More Thank You Cards

     Today, and over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing with you various "Thank You" cards which I'm making.  Since I have to make a total of 45 (!) for Teacher Appreciation Day at my grandson's school, I'll choose some of the best to post.   These are going to be signed by parent volunteers involved in the Parent Teacher Association at his grammar school.  Here's my first one.

     This one is fairly CAS but still has a feminine touch of ribbons and a bow.  The sentiment is a negative cut from white CS and mounted onto a black card front.  I saved the white words and will use them on a colored card front.  I added a small brad to the bow.

     Challenges:
Crafting by Designs
Crafting for all Seasons
Crafty Gals Corner
Inspiration Destination
Through the Craft Room Door
Unicorn

    Quick post this evening but I have to get back to the dies and card stock and get several more of these made before the week is over.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Using Lace with Tuesday Throwdown

     Today we start a new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown and our theme is to "Use Lace."  Our wonderful sponsor is The Ribbon Resource and they were so generous in providing lace to our DT members for use on our inspiration cards.  They will be providing the prize for this challenge as well.

     Isn't that pink lace gorgeous?   The image is by Anne Fenton and I've had it in my collection for a while.  It seemed time to use it.  Since I'm getting my stash of birthday cards and Mother's Day cards stocked up, I decided on a color combo of kraft, pink and white.

    I colored with ProMarkers, stamped the sentiment, then matted the image with dark pink CS.  Because I wanted the lace to really pop, I layered it across white CS because it showed better than against the kraft CS, and then I added the two rows of pearls.  The butterfly is die cut from burlap paper and I added two pearls for the body.  Even with those embellishments, the card design is still very CAS, showcasing the image and the lace.

     Challenges:
2 Creative Chicks
A Bit More Time to Craft
Card and Scrap
Connie Can Crop
Creative Card Crew
Just Keep on Creating
Lemon Shortbread
Paper Creator's Crafts
Petal Lu
Sisters of Craft
Sparkles Forum
Through the Craft Room Door
Unicorn Challenge
Your Scrapbook Place

     I hope you're going to dig out some lace from your stash and come play in our challenge this week.  We'd love to see how you're inspired to add lace to your projects.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Mother's Day Rose

     I spent this morning getting my first Mother's Day card made and it's a fun combination of recycled, re-colored, and both die and hand cutting.  A couple of months ago, a friend gave me a stack of retro cards which I've been recycling into vintage cards.  This is another one of those.

     The rose and buds were originally white with gray shadings and I wanted them to be pink so I colored them with my ProMarkers and a touch of gel pen.  I fussy cut the image, layered it onto pink CS, and fussy cut it again.  

     I die cut the doily with a Spellbinders die, offset the image, and added that to background dp from SU.  I put the sentiment onto another piece of the dp I had used for the doily, and die cut it.  I trimmed it by hand to fit into the corner.  The final touch was the pink bow and the glitter on the doily.

     Challenges:

613 Avenue Create

As You Like It (Diagonal - I love fancy for girlie cards and purple/pink are fav colors)

Aud Sentiments (1st column)

C.R.A.F.T.

Crafting by Designs

Craft Rocket

Crafty Girls Creations

Creative Moments

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends

Mod Squad

Outlawz Greetings

Whimsy Inspiration

     That's all I have for today.  Be sure to check back tomorrow when a new challenge starts at Tuesday Throwdown.  You'll love it.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie 

New Glasses

     A very happy Easter morning to all of you.  Have you ever seen the Easter Bunny wearing his glasses?  He only puts them on after a long night of hiding eggs and goodies for children to find on Easter morning.   Working in the dark creates such eye strain!  :-D  This card will be going to a young lady who just got her first pair of glasses and whose favorite color is red.

     The image is the Progressive Challenge Freebie from The Outlawz and is by Gerda Steiner Designs.

     I started with the sketch from Cheerful Sketches.

        The image is colored with ProMarkers and die cut with one of my Stitched Rectangle dies from Die-Namics, as is the red frame.  Other CS pieces are cut with stitched or pin point dies from Lawn Fawn and Memory Box.  The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and the tiny bee is embossed with gold and white EPs (on clear sticker paper) and fussy cut.  Everything is layered onto kraft CS.  The dots in the corner and the curly cue below the bee are done with a glue pen and gold glitter.

     Challenges:

2 Creative Chicks

A Bit More Time to Craft

CCC Digi

Connie Can Crop

Craft and Smash

Digistamps 4 Joy

Petal Lu

Scrap N'

Sisters of Craft

Sunsational Stamps

Your Scrapbook Place

     I hope your day is filled with the Blessing of Easter and that you have time for lots of Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Canine Style Gardening

     My card today is for a gardening friend of mine who also happens to be a dog lover extraordinaire.  The image is the monthly progressive challenge freebie at From the Heart Stamps and the sketch is also from one of their challenges.

Here's the sketch.

     I colored with my ProMarkers and then dug through the scrap pile to find the CS and the ribbon.  The pawprint is a stamp from Sweet Stamps.  The sentiment is mine, printed with a computer font and fussy cut.

     Challenges:
Aud Sentiments (top row)
Craft Rocket
Crafting by Designs
Crafting with an Attitude
Crafty Creations
Crafty Girls Creations
Creative Moments
Inspiration Destination
Little Miss Muffet
Moving Along with the Times
Outlawz Twisted Thursday
Star Stampz

     Last year I had my garden in and had sprouts a few inches high by now, but I don't know if I'll get to making a garden this year.  I'm just so far behind on everything and it doesn't look like planting is going to work its way into my schedule any time soon.  Sigh, I will miss the fresh veggies all summer long. :-(  Oh, well, Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Just a Peek...

     IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MY QKR STAMPEDE CARD

SCROLL DOWN ONE POST.

    For my MHK Designs inspiration card, all I'm going to show you is a little peek at today's card.  If you want to see the entire thing, you'll have to go over and visit the MHK Designs blog where my Designer Inspiration card is being featured.

Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Easter at QKR Stampede

     My first Friday back and this morning I'm posting my DT card for the latest challenge at QKR Stampede.  Our theme is "Easter" -- how simple is that?  And Easter is only 2 days away!!

     I used the image "Happy Easter" (digi 14903) and colored it with ProMarkers.

     Because it didn't have a lot of coloring, I added some delightful papers from SU, inlaying the die cut image into the die cut, striped background.  That layer is laid on top of the second paper and then I added the lace and the bow.  Very CAS but looking very complex.

     Challenges:
AAA Cards
Artistic Inspirations
Colouring in Scrapland
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Boots
Crafty Cardmakers
Cut It Up
Dragonfly Journeys
Eureka Stamps
Great Impressions
Love to Scrap
Outlawz Monday Greetings
Robyn's Fetish
Where the HeART Is

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Birthday Garden

     I've been sorting through my huge collection of dies, trying to get them organized into some sort of order.  Well, you know what happens during forays into the crafting room to "get things organized" -- we get distracted by wanting to create something with the hidden goodies we find.  This card is the result of one of those distractions.

     This one is a bit different from my usual colored image and embellies.  Instead, it's all done with die cuts.  The primary die cut was done with a die called "Gardening" from die-namites.  I cut white CS, then red, and then green, and used pieces to inlay the design.  The sentiment is printed and fussy cut.  The flower and the butterfly are also die cuts but not cut by me.  They were embellies I found hiding in my stash.

     I love that stitched ribbon, and I think it's from Really Reasonable Ribbon but it might be from a local craft store.  It was in my stash but not labelled in any way.

     Challenges:
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards
Crafty Calendar
Fussy and Fancy
Imagine That
Outlawz Paper ala Mode
Quick Quotes
Really Reasonable Ribbon
Scrapper's Delight
Simply Papercraft
Stamping Boutique

     Boy, does it feel good to be back in my routine again!   Mostly, it feels so good to be crafting again.  :-D  Thanks for stopping by, my friends.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Mad Hatter Tea Party

     I finally get to share with you things I made for my granddaughter's birthday party.  She wanted a Mad Hatter Tea Party theme and we did the best we could to accommodate that theme while hand-making the invitations and decorations.  My daughter came up with most of the ideas and I applied myself to the creations.

     First, we did invitations:

Challenges:

Crafting with Friends

Dragonfly Dreams

Imagine That

     Each one was an original in that we used stitched scalloped dies to cut various papers and then combined them into odd and quirky combinations so that no two were alike.  We used simple brads to attach them to the actual "date, time, place" info and they were all hand delivered so no envelopes needed.  :-D

     Next, my daughter decided that we had to have Mad Hatter Top Hats.  Holy Cow, I had no idea what it would take to make them!  One is fabric and the other is cardstock and cardboard.

 

 

Challenges:

Brown Sugar

Corrosive Challenge

Really Reasonable Ribbon

     I found a wonderful digi stamp of a female mad hatter and we made up a matted poster which each of the guests could sign.  We're having it framed so my granddaughter can hang it on her wall.

Challenges:

Art by Miran

Color My Heart

Creative Fingers

Di's Digi Designs

Little Claire's 

      Croquet was a must, of course, so I made these and my daughter posted them on stakes at each of the "arches" through which the players had to move their ball by hitting it with a mallet.

     My daughter also had a brilliant idea of incorporating the caterpillar and we made one using round Japanese lanterns.  While we couldn't figure out how to make a hookah for him, we gave him a simple face using die cuts for the eyes and mouth and my daughter tied the lanterns to the tree branch.  Isn't he fantastic?  That's my granddaughter in the photo, dressed as the Red Queen and laughing as she discovered the caterpillar.  :-D

        Finally, we made little boxes of party favors and had them waiting at the door for guests to take as they left.  Using the same image as had been on their invitations tied the beginning and ending together.

Challenges:

Crafty Friends

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

New Challenge at MHK Designs

     Good Heaven's, it's been more than a month since I posted or created anything and I have truly missed it!  It feels so good to be back and it's wonderful to share with you my DT card for the newest challenge at  MHK Designs.  As always, we have an inspiration photo for you and you can use whatever part of it inspires you -- the colors, the photo, a combination of both -- anything at all.

     And here's my card using the Wild Rose image from the "Easter Blessings" set which was released last month.

     This is a really CAS design with the image printed directly onto the card front, then colored with ProMarkers.  I added a strip of dp and the ribbon, tied a bow, and it was finished.  Not bad for my first card in a month.  :-D

     Challenges:

Brown Sugar

Colouring Without Boundaries

Colour Your World

Crafty Friends

Glitter n Sparkle

Inkspirational

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends

Little Claire's

My Time to Craft

Outlawz CAS

Ribbon Girl

Stamping Sensations

     I hope you'll come and play along this month.  You could win a wonderful stamp set from MHK Designs, plus gorgeous digital papers!  Don't forget, you can join the FB group, too.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie