Get well

 I had to have more play time with my 49 and market goodies and I thought these would work well for a gentlemen in our church who came down with Covid recently, glad to say he is feeling much better now.

• 49 and Market - 6x8 Vintage Artistry Essentials paper (background paper and leaf)
• 49 and Market - Vintage Artistry Essentials Ephemera bits (tag and butterfly) did a bit of inking around the tag and background papers
• Tim Holtz - Sentiment words, Thin dies
• Jute

I am adding today's card in the Simon Says Challenge which is anything goes

We had a bit of flooding in the ditch behind our house again and out in the road in front of our house but thankfully it didn't come up into our yard, it looks like we may have a couple days without rain before we get some more next week.

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

Connie

Do what you love

 Masculine card today for a guy who likes fishing, I know this guy would rather be out in a boat then on the shore relaxing but he will get the idea :)  I think the longest thing this card took was coloring that water, first time I showed hubby he said oh wow that water is to dark, so I went back in my room and tried everything to lighten it, when I came back out he said oh that's much better.  I cut the image out with decorative scissors and added photo corners then mounted that all onto some pattern paper.

• Northwoods stamp- 2010
• Provocraft - Scissors
• Tim Holtz - THMM113 sentiment stamp
• Pink & Main - Sentiment strip die
• Photo Corners

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

Connie

Sentiment

 When I saw the challenge over at Sisterhood of Crafters which is Sentiments only, I thought of this die I have that I am not sure if I have used yet. I cut it out twice to give it more dimension. I also just had a zoom meeting with my stamp group where we made backgrounds using our gelli plates using Oxide inks and this one I also used a stencil on top. The flowers also come with the sentiment die, I put it on a vellum die cut so that you can still see the background through it.

• Sizzix - Phrase, Happy Birthday to you die
• Spellbinders - Labels 11 die
• Background made on gelli plate by adding oxides to the base, placing a stencil on top and sponging the oxide ink through the stencil, removing and making the print.
• Hero Arts - Filigree Patterns 2 stencil
• Me & my big ideas - gems

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Dreams come true

 A few of the girls in my cardmaking group was sharing different ways they are using up their scraps so it made me go to one of my 6x6 paper pads and I had all these thing strips in there, I decided to put them together for the base of my card.  I added a strip of another pad at the top and used scraps to cut out and layer the pretty die cut so that it had good dimension!

• BasicGrey - Picadilly paper scraps, inked before adding to card base
• Quick cards - Floral Garland die
• Tim Holtz - Crochet die and clippings sticker for sentiment on kraft cardstock

Thank so much for taking the time to stop by today, and hope you have a great weekend!

Connie

Topiary

 When I saw the Retro Rubber Challenge of anything goes, I decided to break out this set that I bought at a used sale at my stamp store, it is a set of topiary stamps from Close to my heart but there is no name or date on them but since I bought them probably over 3 years ago I know they are old.

After picking out the stamp I started going through papers to get an idea what colors I wanted to go with and I came across this set that was in my advent calendar from Crafters companion, isn't that gorgeous, so purple coloring it is :)  I put a little sparkle pen on the flowers, punched out the butterflies and added some gems, cut it out with this oval die and added a tag with stamped sentiment and colored the brad with a marker to match!

• Close to my heart - Stamp set name unknown, colored w/markers
• Crafters Companion - Advent calendar paper
• Spellbinders - Floral Ovals die
• Martha Stewart - Butterfly and tag punches
• Stamps of life - minis4circles sentiment stamp
• gems
• Brad colored w/marker

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

Connie

Spring

 This is appropriate on our first full day of spring.  When I saw this challenge I decided to play along as my niece had just lost her dog, and what better way to think of our pets but enjoying themselves outside!

Her dog is multi colored, so I stamped him on a scrap of background I had done with inks. Just before mailing I realized I hadn't colored in his collar, I remembered to do that but forgot to take a picture, so imagine him with a red collar :)  I used some butterflies and bees off another stamp set, but had to draw in my own flowers, I sponged the grass and sky too.

• Newton's Nook design - Fetching Friendship and Newton's Day dream for the butterflies and bees
• Distress ink- Black soot for dog
• Distress inks - mowed lawn and tumbled glass for scene
• Basic Grey - Picadilly paper 
• Doodled Flowers

I am sharing todays card with the Inky Paws Challenge which is spring.

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

Connie

Bloom

 I have been playing with this flower die set for awhile, using different scraps to make the flowers, but never have made them into a card.  Then I recently bought this doily embossing folder for my birthday and thought I would try pairing them together.

• Tim Holtz - Bloom, colorize die, cut from scraps and Doily 3D Texture fades embossing folder, inked folder then embossed
• Ek success - Flower punch (small flowers) beads in the centers
• Stamp sentiment

I am sharing todays card with a couple challenges-

Color Throwdown Challenge - use gray, yellow tan and black

The Flower Challenge - use scraps

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

Connie

Twofer

 Well the idea for this card started out as being one card, I picked out the flower pattern paper but wanted something else with it, so I decided to try and find a piece of cardstock that I could cut with my border die that would go with the colors in the pattern paper, I found this cardstock and silly me sat it right on top of the pattern paper, so when I put the die on the cardstock and ran it through my Gemini machine, it came out with both the card stock and the patterned paper cut at the same time, my first thought was OH no I messed up that paper and then when I pulled them apart I realized I could mix them and glue them both on a card base and have two cards, since I had two birthdays for friends coming up that is just what I did.

The little banner and the flower came from the same set as the paper. They are chipboard pieces.

• Quick Cards - Kaisercraft, sweet pea papers and chipboard
• PPD Stitched Mini Scalloped borders die
• Spellbinders - Circle delight die
• Gems
• Fiskars - Essential sayings sentiment stamp

Here is the second card I made.

Quick Cards - Kaisercraft, sweet pea papers and chipboard

PPD - Stitched mini scalloped border die

Fiskars sentiment

Sequins

Sometimes when we think we make mistakes it can turn out to be a good thing :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Connie

On my Mind

 We have had one gentleman in our church going through cancer and another lady who lost a family member and I wanted to let them both know I was thinking of them so these are the cards I made.

• My Favorite things - Just my type stamp and die set
• DCWV - Once Upon a time paper
• Cheery Lynn designs - Alison's ribbons die
• Paper Studio - Enamel dots

This one went quite quickly since I used papers and image from a Hunkydory card kit from a magazine. I just popped up the image, and added a stamped sentiment.

• Hunkydory - Flutterbye wishes from cardmaking & papercraft magazine
• Hero Arts - Everyday sayings stamp set

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, I hope you are getting a little taste of spring to your area, we were in the 60's yesterday and 72 the high for today, so loving it!

Connie

Poinsettia and Stockings

The two cardmaking groups I belong to have different challenges this month, one is poinsettia and the other is stockings.  I still wanted to play with the papers and images I bought last fall. All I did was add a couple things to each card to dress up these images.

• Stamperia - Classic Christmas paper pack
• Hot off the press - Dazzles, 63 thin line border stickers
• Nuvo - Crystal Glaze on berries

Stamperia - Classic Christmas paper pack

Sizzix - Rounded tag die

DCWV - Metallic cardstock

Ribbon

Spectrum clear sparkle pen on berries

• Stamperia - Classic Christmas paper pack
• Anna Griffin - Christmas paper w/inking
• Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on berries and candy canes

• Stamperia - Classic Christmas paper pack, fussy cut wreath and holly on border
• DCWV - Metallic cardstock
• Nuvo crystal drops

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

Connie

Gnome Birthday

 At first when gnomes were the big thing I thought no not for me, but then they started growing on me but still I didn't buy any, well when I was at the store and saw this stamp set in person, I just thought it was too cute and had to pick it up :)

The gnome, mushroom and butterfly are all separate stamps, I added some grass with my marker to give them a base and added a few drops to the background.

• Inkadinkado - Garden Gnomes stamp set, colored w/markers
• Carta Bella - Metropolitan girl paper
• The Grettery - Crimped Frame die
• Papertrey ink - Oneliners Happy Die set
• Nuvo - Crystal drops in pale gold

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

Connie

Thinking of you

 I went with a slim line card today, since I still haven't bought any slim line dies I went with using some faux stitched dies to frame my card.  I love how the butterflies wings on this corner die pop up, and you know we need some flowers :)  I didn't do much shaping of them, just a little inking and adding of some gems. The sentiment came in some free goodies from a paper craft magazine, I just fussy cut around it.

• Memory Box - Sylvan Corner, Fabulous Phlox and Country stitches dies
• Craft Smith - Sea Glass paper
• Cardmaking & Papercrafts - sentiment

I am sharing today's card with Memory Box Challenge which is make a Thinking of you card using their dies.

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

Connie

Chairful Day

 Oh I can't tell you how many years I have had this stamp, I found it at a flea market many years ago and thought that the sentiment with it was a cute play on words but never have used it.  I started out with this paper and then went with coloring the chair close to the same colors.  That cute bow die is one I got when I won a challenge over at Impression Obsession.

• Stampin up - 2004, colored w/markers
• Spellbinders - Lacey Square die
• PPD - Mini Stitched Square die
• Impression Obsession - Tied line die
• Lilybeedesigns - Head over heels paper

I would like to share this card with Sisterhood of Crafters Old Rejected stamp, mine is from 2004

I have another card to share, it was a little hard getting pictures because the butterflies on the background paper are foiled.  I took these floral stickers, placed them on pattern paper and cut around them, these stickers are from a yard sale I went too, are you getting the theme that I was challenging myself to use goodies I had bought at these flea markets and yard sales.

• Hot off the press - Dazzles - Floral stickers, placed on pattern paper and cut out
• S.E.I.- Bright Blossoms paper
• Stamps of Life - Minis4circles sentiment stamp
• Martha Stewart - Tag punch
• Gem

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

Connie

Zoom Technique

 Well in our zoom meeting we had two techniques a background technique and a fun fold, well during the zoom, my background turned out terrible, could hardly see the pattern and I had a hard time getting the fold right, so I just dumped the card. A week or so later I tried the background technique again and this time it worked!  

You ink up your background with water reactive ink, I used distress inks. Then you take the side of your embossing folder that is raised  and you sprits it with water lightly, and close the embossing folder over your image and hold down for a bit of time to allow the water to make the image.  

I colored up this cute skunk and added my sentiment to  the cloud punch, punched some grass and flowers to finish off the scene.  Hubby said a skunk for a birthday and I said but it is a cute skunk, see the rosy cheek, he just laughed.  Hope my great niece likes it.

• Paper Studio - Silkscreen embossing folder
• Distress inks - Spun sugar, kitsch flamingo, Victorian velvet and Dusty Concord
• Your next stamp - Woodland Cuties, colored w/markers
• Fiskars - Cloud and Grass punch
• Flower punch cut from foil that had been colored w/marker

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

Connie

Stay Curious

 I felt it was time again to use an image from my coloring calendar, I colored this one last March when I had my foot surgery, I was trying to find a paper light enough to use to frame it with when I saw a tissue box that I hadn't cut up yet that seemed to be the same colors I used in the image, yep worked perfectly, I knew there was a reason for saving those :)

• Color for Calm 2017 coloring calendar image, colored w/pencils
• PPD - Wavy stitched Rectangle die
• Tissue box for layering
• Tim Holtz - Small talk sentiment
• Gems

Never knew that a year ago that yellow and blues would be colors we would be seeing all around the world for a country that is being terrorized, just unimaginable.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Card For Ukraine

 I already had sunflowers from Power Poppy but I hadn't had this one yet and right now Marcella is offering digital versions of these free for personal use, so I picked this one up to send some cards to my Brother and Sister in law who use to be missionaries in the Ukraine before my brother got Alzheimer's and the second one to my Nephew and his wife who adopted a little girl from Ukraine and also have a girl from their congregation and her family that are living over there right now, working at a school.

You can stop by and check them out  Here at Power Poppy 

I printed this one onto some light weight paper that had a linen finish on it, I colored with pencils since I wasn't sure how markers would work, fussy cut around the image.

• Power poppy - Sunflower power digital stamp, Colored w/pencils
• Impression Obsession - 6 in 1 Rectangle frames die
• Simon Says  stamps - Tiny words faith sentiment

This one I colored with markers and cut half with the die and the other half fussy cut.

• Power Poppy - Sunflower power digital stamp colored w/markers
• Partial die cut using Memory box - Stitched Rectangle layers, fussy cut the rest
• Taylored Expressions - Care & Comfort

Once again it is so hard to see what is going on in Ukraine, Praying there will be an end to all of this very soon, and these people can get back to the life they once lived.  Praying God grants wisdom to all those that are in charge and we can have an end soon!

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

Connie

Lovely Day

 I may be a little early with the spring cards but we have been enjoying some lovely weather so who can't help but get excited about spring being right around the corner :) Everything on this panel is from the same stamp set, isn't that bird too cute.  I just inked the bottom for the grass after stamping and coloring.

• Crafters Companion - Stamps, colored w/markers
• BasicGrey - Piccadilly paper
• Pink Fresh - Classic Edgers die
• Ribbon

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know you have,

Connie

Cheer

 For a great niece turning 13.  Used mostly stickers for this card.  I have a drawer full of stickers and Rub ons and I told myself that I refuse to start another drawer so I need to be using more of them before I can buy anymore :)

• Heidi Grace designs - Cardstock shapes stickers (buttons, tag, border and number tag)
• Crate paper - Party day paper
• Stickopotamus - Mini brush letters stickers (13)
• SRM - sticker (cheers)
• Paper studio - heart brad
• Mark Richards - Peel off stickers (cake and dots)
• Twine
• Gems

We are back to cooler temps but I will still take 50's over 30's :)

Have a great day and thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Season to be Jolly

 I forgot to share my last Christmas card I made for February.  Trying to do more of the red and white theme. Loving these birds so had to add another one of those too :)

• Diamond Press - Stamp set
• Spellbinders - Floral Ovals
• Impression Obsession - Spring birds die
• Enamel Accents for his eye
• Tim Holtz - Funky Festive die (poinsettia)

Sharing with the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge 

Thanks so much for stopping by, we have had some beautiful weather and we have one more day of it today, so I will be outside soaking it up, hope it is nice where you are too, spring is coming!!!!

Connie