Grammy's Attic: October 2021

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Christmas FISH ???

We're starting a new challenge at Pammie's Inky Pinkies and our theme is "Anything Goes." This challenge is sponsored by Star Stampz and they generously provided images for the DT to use. I used one called "Polar Bear" but I had to change the ears slightly to turn him into a kitty. Whether you're a polar bear or a kitty, fish would be a great way to celebrate Christmas! :-D

I colored with ProMarkers and cut both the image and the frame with Unbranded dies. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. The background paper is from a very old stack by DCWV called "Winter Magic." I've been using papers from that stack for at least 5 years but I think it's actually more like 7 or 8.

The ribbon is from my stash and I don't remember what company made it. It has glittery, silver, circles on it that look a bit like snowflakes. I used my bow maker to tie the double loop bow.

Challenges:

Come play with us this week. How can you go wrong with an Anything Goes theme? Hope to see you there. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, October 29, 2021

Day 5 Cat Lovers Hop - "Boo" Cats & Gnome

This is my 5th and final card for the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop, where I was lucky enough to be a Guest Designer this year. There's still time to enter your own projects and play along in the daily games. There's a limit of 5 entries per person in the hop (entered on or before Saturday) but you can play all of the daily games and visit other players through next Wednesday.

This card uses an image from KLM Designs and contains two of my favorite things - gnomes and cats. I used ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with a CUTplorations die. I added 2 die cuts - a cat and a spider web - both cut with Cheery Lynn dies. The card front itself is dry embossed.

Challenges:

Art Impressions

CCC Digi Creations

Coloring in Scrapland

Creatalicious

Creative Craft Cottage

Come play before it's all over until next year. We love seeing all our Cat Lover friends. :-D Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Screechy Witch

This fun but spooky witch is a freebie image from the Beccy's Place challenge this month and it's just too good to miss! I was also invited to be a Guest Designer for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge and the Board for this challenge looks like this:

and here's my card using the top row of Sparkle/ Embossing/ Any shape die:

Everything was made using scraps, including the CS on which I printed the image. I colored the witch with my ProMarkers, giving her skin a slight greenish tinge and making the band on her hat a dirty purple so that you know it's as old as she is and had never been cleaned. lol

The black paper with the bats was cut with a Cheery Lynn doily die. I stamped the bats with Versamark ink and heat embossed them with shiny gold EP. The pumpkins (Die-namics die) were heat embossed with glitter EP and I added yellow Stickles to the faces. It was fun getting both the sparkle and the embossing done with embossing powder. :-D

Challenges:

Allsorts

Crafty Calendar

Creative Embellishments

Taylormade ...

If you've never played at Tic Tac Toe Challenge before, this would be a great week to start! Hope to see you there. NanaConnie

Crouching Cat - Day 4 Cat Lovers Hop

As I told you on Tuesday, I was invited by Janis to be one of the Guest Designers for the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop. I jumped at the chance! If you missed my first GDT post on Tuesday, click this link to get there.

I was lucky enough to get to use two adorable cat images from Ike's Art and this is the second of them, called "Crouching Cat." For more information about the hop (and about the fun images from Ike's), check out the main Cat Lovers post here.

This is Day 4 of the hop and it runs through this coming Saturday. You can enter each day and there are tons of prizes from many sponsors plus daily games to play. You'll meet lots of other cat lovers, all of whom are fun loving and more-or-less obsessed with all things feline.

Today's card is another rather CAS design (amazing how a bit of dp and a bow can make something look fancy!) and a sweet image from Ike's Art called Crouching Cat. When I was getting ready to color the image, my sweet little Queenie (see the sidebar for a photo of her attacking the printer) jumped up on the table to "supervise" the creative process and I decided then and there to make this adorable feline a calico! Yes, she's has white legs and tummy just like Queenie so...

I cut the image with a QuicKutz die, inked the edges, and layered it onto the background dp (DCWV). I tied a bowtie bow from black satin ribbon, added it beside the image, and it was done! Talk about quick and simple. :-D

Challenges:

Lil Patch of ...

Don't forget that you have until Saturday to enter your own feline creations into this year's Hop. We're having so much fun and there are fantastic prizes to be won from more than three dozen sponsors. Come join us before time runs out!

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Day 3 - Cat Lovers Hop

Day 3 of the Cat Lovers Hop 2021 (where I'm a Guest Designer on two different days this year) and the Daily Prizes are sponsored by Ike's World. She's offering a complete set of Kristmas Kitties as an overall prize in addition to the prize for each daily challenge.

I've done a card which has a much more autumn (translate to "Halloween") theme. In fact, the cat is named "Autumn" according to the notation written by my friend on the back of this image. lol I received this image from a dear friend after losing all my digi images in a flash drive crash last year. She had printed it in grayscale and mailed it to me in one of the seven different packs of stamped/printed images she sent.

She was so afraid I'd quit making cards after losing more than 10,000 digis that she spent what must have been hours and hours stamping or printing onto white CS, cutting them into 1/4 or 1/2 sheet pieces, and mailing them in padded envelopes so they wouldn't arrive bent or wrinkled.

It was from her efforts in printing grayscale images that I learned so much about coloring them. I love that when you print a pre-colored image in grayscale, you get all the wonderful shading and highlights of the colored image but you get to choose your own color combos and do additional highlighting (or shading) as desired.

I used my ProMarkers and polychromos pencils to color the image, blending with gamsol. I chalked two sides of the image after I had cut it with a QuicKutz octagon die. I cut the frame from a scrap of burgundy CS using another octagon die 1 size larger.

The background piece was made from a leftover watercolor scrap to which I added two corners of scrap dp (Doodlebug) to cover holes in the watercolor scrap. I had used tiny dies to cut some things for a previous project but the remaining paper was so pretty I couldn't toss it out. Can't tell you how happy I am about that decision now. :-D

I printed and fussy cut the sentiment (another scrap), then tied a bow using shiny satin ribbon (also a scrap) and my bow maker.

I chose lemonade/mulberry/& sangria + gold

from color board #466 at CMH Color Dare.

Challenges:

As You Like It (Although I always prefer using

animal images over people because I like

coloring fur better than skin, since

this card is for the Cat Lovers Hop,

it had to be a cat! :-D )

Colour Crazy

Crafty Creations

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Inspirations

Come play in the Cat Lovers Hop this year. Or at least visit us. You'll find lot of fun games each day and if you want to enter, just make something featuring cats! Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Basket Kitty - Day 2 Cat Lovers Hop

I was so honored this year when Janis reached out and asked me if I would Guest Design a couple of days on the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop. I jumped at the chance! I was lucky enough to get to use two adorable cat images from Ike's Art and this is the first of them, called "Basket Cat." For more information but the hop and about the fun images from Ike's used in the hop, check out the main Cat Lovers post here.

This is day 2 of the hop and it runs through this coming Saturday. You can enter each day and there are tons of prizes from many sponsors plus daily games to play. You'll meet lots of other cat lovers, all of whom are fun loving and more-or-less obsessed with all things feline.

On my card for today, I kept it pretty simple and had fun adding a bit of humor. However, any cat 'parent' (defined as someone who is owned by a cat(s) and required to feed, clothe, house, entertain and pay the doctor bills for the cats) will know that although humorous, the sentiment also reflects compete truth! lol

I colored with ProMarkers, and cut the image with a stitched die from Die-namics. I used the same die to cut the DCWV dp and inlaid the image into it. The sentiment was printed and cut with another Die-namics die. I dyed one of my hand-sewn, signature bows using a ProMarker and added a scrap of punched CS to the center of it.

Challenges:

Colouring in Scrapland

Crafty Sentiments

Creative Inspirations

My second GDT card for the Cat Lovers Hop will be posted on Thursday so be sure to check back.

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Monday, October 25, 2021

Day 1 - Cat Lovers Hop 2021

Well, here it is the last weekend of October and that means it's time for the 2021 Cat Lovers Hop which starts today and will run through Saturday, October 30. I've been playing in the hop each year for at least 5 years but I honestly don't remember if I started in 2015 or 2016 but it's become an annual ritual in my creativity routine. :-D This year I was invited by Janis to be one of the Guest Designers and I did GDT cards for Tuesday and Thursday so be sure to check those out when they post here on my blog.

For today, I did a card using an image from Hetty Clare which I think is absolutely adorable. I colored with my ProMarkers and cut the image with a die from QuicKutz. It's 'framed' by cutting an aperture window in the card front (card base was made from flocked CS by Doodlebug) with a larger QuicKutz die from that same set, then attaching a square of charcoal-gray CS inside the front, and layering the image piece into the center of the gray.

The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I tied a quick bowtie made from lace and wrapped around the middle with satin ribbon. The butterfly is machine embroidered. I did a dozen or more of those last summer and tossed them into my stash, forgetting they were there until just yesterday.

Challenges:

I hope you are signed up for all the prizes and are going to play in the hop each day between now and the end on Saturday. Obviously, you need to have one or more cats on your entries. There are daily games and lots of wonderful inspiration so please come and join us. Every cat lover will have something to share and those of you who are new to the Hop will find a ton of new 'cat crazy' friends. :-D

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Di's Digis DT Call

Di's Digi Designs is having a DT call this month and anyone who would like to apply needs to create a post on their blog, sharing 3 of their favorite creations, and if 1 of those featured an image from Di's, that would be great!

I've waited for a long time for this DT call! I love Di's images and was devastated when I lost every one of the images I had bought over the years due to a flash drive crash last year. There is no way I can afford to go back and repurchase each one I lost but maybe if I serve on her team, I can share some of my favorites with all of you and you'll become customers in my stead. :-D

This card has a Di's image and I just completed it so I'm going to be entering it into a few challenges. I colored with my ProMarkers, cut the image with a stitched die from Lawn Fawn, and layered it onto a circle cut with a QuicKutz die. The papers are from an old DCWV stack. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I used my bow maker to tie the triple-loop bow.

Challenges:

This is another favorite card which also features a Di's image and is fitting for the season since Halloween is just around the corner.

And finally, a card I made just a month or so ago using a gray scale image but not one from Di's; just a favorite of mine since I think the coloring is some of my best.

Cross your fingers for me, won't you" I really hope to make the team. :-D Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, October 22, 2021

Playing in the Puddles

I feel like I've been running behind all month long and when I discovered that I hadn't posted my card for Imagine That ! DOTM yet, I confirmed that feeling. Sigh... But here it is and the month isn't over so I'm good. :-D

I loved the whole idea of playing in puddles after the storm, especially because where I live we've had nothing be severe drought and a serious lack of rain for more than 2 years no. Weather forecasters say we're due for heavy rain this upcoming Monday, and I can only hope that's true.

I colored this precious image (called "Lizzy's Umbrella") with ProMarkers and cut it with a Cuts die. The sentiment is part of the set and I printed it and cut it with a corner punch from Uchida. I added one of my signature bows with a pearl and mounted everything onto a mango-orange card base. Very CAS.

I love coloring critters and use far more critter images then people images but I'm trying to improve my coloring on people so I've begun looking for and using images which combine critters and people. :-D To me, coloring fur or feathers is easier than coloring human faces and hair.

Challenges:

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Thursday, October 21, 2021

What a Magical Day is Halloween

It's Thursday so it must be time for another challenge at Creative Knockouts! Our theme is "Halloween" or just use the color combo of "Black/Purple/Orange." Our sponsor this week is All Dressed Up and I've used an image called "Magical Day." Isn't she adorable with her little kitten and her jack-o-lantern bucket?

I colored with ProMarkers and gel pens, then cut the image with a die from Dare 2B Artzy. I matted the image with a circle cut with another die from that same set. The starry paper scrap was cut with a Spellbinders die. The Recollections border strip is glittery, but that's hard to see in the photo.

Challenges:

Colour Crazy

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Inspirations

Come play with us this week! You can enter anything Halloween themed or with the color combo if you don't do Halloween cards. Happy Crafting, NanaConnie

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Christmouse Wishes

Today I'm sharing my DT card for I Love Promarkers, featuring an image from our sponsor, Hetty Clare, which is called "Christmouse Wishes." Our theme for this challenge is "Dies or Masks" and now I have one more card for the Christmas stash!

I colored with my ProMarkers and used a QuicKutz die to cut the image. The red circle behind the image was cut with a die from Dare 2B Artzy. The image was layered onto a piece of dp from DCWV. The background is a piece of Graphic 45 dp.

I found some lovely satin, snowflake, ribbon and used it for the strip across the card front and for the hand tied bow. The single sparkly snowflake was cut from glitter paper with a Die-namics die.

My colors came from the CMH Color Dare

board #465, first column plus gold.

Challenges:

It would be great to see you playing along in our challenge. We do love being inspired by you and your creations. So grab a die or a mask and make something wonderful to inspire us!

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Monday, October 18, 2021

Holy Cow !

I was invited to be a Guest Designer at The Outlawz Tuesday Color challenge this fortnight and I happily said "Yes." The sponsor is Hetty Clare and this adorable image is called "The Sun Hat." I thought it was a fabulous image and I can tell you that it was fun to color!

I think I managed to get all the colors in the cue card for the challenge and, of course, used the twist of "Ribbon."

Doesn't she look like she's standing in a field of spring grass with a breeze blowing through all that hair? :-D I colored with my ProMarkers, then cut the image with a Dare 2B Artzy die. I cut the purple CS background with the same die, and inlaid the image into it after taping the strip of satin ribbon across the spot where the image would be.

The sentiment, cut with an Avery Elle die, was added on top of the image and I put the image into the background. I laid that entire piece onto pink CS, wrapped the ends of the ribbon to the back side, and adhered that to the card front. I used more of that satin ribbon to make the bow.

Challenges:

Passion for ProMarkers

Penny's Paper-Crafty

TTCRD

Word Art Weds

I hope to see you playing along in this challenge. Not a member of The Outlawz? Consider joining; it's free, takes almost no time, and they have challenges for each day of the week plus one for using old stash items, and even a progressive challenge where you can get new images from a different artist once each month. When you've joined, you can sign up to follow as many or as few of the different challenges as you like. :-D

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Fall Flower Garden

I'm finally getting my card done for the Progressive Challenge at Outlaws this month. The image is from Oddball Art.

I colored her with ProMarkers and cut her with an oval die from QuicKutz. I printed and cut the sentiment with an Avery Elle die. The sheer ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and the bow was made from ribbon in my stash.

Challenges:

That's all for today. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Fox for Halloween

One of the best things about celebrating Halloween is getting to see all the adorable costumes that the kids wear. This image from Kinda Cute is the freebie for their Progressive Challenge this month. Isn't it darling?

I used ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with a CUTplorations stitched die. The Trick or Treat was cut from a scrap of black CS and the die is from Impression Obsession. The spider web was cut with a Memory Box die and the bats came from a Die-versions die. The sentiment was cut with n Avery Elle die.

I left it as simple as possible so that it would be flat for mailing by adding all the elements to a brown card front. For you purists who believe that open space must be white in order for something to be CAS, you'll be disappointed by this card, but I think the brown adds an autumn flavor and make the little fox pop.. :-D

Challenges:

I hope your weekend is going great and that you find lots of "me" time. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, October 15, 2021

Time to Ride the Broom

This is my second post of the day (scroll down 1 post to see the first) and I've done a DT card for the mid-month reminder post at Your Scrapbook Place. Our sponsor is Moon Flower and the image I used is called "Gina Little Witch."

Colored with ProMarkers and gel pens, then cut with a Spellbinders die. Both pieces of the sentiment were cut with Avery Elle dies. I used a short scrap of purple ribbon and added ne of my signature, hand-sewn bows. Everything was layered onto a simple background made from black and orange CS.

Challenges:

If you haven't played in our "Anything Goes" challenge this month, you still have until the 29th to get something entered. We love seeing what you've created. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Not Very Spooky

It's the middle of the month so time for the start of another Challenge over at QKR Stampede. We have two challenges every month; one on the 1st and one on the 15th . Be sure to check the challenge blog to see if you were a winner or one of the Top 3 for the last challenge.

It's October so of course I had to do a Halloween card. QKR has some of the cutest Halloween/autumn images I've seen anywhere and I love coloring them. This image is called, appropriately enough, "Halloween Kitty." I love the expression on his face. Can't you just see that he's waiting for 'The Great Pumpkin' (of Peanuts fame)? I'm sure he and Linus are sitting together in the pumpkin patch, hoping their patch gets chosen as the best in the world. :-D

I used my ProMarkers to color the image, then fussy cut it with scissors. I cut two fancy rectangles with a Spellbinders die, offset them on a pumpkin-orange card base, then layered the image onto them. I added two scraps of ribbon, layered one on top of the other. I made one of my signature, hand-sewn bows, using white ribbon but then 'dying' it with ProMarkers to get the color I wanted. The sentiment was printed and fussy cut.

Challenges:

Aud Sentiments

C.R.A.F.T.

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Inspirations

Come play along with us in this challenge. Our theme is always "Anything Goes" and you can use any kind of image you like, from any company or artist. But, if you choose to use a QKR Stampede image (or one from our sister company Eureka Stamps), your entry will be put into a completely separate draw and that significantly increases your chance of being a winner! Good luck and see you in the challenge. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Christmas Owls and Stockings

I supposed all creatures hang stockings for Santa to fill and I remember seeing this darling Penny Black stamp for the first time. I fell in love and it went right into my cart. :-D That was a few years back and I've used it before on Christmas cards but I used non-traditional colors. I think this is the first time I've done it all in red and green.

Colored with ProMarkers and pencils, with gel pens for highlights. I cut the image and the sentiment with Die-namics dies. For the sentiment piece, I cut it once, then shifted the die and cut again to get the size/shape I needed.

The diagonal dp is a scrap left over from another project and is from a Graphic 45 stack. The snowflake is cut from felt. I kept the card as flat as possible because it's going to be mailed.

Challenges:

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Broom Ride

I'm still doing Halloween cards, even though I seem to be balancing each one with a Christmas card for the stash. The image I used today is a digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil and I don't think I've ever used it in all the time it's been in my collection. But it's adorable, was fun to color, and made a delightful card. :-D

I merged the sentiment before printing, then used my ProMarkers to color the image. I cut it with pinpoint, circle die from Dare 2B Artzy, which I also used to cut the circle in each of the two blck and orange CS pieces. I inlaid the image into the background.

I added other die cuts for embellishment; bats cut with an Impression Obsession die, and the house cut with a die from Cuts. All of those were cut from small bits and pieces of scrap papers. Finally, I used one of my signature, hand-sewn bows which was white ribbon before I 'dyed' it with a ProMarker.

Challenges:

Crafty Calendar

Dare 2B Artzy (used a die)

Lil Patch of ...

Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Monday, October 11, 2021

When Black Cats Prowl ...

This fabulous image is from a set by my dear friend, Donna Ellis, and the set is also the prize at the current Inspiration Station challenge. I just had to do this card to show it off. :-D

I merged the sentiment and the image before printing it in gray scale. I used my ProMarkers to color the image and added a few highlights with a white gel pen. I cut the image with a QuicKutz rectangle die and then used a Fiskars punch on three of the corners. The black, glitter paper is from a DCWV stack (now retired), and the purple corners are dp from Paper House.

I added one of my signature, hand-sewn bows, plus a row of gemstones across each of the lower corners. The bow has a tiny butterfly on it which was a drop-out piece from a Spellbinders die used for a different project months ago.

Challenges:

Colouring in Scrapland

Have a great day and Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Christmas Gnomes

This delightfully fun stack of Christmas Gnomes (which is on sale this entire month!) is from Conie Fong and I created it as my DT card for this week. Remember, on the Facebook site we have two separate challenges each month; one is for coloring only and the other is for finished projects. You must use a Conie Fong image to enter either one but you could win some additional Conie Fong images, too, Wouldn't that be fun? :-D

I colored with my ProMarkers, used glitter on the star and the centers of the poinsettias, then cut both the image and the mats using dies from Tonic Studios. The sparkly ribbon was in my stash and the bow was tied with a tiny bit of ribbon I found in the scrap basket.

I chose my colors from the bottom row of the

#465 Tic Tac Toe board at CMH Color Dare:

Candy Apple, Harbour, and Evergreen, plus I added gold for the star

and Toffee for their shoes.

Challenges:

Come play with us. Our two challenges are open all month long and all you need is a Conie Fong image to enter. The theme is always Anything Goes. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Harvest Wishes

When pumpkins turn into jack-o-lanterns, it's a pretty sure bet that harvest celebrations are turning into Halloween celebrations. This pumpkin/jack-o-lantern, which is the freebie this month from Stampers Delights, is covering both bases by sending everyone harvest wishes. :-D

I colored with my ProMarkers, then fussy cut the image using scissors. The background is a scrap of 12" x 12" paper from Off the Press and the sentiment came with the image. I mounted the pumpkin onto dimensional tape, added a silk leaf to the back and put it all on top of the background piece.

Challenges:

Aud Sentiments

Colouring in Scrapland

Double D

Double Trouble (all 3)

Inspiration Station (colors + fall)

Mod Squad

Pattie's Creations

Taylormadecards ...

Use Your Stuff

That's it for today. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

Friday, October 8, 2021

Sunflower Bucket

My stash of Thank You cards is getting low and I have a friend who has asked me to make several for her so I'm ramping up production of them. I'm starting with this lovely sunflower image from Beccy's Place.

I used ProMarkers and gel pens to color and highlight the image. I had merged the sentiment (also from Beccy's Place) before printing. After coloring, I cut both of them with a QuicKutz square die and then used a Fiskars punch on three of the corners. I dry embossed some metallic paper and used it behind the punched corners.

The sparkly ribbons are both from Really Reasonable Ribbon, and I tied the bow using my bow maker. I think this will make a perfect Autumn themed thank you card.

Challenges:

Colour Crazy

C.R.A.F.T.

Crafty Creations

Creative Inspirations

Wishing you the best of days and have a wonderful weekend. Hope you find lots of "me" time to craft and relax. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie

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