One of a kind

My niece is in her first year of college in Michigan and I wanted to send her a bit of sunshine in winter for her birthday.  I am using another of my coloring cards and it had an empty space to add my own stamped sentiment to it.

Art Play Paintables -- I am loved coloring card
Teresa Collins -- He said she said papers
Hero Arts -- Birthday messages sentiment stamp set
Martha Stewart -- gemstones
Michaels -- Ribbon
Wink of stella -- clear glitter pen (center of flowers)

I do hope you were able to enjoy a nice weekend.  I am hosting my first craft night at my host tonight so I am off to figure out sitting and do a bit of last minute cleaning.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I wish you a wonderful week ahead!

Connie

Woodsy

Just before Christmas I bought the whole Woodsy collection from Heartfelt creations for my Christmas gift, I couldn't decide what I liked best and you get a discount if you buy the whole collections when they first come out, normally I wouldn't have that kind of money but Christmas money was staring me in the face, LOL!

These cards went out to my nephews who were born on the same day but 3 years apart.  They are in the 40's now, my how time flies huh!

I hope I can explain this well, the tree in the background and the tree stump, bunny and bush is from the paper pack, there was a deer on that piece too, and the deer stamp matched it perfectly, so I just stamped out the deer and put it on top of where the deer was in the picture adding it with foam tape to lift it off the base.  The pine trees in the background were also stamped and colored, I just couldn't leave that space blank.  The trees in the foreground are also stamped and die cut as well as the bird, the sentiment was also in the paper pack all I did add was the very background paper from my stash.

Heartfelt creations -- Woodsy Critters die and stamp set, Woodsy Treescape die and stamp set, all colored w/markers, Woodsy paper collection

On this card the stamped pieces are the trees and the bird on a branch, all the rest is the paper from the paper pack, stamped a sentiment and added it all to an embossed background.


Heartfelt creations -- Woodsy Critters die and stamp set, Woodsy Treescape die and stamp set, all colored w/markers, Woodsy paper collection
Sizzix -- Leaf embossing folder
Hero Arts -- Birthday messages stamp set

Another chilly day here but the sun is shinning bright and that makes me very happy :)
We are to get a dusting of snow in the morning, which I am happy that is all it will be but my hubby really wants to get some snow pictures.

Hope you are enjoying a nice relaxing and creative weekend,
Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

To Cheer you

I had a chance to make a couple more cards for those of you that are so sweet to stop by and share your thoughts and friendship with me.

Today's card went to Esther from Shoregirl's Creations.  If you get the chance to check out her blog you will be happy you did, she makes the Cutest and Lovely  creations, and not only cards, if you check out her Etsy page you will see she does a lot of beautiful work with fabric also, I am a happy owner of one of her birds and nests and she does lovely work.

I wanted to do something pretty for her and had remembered about this rose punch I have that you cut out as many petals as you want and mold and shape them with your stylus and mat, I had to add a few more flowers in there too :)

Here is a picture off the internet I found of it, just in case you would like to find one yourself.

Here is a side view to see the dimension.

DCWV -- Linen Closet paper
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics A and ferns dies
McGill -- Floral Petals and starburst punches
Paper Doily
Martha Stewart -- Leaves, white flowers, butterflies and tag punches
Stickles -- Star dust (little flower centers)
Liquid Pearls -- Mint green (small blue flower centers)
Paper Studio -- Enamel dots


I really do appreciate all of you for the time you take out to stop by here.

Hope your week is going well,

Connie

Thinking of you

A man at our church had to go through heart surgery to repair blockage of 5 of his arteries, I had heard of a double and triple but never 5 before. This is the card I sent him, he is doing very good now, other than they can't seem to get his blood pressure at a good place, but he looks great.

I first stenciled the rays background and then heat embossed the trees with black embossing powder and added the die cut birds.

Inkadinkado -- Fall Trees silhouette
Tim Holtz -- Rays Stencil
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics A die
Pebbles Inc. -- Rubon sentiment
Memory Box -- Flying bird dies

Thanks so much for stopping by today and taking the time out to let me know you did,

Connie

Happy Happy Happy

I am running out of ideas for some of my great nephews so I asked my Niece what her son is into now and she mentioned that he had joined Choir this year at school and she can not shut him up, LOL, she says that boy loves to sing.

I used these dies on top of a embossed music background and on the inside wrote, Birthday to you....

I added the stars and used glossy accents on them to give them a bit of shine and dimension.

Papertrey ink - Oneliners Happy die set
Crafters Companion -- Seasonal Music embossing folder
Stars the Merry Christmas to you die set

It was a beautiful weekend, spent almost all of Saturday outside, Sunday was a little cooler and windy but still mild for this time of year, today we are headed back into winter.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I hope the week brings you only good things your way,

Connie

Thanks

I was gifted this "Thanks" die from our Dies R us team leader Darlene at Christams, wasn't that ever so sweet of her, and it came in very handy when I needed to make some thank you cards for gifts I received.

I cut the sentiment die out of yellow paper and then just colored in the flowers and added the flower stickers to the center

Tutti Designs -- Swirly thanks die
BasicGrey -- Piccadilly paper
Martha Stewart -- Border punch
Flower sitckers (flower centers)

This one the thanks die was cut from pattern paper and I just added the sticker centers to the flowers.

Tutti Designs -- Swirly thanks die
BasicGrey -- Piccadilly paper
Spellbinders -- Majestic Labels 25 die
Hot off the press -- Black Jewel Dazzles

Which do you like more?

The sun is out this morning, YAH!!! and it is already 51 degrees, can't wait for the hubby to get up and go for a walk, soak up that sunshine before more rain tomorrow.

Hope your enjoying a wonderful weekend so far.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Steampunk Debutante

I used the Graphic 45 paper pack to do most of the work on this card, just added a couple things to it.

The image background paper and butterfly are all from the Steampunk Debutante paper pack, I added Fiskars gold photo corner stickers to the image, cut the butterfly from a piece that was solid butterflies, I thought this Recollections gem sticker was perfect with it and added Spectrum Sparkle marker in clear to the lights all around her.

Another rainy gloomy day here, hope we get some sunshine tomorrow.

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

Connie

Vow Renewal

Our close friends from church had a their vows renewed for their 30th Anniversary.  I thought this coloring card had the perfect sentiment and pretty design in the heart.  I colored it with markers and scored the card base on the top and bottom, added a piece of designer paper between the scored lines and topped it off with enamel dots.

Creative Expressions -- To Calm and Inspire coloring cards
BasicGrey -- Picadilly paper
Scored lines with Scorpal
Paper Studio -- Enamel dots

Hope your week is off to a good start, we are going to have some above normal temps for a few days until we get back to our normal winter weather temps, enjoyed a nice walk today!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by, I appreciate you letting me know you did.

Connie

Sponge coloring

I used sponge daubers to color this image for our Pastor's birthday card.  I have those little daubers that go over your finger and since I haven't cared for how I have colored this image with markers I decided to try the daubers, still don't know if I care for it, maybe next time I will try just keeping it plain. The very small areas I used a cotton swab and my inks.

Stampscapes -- Cabin 140 E
Spellbinders -- Lg. Deckled  Rectangles
Hot off the press -- Sarabooks ivory papers and tags
Hero arts -- It's your day sentiment stamp set
Paper studio - gems

In all the pictures I took the gems are reflective but they have a grayish - black tint to them in real life.

We are done with the icy mess, last night the fog rolled in and it is still very foggy this morning also. But even though it is dark out it is above freezing and for that I am thankful :)

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

Connie

Winter's eve

My daughter gave me some of the Spectrum noir sparkle markers for Christmas and when I saw this blue I knew I had to try a night time winter scene.

I first started by only coloring the part of the sky that I needed on my background, only use papers and whatever product for your background that you will have showing, I think it helps to adhere the next layer easier also.

Then cut the hills and trees using the Elizabeth craft designs, Outdoor edges dies, as you can see I used the front of the die for the back pieces and the ones on the lower hill I just turned the die around and used the backside so the trees are a little more scattered.

I added snow to my background and trees after I colored them with a white marker. I also added some snow gifted to me from a fellow cardmaker. Then I added the little bunnies from the Impression Obsession Rabbit set dies.  They blended in a little touch much in the white snow so I cut them from gray card stock and added a little gray shading with ink.

I hope you enjoyed my little scene today and have fun creating one of your own.

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There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st & 15th of each month with

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Thanks for stopping by today!

Poppies

The tag, papers, and poppy stamp and dies are all from Cardmaking and papercrafts magazine but from totally different issues and years and I combined them all on this card.  I went with matching my poppy more to the papers than the tag, since this went out around Christmas time.  The leaves were hand cut.

Poppy Tag and papers -- Cardmaking and papercraft magazine
Victorian Floral -- Poppy stamp and die set, leaves stamped and hand cut
DCWV -- mat stack  (plaid paper)
Martha Stewart- Sentiment tag, Flower border punch and green gemstone (flower center)
Our Daily Bread design - mini tag sentiment stamp

The ice storm hit us but because they asked everyone to stay home and not drive out in it, they were able to get the salt down and it had a chance to work and so those people that had to get out had pretty good driving, at least everyone I know made it to and from work yesterday, there were a few accidents that were reported on the news though. We just have to make it through the wave of ice this morning and tomorrow morning and it is going to warm up and we will just have plain old rain!

I know this is all over the country so I hope everyone is staying safe.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and tomorrow I have a winter scene to share on my Dies R us post.  Hope your having a creative and fun weekend,

Connie

Window card

I am using another set of dies I received for Christmas.  Spellbinders was having a buy one get one free just before Christmas so I mentioned it to my hubby and he said sure do an order, he loves it when that happens, makes shopping easier for him at Christmas :)

I loved the detail of this die and the way it cuts into the background like that, so I decided that would make a great window card.  I had the stamped branch and the flowers already sitting on my desk from another project and that is how this card came to be. I just added some punch flowers that I shaped with my stylus and foam mat.

Spellbinders -- Labels one and Majestic Labels one dies
Stampendous -- Birthday assortment sentiment stamp
Distress stickles -- shabby shutters, flower centers
Offray ribbon

Wow they were saying last night that we reached 72 degrees yesterday, I went out and did a little cleaning up of the yard and sweeping of the porch and stuff from all this wind a lot of leaves and debris had landed up there.  Oh how I love those unexpected warm days that are in the middle of winter. But today we are back to winter again, and they are predicting ice storms starting tomorrow into Saturday.

Hope you are all safe and well where you are.  Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Something New

I am still sharing challenges from my cardmaking group. This one was to use something new on your card.  I have used this stamp set before but never these flowers from the set, and I have had this crackle background stamp but hadn't used it before either.  The framing die I received for Christmas.  The die is just a bit too big to fit on an A2 size card.

These flowers took forever to do, I must have tried 3 or 4 different ways of coloring them.  I really need some more inks or something.  I stamped the leaf on top of the stamped background and did the flowers individually and hand cut them out.  I also bought new after Christmas the transparent round glitter stickers at my Local stamp store.

JustRite - Crackle background stamp
Penny Black -- Petal Power stamp set
Spellbinders -- Water Lilies die
Starform -- Transparent glitter stickers
Stamps of Life - Minis 4 circles sentiment stamp set
EK success -- 1" punch

Well we are getting winds from the south which is picking up our temperature, but the winds are very strong, The big trees in our neighborhood are just swaying.  I was so sad to hear the big tree in California that you could drive through had fallen over in the big winds, I had always thought that would be neat to go see someday.  I hope you are safe and well where you are.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know you did, love to hear from you :)

Connie

Butterfly wishes

I know I may be pushing it just a bit but now that Christmas is over I am ready for spring, and all that goes with it. I thought it would be pretty to color in some nice soft spring colors to match the paper I used for the background. I used my spectrum markers to color it.

I decided that I would like a shadow behind the die, so my first step was cutting a strip of cardstock that would be in the center of my card, I wanted a slight border on it so I used the Memory Box Country stitches die on either side of the panel, I love how you can add these stitches anywhere on your project.  Next I cut out the Memory Box Kensington Branch die and laid it on the panel right where I wanted it.

Then I laid my piece of cardstock that I cut the die out with back over the piece taped down the ends and carefully lifted my die cut back out so now I could stencil through the open areas for my shadow.

Once again it is best to use a pounding motion instead of swiping when using these as stencils. Just lift a corner and check to see if you have the kind of coverage you would like before totally taking the stencil away, after checking I went a little darker with my ink choice, but you may want it a little more subtle.

Then I just applied my die cut to the card, offsetting just a bit so you can see the shadow behind. I did add a little bit of the Spectrum glitter marker to the butterflies after, but I suggest doing that before as you see I went off the butterflies a bit onto my background.

Follow Dies R Us!

 

Click below for:

Store

Challenge Blog

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Remember, there is a new inspiration sample shared each and every day of the month

on our Dies R Us Inspiration Blog using a variety of dies from several different companies.

Then of course you'll want to come join us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.

There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st & 15th of each month with

a gift voucher prize to one lucky winner each challenge!

OH!  And did you know we have a FB Page and PINTEREST Page?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Climb High

Well I tried coloring this stamp before using colored pencils and didn't really like the way it turned out, I do like the marker coloring on this one better but still not happy with it, don't know what it is, but hopefully my great nephew liked it.  I like the positive sentiment for many occasions.

I highlighted the words High and Dreams with a marker.

Katy Sue Designs -- Simpler Times stamp set
Darcie -- Nesting wavy squares (sentiment framing)
Spellbinders -- Lg. Classic inverted scalloped squares die
Crate paper -- Party day paper
Shading with distress inks

Well we only managed a couple inches at the most that I can tell.  I didn't make it out of the house yesterday getting ready for the kids coming but my hubby managed to get out and take some pictures of the snow at a nearby lake and pond.
We had a lovely visit with the kids and they bought me some more Spectrum sparkling markers in 6 different colors so I am going to have to try something out with them :)

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

Connie

4 challenges in one

I am always amazed by those of you that do card challenges and you are able to do so many challenges with one card.  This is my first card that I was able to fit 4 of the challenges my card group had in one card.

The following challenges:
All pink card (I did use a little gray on the mouse)
Monochromatic card using 3 circles with texture or embossing
Use a cat or dog in your card
Use Food in the card (yes those are pink cookies :)  and there is a cupcake and cherry in the sentiment)

I will be sending this off to my great niece, they have a cat so thought she might like this even though her cat is black :)

Stamp and paper from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine
Spellbinders -- Blossom, Lacey circles and intreverted circles dies
Cuttlebug -- D'vine Swirl embossing folder
Stickles -- Fruit punch on cherry
Recollections -- Iridescent gems
Fashion Bead paint in pink

We have our snow, a little more than an inch right now and they say it should stop snowing around 2pm today.  We are having our Christmas get together with our daughter and son in law this evening so I guess you could say we are having a white Christmas :)

Thanks once again for taking the time out of your day to stop by, so good to hear from you,

Connie

New Year Challenges

The card making group I belong to decided to have challenges to start off our new year, especially since a lot of people would have Sunday off, and since I was already behind on the early January birthday's this was the perfect thing to help get me jump started and get them done. There were 10 challenges and these are the 3 I managed to get done on Sunday.

First Challenge was to use an image from a calendar that we would just toss.... well I don't toss my calendars, either I make envelopes from them or I use the images from them, and this image from a Debbie Mumm Calendar was the perfect size for my card.  I just added some Hot off the press, tiny words dazzles for the sentiment, some spectrum sparkle pen to her wings and matted it onto some paper,

The next challenge was to use your favorite sports team colors on a card.  I went with University of Michigan colors.  I feel bad because I sent this to my girlfriend who is a Michigan State fan :)

Darcie -Large Daisy embossing folder
Inkadinkado -- Patterned Bugs stamp set
Queen &co. - Yellow sunshine pearls
David Tuttera - Celebrate sentiment

The last challenge was to do a Vintage type card using many supplies.  I went with this Graphic 45 paper.

Graphic 45 -- Steampunk Debutante paper
DCWV -- Rub on stitches
Hero Arts -- Birthday messages
Spellbinders -- Circle Delight
Fiskar -- Brown ribbon
American Crafts -- Jute
Button from flea market

Maybe these challenges will give you some ideas for your own crafting.

Hope you are all well and didn't get too much snow.  We are headed back to below freezing temps tomorrow, not looking forward to that.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know you did, so good to hear from you!

Connie

Mountain View

My hubby loves to take nature pictures and just before his birthday he went on a little hike up this mountain to get sunset pictures and that is what inspired my card for him.

I started with the Sizzix basic step card die. Then taking cream cardstock and using distress inks I sponged a sunset background adding a few swipes with my gel pen for clouds. I then added the Memory Box Forest Crows die on top of my sunset. He loves this die.

Then I went on to the mountains on the step side and using Impression Obsessions Mountain Landscape layers die I cut and layered a couple mountains onto the last two steps with just one layer on the front.

Next I cut the Memory Box bare sappling and added Dees Distinctively Tree Toppers die with a little shading with inks on that also.  Next came the Impression Obsession small grass, if you want more lush grass you can cut more but in his photo's on top of the mountain the grass was very sparse. 

Now I don't know if he saw any Squirrels but I am sure they were around so I added one from the Impression Obsession Squirrels set dies. 

Here is a view more from the top.

So I hope this inspires you to give making a scene of your own a try.

Follow Dies R Us!

 

Click below for:

Store

Challenge Blog

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Remember, there is a new inspiration sample shared each and every day of the month

on our Dies R Us Inspiration Blog using a variety of dies from several different companies.

Then of course you'll want to come join us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.

There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st & 15th of each month with

a gift voucher prize to one lucky winner each challenge!

OH!  And did you know we have a FB Page and PINTEREST Page?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy New Year

Wishing all my blog friends the Most wonderful and Blessed Year to come.  Thanks for sharing with me, your friendship and your encouragement over the years, it means so much to me.

I bought this stamp set and was all excited about the layering technique but I will have to say, even using the MISTI stamp tool, I had a bit of a time trying to line it all up.  First I tried to use colors to make him look like a robin, but that didn't work out then I ended up with this color combo, I need to get some new matching ink sets, I still have some Christmas money left and think that will be my next purchase :)

The second stamping I did of the bird wasn't quite as dark as it should be.  There are 3 step stamping of flowers in this set also but I didn't use them, added my own flowers and ferns to it.  I will be trying it again, I love the look these 3 step stamping gives you.

Hero Arts -- Color Layering Bird and branch stamp set
Spellbinders -- Matting basics A, curved Rectangles and Ferns dies
Basic Grey -- Picadilly papers
Distress ink, tumbled glass for sky background
EK success -- flower punch (white flowers)
Prisma -- flowers (pink)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Connie