Thinking of you

 I was in need of another sympathy and birthday card, trying to figure out what to use I remembered I have an envelope filled with pictures I had colored from my coloring calendar while I was recovering from my foot surgery last year, and I found these two pictures I thought would work.

Fussy cut the leaves out and stamped the background with text and sentiment and then went around the edges with some ink and a sponge dauber.

• Coloring for Calm calendar image - colored w/markers
• Hip Stamp Hooray - Background stamp
• Taylored Expressions - care & comfort sentiment stamp

• Coloring for Calm 2017 coloring calendar - colored w/pencils
• Spellbinders - A2 Distressed Edges die
• K&co. - card quotes sticker

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

Connie

Monkey Do

 I used the stickers before on another great nephews card, thought I would use them for my other great nephew, I still have enough left for another card, pretty good deal for this sticker set I found at the dollar store, the stickers have dimension too.

I used my stencil to make the clouds in the background, grass punch and stamped my sentiment.

• My Favorite thing - Cloud stencil
• JOT stickers - Monkey stickers
• Fiskars - grass punch
• Stampendous - Birthday Assortment sentiment

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know you have,

Connie

Sunflowers

 I needed both a sympathy card and birthday card and I went with more of the Power poppy digital stamps for them.  First coloring with pencils and the second with markers.

Birthday card to start off with. I printed the image off on paper that has texture in it, you will be able to see it more in the second picture.

• Power Poppy - Sunflower digital image, colored w/pencils
• Crate Paper - Party day paper
• Prima - 8 point doily die, cut from Dictionary page
• Tim Holtz - Metallic sticker book

Next sympathy card

• Power Poppy - Digital stamp, colored w/markers
• Nuvo Crystal drops - Pale gold

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

Connie

Scraps make 4

 I had been saving these strips of paper thinking they may work for a background for a card some day, then on my cardmaking group the sketch this month to try had you using different strips on your card. In the sketch they aren't supposed to be this long but I liked the look of them being longer.  The backgrounds all came from my collection of scraps that were just big enough for a background that I have in a basket.

This first card is going to my brother who just had hip surgery yesterday, I would appreciate any prayers for good healing for him.

• Studio G - Get well soon
• Taylored Expressions - Fine Feathers die (used scraps here too)

• Studio G - on my mind stamp, color w/markers
• EK Success - Flower punch
• Stickles - Broken China

• Studio G - little note stamp, color w/markers
• Buttons w/thread

• Studio G - Happy Birthday stamp, color w/markers
• Gemini - Birthday present die
• Sequins

I only have a few strips left in my little box but none of them matched well enough to make a card, some of these I feel I was stretching it to make them work.  But hey I have more cards in my box of  extras that hardly ever have any cards in them, so I will be ready if I am down to the last minute :)

I am sharing my first card I made for my brother to the Double D Challenge which is Monochromatic

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

Connie

Christmas houses

 In my cardmaking group their challenge for this month was to use buildings on your card.  I went through and found a die cut with a house and then on my first card I used a card topper with a house, I just added some stickles to the house for snow and found a die that had a similar style as the house picture. The paper and the sentiment came in the same pack I also added the snowflake borders.

• Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine (house image, paper and sentiment banner)
• Spellbinders - Labels 18 die
• Martha Stewart - Snow border punch
• Stickles - Diamond for snow on house

This card uses 3 dies you layer to make your scene.  I sponged the backgrounds with inks.

• Simply cards & papercraft magazine - Scenic Winter dies
• Spellbinders - A2 matting basics A die
• American crafts - Festive Merry Days sentiment banner

Now I am two cards ahead of what I wanted made so far :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Connie

Ink on Glossy

 We recently had another zoom meeting with our stamp group and April taught us this technique I believe she said she saw Gina K do which was to take a stamp, cover it with ink and then using little ink cubes just tap it in different areas to get a mix of colors on your stamp then stamp onto glossy cardstock. I did 4 of them and 3 turned out pretty good one went into the trash, I made this card that evening but still haven't had time to make the others into cards yet. She also had us score the front, and then glue it back to the front, put a piece of pattern paper on that strip and also another strip the same size onto the inside portion of the card.

• Inkadinkado - stamp 98181, stamped with Distress inks - Weathered wood, Milled Lavender and Chipped sapphire onto glossy cardstock
• Stampendous - Birthday assortment stamp
• Carta Bella - Alphabet Junction papers
• PPD - Wavy stitched rectangle die
• Embossing folder

I would like to share my card today with Can you handle the pressure 

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

Connie

Golden Christmas

 My stamping groups Christmas challenge this month is to use gold and or stencils on our cards.  I only used one stencil, I have only one themed Christmas stencil, I need to look through my everyday ones and see which would work for Christmas too.

I found these cute die cut stickers at Hobby Lobby, they have gold foil on them so they were perfect for this challenge. The gold glitter snowflakes and stars were given to me from a friend a few years back and I finally used them.

I am sharing today's card with Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge blog 

• Paper Studio - Stick a bilities die cut sticker
• Glitter stars and snowflakes from friend
• Lawn Fawn - Outside in Stitches Scalloped rectangles die

This second one has so much foil on it that my camera (which is red) shined through the foil, very distracting, so I took a side shot too, you can still see a bit of the camera and my hand in that one too.

Paper Studio - Stick a bilities die cut sticker

Echo Park - Christmas wonderland Stencil with gold ink

The next two stamp sets came from cardmaking magazines, this first one I tried a light gold embossing powder and it didn't really show up all that well. I added a little bit of stickles to ground the house and the tree, which are different stamps. The corners are all from the same stamp set also, I stamped those in black.

• Let's Make cards magazine - Stamp w/enchanted gold embossing powder, corner stamps with black ink
• Anna Griffin - Christmas cardstock
• Spellbinders - Floral Ovals die
• stickles - Antique linen to ground the house and tree

This last stamp of an angel also had a wand in it's hand, that didn't seem right to me so I swiped the ink off the wand part before heating my embossing powder, it still left a bit of a mark so that's where the sequins came in. The border embossing folder gave me some troubles when I tried to just add ink to the raised areas, even using a brayer didn't work so I just went with this one after doing a couple trying to get it right.  I used a darker gold embossing powder on this one and not sure I like this color much either.  I think it is time for some new embossing powders.

• Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - Angel and sentiment stamp - gold embossing powder, star embossing folder inked with gold, pattern paper for background
• Spellbinders - Labels 4 die

So far this year I have 25 cards made for Christmas :)

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

Connie

Spring Bird

 I just had to use my spring bird again, I have made quite a few of these using all kinds of paper scraps I had, this time using it with a wreath!

• Gemini - Wreath die, colored w/markers
• Impression Obsession - Spring bird die
• BasicGrey - Porcelain paper
• Martha Stewart - Embroidery border punch
• 49 and Market - Artoptions Avesta Laser cut element (sentiment strip)
• Forever in time - Button
• Floss

I would like to share my card today with a few challenges:

Colorful Options challenge - Pink

Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - pink

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Trains and planes

 Today's card is for a friend of my hubby's who likes all things history so this is what I came up with for him. The images and sentiments are from the same stamp set, I stamped them onto my pattern paper. Our stamp group is doing a challenge to use up our old paper pads, I think I was able to use up quite a few papers from this pack.

• Technique Tuesday - All Aboard stamps
• Cosmo Cricket - Fleuriste paper
• Spellbinders - Large Deckled Rectangles and Labels trio dies

Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend, we had a little bit of everything yesterday, sun, hot temps then rain and cooler temps.  Today looks like it will be a lot of the same.

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

Connie

Pink

 I know I shouldn't have but I bought more 49 and market goodies, I just love their stuff, so you know I had to use it for my friends birthday card :)  The little tab was made using the fabric washi tape, and I just put all the papers and ephemera together, such pretty things to create with.

• 49 and Market - Artoptions Avesta collections 6x8 papers, and laser cut elements, Fabric Washi tape, and Ephemera bits

I am sharing todays card with Sisterhood of Crafters Pink Challenge.

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

Connie

Comforted

 A guy from church and a lady in one of my card groups both lost their mothers just days apart, I decided to use my rose die for both their cards.  I googled the best color for sympathy and it said white, so I did them in shades of cream and white.

• Elizabeth Craft Designs - Rose die
• Basic Grey - Periphery paper
• Simon Says stamps - Tiny words faith stamp set

I just changed the way I positioned them on the second card.

Elizabeth Craft Designs - Rose die

• Basic Grey - Periphery paper
• The Greetery - Thinking of you sentiment stamp

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

Connie

Thinking of you

 My brother in law has had a rough time of it lately and ended up having to have surgery, and we wanted to let him know we were praying for him.  I decided to use another of the new birds I bought, this time framing him with a wood frame.

• Tim Holtz - Bird & Egg, colorize die
• Hero Arts - Wood Frame infinity die
• Cosmo Cricket - Fleuriste paper
• Spellbinders - Large Deckled Rectangle die
• My sentiments exactly - Thinking of you stamp

I am sharing today's card with Double D Challenge which is Birds ect.

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

Connie

Baby Boy

 Friends from church just had a baby boy.  Using an old stamp set that is my go to for baby cards :)

• Cornish Heritage Farms - Baby Dear, colored w/markers
• Echo Park - Find and Dandy paper
• Spellbinders - Labels 20, lacey ovals and inverted scalloped circles
• PPD - Stitched Banner die

Is anyone else having problems with Bloglovin?  I have not been able to get on and the email updates I get the links say sorry they are down.  Hoping I am not missing out on too many posts.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, especially to those Mother's celebrating Mothers day tomorrow!

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

Connie

Woodland Friends

 Needed another masculine card, and I remembered my Graphic 45 goodies I had bought last year and thought they needed more time to play, I ended up using even more than I had planned to, so many great tags and frames in this set. I couldn't quite find the paper I wanted to use with them until my scraps in this pack fell out onto the desk and said here you go :)

My stamped sentiment fit perfectly inside the banner :)

• Graphic 45 - Woodland Friends collection (die cuts, banners and tags)
• Crate Paper - DIY Shop paper
• Whimsy Stamps - Simple Sentiments
• Recollection - Brad
• Making Memories - Autumn Splendor Ribbon

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and letting me know you have,

Connie

Chickadee

 Can you tell I am on a bird kick :)  This time I added a flower with it.  I love this new layered bird die and I have also done a few that were not traditional chickadee colors, we will see if I end up using them. I cut him out with all white cardstock and then used markers to color the different layers. I tore the corner piece off and inked it to reveal some paper behind.

• Simon Says stamps - Layered Chickadee die, colored w/markers
• The Greetery - Wood slice die
• Inkssentials - Enamel accents black for eye
• Teresa Collins - Tell your story paper
• Elizabeth Craft designs - Happy Birthday die
• Gem to dot the i
• Flower given to me from friend and I colored it with markers

I am adding todays card to the Simon Says Challenge which is anything goes, 

and Sisterhood of crafters Challenge April showers bring may flowers.

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

Connie

Bird birthday

 Using some more of my bird stickers for another Masculine card.

• Anna Griffin - Avian Collection bird sticker
• 49 and Market - 6x8 Vintage Artistry Essentials Paper, Banner and leaves
• Hero Arts - It's your day sentiment stamp
• Ki - Metal Accents

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and hope you have a blessed Sunday,

Connie