Pig in a Punkin'

     Have you ever had one of those experiences when you see an image and think, "mmm, cute but..." and go on your way.  Then, you'll see that same image on a card or scrapbook page someone else has done and suddenly it becomes a "have to have that!" and ideas begin to flow?

     Well, that's what happened with this delightful Doodle Pantry set called "Pumpkin Peeps" which happens to be the freebie set you can get just for playing in our Doodle Pantry challenge before August 24th.  That's only 2 days so get going!   You will need a Doodle Pantry image to play along, but then you get a set free just for playing!

     I used the piggy but there's also a darling panda bear, some great digital papers, and lots of fun sentiments.  I'll show you a photo of set at the bottom of this post.

I used the sketch found over at Crafting Musketeers (although I'm not entering that challenge because it's sponsored by Delicious Doodles and I happen to be on the DD DT.  :-) )

and the colors came from Annabelle Stamps.  I love the colors and have already used them once before.

  

     The sentiment is part of the set also.

     Challenges:
Animal Friends -- Summer
Cards Galore -- Bingo: sentiment/ summer/ ribbon
Catch the Bug -- Bingo: No dp/ sewing/ flower
Creatalicious -- For the boys
Send a Smile 4 Kids -- Animals cards 4 kids
Totally Gorjuss -- Die cuts/ punches

     That's it for today and I'm going away today for the entire weekend.  I doubt that I'll have anything to post again before Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.  I'm going to see what I can find in the way of a new home some 300 miles away from where I live now.  I'm going to miss my old Victorian house but will be so happy to live in the same town as some of my grandkids.  Family is so important to me and my one disappointment is that all my kids/grandkids and their families live so far away.  That's the brightest part of this move.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Fairy Glen

     The image on this card is called "Mushrooms in the Forest" and it's one of the new (to me, at least) digital images I found over at Sparkle n Sprinkle, where they have a color challenge this month.  Although I've already done one card for that challenge, I bought this digi and used the colors again just because they seemed to really work for this image.

  

I took my design sketch from The Outlawz.

     I colored the image with my favorite alcohol pens, ProMarkers, then cut and mounted it on a doily.  I used green CS for my card base, added glittery sheer ribbon and a bow, then layered on the image piece.

     The corners are done with a die from Cheery Lynn Designs and those are the punched out, 'negative' pieces which would normally be thrown out.  I added glitter to the corner pieces, though it's a bit hard to see in the photograph.

     The sentiment is my own, computer printed and cut out, then added to the image piece.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps and More -- Make your mark (Coloring)
Crafty Bloggers Network -- Favorite things (mushroom images)
Get Inky -- Ribbon
I {heart} ProMarkers -- Doily
MarkerPOP -- Anything goes
Paper Girls - Glitter
Paper Playtime -- Lots of yellow
Stamp and Create -- Glitter

     Happy Monday to all of you.  It's going to be a long day at work for me today but I'll get to rest when I get home this evening.  Little time for any crafting much before Wednesday afternoon (my treasured mid-week, half-day off) so you know I'll be looking forward to it.  In the meantime, Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Get Along Little Doggie

     My post title is the name of this delightful Meljen's Designs image, and I used the colors from the challenge over there, too.   I know, I know, you expect to see only felines on my blog but the truth is I love animals, not just cats.  Shhhh, don't tell my fur babies I said that.  :-D

Here's a look at the colors from Meljen's 

and my sketch came from Crafting Life's Pieces.

  

     I colored him with a combination of ProMarkers and Copics, with a tiny bit of sparkle gel ink.  The papers are all from my stash and the scrap bits from which I made the dove-tailed flags are shiny CS (from Gina K., I think.)

     I added the stitching around the card front and around the image, and printed the sentiment with a computer font.  Everything is matted with Deep Ocean Blue CS.  The little dragonfly is part of the dp and since it was just a scrap, I had to work it some to get it in exactly the right place.

     Challenges:
2 Creative Chicks -- Anything goes for kids
ABC Challenge -- S is for Stitching
Card and Scrap -- Anything goes
Creatalicious -- I {Heart} my pet!
Lady Anne's Stamp -- Anything goes
Live & Love Crafts -- Warm or cool colors
Penny's Paper-Crafty -- Stitching
Whimsical Designs -- Bug or animal

     I hope you're having a great day and finding just a bit of inspiration in your travels around blogland.  I may be MIA for a couple of days as far as visiting my favorite blogs but I have a DT card scheduled for tomorrow and maybe one or two others this week so I hope you'll visit even if I don't answer my door when you knock.  There's usually a cold drink in the fridge and cookies in the cookie jar on the counter so make yourself at home while you browse around.   :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Room for Rent?

     I was so tickled when I saw this image in the store at Rick St. Dennis!  If you've never had the opportunity to visit the coastal country of Big Sur in California, you've not only missed some gorgeous country, but have missed out on some of the quirkiest, neatest, toes-to-the-earth-and-head-in-the-clouds, artistic people in the world.  :-D  This "Big Sur Outhouse" image sums it all up!  Only in Big Sur would you have an outhouse that looks like a school with a belfry on top!  Hmmm, come to think of it, I remember an outhouse at a back woods school in Montana that looked a lot like this one.  :-D

     Today starts a new challenge at 613 Avenue Create and Rick St. Dennis is one of our sponsors.  The other one this week is Sassy Studios.  We always have an 'Anything Goes' theme, and a twist.  The twist this week is very simple.  Just use a sentiment.  Mine just adds some humor to this wonderful image.

I used a sketch from Papertake Weekly

and my colors came from the inspiration photo

at Just Inspirational.

 

     I colored the image with ProMarkers and pencils, then die cut the image with a rectangle die and rounded the corners with a punch.  The brown CS (a scrap) is embossed with a folder and, again, I used a punch on the corners.  The flowery dp is also a left over scrap.  I inked the edges of everything with distress ink straight from the pad.

     The ribbon is one of those "What was I thinking?!" purchases that we crafters sometimes do.  Don't get me wrong, I love the ribbon!  But when I bought it, I just knew I'd use it on everything so I bought a 30-yard spool of it which was on clearance at 75% off.  But 30 yards??!!  OMG!   And this is the first time I've ever used it.  Sigh.  Of course, it did get hidden in a drawer and I only located it a week ago during a reorganizing campaign.  :-D  Maybe you'll be seeing it on lots of projects now.  I also shared some of it with a friend of mine so maybe you'll see it on some of her projects, too.

     Challenges:
Crafty Catz -- Pastel colors
Just Add Ink -- Masculine cards
Kitty Bee Designs Aloha Friday -- School (see paragraph 1)
Nutcrafters -- Summer Sunshine Fun
Party Time Tuesdays -- Anything goes
Shelly's Images -- Use your scraps
Sister Act -- Anything goes
The Male Room -- Anything masculine goes

     Well, August is here, the last of the hot summer months.  I have no idea where the earlier part of the year has gone but I know the years are moving faster and faster all the time.  Many kids are returning to school this month, and harvest season is nearly upon us.  Soon I'll be picking the garden clean and eating the last of the fresh vegetables.  Since I'm moving away from here in the next couple of months, it is probably my last summer garden.  A sad thought.  But fewer garden chores means more crafting time so there's always a silver lining.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Raising Teenagers

    I'm really excited to tell you that I'm a GDT at Oozak for this challenge and our theme is Anything Goes/Funny -- either a funny image or funny sentiment.  Our sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps and you can't go wrong with fantastic humor over there.  I used an image called "STB teenages and flowers" and the sentiment couldn't be more true!   Having raised my own teenagers, I'm sending this to my daughter who is currently raising her own teens, bless her little heart.  :-D

     Stella and the flowers are colored with Shin Han Touch Twin markers (available at Oozak!) and a bit of sparkle gel ink.  The image is already framed and I just matted it with black CS.  the border punch is layered onto purple CS and attached to the bottom of the image.

     The patterned dp is from DCWV's "Violet Leaf" stack, one of my latest favorites.  There's also a faint print in the purple dp.  I punched the corners, added the ribbon and used a second ribbon to tie the bow.  That's a hand punched flower with a gem added which I layered onto the bow.  The final touch was the three purple pearls in the top corner.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps -- Lots of layers
Card Mania -- Summer blooms
Digi Sketch -- Anything goes
One Stitch at a Time -- Anything goes
One Stop Craft -- Add flowers and ribbon
Paper Playtime -- Use patterned dp
Pile It On -- Anything goes
Robyn's Fetish -- Friendship w/ a sentiment
Speedy & Friends -- Tie it up (bow)
Tammy's Scrappin' Corner -- Use a digi
Top Tip Tuesday -- Spooled items (ribbons)

     I'll have one more post this morning since this is the New Release day for August over at Doodle Pantry.  Be sure to check back in an hour or so to see all of Laurie's newest goodies!  Also, come play along at Oozak.  You have two weeks to get something done and enter it.  Won't you share your fun/funny/humorous projects with us?  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie