Tin Baskets

 I saw tin baskets on Pinterest and just thought oh that would be cute to make, I did one a year ago for spring but forgot to take a picture of it and it is now packed away with the spring decorations.  These are the other project I did with napkins I was given shown HERE

I took tin cans, you have to find the ones with straight bottoms like the tops, a lot of cans now have rounded bottoms because you need to remove both ends.  Crush the bottom half of the can so that it is flat and your top is kind of an oval/round shape.  I painted these with acrylic paints. After I let them dry over night I decoupaged the napkins on top.  The leaf one has had many pieces cut out and layered together to make it full. I took a small paint brush that had been dampened with water and went around the image I wanted, then I gently pulled away at the area I had dampened and it left a nice feather torn look, let that dry and then decoupaged on top of the can.  Some I added ribbon to them.  

This first one I took the Wire from a notebook that I had used up, added some buttons to the loops of the wire and put it through the holes I made with my Crop a dile. Cut some florist foam to put inside the can and added my flowers, some bought from Michaels and some from the dollar store. This was painted with a light green paint.

Here is a pick of how I did the hanger on this one. As you cand see I also didn't fill it full of flowers, when it is hanging it looks full though. This kind of hanger works well when you are hanging from a peg like in the picture, but I found another hanger that works better if you want to hang it from a nail.

This second one I was trying to figure out where I wanted to hang it and I had a spot on my shelf that I thought it would look nice and it just so happens the tin stood up with no problem so on the shelf it went.

The way I did the hanger on the next two was to once again cut two holes with the crop a dile but then made little loop and took my needle nose pliers to add curls on the ends so it would go through the hole. Sorry my picture is a little blurry. The color in this close up is the color I painted it with an off white, the picture above shows it yellow.

This last one is a napkin I found at the grocery store and I thought they were cute so I picked them up.

I ended up cutting the top of the flowers off but it was the best picture I took of the napkin, this is hanging from a nail in the wall.

I have this one in a hallway that is very dark until later in the evening when the sun is going down but I didn't want to wait another day to post, so it is again looking yellow but the paint is an off white/Cream color.

So there you go, you could make these for every season which is what I am thinking of doing.

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

Connie

Background 2

 I used the last background I had to make another birthday card I needed, this time I used some stickers and ephemera to finish off the card. The butterfly was vellum with gold embossing, I took a marker and colored the back of the vellum so it would stand out a little more.

• Miss Elizabeth - Sunflower stickers
• American Crafts - Art Journaling ephemera ( Tag & Butterfly)
• Simon Says - Birthday sentiment 
• Spool o Ribbon

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

Connie

Fall background

 You might remember This Post I did last month on a new background technique I did, and I had mentioned I had a few more backgrounds I made that I could use on other cards and this is one of those that I used.

• Used Background technique found HERE
• 49 and Market - In the leaves, ephemera bits (frame, butterfly, leaves and sentiment)

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts on my getting better from this cold, I do actually feel a little better, I think I am coming around.  Hope you all have a great weekend, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Woodsy

 I still have the guys in my life that have not received a card from me using this Paper, stamp and dies sets, so I keep turning to it when I can't think of something else to do for them.

• Heartfelt creations - Woodsy Wonderland 12x12 paper, Woodsy Treescape stamp and die, Woodsy Critters stamp and die

I popped up the tree and the little fox that I stamped and colored w/markers.

I was going to share the other projects I did with the napkins today but I have caught a cold and feel miserable so that will have to wait, thankfully I have a few cards that I have done that I have not posted yet.

Hope you all are staying well, Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Napkin Cards

 One of the Ladies in my card making group sent some of us ladies a package of napkins and said she wanted to see what we would come up with them.

I am working on other projects for the other ones but I made cards with a these ones.  I chose to add pattern papers and colored papers behind the napkins, I used decoupage glue on the pattern paper and then laid the napkins on top, after they were dry I cut them into card base sizes and glued them to my card base.  I think using the patterns and colors behind give them a different look.

This first I used some stripped pattern paper, you can see the stripes peeking out.

• Napkin decoupaged onto stripped pattern paper
• Tim Holtz - Funky Foliage dies
• Martha Stewart - Tag punch
• Stamps of Life - minis4circles sentiment stamp
• Twine

The next two cards used the same napkin but I used different pattern paper behind so they have a different color to them.

• Napkin decoupaged onto pattern paper
• Making memories - Leaf brads
• Twine

• Napkin - decoupaged onto pattern paper
• Twine
• Button

This last one I used white cardstock behind. 

• Napkin decoupaged onto white cardstock
• Making memories - leaf brads

Close up to see where the leaf brads were used.

I will have more ideas I have done with other napkins soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Connie

Home Sweet Home

 My sister in law ended up moving to live near her oldest son down in Alabama after my brother passed away.  I had just recently bought this Stamperia paper and Ephemera pack and it had this sentiment banner and I thought it would work nicely. Added a punched border and some ivy and it was done.

• Stamperia - Casa Granada 12x12 Background Collection paper and Die Cut Ephemera (sentiment banner and basket of flowers)
• Silhouette - Ivy cut out
• Martha Stewart - Border punch

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

Connie

Autumn collage

 Does anyone else hate having to think of a blog post title?  Sometimes they come naturally and others it is like oh man now I have to come up with a title to the post :)  Now that is off my chest.

I needed a card for our guy friend, so I just took a little of this and that and put it together, and I actually loved how it turned out.

• Tim Holtz - Leaf fragment die
• Crafters Square - Wooden Leaf
• Making memories - Fabric Tag
• Clock sticker
• Recollections - brad
• JoAnn- Vellum Quotes and sentiments, tore the edges

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

Connie

Pastor Appreciation

 Last Month was Pastor Appreciation and we have two Pastors and as I have mentioned before our Lead on the Praise team has also just become a Pastor.

First up is for our head Pastor, she has been such a blessing to us, and is so easy to talk to, this coloring card was perfect for this years card, I colored it with markers.

• Creative Expressions - To Calm and Inspire coloring cards, colored w/markers
• 49 and Market - In the Leaves 12x12 paper
• Queen & co. - Yellow Sunshine gems

The next is for her husband that heads up all the social media type things and also does so much around the church, I thought this sentiment matched him well.

Creative Expressions - To Calm and Inspire coloring cards, colored w/markers

Last is for our Praise team leader

Creative Expressions - To Calm and Inspire coloring cards, colored w/markers

Praying on this election day that no matter the turn out of our election we can all come together and all this hate and division will end.

Connie

Autumn Wreath

 This was another hand delivered card so I used some of my big pearls to embellish since I didn't have to worry about it getting through the mail.

• Spellbinders - Wreath stamp and die set, colored w/markers
• DCWV - Crafty stack papers
• Stamps of Life - standup 4 sentiments
• Tim Holtz - Funky Floral for leaf border
• Queen & co. - Chocolate Delight Pearls

So enjoying these Autumn cards :)  Don't want it to end.

Connie

Halloween

 I was a bit busy yesterday and totally forgot to post some cards I made for my daughters step kids.  I asked if they go trick or treating and she said yes, so I made them some cards.

For the oldest I chose a digital image to use. The border die was cut from a scrap of pattern paper that I inked over.

• Graphic Fairy - Cat image
• Spellbinders - Large Deckled Rectangle die
• Memory Box - Autumn Border die

For the next two I used stickers I had

• Daily Calendar stickers - Ghost, Bats and Boo
• Spellbinders - Classic Oval Lg. dies

• Daily Calendar stickers - Witch, pumpkin and sentiment
• Gemini - Torn Edge Circle dies

Wow it is so hard to believe it is already November, wishing you all a good Thankful Month!

Connie

Feathered Friends

 Our cardmaking group has for the Birthday challenge this month to do some fussy cutting on your card. I had recently picked up this card making magazine from Barnes and Nobles that had these great Autumn stamps inside so I just had to stamp them out and fussy cut to go with my bird :)

• Tim Holtz - Feathered Friends die
• Creative Stamping magazine - Everyday Autumn art stamp set, colored w/markers and fussy cut
• Crafter's companion - Advent calendar paper
• Martha Stewart - Border punch

This second card is for Sketch challenge in the group.

• American crafts - Art Journaling Acetate Ephemera
• Ms. Sparkle & co. - Watercolor paper
• Inky Antics - Simple Sentiments

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

Connie

Holiday Wreath

 This is the Month of October Christmas cards. I decided to look through my coloring calendar images to see if I had any Winter Greenery ones that I could color up, that is the challenge for this month in my stamp group. I found 3 I liked, so I got down to coloring them up.

• Coloring for calm calendar - image colored w/markers
• Paper Studio - Have a cozy Christmas paper

• Coloring for calm calendar - image colored w/markers
• My Mind's eye - O Christmas tree paper
• Recollections - Christmas sticker sentiment

• Coloring for calm calendar - image colored w/markers
• Martha Stewart - Border punch
• Paper Studio - Have a cozy Christmas paper
• Recollections - Christmas stickers 

After coloring all of them and fussy cutting them out and making the cards it took longer than I thought it would so I went to my Graphic Fairy images I have downloaded from their site and found a few I thought would work nicely for the challenge.

• Graphic Fairy digital image
• Bo Bunny - Father Christmas paper
• Lawn Fawn - Fancy Scalloped Rectangle die
• Tim Holtz - Fancy Festive dies (Branch and pinecone)

• Graphic Fairy - Digital image
• Bo Bunny - Father Christmas paper
• Spellbinders - Curved Rectangle die
• 49 and Market - Christmas Spectacular Acetate Foliage

For my last card my cardmaking groups challenge was using a Santa on your card, I had recently downloaded this free digital from Paper wishes site, so I thought I should use it :)

• Paper wishes - Digital image
• Bo Bunny - Father Christmas paper
• Spellbinders - Captivating Square die
• Starform - Sentiment sticker
• Sequins

All caught up for another month :)

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

Connie

Collage cards

 This first one I used a dimensional sticker from $ store that I added to a tag, plus some scraps from a paper pack.

• Forever in Time - Glitter stickers
• Crate Paper - DIY shop papers
• Banner die
• Hero Arts - nesting tag dies

The next one I used papers and ephemera that is from my friend Esther, she gave me these goodies many years ago and I still haven't used everything she has sent me.  This has quite a bit of dimension so I used it for the birthday card I will be hand delivering.

Papers, and tag collage from Esther

Spellbinders - sentiments one die

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, hope you enjoy a good weekend,

Connie

Flying High

 We went back to Michigan to visit family and my sister was throwing my brother in law a 60th birthday party.  I went through all my stamps and I don't have any real funny stamps for a 60th so I went with this couple. They wouldn't fit on an A2 size card very well so I went with a slim line card style.

• Art Impressions - His & Hers Flying High stamp set, colored w/markers
• My Favorite Things - Cloud stencil

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Ephemera card

 I got a new set of Tim's ephemera and I had to use it on my nephews card. Mushrooms are a stamp and I did a little inking around the edges of the card.

• Tim Holtz - Collector Layers ephemera (House and report card)
• Hampton Art - SC1019 stamp mushroom, colored w/markers
• We R memory keepers - For the record paper
• Tim Holtz - Small talk sentiment sticker

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

Connie

Autumn Bird

 I broke out my coloring calendar images again for my next birthday card.  Had to color the bird with Autumn colors for a Fall birthday card. I used the little leaf stamp in the sentiment stamp set to stamp around the image too.

• Color for Calm - 2108 calendar image, colored w/markers and fussy cut
• Hero Arts - All Occasion messages stamp set

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

Connie