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

Holiday Party Time !

      A couple of days ago I did a post in which I mentioned a FB site where certain artistic people create AI clipart, often from specific requests made by members of the site.  It's called Free Printable Clipart and if you're interested, you can get there by clicking on the name above.

     I joined and have had a wonderful time browsing around and downloading clipart images I'll be using on my cards.  Today, I'm sharing two different cards which were made for neighbors who open their hearts and homes to the neighborhood for holiday parties each year.  

     Because I was making these cards more or less at the last minute (party is tomorrow night!), I chose to use the pre-colored version, exactly as I downloaded it.  But I've also used these clipart images printed in gray scale and hand colored by either my sis-in-law or me.

     I used scraps of dp for the background on this first card, carefully pieced together and the image was placed on an angle to cover a bare spot where one scrap was too small.  The image was cut with a Spellbinders die and I added silver and blue snowflakes.  The angel was in my stash of Christmas decorations, the only one I had left and it gave a bright spot of white to the card.  The sentiment was printed and cut with a small die from QuicKutz.

     The second card was also cut with a Spellbinders die and was framed with a scrap of deep blue CS.  The background dp came from an old K & Co stack and it has embossed holly leaves on it.  I added a die cut snowflake (Cottage Cuts), plus a wooden snowflake (Recollections) placed on top of it.  This sentiment was also printed and cut with a die from QuicKutz.

     Challenges: 

Cutie Pie

Dream Valley 

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz Monday

Polkadoodles

     Challenges:

Aud Sentiments

Dragonfly Dreams

Path of Positivity

Simon Says Stamp

ZieloneKoty

     That's it for today.  Happy New Year to you and yours and may yours be safe and same.  NanaConnie

Snowflake Santa

      I have to share a card with a spectacular image which was colored by my sis-in-law using pastel Ohuhu markers and white gel pens.  Didn't she do an incredible job?  The image is clip art and I think originally it was a digital coloring book page but I sized it for a card before printing it.  

     After she colored it, I cut it with a QuicKutz die, then used a Fiskars punch on the corners.  The sentiment was printed and cut with a Tonic Studios die.  I decided to use blue glitter paper on the card front to enhance the soft blues in the image.  The two snowflake embellies are die cut foam and the dies were from Cottage Cuts.

     Challenges:

CRAFT-alnica

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

I Spy ...

Passion for Markers

Male Room

Penny's P-C

     Christmas is less than 2 weeks away and I'm still making cards!  Yikes!  Have you finished all of yours?  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Three Kings

      I've done a really simple card for the letter "K" at Beccy's Place 30 Days of Holidays challenges which are running every day in November.  I chose the 3 Kings image from Beccy's Place and put it onto a card front made with Kraft CS.

     The images are pre-colored and merged together to make a single image.  The sentiment was added before printing.  I cut the image piece with a die from Cottage Cuts.  The 'strip' of glittered CS across the middle of the card is actually scrap bits from the basket of Christmas papers but I layered them on so that the empty space between them is covered by the image piece.

     Challenges:

12 Months Christmas

Christmas Kickstart

Crafts Galore

Do Al(l) Kreatives

Incy Wincy

Kerst Christmas

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

     See you again tomorrow, I hope.  This respiratory infection or virus, whatever it is, is really wearing me out!  The fatigue factor is definitely in charge.  :-D

   

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Boiled Spider w Peas & Carrots

      I just had to share this card today which features another of the silly spiders (creatures I despise IRL) from Zigi Designs and which is going to the dietician at our local senior center.  She's the one in charge of menu planning and she supervises the entire kitchen staff.  Fortunately, she has a tremendous sense of humor and I know she'll love it!

     The sentiment came out of my head when I wads thinking about a card for her and this spider dipping himself in the boiling cauldron lent itself well to the spirit of this card.  The image was cut with a Cottage Cutz die and I put the background together with paper scraps left over from a Recollections Halloween stack.  I printed and cut the sentiment with a small Tonic Studios die.

     Challenges:

Crafter's Cafe

Crafty Gals Corner

Creatalicious

Creative Inspirations

Just Us Girls

Lil Red Wagon

Simon Says Stamp

Star Stampz

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

All About Halloween COWS???

      I know after that title on this post, I'm going to have to do some explaining.  We don't automatically associate cows with Halloween.  But my granddaughter invented this silly game to be played on long car trips (or train journeys) the object of which is to count (and thereby 'collect') cows seen from the windows.  The person with the most cows at the end of the trip wins.  What they win is still uncertain, but win they do!

     Somewhere along the way, additional rules got added, things like the first person to spot a graveyard (ah ha! a connection to Halloween!) or a sign pointing out the road to one, gets to keep all their cows but everyone else's cows die and are gone forever.  

     Out of that game, came a love for cows of all kinds but mostly the adorable Highland cows with the moppy hair or at least black and white cows.  Her apartment is now decorated with all kinds of cow decor, including a black and white spotted refrigerator.  lol  Her boyfriend is barely tolerant of all the cows, mostly rolling his eyes when they are mentioned or when some new addition arrives to join the herd.  I don't know if the fact that she attends college in Texas makes it better or worse, but I make and send her cow related cards for all occasions and sometimes for no occasion at all.

     Of course, Halloween is right around the corner and I was fully prepared to find another Halloween Cow image but then I discovered some hilarious digital images from Zigi Design Studio, fell in love, and all plans changed.  I knew I'd get feedback from her demanding to know why there were no cows this time, so I built in the answer in card sentiments on both her card and her boyfriend's card.  

     I used my favorite Halloween greens and oranges, and of course the standard black.  See below, where I share both of them.

Her card.

     

      Challenges (Her Card):

Creative Inspiration

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

LeighSBDesigns

Night Owls

Outlawz Friday

SUYP Cats

His card.

     She'll giggle and he'll be very satisfied over winning one.  lol

     Challenges (for His Card):

Crafty Catz

Creative Fingers

Di's Digi Designs

Gem of a Challenge

Inkspirtional

Love Those ... Papers

Polkadoodles

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie