Create with Connie and Mary-Favorite NEW Product!

Hello friends! Welcome to a new year and new projects and inspiration! So excited to have you joining us every Saturday for 2021. Wishing you and your family all the best as we kick off 2021 with a renewed spirit and intention. My theme for 2021 is Make it Happen. I have big goals to accomplish this year!

Our first weekly theme is FAVORITE NEW PRODUCT! I have to say, it was almost hard to pick because there are just so many fabulous items in the new January to June Catalogue (or the JJ catty as some are calling it!).

I landed on the Fine Art Floral Suite. Florals just have so much potential as you can use them on every single theme in one way or another. I wanted to kick off my first project share in the Create with Connie & Mary Hop with a great gift or home decor idea using this suite.

I can often find these rustic frames with the built in clip at Homesense. I snatch them up whenever I can find them! They are perfect for embellishing with your favorite stamps!

I started with a large base of DSP from the Fine Art Floral collection and layered on a mat of Poppy Parade. I stamped the flowers from the Art Gallery stamp set in two colors for each flower. The large bloom is actually designed to work this way as there are two separate stamps. The cluster of blooms is only a single stamp with one extra stamp for layering. I decided to use a marker to tap on a darker color.

I used the colors in the DSP to guide the colors I used for the flowers. The flowers in this DSP were actually hand painted on a canvas! I love this paper especially the sheets that look like paint smeared on canvas, so I chose that piece to stamp my sentiment “You Make the World...” in Versamark with Gold Embossing Powder.

The sentiment is from the Beautiful World stamp set in the Annual Catalogue.

I added some Wink of Stella on top of the flowers for a little shimmer!

The Art Gallery stamp set only has one stem image so I stamped it in Old Olive ink on the same color card stock and then cut it apart to look more like leaves. The Fine Art Floral ribbon was also perfect to layer behind sentiment (cut with Stitched Circle Dies) to continue the gold theme on this project.

I stamped “You are Lovely” in Old Olive Ink on the coordinating card stock and cut it with a die from the Floral Gallery Dies. I added a couple more flowers underneath the sentiment.

After I took this picture I thought…it needs something! So I went back and cut the word “friend” in Gold Foil paper using the Well Written Dies (see the first picture to notice the addition!).

I was so happy to give this gift to my friend Tammy. We met on the Alaskan Incentive Trip and have kept in touch ever since. This is a picture of us on the Greek Isles Incentive Trip in the infamous Hospitality Room. I absolutely LOVED this trip and am keeping every body part of mine crossed that we can see each other again in Maui this spring!

I can’t wait to see the other members of the Design Team are sharing a their favorite new products. You can go BACK to see what Melissa has designed and NEXT to see what Connie has created! Please feel free to shop with me if you live in Canada! All of these new and amazing products will be available on January 5th. If you live in Canada you can shop my Online Store or use my Hostess Code at any time!

A Card a Day in December--Day #30

The end of 2020 is so near we can almost start celebrating! So of course I had to design a page layout to capture our celebrations tomorrow as we say Hello to 2021! I think this page is simple and sophisticated and won’t take you long to assemble. You can substitute any stamps that you have too as you will see that I combined retired, current and BRAND NEW stamps all on this layout with a mixture of fonts and design styles.

I designed this page on Very Vanilla 12x12 because I new that I wanted to use gold accents and Very Vanilla has a warmer tone to it. I used a photo mat of Basic Black to accommodate a future 5 x 7 photo. I can anticipate my family taking a selfie so this photo orientation supports that better.

The sentiment ‘Cheers…’ is from a retired set called Cheers to That. It is a set that I will keep in my collection as I do find that sets to do with New Years do not come around very often. It is stamped in Versamark with gold embossing powder on Very Vanilla. Behind the sentiment I added some retired black twine and some new gold hued ribbon called Fine Art Ribbon. And of course I had to add the Matte Black Dots from the Love You Always suite—love! A few glittery stars and this little section is perfect.

I wanted to use a Gold Hoop as well on my page to highlight the word Hooray. I used my Stampin’ Write Basic Black marker to highlight the word Hooray from the rest of the stamp as it is a part of a phrase. This stamp is from the You Are Amazing stamp set which is the stamp set designed to complete the You Are Amazing Project Kit.

I added a gold leaf behind the hoop which is cut from Gold Foil paper and the Forever Flourishing Dies. 2021 is cut from black glitter paper using the Playful Alphabet dies and Foam Adhesive Sheets. I really like this little vignette!

Let’s Celebrate is from the Bloom & Grow stamp set in the annual catalogue. It is also modified from its original form and is embossed with gold embossing powder and cut using the largest circle from the Circle Dies. I added a little gold metallic thread behind and a couple die cut starts from the Stitched Stars dies. Gilded Gems were the perfect accent here!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful New Years however you are celebrating and can capture a memory together!

A Card a Day in December--Day #29

Hello friends! I wanted to create a New Years card that featured my favorite product suite of 2020—Playing with Patterns. I just love the color combo in the DSP and the Playful Alphabet dies basically live beside my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss machine! I use them all time on everything from cards to scrapbook pages to 3D projects.

I also wanted to design a card that was EASY and one that you could quickly make a few of to get into the mail right at the start of the year.

I used one small strip of the Playing with Patterns DSP as this allowed me to introduce all of the colors in the collection.

I went with a base of Purple Posy as I just love this color. I added a half panel of the same color to build my card on.

Happy New Year is cut from Misty Moonlight card stock, the Playful Alphabet dies and Foam Adhesive Sheets (a MUST HAVE combo)!

I wanted this card to be fun and whimsy (which I am hoping can be my theme for 2021) so I borrowed a couple of stamps from the new Hey Birthday Chick stamp set. The font in the Let’s Celebrate and Hello matched that fun feel that I was going for.

I added a few embellishments from the Playing with Patterns suite and the All the Trimmings (retiring soon!).

I hope you have enjoyed my 29th project in my A Card a Day in December series!

A Card a Day in December--Day #28

Well here he is, the cutest little snowman in all the land! Here to wish you a happy 2021! I created this card earlier this month for a card swap and actually had quite a laugh putting him together. This card marks my 28th project share this month! The majority of my shares have been cards but I have snuck a few other things in this month as well, so if you haven’t been following along daily, make sure you go back and see all of my creations!

I used the Snowman Season stamp set for the cute snowman image and the little snowflakes in the background. My cute snowman is colored with Stampin’ Blends in Calypso Coral and Just Jade and the snowflakes are stamped in Seaside Spray. I LOVE this blue! Its just the perfect blue as it coordinates with so many different colors and is such a fantastic way to color glass (think windows) or air elements (think sky and snow) or give highlights to colored shapes and images. I will be sad to see it retire when its turn comes.

2021 is cut from Just Jade card stock with the Playful Alphabet dies and Foam Adhesive sheets…incase you have not noticed, I adore this combo. I think the Foam Adhesive sheets are the TOP product of the Annual Catalogue.

I added a hint of blue behind the snowflakes using the new Blending Brushes which are coming out in the new January to June (or JJ catty).

The ‘Happy’ and ‘Good Luck’ are stamped in Calypso Coral ink from the Art Gallery stamp set—another new release! I thought this card had a whimsical feel with a touch of happy sarcasm to it!

A Card a Day in December--Day #27

Hello friends! Well I am officially shifting gears from Christmas to New Years and am going to share some New Years projects now through Dec 31st. I am sure we will all be happy to say goodbye to 2020. It was a year of trials and tribulations and SO MANY AWESOME THINGS!! I think there are many things that are better and improved in my life! I hope you have a few of those things to add to your list too when reflecting on 2020.

I made this cute, STAMP FREE, celebration wand with my team at our last zoom party!

Some people call them lolli’s, some people call them rosettes, but no matter what you call them they are a just FUN!

Because this is a stamp free project it could be a great idea to make a version to create with your team in the future!

I started with two strips of 2 1/4 x 11 Smoky Slate card stock that I scored at 1/2 increments. You may have a slight piece to trim off at the end. Attach these two strips together with a strong adhesive. Now you should have one long strip of accordion style card stock.

HOT TIP: I think this tip might actually change your life (bold statement right?) as far as rosette assembly goes! Once you have your rosette scored, heat your hot glue gun. You will need a silicone mat. Pinch your paper closed as tight as you can and put a big glob of hot glue on the end of the squashed card stock—-as shown below and press the hot glue into the silicone mat to set. Once set remove and the glue will help your rosette stay flat (once you push the center).

You will also want to reinforce your rosette with a circle on the front and back.

After your have your basic rosette constructed you can decorate as your heart desires! Because I wanted to celebrate the NEW YEAR with my team and I wanted them to play with new stuff I decided to use the Snail Mail Designer Series paper from the upcoming January to June Mini Catalogue (or the JJ Catty as its been nicknamed).

I started with a large circle in Silver Foil and then layered a circle from the Snail Mail DSP.

I cut the ‘hello’ from the DSP! Isn’t that fun?

The label that 2021 is on is from the Potted Succulent Dies and the numbers are cut in Mint Macaron card stock using the Playful Alphabet Dies and Foam Adhesive sheets with some Wink of Stella on top (of course!)

I tied some ribbons around the handle (a basic dowel that is hot glued in place) to fancy it up and voila! The cutest little rosette you ever did see to welcome in 2021!