Make own background

Continuing on with the challenges from my group.  This one we were asked to make our own backgrounds using inks, stencils and stamping.

I started by using Distress Oxide inks, then stenciled over that with a crackle stencil and then stamping a small vine stamp over that.  This was my first time using the Micro Distress Glaze on it. 

This is for a fall masculine birthday so I went with leaves, pine cone and a branch.  The sentiment die cut was placed on a piece of the burlap paper.

Distress Oxides - fossilized amber, spiced marmalade and peeled paint
Prima - Crackle stencil using Walnut stain Distress Oxide
RS Tapestry - Trellis leaf vine peg stamp
All on glossy card stock and went over with Micro Distress Glaze
Spellbinders - Fall Foliage and Cherry Blossom dies (branch)
Die Versions - Celebrate Die on Burlap paper

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Wonky wreath

Well this wreath didn't quite turn out like I was hoping, I think when you stamp these wreaths you need to use one single stamp at a time and not a cluster of flowers on one stamp.

I first stamped the stamp you see in the bottom right corner, four times around, using very light ink because I knew I wanted to color in the flowers and leaves and thought that would be easier than trying to stamp them all out different colors since the images were quite close together.

I use my Misti stamp tool and my homemade wreath template.  I wanted a couple extra leaves so I used the two biggest leaves in the stamp set and stamped them again this time with green ink.

After coloring my idea was to cut around the stamping to have a finished wreath, which is when I ended up with my wonky wreath.

It may be a bit wonky but I thought it was still pretty, so I made a card out of it :)

Colorbok - Homespun papers
Imaginisce - Flower stamp, colored w//markers after stamping
Papercraft Inspiration magazine - stamp sentiment

After cutting out the wreath I added a few dots with my pen for some more filler around the flowers. For the life of me I can't think of the name of the product I tied my bow with, and there is no name on my packaging.

We have had a small break from the heat, the rain storm that went through today has given a little relief, always so thankful for that :)

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

Connie

Coffee theme

The next challenge in the group was to make a card with a coffee theme.  Well I don't like coffee, but my daughter does and she is getting ready to start her next year at Yale so I decided to make a card to wish her all the best in the coming year with her classes.  I know there is usually late nights with coffee to keep her going.  I used another image from the Coloring for calm calendar.

 I used another used tea bag to cut out a little doily for under the cup.  The little heart was part of the image so I stamped the sentiment inside of it. The gems are suppose to be the steam coming up off the cup.

Color for Calm daily calendar image, colored w/markers
Sassafras - Mix and Mend paper
Our Daily bread design- Mini tag sentiment stamp
Spellbinders - circle delight die (doily)
Clear gems

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Seaside

I am once again sharing a card from a daily coloring calendar but this time it is from a different one, this one is called Cheerful Journey by Lang.  I think the images in this one are a lot more fun and whimsical then the ones in the Color for Calm series, they are all very detailed scenes.  I have one calendar on my computer desk and one that is in my craft room :)

Today's card went to my son in law, they are now living in Connecticut and not to far from the beach and they were excited about this summer going to the beach so that is the theme I went with.
Annie asked in the last post about what I do with my cards, I don't always say who they are going to but 99% of the time every card is sent out, I think I have a total of 3 cards in my stash right now, I have a big family and everyone gets a card from me.  Not to mention quite a few of my church family gets one, especially if they are going through a rough time.  I haven't made as many birthday cards for people in the church this year though.

Cheerful Journey daily coloring calendar image, colored w/pencils
October Afternoon - Seaside papers
Gina K - tag lines sentiment stamp

Summer is quickly coming to a close, I hope you all have enjoyed your summer, and to my friends down under I bet your excited to see spring pop up :) 
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and say Hi,

Connie

Old Stuff

The next challenge our group had was to use our old goodies.  Well I have been card making for over 15 years now so you can only imagine the old things I have.  One of the oldest and one I haven't used in some time is my rub ons, so I broke them out and thought how I am going to use these.  I came up with applying them to my scraps of old paper I have, cut them out and apply them to an old tag my sister sent me that I wasn't too sure of the saying on the front so I covered the tag with more scraps of paper.

I also used some ribbon that I saved from a present and the stem is an old stamp from 2003.

Making Memories - Doodles rub ons, placed one paper scraps and cut out
Stampin up - stem stamp
Gina Marie - Birthday words sentiment stamp

I always like a challenge that gets me to use some of my forgotten goodies and it is so nice that the rub ons still work after all these years.

Thanks for stopping by, Hope you have a wonderful and creative weekend!

Connie

Many Sympathies

I have the last of the sympathy cards to share and hope I won't have to make too many more of these any time soon.

The first is for our Pastors wife who lost her dear grandmother. This paper pack has many of these panels that go with the papers, they make for quick cards. The button had a large hole in the center so I put a brad through it. Added a touch of lace ribbon and a sentiment.

DCWV - The primrose paper
Hot off the press - Dazzles- 130 tiny words and phrases
button
Brad
Lace ribbon

Next for a friend who lost her mother.

The background I had made in my stamping group awhile back but can't remember the technique we used. The "you" is a stamp, I stamped the rest of the sentiment onto a black cardstock with white embossing powder.

Lawn Fawn - Fancy scalloped rectangle die
Tim Holtz - sizzix - Wildflowers #2 die
Mama Elephant - Butterfly kisses sentiments

Lastly a friend lost a cat of  I believe she said was 17 years old.  My cats lived to be that age and it is so heartbreaking after losing them when they have been apart of your family for so many years.  I have used this same die cut in the past for cats passing, but usually as a silhouette this time I colored it, after making a background using the Nuvo shimmer powders.

Image from the Silhouette machine, colored w/markers
Nuvo - Shimmer powder, Blue Blitz

It was a beautiful day so far, we went on a walk and it was so enjoyable.  I am thankful these times to get a break from the heat, the whole 7 day forecast calls for the 90's starting Saturday so back to the heat.

Hope this finds you all well, and thanks for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Packaging

Another challenge my card making group had is to use some packaging to make a card.  Now I received this shampoo that came in a box for my birthday quite a few years ago but I always thought the image on it was cute so I saved it, well now was my chance to use it.

Isn't she cute, I carefully cut the box with my die and it worked really well, used same die for a mat, had to have a bow to go with the one in her hair and stamped the sentiment on a piece of paper that I had stamped a background on that was in my scrap box.

Here is a picture of the box before I took it apart and cut it out with my die.

Image from box of shampoo
My Favorite things - Cross stitch Rectangle die
Prima -- paper
Spellbinders - A2 matting basics A and circle delight dies
Making memories - Perfect Pink Ribbon
Stamps of life - postmarks2stamp sentiment

Do you ever save packaging that you like? Then find a way to use it :)

Thanks for stopping by today,

Connie

Add a charm

That is the challenge this week over at House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog.  I am doing another guest spot on the blog today. I went digging through my small collection of charms I have been saving to put on a card and realized that I have a lot of garden themed charms but then I found this bird charm and thought that would be perfect for this card. 

Look at those birds thinking what in the world is that mouse doing in our feeder, looks like he has been busy eating and is now stuff :)

When I won my prize from the House Mouse blog, I was gifted the pretty dimensional flower die that you see here along with that sweet pearl center from the Pizzazz Aplenty.  She has some great deals over there. Thanks again to them for the great prize package they sent.

My card measures 5 1/4 inch square. I colored it with markers.

House Mouse Design - Feeder Friends, colored w/markers
Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edges die
Bird Charm
Flower and 3 mm  pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty
Martha Stewart -- Tag punch
Our daily bread design -  Mini tag sentiments
Cardmaking & papercraft magazine -- Paper
Ribbon

If you don't have any charms, no problem you can still play along just stop by their blog to find out the rules.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Bouquet

Sharing another image from my daily coloring calendar.  Colored w/pencils once again, it is so funny how some turn out pretty good, well I am satisfied with them and others not so much, as long as they bring a smile to those that receive them that is the most important thing, right?

This one happens to be one that I was happy with :)  I used a bit of clear sparkle pen on the red berries.  The paper is all one piece so just a little stamping of a sentiment and added enamel accent and I was done :)

Calendar coloring image - colored w/pencils
DCWV - The Primrose paper
Gina Marie - Birthday words, sentiment stamp
Spectrum clear sparkle pen
Enamel Accents - white

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, thanks for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Today is your day

I have a few of these full panel cards but haven't used them much, This is the first time using this one.  I liked how this sentiment fit just right inside the panel.  This was my first time trying to stamp onto a piece of card stock that I had applied mega flakes.  I had it in my scraps bin and thought they would go pretty with the colors in the card.  I had a hard time getting any ink to stick to it, this final ones I used Versafine ink but then when I went to cut out the butterflies the ink smeared, I patted it a few times and that seem to take the access off.  I was afraid to emboss wondering what that would do with the megaflakes since they are applied with glue, but I am going to try that next time.

Let me know if you have tried stamping on a megaflakes background and what inks worked for you.

You can see a little more of the shine on the butterflies and the embossed details in the background die on the above picture.

Spellbinders - Tudor Rose Card front die
DCWV - Crafty stack paper
Megaflakes for the butterflies stamped over with butterfly stamp
Sentiment and butterfly stamps both from crafting magazine

Hope your week is going well so far, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and say Hi :)

Connie

Roses

The next challenge I did in my group was tic tac toe, I went with using Washi tape, Die cut and Birthday theme, since that is what I mostly make is Birthday cards.

The paper and the round panel are all from the same paper pack.  Now I am not sure what kind of flower my die cut is suppose to be but we are saying they are roses :)  I went with a shimmer paper and after making them I realized they were a bit bright compared to my paper so I tried to tone them down a bit by adding some shading with walnut stain ink.  My washi tape is just above the sentiment.

The leaves are punched and I added the veins using my stylus and a foam mat.

DCWV - The primrose paper pack for round panel and background paper
Tim Holtz - Rose Washi tape
Technique Tuesday- Happy Birthday stamp sentiment
Elizabeth Craft design - Bunch of flowers 4 die, shaded with Walnut stain Oxide ink
Martha Stewart - leaf punch, added veins with stylus and mat
Nuvo - Glitter drops, Golden sunset

Although we are suppose to get a bit of rain this week I am so thankful for some cooler temps in the 80's.  Usually this time of year the grass is getting a bit crunchy and we don't have to mow as much but this year it is staying nice and green with all this rain. 

Have a great week, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and say HI,

Connie

Color Challenge

My cardmaking group is doing a month of challenges to celebrate the anniversary of the start of the group.  Today's challenge was to use certain colors.
Dark blue, Turquoise, green, white and yellow.

Sadly I have been in need of many sympathy cards.  This was the first time I used this stencil and I used turquoise and yellow for the stenciling, green for the diecut, white for the jute, and dark blue for the sentiment.

Tim Holtz - Doily layering stencil and Wildflowers #2 die
Distress inks - Peacock feathers and scattered straw
Taylored Expressions - Care & Comfort  sentiment stamp
Jute

When I went to clean my stencil I remembered watching someone ink up a stencil, spray it with water and then turn over onto a piece of cardstock and stamp with it that way, so I gave it a try and really liked the results so I used it for another sympathy card, I think I may like it more than the first card.
This card measured 3 3/4 square.

Tim Holtz - Doily layering stencil and Wildflowers #2 die
Distress inks - peacock feathers and scattered straw
Spellbinders - Classic square die
Pebbles - rub on sentiment

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are enjoying a peaceful Sunday!!

Connie

Vintage/Nature

I can't really say what the theme of this card is but I like how it turned out, I never know what to do with these stamps that are partially there, other than on Mixed Media projects, and all though I love that style, I don't do it well, so I decided to balance it out with a die cut and stamped the wreath directly onto the paper and colored with my pencils.

Added a few punched butterflies from patterned paper and it was done. I forgot to take a close up of the wreath but I added a few dots with my Peony Spectrum sparkle pen.

Nola Blake Imports - Notes and wreath stamps, colored w/pencils
Memory Box - Distressed Baptisia Collage die
Papercraft Inspiration magazine - stamp sentiment
Martha Stewart - Butterfly punch
Enamel accents - white
Sparkle pen for dots around wreath with Peony

Continued prayers for those dealing with the flooding and fires.
Thanks so much for stopping by today and saying Hi :)
Have a Terrific weekend!

Connie

Succulents

I am once again sharing another image from my Daily coloring calendar, I have been having so much fun coloring up these pretty images, even if I don't color it well, it is still nice and relaxing to me and it gives me a chance to continue learning my coloring with pencils.

These looked like succulents to me, so I googled them because in this image there seem to be many different kinds and I wanted to find out if they come in any other colors but green and they do, YAH!!

After coloring I glued it to a piece of card stock, cut it out so that I could give it some lift with my foam tape.

Coloring Calendar image - colored w/pencils
Lilybee designs - Head over heels paper
Ms. Sparkle & co. - Marble paper pad
Lawn Fawn - Fancy Scalloped Rectangle stackable die
Papercraft & Inspiration magazine  - Sentiment stamp and tag die

It is hot again here and I need to get to more yard work so I will let you go for now, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Stitching

Good Morning everyone, today I am once again doing a Guest Design card for the House Mouse Challenge blog.  This Monday the challenge was to use Real or Faux stitching on your card.  I love to sew but haven't done it in quite some time so I just had to add real stitching to my card.  To get the straight stitch lines on my card I used a tracing wheel that you use for sewing along with a ruler, then went back over those dots with my piercing tool before sewing, that makes the holes easier for me to see while sewing on this pattern paper.

I just love this stamp, the little ones all cuddled up in the thimbles after getting tired out from jumping while the older one has still not run out of energy.

I added a touch of wink of stella clear glitter pen to the thimbles to give them a touch of sparkle but it doesn't really show up in the close up either.

The two doilies in the corner were cut from used round tea bags, gives the look of vintage to it.

Stampabilities - Mouse Bounce stamp, colored w/ markers
Spellbinders - Floral Doily Motifs dies
DCWV - Crafty stack
Used tea bags
Hand sewing with floss
Cardmaking and papercraft sentiment stamp
Wink of Stella clear glitter pen on thimbles

Stop by the House Mouse Monday challenge blog and play along with their stitching challenge or anything goes.  They have a great prize you could win too :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Connie

Hello

Coloring the daily calendar images again, using one of the backgrounds I made from the challenges that we were to stamp a background 3 times moving a little each time. Here is the Link to that challenge. I am not sure of the name of the background stamp from stampin up.

Daily coloring calendar image, colored w/pencils
Stamp in up - Vines background stamp
Distress oxides - iced spruce, bundled sage and peeled paint for background stamping
Impression Obsession - Rectangle 6 in 1 frames
My favorite things - Happy greeting dies set
Gems

I just finished watching a little girl from our church that is almost one years old for 7 1/2 hours.  I haven't watched a little one in so long, she is the sweetest but wow I am not use to going that long without a break.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend,
Thanks for stopping by,

Connie

Healing

I had a couple of get well cards to make so I turned to my coloring cards that I have that have good verses for this time.

The first goes to an older lady in our church that took a bad fall before the service and they took her to the hospital she ended up breaking her arm by her shoulder, they said they want to put it in a sling and see how it heals, she is very independent and likes to be on the go so she needs prayer for patience as God heals.  Sometimes that can be the hardest thing is the waiting.

I have been using a lot of gems lately and this time I decided to go with eyelets to change things up a bit.

Psalms in color - coloring w/markers
Colorbok - Homespun paper (dots)
DCWV - Purple strip paper
Eyelets

Next is for a lady a little younger than myself recovering from surgery.

Psalms in color - color w/markers
Nuvo drops
Paper?

The bible has so many verses that help us through our difficult times, so thankful for that.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Bird in Wreath

I am using a background that I had made earlier with my stamping group, made by swiping an ink pad onto glossy paper.

I added a bit of sparkle pen to the bird, to give it a bit of color and sparkle. I cut the wreath from white card stock and colored with markers. When done I added some Liquid pearls for the look of berries.

Hot off the press - Wreath die, colored w/markers
Recollections - wood bird
Background - swiping Distress Oxides onto glossy paper
Distress Oxides - iced spruce, walnut stain and wild honey
Spectrum noir sparkle pens - Teacup and Rose Quartz
Spellbinders - Ribbon banners die
Gina Marie - Birthday words sentiment stamp
Liquid pearls - Chestnut

Wow I just can't believe it is August already the summer months are just flying by.  Hope you all are enjoying the last month of summer!!

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to stop by and say Hi,

Connie