Masculine Birthday

Hello, today I am sharing another card for Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link up. Make sure to stop by and check out all the inspiring posts!

This card is going to my nephew, I can't remember if he has turned 40 yet or not. I thought it was time to use my inchie stamps again, this time I used chalk ink directly to the stamp and then watercolored the backgrounds after with distress inks. The shading around the images were also done with distress inks. The background stamp I used was from the very first stamp set I ever bought at my first Stampin up party, that is what started my journey into cardmaking years ago. I never kept the name of the set back then but it has the date of 1997 on it.

Inkadinkado -- Tree and Leaves stamp set for inches, All occasions sentiment stamp set
Stampin up -- pine stamp 1997
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basicsA die
EK success -- 1" punch
Tim Holtz - woodgrain embossing folder
Ki -- metal accents

We are once again enjoying beautiful weather, it is so nice to be able to go out without a coat once again, Peanut and Jip are enjoying sunning themselves on our deck.  Oh Spring you just have to be excited for it!

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to stop by and share your comments,
Have a great week,

Connie

ODBDSLC231

Our Daily Bread is having another inspiration challenge for Easter/Spring Religious.  You can find out all the details HERE . You have until tomorrow evening to join in. The image and sentiment are both from Our Daily Bread design stamp set.

Our Daily Bread designs -- The Shepherd stamp set, colored with markers
Spellbinders -- Classic Circle lg, Picot edge circle, A2 matting basics A and Ribbon banners dies
Martha Stewart -- Embroidery Border punch
K&co.-- paper
Me and My big ideas -- gems

We had our Easter Eggstravaganza at church this morning, we had a smaller turn out then usual but I think the temperature being so cold this morning and our egg hunt is outside didn't help, but it all went very well.  Hope your enjoying your weekend and getting ready for Palm Sunday tomorrow.

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

Connie

Sweet Anna

This has been a rough week here.  I know I have shared a few sympathy cards here lately of people who have lost loved ones in our church.  This week it has hit our family.  On Wednesday I found out that my Aunt that I made a card for a week ago had passed away.  She was one of my favorites and she is also the last Aunt I had on my Dad's side of the family, all my Dad's siblings and their spouses are all gone. I made the following card for her daughter in law who took care of her in the end.  My Aunt had outlived her husband and both her children.

Hot off the press-- Card Art-- pretty colors for bow and sentiment
Mulberry paper
Spellbinders -- Lg. deckled rectangles

The hardest thing was yesterday, we have been having problems with Anna our sweet cat not eating well ever since the week of my surgery. She was still acting ok, just not eating as much as usual.  After I got the ok to lift and bend over I made an appointment for her to be seen at the Vet, we were thinking she was having a problem with a hairball or maybe her teeth were giving her problems once again.  She checked her over and said that she didn't think there was any problems with her teeth so we should probably get blood test ran.  They came back that she was in Kidney Failure. This last day she hadn't eaten at all she was only drinking and she suggested we take her out of her misery.  It was the hardest thing for me to do, they gave us time alone with her to say our goodbyes and then they wrapped her in a cute pink blanket and she went to sleep so quickly.  We had our sweet Anna for 18 years.  She was my cat, she would follow me all around the house as I did my work around the house and no matter where she was in the house she must have sensed when I would sit down because she was always there right on my lap.  She would greet us when we came home just like Peanut. I made a little collage of Pictures of her and how close she was with Peanut and Jip.

My hubby made a little image for a tribute to Anna last night using the same style he made my birthday card with, using a small square punch, this measures 2 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches.

Our furbabies bring us so much joy, so happy that I was given so many years with my sweet Anna.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Make a wish

My great niece's birthday is the beginning of next month, yep I am ahead in my cardmaking :)  I thought this stamp would be cute for her birthday.  We don't get to see any of our family often since we live so far away, but every time we see her my hubby and I tell my Nephew and his wife that we need to take her home with us.

I am once again linking my card up with Stephanie's Roses of Inspriation . There is always all different kinds of wonderful inspirational posts.

I have never been good at coloring but with the purchase of some new pens and some practice I feel like I am getting better, usually not real happy with it but this one I really liked the way she turned out.  I used a bit of clear glitter pen on the weed/flower which ever way you look at it but you can't see that really well in the picture.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by, and hope you are blessed with a wonderful day!

Connie

Female Sympathy

A lady at church's Mom passed away last week, there was a challenge in my group that was black and white and add one color, so I decided to use that as a starting off point for this card.

The frame was in the paper pack so I embossed the stamp with white embossing powder inside the frame area.

Best Occasions -- Paper and frame
Inkadkindo -- Garden delight stamp set
Taylored Expressions -- Many minis occasions sentiment stamp
Martha Stewart -- tag punch
Ribbon

We are enjoying some lovely spring weather, it is so nice to get out and walk again and it be a pleasure, not something you are trying to get through to get back in the warm house.

Hope your week is off to a lovely start,
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Many Thanks

I have a thank you to share.  I still had the piece of paper that I had cut the die cut from my last card out with on my desk when I went to make this thank you and I decided to use it for my thank you card.  I took a makeup sponge and applied versamark ink through the stencil I had left, then I added chalks over the versamark, it seems to work well for keeping the chalk on your project, I didn't spray it afterwards.  Since I no longer didn't have any detail left that is in the actual die I cut I used I just added a darker pink to the center of the flower.  If I hadn't already sent it out I think I would have tried to draw in my own details for the flowers on top of the chalking, maybe next time.

Memory Box -- Zinnia Bouquet outline for stencil
Versmark ink
SRM stickers -- sentiment, colored flower with sharpie
Tim Holtz -- Vintage Shabby papers
Ribbon
EK Success -- corner punch
Paper Studio -- Gem stones center of flowers

We are having a lovely warm and sunny day today, the weather people are saying to enjoy it because we will be getting cooler and more rain in the coming week, so I am soaking up as much sun as I can :)

Hope your enjoying your weekend whatever you are doing!

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

Connie

Sincere Sympathy

A guy at church just lost his Father, so I tried to go a little more masculine on this but then decided on flowers instead of just ferns or some kind of greenery.

I used Alcohol inks for the background with some pearl mixative in there. The flowers have a bit of a shadow because I popped up the blooms with some foam adheasive for a bit of dimension.

Adirondack Alcohol inks -- Stream, Lettuce and Pearl mixative
Memory Box -- Zinnia Bouquet
Taylored Expressions-- Care & Comfort II sentiment stamp
enamel accents -- white on flower centers

I had my one week follow up appointment today for my Cataract surgery and he said everything looks great I can see just as good far away as I can with my glasses on with my other eye, I have to take the drops longer than normal but I can put up with that.  So thankful all went so well.

Off to take my cat in for an appointment now, she is 18 and having problems eating.

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

Connie

Sending you Love

I am sharing my post once again over at Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration Link up. Stop by if you get the chance and see the other posts, great inspiration of all kinds.

Today I am sharing a card I made for the last living Aunt on my Dad's side of the family.  I believe she is turning 92 this year.  My Aunt and Uncle lived a couple hours away from us and I have great memories of going and visiting them when I was young.

I had a happy accident with this card, when I cut out the wavy border, I put the dies together wrong so the cut was just a narrow strip and I wanted the whole bottom of my card to have the other paper, so I added the bottom strip and then popped the thin strip over top and I really like the dimension that gave to it.

Pink Petticoat -- Pretty Potties stamp, colored w/markers
Colorbok -- Homespun papers
Spellbinders -- A2 Curved Borders one, standard circles lg and Splendid circles dies
Taylored Expressions -- Many minis Occasions stamps and Designer mini tags dies
Bazzill -- Brads
Wink of Stella -- Clear glitter pen

Thank you all for the warm Birthday wishes, I celebrated all weekend, now that is how to enjoy a birthday :)  My eyes are doing so much better everyday since my Cataract Surgery, the worse part is they feel very dry and I have a bruise under my eye where they gave me numbing shots, but such a blessing it is to see clearly again.

Hope the start of your week is going well and Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and leave your comments :)

Connie

Art Deco for me

Today is my birthday, I bet you can see how old I am this year by the card my Hubby made for me, LOL!  He used pages from a magazine and punched out little squares and cut all these different lines and glued it all together.

Looks Art Deco to me, what do you think?

My sister in law had to come to a near by town for a conference and she is leaving today after lunch so we are meeting up with her and her boyfriend for lunch before they head back to Michigan.  We had ran all day yesterday and this morning but it is now starting to clear up, so it looks like it will be a beautiful day!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend,
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Northwoods

I have a masculine card for you today, I have two people that joined our family that both have birthdays the same day as mine.  This one is going out to my Sister in laws Fiance.

Northwoods Rubber Stamps-- colored w/markers
DCWV -- Burlap paper
Fiskars -- Upper crest border punch
Stamps of life -- Stand up 4 sentiments stamp, embossed in Gold
Close to my heart -- brads

I had my Cataract surgery yesterday.  Went this morning for my follow up appointment.  My eye is still dilated so I am not seeing as well just yet but nice to not have the cloudy eye anymore.  It is hard for me to adjust my eyes, he said it could take up to 4 weeks, that is when I will get a new prescription for new glasses, since I can't see quite right with my glasses but without them not quite right either. I was thinking I would be able to see better then I can after surgery but I have to have some patience, and let it adjust itself, my next few cards I may not be able to do detail work just yet, I had a couple done before the surgery, just in case I had some problems after the surgery.  I will know more when I see him again in another week.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Beauty of the Lord

I am linking my card once again with Stephanie's Rose of Inspiration .  If you haven't done so already I would encourage you to stop by and check out Stephanie's other posts she has made also.

Today I am sharing a card to went with to a lady that is going through physical problems and needs the Lord's healing and I really liked this verse. It is sometimes hard to see past our physical pains and to remember all the wonderful blessings God has given to us, the most precious his Son.

Heartfelt Creations -- Uplifting Scriptures stamp set
Spellbinders - Carnation creations, scalloped classic ovals lg and classic ovals lg dies
Lace
Buttons
Mini flower punch -- Michaels $ spot
Stickles -- Vintage photo (flower centers)

Hope you all are enjoying some spring like temps, we have rain and clouds today, makes us appreciate those sunny days even more :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Fingerprint stamping

Today I am sharing my last challenge that I did with my cardmaking group, and this one was stamping using your fingertips.  Have you seen those stamps that use fingertip prints and they have little faces on them, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the company that has them but I am just not that creative, so I went with making a wreath and flowers with my fingerprints :)  I fussy cut around them after stamping.

I think this is the first time since I have been making cards that I have ever had a Christmas card done this early on in the year, YAH for me!!

Distress inks -- Mowed lawn and Fired brick for stamping
Cuttlebug -- D'vine Swirl embossing folder, went over the raised areas with silver ink
Stamps of life -- minis4circles stamp set
Taylored Expression -- Designer mini tags die
DMC -- floss
Ribbon
Gems -- flower centers

It was fun to do these challenges, I usually stay inside my comfort zone.

We are enjoying some great spring time temps and it has been so nice to be able to walk outside again. Our snow is almost all melted, mainly only where it was piled up when shoveling is left.  I am so excited to see flowering trees soon, that always lifts my spirits, all seasons are blessings from God I know, but spring time is bringing all things new and fresh back to life, such a wonderful uplifting Season!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by! Have a wonderful week!

Connie

Bokeh Challenge

Another challenge we had in our group is to do the Bokeh background.  My first try I don't feel like I got enough of the white ink on there, and not even sure if I gave the background enough time to dry before adding the white ink.  Also next time I would give my whole background longer to dry before stamping, when I first stamped it, it looked all nice and dark but as it dried you can see the white came through just a bit.

I used distress inks in Mustard seed and the new cracked pistachio for my first background, just adding them with the sponge applicator.  I then took a piece of transparency and cut out the 3 smallest circles in my spellbinders dies set for a stencil to add the white circles.

I also stamped with the Unity Stamp company, Insightful meadows stamp set

On my second try I used Distress inks in Weathered wood and Dried Marigold.  I think pushing my applicator in the ink a little harder I was able to pull up more ink and get a better result on this one.  I used the finger sponge applicators to add the white ink through my stencil.

On this one I used Autumn Leaves, flower stamps set and SRM Stickers -- Thinking of you set for the sentiment.

I do love the softness of these backgrounds and you just might see them again in the future.

My Father in law is doing better he is out of ICU and in a regular room so things are going in the right direction, thanks to you all for your prayers and good wishes for him, I appreciate it so much.

Our temps are going to be warming up this next week, I am excited about getting outside and walking and just getting out without the cold winds.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, Have a wonderful weekend,

Connie

More Challenges

I have a couple more cards I did for challenges with my on line cardmaking group.

The first we were to use old stamps (at least 3 years old) with a new to us technique.  The stamps I used here was the first set I bought in a store and I am thinking it was when we lived in New Jersey and they had an AC Moore there.  They don't have any name on them and instead of being on wood blocks they are mounted on clear blocks.
Here is a picture of them, maybe some of you bought these over 10 years ago.

My new technique was using my Tim Holtz spritzer to add a bit more water splashes to the background.  I masked off the images first so I didn't have splatter marks on them too.

I didn't put a sentiment on it because I didn't have anyone in mind when I made it or what I would use it for.
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics A&B dies
Distress ink -- tumbled glass
Distress marker in the Spritzer was broken china

On this next challenge she showed a picture of a stencil and with our stamps we were to reproduce the look of the stencil.  I also combined this image with another challenge to use at least 3 different types of coloring medium in a project.

I used paints, H20's, pigment ink, FaberCastell white pitt artist pen and my spritzer again.
Here is the stencil we had to work from:

While writing out this blog entry we got a call that my Father in law is in the hospital again with Heart Failure.  It is so hard when you live 9 hours away from family.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Celebrate

I am sharing the card I made for my great nephew with Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link up if you have time stop by and check out all the other blog postings.

It has already gone out in the mail but after looking at it now I wish I would have popped up the balloons too, that would have been cute.  This little scene just brings a smile to my face.

Penny Black -- Let's party stamp, colored w/markers
Spellbinders -- A2 Distressed Edges dies
Fiskars -- Cloud punches
Inkadinkado -- Greetings/Salutations sentiment stamp
Queen & co. -- Jellies Gold

I just sponged the sky a bit with some tunbled glass distress inks.

Here is a close up of these little guys celebrating.

We had a bit of freezing rain this morning but they are saying we may hit 50 today so the 6 inches of snow we had this weekend may start melting quite a bit.  Peanut will be happy, she doesn't like having to hang out on the deck, she misses roaming around the yard.

Hope your week is off to a good start,
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and share your thoughts,

Connie