Stampin1Up! – Connolly Creations

FIRST BIRTHDAY

February 1, 2015February 1, 2015naomiconnolly2 Comments

Just maybe as you look at this card you may think its not such a ‘cute baby card’ but this young lady is well and truly off and running!! Baby gone!! Besides I think it’s more what Mum and Dad might like really and in this case Nan and Pop as well. Inside has cuteness!

Or maybe it was me. I wanted to play with the Chalkboard paper and ColorBox© Chalk Rose Coral Ink I received recently, as well as the Big Day Stamp set which is one of the free sets in the Sale-a-bration Catalogue. I chose the lovely tulips from the Painted Blooms DSP as my background. One of my favorite flowers as it was my Granddads delight to grow them every year in Tasmania.

I first inked up the largest stamp with Brilliance Moonlight White and hand colored over that on the “Celebrate” in Coastal Cabana with the Stampin’Write pen. Stamped on to Chalkboard paper and heat set. A new addition to Stampin’up! Using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I lined up the cake after inking with the Rose chalk. Heat dried that then added the candle, again I inked with the Brilliance then some Daffodil Delight that gave a subtle yellow. Heat dried again. I think using these inks have given the desired chalky effect. I quickly cut out the image, rounded the corners and mounted it onto some Blushing Bride.

The rest of the sentiment was stamped with the coral chalk and punched out with the oval punch before backing with Blushing Bride card stock. I mounted both pieces with some dimensionals onto the DSP that had been glued to a Blushing Bride Note Card , added a Bakers Twine bow and card complete. OH! Just a pearl on the end of the Ice cream ! Who doesn’t love Ice cream.

Bye till next time.

Thanks for stopping bye.

BOYS WILL BE BOYS.

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015naomiconnolly3 Comments

I was asked to make this card for a friends 10yr old Grandson who likes music and sport. I find children’s cards hard as the commercial world has taken over their life in some instances. Making cards they can relate too can be tricky. The Minions punched art have been a bit of a life saver in the past but this time I turned to MDS (My digital Studio a Stampin’ Up! Software Product) As I knew I had some graphics of sport in action there, and this is the result.

My Digital Studio can be downloaded for a free 30 day trial. It is very user friendly and comes with lots of pre selected images, backgrounds, papers, punches and every thing you need to start creating straight away. You can be your own designer with My Digital Studio. Designing cards, photo books, project life (more about that in another blog) and more. We’ve got you covered for all of life’s events with intuitive software and digital content right at your fingertips. Try it and see.

The Stamp brush sets (just like a stamp only digital), that I used for the boys are:

Extreme Skateboard
Extreme Guitar
Extreme Surfboard
Game Day Soccer

Athletic Department for the words as well as Delight in the Day Designer Series. The balls were from Great Sport and the HAPPY BIRTHDAY in the Rockwell Extra Bold size 22 Text. I over laid it all with Vintage Overlays Texture that had been colored randomly with Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler.

I pooped the balls and Happy Birthday up on dimensionals for a bit of interest. Created this verse for inside the card. This front was printed on Whisper White, adhered to Night of Navy and mounted on the base card Daffodil Delight.

Hope you are inspired by it.

Thanks for stopping by.

TRIPLE CHALLENGE

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015naomiconnolly2 Comments

What is a triple challenge I hear you think?

Challenge 1. Well for me today’s blog is the first one. I have been invited by Miss Vicky to be part of the creative blog hop where following links you can see, learn, admire and recreate so much about the craft you love. Links and answers to questions all participants are asked are at the bottom of this blog. Thanks Vicky for taking me by surprise and showing faith in my creations.

Challenge 2. I am part of a small group of people at Caloundra Community Center called Crafty Creations and Vicky has organised a monthly card challenge. You can see them here on Vicky’s face book page Stamps,Paper and Stuff. Any one is welcome to join in. This is our first one. This is my creative contribution and not a minute too soon – dead line at end of week. See procrastination abounds.

Challenge 3. I have also chosen this card for a clients request for a Birthday Card for her friend who is 89. I hope the tactile feel will help with her enjoyment of the card. Now you know, think no more. Save the grey matter for creating, not wondering!

THE CARD.

I used Whisper White and Melon Mambo card stock with the new Painted Blooms DSP.

The small butterflies were from Papillion Potpourri the large from the Thinlits Butterflies and the sentiment Butterfly Basics. You can purchase the bundle for both of these at reduced price off them when purchased individually, on my Stampin! Up! web.

The little green frame was cut from the DSP paper and glued to the Whisper White which had been stamped prior to attaching.

I glued the tulip covered DSP on the bottom third before embossing, then I cut out the circle.

When I attached the Whisper White butterfly I just moved it down a fraction so that the Melon Mambo one peeped through. Attaching a couple of Rhinestones completed the front of the card. It was then attached to Melon Mambo card stock and personalised inside. Hope you enjoy it.

Now for some serious stuff.
These questions are what you will read on each of the blogs. So interesting finding out what motivates others.
1. What are you working on?
Being the newbie it has been this blog, and ALL that is involved from watermarks, uploads, links, media extras and I’m still not there. Being a new distributor I find there are lots of challenges and some steep learning curves but with each step I feel more empowered to make this really work. There is soooo much help in the Stampin’Up! Community there really is no excuse not to succeed. Well maybe ill health, but touch wood I’m great.

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?
As yet, thank goodness, it’s not work, and I hope it never becomes that. I’m retired you know!! Each person brings their entire life to the creative process as do I, so in that respect as no one else has had my life, I do differ from others, if only in small ways. I love the quote

“Be Yourself, everyone else is taken.”

3. Why do you create what you do?
Mostly for the sheer pleasure the tactile aspect of cards creates in me. All things paper are in my blood (see about me) so my starting point is here. There is a sense of satisfaction, with a rye smile, when I have made a card that I have not cased from Pinterest or elsewhere. Just sensing what works and what doesn’t as I create is very satisfying. Then when I’m not 100% happy with the effort and recreate the same with changes. Viola my spirit sores! I love the fact that one formula I not longer have to deal with and that’s all the colour matching. It’s has been done with Stampin Up! and that makes the process so much more relaxed.

4. How does your creative process work?
I have always been a collator of images and words. Having been a student that loved projects at school.(I still have some of those books.) Some times an idea will be fermenting away in that grey matter for weeks before I actually start to create ie., the above card 3 weeks of mulling over. By then I will have a petty good idea of the stamps, colours and layout I want to use. Of course it still can go wrong. The idea doesn’t measure up to the ideal. This little fellow was my first attempt at the above card. Both nice cards but I like first one better.