Lighthouse and Custer State Park

My Sisters sons were all born in September and October plus I have a brother in law in there too, so more masculine cards to come.  My family are all in Michigan, and  I think of water and lighthouses so that is why I did this card.  The stamped image was colored with markers.

Taylored Expressions -- From my window stamp set colored with markers

Spellbinders -- Lg. deckled Rectangles

October Afternoon -- Campfire papers

Button from flea market 

Twine from gift packaging

I am sharing this post once again with Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link up .  Last week there was a lot of Autumn Inspiration now that we are into our new season, wonder what this week will hold.  

Now to share the last half of our day, after we left Mt. Rushmore and had a bite to eat in town we went on to Custer State park.  

I spotted these Pronghorns first. It was a bit better picture than I got at the Badlands.

Then we stopped at the visitors station inside the park and the gentlemen told us what part of the park the buffalo were last sighted so we headed that way and wow did we find them. You can see the shadow of our car in this picture to let you know how close they were. 

This one I took through the windshield of the car as they were crossing the road in front of us, needless to say I drove through this area never using the gas, very slowly so if they decided to dart across the road I would have no problem stopping, it was so neat to watch them move around and interact with each other.

A neat wooden bridge we drove over, we decided to get out and take some pictures of the stream running under it, yep that's my hubby down there in the center.

This was the view once I made it to the center of the bridge.

There is nothing better that God has blessed us with then a combination of water trees and mountains, in my opinion, there is just something about it that brings me peace and I feel so close to him, we spent a bit of time here as there was no one else on the road at the time.

Then we headed up a drive that we were told about back where we ate lunch, I could have shared so many pictures of what lead up to this point but at the top this is the rock formation that is up there and it is called the Needle eye.  The sun was setting at this point.

There were many tunnels on this drive through the rock but since they had an area to get out and park at here at the needle I was able to get a shot of the tunnel you drive through just before the needle area.

And my last is the same area just looking down, I thought this was neat how the trees are growing in all that rock.

We left here and made our way down the mountain, we were glad we left when we did since it is very dark and a lot of turns and twist getting back down, when we reached the bottom there was a turn off and we parked there and just checked out the beautiful night sky without all the lights of town, an amazing sight we don't see out here in the city.  If you get the chance I would encourage you to take the trip out there, just amazing land God has blessed us with to enjoy!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by, thanks so much for your sweet comments on my cards and the pictures of my trip so far.

Connie

Rays and Mount Rushmore

Remember awhile back when I made I think it was 4 of these base cards, well I finally used the last one.  To recap I took 4 papers layered them on top of one another and then took my Rotary cutter, like this one , and I cut the different rays with all the layers together using a metal ruler to keep the cuts straight. I had already cut cardstock the size of my card base, after inking the pieces I added them in the order I liked with glue stick onto the cardstock base, this gives you a little time before it sticks to make sure they are lined up.  Hope that all makes sense.

Kaisercraft -- cardboard die cuts (flower and big tag)
Martha Stewart -- Tag punch
Our Daily Bread -- mini tags sentiment stamp
American Crafts -- twine
Queen & co. --Yellow sunshine pearls

I took many pictures at Mount Rushmore and it was hard trying to figure out which ones to share so there is a lot here.

Getting a close up of them

Now we didn't know before coming that you can take a walk around to the base of the statues and the following pictures are from right under them.

This next one is showing the trail that they had for you to follow around.

Can you imagine carving on this steep mountain

I think I have pictures of every angle of these guys through trees around every bend, LOL!
Coming back there were quite a few stairs to climb and thankfully every so often there was a part where I could rest up before tackling the next set of stairs, if you ever get a chance it is a pretty walk around and very interesting reading on how this all came together.  I believe it took us a little over 3 hours in this park and it could have been longer but like I said we were cramming a lot into this vacation and we were off to our next thing we wanted to see, which I will share next time.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Connie

Pirates and Badlands

First we will start off with the card I made for my Great nephew's birthday. I believe he turned 10, and he just started playing football for this season and has already had his first injury.

This is another stamp set that I bought at the garage sale our Local stamp store has every now and then, the next one is in October, you know I will be there :)  I had to color in some land for him to stand on the rest is all stamps from the set.

Stampendous -- Changito Pirates, colored with markers
Distress ink --Tumbled Glass for background sky
My Mind's eye -- sweetest thing paper
Spellbinders -- Matting basics A&B dies
Wink of stella on treasure chest

Sorry I haven't shared any pics from the trip until now, I will just share a couple a day of each place we went. First off the Badlands, wow this is just an amazing drive, more to see around every corner.

Yes it made me very nervous that he was going out to the edges of rocks, and yes I stayed back, I don't care for heights, this was close enough for me.

Here is some wildlife we saw on our drive through the badlands, we kind of made them nervous when we stopped so I didn't get the best picture.

I love the different layers of color in the rock, I read the sign of why the different colors but I already forgot, everything started blurring together by the end we did so much in the days we were gone.  These were all taken with just a point and shoot camera, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what it is like, if you have never been there I suggest you go, it is just an amazing drive.

Next time I will be sharing Mt. Rushmore.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Happy Fall

Well the calendar says it is Autumn but the temperature is still in the 80's and to me that isn't fall but I am also originally from Michigan.  If I could have a wish it would be that we could have a cabin in Michigan and live there in the spring summer and fall and the move back down here for the winter months :)

Today I am sharing another Die cut from my Silhouette Cameo.  When I first glued it onto the background paper I liked it, the next day I wasn't so sure, so I lightly colored with markers over the words, my hubby suggested lightly coloring around the flowers but I couldn't understand what he was saying, so he did it for me and I am not sure if I like the results, might have preferred to just leave them alone since I had already added the gems to give them a hint of something, but it was marker so we are stuck with it. I had already added some light chalk to the leaves in the die cut.

Silhouette -- Cut file
BasicGrey -- Lily Kate paper
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics A dies
Martha Stewart -- gems
American Crafts -- twine

Wishing you a great start to the new season,
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Roses for Sis

This card went out to my oldest Sister, I try to do something special for both of my sisters cards, this was a folded card from the CD 100 movable parts from the Paperwishes.com . It is called Double pop ups!

I found these sheets of already printed pictures on Acetate at the Stamp Convention in Collinsville and just had to give them a try, all their examples were just beautiful!!  Added glue to the back and then added fine glitter to it, love the pretty sparkle it gives!! and it doesn't rub off. I stamped the sentiment on the front with Stazon since this was Acetate.

Here is a closeup of the shimmer

Here is the surprise when she opens it

And a view from the top

This was quite thick by the end so this takes extra postage for sure.

100 movable parts cd -- double pop up design
PK Glitz Art Acetate -- Floral Frames 4 from Stamponit.net
Prima Marketing -- Annalee Collection paper
Stampendous -- Birthday Assortment stamp
Recollections -- Bling on a roll
Paper Smooches -- Happy Birthday inside sentiment
stampin up -flower stamp inside
Poppystamps -- curvy stem die
Stickles -- Fruit punch on flower inside

I am sharing my card with Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link up.

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your comments,

Connie

ODBDSLC254

It has been forever since I have had the time to do an Our Daily Bread design challenge but I thought I would take it on this week.  You can find out the sketch  Here on their blog.

As you can see I didn't quite follow the sketch perfectly, it just didn't end up turning out that way.  I had colored the image before I left on vacation but didn't have time to make it into a card yet, well I decided to go with an oval but it wouldn't fit into an oval but it did fit into a circle, I know it is meant for a corner but that's not how I went with it.  Then the sentiment should have been lower but I didn't like the way that looked so I hope it's ok I went a little off with the sketch.

 The problem with coloring something and not picking the papers first is that you realize I don't have that color blue in any of my paper packs, so I ended up with this set of papers to go with it.  Next time, pick out papers then color :)

Our Daily bread designs -- Corner flower, colored w/markers
Spellbinders -- Big Scalloped circles lg, Lacey ovals and A2 matting basics A dies
Crate paper -- Diy shop paper pack
Taylored Expressions -- Many mini's occasions sentiment stamp
Wink of Stella -- clear glitter pen on the flowers

We are enjoying beautiful temperatures today after the big thunderstorm we had in the middle of the night, it shook the windows, hubby and I got up to watch it and we were about blinded twice it was so bright and it almost looked like it hit our neighbors home.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Post mark

Sent this to one of the ladies in my card making group that is going through some Chemo right now and she just celebrated a birthday so it was a bit of a combo card.

I stamped the postmark image on a tag in the paper pack and colored with markers, I did not like at all how the butterfly turned out and of course that is the last thing I colored, I was trying to match the purple piece in the background and it didn't work at all so I found a butterfly punch that was almost the same size and I punched it out of the same purple paper and added it to the top. The button is a punch that I punched twice out of designer paper to give it a little more thickness to string the jute through it.

Cosmo Cricket -- Fleuriste paper
Hot off the press -- Postage stamp  colored w/markers
Martha Stewart -- Butterfly and button punches
American Crafts - Jute
Spellbinders -- a2 matting basics A&B dies
Liquid pearls -- Lemon yellow, on butterfly
Fiskar -- Corner punch

Wow I can't get over how fast this week has flown by and I still don't feel like I am caught up since my trip, I know I haven't caught up on everyone's blogs, but I will get there sooner or later :)

Hope you all enjoy a great weekend, this is suppose to be our last day to hit 90 and then we will be going into the 70's after a storm coming through today, looking forward to the cooler temps.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and say Hi, I really appreciate it,

Connie

Baseball

I had to make this card for my nephew before leaving on vacation and I was stumped for what to do for him, my hubby suggested this card right down to the background, I was going to go for a smaller ball but he liked it bigger.  I just cut the circle with my punch, embossed some curves on the sides and then pierced holes so I could hand stitch the ball.  On the background I ran the Orange/red piece of paper through my Xyron and then cut it with the die, also cut a piece of kraft cardstock with the same die and then inlaid all the orange pieces, running it through the xyron first before cutting sure does make putting the inlaid pieces in quicker, so you don't have to add adhesive to every little piece.  It looks like a simple card but inlaying all those pieces took some time and the hand stitching on the ball.

Die-versions --  Diamonds background die
Spellbinders -- Labels 8 dies
Technique Tuesday -- Happy Birthday sentiment stamp set
Marvy -- circle punch
American crafts -- jute


I did a little shading on the ball and the sentiment to make it look a little used and added a bit of jute. The ball and sentiment both were popped up with foam tape.

Well the next few days we are being told that we are going to have higher than normal temps, I guess on Friday it may be close to our all time high, so summer is not done with us yet but fall temps will be coming next week.

Hope you are enjoying your week and thanks so much for taking out the time to stop by and say Hi :)

Connie

Lavender

This is a get well I sent to my Sister in law who had knee surgery a few weeks ago and she is doing very well.  I am sharing my card with Stephanie's Roses of Inspiration link up.

Memory Box -- Long stem Lavender die
Prima -- paper
Spellbinders -- Decorative Labels 28 and curved rectangles dies
Cuttlebug -- Kitchen weave embossing folder
Inkadinkado -- Greetings/salutations sentiment stamp
Stickles -- Dusty Concord on frame die

We had such beautiful weather here today, able to have the doors and windows open all day, Love it!
I have had a shadow all day, my dog Peanut has followed me around wherever I go, this is the longest we have had to keep her in the kennel, usually she is in a room with our cats but since they have both passed away she had to stay by herself.  Next year hopefully my daughter will be living close by and she can go stay with her.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Home again

My hubby and I have been on vacation for the past 9 days.  We went up to the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore area first.  That is more impressive and a neat walk around then we thought it would be.  Glad we have been walking but wish I had done more steps training before hand that was a bit of a work out but so worth it.  Then it was off to Yellowstone park and Grand Tetons, we will be going back some day I hope, I did not want to leave that area it was just gorgeous.  We came back home a different way through Colorado and Kansas and then Missouri back to Illinois.
    On one of the days we were in the Yellowstone area my bible reading that morning was Psalm 104, and it is amazing how being in such a beautiful area brings the message of those verses even more to life and just makes you feel the amazing works and creation of this country God has blessed us with. I feel that here too but even more so when up in the mountains and forest with beautiful streams of water and all the creatures he has made.
    I will have to down load all the pictures I took and share some in future posts, once I go through them.  I love having digital camera's now, we can take as many pictures as we want and not worry if they are coming out right, remember the days when you only had 4 pictures left on your camera with no more film and so you had to make sure you were taking just the right pictures.

   Well I am sure you came for a card, this one went out to my niece's husband before I left. I cut the sprockets out of kraft paper and used the mega flakes on them, it didn't stick as well as I would like, still need more practice with them.

Tim Holtz -- Air Travel stamp set for background, was stamped on designer paper
                     The Journey stamp set for the Clock face
Spellbinders -- Sprightly Sprockets dies
Indigoblu -- mega flakes, morris dance
Making memories -- woven labels sentiment

I am sure it is going to take me awhile but I will be stopping in to all your blogs and will try to get caught up with everything you all have been doing.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and share your comments,

Connie

For the birds

One of the ladies at church turned 86 last Sunday.  Her husband took a fall a few months back and hasn't recovered so he has to go into a nursing home, so they will be moving closer to her children, it was such a sad thing to see her for the last time on Sunday, there was a lot of tears shed. She was a great inspiration to all of us ladies in bible study, she will be missed.

Inkadinkado -- For the birds, colored w/markers
Spellbinders -- Floral ovals dies
Our Daily Bread designs -- mini tags dies and mini tags sentiments
Gems
Stickles -- Diamond on birds and Yellow on flower

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Flower Garden

I tried stamping on patterned paper for my background, the stamps were bought at a yard sale with no names on them the stems and flowers were bought separately one stem says 2006 and the little flowers have 2005 both from stampin up. I stamped the flowers with chalk ink and cut them out and popped them up for more dimension.

Colorbok -- Homespun papers
Stampin up -- stem and flower stamps
Wink of Stella -- center flowers in Gold
Memory Box -- little butterflies
Frantic Stamper -- Small swirl bow die
David Tutera -- Celebrate sentiments

Hope your enjoying a great extended weekend, so hard to believe summer is almost over.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Embossing with watercolor

I have seen so many pretty cards with white embossing and then the image has been water colored and I love the look, not sure I am thrilled with the image I picked out though, not enough area to water color, especially on the leaves, but my girlfriend really liked it so that is the main thing :) The stamp was from one of my on line card making group friends, and all she said in the package was it was a Hero Arts stamp, so I don't actually have a name for the stamp.

Hero Arts -- image stamp, embossed with white embossing powder and water colored with distress inks on water color paper
Distress inks -- Worn Lipstick, fired brick and peeled paint, tumbled glass for background
Hero Arts -- Birthday message sentiment stamp
We R memory keepers -- Anthologie paper
Ribbon

We are ending Summer with some HOT temps, we have been in the 90's and will be through the weekend, it is that humid hot too, which is making it challenging on my walks.  Hope you enjoy your last big weekend of the summer.

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

Connie

Reverse Stamping

The challenge in one of my on line groups was to do reverse stamping using plastic coated freezer paper.  I have the freezer paper that is paper on one side and the other side is slick like wax paper, so I think that's what they meant.  I took the slick side of the paper and stamped my stamp onto it using Memento black ink, the person posting the challenge used Stazon but I new I would be coloring with markers so I tried dye ink instead, I thought it did a pretty good job, I turned my stamped image over and placed it gently on my paper, then rubbed and rubbed with my fingers all over the image to get a good stamp. Next you stamp your original stamp directly to your paper.  They suggested stamping the next one after first stamping off on another sheet of paper first, but I tried it both ways on a scrap paper and thought it looked ok to do a full stamp on it.  I noticed most of the ones who have posted already did theirs side by side but I thought it might look neat to do them on each corners.

The one on the top right is the reversed stamp image.

Stampin up -- Seasonal Birds stamp set, colored w/markers
Stamps of Life -- postmarks 2 stamp sentiment
Spellbinders -- Labels one, A2matting basics A and Scalloped borders two dies
Graphic 45 -- Once upon a springtime paper
Enamel Accents -- white (corners)

Thanks so much to take the time to stop by and for sharing your comments, I so appreciate it,

Connie