Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Hugs and Smiles

Here is the other card I made using the last of the applique felt leaves my sister gave me. The paper already had that sparkle border so I didn't want to cover it up. I cut the doily off on the sides so it would still fit in the envelope.  Same flower as before just colored yellow this time.



Carolace -- Leaves Applique
Heartfelt Creations -- Open Vintage Floret stamp and die set
DCWV -- Rustic Paper
Prima-- Doily die #572792
Stickles -- Dusty Concord (center of flower)
Gina K -- Tag lines sentiment stamp
Spellbinders -- Labels trio die

Here is another view of it



I had another Vertigo episode yesterday and ended up sleeping on and off all day yesterday and 9 hours last night, I am thinking I might have had a flu or something on top of it but not sure, still not up to my usual self but much better, no spinning so all is good :)  I was able late last night to get on and visit a couple blogs but that's it. Crazy how far behind you can get in just one day, what is worse no cardmaking, hopefully I will be able to get to that today :)

Praying for all those in Tennessee effected by the terrible fires, such a Beautiful area.

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

Monday, November 28, 2016

Wish you a merry Christmas

I have 3 cards to share all using the same main sentiment die. I am starting with the card with the most detail and working my way down to ones that are a little less time consuming, depending on the time you have to make them.

The main die I have used in all of these cards is the Poppystamps We wish you a merry Christmas die. I first cut the die out of my Basic Grey paper and then added some double stick tape to the openings on the back of the paper so when I cut the die once again out of red cardstock, I could just pick them up and set them into the blank spaces and they would stick, quicker than gluing.  I also cut just the star and ornament out of silver paper.  I also paired it up with the Memory Box Seraphine Laurel die you might remember I used this die here back in August and mentioned I could use this die for all sorts of occasions and I think it frames this die very well. I colored it with markers.


On my second card I die cut it at the bottom right corner and inlaid it with brown cardstock, the star in silver and ornament in gold papers.  I also used Poppystamps Valley snowflakes.  The store no longer carries these dies but you can find many snowflakes to chose from Here .  To give it an extra bit of sparkle I added Frosted Lace Stickles to the snowflakes.


 This last one took the least amount of time to make of all of them, just took some paper, cut the die and added a piece of red paper behind the die opening, only inlaid on it are the star and ornament.



These are all very flat so the mailing would be kept down to a single stamp, I hope you found one option that will work for you.

Here are the dies I used with the links above.



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Remember, there is a new inspiration sample shared each and every day of the month
on our Dies R Us Inspiration Blog using a variety of dies from several different companies.
Then of course you'll want to come join us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.
There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st & 15th of each month with
a gift voucher prize to one lucky winner each challenge!

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Saturday, November 26, 2016

Garden Party

When I saw this stamp in the Cardmaking and Papercraft issue I loved it, probably because it was a different type of bird stamp, love my birds :)  The set was called Garden party, it came with embossing folders too but I didn't use them in today's card instead I used my lattice die to frame it.



I tried to color the cup with some very light gray's to make the cup look a bit porcelain, don't know if I achieved that or not, you can hardly tell it has been colored at all, so I will need practice with that :)

Garden Party stamp by Jennifer Ellory in Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine, colored w/markers
Spellbinders -- Lattice Rectangles and Labels 18 dies
Taylored Expressions -- many mini occasions sentiment stamp
Tulip Fashion bead paint (flower centers)

Another crisp morning with frost on the ground, we are finally seeing the sun this morning it has been so doom and gloomy for the past 3 days, but they are saying more rain Sunday evening through Tuesday, maybe I can talk my hubby into putting up the Christmas lights outside, if I know him though he is going to want to go for a walk instead.

Hope you have a most wonderful weekend. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment letting me know you did :)

Connie

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving

My sister in laws birthday is just before Thanksgiving so I made a little 3 3/4 inch square thanksgiving card to put in with her birthday card this year.


Studio G -- Pumpkins stamp, colored w/markers and Alphabet stamp set
Spellbinders -- Lattice Rectangles die
Lawn Fawn Big Scripty Words stamp and Die set

The Thanks I cut twice to give a shadow but I don't like how the stamping of it came out onto the textured cardstock.

Next is the birthday card I sent her.



This is a new stamp set I hadn't used before and I think it is just too cute.

Great Impressions -- Valentine Bird Houses colored w/markers
Die-Namics -- Cross stitch rectangles die
BasicGrey - Picadilly paper
Martha Stewart -- Border punch
Sizzix-- Branch w/leaves die
K&co. - Birthday & Celebrate Vellum Stickers

Wishing all my American Friends a very Happy Thanksgiving, may you share a wonderful day with family and friends,  and to all of you I am thankful for our on line friendships we have, you make my days bright, thanks for being apart of my life :)

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Connie

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Polished stoneTechnique

I am finally sharing the last technique that Heidi challenged us to do in our stamp group. I wanted to finish a second card I had a mind to try before I shared the technique. Polished stone technique, I didn't follow it exactly but HERE is a link to the technique, I just googled it, so you can google and see what video's are out there on this technique.

Many of them use reinkers, I used Alcohol inks and instead of the rubbing alcohol I used alcohol blending solution. I didn't use enough blending solution I think, but I love the way they turned out.



Now for what I made with them. I stamped onto them using Stazon ink since they are done on glossy cardstock.  The first one is the one I finished for the challenge.


I just love how colorful it makes the flowers without having to color them.

Stampabilities -- F 1188 (poinsettia stamp)
Martha Stewart - Snowflakes embossing plate and leaf punch
David Tutera -- Celebrate sentiements
Liquid Pearls -- Lemon Yellow

The next one I just finished finally and Love this one too.  After stamping and cutting it out the ends curled and I started to try and flatten them but when I laid against the card I liked that look so I kept the ends curled and applied foam adhesive to the back to give it a little dimension.


PSX - Holly stamp
Martha Stewart - Snowflake embossing plate
Stampabilities -- We wish you a merry Christmas sentiment stamp
Sequins (berries)
Here is another picture of it, I had a hard time with getting a picture with no shine on them.


I will be making more of these :)

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

Connie

Sunday, November 20, 2016

For you

It has been a long time since I have last posted a card I made for someone that comes to my blog often and leaves me with such encouragement.  You can read about it more on this post. I had planned on making a card for everyone of you by the end of the year but I am not sure I will be able to do that so I will be continuing this into next year.  I have another one on it's way to someone and as soon as they get it I will post.

Today's card I am sharing went out to Celeste over at Southern Day Dreams.  If you are looking for wonderful decorating ideas you need to head over to her blog, she has such great inspiration.  She also does Beautiful painting and creations too that she sells in her Etsy store, perfect way to shop for upcoming Christmas presents :)  I am in Awe of her tole paintings the most on all kinds of objects too, I use to do tole painting about 20 some years ago and I know the work that goes into it. So stop by her blog and check it out and her Etsy store.


I first made the crocheted button flowers following this You tube video.  I had made more but I just couldn't get a pleasing bouquet using more so you will probably see them on upcoming cards :)
 My hubby made a template of a vase for me so that is what i used for the vase, I first covered some thick board with paper and then traced the vase and cut it out.
I used memory thread and twisted it around a pencil to give some curl to it, I love that stuff for filler in a bouquet :)  Inked around the outside of the card.

Pink Paislee and London Market papers
Prsma flowers -- small cream flowers
Decorative Choice -- White flower with ribbon
DMC -- Memory Thread
Paper Salon -- simply sentimental stamp
Sequins

Thank you to all of you that take the time to brighten my days with your comments and the friendships I have formed through blogging :)  Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

I also want to thank you for your sympathies you left on the last post after the passing of our sweet little Peanut, she is missed daily, it is so amazing the whole that is left after they are gone.

Connie


Friday, November 18, 2016

Our Peanut

We lost our little Peanut yesterday morning, she had slowly gone down hill over the last couple of days and took her into the vet and they would have to do a lot of aggressive treatment and just listening to all that she would have to go through and there was no guarantee, we made the very hard decision to let her go. I will miss my little companion, we had 16 years with her, and she is our last furbaby to leave us, my hubby said he likes to think of them all together now playing like they use to as puppy and kitties free from all their pain and problems that they had when they got older :)




It is something how they make their way into your heart.  The house is so quite now with them all gone.  It almost feels like when our daughter went away to college, just an empty feeling in the house.

Connie

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Foiled

I realized there are a couple of cards from our challenges that the stamp group did that I still hadn't posted, this one I wanted to wait until I gave it to my girlfriend.

One of the ladies in our group had us stamp on Acetate (I am ashamed to say I still can't find my Acetate so I stamped on Transparency.  You color it on the other side  and then paint all around the image to give it a background so all that is showing is your stamp.  Take some foil and crunch it up a little bit to give it some texture and then flatten back out and attach it to the back side of your acetate.

Isn't that such a neat technique, I had never heard of it before, it is best to use a stamp with a lot of open space to give it the best effect.
Here is a closeup of it.



JRL Designs -- Rose Romance stamp
Spellbinders -- Labels Eight die
Carta Bella -- Alphabet Junction paper
Delta Creamcoat -- Blue Wisp paint
Our Daily Bread Designs -- Mini tag sentiment stamp set
Queen & co. -- Snowflake pearls

This just might be a technique you would like to try for Christmas cards I think that would be very pretty!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, I would love to hear from you.

Connie

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Florals and Swooshes

When I was going through some of my supplies the other day I came across these chipboard shapes and thought I haven't used those in a long time so I set them on my desk and this is what I made with them. I used my paints to color them and added a little ink also on the flower for shading.  The paper had so much neat collage detail that it didn't need much to embellish it, just added the sentiment and the chipboard flower and corner.  I also added some bead paint dots around too!



K&co. -- Chipboard die cuts and shapes, Florals and Swooshes
We R Memory Keepers -- Anthologie papers
Paper Smooches -- Happy Birthday
Tulip -- Fashion Bead paint (white)

The cold crisp mornings are here and we have had a couple days of hard frost.  We luckily went out and picked the last of the peppers the day before so now I just need to cut them up and freeze them so we can enjoy them over the winter :)

Hope your week is off to a great start, thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and letting me know you did :)

Connie

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Truckload of Thanks



I thought this truck from Taylored Expressions on the road truck die was so neat, as you can see it has many pieces to it so you are able to detail it just the way you want to.  For the body of the truck I used the background from an old calendar that I just loved the texture and for the rest I used all cardstock.  I like how you can decide whether or not you want the wood slats on the side too or not, I decided to use them because I wanted the back end to be carrying pumpkins, using the Impression Obsession pumpkin patch dies.



I love the embossing on the truck and the pumpkins, really gives it great detail.  To finish off the scene I used Impression Obsession bare tree die and the Poppystamps stitched landscape dies. The road is just a piece of brown cardstock with white lines drawn onto it.

Here are the dies I used today with the links in the description above.






Follow Dies R Us!


 
Click below for:
Remember, there is a new inspiration sample shared each and every day of the month
on our Dies R Us Inspiration Blog using a variety of dies from several different companies.
Then of course you'll want to come join us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.
There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st & 15th of each month with
a gift voucher prize to one lucky winner each challenge!

OH!  And did you know we have a FB Page and PINTEREST Page?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Birthday Wishes

This is going to my great niece who is in her teen years, I started with the stamp and when I was coloring in the confetti in the stamped sentiment it reminded me that I had a confetti die that would work with it in the background of the card.



Hero Arts -- Birthday words stamped sentiment
Spellbinders -- classic circle die
WR memory keepers -- Anthologie papers
Taylored Expressions -- Celebration Confetti die

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and letting me know you did,
Wishing you a fun and creative weekend,

Connie

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Sympathy's

Our Church's Head of Children's Ministry lost her father.  Her mother is also suffering with Alzheimer's, that is why I picked the sentiment I did.  Leslie made a card using this same stamp set just different stamps then the one I chose, so I used her inspiration for my card, I blended 4 different inks onto the stamp before stamping it with my MISTI tool, that came in so handy with this one because one of the orange colors and the brown wasn't as dark as I would like so I just stamped it a second time.


Sweet n Sassy -- Jesus cares sentiment stamp
Inkadinkado -- Foliage Trails stamp set
Memento -- Rich cocoa ink
Distress inks -- carved pumpkin, spiced marmalade and scattered straw
American crafts -- Jute
Queen &co -- Sunshine yellow gems

The day after her Dad was buried her husbands Father died, so this family is really going through some trying times. I went with a more masculine feel to his card. The tag is in the same pack as the paper.


Hot off the press -- Sarabooks ivory papers
Mama Elephant -- Blessed sentiment stamp set
Basic Grey -- Brad
Martha Stewart -- Leaf and butterfly punches
Tulip -- Fashion Bead paint on butterfly

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, wishing you all well.

Connie

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Vintage Floret

My sister gave me these fabric leaf appliques a little while back when she gave me some supplies from her craft stash she wanted to get rid of, they are almost like a velvet feel to them, three came in the package and I used two here and have an idea for the last one but haven't had a chance to get that card made yet.

I stamped the flower 4 times and colored with markers and cut them out using the dies that you can buy separately. Shaped the petals with my molding mat and stylus, and added it to the background I made using my punch.


Here is a close up of  the flower and leaf so you can see these leaves had stitching on them, I thought they would be perfect for a fall card!



Carolace - Leaf Appliques
Heartfelt creations -- Open Vintage Floret stamp set and dies
Martha Stewart -- Punch all over the page caning punch
DCWV -- Crafty Stack paper
Stickles -- Diamond (flower center)
Gina Marie -- Birthday words stamp sentiment
Spellbinders -- Back to Basics tags die

It is fun to use things that we wouldn't normally use on a card, I used my scor tape to attach the appliques since they were pretty thick, they made it through the mail ok using that.

Hope your week is off to a good start. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to let me know you did.

Connie

Monday, November 7, 2016

Autumn Border

 Sharing a Thanksgiving card, it could easily be a good Autumn Birthday card too!



I used more of my mega flakes onto the Memory Box Botanical Stem die as I did in This Post.
Then I cut the Memory Box Autumn Border die first out of the card base and then once again out of g.c.d. Loverly paper as shown below, I glued the border onto the card base before removing all the left over pieces to make it easier to line up.


I wanted a darker color behind the leaves so I masked off a section of the inside of the card and added Frayed burlap distress ink onto the area of the card you will see through the border, leaving enough room to write my message.



This is how it looks when standing up, to show the cut away border. I have added a little darker ink to the stems of the border.


Here are the dies I used today with the links in the description above.

 The border is very delicate with it's thin stems, so I think next time I may just glue it to my card front, but if you want this look it can be done with a little more work.

I am also adding my card today to Memory Box Challenge #18- Giving thanks


Follow Dies R Us!


 
Click below for:
Remember, there is a new inspiration sample shared each and every day of the month
on our Dies R Us Inspiration Blog using a variety of dies from several different companies.
Then of course you'll want to come join us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.
There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st & 15th of each month with
a gift voucher prize to one lucky winner each challenge!

OH!  And did you know we have a FB Page and PINTEREST Page?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Blooms and Wildlife

I used some scrap pieces I had to fill in the flowers and leaves on this die cut, great use of our little scraps we have left over from other cards. I first cut the die with kraft cardstock to give it the outline of the flowers. Used a piece of tulle for some ribbon and colored in the center of the tag while it was still in the die.



Memory Box -- Vespertine Blooms die
Spellbinders -- Circle, classic scalloped Square and Back to basics tag dies
Crate paper-- Party Day paper (background)
Glitter Tulle -- Walmart
Out daily bread design -- Mini tag sentiment stamp set

Going through our pictures out west, I had a few pictures of critters that I thought I would share.

The first bunny was at Arches National park, isn't he a cutie :)



The rest of the pictures are from Grand Canyon.
This Squirrel was a little shy. Every time I tried to get in front of him to get a head on shot he would just run again.



This chipmunk was too cute, and posed so nice for me.



Now we saw some Elk in the park but the traffic is very busy and they say not to stop so we couldn't get good pictures of them there, after coming back to the hotel my hubby said I wonder if you can drive back up in the hills behind our hotel, so we went for a little drive before heading back to the canyon and look what we came upon after going over a hill!


I know it probably sounds funny, but I was more excited about seeing these guys than I was of the canyon, we spent a long time here just watching them, they sure did move around a lot, so happy my hubby decided we should go for a drive up there.  Hope this isn't too much picture over load.






I love this last one, he came up pretty close to where we were parked, these flowers were at the edge of the road and he ate but as you can see he kept an eye on me while he was, such a cool experience.



Thanks again so much for stopping by, love to hear if you did.

Connie