Hooray!

 Using more of my Advent Calendar dies, isn't this bee just the cutest and brings a smile to your face :) I like the big bold letters of the sentiment die from the Diamond Press Advent Calendar too!

• Spellbinders Advent Calendar 2024 - Bee die and Labels trio die
• Diamond Press Advent Calendar 2024 Stamp and Die sentiments
• Paper Studio - Honeycomb embossing folder
• PPD - Leafy Circle Die
• Flower Gems

I would like to share my card with the following Challenges:

Four Seasons Challenge Spring

Word Art Wednesday Anything goes

Word Power Challenge 

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and hope you enjoy your weekend.  We are getting a lot of rain but thankfully it is slow and steady most of the time so we have not had the flooding so far, we still have one more day of rain to go, so praying for the best!

Connie

Shades of Greens

 It is sure signs of spring out there, our grass is greening up and growing strong, the trees flowers are starting to pop up and trees are getting their leaves, so love it!

Todays card is using another coloring calendar I haven't used in awhile, colored with pencils. This card is being hand delivered so I could go ahead and use my big gems on it :)

• Cheerful Journey 2018 coloring calendar image, colored w/pencils
• Graphic 45 - Botanical Tea papers
• Memory Box - Stitched circle layers die , Greetings tab
• Spellbinders - Floral Doily Motifs die
• Gems

I am sharing today's card with Sisterhood of Crafters Shades of Green Challenge

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie

Stars

 I am a little late posting my March Christmas cards but I did manage to get 5 done. Our Challenge was to use stars.

Starting with these two snowman stickers that had stars with them.

• Me & My Big Ideas - Snowman stickers
• Spellbinders - Curved Rectangles die
• Simon Says - Tiny words Christmas sentiment stamp
• Pink & Main - Sentiment strip die

Me & My Big Ideas - Snowman stickers

PPD - Wavy Stitched Rectangle die

Simon Says - Tiny words Christmas sentiment stamp

Pink & Main - Sentiment strip die

These next two cards uses a die I got free when ordering something from Scrapbook.com they say they are snowflakes but to me they look more like stars :)  I stitched them with some gold thread.

• Spellbinders - Stitched Prism snowflake die, with DMC gold metallic thread
• Studio G - Sentiment stamp

• Spellbinders - Stitched Prism snowflake die, with DMC gold metallic thread
• Elizabeth Craft Designs - Merry Christmas sticker
• Sequins

This last one I used score tap around the edges of the card and embossed with silver embossing powder, I also used the same powder on the stamps.

• Creative Stamping magazine - Stamps with silver embossing powder
• Scortape around the edges with silver embossing powder

The side view showed the embossing a little better on the stamps.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and hope you have a great week!

Connie

Lighthouse

 I needed another masculine card and I wasn't sure which way to go, so I just started looking through all my old stamps, and this one jumped out at me. I did a bit of water coloring with my Spectrum Aqua markers this time. I did a lot of inking on the edges of the card, image and border strip.

• Art Impression - Lighthouse window stamp, water color w/Spectrum Aqua markers
• Basic Grey - Porcelain paper
• Spellbinders - A2 Curved borders one die
• Hero Arts - All Occasion messages sentiment stamp

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

Connie

For the love of Birds

 I was following a girl on youtube as she opened the Advent Calendar from Diamond Press last year and I had gotten a die that I had already opened in a previous door, she had a cute bird on a branch die, and you know how I love my birds, so I was quite bummed when I didn't get that.  I mentioned it on the Diamond Press facebook group, and a few mentioned I needed to contact Diamond Press and see if there was anything they could do. I told them I would do that and I did. 

Meanwhile another girl mentioned a few days later that she didn't really care about that die and she would be willing to give it to me, I thought that was so sweet of her but I told her how I had contacted Diamond Press and wasn't sure what was going to happen there, she said she would send it anyway and if I get one from them I can pass it along to someone else.  Meanwhile on my post another girl mentioned the same thing happened to her.

I did hear back from Diamond Press and they said they had one left in the warehouse and they were sending it.  I ended up getting two of them now, so I sent the other one to the girl in my post that mentioned she didn't get one either, and I made the first girl a Thank you note for sending me her die and sent along some goodies to her, along with this card using the bird die :)

• Diamond Press Advent Calendar - Bird and Branch dies
• My Favorite Things - Cross stitch Rectangle die
• Basic Grey - Wholy Cow rub ons (sentiment)
• Paper from a friend

I am sharing today's card with Double D Challenge Birds

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

Connie

Card Fold

 In our online group meeting this month April showed us how to make this fold, and also We did a technique were we stamped a background using Distress Oxide inks and then added gold powder on top, before heat embossing we took a small brush and brushed off some of the embossing powder, giving it a bit of distress look to it.

• Hero Arts - Wallpaper stamped background with Crushed Olive Distress Oxide ink, embossed with gold embossing powder, brushing some away before embossing
• Spellbinders - Textured Flowers dies, smoosh ink technique then shaped
• Recollections - Rhinestone gems
• Crafter's Companion - Sentiment die

Inside panel 

• Memo card from Amazon
• Fabric Washi

There is a double panel inside, this is the first panel you see when opening it.

That Washi tape panel shows onto the front when it is closed but I couldn't get a good picture of that.

The next picture is the second panel were I will write my sentiment to the person getting this card.

This last picture gives you an idea of what it looks like from the top.

Sorry I don't have any of the measurements and I had a hard time getting it all folded right myself, I couldn't even begin to try and tell you how we did it, sorry.

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

Connie

February

 Yep that is right I made this card in February, I am just now getting around to sharing it, This flower came from the Diamond Press Advent Calendar,  I would like to try it again with different colors, I just wasn't sure I liked how this one turned out.

• Diamond Press - Advent Calendar 2024, Flower and leaves die cuts
• PoppyStamps - Eyelet stitches die
• Spellbinders - Advent Calendar 2024 Banner sentiment die
• Martha Stewart - Pearls

You can see a little better in the close up that i used a border die on that strip.

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

Connie

Day 3 flowers

 Using some more of the goodies from my Spellbinders advent Calendar. These flowers were so cute, I thought I would use them with a decorative die, using scraps from this paper pack.  Gotta save those little scraps you never know when you can use them right :) I used scrap green cardstock for the leaves.

• Spellbinders Advent Calendar 2024 - Flower dies, and Majestic Labels 25 die
• Teresa Collins - Tell your story papers
• Fiskars - Essential Sayings sentiment stamp

I am loving this set of flowers!

I am sharing my card today with A Cut Above blog anything goes

Hope you have a good weekend, we have rain coming Saturday night into Sunday but hopefully we will get out and get some yard work done Saturday, getting excited for spring weather that is here!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Masculine

 I got out another of my coloring calendar images for my brother in law's birthday.  I also used another die from my Advent calendar.

• Coloring for Calm Calendar image - colored w/pencils
• Hero Arts - Birthday messages stamp
• Spellbinders Advent Calendar 2024 - Nested die (sentiment tag) inked

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Up and Away

 Sharing another die set from the Spellbinders Advent Calendar of 2024.  The balloon was fairly easy to put together. I paired it with an embossing folder that I embossed from blue cardstock and then went over the clouds with a white ink pad. I fussy cut around the sentiment so it would fit better on the card.

• Spellbinders - 2024 Advent calendar, Balloon die
• Parklane - Embossing folder, inked with white ink
• Cardmaking magic - Birthday verses stamp, fussy cut

I really like al the details like in the basket and on the bow :)

I would like to share my card today with Simon Says Monday Challenge Transportation.

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

Connie

Spring flowers

 These flowers are from the Spellbinders advent calendar for last year, I colored them with some new markers I had bought for Christmas from Altenew and the gold pen around the sentiment tag was from the Diamond Press advent calendar, so all new goodies used on this except the die cut to frame it is an oldie.

• Spellbinders - Stamp from Advent Calendar2024, colored w/markers and fussy cut
• Spellbinders - Labels 11 for sentiment die, outlined with Gold pen and Noble Rectangle die
• Sequins

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

Connie

Pastor Calling

 I mentioned before that our Praise team leader at church had received her Pastoral degree last year, well the end of last year she was called by a church not to far from here to be their Pastor, she went and met with them and decided to take the calling so we had a going away dinner for her, and we wanted to shower her with cards, especially this being her first calling.

• ODBD - Scripture Collection 1 stamp 
• Spellbinders - Labels 50 Decorative Accents
• Crafter's Companion - Pearls
• Dusty Concord and Rustic Wilderness distress inks on the leaves and grapes, as well as markers on the grapes

I would like to share my card today with

Simon Says Monday Challenge Bit O' Green

Double D Challenge Going Green

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

Connie

Faux Silk Technique

 Last month when our group of Ladies got together over Skype we did the faux Silk Technique. You use bold papers for your base then you crumble up some Tissue paper and smooth it out again but not all the way, add your glue stick to the paper and adhere your tissue paper over top.

April also shared a card fold with us cutting one piece of paper at 5 3/4 x 5 1/2, score on the 53/4 side at 3/4 and 1 1/2 inches, another piece cut at 5 3/4 x 2 3/4 and score the same as the other one on the 5 3/4 side, then glue them together as shown.  Sorry I am not good at writing directions.

• Spellbinders Advent Calendar - Flower, leaf , sentiment, corner and border dies
• Butterfly die 
• Starform - Out line border sticker silver

It folds flat so you can fit it into an envelope.

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

Connie

Wonderful Birthday

 I was in need of another masculine card and I had missed playing with my birds so that is where this started with my bird, and it just grew from there. So fun when you don't have an idea what you want to do but you just start with one thing and let your imagination go from there.

