New Gnomes

      I know, I know, it's been more or less forever since I posted anything, but honestly, I just needed a break from crafting, from gnomes, even from social media, so I took a good, long rest.  But in late January and again last week, I did make three different gnomes which I want to share with you.

     This first one was made specifically for the mother of my first granddaughter-in-law.  It turns out she's a fellow gnome lover, something I didn't know about her until last Christmas but it was too late to get one made for her in time for it to go under the tree.  I did talk to her and found out her favorite colors, then asked her to choose a style for her gnome and told her it would be January before I got to it.

     I worked on him a few hours at a time through the late days of January and this was the result.  He's already been shipped and received, and she does love him.  :-D

  Front

Side view

That's hand embroidery on the sides, sleeves, and back of his coat, 

and it took about 4 hours to complete just that part.  

Her color choices were green and brown.

     This Charcuterie Gnome I made for my daughter and she was absolutely ecstatic!   She does a lot of charcuterie boards for social events so it was right up her alley.  :-D  I think he's pretty special.

The grapes and the cheese wheel were made with polymer clay,

and his serving spoon is a charm I had saved for a couple of years

with no real purpose in mind.  He has a tiny wine goblet

made by my sister-in-law.

    

     Finally, this one is another with hand embroidery on his coat but this time it goes all the way around, front, sides, and back with the same pattern.  This time the embroidery took well over 10 hours but I really like the end result.  

  Front

 Back

     OK, now you know that even though I've been absent, I haven't been totally lazy.  Thanks for dropping by.  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

A Grinchy Christmas

      To all of those who celebrate Christmas, I hope your Christmas Day was happy and warm with family and friends.  In my house, we're still celebrating all 12 Days of Christmas, and doing our best to drive the Grinch crazy with all of our holiday cheer and singing and festive gatherings.

     In honor of that, I want to share a Grinch Gnome I made.  After hearing my daughter's assessment of it as "the most a'dork'able gnome" she'd ever seen, I gave it to her for Christmas!  I'll make another one to sell at the Christmas craft show next year.  :-D

     Enjoy your remaining 8 Days of Christmas and have a safe and sane Happy New Year.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Graveyard and the Bat

      Well, it's been more than a month since I posted anything to my blog but it's been a busy one.  One more craft show is under our belts and we have one more coming up in less than 3 weeks.  I'd love to tell you that we're all ready for that one (our last one of the year) but alas, we have at least half a dozen projects waiting to be finished.  I have two sets of Christmas gnome ornaments, a rather tall, "Winter White" gnome (18 inches), and I still have to get our inventory list finished so that we can keep track of what we sell.

     But for today, I want to share the cutest (spookiest?) graveyard scene made by my sis-in-law and an adorable bat gnome I made.

The ghosts have flickering lights inside them and the cobwebbed trees

 have strings of mini lights on them.  When it's dark (as it couldn't be

 for a good photo), it's really quite spooky-cute.  :-D

And here's my bat gnome made from faux fur and craft foam.

    

     When we get the sets of Christmas ornaments done, maybe I'll find time to do another post.  In the meantime, thanks for visiting and Happy crafting.  NanaConnie

Halloween, Cave Man Carl, and Tom Turkey

      Once more, we're prepping for an upcoming craft show and I've been focused on Halloween gnomes and critters since it will be in October.  But yesterday and today, I decided it was time for a nod to Thanksgiving and a brief flight of fancy into the distant past of cave men and Neanderthals.  :-D

     Let's start with some Halloween costumed gnomes and then check out Cave Man Carl and Tom Turkey.  I didn't do all of these in 2 days; all the ones for Halloween were made over the last 4 or 5 weeks.

     Here are a mummy, a witch with pink hair, one inspired by Frankenstein, a ghost, and finally a gnome dressed as Dracula.  The mummy and Frankenstein are actually troll gnomes who are dressed and ready for the Troll Valley Village's annual Halloween party!  A big "Thank You" to Patti J. Good for her inspiration on many of these.

     

  One more that could fit the "costume" theme is this adorable Cave Man Carl, but he also stands alone without a Halloween costume connection.

 

I'm entering this one into the Anything Goes challenge at Craftlandia.  

And, last but not least, this one for Thanksgiving, Tom Turkey.

     That all I have for today and hopefully, it won't be another month before I can post on my blog again.  Thanks for visiting.  I appreciate that you continue to visit even when I'm not posting regularly any more.  :-D  

      Happy Crafting.   NanaConnie

Embroidered Gnome

      Gosh, it's been more than a month since I posted anything to my blog but I haven't been lazy, just busy.  More gnome work, of course, but I've also been pushing myself to renew old crafting skills as the hand coloring and card making crafts seem to be less and less possible.  

     It's been nearly 50 years since I did any amount of hand embroidery, though I loved it during those years when it was a regular activity.  A few weeks back, my granddaughter gave back to me a huge pile of embroidery flosses, needles, and other supplies which I had given to her when she wanted to try her hand at embroidery.  Seeing all those luscious thread colors whetted my appetite for trying it again, despite the eyesight problems.  (A large, desktop, magnifier helps tremendously!)  I ordered some white Aida cloth online, and as soon as it arrived I began practicing all the old stitches I once knew so well.  I found that I'm much slower (and more careful) with the stitches than I used to be but it's coming back.

     For those of you who don't know, Aida cloth is a stiff, woven fabric with evenly spaced threads which are a specific distance apart and that makes it so much easier when one can use the tiny "holes" between threads to keep your stitches even.  While I was working stitches on a practice piece of Aida cloth, I began to wonder if I could use Aida cloth to make clothes for gnomes, thereby being able to have lovely, even embroidery work on the clothing.  I was concerned that the stiffness might make it unsuitable for clothes but I knew of no way to find out other than to try it!  :-D

     I want to share with you the end result.  I must tell you that this particular gnome took hours and hours to complete and that the embroidery itself took me more than 6 hours to complete, simple as it looks once on the gnome.  All the white parts are the Aida cloth (both coat and top hat), but Aida cloth also comes in colors and, now that I know it works for gnome clothing, I'm going to get some of it in various colors.  Doesn't it give great visual texture?

     Here's the gnome:

     What do you think?  Of course, I love him but I'm the one who did all the work so I'm totally biased.  :-D

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Midsummer Night's Dream

      Well, our second vendor event looms over us; it starts at noon tomorrow.  The theme is "Midsummer Night's Dream" with an emphasis on woodland creatures, renaissance costuming, fairies, magical (?) critters, and other things found in Shakespeare's time, and specifically, his play of the same name.  

     Our first event on the 4th of July resulted in sales even better than our highest expectations!  We were so happy, and immediately came home and made a few additional wizard gnomes and critters better suited to this theme.  I want to share a few of those with you in this post.

     First, the wizard brothers who are also known for their haberdashery, including the weaving of marvelous and magical coat trims.  

 

     Then there's the sleeping gnome cat, napping until the fairies arrive.  Her fur is so incredibly soft and a smaller version of her inspired a bidding war at the earlier event so I had to make another one!

     Finally, there's the head wizard who's been traveling, having left home headed for the Midsummer Night Faire.  He travels with his apothecary of magical potions and is in charge of all things mystical at the Faire.

     

     That's it for this post.  Have a wonderful midsummer day and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Craft Fair in 2 Days!

      We're so close to the first of our scheduled vendor events, this one on the 4th of July.  The event is somewhat "local" but not actually in our city.   Since our particular location in the Central Valley of California tends to be one of the hottest spots in the valley, we're happy to be traveling an hour away, up into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where predicted temperatures will be about 85F when home town will be over 100F.  :-D

     We've been putting the finishing touches on our inventory of gnomes and critters, and I just wanted to take a moment to share with you two more cute gnomes and some of my sis-in-law's hedgie critters. 

     Critters first...  

Aren't those adorable?  They're about 5.5 inches high.

Here's the first one she made a few weeks back, about 4.5 inches tall.

     And here's my last gnomes for this event.  I'll probably make a few more between this event and the next one on July 13 (also up in a different part of the foothills where it's cooler - yay!!) but these two are the last ones before the event on July 4th. 

Done with purple felt and gray fleece.  About 7" high.

Made using all burlap, including burlap trim. 9" tall.

     I won't be posting again until after the event so let me wish all of you a wonderful 4th of July celebration and please be safe and sane.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Lavender Fairy & Gnome with Mustache

      It's been almost 3 weeks since I last posted on my blog but I've been really busy getting thing ready for the craft fair & vendor events that my daughter convinced us to "enter."  Between her, my sis-in-law, and I, we decided we wanted to have a minimum of 100 hand crafted items in our inventory.  We have all made items and we're pretty close to that number, thank goodness!  But the crafting time has overwhelmed any posting time I might have had for the blog.

     In any case, I want to share my last two items (made today) in a brief post.  First is a lovely fairy, made from lavender tulle and craft foam with a white pom pom for her head.  She's 9" tall overall.

     Next is another sitting, sock gnome and what's different about him is that he's the first one I've made with only a mustache, no beard.  I think he's adorable!  I definitely want to make more mustache gnomes after looking at him for the last couple of hours.  He's about 6" tall.

     That's it for now.  Our first event is in exactly 10 days and I have another 3 items to complete.  My SIL is finishing another 3 herself, and I guess my daughter has to pick up the slack.  lol

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Tattered Wanderer

      Things have gotten hectic around here and it's all thanks to my daughter!  She has set up two additional events for us as vendors of the gnomes and critters I've been making and suddenly our first event is now exactly 1 month away.  Yikes!  So, I've been making more gnomes and angels and I'm sharing with you the most recent ones.

     This delightful guy is a wanderer, a fine gnome gent who loves all things found in the woodlands, including the occasional bramble bush.  Hence, his clothing is a bit tattered around the edges but the stories he can share with all the ladybugs and butterflies!

     This guy is wearing my first pair of small gnome boots.  I had made one other pair for my largest gnome a couple of months ago and I tried to make them the same way but with a significant reduction in size.  I took them down from about 4" long to 1.3" or so from heel to toe.  They were made from scratch using cardboard and corks.

     I also made an angel using nothing but bookmark tassels and glitter foam, plus a large bead for her head.  These go fairly quickly (now that I have the "how to" part figured out) and I have materials to make another dozen or so.  Overall, they are about 4.5", not including the hanger cord.

     That's it for now.  Hopefully, I'll find a bit of breathing room when I can do some additional posts here on the blog but I'm really under the gun to get lots of things created so that we'll have enough stock to make the craft show events worthwhile.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Angels

      It seems like forever since I posted anything on my blog, and it has been nearly 3 weeks but I've been busy.  It seems my daughter has convinced me to do some craft fairs and other vendor events, focusing on my gnomes.  I've made so many and given away many of them, but it was a blogging/crafting friend who first gave us the idea of selling them.

     My daughter has several contacts for various events and one of them takes place as a fund raising event for a local Christian school.  They allow only hand made items to be sold; no mass manufacturing.  I have a few months to get enough stock made to make it worth while and since it takes place at the beginning of the Christmas season, I decided it might be good to branch out and make some angels, too.

     So, today I'm sharing a free-standing angel and several angel tree ornaments.  What do you think?

13" tall, burlap and lace

Wired ribbon, 4" tall

Glitter craft foam, 4.5" tall

Unwired ribbon, 3.5 " tall

and finally, the kind everybody has made for the last decade but it's my first one...

Deco Mesh, 8" tall

     That's it for today.  Hopefully, I'll have more to share and it won't take me another 3 weeks to get  post done.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Winter Gnomes

      My screen time on electronics, including my cell phone, is very limited and that's a big part of the reason you aren't getting daily posts from me.  My crafting time is also somewhat limited so I don't have as many things to post as I had a couple of months ago.  But today, I want to share two gnomes I managed to complete, although the larger, white one took me more than 3 weeks to complete.  I'll share it first.

     This is my first gnome with boots and legs and I loved making them.  I must have watched boot making videos on YouTube 100 times (many of which were repeats, watched over and over again until I got the basics down pat.)  On the gnome itself, I used 3 different faux fur trims and 4 different fabrics (fleece, satin, faux leather, and felt.)  The little pocket bag at his waist is similar to one you might find on a man wearing a kilt.  The gold trim is metallic.  I added a glittery snowflake to the piece of gold trim on his hat and it sparkles madly IRL.  

     He's a good 24 inches tall from the bottom of his boots to the tip of his hat.  Next time, I think I'll consider a gray beard or at least a beard sprinkled with gray for a bit more contrast against all the white.

    

     I also finished a cute Santa-style gnome.  He's about 15 inches tall and made with a cone body, red and black plaid fleece, faux fur trim, and a burlap toy sack.

 

     Must run - Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

More Critters

      Over the last couple of weeks I've taken a break not only from cards but also from gnomes.  However, I haven't been idle.  I've been sidelined into a quest for critter gnomes, mostly puppies and kittens.  I want to share two or three of them with you today.

      Here's the first puppy I made and my sis-in-law claimed it right away.  The body is an empty Sunny D bottle, covered in faux fur, with a pompom nose, a felt tongue, and hand tied bow.

     Next, I attempted a kitten gnome (without any pattern or sample to follow), made along the line of the shaggy puppy above but with a muzzle, whiskers, pointy ears, and a tail.

     Finally, I wanted to try another puppy but this time with a top knot.  Again, an empty bottle but this time an old medicine bottle, faux fur, & hand-tied, yarn bow.

     That's all I have for today.  Maybe I'll have something else to share early next week.

     Happy crafting.  NanaConnie

Blackbeard, the Gnome (not the pirate!)

     Another gnome to share and this one gets his name from the color of his faux fur beard.  I based this one on mixed pattern pieces from Duane D. King, a gnome maker I found on YouTube.  I've purchased several of his gnome patterns and find that it's easy to mix the hats, the coats, and the various bodies.

    This one started with a sock which I filled with some pea gravel and fiberfill to give it the shape, then I cut the coat arms and the hat pieces from felt and fleece.  The hat is stuffed lightly with fiberfill.  I went through my stash of  embellishments, chose a feather and silk flower, and added them to his hat.

     The beard is a piece of faux fur with a 3" long pile.  The nose is a simple wooden bead.

     I admit I love this guy!  I think he's really special with his floppy, 2 color, top hat.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Cards or Gnomes?

      It's been a month since I posted anything but circumstances seem to have dictated taking a break from cards for a few months but I can still make gnomes so that's where I'm focused right now.  I won't be posting as often, nor will I be doing any DT projects for a while, but I'll post photos of my gnomes as I go along.

     In addition to the regular gnomes which look like woodland creatures or even wizards, I've also discovered that some really adorable animals can be turned into gnomes - shaggy hair, big noses, and no eyes!

     Today, I'm sharing a gnome cow which I made for my granddaughter.  She's the one who's away at college (Texas Tech) and who has a thing about cows.  I've done other things with black and white cowhide prints, paper or fabric, and she's decorated her apartment with all kinds of cow decor.  But this one is my first Highland Cow gnome.  She loves it!

     Long nap faux fur, carved coral for the horns, and the muzzle was made with a bottle cap and felt.  I think it's an absolute hoot!  lol

     That's it for today.  I may have another one later this week so keep an eye open.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Happy Snow Couple

      Last week, I would have told you that this cute snow couple might be in danger of melting but our weather has turned chilly again and that now seems less likely.  I guess the groundhog was right about 6 more weeks of winter!  

     My card today is my DT inspiration piece for the challenge at FarmQuest Country Christmas.  Our theme is always "Anything Country and Christmas Goes."  We want to see outdoor, country, Christmas scenes on your projects but beyond that, anything is OK.  I think 2 snow people in the woods qualifies, right?

     The image came from Anet Art Store (I have a growing collection of her art) and it was colored with watercolor pencils, plus white gel pen for the snowflakes and highlights..  I used a Spellbinders die to cut the image, and I inked the edges with a red ProMarker.  The background dp came from Recollections.  That's been a favorite of mine and I've been hoarding scraps of it, using bits and pieces to patch together backgrounds for cards.  I'm not completely out of it yet, but the scrap stash is getting thin and I think I have only one full sheet of it left uncut.  

     I printed out the sentiment, cut it with an Avery Elle die, and added it to the bottom corner.  Overall, a very CAS card but the dp makes it look busy.  :-D

     Challenges:

    

     This is my second post today and my first one was for the challenge at FarmQuest General Store.  If you'd like to see that one, just scroll down one post.  For either challenge, we'd love to see you playing along this month.  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Welcome Country

      Our newest challenge has begun at FarmQuest General Store, where our theme is always "Anything Country Goes."  No cityscapes, shopping malls, crowded freeways, or high rises; just calm and lovely country scenes.

     The image I used on my DT card today is a clip art image, colored with Sanjoki markers to give it a sepia effect, with yellow and white gel pens used to give the lights their warm glow.  The sentiments at top and bottom were originally white but I used a beige marker to tone things down a bit.

     The image was cut with a Tonic Studios die, then I cut a white CS frame for it (also a Tonic Studios die from the same set.)  I inked the edges of that before adding the piece to the background dp, which came from an old DCWV stack.  That pad of papers has been in my stash for probably 5 years, unused, and that page seemed to be perfect for this "country" card!

     Challenges:

     I'll have a second post today for FQ Country Christmas so be sure to scroll up to see it, too.  Hope you'll come over and play in our challenge this month.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Easter in Blue

      Hey, guess what?  There's a new challenge starting today at Inspiration Station where we offer a different picture each month for inspiration.  Our challenges begin on the first Monday of each month and  ends on the Saturday before the next challenge begins.

     Here's our inspiration picture this month:

     Of course, it made me think of Easter and Easter bunnies so when I found the delightful image of Mrs. Bunny sporting her Easter bonnet, I had to use it (see card below.)  

     The image was originally a grayscale line drawing but I used blue colored pencil to go over each line and added white gel pen to each of the flowers for a highlighting effect. My favorite technique these days is to color grayscale images!  

     I added the sentiment to a scrap of white CS and mounted the colored image onto it.   Both of those were cut with QuicKutz dies.  That went onto a layer of gray, cross hatch dp.  I doodled around two edges of the dp and added everything to the card front.

     

     Challenges:

2 Sisters...Blog

Crafts Galore Encore

Critter Crazies

Die Cut Divas

Do-Al(l) Kreatives

Lil Patch of ...

Pammie's IP

Simon Says Stamp

     That's all I have for today but I hope to see you playing along in our challenge.  Let us know what in the photo inspired you.  Was it the bunnies, or maybe the sense of spring?  the colors?  maybe the sweet little bunny kiss?  Make something and enter it into the challenge before Saturday, April 5.  Because of the way the dates fall, you get almost a week of extra time before the March challenge closes.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

On the March ...

      This morning we are starting our newest challenge over at FarmQuest.  Our theme for the next month, in addition to the underlying "Farm or Country" which is always there, is "Nocturnal Animals."  

     As soon as I saw this clip art, owl image (it may even be a photograph but AI digital is so good these days, who knows for sure?), I knew I had to use it for my DT card.  Doesn't he look like he's determined to get home quickly before the sun can get any higher?  It's obviously waaay past his nocturnal bedtime!

     I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die, matted it with white CS (also cut with another Tonic Studios die from that same set), and added brown, gingham ribbon to the top and bottom.  I tied a separate bow and added it to the top strip of ribbon.  That ribbon has been in my stash for longer than I care to remember, lying about, forgotten in the midst of brighter ribbon colors.  It originally came from Really Reasonable Ribbon and still had the paper sleeve on it, proving it was unused.

     I printed the sentiment, then cut it with an Avery Elle die.  I mounted everything onto a kraft card base.   

     I love making masculine cards because they can be kept pretty simple in design, compared to feminine cards which tend to get over embellished (in my house, at least!)   Even when I do add ribbon, I find that the ginghams can feel masculine, especially when they are in the brown and black families.  But the real reason I do so many masculine cards is that I have more guys in my family than gals.  :-D

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Inspired By ...

Lil Patch of ...

Night Owls

Pammie's IP

Penny's Paper Crafty

Simon Says Stamp

Word Art Weds

     Hope to see you playing along in our challenge this time.  It runs until March 26 so you have plenty of time to create something with a country flair and get it entered into our challenge.  We love being inspired by you!

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Gothic Valentines

      Today is my turn to share my DT projects for the February challenge at Conjuror of Dreams.  The theme is Anything Goes but we give you an optional theme and this month, it's "Gothic Hearts."

     I did three cards using fabulous Conjuror images from two different sets.  This first one is from the "High Priestess of the Heart" set.  I printed her in grayscale, then colored her with Ohuhu markers.  I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die, matted her with white CS, and then inked the edges.  The background dp (both of them) came from a Lawn Fawn stack.

     Challenges:

Girlz Creative Fun

Hand Stamped ...

Lawn Fawnatics

Pammie's IP

     This second card is from the same "High Priestess..." set and again, I printed it in light grayscale, colored it with markers (Sanjoki, this time), and cut it with a Spellbinders die.  Again, the dp came from that same Lawn Fawn stack.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

     Challenges:

A Place to Start

Aud Sentiments

Simon Says Stamp

ZieloneKoty

     Finally, this last card features an image from the Conjuror set called "Love Potion."  This time, I used the pre-colored version but used Word to adjust the color tone and brightness before printing it.  I cut the image with a die from Tonic Studios, and inked the edges with a black marker.  The background dp came from that same Lawn Fawn stack and the red strip is CS cut with a long punch on one side.  I dropped this one into a neighbor's mail box anonymously.  She collects old, fancy, perfume bottles so I knew she'd love this image!

   

     Challenges:

Night Owls

Path of Positivity

  

     I know Valentine's Day is gone for this year but our challenge is still open and you can enter it but only for the rest of this week.  Our next challenge starts on Saturday, March 1.  I hope you're going to play along with us this month.  Don't forget that we also have a Progressive Challenge on our Facebook page.  You need to use a Conjuror of Dreams image to enter the Progressive challenge, but then you get the image for the following month free!  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie