Celebrating Gardens

     Some of you may think this card celebrates Easter bunnies by growing carrots for them, but it really is a birthday card for a friend of mine who's celebrating his 78th birthday tomorrow and he still plants a vegetable garden every spring and tends it all summer long.  I added the sentiment "God doesn't deduct the hours spent in a garden" because I believe it's true, at least in his case.  :-D

Sketch is from Eat, Sleep, Stamp and the image is one from Shelly's Images, where the challenge is "Show Us Your Stripes."

     The colors were inspired by the photo at Freshly Brewed's monthly challenge and I colored it all with ProMarkers.  The papers are from my stash, as is the baker's twine and the little Dew Drops.  I added the leaf charm as a final touch.  I'm not sure why it photographed so darkly -- it's more an emerald green IRL.

     Other Challenges:

Cardmadfairy's Digi Days -- Die Cuts or punches

Cards for Men -- Great outdoors (well, that's his great outdoors!)

Crafty Catz -- Use a digi

Crazy Challenge -- Add a sentiment

Digi Makeover -- For the boys

Kaboodle Doodles -- Circles and squares

Karen's Doodles -- For a man

Little Darlings -- Outside

Love to Create -- Masculine

Pattie's Creations -- Anything goes

Pile It On -- Masculine cards

Sentimental Sundays -- Spring

     I think that's it for today.  I may get one more posted before I leave but if not, then you'll see my post on Monday for Lexi's Creations DT and the new challenge over there.  Enjoy yourselves.  I'll be without internet or e-mail for several days but I'll post something when I get back.  I won't be ignoring any of you -- just incommunicado and relaxing with family.  Hugs and happy stamping.  NanaConnie

     

Morning's Glory with Morning Glories

     It's a beautiful Friday morning; the sun is shining although they are predicting rain tonight and tomorrow.  I don't care since I'll be getting ready to fly out to the family reunion and most of that is indoor work.  Here's today's card, done with an image from Anne Fenton for the Outlawz Creative Freebie Challenge.  Aren't those morning glories just fantastic?

Sketch is from Creatalicious and colors from The Ribbon Girl -- aqua and white.

     Image is colored with pencil, blended with Copic blender, and die cut.  A tiny drop of Creative Inspirations "Fairy Dust" paint (challenge theme is "monochromatics") is in the center of each flower.  I also painted the stamen of the embellishment flowers with "Fairy Dust" paint.

     All the papers are from the Linen Closet pad (DCWV), and I think both ribbons are from The Ribbon Carousel, but they're from my ribbon stash so ......  I added rhinestones to the two tiny white flowers adhered to the ribbon and to the single white flower below all the blue ones.

     Other Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps -- Rhinestones, Flowers, Ribbons
Bearly Mine -- "3, 2, 1": 3 blue flowers, 2 ribbons, 1 image
Craft Your Passion -- Monochromatic
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge -- Spring
Little Clair's -- Spring
Outlawz Twisted Thursdays -- Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesday -- Anything Goes
Ribbon Carousel -- Anything Goes
Stampin Sisters in Christ -- Opposite of CAS; pile on embellies, papers, textures, etc.

     Another day of this week is gone and the weekend is upon us.  I hope yours will be somewhat less busy and hectic than mine, but whatever it is, take some creative time to recharge yourself.  Enjoy your visit here and browse around all you like.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Easter Eggs

     Today's card is made using a set from Serendipity Stamps (I won it in a blog hop - WooHoo!) called "Egg Scroll".  It consists of a rubber stamp and two dies for cutting egg shapes.  This is a masculine card because, among my grandkids, I have a grandson who is that in-between kid & man age of almost 14.  You simply can't do cutesy but he still wants to get an Easter card from his Nana.  :-D

     The darker blue scroll egg is stamped on striped paper and then heat embossed with blue EP.  The lighter blue scroll egg is a die cut, sprinkled with glitter.  The solid blue egg is another die cut and I made the stripes with bits of dp.   I stamped the sentiment, then heat embossed it with blue glitter EP.  The cording was added and, after I tied a fancy knot, I added the lone button.  Finally, I used a sparkle gel pen to add another touch of sparkle around the eggs and outside the dp stripes.

     Very CAS for a masculine look.

     Challenges:
Charisma Cardz -- Easter
Crafting When We Can -- One for the Boys
Di's Digi Designs -- Emboss it
My Sheri Crafts -- Easter
Pile It On -- For a Man

     Two postings in one day again!  I think I'm trying to get ahead for next week when I'll be gone.  My only postings next week will be those pre-scheduled for my DTs.  But I'll post again this weekend and after I return, as soon as I get some things done.  In the meantime, enjoy your visit and Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Just Inspirational Challenge #22 - Saturated Canary

     Another Thursday and Just Inspirational Challenges brings you another photo inspiration, this one with April Showers prominent in the theme.  Here's the inspiration photo:

                                 

     I was so taken with the "April Showers" and the lovely blues that this is what I did with the image supplied by The Saturated Canary, our wonderful sponsor this week.  I so loved this darling image that I went over and bought a few more.  :-D  Who could resist?

     I used a sketch from Kimbee's Creations and chose the colors from Catch the Bug, but mostly was influenced by the blues and grays, obviously.  There's a touch of green in the papers, which are by Webster's Pages.

  

     The image is colored entirely with Copic markers, which allows me to enter this in the challenge at Color Me Creative Copic Challenge Group where the theme is Anything Goes.

     Spring just means April Showers, and we all know those are going to be followed by May Flowers so I dug around in my stash and put together different layers of flower petals which are punched from satin ribbon, fastened with brads, and the final touch was the button butterfly.

     Other challenges:
2 Sisters -- Spring is in the Air
Crafter's Companion -- Spring
One Stitch at a Time -- Anything Goes
Operation Write Home -- Cute Characters
Pretty Little Ribbon Shop -- Spring Colors
Sparkles Forum -- Spring

     That's it for today.  Come play with us this week at Just Inspirational.  You can take anything from the inspiration photo you like; colors, flowers, plants, spring, rain... let your imagination fly!  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

No Place Like Home

     Today's card celebrates the glory of home and hearth.  The sentiment is a SU stamp and the paper is from Colorbok's "Sorbet" stack.  The leaves on the paper are embossed and glittered.

Sketch from Try Stamping On Tuesday.

     The sentiment is stamped and heat embossed with black EP, then die cut.  I used a peacock blue marker on the edge of it.  I actually masked the center part of the stamp so that only the sentiment showed.  I added the flowers (with rhinestone centers) and pearls, and then decided that the little butterflies would be a great final touch.  They were in my stash and I don't remember who made them.  This card just brought spring into the room -- a good thing since it was raining while I was making it.  Oh, well, the rain should make the garden grow.  :-D

     A few challenges:
Can You Digi It? -- Peacock Blue (my first time playing there)
Delicious Doodles -- Wonder of Life
DRS Designs -- Butterflies
Fairy Fun Fridays -- Spring Fling
Our Craft Lounge -- Spring Things
Rainbow Lady's Challenge -- House & Home
Raise the Bar -- In the Garden
Stampin' with the Dragon -- Things with Wings
Stamp 'n' Doodle -- Embossing

     My cold is still plaguing me and I'm staying home again today.  Hope I'll be better by next week since I travel to Washington for the week.  Nothing worse than traveling when you don't really feel well.  Yuck.  Have a good one, and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie
     

Pixie Cottage Sponsors Tuesday Throwdown

     Good Tuesday morning.  So glad you came by to visit. :-D I want to share with you my DT card for Tuesday Throwdown, where we're sponsored this week by The Pixie Cottage.  Michelle generously supplied each team member with a digi to use.  This week, we want to see you do an "Out of the Box" technique.  To put it simply, you cut around the part of the image you want sticking 'outside' and then use a die to cut the rest of the shape.  On mine, I have the top of "Surprise Barney's" head and his feet outside the scalloped rectangle die cut.  Some folks do the technique by fussy cutting the image and layering it onto a die cut which is smaller than the image, so that one or more parts of the image overlap the edge of the die cut.  Isn't Barney just adorable with his bouquet of roses hidden behind his back?

I also used last week's sketch from Pixie Cottage for this DT card.

 

     The colors are from the challenge at The Play Date Cafe.  I colored the image with Copics on Barney, and Souffle and Glaze pens from Sakura on the rest of the image.  The papers are from Basic Grey's "Out of Print" collection, and the lattice frame is done with a die from Spellbinders.  The ribbon was in my stash and I made a three-layer bow with it, secured with a rhinestone brad.  The flowers are hand punched, embossed with a stylus, and rhinestones are added.

     Challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. -- Handmade flowers

Creative Mondays -- Anything goes

Lollipop Crafts -- Anything goes

Outlawz Twisted Thursdays -- Spring colors

Paper Play -- Spring colors

SJ Papercrafts -- 1 image, 2 papers, 3 flowers, + 3 of something (3 layers on the bow, 3 dp inchies, 3 rhinestones in the flowers)

     Have a fabulous day and find some time to relax and enjoy the early spring weather.  Don't forget to get out your dies and show us an incredible "Out of the Box" project this week at Tuesday Throwdown.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Black and White Bunnies

     Meljen's has a challenge to do a project with no colors except in the image.  While I love doing monochromatic cards, this one threw me a little.  I chose these sweet bunnies from Meljen's as the image and started looking for neutral papers.  The ones I used came from DCVW La Creme stack.  Here's the card:

Sketch came from Crafting for all Seasons and colors from Outlawz.

 

     The small black and white, circular piece behind the bunny charm is actually the center of a doily, and since the Outlawz color challenge has a twist to use a doily (or lace) in addition to the pinks and gray, I hope that will qualify.  :-D  The image is colored with ProMarkers.

     I added the three black pearls and the bunny charm as embellishment but nothing else because it was already so busy with the paper patterns.  I do like this rather non-traditional Easter/spring card and hope you'll enjoy it, too.

     Other Challenges:
Craft Us Crazy -- Easter or Something Sweet
Crafty Ann's -- Spring/Easter
Crafty Catz -- Spring
Crafty Pad -- 'Some Bunny Loves You'
Cutie Pie Challenge -- Think Pink w/ Rabbits
Hanna & Friends -- (must include an animal or person) Flowers
Outlawz Copic/ProMarker Challenge -- Easter/Bunnies/or Chocolate
Passion for ProMarkers -- Animals
Sassy Cheryl's -- Think Spring
Simon Says Stamp -- Bingo: Flowers, Pearls, Charms
Simply Create Too -- Spring
Stampin' for the Weekend -- Anything goes
Sundays with Crissy -- Animals
Sweet 'n' Sassy -- Spring
Totally Stampalicious -- Critters

     That's it for today.  I can feel one of those spring-time colds coming on so I'm going to nurse and pamper myself all day and hope I feel better before the demands of work mean that I actually have to go to the office.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Song & Dance Lassie

     I'm a member of Outlawz where they have lots of great challenges and I play in as many of them as I can.  Last week, a new member posted a digital image she had created and offered it as a freebie.  I really liked it so not only grabbed it up but also went to her Etsy store (Mayzy Arts) and bought a few others.  Here's a card I did with the freebie she offered to Outlawz members.  Isn't this musical lassie just wonderful, singing and dancing and oh, so, happy?

Sketch is from my favorite Thursday sketch place, Eat, Sleep, Stamp.  I turned it on it's side.  If you've never used one of Tracy's sketches, please go over there and take a look.  Many of you have been playing along lately and I'm so happy about that.  Tracy had thought about skipping the sketches altogether but I'm begging people to participate so that it will continue.  Thanks.  :-D

 

     The image is colored with ProMarkers and die cut with a rectangle die.  I matted everything with dark CS.  All the papers are from Stampin' Up except for the flowery vellum which has been in my stash forever!  I used metal brads to attach the vellum to white CS and then layered it onto the card base.  I tied a double bow from raspberry pink, satin ribbon, added a paper punched flower and a sequin, and thought that was enough embellishment.

     Other Challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks -- Something music related
Art Impressions Stamps -- Monochromatic
Crafty Purple Frog -- Anything goes
Creative Craft -- Inspiration photo: colors, stripes, & flowers
Digital Tuesday -- Life is Peachy
Guylou's Inimitability -- Monochromatic
I Love ProMarkers -- 3 patterned papers
Paper Crafting Journey -- Pretty Pastels
Papertake Weekly -- Bingo: Gems, die cuts, flowers
Pattie's Creations -- Anything goes
Pixie Dust Studio -- A few favorite things (ribbon, vellum, stripes, polka dots)
Ribbon Reel -- Inspiration photo - theme: ribbon and flowers
Scrapbook Sisters -- Anything goes
Whimsy Inspiration -- Anything goes

     I hope your weekend has been fun and creative.  I'm glad you came to visit.  I have cookies baking in the oven this morning and just made a fresh pot of coffee if you'd like to sit and chat a bit.  Or feel free to browse around while we wait -- it won't be long now.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Old Wagon

     Today's card is a birthday card for a guy who loves cowboys, the Old West, and U.S history.  I think it's all covered in this one card.

     I used a digi from Didi Doodles, where their challenge is Anything Goes (as long as you use one of their images), and the sketch came from Operation Write Home.  I've done a duplicate of this card and it will go to OWH for a soldier to use to write home.  If you want to know more about OWH, click on their badge on the right side of my blog.  

     I chose colors from the inspiration photo at For Your Inspiration, and colored the image with markers.  The papers have been in my stash for so long that I can't remember the manufacturer but they're from the same 6x6 stack.  The orange gingham ribbon is also from my stash.

     The little flowers are punched from mulberry paper and I added shiny metal brads to the centers.  The sentiment was printed at the computer and added last.

     Other Challenges:

Card Cupids -- Birthday for boys

Crafty Ribbons -- Birthday

Dude Time Doodles -- Cowboys

Gingersnap -- Last Century

My Mum's Craft Shop -- Use a digi

Nettie G's -- What's the Occasion?

Paper Playtime -- For the guys w/ a sentiment

Pollycraft -- Check it Out!

Sisterhood of Crafters -- Birthday

     Short post but time is flying this weekend and I still have much to do.  Enjoy your visit and I hope to see you again tomorrow.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Two for One Today

     Rather than do two separate posts today, I decided to share two cards in one post.  The first uses a Sassy Studio Designs digi called "Lollipop" and she's paper pieced to fit with their challenge theme this week.

     The glittered ribbon is one of those that I've had in my stash and rarely used but it was perfect for the bright spring colors in the photo inspiration challenge at Paper Sundaes.  I added the three buttons, which were almost an exact match for the pink in the ribbon.

     Other Challenges:
Allsorts -- 3 in a row
Di's Digi Designs -- Pastels
Little Claire's -- Spring
Made Especially for You - feature 3 buttons
One Stitch at a Time -- Girly
Stamptacular Sunday -- Cute as a Button
Totally Gorgeous -- Spring

      This second card uses an image from Paper Cupcakes and I was inspired to make it because of the 'Less is More' challenge at There's Magic in the Air.  It's another Easter card and I'm almost finished with the ones I need for family and friends.

I used a sketch from Unscripted Sketches and kept it very clean and basic.

 

     The image is colored with a combination of Sakura Glaze and Souffle pens, and a bit of pencil on the chick and the butterfly.  The flower ribbon has been in my stash since last spring and seemed the perfect happy, spring color.  The sentiment is stamped directly onto the card base which has a flowery pattern in it, eliminating the need for a dp.  That's the last of those card bases which I bought last year to make Easter cards and it was pretty lonely and lost so it's happy to have finally been used.  :-D

     Other Challenges:
Anything Goes Challenge -- Get ready for Easter
Creative Mondays @ Always Crafting -- Anything goes
Creative Stamp Friends -- Spring
Dream Valley -- Easter
Incy Wincy -- Things with Wings
Little Red Wagon -- CAS
Moving Along with the Times -- Easter
Oldie but a Goodie -- Easter Wishes (ribbon and card base are over 6 months old)
Paper Creations Ink --   Things with Wings
Paper Pretties -- Easter Blessings
Pile It On -- Up in the Air
Ribbon Girl -- Aqua and White
Send a Smile 4 Kids -- Things with Wings
Stampin' Sisters in Christ -- Related to the Season
Whimsical Wednesday -- Spring (This is their last challenge)

     Hope you enjoy your weekend.  I plan to pretty much stay inside and craft because the weatherman predicts rain for most of the weekend, and that means no playing in the garden.  I have pansies and snapdragons and glox in flats all waiting to be planted.  I'm going to plant as many as possible this afternoon, if the sun is still shining,but the rest will have to wait.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

CAS for Sparkle 'n' Sprinkle

     I've been looking at the March sketch from Sparkle 'n' Sprinkle all month long and finally had a creative spark hit me.  I knew I wanted something Clean And Simple and here's what I did.

Here's the sketch.  

   The flower and the leaves are from the S'n'S set, "Blossoms", and I stamped each one twice, then heat embossed them.  One flower I die cut with a Spellbinders Diamonds die, and the second one I fussy cut, and gently curled the petals.  I used a metal brad to layer them together.  I fussy cut the leaves and added them to the diamond, after I did some faux stitching around the edge of it.  I layered that onto a polka dot dp, also die cut, from my scrap bin.

     I did diagonal cuts on CS and striped dp (SEI), and adhered them to the card front, then added the image piece.  I tied the bow using polka dot ribbon from my stash, and then added two lines of teeny-tiny pearls along the diagonal line.  I love the clean look of this card.  I'm going to use it as my exchange card at Lily Pad's Card Chain Challenge.

     Other challenges:
2 Sisters -- Spots and dots
Bearly Mine -- Dots
Fashionable Stamping -- Bingo: metal (brad), sewing, flowers
Going Grey with Scrap Creations -- Flowers
Here Come the Boys -- DIY image or embellies - I did both
Ladybug Crafts Ink -- Anything goes
Mark's Finest Papers -- CAS  (I was lucky enough to win there last week!)
One Stop Crafts - Handmade flowers
Scrappy Frogs -- Seeing spots
The Stamping Boutique -- CAS

     I have 2 posts today so be sure to scroll down and see the first one.  Thanks for visiting and leaving me some comment love.  I so appreciate your encouragement.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Another Easter card

     I have almost all the Easter cards I need for sending to grandkids but this little bunny with the butterfly on his nose (Clear $ Stamps) just tugged at my heart so I made him up into another Easter card.  Since boys outnumber girls 2 to 1 in the grandkid generation, I did this one rather CAS for a masculine card.

     I chose colors from Crafts 4 Eternity.  
Obviously, I used more green than anything else but with four colors, something had to be primary to all the rest.  The papers are from DCWV but don't ask me which stacks since I'm using up scraps from the bin again.  Even the CS I used for matting was in the scrap bin.  The lighter green, flowery paper is embossed, and the sentiment is a foam rubber stamp from who-knows-where.  For embellishments, I used only baker's twine and flat rhinestones.

     Challenges:
Crazy 4 Challenges -- green
Fabulous Fridays -- Things with Wings
Mark's Finest Papers -- CAS
Polka Doodles -- Animals
Simply Create, Too -- Spring
Stampin' with the Dragon -- Things with Wings
Sweet 'n' Sassy Digi Challenge -- green
Totally Papercrafts -- male card
Wags & Whiskers -- green

     I have two postings today (this is the first), and tomorrow may have two postings or two cards in one posting.  We'll see how the crafting time goes tonight.  I find I'm still trying to adjust to the time change and am often awake at 1:00 in the morning!  Seems better to craft something than just toss & turn in bed.  Happy crafting.  NanaConnie

One More Easter Bunny

     This digi, Barbara Bunny, from Robyn's Fetish, is so darling I couldn't wait to get her colored up and on the 'bunny trail"!  She was actually a freebie for playing in the Easter card challenge at The Crafter's Cafe.

Sketch from Sketches by Carly and colors from Totally Stampalicious; purple, turquoise & green.

 

     Image is colored with watercolor pencils, blended with a Copics blender, fussy cut and matted with purple CS, then fussy cut again and layered onto a lacy doily cut with a Cheery Lynn die -- whose challenge theme is "Easter".  The doily is layered onto solid turquoise paper.

     Both the dps are from DCWV and have been in my scrap bin for waaaay too many months -- maybe even more than a year.  The purple gingham ribbon was used to tie a bow, and the flower was made from different layers of petals, mounted on two different die cuts (Spellbinders dies.)  The dark purple strips are not CS, they are ribbon.  The sentiment is written in silver paint pen right onto the ribbon.

     Other challenges:
Crafter's Cafe Challenge -- Ribbon or Lace
Crafty Boots -- Easter
Kaboodle Doodles -- Cuteness
Lia Stamps -- Anything goes
Love to Create -- Anything goes
My Grafico -- Easter or Spring
Outlawz Greeting Card -- Flowers, patterned paper, & ribbon
There She Goes -- Easter w/ animals
Truly, Madly, Crafty Challenge -- Inspiration photo

     Hope you enjoyed this one.  I had a huge amount of fun making it.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Wild Bird

    The challenge at Cooking It Up with Katie, which would normally start today, is on hiatus for the next 2 weeks.  It will start again the first Wednesday in April.  In the meantime, I've done a birthday card that will go into the stash for future use.  I was inspired by the theme at A Day for Daisies this week, "Shades of Blue", which seemed a natural for a bird image.  I used one of their freebies called "Wild Bird."

The sketch came from My Time Made Easy.

 

     The dps were in my stash and I think they're from either Prima or K & Co.  The image is colored with watercolors and I printed the sentiment onto a music bar digi by Deedee Anderson.  The pearl swirl and ribbon flowers were in my stash, as were the 4 pearl brads in the corners.

     Challenges:
Birthday Sundaes -- Animal birthday card
Inspired By -- inspiration photo with a bird
Pile It On -- Up in the Air

     Enjoy your week -- you're half way through it already.  Happy stamping.  NanaConnie

Another Tuesday, another Throwdown Challenge

     What a fun challenge this one will be!  And it won't cost you a single thing.  Tuesday Throwdown wants to see you do some "Spring Cleaning" and clean out your stash by using things on a card or project that have been hiding there, either forgotten or hoarded.  Everything on my card today came right from the stash -- nothing new, except the digi stamp from our sponsor, The Stamping Boutique, which they generously supplied to the team.  I used "Audrey, Spring Cleaning."  I thought she would be a good reminder of the theme.  :-D  Doesn't she remind you of a cheerful Cinderella of fairy tale fame?

Sketch from Midnight Madness.

 

     Image is colored with Promarkers and a touch of sparkle gel pen to make the water and bubbles glimmer.  All the dp and CS were in my stash and the dp is probably DCWV but I don't know for sure.  For embellishments, I added 2 different kinds of brads, some ribbon and a bow, then printed and added the sentiment.

     Challenges:
Cardmadfairy's Digi Days -- Add a sentiment
Corrosive Challenge - Things are looking Grimm (fairy tales -- Cinderella)
C.R.A.F.T. -- House (house cleaning!)
Crafty Creations -- Fairy Tales: Cinderella
Fairy Tale Challenges -- Fairy Tales: Cinderella
Guylou's Inimitability -- monochromatic
Hotshot Craft -- ribbon
I Love Promarkers -- Anything goes
Little Darlings -- Colors of spring (sky blue)
Paper Crafting Journey -- Pretty pastels
The Poodles Parlour -- Anything goes
Raise the Bar -- Increments of 4: 4 flower brads, 4 round brads, 4 layers on the image
Shelly's Images -- Anything goes

     I hope you're going to do spring cleaning, dig into your stash of hoarded or forgotten items and play along with us at Tuesday Throwdown this week.  We'd love to see how you're inspired by our theme and where your creativity takes you.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Easter Lamb for Lexi's Creations

     Another alternate Monday so it's the beginning of another challenge at Lexi's Creations.  We're sponsored this week by The Stamping Boutique, and our theme is Easter.

My sketch came from The Ribbon Carousel and my colors from Outlawz Color Inspiration.

 

     This was such a fun image ("Easter Lamb," available at Fairy Dust Crafts), and it's so perfect for an Easter card.  If this had been the Easter Bunny, I'm sure the eggs would have been various colors, but this Easter Lamb only had blues in his crayon box so.....

     I used large flower petals adhered in three layers to make the 'circle' in the sketch.  I added a touch of sparkling gel ink to each petal.  Lace is woven with narrow grosgrain ribbon and the silk flowers are layered together to make one.  Final touch -- the pearls in the two corners.

     Challenges:

Craft Us Crazy -- Easter

Digital Tuesday -- Think Spring

Do You Stack Up? -- Favorite color (for cards, blue)

Going Grey -- Ribbons and Pearls

Party Time Tuesday -- monochromatic

Sassy Studio Designs -- monochromatic

Sweet Stamps -- Think Spring

Whimsy Inspirations -- Embossing (on the petals)

          I really hope we see you playing along in our challenge at Lexi's Creations.  After all, if you haven't yet started your Easter cards, it's time and if you are doing them, then enter one in our challenge.  We look forward to seeing your creations.

Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Joyful Noises for Easter

     This isn't a card today -- it's a small chipboard book which I'm going to use as an Easter scrapbook.  I'll add Easter photos to the 6 pages inside before it's finished.

   

I took the sketch came from Tracy at Eat, Sleep, Stamp (this is the 2nd time I've used it this week but the last time, I really tweaked it so this one is done to compensate for being so far afield last time!)

 

     I recently bought a new digi set from Clear Dollar Stamps, created by Deedee Anderson, which is a great set for anytime but especially at Easter, I think, and I'm using on one of the sentiments and the music cars from the set.  The set also has some terrific animal images.  I tried something new for me, which had been suggested to me a long time ago, and it works!  The one thing I really miss about using digis instead of rubber stamps was the ability to heat emboss images.  But I was told that if I got everything set up and sprinkled on the EP the instant I removed the paper from the printer, the ink would still be wet enough to hold the EP and then I could heat it.  I heat embossed the music bars on this card with clear EP.

     I used colors from the challenge at Color Create (pink, blue, sage and cream or white) and the colors are all in the papers and embellishments.  The papers are from Prima, the Melody and Annalee stacks, which have been in my stash for almost a year!  The polka dot bow, the flowers, and the bunny charm are the final embellishments.

     Challenges:
Celebrate the Occasion -- Use metal (the bunny charm)
Clearly Inspired -- Scripture
Craft Us Crazy -- Religious/Easter
Crafty Ann's -- Easter
Delicious Doodles -- Wonder of Life
Incy Wincy -- Tic Tac Toe: Heat emboss, Charm, 2 dps
Just Some Lines -- 2 or more items older than 6 months (the book, papers, and flowers)
My Sheri Crafts -- Easter
Paper Play -- Bingo: Charm, Flowers, Chipboard
Perfect Sentiment -- Inspiration photo + Easter
Stamp Man -- Vintage
Stemplesonnen -- Easter

    I hope you're having a creative weekend.  I'll be back tomorrow with a DT card for Lexi's Creations and a new challenge, but no hints.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Dude Time Doodles Freebie

     You all know how much I love Dude Time Doodles digis and making masculine cards (part of the requirement for DTD cards.)  This week, the challenge at Dude Time is to use the freebie they offer to make a card or project, and a win means you could be the next guest designer for a month.   Here's what I did for the challenge.

Sketch from Sketchy Colors.

 

     I'm sending this card to Operation Write Home (where the theme is "Miss You"), and I left it without a sentiment because I think it could be used by one of our terrific military guys or gals for any of several reasons; Missing You, Love You, Thinking of You, Wish We Were Together...    OWH sends donated, handmade cards to our troops overseas so they can use them to write home to loved ones.  You can read more about them by clicking on their badge on the sidebar of my blog.

     I colored the image with colored pencils and markers, cut the image and matted it with three layers, corner punching each layer.  The dp came from my scrap pile (probably DCWV) and I used twine and cord (again from the scrap box) for the only embellishment.  The image is popped up with dimensional dots.

     Challenges:
City Crafter Challenge -- Things in Your Heart
Creative Belli -- CAS
Cupcake Craft -- Going dotty
Daisy Doodles -- Tie it up
Paper Shelter -- For a male
Simon Says Stamp & Show -- Anything Goes
Sweet Stamps -- Think Spring

     Hope you're having a marvelous St. Pat's!  I'm off celebrating my birthday, wearing green (as is proper for an Irish lassie born on this marvelously lucky day) and I'll be back with my next posting later this weekend.
     Top o' the mornin' to ye -- Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

A Blustery Day

     The digi stamp on this card is a freebie from Spyder's Corner  (which I've just discovered) and I happened to find it on a day which was windy and rainy here so it seemed a perfect inspiration for making a card.  I used a sketch from Sketch Saturday and colors from Die Cuttin' Divas, Green, Yellow, Black, & White.

 

     Isn't that little hedgehog just the cutest thing?  The winds at my house were hard enough that I knew my umbrella would turn inside-out just like his if I'd ventured outside!

     The image is colored with ProMarkers, then die cut with an out-of-the-box technique, and matted on a larger, black CS die cut.  I added the faux stitching to the circle.  I used a QuicKutz embossing folder on the yellow CS, added white, edge-stitched ribbon to it (Really Reasonable Ribbon), and then layered on the image.

     I found the dp in my scrap pile and I think that's the last piece I had.   In fact, all the papers and CS that went into making this card came from the scrap box.  I'm on a campaign to use up the scraps or throw out the ones really too small to use.  I printed the sentiment onto a piece of scrap parchment paper, matted it with black CS and added it below the image.

     For embellishments, I used flowers which have been in my stash, added gems to the center of the paper flowers and glitter to the flower petals, the green die cut behind the yellow ribbon rose, and the leaves.  The pearl swirl was the final touch.

     Challenges:
2 Sisters -- Spring colors
A Gem of a Challenge -- Perfect Pastels
Crafting for All Seasons -- Yellow and green
Crafty Boots -- Glitter
Di's Digis Designs -- Pastels
Divas by Design -- Citrus colors
Hiding in My Craft Room -- Super Scraps Saturday
Ladybug Crafts Ink -- Anything Goes
Mark's Finest Papers -- Bingo: sewing, Bling, Embossing folder
Our Creative Corner -- Tic TacToe: Flowers, yellow, gitter
Passion for ProMarkers -- Yellow & Pearls
Pile It On -- Shades of green (& always as many challenges as you can do with one card)
Pixie Cottage -- Pastels
Really Reasonable Ribbon -- Spring (w/ ribbon)
Totally Stampalicious -- All about flowers

     My weekend has begun already and, while you'll think I'm around - crafting and posting, I'm actually gone, celebrating my St. Paddy's birthday with some time away.   Happy St. Patrick's (tomorrow) to you and yours.  Take a day to be Irish, even if you're not!
Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

A Card for Emily

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging posts for this important announcement!  Dustin Pike, of Doodle Dragon fame, has posted the following information about a young, 7-year-old girl who could use some encouragement.

     "A little 7 year old girl by the name of Emily has been fighting leukemia since before December of 2011.   She has had to endure more pain in one year then most adults in their entire life.  She has gone from Leukemia to Rotavirus, to pancreatitis, to kidney stones then to shingles, not to mention over 300 pokes in her little tiny body.  From chemo to blood draws to feeding tubes.  She has definitely had her ups and her downs.  I would like to bless her by encouraging all my blog followers to send her a card to brighten her day.  Emily has a long life ahead of her and with the encouragement of her family and friends is fighting with all her strength."

     Dustin has created a set of wonderful digital images, and he'll send you one free to make a card for Emily.  Once you have the card made and posted to his linky thingy, he'll send you the entire set.  Then, you can mail your card off to Emily with an encouraging note inside it.  You can get all the details, including an address for mailing your card, by going to Dustin's blog.  http://dustinpike.blogspot.com/2012/03/get-imagegive-cardbring-out-smile.html

     Here's my card and I'm going to enter it into as many challenges as possible as a way of helping to get the word out.  Won't you help out, too?

Sketch from Eat, Sleep, Stamp but I turned it on its side and tweaked it a bit.  Sorry Tracy, I'll try to do another one which does less 'damage' to your wonderful sketch.  :-D

 

     It's sweet and simple, and non-bulky so that it will mail in a standard A2 envelope.  When I chose my image and got it from Dustin, it came with both the line drawing and a pre-colored version.  I used the pre-colored version because I wanted to complete it during my lunch break, and before being gone for the weekend.  I die cut both the image and the matting, and layered them together.  The distressed dp is from Prima.  The ribbon bow is one I made and I pulled it from my stash.  Sentiment was printed with my computer.

     Challenges:

Ditzy Craftymess -- Anything goes

Fairy Fun Fridays -- Distress it (paper)

Jellypark Friends -- Nat'l Craft Month (fave technique-using die cuts)

Send a Smile for Kids -- CAS for kids
Speedy TV -- Friendship/Encouragement

     OK, so go check out Dustin's blog, get the info, select an image and tell Dustin which one you want.  Get a card made for Emily!  Hugz to all of you who participate.  NanaConnie

Just Inspirational and Sew Many Cards

     Here it is Thursday morning and we have the next challenge for you at Just Inspirational this week.  Believe it or not, it's our 20th challenge!  Our sponsor this time is Sew Many Cards & Stamps and they generously supplied the stamps for the DT.  I chose "Owen in Flower Pot" because it reminded me of my youngest grandson.  Here's my card and the inspiration photo I used.  There are 2 different photos this week so be sure to stop by the JIC blog to see both of them.

Sketch by The Sweetest Thing. 

     I was inspired by the colors and the gentle, rounded corners on everything.  I used metallic CS for the die cuts, vellum, and some gorgeous ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  Image is colored with watercolor pencil, blended with Copic blender.  The little white flowers are hand punched from mulberry paper and I've added a gem brad to each one.

     Challenges for this card:
A Gem of a Challenge -- Perfect Pastels
Allsorts -- Say it with flowers
Catered Crop -- Ribbon
Craft Your Days Away -- Mother's Day
Crafty Pad -- Mum's the word
Di's Digi Designs -- Pastels
Dream Valley Challenges --Mother's Day
One Stop Craft -- Ribbon plus Mother's Day
Our Creative Corner -- Tic Tac Toe: brads, pink, flowers
PanPastel UK -- Girly/Mother's Day

     Hope your week is going well and that you're looking forward to the weekend.  I hope to have some time in my garden this weekend, weather permitting.  In the meantime, be sure to join us for the Just Inspirational challenge this week.  We'd love to see how you're inspired.  :-D   Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Tired Easter Bunnies

     Another week closer to Easter and I have many of my Easter cards done and ready to mail.  Today's card is going to a special grandchild but I'm not saying which one.  :-D  I did another shaped card (a rare thing for me) because I got these beautiful new doily dies from QuicKutz and decided they would make a perfect, vintage-looking card.  Stamp is by Serendipity and is called Easter Bunnies.  Aren't they precious?  Obviously they're exhausted from all the egg hiding they did.

     Image is colored with Copics after I stamped and heat embossed it with black detail EP.  I cut a smaller size doily in white and used it as the backing for stamp.  The sheer ribbon is woven through the holes and tied slightly off-center at the top of the card.   I thought the vintage doilies and the ribbon were enough embellishment -- I didn't want to take away from the image.  Shhhh, let them sleep.  :-)

     Challenges:
Chocolate, Coffee &Cards -- Feathers and Fur
Color Me Creative Copics -- Furry Animal Antics
Crazy Challenge -- No designer papers
Creations by Gill M -- shaped card
Creative Mondays -- Anything goes
Delicious Doodles -- Inspired by Song -- "Here's Comes Peter Cottontail"
Fashionable Stamping -- Bingo: words, bows, vintage
Make It Colorful -- green
Outlawz Greeting Card -- Anything goes
Pile It On -- Green (or St. Pat's)
Robyn's Fetish -- Easter
Simon Says Stamp & Show -- Anything goes
Stemplesonnen -- Easter

    So how goes your card making this week?  Are the creative juices running?  I hope so.  Thanks for stopping by today and Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Sweet 'n' Sassy at Tuesday Throwdown

     Good morning (or afternoon, evening, night -- whenever you're reading this post!)  Tuesday is time for another Tuesday Throwdown challenge and this week we want to see you "Clip It."  No, we're not talking coupon clipping; rather, something that clips things together, like paperclips or binder clips or whatever you may have for that purpose.  Just use a clip on your card or project.  Our sponsor this week is Sweet 'n' Sassy and that pleased me greatly when I heard because I buy from them all the time and I love their digis.  The ones they supplied to the design team were no exception.   I used one called Birds and Roses, which I happen to own already and which I have used before but it's been a while.

The sketch I used is from Through the Craft Room Door.

 

   
     The first thing I want to tell you about my card is that I fully intended it to be very CAS, just the CS layers, the image, and the clip.  I was even going to leave the image just black and white with shading done in various grays.   Hmmm, so what happened, you ask?  Well, a whole series of things.

     I decided that I wanted the large circle shown in the sketch to be a large, die cut, butterfly (Spellbinders) and I started sorting through my CS stash to find the perfect one for a butterfly.  Purple (of course) and I thought if I could manage an embossed texture on it, that would be kind of neat.  So, I used three layers of CS in the Big Shot and the third layer is the one I used.  It cut the butterfly shape perfectly but didn't cut out the swirls, etc., inside the butterfly.  It just embossed those.  Great, I'm loving that since it's exactly what I had pictured in my mind.

     When I placed the image on top of the butterfly, it looked washed-out against the deep purple of the CS.  So, I grabbed the colored pencils, and added a bit of lilac and lavender to just the roses.  Then the birds looked washed-out, so I gave them a touch of color, then did the leaves, then the frame... well, you get it.  I die cut the image, sponged the edge outside the frame, and adhered it to the middle of the butterfly die cut.    Ahhh, perfect!

     I chose the pink dp, cut it to size and rounded the corners, then added the butterfly.  Still perfect.  I found a lavender card blank and added the butterfly piece.  Then, when I put the clip on the bottom of the butterfly wing, it suddenly just cried out for some swirlies.

     So, the next thing you know, I'm digging through the stash looking for the perfect pearl swirls and those are added to the card, and when I step back and look at the card, it's completely different from what I had in mind!  I'm not at all sure that I've achieved the CAS card I originally intended.  Sigh ....  It doesn't matter since I'm totally happy with the end result.  :-D

     Challenges for this card:
Art Impressions -- Sparkle, bling and embossing
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards -- Feathers & Fur
C.R.A.F.T. -- Inspired by a Song: "Everything's Coming Up Roses"
Crafty Purple Frog -- Pink & Girly
Crop Stop -- Rainbow of colors: purple, pink, green, and white
Cupcake Craftroom -- Spring bouquet
Digi Doodle Shop's Best -- Animals (birds)
Glitter Geeks -- Spring
Heidi's Hobbystuggu -- Use an animal (birds)

     Are you going to find some super clips in your stash of goodies and come play with us at Tuesday Throwdown this week?  We can't wait to see how you interpret this challenge. Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie