Holiday Party Time !

      A couple of days ago I did a post in which I mentioned a FB site where certain artistic people create AI clipart, often from specific requests made by members of the site.  It's called Free Printable Clipart and if you're interested, you can get there by clicking on the name above.

     I joined and have had a wonderful time browsing around and downloading clipart images I'll be using on my cards.  Today, I'm sharing two different cards which were made for neighbors who open their hearts and homes to the neighborhood for holiday parties each year.  

     Because I was making these cards more or less at the last minute (party is tomorrow night!), I chose to use the pre-colored version, exactly as I downloaded it.  But I've also used these clipart images printed in gray scale and hand colored by either my sis-in-law or me.

     I used scraps of dp for the background on this first card, carefully pieced together and the image was placed on an angle to cover a bare spot where one scrap was too small.  The image was cut with a Spellbinders die and I added silver and blue snowflakes.  The angel was in my stash of Christmas decorations, the only one I had left and it gave a bright spot of white to the card.  The sentiment was printed and cut with a small die from QuicKutz.

     The second card was also cut with a Spellbinders die and was framed with a scrap of deep blue CS.  The background dp came from an old K & Co stack and it has embossed holly leaves on it.  I added a die cut snowflake (Cottage Cuts), plus a wooden snowflake (Recollections) placed on top of it.  This sentiment was also printed and cut with a die from QuicKutz.

     Challenges: 

Cutie Pie

Dream Valley 

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz Monday

Polkadoodles

     Challenges:

Aud Sentiments

Dragonfly Dreams

Path of Positivity

Simon Says Stamp

ZieloneKoty

     That's it for today.  Happy New Year to you and yours and may yours be safe and same.  NanaConnie

Time for the Dreaded "Q"

       It's another challenge with an alphabet letter and this time it's the dreaded "Q" for the 30 Days of Holidays at Beccy's Place and our letter prompt is "Q."   Not an easy one for sure.  I pretty much think of quilting or quilling and I haven't done any quilling in more than 10 years so I turned to Quilted.  I used Beccy's Three French Hens image from her 12 Days of Christmas set, along with one of my Quilting dies.

      The quilted hens were colored with Sanjoki markers, then cut with an oval die from QuicKutz.  The Quilt die I used is from Sizzix.  The glitter CS is by Recollections and the green polka dot dp came from an old K & Co. stack.  The red CS was dry embossed with my Linen EF.  These are all scrap papers cut with the quilt die.  I looked through all my Christmas dies and found a holly leaves die which is from SU.  I had the mini buttons in my stash and have no idea what company made them.  The sentiment was printed and hand cut with scissors.

I based this on the sketch #289 at Sweet Sketch Weds 2

turned sideways so that the oval is horizontal and adjusted for an A2.

     Challenges:

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

Paper Funday

Penny's P-C
Simon Says Stamp

Snippets Playground

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Signs of Christmas

      I'm apologizing right now for being so late with this post but between internet connection problems and back pain problems all last week, I simply couldn't get it posted any sooner.  Nevertheless, here's two cards I did as DT inspiration for the challenge this week at Crafty Catz.  Our sponsor is Jan's Digi Stamps and they generously supplied images for the DT to use.  I chose to use both of them.  The first is called "Santa's Gift" (with the image reversed) and the second is "Christmas Skates."  The sentiments on both cards are from the Christmas Skates set.

     Santa is colored with water color paints, cut with my Fiskar's paper cutter, and the edges were inked with a Sanjoki marker.  The background dp came from a K & Co. stack and it has a decorative, die cut edge on two sides.  I found some lovely, silver, metallic ribbon in my stash and used it to do a quick wrap around the card front and to tie the bow.

     Challenges (1st card):

Crafts Galore ...

Creatalicious

Happy...Stampers

Jan's Digi Stamps

Kerst Christmas

SheepSki Designs

     Here's the second card with the Christmas Skates image and it's probably my favorite of the two.

     I colored it using my Sanjoki markers, then cut the image with a die from Tonic Studios.  I inked the edges with an ink pad.  The red background is dry embossed with snowflakes (easier to see if you enlarge the photo by clicking on it), and I used more of that silver ribbon to tie a simple but larger bow. 

 

     Challenges (2nd card):

Archi-scraps

2 Sisters on the Blog

Carlin's Card Paradise (Iceskates)

Die Cut Divas

Happy...Stampers

Jan's Digi Stamps

     So happy to be back online and to finally have this posted, even if it is 3 days late!  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie 

FarmQuest Frogs, Toads, or Mushrooms

      What a fun and silly card I have for you today.  A new challenge is starting over at FarmQuest, where we always have a general "Farm Country" theme with a more specific theme for each challenge.  This fortnight the specific theme is Frogs, Toads, or Mushrooms.  I didn't find anything with mushrooms but I did find this crazy image with both a frog and a toad.  Of course, these two country boys are out riding their "steed" and wearing their cowboy hats so that takes care of the country part of it.   They are really enjoying the first, bright, spring day, too, after a long hard winter!  lol

     I printed the image in grayscale and colored it in spring greens using my ProMarkers.  I cut it with a QuicKutz, square die.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  The background is made up of scraps of burlap and paper (K & Co), both of which have a country feel to them.  I used my bow maker to tie the polkadot bowtie on the toad.

I worked with the sketch from the Outlawz Sketch challenge,

but I took a couple of liberties. Still, the basics are there.

     Challenges:

As You Like It (Critters because they are cuter)

Crafty Gals Corner

I Love ProMarkers

Inspiration Station (all the green)

Pammie's IP

Passion for Markers

     I'll have another Easter post later but for now, I hope to see you playing along in our challenge.  Grab your silly froggy stamps (or toads or mushrooms) and give us a project with a lovely country feel.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Kitties in the Pumpkin Patch

      These adorable kittens, all siblings from the same litter I'm sure, are spending November evening in the pumpkin patch under the full moon.  The image, called "Pumpkin Kitties," is one of the newest releases from Conie Fong and it's on sale for another day or two.  

     I colored with ProMarkers and gel pens, then cut the image with a Die-Namics stitched die.  I layered two of the dp together, then cut them with a CUT-plorations die.  The background dp is from a K & Co. stack.  I added a strip of grosgrain ribbon and tied a triple loop bow, using sheer ribbon from my stash of scraps.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

     Challenges:

Cardz TV

Colour Crazy

Crafty Catz

Cute Card Thurs

Creative Fingers

Outlawz Festive Fri

Paperbabe

Scrapping4Fun

TicTacToe

 (Diagonal: Ribbon/ Coloring/ Animal)

Uniko

     Don't forget to come and play in one of our two challenges this month.  We have one for colored Conie Fong images only and a second one for completed projects using Conie Fong images.  Both can be found on the Facebook site.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie