Skype card

 Here is another card we made during our stamp groups skype meeting. This was a month or so ago and I already can't remember quite what we did that is why I hadn't shared it here on my blog, but I believe we inked the portion of the embossing folder and then after it was out of the embossing folder went over it with another color of ink. Then we put it on another piece of cardstock, we did this fold on two separate pieces of cardstock, added whatever we wanted to pop up when the card was opened between the two pieces, and then glued those two pieces together, so the fold would be at the top of the card.  Sorry I don't have measurements, I sent this card to my hubby's niece already.

• Cuttlebug - Embossing folder, inked with Candied apple Distress Oxide, then embossed once out of the folder went over the raised areas with Old Paper Distress Oxide ink
• Anna Griffin - Advent calendar 2024  Day 2 Oval and bow dies
• Flower stamp, colored w/markers
• Tim Holtz - Clippings sticker book for sentiment
• Inside card - Spellbinders - Asters& Poppies dies and DCWV - Timeless Treasures paper

I cut the flowers 4 times and turned my paper when die cutting to get the opposite sides so I could glue them together so the flowers would be stiffer and pop up nicely.

I do love how this turned out, the colors I used on the embossing folder were just what I was imagining to go with the stamped flowers.

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

Connie

Sympathies

 I haven't posted these sympathy cards I have had to make over the past couple of months, the first two were shocking, this first one was for one of the girls in our church whose mom passed unexpectantly, she was my age so it really lets you know that at anytime you can be gone from this world.

I used watercolor based markers directly onto the stamp and spritzed with water before stamping. The I took a stencil and went around it to frame it.

• Penny Black - Effulgent stamp using watercolor markers to color then stamp
• Penny Black - Background Basics Stencil
• Stampendous - Orchid Greetings sentiment stamp

I will be adding this card to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge anything goes

The next was for the husband of my cardmaking friend who also died suddenly. I tried adding my white ink to the raised portions of this embossing folder but it didn't turn out as white as I had liked even though I added a lot of layers to it.

• Gemini - Regency Swirls 3D embossing folder/ white ink
• Elizabeth craft designs - With Sympathy die
• Martha Stewart - Pearls

The last was from a lady in our church who lost her mother that was in her late 90's.  To me she lived a good long life and was ready to be with her Lord and Savior, so I made the card cheerful, although she will be missed she is happy now :) I used a watercolor page that was already embossed with these butterflies, I used my Aqua pencils to color them and an Aqua pen for the blue background.

• Spectrum Noir - Simply Beautiful, Colorista Aqua watercolor pad, colored using watercolor pencils for butterflies and Aqua pen for blue background
• Taylored Expressions - Care & Comfort sentiment stamp

Thanks for stopping by today,

Connie

Love

 My hubby's niece remarried last month, they eloped in Hawaii, she loves the warm so that was her ideal place to get married, they had been together for awhile but it still came as a surprise to us, so happy for them. The love sentiment was in the paper pack, I rounded the edges and placed it on a tag. 

I love the gold in this paper, so I thought gold ribbon would go with it well.

• Park Lane - Old World Paper
• Spellbinders - A2 Curved Border One die
• Hero Arts - Tag die
• Fiskars - Corner Punch
• Crafter's Companion - Ribbon
• Queen & Co. - Twinkle  Goosebumps gem
• String

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

Connie

Flower Tea pot

 I couldn't resist this paper pack with ephemera, I love the distressed , romantic feel it has.  I thought it would be perfect for the friend I met in England while we were stationed at the Air Force base there.

• Stamperia - Casa Granada 12x 12 paper pack and Die Cut image
• Spellbinders - Big Scalloped Ovals small die
• Stamps of Life - Postmarks2stamp sentiment
• Martha Stewart - Scalloped circle punch

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

Connie

Hooray

 Still posting cards I made last month, I used this same owl stamp I used on my hubbies anniversary card, although this circle sentiment is birthday related not love related, so it went well for my girlfriends card :)

• sentiment digital unknown
• Art Imperssions - Whoots stamp, colored w/markers
• Memory Box - Stitched Circles layers die
• Melissa Frances - Wreath die

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

Connie

Framed flowers

 This pretty die set was in last years advent calendar, I made this card last month thinking I needed to use everything from the prior years calendar before I started opening this years the first of December :)

• Spellbinders - Advent calendar 2023 dies
• Hero Arts - Birthday messages sentiment stamp
• DCWV - Rustic paper
• Ribbon

I have fallen a bit behind again visiting blogs, hope to catch up soon, so much to do!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Sunflower

 I used my Diamond Art kit that I bought at Michaels again to use on my card, I think there is still 3 more left, this is my second one I have done and they work up pretty quickly.

• Make Market - Diamond Art kit 4x6  inch pieces
• Simon Says - Tiny words Birthday sentiment stamp
• Pink and Main - Sentiment Strip die
• Momenta - Patterned cardstock

I would like to add my flower to the Flower Challenge which is add sparkle, these diamond pieces have pretty sparkle. 

Hope you are enjoying a great weekend,

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Pop up box

 I haven't used my pop up box die in quite awhile, so I thought it would be nice to get it out and make a little scene with it for my niece (which is also my godchild) I used a lot of die cuts to make this so I will be sharing with A cut above challenge which this month is anything goes.

• Spellbinders - Scalloped Pop up box die
• Spellbinders - Mushrooms dies from Advent calendar 2023
• Spellbinders - Ferns, Delicate Asters and Foliage Flourish dies
• Fiskars - grass punch
• Washi tape - Amazon
• K&co. - Sentiment sticker
• Crafters Companion- Butterfly stamp and dies set from Crafter's companion Advent calendar

It all folds up flat and fits in the envelope, she received it a few days ago and loved it!

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

Connie

With Love

 I still have a couple Autumn cards to post :)  I die cut the flowers and the leaf border and while the cardstock was still in the die I did a little bit of inking of the flowers  with my dauber and inked the rest after taking out of the die cut. I saved a few of the strings from my tea bags for my junk journals but thought they would be nice with these flowers.

• Memory Box - Autumn border die w/Distress inks Gathered twig, worn lipstick and abandoned coral
• Spellbinders - Asters and Poppies die set
• Graphic Fairy - Postcard digital
• String

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

Connie

Perfect day

 I love this image from Graphics Fairy, such pretty bird in an Autumn scene, I found this paper pack at JoAnn's on sale, couldn't pass it up, thought it went very well with the image.

• Graphics Fairy - digital image
• Spellbinders - Candlewick Rectangle die
• Park Lane - Old World paper
• Wintertime crafts - Vintage collection sticker book (sentiment)
• Sequins

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend, we are getting our first measurable snow as they are calling it, everything is white and pretty, so far we have an inch and should be around for awhile since we don't get above freezing.

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

Connie

Happy Thanksgiving

 My last card that went to my daughter, I have had this sticker for quite some time but every year forgot to use it, well this year I finally remembered :)  To make it a little extra special I cut the base of the card out with a die by placing the die just under the cutting line at the top and then cut the die once again out of pattern paper and glued it over the base.  

I had to laugh when I went to stand it up it just tilted to the side because the bottom had one little spot in the middle that stuck down lower then the rest so I just cut enough off so it would sit flat to the table :) After die cutting the frame for the sticker I inked all around to bring out the rope look to the die.

• Miss Elizabeth's - Fall leaves sticker set (cornucopia)
• Kat Scrappiness - Mini Slimline Stitched Rope
• Spellbinders - Labels 29 die
• DCWV - Natural Stack paper
• Cloud 9 design - Rain dots

Wishing all of you in the States a very Happy Thanksgiving, so thankful for the friends I have made throughout the world :)

Hugs,

Connie

Twofer Background

 I made two cards using the same stamp and also the same die cut for the background.  The cardstock was a little lighter then I wanted so I decided to ink it up, as I was getting ready to ink it after die cutting, I thought how it looked like a stencil and then thought I need to make my second background at the same time, so I took a piece of cardstock a little bigger then the die cut and added my die cut over it and did my inking over the die cut, when I pulled it away I thought it looked great.

I added some pattern paper behind the die cut on the first one.

• Tim Holtz - Simple Plaid background die
• Crafter's Companion - Advent Calendar Stamped pumpkins in barrel color w/markers
• Memory Box - Stitched Circle layers die
• Poppystamps - Nordic Rings die
• EK success - Pumpkin and Leaf punches
• JoAnn Scrapbook - Vellum Sentiment

I decided to do the card horizontal this time and change up the dies behind the stamped image.

I think I actually like this background better than the original :)

• Tim Holtz - Simple plaid die used as a stencil for background
• Crafter's companion - Advent calendar stamp, colored w/markers
• Spellbinders - Labels 4
• PPD - A2 Stitched banner die
• JoAnn Scrapbook - Vellum Sentiment sticker
• EK Success - Pumpkin and leaf punches

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

Connie

Pumpkin flowers

 Using another stamp from previous advent calendar, I was bummed to find out that Crafter's companion didn't come out with an advent calendar this year, but I found others to get, hope I like them as well.

• Crafter's companion advent calendar - Pumpkin s/flowers stamp, colored w/markers
• Gemini - Torn Edge Circle die
• Spellbinders - Blossom die
• American Crafts - Ephemera (sentiment tag)
• Scrap pieces

I have a few more Thanksgiving cards to share, wow time is just flying by, another year almost over.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Our Anniversary

 I am a little late posting but hubby and I celebrated our anniversary last month and I decided to go with a Fall theme, I usually do :)  I embossed some pattern paper with a square leaves embossing folder (I believe they are 2 1/2 inches square) in two opposite corners and then went over them with some inks to highlight them using a little sponge dauber. Stamped the owl and colored him, then felt it needed a little more so die cut some leaves.  I am not sure where I got the round sentiment from but I think it was a free digital.

• Art Impressions - Whoots stamp, colored w/markers
• Crafter's companion advent calendar - Mini square leaf embossing folder, sponged ink over the leaves
• Gemini - Torn Edge circle die
• Memory Box- Marvelous maple leaves dies
• Tim Holtz - Funky Foliage dies

Close up of the embossing.

Next is my card from hubby, he said he told AI what he wanted the card to look like and this is how it turned out, he printed it out from his phone I think he said, then he cut the numbers from foil cardstock.

He also gave me some flowers, I thought I would share since some people are already getting snow here in the states and you might like to see some pretty flowers :)

Lastly the other day hubby was in his office cleaning it up and the next thing I know he comes out with this drawing he did for me, said he did it on a page from a book.  His green marker had dried up, so he had to blend yellow and blue to get the green for the leaves, I thought it was pretty cool so I thought I would share that too.

He use to draw all the time but his photography has taken over and he does that more than drawing now so this was a surprise :)

Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

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