Eggstra special

When I was at the stamp store for the yard sale I saw these watercolor panels and I just had to pick them up they were so cute.  I used my Spectrum Aqua markers to color it. I made a little boo boo when coloring the handle, so hard to stay inside these small areas, so out came the sequins to cover it up, shhh don't tell my daughter she will think it was meant to be there :)

Taylored Expressions - Easter watercolor panel, colored w/Spectrum Aqua markers
Pink Petticoat paper
Offray ribbon
Sequins

Today as we observe Good Friday, remember the huge sacrifice Jesus laid down for our sins, I am so thankful that he has covered my sins, and all we need to do is ask for his forgiveness, it is such an overwhelming day to think of all he endured for all of us, what a loving God we have.

Thanks so much for stopping by and wishing you a lovely and joyous weekend!

Connie

Celebrate

Sharing some more goodies I bought at the yard sale at my Local stamping store.  Someone was selling these diecut pieces you layer together to make a dimensional scene, I think there were 4 or 5 in the package.  I decided to give this a try to see how thick they would be after using all the foam tape between each layer and since it was going to be another hand delivered card I knew it didn't matter how thick it was.  I can't remember for sure but I think there was at least 5 layers.  It ended up being over the 1/4 inch allowance for mailing in a regular envelope, so all the other sets will probably be hand delivered cards also.

To go along with the background of this scene, I decided to use my brick embossing folder and I applied Antique linen distress ink to the folder before embossing to give it a little aged look to the brick.

Here is a side view to get an idea of the dimension these have, and they are really easy to put together.

You really could use less layers if you did want to put one through the mail with regular postage.  I also used the Scotch mounting tape, it is thinner than some foam tape made for cards and scrapbooking. They even have the little tags that you can stamp your sentiment on and borders that match the images.

DoCrafts-- Foiled Decoupage Sheets-- On High Street
Tim Holtz - Bricked embossing folder, inked with Antique Linen Distress ink
Impression Obsession - Sentiment II

I love that there is always new stuff out there to try in cardmaking.

We did ok through all the rain we had for the past two days, the rain came up to our shed but didn't get inside and the street out front flooded over the curbs but didn't not come up our driveway, so we are very thankful.  It's cloudy today but no rain until late this evening so we are going to get out and go for a walk.

Hope your week is going well so far, thanks for stopping by,

Connie

Paper piecing

I was looking through my folders and realized I never shared this card I made for our stamping group challenge that was paper piecing.  I love these little girls from My favorite things and I like this one for birthdays, I used pattern paper for her dress and colored in the rest.

I added a bit of sparkle to the dandelion seeds she is blowing away.  on the diecut border instead of cutting the whole border away I just used the die that cuts in a design and added some washi tape to border it.

My Favorite Things - Make a wish stamp, paper pieced dress and color w/markers for the rest
Crate Paper - DIY shop paper
Spellbinders - Scalloped classic ovals lg and Classic oval dies
Tim Holtz - Rose washi tape
Stickles - Diamond
Craftaroo - Clear Rhinestone

I hope your week is off to a nice start, we had a little bit of sun this morning as it was rising but now it is clouding over and we are being advised of possible flooding today with us to 3 inches of rain.  When I walk out to the bird feeders the ground is very spongy from all the rain we have received already.  Normally we would be mowing our lawn for the first time around now but it just has been too wet, not that my hubby is complaining but I am itching to get out and do some yard work.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Basketball

My nephew had shared on facebook that my great nephew had played basketball this year, and when Connie had sent these stamps I thought there we go I have a card to make for his birthday.  Stamped them and colored with markers and then cut with my die. The little flowers/stars came from a border punch I used awhile back and I saved them to use on another card.

Basket ball and shoe stamps have no name on them, colored w/markers
WeRmemory keepers- For the record paper
Pawsitively Pawesome designs - Mini stitched squares dies
Hampton Art - Birthday sentiment stamp

We had some very strong thunderstorms come through during the night, makes you feel like spring is here in that respect. It is still windy and rain but no storms.  They say we may see some sun tomorrow, looks like a day to stay inside and make more cards :)
Hope you are having a good weekend whatever you do!

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

Connie

Neutral and wings

I am here with a masculine card today, and I am sharing it with a few challenges.  First of all I would like to share with Apple Apricot's Simply Neutrals challenge Wen always shares such beautiful things and all those that link up just share such beauty, it is amazing to me how much beauty can be in shades of browns, ivories and whites.  I have a little touch of color in the birds so I hope that's ok.

The bird prints are a stamp in the set also so I just went around the card to frame it all and added a bit of dots with my pen in between.  I used Daniel Smith extra fine watercolor samples on this and I will have to say they worked real nice.  I still need a lot of work but I was happy enough with it for my first time using them.

I am also sharing with with Double D just wing it challenge, there are plenty of wings here :)

Crafty Secrets - Bird Notes stamp set, water colored w/ Daniel Smith watercolors
Spellbinders - Labels 37 dies
Sassafras - Mix and Mend paper
Circle paper clip

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a lovely and creative weekend!

Connie

Birds

Sisterhood of Crafters had a challenge to use birds on your card, so I went through my birds and realized I hadn't used this one in some time, I have never colored it with pencils before so I thought I would give that a try.

I decided since this was going to be another hand delivered card that I would use a button on it, while going through my buttons I came across this earring that was in a jar of buttons I had bought from Flea market and thought the color may go well with the colors of the flowers, I used my wire cutters to cut off the post and then used glue dot to add it to the tag.

You still have a couple more days to give this challenge a try :)

Hero Arts - Bird in a circle stamp, colored w/pencils
Spellbinders - Square and Back to basics tags dies
Stamps of Life - Mins 4 circles sentiment stamp
Earring

Do I have you looking through your earrings to use on your next project :)

We had sunshine today, we haven't had that in a few days and we go back to rain and more clouds tomorrow so I have been soaking this up.  Hope your are enjoying sunshine wherever you are.

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

Connie

Easter Bunny

A fellow cardmaker friend sent me two of these playing cards with this cute little bunny scene on them in my Birthday card, I just had to give it a try and see what I could come up with for an Easter card.  Since it is a cute scene I decided to try and expand that scene a little bit, so I used my Tree die and cut it out with brown cardstock, after having it on there I decided I wanted the leaves to be green so I got out my sparkle pens in 3 different shades of green to color the leaves, although coloring them on the brown they all kind of look the same shade of green to me.  I cut the base with a coordinating die so it could be a shape card and using my homemade cloud stencil I sponged on ink for the background, adding a bit of brown for the base to go along with the playing card.  It still needed a bit of something so I used a sprig die and cut it apart to make bushes and had to add some flowers too :)

Image- playing card
Memory box - Debutante frame and Orchard tree frame dies
Spectrum Sparkle pens on leaves
Distress inks sponged for background, clouds and dirt
Poppystamps - leafy sprig die
Taylored Expressions - Arbor Accessories die (flowers)

I never would have thought to use an image on a playing card for a card but this turned out pretty cute, you just never know where you can find inspiration for our crafting :)  Do you have unusual things you have used on a card or craft project?

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

Connie

Hues to Use and stripes challenges

Still working on getting a few Christmas cards to made each month and so when I had the challenge in my stamp group to use stripes and on Power Poppy Blog to use certain colors I went with one of their digital stamps that I had downloaded last year but never tried.  I mentioned before that I have had trouble printing my digital stamps because the paper I normally color with markers was too thick to work in my printer, well I found that the thinner paper they sell at Office Depot worked and I think the blending isn't too bad so now I can try out more of the digital downloads, YAH!!!

If you would like to try out this digital stamp for yourself you can find it HERE, it's only $1 You can't beat that price, especially if you have never tried digital stamps before.  You can also find tips on their blog on how to use the digital stamps.

Poppystamps- Candy cane digital stamp, colored w/markers
Memory Box - Stitched Rectangle layers
Fancy Pants design - Saint Nick paper
Taylored Expressions - Poinsettia bouquet (sentiment stamp)
Sequins
Nuvo Crystal glaze on berries

Thanks for stopping by today, Hope your week is off to a great start!

Connie

Rest in the Lord and end of Mississippi

Our church secretary had surgery a few weeks ago and this is the card I sent to her, she is always on the go and said she didn't know how she was going to be able to take it easy and heal after her surgery so I thought this coloring card had the perfect verse.

Psalms to Color cards, colored w/markers
Spectrum noir clear sparkle pen

I probably should have posted this first couple of pictures in my last Mississippi post, it was in the same area.

Then we headed back to the beach where we went to in the morning to get the sunset with the bridge.

I liked the picture above with the sun just under the bridge with the birds hanging out on the poles in the water.

Had to share one with hubby taking a picture.

After sunset the sky just looked so cool!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Sketch Challenge

My cardmaking group was having a sketch challenge and since I was coming up blank for the next birthday card I needed I thought that would be a great place to start.  The stamp store here in town had another yard sale a couple weeks ago and I found this cute set and thought I would use it on today's card, it was just the perfect size for the sketch.

I kind of wish I would have put the sentiment up with the image, it kind of blended in with the paper, so I added a little black gem to bring your eye down to the sentiment, did it work? 

Memory Box - So many things to love stamp set, colored w/markers
Paper Studio - Kirby Teesdale studio paper
Nuvo Crystal drops- carnation pink
Ki - black gem

Thank you all for the birthday wishes, I had a very nice day!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, hope you have a lovely weekend!

Connie

Be Happy

Isn't this a pretty set of stamps that came in a magazine, it also came with the die to cut it out. Once again this card was hand delivered and so I decided to use my dew drops, yes I have a little bag full of them so I need to use them up when I hand deliver my cards :)

Scrapbooking Made Simple Magazine - A simple hello, Great day Stamp and die set, colored w/markers
Spellbinders - Majestic Labels 25 die set
Our Daily Bread design - mini tag sentiment
Brad
Dew Drops

It's my birthday today, and even though it is a chilly start, 36 degrees they say it will get up to the 50's and best of all it is bright Sunshine!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Great outdoors

Our youth pastor at church is also from Michigan, so for his card I decided to go with a scene that could be from our home state :)  I used distress inks to sponge the background and added some wood paper to make it look even more rustic. Since it was hand delivered I didn't have to worry about bulk so I added the button and twine also.

Gina K - Life is good stamp set, colored w/markers
Distress inks - tumbled glass and mermaid lagoon for background
Crate paper - DIY shop paper
Photo corners
Button
Twine

We managed to get more snow yesterday than we have had all year, it was a little over an inch and it was very thick coming down, wind was blowing, big huge flakes, it started just as we were leaving church so we were able to come home and enjoy it coming down. We actually still have some left.  Wishing all those on the east coast all the best as I hear you will be going through another storm. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Birthday Garland and Blue Heron

I am not even going to say how long I have had this birthday garland die, so it was about time it was used.  All those little hearts stars and flowers on the garland are little dies that come in the set so I just cut them out and applied them to the garland. I also added some crystal glaze to the sentiment to give it a bit of shine. The pretty roses were a freebie from a British magazine, just added a die cut to put them on. The little bow under the roses is also from the garland die set.

Spellbinders - Happy Birthday Garland cut twice, Floral Doily Motif, A2 matting basics A dies
Quick cards - Parisian dreams paper collection and rose diecuts
Nuvo - crystal glaze on the sentiment
Sequins

Now on to more of our Mississippi trip, after having lunch we went back to the water, this time in Biloxi, when we pulled up we saw this beautiful Blue Heron.

He didn't seem to be too scared of us so I just started taking pictures and he let me get him from all kinds of angles.

It is so amazing how tall they are.

This gentlemen asked us if we would like to see one eat a fish, and we said yes, so he went to his truck got out this net, through it in and caught a fish.

It reminded us of Jesus telling the disciples to throw their nets in to catch the fish.

You could tell this bird was getting so excited when he saw him throwing the net into the water. He threw the fish and the bird caught it.

He started leaving us and we were hoping he wouldn't go far.

It didn't take long for another bird to come along and try to take it from him, but he just wasn't having that.

I can't even tell you how many pictures I took of him eating this fish but he finally got it down.

If you look back at the first picture and then look at this last one you can see how big his neck gets to accommodate the fish. 

It is nice talking to the locals because we found out that after Katrina Hurricane went through Biloxi this area is now just a park, but it was once full of very expensive yachts, we saw many areas that are just now rebuilding and many empty lots that you can see a parking lot is there but no building and the land is for sale.  I noticed when my husband was driving through that in the center median of the road every now and then there was a carving, I wondered then if they were carved out of dead trees and so I googled it when we got home and that is exactly what they did after Katrina took out so many trees, if you want to read about it HERE is one article that I found.  I am so bummed now that we didn't get any pictures of them ourselves but it was very busy traffic when we went through.

Thanks for hanging in there with me through all these pictures.

Hope you enjoy a great weekend,
Connie

Young adult and Mississippi

Not only are masculine cards a bit challenging but for teens and young adults, they are really hard for me.  They aren't quite considered kids anymore but you really don't think of them as adult either.
That's when I started looking through my stash trying to find something that I could come up with, and I settled on using some bits and pieces from Instant card art book I have.

The square piece on the faux ribbon piece is a brad and I added the brads around the sentiment square also and I die cut sentiment topped it off.

Cardmakers - Instant Card art, pretty colors (faux ribbon, brackets and sentiment tag)
Die- Versions - Celebrate die
Brads - Bazzill Basics
Making Memories - Textured Brads
Echo Park - Fine and Dandy paper

I finally looked at my pictures from our Mississippi trip.  I only managed to get through the first morning so I will probably post more at another time.

The first morning was very foggy, but there were plenty of birds out.

Do you see those little ones at the waters edge, after seeing the big birds these were just too cute.

This guy was just taking off, I got about 5 shots of him going but thought this was the neatest of them all.

Then we headed inland to a swamp area that had trails and we first came upon this baby alligator. You can barely see him in the water, we later saw a big one but I didn't get any pictures of that one.

Then came the turtle

It was an interesting walk through woods and swamp land.

We hadn't been to this part of the states before so it was neat seeing a new place, somethings are the same and others are so different.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and for taking the time to stop by and say Hi,

Connie

Patterns

Last month the flower Challenge blog had a challenge to use patterned paper for your flowers, well right when I was going to link to it I realized I was already too late, I thought it was from the end of the month and I believe it was the 25th, I was a day late  anyway.

I used a Spellbinder flower die and after embossing them I really couldn't see the embossing well through all that pattern so I added a bit of Metallic Rubons, like this set, but mine had brass in it.

I was worried using all patterned paper that I went a little too far and it is too busy but hubby reassured me that it was ok. 

Spellbinders - Flower Bouquet die w/ Craf-T Metallic rubon, brass
Spellbinders - Foliage Flourish die
Crate paper - DIY shop
My Sentiments Exactly - thinking of you stamp
Sequins - Iced Silver

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Wish or two

A friend sent me some cut die cuts from Anna Griffin and I had to give them a try for another masculine card I needed.

The branch was one I had cut from my cricut sometime ago and never used. The sentiment was a little too bright against this dark background so while the card stock was still in the die I sponged the center with some ink to darken it up a bit.

DCWV - Natural paper and mat stack
Anna Griffin - Avian Collection die cut (Owl)
Cricut - Branch
My Favorite things - Essential sentiments
Spellbinders - Labels trio die

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend, we have some cold temps coming this week.
Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Flower wreath

GinaK showed on her latest release a Wreath builder kit, it comes with two sizes of templates that you can use to make a wreath, I thought it was so cool and I was thinking I may be able to make a template myself.  Later that day one of the girls in my cardmaking group mentioned that years ago a UK magazine mentioned how to make them or shared some in all sizes. Then another girl showed how she used grid paper in the MISTI to draw the template out and she used that to make hers. Others were making them on their cricut in design space.  I decided to give it a go and see if I could make one myself.  I will have to confess I must not have cut it out perfectly because my cardstock that I cut to put in it didn't quite fit right so I had to do a bit more cutting so it would fit inside, but this is the results of my go at it.

The link I gave above is to the kit if you would like to pre order it, and HERE is the link to see it in action, isn't that just too cool and such a fast and easy way to have everything line up.  Instead of making it a 4 1/4 square card I applied it to a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 (A2) sized card and used my die to cut a fancy border, let me just say that the border took more time to cut out than stamping the whole wreath, I had to run it back and forth through my machine to cut through the paper and the card base.

4" template
Ms. Sparkle & co. - Give thanks stamps for flowers
Stampendous - Mini bee stamp set (bee, leaves and sentiment)
Spectrum clear sparkle pen on wings
Echo park - Fine and Dandy papers
Spellbinders - Scalloped Borders two die
Nuvo drops for flower centers

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I wish you a lovely weekend full of creativity and fun!

Connie

Feathers

Time for another masculine card for my nephew, he is only about 10 years younger than me, I use to babysit him, now he has grown kids of his own, how time flies :)

I was happy with this until I added the last feather and I could see the adhesive through it, I thought I had use a strip of my vellum tape but not sure about that since I made this a little while ago, but since it needed to go in the mail and I was worried about what would happen if I tried to take it off it went out this way.

Spellbinders - Feathers and A2 matting basics A dies
Taylored Expressions - Fine Feathers die
Poppystamps - feather die
DCWV - Natural stack paper
My Favorite things - Label maker sentiments
Jute
Corrugated packaging

We are back to cloudy and a touch of rain, but after hearing the snow the north is getting I am not going to complain.  I so miss living in Michigan until the winter hits then it gets a little easier on me to live down here in Southern Illinois.

We have made it over the hump of the week, hope the remaining days go well for you,
Thanks for taking the time to stop in and say Hi,

Connie