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!

Create with Connie and Mary--Favorite NEW product!

This week we are sharing our favourite new PRODUCT from the demonstrator pre-order. I have to say that it is hands down the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper. This paper is unique as its photographic paper, meaning the 12 x 12 pages are actual photographs of different woods, tiles, textiles and fabrics that have such a real deep feel to them. I have been wanting 12x12 wood grain paper for YEARS! I had to resist making a scrapbook page for the hop as I am committed to making 31 different cards this month for my person “A Card a Day in May” challenge. This is my 30th card of the MONTH!

The sentiment is from the Beautiful World stamp set that will be available on June 3rd

The card base is Early Espresso and then I chose a piece of DSP from the collection that looked like concrete to add in a grey tone. I knew I wanted to share an easy water color background technique and a couple more strips of the DSP to show you how easy it is to mix and match these great patterns. The sentiment is stamped on one of the light tone wood grain options in Early Espresso and then I added clear embossing powder on top so it would have a bit of shine. The new Faux Suede Trim is also at the top of my favourites list (I actually have a list on my blog, Brenda’s Top 10 that you can see all the things I am loving in this new catalogue). Follow the link here to see my list:

And of course I think its obvious from some of my other posts this month that I love the Sunflowers Dies so I found a way to add that onto this card too by pairing it with some vellum.

Here is a really easy way to color your water color paper. Cut a piece of watercolor (or shimmery white) paper to fit your card. Choose an acrylic block that is slightly bigger in size. I used Block E. You will need an ink pad and a water spritzer. Spritz the water color paper. Press the ink pad onto the block to ink it up. Lightly sprite the block and press it onto the watercolor paper. The trick is to let it SIT and absorb the ink. I usually let it sit there for a couple of minutes. When you remove it you get an awesome easy water color background!

Look how great this light pink watercolor background looks!

I can’t wait to see what the other girls are loving this week! Hop back to see Melissa’s favourite new product and forward to see Connie’s!

You Make the World a Better Place

For my 21st card this month I decided to play with a brand new stamp set, Beautiful World. I leaned on a tried and true Emboss Resist technique to create the background. The two globes are stamped and embossed in Whisper White. I then sponged over top with Pool Party and lightly flicked my Pretty Peacock marker over top.

The globe and feathers are cut with the World Wide dies and the sentiment (stamped in Flirty Flamingo) is cut with the Tasteful Labels dies. Both of these die sets are part of bundles and will be available in June.

I created the sentiment focal point on a 2 1/2 circle of Pool Party circle and just added the pieces on top. The ribbon is also new Gingham Ribbon in Bumblebee.

I love the soft simple feel of this card and I know exactly who I am going to send It to!

The Emboss Resist Technique is an oldie but a goodie! It is a great technique to share with new stampers.