Snowflakes

My daily coloring calendar had many snowflakes in it and since I didn't get all the Christmas cards made in time I wanted to have done I decided to send New Year cards to the rest.

I stamped the speckled background with Versamark ink and used white embossing to give the look of snow to the background.

Snowflakes - Daily coloring calendar images, colored w/markers
Cam & Chloe -- Spots stamp, embossed with white embossing powder
Pawsitively Pawsome design -- Stitched Postage Stamp die
Studio G - sentiment stamp

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop in today and hope you stay warm!!

Connie

13

I have a couple of great nephews that have left the teen years but now I have more that are turning teenagers. 

I had this background I had done a little while back where I stamped ink pads onto my clear block, spritzed the block with water and then stamped it onto the water color paper.  I didn't use it at the time because the colors were not right but I thought it would make some good colors for kids cards.

Acrylic block stamping
Taylored Expressions -- Whimsy #s die
Pawsitively Pawsome Design - Stitched Postage stamp die
Memory Box- Stitched Rectangle layers die
Hampton Art - sentiment stamp
Star Sequins

Thanks for all the get well wishes, I am feeling much better today, I even ventured out of the house and did ok :)

Hope you all enjoy a safe weekend!!

Connie

Mirror Image

I just realized I forgot to share one of my challenge cards from back in October I did with my stamping group.

I took the bird stamp and stamped it onto white cardstock and then once again onto transparency because I couldn't find my acetate and it seems to work just as well.  I used black Memento ink I believe, I didn't write down what I used but it looks like that is the color I used. Turn the acetate over and place it where you want it, I probably was supposed to do an exact mirror image but it didn't look right to me and didn't fit well onto my card.  You can see you don't get as hard of lines in your mirror image.

Martha Stewart - Bird stamp, colored w/markers
Stampin up - Pine needles stamp
Hero Arts - It's your day sentiment stamp

Well I am actually feeling a little better today, thankful I didn't get it as bad as my hubby did, so at least one of us was able to feed us.  I was very sad that the kids couldn't be with us for Christmas, but with both of us so sick this year, I was thankful that it was just us so we could relax and recover.

Thanks for stopping by today and letting me know you have,

Connie

O little town of Bethlehem

Merry Christmas!!

I am ending my cards with the reason for the season.  The greatest gift this world has ever been given, the birth of our Savior!  May you all know the peace and grace that has been so freely given to us on this day many years ago.  He is with us through everything this world brings, so thankful for that!

Distress Oxide ink- faded jeans (background)
Taylored Expressions - Bethlehem Border die
Ek success - Star punch
Pitt Artist pen - gold 1.5 pen

May you have a blessed day, celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus!!

Connie

Merry Christmas eve

I have 3 last cards to share. All from magazine goodies.

Make Special cards- Paper and penquin image
Spellbinders - Labels one die
Sequins

Make special cards magazine - Wreath, paper and paper ribbon
Spellbinders -- Holiday sentiments die
Nuvo Crystal drops - Pale gold (flower centers)

Make special cards magazine - flower image, papers and ribbon
Spellbinders - Scalloped ovals and Holiday sentiments die
Stickles - Christmas red (holly berries)

Hope you are enjoying a peaceful Christmas eve,

Connie

Snowy Christmas

I was given this embossing folder from a cardmaking friend who was downsizing her stash.

Cuttlebug - embossing folder
Hot off the press - Cardmakers Christmas Clear and frosted overlays
Jot - Pearls

We did wake up too an inch of snow this morning, it has just finished snowing and now it is warming up so it should melt today.  It was a pretty scene to wake up to :)

Bad news, I caught my hubby's cold and I feel pretty miserable.  Usually someone in our family gets sick around the holidays.

Hope this finds you healthy and happy and enjoying the long weekend!

Connie

Christmas Traditions

These all came from the same paper pad, I love these colors in this pad!

Simple Stories - 25 days of Christmas
Marianne designs - Tree Ornaments die

Simple Stories - 25 days of Christmas
Taylored Expressions - Evergreens die

Simple Stories - 25 days of Christmas
Martha Stewart - border punch

There is a slight chance of a dusting of snow in our area, will you be having a white Chritmas :)

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

Connie

Santa

Love these old images of Santa. More Daisy D's tags.

Daisy D- tag
Basic Grey paper
Spellbinders - Holiday sentiment die

Daisy D - Paper and tag
Washi tape (trees)
Hot off the press - Cardmakers Christmas clear and frosted overlays

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Connie

Poinsettia

I have made a few cards using my Poinsettia die.

Poppystamps - Blooming Poinsettia die
Spellbinders - Lacey circles
Hot off the press - Cardmakers Christmas clear and frosted overlays (sentiment)

Poppystamps - Blooming Poinsettia die
My Mind's eye - Lost & Found Christmas paper

Poppystamps - Blooming Poinsettia die
Daisy D -- Tag
Spellbinders - Holiday Sentiment die
Cuttlebug embossing folder
Gold Glass Glitter for flower center

I thought I had lost the little center die for the poinsettia so I had to use the glass glitter instead, later when I went to use my Misti, guess what was stuck to one of the magnets, I was so happy I didn't lose it or accidentally thrown it away.

Thanks once again for stopping by in this busy time of year :)  Hope you are enjoying the lead up to Christmas!  My hubby has caught an awful cold so hopefully he will be better by Christmas.

Connie

Stockings hung

I subscribed to Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine once again and this embossing folder came and I new I had to use it for my Daughter and Son in laws Christmas card.  She just loved it.

After embossing I went to town coloring the image with markers, I used a yellow chalk for the background.

There were also stamps and the stocking die with this magazine also.  I stamped and colored the candle and hand cut it out.  Before adding it to the card I decided to take my finger and add a little Nuvo Mousse to the sentiment that is embossed so that the sentiment would stand out a little better.  Now I thought I had just a little touch left on my finger and I thought well I will just swipe it across the card to give a little textured look to the card, OH MY there was much more on my finger than I thought and now I had a big smudge on my paper, I could not remove that stuff for nothing, Soooo I now decided that is where my candle needed to go, and hopefully it would look like glowing candle on the wall.  After coloring the logs and fire, which are separate stamps, I added some sparkle to the fire with my clear wink of stella glitter pen and some stickles to the flame on the candle.

Cardmaking & Papercrafts magazine -- Cosy Christmas (fireplace embossing folder, stocking die, fire and logs stamp and candle stamp) Colored w/markers and background with chalk
Stickles - Yellow
Nuvo Mousse - Indian Gold
Wink of Stella - Clear glitter pen on fire

This was fun to make but one of those cards that you only make one of.  I still have a couple cards I made last night, hopefully they will get to them by Christmas.

Thanks for taking the time out to stop by today,

Connie

Christmas Tree

I purchased this die at the end of last year in a sale I believe and I didn't realize until using it this year that it doesn't cut the tree all the way out that it cuts it into the paper, so now I had to rethink how to use it all together and this is what I came up with.  Lot's of glitter paper going on here.  I made two of each color which I was able to get all done for my Nieces and Nephews and their families, and had one left over for a friend :)

Memory Box - Sparkling Tree Tile die
Spellbinders - A2 mating basics A and Holiday sentiments dies
Anna Griffin -- Christmas Scrapbook paper pad
Paper Studio -- Glittered cardstock

We had some time last Saturday to just enjoy this time of year by going down to the Christmas Market downtown in our town and it was a very nice mild evening with hardly any wind (finally) and enjoy walking through the Christmas stalls they have from other countries selling their goodies.  I bought a glass hummingbird, I am not sure what country it was from and my hubby bought a Christmas tree from Ukraine that opens up to reveal first a Santa, then a penguin and then a very tiny Christmas tree, we have always seen the dolls that do that but not a tree.

I hope you are able to have some relaxing fun time too.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and visit during this busy time of year.

Connie

Tag cards

I told myself if I bought new things for Christmas this year I needed to use some things that I already had in my supplies.  Today I am using tags that came in a set of Basic Grey paper.

DaisyD - paper and tag
Spellbinders -- Holiday sentiment die
Washi tape -- trees
EK Success - flower punch
/Stickles -- Champagne
Brad

Daisy D - Tag
Spellbinders - Holiday sentiments die
Washi tape

 This last one reminded me of a Christmas tree, so I added little ornaments to it cut from glitter paper.

Basic Grey- Tag
Maxine Designs - tree ornaments dies
Hot off the press - Cardmakers Christmas clear and frosted overlays (sentiment)

I am hoping these make it by Christmas and I still have to make 4 birthday cards by the end of December, oh my.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by at this busy time of year :)

Connie

Sibling Christmas

These cards didn't go as planned but when your in crunch time I guess you just go with it.... I saw this kit at Barnes and Nobles It had pretty stamps and a idea magazine, and a lot of pretty Thomas Kinkade pictures to use on Christmas cards, and this was the day that B&N was having 30% off all their magazines so I jumped on it.

I stamped out 3 of the images I liked the most in the stamp set and started coloring all 3 at the same time, I thought I would do batches of 3 at a time coloring, hoping it would go faster that way, and I only had room on my desk for 3 at a time, well as you can see, I tried 3 different greens that I had for the background and was never happy with any of them.  Using the snow on the one card I just wasn't sure about it so I used glitter on the other two, it took me 2 days of my cardmaking time to get these 3 done, at this rate it was going to take me forever.

Joanna Sheen & Thomas Kinkade kit, stamps, colored w/markers
Spellbinders- Classic square,A2 matting basics A and Back to basics tags dies
Anna Griffin -- Christmas scrapbook paper
Hero Arts- CL 722 sentiment stamp set
Brads
Ribbon

Next I tried just embossing the image onto patterned paper and I really liked the look of that, so that is what I did for all my siblings. I had 3 sheets of the Jingle Bell paper, so they went to my Brothers

Joanna Sheen & Thomas Kinkade kit, stamps, embossed w/gold powder
Bo Bunny- Father Christmas collection paper
HOTP- Thin line Border dazzles
Marianne Design- Christmas tree ornaments (bells)
Nuvo Mousse- Indian gold on bells

The Last two went to my sisters.

Joanna Sheen & Thomas Kinkade kit, stamps, embossed w/gold powder
My Mind's eye - Lost & Found Christmas paper
Sheer Ribbon

Which do you like better, I liked the embossing much better myself.

Hope you are enjoying a nice week, thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Connie

Daisy Chain

I just think this little stamp is too cute, my great niece just turned 5 and she is a little red head so you know I had to color the little girl with red hair :)

After coloring the stamp I thought it needed a little extra something so I got out my little flower punch and added a few more daisy's along the top of the circle.  I am hoping this isn't too busy but I think kids like that any how :)

Stampavie -- Daisy Chain stamp, colored w/markers
Teresa Collins- He said she said paper
Martha Stewart - border punch
EK Success - Flower punch
Stickles- yellow

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to stop by, Have a wonderful week,

Connie

Flower with fern

I am once again using a flower image from my daily coloring calendar.  I colored it with markers then added it to cardstock, those coloring pages are quite thin, and fussy cut it out so I could give it a little lift.  The fern and branch die were done by first applying distress inks to white cardstock with my sponge applicator and then cutting out with the dies.

Flower- daily calendar coloring image, colored w/markers
papertrey ink- hodge podge papers
Martha Stewart - border punch
Spellbinders - Foliage die (fern)
Sizzix -- Branch w/leaves die
Stampendous -- Birthday Assortment sentiment stamp
Distress Inks -- Forest Moss, Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend!!

Connie

Homemade Digi

For my hubby's sisters birthday card, he made a digital stamp out of one of the pictures he took when we were on our trip out west, a sunflower in Kansas.  Then I colored it with pencils.

Digital image by Greg Griffin (my hubby) colored w/pencils
Spellbinders - A2 matting basics A & B dies
Hero Arts -- Birthday Messages sentiment stamp
Martha Stewart - Gem
Jute

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

Connie

Happy Monkey's

My great nephew turned 4 this year and his parents take him to the Zoo all the time and I had heard he loved the monkeys so when I saw this 3 D stickers in the store I just had to buy them for his card, aren't they just the cutest, they just brought a smile to my face and hoped they would do the same for him.

The background clouds are from my daily coloring calendar, when I first flipped over to that day I thought now how am I going to use that one, but here we are :)  I just colored around them with a very light gray marker.  Die cut some branches and some rolling hills and added the stickers and stamped sentiment and I was done.  I have a few more monkeys left that were in the set so you may be seeing them again :)

Jot Stickers -- 3D monkeys
Spellbinders -- Cheery Blossoms die (branches)
Poppystamps -- Stitched landscapes dies
Calendar image- Clouds
Technique Tuesday- Happy Birthday sentiments stamp

I hope these little guys put a smile on your face like they do mine :)

Have a Fabulous week,
Thanks for stopping by today,

Connie

Birdie Trio

I cut this out of white cardstock and colored with my markers, the background paper is a bit busy so I placed it onto a die cut to frame it.  Can you believe this paper was from a paper pack I bought when I first started cardmaking over 12 years ago, back then I didn't save any names of the paper I was buying, didn't have a blog or anything yet :)

The wing portion of the die can be removed and that is what I did but then I didn't like the white showing through so I used one of my sparkle pens to add a little color.

Tutti Design -- Birdie Trio die, colored w/markers
Spellbinders - Classic scalloped oval lg. die
My Favorite things - Label maker sentiment stamp
Spectrum Noir sparkle pens- Harvest moon (for wing)
Diamond Dazzlers

We are enjoying some warm temps this weekend, the last they say, next week we get into the winter temperatures!

Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend,
Thanks so much for taking the time to drop by,

Connie