Keeping Warm with Gratitude

     I've become so hooked on the images at All Dressed Up and my Wish List for these long-legged gals is growing each week!   Today I used an image called "All Wrapped Up" so it was perfect for a fall card.  I turned it into a Thanksgiving card with the sentiment.

I used colors from House of Cards.

     I think this is a pretty simple design but one with lots of visual interest.  I started by coloring the image with my ProMarkers, then cut it with an Unbranded, oval die.  I had a scrap of plaid paper in my autumn stash and grabbed it for the card front.

     While searching for the dp, I came across the silk leaf and knew it would make a perfect textural piece.  So, I adhered it to the plaid paper, then layered on the image oval, using dimensional tape.  I printed the sentiment, matted it, and used more dimensional tape to mount it onto the card.

     Challenges:
Bastel-Traum
Crafts Dreamy
Crafts Galore Encore
Cupcake Inspirations
Cute N Crafty
Die Cut Divas
Double Trouble
Pammie's Inky Pinkies

     I hope your week is going well.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Flower of the Family

     Since I was the baby and only girl among the siblings, my dad always said I was the "Flower" of the family.  In my teen years, my older brother said that was because I was a "bloomin' idiot!"  lol  Whatever the reason, I used that phrase as the sentiment on this card which features an image from All Dressed Up.

I was inspired by the colors at House of Cards.

     This one is colored with a combo of polychromos pencils and ProMarkers, then cut with an Unbranded die.  I matted the die cut image piece with light blue CS and trimmed the corners.  I mounted that onto dark blue CS and put that onto a kraft card base.

     I dug through my stash of ribbon and found two, matching-in-color, ribbons from completely different companies.  I used one to wrap the card front and the other to make a 'ruched' bow to which I added a row of pearls.

     I printed the sentiment, hand cut it, then matted it with a scrap of kraft CS.  I added that to the bottom of the dark blue CS.

     Challenges:
All Dressed Up
A Perfect Time to Craft
Carlin's Card Paradise
CCC Digi Creations
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafts Galore Encore
Joy Clair
Let's Craft and Create
Morgan's ArtWorld

     Have a wonderful, crafty day and Happy Stamping!   NanaConnie

Wild Summer Roses

     Wild roses always remind me of summer and the lovely, coral-pink, bushes of them which grew next to my grandfather's cabin in the mountains of southern California.  There were dozens of plants and they seemed to increase each summer.  Though the blooming season was short, they always said "summer" at the top of their delicate, flowery, voices.  :-D

     When I saw this delightful image of wild roses at Beccy's Place, I just had to use it on a card.

I was inspired by the inspiration colors at House of Cards.

     I used my ProMarkers to color  the image and then cut it with a die from Spellbinders.  The lattice work was also a die from Spellbinders and was actually a scrap from another project.  The dp was left over from a scrap booking page and the bow was tied by hand using burlap ribbon.  The sentiment was printed, hand-cut, matted, and hand-cut again.

     Challenges:
Card Mania
Carlin's Card Paradise
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafts Dreamy
Crafts Galore Encore
Crafty Hazelnut's PP
Digistamps4Joy
Morgan's ArtWorld

     That's all I have for today.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Spring Foal

     Happy Friday and we all know that means another new challenge at QKR Stampede!  Our theme is always Anything Goes and you can use any kind of image by any company.  If you decide to use a QKR image, your entry will go into a completely separate draw and than increases your chances of winning by a huge margin.  :-D

     If you follow my blog, you know that I usually do some kind of humorous card with QKR images but today I want to share with you a delightful spring foal ("Appaloosa Foal") image which looks like he was just born yesterday.  Isn't he gorgeous?

I was inspired by the color combo at House of Cards.

     I colored him with ProMarkers, added the sentiment, and cut it with a die from Spellbinders.  I chose red-brown CS for the card base, layered on the image piece, then added the gingham ribbon and the wrapped, burlap-twine, bow.  I left it very CAS because I intend to use it as a masculine birthday card and I wanted the image to be the focus, not a bunch of embellishments.

     Challenges:
AAA Cards
Angie's Digi Stamps
Aud Sentiments
Cards in Envy
Color Inspiration Monday
Crafting from the Heart
Incy Wincy
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Pammie's Inky Pinkies

     HAae a fantastic weekend and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Down the Aisle

     This sweet image is from Gerda Steiner Designs and is perfect for the upcoming wedding season.  I adore these little gnomes.  :-D  I know gnomes are supposedly only mythological, but if they exist, obviously they get married!  :-D

I used the colors from the challenge at 

House of Cards.

     I colored with  ProMarkers, then cut the image with a Gina Marie die.  I matted it with red CS to pull out the red in the roses.  The strip of red behind the lace and ribbon is another piece of that same CS even though it looks more pink.   The flowers were in my stash.

     Challenges:
Colour Inspiration Monday
Crafting from the Heart
Cutie Pie
Everybody Art
Gerda Steiner Designs
Get Creative
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Simon Says Stamp and Show
TTCRD

     I just discovered that I didn't finish this post last night so it didn't get scheduled.  But here it is now and I hope you enjoy.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Snowman Joy

     Good heavens, last month I did a card with a Beccy's Place image every single day and thought I had used all of the winter/Christmas images of hers that I had.  Then I found this delightful snowman with his arms full of poinsettia flowers which I've never used before!  I merged it with the poinsettia border before printing it.

I started with the colors in this photo from House of Cards.

     I colored with ProMarkers, added sparkly glitter to the pom pom on his hat, and cut both the image and the mat with dies from QuicKutz.  I layered those onto a pre-made card blank and added some silver and white baker's twine (which has also been in my stash forever, completely unused.)  I printed the sentiment, hand-cut it, and added it; a nice CAS design which will mail quite easily.

     Challenges:
AAA Cards
Beccy's Place
Come and Get It
Crazy Challenge
Cupcake Inspirations
Dream Valley
Glitter n Sparkle
Outlawz CAS
Path of Positivity

     Thanks for visiting and may the rest of your weekend be filled with creativity.  NanaConnie

Yuletide Blessings

     We're getting so close to the end of the Month of Holiday Cards at Beccy's Place and I can now say for sure that I've done each day with an alphabet letter as the theme and there should be only two additional days of as-yet-unknown themes.  I'm beginning to think that I'll be able to complete cards for each of the 30 days.  :-D  Considering that I missed last year altogether, that's pretty exciting.  Even more exciting is the fact that with the exception of the very first day, I've used images from Beccy's Place for every card!

     Today is the letter "Y" and it's an easier choice than yesterday's "X" but still not as easy as some of  the other letters.  I went with Yuletide.  I started out looking for a Yule Log but fell in love with this image from Beccy's, bought it, and did a Yuletide Blessings sentiment instead.

I stared with the color inspiration from House of Cards.

    The image is colored with ProMarkers, and I added tiny dots of white gel ink to the berries as light reflection.  I used an Unbranded die to cut the image.  There was a scrap of that snowflake plaid paper left on the desk after using it for another project a day or two before but it had a couple of small tears in it.  I dug through my dies and found the one from Memory Box which cut out the 2 tears perfectly!  It also added some really great texture to the card.

     I decided that the only things I'd add as embellishment was one, tiny bow so I took a white satin bow I had already sewn together and 'dyed' it with one of my green ProMarkers.

     Challenges:
Beccy's Place
Color Inspiration
Crafting from the Heart
Crazy Challenge
Dream Valley
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz Greetings
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Pixie's Snippets

     That's all I have for today but do check back tomorrow for the next in the series.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Humbug vs Ho Ho Ho

     Into every holiday season, a little "Humbug" seems to fall.  In my family, we were taught that for every "Humbug" we should respond with a happy and cheerful "Ho Ho Ho."    When I saw this snowman from Beccy's Place with a 'grinch'-like sneer on his face , it triggered memories of my mom saying, "Answer every Humbug with a happy Ho Ho Ho!" and that was long before the movie "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."  Since today's alphabet letter in Beccy's 30 Days of Holidays is "H" what better image and sentiment?  :-D

I started with the colors at House of Cards.

     I colored Mr. "H"umbug Snowman with my ProMarkers, accentuated the scowl on his eyebrows with black marker, and added a little gel pen sparkle to him and covered it with Glossy Accents.  When that was dry, I cut him out with a die from QuicKutz.  The dp with the jolly Santa (I can hear the "Ho Ho Ho" rumbling out of him!) is from a Recollections paper pad.

     The ribbon is one of my favorites.  It's "H"olographic in that it alternates red and green depending on how the light hits it.  With no light at all, it looks completely black.  I used my mom's saying as my sentiment.

     Challenges:
Beccy's Place
Crafting from the Heart
Creative Inspirations
Creative Moments
Deep Ocean
Dream Valley
I {heart} ProMarkers
Outlawz Twisted Thurs
Scrappy Land

     One more day, one more Christmas card in the stash.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Blueberry Summer

     Summer has been hot, hot, hot where I live with nearly twice as many 100F + temperatures as what we normally have but I will say that means we have a bumper crop of juicy berries at the farmer's markets this month!  I decided to celebrate that fact with this cute little card featuring a Blueberry Sprite from AuroraWings.

I was inspired by the sketch from the challenge

 on the AuroraWings Facebook page

and the colors from House of Cards.

  

     I colored the sprite with my ProMarkers and added some gel ink highlights.  I cut the image and the two smaller circles with stitched, scalloped dies from Memory Box.  

     For the background, I started with a piece of dp that had polka dots, then did a water color wash over it, changing and blending the colors as I went.  After it was dry, I spattered water droplets across the top, moved them around a bit by tilting the paper back and forth, then let it dry.  The result is the water spot marks in the top corners.  They are on both corners but the right hand corner is so light it doesn't show in the photograph.

     After the background was completely dry, I ironed the paper to flatten it, then added a strip of deep, purple ribbon before adding the die cut circles and the image piece.  I hand cut the printed sentiment, then added the sheer bow.

     Challenges:

Color Inspiration Monday

Connie Can Crop

Crafting from the Heart

Digi Choosday

Pammie's Inky Pinkies

Scrapy Land

TTCRD

Tuesday Throwdown

     OK, after today we're on the downhill slope to the weekend when our hearts and souls will be filled with a need to craft, craft, craft!   So, Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Light as a Feather

     I was browsing around several of my favorite monthly challenges, hoping to be struck by something that would inspire me, and I found this at House of Cards.

     Using both feathers and the colors, here's what I did.

I started with the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

     This is a little different from the way I normally color my images.  I started with just one feather, colored it with ProMarkers and Lyra polychromos pencils, then I photographed it and used my editing software to add a very light grayscale background.  I saved that photo into my hard drive.  For the next paragraph to make sense, you need to know that the feather was photographed standing on its 'stem' so that the feather is standing instead of floating horizontally - more like the ones in the inspiration photo.

     I opened the saved file using MS Word, adjusted the size to what I wanted (see the square, middle feather,) then did a copy and paste two more times to get three feathers.  On the two outside feathers, I 'squeezed' the sides in to narrow them from square to a rectangles.  I printed that, now having the three feathers in a row as my image and then, after I matted it, I turned it on end so that the feathers seemed to be floating downward.

     If you're looking at the three feathers, thinking that they are all colored exactly the same way, now you know how I did it.  One colored feather, photographed, duplicated and size adjusted to give me three identically colored feathers.

     Next step was to choose cardstock in colors from the inspiration photo.  Rather than cutting into new sheets of paper, I went through my bin of scraps and found each of the vertical strips.  The strip on the far left was cut with a Cheery Lynn die (Scandinavian Boutique) and is one of the pieces from the outside edge of the frame (which was used on another project.)  In order to get the darker blue of the color combo, I added a strip of sheer ribbon to the background and also used a snippet of it to 'mat' the sentiment.

     I added three, tiny, brass, 'pearls' to the top corner and another three to the bottom corner.  What is it about sets of three that is so magical in card designing?  Three feathers, three strips, three pearls...  This is my first work with "mixed media" and I hope to get better at it but mixing photography, fabric, die cuts, and metal with textured papers was the best I could manage this time.  I stayed with all simple, geometric, shapes for a clean, somewhat 'industrial' and masculine feel.  

     Challenges:
A Vintage Journey
Catch the Bug (top row)
Crafting with an Attitude
Creative Fingers
Jo's Scrap Shack
Pixie's Snippets
Scrapper's Delights

Word Art Weds.

     This week has sped by so quickly!  Maybe it was all the Easter celebrations or the Monday holiday along with the half day at the beginning of last weekend for Good Friday.  Whatever it was, the weekend is nearly here and I'm sooo ready for it!  I plan to do very little and be a couch potato most of the time.  If the Creative Muse knocks, I'm probably going to debate answering that door.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Topsy Turvy Cake for a Snake

     I'm playing along in another fun, progressive challenge, this time at Dragon's Lair.  I guess if you can have Snakes on a Plane, I suppose they must have birthdays to celebrate, too.  But how would they blow out the candles on their cakes?

I used the sketch from Stella Says Sketch and

colors from House of Cards.

  

     I used  Koh-I-Noor pencils to color the image and discovered that they are significantly different from the ones I have been using so I'll have to practice more before I feel really comfortable with them but I do like the 'creaminess' of them.  It might also help if I wasn't using them on watercolor paper.

     The green stripes at the bottom were cut from scraps and the image just fit a plain square die from Spellbinders so I cut it with that die.  The ribbon is sparkly and was in my stash.  I punched the three flowers out of sparkle CS, put pearls in the centers, and then found the three golden pearls for the upper corner.  The silly sentiment about "Hiss Out the Candles" is my own, of course.

     Challenges:
Craftaholics
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Catz
Glitter n Sparkle
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Paper Nest Dolls
Simon Says Stamp

     That's it for today except to wish you Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Chicken Soup

     I needed a quick Get Well card and had this cute image by Sandra Caldwell which I'd never used before so it seemed the perfect time.

I took my colors from House of Cards.

     I colored with my ProMarkers and Copics, fussy cut the image and layered it onto some striped dp to give a 'wallpaper' look to the background.  I added a die cut frame (Cheery Lynn), a bow and a flower plus the sentiment and called it finished.

     Challenges:
613 Avenue Create
Allsorts
Animal Friends
Cheery Lynn Designs
Come and Get It
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper
Creatalicious
Glitter 'n Sparkle
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Petal Lu
Scrapper's Delights
Sweet Stamps
Take It, Make It

     Now that you've gotten past the dreaded "Back to Work Monday," how's your week going?  Mine is going to be busy again but I got lots of crafting done this weekend so I have some things to post for you.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

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