This card was so fast and easy! I started with a pre-colored, clip art image which I cut with a fancy die from QuicKutz. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I used dp from Paper Studio for the background and added one of my signature, hand-sewn bows, this time with a pearl on it. Finished in less than 20 minutes!
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Bunny in a Basket
Cutest Bunny Butt
Is this the cutest 'Bunny Butt' ever? It's from Can You Digi It and it's been in my stash forever! Well, for a long time, anyway. I just decided that it would make a cute Easter card so I colored it up with my new Sanjoki markers, then cut it with a Die-namics die.
The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I chose a dp scrap from the basket, cut it with the same Die-namics die and inset the image into it. Then I embellished the card with a butterfly gem and with small rows of gems in the lower corner.
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Bunny & Butterfly
I adore this image and it was free clip art that I found online! I colored it with water color paints and cut it with a Spellbinders die. This is a tent card, opening at the bottom instead of the side. I found some Paper Studios dp that I thought worked perfectly so I added that for the background. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. I thought it needed just a hint of embellishment so I added gems to the body of the butterfly.
Happy Crafting. NanaConnie
Bow Tie Bunny
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Don't Egg Me On
When the Easter bunny says, "Don't egg me on," he's 'punny'! This guy seems to be only half listening to the 'egging on.' But at least he's attentive with one ear. :-D
The image was printed on a scrap of beige dp which has a 'linen' texture to it. I colored his ears with ProMarkers, then cut the image with a QuicKutz die. The frame was also cut with another QuicKutz die, then run through my "Linen" EF.
The butterfly dp was a scrap from the basket, as was the deep burgundy CS strip at the bottom. The sentiment is from QKR Stampede and I colored it with my new Sanjoki markers and gel pens. The bow was hand tied and stitched in the middle to give it more of a butterfly shape. I wanted the butterflies to emphasize the spring colors and theme.
FarmQuest Frogs, Toads, or Mushrooms
What a fun and silly card I have for you today. A new challenge is starting over at FarmQuest, where we always have a general "Farm Country" theme with a more specific theme for each challenge. This fortnight the specific theme is Frogs, Toads, or Mushrooms. I didn't find anything with mushrooms but I did find this crazy image with both a frog and a toad. Of course, these two country boys are out riding their "steed" and wearing their cowboy hats so that takes care of the country part of it. They are really enjoying the first, bright, spring day, too, after a long hard winter! lol
I printed the image in grayscale and colored it in spring greens using my ProMarkers. I cut it with a QuicKutz, square die. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. The background is made up of scraps of burlap and paper (K & Co), both of which have a country feel to them. I used my bow maker to tie the polkadot bowtie on the toad.
Monday, March 27, 2023
A Pastel Door Hanger Plaque
If you have kids or grandkids who are into decorating the house (or even their part of the house) for Easter wouldn't this image from Birdie Brown make a perfect door hanger plaque? I used it on a card because if I did a door hanger, my feline fur babies would just delight in pulling it down. This image has been in my collection of digis for at least 5 years and I don't think I've used it before.
I colored the image with my new Sanjoki alcohol markers, then cut it with a rectangle die from Tonic Studios. I used a Fiskars punch to round the top corners. I found the mint green lace in my stash (another old stash item that's been there well over 5 years!) I thought it worked perfectly with the green in the image so I used it for the background by layering it onto the card front. Don't you just love the faux stitching in the image? It really adds to the delightful "primitive art" look.
Second post done and the third for today will be posted later this afternoon. Thanks for visiting. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie
An Easter Peep!
If you think this post is all about the little yellow marshmallow candies shaped like baby chicks, called Peeps, you're in for a surprise. This card does have a cute baby chick, and a sweet kitten, but no candy. This darling image is from AuroraWings and I thought it could easily be adapted for an Easter card with the right sentiment. :-D
I used my ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with a Spellbinders die. That die also embossed the edges, making it look very detailed and complex. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. The yellow plaid paper came from a Lawn Fawn stack. I used my Linen embossing folder on the blue card front. Pretty fast to put together but it looks like I spent hours on it.
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Blue Bunny for Easter
This card features one of the clip art images I printed and used for a quick and easy card. It was pre-colored and I cut the image with a QuicKutz oval die. Both of the papers I used for the background were in the scrap basket but they really worked with the colors in the image. I used one simple Petaloo flower for embellishment and called it finished. The card took me about 15 minutes to complete.
Easter Dragon
You're going to see probably 2 posts per day for at least the next week so that I can share all the Easter cards I've been making, trying to get all the ones for family and friends finished, plus the ones for the craft fair next Friday where I'm going to have a vendor booth. I searched for and printed several free, clip art images (some pre-colored and some not) in addition to the ones I've hand colored and for hte last 2 days, I've been putting cards together.
The one I'm sharing today will be my eldest granddaughter's card because she's the one who adores dragons as much as I do. This image shows you exactly what happens when the wrong kind of eggs - meaning not CHOCOLATE! - get put into the Easter Basket. :-D
I colored the image (from Crafty Moments) with ProMarkers, then cut it with a Memory Box, pin point die. The background papers are from BLD, a company new to me, but the paper pack was a gift and I really love them. Those two papers happen to be from a single sheet of two sided paper which worked perfectly for my color combo.
I added the sentiment after I cut it and inked the edges, then made a hand-sewed bow using satin ribbon.
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Tired Bunny
Poor Easter Bunny - all tired out from hiding eggs all night long! This cute image of an egg-looking bunny is from Beccy's Place and I think he's totally adorable. lol But he does look a bit 'drained' from all that hard work hiding Easter eggs.
I used my new Sanjoki markers to color the image, then added 'fur' highlights with a white gel pen. The image was cut using a die from QuicKutz. The frame was cut from hologram paper (Lawn Fawn) with another QuicKutz die from the same set, but larger. The upper sentiment was also cut with die from that set but the lower sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die. I mounted everything onto dove gray CS.
Friday, March 24, 2023
Color Those Easter Eggs!
Here's the next in my series of recent Easter cards. Somehow, a family member (who shall remain nameless) convinced me to be a vendor at a craft fair at the end of this month and show some of my cards for sale. Big on the list will be Easter cards because Easter will only be 9 or 10 days away by that time. So, in addition to getting enough Easter cards done for family and friends, I now need another dozen or two for sale!
In the interest of making the job as fast and easy as possible, I've decided to use pre-colored images on some of them and I also searched the web for free, printable, Easter images, including several vintage images. I see several CAS cards coming up!
But this one for today features a pre-colored image from Beccy's Place and I love how the Easter Bunny is not only dressed in his finest but has carefully colored his eggs, readying them for delivery. The image was cut with a Sizzix die, and the sentiment was cut with a die from Avery Elle. The plaid background dp is a scrap from the basket. I took a bit of twine, doubled it, and tied the bow.
OK, back to the crafting desk to see how many more Easter cards I can finish today. Happy Crafting. NanaConnie
Thursday, March 23, 2023
All Tuckered Out
I clearly remember the days when my kids were so little that they were completely worn out after hunting Easter eggs in the early morning, often too tired to eat breakfast without at least a short nap beforehand. When I saw this precious image from Mariola Budek, I just had to color it and make an Easter card for one of my great-grands. :-D
Generally speaking, I prefer images of critters better than people because mostly critters are cuter but this darling image let me do both so it's a real win-win!
Once again, I used my new Sanjoki alcohol markers to color the image, then fussy cut it with scissors. I mounted it onto dimensional tape and layered it onto a plain card front. The sentiment was printed, cut with an Avery Elle die, and mounted on dimensional tape, also. I added tiny flowers, made by Petaloo, and called it finished. I really wanted the image to be the focus, not the embellishments, so I kept those to a minimum. Another Easter card for the stash, which is growing slowly.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Easter Peony
I'm really scrambling to get all my Easter cards done! For some reason, my mind kept telling me that Easter was in May this year but it's in April, and early April at that. So, now I'm making 2 or 3 Easter cards each day (I need a total of about 25) and I'll post them as soon as possible, maybe one or two each day.
This first one features a lovely image from my dear friend, Donna E. She did several versions of this lovely peony, many in pastel colors but I used the B&W grayscale version, and colored it in rich tones of purple and pink. I colored it with my new Sanjoki markers and cut the image piece with a scalloped die from Tonic Studios. The first part of the sentiment is also from Donna E, and I added the "for Easter" to it before printing.
The background was made with water color paints on water color paper, ironed dry to set the colors. The rectangle of gems was made by putting three strips of gems together.
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Sweet Easter Wishes
I know I promised you a post yesterday with more bunnies but I was fighting a migraine all day and most of the night, and didn't get anything posted. But here's the bunnies now; a merging of 2 of 3 newly released images from Conie Fong, just in time for Easter. There are a total of 4 new bunny sets; Bunny Holding Daffodil, Bunny Holding Egg, Bunny Holding Carrot, and one with all 3 images in it. I merged 2 of the bunnies from the .png version of 4th set, "Easter Bunny Trio."
I colored with my ProMarkers, then used a square die from QuicKutz to cut it, and I inked the edges with an ink pad. The green, fiber CS was also cut with another die from that set, as was the pink, fiber CS for the background. The sentiment was printed and cut with an old Cutz die. The textured fiber CS is from a DCWV stack that's been in my stash for at least 8 years!
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Easter's Over?
We all know about the Easter Bunny, but did you ever think about how long any one bunny can serve as the Easter Bunny? I mean, that's a tough job hiding all those eggs and it's hard on the back and legs. Easter Bunnies get worn out pretty quickly and have to retire to the Senior Bunny Center.
That means new (and younger) bunnies have to be trained to become the official Easter Bunny. Classes of younger bunnies have to show their stuff and their suitability for that lofty position. The competition is fierce and those who apply only have about 4 months to learn everything and be appointed for the job when there's an opening. If they run late on their education, they'll miss their chance, and then it's over. They'll never become the official Easter Bunny.
I had to tell you that story so that your heart would be touched by this sad image from Beccy's Place. I'm sure Beccy is one of the few people who already knew the story, as evidenced by this sweet "Little Bunny" image. :-D
Colored with ProMarkers and cut with a CUTplorations stitched die. The background for the card front was made by coloring with water based markers on wet paper, then ironing it dry to set the colors. The sentiment was printed and cut with a Cutz die. It's a CAS design which will work for anyone.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Spring Madness
Everyone is talking about March Madness in the midst of the basketball playoffs, but since I rarely follow basketball, I wanted to share a card celebrating simple Spring Madness! Maybe this will hurry it along and get this crazy winter behind us. :-D
This darling bunny is an image drawn by Mariola Budek (I love, love LOVE her images), and I think it's a perfect reflection of how every bunny must feel when spring makes the clover grow and the sky is blue beyond all imagination. I colored the image with some of my new markers by Sanjoki, a brand I'm trying out for comparative purposes with both ProMarkers and Copics. So far, I find them to be comparable in everything but price since the Sanjokis are far more affordable. I have a set of 120 so finding the exact color I want for blending purposes isn't a problem. I'm still adjusting to the brush tips because they seem to be a bit more flexible than Copics and, since I've been a dedicated ProMarker user for nearly a decade now, I need to hone my skills when it comes to brush tips anyway.
Once colored, I cut the image with a Gina Marie die, then layered it onto my card front. I printed and fussy cut the sentiment, added it to the top of the image and called it finished! :-D I think it's cute enough to use for an Easter card. What do you think?
Friday, March 17, 2023
Leprechaun Gnomes
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Cake Chef Gnome
Today I'm sharing another Conie Fong image, one of her newer releases called "Cake Chef Gnome" and the set comes with a total of 4 images (2 gnomes with cakes plus 2 separate cakes) in either jpg or png formats.
I remember when Conie was asking the DT if gnomes were really needed because there were already so many artists who were drawing them and the team overwhelmingly pushed her to draw some gnomes! I'm so glad she did. I adore gnomes and have many from lots of different artists but Conie draws some of the cutest ones.
I made this card for a very special lady who is celebrating her birthday today. It's really special to me that she and I have back to back birthdays (mine is tomorrow on St. Patrick's Day -and I hail from good solid Irish stock on both sides of the family tree!) so making this card brought me great pleasure and I'm sure it'll bring her some pleasure when she sees it. :-D.
The image was colored with my ProMarkers and cut with a Lawn Fawn Die. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. The papers both came from a Recollections stack and the stitched ribbon was in a box of goodies sent to me by another dear friend (who swears she was "clearing out" her craft room!) I had such fun looking through everything she sent and this ribbon seemed perfect for this particular card. Thanks, Vicki!
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Over 30 !
I was so determined to have all my family birthday cards for 2023 done by the end of February, but here it is, the middle of March, and I'm still working on them. Sigh... Oh, well, that means I got to use this fun and funny QKR Stampede image, called "Thirty," for my DT card on our Challenge #463 which starts today.
I used water color paints to color the image, then fussy cut it, using scissors. I knew I wanted a really CAS card since this one will be going to one of the older grandsons so I mounted the image directly onto the card front and added the sentiment. I cut the sentiment with a Tonic Studios die.
I'm sure my friend, Lynn, will approve since she is not only the 'Queen of Clean and Simple.' she loves the color blue. Am I right, Lynn? Do you approve? lol
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Country Apples
I absolutely adore this KLM Designs image and chose it from my collection to use on my FarmQuest DT card for the newest challenge starting on March 14. Our current theme is "Anything Farm Country" and I think an apple harvest fits that perfectly!
I colored it with my ProMarkers, then cut it with a die from Lawn Fawn. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die. All the papers are scraps from the basket which lives on my desk: the textured green is from DCWV; the plaid is from a Paper Studio stack; and the deep olive green with spots on it is also from Paper Studio. The narrow, polka dot ribbon was a scrap in my stash and I used my bow maker to tie a double loop bow.
Friday, March 10, 2023
Daisy Mouse
Today I'm sharing a new image from Conie Fong, called "Daisy Mouse" and the set also contains a darling little hamster named "Hailey Hamster." The set has an extra image of a single daisy, which I merged at the bottom of the image I used here.
Remember, we have challenges each month on our Facebook page, and you can enter using any Conie Fong image. You could be the winner and you'd win more Conie Fong images!
I colored Daisy with ProMarkers, then cut the image with a rectangle doe from QuicKutz. I used a Fiskars punch to shape the corners, and I inked the edges of the image and the sentiment (which was fussy cut with scissors) with ProMarkers. The background was made using a scrap of very old paper from the basket on my desk. I added two small, mulberry paper, flowers (from Petaloo) with gems as embellishments, and they are from my stash (at least 5 years old!)
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Kittens in the Milk Pail
I had so much fun making this card, my second DT project for the new challenge at FarmQuest General Store (FQGS, for short) which starts on the 7th of each month and ends on the 5th of the following month. Our theme is always Anything Farm Country Goes (see the blog site for more specifics on that.)
I played with an old photograph, printed in grayscale, and colored with blue ProMarkers to give it a bit of tint, kind of like coloring old tintypes. I cut the image with a rectangle Tonic Studios die, then layered it onto a scrap piece of CS which was the center of a frame previously cut with a Sue Wilson die for another project.
Moral of the story: Never, ever throw out the scraps! I know both the scrap CS and the scrap of dp have been around in the scrap basket for more than 2 years. The twine is probably 4 or 5 years old, and the dies I used have been in my collection for more years than I can count.
The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die and the top edge of the mat was cut with that same Sue Wilson die so that the sentiment would tuck in nicely at the bottom of the image piece. The striped dp was also a scrap from the basket and I think it was from a K & Co. stack. The fiber/twine came from The Twinery.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
An Irish Gnome
Today I have a St. Patrick's Day card to share and I'll have another later this week. Between the two cards, I made a total of 30 cards, 15 of each.
These were for another of those "Care Packages" which a group of moms puts together to send off to their out-of-state, college kids. Each month, a group of about 30+ moms get together and each of them brings 30-35 all-the-same items which fit into a particular theme chosen the month before. Each mom then takes 1 of the various items, and puts it into a box which they then mail off to their own collage kid.
My daughter and I got involved with this group when my youngest granddaughter went off to attend Texas Tech last fall. The theme for the March box was obviously St. Patrick's Day and I did two versions of the cards. This is the first one I'm sharing.
Friday, March 3, 2023
Thin Enough
I have a sweet granddaughter-in-law, mother to my first two great-grandchildren, and she's been working out at a gym regularly since the first of the year. She's been amazingly dedicated and has not only toned up but has lost pounds and clothing sizes. She says she can now fit into her high school cheer leader outfit! I'm really proud of her and everything she's accomplished but when I dug through my stamps and found this Art Impressions image (and sentiment), I just had to use it to make her birthday card. She and I share March as our birthday month but hers is about 10 days before mine, and this stamp is much more reflective of me than she! lol
I colored this with ProMarkers, then cut the image with a QuicKutz rectangle die. I cut the corners with a Fiskars punch. The background dp is from Recollections stack which my youngest granddaughter gave to me at Christmas.