December Challenge at Brown Sugar

     Good morning and happy Friday morning.  We're starting a new monthly challenge today over at Brown Sugar.  Our sponsor this month is The Paper Shelter and they supplied us with an image set called "Holy Night."  Paper Shelter is having a sale this month and the image we all used is included in the sale.

     Interestingly enough, I used this very same image for a DT card last month but with a different team.  You can see what I did for them by clicking this LINK.  Rather than duplicate something I had just done, I decided to use the beautiful background that came with the set and build a scene on top of it with die cut deer and Liquid Pearls.

Background paper from The Paper Shelter (Holy Night digi set)
Cottage Cutz dies for deer - colored w/ metallic ProMarkers
Sentiment cut with Die-versions dies
Liquid Pearls for deer hoof prints in the snow
Snowflake cut with Art Impressions die
Blue rhinestone added to snowflake center

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps
Dare 2B Artsy
Dream Valley
Incy Wincy
Outlawz SAR
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Simon Says Stamp & Show
Sparkles Christmas
Tales from the Craft Room
Your Scrapbook Place

     I hope we're going to see you playing along with us this month.  This is my last month on the Brown Sugar DT but I'll be visiting many of you before the month ends.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Winter Deer for Christmas

     A different kind of deer than the one on my last post an hour ago but every bit as much fun for creating another Christmas card.  It's November 1 and a new challenge is starting at SheepSki Designs.  Our theme this month is "Christmas is Coming."  This silhouette image is one of Andrea's newer ones and I fell in love with it the instant I saw it!  It's called "Winter Deer" and I thought it was graceful and elegant.

Colored with ProMarkers
Christmas Star cut with Memory Box die
Glitter added to Star
White Lace
Sentiment cut with Spellbinders die & edges inked

     Challenges:
A Perfect Time to Craft
Carlin's Card Paradise
Classic DT Open
Crafts Galore Encore
Die Cut Divas
Outlawz Festive Fri
Pearly Sparkles

     OK, that's most of the posts for today but I still have one more late tonight and I know you don't want to miss that one but you might want to stop by tomorrow instead of staying up until it posts.  It really is a Saturday post anyway but I have to post tonight because of the time difference.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Warm Winter Wishes

     It's time for the November monthly challenge at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies and this month, we're sponsored by Paper Shelter.  They generously supplied a set of images which includes black and white outline or pre-colored images, plus sentiments and backgrounds.  The set chosen is called "Holy Night" and what I like best is that it could be used for Christmas or any winter theme.

     Here's my own hand-colored version of the main image.

Colored with ProMarkers
Cut with Unbranded die
Background paper from Doodlebug (my favorite papers for winter/Christmas cards have snowflakes.  I like them because we never get snow where I live and that's my way of having a "white Christmas." )
Dark blue dp from DCWV
Snowflakes with glitter and gems

     Challenges:
Art Impressions
As You Like It
Aud Sentiments
Cardz TV
Colour Crazy
C.R.A.F.T.
Cute Card Thurs
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Southern Girls
Time Out

     I have a total of 5 posts today!  That's what happens when the first of the month falls on a Friday, the day I do my usual DT post for QKR Stampede and Brown Sugar (first Friday.)  On the 1st, I also have my DT posts for 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (you're reading it now) and SheepSki Designs.   This month, very late tonight, I have a post as a Guest Designer for Mo's Digital Pencil.

     I hope we're going to see you playing along with us this month.  Remember, all you need to enter 2 Crafty Critter Crazies is a "Critter" featured on your project.  Other than that, it's always Anything Goes.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Stag

     I've shared mostly Halloween cards in my most recent posts so it's time to show you something for Christmas.  This gorgeous stag is one of the stamps sent by my friend way back last spring when I was bemoaning my lack of compliance with my New Year's resolution to do 2 cards per month until September and then one per week or more thereafter.  By mid-April, I still had done none at all so she stamped up a dozen or so images and sent them to me in the mail.  That got me started!  :-D

     This is the first airbrushed image I've been willing to share.  All the rest were practice and simply not worth sharing.  This one pleases me enough to share and to even mail to a friend or family member in December.

     My airbrush is the system from Copics (purchased from a friend who used it gently) and it has taken some getting used to it.  I'm still not really pleased with every result because sometimes there's just too much ink and other times not enough but I will probably learn to get consistent results.  I did add the snowflakes to the sky and the deer with a white, gel ink, pen, and I added some strokes of it to the white parts of the deer's fur for better definition.

     The sentiment is from QKR Stampede.  The image is cut with a stitched, scalloped die from Memory Box and it's layered onto some white, satin ribbon with gold trim.  I decided to use one of my little satin bows and this time, I left it white instead of dying it wait a marker.

     I thought about using flowers for embellishment but for Christmas cards I prefer to use ribbon over flowers.  It's usually flatter and since so many of my Christmas cards are mailed, flat is best.  :-D

     While I know it's not a common color for Christmas cards, I thought the black card front made everything else pop.

