Quail

This one went out to my nephew who is quite the outdoors man, when I saw the stamp I thought of him.  Did a search on their colors, think I went a little too much on the orange side of brown on the heads though.  I also used my white pitt pen to add some of the white streaks they have.

Serendpity stamps -- Quail stamp, colored w/markers
Faber Castell -- white pitt pen
DCWV -- Old World stack paper and Burlap papers
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics B, A2 Distressed edges
Photo Corners
Queen & co. -- Gold Jellies

They say we are in for some snow, but only about an inch.  We are a bit behind in our rainfall totals around these parts.  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by, love hearing from you,

Connie

Hunkydory

I found out about Hunky dory a year or so ago after I had bought a subscription to a English Magazine that had papers and these die cut clipart in them, which already had the silver framing. Since then I see Hot off the press sales their beautiful products.

I needed a quick card to send to a lady in the church that took a fall and has been diagnosed with all kinds of back problems that are inoperable. I like these clipart images when you need a quick card. The doily in the background I think I purchased at the $ store and I just inked it pink.

Hunkydory -- Flutterby wishes, papers and image
Martha Stewart --  crochet flower punch all over the page punch
Doily, inked with pink
Doodlebug design -- stamped sentiment

Still fighting this cold and it is cloudy and windy outside, I think that calls for a day of just hanging out on the sofa with my furbabies.  Hope your week is well.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Journey

I was in need of another Masculine birthday card and I thought this stamp set would be perfect.  All the stamping done here is from the same set.

I am linking my card today to Stephanie's Blog, stop by if you would like to get great craft ideas, recipes and just great encouragement from others linking up :)

Stampers Anonymous -- The Journey
DCWV -- Tattered time stack paper
Spellbinders -- Classic Circle lg die
American crafts -- twine
Button -- flea market find

I hope you all are enjoying this journey God is leading us through, I know when times are rough it is hard, but if you can set that all aside and concentrate on the many blessings we have in this life, it makes the journey so sweet to go on.

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to stop by, love hearing from you,

Connie

Birthday Flowers

I really liked the flowers that were in this birthday sentiment I cut on my Silhoutte.

Silhoutte -- sentiment w/flowers
Sew pretty designer paper collection
Spellbinders -- classic Sq lg die cut
Distress inks -- spun sugar
Forever in time -- pearls
Prima flowers-- two outside
White flower and lace -- given by Sabrina

We had a misty rainy day yesterday, we were above freezing so no snow once again, now today is below freezing and cloudy but don't know if we will see any snow or not.  Well I was finally hit with the cold that has been going around, I was shocked I hadn't caught it yet, so I didn't feel bad about curling up on the sofa yesterday with my furbabies and nursing my cold.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and letting me know you did :)

Connie

Garden delight

My great niece turned 18, so I wanted to do something young but yet sophisticated.  My scrap pile is getting big again so I decided to use some for my background. I did a little inking around the panels. Stamped the flowers using ink directly to the stamp, using a bit lighter inks on the outside flowers and darker for the center,

Sorry I don't have the makers of any of these papers.
Inkadinkado -- Garden Delight stamp set, using chalk inks
Craftaroo -- Rhinestones, colored w/markers
Hero Arts -- It's your day sentiment stamp set

Beautiful blue skies here with lot's of sunshine, I hope your weekend is filled with sunshine and fun!
Thanks again to all of you that have been so reassuring about my upcoming cataract surgery and for your prayers, it means so much.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Our Friendship

My two little great nieces are so cute together and the one who is getting this card for her birthday has blonde hair and her sister has red, so that is why I went with these colors for their hair :)

After I colored them, I fussy cut them and added foam adhesive to pop them up a bit.

Hot off the press --Janie's girlfriends, Our Friendship stamp colored w/markers
Basic Grey -- Lilykate papers
Spellbinders -- Classic circle lg and Lattice rectangle dies
Paper smooches -- Happy Birthday sentiment stamp
Sequins

I want to thank all of you that said prayers for me and let me know your surgeries were just fine, I really appreciate that.  My Dad had both his eyes done and it is times like this that I really miss being able to talk to him.  The appointment went really well, I like the doctor.  He said there are types of Cataracts that take over 10 years to go bad but mine is a fast moving one, this has all happened over a span of 16 months.  I don't have a surgery date yet, I guess they want to check with my doctor that I am well enough to go through surgery, I am ready to have this done and able to see well again.  Thanks again for all the positive comments :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Beautiful....

This card went to my the friend I have had the longest, we grew up next door to each other, I am 9 months older.

These words were on a separate piece of paper in the same paper pack, so I just cut them all out and added it to this paper that I liked for the background to the bird. Hope it let her know how special I feel she is to me and others around her.

 Silhoutte -- cut
Me & my big ideas -- gems
My mind's eye -- sweetest thing papers & sentiments

I know it is winter but sometimes you just need a touch of spring in the winter, am I right :)

Hope your week is going well, I have an appointment today to see if my eye is bad enough for cataract surgery.  My eye doctor seems to think so, so he is sending me to the surgeon,  it sure will be nice not to have this cloudy look anymore, it is like always having something in your eye.  How sad it must have been for people years ago before surgery, they would just slowly go blind.  Many things to be thankful for isn't there.

I am linking this post to Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link up .  If you get a chance head over and see all the different types of blogs that link up, it isn't just cards and crafts.

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your comments,

Connie

Thank you

I really liked this stamp but didn't use it on anything for Christmas so I thought I would use it for a thank you card for a Christmas gift I received.

Stampin up -- Seasonal birds, colored w/markers
Silhoutte cut file -- thank you tag
DCWV -- Earth prints mat stacks papers
Spellbinders -- classic sq. lg and classic scalloped squares dies
Wink of Stella pen -- on berries
Ribbon and DMC thread

We have been enjoying such beautiful weather, I am so enjoying getting out and walking so much more, need to enjoy it before mid week when we get back to normal winter temps.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Gift Boxes

I was going through my pictures and realized I forgot to post the gift boxes I made for the cards and calendar I made.

I have posted this before but thought I would share again.  I saw this over at Stamp TV, you can see the video Here .

Tim Holtz -- Vintage Shabby Papers
David Tutera -- Celebrate, decorative layers (diecut)
K&co.-- Elegance Hearts and flowers

Tim Holtz -- Vintage shabby papers
David Tutera -- Celebrate layers, embossed piece
Martha Stewart -- Swirling lace punch around the page
EK success -- Flower punches
Craftaroo -- Rhinestones
K&co. -- Bible quotes Sticker medley

We had beautiful temps in the mid 50's today, so the hubby and I set out to take care of all the Christmas lights and decorations outside.  Usually we have a nice mild day shortly after the new year and we get everything taken care of but this year we have had some lower than normal temps.  It feels so good to have it all put away finally.

Hope you are all enjoying the kind of weather you love, I know there are some of you that enjoy the snow :)  Have a wonderful weekend,

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, so good to hear from you,

Connie

Dry Embossed Cards

My last two cards I made for my secret sister.  I used embossing folders on both of these.  I love the look of all white cards, and that is what I was going for at first and then just couldn't help myself and ended up adding a touch of color.

Quickutz -- Happy Birthday embossing folder
Spellbinders -- Floral Ovals
Inkadinkado -- Greetings/ Salutations stamp set
Martha Stewart -- Leaves and flower punches
Tulip bead paint-- white for flower centers

Tip:
When I have small pieces of paper left that I feel is too small to really use on a card, I keep them in a little bin and then in the evenings I can punch them out and save them in envelopes so they are all ready to put on a card.

This second card I used my brayer to add ink to the embossing folder to give it that blue background. I used some chalk to go over the leaves.

Cuttlebug -- Leafy Branch embossing folder
Leaf -- Silhoutte cut
Distress ink -- tumbled glass
Martha Stewart -- flowers & tag punches
Making memories -- buttons
Inkadinkado -- Greetings/salutations sentiment stamp
Tulip bead paint -- Silver (flower center)

Next time I will show you the packaging I made for the cards and the Calendar.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and saying hello :)  Hope your day is a sunny one!

Connie

Masculine Birthday

I am sharing this post over at Stephanie's Blog for her Roses of Inspiration link up today.

 I thought this time I would share a masculine card.  These along with kids cards are the hardest for me to do, but I do like the way this one turned out.  I inked the sunset in the background with my distress inks and after cutting out the trees I put foam tape behind to give a little dimension and shadow to the trees, I think that was the most time consuming part of the whole card, trimming that tape small enough to fit behind the trees and border of the die cut.  Used distress inks on the deer and bird also.  I don't know if you can see but I added a bit of snow to the scene too with my Snow marker.  You put the marker on, let it dry and then heat it with your heat gun to make it puff up.

Oh I also added a little bit of pitt artist pen to the blue background for a touch of stars, but once I added the tree to the background you can hardly see them, really have to look close.

Taylored Expressions -- Birch Tree Cutting Plate and Birch Tree Accessories (deer and bird) dies
Spellbinders -- A2 Matting Basics B die
Distress inks
Marvy -- Snow marker
Faber Castell -- Pitt Artist pen, white for stars on the blue background

Well that is all for me today, I hope your all staying toasty warm, toward the end of the week we are suppose to have a nice warm up, so I am looking forward to that, yesterday's walk in those wind chills was not fun.

Thanks so much for taking the time out to stop by and for leaving your comments, I so enjoy hearing from you!

Connie

Easy to mail cards

I always do a set of cards for my Secret Sister at the reveal for them to give away throughout the year, here are a couple I made, I will share a couple more later.  I try to do cards that are fairly flat so they will have no problem mailing them with one stamp.

Spellbinders -- A2 Matting basics A die
Papertrey ink -- Text style, hodge podge papers
Tim Holtz -- Flight of fancy stamp set (2nd card)
Miss Elizabeth -- Ribbon (1st card)
Twine
Buttons -- flea market find

I forgot to write down the stamp set I used for the first card, it was an Inkadinkado stamp set, if you want to know just let me know and I will look it up.

Hope you are all staying safe with all this weather we are getting right now.  We had a touch of ice mixed with sleet, but mostly rain thank goodness.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope your week is getting off to a wonderful start,

Connie

Mary's Inspiration

Well as you know last year I would do an inspiration post on the 1st and 15th of the month from someone's blog that I follow, well I will still be doing those post this year but I have no set dates, that was a bit challenging to me and I just want to go with the flow this year.  When I saw this calendar over at Poppystamps blog I was thrilled, not only was it so pretty but it gave me an idea of something to make for my Secret Sister reveal we had last night.

You can find Mary's Post HERE and she links up to the Poppy stamps blog on her post to give instructions how she made this size one, if you email her she will give you instructions on a square size she made also along with the calendar.  Thanks so much Mary for sharing this, my secret sister just loved it.

I have a few views of it to share.  I take my pics by my french doors and use natural lighting but the day I took these pics was a very cloudy day.

Here is a view to see how it stands up:

My mind's eye -- Sweetest thing papers
Tim Holtz distress cardstock for the arch
Hot off the press--- Ivory papers for the inside of the window
Poppy stamps -- Small Gothic window and small gothic arch dies
Impression Obsession-- spiral flowers dies
Memory box -- Leafy sprig die
Spellbinders -- Decorative Labels 8 die

I cut the leafy sprig die up for the greenery behind the flowers and had to hand write the year since I didn't have small enough numbers stamps.

I want to say welcome to all the ladies who joined my blog through Stephanie's link up party, hope you enjoy stopping by.

Hope you all that are experiencing this deep freeze we are going through are staying warm.  Poor Peanut doesn't like having to go out to do her bathroom duties, I felt so bad a couple days I would open the door and she would just back up because she didn't want to go out and I would have to force her out the door, but hopefully we will see some above freezing temps soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Have a good one,

Connie

Roses of Inspiration

I mentioned Stephanie starting a Link up party called Roses of Inspiration over at her blog The Enchanting Rose .  If you have time stop over and join in or check out some of the links from others who are joining in.

I would say 99% of my cards are made with someone in mind and I usually share who they are going to.  Today's card is going to my Secret Sister at Church.  I had never heard of this before at other churches I have attended over the years of our travels in the military but my church now has this program where you pick a name out of a bowl of another lady in the church and she has filled out a sheet with information about her life, family with an area to share prayer request that are urgent right now in her life and then things you can pray over the year for her.  We also share cards of encouragement and little gifts throughout the year.  I have such a hard time buying cards for my secret sisters throughout the year since I make my own but they would know it was me for sure if I were to give them one of mine, so since this Thursday is our reveal for the year 2014, I am finally able to make her a card and this is what I came up with and I think it is a perfect way to start out the Roses of Inspiration link up too :)

Anna Griffin -- Background die
Elizabeth Craft Designs -- Rose dies
DCWV -- Card base
Ribbon -- RAK
Craftaroo -- Rhinestones

I added a bit of chalk to give the roses a bit of color, her favorite colors are pink and blue and since you don't see many blue roses I went with all pink. After putting the rose together I added dimension with foam tape.

If you want to see what the others have done for the party check out Stephanie's blog HERE .

Thanks so much for taking the time out to stop by, I would love to hear what you think,

Connie

Let's Celebrate

For my great nephew, as I was going through the  clipart from my daily scrapbook calendar, for Christmas images I came by these images and thought they would work great for my great nephews card.  Just cut out the images, added some stickles and paper and I was done.

Scrapbooking daily calendar 2011 -- images and sentiments
Carta - bella -- Alphabet Junction paper
Stickles -- yellow, baby blue, eucalptus and x-mas red for the sprinkles on the cupcake and candle.


Stephanie is doing a blog hop over at Enchanting Rose tomorrow so I will be adding another project tomorrow.  You can see the link in the side bar.  Hope to see you back here tomorrow.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Pirate fun

My great nephews birthday was on January 1st and this is the card I sent to him.  He turned 11 so I hope this isn't too young of an image, I Fussy cut around the image.

Stampavie -- A sword fight, colored w/markers
Sassafras -- Apple Jack paper
SRM Stickers -- Happy Birthday sentiment set
Spellbinders -- Lg. Deckled Rectangles

It has been raining most of the night and this morning, so if it were just a few degrees colder we would be getting snow right now, they are saying we may get some snow tomorrow morning.  I hope we get a nice day soon to take down our outdoor Christmas lights, usually we get one right around New Years and that is when we take them down but no such luck with the weather so far this year.

Hope you all have a chance to relax and maybe get some play time in this weekend.

Thanks so much for stopping by, so good to hear from you,
Connie

Happy New Year

I hope your New Year has started off nice, I am enjoying a very nice sunny morning, and we are suppose to get above freezing today so that is always a good day in my book :)

Our niece's birthday is just a couple days before Christmas so I try to do her a card totally the opposite of winter, and this stamp set did just that.  I highlighted the word sunshine in the sentiment and popped it up with dimensional tape.

I tried to color the cat with a look of texture to his fur, still need practice on that.  The tree frame was cut out on white cardstock and then colored with markers.

Newton's nook designs -- Daydream stamp set, colored w/markers
Colorbok-- Homespun papers
Memory Box -- Orchard Tree frame and Debutante Frame

Thank you to all of you that stop by and share your thoughts, it is so nice to have such sweet blog friends.  I wish you all God's blessings of good health and happiness in the year ahead.

Hugs,
Connie