Create with Connie and Mary--Textures and Ribbon!

Hi friends! I was really excited about this Design Team challenge and had an idea immediately. Sometimes I have to stew on things for a while but not this time! Textures and ribbon can add something really special to your projects which is why I almost always use ribbon and find a way to incorporate texture into all of my projects.

My favorite ribbon in the new catalogue at the moment is the Highland Heather Grosgrain Ribbon. It is a great width and has some built in sparkle to it which I love. I have also been playing and experimenting with the new Pastel Chalks so I wanted to find a way to incorporate those into my project as well.

Let’s talk about the texture created on the background first. I used one of the new masks from the Plenty of Patterns collection. I placed it on top of my Highland Heather card stock layer and just held it in place with my finger tips. I scraped some chalk onto a large block using my Take a Pick Tool spatula edge (spare those scissors, this tool works perfect) and once I had a little pile I used my Blending Brush to pick it up and brush it all over the stencil creating this awesome textured background!

Hot Tip: you will need to scrape off the film or layer that is on the chalks to actually get at the ‘chalk’ . I used the Take a Pick Tool for this as well. Then you can use a finger dauber or your blending brush to pick up some chalk.

The real highlight of this card for me though is the ribbon. I cut a rectangle from the Stitched Rectangle dies and covered it with a few strips of Stampin’ Seal+ (love it by the way). I then layered my ribbon over top to create this awesome ribbon panel. I did end up trimming away some of the die as I wanted the ribbon to be perfect. I then added some more Stampin’ Seal+ to the backside and stuck the edges down. I popped this panel up on Dimensionals.

I used the stamp set Biggest Wish as my feature set on this card. The ‘Birthday’ is stamped in Coastal Cabana and the ‘Happy’ is stamped in Polished Pink.

I hand trimmed out the word happy and added it with a couple mini dimensionals.

You may wonder where the little ribbon on the side is from and it’s a sneak peek of something coming in our holiday catty!

This little sentiment area was completed by adding a Polished PInk Loose Flower Flourish…love this new embellishment so much!

I am really happy with how this card turned out and am excited to try it with a variety of different ribbons! I can’t wait to see what the other Design Team members created this week! You can go BACK to see Melissa’s creation or NEXT to see what Connie has made. If you are inspired and need any of the products to make this at home please feel free to use my June Hostess Code (found along the right hand side of my blog!). And as always, comments are appreciated!

Dad--You're the Best Scrapbook Page

I am really on a roll with my Father’s Day projects this year! I have created a couple different pages and I am so happy to share them with you in advance! Hopefully you will be inspired and can get the supplies together you need to make them!

I always find masculine pages more challenging, you can’t just add in flowers on a masculine page! hahah! The base of these pages is Night of Navy (classic man color) and I was excited to add in some Designer Series Paper from the Well Suited collection and the returning favorite In Good Taste. In lieu of flowers I did decide to incorporate the leafy sprig image from the Artistic Dies. I also added in the pointy die from the Basic Borders dies on each of the photo mats as a unique and new accent.

The hearts on both pages are from the Give it While Die and I ran them through an embossing folder for some texture.

I always like to add a variety of sentiments onto my scrapbook pages. On the top left “It’s Your Day” is stamped in Night of Navy ink from the A Good Man stamp set. The main sentiment on this page is from the Handsomely Suited stamp set. While I don’t gravitate towards the ties in this set, I do really enjoy the variety of phrases it has. To draw attention to the ‘Father’s Day’ aspect of the phrase, I stamped it on Smoky Slate and hand cut it to add over top with a Mini Dimensionals. The main sentiment is cut with the Switched So Sweetly Dies. A fan favorite!

I added in some Linen Thread and a bit of retired crumb cake ribbon for a lighter natural feel. Plus a few Resin Hearts because I couldn’t resist and I will be sad when they are retired.

You will notice this partner page has some carry over elements. This is important to me to create balance and connection across my two layouts. However, it is important to add some unique features too. Here I have added in a the new Smoky Slate Textured Ribbon behind the top sentiment. This sentiment is from A Good Man and is die cut with the Stitched Rectangles.

You’re the Best is from the same stamp set with a different ribbon behind but layered on the shape from the Artistic Dies. I also like having photo mats that go in both directions for a bit of variety!

I have one more ‘Dad’ themed page that I created that I am planning to share next week! I hope you will pop back for a visit!

Dad--You're the Best!

This week I am going to be showcasing THREE awesome projects for the dads in your life! I wanted to share them early so you can use them for inspiration! So check back on Wednesday and Friday to catch all 3!

Up first is this awesome flip album that features pictures with Dad! You can use past photos or take some on Father’s Day to add to the album afterwards!

This is a fun Flip style album that I put together as a class. I always love to create a project that is kid friendly with a little help from mom.

Each page in the album is HALF of an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Crumb Cake card stock. I used a total of 3 half sheets to make this which will give you 6 design surfaces or sides. You will need to stack them together and punch a hole to add the binder rings (available at any office supply store).

I used the Well Suited DSP as my color palette. I actually quite like this masculine themed designer paper! I cut ‘Dad’ using some retired alphabet dies as I never get rid of our alphabet offerings. I actually wish we would bring back a larger set again! Because I am an avid scrapbooker I do pull these out quick often. The Balmy Blue heart is from the Kiss Punch. Let’s Celebrate You can be found in the stamp set Itty Bitty Birthdays.

Each page is designed to add a vertical 4 x 6 photo (the ‘selfie’ direction of most of our pictures). I added a photo mat on each page as well and then a few fun details. This page uses sentiments from the Thanks for the Laughs and Handsomely Suited stamp sets. The main sentiment is die cut using the Stitched So Sweetly dies.

I also added in the Playful Alphabets dies with the Foam Adhesive Sheets (best combo ever!) and the sentiment on this page is from A Good Man and is a repeating sentiment throughout the album.

I am a big fan of our twine as it adds such a nice accent behind sentiments and I love that there is coordinating twine with this suite. I wanted to bring in a lighter touch to this page so I added hints of Balmy Blue with the top sentiment and by tucking a half circle under the bottom one.

The “You’re the Best” is from the A Good Man stamp set and the bottom one is from Handsomely Suited.

I thought adding in a the sentiment “We must be Related” was perfect for a page with a dad and his kid! I love the Grand Kid stamp set and am so happy it carried over into our new catalogue. It should not be overlooked, it has some awesome sentiments in it. Some retired twine also worked well along with our Matte Black dots. So happy they are sticking around too!

And of course we need to finish off this album with “You are Amazing” as Dad really is right? I love this sentiment and you can find it in the You are Amazing stamp set that coordinates with the project kit. I added a strip of DSP and some black twine from our twine combo package and some recently retired ribbon.

I love this little Flip album as it stands up fairly easy and makes a fun addition to Dad’s desk! Make sure to come back and visit on Wednesday so you can see the next project I created!

Create with Connie and Mary--Favorite NEW Catalogue Bundle!

So to end this month of new ‘favorites’ we had to design something with our favorite new bundle! Well the one that I have created with the most would have to be the Hand-Penned Petals suite! I just love the whole collection. I created a really fabulous project to share with my team and I thought it was the perfect project to end this month of ‘favorites’! I hope you are inspired!

I can’t believe in my 15 years of Stampin’ I have never created a card folio before! I designed this one to hold two cards on either side of the folio. There is enough space that you could also include envelopes. The color palette of the project is based off of the Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper which I am in love with. I have always been a fan of pastels, in fact, when I got married my 5 bridesmaids wore pastel pink, yellow, blue, green, and purple!

I added the inside sentiment from the Pansy Patch stamp set

I can’t wait to see what all of the other Design Team members have selected as their favorites! You can go BACK to see what Melissa is loving or you can go NEXT to see what Connie has selected!

You're Amazing!

Do you scrapbook your pets? I love to scrapbook my dog, Hawkins! In fact when I pull out my phone I swear he starts posing. Hahaha! I want to remember all the things, and the picture of my son Shepard and Hawkins reminds me of the school pick up days. My dog sits on the console between the front two seats anxiously awaiting the arrival of the kids to the car. Scrapbook the everyday, not just the big days!

The base of this page is the new Soft Succulent In Color and I paired it up with a peachy coral tone that I was able to achieve by adding in some of our new You’re a Peach DSP and Pansy Patch DSP. I love this color combo with some hints of gold.

I used the Meadow Dies because they are literally my favorite thing at the moment…maybe in a tie with the Tailored Made Tags Dies…both so versatile and fabulous!

I added in phrases from several stamp sets—A Grand Kid, Create with Friends, and Color & Contour!

I think you could easily recreate this layout using different colors, stamps and DSP! I hope you are inspired!