Create with Connie and Mary--Pastel Techniques

Hello friends! I am really excited to share a pastel technique with you today. As well this is my final blog post as a Designer for the Create with Connie and Mary Blog Hop. I have really enjoyed participating in these weekly challenges for the past year + and have learned so much! I have appreciated the comments and encouragement along the way. I will be continuing to share here and on my Instagram so I hope you will continue to follow along with me on my creative journey!

Have you played with our new Stampin’ Pastels yet? I have made so many fun things with them! I have been stamping long enough that I remember way way back when Stampin’ Up! had them in the annual catalogue. So I was able to draw on a few of those long forgotten techniques plus play around and experiment with some new ones as these pastels are different than what we offered in the past.

TOP TIP: In order to get the ‘chalk’ off of the pastel, use the scraper tool attachment of the Pick a Tool to scrape the coating from the outside of the pastel. If you were to open your package and rub your finger over the chalk, you would notice nothing would be on your finger. However, after you scrape the chalk it will easily rub off on your finger!

Along with using the new pastels I wanted to use another new product we have which are the Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks. I love masks because you can use them with so many other products we sell. Embossing Paste, Blending Brushes, Finger Daubers, Spritzers and the list can go on!

I started by selecting my Decorative Mask and pastel color. For this project I used the pastel that looks like Coastal Cabana.

I placed my mask over top of my Basic White card stock and simply rubbed my chalk over top of the mask.

The ridges from the mask will help shave or release the chalk from the stick.

I removed the mask and with gentle pressure you can remove the excess chalk with your Blending Brush. You do not want to press too hard to lose the design from the Decorative Mask.

I really love this technique as its quite simple but creates a really wonderful background for your project.

To embellish and decorate the rest of my card I used the Flowers of Friendship Bundle. I stamped the flowers with Momento Black Ink and then I colored them with a Water Painter. I applied the tip of my Water Painter DIRECT to my pastel and colored! It is another fun way to use this product. And using a Water Painter gives the finished look a ‘watercolor’ feel which I love!

I hope you will add the Pastels to your next order as they are inexpensive and so fun to experiment with! I will continue to share projects with the Pastels over the summer so keep checking back in!

To continue on with the Hop you can go BACK to see what Melissa made this week or NEXT to see what Connie has designed. Please feel free to leave a comment or use my Host Code if you are inspired and live in Canada!

Artisan Design Team--June Share!

Hello friends! I cannot believe that this month marks the halfway point of this amazing journey and experience! I have learned so much along the way but the best part has been the amazing new friendships I have developed with the other team members!

The Artisan Design Team is broken up into 3 groups as we have the largest team to date and my group was given the assignment of creating with the Art in Bloom bundle which features the new Bloom Hybrid embossing folder!

I couldn’t resist the opportunity to create a page with this little cutie’s smiling face, especially because he is now 16! But his eyes have not lost their sparkle and his face still lights up the room. And I also want people to feel ok about scrapbooking their sons, nephews, husbands, etc with flowers and pinks and other bright fun colors!

I started with a 12x12 base on a sheet of DSP from the Expressions in Ink Specialty Designer Series Paper. This gave me the foundation to add in these bright pink accents.

I used this new Hybrid Embossing Folder in two ways on this page—-one is the traditional way in the sense of I ran some Basic White card stock through the Stamp Cut & Emboss Machine to create two accent panels to flank my photo. The second way is that I used some Gold Foil Paper to emboss and cut the flowers out. This is what makes this folder so unique—it does both at the same time!! You place your paper in the folder and add the dies on top (they will nestle inside).

I also stamped out some flowers and colored them with the Pale Papaya Stampin’ Blends and then used the dies to cut out the flowers.

My favorite element in the Bloom Dies is the shape that cuts out the ‘ticket’…I just love it and think its a great way to add interest or to cut out with a sentiment. On my card I used it as an accent piece.

My tip to accompany this project is a classic one—using your Stampin’ Write Marker to isolate specific words to change how a sentiment is presented. You can see here that the sentiment in its original form is ‘long’ and I wanted something that would fit into a circle. So I just used the marker to isolate the words and stamp them in the shape I wanted.

Notice the ink spray in the background? One of my favorite things of all time—-use your Stampin’ Write Marker or even a Stampin’ Blend to flick or spray ink across your project. I do this ALL THE TIME. It just helps take away the ‘white’ space on a project.

If my projects have inspired you in any way and you would like to place an order you can hit the button below that will take you directly to my online store. Or you can use the HOST code on the main sidebar on my page. I truly appreciate it as I hope to keep loving what I do for as long as possible!

Create with Connie and Mary--Borders and Tags!

Hello and happy Saturday (orr whichever weekday it is when you are reading this!) and welcome to this weeks Hop! Our theme is borders and tags…so I used tags to make a fun border on a scrapbook page! I am absolutely in love with the new Tailor Made Tags dies (in fact they have become a permanent friend beside my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine) and I think I have used them in a unique way!

As soon as I saw this design theme I knew I wanted to create a ‘border’ using ‘tags’…and with Father’s Day coming up I couldn’t resist the idea of creating yet another Father’s Day page. I have started a scrapbook gallery here on my blog so feel free to check it out if scrapbooking is your jam!

I started my page on a base of Basic White because I knew I wanted the ‘tags’ to really pop off the page and I added a layer of Basic White over top that I trimmed to 9x12. I wanted to be able to slip my tags underneath this piece.

I chose the colors of Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Soft Succulent and Night of Navy to cut the largest tag from the die set.

I was also intrigued by the Hats off Bundle to create something without the ‘hat’ and I found this bundle has some really really awesome sentiments! I am so happy that I recently ordered this set as it really made this page come alive. I wanted everything to feel crisp so I did all of my stamping on Basic White.

Because the focus of this design challenge was on borders and tags which I nailed with the border of tags, I wanted to make sure that I had a few ‘tags’ on my layout too.

For the top of the page I cut a mid sized tag from Soft Succulent and then I stamped the phrase “You’re the Best” and layered it over the tag for a bit of a different look.

It is easy to chance up the look of your stamps by eliminating certain things—-for example the outline on the #1. I also like to keep some shapes flat to the page and pop some up on Dimensionals for a little bit of interest. I also love that this is just a ‘DAD’ page so it doesn’t have to be Father’s Day or a birthday, it’s just a great page to celebrate dad.

I am excited to see what the rest of the team comes up with this week! You can go BACK to see what Melissa has created or NEXT to see what Connie has made. And remember to check out my scrapbook gallery or previous blog posts for more memory keeping inspiration.

Scalloped Sunshine Box

Hello friends! I am so excited about this cute little project that I created to share with members of my Glitter Girls team at our monthly team meeting. When our team reaches 10,000 CSV I reward everyone with a fun gift. Since the Pale Papaya & White ribbon is one of my new favorites I thought I would treat everyone with something that I love in hopes they will too.

This cute little sunshine is stamped with Daffodil Delight ink and can be found in the Sharing Sunshine stamp set. The center is actually its own stamp and makes really great polkadots!

To stamp the ‘rays’ , I stamped it once full strength and then rotated it slightly and stamped again to get that two tone yellow.

The cheeks are stamped in Magenta Madness for a real pop!

The sentiment is from the Sweet Strawberry stamp set and I added some of the new Just Jade and Gold Ribbon behind the sun with some of the recent Butterfly Bijou DSP.

You can see how I used the center of the sun to create a sunny polkadot base for the box on Daffodil Delight card stock. I love that these Scalloped Treat Boxes can hold a roll of ribbon!

Of course I also had to make a cute tag to go ON the roll of ribbon because you know, CRAFTERS GONNA CRAFT!! This cute tag is made using the Tailored Made Tags Dies and the Handmade for You stamp set.

And since I decorated the bottom of the box I needed to decorate the inside of the lid too with an inspiring message!

I really fell in love with this BRIGHT color combination of Magenta Madness, Daffodil Delight and Just Jade!

The sentiment, You Are Amazing, is from the stamp set of the same name and it is stamped with Just Jade ink and punched out with a retired punch. Behind it is stamped another shape from Sharing Sunshine stamp set.

I just love these fun boxes and I have so many ideas on what I can fill them with! I hope you are inspired to add them to your cart! You can hit the SHOP WITH ME button to go directly to my store or use my HOST Code shared on the side bar. Either way, if you do place an order with me thank you in advance and you are helping me get one step closer to my goal!

Create with Connie and Mary--Glitz and Glam

Hello, welcome to the blog hop this week. Our theme is “Glitz and Glam” which can mean so many things! I associate it gold and lots of layers and interest!

I think the Expressions in Ink suite is pretty damn GLAM and its also super unique to Stampin’ Up! so I knew I wanted to do some creating with it. I designed 3 projects for my monthly Class to Go Kit which I will share in a a separate post. Here is a little teaser for you though!

I started with a Basic White card base and added a layer of this awesome gold strip paper from the Expressions in Ink Specialty DSP. I used the Layering Circles dies to cut a circle or window. In behind this I layered the fantastic floral die that is a party of the Artistic Dies.

The Artistic Dies also have this large leaf die that I cut out of Just Jade ink and trimmed and placed around the big Polished Pink stamped floral.

I used the coordinating Ephemera Package to add in some glitz with the gold leaves and sprig and the iridescent sequins scattered around.

I think this card definitely has a ‘glam’ feel to it, don’t you?

Let’s see what the other team members have created this week. You can go back to see Melissa or next to see Connie! And watch for another post with all of my Class to Go Details!