     Challenges:
Allsorts
As You Like It
Aud Sentiments
Crafting with an Attitude
Crafting with Friends
Creative Fingers
Jo's Scrap Shack
Morgan's Artworld
Outlawz Festive Friday
Winter Wonderland

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie    

Christmas Elk

     I needed one more masculine card for family because we've added a couple of people to our Christmas Day celebration.  There's a story behind the image on this one.  A month or so ago, my friend, Teresa (Tickell Expressions), granted me the honor of selecting something which she would then draw as an image.  Not realizing how difficult the choice might be, I asked her for a stag or an elk.  Of course, she did it in style.  :-D  You can find this elk as a freebie on her blog.

     I used my ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with a hexagon die.  I matted that with brown CS.  I cut a second brown hexagon using two dies one size apart and layered that on top of the image.  Putting it on top of the image made it looked like a the image was double stamped, a somewhat unexpected result but one I'm going to try again; might even try a triple stamped look.

     The sentiment is also from Teresa and I die cut it into a hexagon, then matted it with the same brown CS.  I mounted everything onto icy blue paper and then onto a white card blank.  I chose to tie a bow using red polka dot ribbon as a salute to Christmas.  That's the only embellishment because this is a masculine card and I wanted it CAS.

     Challenges:
Artistic Stampers
Christmas Cards All Year Long
Colour Your World
Corrosive Challenge
Crafts Galore Encore
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra
Digitally Sweet
Glitter n Sparkle
Jo's Scrap Shack
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Morgan's Artworld
My Time to Craft
Not Just Cards
Ribbon Girl
Sisters of Craft

     I hope you'll check out Teresa's blog and look for this wonderful elk as well as other images she's drawn and offered as freebies.  Give her a shout out while you're there, too.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Oh, Deer!

     Today's card utilizes an image from one of MHK Designs' new releases and I think it's a perfect masculine card.  Hopefully, I'll have another card card this week featuring another deer but you'll have to wait on that one.  No more hints.  :-D

     I used my ProMarkers to color the image and used one of my Darice embossing folders on the background.  The sentiment is also part of that same MHK set.  I added the bow and pearl for simple embellishment.

     Challenges:
ABC Christmas
A Snowflakes Promise
Aud Sentiments
Brown Sugar
Craft Rocket
Crafting for all Seasons
Crafting with an Attitude
Crafting with Friends
Crafty Girls
Graph'It
I {heart} ProMarkers
Inkspirational
Inspiration Destination
Morgan's Artworld
Pencil Case
Scrap & Craft
Through the Craft Room Door

     We managed to get the costumes finished which was a real feat considering sewing machine problems with 3 different machines!  We worked on them until midnight last night and the girls finished the last piece of one costume early this morning.  If they get some good photos, I'll share them with you later.  I'm really proud of my granddaughter and her friend about how quickly they have progressed with their sewing.  It's been fun teaching again.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Winter Fawns

     New releases at Doodle Pantry today and I chose to use the two fawn images from the "Small Deer" set shown right below my card.

  While I didn't happen to use any of the fabulous papers or sentiments, they are included with the set and it also has the outline images, which I did use.  I printed and colored my two fawns (somewhat darker than those in the set but I tried to get the same shading) and then fussy cut them and adhered them to a parchment paper background, overlapping them just slightly.  I added the coloring for the sky and the snow, and used white gel ink for the snowflakes in the sky.

     My papers and the mat for the image (all corner punched) came from Basic Grey and have been in my stash for at least last year, maybe longer, so don't ask me which stack.   The two larger snowflakes are punched from foam and then glitter is added. The smallest snowflake is punched from acetate (I punched 3 of them and glued them together then added a gemstone brad) and I drew with silver gel ink on the top one.

     The sentiment is also from my stash, something I did last year and didn't use.  It was heat embossed in red on special embossing acetate (which doesn't wrinkle up under heat), then outlined with gold paint pen.  I fussy cut it and adhered it with clear, super sticky, double-sided tape.   Pretty CAS design, considering what I often do with Christmas cards.  :-D

     Challenges:
52 Card Throwdown -- Punched or die cut embellishments
Basic Grey -- Anything goes
Crafty Ann's -- Christmas
Crafty Catz -- Male card
Divas by Design -- Festive (Christmas)
Hotshot Crafts -- Bling it on
Outlawz Copics -- Anything goes
Southern Girls -- Animal Crackers
Stampin' for the Weekend -- Anything goes
Winter Wonderland -- 3 different punches (corners and snowflakes)

     There are many more fantastic releases today over at the Doodle Pantry website so be sure to check them out.  I'll be using a few of them in the upcoming month, and I hope you'll find some inspiration from those posts.

This is the set you'll get free just for entering the challenge this month.  

 And this is the set you can get free with any purchase between now and November 24.

Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie