Many thanks

Yes I am still working on thank you's.  So much on my mind lately that I was having a hard time thinking of what to do and so I turned to my package of instant card art for the first two cards.

The flowers, sentiment and tag are from the instant card art, I added the "thanks" with rub ons and the strip behind the flowers is washi tape.

Hot off the press Instant card art-- pretty colors
DCWV -- Once upon a time paper
Making memories -- Rub on Alphabet ( thanks)
Paper studio -- Washi tape and heart brads

This second card the thanks is from the instant card art, the strip across the top is a border sticker from the paper pack I used, added the jute and button from my stash. This is a masculine thank you.

Hot off the press -- Instant card art-- pretty colors
Scrap Kit -- papers and border sticker
Button
Jute

This last one is from that same set  of cards I showed you a while ago, that has the glitter already in the card, all I had to do is color it with my markers.

We have had rain for the past 3 days almost constant, I have never seen it rain this much without a break, but right now we are having a little break from the rain and we will have two days of no rain before more on Wednesday.  We were all talking in church today how it must have been for Noah dealing with all that rain for 40 days.  We were very happy to see the work they did on the drain in the ditch behind our house did the job, the water came up to the fence but didn't go any further and thankfully did not go into our shed, we were so dreading having to pull everything out and clean it all down.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, I really appreciate hearing from you :)
Have a wonderful week ahead!

Connie

Thank you

I have only managed to make one card since being back home, yesterday was actually nice with no rain so I got out into our back yard, that was quite neglected and did some weeding, and weed whipping along our chain link fence, oh my with all this rain the grass was really tall along the fence.  We are in for 3 more days of rain, we have a flash flood watch until Sunday evening.

I am sharing my card today with the Sisterhood of crafters "B" challenge HERE.

I used my Oxide inks for the background, then stamped the script background in tan and brown inks.
White embossed the butterfly onto polka dot paper and added the gems.

Oxide inks -- peeled paint, walnut stain and worn lipstick (background)
Inkadinkado -- Script background and Garden delight stamps (butterfly)
Reminisce- Wedded bliss sticker sentiment
Gems

Wishing you all a lovely weekend, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

New Home

Hello we made it home last night from our trip to Michigan for my Father in law's funeral.  I was very lucky to have had a few cards that I could pre-schedule for posts on the blog and now this is my last card, I need to play catch up on cards that need to be done for the beginning of May's birthday's and I have a few thank you's to send so I will hopefully get time to work on them.  I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers and your thoughts that were with us.

We did get a chance to stop by my sister in law's while we were home and see her new house.  I had made the card for her and we were planning on sending it in the mail but when everything happened and we knew we would be going home soon my hubby asked if we would just hand deliver the card to her when we stopped by her place.

I used a combination of Spectrum noir and Copic markers, the sentiment is part of the stamp and I just loved how it went around the image like that, this is another one of those stamps I found at the yard sale.

Stamps Happen, Inc. -- No place like home, colored w/ Spectrum Noir and Copic markers

Sponged Distress inks around the edges of the card

Thanks so much for stopping by and I will hopefully get caught up on all your posts soon also!

Connie

Teen Birthday

Using some more forgotten treasures, these are stickers that I found at Big Lots years ago, they use to have a decent scrapbook section but at  our store anyway it  had shrunk right down and I haven't been back since to see if it has gotten any better.

To make the hearts I used the area that I had used stickers in previous card to stencil ink through.  The flower on the tab is from a punch and I added white cardstock behind the frame sticker so that my sentiment would stand out a bit more and added the button brads and some twine to the button sticker.

Heidi Grace designs -- cardstock stickers (Tab, big flower, button and sentiment frame)
Crate paper - DIY shop paper
Gina Marie stamps -- Birthday words sentiment stamp set
American crafts - twine
Stenciled hearts with ink
Recollections -- Button brads
McGill - flower punch (on tab)
Stickles yellow ( Flower centers)

Thanks so much for taking out the time to stop by today, Hope you have a great week,

Connie

Convention Finds

Last week I was able to attend the Scrapbook Convention not to far away and I found some goodies I have been wanting to give a try.

First up is the Colorburst, it is powder color that when blended with water gives you a watercolor effect.  Mostly people use them for backgrounds and that is what I intended on doing but while at the convention I saw a demo a guy was doing where he used a palate to mix his powders with water and then used a paint brush to add the color onto his stamp, I loved the look so that made me want them even more :)

I have also been eyeing the penny black stamps that have a watercolor look to them and decided on this stamp, I didn't want to buy more just in case I couldn't do it.  Well my first try was a total disaster and no I won't be showing that one, yea it was that bad.

This is my second attempt and I think it went much better.  I used Peony and Wisteria colorburst for the flower and for the stem I used my Aqua markers in tan and sepia (didn't have any browns in the colorburst set I bought. I used tumbled glass distress ink with a paint brush for the background.

Penny Black -- Effulgent stamp
Colorburst - Peony & Wisteria
Spectrum Aqua marker -- stem
Distress ink -- Tumbled glass for background
Penny Black - Sprinkles and smiles sentiment set


For my third try I thought I would try to combine Naples yellow and Marigold colorburst.  Distress linen ink for the background. I will say I wasn't as happy with my results on this one but thought it was ok for a card.

Penny Black -- Effulgent stamp
Colorburst -- Naples yellow & marigold
Distress ink -- Antique linen (background)
Spectrum Aqua markers-- Sepia and Tan
Taylored Expressions -- Care & comfort sentiment set

I haven't had a chance to play with these for background.

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

Connie

New Momma

One of the girls in my craft group has been trying for many years to get pregnant and she has lost a few along the way, but she is about 4 months along now and I couldn't be more happier for her.  Since I went through the same thing I can so understand what she has been going through.

This is another embossed image that was given to me, she even sanded it a bit for me, so all I did was sand it just a bit more, cut it down to fit on my card base, color in their eyes and add the die cut corner and sentiment :)

Embossing folder
Spellbinders -- Sentiments one die
Cuttlebug-- Corner die

My Father in law has passed away. We are so glad that he is now with the Lord and no longer in pain. He was the last of our parents to go, such a strange feeling not to have any parents alive now. Thank you all for your prayers and sweet thoughts.

Connie

Flower Challenge

I know for a flower challenge you would think my flowers would be a little more prominent on my card, but instead I added many and scattered them :)

I am linking my card today with The Flower Challenge Blog which this time is a sketch.

Here is my card

Did you catch my boo boo.... I have the bird on the wrong side :(  Well if I would have put him on the correct side he would have been staring at the side of the card.  I used this embossing folder thinking it gives the look of swirling clouds.  I softly inked it. I also added some white dots to the center of my flowers.

Spellbinders -- Cherry Blossom die set
Cheery Lynn Designs -- Feathered Friends die
Distress inks-- Worn Lipstick on flowers and Tumbled glass on embossed background
Cuttlebug -- D'vine Swirl Embossing Folder

Stop by their blog and check out the other great inspiration the ladies have for this challenge :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, I really appreciate it!

Connie

Happy Easter

HE IS RISEN.....HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

I hope you are all able to attend church this morning and celebrate our Risen Savior! Such a joyous day!!

I know these aren't exactly religious stamps but when I saw them at my local stamp stores yard sale I just had to pick them up, they brought a smile to my face.  I colored them with pencils.

Great Impressions-- spring time Louie stamp (colored w/pencils)
Spellbinders -- Captivating Squares die
American Crafts - Ribbon
David Tuttera - Celebrate Sentiment
Punch Bunch -- egg punch

Great impression stamp colored w/pencils
WeRmemory keepers -- Anthologie paper
Spellbinders -- Big Scalloped Ovals and Labels 11 dies
Impression Obsessions -- Sentiment II stamp set
Punch Bunch -- egg punch

I am sharing these cards with the Sisterhood of Crafters - Stamp it challenge

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts on my Father in law, he is still hanging on.

Connie

Good Friday

It is finished, I can only imagine how Jesus felt after taking on all of our sins. Thanks be to God!!

I am not sure if my Father in law will be around to see this card I made for him or not, I mailed it out on Wednesday morning hoping it will get to him by Saturday and we got a call from my hubby's sister and brother saying that  his Dad is in the hospital, he is having trouble swallowing and is very weak, the  Doctors suggested they put him into hospice care. These are the times when we live a 9 hour drive from home that we wish so much we lived closer.  My hubby was able to call and talk to his Dad and that made him feel a lot better.  His Dad says he just wants to go home to Heaven so we are hoping this isn't a long time of suffering for him.

Spellbinders -- Cross Collection die
DCWV - Burlap paper
Crate Paper -- DIY shop (for cross) layered 3 times
Memory Box -- Stitched Rectangle die
Hot off the press -- Ivory papers, black jewel dazzles (sentiment tag)
Our Daily Bread design -- The shepherd sentiment stamp set
Starform -- Transparent Glitter sticker (cross)

Wishing you a blessed Easter!

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Friends

I was gifted this tag, that already had the sentiment on it, so I just added a stamped bird, gems and flowers to it. The green flowers have been shaped and the white flower was from a bunch of flowers I bought at Michaels in the floral section.  I found some papers that I thought worked well with it too, this is one of those cards that just came together so nicely, love it when that happens :)

Inkadinkado -- Birds Galore stamp set
Basic Grey Picadilly paper
Spellbinders -- Labels 8 die
Queen &co. -- Baby blue gems
Clear gems
Flower punches
White fabric flower
Stickles -- Yellow ( flower centers)

We went out and bought a new raised garden yesterday, the one I have had rotted a bit too much, this time we bought the composite ones that are made out of plastics, hubby is hoping it last for a few more years than the wood :)  We also bought a couple ones that are to go on your patio or deck and by the instructions is suppose to water themselves, he hasn't put them together yet, so not sure how it works but we are hopeful that it will be nice for those times we go away for a few days.

Getting excited about getting the garden up and going, just hoping my back heals quick enough for me to do all that bending over, have you started getting things around for your gardening this year?

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

Connie

Stylized flowers

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are suppose to be in this die set, but I thought they were very interesting and different from what I have seen before, and I found them at Hobby Lobby so I was able to use my 40% off coupon so who can pass that up :)  as you can see, not this girl !!

I did a bit of shaping of the white and red flowers, inked the center of them and than masked that part off as I added the red to the petals, the inking of the yellow flowers was done as the paper was still in the die and I colored the berries and stems and just added a some white highlighting to it, and added some fun paper for the background, cut with the stitched die

Spellbinders -- Stylized Flowers die set and A2 matting basics die
Memory Box -- Stitched Rectangles layers die
Martha Stewart -- tag punch
Stamps of life -- minis 4 circles sentiment stamp set
Colorbok-- Homespun paper
Studio G -- gems

Back is still hurting, but getting better. Having my craft night with the ladies tonight so I have warned them all in advance I haven't done any mopping or heavy duty cleaning so they will just have to look the other way, LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, love hearing from you, hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Connie

New flowers

I am always on the look out for layering stamps and I found this one and it was on sale, well I just had to give it a try. I also found some Studio G stamps in a pack of 4 in shades of red to pink and thought I would pick them up and try them with the stamps.  I really need to try the inks with other stamps and vice versa, before I really want to say what I think about them, but I wasn't as happy with my results and this was with restamping with my MISTI, and I still wasn't thrilled with the coverage. So I am not sure if it was the stamps or the inks, I really should have tried with others before posting so I could let you know, sorry about that.

I fussy cut the flowers and leaves before adding them to the card.  My Nuvo drops didn't turn out perfectly round either, oh my goodness it just wasn't my day for card making I guess.

Hampton Art -- SCO747 Flower Amaze stamp
Studio G inks
Spellbinders -- Circle delight die
Lilybeedesign -- Head over heels paper
Nuvo Crystal drops - Carnation pink

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend, thanks so very much for taking out the time to stop by,

Connie

Celebration!!

What says birthday but balloons and confetti :)  This one is going out to my preteen great niece.

The purple balloons and confetti were cut from paper that was already glittered so I had to glitter up the others that I cut out with my Spectrum sparkle pen.

Attached the twine to the back of the balloons with tape and then tied them altogether with a piece of jute. I didn't get a chance to show you the Happy Birthday Channel die before I left the team, I just added a piece of pink polka dot paper behind so it would show up a little better.

Taylored Expressions -- Balloons and Celebration Confetti dies
Poppystamps -- Happy Birthday Channel die
American crafts -- twine and Jute
Spectrum Noir- Sparkle markers
Leisure Arts - Savor the moment paper

We have had so much rain lately that I can't see how we could still be in a drought but I haven't heard them talk about it anymore.  But they are saying this weekend we will see the sun again!!!

Thanks so your well wishes on my back, it is better than it was but still has a ways to go before I can be back to normal, healing just takes a bit longer the older you get I guess. I am at the point where I wonder if I should be doing more activity or calming down what I am doing :(

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to stop in, I appreciate it!

Connie

Black embossed magic technique

In my stamping group we are taking turns hosting a challenge each month and this month is my turn, I decide to go with the Black embossed magic technique I saw Here.

I want to first start off saying that if you decide to give this a try, please use your old markers, and you want to make sure that you have embossed it all very well. In the card she did in the video she had more solid stamps but after giving the challenge I realized I don't have a lot of solid stamps, so I went with an outline stamp first, it worked well and I liked the results, so I made it into a card.

  I colored it first and just happen to find some papers that went well with it.

PowerPoppy -- Countryside Bouquet Deluxe stamp set, embossed with white embossing powder and colored over the embossing with old markers
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics A die
Lilybeedesign-- Head over heals paper
Martha Stewart border punch

This next one I didn't even make into a card, I didn't like how it turned out with the solid stamps I had and I didn't get it embossed well so little chunks of the embossing were stuck in my marker and the blending was awful, this is going into the trash but thought I would share with you.  Like I said before it may have just been my embossing powder is old or not as fine detailed but I wouldn't use my good markers with this technique if you want to give it a try, I love the look though so just had to try it out :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I appreciate you letting me know you did,

Connie

Thanks

I picked up these coloring cards by Spectrum noir at Michaels, they come with all the sparkle and when you color over them the sparkle shines through.  It is part of their colorista line.  I didn't realize it when I bought them that they already had Thanks written on them, so either I use them for that or I can add my own sentiment over it.  Just so happens I needed a few thank you's so I thought I would give them a try.

The first I tried with lighter colors, both cards use my Spectrum noir markers.

This next one I went a little darker and more reds because she likes that.

With my last Thank you my friend gifted me a tin holder with a chalkboard on the front so I can label it anything I want, I ended up putting my colored pencils in it, instead of having them in different containers, and she also gave me a set of very thing watercolor markers, these would be perfect for small images :)  I used them on her thank you card, stamped the flowers, added color directly to the image and then used my waterbrush to move the color around, I think it worked really nice.

The sentiment is a Reminisce sticker, there is no name on the stamp, sorry.
The markers are Stabilo watercolor and it was from the 15 piece marker set.
Nuvo - crystal clear drops in white Blizzard, they are a little hard to see

I do think my back is a little better, I can actually not have pain when I am laying down now :)
Hope all is well with you and your week is off to a great start.

Thanks so very much for taking the time to stop by and saying Hi,

Connie

Meow you doin'

When I saw this cute stamp and die set at Dies R us, I just had to get it for the young kids in my family, this one is going out to my great niece.  I think it could even go for older girls too :)

I went with coloring it with pencils this time, I needed to take a break from markers and watercoloring, that seems to be my go to lately.

I also used the eyelet stitches die to make the frame around the pink piece, it all lined up perfectly. I love how you can use those dies for straight cuts or make a frame with it. I will have to say that it was so easy to line up the stamps with the dies on this set, even that tiny hat on the cat.

I used my MISTI to line up the paw prints across the bottom of the card, so easy :)

Lawn Fawn -- Meow you doin' stamp and die set, colored w/pencils and Fancy Scalloped Rectangle stackables die
Carta Bella -- Alphabet Junction paper
Poppystamps -- Eyelet stitches die

We finally had a day that started out with sunshine and it is warming up and I ended up hurting my back moving furniture and trying to reorganize my craft room, I am so bummed, anything hurts, sitting, laying, walking.  I am doing the ice off and on every 20 minutes and trying to get up and move so I don't get stiff, hopefully I will heal soon.

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

Connie