Sunday, March 30, 2014

Spring Birthday

My Great Niece will be turning 9, and since it has been such a cold and snowy winter I thought a nice spring card would be nice for her birthday.  I am sorry I don't know the name of this image, a cardmaker friend sent it to me a few years ago, and I finally got around to coloring her.


Magnolia stamped image, colored w/markers
Memory Box -- Picket fence die
Martha Stewart border punched, colored with markers
Fiskars -- cloud punch
Dazzles -- tiny words & phrases, I love how these stickers give the look that you embossed
K& co. -- background paper

Hope you all are having a great weekend, we finally have some sun today so that just gives me a great lift, hope it warms up too :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and sharing your comments,
Connie

Friday, March 28, 2014

Hubby's creation

I still haven't made a card since the last one, but I plan to change that this weekend, hopefully starting later today :)   I thought if you stopped by I might as well give you something new to look at, so I picked an interesting idea Greg had for a card.  He likes the history behind the Egyptians, while in the Air Force he was lucky enough to have had to fly there and was even able to go see some pyramids. I believe these pictures and words were out of a magazine or book he had.  He took a square punch and centered the images then he took my score board and made the little boxes.



Here is a side shot of it so you can see the dimension that the boxes give to the card.


Interesting idea huh, I like how he used the background pictures to almost look like a mosaic tiled background.

I taught that card making class at my friends library last night, I had 5 ladies sign up and we had fun creating the card together, we had a little extra time at the end so I had some extra papers that they could use and let them design a card on their own, they really liked doing that.  I learned a lot of stuff I would do differently but I guess that is how it goes when you do something for the first time it is a learning experience, a lot different then when I had one on one time demoing.

Thanks for stopping by and next time it will be one of my creations again,
Have a Great weekend,
Connie

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Northwoods

I have a masculine card for today, I need to study how to color the birds better, always have troubles with that. I don't like that Northwoods doesn't name their stamps, at least it isn't written on the wood stamps.



Northwoods Rubber Stamps- - from 2011 
Burlap -- Hobby Lobby fabric section
Hero Arts -- It's your day sentiment stamp
Ki -- Metal accents
Stickles -- Waterfall

I don't know if you can see it or not but the stickles are in the water in places, I love these stickles for that, in person it brings the water to life.

I scored the card so that it was a little shorter in front than the back so I added a strip of paper on the inside so when it is held shut in your hand you can see that off to the side.  Here is a picture of that.


I am actually seeing improvement everyday so I am hoping that the two weeks they said that this usually passes will be right and by the weekend I will be done with the dizzy spells :)

We had a dusting of snow last night, but it is almost all gone now except for the shaded areas.  Starting to see those buds popping out on some of the trees, Oh how I love to see the world come to life at this time of year!

Great news my brother and sister in law have made it back to the states from Ukraine, so happy to know they are safely home.

Thanks so much for stopping by,
Connie

Monday, March 24, 2014

Prize Winner

Sorry about being so late posting today, I have been trying to do more around the house, and when I start to get too dizzy I have been sitting down and watching HSN, it is paper crafting all day :)

I didn't have many who tried for the package but I had my hubby draw from the hat of names and he drew:

Stephanie

Congrats Stephanie, if you could email me your address I will get that out to you soon!

I have been working on another card, slow as I may and it should be ready for posting tomorrow.  I feel like I am getting better every day, taking longer than I want it to but I just have to give it time.

I will be back tomorrow with that card,

Have a great week,
Connie

Saturday, March 22, 2014

50th picture

I haven't felt well enough to try making cards, so I thought I would post the picture Greg did for me for my birthday.


Of course he didn't write down everything he used but I can probably figure out most of it.

Taylored Expressions -- Clouds, he bought these, said he loved the swirls in them
I think he used a template for the rays, the sun is a gear, I think from Spellbinders.  The swirl behind the number is Memory box.   Do you remember when I used the 50 on his card, we used the cricut and the first one we cut was way too big, well he used that one on this picture.  The star is a punch from Martha Stewart, and yep that is a bird on the sun, he has a thing for Ravens.

He wrote on the back all about the sun, moon and stars, and he ended it by saying Connie you are the sun, the moon and the stars and I am still amazed....  Yep I started to cry, he has a way with words.

Don't forget to comment on the post below to have a chance at winning all these goodies, and more that I will be adding.

I still am having dizzy spells, and how I usually get sick while reading in the car, now I get sick if I read too much anywhere, so I have to limit my time on the computer and all reading I do.  The mornings are the worse and by the end of the day I start to get better, not sure what that all means, other than the motion sickness pills have built up in my body by then.

Thanks so much for prayers and thoughts for me, I really appreciate it!
Connie

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Package of Goodies

Two sets, the stampin up one on the left and the blue package of sentiments on the bottom top are used sets, but all the rest I bought for this drawing.  I planned on having some flowers made up to add too but haven't gotten to that yet but will work on that this week. 


As I said I picked up a lot of stamps, one package of washi tape and a 6x6 paper pack, and I will be adding some flowers and maybe other goodies, you know I have to fill a box :)

I would like you to be a follower of my blog or someone that comes and is a regular commenter on my blog :)  I am giving you until March 24th to comment on this post.  I will put all the names into a hat and have my hubby draw the winner and I will announce it on the 25th.

Still having the dizzy spells but they are getting much better and fewer so I am hoping it will be better very soon, thanks to all who have left well wishes :)

Hope to be back soon with another card.

Connie

Monday, March 17, 2014

Sorry late

I know I promised to post about the package I will be giving away but I was in the hospital all day yesterday.  I awoke in the middle of the night Sunday morning to the worse dizzy and spinning that I have ever had.  I was very hot feeling, sweating and nauseated, vomitting but my husband said I was cold as ice, I had a hard time walking so he took me to the ER.  Ended up just being a bad case of Vertigo, boy is that a scary thing.  I can't drive until the dizziness goes away, I am a lot better today but I still get dizzy when I try to do too much or go to fast.  I also get sick when reading, like I get when I try to read in the car.  I was told not to lie flat because that is when things really start spinning and I just have to wait it out..... so that is why I never got the prize package posted yesterday, I am feeling better today so I am hoping by tomorrow to get that posted.

Hang in there with me,
Thanks,
Connie

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Julia's Inspiration

I have been following Julia's blog , for a few years now, she does such cool vintage and collage cards.  Today's card was inspired by yesterday's post, I loved the look of this it reminded me of the cathedral window quilt block, I just had to give it a try :)   She has a link to the instructions she did for her version of the card HERE on her blog .



K&co. -- Classic K, double sided paper
EK Success --1 1/2 inch circle punch
Marvy -- 1" square punch
Hero Arts -- It's your Birthday sentiment stamp set
Martha Stewart -- Eyelet lace Border punch
Tulip -- Fashion bead paint in Pink

I hope you get to check out Julia's blog.

I will also have that post tomorrow on the give away I am doing, if you like stamping this may be the one for you :)

Hope your enjoying your weekend!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by,


Connie

Friday, March 14, 2014

ODBDSLC194

The challenge this week on Our Daily Bread designs was to use purple on our cards, and I have my great niece who is turning 6 next month so I thought the sisters stamp set would be cute for her card.  I think I used every shade of purple I have on this card, LOL!  If you would like to play along with the challenge this week you can read all about it on their Blog HERE .


I embossed the image and the sentiment with clear embossing powder over my purple ink.

Our Daily Bread Designs -- Sisters and Happy Birthday stamp sets
Spellbinders -- Marvelous Squares dies
Fiskars -- Border punch, double layered the punch
DCWV -- Neurtrals mat stack paper
My Mind's Eye -- A Beautiful Life papers
Dashes, Dots n checks -- ribbon

Well Today is my 50th Birthday, I had meant to get this posted yesterday but let's just say yesterday was one of those days that didn't go anything like I had planned.  I was planning on doing a post today of a little give away I want to do, but I don't have a picture yet of what I wanted to include and I have a busy day ahead of me today so I will try and get that posted tomorrow with hopefully my inspiration card also since it will be the 15th of the month, so stay tuned for all of that, hopefully tomorrow.

Hope you all enjoy a great weekend,
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and your great encouragements,

Connie

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Best Wishes

I made this fabric flower quite awhile ago, it was my first attempt at the rolled flower technique.  If you haven't heard of them just google rolled fabric flower and you will get all kinds of tutorials on how to do them.  When I was looking through this paper pack it reminded me of the flower I made so I went in my stash, pulled it out and it did seem to go with the papers quite well, I decided to do another starburst type card.  This time I layered 4 different papers on top of one another, found the center, lined up one end of a metal ruler on that mark then just went on diagonals cutting all they way around with my rotary blade until I had all the rays.  I kept them all in their piles and just took one piece from each pile, with every other one being the all over flower pattern. Cut a piece of cardstock to 5 1/2 inches square and glued each ray to the cardstock base. So now you can see I will be making 3 more cards with these papers :)


Kaisercraft -- Sweet pea collection papers
Rolled Fabric flower
Spellbinders -- Rose Creations, Bitty Blossoms, Foliage and Lattic Rectangle dies
Doodlebug design-- Sentiment stamp
Recollections -- Pearls, bling on a roll
Baby Breaths -- Floral section at my local craft store

We are enjoying Beautiful weather, it is only 8:30 am and we are already at 58 degrees, it is suppose to reach 80 again today.  We will have a high in the 40's tomorrow with a chance of snow, so yesterday and today are very rare, but I will take them, it was so nice to air out the house yesterday!  The picture I am sharing is from last week but I just had to take this, we have two pet beds by the back door because Anna and Peanut would always try and kick each other out of the one bed we had there.  Well this day Anna came and just laid next to Peanut instead of taking the other bed, I thought that was so cute, these two get along very well, our other cat Jip, not so much, although she does tolerate Peanut a lot more now that they are both getting older.



Wishing you all a Beautiful day,
Thanks so much for stopping by,
Connie

Saturday, March 8, 2014

ODBDSLC193 Metal or sweets

Our Daily Bread Designs challenge this week was metal or sweets, I chose to go with Metal on my card.  You can find out all the details about this challenge on their Blog HERE .


As you can see by the picture I couldn't get a good shot of the card without getting my reflection in the background, I tried so many different angles it was just crazy, the ones were I didn't show up as bad were blurry.  This will be going to my great nephew turning 18 next month.

I used silver embossing powder on the truck and then colored it with markers. 

Our Daily Bread Designs -- Special Boy stamps, (truck, sentiment and flag) truck embossed with silver embossing powder, colored w/markers
Metallic Foil Board -- Silver
Darcie-- Diamond Plate embossing folder
Spellbinders-- A2 Distressed Edges dies
Taylored Expressions -- Hexagon die
Silver metal rhinestones from Michaels

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Friday, March 7, 2014

Healing wishes

My poor sister has been suffering for years with a cough that comes and goes on it's intensity, but always seems to be there, she has gone to a few different doctors trying to get answers and I just feel so bad for her, I know just having a normal cold with cough can be irritating but having it for a long period of time has got to be on her last nerve.  So I made this card for her so every time she looks at it she can be reminded that I am praying for her to get better soon and that I am thinking of her.


No I did not color this flower it is a diecut from K&co.  but I thought it was so pretty and would be good to cheer her up with all the snow Michigan has. I think the card measures 5 x 6 1/2, so this is a big flower.

K&co. -- Flora and Fauna diecuts and vellum package
Spellbinders -- A2 matting basics and Noble Rectangles dies
DCWV -- Bright Matt stacks
Words to the Rescue -- Get well stamp set
Brads

I see that the brads look more blue in this picture but in real life they almost matched the cardstock perfectly.

We are warming up here, suppose to hit 55 today !!! YAH!!!  My hubby saw a hot dog commercial yesterday and he said oh doesn't that look good, so guess what we are grilling out today...LOL!

I hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend and that it involves some time to create!

Thanks for stopping by,
Connie

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Masculine Train

When we were stationed in England our first next door neighbors were a sweet Welsh couple who moved to England from Wales so they could be closer to their only son and grandson.  They told our daughter that she could call them her grandparents while we were there since her own were so far away.  Before we moved back to the States the lady died,  ever since we came back we have kept in contact through cards.  This one is for him.


I tried not to let it be too bulky, so the only thing that has any dimension really is the image that I used foam adhesive on.  I found the big rolls of 3M foam adhesive is a little thinner than the adhesive you buy for scrapbooking, so when I want a little dimension but not too much bulk I use that tape.

I wanted a thinner border around the image so I hand traced the outside of the die and hand cut it out and that gave me the smaller layering.

Technique Tuesday -- All aboard stamps, colored w/markers, black soot distress ink around the corner
Spellbinders -- Labels Three die
DCWV -- Tattered Time Paper
Cuttlebug -- Distressed Stripes embossing folder on kraft cardstock w/ distress ink added to the folder before embossing.
Enamel Accents-- Black

I had an eye appointment the end of last week and found out that I have a cataract in my left eye.  I knew my vision was getting worse but didn't think of that, guess I thought you only had that when you were older.  I believe he said that I have 30% vision loss and he suggested I see a surgeon, so if my cards look a little off I have an excuse ...LOL!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by,

Connie

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Susan's Inspiration

Susan is so good at doing Clean and simple cards, she has a way of making them look so pretty.  It is very hard for me to do, I want to always add more stuff to my cards, it is hard for me to see an open space without at least designer paper.  I originally had a different card picked out to do but the middle of this past week I found out that one of the first girls I met on line over at Two Peas in a bucket when I first started making cards just lost her husband of 37 years to cancer.  I wanted to let her know that she is in my thoughts and prayers at this time, so I picked out a different card that Susan had done that I also loved.

You can check out Susan's version of the card HERE :

I just loved her color combo but went with brown and green instead.


She made hers into a lovely birthday card but I just loved this idea for a sympathy card.

Gina K-- Cardstock in green and brown (used a little distress ink on the green cardstock)
Prima -- Annalee collection paper (behind the die cut)
Kaisercraft -- sentiment stamp embossed w/white embossing powder
Memory Box -- Dogwood Blossom die
Offray Ribbon
Gem

I hope you take the time to go over and check out Susan's Blog .

Our church services were cancelled this morning due to ice and sleet. That seems to have stopped and now we are getting the snow, we are suppose to get 3-6 inches by tomorrow morning, I am so ready to be done with all this nasty weather.  I will take this over the mudslides in California and the Avalanche that was in Colorado though, my heart goes out to those people.

My Brother and sister in law are still in the Ukraine, I am hoping that they will be leaving very soon, I just don't like what all is going on over there, praying they can get out safely and soon.

I hope you are all staying safe where you are.
Thank so much for stopping by,
Connie

Saturday, March 1, 2014

ODBDSLC192 Shaped Card

A girl at church lost her mother this past week, so I decided to use the challenge over at Our Daily Bread for a starting off point for her card.  You can find out all the details on the challenge HERE on their blog .


Thought this verse is good for those times when you just don't know if you will get past the point of hurt and sorrow, that God is there to strengthen and get us through each day.

Our Daily Bread designs-- Scripture collection One, stamp set
Spellbinders -- Grand Scalloped Circles and Large Deckled Rectangles dies
Memory Box-- Fabulous Phlox die (flowers and leaves)
Best Occasions -- Mixed Media papers

I do know it is the first of the month and I usually have my inspiration card but I have had a busy week and haven't had a chance to get it made, but I will work on that today and either get it posted here later today or more likely tomorrow.

Thanks so much for taking the time out to stop by and visit and for your sweet comments,

Connie