Sparkle Hello

 When I was going through my sticker drawer for a past project I pulled out these stickers (plants, button and tag) I thought they would all work together very well and I knew just the paper to use with them too, I had to use it in a future card and this is what I came up with.

 I used  a sketch for the layout of my card but never wrote it down who it was from.

• DCWV - Linen closet paper
• Heidi Grace designs - Cardstock stickers (Button and tag)
• JOT - Stickers (plants) from Dollar tree
• Hot off the press - 130 tiny words and phrases sticker sentiment
• Jute on button
• Brad

Here in the close up you can see that the background paper has a touch of shine and glitter to it.

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

Connie

Autumn Bird

 I found this set of seasonal birds at the yard sale my scrapbook store use to host and I always forget to use them during each season. But in our Cardmaking group they are starting monthly sketches for us to do and this month used a small image, so I went looking through my stamps and came across this one and was so excited that it fit perfectly with the sketch she provided for us.

There was a strip going down the side with the image in the middle of it, I added my own sentiment to it.

• Stampin up - Seasonal birds stamp set, colored w/markers
• PPD - Mini stitched square die
• Spellbinders - Lacy Squares die
• Fiskars - Border punch
• Ms. Sparkle & co. - Thankful paper

So excited to be starting Fall cards :)

Hope your week is going well so far,

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

Connie

Flower wreath

 In my stamp group we had a two part challenge to use pattern paper which I have already shared and the other was to use backgrounds we have made and never used.  Well I was going through those backgrounds and I came across this watercolor paper that I had attempted to make my own flowers, I saw a girl on a video that would just make her flowers by adding a few dots and then she would pull them out into flowers, she made it look so easy I had to give it a try, well after trying I thought well those didn't come out very good and I through it in with my backgrounds and went on.  Well now I am glad that I decided to throw it in there and not the trash because when I saw it this time I thought I wonder if I could make a wreath out of that.

So I got a lot of little stamps from my last advent calendar from Gemini (Crafters Companion) and so I went in there found a small leaf I was hoping that would fit between the flowers I had tried making, and sure enough it did, I added a few gold dots in the center of the flowers so that hopefully they would look more like poinsettias that way :)  When putting the leaf away I spotted the little bird and thought he would fit perfectly inside the wreath.  I actually love the way it all turned out, just goes to show how we shouldn't throw away what we think were mistakes.

I stamped the bird in red and just added a little water to it to give him some color and added a little yellow for his beak.  A few stickles for berries and my wreath was done.  Inking around the edges of everything.

• Hand painted flowers
• Gemini Advent calendar stamps 2020 - Bird and leaves
• Gemini- Torn Edges Circle die
• Fancy Pants - Saint Nick paper
• Liquid pearls - Lemon Yellow (flower centers)
• Stickles - xmas red
• Simon Says stamps - Tiny words Christmas sentiment stamp

One more and I am done for the month of September :)  I just loved this image on my calendar, normally I make envelopes with my old Calendars but I just loved this snowman with the little bird peeking down so I cut them out and added a few scraps of paper to the ends and mounted it onto a slimline card base.

Too cute not to use...right :)

It sure doesn't feel like Christmas around here, I guess the record high for this time of year is 92 and we are supposed to get to 90 today, don't like getting near those records. Fall may return this next weekend, I look forward to it.

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

Connie

Connie

Sixteen

 Yep another Great Nephew has turned 16.  I found this paper that had a map, thought that would go well with the car theme.  Asked his mom what was his favorite color, I was going to do the car out of that color but she wasn't sure so she told me his school colors, so I went with that. I did a little inking around the background and the 16 tag.

• Frantic Stamper - Convertible Roadster die
• Carta Bella - Metropolitan Girl paper
• DCWV - Metallic cardstock
• PPD - Stitched Postage Stamp rectangle dies
• Martha Stewart - Sanserif font numbers stamp
• ki - Bronze metal accents

Since I am on a vehicle theme, I thought I would also share some pictures I took when we were on our way to a park a few weeks ago, I was driving and hubby said oh cool look at those, I just got a little glimpse since I was driving, he said we should turn around so I turned around and thankfully they lived on a corner with a parking lot across the street so I parked there and we took some pictures of these old vehicles and the fun way he arranged them in his side yard.

This one with the skeleton hanging off the back of the motorcycle was something else, the motorcycle was on a big pole.  

  I loved the water fountain feature they put in this one.

