Jan 3, 2010 | Create with Connie & Julie, Occasion Mini 2010, SU Buttons, SU Ribbon, Valentine's Day |
I just made this quick Valentine card for a sketch challenge on a new blog I found called Card Positioning Systems. Sometimes when you are creating you need a little jump start and a sketch can often help. Here is the sketch for the challenge:
It is a very simple sketch so that makes for a quick card. I decided to do a Valentine card since that is what I had on my craft table. In fact – I only used items I already had out on my table. So it made the card even faster since everything was ready to use. Note to self: Goal for 2010 – try to do a better job of cleaning up after you are done with a project so your room doesn’t turn into such a mess.
Ok – on to my creation –
What do you think – quick and sweet isn’t it? And I used four new products from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini Catalog – I {Love} Love Jumbo Wheel; Well Scripted Stamp set; Chocolate Chip 5/8″ Satin Ribbon; and Pretty in Pink Corduroy Buttons.
I am trying to take some of my photos outside on my back porch. The sun was already setting and it is windy today so I had to hold the card and snap a quick photo and grab it before it blew away – it took me about 4 tries to get a picture of it. I wanted to try the natural outside light and see how my pictures turn out. What do you think?
Thanks for stopping by!
Join me for Create with Connie & Julie – early bird pricing through January 3rd – so sign up today! This week we are giving away Free passes to the class – each team member has a different day that they are giving away a free pass so make sure to visit each day to see who is giving away a pass. Just a hint – you really should stop by my blog on Wednesday…..
Jan 2, 2010 | Cards, Designer Series Paper, Occasion Mini 2010, Thank You |
Here is a sneak peek at some new products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini Catalog – I used the new Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack and the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt pieces.
Didn’t this turn out so cute?
Here is my list of Stampin’ Up! supplies:
- Sweet Pea Designer Series paper stack
- Sweet Pea Stitched Felt
- Taken with Teal card stock
- Chocolate Chip card stock, ink and Stampin’ Write marker
- Whisper White card stock
- Family Phrases stamp set
- Tombow multi-purpose adhesive (to glue on the felt)
- Stampin’ Dimensionals
You will be able to order from the Occasions Mini Collection beginning January 5th!
Join me for Create with Connie & Julie – early bird pricing through January 3rd – so sign up soon!
Dec 29, 2009 | Create with Connie & Julie, Occasion Mini 2010, Sale-A-Bration 2010, Valentine's Day |
Christmas has come and gone and the next big card/craft holiday is Valentine’s Day. Every year around 1 Billion Valentine’s cards are sent. I found a website on Valentine facts and it says Teachers receive the most Valentine Cards. It says children between ages 6-10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine’s with teachers, classmates and family members. So it is time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day cards and ideas…..
I didn’t get any time to do anything creative until very late last night. But I didn’t want to go to bed without making at least something. I had been itching to do something all day but spent most of the day doing other things. So here is my creation based on a card I saw in a magazine and using some of my new Stampin’ Up! products that will be out in January.
The card base is Pretty in Pink. It is hard to tell in the photo but it is. The bottom of the front was punched with the new Scallop Trim Border punch that will be available for FREE in the new Sale-A-Bration Brochure. Inside the front I attached a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock – so it shows behind the Scallop trim.
On the front is a piece of Very Vanilla card stock – the edges are done with a faux stitching look. I used the perforating tool from the Cutter Kit – first I rolled it in Chocolate Chip ink and then on the card stock. It creates a faux stitched look. I stamped the x-o-x-o definition from the Define Your Life stamp set in Chocolate Chip ink. The edges were lightly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.
The hearts are punched with the middle sized heart in the Heart-to-Heart punch. The paper is the Sending Love Specialty Designer Series paper. Two of the hearts are Very Vanilla card stock that are lightly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. All the hearts are attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
I added two small Pretty In Pink buttons – these have retired – and I didn’t have the Sherbet Designer Buttons which do have Pretty in Pink in the set. The buttons are threaded with very thin strips of Very Vanilla card stock instead of thread. These are attached with mini glue dots. The Tabletop Paper Cutter works great for cutting super thin strips of card stock or paper – so if you want to thread your button to match and don’t have thread you can use card stock. Last I added a thin strip of the Sending Love Specialty paper to the front.
I’ll have more ideas to share as part of the Create with Connie & Julie class. I am a guest designer and I’m working on my projects. So be sure to sign up for this online class – there will be new ideas every day for 9 weeks featuring products from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions mini catalog and the Sale-A-Bration brochure. There are only a few more days left for the early bird pricing – it ends Jan. 3rd. The preview week starts Jan. 3rd and will be open to everyone. On January 10th the site will only be opened to those that are registered for the class. There are weekly challenges and prizes. You can join the class at any time. It should be loads of fun! I hope to see you there.
Dec 15, 2009 | Christmas, Occasion Mini 2010, Tutorial |
Last night I had my downline group meeting and as part of our meeting I wanted to do a cookie exchange – so everyone brought cookies to share. With the idea of the cookie exchange in mind I decided that one of our projects that we make should be a cookie box. So I sat down this weekend to design a cookie box. While making my box I had my new Stampin’ Up! punches out on my craft table so I decided to use those to dress up my box a bit. I love the look of these new punches – there is a corner punch with a matching border punch. There are two sets that will be available in January. I used the Scallop Trim Corner (it will be in the new Occaions Mini Catalog) and the Scallop Trim Border (it will be in the new Sale-A-Bration Brochure – so you can earn this one FREE). The other set is called Pinking Hearts. These are the new punch style and they look more like a stapler, the lock shut and you can store them by standing them on their ends or stacking them. They punch very nicely too – I can even do it with my left hand and I’m not left handed.
Here is my finished cookie box. See the nicely scalloped trim around the top. I also scalloped the edge of the lid.
The bottom of the box is Chocolate Chip and only a little bit shows at the bottom under the scallop border but if you wanted more to show then you just need to make the side panels on the lid smaller.
For my box base I used a 12″ x 12″ piece of Chocolate Chip card stock. Scored on all four sides at 2″. I snipped two sides to form tabs and then glued it together to make the bottom of the box. I have started using the Tombow MultiPurpose Adhesive for my boxes and it seems to be working well. You only need a small amount and it costs much less than Sticky Strip.
The lid is Real Red card stock – also a 12″ x 12″ piece and it is scored just less than 2″ on all four sides. This is so that the lid will fit over the base – I did about 1/16″ less for a snug fit. I snipped two sides to form tabs and then punched all four edges with the Scallop Trim Border punch. I glued the lid together at the corners, trimming where needed so nothing showed behind my pretty scallop edge.
The top piece is Whisper White – stamped with the large swirl from Baroque Motifs in Garden Green and Old Olive. Stamped with the ornaments from Tree Trimmings – using Garden Green and Real Red ink. The “Season’s Greetings” is from Many Merry Messages stamp set. I sponged around the edges and added some Rhinestone Brads.
To create the Chocolate Chip mat with the scallop trim border was not working out as easily as I had hoped. I worked with my corner and border punches trying to create the perfect square and after rounding the third corner somehow I was always crooked. I’ll have to work on that some more but until then I came up with a cheater method to create the perfect square (you could also do a rectangle). Besides it used less card stock this way too. Do you want to know how I did it?
Monika’s Cheater Scallop Trim Square Tutorial:
Step 1 - four strips
1. Start with 4 strips of card stock at least as long as you want your side to be – you can always trim of the extra if it is too long. The width should be enough to punch the scallop trim corner punch and get the two scallops on one side. On each strip punch one corner and then all the way down one long edge with the Scallop Trim punches.
Step 2 - match corner to end
2. Then you are going to match up one corner to an end of each strip. You will trim at an angle up to the second scallop on the corner so you don’t have any extra card stock showing behind the next scallop. You are going to match the scallops up at a right angle and glue the corner together.
Step 2 - glue together at a right angle
3. Now if you need to lay your piece that will be on top of the scallops and see how long you need your pieces to be – or complete your square and then measure for your top piece. You will create a square by repeating step 2 for the other three corners.
Step 3 - make a square
Make sure you are at a right angle at each corner so that you end up with a square (or rectangle) in the end. It might be easier to punch one more scallop around each corner so that you are matching up two instead of only one to help you stay straight.
4. Then add your layer on top of your square. Or if you prefer – have your layer and glue your corners and strips to the back of it. Since mine was very big for my cookie box I saved card stock this way because I don’t have any in the middle of my mat.
Step 4 - add layer on your square
close up of a corner
You really can’t tell that the scallop trim is made up of two pieces. It is just barely visible in the close up photo on the left side.
So this was my cheater method for creating a nice square with the new scallop trim corner and border punches. I’ll keep working with them on a full piece of card stock too and let you know if I figure out anything with that. I have one theory that I am working on now that worked for me once – but that could have been luck – I need to be able to do it more than once for it to be a helpful hint.
Last night was fun. This cookie box could also be used as a gift for a neighbor – of course you’ll want to fill it with cookies. To give the box some extra support I cut a piece of the cardboard backer from our Designer Series Paper to sit inside the box. I also laid some wax paper inside so I could put cookies in there – cut the wax paper to 12 x 12 and it fits inside and covers the sides too. Or put your cookies in a plastic bag before putting them in the box. Yesterday I made Snickerdoodles for my cookie for our exchange. Yum Yum!
Thanks for stopping by today – I really need to finish my Christmas cards….. I do think I have just about all my shopping done – only a couple of little things left to find. I put ornaments on our tree this morning. I bought wrapping paper too – I thought I had some but apparently I used most of it up last year.
Have a Happy Day!
Dec 14, 2009 | Big Shot, In Colors, Occasion Mini 2010 |
I finally played with my new Stampin’ Up! stuff yesterday! And here is the first card that I made and my first time ever to use a clear-mounted stamp. I have only used would mounted so far – but the feel of the clear block is so nice – the grooves on the sides – on all four sides – instead of just two like the would blocks. I think I’m going to like them.
I love how this turned out! I used the sketch from the Stamping 411 blog for this week. 
The sketch card is tall and mine is turned to be a wide card but the basic layout remains the same.
I choose the colors Soft Suede and Crushed Curry – why – basically because I had a scrap of Crushed Curry lying on my craft table when I wanted to try out my new Stampin’ Up! Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die. This new Die will be available in the Occasions Mini Catalog which starts on January 5th. After I cut the butterflies I remembered that the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper has a pretty piece in it that was mostly Crushed Curry – so I pulled that out. One of my favorite cards that I made this year was a convention project that we made at our STARZ group meeting and it used that same Designer Series paper and the Soft Suede – so I decided to stick to that color scheme for this card.
I sponged all the little butterflies with Crushed Curry ink to give them dimension. And added a piece of cross-stitch thread around the body of the large butterfly – although looking at it in this picture Linen Thread would have given the same look and a very similar color. So pretend it’s linen thread….
I pulled out my new clear mount stamp set called Well Scripted – this will also be available on January 5th in the new Occasions Mini Catalog. It is one of my favorite sets from the mini – beautiful script for all the basic occasions. I mounted it on a clear block, inked it with Crushed Curry ink and stamped it on Whisper White card stock. I punched it out with the Wide Oval Punch and sponged the edges with Crushed Curry ink.
I also punched out a 1-3/4″ Circle out of Crushed Curry card stock to put behind the greeting. It was sponged with Crushed Curry ink also.
To assemble the card – fold the Soft Sued in half to form the card base. Add the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series paper strip at the bottom. I added a piece of Crushed Curry Polka Dot ribbon – tied in a knot. The greeting was put over the ribbon with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then I added the butterflies – the largest one with a Stampin’ Dimensional, the smaller ones with some Tombo Multipurpose Adhesive.
Finally I decided to get out my Spritzer tool and my In-Color Markers – I spritzed with the Soft Suede on the upper portion of the card and with the Crushed Curry on the lower portion, the greeting and the large butterfly.
I hope you like my card – I have lots more fun stuff to play with so check back again. Have a wonderful Stampin’ Up! Day!
Dec 11, 2009 | Create with Connie & Julie, Occasion Mini 2010, Sale-A-Bration 2010 |
I wanted to share this funny photo of my dog – Magnolia – from a couple of days ago. Right now during the Holidays our UPS delivers our packages using a Golf Cart – I’m going to try to get his picture but I haven’t yet. Earlier this week we had another downpour day of heavy rains. Unfortunately heavy rain and packages on a golf cart don’t work so well together. UPS did leave the box on my door step wrapped in a plastic bag – but it must not have been that way the whole time it was on the cart because the box was still wet when I took it out of the bag and set it in my foyer. I went to throw away the plastic bag and returned to the foyer to find this…….
Magnolia was doing her best to lick all the water off of my Stampin’ Up! box! It was funny – I tried to get a picture from the other side but she stopped once I walked around her – I wonder if it tasted good?
Speaking of boxes – I got two boxes today – my pre-order items from the new Occasions Mini Catalog and Sale-A-Bration Brochure are here! I’m so excited to see it all and start playing with it. Over the next few weeks I’ll be working on projects for the Create with Connie & Julie class that starts in January. Click below to get more details on the class, sign up, meet the team and see some preview projects. I’m a Guest Designer and very excited about it! I hope you’ll join us.
It is a very simple sketch so that makes for a quick card. I decided to do a Valentine card since that is what I had on my craft table. In fact – I only used items I already had out on my table. So it made the card even faster since everything was ready to use. Note to self: Goal for 2010 – try to do a better job of cleaning up after you are done with a project so your room doesn’t turn into such a mess.
What do you think – quick and sweet isn’t it? And I used four new products from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini Catalog – I {Love} Love Jumbo Wheel; Well Scripted Stamp set; Chocolate Chip 5/8″ Satin Ribbon; and Pretty in Pink Corduroy Buttons.
