I saw this stamp set, In the Pines, in the catalogue I knew it needed to be on my first order! It reminds me of an Albertan Winter!

I used Misty Moonlight as my base and first layer. I stamped the little ‘dots’, which could be snow, around the perimeter of the card base layer. Notice the embossing folder? LOVE! It is called the Evergreen Forest 3D Embossing folder. It’s actually tucked away in the Handmade for You catty, so make sure you don’t miss it on page 35. It works perfectly with this bundle.

I decided to mix stamping and die cutting on this card. The stamped tree is in Just Jade, with the filler layer stamped off to achieve a slightly lighter tone of the ink. The wider of the two trees is cut out of Shaded Spruce card stock using the Pine Wood Dies. Shaded Spruce and Just Jade look so so good together. Its definitely a color combo I will be leaning into this holiday season! The smaller tree is cut with another die from Just Jade card stock.

The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso on Crumb Cake and cut out with the Timeless Label punch—its looks different than its original form because the paper is only wide enough for the curved section of the punch! I love to use punches in a unique way!

The Night of Navy ribbon is from the Playing with Patterns Ribbon Combo Pack and was the perfect width and texture for this card.

You could easily turn this into a Christmas card by using the other phrase in the stamp set ‘Seasons Greetings’

Christmas in July--its a thing!

Don’t believe me? Hahaha, or do you feel that its blasphemous to talk about Christmas in July? Well if you do, maybe this cute card will change your mind and get you thinking about Christmas 2020. It might be the only thing we have to look forward too. Hahaha!

Actually I can think of something else to look forward to, making awesome holiday cards and Christmas projects! I actually start this process in August believe it or not!

I created this card using traditional Christmas colors in Real Red, Old Olive and Crumb Cake and the upcoming Heartwarming Hugs Suite.

I used the Warm Hugs stamp set and Warm Wraps Dies to create this card. I started by stamping Happy Christmas randomly in Real Red on the card base. It is hard to capture in the picture, but I flicked my Wink of Stella pen across the card front as well. If you haven’t tried this before, experiments! It can add some amazing sparkle too your projects!

I cut a strip of Heartwarming Hugs DSP and layered it on some Crumb Cake. I tried some Linen Thread around in a bow. I I used three stamps from the stamp set to create the label. To highlight it, I cut a scalloped strip using one of the dies from the set and tucked it underneath the Crumb Cake.

It actually didn’t take long to create a bunch of these for a card swap I was in—yes, a Christmas in July card swap!

Create with Connie and Mary--Favourite NEW In Color!

Since Stampin’ Up! released the 5 new In Colors—Cinnamon Cider, Just Jade, Bumblee Bee, Magenta Madness and Misty Moonlight, my FAVOURITE of the 5 colors has changed almost every week as I discover new things I love about each one. So this weeks creative theme of your favourite color was a tough one!

As you can see from my bright and colourful cards, I have chosen Magenta Madness of my favourite new color du jour! I actually had a great time making these cards as they use a One Sheet Wonder template that I found on Pinterest that was originally shared by Kelly Kent, a demonstrator in Australia. I had to make one small adjustment as our card sizes/bases are a little smaller than what she was using.

If you are in North America and want to follow this template, just trim Panel A to 5 1/2—easy adjustment! Cut the DSP starting with Panel A and set off to the side. You can then cut Panel B and divide it into Panel C. That should leave you with a final strip which is Panel D.

Once I had selected Magenta Madness as my favourite color to work with this week, I new pairing it with the Flowers for Every Season DSP was a perfect choice as it has such a fun cheery color palette. Once I selected this super floral pattern, I new I could take these cards to the Avid level by accentuating them with the All Things Fabulous Bundle!

With each of the cards I did some background Tone on Tone stamping with the Magenta Madness ink and some marker flicking. The pink flowers are stamped in three pink colors—Blushing Bride, Magenta Madness and Melon Mambo in that order. If you have a Stamp-a-ratus, I would definitely pull it out to use with this bundle!

I love how perfectly this stamp set worked to create these cards. I was able to use a different sentiment from the set on each card, making it a really easy class option!

The yellow flowers are stamped in Daffodil Delight, Bumblebee and Crushed Curry in that order. I stamped the leaves in Just Jade to pull out the green on the DSP. Some of the leaves are stamped on Mint Macaron and some on Whisper White.

I addd in Blushing Bride as some mats for the DSP and its was the perfect compliment to Magenta Madness. I decided to keep all of the sentiment stamping in black ink as to not compete with all of the bright colours in the DSP.

I hope you enjoy our Blog Hop today! You should be full of In Color Inspiration for sure once you travel around to all of our blogs. You can go back to visit Melissa or next to see what Connie has created! Please feel free leave a comment as well. Happy Saturday!