By-Gone Days

      I had a request last month for a masculine card for my neighbor's father.  He's turning 91 in mid-January and has been a lifelong farmer in the central valley of California.  The request fit in perfectly with the new challenge starting today at FarmQuest General Store (Anything Goes but must have a farm or country feel) and I decided on blues and browns.  That's almost always a perfect color combo for a masculine card.

      What could be better for a lifelong farmer than an image of long forgotten farm equipment, tucked away in a dusty corner of an old barn?   This is a pre-colored, clipart image to which I added the sentiment before printing it.  I cut it with a square, QuicKutz die, added a frame made from white CS, cut with a die from Spellbinders.  The striped dp is from an old DCWV stack, and I added a bit of left over burlap fabric from another project I had worked on last month.  It seemed to give perfect texture and eye appeal without being too frou-frou as an embellishment.

     Challenges:

613 Ave Create

Creative Fingers

Gem of a Challenge

GMGC

Love Those...Papers

Outlawz Friday (used blue)

Pattie's Creations

     I hope we're going to see you playing along in our challenge this month.  Anything with a country or farm flair can be entered and we'd love to be inspired by you.  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

A Gnome's Country Christmas

     Here it is the end of the first week in January and we have a new challenge starting at FarmQuest Country Christmas.   While our themes are pretty much "Anything Christmas Goes," we do require that your projects have a farm or country aspect to them.  So, outdoors rather than indoors, fields and open spaces instead of city streets or skylines, trees and bushes rather than fancy furniture, and of course, Christmas!

     My card today features a darling little gnome from Anet Art Store and I printed the image in gray scale, then colored him with my Ohuhu markers.  Once colored, I used a QuicKutz die to cut the image and I inked the edges.  I put the background together with green CS and a scrap of dp from DCWV.   I wanted plenty of trees so that you'd know it was an outdoor scene so in addition to the trees in the image and the dp, I added little, felt trees along the left edge which were cut using a Cottage Cuts die.

     Challenges:

Color My Heart

C.R.A.F.T.

Crafts Galore Encore

Crafty Calendar

Creative Knockouts

Just Us Girls

Kerst/ Christmas

Outlawz Friday

Paper Shelter

Peace on Earth

     Won't you come play with us this month?  We love being inspired by you.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Winter Birds

      Here it is, time for the first challenge of the new year over at Inspiration Station.  We always give you a photo for inspiration and you may create anything you like but be sure to tell us what from the photo inspired you.  Here's the photo for this month and I was inspired by the wintery scene and the bird.

     I found a clip art image from Trendy Clipart which I reversed, printed in grayscale, & then colored with my new set of water colors (thank you, Santa.)  White highlights were added with gel pen.  I cut the image with a die from QuicKutz, inked the edges, and layered it onto glitter paper.  All of that went onto an A2 card front and the sentiment was added when all else was finished.  It really was a quick and easy card, taking less than 25 minutes, including coloring time.

     Challenges:

AAA Cards

Aud Sentiments (new watercolors)

Di's Digi Designs

Let's Craft and Create

Outlawz Monday

Pammie's IP

Simon Says Stamp (new watercolors)

Triple B

     Come play with us this month.  Just find something in the photo that inspires you, create a ard, and enter it into the challenge.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie