Wooden tag

 One of my stamping friends sent me some wooden tags that had already been inked a bit to me a few years back, when I came upon them the other day I decided to challenge myself to use it for our Sunday school teacher. I added a bit darker ink to the bottom half and instead of stamping on the wood I decided to see if I had any rubons I thought would work and I found some that another friend gave me even more years ago.  I came across the corner rub ons too so I used them as  well. When tying on the sentiment tag with the ribbon I tacked it in place so that it wouldn't fall and cover up the bird.

• 49 and Market - 6x8 Vintage Artistry Essential paper pack, Vintage Artistry Foliage plastic die cuts
• Wood disk, inked
• Scrapworks - Vinyl Appliques (bird)
• Melissa Frances - Rubon corners
• Stamps of life - Minis 4 circles
• ODBD - tag die
• Ribbon

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

Connie

In the woods

 I think by the time I am done with this paper pack every guy in my family will have had a card from this pack, it is a go to for a great masculine card and I have the stamps to go with them so I can add things to the scene like the trees and the squirrel :)

• Heartfelt Creations - Woodsy wonderland paper pad and Woodsy Critters and Woodsy Treescape  stamps and dies for trees and squirrel, colored w/markers

As you can see I popped up the trees and squirrel to give a little more dimension to the scene!

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

Connie

Christmas Music

 Today I am combining a couple music papers with cardinals and flowers and then I have a last card using a background I had made recently.

First I made this card using a cardinal stamp, cut it out with this die and thought it looked a bit bare so I added a few more branches to it. I did a bit of inking around the edges too.

• Diamond Press - Happy Holidays stamp set colored w/markers
• Crate Paper - DIY shop paper
• PPD - Distressed Edges Rectangle die
• PoppyStamps - Leafy Sprig die

Next I had the strip of Music paper left over on my table and there were all kinds of scraps that had fallen out of this paper pack and I decided to make a card using all the scraps and it ended up being my favorite of all of them.

• Poppystamps - Blooming Poinsettia die
• Crate Paper - DIY shop papers
• EK success - flower punch
• Stickles - Scattered Straw
• ODBD - Mini tag sentiment  stamp
• Martha Stewart - tag punch

I am sharing this card with the Peace on Earth Christmas challenge 

If you remember THIS POST where our group made backgrounds using stencils and stamps, I had another background I hadn't used yet, and Em suggested in the comments I use a white flower against it, I thought that was a great idea but when I was doing my Christmas cards for the month I looked over and thought that looks like a Christmas background, so I used this white border with it.  You know me I couldn't leave it at just that I found a sentiment I liked and then thought it still needed more so I brought out another bird to add to it.

• Background made with Hero Arts - Graphic Patterns 2 stencil with Rubberstamp Tapestry - Butterfly Blooms stamp through the openings, then around stencil with black pen
• Distress inks - Worn lipstick, candied apple and cracked Pistachio
• Gemini - Christmas Noel die
• Hobby Lobby - Country tags chipboard
• Tim Holtz - Feathered Friends die

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and hang with me through a long post.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Connie

Awesome Birthday

 In my stamp group on our challenge week we all host a challenge and then at the end all who participate names go into a bowl and we randomly draw a name and send some goodies to that person.  One of my goodies in the latest challenge was this flower, I couldn't quite figure out how to put it together for dimension so I just layered the two on top of each other and giving the top one a little dimension and added some pearls.

I looked and the challenge over at The Flower Challenge blog was to add a heart.  That is when I remembered these two hearts that Esther had gifted me a few years back and I brought it out and thought it went nicely with my flower.  I added a rub on butterfly and a sentiment and I was done.

• Momenta - 3D Flower Lot 6747 die
• Hearts gifted to me and layered
• Kaisercraft - pearls
• Simon Says - Tiny words Birthday
• 49 and Market - 6x8 Vintage artistry Essential paper

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Connie

Christmas Critters

 My cardmaking group has a challenge of using animals on our Christmas cards, I have these images that came from a cardmaking magazine and they are too cute I just had to get them out for this challenge.  I colored them with pencils this time. I cut the globe that also came with the stamps 3 times to give it some more dimension.

• Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - Margaret Sherry, Christmas cuties, colored w/pencils and die cut globe
• Bo Bunny - Father Christmas paper
• Impression Obsession - 6 in 1 Rectangle Frames die
• Stickles - Diamond (snow)
• 

I am sharing this card with Peace on Earth Christmas challenge their mood board has a lot of silver and gold, mine is only on the heart and star in the globe.

There are 4 animal stamps in this set I only used two, this is the second card I made.  The die I cut for the framing I had problem with it ripping as I took it out of the die, I keep forgetting to use wax paper when cutting this one. I ended up cutting away the part that tore.

• Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - Margaret Sherry, Christmas cuties, colored w/pencils
• My Mind's eye - O Christmas tree paper
• Spellbinders - Marvelous Squares die
• PPD - Mini Stitched Square die
• Nuvo Crystal glaze on berries

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, we are warming up today here, not much sun but will be nice to be a bit warmer :)

Connie

Joy in Ordinary

 Can you believe I made a card just because!!!  I had bought the bird die and the background die and I wanted to use them so I didn't have anyone in mind I just made a card, since I have had it done for a little while I know now who it will be going to :)  Cards don't hang around this house for long, LOL!

He took a little bit of work figuring out how he went together and I need a little more practice on what colors to use for each of the layers that I have to put together but for my first one I didn't think it was too bad.  For a nest I just used some of that very thin paper they use in packaging the boxes and cut random size strips.

• Tim Holtz - Simple Plaid die, Bird & Egg colorize die and Small Talk for sentiment
• Spellbinders - Mosaic Vine die
• Inked background
• Shredded paper for a nest

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

Connie

He is Risen

 He is Risen INDEED!!

I am sharing todays card with Can you handle the pressure blog where the twist  Easter, I have embossed this frame and then sanded it, I wanted it to be clean and simple but then I noticed I had sanded a hole in the cardstock when sanding, so gems to the rescue to cover up, I only had one hole but one gem looked kind of funny. The image is from a full sheet of images, I lightly colored the cross with a gray marker.

• Stampin up - Framed Tulips embossing folder, sanded
• Photoplay paper - Colorplay Easter, colored w/marker
• Paper Studio Gems

I have a second card to share again using the same sheet of images, this one made me think of a Church window.

Photoplay paper - Colorplay Easter, colored w/markers

DCWV - Linen closet paper, torn and inked

Impression Obsession - Sentiments II stamp

Prima flowers, layered and brad centers

May you all have a blessed Easter as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior!!

Connie

Deerly

 I am playing along today with the Inky Paws Challenge which is a sketch.  I have not had a chance to use these adorable fawns yet so I thought it was time to use them with this sketch.  I have also used their music stencil. I stamped the two types of leaves that are in the set to frame him, the ones at the bottom have been stamped and then fussy cut, adding stickles across the top leaves.

• Newtons Nook designs - Deer Friends, colored w/markers and Music stencil using inks
• Gemini - Torn edges circle die
• Memory Box - Stitched Rectangle layers die
• Spellbinders - A2 Distressed Edges die (for sentiment)

 

There are more adorable deer in this set, so you will be seeing more :)

Here is the sketch to use in this challenge.

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

Connie

Anniversary

 My Brother and his wife recently celebrated their 50th Anniversary and their wedding colors were yellow and green, so I tried to tie that in with their card.  After cutting out the flowers I did a little scoring of them to give them some dimension and didn't like how that looked so I took a fine line sharpie in yellow and went over them.

• Simon Says stamps - Freestyle Flowers stencil w/Distress ink - Cracked Pistachio
• Elizabeth crafts Designs - Bundle of flowers 4 dies, doodling on them
• Spellbinders - Exquisite Labels 11
• Taylored Expressions - Whimsy #s die w/Tim Holtz gold metallic cardstock
• Queen & Co. Yellow sunshine gems
• Crafters Square - Metallic stickers
• David Tutera - Celebrate sentiment

I am sharing my card today with Colorful Options blog which is using Yellow.

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

Connie

Double Z fold

 Last of the challenges, my first card is a Double z fold, one of the examples showed using a fence die on the 2nd strip fold and I loved that idea so I went looking through my stamps that would be a nice garden scene and found this one.

• Inkadinkado - For the birds stamp set, colored w/markers
• Spellbinders - Classic Ovals die
• Poppystamps - Picket fence die
• Raspberry Road designs - Love Lives Here paper
• Queen & co. - Yellow Sunshine gems
• Fiskars - Essential sayings stamp
• Pink & Main - Sentiment strip die

How it looks on the inside, I have not written my inside sentiment yet. I realized I probably should have took a picture of the card fully open, but the fence folds out straight when open

The next card we were to use at least 2 items from around the home.  We had a list to pick from and I chose napkin and book page.  I tried to ink the book page to look dirty so it could be the ground the bike is riding on, I mounted the napkin onto cardstock with some glue and then when dry cut around the tires portion of the napkin.

• Napkin
• Book page has been inked with brown
• Tim Holtz - Clippings sticker book sentiment

Hope you enjoyed you weekend and the week ahead is a good one, we started off our morning with some thunderstorms that our cats didn't appreciate but right now we are in a calm of the storm before we get more rain.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know!

Connie

Stencils with Stamping

 The next challenge in our group is to use a stencil and stamp inside the open areas of the stencil with small bold stamps, before lifting the stencil take a thin marker and go around the inside of the stencil pattern to frame your stamping, you wouldn't believe the difference after you do the inking around them.

Then we were to make it into a card, well I was able to get two cards out of one of the patterns.

• Folkart - Lovely Floral stencil
• Rubberstamp tapestry- Butterfly blooms stamps
• Distress Oxides - Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap
• Tim Holtz - Crochet die and Botanical layers TH93554 (butterfly)
• Sassafras - Mix and Mend paper
• Fiskars - Essential sayings sentiment stamp

The second card was done in much the same way just different embellishments

Folkart - Lovely Floral stencil

• Rubberstamp tapestry- Butterfly blooms stamps
• Distress Oxides - Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap
• Crafters Companion - Beautiful borders die
• Stamps of life - Stand up 4 sentiments stamp
• Sassafras - Mix and mend paper
• Martha Stewart - Butterfly punch
• pearls

Here are the panels I did before I cut the one up for cards, not really sure how to use the other panel I made.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and hope you enjoy your weekend, the sun is back out for us a couple days so I am going to enjoy it!

Connie

Frame

 In our next challenge we were to make a spring or Easter card using a frame stamp.  I had to do some digging but I found one, I think I bought this set probably over 5 years ago, it was on sale for $2 and I thought surely I can use something from this set for that much, wellll it took this challenge for me to finally break it out and use it.  

I used the flowers and border stamps that come in this set also.  The background was one I made in our last zoom meeting.  I did this lift with some thin paper so it buckled a little bit as you will see better in the close up picture.

• Martha Stewart - Heart & Flowers stamp set
• RS Tapestry pegstamps - Trellis leaf vine
• Background was done on my gelli plate
• Hero Arts - All occasion messages sentiment stamp

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

Connie

Vellum

 The next challenge I tried in the group was to use vellum.  You scribble markers onto vellum and mostly cover the whole piece, then you take Rubbing Alcohol, preferably 90% or higher, and apply with a hard bristle brush dabbing over top of the markers, it blends and gives this great background, Made another piece to emboss with gold embossing powder this rose stamp and butterfly.  Using the same gold for the sentiment.  After I fussy cut out I colored the leaves in, I was suppose to do that on the backside before applying it with glue to a piece of white cardstock so the colors would show up but I had forgot to do that step, I think it still turned out ok, you just have to be careful with the embossing because the markers and the embossing don't do well together you could ruin your marker but I had an old marker I could use thankfully.

The background piece was put through an embossing folder and then inked before applying to the background.  

Here is a link to the video showing the process.

• Spectrum noir alcohol markers - CR4, CR6 and CR8
• Sizzix - Embossing folder, sorry no name has been inked after embossing
• Spellbinders - Candlewick Rectangle die
• Hot off the press - Watercolor roses stamp set
• Altenew - Antique gold embossing powder

I am sharing my card today with the Fourseasons challenge blog which is spring, I think these colors remind me of all the blooming trees right now!

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

Connie

Twofer and Spotlight challenge

 Our stamp group is having a week of challenges and I posted two challenges for us to try out.  

The first was to make a background using Alcohol inks, then die cut a piece out of them and you have both the positive and negative to use on two separate cards.

HERE is a link of the technique if you would like to try it

• Alcohol Pearl inks - Villainous and Envy
• Memory Box - Dogwood Blossom die
• PPD - Wavy Stitched Rectangle die
• Stampendous - Sincere Sentiments

Alcohol Pearl inks - Villainous and Envy

• Memory Box - Dogwood Blossom die
• Hot off the press - 130 tiny words & phrases sentiment sticker

The second challenge was to make a mask with a die and sponge ink in the center, then emboss the paper and add another ink on the raised areas, sand the raised bits a little bit and then make a frame using the die you used for the spotlighting, along with the next size up die to make a frame for it.

Here is the link if you want to give it a try yourself.

• Anna Griffin - Wildflower Gate embossing folder
• Spellbinders - Large Deckled Rectangles die
• K&co. - Birthday & Celebrate Vellum stickers sentiment

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

Connie

Collage

 I am not really sure what to call this really. On my Pinterest feed these little works of art with different pieces and layering have been coming up lately and I think they are pretty but wasn't sure how I would use them, they never show them on a card.  But I thought I need to just play not having any reason for it just have fun creating something.  Well when I got the piece done I thought that would look pretty as a focal on a card, so I decided to only use pieces from my scrap pile to make the rest of the card.

• Cardboard cut with Spellbinders - Labels 25 die
• Flower pot off of a calendar
• PPD - Mini Stitched Square die, sewn button on top
• Crackle heat embossed background
• Tim Holtz - Snippets ephemera pack (butterfly)and Small talk sentiment sticker
• Cheese Cloth

In the close up you can see the strip of heat embossed piece that I inked around the edges

I like how just playing around and enjoying myself resulted in a pretty card for my friend.

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

Have a great weekend,

Connie