Masking

The next challenge was to use an oval die and make a pumpkin with it using the masking technique.  Now others in the group were using two different stamps on their cards which I tried at first but ended up trashing so instead what I did was use the same stamp for all my panels but changed up the colors so I have Brown in the center with green on either side ect.

Cam & Chloe - Dot background stamp
Spellbinder - oval die for masking and Distress ink - Carved pumpkin for shading
Poppystamps - Climbing vine die
Spellbinder - Fall Foliage and Labels trio dies
D.R.S. designs - Easy grass background w/mowed lawn distress ink
JoAnn Essentials -emotions vellum sentiment
Stampin up - Black Jewels

Sharing a few pictures I took with my phone while I was making it to show the process of masking to make the pumpkin

You use the oval over the piece you just stamped and then take the negative and move over and stamp again to get the different panels in the pumpkin, after I was done I laid it back on in order to get the shading with the orange ink.

I cut the pumpkin out so I could apply it to my kraft background and grassy area, I popped it up on some foam for dimension as well as the pinecone and some of the leaves.  I used my background I had made earlier using my color bursts. The stem was just hand cut.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Wrap around

The next challenge I tried in my group was to make a wrap around card.  You take a separate piece of paper and stamp on it and then wrap it around so that half is on the front of the card and the other half is to the back.  My first attempt of a die didn't work out so I went with this big scalloped die.

Colored my stamp with pencils since there was a lot of little area's and my pencils work much better in the smaller areas. Fussy cut so more of the wrap around piece would show.

Stampin up - Canvas Background stamp
Great Impressions - Harvest Wagon stamp, colored w/pencils
Spellbinders - Grand Scalloped circles die
Ms. Sparkle & co. - Give thanks stamp set, sentiment and leaves

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and say Hi,

Connie

3 from 1

My stamp group is once again having a week of challenges and today I am going to share what I had the group do for my challenge.  

I have never tried the one sheet wonder cards where you get a group of cards out of one sheet of paper, in this case it is a 6x6 inch piece. You can get 4 cards from one sheet but we only needed to do 3, needed time for other challenges too :)

Here is a Link to the way to cut your one sheet of paper.

My first card is going to a lady at church who lost her husband while we were away on vacation.

Teresa Collins - He said she said paper
Martha Stewart - punch border
Hampton Art - Flower Amaze stamp, colored w/pencils

Same paper
Martha Stewart punch
Gina K - Don't lose hope stamp set, colored with pencils
Nuvo - winter blizzard glitter drops on wings

Recollections - bling on a roll
Hampton Art - Flower Amaze, colored w/markers
Hero Arts - It's your day sentiment stamp

I do think that using this technique would make great group of cards to gift someone.

Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by today,

Connie

Bee-utiful

I have been gone for almost 2 weeks. We went up to Michigan first to have a day with our siblings and then headed out to Connecticut to visit our daughter, we had a good but very quick visit, she is a very busy girl in her 3rd year of getting her Doctorate in Theology.  I took some pictures of some of the Yale campus but don't know if any of them turned out yet, but I will share if they did. 

Today I am sharing a new stamp set I bought at the scrapbook convention that I hadn't tried yet.

I stamped and colored it with markers off to the left side so that I could use this die cut for the right side of my card. The bee was lifted up with foam tape and I added some diamond stickles to the wings.

Dare2BArtzy- Bee-utiful Stamp set, colored w/markers
Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Mixed Media die
Basic Grey - Periphery Paper
Stampendous - Birthday assortment sentiment stamp
Distress ink - Peeled Paint around the edges
Stickles - Diamond on Bee wings and flower centers

I was able to view your posts while I was gone but a couple nights when we got back I was just too tired to think straight, so I am a little behind on visiting but hope to catch up soon :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me know :)

Connie

Flower Bouquets

I purchased a bag of all kinds of goodies at the yard sale at my Local stamp store and these flower stickers were inside, they have a lot of dimension to them , so I paired them up once again with this great paper pack that makes it look like there is many layers to the background but it is just one layer. I did add the thin green ribbon to tie my sentiment tag onto the card.  I decided to go with orange for my frame instead of the traditional brown. Added a few white enamel dots to the background too.

Hero Arts - Wood frame die
Jot - Pop up stickers (flowers)
Sassafras - Mix and Mend papers
Spool O Ribbon
Martha Stewart - tag punch
ODBD - Mini tag sentiment stamp
Ranger enamel accents - white
Brad

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Wood Veneers

I saw this package of wood veneers at JoAnns when I was there recently, I bought them for the leaves in the set and ended up using the owl, well at least that is what I think this is supposed to be :)

With the glitter paper that I used to base the wood veneer onto and the gold mirror paper I used for the flowers this card has a bit of sparkle and shine too it.

So hard not to pick up everything in the reflection of the mirror card.

Ms. Sparkle & co. - Wood Veneer and Glitter paper
Spellbinders - Labels 20 and vintage Floret dies
Rose Gold Mirror card
Die Versions - Celebrate die
Hobby Lobby gems (flower centers)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Inked backround

I broke out my Alcohol inks for this next card because my friend really likes this style, I have seen some ladies using deco foil on the backgrounds before the inks completely dry, that way it leaves a little bit of the foil onto the background, I used silver foil on this one, I really think that gives it a neat touch to the card. I applied my ink to photo paper.

I layered my flower with pattern paper, then vellum and then metallic card stock, plus some silver stickers and sentiment.

You can see a little more of the silver deco foil on this picture.

Brea Reese alcohol ink - Lavender
Adridondack Alcohol ink - Lettuce
Deco Foil - Silver transfer sheet
Photo paper
Sizzix - Tattered Florals
Stamp on it - sentiment sticker
EK Success - Sparkle stickers on flower center

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Wooden flowers

My sister gave these little wooden flowers to me and I was making a birthday card for a little girl that my friend is fostering right now, so I thought I would make a fun and bright card for her. Used a few dies that I could use as layers for the flowers.

Spellbinders - Classic Scalloped Square dies 
PPD - Mini stitched Square dies
Wooden flowers
Inkadinkado - all Ocassions sentiment stamp
$ store - flower stickers

Sharing some more pictures from our Minnesota trip.

If you look real close in the middle of the picture there is an eagle behind the leaves on the branch.

He took off flying right in front of us, hubby was driving so I got this picture, the rest were very blurry.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Dog Sympathy

My niece and her family lost their dog of 17 years.  Once again I tried coloring like her dog, that was really hard since he had many stripes of colors in his hair.

I used my homemade cloud stencil for the background and then stamped my grass stamp and went over it with a sponge for the grass.  Added a die cut fence and tree with punched leaves on it.

Newton's nook designs - Fetching Friendship stamp, colored w/markers
Poppystamps - Picket fence die
Memory Box - Bare Sapling die
Leaf punch
D.R.S. designs - Easy Grass background stamp
Cloud Stencil, homemade

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Autumn Flower

I broke out my coloring calendar for this card, I love how the flowers in this set can be anything you want them to be. I colored this one with markers.  The background piece is one full piece of paper, love how they look so layered.

Coloring for calm 2017 calendar - colored w/markers
Sassafras - Mix and Mend paper
Spellbinder - Special Birthday sentiment stamp and Lg. Deckled rectangle die
Silhouette cameo - ivy diecut
Brads
Wink of stella sparkle pen

You can see the sparkle on the flower in the close up

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Painted Harvest

I broke out the stamp set I shared a few posts ago and tried using them again, this time for a Thanksgiving card on the first one. This time I fussy cut them out after stamping and I actually lined up the leaves this time :)

You can see the different colors and shading in the stamps in the closeup photo

Stampin up - Painted Harvest stamp, fussy cut
Spellbinders - A2 matting basics A &B and Labels trio die
Liquid Pearls - Chestnut

The next time I tried a wreath like I saw on line when I googled the stamp set.

I really loved how this one turned out, very simple but pretty.

Stampin up - Painted Harvest stamp
My Favorite things - Cross stitch Rectangle die
Mark Richards - Red Glitter Dome gems
Our daily Bread design - Poinsettia wreath stamp for the sentiment
Jute

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Autumn

The other day I was going through all my goodies to see what I should play with next and I came across the package of goodies that Esther had sent to me awhile back and I decided not to hoard them anymore and pass on to someone else in a card.  She sent along these cute Library cards, with the different seasons on them, This one already had Autumn and the pumpkin on it, I just stamped the sentiment and added the flowers.  See the cute die cut border?  yep she sent that along too but it was all white card stock that I am thankful for because I was able to color it to match my card :)  All of this was put on some patterned paper.