• Tim Holtz - Feathered Friends and Funky Nature dies
• Picket Fence Studio - Slice of wood stamp, fussy cut
• XERE - Green Ephemera paper
• Papercraft Inspiration magazine - Greetings tag die and sentiment stamp

I would like to share my card today with Triple B Challenge and A cut above Blog Challenge

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

Connie

Best Day

 Last year on HSN craft day they had this set from a new to me company from England and it was a card kit with these cut animals, scenes and tags, along with stamps.  It was a really good price so I ordered them and they just make me smile they are so cute.

I stamped the sentiment from a different set onto one of their tags, the flowers and grass are also a stamp, I wanted it to go all the way across the bottom of the card so the grass on the right has been drawn in with marker.

• Stamps by me - Create a Card kit, Best day ever collection- (racoon, tag and stamp flowers and grass)
• Simon Says stamps - Tiny words Birthday sentiment stamp
• Basic Grey - Brad

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

Connie

at the beach

 My nephew moved down to Alabama last year and his kids are enjoying being at the beach more often, they have gone all winter long, and my great nephew has especially loved going, they have shared pictures of his big smile when he is at the beach. So when I went to make his card I remembered this stamp image a fellow card maker stamped out for me years ago and thought it would be perfect.  I later found out that that is where they celebrated his birthday this year too, so it was perfect.

I inked the sand and water and using a stencil the sky, colored him with markers.

• Stamp from friend, colored w/markers
• Inked sand, water and using my homemade cloud stencil did the sky, drew in the birds
• Memory box - Stitched Rectangle layers die
• Spectrum noir clear sparkle pen on water
• Tim Holtz - Clippings sticker book for sentiment

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

Connie

Masculine get well

 We have another guy in our church going through cancer treatments, and surgery, I wanted to let him know we are praying for him.

• Crafter's Companion - Advent Calendar, Embossing folder and dragonfly stamp and die cut
• ODBD - All Occasion sentiments stamp

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

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Cats

 My long time friend loves cats, and I had picked up this deck of playing cards when we were at Wall drugs on our trip out west last Fall, when I got home and was looking through the deck, I knew when I saw this card it would be perfect for her and she did love the card :)

• Master Pieces - cats playing card by Gary Patterson
• DCWV - Linen Closet paper
• Vellum to make a pocket
• Martha Stewart - circle punch
• Fiskars - Corner rounder
• Impression Obsession - Cat dies
• Hot off the press - 63 Thinline Border Dazzle stickers
• Diamond Dotz
• Hero Arts - All occasion messages sentiment stamp
• Spellbinders - Labels trio die

The cat on the top I just added some white gel pen, the gray on the bottom I added black stripes to it and the one on the bottom left was cut from pattern paper.

The playing card once out of the pocket, I made a pocket for the playing card so she could take it out and do whatever she would like with it.

I promised I would share more from our Montana trip last Fall, and I figured now is a good time since I was sharing something I bought out there :)

The first two were from a trail we found to walk, it was mid day so it was a bit warm so most of my pictures are of the trail in the shade were I didn't mind lingering for awhile :)

This drive was just beautiful.

As you can see they had a fire in this area

I will share more again soon, just have other things I need to get to today.

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

Connie

Trees

 In our stamp group this month the Christmas challenge was to use trees on our cards, she mentioned that she had seen cards that used both positive and negative shapes for their cards so that is how I started out.

On this first card I cut the tree shape from the background paper and then placed scrap pieces of green papers behind, adding the sentiment on top.

• Recollections - Tree die, scrap papers for the tree
• Anna Griffin background paper
• Simon says tiny words Christmas
• Pink and main banner die cut

Then I took the piece that I cut out and added some ornament stickers to it, not sure what I think of this card.

• Recollections - Tree die cut
• Paper studio - Background paper
• Anna Griffin - paper for tree
• Hobby Lobby - Christmas sticker book, ornaments and sentiment

Then I did the floating technique on the next one, I added strips of paper to a piece of acetate, then I cut out using the other size tree die, put foam strips behind the papers.

• Recollections - Tree die, scrap papers, floating techniqe
• Twine
• My mind's eye winter papers, background

The next two were clear ephemera and clear sticker trees, I added some stamped music at the top of each of them.

• Recollections - Christmas tree, clear sticker
• Stampendous - Caroling music PCS stamp

On this last one I used gold ink for the music stamp, and the tree is a die cut on white background.

• Recollections - Christmas tree ephemera
• Stampendous - Caroling music PCS stamp

Lastly I had also bought some tree stamp and die set that Michaels had on sale before Christmas. Tore the papers for snow and added some stickles. I thought the white snow might show up better from a cream background but not sure if I like that or not, also look what the wind did to the tree in the foreground, it grew a little tilted, LOL!

• Recollections - Tree stamp and die set
• My mind's eye - Winter papers
• Die versions - Seasons greetings die
• Memory Box - Valley Deer trio die
• Torn paper for snow
• White gel pen and Crystal stickles

That is my Christmas cards for Febuary, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,

Connie