Lately we have been taking the back roads to get to the parks and such we try to visit and this was in one of those small towns we have to pass through, just goes to show the things you miss out in when you take the highways to where you are going :)

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

Connie

Worn Wallpaper

 When I was at JoAnns recently they were having a sale on Tim Holtz products and I saw these worn wallpaper papers and florals package and I just had to pick them up.  I used the wallpaper behind the lattice die and one of the florals on top.

I added a few gems to center of the roses and to the sentiment tag. The floral was lost against the background so I added another die cut to place it on so it showed up better.

• Tim Holtz - Worn wallpaper scraps, paper and floral image
• Spellbinders - Fancy Lattice and Floral Ovals dies
• PPD  - A2 Stitched banner set die
• Fiskars - Essential sayings sentiment stamp
• Paper Studio- Gems

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

Connie

Using Scraps

 I know it is the first day of Autumn but I have finished my Christmas cards for this month and the challenge in my group was to use pattern paper, well lets just say I have plenty.  How many of you save those half inch pieces off of your 6x6 paper packs when you are making your A2 size cards, come on admit it, LOL!  Well this was a good time to get rid of them.

I just cut out my trees from a white background, flipped the card over and started gluing the pieces to the backside. I even found a small brown piece to use as the trunk of the tree.  I popped out my glitter and gave the tree a gold star.

• Recollections - Tree die

• Spellbinders - Holiday Sentiment die w/ Paper Studio Glitter paper
• Cardmaking and Papercraft - Frosty Christmas star die w/gold glitter

Recollections - Tree die

Hero Arts - Merry Christmas message stamp sentiment

Cardmaking and Papercraft - Frosty Christmas star die w/gold glitter

• Recollections - snowflake die
• Simon Says stamps - Tiny words Christmas sentiment stamp
• Cardmaking and Papercraft - Frosty Christmas, mini snowflake dies

• Recollections - Snowflake die
• Hero Arts - Merry Christmas message sentiment stamp
• Crafters Square - Pop up stickers

Today we woke up to 55 degrees so it has quite the chill in the air, so it is starting to feel like Autumn is coming and Christmas will be here before we know it.

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

Connie

By the water

 As you know for the past few years I have been buying those daily coloring calendars Like this one . Well last year I couldn't find any so hubby suggested I get a Bob Ross daily calendar so I did, not every day is a picture there are days that they have quotes he has said too.  Today I am sharing a masculine card I did, it went together quite quickly, cut out the image, mat it and used some papers my sister gave me, the leaves are gold but they don't show up well in the pictures.  Now every stream should have a deer getting a drink so I broke out my deer die to add to the image.

• Bob Ross 2021 daily calendar image
• Impression Obsession - small deer die
• Hot off the press - Metallic Gold paper
• DCWV - Tattered time paper for the matting

All the scenes are just wonderful for masculine cards :)

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

Connie

New Homes

 Two recent moves. First up my daughter.  I will not get into it all but she is in the process of getting a divorce.  I never want to see that happen to anyone but with the circumstances it is the best thing.  As we were talking and we were saying how she needs to focus on the good, she mentioned that he was keeping their cat and she was taking the dog.  Their cat use to eat any plants so they just didn't have any so they didn't have to worry about it.  Now she said she will be getting plants.  So I decided to make a card with a lot of plants so she can display it until she gets her own. I inked the Asters and the front plant die is a tree topper but thought if I just did some sponge inking I could make it look like a plant.

• The Greetery - Shiplap builder and Market basket dies
• Spellbinders - Ferns and Aster and poppies dies
• ODBD - Mini tag sentiments
• Dee's Distintively - Tree toppers die (front plant)

Next up was for my sister who has moved to a new home.  I used one of my coloring calendar images of a house, added a die cut tree and leaves. Stamped sentiment on the door.

• Coloring for Calm calendar 2017- house image, colored w/markers
• Impression Obsession - Bare Tree die
• Memory Box - Grove leaves
• ODBD - Mini tag sentiment stamp

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

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

Connie

Leaves

 Hi all today I am sharing a card I made for the Leaves challenge over at Double D Challenge blog .

They have an inspiration board for you to get inspiration for your card and I went with the upper left panel.

I had this background in my stash that I didn't end up using on another card, I stamped the background with versamark ink and then add some  pearl ex to it.  The leaves were done using Mega flakes onto leaf dies.

• Northwoods Rubber stamp, stamped with Versamark ink and then added Pearl Ex
• Spellbinders - Fall Foliage dies adding Mega Flakes of Autumn Blaze to them
• Tim Holtz - Metallic Sticker book sentiment

Oh I love this time of year, can't wait to see the pretty fall leaves on the trees :) There is one tree done the road that is starting to change.

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

Connie

Zoom meeting

 I have totally forgot to post the cards we made in our zoom meeting last month, hopefully I can remember what we did.

First we used stencil on glossy paper using different distress inks, and then a background stamp using a permanent ink,  we were to already have an image colored and cut and I chose the rose. We had all the pieces cut ahead of time too.

We took our card base, and cut both front sides 1 1/4 inches from either end. that left a flap in the middle that we applied our stencil piece we made. Took a piece of acetate to bridge across the two end flaps with the middle flap behind. Add the stamp piece on the outside edge so that your sentiment that you put on the inside shows through.

  A few more pictures so you can get the idea of how it all comes together just incase my written instructions don't make sense :)

The inside, I didn't have a message stamped. I don't have many that will work on the inside and I like to hand write my messages.

In this last picture you can see how the acetate is applied across the front.

• Hero Arts - Hero Floral Magnolia stamp, colored w/ markers
• Hero arts - Floral Background stencil w/distress inks onto glossy paper
• Stampin up - Leaves Background stamp
• Raspberry Road designs - Luxury paper collection

A few days later when I was trying to think what I was going to do for another card, I saw the other stenciled pieces I had worked on in the class and decided to make another card.

This time I used a butterfly for my main image that I water colored.

• Hero Arts - Nature Patterns Stencil 2
• Wow - Cracked Leather Stamp background
• Paper Pizazz - Butterfly die cut, cut from watercolor paper and colored w/distress inks
• Raspberry Road design - Luxury paper collection
• Gina Marie - Birthday words sentiment stamp

Another fun fold to try :)

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

Connie

Cute and Simple

 Well at least it started out simple, I was using a sticker image of a boy fishing for my great nephews card. I decided it would look better instead of just placing him on a white background to do a little inking of the background. Then I went looking for a little fish stamp I knew I had to make a border, and do you think I could find it, NO!!  So I decided to draw some fishes across the strip, color them with markers. Cut the strip with scissors to give the feel of water. Then I thought it needed something off to the side and went with this dragonfly, I stamped it first onto the pattern paper so I could have the flight trail behind him and then stamped again and colored it and fussy cut it out and glued on top of the one I stamped directly on the pattern paper. I added some sparkle to the wings and the trail. Fussy cut the stamp sentiment too.

• Dimple Street Gang - Summer boys sticker, onto inked panel
• Spellbinders - Lg. Deckled Rectangle die
• Crate Paper - DIY shop paper
• Hand drawn and colored border of fishes
• Decorative Scallop scissors
• Katie & co. - Dragonfly stamp, fussy cut and colored w/markers
• Spectrum Clear sparkle pen on wings and flight trail
• Bo Bunny - Sentiment stamp, fussy cut

I am sharing my card today with the Sisterhood of Crafters blog challenge Cute and Simple.

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

Connie

Get well

 My Hubby's niece fell recently and broke two of her fingers, I had to send her a card and joke that at least the last time I fell I didn't break anything.

I knew I had just the right stamp for her and the circle of get well wishes was the first time I had used that stamp and this bird stamp fit inside perfectly.

• Art gone wild - Get well 3d simple circles, colored w/pencils
• Great Impressions - F446, colored w/pencils
• My mind's eye - The Sweetest thing paper
• Gemini - Torn edge circle die
• Hot off the press - Thin line stickers
• Liquid Pearls - Chestnut

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by, 

Connie

Sharing

 I have made some great on line friends over the years, which I am thankful for. We encourage one another and bring happiness to each others days. I have met ladies through card making groups and those of you who regular come to my blog and I go to yours.

Today I am sharing one of you who I find has such courage, caring, makes me laugh and wows me with her beautiful photography, I first fell in love with her bird pictures, oh my she does such a wonderful job catching them in all kinds of poses, and just shows us the beauty that God has blessed us with to enjoy everyday.  She has also shown in times of bad health that she keeps up her positive thinking, and doesn't let life's woes to bring her down, she keeps fighting and finds positive in every day.

So today I am going to share some pictures with you that I took when we went home to Michigan in July, I am sure I have probably shared some just like it before, it is a couple of places hubby enjoys going back to, then I will share a card she made for me, yes she has many talents too that she shares :)

First we stopped the for the night in Saugatuck and watched the sunset.

The next morning we drove to Grand Haven to walk out to the Lighthouse there.

Here is the card she gave me from the batch she made with her card kit, it was so exciting to get one of her first cards she made with a kit.  

If you would like to check out Debbie's blog HERE IS THE LINK .

Thanks to all of you for sharing your blogs and lives with me and for all the encouragement you give me.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Connie