Sassafras - Mix and Mend paper
Library card and die cut from blogging friend, colored w/markers
Hero arts - It's your day sentiment
Stickles - Diamond - flower centers

Thanks Again Esther for the fun items to create with.

And thanks to all of you for answering my question about the blog posts and emails, sounds like it isn't only me, thankful that it doesn't mean there is something wrong with my computer or email system but hopefully it will be fixed in the future, and thanks for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Falling Leaves

I keep forgetting to ask by the time I am done with a posting so I am starting off by asking those that get updates of who has posted to your blog are you getting your emails of those comments?  Mine has not been working for some time now, I have gone in twice to my profile and asked that I receive them and have even signed up to get them in another way and it works for a couple days and then I don't get them anymore. I am once again not getting them and I am getting frustrated, just curious if anyone else has had this problem.

Now onto my card, I love fall and I hope all my family members born this time of year are not getting sick of getting fall themed birthday cards :)  When Memory Box had a falling leaves challenge I knew exactly what dies I wanted to use on my next birthday card.  Instead of using it as a side border I used a section of the die and put it on the angle so my leaves would be falling from the top of the card.  My inspiration for this card came from an unusual place, at church our hymns or put on a screen and they have backgrounds to them and this one had leaves falling and rays coming out, so when I saw this challenge it reminded me of that background scene and I went with it.

I first used my Colorbursts for the background, I took a big watercolor sheet that I had bought at Michaels, trying out there Artist Loft Level 2 watercolor 140 lb./300g/m2. For this technique I loved how it worked out but having tried it for actual water coloring yet.  I let that dry and then cut out my top border and the two leaves, I still have a big sheet to use.  While that was all drying I took a scrap piece of cardstock and used those makeup brushes to lightly add ink to the sides of the paper to get the rays.  Added my sentiment and some raindrops and I was done.

Memory Box - Autumn Border and Marvelous Maple Leaves dies
Ken Oliver Colorbursts - Sap Green, Naples Yellow, Marigold and Wisteria
Watercolor paper
Distress Oxide - Scattered straw (rays)
Hot off the press - Life happens greetings stamp
Cloud 9 designs - Rain dots

I hope your week is off to a great start, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Hand in Hand

I went to a wedding shower last weekend and this is the card that I made for them. I added a bit more dimension since it was going to be hand delivered so I broke out my tiny tattered florals die.

This is my favorite type of card to make, all frilly and pretty, so I went all out even adding some lace :)

Fiskars - Just Married Quotes stamp
BasicGrey - Porcelain papers
Spellbinders - Lace Hearts die
Lawn Fawn - Fancy Scalloped Rectangle die
Sizzix - Tiny Tattered Florals die
Recollections - Lace on a roll 
Gems

We went off to a park yesterday, had a picnic and long walk, finished by enjoying a lovely sunset. Today is attending a fall festival, Oh how I love Fall time, wish it lasted longer than it does :)  but I will enjoy today!!

Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend,
Thanks so much for stopping by today and saying Hi,

Connie

Christmas cards

Last time I shared the Thanksgiving cards for the Veterans Home, today I am sharing the Christmas cards I made for them.  I just love the calming feeling Thomas Kinkade pictures give so that is the set I reached for to make my cards. This set was from last year Hunkdory put out that I bought at Barnes & Noble.

In my first card I added some Hot off the press Dazzle stickers with it to border the picture.

My next card I used my postage stamp die to frame the picture, I am showing all of these at an angle so you can see the dimension in these.  In this set they all were hand cut out.

Our weather has finally broke today and what a break it is, last 3 days we have been in the 90's and today's high is 75 and it looks like we have already reached that and it is getting cooler as the day goes, Wow!  I think Autumn is here :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Autumn collection

There is a girl in my card making group that was asked by a Veterans home if she could make more cards for the people there, Thanksgiving and Christmas cards.  I offered to make 5 of each.  As you know about 98% of the cards I make are for people I know and intend on giving them too, so it is hard for me to make a card not knowing who they will go to, so I brought out my Autumn papers and trying to figure out what to do when I saw all these card toppers in one of the paper packs and thought they would work for these.  They have glitter on them and are a bit raised so it will be something they can feel too.

DCWV - Wild Splendor paper
Paper Studio - Glittered Cardstock

Thanks so much for taking out the time to stop by today and say Hi,

Connie