Roses in Winter

 Who doesn't love roses for the birthday in the winter :) My girlfriend did :)

I used some decoupage sheets I bought, they call them 3D layers, the flowers look so real, so pretty, I couldn't pass them up. They have 3 layers to each flower.

• Hearty Crafts - Pastel Flowers Easy 3D toppers
• BasicGrey - Porcelain Papers
• Spellbinders - Lacey Ovals die
• Gina Marie Stamps - Birthday words sentiment stamp
• Memory Box - Stitched Rectangle Layers die
• Stampin up - Large Jewels

Hope you all our East are not too badly stormed in, my daughter always walks her dog every day and she said there was no way she was going out in that stuff so it must have been  pretty bad.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Winter drive

 Hi all, I finally went through all the pictures, it was hard to pick which ones to share but here they are.  We drove along the Mississippi, looking for Eagles, yes we saw a couple but they were too far away to get pictures.  Then the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers split and we drive the rest of the way along the Illinois river.  

Before heading up to the snow covered trees we went down to the docks at Pere Marquette and checked out the birds that hang out down there.  I have not looked up what kind of birds these are, we have to stay far away because they are all very nervous and fly away by any sudden noises or movement.

This first one was sitting on the dock, I was able to get a few pictures of him before he was scared by some people walking up and talking loud, then the poor thing tried to land and it is ice and he did a little dive.

This next one was even farther away, and he didn't stay around long either.

After they were gone we went up to the park, to take the drive up the mountain and they had a closed sign, we think it is because there are some very steep hills and it is windy with no guards, if you slip you are going down the mountain.  So we went out and started driving back when hubby remembered a back way to get into the park so we took the back roads and finally found the back entrance and that was not closed so we headed in and were not disappointed we found our snow covered trees :)

I just love the sun shining through the trees.

We were coming around a bend in the road and this is the first thing we saw, this snowman so happy to see us :)

The sun was starting to set so we thought we better make our way back down the hill, hubby stopped in the middle of the road so I took this picture out the front windshield.

We made it down to Grafton Illinois by the time the sun was glowing on the river so we stopped and got these pictures of the sunset.

I like how this last one shows the bit of ice that was along the shore, breaking up but still glistening in the sunset.

I hope you enjoyed our little drive we took, it was great to get out and drive along the river again!

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

Connie

Deer Christmas

 I bought three kits at the end of last year that were on sale at the Stamp store over in Missouri, I think they were all past year kits but they were new to me and who am I to pass up a sale :)

I only had to add a couple things to all the cards to make them complete. The papers with them came in the kit, it also has stickers so I added the deer to it and on this first one all I added to the card topper from my stash was gems to the tree.

• Echo Park paper co. - Christmas collection kit
• Pizzazz Aplenty - 3mm gems

To this one I added the pine branches and the flower to mimic those in the picture, I tried my best not to cover the sentiment they had on there.

• Echo Park paper co. - Christmas collection kit
• Impression Obsession - Pine Branch dies
• Tim Holtz - Large Funky Festive

The snowman was already on this piece, all I had to add was the sentiment from the sticker pack that came with it, a strip of leftover paper, ribbon and snowflake diecuts.

• Echo Park - Reflections Christmas, by Lori Whitlock
• Crafter's Companion - Frosty Christmas dies ( snowflakes )
• Ribbon

On this card the corners and the Santa were stickers from the pack, all I added were gems to this card topper.

• Echo Park - Reflections Christmas, by Lori Whitlock
• Darice - Red Gems

Well I was going to share my winter pictures with the Christmas cards when I finished them but I ended up having a lot that I wanted to share so I will share them tomorrow.  It is lightly snowing right now, so pretty!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Teen Boy

 Yes I was in need of a teen boy birthday card for my great nephew.  When I saw Memory Box Alphabet Challenge I thought that would be somewhere to start.  I have a couple of their alphabet die set but I settled on this one, thought it seemed good for a birthday card.  

I tried fitting Celebrate on here but it just didn't look right no matter how I did it so I went with Happy Day instead.  The set has backing circle dies with it so I added some lighter circles behind the letters so that the sentiment would pop better against the dark background colors.

• Memory Box - Contour Typewriter Keys dies
• Recollections - Awesome Boy papers
• Nuvo - Pale gold crystal drops

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

Connie

Birthday Bear

 I have a card to share with you using one of the cute die cuts I won off of Darlene and Diane's Double D Challenge blog, now I think they are up to seven challenge Blogs out there, Diane sent me this adorable Bear with sign and I love him.  This one went to my great nephew but I see using him for adult cards too.

I used my sponge daubers to apply the ink to my kraft card stock that I cut him out with.

Pattern paper for the sky and grass.

• Cottage Cutz - Bear & Sign die, sponged ink with dauber
• Frantic Stamper - Oregon Fir die, colored with inks
• PoppyStamps - Stitched Landscape die

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

Connie

Winter Trees

 My husband loved this first card I am sharing, he said you know that would be even good for a Valentines card for someone, that is how much he liked it, and no he won't be getting this for Valentines day, LOL! But the reason he probably liked it was when we were on vacation a few years ago he picked this die out and said he really liked it.  I cut it from white cardstock and added some Diamond dust for the snow.

The background was done by blending inks onto the white cardstock, I cut a circle and a torn strip from a scrap piece of paper and used removable tape so that it would hold down during the inking process for the moon and the snow covered ground.  I was going to add some white gel pen in the background but hubby said it didn't need it.

• Impression Obsession - Tree Row die
• Distress inks for background - Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Black soot
• Flora Craft - Diamond Dust (snow)

I would like to share this card in the following challenges:

Peace on Earth Challenge #8 bottom left corner for inspiration

Sisterhood of Crafters Color Blue challenge

Double D Challenge Blue and white

Colorful Options Blue challenge

I have one more card to share this one was a lot quicker but since I was on a tree theme I went with it.

• 49 and Market - Vintage Artistry Peace and Joy 12x12 papers and image
• StarForm - Merry Christmas sticker
• Sparkle confetti - 6mm

We went for a drive recently an hour north of us in the woods and got some lovely winter pictures of the snowy trees. Maybe I will share some soon.

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

Connie

Retro Rubber Challenge # 174

 I was asked by Retro Rubber Challenge Blog to be a guest designer on their blog this month.  It was a color challenge, all pastels.  If you know me that was a bit of a challenge as I do love earthy colors.  

I don't normally use bright colors for a sympathy card but I was in need of one and was going to use flowers on it so I went with using it for this challenge.  My stamp is from 2009 and I colored with my Spectrum Noir markers.  Hard to see but the lightest flowers are a light blue, and the others are yellows, I had to add a bit darker green so that I could tell the leaves from my flowers.

• Northwoods Rubber stamps - Mini Tulip in Clay Pot, 2009
• PPD - Stitched Mini Scallop Border die
• Taylored Expressions - Care & Comfort II stamp sentiment
• Liquid Pearls - Mint Green
• Paper from stash

It is fun to get out our old stamps and play with them, I hope you do and join in the challenge this month!

Thanks for stopping by,

Connie

Hoppy Birthday

 As you know most of my cards are Birthday cards, so when I saw Poppystamps Challenge to make a birthday card I had to do it.  The net person on my list was my great nephew and he is always full of energy so I thought the frogs would be a great choice for him, and you have to have them jumping out of something, so these are the greenery at the edge of the pond :)

I cut the frogs from a green background I had made by adding inks to my craft mat, spritzing with water and then smooshing my paper into it and drying between each dip of the paper. I cut the bottom leaf border twice once from solid green cardstock and then layered a pattern paper piece on top.

• Poppystamps - Pond Frogs and Freida Curve dies
• Ms. Sparkle & co. - Wood pad paper
• K&co. Card Quotables - Birthday & Celebrate vellum stickers

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

Connie

3D Shed

 I have a few of these Decoupage sheets, and I thought it was time to break one out.  They are mostly English scenes, but I thought this one is good for a masculine card. I liked the mini picture that I added with the sentiment tag but it was quite small so I cut out a circle die with some silver foiled paper I had to mat it on.

• DoCrafts - Anita Foiled Decoupage
• DCWV - Once upon a time paper
• Gemini - Torn Edge circles die
• Silver foil card stock

You can see the dimension better in this picture.

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

Connie

Out on a limb

 Ok I know this looks a bit Autumn like but this is one I made the end of November for an early December birthday and Autumn was still on my mind.  I added different colors to the stamp using a sponge dauber so that the leaves had different shades to them. Stamped and fussy cut the little Squirrel out and popped him up. I stamped the acorn at the bottom before I felt like it needed something extra so I punched out a border of grass.

• Darcies - JCS0158- out on a limb stamp set
• Fiskars - Grass punch

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, hope all those effected by these cold temperatures are able to stay warm, especially thinking of those that work outside in these temperatures.

Connie 

Floral Fancy

 I needed a birthday card and a thinking of you card at the same time, while finding the little kitty image for my great niece I also saw the watering can with the flowers and thought this set would work for both cards.  This kit came in a card making magazine, they have paper backgrounds and thick cardboard like flowers that you add to the piece to give it dimension, like decoupage.

• Crafts Beautiful magazine - Floral Fancy Card kit - with chipboard pieces

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

Connie

Monochrome

 One of the ladies in my card group, had just finished her last chemo treatment and a couple days later fell  and broke her hip, it just made me so sad to hear all that she has been going through.

• Stampin up - Heartfelt Blooms
• Spellbinders - Labels 8 die
• Basic Grey - Periphery paper
• Stampin up - enamel shapes (heart)

I am sharing this with The Flower Challenge blog #64 Monochrome Challenge.

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

Connie

Spool Photo holders

 When I first started my blog I planned on sharing all kinds of crafts that I enjoy doing, but as time went on I mainly share my cards because there always seems to be some cards to make for a birthday, get well and here of lately sympathy, so I don't get much chance to do the other crafts I enjoy, but I made these for a friend so I am able to share something other than a card, although I used many of my cardmaking goodies on them.

I have seen these also called place setting card holders, but my attention was for my friend to be able to display pictures of her family in them.  Didn't want to give them without something in the holders so I added cards to each of them so she could display until she found pictures she wanted to put in them.

I will share what is in common I used on these all and then under each picture the things I used on each individual one.

• Woodpile - Spools 1 1/2 x 2 1/8 "
• Tim Holtz - Memo pins
• Memory Box - Stitched Circle Layer
• Authentique - Cherish collection papers
• Cheery Lynn Designs - Alison's ribbons dies
• Making Memories - Buttons
• Tim Holtz - Tiny Tattered florals dies

• Stamps of Life - Praise4Him stamp
• Lawn Fawn - Fancy Scalloped Rectangle die

• Mama Elephant - Blessed Stamp set
• Spellbinders - Resplendent Rectangle die

This one I have colored the flower

• Inkadinkado - Garden Greetings stamp
• PPD - Stitch Curvy Coved die

Here is a picture of what they looked like from the top.

These were fun to do and now I need to make a set for myself :)

I would like to share my project with the Dies R Us Challenge 184 which is anything goes using at least one die from their Store.  

Memory Box  Cheery Lynn Designs Sizzix-Tim Holtz Lawn Fawn 

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

Connie

Basket of Sunflowers

 Can you believe I have a few cards that I made back in the Fall, with the Christmas card rush at the end and other posts I still have a couple left to share.

This one I went to my sticker collection once again. I had purchased these from the Dollar store years ago and have been kind of hoarding them, well it was time to get them out and use them.

• Miss Elizabeth - Sun Flower Stickers
• K&co. - K-ology Paper
• DCWV - Corrugated Cardstock
• Spellbinders - Classic Ovals and Big Scallop Ovals dies
• ODBD - mini tag sentiment stamp and die
• Jute
• Pearl drops - Copper

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

Connie