Snowflakes

 The other day Beth posted some Mandala's in some pretty colors and it reminded me of a stamp I have that reminds me of a snowflake, even though the patterns don't have anything to do with a snowflake.  I stamped this stamp 3 times on pattern paper and fussy cut them out and layered them together, on the first I used a snowflake embossing folder and a sentiment that I white embossed and then cut from the die, the center falls out so I popped that up with some foam tape.

Outline Rubber stamps - F220, embossed with detail white embossing powder, fussy cut 3 layers
Tim Holtz - Vintage Shabby papers
Sizzix - Snowflake embossing folder
Spellbinders - Back to Basics tag die
Simon Says stamps - Tiny words Christmas
Brads

I decided to do two cards and for this one I went with a stenciled background and a sentiment stamp from a cardmaking magazine. I preferred the way  I layered the snowflake in this one.

Outline Rubber stamps - F220, embossed with detail white embossing powder, fussy cut 3 layers
Tim Holtz - Vintage Shabby papers
Echo Park - Christmas Wonderland Stencil
Spellbinders - Captivating Squares die
Quick cards - Let it snow stamp, embossed w/white detail powder

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

Connie

Wild Flourish

 I actually went to Barnes and Nobles and they had a new magazine in with a whole bunch of stamps, and this is one of them, I used a sketch from a challenge my card making group was having.

Crafts Beautiful Magazine- American crafts - Wild Flourish stamp set, colored w/markers
Spellbinders - Curved Rectangles & Labels Trio dies
Hot off the press - 4 Lacey Rectangle frames die
Teresa Collins - Tell your story paper
Distress ink - Speckled egg sponged around image, Black soot around panels

Whimsy stamps - simple sentiment

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

Connie

Autumn Colors

 When I saw the challenge of Autumn Colors over at the Impression Obsession Blog I just had to color it up using my new Altenew markers and I really love how they blended for this flower.

I drew my own frame around the image with a thin Sharpie pen.

Impression Obsession - Camellia Japonica stamp, colored w/markers
Cloud 9 designs - Rain dots

This is a short post since I forgot to take any other pictures then just straight on.

Hope you enjoyed a very nice weekend and that the week ahead is a good one for you!

Connie

Autumn wreath

 I would like to make a real life version of this wreath.  When The Greetery came out with this Shiplap die and I saw all the neat ways the girls were using it, I thought oh man I need to get that die and I didn't waste anytime and bought it the day it came out, I will really try not to use it in every card I make from here on out, LOL!

I also broke out my foliage dies and put together some leaves and acorn to decorate the wreath, as you see the birds are enjoying it too.

The Greetery - Shiplap Builder die and Robin and Wren stamp
Sizzix, Tim Holtz - Funky Foliage dies
Spellbinders - Wreath die
Martha Stewart - tag punch
Fiskars - Essential sayings stamp

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

Hope you all enjoy a great weekend, we will be in the 80's the next couple of days but then we will go into fall temps next week even going as low as 60's a few days.

Connie

Encouragement

 I know that most of my cards are birthday cards but today I went with a thinking of you encouragement type card.  This person has a lovely garden and I know at this time of year seeing everything come to a close that it can get sad, but hoping that she can see God's glory in every season of not only our year but what we go through in our life.

Cheerful Journey 2018 coloring calendar, colored w/markers
Fiskars - Corner punch

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

Connie

Apples in Season

 Power Poppy has a free for all challenge, just create anything using their stamps.  I just had to pull out my Apples digital stamp, we went to our local farm and bought some apples from them so they are on my mind :)

Power Poppy - Apples in Season digital stamp, colored w/markers
Memory box - Stitched rectangle layers die
Momenta - Card stock
Simon Says stamps - Tiny words Birthday
Stampin up - enamel accents

We are enjoying beautiful fall weather right now, all the doors open letting that fresh air in. This weekend they say the temps will get back into summer time feel but they think that will be the end of it.

Hope you are well, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

O Christmas tree

 When I bought this die I was thinking it was a die in the shape of a tree with the words inside, no it is a die that cuts into your paper.  You will see in my last card.  I cut the die 3 times and used the template for placement on my card, I taped the left over piece to my background and pieced in each of the letters using glue, I would think there has got to be an easier way but do you know I couldn't remember how I have seen others do it.  So needless to say I did only two cards that way.

I am sharing this card with the CAS Christmas Challenge blog .

Poppystamps - We wish you a merry Christmas die
My mind's eye - O Christmas tree paper (sentiment)
Lilybeedesigns - Jingle papers
DCWV - Corrugate
Tim Holtz - Metallic card stock (star and ornament)

Poppystamps - We wish you a merry Christmas die
My mind's eye - O Christmas tree paper (sentiment) 
Lilybeedesigns - Jingle papers

Tim Holtz - Metallic card stock (star and ornament)

On this card I decided to use just the Merry Christmas portion of the tree sentiment and the stars and ornaments I didn't use on the other cards, piecing together some of the jingle paper pieces I had left over.

The last card I used the portion that I cut out and backed it with red paper and pieced in the star and ornament with more gold card stock.

That makes 4 cards so far this month, feeling pretty good about that :)

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

Connie

Glossy Backgrouds

 In our Zoom card making meeting this past week we did a technique where you use your ink cubes with many colors (I used 3 colors on every background) to make the background, and then swipe off the ink with a paper towel.  Direct from ink cube to the glossy card stock.

Artistic Outpost - The Outpost stamp, stamped w/Archval - Watering can ink
Background inking with Distress ink cubes on glossy card stock 3 colors
Spellbinders - A2 Distressed Edges die
Photo corners

After I did the first one I wasn't so sure I liked the blocked feel to the background so on the rest when I applied my ink cube to the glossy cardstock I twisted before lifting up and I liked that results much better.

Artistic Outpost - The outpost stamp, Archival watering can ink
Distress inks - 3 colors on glossy card stock
Spellbinders - A2 matting basics A & B dies
Cheery Lynn Designs - Alison's Ribbons dies (layered 2)

The last one I went with a more feminine feel using Altenew ink cubes this time.

Crafters Companion - Silhouette Grass stamp

Background - Altenew ink cubes 3 colors on glossy card stock

Martha Stewart - Butterfly punches

Mark Richards - Gems

Tim Holtz - small talk stickers

I have one thing to say I used all red rubber stamps for these cards, I did try a clear stamp on one of my backgrounds and it ended up sticking to the glossy card stock and ripping the paper, I was using my Misti to stamp it so maybe if I had just inked the stamp with it on a block it would have worked but just wanted to share that just in case you want to give this a try :)

Thanks so much for hanging in with me through this long post but thought I would share them all at once instead of splitting them up in different post.

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!!

Connie

Sparkling Butterflies

 In our Zoom meeting last month we made a card with a surprise inside when you open it up, and the outside background was made layering a couple stencils. I try to write down everything I use but I forgot to write down the stencils I used.  

I don't know if you can tell by this close up but in everyone of those patterns in the background I used my liquid enamel accents in white to finish off the centers, then colored some clear gems with blue marker for a butterfly trail.

Stencils
Inkadinkado - Patterned bugs stamp
Enamel Accents - white
Sparkle pen on butterfly
Inside card
Gina Marie - Birthday words stamp
Whimsy Stamps - Simple sentiment stamp
Inkadinkado - Patterned bugs stamp

Next time I will share the cards I made during our zoom meeting we had this week.

Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend so far, our temps have dropped dramatically, but they say they will be rising again.  Fall is in the air that's for sure!

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

Connie

Masculine Birthday

 My great nephew is turning 20, not too old but not to young, I went with a clean and simple type card.  I broke out my card quotes book for my sentiment and then took the scraps from the same paper as my background to die cut some leaves to frame it.

Hot off the press - Cardmaker's Card Quotes
Spellbinder - Curved Rectangles
BasicGrey - Periphery paper
Taylored Expressions - mini leaves dies

I never would have normally thought of this paper pack for an Autumn card but I really like how it turned out.

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

Connie

Missed Birthday

 I know it is hard to believe, LOL, but I did miss a birthday of a friend, I had stamped and die cut these flowers out awhile ago but wasn't sure of them at the time for the project I was doing so I left them in my unused goodies pile, so today I took them out to use on this card, shaped them a bit using my stylus and a foam mat and added some liquid pearls to the centers.  After I arranged them on my paper I thought it was a little too dark so I added the leaves with white card stock that I inked a bit with purple and some more flowers cut from tulle.

Heartfelt creations - Open Vintage Floret stamps and dies
Spellbinders - Curved Rectangles die
Paper Smooches - Happy birthday sentiment stamp set
Liquid Pearls - Lemon Yellow

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

Connie

Wildflowers

 I wanted to use more of the papers I was given from my cardmaking friend, but then I had to think of what I wanted to use with them, I have been wanting to use my wildflower dies for some time now so I decided to take the colors in the papers and make some flowers to match, I used distress inks to water color my flowers.

The center tag is from the paper pack also.

Tim Holtz - Wildflowers Stems #2 and Crochet dies
BoBunny - Beautifully Brisk paper
Spellbinders - 5x7 Matting basics A dies
Distress inks - Peeled Paint, Fossilized Amber and Faded Jeans for coloring of flowers
Martha Stewart - Tag punch
ODBD - mini tag sentiment stamp

Twine

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

Connie

Doggy party

 I decided to use another of my coloring calendars for my younger great nephew, these little guys are wishing him a happy birthday! 

 I colored with pencils on these, and it just still didn't feel festive enough even with my background paper, and then I remembered that I had saved the little leftovers after die cutting that looked like it would work for confetti and I am glad I did, I colored them using the same colors in the papers with my markers and glued them throughout the paper.

Cheerful Journey 2018 Daily coloring calendar image - colored w/pencils
Carta Bella - Alphabet Junction paper
Stamps of Life - Standup 4 sentiments stamp set

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

Connie

Dahlia

 I made up quite a few of my layered flowers ahead of time so whenever I wanted to use them all I had to do was pull them out, I added a little shading around the edges and some sparkle to the darker pink card stock.

I loved this paper with the bird, I just had to pair it with the flower.  I stamped the sentiment on some patterned paper too.

DCWV - The Primrose paper
Gemini - Dahlia layered flower dies
Papercraft Inspiration magazine - Greetings tag stamp & die set
Sequins
Wink of stella clear on flower

I hope this finds all my friends out west doing well and staying safe from the fires. Continued prayers for you all.

Connie

Metallic Ornaments

 In our stamp group this week the challenge from one of the girls was to use black cardstock, I love these challenges that force you to do something you have wanted to do but just don't do it on your own.  I have metallic markers that are to be used on black or dark cardstock and I just don't use them often enough so this challenge was perfect.  I used an embossing folder to color.

Spectrum noir - Metallic markers
Crafters Companion - Matt Black card stock
Darice - Hanging Ornaments embossing folder
StarForm - Transparent Glitter Sticker

It was hard to pick up the metallic in the markers, and the gold on the ornament with the bow turned out more yellow and in real life it is more gold. I also had a hard time taking a picture of the black without getting that shine and this side view makes it look like it is curved which it is not.

Hope you have a good weekend,

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Magnets

 I am sharing another project I have done using a kit from the Annie's Kit club. I sent one back that I didn't like just as the pandemic started and haven't received another package since, not sure if they have stopped making them or what, but after having to pay $8.00 to send the last kit back, I am not sure I want to continue getting them or not.  

This kit included the different sizes of wood, white paint, sanding paper, clear gloss finish, a sponge brush to apply the paint and gloss finish, Rub on sentiments and magnets. 

In all I was pretty happy with the results on the last one I share you can see one of the rubons did not come off the sheet correctly and I tried my best to apply it myself and it didn't quite turn out well, but I have it on the door leading to the garage which is metal.

I took more close up pictures of the different sizes all together, I have so many rubons yet in my collections, I am thinking some of them may work to make more of these on my own.

Do you see that rose on the magnet on the left, that one had separated from the rubon as I pulled the backing off, so that was just a defective rub on but I tried peeling it off the backing and rubbing it on myself.  Maybe this will give you some ideas for gifts this Christmas :)

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

Connie

Owl Thanks

 Last month when we had our month of challenges in our cardmaking group each of us that hosted a challenge at the end drew from the list that did our challenges and we sent them a package.  My name was pulled from one of the challenges and I received my package last week.  I was given papers, stamps, washi tape, jewel leaves and an embossing folder, quite a large package and I just had to dive into the goodies and make a thank you card for it all :)

I stamped the little owl and all the leaves onto patterned paper, used the washi tape for the base to put my sentiment die on.

Ms. Sparkle & co. - Thankful papers, stamp set and washi tape
Spellbinders - Splendid circles die
Gemini - torn edge circles die

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

Connie

Great day

 Using another daily calendar coloring pages for my great nephew, I feel like I am running out of ideas for all these teen cards I make, hoping this one brings back memories of his summer vacation at the lake .

Cheerful Journey 2018 daily coloring calendar, colored w/pencils
Crate Paper - DIY shop paper
Hero Arts - It's your day sentiment stamp set

Hope your week is off to a good start and enjoying your Labor day!

Thanks for stopping by,

Connie

Best Friend

 Our friends lost their German shepherd the other day, he was getting quite old had arthritis and was ready to go but we are never ready to let them go are we.  I wanted to make an uplifting card, one that makes them remember when he was full of life running around their farm chasing squirrels so I decided to make a little scene reminding them of the fun times he had and he is no longer in any pain.

I am linking this to the Challenge on the Impression Obsession Blog .

Impression Obsession - Country fences, Dog set, Squirrel set, Bare tree and Oak leaves and rake dies

Do you see the little acorn the squirrel dropped when he saw the dog coming :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and I hope you all enjoy a very safe and fun holiday weekend!

Connie

WooHoo

 When I went to make another masculine birthday card I still had out the paper pack my sister in law gave me and this piece was light enough I thought I could use it for another coloring on pattern paper for our challenge this week.  I thought it would make great sky if I just added some clouds to it using my home made cloud stencil. So I went looking through my stamps for something that could work on a masculine card and I think this may be the first time I used this plane from this stamp set.

We are going to imagine that he is flying over a flowering tree :)  I just had to add some pearls to the center of the flowers, hope it still feels masculine :) Hoping the sentiment looks like the banners that fly behind the planes.

Technique Tuesday - All aboard stamp set, colored w/pencils
Simon Says Stamps - Tiny words Birthday stamp set
Home made cloud stencil
Pearl Pen - Salmon

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

Connie

Hope and Prayers

 Our challenge this week in our stamp group was to stamp and color on pattern paper. One of the ladies in our church lost her grown daughter with a family of her own to cancer this week, so I used this challenge to make her a card. I am using more of the paper my sister in law gave me that I don't know who makes it.

Hot off the press - Mystic Garden stamps, colored w/Spectrum noir markers
Taylored expressions - Care & Comfort II
Paper unknown

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

Connie