Love You More

     Happy Friday -- that wonderful, glorious day which ushers in the weekend!  It also heralds a new challenge at QKR Stampede and this week our theme is "Hearts."  Obviously, that gave me a chance to do another Valentine card using Digi 24266, "Love You Mouse."

I started the card design by using

the sketch from The Sweetest Thing.

     I colored the image with my ProMarkers and fussy cut the mouse.  In the original image, he has a shadow mouse on the right hand side but I cut it off and used just the mouse.  The heart shapes are all cut with dies from Spellbinders, except the actual white sentiment piece which is cut by hand.  The papers are from Authentique and BoBunny, new papers for me and I absolutely love them!

    The mouse is raised from the plaid heart on dimensional dots, though that doesn't really show very well in the photograph.  The little gems in the middle of the smallest hearts were in my stash for who-knows-how-long!

     Challenges:
Aud Sentiments
Country View Crafts
Crafty Hazelnut's Pattern Paper
Crafty Sentiments Designs
Creative Card Crew
Design Team Showcase
Die Cut Divas
Fitztown
Kit and Clowder
Loves Rubber Stamps
My Artistic Adventures
Not Just Cards
Perfectly Rustics
Pile It On
Squigglefly
That Craft Place
Tinker-Dream
We Do Doobadoo

     What a great day.  The massive storm has subsided in the northeast, it's foggy and quiet here in my neck of the woods, the cats are all curled up together keeping each other warm, and it's a perfect day for crafting!  Enjoy and I hope we'll see you playing at QKR Stampede this week.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Hibernating Birds?

     It's Thursday and time for another fun challenge at Outlawz Twisted Thursday.  We always have an "Anything Goes" theme and then we have an additional but optional twist if you want to use it.  Our optional twist this week is "Lovely as a Tree."  Our sponsor this month is Bugaboo Stamps and they were generous in providing images for the DT to use.  Thanks, Jodie!

     I'm not sure if these birds think their 'tree' is all that lovely this time of year but that's their fault for not migrating before winter set in, right?

My sketch also came from Outlawz this week.

     I used my ProMarkers (favorites of all the brands I have) to color the image and added a bit of sparkle and white gel pen to the snow.  Obviously, I used some of my favorite color, too -- purple!  The sentiment is mine and I printed it right below the image, then die cut both in the same piece and embossed around the inside edge.  I die cut the blue background pieces and used the waste pieces to make the edging along the right side of the card.  Both die sets are from Spellbinders.  I also used a hand punch on three of the corners.  Almost CAS (but for the layers) with minimal embellishing and lots of open space, even if it isn't 'white' space.

     Challenges:
Catch the Bug (emboss/stripes/animal)
Corrosive Challenge
Creatalicious
Die Cut Divas
Dragonfly Dream
Glitter n Sparkle
Great Impressions
Hiding in My Craft Room
Kit and Clowder
Kreativeinkauf
My Sheri Crafts
Outlawz Greetings
Paper Creator's Crafts
Scrap It Girl

     That's all I have for today.  Unfortunately, I'm under the weather with this flu that's making the rounds and I just don't feel like being up and around for very long at a time.  Hope things are healthier at your house.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie  DT

Newest Fur Baby

     I cheerfully admit that this card was inspired by a new fur baby who has come to live at my house.  I'll have some photos of her later in the post and the story of how she came to adopt me.  In the meantime, this card is done for the challenge at Lacy Sunshine, where the theme is "Sparkly and New."  This is one of Heather's sweet animal images, just too cute for words and perfect for anyone celebrating a new fluffy member of the family.

     I wanted a completely CAS card so I printed the image right onto the card front and added the sentiment above it.  I did no coloring at all because I like the black and white of the drawn image.  I did brush some glue onto the bow she's wearing and the flower centers, then added loose yellow glitter.  I brushed glue onto the flower petals and added clear glitter.  Finally, I added some glue to the shadowed portions of the bow and added copper glitter.  What a great way to have lots of sparkle and bling but still have a very CAS card.  :-D

     Challenges:
Aud Sentiments
Card Mania
City Crafter
Corrosive Challenge
Crafter's Cafe
Crafting from the Heart
Going Grey with Scrap-Creations
Inspiration Destination
Little Miss Muffet
Outlawz Greetings
Paper Girls
Quirky Crafts
Scrap & Craft
Sparkle N Sprinkle
Top Tip Tuesday

      OK, now for a peek at my new fur baby, whose name is Molly B Katniss, but she prefers to be called just Molly.  She's about 8 months old and had to find a new home when her previous owners moved.  Through one source or another (translate that to read 'my daughter'), Molly and her humans became aware that I was a sucker for being adopted and that there was already a good start on a 'pride' if she could just manage to be cute and sweet and lovable so that the other two (Cleo and Honey) felines would accept her.

     It took two nights and a full day before Cleo and Honey were willing to fully accept that there was an unfamiliar feline sharing the living space, but here's Molly, checking out the very spot where Honey likes to sit and stare out the craft room window.

     Once she decided that the nesting site was the proper shade of purple and soft enough to suit her delicate paws...

     ...she checked me out (I was at the craft desk about 2 feet away) to see if I was going to give her any verbal grief about being up there.

     Receiving no objections from me, she settled in, perhaps hoping for a quick bath and a long snooze.  Unfortunately, before either of those could happen, Honey voiced an opinion and they had a long conversation about who gets to sit in the window and when.  Although considerably smaller in size, Molly is not to be intimidated and she stood (sat?) her ground.  I don't think the issue has been completely resolved but for the time being that's where she likes to be whenever I'm in the craft room.  More to come, I'm sure.

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

New Love for the Young

     (Edited to add:  Sorry this is late today but I've been denied internet access by my provider -- cable box problems -- for several days now and I didn't have this post pre-scheduled.)

     Once again, Valentine's Day looms just over the horizon and in honor of that, I've used a really fun image from Bugaboo Stamps (our sponsor) to make a card for the new challenge at The Outlawz Twisted Thursday.  As always, our theme is "Anything Goes" but we have an optional twist of "Use Brads or Eyelets" on your card.  I chose brads and I'll give you a tip on getting brad colors you need but might not have in your collection.  First, the card:

     The image (new to me) is colored in stripes with red ProMarkers (I wanted a black, white, and red monochromatic combo for this one), corner punched, matted and corner punched again.  The two dp are from one of my new stacks by Authentique.  I have been so good for months and months, using up my stash and my scraps of dp and not buying any papers at all but when I saw this particular stack, I simply had to have it!  What's the point of using up what you already have if you don't get to buy something new to replace it?

     I added stitching to the black striped dp and used a red heart brad in the corner.  The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and the scallops are die cuts using one of my new dies (Cheery Lynn) and yes, I am in love with that new die in case you think you've seen it once or twice already.  :-D  Finally, I finished off this celebration of 'New Love' by adding three different sizes of round brads.

     Now, the tip I promised you -- I wanted to match the color of the heart brad as closely as possible but when I looked, I had no red brads anywhere!  I did have some red embossing powder that was really close in color so I embossed the brads.  How, you ask?  I held each brad with very long tweezers (which also have a hard rubber covering on the handle), heated the brad head with my heat gun, then quickly dipped it into the EP, removing it immediately.  The EP melts right onto the brad because the brad is hot.  On a couple of them, I had to do two coats of EP but amazingly, the color was an exact match to the heart brad.  I was so happy.  Never again will I have to worry about having brads in the color I want because I have EP in every color of the rainbow.  :-D

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Allsorts
Catch the Bug (ribbon/scallops/stitching)
Crafting Cafe
Crafting Musketeers
Crafty Calendar
Design Team Showcase
My Time to Craft
Nataliie and Amy's
One Stitch at a Time
Paper Creator's Crafts
Send a Smile 4 Kids
Sweet Stampin'
That Craft Place

     I hope your week is going well and that we'll see you playing in the Twisted Thursday challenge at The Outlawz this week.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie  

No Cold Shoulders

     Friday morning and another new challenge at QKR Stampede.  Our theme this week is "Baby, It's cold outside" which, in many parts of the US and Canada at least, is a totally true statement!   I used this darling snowman digi (Digi 23701 "Snowman Scene") and the sentiment "Cold Shoulder" Digi 10801.

My sketch came from the Wednesday Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz.

     The image is colored with ProMarkers and I added bits of glitter to the overall scene for snowflakes and to the snowman for a bit of sparkle.  I know that pale blues are the traditional colors for snowy winter cards, but I wanted to see if I could make green look cold and icy.  What do you think?  Both the image and the sentiment are hand cut.

     I heat embossed the card front with white EP from Sparkle n Sprinkle before layering on the image piece.  I added green sequins.  The sheer ribbon has been hiding in my stash and I added a scrap of narrow, dark-green ribbon before I tied the bow.

     Challenges:
613 Avenue Create
Card Mania
Come and Get It
Crafting by Designs
Crafting from the Heart
Eureka Stamps
Friends of Speedy TV
Glitter n Sparkle
Great Impressions
Paper Minutes
Papertake Weekly
Party Time Tuesday
Robyn's Fetish
Stamp and Create

      That's it for me today.  I hope your weekend means staying inside where it's warm and doing some fun and enriching crafting, just to recharge your soul.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Cheers!

     I have been away from my crafting desk for way too long and really missed it.  I swear I'm going to have to start a "Crafter's Anonymous" group to help with this addiction.  :-D  Today's card is one I've done for the Progressive Challenge at Rick St. Dennis' Sparkle n Glitter blog.  The image is a new one I purchased with a gift certificate Santa brought me and I also used two of my brand spankin' new dies from Cheery Lynn, the frame and the "Cheers."  What a perfect way to celebrate the New Year!

I used the colors from Pals Paper Arts.

Unfortunately, my Navy Blue looks almost black

and, of course, my lavender/wisteria turned blue. :(

     I colored the image with ProMarkers, then die cut it.  I cut the frame from lavender/periwinkle CS and then cut the sentiment from the same CS.  I added glitter to the "Cheer" sentiment and to the upper corner of the frame for a touch of sparkly bling.

     That gorgeous sheer ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  The little mouse at the bottom is actually a completely separate RSD image which I sized, printed, and fussy cut before adding it.  I think he definitely adds to the party atmosphere, doesn't he?

     Challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks
As You Like It (square because it gives the most space for designing)
Crafter's Cafe
Crafty Catz
Digistamps 4 Joy
DL.ART
I {heart} ProMarkers
Inspiration Destination
Just Inspirational
Little Miss Muffet
Little Red Wagon
Passion for ProMarkers (die cut/free/glitter)
Simply Create Too

     The weekend is half over and the reality of post-holiday work weeks looms ahead.  I hope your day brings you some relaxation and creativity.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

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Get Well Wishes

     QKR Stampede has a new challenge today, its first of the New Year, and the theme is everyone's favorite, "Anything Goes."  I admit this card was inspired by my son-in-law's broken leg a few weeks ago.  The image and sentiment can be found here:  Digi 9403 "Ski Accident" and Digi 9105 "MamaSaid."

     I can't tell you how much fun it was to color this image; I used my ProMarkers and a couple of shades of gray from my remaining collection of Copics.  I kept it all very simple since I wanted a CAS design on a masculine card.   I layered kraft and deep blue CS to mat the image and added brads to two of the corners.

     Challenges:
613 Avenue Create
Card Mania
Crazy Challenge
Creative Card Crew
Inspiration Destination
Not Just Cards
Robyn's Fetish
Scrapper's Delights
Simon Says Stamp
Whimsy Inspirations

     I hope your New Year was terrific and that you survived the cold temperatures if your celebration took you outside.  Did you watch the Rose Parade or any football games?  At least those were good, inside-where-it's warm activities.  :-D  Come play with us at QKR this week, won't you?  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Please just ignore the annoying Verification thingy.  You can write and post your comment without entering anything in the box (at least until Blogger decides to change that, too.)  Thank you.

All Downhill for the New Year

    HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

     After trudging doggedly through 2014, feeling like it was a mostly uphill journey adjusting to a new city, a new house, finding my way around unfamiliar streets, and meeting new faces everywhere I turned, I'm looking forward to a downhill 2015!  :-D

     A new challenge starts today on The Outlawz Twisted Thursday where we always have an "Anything Goes" theme but we add an optional twist -- this week the twist is "Winter Fun" and our sponsor for each Thursday challenge this month is Bugaboo Stamps.  They were so generous in supplying the DT members with images to use but since I love Bugaboo and have more than 150 of their digis, I chose this one from my collection (which I have never used before.  Does that make it "new?")

Inside it says "Happy New Year."

I based my design on the sketch from Seems a Little Sketchy.

     I colored the image with ProMarkers and added a bit of glitter to the snow.  For the snowflakes, I used silver sequins.   The paper is from The Paper Studio.  The bow and the three blue sequins are the only added embellishment, leaving the card pretty CAS and good for a masculine card, I think.

     Challenges:
Card Mania
Catch the Bug (image/glitter/choice-sequins)
Corrosive Challenge
Craft a Scene
Crazy Challenge
Creative Card Crew
Friends of Speedy TV
Glitter n Sparkle
Jellypark Friends
Just Inspirational
Melonheadz
Not Just Cards
Outlawz PAM
Paper Nest Dolls
Pile It On
Scrappy Hands

     I hope we're going to see you over at The Outlawz this week.  If you've never joined over there, you really should think about it.  There are challenges every day of the week, and a new monthly progressive challenge where you can earn freebie digis by playing in the challenge.   Joining is free and easy and there are such wonderful people at The Outlawz.  Give yourself a present for the New Year and come join us.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie