Peace and Joy

I decided to make a couple cards with the stamps I am using, hoping that helps me get more cards made a month.  These are from a set of stamps from Make cards magazine from 2018, I hadn't used them yet on cards and it was time I broke them out and used them.

On this card I cut around the sentiment after stamping it, I used a sketch for this one but forget to write down which one it was I used.

Make Cards, Novemeber 2018 - stamps, colored w/markers
Gemini - Torn edges circles die
Snowflakes from centers of another die
Elizabeth Craft designs - Silk Microfine glitter

Close up of the glitter I added for the snow

same stamp on this one I just colored them a little different

Make Cards, Novemeber 2018 - stamps, colored w/markers
PPD - Mini stitched banner and Stitched square dies
Stickles - Diamond

used the stickles for the snow on the second one

I like the results of both the stickles and the glitter on these but the stickles since they are a glue based glitter sure isn't as messy as using the glitter.

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

Connie

Dream Big

This stamp was in a bag of stamps at the yard sale at my stamp store, I thought it would be perfect for my nephew who loves to fish. I colored it by watering down Distress inks and markers.  At the very end I decided to add a bit of sparkle with my wink of stella and it wasn't coming out very well so I shook the pen real hard and then tried again and oh my did it come flowing out, you can see it real well in the last photo, it doesn't look to bad until it is right in direct light. This embossing folder always reminds me of the grasses around the lakes and ponds in our area, thought it would go great with the fish, I have sanded it while it was still in the embossing folder so it would keep it's shape.

Heather - H-149-HR, stamp colored w/distress inks and markers
Wink of Stella clear pen
Marvy - Circle punch
Darice - Grass Embossing folder, sanded 
Tim Holtz - Distress cardstock
Sentiment from cardmaking magazine freebie

Hope your week is off to a great start, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

New goodies

Over at Sisterhood of Crafters, they have a new challenge to use some newly acquired stash, one of them I bought myself, that was the stamp and the die was one my daughter got me for Christmas. The splatters were done from some gold paint I received from a crafting friend.

Hero Arts - Hero Florals Mum stem stamp, colored w/markers
Paper Smooches = Happy Birthday sentiment stamp
Scalloped die unknown
Spellbinders - A2 matting basics A
Pizzazz aplenty - Pink pearls 3mm
Gold paint splatters
Distress ink Tumbled glass on background

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and say Hi,

Connie

Praying

One of the gentlemen that do our sound system at church lost his mother last week, I was stuck on what to do for him and then I remember the Mojo Monday sketch challenge over at Poetic Artistry

I don't normally do a lot of matting in my cards but when I do I really love the results.

Inkadinkado - Spiritual Sketches stamp set
Spellbinders - Square and Big scalloped circles dies
Background paper - Graphic 45 botanical tea
Layers - DCWV - Earth prints mat stack paper
Tim Holtz - Crochet die
Our Daily Bread designs - Mini tag sentiments stamp

Wishing you a very fun and creative weekend ahead!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Flutterbye wishes

I just love all things hunkdory, their images are just gorgeous, they make such lovely cards, all you have to do is add your own goodies to them, I framed it with one of my die cuts and added some gems to the image. This set came in a crafting magazine and the paper I used is from the same pack, as well as the sentiment.

Hunkydory - Flutterbye Wishes, image, sentiment and papers
Spellbinders - Romantic Rectangles two die
Craftaroo - gems

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

Connie

Postcards

I just love anything vintage and so this card made me happy to make :)

I see others that color on patterned paper so I gave it a try once again, not quite sure the color blended very well but I still liked the outcome.

I stamped the airmail with the wings at the top and an extra butterfly on some scraps of the same paper I used for the background and cut them out to add to this post card. 

Hot off the press - Postcards stamp set, colored w/markers
ART-C paper to stamp the postcard
K&co.  - Blue Awning paper
Spellbinders - A2 Devine Eloquence die
Wink of stella clear on flowers

I hope you are enjoying a great week so far, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Old Friends

Are you still friends with your childhood friends?  I am lucky to say that I am still friends with my next door neighbor, we grew up together, we are lucky to have Facebook where we can keep up with each other, along with email, one of the great perks of our technology today.

Awhile back when going through my daily calendar images I saw this one and made me think of my friend so I saved it out to use on her birthday card.  I colored it with a combination of pencils and my extra fine markers, there are a lot of small details here.

Isn't that a great sentiment for a friendship that has lasted 55 years!

Cheerful Journey coloring calendar - colored w/pencils & markers
Memory Box - Stitched Rectangle layer
Echo park - Fine and Dandy paper
Stampin up - black jewels

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

Connie

Sketch Challenges

My on line card making group was having some sketch challenge's this weekend since a majority of the women were being snowed in with the storm, luckily all we had here was some freezing rain that turned into just ran, or we would have been doing a lot of shoveling.  But that didn't stop me from playing in the challenge.  

Our group is also making cards for the military to send home to their families, one of the ladies in our groups daughter was deployed again and we send the cards to her and she distributes the cards to all at the base, so these cards will be heading there.

My first used a tile sticker that I have had in my stash for many years, 4 stickers came on a sheet and I had this last one left so if you have been with me for a while you have seen me use these in the past.  We aren't to send anything with glitter so I didn't add any to the wings like I have done before.  After I had mounted it onto the card base I realized I forgot to  mount the sticker first to card stock, so you can see the paper underneath, hubby said he didn't really notice until I said and thought it looked ok, so I am going with it.

The actual sketch had a ribbon at the bottom but I placed my sentiment there instead.

Wall tile sticker from $ store
Leisure arts - Savor this moment papers
DieVersions - Miss you sentiment cut 3 times and layered

Next I used a outline sticker and colored in the rose with the sakura gel pen that came with the stickers, when I went to use the green I couldn't get it to work at all so I used one of my fine tip sharpie markers to fill in the leaves.

They mentioned the most asked for cards was miss you and Love, so that is what I went with for these two cards.

Sticklers- gold outline stickers, colored w/gel pen and sharpie
Spellbinders - Classic Ovals die
October Afternoon - 5 & Dime paper
Martha Stewart - border punch
Sticker sentiment

We have a feels like temperature of 5 degrees this morning with very light snowflakes falling, hope you have a bit better weather than we are having :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and have a wonderful week ahead!

Connie

16th

My other great nephew turned 16, he just happens to be the brother of the one that turned 13 that I shared a couple days ago.  I always do a vehicle themed card for their 16th birthdays and in the past I have used trucks well I have this cool car die now so I will probably be using this one too now.

I used some silver metallic paper for the inside of the tires of the car. The number 6 was already on this tag so I just added a rub on #1 to make it 16. Used the strip I cut off the tag so you could read the route 66 sign to stamp my sentiment onto it.

Frantic Stamper - Convertible Roadster die
Recollections - Awesome boy paper
Rubon - #1
Celebrate stamp
Stampin up - Black Jewels
Tim Holtz - Metallic collection - silver for tires
Distress ink - Hickory smoke around edges 

The silver in the tires show up a little better in this picture, I think I was getting the reflection of my red shirt.

I hope you all enjoy a fabulous weekend!! Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Swinging Birthday

I started off last year saying that every other card I make I need to use something old so that I don't neglect all my old goodies I have, it is always fun to create with something you haven't used yet but we can't forget those things that at one time were new :)

When I was going through this paper pack and saw this girl I thought now she is having a great time, looks perfect for a birthday party!  I just cut up the paper pack and used bits and pieces to make this arrangement on my card.

Graphic 45 - Curtain call paper
Sizzix - Rounded tags die
Papercraft inspiration mag. - Greetings stamp
Gem

We are in for some crazy weather today, snow, the sleet and ice and finishing off the night with rain.  I was so glad to hear that portions of Australia have been blessed with rain but now they have problems with the ash going into the water and hurting the fish, praying soon things will get back to normal for them, so thankful they are seeing a bit of rain!

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

Connie 

13th

Another of my great nephews has turned the big 13!  It is just amazing to see my nieces and nephews kids getting so old.  And this is my nieces youngest.

I went with a background I had done quite awhile ago that I cut with my distressed die, and then continued that with my stamped sentiment panel and bottom layer.  

Instead of coloring the different letters on this I decided to stamp with different colors of ink. It has been awhile since I used my rubons so I thought this would be a good time to break them out for the number inside the star.

Stampabilities - Birthday Subway art stamp
Spellbinders - Lg. Deckled Rectangles and A2 Distressed Edges dies
Die versions - Stitched Nested stars
Making Memories - Heidi Alphabet Rubons

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

Connie

Happiest Wishes

This is another one of those cards that just fell together, this is for a person who loves foxes.

I started with the piece of art work that comes in the paper pack from Heartfelt creations, the little fox is in that fancy frame.  They have some sentiment tags that you can chose from also.  I had bought the whole set of stamps dies and papers a few years back so I went to look if one of the fox images would work with what I had and sure enough this little guy playing in the grass would work great with the sentiment I thought.  I colored him up quickly, cut him out attached with some foam tape and I was done.

Heartfelt Creations - Woodsy Woodland Collection - Papers, tag and stamped fox, colored w/markers

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

Connie

40th Birthday

Our Pastor had his 40th birthday last month and we surprised him with a party after church one Sunday, you know I had to make him a doom and gloom card :)

On the inside I wrote, Don't worry about getting old, you are, but don't worry about it :)

Best Occasion - Mixed Media paper, for paper tags, numbers and letters
Nuvo Crystal glaze

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

Connie

Golden Anniversary

One of the girls from my card making group was having a 50th wedding anniversary coming up and her daughter got a hold of our group and asked if we would like to make her some cards that she would present to her at their surprise party they were giving the couple.  I thought that was so sweet of her daughter to think of asking, so you know I had to do it :)

I used some gold metallic paper for the framing and numbers, the little banner was part of the paper so I just cut it out so that I could use that portion for the sentiment.  I had all these gold circles left on my desk from the circle die and thought they would look pretty to add to the background.

Taylored Expressions - Whimsy #s die
Spellbinders - Eyelet circle die
Memory Box - Stitched Circle layer die
DCWV - Primrose paper
Stamp on it - Sentiment sticker colored w/ Faber Castell  pitt gold pen

Hope you had a nice weekend and the week ahead is a good one!
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know,

Connie

Super Day

Went with a whole super hero theme with this card for my great nephew. I did a little upcycle with the stars, there is a silver foil on top of the nut jars, yep that is what I cut the stars from.  I wanted to use one of them for the sentiment so I stamped my sentiment onto white card stock and then glued my star on top and cut around the star.  The little guy has been colored with markers.

Fun Stampers Journey - Super heroes stamp set, colored w/markers
Sassafras - Apple Jack paper
Martha Stewart border punch
Poppystamps - Super stars

Update on my sister, she is doing well, feeling much better than her last hip surgery and starting her physical therapy, I appreciate your prayers and thoughts for her.

We also made it ok through all of the rain we had, the ditches are full but no water came up in our yard and that I am thankful for.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend, and thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Many Thanks

I am sharing the last of my Thank you cards today.  

The first starts off with using some tabs that were extra from making other cards from my instant card art pack. Plus  flowers dies I won from Pizzazz Aplenty last year. Adding a gem to the centers after pulling up sections of the flowers to give them dimension.

Here is a side view to show the dimension in the flowers.

Hot off the press - Cardmakers Instant card art, Pretty colors (tag and tab)
Pizzazz Aplenty - Flower die
Crafters Companion - Thank you die
Papertrey ink - Hodge Podge paper

Next I used my Gina K wreath builder and stamps to make a 4 1/2 inch card, I don't often do square cards so it was a nice change. The smaller flower and leaves were in the same set as the sentiment.  I added stickles to the center of the flowers.

Gina K - Wreath Builder bundle
Distress Oxides - bundled sage and fossilized amber
Hero Arts - Everyday sayings for sentiment and the little flowers in the center
Stickles - Vintage photo

Lastly this one just came together, I started with the paper pack, the shape at the top was a left over piece from another project so I decided to try and use it, matched it with the bottom piece and added my die cut flower another die from my Advent calendar from crafters companion.

DCWV - Linen Closet paper
Crafter's companion - Flower die
Reminisce - Wedded bliss sticker sentiment

That's all for me today, I appreciate your stopping by today, 

Connie

Create a scene

When I saw this stamp set at my stamp store I just had to pick it up, I thought it was so neat how you could put the different layers of stamps together to make a different scene each time.  You can see what the stamp set looks like HERE. 

These are the layers I put together this time around.

My great nephew likes to take pictures like my hubby does so I had to make a scene he would like to take a picture of.  You can't see it well in the picture but I added some distress tumbled glass ink to the top for the sky. Used mowed lawn distress inks for the grass.

Stampendous - Meadows Edge stamp set, colored w/markers
Memory Box - Stitched Rectangle layers die

I like how there is even sentiments in the set you can use!

We are supposed to get over 4 inches of rain in the next few days, I so wish we could send it over to Australia, continued prayers going out to them.

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

Connie

Dancing Snowflakes

I am sharing a die from Poppystamps today that I won off their blog, I didn't receive it in enough time to use it for Christmas cards but thought they would work great for thank you cards for Christmas presents I received from friends.  

When I first saw this die on their blog I thought that would work so neat for a gatefold card, so I had to try that out first :)

I used a thank you die that was in the crafters companion advent calendar I bought off of HSN that I mentioned in an earlier post, cutting them all from pattern paper. To make the closure I mounted the sentiment onto a label die and used that brad for to tuck it under to keep it closed. I added some pearls to the snowflake centers :)

Poppystamps - Dancing Snowflake Tile die
Spellbinders - Labels trio die
Papertrey ink - Hodge podge paper
Spotted Canary - Big pearls
Forever in time - small pearls
Brad

Here it is open before I wrote on the inside.

Next I kept it very simple with using just the snowflake and thank you dies with the added pearls. Also cut with patterned paper.

Poppystamps - Dancing Snowflake Tile die
Crafters companion - Thank you die
Graphic 45 - on the boardwalk paper
Pearls

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today, so good to hear from you,

Connie

Color embossing

I am sharing today what my challenge for our group was, I wanted everyone to color their dry embossed images from a folder with either markers, pencils or watercolor.  Here are a couple I did. The first is an embossing using black paper and metallic markers.

I needed some thank you's and decided to give this a try once again. I cut the sentiment from some copper paper to match the metallics in the coloring.

Recollections - Embossing folder, colored w/Spectrum Metallic markers, Gold Nugget, Gold Plate, Green Citrine and Blue Topaz
Crafters Companion - Thank you die

The next one is for my sister who just had hip surgery yesterday, she came through the surgery ok and I haven't heard back how she is feeling today yet, I would appreciate any prayers for a quick recovery for her, the last time she had her hip done she had a few complications so hoping this time will go more smoothly for her.

Ellison - Embossing folder, colored w/markers
Hot off the press - Tiny words and phrases dazzles stickers
Nuvo crystal drops - pale gold

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

Connie

Valentine's

The next challenge was to stamp our own background for a Valentines card.  I went with an old Stampin up heart stamp and some little hearts to fill in the background from my Gina K wreath builder stamp set.

After stamping onto my red base I thought ok, now what am I going to do with this busy background, as I was looking at it I thought I could do my own heart and tie it with a string just like the background stamp I used to tie it together.

Since I had a lot of blank space on the heart I decided to add my sentiment right on the heart.

Stampin up 2004 - heart stamp with string, sorry not sure of the name
Gina K - Wreath builder stamp set ( little heart )
Spellbinders - Lace hearts die
American craft - Jute
Hot off the press - Tiny words and phrases dazzles, colored black

This is probably the earliest I have had a valentine card ready to go :)
Hope you all had a good weekend and the week ahead brings you much fun and creativity!
Thanks so much for stopping by today,
Connie

Opposite/Same

The next challenge in the group was to either do the same layout but opposite themes or same stamp opposite theme.  I went with using the same stamp but opposite themes, Sympathy and Birthday.  I never have sympathy cards on hand and it would be nice to have one so I can get it out right away.

This die cuts out the middle section so I popped up the stamp with foam and left the frame glued to my card base. The sentiments are also with this stamp set.

Hot Off the Press - Floral Greetings stamp set, colored w/markers
Paper Artist - 4 Lacy Rectangle frames
Basic Grey - Periphery paper

Next was my birthday card.  I tried to match the colors in my paper with the rose but it doesn't show well in the picture. I fussy cut this one.

Hot Off the Press - Floral Greetings stamp set, colored w/markers
Teresa Collins - Tell your story paper
Sequins

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Monochromatic

My stamp group has a day of challenges on the first of January, I ended up having a busier day than I thought I would so I didn't get to as many of them as I would have liked and still plan on giving some of them a try in the future but over the next few posts I will share what I have done.

First off is to make a monochromatic card. I went with the colors gray, thought that would work best for this stamp, I even stamped it with gray ink.

Stampendous- Daisy thanks stamp, colored w/markers
Best Occasion - Mixed Media paper and sentiment
Paper studio - enamel dots

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend,

Connie

Lattice

A little while back Spellbinders was having a sale so I had to pick up this lattice die in the background, I was so hoping it would fit on an A2 size card and it did :)  I paired it with some flowers I made from the same paper pack as the background and lattice die cut.

Basic Grey - Periphery paper
Spellbinders - Swirl Lattice Panel die
Heartfelt creations - Delicate Aster dies
Martha Stewart - Punched leaves
Papercraft - inspiration - Greetings tag and sentiment stamp
Brad
Gems

Wishing you all a Blessed 2020.

Thanks so much for stopping by throughout last year and I am so thankful for all the friendships I have made through blogging.

Hugs,
Connie