It's All About the Salsa !

      I know, all you 'foodies' out there think I'm talking about a new recipe just in time for the upcoming holidays, but this card has absolutely nothing to do with tomatoes or hot chili peppers.  Rather, it's all about Salsa Dancing!  I had to get one more of my dance theme cards shared.  :-D

     The image is water colored (although her skin tones are done with ProMarkers and the white on his shirt is gel pen), cut with a QuicKutz rectangle die, and the corners were done with a Fiskars punch.  The bright red-orange frame was cut with Sue Wilson dies, inlaid back into themselves.  I added scrap strips of textured gold CS, and everything is mounted onto a cocoa-brown card base.  I found three, square, metal brads in my stash, broke off the prongs, and glued them to the card front.  The "Salsa" sentiment was done with a dried-out black marker.

I chose colors from My Favorite Things.

     Challenges:

A Perfect Time ...

Classic Design

Crafts Galore Encore

Crafty Sentiments

Digi Choosday

Lemon Shortbread

Morgan's ArtWorld

Penny's Paper-Crafty

TTCRD

     Kind of a short post but my hand isn't completely healed so typing is still very slow.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Magical Moments

      I want to share another of my dance themed cards, this one in black and white monochrome and with a very CAS design.  I'd love to say it was quick and easy but I spent a lot of time planning and executing the black silhouettes with the gray scale silhouettes, and putting the 'reflections' at the bottom.

     The finished image was cut with my largest QuicKutz die, and matted with black CS.  I added one of my signature bows with a pearl.  My stash of those is getting a bit low and I'm going to have to spend a day hand-sewing another 2 or 3 dozen of them pretty soon.  Once I had added the bow, it seemed finished and I decided to leave it that CAS.

Based on the sketch from Sketch Saturday.

    Challenges:

CCC Digi Creations

Classic Design

Crafts Galore Encore

Crafty Calendar

Gem of a Challenge

Let's Craft & Create

Lil Patch of ...

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Another Dance Day

      Did you enjoy my week long break from cards influenced by a dance theme?  I hope so because I'm back to dance cards today but these are a bit different from the Ballroom style.  Today we celebrate good old West Coast Swing and Boot Scootin' !  :-D

     There's also no coloring on either one of these which is extremely unusual for me.  Instead, I dug out a never-before-used die from Die-namics.  I bought this die probably three years ago when my daughter was teaching West Coast Swing dancing.  I wanted to do some cards for her and her dance group but shortly after I got it, she had an injury and couldn't dance for many months, probably as much as a year, and then the pandemic closed in.

     Now I'm finally using the die and made these two cards, the first of which I'll give to her.   On the card with the white background, I cut the silhouette from a scrap of black CS, added the color by trimming tiny scraps of red and blue CS and attaching them to the back of the silhouette.  The sentiment was printed, fussy cut, framed, and fussy cut again.    For the red card, I cut the dancers from  brown CS, mounted them onto a scrap of red CS, made a lariat using red jute cord, then printed and cut the sentiment with a die from Avery Elle.

     Both are CAS designs, good for either male or female.  I chose the red and blue because red is my favorite primary color and, when mixed with blue, it makes purple, which is my favorite color of the entire color wheel.  IN addition to that, either red or blue will work on masculine cards as well as feminine ones.

     Challenges:

    (Card #1)

A Perfect Time ...

As You Like It

Aud Sentiments

Classic Design

Creative Fingers

Dies R Us

    (Card #2)

A Bit More Time ...

Country View Crafts

Creative Craft ...

Cute Card Thurs

Let's Craft & Create

Outlawz Twist Thurs

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Vienna Waltz

      Are you tired of seeing dance themed cards yet?  I hope not but I will try to give you a break from them for a few days.  :-D  This is the one with the image completely water colored, no markers or gel pens or other inks.  It's also done with lots of my favorite color, purple, but I was definitely inspired by the photo inspiration at Inspiration Station.  

     After water coloring, I let the image dry, then ironed it with my clothes iron.  I always iron on the back side and cover the image with a thin dish towel because water color paper tends to curl when it dries.  I used a medium heat on the iron so as to not scorch the paper.  I let it get completely cold before I pick it up or move it around.  I cut the image with a die from QuicKutz.  The image is framed with another rectangle die cut from white CS.   

     The dp is from Recollections, and I cut the corner with a Memory Box die.  The satin and sheer ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and I chose it because of the sparkly gold line on each border.  I wanted to emphasize the variety of purples in the image so I chose those two mulberry paper flowers for the upper corner of the image.

     Challenges:

Angie's Digital ...

Colour Crazy

C.R.A.F.T.

Digi Choosday

Get Creative

Inspiration Station  (All those lovely color options!  Delicious.)

Lemon Shortbread

Lil Patch of ...

Outside the Box

Three Room Studio

     I promise a few days with no dance themes.  :-D   Meanwhile, Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Putting on the Ritz

      One more of my dance themed cards and this is the one I love the best (so far) because I got to use both water color paints and markers.  I'll share another one tomorrow that is all water color and, in its own way, is every bit as glamorous.  :-D  

     On this image, the background is all watercolor, as is the clothing on the couple but their faces, hair,  arms and legs are colored with ProMarkers.  The problem with markers on watercolor paper is that it tends to 'bleed' into spots where you don't want it but when the background is all water color, that can be a blessing in disguise.  The 'lights' were done by putting a tiny brush point of water onto the dried background, then removing the water with another dry brush point, which pulled the color out of the middle, making it look like a floodlight.

     The die cuts were made with a Sue Wilson die and I added the pearls to mimic the floodlights in the image.  The sentiment at the bottom of the frame around the image is so tiny you probably can't read it but it says, "Puttin' on the Ritz."

I chose complimentary colors of blue and rust 

from the color wheel at Color Dare.

       Challenges:

Colour Crazy

Crafter's Castle

Crafty Calendar

Creative Fingers

Die Cut Divas

Dies R Us

Taylormadecards ...

TTCRD

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Dance 'til ...

      A few days ago, I told you about the inspiration I got from seeing a live dance competition and how that resulted in a new batch of cards featuring dance themes.  (See this post for the full story.)  Today, I want to share 2 of the latest dance cards.

     This first one is delightfully romantic and also vintage, reflecting a feel of the 1920s.  The digi image is pre-colored and I found it online after doing a search for "dancers."  There is no way to credit the artist because no information was given about who drew it.  If anyone recognizes it, please let me know and I'll edit this post to give proper credit.

     I'm going to give this to a friend who wants to use this as an Anniversary card.

     I cut the image with a rectangle die from QuicKutz.  I used a Fiskars punch to round the corners, and cut the gold frame with an Unbranded die.  I embossed the frame with my "Linen" EF.  I added no ribbon or bow or gems, feeling that the delicacy of the filigree frame was enough embellishment.

     Challenges:

Allsorts

Crafty Creations

Creative Fingers

Dragonfly Dreams

Gem of a Challenge

Lil Patch of ...

Paperbabe

Word Art Weds

     This second card was made for the recipe challenge at Crafty Chefs.  That challenge has been reactivated due to the efforts of  Monica of Sunshine Creativity (bless you, my friend!) who has given us a much simplified recipe this month.  Only 2 ingredients: die cuts & a sentiment.

     This is not a challenge for a prize.  It's open to any kind of project providing you use the recipe ingredients, and it's there purely for the fun of challenging ourselves and sharing our results with friends.  If that sound like your kind of challenge, come join the Crafty Chefs on the Facebook page and play along.

     This image was printed on water color paper and I used water color paints to color it.  The background was 'aged' with a beige ProMarker but the text is part of the image.  The pink frames were cut with Tonic Studios dies.  I cut the larger one into 2 pieces and left the 2 diagonal corners slightly open.  The ivy leaves came from a Sue Wilson die and the sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  I used beige CS to make the card base because I wanted an aged look but also wanted contrast with the white leaves and sentiment.

     Challenges:

Carlin's Card Paradise

Country View Crafts

Crafty Sentiments

Die Cut Divas

Digi Choosday

Get Creative

Outlawz PAM

Stamping Sensations

TTCRD

     That's all I have for today but I still have several more cards with dance themes either made or in process and I'll be posting them off and on over the next two months.  For now, Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie