Grammy's Attic: September 2021

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Swinging Halloween

I think this is my third House Mouse card this month and each one has been more fun than the last! I did a summer theme and a Christmas theme and now something in between, Halloween.

This time I used ProMarkers and polychromos pencils to color the image and cut it with a QuicKutz die. I printed the sentiment onto a scrap of white CS, trimmed that to fit as a frame around the image, and added the tiny, hand-tied bow to the corner.

I made a card base out of gray CS, embossed the top and bottom of it with my 'Linen' EF, and added the square of Halloween dp (DCWV). That dp is embossed and glittered for some fantastic texture. I layered the image piece onto that and called it finished. I tend to do simple, flat Halloween cards because the majority of them get mailed so flat is better.

Challenges:

Carlin's Card ...

House ... Stamps Built

I love ProMarkers

Simon Says Stamp

Happy Crafting! NanaConnie

Monday, September 27, 2021

Newest Reindeer

This adorable image is the freebie for the Progressive Challenge at LeAnn's World. It's called "Dillon" and I reversed the image before printing it. I used my ProMarkers to color the image, then cut both it and the frame with oval dies from QuicKutz. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

The background dp came from a Graphic 45 stack and it's really old. I've probably had that in my Christmas stash since 2014! I added a wrap of satin ribbon plus a hand-sewn, polka dot bow with blingy gemstones. The bow is made from grosgrain ribbon and gives wonderful texture, both actual and visual. :-D

Challenges:

2 Sisters on the Blog

12 Months...Christmas

Christmas Crafts ... (reindeer, ribbon)

Clever Dexter (sparkly gems + opt colors)

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Sunday, September 26, 2021

You're my Best Friend

This morning I'm sharing another card with an image by Mariola Budek, an artist I discovered early this summer. Can't you tell these two are Best Friends? I haven't added the sentiment yet because I'm considering using it as a birthday card but haven't decided positively. I have great-granddaughter who would love it regardless of the occasion. :-D

The image is colored using ProMarkers in a rainbow of fall colors, then cut with an Unbranded die. I cut an oval from orange CS using a die from Spellbinders and mounted the image on top of it so that the orange would show through the negative, open spaces. I mounted that onto gray CS which had been dry embossed with my Linen EF.

I trimmed a scrap of striped dp to fit the A2 card front and added a narrow strip of washi tape to the left edge. I did a hand-made bow using grosgrain ribbon to which I added sequins, one on top of the other.

Challenges:

Cardz TV

Colour Crazy

Crafty Catz

Creative Inspirations

Have yourself a wonderful and creative day. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, September 24, 2021

Cutest Witch Ever !

It's almost the end of September and we've started my favorite season of the year, Autumn! Why is it my favorite? Because the miserably hot summer temperatures are dropping, the leaves are changing colors, the kids are headed back to school, and now nobody questions the Halloween cards I've been making all year round ! lol

That being true, it's time for me to share another of my DT cards for Conie Fong. The image is called "Witchy Broomstick Gnome" and she's on sale for a few more days. If you love her as much as I do, go to the store (click the name above) and grab her before she's full price. :-D

I used ProMarkers to color her and her happy little kitten, and then cut the image with a CUTplorations stitched die. I put everything on a black card base which made the image and the ribbon pop. The sentiment was 'stitched' to match the die for the image. The diamond-pattern ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and I pulled some sheer ribbon from my stash to make the quad-loop bow.

Challenges:

Let's Craft and ...

Don't forget you still have 6 days to color one of Conie Fong's images and enter either our Coloring Only challenge or our Completed Projects challenge. You could win Conie Fong images as your prize. Come play with us!

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Snow Globe Mom

A new challenge starts this morning at Creative Knockouts and we're sponsored by Jan's Digi Stamps. We have a fun TicTacToe board and I used both the Middle Row and the Right-hand Column.

I started with the "Snowglobe Family" set from Jan's Digi Stamps. I merged the Mother Snowman image into the Snow Globe, added the sentiment, and printed the whole thing. I colored with my ProMarkers and white gel pen, then fussy cut the image. I mounted the image on dimensional tape before adding it to the background.

I made the background with a scrap of aqua CS which had been cut with a Memory Box die. I added a wrap of Really Reasonable Ribbon and found the snowflakes in my Christmas embellishments box.

Inside sentiment, also from the JDS set -

Challenges:

12 Months of Christmas

Christmas Crafts AYR (R for ribbon)

Hope we're going to see you playing along this week. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

It's Called "Ballet"

This darling image from Hetty Clare is the free image given to us for the Progressive challenge at The Outlawz this month. As soon as I saw the expression on this little ballerina's face, I knew what I had to use as the sentiment and here's the back story on that.

When my eldest granddaughter was still pre-school age, she fell in love with dancing and her mom enrolled her in ballet classes. Because, at that time, we lived in different states (east Texas and northern California - not like you can drive over for a weekend!), my daughter took videos of her first performance so that I could see her perform. When I visited at Christmas that year, we popped the video tape (yes, this was before everyone used their cell phones to photograph everything) into the machine and were watching it when my granddaughter came into the room, saw what we were watching, and said to me (in a tone of voice filled with the assurance of absolute knowledge), "It's called ballet." :-D

I colored with ProMarkers, used a die from Spellbinders to cut it, matted it with pink CS, and fussy cut the mat to match the die cut. The corner cut was also done with a Spellbinders die, but both the card front and pink CS were cut so that the die cut is inlaid into the card front. I put a piece of white CS on the inside of the card front, then added glitter to the negative spaces of the corner cut.

The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon, as are the fabric flowers.

I based my card design on the sketch at Tues Morning Sketches

but I reversed it and used the corner die cut instead of the 2 strips.

Challenges:

Lil Patch of ...

Taylormadecards ...

What wonderful memories swirled in my head as I was making and posting this card. Hard to believe it was nearly 20 years ago! It seems like yesterday. :-D

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Cornucopia

I'm really thrilled with this new release from Jan's Digi Stamps called "Fall Cornucopia." It comes with lovely sentiments and I included one here by merging the image and sentiment before printing.

On this image, I started with one of the pre-colored images but I adjusted it to grayscale before I printed it. Starting with Jan's pre-colored images in grayscale instead of just printing the B&W line drawing means that all of Jan's lovely shading and highlights are still there so that adding your own colors over them makes you look like a superb artist. :-D Thank you, Jan!

I used ProMarkers and gel pens to color the grayscale image, then cut it with a Tattered Lace die. I layered that onto the front of a circle card, also cut with a die from Tattered Lace, on top of the wrapped sheer ribbon. The triple-loop, satin bow was tied using my bow maker and that bow is the only embellishment.

I used colors taken from the 3rd Column of

the TicTacToe board at Color Dare, plus gold.

Challenges:

Colouring in Scrapland

Crafty Gals Corner

Crafty Sentiments

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

Double Trouble (all 3)

Outla wz Greetings

TTCRD

Word Art Weds

The challenges at Jan's Digi Stamps are still on a break but will be returning on the first Monday in November so not long to wait now - just a bit over a month. Since our challenges run throughout the entire month, you'll hardly notice how quickly the time flies by. In the meantime, Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Christmas is Just Around the Corner!

Can you believe tomorrow is the first day of autumn? That means Thanksgiving (in the US & Canada) and Christmas are closing in faster than you can believe, less than 100 days now. The House Mousies know this and they're already decorating for the Christmas holidays. The theme at House Mouse this fortnight is the usual "Anything Goes" (with a House Mouse image) but it has an option of "Christmas Around the Corner."

I adore this darling House Mouse carrying his candy cane across the 'tightrope' of a light string. You just know instinctively that he's going to hang the cane as decoration.

I used ProMarkers on the image and heat embossed clear EP to create the 'shine' around the tree lights. I used one of my oldest Spellbinders dies, a simple rectangle, to cut the image. The dp with the tree is from K & Co., and the text dp is from a very old scrapbooking stack by DCWV. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

Challenges:

Ally's Angels

Christmas Kickstart

Crafty Catz

Crafty Hazelnut's ...

Outlawz Festive Fri

Paperbabe

OK, one more Christmas card in the stash but the stash is growing more slowly than I'd like. I guess I'd better get on the ball here and add one or two Christmas cards each week. So many of mine have to be mailed which means my deadline is actually earlier than most. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Sunday, September 19, 2021

In Sympathy

Time for the newest challenge at Pammie's Inky Pinkies where the theme is "Anything Goes" (unless it's a 5th Monday when we have a theme.) Our sponsor this week is Jan's Digi Stamps and while they provided images for the team to use, I chose one from my own collection. The lily image comes from a set called "Easter Blessings" but it's versatile enough to use on nearly any kind of card. I needed a sympathy card and it was perfect.

Because I needed this card right away, I used one of the pre-colored images in the set and fussy cut it with scissors. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. The faintly striped, background paper was a scrap left over from cutting a large scrapbook sheet of paper. The wide, green, grosgrain ribbon made a lovely bow for this otherwise CAS card.

Challenges:

Are you going to come and play along in our challenge this week? We'd love to see what you create. Maybe you'll inspire one of us! :-D Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Magical Moments

I want to share another of my dance themed cards, this one in black and white monochrome and with a very CAS design. I'd love to say it was quick and easy but I spent a lot of time planning and executing the black silhouettes with the gray scale silhouettes, and putting the 'reflections' at the bottom.

The finished image was cut with my largest QuicKutz die, and matted with black CS. I added one of my signature bows with a pearl. My stash of those is getting a bit low and I'm going to have to spend a day hand-sewing another 2 or 3 dozen of them pretty soon. Once I had added the bow, it seemed finished and I decided to leave it that CAS.

Based on the sketch from Sketch Saturday.

Challenges:

Lil Patch of ...

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, September 17, 2021

Kitties in the Pumpkin Patch

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

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

Challenges:

(Diagonal: Ribbon/ Coloring/ Animal)

Uniko

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

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Moon and Stars

It's the middle of the month and that means a new challenge is starting over at QKR Stampede where our theme is always "Anything Goes." You may use any image from any company to enter the challenge but if you use a QKR image (or one from our sister company Eureka Stamps), your entry is put into a completely separate draw for those entries only and that increases your chance of winning by quite a lot!

For today's card, I used an image called "Full Moon." I reversed it before printing it. I used watercolors and Promarkers to color the image, then added a touch of glitter to the stars. I used a Spellbinders die to cut the image and an Avery Elle due to cut the printed sentiment.

The background paper is from a Lawn Fawn stack. The multi-loop, sheer ribbon, bow was hand tied using my bow maker. The ribbon for the bow was a left over scrap and I did as many loops as I could to use all of it. I think I trimmed less than 1/2 an inch to make the dove-tail ends.

Challenges:

A Bit More Time ...

We would love to see you playing along with us in this challenge. Remember, it runs through the end of the month so you have plenty of time to get an entry linked up.

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Basket of Hope

This lovely fall image is from the "Basket of Hope" set at Jan's Digi Stamps. The challenges have been on a long summer break and we on the DT are really missing creating inspiration for all of you who play along over there. But we'll be back in November and in the meantime, some of us are making cards featuring Jan's images just to keep our hand in , so to speak.

Every set Jan creates contains both black & white line images, pre-colored images, and multiple sentiments (images in both jpg and png formats.) They are so worth the cost especially when compared to other artists who offer single images for the same price Jan has on full sets!

I colored this one with my ProMarkers and cut it with a square QuicKutz die. I used metallic copper paper for the background and added a double strip of washi tape before adding the image piece. The bow-tie bow was in my stash and I'm sure it's one I made in a large batch of 2 dozen probably 3 years ago. The sentiment is part of the set and I think it will work well for sending Thanksgiving wishes.

Challenges:

Crafty Gals Corner

Crafty Sentiments

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

Ike's World

I love ProMarkers

Passion for Markers (basket, berries, bow)

Penny's Paper-Crafty

TTCRD

Word Art Weds

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Monday, September 13, 2021

Mousers (Meow-sers) on the Hunt

When I saw these two adorable felines over at Kinda Cute, this card idea popped into my head instantly! So I decided to use them for the monthly progressive challenge on their FB page. :-D

I colored them with my ProMarkers and cut the image with a die from Dare 2B Artzy. I cut another circle with a smaller die from that same set and added the two, tiny, mice cut with Gina Marie dies. The background dp was a left over from a large piece of scrapbook paper which has been in my stash for longer than I can remember and it was definitely time to use it. I printed and then cut the sentiment with an Avery Elle die.

What looks like a strip of polka dot ribbon is actually washi tape, but I used 1/16" satin ribbon to tie the double bow.

Challenges:

That's all for today. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Golden Birthday Flowers

I'm delighted that Monica has given a new breath of life to Crafty Chefs with recipes modified to only 2 ingredients and this month that means 1. Flower and 2. Something Gold. Come join us on our Facebook page and play along!

I decided on a shiny gold bouquet, sparkly ribbon, and a black background. The bouquet was cut with a Die-vesions die from gold, metallic, paper and the ribbon was in my Really Reasonable Ribbon stash. The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die. I kept it really CAS. Sadly, no matter how I photographed it, the metallic paper and the ribbon looked more orange than gold but I assure you, they are gold IRL.

I was inspired by the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches

modified for a more CAS design.

Challenges:

Lil Patch of ...

Hope you're having a great weekend and Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Brewing Tricks or Treats?

Before I start this post, take a moment --

REMEMBER 9-11

THANK A FIRST RESPONDER

I now have so many kids, grandkids, and great-grands that I need a lot of Halloween cards and most of them get mailed to family who are out of state so flat or CAS cards are a priority. Too cute to spook cards are also important since most of the great-grands are young enough to like cute better than spooky. But the grownups all get wickedly spooky cards! lol

This card, with an image from the Stampers Delights progressive challenge, goes to one of the great-grands but I haven't decided just yet who gets it. I colored with ProMarkers and added glitter to the bubbles. The die cut 'frame' is actually the left over, outside piece from a cut done for another project (Spellbinders.) I laid it on top of the image piece and trimmed it to size.

I matted it with orange CS and used scraps of flocked paper from Doodlebug to make the background. I carefully pieced together strips of that flocked paper so that the seams would barely show. I added a narrow strip of purple flocked paper (also from the scrap basket) to the bottom of the image piece and then used two stitched, fabric pumpkins to give a bit of texture.

Challenges:

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, September 10, 2021

State Fair Gnomes

Conie Fong has some of the most adorable gnomes and I'm going to be sharing DT cards using some of the newly released gnomes this month. This is my first one and the image is called "Pumpkin Gnome." The set comes with 4 Gnome images (facing right and left) and 2 sentiments and it's ON SALE for $2.00 right now! Go check it out.

These happy gnomes seem to be so proud of their harvest and are on their way to enter them into the competition at the state fair. :-D

I merged the right and left facing gnomes into a single image, and added my own sentiment before printing. I colored it with my ProMarkers, then cut it with a large, square, QuicKutz die. I used a ProMarker to ink the edges of the image. The dp was a scrap which I cut into smaller pieces before adding it to the card front. I had embossed the card front with my Linen EF for a slight bit of texture.

I hand tied the double-loop, grosgrain, bow with the help of my bow maker and added it to the top corner. I think this is a card which could be used for either a guy or a gal.

Challenges:

As You Like It (squares over circles because they don't require a die to cut them. :-D )

Lil Patch of ...

Don't forget that Conie Fong has two challenges which each run for an entire month over on the Facebook page. One is for coloring only and the other is for completed projects like this one. You do have to use a Conie Fong image but with this one on sale (along with one or two others - check out the Pumpkin Kitties, too!) and with so many cute, cute, CUTE images, how can you resist? We hope to see you there.

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Daffodil Card

A good Thursday morning to you! It's time for a new challenge to start over at Creative Knockouts and our wonderful sponsor is Laurie Furnell Ink! She supplied this darling image set for the DT to use and it's called "Little Girl." It's a great set that has 5 different images and the one I used is called 'Daffodil Card.' To see more of the images n the set, be sure to check out the rest of the DT projects. Our theme is everybody's favorite - Anything Goes!

I printed the image right onto my card front, colored it with my ProMarkers, and used a ruler to draw a black outline around the image so that it looked like a layered card when it actually is a single layer. The sentiment was printed and fussy cut, then inlaid into the space for it. I added a touch of glitter to the wings on the bee and the sparkle IRL is marvelous! :-D It's a really CAS design which looks more complex.

Challenges:

Come play with us this week. It's an Anything Goes week and you can use any image from any company. If you win, you'll be thrilled with the Laurie Furnell prize, but you can't win if you don't play. :-D Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Autumn Leaves

The DT has had such a long summer break at Jan's Digi Stamps that I'm feeling the need to share some JDS fall images with you. Autumn is right around the corner and the leaves on my neighborhood trees are already turning bright fall colors and a few have even dropped to the ground. In a couple more weeks, the rakes will be taken out and everyone will be making big leaf piles perfect for kids who want to jump into them. Or for adults who just want to share the joyful memories of such times. Sorry, I'm beyond any jumping into those piles any more but I can dream. :-D

I've used this fun image from a JDS set called "Autumn Friends." I colored with ProMarkers and cut the image with a stitched Die-namics die. All the papers are scraps left over from other projects. They were previously cut with dies from Spellbinders and Tonic Studios. I found a black feather which just seemed to shout "It's Fall!" and I hand-tied the little bow.

I pulled 6 colors from the chart at CMH Color Dare #460

(Smoothie/Canary/Almond/Blue Belle/Pebble/Lilac)

Challenges:

Cardz TV

Crafty Catz

Colour Crazy

Creative Inspirations

Our challenges at Jan's Digi Stamps will begin again in November. In the meantime, Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Just for You on Halloween

The latest challenge at Beccy's Place has the usual "Anything Goes" theme but the optional twist this time is to CASE yourself. When I sat down to do this card, another Halloween card was sitting on my table and I decided to CASE it. Here's that card:

and here's my Beccy's card, using an image

from the "Witch Starter Kit":

I was inspired by the colors in this photo from Archiscraps.

I reversed the diagonal and used a simple rectangle die from QuicKutz to cut the image. I inked the image edges with black ProMarker to make it pop from the background. The striped paper is also from Beccy's (Little Witch set - which may be retired since I don't see it in the store <----- Edited to add this note from Beccy: The "Little Witch" paper is actually a freebie that you can find on my blog... it comes with the Little Witch free image. ) and the bat paper came from a left over scrap, maker unknown.

I added a strip of polka dot, orange, washi tape and a strip of lace (which is purple even though it looks almost black!) before layering on the image.

Challenges:

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Is it a Pond or a Puddle?

I'm sharing with you my first DT card for Angie's Digital Stamps and this darling little girl, playing in the (is it a pond or a puddle?) is called Daisy Mae Playing in Water. Isn't she superb? :-D The theme for our fun challenge is "Anything Goes" but you may use the twist of "Fall Colors" if you like.

I colored with my favorite ProMarkers, then cut her with a square die from Cottage Cutz turned 'on point', as they say in quilting. The square of purple CS was a scrap I found in the basket and it worked so perfectly with the dots in her dress that it simply had to decorate the card front. I printed out the sentiment, cut it with a QuicKutz rectangle die, and added it to the CS just below where I had printed the first part of the sentiment using white gel pen.

I added a few wraps of sparkle twine tied into a bow to finish it. The background is ombre on water color paper. Although it has quite few pieces, it still looks rather clean if not completely simple. :-)

Challenges:

Lil Patch of ...

Taylormade ...

Please come and play in our challenge this month. We love seeing what you create and you could win some fabulous images from Angie's. :-D Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, September 3, 2021

Meerkat Birthday

I fell in love with the image from this month's Digi of the Month from Imagine That ! I reversed the sweet little Meerkat before I printed the image. I colored with my ProMarkers, trimmed the image to fit my card size (4" x 4"), and used two different Fiskars punches to decorate the corners.

I had a scrap of the sparkly, white ribbon in my basket which was just the right size for this card. The bow is hand-tied using sheer ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Challenges:

I'm taking some time off from the craft room the rest of today and tomorrow so there may not be a post on Saturday but I'll be back on Sunday with a new post and a new team! Be sure to check in to see what I'll be doing on the First Sundays for the foreseeable future. :-D Happy Crafting NanaConnie

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Totally Innocent Devil Dragon

As some of you know (if you visit my blog with any regularity), I have a granddaughter who shares my great love of dragons and I've been using any excuse (birthday, Christmas, Easter, Summer Solstice, start or end of Daylight Savings time, etc.) to send her dragon cards for most of her 22 years now. Yes, she still loves them even as an adult. So, this one will be her Halloween card this year.

It's colored with ProMarkers and gel pens, then cut and embossed with Sue Wilson dies. The background papers are scraps from a Recollections stack. The lace strip was in my stash and has been enhanced with suede strips before adhering it diagonally across the card front. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

I was influenced by the sketch at Paperminutes,

adjusted for a square card.

I did reverse the diagonal line and used a square shape

instead of a circle.

Challenges:

Cardz TV

Creative Inspirations

That's all I have for today but I'm wishing you a great day and Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Data Protection

Data Protection Policy Regarding general information on how data is used and stored: Commenting: If you leave me a comment on my blog, you do so in the knowledge that it will be visible to all who visit my blog. It will also be visible for anyone to collect. I personally don't collect any information stored on my blog. If you have left a comment and don't want it to be seen, you can always go and delete the comment. Followers: If you follow my blog you do so in the knowledge that my followers list is open to anyone who visits the blog so your photo, name, and links will appear and can be seen by anyone. If you don't want this data shared, please delete your blog from my followers list (which means you are no longer following my blog.) Associations: This blog may have associations with third parties, i.e. facebook, instagram, google, etc. I do not collect any information for any marketing purposes on this blog.