Family Togetherness

      This is another collaboration card with my sis-in-law, Lainy.  A few weeks back, I introduced her to alcohol markers (a medium she had never used before) and her grasp of how to use them effectively came so quickly!  She is truly a fantastic colorist.  But the actual card making, layout, and design has become my end of the collaboration because she really loves the coloring more than the card making, which I love both ends of that particular crafting endeavor.  :-D

     The image on this card is clip art, printed in grayscale, and colored with Ohuhu mrkers.  I notice those are the markers she tends to grab first though I also have a wonderful array of ProMarkers and Sanjoki markers, plus a scattered few Copics.  Eventually, as the markers run dry, instead of refilling any of them, I'm shifting over to the Ohuhu markers altogether.

     I cut the image with a die from QuicKutz, then rounded the corners with a Fiskars punch.  I inked the edges of the image and layered it onto a piece of Recollections dp.  The black bow is a triple-loop bow made on my Zutter Bow-It-All and I used ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I have two of those bow makers (version 2.0 and version 3.0) and I wouldn't give them up for anything.  

     The only place I can find them anymore is on Amazon but having both of them means that Lainy and I can get work together making some good-sized bows for the holiday wreaths we are going to make for family.  We've been going through old crafting stash and scouring local craft stores for ribbons, wreath bases (all kinds), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas 'foliage' picks, and small decorative bits that will enhance the wreaths.

     Ok, now for a look at the card.  I'm going to use this one for a Thanksgiving card.

     Challenges:

Colorful Options

Crafting Challenge

Crafty Gals Corner

Incy Wincy

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

Outlawz Weds

Penny's P-C

Word Art Weds

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Spider Treat Box

      We're starting a new challenge at Pammie's Inky Pinkies this morning and our theme is "Anything Goes."  We are being sponsored by The Cutting Cafe and they have some of the cutest projects, including this adorable Spider Treat Box.  Their .svg file is designed for electronic cutting machines but, since I don't have one, I used their .pdf file and cut everything by hand.  

     Mine is a little different than the sample you'll see on the Cutting Cafe's website but that's because I printed the spider onto white CS, colored it black with my ProMarkers, cut it with scissors and attached it to a little, orange box I made with my ScorPal board.  Black and Orange is still my favorite color combo for Halloween, even though I'm perfectly fine with purple and some shade of muted olive green having been added as spooky colors in more recent years.  Those of you who are over 50 will know what I mean.

     I used tiny google eyes to make the spider eyes, opting to add them to two small ovals so that they looked more like 'people' eyes.  I found that spreading them across the spider face (the actual placement of real spider eyes) was distracting and nearly unidentifiable so did them this way instead.  At least, you still get the sense of multiple eyes.  :-D

     I used sparkly, metallic, wired ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon to make the triple loop bow and attached that to the top of the spider, as though it was a jaunty, autumn chapeau!  Hope you like him.  If you have an electronic cutter, you could make dozens of these with the .svg file from The Cutting Cafe in the amount of time I spent making just this one.

     Challenges:

Country View

Creatalicious

Creative Creases

Mirtillamente

Paperminutes

Scor-Pal 

TTCRD

Two Old Bats

     Don't forget that our challenges at Pammie's Inky Pinkies run every week, starting on Mondays and our theme is always Anything Goes except for the occasional 5th Monday in a month when we have a specific theme.  Come play with us - this is an Anything Goes week.          :-D

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Day 2 of Critter Chaos at Catch the Bug

     This card is for Day 2 at Catch the Bug and, instead of a theme, we have a sketch.  I turned it a quarter turn to better fit the length of my image, one of the Bugaboo Stamps lovable birds.  I colored and cut all the Bugaboo images I used while I still had access to my craft room.  Then I put the cards together with supplies I took with me or "borrowed" from family and friends.

Here's the sketch and you can see how I turned it.

Colored with ProMarkers
Cut with oval die from QuicKutz
Embossed red CS
Glitter paper (source unknown)
Bow made with Bowmaker
Ribbon scrap

     Challenges:
12 Months of Christmas
Classic DT
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafter's Cafe
Creative Moments
Prika Crafts
Scribbles Designs
Stamping Sensations
Star Stampz

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Be Irish

     St. Patrick's Day in America is the one day each year when everyone wants to be Irish (or at least join in the parties which flourish.)  I have the honor of actually having an Irish heritage along with celebrating my birthday each March 17th.  Life is good! :-D

     When I saw this darling March Hedgie with his shamrocks from Bugaboo Stamps, I grabbed it right away. 

I used the sketch from Stella Says Sketch.

        I started by coloring the image with my ProMarkers , then I cut it with an octagon die from Spellbinders.  I inked the edges with a ProMarker.  I dug through my stash of green papers until I found that gorgeous plaid.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the perfect paper for a monochromatic, green, St. Patrick's card.  I checked my basket of scraps and found the striped paper which went across the middle.

     I printed, hand cut, and inked the sentiment before applying it.  The final touch was the quadruple loop bow which I made using my bow maker. 

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft Extra
Catch the Bug
Craft-Dee Bowz
Crafty Animals
Crafty Awesomeness Bugaboo
Crafty Creations
Cuttlebug Mania
Hiding in My Craft Room
Outlawz PAM

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Another Mystery Snowman

     Today I have another Christmas card with a delightful snowman on it but it's one of those a friend stamped and mailed to me without telling me who made the stamp.  If anyone recognizes it and can tell me, I'd love to edit this post and give full credit to the artist.  :-D

     I colored the snowman and little bird with my ProMarkers, trying something a bit different this time in that I wanted the sun to be shining from behind and slightly to the left of the snowman. For some reason, I tend to put my light source to the direct left or right (or off center to the front left or right) on most of the things I color.

     The reason I had to do it differently this time is because I dropped my gray ProMarker as I was coloring his top hat and it put a small gray smudge midway between his arm and his scarf.  While it was small, it was large enough to see and there was no way to cover it with an embellishment.  So, I added a shadow from his arm and worked on the rest of the image to add shading as if the sunlight was behind him and to his left.  Did it work?  I'm not really certain because all I can see is the mistake.  :-D

     I found a scrap of red and white, polka dot, CS, wrapped it with very narrow white ribbon, and then made the bow with the help of my Zutter Bow It All.  The card base was pre-printed and the little penguin with the North Pole sign is on the card front, not stamped by me.   I die cut and matted my image, then went back and added some snowflakes to the background using a glitter gel pen.  Because I wanted the little penguin to show, I adjusted the placement of my image over to the very edge of the card so the penguin not be covered.

     The sentiment is from QKR Stampede.

     Challenges:
Colour Crazy
Crafting by Designs
Crafting with Friends
Inspiration Destination
Mod Squad
Outlawz Festive Friday

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie