The Big Wheel Sheriff

     That post title should have piqued your curiosity!  :-D  It's Friday and we have another new challenge starting at QKR Stampede.  As always, our theme is "Anything Goes" but we have an optional twist each time which you can use if you choose.  This week the optional twist is "Wheels."  I know, I know, my mind jumped right to cars, trains, wagons, etc., too, but this little guy caught my eye and I just had to use him!  This is a QKR image called "Little Cowboy."

     I just love that his stick pony has a wheel on it (just in case you missed it.)  I was thinking about my friend, Lynn, from Texas when I was putting this card together and, since her favorite color is blue, that became the focus of this color combo.  I colored with my ProMarkers, then die cut the image with a Sue Wilson die.

     I used the same die to cut the dp (from Stampin' Up) and inlaid the image into it.  I did the sentiment in white on a blue background just to emphasize why our little sheriff is wearing all white. :-D  Everything went onto a black card front.  Finally, I added the twine and the cowboy charm and called it finished.  I think it's going to make a great masculine birthday card for some young boy.

     Challenges:
Crafty Sentiments
Everybody Art
House that Stamps Built
Inspiration Destination
Lemon Shortbread
Passion for ProMarkers
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Simon Says Stamp
Through the Craft Room Door

     Hey, everyone, the weekend starts in just a few hours now!  I hope you have time scheduled for lots of creativity and relaxation.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Angel Swing Card

     This is my first ever swing card and it was inspired by using the "Angel 4 Front and Back" from Ike'sWorld for the latest challenge starting today.  As always, our theme is "Anything Goes" but we always have an optional twist if you want to use it.  This week you have an option of "Angels or Demons."  I chose Angels and did one more card for my stash.

  

     I colored with my ProMarkers and added loose glitter to the wings.  I didn't get a photo of the back of the angel but I did the same thing on both sides.  I adhered the images to each other adding the string between them before gluing.  Then, I cut the images by hand so that the shape would be the same on both sides.

     I took midnight sky CS, added it to my card front with removable tape, then cut the oval with a die from Spellbinders, going through both layers.  I took them apart, then used double stick tape to add the angel in the open oval, and permanently adhere the two layers together again.  I used the blue oval inside the card to act as a backing for the angel when the card is closed.

     Challenges:
Crafting from the Heart
Creative Inspirations
I {heart} ProMarkers
Morgan's ArtWorld
Outlawz Greetings
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Paper Shelter
Path of Positivity
Penny's Paper-Crafty

     This is it for me until Friday.  My week is just too full and I have no extra crafting time.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Polar Bear Christmas

     Today's card is another salute to recycling instead of tossing away.  I've been working on the Christmas images my friend mailed to me a month ago and that made me remember a box of old cards which I had saved because I thought some of them could be recycled into other cards.

     I found a card with this image of the mama polar bear and her two cubs.  It was already colored but I wanted a snowier look so I took a white gel pen and added all the snowflakes to the bears and more snow to the trees, then used white chalk and a Q-tip to add another layer of white over the entire thing.  The white chalk softened the image and even gave it more depth.  Unfortunately, it didn't photograph as well as I had hoped, regardless of how many different shots and angles I tried.

     I inked the edges of the image and then played with different background colors, first trying blue and gray.  But when I laid the image onto bright, Christmas-red, CS, I knew that was the perfect choice.  :-D

     I found the glittered, gold mesh, ribbon in my stash and added a strip of it the red background piece before layering on the image.  I tied one of my "bow tie" bows from red satin ribbon and added it.  The sentiment is heat embossed, as are the tiny, gold snowflakes.  A rather CAS design but one which is definitely 'finished.'

     Challenges:
Christmas Cards
Cookie Challenge
C.R.A.F.T.
Craft-Dee Bowz
Glitter n Sparkle
Jo's Scrap Shack
Morgan's Art World
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Polkadoodles
Word Art Weds.

     Did you all have a wonderful weekend?  I did.  I'm facing a really busy week this week, doing all the last minute things necessary to get my younger granddaughter off to the national Cheer Championships in Florida.  We're hoping the wildfire situation won't have too great an impact or that the fires will have been put out by the time she and her team have to be there.  I've been saying prayers for all my friends who live in Florida that all is well for them despite the fires.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Christmas Snowman

     This weekend I have a couple more Christmas cards to share with you because I'm trying to get caught up on doing at least one per week this year.  "Caught up" because I missed the first 12 weeks of the year without doing anything Christmas so now I'm behind on my original plan (read New Year's Resolution!)  :-D

     This is another of the images sent to me by my friend in Arizona.  Early this month, when she read that I had done no Christmas cards at all, she snail-mailed me several Christmas images to inspire me and I started coloring them right away.  I've already shared two or three of the cards I've done with those images and will have another one tomorrow or Monday.

     I thought a blue and brown combo would work well for this sweet snowman bringing a warm winter welcome to the birds.  He's been colored with ProMarkers and Copics - with a bit of sparkle on the snow - then I cut the image with a stitched die from Die-namics.  I framed that with another stitched die cut, that one scalloped (Memory Box), and a final, plain circle (QuicKutz), cut from digital paper.

     I used deep blue CS for my card front but there's a story to it.  It was actually the front of a different card which had been damaged with a splash of bleach.  It was lying on my craft table when I was making some bleached cardstock backgrounds for other cards (which you'll see next month.)  The bleach blob ruined that other card but the heat embossed, shiny gold, sentiment was in perfect shape.  So, I carefully removed everything except the sentiment and added the die cut layers for this snowman image, recycling the old, damaged card into something new.  :-D

     The bow is one of those I make by the dozens, this time "dyed" with a navy blue marker.

     Challenges:
Allsorts (blue, birds)
Brown Sugar
Colour Crazy
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas
Di's Digi Designs
Hiding in My Craft Room
Jingle Belles
Outlawz Festive Fridays
Send a Smile 4 Kids
Winter Wonderland

     I hope you're having a great weekend.  I'm heading back to my crafting table where I'm working on some things for May DT cards.  This may be a slow posting week because nearly everything I'm doing now is for the following week, not this upcoming week.  But I do have a darling card for the Friday post - QKR Stampede, of course.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Life is Ducky

     No, this isn't a "rubber ducky" kind of post but the "Life is Ducky" title still works.  :-D  It's Friday again so this post must be for the newest challenge over at QKR Stampede.  Of course, we have our usual "Anything Goes" theme but our optional twist this week is "Feathered Friends."   I used this darling little ducky image called "Sitting on a Log."

     As long as I've served on the QKR DT and as many images as I had purchased before I became part of the DT, somehow I had missed this image until they got the new store up and running a couple of months ago.  As soon as I saw the "Feathered Friends" option for this week, I knew I had to use this image.

     This time I colored with my Lyra pencils and then added some tones and highlights with my ProMarkers.  I'm getting to really like how combining polychromos pencils and alcohol markers gives a more intense look than either of those mediums alone.

     I cut the image with a Gina Marie die and cut both the frame and background pieces with stitched dies from Die-namics.  I added twine and one of my tiny, hand-sewn bows for embellishments.  The sentiment is stamped, hand cut, matted, and hand cut again.  The end result for this card is a CAS, masculine card which is versatile enough for any occasion.

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Crafting from the Heart
Incy Wincy
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Outlawz CAS
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Quirky Crafts
Ribbon Girl
Stamping Sensations
Take It, Make It

     I do hope you're going to come and play in our challenge this week.  We get as inspired by you as you do by us.  See you over on the QKR Stampede challenge blog.  Happy Stamping.  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

"I'm a Little Bit Country"

     This card reminds me of the Donny and Marie Osmond song "I'm a Little Bit Country" and it really tickled me when Sasayaki Glitter gave this image to us as the freebie for their latest Progressive Challenge.

     I'm not much into Country music - I was more the other side, Rock and Roll - but my daughter loves it so this card will no doubt go to her for some occasion.

     I colored with ProMarkers, then cut it with a pierced die from Spellbinders.  The periwinkle die cut (which now looks blue instead of purple) was cut with another die from Spellbinders.  I added striped ribbon which came from Really Reasonable Ribbon and it's the last I have of that one.   I used the last five inches of it to tie the bow.

     Challenges:
Digi Choosday
Everybody Art
Inky Chicks
Lemon Shortbread
Through the Craft Room Door

     I'm off traveling a good share of today and will have to visit all your blogs when I return.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Rainy Day Fun

     Another card for another of my favorite progressive challenges, this one at Scrapper's Delights.

     This time I colored the image with a combination of chalks and ProMarkers; the girl is colored with ProMarkers and the background and raindrops are done with chalk markers.  It's difficult to see but I added Glossy Accents to the rain puddle.

      I die cut the image and the pink frame with dies from Spellbinders.  The gray background paper is embossed with my 'Linen' folder.  I added sheer ribbon and tied a bow.

     The sentiment was part of the image set and I cut it with the smallest die from that set by Spellbinders.  Even then, the die was larger than what I wanted so I cut the sentiment, then adjusted the bottom of the die upward and cut it again, making the sentiment piece narrower from top to bottom.  The basic shape was still in line with the two larger cuts so it matches.

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Chalk n Stock
Come and Get It
Crafty Calendar
DL.ART
Great Impressions
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Outlawz PAM
Ribbon Girl
Send a Smile 4 Kids
Stamping Sensations

     That's all I have for today but I'll see you tomorrow morning with a new post.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Angry Ostrich

     Here's my day-after-Easter card and you can see that my weird sense of humor hasn't changed.  The image is from the Progressive Challenge at Limited Runs on Facebook.

     I used ProMarkers and gel ink to color the image, then cut it and the two CS pieces with Diamond dies from Spellbinders.  I layered the three diamonds together, then added the blue ribbon before I put them onto the card front.  I tied a separate, triple bow and added it.  I wanted this to be really CAS and a little bit masculine looking so that's all I did for embellishment.

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Aloha Friday
Colour Crazy
Crafty Catz
Crafty Creations
Jo's Scrap Shack
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Polkadoodles

     I hope you all had wonderful Easter celebrations and that none of you are still hunting for lost or stolen eggs.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Wishing You a Happy Easter

Happy Easter

     It's a blessed Easter day and I'm wishing you the best of the Easter season. I have an adorable bunny to share with you but I have no information about it, unfortunately. I found it in my folder of images I had colored who-knows-when and this one was so long ago, I simply don't remember who made it, where I got it, or what I had planned for it but I'll bet it was something I prepared for Easter last year and then didn't use.

     Isn't that just the softest thing you've ever seen? I want to reach right out and cuddle her gently in my hand. One thing I do know is that I used my ProMarkers to color that fuzzy bunny because I only have that many shades of gray in my collection of ProMarkers.  I probably used a black pencil for the more distinct hair lines and white gel ink for the highlights in the eyes.

     Since the image was so large, I decided on a CAS design. I added ribbon, a double bow made of lace and satin, and some pink tissue paper to border two sides of the image.

     Challenges:
Angie's Digital Stamps
Animal Friends
C.R.A.F.T.
Craft-Dee BowZ
Craftaholics R Us
Crafty Gals Corner
Crazy Challenge
Creative Moments
Cute as a Button
Cutie Pie
Di's Digi Designs
Dragonfly Dreams
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz Festive Fridays
Paper Nest Dolls
Path of Positivity
Quirky Crafts

     May your day be filled with warmth and family and lots of Easter joys. Happy Stamping. NanaConnie

Spring Renewal

     We have a new challenge today at QKR Stampede and our theme is "Anything Goes" but we also have an optional theme of "Flowers" if you want to use it.  My card combines image and sentiment from our sister line of digis, Eureka Stamps.  The image is "Butterfly & Sunflower" and the sentiment is "Long Winter Days."

     Of course, because we're celebrating spring, I had to use my favorite shades of lavender and purple with touches of soft turquoise.  The image is colored with my ProMarkers and I also used one of them to shade and highlight the sentiment.  I cut the sentiment with a rectangle die from QuicKutz and matted it with another rectangle cut, but I distressed the edges of each one before layering them together.

     The image is fussy cut, matted with deep purple CS, and fussy cut again.  I dug through my stash of papers and ribbons until I found polka dots.  I don't know what it is about polka dots that always makes me smile but I think they worked well on this design.  :-D

     Challenges:
A Perfect Time to Craft
Card Mania
Classic DT Open
Crafts and Me
Crafty Awesomeness
Crafty Gals Corner
Creative Moments
Inky Chicks
Passion for ProMarkers
Word Art Weds.

     I hope you're going to come and play with us this week.  Remember, you can use any images from any company but if you use QKR or Eureka on your entry, it'll be put into a separate draw only for those and that increases your chance of winning by a huge amount !   Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Bouquet Basket Recycle

     Last week I shared with you a card I made by recycling parts of older cards which had gotten bent or damaged somehow and were ready for the trash can.  Before tossing them, I took what I thought could be recycled and set those bits aside for future use.  This is another of those projects.

I looked at the sketch at The Outlawz

and based my card design on it (layered shapes) but left out the

middle horizontal element.

     The bouquet basket is the part I rescued and recycled.  It had originally been stamped and heat embossed with silver EP, then colored with ProMarkers and gel pens.  I cut it off the old card, leaving enough deep green CS around it to look like a mat.

     For the background, I took some watercolor paper, dampened it, and applied green watercolor paint to it.  I let the paper absorb some of the watery color, then did a quick dry with a heat gun.  I added a spritz of shimmery gold ink and, after that dried, I ironed the paper to get it flat again.

     I used one of my die sets (Spellbinders) to cut it into three pieces, then layered those together, adhering the largest one directly onto the card front and putting the two inside pieces on dimensional dots.  I deliberately turned the smallest inside piece upside down because I liked breaking up the pattern of the watercolor and sprayed ink.  The bouquet basket also went on dimensional dots so there's plenty of depth and texture on the card.

     I really like the background pieces and plan to play around with more combinations of watercolors and sprayed inks.  I haven't done a sentiment yet because I'm undecided whether it's a Mother's Day card or a birthday card.

     Challenges:
Crafting by Designs
Crafty Addicts
Crafty Creations
I {heart} ProMarkers
Paper Sweeties
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Word Art Weds.

     Be sure to visit again tomorrow to see my DT card for the newest QKR Stampede challenge.  I think you'll find that my project tomorrow is a bit different from what I normally do with QKR.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Selfies

     I've never taken a selfie in my life and have no idea how to use the camera function "thingy" on my smart phone.  My phone is used as a PHONE, nothing else!  Yeah, call me old fashioned but it's annoying to have to carry around a cell phone and have everyone in my family, near and far, expect me to answer instantly.  Can you believe they actually get panicky if they call and I don't answer?   What ever happened to good old "I'm-away-from-home, call-back-later." ???

     However, since all my grandkids are really into smart phones and all the apps they have, I decided this would be a perfect card to remind a couple of grandsons that updated photos would be greatly appreciated.  I think the last ones I had from them are at least 10 years old so I'm even willing to settle for a couple of selfies.  :-D

     I colored this Fabrika Fantasy image with my favorite ProMarkers and then cut the image with a plain, square die from Spellbinders.  I distressed the edges with one blade of my scissors, then added the sentiment and tied it with navy blue twine.

     I cut periwinkle CS, also distressed on the edges, and then added everything to the card base.  I needed it very CAS since this masculine card is being mailed.

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft
CCC Digi
Crafting with an Attitude
Crafty Addicts
Creative Fingers
Scrapy Land
Stempelsonnen
World Wide Open DT

     That's all for today.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie   

Windmill for Spring

     We're starting a new challenge at Ike's World today and, as usual, we have an Anything Goes theme.  However, our optional theme this fortnight is "Easter or Spring Flowers."   The one time I got to visit friends in the Netherlands, all the tulips were in bloom and I have never forgotten the sight of windmills and tulips so Ike's glorious image of "Windmill" was the one I definitely had to use.

    I used my polychromos pencils to color the image, then die cut it and the dp/CS frames with stitched dies from Die-namics and pinpoint dies from Memory Box.  The dp I chose were all scrap pieces, as were two of the ribbons I used.

     The ribbon for the bow doesn't count as a scrap since I make up those bows by the dozens, toss them into my stash and then pull them out as needed.  The bow was white but I "dyed" it with a ProMarker.

     I used as many different geometric patterns as I could find in both the papers and the ribbons for some visual texture, keeping everything within the same color family so that it wouldn't be too "busy."

     Challenges:
Crafty Catz
Colour Crazy
Creates and Makes
Creative Inspiration
Double D
Outlawz Twisted Thurs
Quick Quotes
Scrapy Land
Sugar Pea
Work It Wednesday

     I hope you'll come and join our challenge this week.  You can use any image from any company but we tap out our happy dance whenever you use images from Ike's Art.  :-D  No requirement to use the optional theme, either, so feel free to enter anything you've created.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie     

Re-decorating - Slow as a Turtle

     A friend is in the process of re-vamping and re-decorating her craft room so that she'll have more room and better storage options but she's been at it for more than 3 weeks now and feels like it will take forever before it's finished.  I understand since 3 weeks without being able to do any kind of creative crafting would drive me crazy, to say nothing of not knowing when it will be done!  I mean, it's not like spring cleaning which is normally done in less than a week.

     I won my choice of an image at Sasayaki Glitter last week and this one just jumped out at me.  I thought it would make a perfect encouragement card for her.  :-D

     Since I have to mail this to her, I thought something CAS (translate "flat") would be the best idea.   But I did do several layers.  I dug out my ProMarkers to color the image, using lots of yellows because she loves yellow.  I cut the image with a die from Gina Marie, then inked the edges.

     I used two other dies from that same set to cut the stacked rectangles I put in the corners before adding the image.  I dug through my stash of little, hand-sewn, bows until I found the one I had already dyed yellow with a marker.  I knew I had one and it was pretty easy to find in the middle of all the white bows.

     Ages ago, I quit making those bows out of various colored ribbons and decided to make them all from white satin ribbon, then dye them whatever color I need.   I purchase the same white ribbon every time in batches of 10 yards.  It takes a smidge over 4 inches to sew the little bows, and I have to trim off about half an inch total from the tails.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps
Aussie Digital Artists
Brown Sugar
Crafting by Designs
Creates and Makes
DL.ART
Dream Valley
Scrapy Land

     Happy Monday and Happy Stamping!  NanaConnie

Not a Creature was Stirring...

     This will be a really fast post to day because my schedule is just so full but I wanted to share another of the Christmas images stamped and send to me by my friend, Sherryl, as a way of encouraging me to get started on my Christmas cards for 2017.  Thanks, dear friend.  This is the second card I've completed.

     Dies by Spellbinders and dp from Stampin' Up.

     Challenges:
ABC Christmas
Crafting with an Attitude
Holly & Ivy
Inky Chicks
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz Festive Fridays
Sweet Stampin' Christmas
Winter Wonderland

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Restful Contentment

     This image is the story of my life - my entire life!   From early childhood days, I've had fur-babies on my bed, often dogs, more often cats, sleeping with me and purring with contentment.  These sleeping beauties are for the Progressive Challenge at Sasayaki Glitter this month.  Obviously, it's a perfect scene for me.  :-D

     I colored with chalks and ProMarkers, then cut the image with a Spellbinders' rectangle die.  I cut the frame with a die from Bo Bunny, using a scrap of pink paper.   I found a scrap of ombre paper i the box of leftover paper bits, matted it with pink CS, and ran it as a vertical strip behind the image.

     I printed the sentiment with a computer font, hand cut it, and matted it with more pink CS.  I punched the white flowers for a scrap of mulberry paper, added a touch of glitter to them, and then found the pink flower in my stash.  It was already glittery.  The final touch was the bowtie bow.

     Challenges:
Aussie Digital Artists
Brown Sugar
Catch the Bug
Colour Crazy
Hiding in My Craft Room
Jo's Scrap Shack
Morgan's ArtWorld
Outlawz PAM
Polkadoodles

     I hope your weekend is going well.  Mine is going to be sooo busy!  I'll try to catch up on Monday.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie  

Cleaning Up for Easter

     Our newest challenge is starting today at QKR Stampede and, as you probably remember, we now have an "Anything Goes" theme each week with an optional twist.  Our option this week is "Easter."

    I found this fun and fabulous QKR image called "Bunny Bath" and added the sentiment "Easter Is" to it.  I just had visions of this being one of those 2-birds-with-1-stone situations where the Easter Bunny decided to take his weekly Saturday night bath and get all the Easter eggs cleaned up for painting while he was in the tub.  :-D

     The image is colored with a combination of ProMarkers and Copics.  I cut it into a square and then layered the die cut, blue frame over it.  That was left over from cutting something else (die from Spellbinders.)  I also cut two dp layers using large, stitched square, dies from Cheery Lynn. Unfortunately, the stitching didn't show up very well against the patterned dp so I used a black pen to enhance the stitching.

     I found the purple satin ribbon in my stash, and then tied a bow, using some narrow, sheer, lavender ribbon.  I added the sentiment and called it good.  It's flat enough to mail and the majority of my Easter cards have to go so9me distance away so they get mailed.

     Challenges:
Cookie Challenge
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafty Addicts
Crafty Gals Corner
Creative Inspirations
Creative Moments
Inky Chicks
Kraftin' Kimmie
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Scrapy Land
Take It, Make It

     The weekend is only a few hours away and I hope you've made your list of activities and things you want to do for those two days.  Fun and relaxation should be at the tip of list and anything related to spring cleaning should be well toward the bottom.  Remember, life's short - eat dessert first!   Happ Stamping.  NanaConnie

A Pod of Reindeer

     A couple of weeks ago, I realized that it was nearly April and that I had yet to start on my Christmas cards.  Since I need more than 50 each year, I try to do one per week at a minimum.  Then two of my blogging buddies each posted Christmas cards they had done and I got a jolt of inspiration.  Four days ago, I was talking to a friend in Arizona, who told me she had been stamping and printing Christmas images in order to start on her cards for this year.  Sigh, I still hadn't started.

     Today, when I checked my mail box, she had sent me a dozen Christmas images, each completely adorable and waiting to be colored.  What a wonderful surprize!   I immediately colored three of them and used the first one to make a card.  So, here it is -- my first Christmas card this year!

     How perfect is this given the fact of my granddaughter's competitive Cheer team having been invited to the national finals in Florida?  :-D  It's either that or this is what reindeer do in the off season to stay in shape for that long and sometimes arduous Christmas Eve journey.   I'd love to tell you where to get this image but unfortunately, when Sherryl sent me the images, she didn't include any information about the artists or the digi/stamp companies so I can't tell you who made this one.

      I used my ProMarkers to color it, then cut it into a rectangle and matted it.  Can you believe I cut it with my paper cutter and didn't use any dies on this card?  Good grief, you may not believe that I'm the one who made it!

     I added two different ribbons from my stash, (one red and white, the other sparkly silver) wrapping them around a piece of kraft CS and then added the image on top, canting it at an angle.  I used one of the tiny bows I make up by the dozens and toss into my stash for future use, first dying it red with a marker.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps
A Gem of a Challenge
Crafting by Designs
Crafty Hazelnut's 
Inspiration Destination
Outlawz Festive Friday
Sweet Stampin' Christmas
Winter Wonderland

     Hopefully, I'll be able to make up for those missing 12 weeks of nor making any Christmas cards by doing a couple of extra ones over the four weeks of this month and on into May.  Finally, a special note -- Sherryl, thank you so much for your $5 donation to my granddaughter's Go Fund Me account.  You're such a wonderful friend.  :-D  Happy Stamping to all.  NanaConnie

New Hatchling

     My Great-niece is expecting her first baby and reports are that it will be a boy.  So, I'm already thinking of quilt patterns and baby showers.  This card uses an adorable image of a new owl hatchling which I thought would make a great card for a new baby boy.  The image came from the Dragon's Lair Progressive Challenge (on their Facebook page.)

     The little owlet is colored with chalks but I did his broken egg shell with ProMarkers.  I also used ProMarkers on the background.  I cut the image with one of my Pinpoint Rectangle dies from Memory Box.

     I added two frames, one in navy blue and one in sky blue, both cut with Gina Marie dies.  Since this is a masculine card, I kept it really CAS, adding only the tiny blue hearts and a simple, hand-tied, polka dot bow.

     Challenges:
Brown Sugar
Chalk n Stock
Crafty Sentiments
Digi Choosday
Di's Digi Designs
Hiding in My Craft Room
Jo's Scrap Shack
Outlawz Greetings
Stamping Sensations
Word Art Weds.

     Well, we're halfway to the work week and I've had a really busy three days so far.  As I glance at my calendar, it isn't going to get any quieter much before the weekend so for now, I'll just say "Happy Stamping" and be on my way.  :-D  NanaConnie

Hummingbird & Morning Glories

     OK, it's time for the latest Progressive Challenge at Outlawz and this lovely image is "Hummingbird n Morning Glory" by Mary Smith, artist at Createful Heart.

I based this on the sketch from The Outlawz,

but I turned it on its side.

     The image is colored with my Pro-Markers and I added a touch of glitter to the hummer's head and throat.  I wish that showed better in the photo.  I cut the image with a stitched, scalloped circle die from Memory Box.  I framed that with a stitched circle die cut (Die-namics) and then used the same die to cut a 'window' hole in the darker green CS, offsetting it so that the light green CS would frame two sides.

     I dug out two of my blue ribbons, one for the wrap ribbon and a plaid one for the bow.  The flower is cut from fabric ribbon and colored with ProMarkers.  Finally, I printed and added the sentiment.

     Challenges:
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Cardmakers
Crafty Ribbons
Creates and Makes
Lemon Shortbread
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Ribbon Girl
Work It Weds.

     Today, I'm having lunch with my daughter and then I'm going to come home and make another dozen 'Thank You' cards for my granddaughter to send to all the folks who have been so generous in helping with the fundraising for her trip to Cheer Nationals in Orlando, FL.

     She has raised almost one-third of what's needed but only has a little over a month left to raise the other two-thirds.  If you think you might be interested in helping out with a few dollars, please see my original post, here.  You'll find a link to her fund raising site on that post.  She has worked so hard for this honor and deserves to go.

     I've never asked for anything like this but it's such bad timing for her folks.  My son-in-law has been out of work for a year now, despite all his efforts at securing a new job.  The family is surviving on the savings they put aside over the last 8 years and there just are no spare funds for airfare, hotel and meal costs.  It'll break my heart if she can't participate with her team.  Thanks for whatever support you might be able to give.  I appreciate it so much!  :-D

      Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Butterfly with Spring Flower

     This is a classic recycle job and I'm so tickled about how it turned out.  The butterfly on this card was drawn by Sandi Huggett (Sandi's Samples) and was one of the freebie images offered on the original Creative Freebie Challenge over on The Outlawz.  While that particular challenge went by the wayside a couple of years ago, I played in it very regularly and still have all the images which were done by Sandy and Anne Fenton.

     I was sorting out old cards I'd made way back when and which had been bent or otherwise damaged beyond repair.  Several of them I tossed into a pile of "See if you can rescue anything from these for possible use somewhere else" projects.  This gorgeous butterfly was the first thing I grabbed to rescue from an old card.   How could I let it go into the 'round file' ?

     I reworked the coloring, adding more shading with ProMarkers and some white gel ink highlights to the roses and buds.  I added small touches of glitter to the butterfly.  I redid the sentiment (same as the one I had used on the original card) and added it to the banner flag shapes, then adhered those behind the butterfly.  Everything was then layered onto the brown, die cut, fancy oval (Spellbinders), which was layered onto the lace doily.

     Everything went onto a square of beige CS which had been textured with my 'Linen' embossing folder and which became the card front.  The border at the bottom was cut with a Cheery Lynn border die and backed with white CS.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps
Brown Sugar
Catch the Bug
Colour Crazy Craft
Glitter n Sparkle
Jo's Scrap Shack
Lil Patch
Outlawz Festive Fridays
Outlawz PAM
Scrapper's Delights

     A new work week has started and, for those of you who still have alarm clocks, bosses and schedules guiding your days, enjoy your week.   For those of you who are retired or intentionally without any of those exterior controls, enjoy your down time.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie  

Sympathy Violets

     I've actually done a sympathy card before I need one and that's a very rare thing for me.  I don't enjoy them and nearly always wait until they're needed, which then makes them even harder to do.  But I found a couple of really beautiful, vintage, flower images over on Angela's "Crafting with Jack" blog and saved them right away.

     Angela is on my DT for the new "2 Crafty Critter Crazies" challenge (see my Saturday post here) and she almost always does one or more Friday Freebies.  Be sure to check out her blog.  Thanks, Angela!

     I kept it pretty simple other than using three die cut layers (all from scraps of CS) plus a simple rectangle layered onto a pre-made card base.  The image is pre-colored and I simply printed it, adding the sentiment beforehand, then die cut it.

     I found two scrap pieces of sheer ribbon, layered them together and wrapped them across the rectangle before adhering everything to the card base.  The double bow is also sheer ribbon and I tied it using a bow maker.

     Challenges:
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafty Addicts
Creates and Makes
Die Cuttin' Divas
Digi Choosday
Pixie's Snippits
Simon Says Stamp

     I hope your weekend is going well and that you have had some fun crafting time.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Butterfly Hair

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MY DT CARD FOR EITHER

 2 CRAFTY CRITTER CRAZIES 

OR FOR

CRAFTS GALORE ENCORE,

CLICK ON THE NAMES ABOVE.   

 If this isn't a perfect image for thinking "Spring"...   It's from Andrea at SheepSki Designs and our new monthly challenge starts today.  This is on the new challenge blog, not on the Facebook page, and it will start on the first of the month, each month.  This month, we have an "Anything Goes" theme and you can use any image to enter.  You can review all the guidelines on the new blog site.

     On this card, I did something I always mean to do but usually forget - I chose my dp and CS before I started coloring the image.  I colored it with my ProMarkers, then cut it with a stitched die from Cheery Lynn.  I matted it with turquoise CS.

     Next, I cut all three of my dp into banner flag shapes so that the shape would be repeated and then matted them with more of that same turquoise CS.  All of those flowery papers are digital papers.  I layered those onto a pink card base and wrapped the front with sheer-and-satin ribbon I found in my stash.  I used a scrap of flowered ribbon to tie the bow and added both the bow and the image piece to the card front.  Finally, I printed the sentiment, hand cut it, matted it, and added it to the card.

     Challenges:
Aud Sentiments
Butterfly Challenge
Colour Crazy Crafts
Crafty Catz
Creative Fingers
Morgan's ArtWorld
Outlawz Twisted Thursday
Ribbon Girl

     I hope we're going to see you playing along in our new blog challenge this month.  You can still continue to play in the SheepSki Facebook challenge, too.  It starts on the 20th of each month and that one requires that you use a SheepSki Designs image.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Kissing Toads

     IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE 2 CRAFTY CRITTER CRAZIES POST,

SCROLL DOWN ONE OR CLICK HERE.

     We all remember the story of the Little Princess who had to kiss a toad (or maybe it was a frog) to find her Prince Charming, right?  How many of you believed that story enough to kiss your share of toads, frogs, or other like creatures?  Yeah, me, too.  :-D

     My card today not only celebrates the newest "Anything Goes" challenge at Crafts Galore Encore, it also features a fabulous image (The Little Frog Princess) from our wonderful sponsor, A Day for Daisies!

     I knew before I even started coloring that I wanted to do a really CAS card.  I colored with watercolors, using clear water to lift some of the color along one side of the princess to create the angle of light and some shadows.  I cut the image into a rectangle, inked the edges, adhered it to the textured card base on an angle, and then trimmed the overhanging corners.

     I printed the sentiment, cut it into a rectangle, inked the edges, and added it.  That was it - no flowers, no ribbons, no bows, no embellishments.  Just completely clean and simple.

     Challenges:
Crafty Addicts
Crafty Creations
Crafty Gals Corner
Creative Inspirations
Creative Moments
Kraftin' Kimmie
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Simon Says Stamp
Word Art Weds.
Work It Weds.

     I'll see you one more time this morning if you come back to see my third post of the day.  That one will go live at about 10:00 a.m. Pacific time.  I hope we're going to see you playing along in our Crafts Galore Encore challenge this month.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

"Hoppy" Mother's Day

     Hooray!  Today the first ever, monthly challenge over at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies begins and I'm so excited to be part of the team getting things started !  It's an Anything Goes challenge (not limited to just cards) but there is one requirement.  Your project MUST have some kind of critter featured on it.  We don't care if it's furry, feathered, has fins or scales, or is merely an insect but it must be a "featured" creature, not merely a teeny, tiny bug added as an embellishment.  :-D

     Our first sponsor is MHK Designs and they are offering one free image set and one free digital paper set to the winner.   The team was given this darling bunny image and I decided that I'd use it for a Mother's Day card instead of for Easter.  In the animal kingdom, bunnies are some of the best moms ever.  :-D

     The image is colored with chalks, then die cut with a scalloped, stitched die from Memory Box.  I also used that die to cut the black and white dp (DCWV Midnight Chic) circles.  The sentiment was computer generated and printed, then hand cut and applied.

     I added the white, embroidered ribbon, the little hand sewn bow and the pink roses and called it done.

     Challenges:
Cookie Challenge
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Cardmakers
Cuttlebug Mania
Die Cuttin' Divas
Digi Choosday
DL.ART
Lemon Shortbread
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Path of Positivity

     I hope you're going to come play with us this month.  Actually, I hope you'll become a regular visitor to the new blog and play in the challenge each month.  You can read all the details of the challenge on the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies blog.

     This is the first of three posts which I'm doing today and each of them is a DT creation for challenges starting on the first of the month.  Please stop by again later to check out the other two.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie