Glue and Ink

 My stamp group is having a week of challenges and today I am sharing the challenge I came up with for everyone to try.  I found this technique on Pinterest and had never heard of it. You ink your background, add some tacky glue in spots across the card, leaving it thicker in spots. Let it dry, then ink over top in another color.  I inked my background to look like a sunset on the water and after the glue dried went over it with a dark blue to make it darker.  I stamped the images and then realized they looked way to bright for such a dark evening scene so I after coloring them I inked over with old paper ink to give them a darker feel.

You can see the link HERE to the written tutorial of this technique.

• Distress inks - Dried Marigold, fossilized amber, Tumbled glass and Mermaid lagoon, with Faded Jeans over top
• Aleene's Tacky glue
• Cardmaking and Papercraft - Day at the seaside stamps, colored w/markers and inked over top with Old paper distress ink
• Gina K- Framescape, winter trees stamp set - for birds

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

Connie

White Focal

 Over at the Memory Box Challenge Blog the challenge this month was to use white as the focal of your card.  The first thing I thought of was a Kraft background, I just love that combo and don't use it very often.  I picked this die because I thought it would make a lovely swag to go across the card.

I started off by inking around the edges with white ink and leaving the center so that the die would pop nicely against it. The die has been layered 3 times to give it a little more depth and I topped it off with some pearls.

• Memory Box - Seraphine Laurel die
• Tim Holtz - Clippings sticker book for sentiment
• white ink
• Kaisercraft - pearls

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Layers

 I recently bought this Tim Holtz tissue paper, I liked the collage feel to it but didn't use it for that I used it for my whole background, I added some glue to a piece of pink patterned paper and then laid the tissue paper on top of it.  The flowers are some layered flower dies my hubby bought me. I did a bit of inking around the edges of the card.

• Tim Holtz - Collage paper - Botanical, layered on pink pattern paper
• Taylored Expressions - Layer it, Rustic Floral dies
• PPD - Wavy Stitched Rectangle die
• Cardmaking and papercrafts - Sentiment sheet
• Gems

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

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Connie

Deer in the woods

 We have had a new Pastor for several months now, and her husband just had a birthday, he is quite the outdoor guy, so I went with the Heartfelt Creations Woodsy collection I have.  The tag and sentiment are preprinted in the paper pack but the trees next to it is a stamp that I thought would go with the scene in the tag.

• Heartfelt Creations - Woodsy Wonderland Paper and tags, Woodsy Treescape stamp and die, colored w/markers
• Brad

We are still dealing with Very HOT temperatures this week, the heat index has been in the 100's our highest so far 111, can't wait until we can get out and enjoy the outside.

Hope you are all staying well and thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and say Hi,

Connie

Brave!

 Over on Let's Squash it Challenge blog the challenge this month is to Emboss something other than paper or card.  It just so happened that a couple weeks ago hubby had bought some sliced ham from the deli and they put it on a thick piece of plastic before putting in the bag.  I had no idea if it was the kind of plastic I could recycle and then I thought I wonder if I could use this in my cardmaking so I washed it up and put it aside, when I saw the challenge I thought it would be perfect.  

The problem with it all is the plastic is kind of thick and I had no idea if it would actually emboss or not, but why not try :)  I have a Gemini machine which is electric so I put the plastic piece inside my embossing folder and crossed my fingers and sure enough it made a bit more noise but it took it and did a great job of embossing it.  The plastic had a rough side and smooth side, so I embossed with the rough side up so that I could color the image on the back side with my markers. The round dots on the folder I colored with a gold paint pen. I put a piece of patterned paper behind it.

I sent this to a fellow cardmaker who is dealing with cancer and chemo treatments right now, I loved this sentiment for it because it describes her perfectly.

• Darice - Embossing folder, colored w/markers and gold paint pen for dots
• Patterned paper behind a piece of plastic I recycled to emboss
• Tim Holtz - Metallic sticker sentiment

The same day I made a card for another fellow cardmaker who is going through some serious health problems, the doctors can't figure out yet what is going on but praying that she gets more answers soon with test that are coming up. I thought this sticker with the cute boots and flowers coming out of them hung on a fence may bring a smile.

• Spellbinders - Tudor Rose Card front die
• Jot - Sticker pop ups
• Hot off the press - 130 tiny words and phrases sticker, colored w/marker
• Queen & co. - Bubbles gems and Pink Posies gems
• Pattern paper behind the die cut

I forgot to get a side picture to show the dimension the sticker has in it.

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

Connie

Friend Sympathy

 I have known this friend for over 30 years, we had our daughters just months apart.  It was her great friendship that got me through when our husbands deployed together for Desert Storm.

She has just lost her mother and is taking it quite hard, you just wish you could be there but the next best thing is sending them a card. I thought this flower die cut was so pretty for this time.

• 49 and Market - Vintage Artistry Essential Chipboard flower and 6x8 Vintage Artistry Essential paper
• Stampendous - Sincere Sentiments stamp
• Nuvo Crystal glaze on flower

You can see below in the close up the crystal glaze on the flower to look like dew drops.

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

Connie

Praying for you

 A girl from our church has all of a sudden started having seizures and the doctors don't know why, she has had to quit work and can't drive, so a lot of changes in her life right now.  Her hubby had to go out of town for work so a group of us ladies took turns taking meals to her house that week so she wouldn't have to cook and you know I had to make her a card to remind her that she is being prayed for daily.

• The Greetery - Market Basket and Crimped Frame dies
• Tim Holtz - Wildflower stems #1 dies, colored w/Spectrum Noir Sparkle markers
• PPD - Burlap swatch die
• Our Daily Bread designs - Mini tag sentiment
• Dictionary page

I decided to color the flowers with Sparkle markers to add a bit of shine and  torn dictionary page to a scrap of patterned paper I had left for the background.

I hope you have a great weekend,

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

Connie

Christmas past

 In my stamp group our challenge this month was to use Black, White and Red on our cards and another option of using stencils.

I thought of this paper pack right away and then realized that it doesn't have white in it but Cream, but I went with it anyway.

On the card above I have used background paper from My mind's eye - O Christmas tree paper

• Simple stories - 25 days of Christmas paper and tags
• Offray ribbons
• Martha Stewart snowflake punch

Here is my card using a stencil

Hubby says this is way too busy, while making it I didn't think so but now I see it.  I added pearls to most of the snowflake centers. Die cut the sentiment 3 times.

• Echo Park - O perfect Christmas stencil - using Brilliance, moonlight white ink
• Tim Holtz - Christmas Ribbon dies
• Pearls

Hold on I have a couple more cards that I made from a tree we folded in our last zoom meeting that I forgot to share with the others.  I think they need a sentiment but still haven't gotten around to adding one yet.

One 4 inch circle makes 2 trees, I cut two circles so I had 4 trees so I made another with just one.

Here is a picture to show the dimension, I added a little foam tape under each fold so that it would stand out nicely.

I also die cut some small stars from glitter paper.

Sorry this was a long post. But I did manage to get my cards for the month of August done, so that feels good!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Song bird

 I have told myself that I have enough bird stamps so when I saw this stamp I thought oh that bird is so cute, and look at all the sentiments that you can put inside the little swirl at the top.  Finally what got me was it was on sale at Hobby Lobby, now who can pass up a sale :)

My friend loves to bird watch so I thought it was the perfect one to send to her. 

• Stampendous - Bird Frame stamp, colored w/markers, white pen on flower centers
• Spellbinders - Decorative Labels 8 die
• Recollection - Lace on a roll 
• Queen & co. - Pink Petite posies gems

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

Connie

Old School

 Over at the Make the Cards Challenge blog they have a challenge to use some of those old goodies to make a card.  My oldies are the eyelets, jute, brad, and layering of my papers. There is faux stitched marks on the curved die cut.

• Spellbinders - Carnation Creation, Foliage Flourish and A2 Curved borders one
• Raspberry Road Designs - Love Lives here paper
• Close to my heart - eyelets
• Twine
• Martha Stewart - Tag punch and Sanserif font stamp for "80"
• Basic Grey - Brad

Debbie asked in the comments if it was for the same lady I made the other card for and it is not, this one was for a lady I met when I first joined a cardmaking group when I started making cards!

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

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Connie

Mason Jars

 Over at Double D's challenges they had a challenge to use mason jars on your card.

I went with a stamp set that I have had for quite some time.  I stamped both mason jars with blue ink thinking that it would look more like glass that way, and decided to heat emboss the ink with clear embossing powder thinking that may even look more glass like, I did all this on heat sensitive acetate.

Here is the inspiration board we were given and I liked the red flowers on the bottom left, instead of having mine on the outside I put mine on the inside. I also like the cloth on the top left so since this set had a stamped cloth cover I added that to the smaller mason jar. The sentiment, banner and the flowers all came in the set too.

• Recollections - Mason Jars stamp set, stamped on acetate
• Raspberry Road designs - Love lives here paper
• Tim Holtz - crochet die
• Brad has been colored with marker

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

Connie

New Friend

 I met a new friend through Splitcoaststampers. It is an on line group for people who love papercrafts.

We had been writing back and forth and I found out she was going to be turning 80 in a month or so and so I asked her if she wanted to share her address with me because I would love to send her a card. You have to get a card on your 80th birthday, right!!!

I had just recently bought this Graphic 45 pad so you know I had to use it for her card!

I have had these frames and corner embellishment stickers for awhile and thought they would be a pretty frame for the bird and the corner of the card.  I made a tag to add her birthday number and used a tag from the paper pad, the stamp and the eggs were also in the paper pack which I fussy cut and added to a tag that I had in my stash.

• Graphic 45 - Bird Watcher paper pack
• Flower in time - Glitter lace frames and corner stickers
• Paul Deen - tag pad
• Brad

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

Connie

Outside my window

 Today my card will be shared with Poppystamps Challenge Blog where the challenge this month is Anything goes.  So I went to all my dies from them and found that I have not used this window die in quite some time, so now is the perfect time to get it out and use it.

I started by inking my brick embossing folder with some ink, then I ran it through my die machine to get the impression of ink onto the background of the brick.  I cut the window out twice and layered them for a little more depth, glued a patterned paper behind to look like wallpaper, and added a little border die for the valance.  This window die set comes with the shutters and the window box as well as the cute flowers. Those were inked.  I felt it needed a little more so I added a fence with a grass punched border behind it and a little cardinal sitting on it. Hung a little sign for my sentiment and attached with some jute twine.

• Poppystamps - Small Madison window die set, Picket fence and Cardinal dies
• Gemini - beautiful borders die (valance)
• Tim Holtz - bricked embossing folder inking the folder before embossing
• Fiskars - Grass punch
• ODBD - Mini tag sentiments stamp
• Jute

Another scorcher for today, but I hear we will get some relief this weekend, can't wait.

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

Connie

Mixed Media

 Challenge in my Cardmaking group was to use Mixed Media on our card.  It just so happens to also be the challenge over at Mix it up Challenge Blog .

I love the look of using different mediums on a card but haven't tried it very much but I was pretty happy with the results on this card.  This was my first time using Crackle texture paste, I bought it awhile ago but it took the challenge for me to finally get it out and use it.  I did a bit of inking too as well as gold foiling along the edges in places and then just splashes of it throughout the card.  The top that is gold came out looking a bit black in my picture and it was that way in all the pictures, not sure why that happened.

I first cut out a couple dies to use for my stencils in the corner to add the paste through. Then after it had all dried I added a bit of walnut ink to distress and bring out the crackles more. Did a bit of stamping in a couple places, added some glue in a couple places when tacky I added my gold foiling. The butterfly was cut from patterned paper and his body colored with marker.

• 49 and market - 6x8 Vintage Artistry Essentials collection paper
• Distress texture paste - Crackle
• Tim Holtz - Mixed Media #5 to make a stencil for corners to add paste through
• Distress ink - Walnut stain
• Glitznow - Distressing stamp
• Gold foiling
• Tim Holtz - Metallic sticker book for sentiment
• Memory Box - Leavenworth Butterfly trio die

Hope your week is off to a good start, we are in for a Hot week, we have heat advisory until Thursday evening, feels like temps back in the 100's.  I guess no excuse not to get things done inside the house :)

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

Connie

Watering can bouquet

 I am sharing todays card with Retro Rubber Challenge and the theme this time is anything goes.  We are to tell how old this stamp is and of course there was no age on the stamp set but the coordinating die that I bought to go with it had an insert that said 2011 so I am going to say that must be how old this set is.  I bought it back when the company was still called Our Daily Bread.

I have colored it with markers.  On this card I also challenged myself by using only papers in my scrap bin, it is getting a bit full and needs to be used or be recycled.

I hand cut the sentiment out because it just seemed to bulky other wise.

• Our Daily Bread designs - Happy Birthday stamp set, colored w/markers
• Papers from my scrap bin

I popped up the watering can with foam tape for more dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a great weekend.

Connie

By the Ocean

 Over at Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge Blog, the theme this time is The Ocean is calling and I must go.  That made me think of my coloring calendar images, they have a lot of water scenes in them. I colored this one with markers. I am also sharing this with Simon Says Summer time blues Challenge

• Johanna Basford 2020 daily coloring calendar - colored w/markers
• Craft Smith - Seaglass paper
• Tim Holtz - Small talk sentiment
• Crafters companion - Beautiful borders die

I love going to the water, there is just something about it, just makes me happy :)

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

Connie

Card Fold

 We made this card in our Zoom meeting. I did not have a solid stamp that would work with this technique so April suggested that I cut a piece of foam with a die and use that as a stamp and it worked out pretty good.

I am not sure what the name of the fold is called. You cut a piece of card stock for the base at 11 x 4.25 inches. Score the 11" side at 2 1/4, 3 5/8, 7 3/8 and 8 3/4. The center piece measures 3.75 x 3.25 inches. Cut two for the sides at 1 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches. I inked around all my edges and then added white cardstock for the matting of each or those.

This is to give you an idea what the fold looks like from the side.

Sorry I don't have any of the products I used for these but what we did was emboss the center piece with white embossing powder using background stamp.  You ink your solid stamp on top of that. I added a bow to the top. For the side pieces you use the same ink but just stamp the background stamp directly on the strips.

Just a few days ago I made another but this time did it in red and golds, and used a music background stamp.

Then I decided to try cutting out a tree with one of my dies out of foam for stamping and used a crackle background.  I used some of my Christmas themed brads to decorate the tree on this one.

I managed to make 14 Christmas cards for the month of July so that caught me up what I was behind since my foot surgery, that sure feels good.  I have a couple more to share but I have to post a card I am working on for a challenge next time :)

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

Connie

Sketch

 My challenge for the group was to use a sketch for inspiration for their card, this was the sketch I gave them to go by.

And this is what I came up with using the sketch above.

• Darcie's - Garden Bird stamp set, stamped on pattern paper and all fussy cut
• Prima - Annalee Collection papers
• Making Memories - Autumn Splendor Ribbon
• ODBD - Mini tags dies
• Stickles
• Brad

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, Hope you are having a good start to your week.

Connie