I sorted through my collection of winter-y images and found these two in my QKR Stampede collection. The girl is called "Sledding" (which I reversed before printing) and the Dog is called "Cross Country Skiing." I wanted to use both images so I designed a slimline card. The images were colored with water color paints and shaded with ProMarkers, then fussy cut with scissors. The snowflake papers are from an old DCWV stack which I've had for at least a decade and it tends to come out each winter. The stack is getting very thin these days but I still have some really great papers in it. The sentiment is mine and it was also fussy cut.
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Outdoor Snow Events
Monday, December 26, 2022
Musical Couple
This cute couple came from the Progressive Challenge at LeAnn's World and I love how they are sharing their music. This is another image I printed very large so that I could color it (vision problems), then photographed it and reduced the size with my editing software before making my card. I'm discovering that while that process allows me to color and then make cards with the reduced images, the photographing also tends to alter the colors. Oh, well, at least I can continue to enjoy the coloring process. :-D
I colored with ProMarkers, cut the image with a large QuicKutz die, and cut the corners with a Fiskars punch. I dug through my stash of mulberry papers (which I haven't used in ages!) and used a scrap behind the image piece. The background dp is from a stack by Recollections (which I got as a Christmas gift.) I printed and fussy cut the sentiment.
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Meowy Christmas
Late on Christmas Eve, the fur babies wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and they begged me for a card they could share with each of you. They unanimously approved this one because it looked like a party! :-D
This was a coloring book image which was colored with gel pens and metallic sparkle inks. I reduced it in size with my editing software after photographing it. I trimmed the corners with a Fiskars punch, then mounted it onto a frame which was cut with an Unbranded die. The CS for the card front was dry embossed with my Linen folder before the other pieces were attached. The bow is satin and was hand-tied. The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die. Overall, very simple to make; took less than 15 minutes, so really perfect especially for a last minute card on demand.
Ice Fishing
Most of you who follow my blog regularly already know that I'm having some vision problems which affect my ability to color images and, while I'm figuring out ways to color successfully - enlarging images so that I can see them well enough to color, then photographing and reducing them with my photo editing software - I've also found that using die cuts to make the entire card is another way to continue with my love of card making.
Today's card uses a die set from Cuts to create this fun ice fishing card. The glitter paper (for the hole in the ice, the frozen fish, and the strip under the bears) is from Recollections, and dp for the sky came from a DCWV stack. I used my Linen embossing folder on the blue CS. Everything was done using scraps. The sentiment was made with another Cuts die.
Friday, December 23, 2022
Snowman Presents
This is my last Conie Fong DT card for December and I've used one of the images from a set called Snowman Presents. The image also comes inside a snow globe and the set has secondary images of pine branches included. Good news, it's ON SALE right now. Grab it quick!
This one is colored with water color paints and was cut with a border die from Your Next Die. The image was backed with burgundy CS and then framed with red metallic paper from DCWV. The white glitter paper for the background is from Doodlebug. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I added one tiny embellishment - a satin, hand-tied bow.
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
A Special Noel
With my recurring (and somewhat permanent) vision problems, I'm finding new ways to color images. For this one, the stamp was a bit smaller than I needed so I stamped it, photographed it with just the uncolored stamp, then used my photo editing software to enlarge it to a size I could see easily for coloring.
I used ProMarkers to color the image, then photographed it again in order to reduce the size to what I needed for a square card. A time consuming, multi-step process, but it allows me to still enjoy the pleasure of coloring for my card making.
Once the colored image was reduced, I cut it with a Gina Marie die. I made the background for the card using dp scraps (K & Co.) and a CS scrap (DCWV) which I ran through my Linen folder. I cut those diagonally and layered them one on the other, then added the image piece. The metallic ribbon is wired and glittered, and I used it for both the wrap around the card front and for the hand tied bow.
That's it for today but hopefully I'll have another post tomorrow. If not then, perhaps on Friday. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie
Monday, December 19, 2022
Bear Hugs for Christmas
This sweet Christmas image, called Mrs. Teddy Bear, is from Jan's Digi Stamps and I think it's really precious. Although I made it before my vision problems got really bad, I'm just now getting around to posting it.
The image was pre-colored but I added my own highlights using ProMarkrs and gel pens. I merged the holly (also an image in the set) into her pocket and onto her hair bow, then cut the image and punched the corners with Fiskars punches. The red chevron paper was a scrap from an old Recollections stack and the green CS was embossed using my Linen EF. The sentiment is part of the Teddy Bear set.
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Father Christmas
The image I used today came from Gecko Galz as the image to use for their monthly Christmas challenge for December. I adjusted it to print it in gray scale and then hand-colored it with ProMarkers and gel pens. I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die. The Merry Christmas sentiment was cut from a scrap of Recollections glitter paper using a die from Cuts. The background was made from scraps of red and black CS.
Happy Crafting. NanaConnie
Saturday, December 17, 2022
When Thirst Calls
I've been playing in the progressive challenge over at The Outlawz for more years than I can remember and this month the image they provided was one I just wasn't going to be able to use - a bottle of beer. I could have colored it and made a card, but it wouldn't have been sent to anyone so what was the point? I explained that to one of the Admin ladies because I didn't want to lose out on playing next month. She went back to the artist and got the image revised just for my use. Bless her!
I colored with ProMarkers, then cut it with an oval die from QuicKutz. I found a scrap of glitter paper (DCWV), cut a rectangle and a circle (Dare2BArtzy) from it, then cut a narrow strip of metallic paper and layered them all together onto the background. I printed the sentiment and cut it with an Avery Elle die. After adding the image piece, I tied a simple bow using satin ribbon.
Friday, December 16, 2022
Snow Globe Wishes
Today I want to showcase a fantastic new set from Conie Fong, called Snow Globe Wishes. The snow globe itself can also be found in a separate set called Snowman Snow Globe Bundle and I'll be sharing my card using that set next week sometime.
The image is colored using watercolor paints, then cut with a Tonic Studios die. The green dp was also cut with Tonic Studios, a die a size larger. The red and the green dp were in my Christmas scrap pile and I have no idea what company made them. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I did little embellishment because I wanted the eye to focus completely on that lovely image.
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Winter in the Country
I'm late getting this card posted but it's my DT card for the latest challenge at FarmQuest which started today. Our theme this time is Anything Goes as long as it has a country flair. I thought this beautiful image of winter birds on the corral gate, from Jan's Digi Stamps, was perfect for a Christmas card.
Merged images of the birds and the black and white grapevine wreath, with dp scraps in red and green. The sentiment and the image are both fussy cut. The only embellishment I added are the three little gemstones.
Sunday, December 11, 2022
Nativity in Kraft
My sweet daughter bought me another new die this year, also from DIY Scrapbooking, and I wanted to test it right away, right out of the package. I was siting at my craft desk and the closest paper to me was a scrap of kraft CS so I grabbed it and ran it through the Big Shot. I really had no intention of using the cut but when I tossed it aside, it landed on some black CS and the design just popped!
Next thing I knew, I was trimming the black CS to size, gluing down the Nativity, and coloring the star with gold paint pen. I made a square card from kraft CS and cut the sentiment from cream colored, sparkly CS, using a die from Die-Versions. This made a really CAS card which looks far more complex than it is.
Not exactly traditional Christmas colors but I love the end result !
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Stocking Girl
The delightful image on this card is from the Progressive Challenge at LeAnn's World 101, but it as for the November challenge and I had it firmly in mind that the challenge ran from the 5th through the 14th of each month. Ooops, it now starts on the 5th of each month so I'm late posting my card but I posted it anyway and now I'm sharing it with all of you. :-D
I colored the image with ProMarkers, then fussy cut it with scissors. I mounted it onto a scrap of dp which came from an old stack by K & Co. I added burgundy CS to an A2 card front, then layered on the image and added sparkly red ribbon to the edge. I used that same ribbon to hand tie the bow. The sentiment was cut with a die from Avery Elle.
That's all for today but I'll be back tomorrow with a new card. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie
Friday, December 9, 2022
Final Exams
I know it's been several days since I posted anything but I'm recuperating from some serious respiratory problems and my crafting has been very limited. Sorry. Hopefully, I'll get back to normal soon. :-D
Today I'm sharing 2 different cards, both made as encouragement for a college student facing some really difficult exams at the end of a semester. This first one is for that horrendous period of study and anxiety leading up to the exams.
The wise old owl seemed appropriate for a school/education theme. I'm pretty sure this was a digital coloring book image which I reduced in size. The image and the CS framing were each cut with dies from Spellbinders. The Christmas candy dp was from an old DCWV stack and it just had the perfect colors to complement the image. The sentiment is mine alone. :-D
Friday, December 2, 2022
Cat Mouse Tree
It's the first Friday in December and a new challenge is starting over at Crazy for Cats. We are using images from Ike's Art in honor of her memory. This one is called Catmouse Tree.
I colored with ProMarkers and water colors, then cut the image with a QuicKutz die. I inked the edges of the image with a ProMarker. The background paper is from a stack by Graphic 45. I used a bit of metallic, glittery, ribbon to tie a double-loop bow with the help of my bow maker. The sentiment was printed, then cut with an Avery Elle die.